Universities across the United States have cut ties with The PhD Project after the U.S. Department of Education opened an Office for Civil Rights investigation into the nonprofit, the department said Thursday. The department said its findings, which it linked to Title VI’s prohibition on discrimination in education programs receiving federal money, led dozens of schools to end their partnerships with the group.
The department said the investigation began in March 2025 and has resulted in 31 universities agreeing to end partnerships with the organization. Negotiations, the Office for Civil Rights said, were continuing with 14 additional schools.
In a statement, the department said 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. The department described Title VI as a law barring discrimination based on race, color or national origin in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon framed the department’s actions as a return to compliance. “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,” McMahon said.
The PhD Project, which the department said drew more attention after conservative strategists focused on it last year, said it was created to increase representation in business education. In a statement Thursday, the nonprofit said: “The PhD Project was founded with the goal of providing more role models in the front of business classrooms and this remains our goal today.” Its website also says it “helped more than 1,500 members earn their doctoral degree.”
The department said many of the schools moved quickly after the investigation was opened. It said the administration warned institutions they could lose federal money over what it described as “race-based preferences,” and that some universities ended their partnerships to avoid additional entanglements.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is among the universities the department cited. An MIT spokesperson, Kimberly Allen, said the school had paid The PhD Project “a nominal fee” to participate in the nonprofit’s university fairs or conferences, allowing MIT to send representatives to answer questions about attending. Allen said MIT informed the government in April 2025 that it had ended its participation in such events and was notified months later that the Office for Civil Rights had found the school in violation of Title VI. Allen said MIT signed a “resolution agreement” about a week ago to resolve the matter “but explicitly did not admit any liability, wrongdoing or violation of any law or regulation.”
The department’s list of 31 universities included major public and private schools. It named Arizona State, Ohio State and the University of Michigan among public universities, along with Yale, Duke and MIT among private institutions.
Other universities described different timelines and reasoning for their earlier membership. The University of North Dakota said it promptly ended its membership with The PhD Project two weeks after the investigation was announced. Spokesperson David Dodds said in a statement that the university joined to access the nonprofit’s member directory and applicant database to recruit a larger pool of qualified applicants for faculty positions.
The University of Utah said it had a table at annual conferences hosted by the nonprofit during the 2024-25 school year and two previous years. University spokesperson Rebecca Walsh said the university cut ties with the project in October after settling with the department. Walsh also said that out of 170 PhD students admitted to Utah’s business school over the past 14 years, just two were involved through The PhD Project.
The Education Department said the 31 universities have also agreed to review partnerships with other organizations to identify any that violate Title VI by restricting participation based on race. It said the Trump administration has targeted a wide range of practices it has labeled as diversity, equity and inclusion.