Trump DOJ assault on UC Davis Medical School recalls segregation-era tactics | Opinion
The U.S. Department of Justice accusing UC Davis Medical School of committing “discrimination” by lowering its standards to admit minority students is akin to white Southern governors blocking schoolhouse doors to Black children a generation ago, only this time the action carries the weight of the Oval Office.
President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would go after diversity, equity and inclusion practices in higher education, and here we are.
The effort to make a medical school reflect the community it serves, as UC Davis aims to do, is the cause of a federal witch hunt.
“Davis Med’s actions reflect both unabashed contempt for the rule of law and plain disregard for the potential public health consequences of putting race over merit, skill, and competence,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “The department will not allow schools to violate federal law without consequence.”
This only makes sense with Trump in office and with the U.S. Supreme Court barring the consideration of race and ethnicity for college admissions while allowing racial profiling for federal arresting immigrants.
Actions weaponize racial animosity
In this political moment, turning back the clock on civil rights is viewed as making America great again.
Black and brown students admitted to medical schools must be affirmative action tokens who threaten the public health, or so the bigoted thought process goes.
“Per its review of the Davis medical school’s admissions data, the federal department said it found that white and Asian students admitted to the school had higher average GPA and MCAT scores than Black students in 2023, 2024 and 2025”, The Bee reported.
The Trump administration’s actions do little more than weaponize racial and ethnic animosity within competitive spaces steeped in prestige. What’s more prestigious than a medical school? How do we gauge who doesn’t deserve to get in? Who does?
It doesn’t matter that Black and brown students are failed in California public schools where achievement gaps pale in comparison to teacher salaries and benefits. My children attended Sacramento public schools, where families like ours had advantages and privileges that many families at others lacked.
We could fundraise to provide our schools with tools they needed to help our kids or keep them safe. We could take time off from our jobs and accompany our classes to the mountains on field trips, or to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival or Washington, D.C.
Sacramento City Unified School District is currently being sued for racial discrimination and allegations of segregated classes.
How that case plays out is anyone’s guess, but public schools are not equal, not by a long shot.
‘Applicant’s life experience’ weighed
But the ultimate make-it-make-sense irony within the Trump administration harassment of UC Davis Medical School is that the school has touted, for years, that it “looks more like California” than most medical schools but achieved this distinction “without affirmative action.” And remember: California has banned affirmative action in college admissions since 1996.
“Every school relies on an applicant’s Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, score, and undergraduate grades to help determine who gets accepted,” UC Davis says on its website. “But UC Davis takes a broader view of those metrics by examining each applicant’s life experience, including barriers encountered or ‘distance traveled.’ What did it take for the student to get to college? Did they serve in the military? Did they overcome a major illness?”
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the majority of U.S. medical students come from high-income families. UC Davis Medical School has found a way around that class barrier with great success. It is a model for the idea that public education should be the great equalizer in our country. In this case, a public education is creating doctors serving patients with empathy and caring. That should be celebrated but instead, the Trump administration is menacing them.
I stand with UC Davis and against the full force of the federal government attempting to block the schoolhouse doors.
