Trump admin targets 45 universities over anti-white discrimination

Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement, "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."

"Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment," she added.

Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, schools and other entities that receive federal funding are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin. The department said that the schools had partnered with The Ph.D. Project, "an organization that purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of participants," in violation of Title VI.

This follows a "Dear Colleague" letter sent by the department in February, stating that "race-based decision-making, no matter the form, remains impermissible."

"The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions. The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent." The February letter warned that "Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding."

The 45 schools under investigation for "allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs" include Cornell University, Duke University, Georgetown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Rutgers University, Yale University, multiple state universities, and others.

An additional seven schools are under investigation for "alleged impermissible race-based scholarships and race-based segregation": Grand Valley State University; Ithaca College; New England College of Optometry; University of Alabama; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; University of South Florida; and University of Oklahoma, Tulsa School of Community Medicine.