SALT LAKE CITY A group of students from the University of Utah School of Medicine gathered Friday to deliver a list of demands to school officials in hopes of combating racism in the community.

Racism is and has been prevalent in health care and leads to disparities in health outcomes. And that is something that is contradictory to what we hope to accomplish as physicians in improving our patients health, said Madison Kieffer, a second-year medical student.

As part of the national White Coats for Black Lives movement of health care workers advocating for racial equality after the killing by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the students, residents and physician assistants are calling Utahs flagship medical school to cut ties with police.

It does not mean no efforts for community safety. It means looking into other ways to keep our campus, and our clinics,and our patients safe, Kieffer said.

Kieffer spoke to reporters after she and a group of about 20 other students quietly entered and exited the medical school administration building sporting all black clothing to deliver their demands.

University officials in a statement Friday evening said they appreciate the work the students presented and we look forward to working with them on these issues.

We are encouraged that some of the items requested are already in progress. Our leaders will review the document and meet with the students within two weeks to review a detailed plan, officials said.

When pressed on what an end to relations with police including the University of Utah Police Department would look like for the medical school, Kieffer said the group will discuss specifics with administrators.

On the topic of police relations, the students also asked the school to:

The list of demands, which Kieffer said was signed by 286 medical, physician assistant and nursing students as well as resident physicians and community members, also included calls for more minority representation among those accepted into the university and staff members.

It is a problem in our school, and even just looking in our states population, we have an underrepresentation of Pacific Islander, black and Hispanic with Latinx community members in our University of Utah School of Medicine classes, Kieffer said.

When asked whether racism is an issue specifically at the University of Utah, she said: We dont have, currently, an anti-racist required education as part of our curriculum. That automatically puts us in perpetuating racism.

The group wants an overrepresentation of black, Latino and Native American students, as well as Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians to be actively recruited into the incoming class, with a detailed plan released on how that will be accomplished.

The group also demands the university:

Kieffer said officials took our demands and received them well and promised to meet with the group in the coming weeks.

She said she was hopeful change would happen.

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University of Utah medical students want to cut ties with police - Deseret News