WASHINGTON: The US Department of Education opened an investigation on Friday into dozens of universities over diversity, equity and inclusion programmes that President Donald Trump alleges discriminate against white students.

`The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination,` Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. `Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,` McMahon said.

The 45 universities being investigated for `allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices` include prestigious Ivy League schools Cornell and Yale and other leading academic institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago and the University of California-Berkeley.

The Department of Education said the schools may have violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act by partnering with The PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps members of minority groups obtain doctoral degrees. The PhD Project `purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a PhD and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of participants,` it said.

In addition to the probe into the 45 universities, the Department of Education said it had opened an investigation into another seven schools over `alleged impermissible race-based scholarships and race-based segregation.` The Department of Education sent a letter to schools around the country last month stating that it `will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation`s educational institutions.

`The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,` it said.

The Department of E ducation, earlier this week, said it had opened an investigation into 60 colleges and universities for alleged `anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination.`-AFP