The U.S. Department of Justice claims that the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles illegally considered race in its admissions processes and discriminated against White and Asian applicants.
The DOJ conducted a year-long investigation into the medical school’s admissions policies and practices. According to their review, the DOJ determined that the medical school, on average, admitted Black and Hispanic applicants with consistently lower academic qualifications than their White and Asian peers, adhering “to the dubious contention that patients receive the best care when treated by a doctor of the same race, rather than by the most qualified.”
“UCLA’s admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence — allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this Department will not allow it to continue.”
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California added, “Federal law and the Supreme Court precedent are clear: Race discrimination has no place in our nation’s institutions of higher learning. The pattern of illegal and odious conduct by UCLA’s medical school is abhorrent to our Constitution and our nation’s founding principles.”
The medical school released a statement that said: “The admissions process at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant. We are confident in our practices and our mission to maintain access to a high-quality education to all qualified students.”
