Cal State San Bernardino is part of federal DEI probe – San Bernardino Sun

Cal State San Bernardino is one of 45 universities under federal investigation for potentially violating part of the Civil Rights Act in admissions for its doctoral program.

The campus is among three California universities — Cal Poly Humboldt and UC Berkeley are the others — being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education to determine if they violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The act prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs and activities receiving federal money and aims to ensure equal access and prevent discrimination in federally funded programs.

The probe comes as the Trump Administration moves to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs under the threat of pulling federal funding.

The California State University system learned of the investigations recently and will review them and cooperate with the department, a statement from the chancellor’s office read.

“The CSU continues to comply with longstanding applicable federal and state laws and CSU policies and does not discriminate or provide preferences on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin,” according to the statement. “CSU remains committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable learning environment that is open to all. CSU respects the diverse opinions and viewpoints of our students, staff and faculty.”

Cal State San Bernardino officials declined to elaborate and referred to the chancellor’s office statement.

“The notice of investigation was not specific beyond what was stated publicly by the U.S. Department of Education, so any comment about impacts would be purely speculative,” campus spokesperson Alan Llavore said in a Tuesday, March 18, email.

A department news release alleges that 45 universities partnered with The Ph.D. Project, a nonprofit organization founded in 1993, that encourages African American, Hispanic American and Native American professionals to earn doctorates, according to the National Postdoctoral Association website. 

The project provides networking and information meetings with the goal of diversifying the workforce and encouraging students of color to pursue doctorates.

Cal State San Bernardino has one doctoral program, Doctor in Education in Educational Leadership, but it has not partnered with the PhD Project, Enrique Murillo, director of the program, said Tuesday.

Saying he could not speak for the university, Murillo said the doctoral program does not use race-based admissions or scholarships.

The roughly 70 students in the program go through an admissions process that Murillo said looks beyond applicants’ grades and test scores to consider, among other things, their experience, leadership skills, professional goals and their potential contribution to the learning environment.

Traditional admissions processes tend to rely heavily on GPA and standardized test scores, but this admissions procedure takes a more comprehensive view of applicants, Murillo said.

“The main point is that we don’t only look at the traditional measures of academic achievement, we look at the whole person, the whole applicant, rather than just focusing on one factor,” Murillo said. “When you look at the wider range of factors, holistic admissions helps us identify students who are more likely to be engaged and successful in our program.”

The investigation, announced Friday, March 14, comes on the heels of a “Dear Colleague” letter sent last month by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights to all educational institutions that receive federal funding. It said that schools have civil rights obligations under Title VI and that some schools had participated in racial discrimination against White and Asian American students and took part in race-based hiring practices.