Sacramento-area university bucks trend: Pledges ‘neutrality’ amid recent protests
This story was updated Saturday with a new comment from California Northstate University:
California Northstate University has generated controversy after releasing a statement that it will remain neutral on the protests that have occurred nationally following the police killing of George Floyd.
The Northern California private school is best known for its for-profit medical and pharmacy schools in Elk Grove.
“Recent events have caused significant uprising and protests throughout the United States, resulting in both significant injuries, deaths and property damage throughout the nation,” reads the statement from the university’s board of trustees. “In order for California Northstate University to continue its mission of furthering the science and art of healthcare through education, the CNU Board of Trustees hereby enacts a policy of neutrality as an institution.”
The university issued a new statement on Saturday:
“Collectively, members of the CNU students, faculty and administration all condemn the killing of George Floyd, racism, brutality, violence and social injustice. The CNU memo issued earlier this week was intended to recognize the individual rights of our students”
“Unfortunately, the memo as written failed to convey our intent,” read the statement from President and CEO Dr. Alvin Cheung.
Cheung previously told The Sacramento Bee that the killing of George Floyd was tragic, and is a “manifestation of current lesions the country has in ideology, justice, social values.”
But he said earlier in the week that a university-wide statement to that effect would be undemocratic and take a position on everyone’s behalf. He said the memorandum was misunderstood.
“This neutrality policy encumbers and respects the rights of each and everyone’s values, beliefs, thinking and judgment,” he told The Bee. “We don’t take a position. Anyone can take a position on their own. In this case I don’t impose a certain decision up on anybody.”
Cheung said the university should not serve as a focal point for discourse that would “polarize, divide, antagonize or insult members of the community.” He said several pharmacists who are CNU alumni had their pharmacies damaged and destroyed in the vandalism that followed peaceful protests.
“Students attending CNU should feel secure that they will be able to pursue and complete their health care professional education program without distractions from their educational and professional purposes,” read the memorandum. “To prevent any distraction from CNU’s mission, to promote an environment conducive to education, and to preserve the safety of all CNU members, this memorandum is hereby adopted to maintain the neutral position of CNU.”
The statement was starkly different from messages delivered at other schools in the Sacramento region, including UC Davis and California State University Sacramento, which condemned institutionalized and systemic racism.
The American Psychological Association and American Medical Association also urged leading health organizations to address police brutality and racism.
“Racism as a driver of health inequity is also particularly evident in findings from a 2018 study showing that law enforcement-involved deaths of unarmed black individuals were associated with adverse mental health among Black American adults,” read a statement from the American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris and Board Chair Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld.
A group of CNU medical students released a statement in response to the June 3 letter, calling for the university to revoke the memorandum and issue one that is committed to countering racism.
“The College of Medicine student body is appalled, disappointed, and deeply hurt by your response and decision to adopt a Neutrality Policy,” read the statement. “This statement tacitly condones both police brutality and systemic racism faced by Black and Brown communities across America....A position of neutrality is not only unacceptable, but also does not exist. There is no such thing as neutrality in a situation where violence directly infringes upon the livelihoods and safety of Black and underrepresented communities across the nation and at our institution.”
Medical students are trained to navigate biases in healthcare, encourage patient diversity and discuss how to advocate for vulnerable patients and speak out against injustices, according to the students.
“We are educated to operate with the highest level of integrity, altruism, and awareness and to ultimately ‘do no harm,’” their statement read.
The letter to the university asked that school officials incorporate discussions of racism and bias into all of the school’s curriculum, and include the school’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion in any future statements pertaining to race and diversity.
In response, Cheung said officials “do not want to threaten the privilege of having a peaceful enjoyment of the campus. That’s the reason we have the neutrality. What happened is a very tragic thing. Government on all levels need to fix this.”
CNU serves more than 1,000 students at both its Rancho Cordova and Elk Grove campuses and offers a Bachelor of Science in health sciences, pharmacy and psychology. Its plans to open a dental school have been slowed by accreditation delays due to COVID-19, according to its website.
In 2018, the university announced plans to open a hospital in Elk Grove, named the California Northstate University Medical Center. Some residents in the west side of Elk Grove said they were upset that the hospital was being built in a residential area.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 3:13 PM.