The Department of Education announced Friday it was opening investigations into more than 50 universities over alleged “race-exclusionary practices.”
Yale, Georgetown and the University of Michigan are among the universities under fire for hosting graduate programs partnered with “The Ph.D. Project,” an organization that limits eligibility based on race, according to a press release from the department. Other universities, such as the University of Alabama and the University of South Florida, are being investigated for allegedly issuing race-based scholarships and allowing other race-based segregation.
“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement announcing the investigations. “The agency has already launched Title VI investigations into institutions where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported and Title IX investigations into entities which allegedly continue to allow sex discrimination; today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes. Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment.”
The department sent a letter to institutions on Feb. 14 reminding them that they are bound by civil rights laws and could not host programs or have any policies discriminating on the basis of race.
Higher education groups such as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) have urged universities not to comply with the directive, telling institutions to “vigorously oppose the assault on our education.” Other organizations stated that the process for revoking funding from schools was lengthy and the institutions should risk not complying.
The Department of Education under President Donald Trump and McMahon’s leadership has been cracking down on universities over noncompliance with civil rights laws, recently issuing massive federal funding cuts to Columbia University over its handling of antisemitic protests and warning 60 other universities that they could be next if they fail to step in line.
Several universities have also found ways to sidestep a 2023 Supreme Court ruling banning the use of race as a factor for admission, such as Brown University and the University of California, Los Angeles. The schools boasted diversity-manipulating strategies that included hosting “targeted communications campaigns” in order to racially gerrymander their student bodies.
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