Education Department opens Title VI investigations into 45 universities over PhD Project ties and race-based scholarships

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced Title VI investigations into 45 universities based on their participation in the PhD Project, a nonprofit program that has for 30 years worked to increase the number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American faculty in business schools by providing doctoral fellowships and professional development. OCR also opened related investigations into race-conscious scholarship programs at multiple institutions. The PhD Project had previously been regarded as a model of voluntary professional association work in the academic sector. The investigations turned participation in it into a federal compliance liability. Within weeks of the announcement, several universities quietly ended their PhD Project partnerships and discontinued similar fellowship programs. The action came on top of the 60-university antisemitism investigation wave, meaning dozens of universities were simultaneously navigating multiple active federal civil rights inquiries.