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The Department's Office for Civil Rights said the institutions — which range from flagship public research universities to elite private schools — either had already ended their relationships with the organization or agreed to do so as part of signed resolution agreements. Federal officials also required each institution to audit its external partnerships and identify any additional organizations that restrict participation on the basis of race.
"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," said Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
The investigation, launched in March 2025, targeted 45 institutions for their affiliations with The PhD Project. Officials determined those partnerships ran afoul of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs and activities receiving federal funding. Fourteen schools remain under active negotiation with the department.
Among the institutions signing resolution agreements are Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Yale, Duke, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, the University of California-Berkeley, and the University of Chicago.
Founded decades ago to increase the number of minority business faculty, The PhD Project says it has helped more than 1,500 members earn doctoral degrees. The organization pushed back against the administration's characterization of its work.
"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," the organization said in a statement.
Several universities described their involvement with The PhD Project as limited and administrative in nature. MIT said it had paid a nominal fee to participate in the group's university fairs and conferences, allowing the school to send representatives to answer prospective doctoral students' questions. The university ended its participation in April 2025 and later signed a resolution agreement, but spokesperson Kimberly Allen said MIT "explicitly did not admit any liability, wrongdoing or violation of any law or regulation."
The University of North Dakota said it ended its membership just two weeks after the investigation was announced. The school joined the organization to access its member directory and applicant database "to be able to recruit a larger pool of qualified applicants for faculty positions," spokesperson David Dodds said.
The University of Utah, which had participated in the nonprofit's annual conferences for three academic years, cut ties in October after reaching a settlement. The school noted that of 170 doctoral students admitted to its business school over the past 14 years, just two came through The PhD Project.
The Trump administration has made dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across higher education a central policy priority, warning institutions they risk losing federal funding over what it describes as "race-based preferences." The PhD Project is among a growing number of nonprofits and institutional programs that have come under federal scrutiny as part of that broader campaign.
The full list of institutions that have signed resolution agreements includes: Arizona State University, Boise State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Clemson University, Duke University, Emory University, MIT, Montana State University-Bozeman, New York University, Rice University, Ohio State University, Towson University, Tulane University, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, UC Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, the University of Delaware, the University of Kentucky, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the University of Nebraska-Omaha, the University of North Dakota, the University of North Texas-Denton, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Utah, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wyoming, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University.
