The Trump administration is investigating more than 50 universities over their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, which officials say discriminate against white and Asian students.
The Department of Education announced the probes on Friday, a month after the administration instructed universities to end their DEI programs or risk losing federal funding.
“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “We will not yield on this commitment.”
Out of the 52 universities now under investigation, 45 are coming under federal scrutiny due to their involvement with a group called the PhD Project, which the Education Department described as “an organization that purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”
The investigations into the nonprofit organization target a wide range of universities across the country, including Yale, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, New York University, Notre Dame, Boise State, Clemson, Cornell, Duke, and Georgetown.
The Education Department also specified that six of the 52 institutions are now under investigation for allegedly awarding “impermissible race-based scholarships,” while another university is believed to have hosted “a program that segregates students on the basis of race.” Those colleges include the University of Alabama, the University of South Florida, and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
The investigations come on the heels of a memo from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights that blasted educational institutions for engaging in anti-white and anti-Asian discrimination under the banner of DEI.
“American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families,” Craig Trainor, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, wrote. “Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (“DEI”), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”
