The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has initiated investigations into more than 50 universities over allegations of “race-exclusionary practices” as part of its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion in academia.
The department said Friday that 45 universities are under scrutiny for their involvement with a program that seeks to increase minority representation among faculty and students in graduate business programs.
Another six universities are facing probes for allegedly awarding “impermissible race-based scholarships,” and one university over a program accused of segregating students based on race.
“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon in the Friday press release.
The investigators are looking for violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin at institutions that receive federal funding.
The newly launched probes target 45 universities, including George Mason and Georgetown, that have partnered with the PhD Project, a 30-year-old nonprofit organization that helps “diverse” students earn doctorates in business.
“Through its unique model, the nonprofit organization’s Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic American and Native American members pursue business PhDs with the intent to become university faculty, teaching and guiding students who aspire to a career in business,” said the organization in a September press release.
The project said that it has helped more than 1,700 former business professionals and undergraduates earn their doctorates, thereby “sextupling the number of underrepresented professors, administrators and academic leaders.”
By partnering with the program, however, the universities may have run afoul of the department’s Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter warning them to “end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities” or face compliance investigations.
The department said that the PhD Project “purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of the participants.”
The Washington Times reached out to the PhD Project for comment.
The Office for Civil Rights previously initiated Title VI investigations into institutions over reports of widespread antisemitic harassment as well as Title IX investigations into high school sports associations and universities over concerns about male-born athletes in female sports.
Title IX of the Civil Rights Act bans discrimination based on sex.
Margarita Lenk, a retired accounting professor at Colorado State University and a member of the PhD Project Committee on Hispanic Excellence, said that increasing diverse business faculty helps attract and retain diverse students.
“The impact is that it’s very, very hard to trust a system that’s so majority dominated in terms of getting your Ph.D., getting tenure at a university and being able to really mentor and coach to develop the networks to get a diverse workforce into the communities,” she said in a 2023 interview with 9News in Denver.
