Case Particulars

Tribunal

Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR)

Date Filed

May 20, 2026

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On May 20, 2026, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) against Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) “…for its administration and promotion of six (6) programs and scholarships which discriminate based on race, color, and/or national origin, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”), the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1 (“Equal Protection Clause”) and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”).”

EPP’s civil rights complaint continues:

As detailed in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), race-based classifications in education and training are subject to strict scrutiny. Programs that explicitly or effectively prioritize applicants from certain racial or ethnic groups while excluding or disadvantaging others (e.g., “underrepresented in medicine” preferences that operate as proxies for race) violate civil rights laws. This includes scholarships, diversity-focused residencies, fellowships, mentoring programs, and “pathway” initiatives that use racial criteria for eligibility, scoring, or selection.

 

Equal access to medical education and training should be based on individual merit, qualifications, and potential to serve patients — not racial group membership. Discriminatory practices undermine public trust in medicine, fairness, and the integrity of the healthcare workforce undermining HHS’s nondiscrimination requirements and policy goals.

 

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) offers numerous programs which discriminate on the basis of race under the pretext of giving preferences to or promoting services as intended for “minority” students or similar racial and ethnic classifications.

The Complaint next explains how the REACH program violates federal law:

The programs and scholarships identified above violate Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause by discriminating on the basis of race, skin color, or national origin. Furthermore, because these programs and scholarships involve the education of health care professionals such discrimination also violates Section 1557 of the ACA.

 

Title VI prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any “program or activity” that receives federal financial assistance. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. The term “program or activity” encompasses “all of the operations … of a college, university, or other postsecondary institution, or a public system of higher education.” See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d4a(2)(A). As noted in Rowles v. Curators of the University of Missouri, 983 F.3d 345, 355 (8th Cir. 2020), “Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in federally funded programs,” and therefore applies to universities receiving federal financial assistance. Because OHSU receives federal funds, including funding from Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) they are subject to Title VI.

 

Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in certain health programs and activities. Section 1557 provides that, except as otherwise provided in title I of the ACA, an individual shall not, on the grounds prohibited under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, any health program or activity, any part of which is receiving Federal financial assistance, including credits, subsidies, or contracts of insurance, or under any program or activity that is administered by an executive agency or any entity established under title I of the ACA

Finally, EPP’s complaint summarizes and requests HHS OCR take action:

Because the discrimination outlined above is presumptively illegal, and OHSU cannot show any compelling government justification for it, the fact that they condition eligibility on race, color, or national origin violates Title VI, the Equal Protection Clause and the Affordable Care Act.

 

HHS OCR has the power and obligation to investigate OHSU’s role in creating, funding, promoting, and administering these programs and scholarships and to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold them accountable for that unlawful conduct. This includes, if necessary, imposing fines, initiating administrative proceedings to suspend or terminate federal financial assistance and referring the case to the Department of Justice for judicial proceedings to enforce the rights of the United States under federal law. After all, “[t]he way to stop discrimination … is to stop discriminating[.]” Parents Involved in Cmty. Sch. v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 551 U.S. 701, 748 (2007).

 

Accordingly, we respectfully ask that the Department of Health and Human Services promptly open a formal investigation, impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from these programs and scholarships based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future programming and scholarships at OHSU comport with federal civil rights laws.

HHS OCR is evaluating EPP’s civil rights complaint for further action.