The Department of Education is stepping in to investigate California university medical schools for racial discrimination surrounding their programming and scholarships. The investigation comes after “Mark Perry of Do No Harm, a nonprofit fighting against the progressive capture of medicine, filed a federal civil-rights complaint alleging that the schools violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race by academic programs that receive federal funding” reports National Review. 

What drew ire is the program at the U diversity of California-San Francisco School of Medicine’s Racial Affinity Caucusing Groups.” The program is racially segregating and was piloted by the Pediatrics and Internal Medicine departments over the past two years.

The program “recognizes that the work that Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) are doing to process, heal, and dismantle racism is different from the work that white people need to do,” according to the school’s website.

Behaving as the literal definition of segregation, separate sessions are held for students who identify as black or African American, as white, and as people of color.

“It’s like an apartheid sort of approach to medical education,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm said of the San Francisco case. When he attended University of Pennsylvania Medical School many years ago, his colleagues fought against separating the black students, Goldfarb claimed. “Now they push for these spaces to fight racism when they’re the ones acting it out,” he said.

“These positions are being given to minority applicants over white applicants. There are people who will not be able to pursue careers as dermatologists because they won’t be able to get training in those fields,” Goldfarb added. “If you don’t get into a residency you won’t be a surgeon.”

National Review notes UCSF did not respond to a request for comment and similarly, the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine is under investigation for offering a $2,000 award that has race-based eligibility restrictions.

“The Keck school’s Diversity in Medicine Visiting Clerkship Award is only open to fourth-year applicants who are from racial/ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in medicine. Students who identify as black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander are eligible, according to the school website.”