The university is among 45 institutions under investigation. ND says it follows law, is commited to Catholic principle defending dignity of everyone.

The schools under investigation include dozens of state schools and two Ivy Leagues, namely Cornell and Yale. A number of private schools are also facing scrutiny, include Notre Dame, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New York University. The full list of schools is here.

The department said Friday it had opened an investigation into UW-Madison and 44 other universities nationwide over alleged racial discrimination. The notifications came exactly a month after the department issued sweeping guidance threatening to pull funding from colleges that do not eliminate all considerations of race from policies and programs.