Six Texas medical schools are facing a lawsuit accusing them of violating anti-discrimination laws. It was filed by a man who believes he was denied admission into the schools because he is male and white.
The lawsuit, filed on January 10 by America First Legal on behalf of George Stewart, stated that the universities violated anti-discrimination laws by preferring female and non-Asian minority applicants.
The lawsuit is targeting Texas Tech University Health Science Center as well as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
None of the schools named in the suit have released any public statements in response.
Stewart is challenging affirmative action policies that many U.S. schools abide by to increase enrollment of black, Hispanic, and female students in universities and medical schools.
A Supreme Court case decided in October on the subject involved Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The majority “cast a skeptical eye on the two institutions’ methods for incorporating race into the admission decision-making process.”
However, the verdict has not been released; it is expected in mid-2023.
Stewart targeted the University of Texas and Texas Tech University school systems. After he was denied admission, he acquired 2021 enrollment data for the schools.
The data, according to Stewart, revealed that even though black, Hispanic, and female students had achieved lower GPAs than white, Asian, and male student applicants, they were shown preference during admissions.
Stewart accused the schools of race and sex discrimination, which is prohibited in federally funded educational programs by federal law.
Data from College Factual show that in both the undergraduate and graduate areas of Texas Tech University Health Science Center, women make up the majority of students. Women represent 84% of undergraduate students and 64% of graduate students. The data also reveal that white students make up 58% of undergraduate students and almost 48% of graduate students.
A similar lawsuit was filed by America First Legal in September, accusing Texas A&M University of violating laws against race and sex discrimination since the school began abiding by policies meant to diversify its faculty. The school has denied any wrongdoing.
Texas schools were also involved when the Supreme Court first ruled on affirmative action policies in 2016 in Fisher v. The University of Texas.
In that case, the court ruled that schools were allowed to consider race in the admissions process and called diversity a “compelling governmental interest.”
