FLINT, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Inclusion efforts can backfire when they end up excluding others. That’s the issue at the heart of a recent controversy at the University of Michigan-Flint, where a diversity-driven training initiative may have crossed legal lines.
According to the College Fix, a news website focusing on higher education, the university launched its “Move to Represent” program with the goal of training ten physical and occupational therapy professionals of “color” to deliver Parkinson’s-focused exercise programs.
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Backed by a $50,000 grant, the initiative aimed to increase diversity in healthcare and promote culturally competent care through the implementation of PWR!Moves – a research-based therapy offered through UM-Flint’s Health, Equity, Action Research, and Teaching (HEART) clinic.
Race rewrite: UM-Flint scrubs “people of color” from grant program after civil rights complaint.
However, the grant’s explicit focus on race raised red flags. Former UM-Flint economics professor Mark Perry filed a federal civil rights complaint, alleging violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Michigan Constitution, and the university’s own nondiscrimination policies.
UM-Flint denies wrongdoing but edits out race-based language from grant announcement.
Although the university denied that the program violated the law, the complaint prompted a swift response: the university scrubbed references to race from its original news release, replacing terms like “people of color” with “underserved communities.” The original release uses the word “color” six times. The new release uses the word “color” zero times. Even quotes from program partners were edited to remove racial language – and University Associate General Counsel Maya Kobersy clarified that the program would not limit training opportunities based on race.
After the changes were made, Perry withdrew his complaint, satisfied with what the college had done.
Critic calls out DEI dogma.
Matthew Lamb, assistant editor at the College Fix, joined guest host Scot Bertram on the Steve Gruber Show Thursday, May 22, to discuss the grant program, saying the university failed to “read the room” amid today’s cultural climate. Talking about a debunked study about racial concordance in healthcare, Lamb said, “there’s no proof that people have better health outcomes just because they’re treated by someone of the same race.”
Lamb goes on to say that this idea still persists in higher education because it’s what DEI is built on. Lamb tells Bertram it’s the idea that “we need people that look exactly like us to treat us, to be our professors, to be our doctors, and that’s why this idea continues.”
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This incident at the university highlights the tightrope institutions now walk between advancing diversity and staying within legal bounds – particularly in the Trump era, where his administration is aggressively working to dismantle what it sees as “racist” DEI programs.
