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Sunday, May 10, 2026
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Medical Schools Still Sorting by Skin Color — Now the Feds Are Kicking Down the Door

Five medical schools just got formal notice that the federal government is investigating whether they're still using racial preferences in admissions. Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine, East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine, St. Louis University School of Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, and William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine all decided the Supreme Court's decision didn't apply to them.

The memo was Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. It wasn't subtle.

The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights opened the new round of probes, and they aren't the first. More than 15 medical schools were already under investigation as of June alone, with UC San Diego, UC Davis, and UCLA among the schools found breaking the law. This latest wave brings the total even higher, and the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice are coordinating on the effort.

Kimberly Richey, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, didn't mince words. "Your race should not decide whether or not you can study medicine, yet many schools seem to be more focused on meeting racial quotas than selecting individuals who have earned entrance based on merit," Richey said.

The schools' responses have been a masterclass in saying nothing. A spokesperson for Western University of Health Sciences said the school "complies with all state and federal laws governing its admissions practices. We have no further comment at this time." East Carolina University said it "received notice of the self-directed Department of Education probe late Tuesday afternoon" and insisted it "complies with the Supreme Court ruling in the Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard." Then added: "The university will respond to the Department of Education in accordance with applicable law."

The Supreme Court ruled racial preferences in admissions unconstitutional. President Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 reinforcing the prohibition on race-based discrimination. In August 2025, he issued a demand for admissions data transparency. The schools had every signal, every warning, every legal marker that the era of race-sorting was over. And yet, more than 20 medical programs are now under federal scrutiny for continuing the practice anyway.

The defense that will inevitably emerge — "we use holistic review," "race is just one factor," "diversity improves outcomes" — is the same language these institutions used before the Supreme Court struck it down. The court didn't say "try harder to hide it." The court said stop.

These are medical schools. The institutions we trust to select the people who will diagnose disease, perform surgery, and make life-or-death decisions under pressure. The admissions criterion that matters is whether a student can handle the work. The admissions criterion under investigation is whether they checked the right box.

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