Do No Harm Obtains Its 35th Federal Civil Rights Investigation as Case is Opened Against Wayne State University Scholarship Program

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened a federal civil rights investigation against Wayne State University for a scholarship that illegally discriminates on the basis of both race and sex. This marks the 35^th instance to date that a civil rights complaint filed by Do No Harm has resulted in a federal investigation.

The Detroit-Regional Elective Scholarship for Underrepresented Students (D-RESUS) at Detroit Receiving Hospital provides illegal preferences for students based on their race, color, or national origin and gender identity or sexual orientation. The D-RESUS award includes financial assistance for senior medical students – but only if they are “members of minority groups.” Specifically, applicants must self-identify as being “Black, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander” or “gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender.”

The scholarship application confirms the intent to collect information on gender, race, and ethnicity.

Wayne State University School of Medicine is engaging in illegal discrimination in violation of Title VI and Title IX by operating a scholarship program that illegally excludes medical students based on their sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, or national origin. Do No Harm expects that the OCR investigation into the D-RESUS program will result in the Department of Emergency Medicine being forced to make its scholarship available to all eligible applicants in alignment with federal civil rights laws.