The US Justice Department has concluded that Ohio State University’s medical school discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions for its 2023, 2024 and 2025 entering classes. The university disputes the findings.
The Civil Rights Division described its conclusion as an investigative finding under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, not a court judgment. It said the school’s holistic review process treated race as a factor at several stages and operated a separate route through which some applicants were admitted without a screener score or interview.
According to the department’s findings letter, Black applicants who went through screening and interview were about 2.8 times as likely to be admitted as Asian applicants with equal credentials. It also said that, in 2024 and 2025 combined, Black applicants were four times as likely as white applicants to enter through the alternative pathway and that no Asian applicant was admitted through it.
The department relies on the Supreme Court’s 2023 admissions decisions and Title VI’s prohibition on discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance. Its next step is negotiation: the department said it would seek a settlement to bring the process into compliance and file suit if talks fail.
Ohio State has not conceded a violation. The legal conclusions and statistical account remain contested unless resolved by agreement or tested in court. That distinction is important because the announcement does not impose a judicial remedy or establish liability through an adjudicated record.
The Justice Department’s official findings announcement links to the agency’s findings letter.
