Good News: This Texas Osteopathic School Is Going Colorblind

Will medical schools stop discriminating by race? That’s the big question following the Supreme Court’s recent decision ending so-called “affirmative action” in college admissions. Most medical schools are trying to find workarounds, but one Texas institution appears to be doing the right thing.

We submitted FOIA requests to Sam Houston State University’s osteopathic college. We asked for all internal communications regarding the Supreme Court’s decision. Lo and behold, we received a document from the director of admissions:

“I wanted to update you on some changes we are implementing in our COM admissions system (AMP) in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling… We have contacted AMP to initiate the necessary updates to our system. The plan is to completely remove race and ethnicity from the system until after offers are sent. This will ensure that our COM admissions process fully complies with the ruling and that all applicants are evaluated without any potential bias.” (emphasis added)

Did you catch that? Sam Houston State University’s osteopathic college will be unable to make admission decisions based on applicants’ race. That means no overt racial discrimination. The school will learn about applicants’ race only after the admissions process ends (presumably to comply with deferral reporting requirements).

This is the bare minimum change that every medical school should immediately make. At the same time, medical schools should commit to avoiding other ways of trying to discover and admit applicants based on race. If medical schools won’t stop discriminating, they deserve to be held accountable in the court of law and public opinion.

For now, at least, we’re grateful that Sam Houston State University is showing the way forward.

Is your medical school still trying to discriminate by race now that “affirmative action” is illegal? Please let us know – securely and anonymously.