Nicolas Lorenzini, a United States citizen whose parents were born in Argentina, argues that the medical school's Post Baccalaureate Program discriminates against minority applicants who are not black.
The program is designed to extend medical school admissions to disadvantaged students whose grades or test scores, as determined by the university, may not accurately reflect their abilities.
In his lawsuit filed Aug. 14, Lorenzini said Wayne State should either open the program to all minorities, regardless of their income, or let all disadvantaged students apply regardless of their race.
"I just think there's this secret quota they have to have," Lorenzini told the Detroit Free Press in a report yesterday. "When you apply to med school, you hear it all the time - if you're a white male, you have a much harder time getting in."
Lorenzini's father is a retired plastic surgeon. The family lives on a gated street in Grosse Pointe Farms where homes cost up to $1 million.
Lorenzini argues, however, that Wayne State should consider him disadvantaged because he is Hispanic and English is not his first language.
"You have to look a little bit deeper than skin color or financial status," he told the newspaper.
After graduating in 1991 from Grosse Pointe South High School, Lorenzini received a bachelor's degree in management and economics from Rice University in Houston. He completed a master's degree this summer in biochemistry, with an emphasis on biotechnology, at Georgetown University in Washington.
In January, Wayne State denied Lorenzini admission to the medical school. He then asked to be selected for the Post Baccalaureate Program but the university rejected him again, saying he didn't qualify as disadvantaged.
Ten of the 16 students selected for the program this year were black, university attorney Louis Lessem said.
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