New clash between the Trump administration and major American universities. The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday accused the medical school of Yale Universityone of the most prestigious institutions in the United States, to discriminate against white and Asian applicants in its admissions procedures.
In a press release, the ministry said that the investigation into the university’s diversity policies uncovered practices contrary to federal law. “Internal Yale documents show its leadership intentionally selected candidates based on their race”assures the Department of Justice. According to the American authorities, “Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of being admitted to Yale than white or Asian students with the same test scores.”
The school says it has “confidence” in its process
This attack is part of the vast campaign launched by Donald Trump against American universities, accused by conservatives of promoting a “woke” ideology and policies deemed too progressive in terms of diversity and inclusion. Since his return to the White House in January 2025, the Republican president has increased offensives against higher education establishments, notably using federal funding as a means of pressure. Questioned by AFP, Yale University indicated that it would “study carefully” requests from the Ministry of Justice. The medical school said “confident in the rigor of its admissions process”according to a spokesperson.
The ministry criticizes Yale in particular for not having correctly applied the historic decision rendered by the Supreme Court of UNITED STATES in 2023. The latter had deemed illegal the positive discrimination policies used for decades by many American universities to promote diversity in student recruitment.
According to the Trump administration, Yale continued to take into account the ethnic origin of candidates despite this decision. Before initiating possible legal proceedings, the Ministry of Justice nevertheless states that it wants “enter into an amicable resolution agreement with the university” so that she gets “in accordance with the law”.
