The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Thursday it opened fifteen new investigations into potential race discrimination in medical school admissions, escalating a federal crackdown that has already produced findings against two of the country’s most prestigious universities.
The announcement follows the division’s recent determinations that both UCLA and Yale University illegally used race in their medical school admissions processes. Neither school has publicly identified the 15 institutions now under investigation.
“Many of America’s top medical schools appear more concerned about the demographics of their incoming classes than training students to succeed in the profession,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Under this Justice Department, we will continue to protect American students from discriminatory and illegal preferences in admissions, especially in professions as critical as medicine, where quality of training should be the top priority,” Dhillon added.
All fifteen schools currently under investigation receive millions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding. The DOJ said the investigations will examine whether the schools are complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, as interpreted by the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which banned the explicit use of race in college admissions. The division stated it has not reached conclusions regarding the subject matter of any of the investigations.
The new probes build on earlier actions. In March, the DOJ launched separate investigations into Stanford University, Ohio State University, and the University of California, San Diego, focusing on whether medical school applicants faced race-based discrimination. Those inquiries were followed in May by formal findings against UCLA and Yale.
In the UCLA case, Dhillon had said the school’s admissions process had been “focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence.” Yale’s medical school was accused of continuing a race-based admissions program even after the Supreme Court’s 2023 mandate against affirmative action.
Both UCLA and Yale disputed the findings. UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine said its process is “based on merit” and that it remains committed to compliance with state and federal law. A Yale spokesperson said its admitted students “demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and personal commitment.”
The Trump administration has taken the position that some universities are using application essays and other materials as indirect vehicles to factor race into enrollment decisions despite the Supreme Court ruling. Since retaking office, President Trump has ramped up scrutiny of college admissions and signed an executive action requiring universities to provide data proving they are not considering race in their admissions processes.
