In a document recently obtained by the Washington Examiner, it was revealed that Texas Tech University Medical School was passing on students based on race under the guise of “Affirmative Action.” Texas Tech went as far as to take down former alumni portraits on their websites and campus to boost their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) diversity scores. This comes in the wake of civil action lawsuits filed against colleges like Harvard and the University of North Carolina for their blatant anti-constitutional discrimination against students based on race, citing “Affirmative Action” measures as a means to boost their DEI scores in the eyes of the government.
WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Texas Tech medical school touted ‘affirmative action plan’ to score diversity recognition
By Jeremiah Poff; January 18, 2023
The medical school at Texas Tech University repeatedly touted its affirmative action plan in a survey for the Association of American Medical Colleges on its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, new documents show.
The responses contributed to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s 84% score on the AAMC’s Diversity, Inclusion, Culture, and Equity Inventory survey, indicating “substantial diversity, inclusion, culture, and equity efforts.” The school’s responses to the survey were obtained by the medical watchdog group Do No Harm through a Freedom of Information Act request and exclusively shared with the Washington Examiner.
The school informed the AAMC in the survey that the institution’s office of equal opportunity annually presented the university presidential Cabinet with the school’s affirmative action plan. The school also said it had recently created a new position of vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion that had been “tasked with developing a university-wide action plan that outlines a specific set of achievable goals that will advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The responses from Texas Tech are the latest example of medical schools bragging about their embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, to the AAMC. The Washington Examiner, in its series ” Failing Grade,” found that other medical schools went so far as to take down alumni photos because there were too many white students and required job applicants to provide diversity statements for faculty positions.
Like many schools, Texas Tech openly advertised its commitment to DEI on its website, which says the institution seeks to “enlighten the TTUHSC community about diversity, equity, and inclusion” and “empower all team members to openly be their most diverse selves within a culture of acceptance.”
“Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is committed to creating learning and working environments that are comprised of individuals of all social and intrinsic identities and backgrounds,” the website says. “TTUHSC strives to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion through the removal of barriers for historically marginalized individuals to continue creating greater access.”
A 2021 report by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, found that Texas Tech had 42 dedicated DEI staffers, slightly below the average of 45.1 in the 64 schools that make up the nation’s Power Five athletic conferences.
The medical school, located in Lubbock, Texas, has a student body of over 700 and is nationally ranked as the 48th best medical school for primary care and 87th for research by U.S. News and World Report.
Affirmative action, the practice of considering race in college admissions, has long been a controversial practice and has been upheld previously by the Supreme Court, which agreed that it was a necessary tool to achieve a diverse student body.
But in October, the court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. While a decision is not expected until June, the conservative-leaning court is poised to strike down affirmative action and prohibit the consideration of race in college admissions.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said that medical schools like Texas Tech could not achieve their stated diversity goals by considering race in admissions without sacrificing merit.
“You can’t say we’re going to demand to have this diverse group and yet at the same time [admit] the most qualified individuals we possibly can find,” Goldfarb said. “[There’s] this conflict that exists and that conflict cannot be resolved. There’s no way to do both. It’s just physically impossible.”
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center did not respond to a request for comment.