Do No Harm sues Defense Dept officials, University of Colorado, for allegedly discriminating against white applicants for medical scholarships
The lawsuit argues that the scholarships in question should be issued based on merit rather than race.
Non-profit advocacy group Do No Harm (DNH) recently filed a lawsuit against the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons (SOMOS) on grounds that their E. Anthony Rankin Scholarship Program excludes white applicants from qualifying for the award.
The complaint centers around the particular case of “Member A,” an anonymous would-be applicant for the award who contacted DNH after learning that his racial background prevented him from receiving the scholarship.
“Member A was hurt and dismayed that SOMOS would use his race — which he cannot control — to preclude him from participating in the program and learning from some of the country’s most distinguished orthopaedic surgeons in service of our nation’s military and veteran communities,” the complaint states, according to Fox News.
The lawsuit also names several members of the Department of Defense, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, as defendants in the case, alleging that their “partnership with SOMOS, a race-based service-learning program” constitutes a violation of the Fifth Amendment.
According to the complaint, Member A also sought the “University of Colorado’s Underrepresented Minority Visiting Elective Scholarship,” but was allegedly prevented from applying since the scholarship specifies that it is open to students who “identif[y] with groups who are recognized as historically underrepresented in medicine including but not limited to African American/Black, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, or those from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background.”
DNH’s lawsuit argues that this violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and is asking that the court issue an injunction preventing the University from “seeing or considering applicants’ race when selecting the recipients” for the award.
“When we’re all on the operating table with a broken leg, we want the best surgeon. We don’t want someone based on the color of their skin, and we want merit,” DNH’s Dr. Jared Ross told Fox News. “And unfortunately, in the name of diversity — which is a laudable goal, having people from different backgrounds — we have essentially instituted discrimination and racial quotas to get to what the other side calls ‘equity.’”
Campus Reform has reported previously on DNH’s efforts to prevent racial discrimination in the medical field. In August, the group filed a complaint against Western Michigan University’s “Underrepresented in Medicine Visiting Elective Scholarship Program” on grounds that it unfairly discriminated against white applicants. The school subsequently scrapped the program.
[RELATED: Michigan med school ends race-based scholarship after civil rights complaint]
“Due to the ongoing efforts of DNH 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,” DNH senior fellow Mark Perry told National Review. “Medical schools are discovering that there is no legal defense for racial discrimination.”
Campus Reform has reached out to DNH and SOMOS for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.