The medical school at Loyola University Chicago recently rescinded written eligibility requirements for an internship that prevented white and Asian students from applying for it. But it did so only under pressure, and it is uncertain whether it actually will select any whites or Asian applicants for the internship.
The public interest group Do No Harm filed a complaint with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights alleging that the exclusion of whites violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. But after the medical school dropped the written eligibility requirements mandating that applicants not be white or Asian, the Office for Civil Rights notified Laura Morgan of Do No Harm that it dropped its investigation into the Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine.
To make it seem like the complaint was moot and should be dismissed, the medical school removed identity-based requirements for its Diversity in Surgery Visiting Sub-Internship Program.
The complaint and updated webpage show that applicants no longer have to submit photos or state that they belong to the following racial/ethnic groups: “African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, [and] Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.”
Do No Harm filed the complaint in Aug. 2022. It is a nonprofit medical group that opposes “medicine based on discriminatory, divisive ideologies.”
Its complaint included photos of the internship requirements listed on the medical school’s website, which it noted constituted “discrimination on the basis of race … in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Marcela Sanchez-Aguila, a supervisory attorney for OCR, confirmed her office’s investigation into the Stritch School of Medicine on Jan. 19. About a week later, Morgan noted, the website was updated to remove the identity-based requirements depicted in the complaint’s photos.
An Education Department spokesperson says that “OCR does not have any open investigations into Loyola University Strich [sic] School of Medicine.”
Do No Harm’s Morgan said that a university will often change eligibility criteria for opportunities such as internships after becoming the subject of a civil rights investigation.
Do No Harm focuses on woke policies distorting medical education and the practice of medicine, including illegal racial or sexual discrimination, so-called gender-affirming care, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates in medicine. Its November report on the University of Florida’s College of Medicine showed the pervasiveness of DEI in curricula and hiring processes.
Do No Harm has also chronicled how the University of California San Diego School of Medicine promotes DEI and critical race theory (CRT) concepts in education and programs. Do No Harm explains who these left-wing ideologies harm medical quality and thus patients.
“Radical activists are using shoddy studies and research to undermine healthcare,” notes its website. “It’s time to stop this divisive, destructive agenda in its tracks.”
