'Diversity in surgery' internship program at Chicago med school under DOE investigation after complaints of bias

The Department of Education has launched an investigation into the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine following complaints that the requirements for its Department of Surgery's "diversity" internship were discriminatory.

The program is currently only open to members of certain races, and applicants are required to submit a photo of themselves.



On January 19, the DOE's Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, made the decision to investigate in response to a complaint filed by medical watchdog Do No Harm (DNH) in August of last year. 

DNH program manager Laura Morgan argued that the requirement "illegally discriminated against on the basis of their race, color, and national origin," and was thus a clear violation of Title VI.

On their website, Loyola claims that the internship "is intended to encourage medical students from racial and ethnic groups that are underrepresented in medicine to consider pursuing a career in academic surgery."

Applications are limited to those who identify as "African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander." Notably absent from the list are Asians and white students.

In an interview with the Daily Caller, DNH senior fellow and University of Michigan professor emeritus Mark Perry pointed out that Loyola's actions should not be viewed in a vacuum, rather they are "representative of the illegal discrimination taking place at almost every US medical school on the basis of race, color, or national origin."

"This is just one more disappointing example of dozens of medical schools either being cluelessly unaware that this type of discrimination is illegal or they are instead inexcusably unconcerned about violating the civil rights of certain groups of students."

He went on to state that DNH had uncovered discrimination at almost every US medical school. In many cases, race was the factor at play, while in others it was sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.