The
Arkansas
Minority Health Commission agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the state government agency of violating
federal law
by providing a scholarship to
exclusively minority students
entering the healthcare field.
The lawsuit was filed last month by the medical watchdog group Do No Harm, which said in court filings that the commission was violating federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race. Under the terms of the Monday settlement agreement, the commission agreed to discontinue the scholarship.
“Do No Harm is pleased that the Arkansas Minority Health Commission decided to stop offering a scholarship that determined the applicants’ eligibility based on race,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Do No Harm board chairman, said in a statement. “The scholarship program was blatantly illegal and yet another example of injecting race-based decision-making into education for medical professionals.”
TOP PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL HIT WITH CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT FOR RACE-BASED PROGRAM
The scholarship, which awarded $1,000 to full-time students and $500 to part-time students, required that any applicant for the program “represent a racial minority population underrepresented in the health workforce.” The scholarship defined minority students as those who are “black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and American Indian/Native American.”
The 2023 scholarship awarded a total of $27,500 to 29 students studying a healthcare-related discipline at a college or university.
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In a statement, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, acknowledged that the scholarship’s requirement of minority-only applicants was “unconstitutional.”
“The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution promises all Americans equal treatment, regardless of their race,” Griffin said. “Policies departing from this fundamental principle may be upheld only if they are ‘narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.’ In this case, although States have an interest in remedying past discrimination, the scholarship’s stated goal ‘to help increase diversity’ does not meet the 14th Amendment’s stringent requirement and is unconstitutional.”
