Civil-Rights Complaint Filed Over Oklahoma Colleges’ Discrimination

A newly filed federal civil-rights complaint accuses 12 Oklahoma colleges of illegally discriminating against students based on race and national origin via a program that specifically excludes students based on those traits.

“Oklahoma’s institutions of higher education shouldn’t be complicit in advertising and sponsoring academic programs that discriminate on the basis of race,” said Laura Morgan, a registered nurse who is program manager for Do No Harm, a group of medical professionals. “Twelve Oklahoma universities are participating in the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, supported by the National Science Foundation, (which) requires that applicants ‘must identify as an underrepresented minority.’ Specifically, eligible applicants are restricted to ‘African American, Hispanic, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.’ Because this is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, we’ve filed a federal complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. Great medicine has no room for racism or discrimination of any kind, and certainly not in the medical education programs.”

Read more at OCPAthink.com.