• Recent Department of Education (“ED”) interagency agreements and other agency action aim to deliver on the Trump administration’s goals of radically downsizing ED while continuing to pursue aggressive enforcement of Title VI and Title IX in alignment with the government’s agenda.
• Universities should expect continued focus on admissions practices, alleged race-based preferences and classifications, antisemitism and policies surrounding gender identity.

The Trump administration is continuing its whole-of-government approach to investigating alleged violations of antidiscrimination laws by universities, while also executing on its goal of scaling back the Department of Education (“ED”).

Recent interagency agreements shift substantial portions of ED’s civil rights enforcement to the Civil Rights Division (“CRT”) of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), although ED’s Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) retains final enforcement authority and core statutory functions. In the meantime, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) has issued a Dear Colleague letter warning colleges and universities that race-based or “affinity” housing programs may violate the Fair Housing Act, potentially opening another front of federal scrutiny. These developments align with recent DOJ and OCR enforcement activity focused on allegations of discrimination in admissions and other programs, allegations of antisemitism, and gender-identity policies in athletics and sex-separated spaces. Although ED may play a smaller role in the future, universities should expect continued civil rights enforcement, including the possibility of parallel or overlapping investigations by multiple agencies.

ED-DOJ Interagency Agreement. On June 15, 2026, ED entered into an interagency agreement with DOJ to shift a large portion of its civil rights investigation and enforcement activities to CRT. Pursuant to the agreement, CRT will investigate, evaluate, and attempt to resolve civil rights matters that OCR refers to CRT under Title VI, Title IX, and other federal civil rights statutes. OCR retains authority over final enforcement determinations, policy and guidance development, mediation and settlement negotiations, and all statutory functions assigned to ED’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. The agreement also preserves OCR’s exclusive authority over final decisions regarding administrative or judicial enforcement referrals.

ED simultaneously entered into another interagency agreement with DOJ pursuant to which CRT will largely take over administration, investigation, and adjudication under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) and Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”). ED also signed an inter-agency agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) for special education and rehabilitative services and with DOJ for training and advisory services. These follow a February 2026 agreement between ED and the Department of State—discussed in a recent Debevoise Update—that transferred to the latter certain oversight and enforcement responsibilities concerning foreign funding reporting under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. The agreements are consistent with the administration’s broader effort to wind down ED, beginning with Executive Order 14242 in March 2025, which directed the Secretary of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

The changes in OCR have sparked criticism from Democrats. An April 2026 Minority Staff report released by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions asserted that OCR has effectively stopped providing meaningful relief to students who report civil rights violations. The report ties these shortcomings to the administration’s effort to shrink OCR’s enforcement capacity and refocus ED on the administration’s priorities, including what the report describes as politically motivated Title VI and Title IX actions.

HUD Warns Universities About Race-Based Campus Housing Practices. On June 23, 2026, HUD Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor issued a Dear Colleague letter to colleges and universities, urging them to end what the letter describes as “neo-segregation” in university housing. The letter warns educational institutions that such practices violate the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on racially segregated housing.

The letter cited housing arrangements described using terms such as “diversity” “multiculturalism,” “affinity housing,” “safe spaces,” or “cultural celebration” to facilitate what HUD views as unlawful discriminatory housing practices on campuses. HUD pledged to pursue maximum accountability against institutions found to be in violation, including compensatory and punitive damages, civil penalties, and injunctive relief.

Recent Civil Rights Enforcement Practices Reflect the Key Priorities of the Trump Administration. No matter which agency is pursuing enforcement, the administration’s higher education priorities have remained relatively consistent and include investigations of alleged discrimination in university admissions and other programs, allegations of antisemitism, and gender-identity policies involving athletics and sex-separated spaces.

CRT has pursued matters involving alleged race-conscious admissions practices or other programs. For example, the DOJ recently announced investigations of a university’s DEI practices, a university system’s “Black Male Initiative,” and fifteen medical schools for “illegally us[ing] race in admissions.” DOJ also made findings that two California medical schools engaged in unlawful racial discrimination in admissions. At the same time, CRT has continued to conduct enforcement related to allegations antisemitism, including Title VI litigation against at least two universities for alleged discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students.

OCR opened Title VI investigations into 45 universities over alleged partnerships with The Ph.D. Project—a nonprofit organization that promotes attainment of doctorates in business—which was alleged to have limited eligibility for participation based on race. As of February 2026, these investigations had resulted in at least 31 resolution agreements with OCR requiring institutions to end those partnerships and review other partnerships for Title VI compliance. OCR also opened a Title VI investigation into a university regarding a program providing certification support funding to educators of color.

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