‘Misleading’ and ‘false’ portrayal of racism-related experiences leads to retraction

A health services journal has retracted a recent commentary about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) activities at the University of Minnesota after the authors said they had unintentionally “mischaracterized the authenticity of experiences represented.” 

The four-page commentary, titled “Transactional and transformative diversity, equity, and inclusion activities in health services research departments,” had appeared in the journal Health Services Research for almost three months before its retraction in March. It was co-authored by three employees at the University of Minnesota: professor Janette Dill, lecturer Stuart Grande and Tongtan Chantarat, a research scientist at the institution. 

The article details the DEI-related activities within the school’s Division of Health Policy and Management that were implemented from 2020 onwards amid calls for racial equity. (Minneapolis, where the university’s main campus is based, was the site of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.) They label some efforts as “performative”, but go on to outline hopes for “transformative change” in the division – referring to attempts to build trust and relationships with students and faculty belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups. 

The article was a response to an earlier paper by Chantarat that surveyed health services researchers in the United States and found more than half did not believe their colleagues reflected the diversity of the communities affected by their research. Of the participants who said that their institutions had DEI initiatives, almost 40% described them as “tokenistic,” according to the study. 

The retraction notice for the commentary stated: 

The above article… has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Austin B. Frakt, the Health Research and Education Trust, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following concerns raised by the authors following publication that their characterisation of specific data (personal narratives and experiences) 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.

In the text, the authors specifically refer to the personal experiences of “one Black faculty member and one Native American faculty member [who were] overwhelmed with advising and mentoring responsibilities, in addition to teaching much of the content in the Division on structural racism.”

Other faculty members, they wrote, “do not feel equipped or trained to incorporate content related to DEI and issues of structural inequity into their classroom.”

They also wrote that some students “do not feel that race or racial inequity, structural racism, and other systems of oppression are adequately or comprehensively covered in the classroom.” 

Dill, the corresponding author on the paper, declined to speak on the record about the retraction or point to which parts of the article mischaracterized personal narratives and experiences. The two other authors did not respond to requests for comment. 

The division received an “outpouring” of correspondence from students and faculty in the days following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, pointing out that “change was needed” at the university, according to the article. 

In the commentary the authors wrote: 

This communication provided specific experiences of racist behaviors by faculty, staff, and students, and widespread systemic and structural racism within our institution. 

The university’s School of Public Health was scrutinized at the time for alleged racism. An open letter demanding change in the school was addressed to the dean at the time, John Finnegan. It was signed by 239 students and alumni. 

Sirry Alang, an alumna of the School of Public Health, also published an open letter addressed to the dean in June 2020, writing that she was treated “cruelly and inhumanely” during her time as a doctoral student in health policy and management. 

Finnegan retired from his post in fall 2021. The interim dean, Timothy Beebe, has not responded to requests for comment on the retraction. 

Dill and Grande are co-chairs of the Division of Health Policy and Management’s Anti-Racism Practice Committee, formed in the summer of 2020.

In the paper they wrote:

We are White health service researchers serving as co-chairs of a committee charged with executing Division anti-racism and DEI goals. Both of us have some training and experience in DEI issues, but we have certainly made mistakes.

An earlier version of the webpage confirmed that the retracted commentary had undergone a full peer review.

The editor of the journal, Austin Frakt, deferred to the authors for comment. We also reached out to the leadership and faculty members at the School of Public Health, who have not responded to requests for comment.

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