Princeton faces federal inquiry after acknowledging racial bias
The Trump administration has opened an investigation into racial bias at Princeton University, saying the school’s recent acknowledgment of racism on campus amounts to a “shocking” and “serious” admission of discrimination.
In a letter to the university Wednesday, the U.S. Education Department said the school’s acknowledgment of racism conflicts with previous assurances that Princeton complies with federal anti-discrimination laws. It said that, in an open letter issued Sept. 2, the university’s president “admitted Princeton’s educational program is and for decades has been racist.”
The investigation is the Trump administration’s latest salvo against schools and colleges that seek to address racism. Speaking in Washington on Thursday, President Donald Trump said U.S. schools and universities unfairly teach that America is a racist nation, an idea he dismissed as “toxic propaganda.”
Trump blasted Princeton on Twitter in June over its decision to remove former President Woodrow Wilnew son’s name from the public policy school because of his segregationist views.
Princeton said Thursday that it will respond to the department and looks forward to showing that its actions have been consistent with federal law, and “also with the highest ideals and aspirations of this country.”
“It is unfortunate that the department appears to believe that grappling honestly with the nation’s history and the current effects of systemic racism runs afoul of existing law,” the university said in a statement.
The department cited several passages in university President Christopher Eisgruber’s letter detailing efforts to combat systematic racism.
It raised concerns over his acknowledgment that racism persists at Princeton “as in our society,“and his acknowledgment that racist assumptions from the past “remain embedded in structures“of the university.
Eisgruber’s message was issued in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans whose killings by police sparked nationwide protests this summer.
The letter announced efforts to expand the diversity of Princeton’s faculty and to explore an educational program for students who come from communities that are disproportionately affected by racism.
It was not immediately clear whether the Education Department has opened similar investigations at other universities. The agency declined to comment, citing an open investigation.
But the Trump administration increasingly has sought to intervene with elite universities and their policies around race. The Justice Department announced last month that a two-year investigation at Yale University revealed illegal discrimination against Asian American and white applicants.