A group led by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is claiming victory after it got a commitment from Texas Tech’s medical school not to consider race in admission decisions, which the school continues to deny ever doing.
George Stewart sued Texas Tech University Health Science Center and five other medical schools in the state as well as their presidents, medical school deans and admission officers in 2023.
Stewart, who had a 3.96 grade point average as an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin and scored a 511 on his MCAT, claimed the schools rejected him in favor of lesser qualified students of color. He said he obtained data from Tech that revealed it accepted Black and Hispanic students with much lower MCAT scores than white and Asian students.
In a settlement agreement reached this month, Stewart agreed not to reapply to or to apply to work for Texas Tech and withdraw all his claims against the school. In exchange Texas Tech, which has denied any wrongdoing, promised not to consider race in admissions.
Nick Barry, senior counsel at America First Legal, the group that represented Stewart, said in a statement that Texas Tech had been violating students’ Fourteenth Amendment Constitutional right to equal protection.
“Divvying up Americans based on race only creates problems and solves none,” Barry said. “All universities should take note of TTUHSC’s decision and do likewise.”
Both parties agreed to pay their own attorneys’ fees.
“TTUHSC’s School of Medicine did not consider race in admissions decisions when the lawsuit was filed, nor was there any intention of doing so in the future,” university spokesperson Holly Russel said.
Stewart’s initial lawsuit included five medical schools within the University of Texas System, but he was required to separate it into two cases. He withdrew the case against UT schools last year. It is unclear why, but he can bring a case again.
The Attorney General’s office, which represented Texas Tech, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It declined to represent the UT schools, so they had to hire outside counsel.
This was one of at least two cases America First Legal and Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor general for Texas, filed against higher education institutions in the state to chip away at affirmative action before the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional in 2023.
Its other case involved Texas A&M University and alleged a faculty fellowship program discriminated against white and Asian applicants. That case was ultimately dismissed.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also used America First Legal in four lawsuits, targeting issues including protection for women in education and Title 42, immigration, and asylum programs. In some of these cases, America First Legal has agreed to work pro bono.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Photo: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (Texas Tech University)
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