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<p><span style="font-weight:400">A prominent Louisiana medical school may be discriminating based on race through a mentorship program, according to a civil rights complaint filed by a conservative watchdog with the Trump administration. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The Legal Insurrection Foundation filed a </span><a href="https://equalprotect.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/HHS-OCR-Complaint-Tulane-IMPRESS-Program-11-9-2026.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">complaint</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> Monday against Tulane University School of Medicine over a medical mentorship program </span><a href="https://uraf.tulane.edu/stem-opportunities" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">aimed</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> at students from “underrepresented backgrounds in medicine.” The </span><a href="https://medicine.tulane.edu/sites/default/files/pictures/OMA_Diversity_Inclusion_At_A%20Glance_092718.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">definition</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> used by the New Orleans-area school in recent years for “underrepresented background” excludes white and most Asian students.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The complaint, obtained by The Daily Wire, asked the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights to probe the private university’s “Introduction to the Medical Profession: a Rotation to Empower Students” (IMPRESS) program for compliance with federal civil rights law. The school’s surgery department runs the program.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“We identified this program, which goes beyond DEI,” William Jacobson, the group’s president and a law professor at Cornell University, told The Daily Wire. “We’re challenging it because we believe it’s a civil rights violation.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">He added that many schools across the country are submitting the term “underrepresented” for racial and ethnic classifications because they know they can’t use racial classifications.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Tulane, a private school in New Orleans that has received tens of millions in federal dollars, currently </span><a href="https://medicine.tulane.edu/surgery/academic-programs/impress" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">describes</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> the program as an “intensive course tailored” for medical school students “from various backgrounds in medicine” to receive “invaluable mentorship and practical tips for building a successful career in the medical field.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The program includes “practical workshops on clinical reasoning, surgical techniques, and patient communication.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Other </span><a href="https://uraf.tulane.edu/stem-opportunities" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">active</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> and <a href="https://archive.is/GJdJ8#selection-1333.0-1333.16" target="_blank" rel="noopener">archived </a></span><span style="font-weight:400">links on Tulane’s website refer to the program being available for those “from underrepresented backgrounds in medicine.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1215257" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-1.37.36-PM.png" alt="" width="1472" height="423" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-1.37.36-PM.png 1472w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-1.37.36-PM-300x86.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-1.37.36-PM-1024x294.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-1.37.36-PM-768x221.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1472px) 100vw, 1472px"/></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">One </span><a href="https://medicine.tulane.edu/sites/default/files/pictures/OMA_Diversity_Inclusion_At_A%20Glance_092718.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">definition used</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> by the university for “underrepresented in medicine” is “African American, Hispanic, Vietnamese, Native American/Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islanders.” This appears to be exclusively a racial definition and excludes white people and Asians. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“It’s also a violation because it would deter whites and Asians from even applying. Why would you apply to a program where you’ve already been told it’s for certain races and ethnicities, and you are not one of them?” he told The Daily Wire. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Other materials on Tulane’s website </span><a href="https://medicine.tulane.edu/news/promotions-and-changes-school-medicine-leadership" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">describe</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> its “significant gains” in increasing admissions from “traditionally underrepresented in medicine students” and the expansion of those diversity efforts into staff recruitment. </span><span style="font-weight:400">That definition of “underrepresented” described not only “groups who identify through race but also through religious beliefs, sexual identity, as well as other non-traditional students.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Jacobson said the description could deter others from applying. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Dillard University, a neighboring New Orleans academic institution, </span><a href="https://www.dillard.edu/academics/pre-health-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">advertises</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> Tulane’s IMPRESS program as being available to those who “self-identify as being from an ethnic or racial background that is underrepresented in medicine or as LGBTQIA+.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Fourth-year medical students at Tulane can additionally </span><a href="https://catalog.tulane.edu/courses/surg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">sign up</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> for a course that gives them the “opportunity to assist with the recruitment and teaching of underrepresented minorities in medicine who participate” in the IMPRESS program. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The complaint from the Legal Insurrection Foundation said the program “appears to discriminate on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin” and could violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits funding for entities that discriminate on the basis of race. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“HHS should determine whether Tulane uses race, color, or national origin in determining access to IMPRESS’s educational, professional-development, and financial benefits,” the complaint urges. “HHS should also examine whether these practices violate applicable federal antidiscrimination laws.”</span></p>
<p>The Trump administration has taken numerous actions to target DEI programs at private universities across the country, arguing that merit should be the only criteria evaluated for admissions and benefit programs. The administration stood by its opposition to DEI despite widespread losses in the midterm elections last week.</p>
<p>“FYI: DEI is still dead,” the White House declared Thursday.</p>
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<br /><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/red-state-medical-school-under-fire-over-definition-of-underrepresented-backgrounds">Source link </a></p>
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Red State Medical School Under Fire Over Definition Of ‘Underrepresented Backgrounds’
