The United States Justice Department announced on Thursday the findings of a year-long investigation into the admissions policies and practices at the Yale School of Medicine. The department concluded that the institution's leadership selected applicants based on race, favoring Black and Hispanic students over White or Asian candidates.
Details of the Investigation
The Justice Department stated, "Yale's documents reveal that they studied how to use racial proxies to circumvent the Supreme Court's prohibition on using race to select students. Yale's admissions data demonstrate that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to Yale than White or Asian students with the same test scores."
The department further asserted, "The investigation showed that, in general, Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with consistently lower academic qualifications than their White and Asian counterparts. These facts support the Department's finding that Yale violated the law by intentionally discriminating based on race in its admissions, in clear violation of federal law."
Official Statements
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division commented, "Yale has continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate for reform. This Department will continue to shed light on these illegal practices, and demand that institutions of higher education comply with federal law."
In a six-page letter detailing her findings, Dhillon noted that Yale employed holistic reviews "to uncover and then use applicants' race through direct and indirect means. It then conducts interviews that enable the committee to know applicants' race and ethnicity." According to Dhillon's letter, applicant-level data provided by Yale showed "virtually no difference in racial preferences of Yale admissions" before and after the Supreme Court ruling. The lack of change in admissions outcomes demonstrated "a willful failure to comply with that decision," she wrote.
Broader Context
Last week, the Justice Department issued similar findings for the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. In March, the department launched investigations into admissions policies at medical schools affiliated with Stanford, Ohio State, and the University of California, San Diego. Additionally, in February, the department filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, seeking more comprehensive admissions data, as reported by the New York Times.
Yale has not released a statement responding to the allegations. However, the New York Times observed that many in academia argue that the Trump administration is imposing an incorrect interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling. They contend that the decision allows schools to consider race as one factor among many, including character and personal growth, in a holistic admissions process.
