Medical schools are reportedly circumventing the SCOTUS ruling that prohibits race in admissions.

A report by nonprofit organization Do No Harm (DNH) warns that medical schools are allegedly circumventing a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the use of race-based factors in admissions.

The DNH aims to maintain "identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice" by representing "physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers." In a previous report, the organization discovered that "many in the healthcare establishment remain ideologically committed to racial favoritism and reject the virtue of race blindness," despite a high court ruling.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and several medical specialty societies and medical schools "condemned" the Supreme Court decision shortly after it was issued, using "veiled threats" to circumvent the Court's decision.

The recently released report, "Skirting SCOTUS: How medical schools will continue to practice racially conscious admissions," employs both MCAT and admissions data. However, since the AAMC does not release school-level data, it is not immediately clear which medical schools are still implementing affirmative action and to what extent. Additionally, the data does not include public universities, which were already prohibited from engaging in such practices.

The report states that four of the thirteen schools that published clear racial/ethnic demographic data for the class of 2027 and 2028 experienced an increase in the proportion of black or Hispanic students.

The report states that in addition to tracking yearly demographic changes, fidelity to SFFA is also determined by the extent to which affirmative action influenced admissions policies prior to SFFA.

If the penalty assigned to "white and Asian applicants was significant," the demographic change would be reflected as such and vice versa.

The study highlighted that Quinnipiac, Maryland, Chicago, and Duke universities have admissions policies that require further examination, as they admit black and Hispanic medical students at a rate that significantly surpasses their representation in the applicant pool (13% in 2024).

The report suggests that the low GPAs and MCAT scores of black and Hispanic medical school applicants indicate that the schools still discriminate against students based on their race.

"Ian Kingsbury, research director at DNH, stated to Planet Chronicle Digital that it is astonishing and reprehensible how some medical schools are blatantly disregarding the Supreme Court's ban on affirmative action. This can be seen in the data and the schools' own statements, where they openly criticize the Supreme Court and emphasize the significance of diversity in their admissions process."

"The report stated that it is unclear whether the decision to stop publishing data after SFFA was a coincidence, an attempt to conceal improper implementation, or an effort to hide the statistical reality associated with proper implementation. The report also noted that the pressure from the AAMC to continue to racially discriminate and the capture of many medical schools by far-left ideologues have led to the conclusion that these schools, as well as the dozens of others that didn't publish any data, do not automatically earn a presumption of innocence."

"Unfortunately, despite efforts, Students for Fair Admissions has not yet resolved the issue of racial discrimination in higher education, as Kingsbury stated."

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against considering race as a factor in college admissions, with a 6-3 decision.

Two legal challenges were decided by the justices regarding how Harvard University, a private institution, and the University of North Carolina, a public one, select their students for their classrooms.

In 2014, the student activist group Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit against Harvard for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.

Additional comment was sought from AAMC, Quinnipiac University, University of Maryland, University of Chicago, and Duke University by Planet Chronicle Digital.

The AAMC instructed Planet Chronicle Digital to access its most recent report on medical school applicants and enrollment for 2024.

The AAMC and its member medical schools are committed to increasing the supply of physicians and to diversifying the applicant and matriculant pools, as evidenced by the increase in first-time applicants to medical school. According to David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO, a more varied workforce can improve access to health care and the health of our communities.