Two days ago I posted an article about a seminar hosted by the UVA School of Nursing that discussed historical racism in the profession and maintained that “structural racism” and “bias” persists to this day. I took exception to the argument, and went on to suggest that UVA Nursing, and UVA generally, gives platforms to so-called “anti-racists” but not to anyone who contests their ideas.
Kimberly D. Acquaviva, a nursing faculty member who teaches U.S. health policy, vigorously disagrees. I present her response as a counterpoint to my article. — JAB
I read yesterday’s article about my colleague Dominique Tobell’s work and was disappointed you didn’t do your usual rigorous research before publishing it. Teaching nurses how to eradicate structural racism is something AACN, our accrediting body, calls upon us to do. Attached are screenshots of two of AACN’s advanced-level nursing education competencies.


You’re free to reject the existence of structural racism, but your argument is with AACN, not with Dr. Tobbell or the UVA School of Nursing.
I’d also like to correct an assertion you made. In your article, you wrote that “…Ryan has erected an administrative structure at the university level and Baernholdt at the nursing school that gives platforms to people like Gatrall and Tobbell, but not to anyone willing to contest their ideas.” This is patently false.
In the School of Nursing, we go to great lengths to ensure students are exposed to a broad spectrum of perspectives, as well as a variety of faculty members. One example of this is our graduate health policy course, a course I’ve taught (along with several of my colleagues) for the past 5 years since being recruited to UVA.
As the School of Nursing has shifted toward AACN’s competency-based education, we’ve taken a close look at the curricula to determine how best to meet the learning needs of students across all our programs. This isn’t unusual: As faculty in a school of nursing, we continuously look for opportunities to strengthen and refine our curricular offerings. Collectively, the faculty decided to replace the existing graduate health policy course with a new course that’s a combination economics/health policy course. That course will be taught by a conservative faculty member, and I’m confident that faculty member will teach in the same unbiased way that I have.
No one in the School of Nursing is silencing conservative voices — and no one is silencing left-leaning ones, either. Curricular decisions, decisions about which faculty teach which courses, and decisions about guest speakers are made independent of politics.
DISCLAIMER: These are just my opinions. I don’t represent the views of anyone in the School of Nursing, nor do I speak for anyone other than myself.
Kimberly D. Acquaviva is the Betty Norman Norris Endowed Professor at UVA School of Nursing and a member of the University of Virginia faculty senate.

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