UNO on list of U.S. Education Department’s DEI violators

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The University of Nebraska-Omaha is among 45 universities that are now under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for not ending DEI practices in its graduate programs.

Friday’s list was the latest update on the “Dear Colleague Letter,” sent by the DOE on Feb. 14 to all colleges and universities amid Trump administration efforts to clear the federal government of any Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and practices. The letter ordered the institutions to “take appropriate measures to assess compliance with the applicable statutes and regulations” in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Feb. 28.

UNO closed its diversity office, removing its website and contact information ahead of the deadline.

Read the ‘Dear Colleague Letter’

Other institutions on Friday’s list include Yale, Cornell, Clemson, Georgetown, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Duke, and NYU. Others in the region include the University of North Dakota, University of Michigan, Ohio State, University of Minnesota, University of Kansas, and the University of Chicago.

The letter alleges that “American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families.”

“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination. The agency has already launched Title VI investigations into institutions where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported and Title IX investigations into entities which allegedly continue to allow sex discrimination; today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in Friday’s DOE release. “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment.”

Colleges and universities that were not compliant with the department’s updated interpretation of the law were risking federal funding, according to Friday’s release from the DOE.

“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions.”

According to the letter, “all educational institutions” were “advised” to update policies and act in accordance with the current admistration’s legal interpretations, and stop any efforts to use race as a qualification, including use of contractors as a way of circumventing the newly advised policy.

The DOE also urged reports of any suspected discrimination to be reported via an online complaint form.

List of schools with graudate programs under investigation

• Arizona State University – Main Campus
• Boise State University
• Cal Poly Humboldt
• California State University – San Bernadino
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Clemson University
• Cornell University
• Duke University
• Emory University
• George Mason University
• Georgetown University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Montana State University-Bozeman
• New York University (NYU)
• Rice University
• Rutgers University
• The Ohio State University – Main Campus
• Towson University
• Tulane University
• University of Arkansas – Fayetteville
• University of California-Berkeley
• University of Chicago
• University of Cincinnati – Main Campus
• University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
• University of Delaware
• University of Kansas
• University of Kentucky
• University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
• University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• University of Nebraska at Omaha
• University of New Mexico – Main Campus
• University of North Dakota – Main Campus
• University of North Texas – Denton
• University of Notre Dame
• University of NV – Las Vegas
• University of Oregon
• University of Rhode Island
• University of Utah
• University of Washington-Seattle
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• University of Wyoming
• Vanderbilt University
• Washington State University
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Yale University

List of schools with scholarships under investigation

• Grand Valley State University
• Ithaca College
• New England College of Optometry
• University of Alabama
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• University of South Florida
• University of Tulsa School of Medicine

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