HOUSTON — The Department of Education announced Friday it was investigating 45 universities, including Houston’s Rice University, in a crackdown on DEI programs and curriculum.
Rice University had no comment on the investigation that accused the school of “race-exclusionary practices.”
The Office for Civil Rights was leading the investigation, saying the universities had violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for participating in race-based programs or scholarships. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
Most of the new inquiries, including the investigation at Rice, are focused on colleges’ partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business with the goal of diversifying the business world.
The group of colleges facing scrutiny over ties to the PhD Project include major public universities such as Arizona State, Ohio State and Rutgers, along with prestigious private schools like Yale, Cornell, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. University of North Texas – Denton is the other Texas university named on the list.
The Office for Civil Rights typically handled civil rights cases, such as protections for LGBTQ+ students and students of color. President Donald Trump’s administration directed the office to prioritize complaints of antisemitism and investigations into colleges and school sports leagues for allowing transgender athletes.
“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination. 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,” said U.S. Secretary of Education and former WWE executive Linda McMahon in a news release. “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.