The Department of Justice has concluded that the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is illegally discriminating based on race in admissions.
“The Department uncovered evidence that UCLA’s leadership intentionally selected applicants based on their race,” the Justice Department says in a May 6 press release. Medical school records revealed “that UCLA adheres to the dubious contention that patients receive the best care when treated by a doctor of the same race, rather than by the most qualified.”
Many UCLA officials are racist against whites. UCLA’s Director of Race and Equity, Johnathan Perkins, advocated illegally denying white employees leave because of their race. Perkins also claimed that “every white person is racist to some degree”, and falsely claimed that “white people cannot be victims of racism,” and “only white people can impose racist harm.” These claims disregarded court rulings finding that whites can be victims of racism and nonwhites can act illegally in committing racist acts. Perkins tells whites not to wish him a “Happy Juneteenth” because he will “flip tf out” if they do. He reacted to the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth by saying,“Good riddance.”
Considering race in admissions to give patients a doctor of their own race was rejected by the Supreme Court in its 1978 decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. It said race could be considered as one of many factors to promote diversity, but not to increase the number of minority physicians. In 2023, the Supreme Court curbed the use of race in admissions in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, making clear that diversity is generally not a reason to consider race in college admissions.
UCLA’s school of medicine consistently admitted black and Hispanic students with lower grades and test scores than their white and Asian competitors. Blacks especially had low grades and test scores.
“Medical schools use substantial federal financial assistance to train the next generation of doctors. The Department is continuing its focus on eradicating illegal race politics from admissions at medical schools, where quality and excellence are vitally important,” the Justice Department said.
In a letter addressed to UCLA Chancellor John Mazziotta, the Justice Department cites an example in which the admissions director, Alisa Lopez, shared a document with her team that suggests veiled ways to racially discriminate, such as using racial proxies. Using racial proxies can constitute racial discrimination, under Supreme Court decisions such as Hunter v. Underwood and Gomillion v. Lightfoot.
The document claims that having more black and Hispanic doctors will improve healthcare for those communities, although studies making that claim are not reliable or reproducible, and black children actually have lower survival rates with black doctors (controlling for birth weight) than with white doctors.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said UCLA is sacrificing “merit and excellence” at the expense of “racial politics,” according to the news release.
“Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this Department will not allow it to continue,” Dhillon said.
Similarly, acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said that both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Supreme Court rulings forbid race discrimination in admissions.
“The pattern of illegal and odious conduct by UCLA’s medical school is abhorrent to our Constitution and our nation’s founding principles,” Essayli added.
Students Against Racial Discrimination filed a lawsuit against UCLA in 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
In 2025, a leaked memo from UCLA’s medical school showed the admissions committee is told to ensure at least proportional representation for students of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.
The Justice Department has also launched investigations of medical schools at Stanford University, Ohio State University, and the University of California San Diego based on evidence that they may be discriminating based on race in admissions.
