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The Trump administration is investigating over 50 universities over alleged racial discrimination against white and Asian American students amid the president's crackdown on DEI, per the Associated Press.
On Friday (March 14), the Education Department announced it was launching the collegiate investigation following last month's memo warning universities that they could lose federal funding over "race-based preferences" in admissions, scholarships, or other forms of student life.
“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We will not yield on this commitment.”
Most of the investigations stem from universities' involvement with the PhD project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business in an effort to diversify the field.
Department officials accused the PhD project of limiting eligibility based on race, noting that colleges partnering with the group are “engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.” Some of these universities include Arizona State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Yale, Cornell, Duke, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, per the department.
In a statement, the PhD Project said it aims to “create a broader talent pipeline of current and future business leaders who are committed to excellence and to each other.”
“This year, we have opened our membership application to anyone who shares that vision,” the group said.
Other colleges are being investigated for awarding alleged “impermissible race-based scholarships." Those schools include Grand Valley State University, Ithaca College, the New England College of Optometry, the University of Alabama, the University of South Florida, and the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa.
The new investigations follow the February 14 memo in which Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said schools' DEI efforts have been “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming and discipline.” The memo is facing federal lawsuits from two teachers' unions.
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