Yale University has already sought settlement talks with the Trump Administration in the face of a widespread probe into its admission policies, according to a Friday New York Times report.

One of the country’s most elite universities apparently does not want the same high-profile, months-long fight with the government that its historic rival, Harvard, faced last year, The Times reported.

Three sources told the outlet the government has launched an investigation of the New Haven, Connecticut-based school for giving preferential treatment to Black and Hispanic applicants at its medical school, and is also reviewing Yale’s undergraduate and law school practices.

In response, Yale has brought in Virginia-based law firm McGuireWoods to negotiate a settlement with the US Department of Justice and avoid any financial penalties, the report noted.

The firm helped the University of Virginia reach its own settlement with the DOJ in October 2025, to the tune of more than $1.8 million in legal fees, according to student newspaper The Cavalier Daily.

While the Justice Department probe of Yale’s undergraduate and law schools has not yet been made public, The Times said, the department slammed the school in May for having “intentionally selected applicants based on their race” at the Yale School of Medicine:

Yale’s documents reveal that they studied how to use racial proxies to circumvent the Supreme Court’s prohibition on using race to select students. Yale’s admissions data demonstrate that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to Yale than White or Asian students with the same test scores.

Yale’s apparently quick capitulation marks a distinctly different approach to the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at Harvard — which battled the government for months and defied orders to cut such programs.

Though Trump proclaimed in September that the Administration had “reached a deal” with Harvard, no deal came to fruition, and by February, the President branded the school “strongly antisemitic” and demanded $1 billion in damages.

Yale did not immediately respond to Mediaite’s request for comment.

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