Federal officials have opened investigations into whether programs supporting women at Yale University and the University of Southern California violate federal law by discriminating against men.

The U.S. Education Department launched the probes after receiving complaints from Kursat Christoff Pekgoz, a 30-year-old Ph.D. student in the English department at USC, according to letters detailing the investigations reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights confirmed the investigations...