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  • Tulane University suspended Dr. Princess Dennar from her role as program director last week. 
  • Dennar filed a lawsuit in October alleging discrimination. Tulane says her suspension is unrelated. 
  • In the lawsuit, Dennar says she was originally denied the director role because, a school leader told her, he feared she would deter white students. The school denies the allegation.
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Dr. Princess Dennar, a Black physician at Tulane University, was suspended from her position as director of the school’s medicine and pediatrics residency program less than five months after filing a lawsuit alleging racist and sexist treatment by school leaders.

In the lawsuit, Dennar said she was originally denied the role, and that one of her superiors said he feared she’d deter white applicants.

Dennar believes the suspension, recommended by an outside accreditation group, is retaliatory, she told The Lens.

This is not the first case to recently allege discrimination on the basis of race and sex at the medical school. Another lawsuit filed by a female physician in 2019 claimed school leaders were verbally abusive and sexist, and another filed by a Black resident in 2020 said she and Black colleagues were given more difficult assignments, according to The Lens.

Now, some medical students across the US who are applying for residency are boycotting the school using the hashtag #DNRTulane on Twitter, meaning “do not rank Tulane.”

Dennar and the two school leaders named in her lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Dennar's lawsuit claims she was told her race could deter white applicants  

Dennar, who remains on the faculty as medical director of another program, is the first and only Black woman to be a residency program director at Tulane. 

In her lawsuit, she said her time at the university "has been burdened by many acts of discrimination" and describes the atmosphere as "a race and gender based hostile work environment." Dennar's lawsuit claims that her pay, responsibilities, program, and ability to recruit students on her own have been damaged as a result.  

Dennar joined Tulane in January 2008, initially hired as a medical director of the internal medicine residency ambulatory service, a position she still holds. Later that year, she became co-program director of the medicine pediatrics residency program, a joint residency for doctors who want to specialize in both internal medicine and pediatrics. The lawsuit claims Dennar had to share the role because of racial discrimination. 

During an interview for the position, the lawsuit says, the medical school's dean, Dr. Lee Hamm, told Dennar, "I'm afraid that white medical students wouldn't follow or rank favorably a program with a black program director; [however] we'll be comfortable with you sharing a position as co-director with the previous [white male Med-Peds] program director."

According to a statement from Tulane, "Dr. Lee Hamm categorically denies the allegations of racist language made in Dr. Dennar's suit."

A year later, Dennar took over the full role, but only after doing "100% of the supervisory and program planning work" while sharing "a 50% title," according to the lawsuit. 

Since then, she says in the lawsuit she's been denied a promotion, undermined, and retaliated against after serving as a witness in other racial discrimination case at the school.

The lawsuit says every time Dennar brought up her treatment to Dr. Jeffrey Wiese, the medical school's dean for graduate medical education, and other leaders, "she was either rebuffed, threatened, told to back off, or instructed to be a team player." 

Tulane says Dennar's suspension came after an outside organization put her program on warning status 

On Thursday, Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education Paul Gladden sent residents an email announcing Dennar's suspension. 

Dennar's removal came per the recommendation of the Graduate Medical Education Committee, "which is comprised of a diverse panel of 15 peers and includes individuals from other healthcare institutions," according to a statement Tulane spokesperson Michael Strecker sent Insider. 

Their recommendation followed another organization, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, placing Dennar's program on "warning status."

"Dr. Dennar has the opportunity to appeal that recommendation and she remains a member of our faculty regardless of the outcome of this process," Strecker said. 

In response to Dennar's case and others, some medical students are refusing to rank Tulane in their bids for residencies 

In addition to the other recent discrimination lawsuits against the school, in 2018 seven Black female residents filed a complaint with ACGME, the organization that put Dennar's program on warning status, and Tulane's Office of Institutional Equity, alleging discrimination by Wiese.

The group, now on Twitter as @TheTulaneSeven, formally demanded "a fair and equitable educational experience at Tulane," Dennar's lawsuit says. 

Another former medical pediatrics resident at Tulane shared what she called "traumatic experiences and microaggressions" at the university on Twitter. 

Broader medical organizations, too, have voiced their support for Dennar. The Medicine-Pediatrics Program Directors Association, for one, issued a statement to members saying, "Dr. Dennar's dismissal is shocking, and highly concerning for a lack of transparency, cause, or due process." 

Dennar's GoFundMe campaign to support her legal fees has raised more than $45,000 in three days, and #DNRTulane is trending on social media. 

"These recent developments have raised concerns in our community and we understand and share these broader concerns," Strecker said, noting that the administration is working with a third-party firm "to facilitate discussion and dialogue" around race and sex.

"Tulane University is committed to fostering an equitable, diverse and inclusive community," the statement says. "Discrimination, in any form, has no place and is not tolerated at our university."  

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