03-19-2025
The Department of Education announced plans to investigate 45 colleges over “race-exclusionary practices.” Title VI requires schools that receive federal funds to provide students with a discrimination-free environment based on race, color, or national origin. The targeted schools purportedly violated the law by working with The Ph.D. Project. That project described itself as helping to “change the future workforce by providing students a model of achievement and businesses” to “enrich the talent pipeline.” The administration asserted it limited participation based on race. M.I.T., Yale, Arizona State University, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, NYU, Tulane, UC Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin-Madison are among the colleges named. Six colleges are being investigated for “race-based scholarships” and for “administering a program that segregates students on the basis of race.”
Many big companies have vastly scaled back their D.E.I. efforts. Almost 60% fewer S&P 500 companies used “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in their annual filings than in 2024. In 2022, more than 90% of S&P companies used some form of D.E.I. language in their financial filings. Most of these companies used some language to suggest diversity initiatives, but the language chosen reflects curtailed efforts. According to the New York Times, the “shift reflects a pattern of companies chasing what seems most socially and politically expedient.” Attorneys for these companies shared that some executives are worried about publicly disclosing diversity efforts given the administration’s targeting of D.E.I. They do not want to risk public scrutiny or government investigation. Thus, even those companies interested in continuing some efforts chose to downgrade their language and programs.