# Letter to Secretary Linda McMahon, Department of Education --- MTN Minneapolis, Minnesota [email protected] May 13, 2026 The Honorable Linda McMahon Secretary of Education U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, DC 20202 **Re: Title VI Investigation of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (the Origin Node), the October 2025 UMN OCR Resolution Agreement, Title VII/VI Action vs. Minneapolis Public Schools, and the Title IX Referral to DOJ — Coordination Request Under the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud (E.O. of March 16, 2026)** Dear Secretary McMahon: I write to identify the Department of Education's Minnesota portfolio — the active ED OCR Title VI investigations of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the October 2025 Resolution Agreement in which UMN admitted Title VI violation in its PhD Project partnership, the joint Title IX referral to DOJ for MDE and the Minnesota State High School League, and the Title VII / Title VI investigation of Minneapolis Public Schools — as **the bullseye** of the consolidated federal posture toward Minnesota. The Department of Education holds the file on the institutional defendant. **The Portfolio Issue.** The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has the University of Minnesota under multiple active investigations: the Design Justice program investigation opened March 13, 2025; the institution is one of 52 universities under OCR investigation; one of 6 universities investigated for race-based scholarships; and an October 2025 Resolution Agreement memorializing UMN's admission of Title VI violation through its PhD Project partnership (UMN paid the program $3,000-$5,000 annually from 2008 through 2025 and used PhD Project resources for race-restrictive recruitment in 2022-23 and 2023-24). On January 26, 2026, the Department referred MDE and the Minnesota State High School League to the DOJ for Title IX non-compliance after Minnesota refused the proposed Resolution Agreement in December 2025. Title VII / Title VI investigations of Minneapolis Public Schools (the MPS Teacher Layoffs MOU) are in parallel posture. https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-departments-of-education-and-health-and-human-services-refer-minnesota-case-us-department-of-justice-title-ix-non-compliance | https://www.startribune.com/the-u-signs-agreement-acknowledging-discrimination-against-white-and-asian-students-cuts-ties-with-recruiting-nonprofit/601564669 **The University of Minnesota Origin — Direct.** The University of Minnesota's Office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA), founded in 1972 by Sandra Williams, produced the institutional Title IX / Title VI compliance plan that the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare accepted in 1976 and **distributed to 111 institutions as the federal template.** Two years later, Rajender v. UMN (D. Minn. 1980, Judge Miles W. Lord, UMN Law 1948) produced the consent decree that became the operational model for Minnesota Statute §43A.191 — codified in 1987 and now under DOJ Title VII challenge in United States v. State of Minnesota (0:25-cv-03798). The ED OCR Title VI investigation of UMN-TC is **the first federal action that touches the origin node of the entire federal contractor-compliance pipeline.** https://eoaa.umn.edu/ | https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1415681/dl **The Contemporary Admission — October 2025.** In October 2025, the University of Minnesota signed an ED OCR Resolution Agreement acknowledging that its PhD Project partnership **violated Title VI by discriminating against white and Asian students.** OCR found that "the university endorsed, promoted and benefitted from a program that limited participation based on race." This is the institution that templated the federal compliance regime acknowledging, in 2025, that its own current operation of that regime was unlawful. The October 2025 admission and the April 2023 Truth Report — which states the founding board "committed genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous peoples for financial gain" — bracket the institution's pattern of acknowledged unlawful conduct across 174 years. https://mn.gov/indian-affairs/assets/full-report_tcm1193-572488.pdf | https://www.startribune.com/the-u-signs-agreement-acknowledging-discrimination-against-white-and-asian-students-cuts-ties-with-recruiting-nonprofit/601564669 **The Minneapolis Public Schools Architecture.** The MPS Teacher Layoffs MOU operates the same race-conscious-preference architecture that §43A.191 codifies at the state employee level. MPS senior staff is credentialed predominantly by the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development. The Department's Title VII / Title VI investigations of MPS reach the same downstream consequences of the UMN-templated compliance regime that the §43A.191 federal complaint reaches at the state level. https://www.mpls.k12.mn.us/ **The MSHSL Title IX Referral.** ED OCR and HHS OCR concluded on September 30, 2025 that MDE and the Minnesota State High School League violated Title IX by allowing male athletes to compete in multiple female sports programs (Alpine ski, Nordic skiing, lacrosse, track and field, volleyball, fastpitch softball) and to occupy female-only intimate facilities. Minnesota indicated in December 2025 that it would not accept the proposed Resolution Agreement. The Department referred the matter to DOJ on January 26, 2026 for enforcement, which could result in termination of Minnesota's federal funding from ED and HHS. https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-and-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-find-minnesota-violated-title-ix **The Consolidated Federal Posture.** Vice President Vance's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, established by the March 16, 2026 Executive Order, coordinates the cross-agency response. The DOJ §43A.191 challenge is on a three-judge-panel + direct SCOTUS appeal track. The Title IX referral is active. The MPS investigation is open. The October 2025 UMN OCR Resolution Agreement is the institutional admission against interest. The Department of Education holds the file on the institutional defendant. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/ **The Ask.** I respectfully request that the Department of Education: 1. **Coordinate the open OCR investigations of UMN** (Design Justice, race-based scholarships, the 52-school inquiry) into a single comprehensive enforcement action, given that the institution has, in October 2025, admitted Title VI violation in one related program — establishing an institutional pattern; 2. **Treat the October 2025 OCR Resolution Agreement as the federal-record admission** that supports the §43A.191 federal complaint, the MSHSL Title IX referral, and the MPS investigation, given that the University of Minnesota is the credentialing source for all three operational consequences; 3. **Use Title IX referral authority** to support DOJ's prosecution against MDE and MSHSL, with funding termination as the operational lever; 4. **Coordinate with DOJ Civil Rights Division** on the consolidated federal posture, recognizing that ED OCR holds the lead investigative file on the institutional defendant; and 5. **Report findings to the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud** under the March 16, 2026 Executive Order coordination framework. This letter is one of approximately twenty Cabinet-level briefings I am submitting under the Task Force framework. The Department of Education receives the institutional-defendant version because the Department holds the lead OCR file on the University of Minnesota itself — the origin node. Respectfully submitted, MTN [email protected] --- **Primary Sources Cited:** - E.O. Task Force to Eliminate Fraud: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/ - US v. State of Minnesota: https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1415681/dl - ED + HHS Title IX referral to DOJ: https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-departments-of-education-and-health-and-human-services-refer-minnesota-case-us-department-of-justice-title-ix-non-compliance - ED Title IX joint finding (Sept. 30, 2025): https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-and-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-find-minnesota-violated-title-ix - UMN OCR Resolution Agreement coverage: https://www.startribune.com/the-u-signs-agreement-acknowledging-discrimination-against-white-and-asian-students-cuts-ties-with-recruiting-nonprofit/601564669 - UMN EOAA: https://eoaa.umn.edu/ - Maitland v. UMN, 155 F.3d 1013 (8th Cir. 1998): https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/155/1013/ - Minn. Stat. §43A.191: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.191 - UMN TRUTH Report: https://mn.gov/indian-affairs/assets/full-report_tcm1193-572488.pdf #Addresses_Advisories_and_Archives