Press Release

Do No Harm Sues Medical Society for Discriminatory Scholarship

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • March 5, 2025

RICHMOND, VA; March 5, 2025 – Today, Do No Harm filed a lawsuit against the American Chemical Society (ACS) for operating a discriminatory scholarship.

The ACS Scholars Program awards students interested in the chemical sciences up to $5,000 per academic year to help pay for college tuition and fees. However, the scholarship program is only open to black, Hispanic, and indigenous students. White and Asian applicants are not eligible.

Due to these discriminatory restrictions, the Scholars Program violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Additionally, because ACS receives tens of millions of dollars from federal contracts, it is ignoring President Trump’s executive order demanding that federal contractors end discriminatory programs.

“The American Chemical Society is blatantly discriminating against aspiring chemists simply based on their skin color,” said Stanley Goldfarb, MD, Chairman at Do No Harm. “It is shameful for a congressionally chartered nonprofit that accepts tax-deductible charitable contributions to push radical identity politics in medicine at any level of education. ACS should open its Scholars Program to students of all races, and we are prepared to bring the full force of our resources to bear on ACS and any organization that flouts the law to divide and exclude students from opportunities on the basis of race.”

Do No Harm is filing this lawsuit on behalf of a high school senior who meets all qualifications for the program except the racial requirement and is therefore ineligible.

To read the full complaint, click here.

Do No Harm, established in April 2022, has rapidly gained recognition and made significant strides in its mission to safeguard healthcare from ideological threats. With 16,000 members, including doctors, nurses, physicians, and concerned citizens across all 50 states and 14 countries, DNH has achieved over 10,000 media hits in top-tier publications and garnered widespread attention through numerous broadcast news appearances.