Yale, AAAP hit with civil rights complaint over racially exclusive fellowship
The Yale School of Medicine and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) were named in a civil rights complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project on June 24.
The civil rights watchdog group filed the complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services’(HHS) Office for Civil Rights.
The Yale School of Medicine and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) were named in a civil rights complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project on June 24.
The civil rights watchdog group filed the complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services’(HHS) Office for Civil Rights, citing the medical school’s partnership with AAAP for the Recognizing and Eliminating Disparities in Addiction through Culturally Informed Healthcare (REACH) Program.
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According to its application process on the medical school’s website, the REACH Program limits applications to the “racial/ethnic minoritized population,” including “Black, African, or African American, non-Caucasian Hispanic or Latinx, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.” Successful applicants could receive up to $104,000 in fellowship program funding.
The description page on the Yale School of Medicine website says the program is now over.
“This site was updated June 29, 2025 to correct outdated information on this page and update the status of the program after its end on June 27, 2025,” the page reads. “The original grant was awarded in 2018 and the final cohort of scholars completed programming on June 27, 2025.”
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In a statement provided to Campus Reform, the EPP called for the Department of Health and Human Services to review its grants to confirm that none violate Title VI protections.
The department should “do a thorough review of all programs to ensure that goals of increasing access and outcomes for minority communities are not implemented through discriminatory eligibility requirements imposed by grantees,” the statement said.
“All applicants for HHS funded programs are entitled to equal treatment without regard to race, color, or national origin,” the statement continued. “The grantee, in this case AAAP and Yale, must obey that equal protection guarantee.”
Campus Reform has contacted the Yale Medical School and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. This article will be updated accordingly.
