A significant legal battle has unfolded involving Texas Tech University Health Science Center and a former applicant, George Stewart. Stewart, who had an impressive academic record with a 3.96 GPA from the University of Texas at Austin and a 511 score on the MCAT, alleged that he was denied admission in favor of less qualified minority students. He claimed to have data showing that Texas Tech accepted Black and Hispanic students with lower MCAT scores than their white and Asian counterparts.
In 2023, Stewart filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech and five other medical schools in Texas, along with their leadership. This month, a settlement was reached. Stewart agreed not to reapply to Texas Tech and to withdraw his claims against the school. In return, Texas Tech promised not to consider race in its admissions process, although the university has consistently denied ever doing so.
Nick Barry, a senior counsel at America First Legal, which represented Stewart, stated that the university’s previous practices violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. He urged other universities to follow Texas Tech’s lead in avoiding racial considerations in admissions.
Texas Tech’s spokesperson, Holly Russel, clarified that the School of Medicine did not consider race in admissions at the time of the lawsuit and had no plans to do so in the future.
Stewart’s lawsuit initially included multiple medical schools within the University of Texas System, but he eventually separated them into different cases. He withdrew his case against the UT schools last year, leaving the door open for potential future claims.
This case is part of a broader trend where America First Legal, alongside former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell, has been challenging affirmative action policies in Texas. Another notable case involved Texas A&M University, which was dismissed after allegations of discrimination against white and Asian applicants in a faculty fellowship program.
The Texas Attorney General’s office represented Texas Tech in this matter but did not take on the case against the UT schools, leading them to hire their own legal counsel.
As this situation develops, it highlights ongoing debates about race and admissions in higher education, especially in light of recent Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action.