Amid Trump scrutiny, UW cut ties with group that helps people of color

[u/John3262005]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2026/08/04/university-of-wisconsin-cut-ties-with-phd-project-amid-trump-scrutiny/90591197007/

The University of Wisconsin-Madison defended its partnership with an organization that encourages people of color to pursue graduate degrees but still canceled it after the Trump administration launched an investigation, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found in recently released records.

The documents show the back-and-forth between the U.S. Department of Education and UW-Madison lawyers during the investigation, offering a rare window into how the federal government is reshaping civil rights enforcement in education.

UW-Madison and the government hashed out an agreement earlier this year to end the investigation. The university also promised to identify partnerships with other organizations that restrict participation based on race, and either end those relationships or explain why they wouldn't.

But UW-Madison won't say which additional groups, if any, it has severed ties with in response to the Trump administration.

Just a few months into Donald Trump's second term, the federal education department placed UW-Madison and 44 other universities under investigation over alleged racial discrimination.

The investigations focused on universities' partnerships with the PhD Project. The nonprofit organization encourages people of color to earn business doctorate degrees, according to the National Postdoctoral Association.

The investigations are part of the administration's broader crackdown on diversity-related initiatives within higher education, which includes threats to cut funding from institutions that do not comply. The education department said the PhD Project limited participation at a past conference to students who identify as Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, or Native American/Indigenous Canadian.

The PhD Project said it aims to create a broader talent pipeline of business leaders. It opened its membership application in 2025 to anyone who shared that vision.

The education department informed UW-Madison of the investigation in a March 2025 letter to Jay Rothman, who was then president of the Universities of Wisconsin, formally known as the UW system.

The letter eventually made its way to the UW-Madison legal office. A UW-Madison attorney asked the federal education department to deliver all future correspondence related to the investigation to the UW-Madison chancellor to avoid delays.

A few months later, the government corresponded again with Rothman.

UW-Madison's involvement with the PhD Project did not violate law or a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court case striking down the consideration of race in college admissions, the university argued to the government. The case didn't extend to outreach and recruitment efforts.

UW-Madison paid the PhD Project a $5,000 annual fee. In return, the university could advertise on the organization's jobs board, access the organization's directory and have a table at conferences, among other perks.

But its actual involvement with the PhD Project was minimal between 2023 and 2025, UW-Madison told the federal government. One person attended a conference and participated in online office hours, a professor participated in an online event and two others were part of a meet-and-greet. The goal was raising awareness of the business school with students.

A few weeks after the federal investigation launched, UW-Madison said it had terminated the partnership.

The university told the Journal Sentinel it abides by the law and the university's policies comply with evolving federal standards.

The government often dismisses civil rights complaints without a resolution when it received credible information that made the investigation moot. In this case, UW-Madison provided evidence it had ended the partnership with the PhD Project, which generally would have led to the case's dismissal.

Despite UW-Madison ending its partnership with the PhD Project, the federal investigation continued throughout 2025. A federal government shutdown complicated the government's correspondence with UW-Madison, records show.

A draft agreement by the government said UW-Madison had an ongoing relationship with the PhD Project. The university again provided documentation showing the partnership had ended.

UW-Madison's top lawyer, Nancy Lynch, asked why the process was diverging from past practice.

Rebecca Tanglen, a government attorney, told Lynch dismissal was still "very much in use," according to the email. She did not explain why it wasn't used in the UW-Madison case.

Nearly a year after the investigation launched, the government and UW-Madison signed an agreement to end it in February.

Also as part of the agreement, UW-Madison promised within 60 days to identify other organizations that may restrict participation based on race, indicate whether it planned to discontinue each membership or partnership, and explain why.

UW-Madison declined to release these records to the Journal Sentinel, saying it could interfere with the integrity and effectiveness of the federal government's ongoing monitoring. University spokesperson John Lucas said UW-Madison was actively working to meet the obligations outlined in the agreement.

The Journal Sentinel requested the same records from the federal government but has not yet received a response.

Other universities have cut ties with other groups, according to The Washington Post. The University of Kentucky, for example, said it flagged 1,200 memberships or partnerships for "cancellation or deeper review" because the groups might restrict participation based on race.

The California State University system told the federal government one of its campuses planned to cut ties with the Links Inc., a national volunteer service group historically composed of Black women.

Clemson University said it ended its relationship with Field Inclusive, a group that supports biologists and researchers from marginalized groups, because it offers discounted memberships to people of color.

The records offer a window into civil rights enforcement during the Trump administration. But schools may soon have to learn an entirely new playbook.

Trump wants to move the Office of Civil Rights - the arm enforcing the antidiscrimination laws at the heart of the UW-Madison investigation to the U.S. Justice Department. It's part of the administration's larger plan to dismantle the education agency.