(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is among 45 universities being investigated by the Department of Education (DOE) for “race-exclusionary practices.”
A list of universities was released by the DOE on March 14, with UCCS being the only Colorado institution on the list. According to the DOE, the investigations come amid allegations that the named institutions violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964) by partnering with “The Ph.D. Project,” an organization that purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but that the DOE alleges limits eligibility based on the race of participants.
According to the DOE, the investigations were initiated after the DOE’s Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent a Dear Colleague Letter to educational institutions receiving federal funding clarifying that, pursuant to federal antidiscrimination law, they must “cease using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in their admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline, and other programs and activities.”
UCCS sent a statement on the Ph.D. Project, which you can read in its entirety below:
Our campus was notified late Thursday [March 13] that the U.S. Department of Education is investigating a complaint regarding our College of Business’ use of a faculty recruiting platform, hosted by The PhD Project. At this point, we believe we have only used this platform to advertise open faculty positions, one tool of many our college uses to recruit qualified faculty. Like universities across the country, we use various platforms to seek and recruit the best teaching and research talent for our students. We are in the process of gathering additional information about this complaint and will comply with the request from the department in a timely manner. We want to say clearly, however, that UCCS does not discriminate in its recruitment or hiring practices.
UCCS Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet
