(The Lion) — Major medical schools continue to implement race-based admissions processes even after such practices were struck down by the Supreme Court.
The revelations come from a new report from anti-woke nonprofit Do No Harm (DNH), titled “Skirting SCOTUS Part II: How Medical Schools Will Continue to Practice Racially Conscious Admissions.”
The report details how medical schools, such as the University of Maryland, University of Chicago, and Duke University, appear to be failing to comply with the end of affirmative action admissions.
The 2023 Supreme Court ruling Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA) found that race-based affirmative action programs in higher education violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
According to Do No Harm, admissions bias towards one race over another can be detected by observing metrics such as standardized test scores across demographics. In a color-blind system, the group says, academic qualifications such as MCAT and GPA scores should not vary greatly by race among matriculating students.
An analysis of the data, however, found demographic bias since scores do vary by race.
For example, in 2024, matriculating Asian students at the schools examined still had far higher MCAT scores at around the 89th percentile, compared to the 84th percentile for white students, 68th percentile for black students, and 67th percentile for Hispanic students.
“Clearly, medical schools are finding workarounds to factor in race and ethnicity when they should be focused on aptitude and merit,” said Ian Kingsbury, Director of Research at Do No Harm.
“It is not only qualified students who pay the price for these discriminatory practices, but also patients. Failing to prioritize medical expertise will further erode trust in the doctor-patient relationship and undermine the integrity of the entire healthcare system.”
Despite the Court’s decision in SFFA, some medical schools such as the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine are not attempting to hide their adherence to race-based admissions. The school’s webpage openly states that “equity, inclusion, and diversity are woven into every aspect” of the institution, including in “pipeline efforts, admissions, staffing, curriculum, student support and community.”
Do No Harm’s report concludes by calling for “further judicial or legislative action … to ensure that the schools are focused on recruiting the most capable students regardless of their racial/ethnic background.”
