A new report claims University of Texas medical schools gave significant admissions advantages to some racial groups before the Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action and are now refusing to release records that could show whether those practices continue.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A new report from the nonprofit Do No Harm alleges that medical schools in the University of Texas system used race-based admissions preferences before the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative action ruling and have since failed to provide post-decision admissions data needed to determine whether those practices ended.
The organization released an admissions analysis report Tuesday examining seven medical schools within the University of Texas system. Do No Harm said the findings raise concerns about whether racial preferences remain in use despite the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
In that 2023 ruling, a six-justice majority held that race-based college admissions violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The new report, titled “Racial Preferences At Texas Medical Schools,” was written by David Puelz, a statistician and professor at the University of Austin. Puelz examined admissions data from three schools before the Supreme Court ruling and concluded that applicants were treated differently based on race, according to the report.
At UT Southwestern, Puelz found that black applicants had “21 times the odds of acceptance compared to white applicants with similar academic credentials.”
According to a Daily Caller News Foundation report, the study also included statistical analysis of admissions data from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Medical School during the 2021 and 2022 admissions cycles.
Do No Harm said a prior report found that acceptance rates across racial groups changed little after the Supreme Court’s ruling and that testing data continued to show racial discrepancies.
The organization said the new findings “document the kind of race-based preferences that [the ruling] was meant to address and establish a baseline for assessing whether admissions practice changed after the decision.”
Ian Kingsbury, senior director of Do No Harm’s Center for Accountability in Medicine, said the University of Texas system’s refusal to provide post-ruling admissions data raises compliance questions.
“The silence from the University of Texas System is deafening. Dr. Puelz’s in-depth analysis shows that before the Students for Fair Admissions decision, Texas medical schools were heavily discriminating against white and Asian applicants, raising questions about whether race-conscious practices have continued or were rebranded to allow racial favoritism to persist,” Kingsbury said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“If they’re in compliance with federal law, why are UT medical schools stonewalling our public-records requests and refusing to provide post-SFFA admissions data? We will pursue every legal, legislative, and public-advocacy recourse until full compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling is achieved nationwide,” Kingsbury added.
The report said black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at higher rates than white and Asian applicants with similar academic records. Puelz evaluated applicants across three levels of academic ability and found black and Hispanic applicants were favored over Asian and white applicants, according to the report.
“If admission selection is entirely based on academic ability, the admission rates should be the same regardless of race up to statistical fluctuation,” the report stated.
Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said the findings are part of a broader pattern the organization has identified in medical school admissions.
“Our research reveals that a number of medical schools continue to pursue identity politics and employ discriminatory, racially conscious admissions policy,” Goldfarb said, according to the organization’s website.
“These policies were deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court, and these schools are shirking their duty to train the most qualified group of future healthcare professionals. Do No Harm will continue to file complaints and lawsuits in order to restore merit and excellence to medical education,” Goldfarb added.
The organization said seven University of Texas system medical schools have declined to provide admissions data. Those schools are UT Southwestern Medical School, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, UT Health Science Center at Houston, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, UT Austin Dell Medical School, UT Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine and UT Tyler School of Medicine.
Do No Harm describes itself as an organization working to protect health care from ideological threats, according to its website. The group opposes identity politics in medical research and clinical practice.
The organization has previously released reports on medical associations backing away from diversity, equity and inclusion requirements and has also reported on what it described as the ongoing effects of race-related policies in medicine.
The latest report places new pressure on the University of Texas system to release post-SFFA admissions records. Do No Harm says those records are needed to determine whether the schools changed their admissions practices after the Supreme Court’s ruling or continued using race-conscious criteria under different labels.
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