Clemson agreed to cut program serving students of color amid civil rights probe
Clemson is one of more than two dozen schools that have agreed to end a partnership with an organization supporting minority Ph.D. candidates, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Education.
“This is the Trump effect in action,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the Thursday release.
The department announced an investigation into Clemson and 45 other public and private universities last spring — including Duke University, Vanderbilt University and Yale University, among others — accusing the schools of civil rights infringement. Officials claimed the institutions engaging in “race-exclusionary practices” within their graduate programs in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, by partnering with The Ph.D. Project.
The Ph.D. project is an award-winning nonprofit organization that aims to increase the talent pool in the business world by supporting underrepresented students in business Ph.D. programs. The investigation follows a Feb. 14 letter to all educational institutions receiving federal funding that required them to end all race-based programming, scholarships and activities.
Six schools were also under investigation for “impermissible race-based scholarships and race-based segregation,” the Education Department said. None were in South Carolina.
The department threatened the loss of federal funding.
The State has reached out to Clemson officials for comment.
“Clemson is committed to ensuring compliance with all federal, local and state regulations,” Clemson spokesman Joe Galbraith previous told The State.
The investigation followed a February 2025 letter to all educational institutions receiving federal funding that required them to end all race-based programming, scholarships and activities.
Since then, Clemson has eliminated groups created to support the school’s Black, LGBTQ+ and veteran communities, among others. It also removed a reference to “DEI” or diversity, equity and inclusion, from a chemical engineering syllabus following criticism from state Republicans.
