Feds investigate ECU medical school for racial discrimination in admissions

Jane Winik Sartwell, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Jul 21, 2026

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East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine is among five medical schools newly under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the department announced Tuesday. The investigation seeks to hunt out alleged racial discrimination in ECU’s admissions.

The federal probe is a joint effort between the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice. The goal is to hold “schools to account for their reported discriminatory behavior,” according to Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education.

In August 2025, two years after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in a ruling in part against UNC-Chapel Hill, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum going further: requiring universities to report detailed admissions data by race so that the administration could check whether “diversity statements” and other “hidden racial proxies” were being used to circumvent the ruling. And before that, Trump had already moved to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education, one day after his second inauguration.

ECU did not respond to a request for comment about the investigation in time for publication.

In recent months, the Department of Justice announced it found illegal use of race in medical school admissions at the University of California at Los Angeles, University of California San Diego and Yale University. In June, the Department of Justice brought 15 medical schools under investigation. Then, on Tuesday, five more were added to the docket — including ECU’s Brody School.

In a press release about the new investigations, Richey said that “many schools seem to be more focused on meeting racial quotas than selecting individuals who have earned entrance based on merit.” The investigation will determine whether ECU violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Last summer, the Department of Education investigated Duke University and Duke Law Journal for alleged violations of the same law.

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