After pressure from the White House, 31 universities have cut ties with an organization that helps Black, Hispanic and Native American students get doctorate degrees.
Arizona State University is among them.
The PhD Project was a little known organization until it became the focus of conservative strategists and an investigation by the Department of Education.
The federal agency claims The PhD Project unlawfully limits eligibility based on the race of its participants. The group’s website says it has helped about 1,500 people earn their doctoral degrees.
Thirty other public and private universities across the country including Yale have also cut ties with the organization.
The education department said all colleges also agreed to review other partnerships to identify any that might have race informed participation.
The PhD Project was a little-known nonprofit group until it caught the attention of conservative strategists last year and became the focus of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education. The Republican administration says school diversity programs often exclude white and Asian American students.
The investigation, opened in March 2025, has resulted in 31 universities agreeing to end partnerships with the group, the department’s Office for Civil Rights said Thursday. Negotiations are continuing with 14 additional schools, it said.
The department said in its statement that The PhD Project “unlawfully limits eligibility based on the race of participants” and that institutions partnering with it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in education programs and activities that receive federal money.
“This is the Trump effect in action: institutions of higher education are agreeing to cut ties with discriminatory organizations, recommitting themselves to abiding by federal law, and restoring equality of opportunity on campuses across the nation,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.
