The University of Kansas is among 45 schools under federal investigation because one of its graduate programs has been part of a partnership aiming to serve people of color.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights says the schools are “allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.”
The department said in a news release Friday that the universities have “violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964) by partnering with ‘The Ph.D. Project,’ an organization that purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”
The PhD Project’s website says it’s “a growing and committed community of business professors, PhD candidates, and corporate leaders. Through mentoring, networking, and unique events, and by connecting businesses to a pool of high-potential candidates.”
The website previously stated that the organization was founded in 1994 “with the goal of diversifying corporate America by diversifying the role models in the front of classrooms.”
It also said that approximately 300 diverse doctoral students were receiving the organization’s help to pursue their academic careers, and described as its vision “A significantly larger talent pipeline of Black/African Americans, Latinx/Hispanic Americans and Native Americans/Canadian Indigenous for business leadership positions.” It said nothing negative about other races.
KU’s School of Business Ph.D. website still stated as of Friday afternoon that the school “is a proud member of The Ph.D. Project,” and of DocNet, which describes its purpose as “promoting doctoral education in business throughout the world.”
“We are working to learn more about this investigation,” Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, a spokesperson for the university, said via email Friday.
Linda McMahon, longtime president of World Wrestling Entertainment who is now U.S. secretary of education, said in Friday’s news release that the investigation “expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes.”
The investigation follows a letter the Department of Education sent out, referenced as the “Dear Colleague Letter,” on Feb. 14.
The letter gave all federally funded institutions 14 days to “eliminate the use of race in all aspects of student, academic, and campus life,” KU Chancellor Douglas Girod wrote in a campus announcement on Feb. 27. “Failure to comply could place an institution’s federal funding in jeopardy.”
“While the Dear Colleague Letter is not a law, it does communicate the new administration’s interpretation of law and enforcement priorities,” Girod wrote.
Barcomb-Peterson said Friday that “KU’s leadership team has been assessing all university activity as called for in the letter.”
See the full list of universities under Title VI investigation as announced Friday at this link.
McMahon said in the release that the Department of Education has already launched Title VI investigations into “institutions where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported” and Title IX investigations into “entities which allegedly continue to allow sex discrimination,” meaning allowing transgender athletes to participate in sports. KU does not appear to be a target of either.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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