University of North Texas and Rice University under federal investigation for “race-exclusionary practices”

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The U.S. Department of Education announced on Friday that it is opening investigations into two Texas universities for allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.

The department says it is investigating allegations that the University of North Texas-Denton and Rice University violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by partnering with the PhD Project, an organization that provides insights and networking opportunities to doctoral business students.

Forty-three other universities throughout the country are under investigation for this. An additional six schools are being investigated for allegedly awarding impermissible race-based scholarships and one for administering a program that segregated students of different races.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department is working to “reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination.”

In recent weeks, the agency has launched investigations into universities for antisemitic harassment and sex discrimination while at the same time laying off nearly half its workforce. This includes more than 60 Texas-based employees, including 25 who worked as attorneys specializing in civil rights, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment,” McMahon said in a statement on Friday.

In January, conservative activist Christopher Rufo shared an emailed exchange between professors at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University in College Station. They were discussing attending a PhD Project conference on March 20 in Chicago. Rufo obtained the emails via a Texas Public Information Act request and shared them on the social media platform X. The post prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to threaten the job of A&M President Mark Welsh III, who later said the school would not be participating in the conference.

Eight other Texas public universities who had been listed as the organization’s partners followed suit, either pulling out of the conference or disavowing the PhD Project. They were: Texas Tech University; the University of Houston; the University of North Texas; University of Texas at Austin; University of Texas at Dallas; University of Texas at El Paso; University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley; and University of Texas at San Antonio.

A University of North Texas spokesperson said at that time that it had actually “discontinued its affiliation with PhD Project in early 2024. The university is working with them to remove our name from the list of partners.”

The University of North Texas maintained on Friday that it is not affiliated with the PhD Project and said it is fully cooperating with the investigation. Rice University declined to comment. The DOE did not immediately respond on Friday to questions about how it selected which universities to investigate for partnering with the PhD Project.

On Friday, Rice and Baylor universities were listed on the PhD Project’s website as partners. Baylor University is not under investigation.

“Baylor was an exhibitor at a conference several years ago, but that was the extent of Baylor’s involvement/relationship,” said Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president of media and public relations.

Rufo and Abbott contended in January that public universities who participated in the PhD Project’s conference were violating the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and training. But the ban, which passed two years ago, exempts student recruitment, which is why the professors at Texas A&M had planned to go.

The PhD Project appears to have scrubbed language from the “About Us” section page of its website amid the controversy in Texas.

The organization described itself as being founded “with the goal of diversifying corporate America by diversifying the role models in the front of classrooms.” It said it had increased “the number of historically underrepresented business professors in the U.S. from 294 in 1994 to over 1,700 today,” according to a Jan. 14 capture on the Internet Archive.

Now, its website states that its goal is simply to “create more role models in the front of business classrooms.” On Friday afternoon, a statement sent to The Texas Tribune said the organization opened its membership application this year to everyone who shares that vision.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Baylor University, Rice University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas - Dallas, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Houston and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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