Trump administration ramps up its campaign against colleges

The Trump administration continued building its multi-pronged case against American universities Wednesday, with the announcement of new investigations by the departments of state and education.

The new probes are the latest in a months-long effort across the federal government to pressure elite colleges and universities to hew more closely to the administration's political priorities.

The State Department announced Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into whether Harvard University is eligible to participate in its Exchange Visitor Program, a broad visa category that includes students, professors, working interns and other non-tourist visitors.

The department did not offer a reason for the probe, such as a specific complaint, but it said in a statement that universities which sponsor exchange visitors are required to show a "demonstrated commitment to fostering the principles of cultural exchange and mutual understanding upon which the program was founded."

The same day, the Department of Education announced unrelated investigations into whether five universities which offer special scholarships for undocumented students are "preferencing foreign-born students" over native-born ones.

The University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University are the targets of the probe.

"Neither the Trump Administration's America first policies nor the Civil Right Act of 1964's prohibition on national origin discrimination permit universities to deny our fellow citizens the opportunity to compete for scholarships because they were born in the United States," said the department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Craig Trainor.

The probes are based on complaints submitted to the Office of Civil Rights by the Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a conservative advocacy group.

In a highly unusual step, the education department included a statement from the advocacy group in its official announcement of the probes.

The OCR also said it was investigating additional scholarships at the schools that allegedly exclude other groups, including Western Michigan's scholarship for "African American, Native American, or Hispanic American" students and University of Louisville's scholarship for "LGBTQ+ students of color."

Four of five universities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the University of Michigan told CNBC, "The university has received a letter of notification relating to this matter. We have no further comment."

Wednesday's announcements are the latest step in the Trump administration's full-throated campaign to root out and penalize elite universities and increasingly, public and state colleges, for policies that do not align with administration priorities.

Harvard has been the target of multiple probes, as both a legal challenge and private negotiations between the university and the administration continue over Trump's federal funding freezes.

A Harvard spokesperson told CNBC the latest investigation is "yet another retaliatory step taken by the administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights."

A separate federal probe determined last month that Harvard had violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students, and Trump said in May that he wanted to revoke the university's tax-exempt status.

The government has also moved to freeze federal funding for several other Ivy League schools. Trump has said he is considering redirecting this money to trade schools.

Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania, looking into alleged antitrust violations in the universities' tuition and financial aid policies. The announcement followed letters sent to all eight Ivy Leagues requesting documents.

In June, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan stepped down from his position after the Justice Department called for his resignation while the government investigated the school for its DEI policies.

More than a dozen schools, including Columbia University, Northwestern University and the University of California, Berkeley, have come under scrutiny.