Education Department launches investigation into Yale’s partnership with diversity program
The announcement cites Yale’s partnership with The PhD Project — an organization which aims to bolster diversity amongst business school faculty — as a potential violation of the Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter which ordered schools to end race-conscious programs.
Jerry Gao, Contributing Photographer
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened investigations into Yale and 44 other universities for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in their partnership with The PhD Project, an organization which aims to support “historically underrepresented” doctoral candidates.
The announcement follows a “Dear Colleague” letter released on Feb. 14 which established the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Civil Rights Act and threatened to pull federal funding from universities over race-conscious practices. The letter cited hiring, admissions and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” as areas subject to review by the department.
The department’s recent announcement cited allegations that the institutions’ partnerships with The PhD Project “limited eligibility based on race,” potentially violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs. Yale — alongside peer institutions Cornell, Duke and MIT — were among the listed institutions.
“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination.” Linda McMahon, the United States Secretary of Education, said in the press release. “Today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes.”
The PhD Project offers events, mentorship and networking resources to business doctorates. According to its website, the initiative partners with universities, businesses and “Strategic Alliance” partners — organizations able to connect their members with the PhD Project — in its mission to bolster diversity amongst business school faculty.
In an email to the News, The PhD Project wrote that the organization has opened its membership application to anyone.
“The PhD Project was founded with the goal of providing more role models in the front of business classrooms, which remains our goal today,” The PhD Project wrote.
It is unclear exactly when Yale started its partnership with The PhD Project. According to an archived version of the School of Management’s website, the SOM expanded its partnership with the organization in fall 2020. Prior to the Department of Education’s announcement on Friday, The PhD Project offered a list of partner universities which included Yale, but the organization has since removed the list.
A University spokesperson wrote to the News that Yale is “reviewing this matter.”
The new announcement follows a string of investigations by the Education Department regarding compliance with the Civil Rights Act. On Feb. 6, the department initiated investigations on several universities’ alleged violations of Title IX due to transgender athlete participation. Last Monday, the Education Department started Title IV investigations into claims of antisemitism at 60 universities — including Yale — linked to last spring’s campus protests.
The Office of Civil Rights was particularly affected by cuts to the Department of Education announced on Tuesday which approximately halved the department’s workforce. The office has regularly struggled to work through the backlog of cases resulting from last year’s campus protests. President Trump has previously called for the department’s “immediate” end.
The PhD Project was founded in 1994.