The Office for Civil Rights is Investigating UT Health for Racial Discrimination

Another Texas medical school is being investigated for discriminatory scholarship practices.

The University of Texas (UT Health) Long School of Medicine (LSOM) sponsors the Diversity in Medicine Visiting Elective Scholars Program, which provides a stipend of up to $2,000 for expenses associated with participating in a four-week rotation in one of 22 medical specialties. With support from the Office of the Dean, the UT Health Office for Inclusion and Diversity at the LSOM is funding the scholarship.

In response to a federal civil rights complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) about this program, an investigation was opened by the Dallas OCR on November 10, 2022. 

Do No Harm senior fellow Mark Perry filed the complaint on September 1 citing discriminatory inclusion criteria that required applicants to “identify as one or more of the following underrepresented backgrounds: Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.” Discrimination on the basis of race is prohibited under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

However, UT Health’s Office for Inclusion and Diversity in the LSOM has taken down the page for the program named in the complaint, and has scrubbed its website of any reference to it. An archived version of the program’s page can be accessed here.

Have you been excluded from a scholarship or fellowship at your medical or nursing school because of discriminatory inclusion criteria? Do No Harm wants to hear from you, and you may remain anonymous if you wish.