A conservative legal group has filed a civil rights complaint against Tulane University School of Medicine, alleging racial discrimination in a mentorship program that defines ‘underrepresented backgrounds’ in ways that exclude white and most Asian students.
The Legal Insurrection Foundation submitted the complaint Monday to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, calling for an investigation into whether the New Orleans-based medical school’s IMPRESS program violates federal nondiscrimination laws.
Program Focus Raises Questions
Tulane’s ‘Introduction to the Medical Profession: a Rotation to Empower Students’ (IMPRESS) program offers mentorship and career-building workshops specifically for medical students from underrepresented backgrounds. While current descriptions mention ‘various backgrounds,’ archived materials and affiliated university pages define eligibility more narrowly β excluding white students and most Asian applicants.
One definition used by the school considers ‘underrepresented in medicine’ to include African American, Hispanic, Vietnamese, Native American/Alaskan Native, and Pacific Islander students β a classification that effectively screens out other racial groups.
Legal Challenge Mounts
‘This goes beyond standard DEI programs,’ William Jacobson, president of Legal Insurrection Foundation and a Cornell Law professor, told The Daily Wire. ‘We believe it constitutes illegal racial discrimination under civil rights law.’
The complaint argues the program likely violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race-based discrimination by federally funded institutions. Tulane has received tens of millions in federal funding while operating the IMPRESS program through its surgery department.
Jacobson noted that explicit racial classifications have become legally risky for universities following recent Supreme Court rulings, leading some schools to use terms like ‘underrepresented’ as proxies for race-based preferences.
Expanding Definitions
Other Tulane materials reference broader diversity efforts encompassing ‘religious beliefs, sexual identity, and other non-traditional students.’ Dillard University, which promotes the program locally, adds LGBTQIA+ identification as qualifying criteria.
Fourth-year Tulane medical students can participate by helping recruit and teach ‘underrepresented minorities’ through the program β phrasing that appears in current course descriptions.
The complaint urges HHS to investigate whether Tulane uses race, color, or national origin in determining access to IMPRESS’s educational and professional benefits. The filing comes as the Trump administration reaffirms its opposition to diversity initiatives in higher education following midterm election losses.
Source: www.dailywire.com β https://www.dailywire.com/news/red-state-medical-school-under-fire-over-definition-of-underrepresented-backgrounds