Latest news with #Proposition209
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal lawsuit alleges UCLA medical school uses a race-based admissions process
A federal class-action lawsuit accuses UCLA's medical school and various university officials of using race as a factor in admissions, despite a state law and Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in California's Central District federal court, was brought by the activist group Do No Harm, founded in 2022 to fight affirmative action in medicine; Students for Fair Admissions, the nonprofit that won its suit at the Supreme Court against Harvard's affirmative action program; and Kelly Mahoney, a college graduate who was rejected from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. According to the lawsuit, the legal action was being taken to stop the medical school and UCLA officials from allegedly "engaging in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process." UCLA's medical school did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read more: California banned affirmative action in 1996. Inside the UC struggle for diversity Citing unnamed "whistleblowers," the lawsuit alleges that Jennifer Lucero, the associate dean for admissions, "requires applicants to submit responses that are intended to allow the Committee to glean the applicant's race, which the medical school later confirms via interviews." It also alleges that Lucero and admissions committee members "routinely and openly" discussed race and used it as a factor to make admission decisions. Lucero did not immediately respond to an emailed request to comment. 'Do No Harm is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress,' Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm, said in a news release. "All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions." Read more: Justice Department probes major California universities over 'illegal DEI' in admissions The lawsuit comes as UCLA and other UC campuses are facing scrutiny by the Trump administration for potential 'illegal DEI' in admissions practices. The Department of Justice in late March said it would investigate UCLA, UC Irvine, Stanford and UC Berkeley, suggesting the schools flouted state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent banning the use of race as a factor when evaluating college applicants. A UC spokesperson said in a statement about the March investigation that UC stopped using race in admissions when Proposition 209 — which bans consideration of race in public education, hiring and contracting — went into effect in 1997. Since then, 'UC has implemented admissions practices to comply with the law.' Separately at the time, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was investigating an unnamed 'major medical school in California to determine whether it discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national origin in its admissions. An HHS official previously told The Times that the investigation centered on the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. In response to that March announcement, UCLA said "we will be fully cooperating with their investigation." The lawsuit Thursday alleges that Lucero and the admissions committee routinely admit Black applicants with below-average GPA and MCAT, or Medical College Admission Test scores, "while requiring whites and Asians to have near-perfect scores to even be seriously considered." According to the lawsuit, Do No Harm has at least one member who applied to Geffen, was rejected and "is able and ready to reapply if a court orders Defendants to stop discriminating and to undo the effects of its past discrimination." Students for Fair Admissions has at least one member who will apply to the medical school. "In this race-based system," the lawsuit alleges, "all applicants are deprived of their right to equal treatment and the opportunity to pursue their lifelong dream of becoming a doctor because of utterly arbitrary criteria." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
09-05-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Federal lawsuit alleges UCLA medical school uses a race-based admissions process
A federal class-action lawsuit accuses UCLA's medical school and various university officials of using race as a factor in admissions, despite a state law and Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in California's Central District federal court, was brought by the activist group Do No Harm, founded in 2022 to fight affirmative action in medicine; Students for Fair Admissions, the nonprofit that won its suit at the Supreme Court against Harvard's affirmative action program; and Kelly Mahoney, a college graduate who was rejected from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. According to the lawsuit, the legal action was being taken to stop the medical school and UCLA officials from allegedly 'engaging in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process.' UCLA's medical school did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Citing unnamed 'whistleblowers,' the lawsuit alleges that Jennifer Lucero, the associate dean for admissions, 'requires applicants to submit responses that are intended to allow the Committee to glean the applicant's race, which the medical school later confirms via interviews.' It also alleges that Lucero and admissions committee members 'routinely and openly' discussed race and used it as a factor to make admission decisions. Lucero did not immediately respond to an emailed request to comment. 'Do No Harm is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress,' Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm, said in a news release. 'All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions.' The lawsuit comes as UCLA and other UC campuses are facing scrutiny by the Trump administration for potential 'illegal DEI' in admissions practices. The Department of Justice in late March said it would investigate UCLA, UC Irvine, Stanford and UC Berkeley, suggesting the schools flouted state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent banning the use of race as a factor when evaluating college applicants. A UC spokesperson said in a statement about the March investigation that UC stopped using race in admissions when Proposition 209 — which bans consideration of race in public education, hiring and contracting — went into effect in 1997. Since then, 'UC has implemented admissions practices to comply with the law.' Separately at the time, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was investigating an unnamed 'major medical school in California to determine whether it discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national origin in its admissions. An HHS official previously told The Times that the investigation centered on the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. In response to that March announcement, UCLA said 'we will be fully cooperating with their investigation.' The lawsuit Thursday alleges that Lucero and the admissions committee routinely admit Black applicants with below-average GPA and MCAT, or Medical College Admission Test scores, 'while requiring whites and Asians to have near-perfect scores to even be seriously considered.' According to the lawsuit, Do No Harm has at least one member who applied to Geffen, was rejected and 'is able and ready to reapply if a court orders Defendants to stop discriminating and to undo the effects of its past discrimination.' Students for Fair Admissions has at least one member who will apply to the medical school. 'In this race-based system,' the lawsuit alleges, 'all applicants are deprived of their right to equal treatment and the opportunity to pursue their lifelong dream of becoming a doctor because of utterly arbitrary criteria.'
Axios
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Stanford, UC Berkeley investigated over "illegal DEI" in admissions
Stanford and UC Berkeley are among the four California universities being investigated in a new federal probe launched Thursday over "illegal DEI" admissions practices. Why it matters: President Trump has threatened to cut federal funding from schools that use race as a determining factor in their admissions, after alleging that such "discriminatory practices" are being used to exclude some white and Asian American students. State of play: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is directing the department's Civil Rights Division to determine if the universities' admission policies comply with the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling overturning affirmative action. UCLA and UC Irvine are also included in the investigation. The big picture: The investigation is the latest effort by the Trump administration to gut diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming, policies and initiatives. What they're saying:"President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country," Bondi said in a statement. "Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect, and character, not the color of their skin." The move is part of a campaign to end a decades-long practice of elite colleges and universities "prioritizing racial quotas over equality of opportunity, dividing Americans and discriminating against entire groups of applicants," according to the press release. The other side: Following the 2023 SCOTUS decision, Stanford "immediately engaged in a comprehensive and rigorous review to ensure compliance in our admissions processes" and remains "committed to fulfilling our obligations under the law, and we will respond to the department's questions as it conducts this process," university spokesperson Luisa Rapport told Axios. The UC System's admissions practices have been complying with California's ban against affirmative action since 1996 when voters approved Proposition 209, according to Rachel Zaentz, a spokesperson at the University of California Office of the President. While the university system collects students' race and ethnicity, that information is used only for statistics and not for admissions, Zaentz said. "We remain committed to expanding access for all qualified students,"she added. Catch up quick: The latest move comes just weeks after Trump issued a warning to 60 colleges, including UC Berkeley and Stanford, that their federal funds could be cut if they don't address allegations of antisemitic harassment on campus.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Justice Department probes major California universities for 'illegal DEI' in admissions
The Department of Justice on Thursday said it would investigate four California universities for potential "illegal DEI" in admissions, suggesting the schools flouted state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent banning the use of race as a factor when evaluating college applicants. In announcing the actions against UCLA, UC Irvine, Stanford and UC Berkeley, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said she and President Trump were "dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country." The Justice Department statement described the investigation as a "compliance review" in a brief, 248-word news release with little detail and no timeline. It did not cite evidence of illegal practices or complaints that would typically trigger the federal government to research university practices. It also attempted to rebrand affirmative action, a term used for decades, as DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. The relatively new phrase has been at the center of Trump's war on diversity practices in federal departments, university research grants, academic programming and corporations. Trump has argued DEI efforts hurt white and Asian people and promotes individuals based on race instead of merit. "For decades, elite colleges and universities have prioritized racial quotas over equality of opportunity, dividing Americans and discriminating against entire groups of applicants, all in the name of DEI," the department's announcement said. Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not immediately reply to requests for details on its plans. Read more: University of California orders hiring freeze, cuts in response to Trump threats Rachel Zaentz, a UC spokesperson, said in a statement that UC stopped using race in admissions when Proposition 209 — which bans consideration of race in public education, hiring and contracting — went into effect in 1997. Since then, "UC has implemented admissions practices to comply with the law," Zaentz said. "At the same time, we remain committed to expanding access for all qualified students. The UC undergraduate admissions application collects students' race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only. This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admissions." UC has touted its holistic admissions process, which includes legal ways to seek racially diverse applicants, such as outreach to diverse high school communities. Dee Mostofi, a Stanford spokesperson, said in a statement that the private university stopped considering race in admissions after 2023, when the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action was unconstitutional. "We continue to be committed to fulfilling our obligations under the law," Mostofi said. "We do not have details about today's announcement, but we look forward to learning more about their concerns and responding to the department's questions." The admissions investigations are the latest chapter in a broad push against schools and universities over DEI efforts, many of which fall outside of admissions and which liberal and conservative legal experts say are within the law. The Department of Education issued guidance in February to all schools and universities saying diversity programs — such as minority-focused scholarships and Black and Latino graduation ceremonies — put them at risk of losing federal grants. In response, schools closed down diversity offices or positions or renamed them to remove the words diversity and equity. USC ended a campuswide diversity office, merging it with a 'culture' team, and faculty scrubbed department-level websites of diversity language. Last week, the University of California announced it would ban campuses from requiring faculty applicants to submit "diversity statements" when applying for jobs. Read more: The California Office for Civil Rights is closing. What now for school discrimination cases? On Thursday, USC also announced that it had removed "diversity, equity and inclusion" from its list of "unifying values." The same day, the University of Michigan, a pioneer of diversity programs, said it would close its central DEI office and ban diversity statements in hiring, among other measures. The Education Department also opened investigations into UC Berkeley, Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State San Bernardino and dozens of campuses this month under allegations that they illegally partnered with the PhD Project, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that promotes workplace diversity by connecting business school faculty to students. The department accused the nonprofit of limiting participation based on race. The PhD Project said this month that it changed its policies to be open to all. The campuses have until Monday to respond to the Trump administration with details about connections to the nonprofit. The suggestion by the Justice Department that California universities are breaking the law in admissions signals a new level of scrutiny of campuses. The 2023 Supreme Court ruling overturning affirmative action led to declines at Stanford and dozens of elite universities in admissions of Black and Latino students. UC has touted its campus-by-campus enrollment of nonwhite groups, which has remained roughly the same or has grown. UCLA has significantly boosted its Black and Latino student applications and enrollment after more than 25 years of targeted outreach. Over the years, UC moved from using an 'academic index' based on test scores and GPA for admissions to a comprehensive review that considers 13 factors, including GPA, the rigor of coursework, talents and life experiences. Admissions directors say that applicants are not compared with all others across the board but more directly with peers in their schools or similar socioeconomic circumstances. Most selective universities, including USC, also employ holistic review. Still, UC has faced lawsuits and critiques over admissions. In February, a group called Students Against Racial Discrimination filed a suit in federal court that accused UC of illegally considering race when accepting new students. The complaint alleged that the system's long-term growth of Black and Latino enrollment would not be possible under Proposition 209 and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling. Lawyers representing the group include those from America First Legal, which was founded by President Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller. Also on Thursday, a congressional committee on education that has focused its ire on elite schools it believes to have failed to protect Jewish students sent a sternly worded letter to Pomona College in Claremont. The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Workforce's letter demanded information about "several antisemitic incidents" in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and amid the subsequent war in Gaza. Read more: Justice Department launches investigation into allegations of antisemitism at UC The letter — signed by the committee's chair, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), and Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development — details multiple incidents that occurred on the campus of the elite liberal arts school. Among the episodes was the April 2024 protests in which 20 pro-Palestinian demonstrators stormed and occupied the college president's office, an escalation of earlier unrest that led to several arrests. Graduation plans were upended a month later when pro-Palestinian activists erected tents on the main stage, causing ceremonies to be moved to L.A. Walberg and Owens' letter asked for documents related to some of the occurrences it described, and a list of all "student disciplinary/conduct cases" associated with antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack. "Please identify all instances in which alleged perpetrators were involved in previous disciplinary incidents," the congress members requested. Pomona College acknowledged receiving the letter and said in a statement that it is "firmly committed to assuring the right of all of our students, including our Jewish students, to a Pomona education, including to taking every appropriate step to prevent antisemitism," and would "fully cooperate" with the inquiry. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Justice Department probes major California universities for ‘illegal DEI' in admissions
The Department of Justice on Thursday said it would investigate four California universities for potential 'illegal DEI' in admissions, suggesting the schools flouted state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent banning the use of race as a factor when evaluating college applicants. In announcing the actions against UCLA, UC Irvine, Stanford and UC Berkeley, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said she and President Trump were 'dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country.' The Justice Department statement described the investigation as a 'compliance review' in a brief, 248-word news release with little detail and no timeline. It did not cite evidence of illegal practices or complaints that would typically trigger the federal government to research university practices. It also attempted to rebrand affirmative action, a term used for decades, as DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. The relatively new phrase has been at the center of Trump's war on diversity practices in federal departments, university research grants, academic programming and corporations. Trump has argued DEI efforts hurt white and Asian people and promotes individuals based on race instead of merit. 'For decades, elite colleges and universities have prioritized racial quotas over equality of opportunity, dividing Americans and discriminating against entire groups of applicants, all in the name of DEI,' the department's announcement said. Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not immediately reply to requests for details on its plans. Rachel Zaentz, a UC spokesperson, said in a statement that UC stopped using race in admissions when Proposition 209 — which bans consideration of race in public education, hiring and contracting — went into effect in 1997. Since then, 'UC has implemented admissions practices to comply with the law,' Zaentz said. 'At the same time, we remain committed to expanding access for all qualified students. The UC undergraduate admissions application collects students' race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only. This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admissions.' UC has touted its holistic admissions process, which includes legal ways to seek racially diverse applicants, such as outreach to diverse high school communities. Dee Mostofi, a Stanford spokesperson, said in a statement that the private university stopped considering race in admissions after 2023, when the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action was unconstitutional. 'We continue to be committed to fulfilling our obligations under the law,' Mostofi said. 'We do not have details about today's announcement, but we look forward to learning more about their concerns and responding to the department's questions.' The admissions investigations are the latest chapter in a broad push against schools and universities over DEI efforts, many of which fall outside of admissions and which liberal and conservative legal experts say are within the law. The Department of Education issued guidance in February to all schools and universities saying diversity programs — such as minority-focused scholarships and Black and Latino graduation ceremonies — put them at risk of losing federal grants. In response, schools closed down diversity offices or positions or renamed them to remove the words diversity and equity. USC ended a campuswide diversity office, merging it with a 'culture' team, and faculty scrubbed department-level websites of diversity language. Last week, the University of California announced it would ban campuses from requiring faculty applicants to submit 'diversity statements' when applying for jobs. On Thursday, USC also announced that it had removed 'diversity, equity and inclusion' from its list of 'unifying values.' The same day, the University of Michigan, a pioneer of diversity programs, said it would close its central DEI office and ban diversity statements in hiring, among other measures. The Education Department also opened investigations into UC Berkeley, Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State San Bernardino and dozens of campuses this month under allegations that they illegally partnered with the PhD Project, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that promotes workplace diversity by connecting business school faculty to students. The department accused the nonprofit of limiting participation based on race. The PhD Project said this month that it changed its policies to be open to all. The campuses have until Monday to respond to the Trump administration with details about connections to the nonprofit. The suggestion by the Justice Department that California universities are breaking the law in admissions signals a new level of scrutiny of campuses. The 2023 Supreme Court ruling overturning affirmative action led to declines at Stanford and dozens of elite universities in admissions of Black and Latino students. UC has touted its campus-by-campus enrollment of nonwhite groups, which has remained roughly the same or has grown. UCLA has significantly boosted its Black and Latino student applications and enrollment after more than 25 years of targeted outreach. Over the years, UC moved from using an 'academic index' based on test scores and GPA for admissions to a comprehensive review that considers 13 factors, including GPA, the rigor of coursework, talents and life experiences. Admissions directors say that applicants are not compared with all others across the board but more directly with peers in their schools or similar socioeconomic circumstances. Most selective universities, including USC, also employ holistic review. Still, UC has faced lawsuits and critiques over admissions. In February, a group called Students Against Racial Discrimination filed a suit in federal court that accused UC of illegally considering race when accepting new students. The complaint alleged that the system's long-term growth of Black and Latino enrollment would not be possible under Proposition 209 and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling. Lawyers representing the group include those from America First Legal, which was founded by President Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller. Also on Thursday, a congressional committee on education that has focused its ire on elite schools it believes to have failed to protect Jewish students sent a sternly worded letter to Pomona College in Claremont. The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Workforce's letter demanded information about 'several antisemitic incidents' in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and amid the subsequent war in Gaza. The letter — signed by the committee's chair, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), and Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development — details multiple incidents that occurred on the campus of the elite liberal arts school. Among the episodes was the April 2024 protests in which 20 pro-Palestinian demonstrators stormed and occupied the college president's office, an escalation of earlier unrest that led to several arrests. Graduation plans were upended a month later when pro-Palestinian activists erected tents on the main stage, causing ceremonies to be moved to L.A. Walberg and Owens' letter asked for documents related to some of the occurrences it described, and a list of all 'student disciplinary/conduct cases' associated with antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack. 'Please identify all instances in which alleged perpetrators were involved in previous disciplinary incidents,' the congress members requested. Pomona College acknowledged receiving the letter and said in a statement that it is 'firmly committed to assuring the right of all of our students, including our Jewish students, to a Pomona education, including to taking every appropriate step to prevent antisemitism,' and would 'fully cooperate' with the inquiry.
