The Trump administration is investigating more than 50 colleges for alleged racial discrimination

Maddie Hanna, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 14, 2025

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U.S. Department of Education officials said Friday that they had opened investigations into more than 50 universities for alleged racial discrimination.

Most of the investigations initiated by the Office for Civil Rights relate to the universities’ partnership with a program for doctoral students that limits eligibility based on race, according to the education department.

The education department, which said it was investigating 45 universities in connection with that program, also said it was investigating six universities for allegedly awarding race-based scholarships, and another university for “allegedly administering a program that segregates students on the basis of race.”

“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We will not yield on this commitment.”

The new investigations come as President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at schools nationwide, while also laying off education department employees and shutting down Philadelphia’s Office for Civil Rights.

A spokesperson for Rutgers, one of the universities being investigated, said Friday the university would respond to the Office for Civil Rights.

“Rutgers will always strive to strengthen and enforce our policies and practices that support our students, faculty, and staff,” said the spokesperson, Dory Devlin. “Like universities across the nation, we are reviewing our existing programs to ensure compliance with federal and state law and will make adjustments when appropriate.”

Devlin added that as “we assess the potential impact of all federal actions, the university remains committed to building and supporting an inclusive community.”

Along with colleges like Duke University, Georgetown University, and New York University, Rutgers is being investigated for its partnership with the PhD Project — a program that says it supports “the creation of business PhDs from historically underrepresented groups” and tries to increase workplace diversity by increasing the diversity of business school faculty.

The PhD Project said in a statement Friday that it had worked for 30 years to “create a broader talent pipeline” of business leaders, and “this year, we have opened our membership application to anyone who shares that vision.”

Last month, the education department sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to schools nationwide, condemning practices that have “discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students” and describing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.” The letter cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling striking down affirmative action in college admissions, arguing that the court’s ruling applied “more broadly” than just in college admissions.

In addition to targeting diversity initiatives, Trump’s administration has been focused on antisemitism on campuses. On Monday, the department announced probes into 60 colleges — including Temple, Drexel, Swarthmore, and Rutgers — for alleged antisemitism.

The administration has threatened to cut federal funding for educational institutions found in violation of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The University of Pennsylvania has scrubbed mentions of diversity initiatives from its website to comply with Trump’s orders.

Advocates say the Trump administration’s directives are not enforceable. On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Education Law Center of Pennsylvania sent a letter to Pennsylvania school districts, accusing the education department of flouting “long-standing civil rights protections that neither the department nor the president has authority to overrule.”

The department’s “Dear Colleague” letter “cannot alter schools’ legal obligations, nor subject schools to loss of federal funding without the opportunity to defend their policies,” ACLU and Education Law Center lawyers said in the letter.