DOJ Says UC Davis Medical School Considers Race in Admissions

The University of California, Davis, School of Medicine has violated federal anti-discrimination law by considering racial proxies in its admissions process, the Department of Justice has found.

The conclusion, announced Wednesday, is based on a six-month investigation and is the latest in a growing number of similar investigations against medical schools.

Specifically, the DOJ concludes that UC Davis ranked applicants using class-based “socioeconomic variables” and “disadvantages” like parental education or coming from an “underserved area.” The medical school also weighted other metrics, such as GPA or MCAT scores, depending on how students fared in those rankings.

In doing so, the DOJ said, UC Davis created proxies for race which violate the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to ban affirmative action in admissions. Similar claims have been made following investigations into medical schools at the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University, among others.

“Davis Med’s actions reflect both unabashed contempt for the rule of law and plain disregard for the potential public health consequences of putting race over merit, skill, and competence,” Assistant Attorney General of Civil Rights, Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a news release. “The Department will not allow schools to violate federal law without consequence.”

Other legal experts, however, say the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling is wrong and that it is exercising administrative overreach in these investigations as the high court did not directly ban the use of so-called racial proxies.