DoJ investigates 15 medical schools over alleged discrimination in admissions

The US Department of Justice’s civil rights division has launched investigations into 15 medical schools over allegations of potential race discrimination in their admissions processes. Thursday’s announcement follows the DoJ’s recent findings that the medical schools at the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University illegally used race in their admissions. “Many of America’s top medical schools appear more concerned about the demographics of their incoming classes than training students to succeed in the profession,” assistant attorney general Harmeet K Dhillon of the DoJ’s civil rights division said on Thursday. “Under this justice department, we will continue to protect American students from discriminatory and illegal preferences in admissions – especially in professions as critical as medicine, where quality of training should be the top priority,” Dhillon added. According to the DoJ, the investigations will examine whether the schools – all of which receive federal funding – comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act which prohibits discrimination. The DoJ’s civil rights division stated that it has not reached any conclusions regarding the investigations. The DoJ has not publicly identified which schools it is investigating. However, following its findings against UCLA and Yale last month, the two universities defended their admissions records. …