The Trump administration is investigating the University of Utah’s business school for allegedly using race as a factor in graduate admissions decisions.

The U.’s David Eccles School of Business was included Friday among a list of 45 universities across the country that have been flagged for “engaging in race-exclusionary practices” that the administration believes disadvantage white students.

“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.

The Trump administration told schools in a memo last month that they had two weeks to stop any programs that give racial preference to students in admissions and scholarships — or risk losing federal funding. The move is part of President Donald Trump’s push to gut diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education.

Many of the schools now under investigation, including the U., are those that have partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that supports students from underrepresented backgrounds in pursuing business degrees. The project’s goal is to have more diverse voices in the business world and the faculty of business schools.

In its announcement Friday, the Department of Education claimed the program “limits eligibility based on the race of participants.” That, the department said, violates federal law, including a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended affirmative action and race-conscious admissions for universities and colleges.

In a statement Friday to The Salt Lake Tribune, the PhD Project said it has worked for 30 years to “expand the pool of workplace talent by developing business school faculty who inspire, mentor and support tomorrow’s leaders.” It added that it has opened its membership application to “anyone who shares that vision.”

The project lists the U.’s business school on its website as a participant, though it’s not clear how long the university has been associated with the nonprofit. It appears the U. hosted at least one event with the project, where prospective students could ask questions about the school’s doctorate program in business administration.

The project has touted one U. business school graduate as one of the initiative’s successes. The Tribune reached out to that student Friday, and did not immediately get a response. A spokesperson for the U. also did not immediately offer a comment for this story.

The business school is widely renowned and the pride of the U.’s president, Taylor Randall, who was the school’s dean for 12 years before taking the helm of the full institution in 2021.

The U. was previously the focus of the Utah Legislature, which in January 2024 passed anti-DEI legislation that Gov. Spencer Cox quickly signed. That law, one of the most far-reaching in the country, banned diversity initiatives in public education – both K-12 and college-level — and government offices. That came a year before Trump took office.

While the Utah DEI ban didn’t take away funding, it instructed schools to eliminate any programs that provided resources based on a specific race or gender — or open them to anyone interested. Universities also had to remove the words “diversity, equity and inclusion” from program and office names.

Also, those institutions could not require staff sign onto any kind of statement about diversity as part of the hiring process, a practice Cox had called “bordering on evil.”

Schools in Utah responded by eliminating many previously heralded centers. At the U., that included shuttering the Black Cultural Center and LGBT Resource Center.

Randall has told faculty that the law, while controversial, does “not change the values of this institution.”

Utah’s law included a carveout for schools to continue with diversity efforts, but only if they were required for federal funding or federally supported research. Trump’s anti-DEI policy has removed such provisions.

The bulk of the 45 schools on the Education Department’s list are public institutions, including Utah’s neighbors at Arizona State University, Boise State University, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and the University of Wyoming. There also are well-known private institutions on the list, including Georgetown, Notre Dame and Yale.

Another six schools listed Friday are under investigation for “alleged impermissible race-based scholarships” and one is on the list for “race-based segregation.”

Friday’s announcement comes after the Trump administration has also launched reviews of schools for allegations of antisemitism, prompted by pro-Palestinian campus protests last spring, and sex-based discrimination.

The administration also has launched efforts to reduce federal support for research that could cost the U. $43.5 million in funding.

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