U. of Alabama Birmingham cancels scholarship for Black medical students, fearing Trump admin. investigation
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Why did they get medical degrees unless they were citizens of that country.
Oshay duke Jackson got his medical degree ( if he’s not lying) from Poland because it was hella cheap and he’s not practicing so it was way better than spending the bread on an expensive state side program.
get these nets
Veteran
*excerpt of interview with his son
www.birminghamtimes.com
05/30/25
How did the scholarship, which was given each year to an incoming student with at least a 3.0 GPA who was selected by the university, come about?
My father died in 2003. After his death, we had a number of conversations with the folks at UAB about establishing a scholarship in his name that would go to support African American students who had been accepted at and were entering UAB’s medical school.
The purpose of the scholarship was to honor and continue the advocacy my father promoted when he was alive. In a state like Alabama that has a disproportionately low number of African American physicians, it’s important to have more — and more diverse — physicians. Studies have shown that African American people have better health outcomes when they are tended to by African American physicians.
The UAB School of Medicine has really been committed to producing merit-based, ethnically diverse crops of physicians. I emphasize merit-based because any time people say DEI, somebody thinks that somebody is giving somebody something. That’s not the case. You take the MCAT. You have to have the grades. You go before a selection committee, and you are selected.
In February, the Trump administration issued the “Dear Colleague” letter declaring all race-conscious programs illegal and threatening to yank federal funds from any colleges that maintain them. Then, the Education Department announced that UAB was among the universities it was investigating for what it called “impermissible race-based scholarships.” [A university spokesperson declined to comment on the decision to return the Hamilton scholarship, citing the investigation. She said the university had reviewed its scholarships for compliance with federal law, “including the Title VI obligations clarified by the Supreme Court and recent guidance from the federal government.” She added that it’s “continuing to work with donors on any necessary adjustments.”]
How worried were you at that point about the future of the scholarship?
Universities have been grappling with issues around programs designated for ethnically diverse students since the Supreme Court’s affirmative-action decision in 2023. It was no surprise that at some point we would have to have a conversation with the university about the program.
We had an initial conversation about the law passed in Alabama [in 2024] that didn’t allow for scholarships designated for ethnically diverse individuals. We thought about tweaking the program so it didn’t specifically state that it would go to Black students. It could go to underresourced students or students from poor regions of the state or students that may have attended historically Black colleges. We felt that there was a way to maintain the program.
Then maybe [six weeks] ago, we got a call from the university saying the administration had made a determination that for this, and other scholarship programs like it, they had decided to return those funds to the donors and end their participation in those scholarship programs.
We were disappointed because instead of pushing back or fighting, they’re caving in to policies that are so separated from the realities on the ground. Why would you end a program that focuses on the development and training of Black physicians who are more likely to set up practices in those communities that have the worst health outcomes?
These schools are trying to divorce themselves from these programs as if society self-corrects. It doesn’t. American society as it relates to race or inclusion or health outcomes has never self-corrected. You have to have intentional programs of inclusion in order to change the outcomes.
What do you think about having the scholarship described as discriminatory?
It’s an indication that the secretary of education is not a student of U.S. history or race relations and the construct of race in the United States. She doesn’t recognize that the disparities that exist are the result of historic practices, policies, and laws in generations past.
My level of frustration as an African American man in the United States is the fact that people who make policy decisions do not understand the implications. When Reagan was in office, he talked about trickle-down economics. What we’re having now is trickle-down carnage. It’s hurting people on the ground.
The medical school has been outstanding as it relates to working to administer the program and working to abide by the laws passed in the state of Alabama. Our heartburn relates to the university administration’s decision to just pull the plug on this scholarship program.
UAB Cancels Scholarships for Black Medical Students; Family of Prominent Doctor Sees Move as a Slap
By Katherine Mangan | chronicle.com In 2013, the family of Herschell Lee Hamilton established an annual scholarship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to support high-achieving, financially…
www.birminghamtimes.com
How did the scholarship, which was given each year to an incoming student with at least a 3.0 GPA who was selected by the university, come about?
My father died in 2003. After his death, we had a number of conversations with the folks at UAB about establishing a scholarship in his name that would go to support African American students who had been accepted at and were entering UAB’s medical school.
The purpose of the scholarship was to honor and continue the advocacy my father promoted when he was alive. In a state like Alabama that has a disproportionately low number of African American physicians, it’s important to have more — and more diverse — physicians. Studies have shown that African American people have better health outcomes when they are tended to by African American physicians.
The UAB School of Medicine has really been committed to producing merit-based, ethnically diverse crops of physicians. I emphasize merit-based because any time people say DEI, somebody thinks that somebody is giving somebody something. That’s not the case. You take the MCAT. You have to have the grades. You go before a selection committee, and you are selected.
In February, the Trump administration issued the “Dear Colleague” letter declaring all race-conscious programs illegal and threatening to yank federal funds from any colleges that maintain them. Then, the Education Department announced that UAB was among the universities it was investigating for what it called “impermissible race-based scholarships.” [A university spokesperson declined to comment on the decision to return the Hamilton scholarship, citing the investigation. She said the university had reviewed its scholarships for compliance with federal law, “including the Title VI obligations clarified by the Supreme Court and recent guidance from the federal government.” She added that it’s “continuing to work with donors on any necessary adjustments.”]
How worried were you at that point about the future of the scholarship?
Universities have been grappling with issues around programs designated for ethnically diverse students since the Supreme Court’s affirmative-action decision in 2023. It was no surprise that at some point we would have to have a conversation with the university about the program.
We had an initial conversation about the law passed in Alabama [in 2024] that didn’t allow for scholarships designated for ethnically diverse individuals. We thought about tweaking the program so it didn’t specifically state that it would go to Black students. It could go to underresourced students or students from poor regions of the state or students that may have attended historically Black colleges. We felt that there was a way to maintain the program.
Then maybe [six weeks] ago, we got a call from the university saying the administration had made a determination that for this, and other scholarship programs like it, they had decided to return those funds to the donors and end their participation in those scholarship programs.
We were disappointed because instead of pushing back or fighting, they’re caving in to policies that are so separated from the realities on the ground. Why would you end a program that focuses on the development and training of Black physicians who are more likely to set up practices in those communities that have the worst health outcomes?
These schools are trying to divorce themselves from these programs as if society self-corrects. It doesn’t. American society as it relates to race or inclusion or health outcomes has never self-corrected. You have to have intentional programs of inclusion in order to change the outcomes.
What do you think about having the scholarship described as discriminatory?
It’s an indication that the secretary of education is not a student of U.S. history or race relations and the construct of race in the United States. She doesn’t recognize that the disparities that exist are the result of historic practices, policies, and laws in generations past.
My level of frustration as an African American man in the United States is the fact that people who make policy decisions do not understand the implications. When Reagan was in office, he talked about trickle-down economics. What we’re having now is trickle-down carnage. It’s hurting people on the ground.
The medical school has been outstanding as it relates to working to administer the program and working to abide by the laws passed in the state of Alabama. Our heartburn relates to the university administration’s decision to just pull the plug on this scholarship program.
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