America First Legal files discrimination lawsuit against six Texas medical schools

America First Legal (AFL) recently filed a lawsuit against six Texas medical schools, alleging discrimination against plaintiff George Stewart on the basis of race and sex in admissions. 

Affirmative action policies, the lawsuit says, discriminate against White, Asian, and male applicants. 

In a press release, AFL argues that these universities are “illegally using race and sex preferences in their admissions–a practice that violates Title VI, Title IX, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” 

The lawsuit names six universities that rejected Stewart: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, UT Health Science Center at Houston, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and UT Southwestern Medical Center. 

[RELATED: Harvard loses fight with insurance company over Affirmative Action lawsuit fees]

AFL filed the lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Lubbock, Texas. The lawsuit says that after the medical schools rejected Stewart, he “obtained the admissions data for each of the six medical schools through an open-records request.” 

The data revealed the race, sex, GPA, and MCAT score of each 2021-2022 applicant. 

Stewart graduated from UT with a 3.96/4.0 GPA and a 511/528 MCAT score, according to the lawsuit. The six medical schools denied him admission while admitting “over 450 lesser qualified minority students, ranging as low as a GPA of 2.82 or an MCAT of 495.”

“The data demonstrate that each of the defendant medical schools is providing admissions preferences to female, black, and Hispanic applicants while unlawfully discriminating against whites, Asians, and men in admissions decisions,” the lawsuit states. 

[RELATED: HARVARD Act combats discrimination in race-based admissions] 

Suzanna Cisneros, the Director of Media Relations for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, told Campus Reform that, as of January 11, “the university has not been served with this lawsuit.” 

“If a lawsuit is received, it is university policy to not comment on pending litigation,” she continued. 

UT Southwestern similarly told Campus Reform that the university “does not comment on pending litigation.” 

In a statement to Campus Reform, UT wrote that “the university does not comment on specifics of any legal matter” but addressed the medical school, which “does not consider the race or gender of applicants as a factor in its admissions process.”

”Instead, it uses a wide variety of other criteria as part of its holistic admissions process to identify applicants who best align with the school’s mission. Numerous variables are utilized to make that evaluation, including characteristics related to leadership, prior life experience, innovation and creativity, teamwork, and community engagement,” the statement continues. 

”Test scores, in conjunction with the rigor of pre-med coursework taken, are also utilized to determine competency in the foundational knowledge necessary to begin as a first-year medical school student and are only one aspect of the school’s consideration of applicants.” 

Campus Reform contacted America First Legal and the six medical schools for comment and made its best attempts to contact George Stewart. This article will be updated accordingly. 

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