Department of Education investigates MSU for alleged Title VI violations

A press release issued by the Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Civil Rights on March 14 stated that 45 universities — including MSU — are currently under investigation for potential Title VI violations.

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin for any federally funded program. All investigations — including MSU’s — are related to partnerships with the PhD Project, according to the press release.

According to its website, the PhD Project aims to help business professionals and students from different backgrounds receive their Ph.D. The DOE press release claimed that the PhD Project limits eligibility based on race.

“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in the press release.

However, MSU is unaware of any complaints made internally concerning the PhD Project, according to MSU Vice President of Communications Tracy Ellig. “MSU has well-established processes and procedures in place to investigate any claim of discrimination by students, faculty, staff or the public,” he said.

Ellig said that MSU’s relationship to the PhD Project was “purely transactional.” An MSU staff member signed the University up to gain access to the PhD Project’s national job posting list in 2024, he said.

According to Ellig, MSU did not use the site to recruit students and did not use the site as the only method for soliciting employment. “Our sole goal was to widen our reach for job postings,” he said. “The PhD Project's job listing site was never used as an exclusive means of posting a job.”

“[MSU] is an open access, public university and does not, and never has, considered race as a criterion for the admission for students,” Ellig said. He maintained that MSU follows all applicable laws concerning its students and said that MSU plans to cooperate fully with the DOE investigation.