Overview
- Justice Department letters sent Wednesday ordered seven years of applicant-level records by April 24 in a review of possible race discrimination, a push Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon signaled on X.
- Requests cover MCAT scores, GPAs, essays, home ZIP codes, legacy or donor ties, demographics, and internal messages on diversity efforts, plus any admissions-related communications with pharmaceutical companies.
- The department warned that failure to comply could endanger federal research funding, and the three schools received about $575 million (Stanford), $427 million (UC San Diego) and $210 million (Ohio State) in NIH grants in 2025.
- All three universities said they would review and respond, with Ohio State saying it follows state and federal law, as privacy worries grow over sharing detailed files from small medical school classes.
- The investigations extend a broader administration campaign after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on race in admissions, with right-leaning outlets stressing alleged bias against white and Asian applicants and others highlighting a crackdown on DEI and academic freedom risks.