The Justice Department on Thursday accused Yale University of illegally considering race in admissions to its medical school — the second institution to face discrimination allegations by the federal agency this month.
In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a DOJ investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores.
“Yale has continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public’s clear mandate for reform,” Dhillon said in a statement. “This Department will continue to shed light on these illegal practices, and demand that institutions of higher education comply with federal law.”
Yale officials and the attorney named in the DOJ letter, Peter Spivack, did not immediately return email messages seeking comment.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration has been putting pressure on universities to stop using race as a basis for admission, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. And a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2023 banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions, in cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
Last week, the Justice Department notified the University of California, Los Angeles, that its medical school illegally considered race in admissions.
In the letter to Yale, Dhillon alleged the New Haven, Connecticut, school was violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination and said the DOJ is seeking to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with the university. She also noted in the letter that the agency has the authority to take the school to court to enforce Title VI if it cannot obtain compliance through voluntary means.
The DOJ cited differences in grade-point averages and standardized test scores as evidence of racial preferences in the incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. In Yale’s most recent class, Black students had a median GPA of 3.88 and a median MCAT score in the 95th percentile, compared to Asian students who had a median GPA of 3.98 and white students with a 3.97 median GPA. Both Asian and white students of that class had median MCAT scores in the 100th percentile.
“Based on our preliminary review of the applicant-level data, Yale’s use of race resulted in a Black applicant being as much as 29 times higher odds of getting an interview for admission than an equally strong Asian applicant with similar academic credentials,” Dhillon's letter said.
The Justice Department also described Yale’s use of a holistic admissions process as a means for the school to consider race.
The letter also cited Yale’s amicus brief in the Student for Fair Admissions lawsuit that led to the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, where the school said it would not be able to maintain diverse classes without explicit consideration of race. The department said the fact that Yale was able to maintain similarly diverse classes despite that brief as evidence that the school had engaged in race discrimination.
Dhillon wrote that the lack of any change in Yale's admissions outcomes after the Supreme Court ruling showed "a willful failure to comply with that decision.”
In March, a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions.
Associated Press writer Annie Ma in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - A woman walks by a Yale sign reflected in the rainwater on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Conn., Aug. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
BOSTON (AP) — A man accused of wounding two drivers when he fired at least 70 rounds from an assault-style weapon on a busy street near Boston pleaded not guilty Thursday to assault and other charges.
Tyler Brown, 46, who appeared in Cambridge District Court via video from a hospital bed, did not speak and appeared to have his eyes closed for most of the brief hearing. He nodded when the judge said not guilty pleas had been entered on his behalf to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and six other charges, including possessing a gun without a license.
Judge David Frank ordered him to remain in custody, either at the hospital or in jail, pending a hearing on May 21. Brown's attorney, Carolyn McGowan, declined to speak at the hearing other than answering the judge's questions about scheduling matters. The Committee for Public Counsel Services/Public Defender Division, where she is listed as a senior trial counsel, did not respond to a request for comment.
Brown is accused of opening fire Monday afternoon on a heavily traveled road along the Charles River in Cambridge. Panicked drivers abandoned their vehicles or hid under them seeking cover.
One man, who was struck in the back of the head, has since been released from the hospital, while another driver who was shot four times in the leg remains hospitalized, Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Nicole Allain said.
About an hour before the shootings, Brown connected with his parole officer via video conference. Armed with a gun, he said on video that he had relapsed and wanted to end his life. The parole officer called police, who began searching for Brown and found him in Cambridge using phone records.
The complaint describes what led up to the shootings. According to investigators, Brown had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression and had been released Friday from a psychiatric hospital.
According to the complaint, Brown is on parole and probation for offenses including armed assault to murder and other gun-related convictions. His parole was set to end this week, though his probation continued.
Meghan Kelly, a spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, said Brown was not licensed to carry a firearm.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan described Brown’s criminal history going back to 1994, when he was convicted of armed robbery in Michigan. He also was convicted of escape in Michigan in 1997 and drug offenses in New Hampshire in 2007.
In Massachusetts, he has been convicted of multiple assault and gun-related charges, most recently in 2021, when he was convicted of firing at officers.
Prosecutors said then that he should serve at least 10 years in prison, due to the “level of brazen violence” and because he was on probation for a 2014 conviction on assault and witness intimidation charges. A judge instead ordered Brown to serve five to six years in state prison and three years of probation with credit for nearly 18 months spent in custody.
At the time, the judge’s decision sparked outrage and criticism among local officials concerned that violent offenders were not being held accountable — concerns that have resurfaced. “Talk about a ball drop,” said the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association in a statement on social media.
During a 2021 sentencing hearing, a police officer who Brown shot at called him "a very dangerous individual who doesn't care who he hurts," according to an audio recording of the proceedings. A probation officer expressed concern that the incident he was on probation for and the one he was being sentenced for were similar and he was a “danger to the community due to his random acts of violence.”
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders told the court then that she considers factors like psychiatric issues and childhood trauma Brown endured in imposing a sentence. But Sanders seemed especially moved by the support expressed in letters from Brown's family and the community, including city officials, who were impressed with “his commitment to turn his life around.”
“Mr. Brown, I do realize I’m kind of taking a chance on you,” the judge told him. “When experienced officers, experienced probation officers tell me this guy is a danger to the community, I hear that. I can't look into a crystal ball and figure out what is going to happening once you get out. But I do understand I am taking a risk here. I just pray that you know my intuitions are right.”
This image provided by Cambridge District Court, Tyler Brown appears in court via zoom from a hospital bed on Thursday, May 14, 2026 in Cambridge, Mass. (Cambridge District Court via AP)
This image provided by Cambridge District Court, Tyler Brown appears in court via zoom from a hospital bed on Thursday, May 14, 2026 in Cambridge, Mass. (Cambridge District Court via AP)
