Commentary
Three More Med Schools Ditch Discriminatory Programs After Do No Harm Civil Rights Complaints
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October has only just started, and already we’ve notched a few major wins.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) informed Do No Harm this week that three medical schools have discontinued racially discriminatory practices after Do No Harm complaints alleging they violated federal civil rights law.
These are huge victories, and the latest in a spree of good news: last month, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine rolled back their racially discriminatory programs following our civil rights complaints. Similarly, the Department of Health and Human Services’ OCR is now investigating the Cleveland Clinic for two of its minority health programs thanks to Do No Harm’s complaints.
“These three successful challenges of illegal discrimination demonstrate and reinforce that Do No Harm definitively has federal civil rights laws on our side,” said Do No Harm Senior Fellow Mark J. Perry. “Title VI and Title IX clearly state that it is unlawful for medical schools to discriminate based on race or sex when they offer or promote scholarships, clerkships, fellowships, or academic programs.”
Here are the schools in question:
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (MSU) medical school promoted the American Society of Hematology Minority Medical Student Award Program on its website. The program offered medical students a stipend to participate in research projects, in which they would receive mentorship and access to other networking opportunities.
There was just one catch: only certain races could apply. The program description contained the following disclaimer:
“At the time of application, the applicant must identify as a minority; applicants are asked to self-identify, and participants for the MMSAP are drawn from this pool. For the purposes of this program, minority is defined as a group of people from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in health-related sciences in the United States and Canada. This includes Indigenous American Indians or Alaska Natives, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, African Canadians, Inuit, and First Nation Peoples.”
Thankfully, the university has delisted the program after Do No Harm filed a complaint alleging the university’s promotion of the program violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“The University notified OCR that it had since removed the listing of this program from its website,” OCR said in a letter to Do No Harm earlier this week. “OCR searched the University’s website and confirmed that it no longer included any listing for this program.”
Tufts University Medical Center
Similarly, Tufts University’s Medical Center’s Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine operated an anesthesiology-focused summer visiting clerkship at Tufts for students deemed to be “underrepresented” in medicine.
The eligibility requirements stipulated that students must self-identify as Underrepresented in Medicine (URIM) which the University specifically defined as: “Black/African American, Alaskan/Hawaiian Native, Native American and Hispanic American/Latinx.”
Do No Harm filed a civil rights complaint against Tufts over the program in July 2022, and in February 2024 OCR opened a federal civil rights investigation.
Then, this week, OCR told Do No Harm in a determination letter that Tufts had discontinued the program.
“The University informed OCR that the Clerkship was offered one time in the summer of 2022 and has been discontinued,” the letter read.
Better late than never!
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Do No Harm also filed a civil rights complaint against the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science for its physician assistant program targeted exclusively toward black men, Empowerment, Diversity, Growth, and Excellence in Physician Assistant Education (EDGE-PA).
“This unique initiative recruits Black men who are on the precipice of acceptance into a PA program but just need that extra boost to get in,” a press release on the program read.
In response to our civil rights complaint, the university has since updated the program eligibility to instead target “underserved groups, including individuals from medically underserved groups, those committed to serving underserved populations, and those who have overcome significant barriers in their lives.”
It’s a small step, but ending overt racial preferencing is always a good outcome.
“When Do No Harm exposed and challenged the illegal discrimination at Michigan State, Tufts, and Charles R. Drew with federal civil rights complaints, the Office for Civil Rights once again ruled in our favor and forced the three schools to end their race-based and sex-based discrimination,” Perry said.
Medical schools should be on notice: Do No Harm is watching, and we will make sure you are held accountable for any attempts to unlawfully discriminate in violation of your legal obligation to actively enforce all federal civil rights laws including Title VI and Title IX.
Have you been unfairly affected by discriminatory scholarships or programs at your institution, or are you aware of any discrimination at a U.S. medical school? If you or others did not apply because you thought you were ineligible, please let us know – anonymously and securely.