DOJ Ends 19 Investigations Into UNC After University Agrees to Race-Blind Admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights announced October 19, 2026, that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had agreed to a settlement closing 19 federal investigations into alleged antisemitism and race-based admissions. UNC agreed to create a Title VI coordinator, extend its non-discrimination policy to cover Jewish and Israeli students, require antisemitism training, ban face coverings that conceal identity at protests, and adopt fully race-blind admissions, scholarships, and financial aid, including a bar on considering race when hiring admissions staff or partnering with pipeline programs. No monetary payment was required, and UNC remains eligible for federal funding. The agreement runs through December 2028 under a university-selected compliance monitor.

The deal extends a pattern in which the administration uses the threat of cutting federal research and student-aid funding to extract policy concessions from universities on admissions, speech, and campus protest rules outside the normal rulemaking or court process.

The settlement is final and in effect; UNC must report antisemitism and race-discrimination complaints to federal regulators quarterly through 2028.