Trump administration opens investigations into race in admissions at 3 medical schools

Key Points:

• The Trump administration has launched Justice Department investigations into race considerations in admissions at the medical schools of Stanford University, Ohio State, and UC San Diego, intensifying scrutiny on colleges' admissions practices.
• The investigations seek detailed applicant-level data dating back to 2019, including race, ethnicity, standardized test scores, and admissions decisions, to determine if race was improperly used in admissions.
• This move follows a broader campaign by the Trump administration targeting affirmative action policies in higher education, citing a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that banned race-based admissions but allows consideration of race-related personal experiences if voluntarily disclosed.
• The targeted universities have expressed commitments to compliance with federal and state laws and are reviewing the Justice Department's requests, but the specific reasons for selecting these three medical schools remain unclear.
• The administration is concerned that colleges may be using personal statements and other indirect methods as proxies for race, which it argues constitutes illegal discrimination.