The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)'s medical school discriminated against white and Asian students in its admissions process, a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation found.
The report stated that black and Hispanic applicants with consistently lower academic qualifications than their white and Asian counterparts were given preferential consideration at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM).
DGSOM Executive Director of Admissions Alisa Lopez and Dean of Admissions Jennifer Lucero were both singled out by the DOJ and accused of prioritizing 'diversity goals' over merit.
The DOJ said Wednesday that it found evidence UCLA leadership 'intentionally selected applicants based on their race.'
The allegations come amid the Trump administration's anti-DEI push, with prosecutors saying that UCLA's admissions were based on race-based quotas.
'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,' the DOJ said in a press release.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, the DOJ's Assistant Attorney General for its Civil Rights division, slammed the college for 'allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors.'
'UCLA’s admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence,' Dhillon said. 'Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this Department will not allow it to continue.'
Admissions officials at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) allegedly discriminated against white and Asian students with better test scores when selecting students for its prestigious medical school
UCLA Medical school dean of applications Jennifer Lucero was named by the Department of Justice and accused of 'intentionally selecting applicants based on their race'
In a letter addressed to the school, prosecutors said DGSOM discriminated against other applicants 'to benefit preferred race classes' of black and Hispanic students.
The DOJ said that black and Hispanic applicants were given preference in admissions from 2023 to 2025 despite typically scoring lower on admissions tests.
'As a result of these practices, highly qualified White, Asian, and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race,' prosecutors said.
The DOJ said the alleged discrimination was a violation of Title IV and it is seeking to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with UCLA to 'ensure that admissions practices are brought into legal compliance.'
In its letter, the DOJ cited test data showing that Black and Hispanic applicants scored, on average, 28 percentile points lower than white and Asian applicants.
The DOJ's naming of Lucero comes after she was accused in 2024 of allowing UCLA's standards to plummet amid the alleged racial discrimination.
The DGSOM is among the most prestigious in the world and boasts Nobel Prize winners among its faculty.
The school accepts an average of about 175 students out of 14,000 applicants.
Executive Director of Admissions Alisa Lopez was also singled out by the DOJ
In a statement, a spokesman told the Daily Mail the school is reviewing the DOJ report.
'The admissions process at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant,' he said.
'We are confident in our practices and our mission to maintain access to a high-quality education to all qualified students.
'The David Geffen School of Medicine is committed to providing equal opportunity to all applicants and fully complying with federal and state laws.'
Lucero became Dean of Admissions in June 2020. By May 2024 DGSOM had plunged from sixth to 18th place in global rankings, amid claims that the admissions bar for underrepresented minorities is now 'as low as you could possibly imagine.'
'All the normal criteria for getting into medical school only apply to people of certain races,' an admissions officer told the Washington Free Beacon in 2024.
At the time, the number of students failing tests on basic medical knowledge has increased tenfold in some subjects since 2020, the Free Beacon reported.
The collapse in standards has turned the institution into a 'failed medical school' according to one former member of the admissions staff.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, the DOJ's Assistant Attorney General for its Civil Rights division, slammed the college for 'allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors'
Admitting students on racial criteria has been banned in California since 1996 and outlawed federally since a Supreme Court ruling in 2023.
Lucero was accused of filling UCLA's 25-strong admissions committee with her hand-picked members and terrorizing dissenters into silence by implying they are racist and threatening them with diversity training sessions.
'We were always outnumbered,' an admissions officer said. 'Other people would get upset when we brought up GPA.'
The Daily Mail has contacted Lopez and Lucero for comment.