Arizona State University is under federal investigation for allegedly maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — the Trump administration’s most aggressive enforcement action yet against a university accused of discriminatory practices.
The Department of Justice announced the probe Wednesday, citing secretly recorded videos that allegedly show ASU employees discussing how the university shields DEI programs from federal oversight by changing their names and hiding their true purpose.
“No student should be denied access to opportunities or resources because of race, color, or national origin. The United States is committed to keeping universities free of unlawful discrimination, especially when they try to hide illegal conduct to avoid oversight and compliance.”
That statement came from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. The investigation marks a shift — previous enforcement actions against more than 50 universities accused of maintaining DEI programs were handled by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, not DOJ.
The investigation follows a series of undercover videos published by Accuracy in Media, a conservative watchdog group, beginning in January. In one recording, ASU associate director Rebecca Loftus told an undercover investigator posing as a prospective student that the university continues DEI programming despite federal and state directives against it.
Loftus described new offices created specifically to shield the programs from scrutiny — and said the approach was deliberate to protect federal funding.
“You’re not going to find very many programs that are going to broadcast it as before because the federal funding for universities, especially state-run universities like ASU — if you have federal funds that are withheld, it really makes a big impact.”
In another recording, Chandra Crudup, an associate dean in ASU’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, told the same undercover investigator that departments within the university “started changing our language” in order “to not become a target” but are “still doing DEI.”
Crudup discussed what she called the university’s “IDEA Office,” which she said provides faculty with a “toolbox” for incorporating inclusive practices into coursework. She also described an “inclusion network” of employees across academic and administrative units who collaborate on inclusion-related initiatives.
“We started changing language, but we’re still doing the same thing,” Crudup said in the recording. “We’ve shifted some of our language.”
ASU has not confirmed whether the “recent viral videos” referenced by the DOJ are the Accuracy in Media recordings. A university spokesperson told Fox News Digital that ASU “complies fully with federal law and does not discriminate in admissions.”
“The university has no comment on these videos, as ASU does not comment on secret video recordings of its employees who are not authorized to speak on behalf of the university,” the spokesperson said.
Since returning to office, President Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at eliminating DEI practices at colleges and universities that receive federal funding. The administration has directed federal agencies to pursue enforcement actions that could result in the loss of grants, contracts, or other federal funding.
