The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced on March 14 that they are investigating 45 universities, including Vanderbilt, for their alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act via their participation in the PhD Project program. Through its partnerships with universities and corporations, the PhD Program aims to help underrepresented students earn PhDs in business and gain access to mentorship. 

Vanderbilt suspended their business PhD program in 2008, but has previously partnered with the PhD Program. The announcement from the U.S. DOE described the PhD Project as an organization that provides doctoral students with networking opportunities for obtaining a PhD, but “limits eligibility based on the race of the participants.” 

In the DOE’s announcement, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the Department is working to protect students from “illegal discrimination.” 

“Today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes,” McMahon’s statement reads. “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment.” 

Title VI

Title VI states that no one can be discriminated against or excluded based on their racial background under any program or activity receiving federal funding. This policy was introduced in 1964 with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. 

Under Donald Trump’s administration, the DOE has launched multiple investigations to combat initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. On Feb. 14, colleges and universities across the country received a “Dear Colleagues” Letter from the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. DOE, detailing the department’s new expectations for compliance and enforcement of Title VI as related to DEI. 

PhD Project

According to statements previously available on the organization’s website, the PhD Project claims to encourage and support “historically underrepresented candidates” seeking PhDs in business management. The organization says it has helped more than 1,500 students earn degrees and currently has over 240 students in PhD programs across the country. Partners include universities, as well as corporations including Uber and Morgan Stanley. 

As of publication, the Phd Project has since changed the language on their website, referring to themselves as an organization “with the goal of creating more role models in the front of business classrooms,” scrubbing any mention of “underrepresented candidates” or working with minority groups. 

On the PhD Project’s university partners page, they described that university partners benefit by bringing talent to their own campuses and “the academic world as a whole.” This information has not been changed as of publication. However, a university login is required to view additional information.  

According to university enrollment reports, The Owen Graduate School of Management, used to offer a PhD in Management but the program was terminated in 2008. Bruce Barry, professor of management at Owen, was the director of Owen’s PhD Program in Management from 1998 until 2004. In an interview with The Hustler, Barry shared that during his tenure, the PhD Program in Management partnered with the PhD Project. As director, he was in contact with the PhD Project and attended some of their conferences. 

“The PhD Project is in no way an affirmative action program of the kind that the Supreme Court has said you can’t do,” Barry said. “It had nothing to do with directly admitting anyone to any program, it was merely more of an affinity-oriented organization that helps to create knowledge and opportunity for some folks who might have less access to that knowledge and opportunity, but it did nothing to give anybody an advantage over anybody else in an admissions or hiring process.”

After the PhD program was terminated at Vanderbilt, Owen was no longer in contact with the PhD Project in terms of student recruitment, but Barry said he believes that Owen continued to pay dues and be a member institution of the PhD Project. 

In a message to The Hustler, a representative from the university provided a statement in response to the investigation.

“We are aware of the complaint and are in touch with the Office for Civil Rights,” the statement reads. “Vanderbilt complies with all federal laws, including federal antidiscrimination requirements.”

Ori Boucvalt, a master’s in finance candidate at Owen, told The Hustler she has never heard of the PhD project at the university and does not believe it has impacted her fellow students.

“I am one of only 15 females in my program, so I feel like I would be someone to know about a program like this,” Boucvalt said. “Additionally, there are a ton of international students at Owen, and a majority, if not all, have also not heard of the program’s existence here.”  

When asked whether the termination of partnerships with programs like the PhD Project will have an impact on the representation of minority groups in higher education, Barry told The Hustler “it certainly can’t help.” 

“As a target for this DEI purge crusade, [the PhD program is] sort of an absurd target,” Barry said. “The only effect it will have is to make it harder for institutions to have the kind of variety of faculty that good universities should have.”

Responses at other universities

Other universities have distanced themselves from the PhD Project. On March 19, the University of Kentucky sent an update to its campus community announcing the termination of its relationship with the program.

“UK is canceling any contractual relationship that exists between our institution and this organization,” the statement reads. 

The University of Wyoming, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Arizona State University have all issued similar statements.

This story was originally published on The Vanderbilt Hustler on March 31, 2025.