Intersectionality and Inclusion Report from a Clinical Graduate Program Interview

By Anonymous

Inferno, Ferran Cabrera i Cantó, 1906, via Wikimedia

I am on several discussion groups via email and text. Below is an email I received from a student describing a Kafka-esque experience when interviewing for a graduate program in clinical psychology. It was just a report to that semi-dissident group; it was not intended to be made public.

It takes a lot to shock me at this point, but this email did. So I asked the student if I could post the email here. S/he agreed on condition of anonymity, so that email is presented here, in full, as written, with no edits by me or the student.

Prologue

I note here that the Grievance Studies sting, in which Pluckrose, Lindsay & Boghossian submitted outlandish papers to peer reviewed journals to expose their corruption, was widely derided and dismissed in academia when it came out. It included one paper (which received a revise and resubmit and probably would have been published had the sting not been exposed) arguing that White college students should be chained to the floor to experience oppression. It include another, the infamous dog park/dog rape paper (which not only was published but received an award) arguing that men should be leashed like dogs (metaphorically of course).

It will soon be obvious why this is the prologue.

---

The Email

By Anonymous

I figured that since many on this list are established in their careers, it might be helpful to share an example of what someone interviewing in Clinical psychology programs is experiencing.  I think when people hear about things like this, it will be clear how dangerous it is now that Jews are viewed as white oppressors.

During part of my interview day at [omitted to preserve writer anonymity], the Department segregated us by race.   Non-BIPOC students were asked to leave the front two tables and sit behind BIPOC students.  The two tables in the front were only for people the school considered the right race to sit there.  Most of the faculty sat with the BIPOC students, some not mixing with other students at all.  For some faculty, this was the only opportunity there would be to talk with them.   In the US, all of interview day is considered an interview.  This meant that students received more interview time based on their race.

This might not seem as messed up as it is at first; consider, though, the implication is that the school was giving me directions as to what parts of the room I could sit in as an Ashkenazi.

Other than the social, sitting in classes and touring campus, there were two parts to the interview.   The first was a clinical interview and the second was a two-paragraph essay.  The essay asked us to decide from a list of 5 people of different races, sex, and sexual orientations which 3 would die from not receiving medical care.  There was very little information outside of these characteristics.  Which races would die?  I tried to focus on other characteristics and my faith as a Jew in maximizing lifespan because it’s illegal to deny medical care based on those characteristics.  I didn’t want to get into a program by expressing that I wanted to break the law.

It’s not hard to see how this exercise lays the groundwork for “repairing health inequities and access” by denying someone medical care because they are Ashkenazi.   If it is happening in education and the same language is being used about health care…this ideology may soon drive who has access to medical care and who doesn’t. 

Turning to my own experience, my clinical interviewer sent me an email saying I did a great job and he really hoped I would join the program.  Another professor emailed me and said he hoped I would join the program and we could chat more.  Some of the candidates said they had never taken a psychology class; others had no research or clinical experience.  I have a 4.0 from U**, 2.5 years of research experience, 1 year of crisis centre experience, 1 year of psychologist supervised client facing experience.

The school issued offers to 75% of the interviewees.  I didn’t’ get an offer.  Out of the 20 students I met, there was only one cishet, “white” male and certainly no Jews.

It is really becoming obvious that psychology as a field is really only open to people who are the right age, race and sex.  I honestly don’t even know why we have anti-discrimination laws.  Nobody enforces them.

And, if this doesn’t stop, get ready for it at the doctor’s office.