HHS Launches Investigation of Oregon Health and Science U After Equal Protection Project Complaint

HHS Launches Investigation of Oregon Health and Science U After Equal Protection Project Complaint

The Equal Protection Project has filed over 115 civil rights complaints against over 290 institutions regarding over 850 programs and scholarships. We have moved beyond the Department of Education and increasingly have filed at HUD, DOJ, and HHS.

Our filings are getting results. We now have over 350 “wins/impacts” (meaning a program was changed) and probably the true number is much higher – that count only includes what we can verify.

Getting a federal agency to open a case for investigation is the most important first step. Of our 115 filings, over 40 have been opened for investigation. (For many of the others the institution self-corrected after negative publicity.) The latest investigation opened was by HHS after our Complaint Against Oregon Health and Science Univ.

From the Civil Rights Complaint:

We bring this civil rights complaint 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”).2 This pervasive discrimination in health care programs and services necessitates HHS action to enforce the non-discrimination laws. Moreover, these programs and scholarships violate state discrimination laws3 as well as those of OHSU.4

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. Programs that automatically qualify some racial or ethnic groups (e.g., “underrepresented minorities”) while requiring other groups to show additional factors (such as economic disadvantage) impose unlawful discriminatory standards. [Emphasis added.]

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.

We recently received Notice from HHS that the case was being opened for investigation (emphasis added):

On May 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR)1 received a complaint from the Equal Protection Project (the Complainant) alleging that Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI)2 and/or Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Section 1557).3

Specifically, the complaint alleges that OHSU engages in unlawful discrimination on the bases of race, color, and national origin in violation of Title VI and Section 1557 in its operation and promotion of six programs and/or scholarships (identified programs), including (1) The Jump Start Program;4 (2) The Equity Research Program;5 (3) The Center for Learner Diversity and Inclusion;6 (4) On Track OHSU!;7 (5) The Pay It Forward Mentorship Program;8 and (6) the HealthE STEPS Nursing Workforce Diversity Scholarships.9

OCR is responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination against recipients of Federal financial assistance (FFA) through HHS and for ensuring the compliance of those recipients with various civil rights regulations that OCR enforces. OCR has determined that this office has jurisdiction over your allegations pursuant to the regulations listed above. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. Section 1557 also prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any health program or activity that receives FFA from HHS. Therefore, OCR will initiate an investigation. When OCR has reached a determination regarding your complaint, we will advise you of our findings.

This is not a finding of guilt on the merits, but it is a finding that after reviewing the materials we submitted HHS believed opening a formal investigation was warranted.

The Daily Wire covered the announcement:

The Trump administration launched an investigation into an Oregon university over multiple racially focused programs critics say run afoul of civil rights law, The Daily Wire has learned.

The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services will investigate accusations that the Portland-based Oregon Health and Science University offers programs with built-in “preferences for non-whites.” The investigation comes after a complaint from the Equal Protection Project, an organization devoted to ensuring people of all races are treated fairly.

HHS told the Equal Protection Project last week that it had “determined that this office has jurisdiction over your allegations” and that it “will initiate an investigation,” according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. The letter added that when HHS “has reached a determination regarding your complaint, we will advise you of our findings.”

Oregon Health and Science University recently announced that it received over $400 million in federal research grants for 2026.

The complaint from the Equal Protection Project took issue with multiple programs offered by the university, including its Jump Start Program, Equity Research Program, Center for Learner Diversity and Inclusion, On Track OHSU, Pay it Forward Mentorship Program, and HealthE STEPS Nursing Workforce Diversity Scholarships.

The Jump Start Program is designed for post=baccalaureate scholars to gain research experience. Those who are encouraged to apply are those defined as “underrepresented in research,” including “those who identify as minorities.”

Similarly, the Equity Research Program is for those who come from an “underrepresented minority group” or have another economic hardship. The university’s Center for Learner Diversity and Inclusion “creates programs to advance the academic, career and personal development of underrepresented minority and disadvantaged students.”

The Daily Wire reached out to Oregon Health and Science University for comment on the investigation.

Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson, the founder of the Equal Protection Project, told The Daily Wire that the university was deterring people from applying for certain opportunities because they were advertising them for “being for a certain race or a certain ethnicity.” He said he would like to see the programs reformed, not eliminated.

“Our goal for every time I challenge a program or a scholarship or goal is not to terminate the program or scholarship, it’s to terminate the discriminatory aspects of it,” Jacobson told The Daily Wire. “Ideally for us they would have to rework these scholarships and programs, and they would have to eliminate the racial and ethnic descriptors as to who it’s intended for, and they would have to truly, in real life, open it up to everybody.”

The Trump administration has taken action against racially focused DEI programs, opening up similar investigations into other entities like Arizona State University and the University of California system.

Reminder: we are a small organization going up against powerful and wealthy government and private institutions devoted to DEI discrimination. Donations are greatly needed and appreciated.

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