House Committee Presses UCLA and UCSF Over Discrimination After Antisemitism Probe

The House Education and Workforce Committee has expanded its scrutiny of UCLA and UCSF medical education, seeking answers about alleged discrimination in admissions and hiring after its antisemitism investigations.

In an October 15 statement, chairman Tim Walberg named UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco. The new requests focus on race and sex discrimination. Both institutions told JNS they were reviewing the letters and had cooperated with the committee's inquiry.

How the investigation widened

Walberg opened the medical school antisemitism investigations in August 2025. The committee now says that work exposed a wider set of admissions and employment practices requiring examination.

The new letters describe “a broader pernicious infrastructure” that perpetuates antisemitism and other discrimination. That is the committee's characterisation of the evidence, rather than a judicial ruling on the new allegations.

For UCLA, the committee points to whistleblower allegations about admissions decisions and the use of applicants' postal codes to identify race. At UCSF, it raises concerns about guidance on diversity targets for residency programmes and how those programmes use standardised assessment criteria. These claims concern particular practices and decision makers, not every student or employee.

What the Justice Department found

The committee cites two separate Justice Department investigations. On May 6, 2026, the department concluded that UCLA's medical school intentionally used race in admissions for its incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Its findings letter relied on admissions records and other documents.

On September 22, the department announced a similar finding concerning UCSF's medical school. It alleged that race affected progression through application and interview stages and that white and Asian applicants were admitted at lower rates than Black and Hispanic applicants.

Those are administrative findings by the Justice Department under Title VI. The UCSF release described seeking compliance through negotiations and, if necessary, litigation. A department finding and a congressional letter do not themselves decide a court case.

The universities' response

In earlier responses reported by Reuters, UCLA defended its admissions process as based on merit in May 2026. UCSF disputed the department's findings in September 2026 and said it assessed each applicant individually, prioritising academic excellence.

UCLA's medical school told JNS it had produced documents and voluntarily participated in the committee's July 2026 hearing. UCSF said it had cooperated with requests since August 2025 and remained committed to resolving the inquiry.

Both said they were reviewing the new letters. JNS reported an October 29 deadline for the requested documents and communications. That date is a records deadline, not an announced public hearing or judgment.

What Title VI protects

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, colour or national origin in programmes receiving federal financial assistance. Education Department guidance explains that this includes discrimination against Jewish students based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.

Religious discrimination alone is not a separate Title VI category. Allegations of sex discrimination require a distinct legal basis. The committee's rules permit oversight hearings and subpoenas; its members can pursue legislative responses, while enforcement and court judgments follow separate legal processes.

UCLA's earlier settlement was a separate case

The $6.13 million settlement announced on July 29, 2025, resolved Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, a lawsuit over campus access and UCLA's response to the 2024 protest encampment. It did not settle the October 2026 medical school inquiry.

The agreement covered payments to plaintiffs, legal fees and contributions addressing antisemitism, alongside a permanent injunction protecting campus access. UC's own announcement specified $2.33 million for eight outside organisations and $320,000 for UCLA's Initiative to Combat Antisemitism.

The new inquiry returns attention to the decisions inside the medical schools. The immediate next step is their response to the committee's document requests, with the admissions allegations, campus access settlement and protections for Jewish students each retaining their own factual and legal record.