Trump administration investigates race discrimination in UCSD and Stanford admissions

The Trump administration requested admissions data Wednesday from three medical colleges, saying it’s investigating potential race-based discrimination of their admissions processes.

“Presently, our investigation will concentrate on attainable race discrimination in medical college admissions,” Harmeet Ok. Dhillon, the Justice Division’s assistant legal professional common for civil rights, wrote in letters despatched to the colleges.

The colleges embody the College of California, San Diego College of Medication, Stanford College College of Medication, and Ohio State’s School of Medication.

The Division of Justice confirmed to the California Publish that the inquiry includes the three universities and that its “preliminary focus is admissions.”

The colleges have been served letters outlining particular calls for to be met by April 24.

These embody offering seven years of applicant information, sharing inside communications about range and admissions, and disclosing any correspondence with pharmaceutical corporations relating to admissions insurance policies, The New York Occasions reported Thursday after reviewing the paperwork.

The requested applicant information consists of take a look at scores, house ZIP codes, and any familial relationships to alumni or ties to school donors.

The DOJ directed the Publish to Dhillon’s publish on X for additional remark.

“We did this yesterday. Amongst different issues!” Dhillon wrote on X, sharing a Occasions article.

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In one other publish, sharing an image of a half-covered letter she seemed to be signing with a fountain pen, Dhillon added, “Launching a sequence of civil rights investigations. One other day in paradise!”

A spokesperson for UC San Diego confirmed the investigation.

“UC San Diego was notified yesterday that the Division of Justice is commencing an investigation, and we’re reviewing the discover,” the college mentioned in a press release to the Publish. “UC San Diego is dedicated to honest processes in all of our packages and actions, together with admissions, per federal and state anti-discrimination legal guidelines.”

In a press release to the Publish, Cecilia O. Arradaza, Chief Communications Officer for Stanford Medication, mentioned the college is “reviewing the letter.”

“We’re reviewing the letter and can reply appropriately,” she wrote. “Stanford College of Medication prohibits illegal discrimination on the idea of race, coloration, nationwide or ethnic origin, or another attribute protected by relevant regulation.”

Ohio State mentioned it is going to “reply appropriately.”

“Ohio State is totally compliant with all state and federal laws and authorized rulings relating to admissions. We’ve acquired the letter and can reply appropriately,” spokesperson Benjamin Johnson advised the Publish.

Nationally, about 99,400 college students have been enrolled in U.S. medical colleges within the 2025–26 tutorial 12 months, in line with the Affiliation of American Medical Faculties. Roughly 42% recognized as white, 28% as Asian, and about 8% as Black.

A number of the universities below scrutiny present completely different demographic patterns.

California medical colleges are inclined to enroll larger shares of Asian college students and decrease shares of white college students than the nationwide common, the Occasions reported. For instance, about 13% of Stanford’s medical college students are Black, in contrast with roughly 6% at UC San Diego.

For context, in California about 15–18% of residents are Asian American or Pacific Islander and 5–6% are Black, in line with the Public Coverage Institute of California. 34% are white.

The stakes are vital financially.

Many of those establishments are main recipients of funding from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, one of many federal authorities’s largest sources of analysis assist, distributing about $35 billion yearly — a lot of it to medical colleges.

Stanford acquired roughly $575 million in NIH grants in 2025, UC San Diego about $427 million, and Ohio State about $210 million, in line with the New York-based paper.

This isn’t the primary rodeo for the Golden State’s higher-ed establishments below Trump’s scrutiny.

Federal officers have already taken authorized motion in opposition to the College of California system, alleging that UCLA failed to guard Jewish workers in the course of the 2024 campus demonstrations.

The administration has additionally sought to intervene in a separate case involving UCLA’s David Geffen College of Medication, arguing the college continued to contemplate race in admissions regardless of the Supreme Court docket’s 2023 ruling limiting the observe.

That scrutiny extends past UCLA. Public establishments together with Santa Monica School, Sacramento State, Cal Poly Humboldt, and Cal State San Bernardino — together with 4 College of California campuses (Berkeley, Davis, San Diego, and Santa Barbara) — have confronted associated federal consideration.

Non-public universities equivalent to Chapman, Pomona, Stanford, and the College of Southern California have additionally been included.