California — The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced Wednesday that it has concluded the University of California, Davis School of Medicine discriminated on the basis of race in its admissions process, violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
The determination follows a six-month federal investigation into the medical school’s admissions practices.
According to the Justice Department, investigators found that UC Davis School of Medicine adopted admissions policies intended to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling, which prohibited the use of race-conscious admissions in higher education. The department said internal documents showed school leaders discussing the use of socioeconomic and geographic factors, including family income, parental education levels, and residence in underserved communities, as alternatives that could increase enrollment of underrepresented minority applicants.
Federal officials said the school developed a scoring system known as the “Davis Scale,” which ranked applicants based on perceived disadvantages while adjusting the weight given to traditional academic metrics such as grade point averages and MCAT scores.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the findings demonstrated “contempt for the rule of law” and raised concerns about prioritizing race over academic qualifications in medical school admissions.
The Justice Department reported that its review of admissions data from 2023 through 2025 found that 93% of white and certain Asian students admitted to the program had MCAT scores at or above the average score of admitted Black applicants. The department also stated that Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at rates up to six times higher than white and Asian applicants despite, on average, having lower academic credentials.
Federal officials noted that UC Davis was not the first medical school examined under the post-Harvard admissions standard. The department previously announced findings that the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Yale School of Medicine also engaged in unlawful race-based admissions practices.
The Justice Department said it will seek settlement agreements with institutions found to be out of compliance with federal law. If negotiations fail, officials said the department is prepared to file lawsuits to force changes to admissions policies.
Medical schools receiving federal funding are subject to federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. The department said it will continue monitoring compliance with those requirements nationwide.
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