A medical school is scrapping a scholarship program that was created exclusively for racial minorities after a watchdog organization filed a civil-rights complaint alleging discriminatory behavior.
Western Michigan University’s School of Medicine shuttered its “Underrepresented in Medicine Visiting Elective Scholarship Program” earlier this week after Do No Harm, a watchdog organization opposed to race preferences in medicine, filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education in January 2023, National Review has learned.
“During the investigation, the Medical School notified OCR that it discontinued the program. The Medical School further confirmed that it removed promotional material regarding the program from its website,” the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights said Monday in a letter exclusively obtained by National Review.
The letter is addressed to Do No Harm senior fellow Mark Perry and clarifies that Western Michigan University’s medical school is a separate entity from the university itself. National Review has reached out to the Western Michigan medical school for comment.
“OCR reviewed the Medical School’s website and did not find any information about the program that indicated it is active or that the Medical School plans to continue the program,” the letter adds.
The Department of Education is closing Do No Harm’s civil rights complaint because Western Michigan medical school canceled the scholarship program in question. The agency’s investigation did not find any individuals who were harmed by the scholarship program.
Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, and other characteristics is prohibited under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The “Underrepresented in Medicine” scholarship program offered by Western Michigan University’s medical school stated on application materials that people from certain racial groups were the only ones eligible for the program.
An applicant for the scholarship “[m]ust identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, or Hispanic/Latino,” a PDF of the application says in its section on eligibility requirements. This mandate appears to disqualify applicants of certain races and nationalities from the scholarship.
The scholarship application includes a statement on diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to creating a learning environment that teaches “equity” in clinical practice. Diversity statements echoing left-wing views have become commonplace in institutions of higher education and oftentimes schools require them for potential hires. Progressive racial ideology has also made its way into the admissions process and coursework of medical schools like Western Michigan.
Western Michigan Medical School’s devotion to “health equity” is a centerpiece of its mission – a reflection of the school’s progressive bona fides.
“The program is designed to increase awareness of opportunities for residency training at the medical school and encourage students with diverse life experiences to apply to our residency programs,” an archived page about the now-defunct scholarship says. The web page informs applicants that they must identify “lived experiences that promote health equity” to be eligible.
“As is common practice for medical schools, WMed offers a visiting student elective to fourth-year medical students from other institutions. Applications for fourth-year elective clerkships are accepted from medical students attending a US LCME/COCA accredited medical school, and from Canadian medical schools jointly accredited by the LCME and CACMS,” a spokesperson for the medical school told NR.
“All electives are two or four weeks in duration. WMed previously offered a small scholarship to assist with living expenses for visiting students. WMed no longer offers scholarships for this program.”
Other medical schools have removed racial qualifications for similar scholarship programs after Perry filed civil rights complaints against them two years ago. Do No Harm’s complaints against medical schools have warranted 40 federal civil rights investigations as of December 2023.
“Due to the ongoing efforts of Do No Harm to challenge illegal discrimination that violates federal civil rights laws, WMU is one of more than 30 US medical schools that have either discontinued or removed race-based eligibility criteria from a discriminatory program,” Perry said in a statement to NR.
“Medical schools are discovering that there is no legal defense for racial discrimination.”