Commentary

American Chemical Society Replaces Discriminatory Scholarship Following Do No Harm Lawsuit

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • May 7, 2025

RICHMOND, VA; May 7, 2025 – Today, the American Chemical Society (ACS) agreed to replace its racially discriminatory ACS Scholars Program with a new program that will not consider race in the application process. Do No Harm sued the ACS in March 2025 on behalf of a high school senior who met all the qualifications for the program except the racial requirement and was therefore ineligible.  

“We are pleased that the American Chemical Society will stop discriminating based on race in its scholarships. Allowing identity politics to interfere with merit in medical education is not only a disservice to these future medical professionals, but also the patients they will serve,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Chairman of Do No Harm. “The ACS replacing its previously discriminatory Scholars Program sends a clear message that racial bias has no place in medicine or medical education.”  

The ACS Scholars Program violated 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 violated President Trump’s executive order demanding that federal contractors end discriminatory programs. 

Click here to read the joint stipulation of dismissal. 

Click here to read the original lawsuit. 

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 17,000 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.