The US Department of Education has launched a sweeping probe into dozens of universities that allegedly use discriminatory race-based programs to boost minorities, officials said Friday.
The investigation of 45 colleges — including New York University, Cornell and Rutgers — stems from the schools allegedly running a Ph.D program that discriminates based on skin color, a violation of Title VI, which authorizes federal student financial aid, the department said in a press release.
The schools’ program, part of a nonprofit effort known as “The Ph.D. Project,” provides black, Hispanic and Native American doctoral students with help getting their degree but also “limits eligibility based on the race of participants,” according to the press release.
“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination,” said US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in the release.
“Today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes,” she said. “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin.”
The department’s Office for Civil Rights is also investigating six universities for allegedly awarding race-based scholarships and one accused of running a program that segregates students on the based on race.
The agency has already launched probes involving Title VI — which was created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — and universities where antisemitic harassment and sex discrimination have been reported, McMahon said.
The investigations center on many state schools, including Ohio State University, the University of California-Berkeley and University of New Mexico along with Ivy Leagues such as Yale University.
The probes come after the department’s civil-rights office sent out a letter Feb. 14 demanding that schools end the use of racial preferences.
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