The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has concluded the University of California, Davis School of Medicine violated federal civil rights law by discriminating on the basis of race in its admissions process following the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action.
The finding stems from a six-month investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division into admissions practices implemented after the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, which prohibited colleges and universities from considering race in admissions decisions.
According to the department, UC Davis Medical School sought to preserve racial diversity by relying on socioeconomic factors that effectively served as proxies for race.
Investigators reviewed admissions records, internal communications and applicant data covering the period from 2019 through 2025.
The Justice Department concluded that school officials intentionally developed policies designed to maintain racial balancing despite the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Central to the investigation was the “Davis Scale,” a system created by Associate Dean of Admissions Dr. Mark Henderson that measures socioeconomic disadvantage using factors including parental income, parental education, growing up in medically underserved communities, participation in assistance programs and family responsibilities.
Admissions officials used the scale to adjust the weight given to applicants’ academic credentials, including grade point averages and MCAT scores.
The Justice Department cited internal statements that it said demonstrated an effort to work around the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I’d call it class-based affirmative action. Class struggles have a huge overlap with race — that’s how we skirted the issue,” Henderson reportedly said, according to the department’s findings.
The investigation also referenced a 2023 article in which Henderson described increasing enrollment of underrepresented minority students by emphasizing lived experience and socioeconomic background during the admissions process.
According to the Justice Department, UC Davis also promoted the Davis Scale as a model for other institutions seeking to preserve diversity after the Supreme Court ruling.
Federal officials said their analysis found significant disparities in admission rates among racial groups.
The department reported that Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at rates substantially higher than white and Asian applicants despite lower average academic metrics.
It also found that for incoming classes between 2023 and 2025, 93% of admitted white and certain Asian students had MCAT scores at or above the average score of admitted Black students.
White and Asian applicants also posted higher average GPAs and MCAT scores than admitted students from some other racial groups, according to the investigation.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the findings demonstrated unlawful discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“Based on our review, the Department has found that Davis Med is violating Title VI by discriminating on the basis of race in its admissions process,” Dhillon wrote in a letter outlining the department’s conclusions.
“The Department finds that Davis Med discriminated against white and Asian applicants to Davis Med on the basis of race,” the letter continued.
The Justice Department said it intends to pursue voluntary settlement negotiations with the university before considering additional enforcement action.
Potential remedies could include revising admissions policies, eliminating the Davis Scale or similar evaluation methods if they function as racial proxies, implementing race-neutral review procedures and requiring ongoing monitoring or reporting.
The findings represent one of the most significant federal enforcement actions involving higher education admissions since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs in 2023.
The University of California, Davis had not publicly responded to the Justice Department’s determination at the time of the announcement.
If no agreement is reached, the department could pursue further legal action to bring the medical school into compliance with federal civil rights law, Trending Politics reported.
The case is expected to be closely watched by universities nationwide as institutions continue adjusting admissions policies following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.
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