The Justice Department has accused the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine of deliberately discriminating against white and Asian applicants, alleging the elite school gave Black applicants nearly 13 times better admission odds than similarly qualified white candidates in 2025. The finding, laid out in a nine-page letter to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, threatens the campus's access to nearly $1 billion in annual federal funding if a resolution isn't reached within days.
The letter came from Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, as first reported by the New York Post. Federal investigators concluded that Black and Hispanic students admitted from 2023 through 2025 had lower average test scores and undergraduate grades than white and Asian applicants who were rejected, according to the Post's reporting. UCSF admits roughly 2.5% of more than 10,000 annual applicants, but the racial gap in that already narrow funnel was stark: the school admitted 7% of Black applicants and 4.8% of Hispanic applicants in 2025, compared with just 1.7% of white applicants and 2% of Asian applicants, per the same report.
The test-score and GPA breakdown adds weight to the DOJ's claim. White students admitted in 2025 averaged a 519 MCAT score and a 3.95 GPA, while Asian students averaged a 518 MCAT and a 3.93 GPA. Black students admitted that year averaged a 514 MCAT and a 3.86 GPA, and Hispanic students averaged a 513 MCAT and a 3.88 GPA, the Post reported. Investigators determined that UCSF used application essays, hardship questions, interviews and other ostensibly race-neutral criteria as proxies to favor applicants from groups it considered underrepresented in medicine.
A Pipeline Program Under Scrutiny
The Justice Department also flagged one of UCSF's diversity pipeline programs, which offers specialized admission tracks, scholarships and other assistance. Black, Hispanic and other designated students made up 89% of enrollment in that program during the 2024-25 academic year, according to the findings letter as reported by the Post. Federal investigators concluded UCSF deliberately discriminated based on race in both admissions and pipeline programs for the incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025, and determined the school violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Justice Department's investigation began in March 2026, and UCSF produced 83 additional documents after receiving multiple extensions, per the Post's account. UCSF officials disagree with the findings, saying admission to the medical school is among the most selective in the country and that its review process prioritizes academic excellence through rigorous, individualized evaluation of grades, prior coursework, MCAT scores, clinical experience, research, service and leadership.
Dhillon countered that framing directly. “MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have taken a backseat to race” at the medical school, she said, adding that aspiring doctors should be admitted based on qualifications, according to the Post. Her office pointed to the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which prohibited race-conscious college admissions and barred universities from using essays or hardship questions as racial proxies, according to Stanford Law School's analysis of the decision.
A Tight Deadline and a Statewide Legal Backdrop
Dhillon has invited UCSF to negotiate an agreement changing its admissions practices and pipeline programs, giving the school just 10 days to respond. If no agreement is reached by October 2, the Justice Department could seek a lawsuit to force compliance, per the Post's reporting. UCSF officials said they will continue engaging constructively with the department and seek to resolve the matter.
The pressure on UCSF lands atop a state legal landscape that has barred considering race in admissions for nearly three decades. California's Proposition 209, passed by voters in 1996 and reaffirmed when voters defeated Proposition 16 by 57% to 42% in 2020, constitutionally prohibits state public universities from using race or ethnicity in admissions decisions, according to the California Globe. UCSF-affiliated programs have already drawn legal challenges over similar allegations: the Pacific Legal Foundation sued UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland in February 2025, alleging its CHAMPS high school internship program unlawfully excluded applicants based on race, the Globe reported.
Even as federal scrutiny intensifies, state lawmakers have moved to loosen restrictions elsewhere. The California Legislature passed Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7 this month.
Part of a Wider Federal Push Across UC Campuses
UCSF is not the first University of California medical school to face this kind of federal action. The Justice Department previously issued similar findings against UCLA and UC San Diego medical schools, per the Post's reporting. In July 2026, the department sent UC San Diego's medical school a Title VI non-compliance letter after finding it operated what investigators called a shadow application process favoring Black and Hispanic applicants, and proposed a voluntary agreement with a possible lawsuit if no agreement was reached, according to the Los Angeles Times.
UCLA faced even steeper consequences: the government demanded a $1.2 billion settlement over alleged civil-rights non-compliance. UC Berkeley's law school was also found to have deliberately discriminated against white and Asian applicants in 2025, giving comparable Black applicants 5.8 times greater admission odds, the Post reported, and the department found in May 2026 that Yale's medical school intentionally used racial preferences and proxies in admissions, while also suing Harvard in February 2026 to obtain admissions records tied to similar allegations.
The enforcement push has included investigations of medical schools such as Stanford and Ohio State, according to Higher Ed Dive. The outlet reports that federal investigators nationwide have focused on whether application essay prompts are being used to identify and favor certain applicant demographics. UC San Diego has said its medical-school applicants must meet uniformly applied academic thresholds.
The enforcement push has coincided with sweeping turnover inside the Civil Rights Division itself. Roughly 70% of career civil rights attorneys have left the division since Dhillon took over in 2025, amid a shift in enforcement priorities. UCSF also receives a $5 million Justice Department grant, according to the Post's reporting, underscoring how deeply intertwined the medical school's finances are with the very federal agency now threatening legal action against it.
