The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday that its investigation concluded the Yale School of Medicine's admissions process discriminated in favor of Black and Hispanic applicants, according to a department statement. The DOJ said it intends to pursue a voluntary resolution agreement with the university.
Yale's medical school did not immediately provide a response to a request for comment. The university has previously maintained that it does not discriminate in admissions against any racial or ethnic group.
Legal finding and evidence cited
In its statement, the Justice Department said Yale violated the law "by intentionally discriminating based on race in its admissions." The department added that its investigation demonstrated that, generally, "Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with consistently lower academic qualifications than their White and Asian counterparts."
Related enforcement actions
The announcement follows a similar move by the DOJ last week, when officials cited findings from a probe that concluded admissions at the University of California, Los Angeles' medical school were biased in favor of Black and Hispanic applicants. UCLA's medical school responded in that instance by saying its admissions practices "were based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant."
Context within broader policy shifts
The Justice Department's actions come after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 rulings that struck down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Those court decisions rejected affirmative action at colleges and universities.
President Donald Trump has framed diversity goals as anti-merit and discriminatory against groups such as white people and men, and has signed executive orders intended to roll back those policies across government and the private sector.
Civil rights advocates counter that diversity initiatives are intended to address historic inequities affecting marginalized groups, including women, the LGBT community and ethnic minorities.
Political and university responses
Trump has focused scrutiny on universities over a range of matters beyond diversity goals, including climate initiatives, transgender policies and pro-Palestinian protests linked to Israel's assault on Gaza, according to the Justice Department statement. Rights advocates have raised concerns about the potential impact on academic freedom, free speech and due process as these issues are contested.
The Justice Department has not taken steps to directly cut federal funding to Yale. Disclosures cited by the department show Yale's lobbying expenditures in 2025, the year President Trump returned to the White House, totaled $1.24 million, more than double the amount the university spent in 2024.
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Because the Justice Department is seeking a voluntary resolution with Yale and similar probes have been cited at other medical schools, this remains an active enforcement area and universities may be monitoring legal and public relations implications.