The department warns schools and universities that it could lose federal funds over racism.
“Students must be evaluated according to their merits and achievements, not biased towards their skin color,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We will not give this commitment.”
The department focuses on university partnerships with PhD Project, a nonprofit organization with the goal of diversifying the business world by helping minorities earn business degrees. According to department staff, universities involved in the PhD project adopt racial emission practices in their graduate programs.
The 45 universities being investigated for involvement in doctoral projects include well-known public universities such as Arizona, Ohio and Rutgers, as well as prestigious private schools such as Yale, Cornell, Duke and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The PhD project issued a statement defending the practice, stating its focus on developing future business leaders.
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“This year we have opened membership applications to people who share that vision,” it said.
Arizona did not contribute to the PhD project this year. On February 20th, it warned faculty members that they would not support nonprofits’ trips to their annual conference. Ohio said in a statement that the university does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity or other so-called protected classes.
Additionally, the department explores six other universities to award race-based scholarships from Grand Valley State University, Ithaca College, New England Optometry University, University of Alabama, University of South Florida, University of Oklahoma Tulsa, Ithaca University and University of Oklahoma in Tulsa. The University of Minnesota is being investigated for allegedly running a program that separates students based on race.
The department’s investigation continued in a February 14 memo by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), citing the 1964 equal protection clause of the US Constitution, which is called discrimination based on being illegal and morally condemned based on race, color or national origin.
The memo accuses the use of university, university and K-12 schools as factors in admissions, financial aid, employment, training, and other institutional programming.
“In the shameful echoes of a dark time in the history of this country, many American schools and universities are encouraging racial separation in graduation ceremonies, dorms and other facilities,” the trainer said.
The Ministry of Education also aims to universities and universities that claim to have failed to act in the face of anti-Semitism on campus.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
