Utah University Ends Link With Diversity Group Over Racial Rules

The University of Utah has cut ties with a nonprofit that helps underrepresented students earn business doctorates. The move comes after the Department of Education looked into 45 schools for alleged racial preferences in their programs. The agency said Utah and others might have broken Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by working with an organization that limits participants by race. The nonprofit, known as The Ph. D. Project, claims to boost diversity in business schools. However, the Department says it restricts who can join based on race, which could be a violation of federal law. Last week the Department announced that 31 universities had already ended or agreed to end their relationships with the group.Each school also pledged to review other external partnerships for potential race‑based restrictions. Utah’s decision follows a new state law that ended many diversity and inclusion programs on campus. The university said it has closed identity‑based centers, reassigned staff, and changed student services to be open to all. Other top schools—Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Yale and several others—have also severed ties after the investigation began. Some institutions acted quickly to avoid legal and financial problems. The broader context is a federal push against what the Trump administration labels “diversity, equity and inclusion” practices. The goal is to focus admissions and other decisions solely on merit, according to the administration’s statements.