There are investigations into over 50 US universities for alleged racial discrimination

The US Education Department, which focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, is looking into claims of racial discrimination at more than 50 universities.

President Donald Trump’s attempt to repeal diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives that his administration claim exclude Asian American and white students is involving investigations into more than 50 institutions for alleged racial discrimination.

One month after issuing a memo alerting American colleges and universities to the possibility of losing federal funding due to “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships, or any other area of student life, the Education Department today announced the fresh investigations.

“Students should not be evaluated based on their skin color, but rather on their accomplishments and merit,” stated Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a statement. “This commitment will not be compromised.”

In order to diversify the business sector, the majority of the new queries center on institutions’ collaborations with the PhD Project, a charity that assists students from underrepresented groups in earning business degrees.

The group restricts eligibility based on race, according to department officials, and universities who collaborate with it are “engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.”

Major public institutions including Arizona State, Ohio State, and Rutgers are among the 45 universities under investigation for their involvement in the PhD Project. Other esteemed private universities include Yale, Cornell, Duke, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It took a while for the PhD Project to respond to a message.

The department also said that another college is accused of operating a scheme that separates students based on race, and six additional colleges are under investigation for giving out “impermissible race-based scholarships.”

These seven include the University of Alabama, the University of Minnesota, the University of South Florida, the University of Tulsa School of Medicine, Grand Valley State University, Ithaca College, and the New England College of Optometry.

The agency did not specify which of the seven was the subject of the segregation claims.

The Republican-led Trump administration’s February 14 directive was a broad extension of a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that prohibited universities from base admissions decisions on race.

The Education Department stated that it will interpret the ruling to prohibit racial discrimination in all facets of education, including K–12 and higher education, even though the case primarily addressed admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor claimed in the email that attempts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools and universities have been “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”

The two biggest teacher unions in the country are suing the federal government to contest the letter. The lawsuits claim that the letter is excessively ambiguous and infringes on educators’ rights to free expression.