The U.S. Department of Justice opened legal action over alleged race discrimination in UC San Diego School of Medicine admissions, asserting the school used race proxies—including “hardship,” “disadvantage,” and “distance traveled”—to steer outcomes. The DOJ said the admissions approach aimed to alter the racial representation of incoming classes and warned it may sue if the school does not come back into compliance after settlement talks. The allegation arrives amid broader federal scrutiny of higher education admissions under Title VI, including the administration’s push against race-conscious practices. UC San Diego’s School of Medicine has said it does not consider race or ethnicity as criteria for selection and is operating to comply with California’s legal constraints. For universities, the case spotlights how admissions offices document intent and how “non-race” factors can still trigger litigation if their use is interpreted as a proxy for race. It also increases compliance burdens for institutions using hardship-style or disadvantage-based frameworks in highly selective programs. The lawsuit could set new precedents for what counts as permissible consideration of how an applicant’s race affected their life versus impermissible efforts to shape class composition through indirect measures.