University of Michigan, Yale University And More End Partnership With Program That Supported Underrepresented Groups Pursuing Business PhDs

Several colleges and universities are withdrawing from a project designed to promote diversity among business faculty members.

Founded in 1994, the PhD Project has helped more than 1,500 members earn doctoral degrees, with the goal of them teaching business in classrooms, according to its website. The project has also focused on creating gateways to scholarships and other means to help members cover the cost of pursuing a Ph.D.

Many individuals have gone on to leadership roles in higher education as well. CBS News reported that the project helped support people from historically underrepresented groups across the nation. In fact Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans candidates rose from 294 at its inception to 1,700 in 2023, according to information from the project’s annual report.

However, the project has been targeted under the Trump administration by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which said it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. According to a news release, it secured 31 resolution agreements with institutions of higher education to end their partnership with the PhD Project.

“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 U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, in a press release. “We are hopeful that other institutions with similarly discriminatory practices will follow suit, paving the way for a future where we reject judging individuals by the color of their skin and once again embrace the principles of merit, excellence, and opportunity.”

The University of Michigan is one institution that is no longer involved in the project and ended an eight-year diversity, equity, and inclusion project valued in the millions in 2025, per CBS News. This decision was seen as a disappointment to University of Michigan professor David B. Wooten, though he said he was “not fully surprised,” according to the outlet.

Wooten had been a student leader in the school’s Ph.D. program and is a member of the PhD Project’s Hall of Fame, CBS News reported.

As it relates to the university update on its partnership with the PhD Project, he noted, “We were the leaders and best. It does hurt to see us take a knee on this.”

Other schools listed that are no longer partnering with the project include Carnegie Mellon University, Duke University, Emory University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), New York University (NYU), Rice University, Tulane University, University of California – Berkeley, University of Chicago, and Yale University, according to the Department of Education press release.