Johns Hopkins DEI office issues 'privilege' list in company newsletter, apologizes after backlash

A "privilege" list from the Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity (DEI) caused a backlash that quickly resulted in a retraction on Thursday.

The @EndWokeness X account released an unearthed newsletter from Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Sherita H. Golden on the January 2024 issue of Monthly Diversity Digest. The message included "privilege" as the "Diversity Word of the Month" along with a series of descriptions considered "privileged."

"Privilege is an unearned benefit given to people who are in a specific social group. Privilege operates on personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels, and it provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups," the newsletter read.

It continued, "In the United States, privilege is granted to people who have membership in one or more of these social identity groups: White people, able-bodied people, heterosexuals, cisgender people, males, Christians, middle or owning class people, middle-aged people, and English-speaking people."

Johns Hopkins Medicine released a newsletter that included a list of "privileged" qualities. (Google Maps )

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The newsletter also emphasized, "Privilege is characteristically invisible to people who have it. People in dominant groups often believe they have earned the privileges they enjoy or that everyone could have access to these privileges if only they worked to earn them. In fact, privileges are unearned and are granted to people in the dominant groups whether they want those privileges or not, and regardless of their stated intent."

After the message went viral, Golden sent out a new statement on Thursday retracting the newsletter and claimed it was not intended to offend anyone.

Dr. Golden later apologized for the newsletter, calling it "poorly worded." (Adobe Stock)

"The newsletter included a definition of the word ‘privilege’ which, upon reflection, I deeply regret. The intent of the newsletter is to inform and support an inclusive community at Hopkins, but the language of this definition clearly did not meet that goal. In fact, because it was overly simplistic and poorly worded, it had the opposite effect of being exclusionary and hurtful to members of our community," Golden wrote.

"I retract and disavow the definition I shared, and I am sorry. I will work to ensure that future messages better reflect our organizational values."

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In a statement to Deseret News, Johns Hopkins Medicine confirmed the accuracy of both messages.

"The January edition of the monthly newsletter from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity used language that contradicts the values of Johns Hopkins as an institution. Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Chief Diversity Officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message," a spokesperson said.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland previously came under fire for distributing a "pronoun usage guide." (iStock)

Fox News Digital reached out to Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity for a comment but has yet to receive a response.

In May, Fox News Digital learned that employees at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland were given a new pronoun usage guide that lists dozens of pronouns include "aerself" and "faerself" while staffers navigate a recent inclusive ID policy.

Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter: @lmkornick.