'Inaccurate, misleading, or false': 3 DEI professors forced to retract article accusing University of Minnesota of 'structural racism'

Three DEI professors at the University of Minnesota were forced to retract a recent article after they discovered they had "unintentionally" included some research about supposed structural racism at the school that was "either inaccurate, misleading, or false."

Earlier this year, three UM academics who study diversity, equity, and inclusion in various aspects of public health — Janette Dill, an associate professor; Stuart Grande, a senior lecturer; and Tongtan “Bert” Chantarat, a research scientist at UM's Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity — published an article which examined the ways that the UM Division of Health Policy and Management addressed "structural racism" in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis in May 2020.

The authors claimed in the article that at that time, administrators at the University of Minnesota, which is also located in Minneapolis, received an outpouring of "communication" from members of the staff and student body suggesting that structural racism was still rampant on UM's campus. "This communication provided specific experiences of racist behaviors by faculty, staff, and students, and widespread systemic and structural racism within our institution," the authors stated in the article entitled "Transactional and transformative diversity, equity, and inclusion activities in health services research departments."

When the authors asked students and staff to describe the level of DEI support they received on campus, some insisted that many DEI initiatives at UM were "performative," "disingenuous," and "tokenistic" in nature, with little or no substantive action to undergird them. Others indicated that they still suffered from the effects of structural racism at the school, while still others claimed they were exhausted by the overall emphasis on DEI. The article also alleged that certain UM professors from minority racial groups expressed feeling "overwhelmed with advising and mentoring responsibilities," which they had to perform in addition to their DEI teaching duties.

That article was published in January of this year by the academic journal Health Services Research. By March, it had been quietly retracted because of some of the data contained within it. Though none of the authors of the article have confirmed which data in the article was problematic, they did admit that their "characterisation" of some of the "personal narratives and experiences" shared in it was "either inaccurate, misleading, or false."

"The final submitted manuscript unintentionally contained content that mischaracterised the authenticity of experiences represented, and the authors have requested retraction," a statement from HSR read in part.

Bert Chantarat, one of the authors, had previously published an article about a supposed lack of diversity among health services researchers in the United States. In his UM bio, Chantarat claimed that he "seeks to understand the mechanisms that produce and reinforce racial health inequities and how to disrupt them." Grande and Dill expressed similar research interests in their respective bios. Grande said he has "a deep interest in the social and behavioral factors that contribute to health inequities," while Dill said she is fascinated by the "racial and gender disparities" in pay and benefits for various healthcare workers.

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