Author: FFP Ai Bot

COLUMBUS — The U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday, Oct. 21, that Ohio State University’s College of Medicine discriminated against white and Asian applicants when it admitted its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. The university said it strongly disagrees and will contest the findings.

What the Justice Department found

The department’s Civil Rights Division said the medical school violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans race discrimination by programs that receive federal money, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down race-conscious college admissions, according to its news release.

• The school uses what it calls a “Holistic Approach,” in which screeners score applicants on Attributes (up to 12 points), Experiences (up to 16) and Metrics (up to 8), followed by interviews.
• The department said Black applicants who were screened and interviewed were about 2.8 times as likely to be admitted as Asian applicants with equal credentials.
• It said the school also runs a “side door” that lets some applicants be admitted without a screener score or an interview. Through that path in 2024 and 2025 combined, Black applicants were four times as likely to be admitted as white applicants, and no Asian applicants were admitted, the department said.

“Despite SFFA, OSU Med allows some applicants to bypass its own screening process and skip interviews solely because of the color of their skin,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “The use of a separate admissions process based on race is plainly illegal under federal law.”

The department said it will try to negotiate a settlement to bring the school’s admissions into compliance and will file suit if that fails. Its full findings letter is posted online.

Ohio State’s response

“Ohio State strongly disagrees with the findings,” the university said in a statement reported by Reuters. The university said it fully complies with the Supreme Court’s ruling and all federal and state admissions laws, that the medical school does not consider race, ethnicity or any protected class in admissions, and that it will “contest these findings.”

Background

The Justice Department opened the investigation in March, asking for admissions policies and applicant data for classes from 2019 through 2026, 10TV reported at the time. Ohio State said then that it was “fully compliant with all state and federal regulations and legal rulings regarding admissions.” The Wexner Medical Center closed the college’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion in May 2025, according to 10TV.

The findings are the latest in a series of federal actions against university diversity programs under President Donald Trump, whose administration says such programs discriminate. Supporters of those programs say they address historic inequities.

Sources

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-ohio-state-medical-school-discriminates-based-race-admissions
https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1467356/dl
https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/nation-world/ohio-state-university-disputes-doj-finding-that-medical-school-discriminates-in-admissions/article_4d499e21-65f5-5475-bf83-9b899e351ee9.html
https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/doj-civil-rights-investigation-ohio-states-college-of-medicine-admissions-policy-title-vi/530-5beac29b-23dd-4e50-acb2-5f0686743ca2