The U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday it will investigate four California universities to determine whether they comply with a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial preferences in college admissions.
The investigation will focus on Stanford University and three campuses within the University of California (UC) system: UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Irvine, according to the department.
“President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect, and character, not the color of their skin.”
California has prohibited race-based preferences in public college admissions since 1996 under California Proposition 209. An attempt to repeal the measure made it to the ballot in 2020, only to be rejected by voters.
A spokesperson for Stanford said the university is already in compliance with the law.
“Following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision eliminating race-based affirmative action, we immediately took steps to ensure compliance in our admissions processes,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to be committed to fulfilling our obligations under the law.”
A spokesperson for UC similarly told The Epoch Times that the system’s policies already align with legal requirements.
“Since Proposition 209 banned California’s public institutions from considering race in admissions, UC has implemented admissions practices to comply with it,” the spokesperson said.
“At the same time, we remain committed to expanding access for all qualified students. The UC undergraduate admissions application collects students’ race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only. This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admissions.”
The UC system faces legal challenges related to its admissions policies, including a lawsuit filed in February alleging that it illegally gives preferential treatment to black and Hispanic applicants at the expense of those who are white or of Asian descent.
Also on Thursday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced her department has launched an investigation into California over a state law that restricts parental notification when a student identifies as transgender at school.
Specifically, the federal agency accused California of violating the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA)—a law that grants parents the right to access their children’s educational data—when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1955 into law last year.
The California law prohibits schools from requiring teachers and staff to inform parents if their child uses a name different from the one on their birth certificate or adopts a pronoun that’s not aligned with their sex. It also shields teachers from retaliation if they refuse to disclose such information to parents.
“It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law for California schools to hide crucial information about a student’s wellbeing from parents and guardians,” McMahon said in a statement.
“The agency launched today’s investigation to vigorously protect parents’ rights and ensure that students do not fall victim to a radical transgender ideology that often leads to family alienation and irreversible medical interventions.”
