LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Trump administration said Wednesday it has uncovered evidence that UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine engaged in discrimination by intentionally selecting applicants for admission based on their race rather than academic qualifications.
In a seven-page letter, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division wrote that the medical school “continues to intentionally discriminate against applicants based on their race after the Supreme Court’s decision in Harvard by granting and denying admission on the basis of race.”
A UCLA medical school spokesperson disputed the DOJ’s allegations in a statement shared with City News Service.
“The admissions process at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant,” according to the spokesperson. “We are confident in our practices and our mission to maintain access to a high-quality education to all qualified students. We are carefully reviewing the Department of Justice’s report. The David Geffen School of Medicine is committed to providing equal opportunity to all applicants and fully complying with federal and state laws.”
Documents reviewed by the DOJ appear to show that UCLA adheres to the contention that patients receive the best care when treated by a doctor of the same race, rather than by the most qualified, according to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
“UCLA’s admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence — allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this department will not allow it to continue.”
DOJ officials said the department’s year-long probe showed that, on average, the medical school admitted black and Hispanic applicants with “consistently lower academic qualifications than their white and Asian counterparts.”
Dhillon said the assertion supports the finding that UCLA violated the law by “intentionally discriminating based on race” in its admissions selections.
“Federal law and the Supreme Court precedent are clear: Race discrimination has no place in our nation’s institutions of higher learning,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said. “The pattern of illegal and odious conduct by UCLA’s medical school is abhorrent to our Constitution and our nation’s founding principles.”
In January, the DOJ sought to join a lawsuit accusing the UCLA Medical School of engaging in racial discrimination in its admissions process.
The proposed class-action suit filed in Santa Ana by Virginia-based Do No Harm against the medical school contends that the university continues to practice “race-conscious” admissions under the guise of “holistic admissions” and ignores federal law by discriminating against applicants on the basis of race.
A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling determined that diversity programs for college admissions are unconstitutional.
In its 17-page motion to intervene, the DOJ wrote that the use of racial preferences in admissions can cause “disastrous outcomes.”
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