The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched Title VI investigations into the University of California (UC), Berkeley, Cal Poly Humboldt and California State University, San Bernadino for “allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs” on March 14.
The three California universities are among 45 universities facing nation-wide investigations under President Donald Trump’s administration. Six additional universities are under investigation for allegedly offering scholarships based on race, and one university is being investigated for administering programs that segregate students by race.
All 45 universities are under scrutiny for partnering with The PhD Project — a non-profit organization that aims to create a “broader talent pipeline” by assisting students from underrepresented groups with networking opportunities and guidance in obtaining doctoral degrees in business. The OCR alleged that this partnership involved race-based admissions in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the grounds of race, gender and national origin in institutions that receive federal funding.
“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the press release. “The agency has already launched Title VI investigations into institutions where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported and Title IX investigations into entities which allegedly continue to allow sex discrimination; today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes.”
The PhD Project seeks partnerships with both doctoral-granting and non-doctoral granting institutions.
“Our vision is to create a broader talent pipeline of current and future business leaders,” The PhD Project said to NPR. “This year, we have opened our membership application to anyone who shares that vision.”
The announcement of the investigations came after the OCR sent a Dear Colleague Letter to educational institutions receiving federal funding on Feb. 14. The letter reiterated the Trump administration’s stance against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and issued institutions a move to comply with anti-discrimination requirements in admissions, hiring and promotions — or risk loss of federal funding.
“All educational institutions are advised to: (1) ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law; (2) cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and (3) cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race,” ED Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in the letter. “Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding.”
Trainor cited the U.S. Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which ruled Harvard’s admissions programs were in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The court’s majority opinion was built off of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which already prohibited racial quotas in admissions in California.
The Dear Colleague Letter was opposed by the American Council on Education (ACE) and 60 other organizations. ACE President Ted Mitchell requested on behalf of the organizations for the ED to rescind the DCL in a letter to Trainor on Feb. 25.
“Unfortunately, the DCL’s ambiguous language has only led to confusion on campuses about their compliance responsibilities,” Mitchell wrote. “Therefore, we respectfully request that the Department rescind the DCL and engage with the higher education community to ensure a clear understanding of their legal obligations in this area.”
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), AFT-Maryland and the American Sociological Association challenged the DCL in a lawsuit.
“The complaint argues that the ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ will do a disservice to students and ultimately the nation by weakening schools as portals to opportunity and incubators for creative, innovative, and critical thinking,” Democracy Forward, the organization representing the collective, said in a press release on Feb. 25.
The ED released a list of Frequently Asked Questions on Feb. 28 to address questions about the DCL, expanding on the SFFA v. Harvard court case.
The UC system is also undergoing simultaneous investigations for potential Title VII violations of the Civil Rights Act following pro-Palestinian protests on campus last spring. The Office of Public Affairs, under the aegis of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced on March 5 that it opened formal investigations into the UC system for allegedly failing to prevent antisemitic environments on its campuses. Four UC campuses — Berkeley, Davis, San Diego and Santa Barbara — were among 60 universities that received warning letters on potential enforcement action from ED’s OCR over the administration’s perceived failure of the institutions in protecting Jewish students and faculty on campuses.
Aarav Upadhyaya is a News Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. He can be reached at aaravu1@uci.edu.
Edited by Karen Wang