Leadership at Norfolk-based Eastern Virginia Medical School said it would issue a probe into its past yearbooks after the recent controversy involving racist photographs allegedly of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, MD, CNN reports.
Seven things to know:
1. CNN obtained a photograph of the medical school's 1984 yearbook that shows one individual dressed in blackface standing next to another individual wearing the KKK's signature white hood and robe.
2. Dr. Northam confirmed in a public statement Feb. 1 that he was one of the people in the photograph and apologized. However, the following day he said he was not one of the individuals in the photograph.
3. In a Feb. 2 statement, Richard V. Homan, MD, president, provost and dean of the medical school, said the institution would conduct an internal investigation into the publishing of all past yearbooks and "discover what, if any, administrative oversight was exercised; examine our campus culture; and provide recommendations for future actions," CNN reports.
4. Earlier the same day, Dr. Homan issued a public apology for the photograph, stating that "the picture is shockingly abhorrent and absolutely antithetical to the principles, morals and values we hold and espouse of our educational and research institution and our professions. Racism and discrimination in any form is not acceptable," the report states.
5. During a Feb. 5 press conference, Dr. Homan apologized again for the photographs and said the school has created a community advisory board and hired independent law firm McGuireWoods to investigate the publication of the photographs. The two parties plan to release a joint report to the public with their findings, CBS News reports.
6. Dr. Northam, who was elected governor of Virginia in 2017, said he did not plan to resign from his position over the controversy.
7. The medical school reportedly stopped issuing yearbooks in 2013 after one photograph showed students posing next to a Confederate statue, The Washington Post reports.