Skip to main content
The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation this morning into the University of Oregon and 44 other schools nationwide that partner with a graduate school nonprofit whose mission was to diversify the business world.
The Ph.D. Project’s goal was to help students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business. Amid a slew of attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion nationwide, the nonprofit appears to have changed its mission statement on its website to helping create “more role models in the front of business classrooms.”
But the DOE, under orders from President Donald Trump, is still opening investigations into schools nationwide that have partnered with the project, alleging the institutions violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Angela Seydel, a UO spokeswoman, told WW that university officials are taking the complaint seriously, but recently reviewed UO practices “and believe that the University of Oregon is in compliance with the law.”
“We have continued to review policies and practices in light of the administration’s executive orders and look forward to working with the Office for Civil Rights to resolve this complaint,” Seydel says.
The University of Oregon is currently listed as a university partner on the Ph.D. Project’s web page. Other universities under investigation include public schools like the University of California, Berkeley, and University of Washington, Seattle, as well as a number of selective private schools.
The DOE says it has launched the investigations following a Feb. 14 letter that threatened to withhold federal funding from universities that didn’t comply with eliminating race-based programs within 14 days. At the time, UO did not meet WW’s media deadline for a story about how Oregon universities were adjusting to the new policy.
That letter prevented institutions “from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release accompanying Friday’s investigations launch. “We will not yield on this commitment.”