The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced it has opened investigations into 15 medical schools over potential race discrimination in admissions practices.
The announcement follows recent findings by the Justice Department that medical schools at UCLA and Yale University illegally considered race in admissions decisions. Federal officials said the new investigations will examine whether additional institutions are complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the investigations are intended to ensure admissions decisions are based on merit rather than race.
“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,” Dhillon said in a statement. “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.”
According to the Justice Department, each of the 15 schools under investigation receives millions of dollars in federal funding. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
The investigations will focus on whether the schools’ admissions policies and practices comply with federal law as interpreted by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Harvard admissions case. That ruling found that race-conscious admissions policies used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause and federal civil rights laws.
Justice Department officials emphasized that the investigations are in their early stages and that no conclusions have been reached regarding the schools under review.
“The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations,” the department said in its announcement.
The Justice Department did not identify the 15 medical schools under investigation in the announcement.
About the Author
Discover more from Right Now Oregon
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
