This Missouri Medical School Is Violating Civil Rights

Add the University of Missouri School of Medicine to the growing list of medical schools that violate students’ civil rights. 

Do No Harm has filed an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against the university. It alleges that the program engages in racially discriminatory practices in its internal scholarship program.

The School of Medicine’s financial aid office manages ten scholarships that are awarded only to students it describes as “underrepresented” or “minority.” 

“First preference” for these scholarships, it says, “shall be given to African-American and/or Hispanic students.” It specifically identifies “underrepresented minorities” as “blacks, Native Americans (that is American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), Mexican Americans, and mainland Puerto Ricans.”

These limits on who may receive a scholarship violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and Do No Harm is asking the Office of Civil Rights to swiftly investigate and correct the unfair and unlawful actions of the Mizzou School of Medicine. The university must be held accountable for its flagrant racial discrimination, which is also prohibited by the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

Do No Harm works to protect the healthcare industry and individual practitioners against divisive ideologies and practices and calls on others to do so. If you are aware of a discriminatory scholarship or policy at your medical or nursing school, or if you didn’t apply because you thought you were not eligible, please let us know.