First on FOX: College doctors have recently promoted ways they have been escaping Florida’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) laws while attacking state and federal officials, including Stephen Miller at the Top White House.
Dr. Haywood Brown, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida, explained how he continued to implement DEI policies and avoided state and federal discrimination laws, and in a recent presentation at Virginia Commonwealth University last month, the Supreme Court ruling that universities cannot consider race in their admission decisions.
“I really want to discuss the threat of the eye-waking movement to medical education, training and health equity,” he said in a video obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital.
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Dr. Haywood Brown, a USF teacher. (Getty/USF)
Haywood explained how his position changed, but revealed that his actual activities were not.
“Even though we eliminated the title, we didn’t eliminate the job,” said Haywood, formerly a vice president of the USF facility. “That didn’t change anything I was already doing.”
He explained how the Dei office was rebranded to focus on “cultural enrichment” at USF.
“As long as it works? That’s what we’re doing,” he said.
“So we changed our name to access healthcare,” Brown said in the presentation. “Who can argue against it? How do you get healthcare excellence? You just get healthcare equity. If you have a workforce that can meet those needs, my office has changed its name, and we have made it cultured and enriched. No one is dedicated to it anymore.
Brown said, “Isn’t that slippery? As long as it works. That’s what we’re doing.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill in 2023, prohibiting universities and universities from using government funds to promote, support or maintain DEI programs or campus activities.
Slide from the presentation by Dr. Haywood Brown, Professor Dei USF. (Fox News Digital)
DEI is defined as “a program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals based on race, color, gender, national origin, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and promotes discriminatory or preferential treatment of individuals based on such classifications.”
In his presentation, Brown said people in the health community are best known to them, and sometimes they have to ignore orders from the “big house,” but he explained that he “learned how slippery you are when talking to legislators.”
In his speech, Brown also attacked White House Stephen Miller, who was critical of Day’s initiative.
“Well, Stephen Miller is already trying to attack the University of South Florida,” he said of Miller. “He’s a scumming [Duke University alum]. We don’t argue for him. He is, and he claims he is also Jewish, but we will see. ”
He also said the Supreme Court decision would not affect Florida as “racial consciousness” hospitalizations have been banned in Florida since 1999.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in 2023, prohibiting universities from using government funds to promote, support or maintain DEI programs and campus activities. (Desantis2024)
He also described his experience at Capitol Hill and “learning how slippery you need to be when talking to legislators.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the university said it was reviewing the issue.
“The University of South Florida is disappointed and plagued by the statement from Dr. Haywood Brown, who is scheduled to retire from USF on July 1,” a spokesman for the University of South Florida told Fox News Digital. “The university follows all state and federal leadership, policies and laws, and the proposals by Dr. Brown are not true. USF is considering this issue.”
The revelation has led to criticism from groups opposed to DEI in healthcare.
“In our university’s medical school, Awakening Day Ideology is invasive. A speech by Dr. Haywood Brown, former USF vice president of Health at the Federal University of Virginia, should raise alarms for state lawmakers, governors, lawyers and those worried about the medical condition. Kristina Rasmussen, executive director of Do No Harm, told Fox News Digital.
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The university has been increasingly moving towards implementing DEIs at all levels of the institution during the Biden administration. (Fox News Digital)
“This is another example of how health systems across the nation are intentionally prioritizing awakened agenda over patient care,” Will Hild, executive director of consumer research, told Fox News Digital.
“The Trump administration has made it clear that eye ideology such as DEIs are illegal and must be excluded from our institutions. Organizations like VCU believe that speakers like Dr. Haywood Brown can invite speakers like Dr. Haywood Brown to pull wool over American eyes. The VCU continues to allow illegal DEI practices to continue to effectively plead with the Trump administration to investigate their discriminatory practices.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Brown for comment but did not receive a response.
Andrew Mark Miller is a Fox News reporter. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email him with tips to Andrewmark.miller@fox.com.
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