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Update 4:59 pm:
Ryder Dschida, a lecturer in Cal Poly Humboldt’s history department and president of CFA Humboldt, said the organization stands in direct opposition to the federal government pressuring universities to cut ties with racial equity groups.
“Since the federal government provides a huge amount of funding for higher education, they use that as essentially a pressure point to make universities remove these programs that honestly have been extremely successful in getting minority groups into good careers,” said Dschida.
Dschida pointed out many hadn’t heard of the organization before the federal investigation, and said the PhD project was swept up in the buzz of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion cuts of early 2025.
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The U.S. Department of Education announced last month 31 universities across the country agreed to cut ties with the PhD Project, an organization that helps racial minorities earn doctorate degrees, amid a federal investigation into alleged racial discrimination.
This includes Cal Poly Humboldt. A CSU spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday the system had ended its membership in the PhD Project, which was used to “advertise academic employment opportunities,” according to spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith.
Last year, the federal education’s department’s Office for Civil Rights announced 45 universities including Cal Poly Humboldt were under investigation for partnerships with the nonprofit, alleging it “unlawfully limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”
This followed a Trump Administration directive that aimed to prevent institutions that receive federal funding from practicing so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, alleging they discriminate against White and Asian students.
And two weeks ago, the department celebrated 31 resolution agreements with institutions of higher education. According to the department, the institutions told the department they’d cease their partnerships 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 prepared statement.
In the statement, McMahon said the other 14 universities are in ongoing negotiations with the Office of Civil Rights.
CSU said they’d accepted an invitation from the Office of Civil Rights to “resolve the investigation by conducting a self-review to determine whether there are organizations with whom CSU has a membership or partnership where the organization limits participation by race. CSU has completed that review and is awaiting a response from OCR,” the statement said.
The spokesperson noted no fines or monetary penalties have been assessed against the CSU.
Bentley-Smith did not respond to an inquiry as to what the results of the self-review were by publishing time, but noted in the statement “CSU complies with all state and federal nondiscrimination laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity in any CSU program or offering.”
According to a CSU press release, the agreement was signed on October 3, 2025.
The partnership itself encouraged Black, Native American and Latino students to get business degrees. The PhD Project said in early 2025, “we opened The PhD Project application to anyone who shares our vision,” and a more recent statement says the organization “remains focused on our mission to expand the pool of workplace talent by developing business school faculty who inspire, mentor, and support tomorrow’s leaders,” according to an email from a spokesperson.
The once little-known program became a target of Trump Administration in an agenda to root out “DEI” in colleges, leveraging the threat of losing federal funding.
The California Faculty Association said the CSU was capitulating to the Trump Administration in a press release on the agreement.
A New Hampshire federal court last month issued a ruling permanently invalidating the Feb 14, 2025 DEI directive.
The American Civil Liberties Union said “the challenged guidance is no longer in effect and cannot be enforced against anyone, anywhere nationwide,” in a press release. The directive was challenged in court early on by attorneys from the ACLU and National Education Association, which obtained a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement in April 2025.
Regardless of the lawsuit, many universities cut ties early on with the PhD Project, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
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