The Trump administration has accused UCLA's medical school of systematically favoring minority applicants in violation of federal law, marking an escalation in the government's aggressive push to eliminate race-conscious admissions across higher education.
The US Department of Justice concluded this week that the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA discriminated against white and Asian American applicants by using race as a factor in selecting students. The finding follows a year-long investigation and opens the door to potential enforcement action, including possible loss of federal funding.
Justice Department officials pointed to admissions data as their primary evidence. In 2024, admitted Black students had an average grade-point average of 3.72, compared with 3.84 for Asian Americans and 3.83 for white students. Similar gaps appeared in test scores across both years examined. The department characterized these patterns as proof that UCLA was prioritizing diversity goals over academic qualifications.
Harmeet Dhillon, head of the civil rights division, said in a letter of findings that "highly qualified White, Asian, and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race." The investigation also flagged an application question that invited prospective students to identify as members of a marginalized group and discuss the impact on their lives, which the department views as an improper consideration of race.
UCLA's medical school responded by reaffirming that its admissions process "is based on merit" and pledged compliance with state and federal law. The school said it is reviewing the justice department's findings.
The action against UCLA is part of a broader campaign. In March, the Trump administration opened investigations into medical school admissions at Stanford, Ohio State, and the University of California, San Diego. The government has also demanded that undergraduate programs at selective colleges provide data demonstrating they have eliminated race from their decision-making.
The legal landscape shifted in 2023 when the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions. That ruling prohibited universities from explicitly considering race as a factor but said colleges could still evaluate how an applicant's background informed their character or experiences. The Trump administration has argued that schools are circumventing this prohibition by using proxies like personal essays and demographic questions to effectively consider race anyway.
California itself has been navigating these restrictions since 1997, when voters approved a ballot measure prohibiting affirmative action in public college admissions. The University of California system has contended that the change produced a steep decline in underrepresented minority enrollment at its most competitive campuses. The system then adopted what it called "race-neutral measures" aimed at maintaining diversity, though it acknowledged struggling to restore enrollment levels from the affirmative action era.
The justice department has now set UCLA on a path toward either negotiated resolution or litigation. If voluntary compliance cannot be reached, the school faces legal action and potential defunding. The move reflects the administration's determination to reshape admissions policies nationwide according to its interpretation of civil rights law.
Author James Rodriguez: "The Justice Department is making a calculation that lower average test scores constitute proof of discrimination, but it's ignoring how universities have tried for decades to build diverse classes within legal constraints, and that's a real legal and policy question worth debating openly."
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