UC System Under Probe for Violating Anti-Affirmative Action Laws
By Kelli Luu | 25 Apr, 2025

The line walked by University of California campuses in their quest for diversity has attracted lawsuits and the suspicions of the Justice Department.

Several campuses of the elite University of California system are feeling the heat as the Department of Justice looks into complaints that some UC admissions offices have been unlawfully favoring applicants of certain races.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against UC campuses, including UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC Irvine, claiming that highly qualified applicants, especially Asian Americans, have been unfairly rejected in favor of less qualified students. 

The Justice Department kicked off the investigation on Bruin territory.  Suspicions were aroused when UCLA announced earlier this year that the enrollment of Black and Latino students rose by 4.6% and 3.1% in 2024.   

As a general matter few would argue with the desirability of student diversity on campuses.  But questions have been swirling as to whether the quest for diversity has led them to skirt illegally the 1996 ban on affirmative action enacted by California through passage of Proposition 209.

Impetus for looking into UC admissions practices comes from stories like that of Stanley Zhong which broke the internet.  Zhong is a 19-year old Bay-area student with quite a resume, one rarely seen.  With a 1590 SAT score, a 4.42 GPA, and a job offer from Google, he was rejected by 16 colleges, including every UC campus to which he applied. 

Such stories resonate with some Asian Americans who question whether how high they fly in high school matters if invisible ceilings await at the schools of their dreams. 

Parents and politicians are chiming in on social media discussions.  Some defend the UC system, arguing that boosting diversity creates a more vibrant campus while others worry that their children’s hard work to get the grades no longer holds significance. 

Some suspect the UC system has devised a way to make race a key factor without explicit mention.  Asian American applicants with high test scores and GPAs feel they are being individually victimized to offset the statistical disparity among entire racial groups.  

After all students like Stanley Zhong are individuals with real goals and dreams, not a statistic to be rounded off to serve sub rosa admissions criteria.  High schoolers should be stressing about midterms, not whether the box they checked under the ‘Ethnicity’ section of college applications will decide their fates. 

After the Supreme Court shut down affirmative action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina back in 2023, many feel a similar outcome awaits UC campuses.  They argue that the dichotomy between universities being allowed to seek diversity and the prohibition against directly considering race are just lawsuits waiting to be filed.