Blue-state university sparks outrage with 'decolonizing medicine' course challenging the 'White body' standard
A course offered by the University of Maryland for the 2026 spring semester is sparking outrage from experts, including two who told Fox News Digital it represents "identity politics" getting...
By Fox News · Fox News
A course offered by the University of Maryland for the 2026 spring semester is sparking outrage from experts, including two who told Fox News Digital it represents "identity politics" getting in the way of proper education. "This course provides a comprehensive foundation of how colonial legacies continue to shape global health systems and medical practices," the University of Maryland website says about the class called "Decolonizing Medicine: Steps to Actionable Change," first reported by College Fix. The course description continues, "We will critically engage with the concept of 'the White body' as the standard in medical training, explore the consequences of the historical context underpinning colonial medicine, and interrogate neocolonial dynamics in contemporary global health efforts. Designed for students interested in careers in medicine, public health, or health policy, this course will challenge students to rethink the ethical and epistemological frameworks that underlie modern healthcare." Weekly topics, according to the syllabus , include "Medicine as a Colonial Project," "Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge Systems," "Structural Violence in Public Health," and "Intersectionality as a Decolonial Tool in Modern Medicine," with assigned readings drawn from works such as Medical Apartheid, The Killing of the Black Body, and critical race theory scholarship. GOT A SCOOP ON CAMPUS? SEND US A TIP HERE "While this one-credit course at Maryland is predictable, it is nonetheless troubling," Reagan Dugan, director of higher education initiatives at Defending Education, told Fox News Digital. "Coursework that frames medicine as problematic because of its ‘colonial legacy’ is both historically and scientifically unfounded. The coursework seems to go even further and push critical theory into the classrooms of our future health leaders. Instead of training future doctors to serve all patients well, this emphasis appears to encourage them to see patients as oppressor…