Overview
- The Justice Department announced Monday that its Civil Rights Division found the UC San Diego School of Medicine violated Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision by using race in admissions.
- Federal investigators say admissions staff used applicants' answers to 'hardship' questions as a racial proxy, sorted candidates into ranked groups and ran a separate 'shadow' review that steered more Black and Hispanic applicants to interviews.
- The DOJ's data analysis showed multi-year disparities with Black applicants admitted at more than double the rate of White applicants in several cycles, citing 2023 rates of 6.18% for Black applicants versus 2.45% for White applicants as one example.
- UC San Diego says it is reviewing the DOJ letter, affirms it applies uniform academic thresholds, and is engaging with the government while the DOJ seeks a voluntary resolution that could become a lawsuit if talks fail.
- The San Diego finding is part of a wider federal review of medical-school admissions by the DOJ that has produced similar findings at other schools and raises potential consequences for compliance and federal research funding.