On Monday, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced it concluded that the University of California San Diego School of Medicine engaged in unlawful racial discrimination by considering race in its admissions process. The press release stated that the admissions process violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA).
“Rather than rely on MCAT scores or GPA, San Diego Med’s shadow application process unlawfully judged applicants for admission based on their race,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
An investigation by the Department revealed that the UC San Diego School of Medicine “manipulated applicant data to achieve greater racial diversity in student admissions.” An example of this was that the school intentionally wrote questions for applicants to determine if they were from an ‘underrepresented minority’ background. By labeling certain applicants in the ‘hardship’ category and pushing them to the interview stage of the application process, they were then able to determine their race and offer preferential treatment.
“The result of San Diego Med’s manipulation: white and Asian applicants were denied admission in favor of lower-credentialed black and Hispanic applicants,” stated the DOJ press release.
The University of California San Diego School of Medicine has previously faced criticism from opponents who argued it promoted concepts associated with race-based critical race theory.
In a 2022 report by Do No Harm, the medical school was exposed for promoting various aspects of CRT in its official curricular policies. “Dismantling racism” was listed as a major goal of the UC San Diego Health Strategic Framework, as well as the promotion of various lectures on the topics of microaggressions, implicit bias, and “race in medicine.”
The Department of Justice outlined the next steps in the process to root out racially discriminatory admissions policies at federally funded institutions, including filing lawsuits if the medical school does not comply.
“The Department will continue to monitor and ensure their compliance with Title VI and SFFA’s prohibition on race-conscious admissions,” read the statement.
“Where a violation has been found, the Department is engaging in settlement negotiations to ensure the school’s admissions practices are brought into compliance. If those efforts fail, the Department will file suit.”
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