The Trump administration on Wednesday sought to join a lawsuit filed in federal court alleging UCLA\u2019s David Geffen School of Medicine illegally considers race inits admission process.<\/p>\n
In documents filed in California\u2019s Central District, the Department of Justice alleges that UCLA\u2019s medical school uses a \u201csystemically racist approach\u201d to admissions that privileges Black and Latino applicants over those who are white and Asian American. <\/p>\n
Justice Department lawyers also allege that the school engages in \u201cracial balancing\u201d \u2014 trying to create a student body that is racially reflective of California \u2014 in violation the U.S. Constitution\u2019s Equal Protection Clause and a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that banned race-based affirmative action<\/a> policies in college admissions.<\/p>\n The 17-page filing is in response to a May lawsuit by Do No Harm<\/a> \u2014 a group founded in 2022 to oppose \u201cdisastrous consequences of identity politics\u201d in medicine \u2014 and Students for Fair Admissions<\/a>, the organization that filed a suit leading to the Supreme Court ruling. Kelly Mahoney, a white woman who said she was rejected by the UCLA medical school because of her race, is also a plaintiff.<\/p>\n The original suit cited unnamed \u201cwhistleblowers\u201d who allege that Jennifer Lucero, the medical school\u2019s associate dean of admissions, \u201crequires applicants to submit responses that are intended to allow the committee to glean the applicant\u2019s race\u201d and that she and admissions officers \u201croutinely and openly\u201d have discussed using race in admissions.<\/p>\n Lucero did not respond to a email requesting comment. In a statement, UCLA medical school spokesman Phil Hampton said that UCLA does not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n \u201cUCLA\u2019s medical school is committed to fair processes in all of our programs and activities, including admissions, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws,\u201d Hampton said. <\/p>\n Under state law, UCLA is required to follow Proposition 209, which in 1997 banned the use of race in admissions to public institutions.<\/p>\n In a statement, U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said that the court intervention \u201cis the Department of Justice\u2019s latest effort to hold our universities accountable for unlawful policy \u2014 especially in the state of California.\u201d<\/p>\n In its court filing<\/a> and a news release<\/a>, the U.S. government said it had reviewed median Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, scores obtained from UCLA for four consecutive years beginning with the incoming class of 2021. Those scores, the Justice Department said in court documents, show lower medians for Black and Latino matriculants (506 to 509) compared with those for white and Asian American ones (513 to 516). <\/p>\n The medical school does not have a minimum MCAT score requirement and uses a holistic evaluation that considers areas outside test scores and grades, according to the UCLA website.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s filing uses anonymous quotes from admissions officials published in the Free Beacon, a conservative news site, as evidence in alleging that the medical school has used race in admissions. <\/p>\n It also cited an amicus brief the University of California filed in the 2023 affirmative action case that said \u201cUC\u2019s experience demonstrates that for some universities \u2014 particularly the very selective institutions \u2014 race-neutral measures may prove insufficient, necessitating that the university engage in limited consideration of race.\u201d And the filing pointed to a 2030 plan UC published that stated a goal of \u201creflecting California\u2019s diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb has to approve Justice Department\u2019s request before the Trump administration can formally join the case as a plaintiff.<\/p>\n The Justice Department\u2019s action against the medical school is the latest of several moves by Republican leadership and the Trump administration to probe alleged wrongdoing at UC and its academic health centers.<\/p>\n On Aug. 25, House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) sent letters to the UCLA and UC San Francisco<\/a> medical schools ordering each to submit years worth of internal documents about alleged antisemitism and how the schools responded. Walberg cited reports of Jewish people \u201cexperiencing hostility and fear\u201d and said the schools had not \u201cmeaningfully responded.\u201d<\/p>\n