Seventeen Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education’s policy requiring colleges and universities to collect data proving they are not considering race in admissions.
President Trump wrote in an August memorandum that “the persistent lack of available data — paired with the rampant use of ‘diversity statements’ and other overt and hidden racial proxies — continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in practice.”
“American students and taxpayers deserve confidence in the fairness and integrity of our Nation’s institutions of higher education, including confidence that they are recruiting and training capable future doctors, engineers, scientists, and other critical workers vital to the next generations of American prosperity. Race-based admissions practices are not only unfair, but also threaten our national security and well-being,” the memo read. “It is therefore the policy of my Administration to ensure institutions of higher education receiving Federal financial assistance are transparent in their admissions practices.”
Following Trump’s memorandum, Education Secretary Linda McMahon directed the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to collect admissions data, ensuring that race-based practices are not used.
According to the lawsuit, co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, the Trump administration is on a “fishing expedition to obtain onerous, extra-court discovery on the admissions practices of IHEs [Institutions of Higher Education] across the country.”
Education Department spokesperson Ellen Keast defended the policy in a statement to the Associated Press. “American taxpayers invest over $100 billion into higher education each year and deserve transparency on how their dollars are being spent,” Keast said. “The Department’s efforts will expand an existing transparency tool to show how universities are taking race into consideration in admissions. What exactly are State AGs trying to shield universities from?”
