On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported a settlement between the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
The agreement, signed by Texas Tech Chancellor Tedd Mitchell on February 20, requires Texas Tech to end the use of race when making admission decisions. However, public documents indicate Tech had already ended the practice in 2009.
The Education Department’s decision stems from a complaint filed against the TTUHSC School of Medicine by the Center for Equal Opportunity back in 2005 for its use of racial and ethnic preferences in admission.
According to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin by recipients of federal financial assistance is prohibited.
After 14 years of investigation into whether or not Texas Tech violated Title VI, the school and DoEd have reached an agreement in the matter.
In the Resolution Letter to the Complaint, it stated there were some instances where race or national origin were considered in the admission processes, but not in all.
The resolution letter said, in part: “The TTUHSC’s School of Allied Health (now School of Health Professions), Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and School of Nursing never used an applicant’s race as a factor in the admissions process. OCR also found that TTUHSC’s School of Pharmacy, beginning in 2005, considered race or national origin in its admissions process, but then, since the fall of 2009, stopped considering an applicant’s race/national origin as a factor in the admissions process. Because the four schools do not consider race or national origin as a factor in their admissions processes, OCR has no basis for further investigation of the respective admissions policies and practices of these four schools.”
The resolution letter also stated: “This Resolution Agreement does not constitute an admission by TTUHSC of a violation of Title VI or any other law enforced by OCR.”
The following is a press release from the Texas Tech University System:
A resolution agreement was reached between Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights on February 20, 2019. The agreement resolves a 2004 complaint against the TTUHSC School of Medicine. It also outlines steps with regard to admissions and recruitment policies at TTUHSC. In a story published today, The Wall Street Journal incorrectly identified the university as Texas Tech University, which does not use race as a factor in admissions.
