WASHINGTON >> The U.S. Department of Education today said its office for civil rights is investigating 45 universities, citing complaints that the schools engaged with a program that set eligibility based on race.

Since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January, his administration has sought to limit efforts to provide support to people based on race, gender or ethnicity.

The Department of Education said the new probe announced today followed allegations that the universities partnered with a program that seeks to increase diversity in college business schools.

The department said in a statement the activities violated a 1964 civil rights law, which was originally passed to reduce discrimination against non-white Americans.

While the statement announcing the probe did not say who was being harmed by the university programs, Trump and many U.S. conservatives have argued that efforts to increase diversity are unfair and discriminate against white Americans.

“Today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the statement.

The Trump administration has also targeted universities for protests held in support of Palestinians, which the administration has described as anti-Semitic.

The administration earlier this month canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University in response to what it said was the Ivy League school’s poor response to anti-Semitism on campus.

The universities under investigation for allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs include:

• Arizona State University-Main Campus

• Boise State University

• Cal Poly Humboldt

• California State University – San Bernadino

• Carnegie Mellon University

• Clemson University

• Cornell University

• Duke University

• Emory University

• George Mason University

• Georgetown University

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

• Montana State University-Bozeman

• New York University (NYU)

• Rice University

• Rutgers University

• The Ohio State University-Main Campus

• Towson University

• Tulane University

• University of Arkansas – Fayetteville

• University of California-Berkeley

• University of Chicago

• University of Cincinnati – Main Campus

• University of Colorado – Colorado Springs

• University of Delaware

• University of Kansas

• University of Kentucky

• University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

• University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

• University of Nebraska at Omaha

• University of New Mexico – Main Campus

• University of North Dakota – Main Campus

• University of North Texas – Denton

• University of Notre Dame

• University of NV – Las Vegas

• University of Oregon

• University of Rhode Island

• University of Utah

• University of Washington-Seattle

• University of Wisconsin-Madison

• University of Wyoming

• Vanderbilt University

• Washington State University

• Washington University in St. Louis

• Yale University

The schools under investigation for alleged impermissible race-based scholarships and race-based segregation are:

• Grand Valley State University

• Ithaca College

• New England College of Optometry

• University of Alabama

• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

• University of South Florida

• University of Oklahoma, Tulsa School of Community Medicine