HHS Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into Oregon Health and Science University Over Race-Based Programs

The Department of Health and Human Services has opened a civil rights investigation into Oregon Health and Science University over a string of programs a watchdog group says explicitly favor applicants by race.

HHS's Office for Civil Rights notified the Equal Protection Project last week that it has "determined that this office has jurisdiction over your allegations" and "will initiate an investigation," according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. No findings have been made. HHS said it will notify the complainant once a determination is reached.

The Equal Protection Project, a nonprofit founded by Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson, filed the complaint targeting six OHSU programs: the Jump Start Program, the Equity Research Program, the Center for Learner Diversity and Inclusion, On Track OHSU, the Pay It Forward Mentorship Program, and the HealthE STEPS Nursing Workforce Diversity Scholarships.

According to program language cited in the complaint, the Jump Start Program encourages applicants who are "underrepresented in research," including "those who identify as minorities." The Equity Research Program is described as being for people from an "underrepresented minority group" or facing economic hardship. OHSU's Center for Learner Diversity and Inclusion says it exists to "advance the academic, career and personal development of underrepresented minority and disadvantaged students."

OHSU is a major recipient of federal money. The university announced it received more than $400 million in federal research grants for 2026, which is part of why a civil rights inquiry from the agency funding it carries real financial stakes.

What Jacobson is actually asking for

Jacobson told The Daily Wire his goal isn't to shut these programs down. "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," he said. He wants OHSU to strip out racial and ethnic eligibility language and open the programs to all applicants regardless of background.

The legal theory driving these complaints traces back to the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down race-conscious college admissions. Civil rights groups on the right have since argued that logic extends to scholarships, fellowships, and workforce programs that use race as an eligibility criterion, not just admissions decisions.

The other side of this

Universities and health systems that run these programs generally argue they exist to address measurable underrepresentation in medicine and research, particularly among Black, Hispanic, and Native American students in fields like nursing and STEM research where those groups remain statistically scarce relative to the general population. Defenders of these programs would say targeted outreach isn't the same as exclusion, since none of the programs cited in the complaint appear to bar white or Asian applicants outright, based on the language quoted in the complaint itself. Whether that outreach language crosses into an unlawful preference, as opposed to permissible targeted recruitment, is precisely the legal question HHS now has to sort out. OHSU has not yet publicly responded. The Daily Wire said it reached out to the university for comment but did not report a response as of publication.

Where this fits

This is not an isolated case. HHS's Office for Civil Rights has opened similar inquiries at other universities this year as the Trump administration has directed federal civil rights offices to scrutinize race-conscious programs at institutions receiving federal funds. The Daily Wire's coverage frames this squarely as part of that broader enforcement push, which is accurate as far as it goes, but the reporting doesn't address how OHSU or peer institutions might restructure programs to survive scrutiny, nor does it cite any legal precedent specifically applying Students for Fair Admissions to scholarship eligibility outside admissions. That's an open legal question, not a settled one.

No charges, no penalties, and no funding cuts have been announced. This is a jurisdictional determination and the start of a fact-finding investigation. HHS has not set a timeline for when it expects to issue findings. If the agency concludes OHSU's programs violate civil rights law tied to federal funding, the university would likely face a choice between restructuring the programs or risking enforcement action tied to that $400 million grant relationship.