Despite the Supreme Court's decision prohibiting race as a factor in college admissions, a new study by Do No Harm reveals that medical schools nationwide are employing workarounds to maintain racial favoritism in their admissions practices.
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard last summer prohibits the use of race as a factor in college admissions. However, a new study by Do No Harm, a group of medical professionals focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, has found that many medical schools are devising workarounds to circumvent the ruling.
The study, titled "Skirting SCOTUS: How medical schools will continue to practice racially conscious admissions," cites leading medical organizations that have expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court's decision and their intent to find ways to continue promoting racial diversity in medical school admissions.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), for example, released a statement saying that it "believes that a diverse and inclusive biomedical research workforce with individuals from historically excluded and underrepresented groups in biomedical research is critical" and that it would "work together to adapt following today's court decision without compromising these goals."
AAMC president David Skorton has also stated that he is "feeling determined that we are going to continue to do the things we need to do to diversify the medical school classes and the health care workforce, not for any political or ideological reason, but because it's good for the public health."
The American College of Physicians has also pledged to "continue to advocate for policies that can help to increase diversity and promote equity."
According to the study, when affirmative action was legal, universities could "engage in explicit racial preference without legal consequence," and that Asian applicants were negatively affected. The study found that "even though MCAT scores and GPA were integral to the admissions process, the penalties and bonuses assigned to members of racial groups became so extreme that Black applicants with average MCAT scores and GPAs were four times as likely to be admitted to medical school as academically equivalent Asian applicants."
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, board chair of Do No Harm, believes that medical schools are intent on finding ways to circumvent the Supreme Court's decision.
"They feel that diversity is such an important value in health care that they need to ignore the Supreme Court and go their own way," he said. "There's really no justification for this. Their responsibility is to the patients, to create the most qualified workforce that they can possibly create."
The study concludes that "despite the Supreme Court's decision," many in the healthcare establishment "nevertheless remain ideologically committed to the principle of racial favoritism and reject the virtue of race blindness."
The AAMC and American College of Physicians did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
