SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The family of a white 15-year-old high school student in Berkeley filed a discrimination lawsuit against the University of California Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, claiming that their daughter was rejected from a prestigious high school internship program because she is white.
At issue in the suit is the CHAMPS program, which is run by University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital. CHAMPS — short for Community Health and Adolescent Mentoring Program for Success — supports high-achieving minority students who intend to enter health care professions by offering tutoring, test preparations, training and financial aid workshops.
Benioff Children’s Hospital is also named as a defendant in the suit, along with the president of the UC Board of Regents, Janet Reilly, and the director of the CHAMPS program.
In their 11-page complaint, the family of the girl, identified only as G.H., claims that their daughter is an exemplary student with a 4.0 grade point average. They say that G.H. is interested in health care, applied for CHAMPS and was selected for an interview. According to the complaint, G.H. selected “not listed” when asked to give her race on the application.
“On December 12, 2024, G.H. was interviewed for the program. The interviewer immediately started the interview noting that G.H. did not list her race or ethnicity in her application. She pressed G.H. to identify her race, and G.H. answered that she is white,” the family says in the complaint.
Five days later, the family was told that G.H. was not selected for the internship. Not being selected left G.H. “humiliated and demoralized,” the family says.
“UCSF Benioff rejected G.H. because she was not the right race for the CHAMPS internship. G.H.’s impressive background, high GPA, and passion for helping others through health care made her a strong candidate for the internship, but UCSF Benioff’s race-conscious admissions meant it could not even consider G.H.’s qualifications,” the family says. “G.H. would have been accepted and admitted to CHAMPS but for UCSF Benioff’s race-based admissions policy.”
The family blasted the CHAMPS program as “racially restrictive,” and said that they wasted money applying for the program, which they hoped would boost G.H.’s future career prospects.
“G.H. brings this lawsuit to assert her right to equal treatment and, above all, to be evaluated on her own merits—as an individual with unique talents and aspirations, not merely as a faceless member of her race,” the family says in the complaint.
The family is asking the court to rule that CHAMPS violates the Fourteenth Amendment and is also seeking unspecified compensatory damages.
G.H.’s mother is Rebecca Hooley, an attorney who works for Contra Costa County. The family is being represented by the nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation, a right-leaning public interest law firm that focuses on litigating for individual liberty and limited government. Founded in 1973, it is known for advocating property rights, free speech, economic liberty, and separation of powers through litigation, often challenging government regulations and policies.
Counsel representing G.H. did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives for UCSF and the UC system could not immediately be reached for comment.