The College Fix

Spokesperson says the university never considered race in its admissions process

Texas Tech University “will not consider race” in its medical school applications, according to a settlement agreement reached this month with a white student who sued the institution.

America First Legal, which represented student George Stewart in the case, described the settlement as a “victory” in a news release.

In the agreement, the public research university “maintained that its admissions practices were lawful despite statistical analysis showing strong evidence of racial bias,” according to the news release.

However, it also promised that it “will not consider race when selecting applicants for admission to its medical school,” the release states.

“Divvying up Americans based on race only creates problems and solves none. All universities should take note of [Texas Tech’s] decision and do likewise,” senior counsel Nick Barry stated.

Barry cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which “made it clear that race cannot be a consideration in college admissions” because it violates students’ “right to equal protection.”

University spokesperson Holly Russel said Texas Tech never considered race in its admissions process in a statement to the Texas Tribune.

“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,” Russel said.

In the lawsuit, filed in 2023, Stewart alleged Texas Tech and five other medical schools rejected him, a white student, due to “racial preferences” in their admissions policies.

He accused the universities of admitting female, black, and Hispanic students with lower MCAT scores and lower grade-point averages, The College Fix reported previously:

The Texas Tribune reported that, according to the lawsuit, “Stewart graduated from UT-Austin with a 3.96 grade point average and a biology degree. He scored a 511 out of a possible 528 on the exam required for admission, known as the MCAT, and spent two years applying to medical schools.”

After he was rejected, he filed an open records request and “obtained the race, sex, grade-point average, and MCAT score data for every applicant,” the lawsuit stated.

He found that the “median and mean grade-point averages and MCAT scores of admitted black and Hispanic students are significantly lower than the grade-point averages and MCAT scores of admitted white and Asian students; Admitted female students have lower MCAT scores than admitted male students.”

The original lawsuit also named five University of Texas medical schools, but Stewart “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,” according to the Tribune.

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Medical students take notes in class. New Africa/Shutterstock

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