The US Department of Justice has accused the UC Davis School of Medicine of choosing race “over merit, ability, and ability” in its admissions process, favoring Black and Latino students even when they are as ineligible as white and Asian applicants.
The department said its findings, announced Wednesday afternoon, are based on a six-month investigation by the Civil Rights Division. The Justice Department said it found the Northern California university violated a 2023 Supreme Court ruling against race-based admissions. The findings are disputed by the school.
“Davis Med's actions demonstrate both a blatant disregard for the law and a blatant disregard for the potential public health consequences of placing race over fitness, ability, and competence,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Department of Justice Human Rights Division said the statement.
“The Department will not allow schools to violate federal law without consequences.”
A spokesperson for the university said the university was “disappointed” by the report and its findings.
“The UC Davis School of Medicine strongly disagrees with any characterization of its admissions practices as discriminatory or inconsistent with applicable law,” the school's statement read. “The report's findings do not accurately reflect the school's robust, individualized, merit-based admissions process and our strong commitment to complying with applicable federal and state anti-discrimination laws.”
The department presented its case in a 12-page book to the attorney representing UC Davis, alleging that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in 2023 Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard.
Title VI prohibits federally funded institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, while Resolution 2023 prohibits affirmative action in higher education admissions.
The Justice Department said its investigation found that the medical school “adopted admissions practices intended to circumvent” the 2023 decision.
That method was the “Davis Scale,” the department said. The book called the scale “a continuous measure of socioeconomic disadvantage” that includes parents' income and education, growing up in an area with poor health care and other socioeconomic variables.
The Justice Department included documents from UC Davis that said the measure allowed the school to triple enrollment of black and Latino students.
In 2024, Davis' medical school became the third most racially diverse school in the country, the Justice Department said.
On the other hand, the department said its review of medical school admissions data from 2023 to 2025 found that 93% of white and some Asian applicants had MCAT scores or higher than those of the average black student.
It also showed that black and Hispanic applicants were accepted at six times the rates of whites and Asians, despite continuing to have lower educational qualifications, on average, according to the department.
The Justice Department said it is trying to enter into a voluntary agreement with UC Davis to bring the medical school into compliance. The department will eventually sue the medical school if that decision is not found.
UC Davis has not indicated whether it will comply with the Justice Department.
“UC Davis is fully committed to meeting the critical health needs of California, especially those in underserved and underserved areas,” the school said in a statement.
Findings include similar investigations in medical schools at UCLA again UC San Diego.
The Justice Department said last month that UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine intentionally used race for the past three years to discriminate against white and Asian applicants. during induction.
