A federal judge in Boston has halted the Trump administration’s effort to collect data from colleges and universities to ensure they are not considering race in admissions, following a lawsuit from 17 Democratic state attorneys general.
U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV granted the preliminary injunction on Friday, which will only apply to public universities in states represented by the attorneys general, according to the Associated Press (AP) reports. The states had argued that the data collection risked invading student privacy and leading to baseless investigations of colleges and universities, also claiming universities had been given insufficient time to collect the data. MSI previously reported that 17 state attorneys general sued the Trump administration over the race data rule ….
Judge Saylor said that while the federal government likely has the authority to collect the data, the demand was rolled out to universities in a “rushed and chaotic” manner, the AP reported.
President Donald Trump ordered the data collection in August, raising concerns that colleges and universities were using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which he views as illegal discrimination, according to the AP.
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges could still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays, the AP reported.
Michelle Pascucci, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the court, “The data has been sought in such a hasty and irresponsible way that it will create problems for universities,” adding that the effort seemed aimed at uncovering unlawful practices, according to the AP.
The Education Department has defended the effort, arguing taxpayers deserve transparency on how money is spent at institutions that receive federal funding, the AP reported.
The Trump administration’s policy echoes settlement agreements negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money, the AP reported. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade-point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students, and also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public.
The National Center for Education Statistics is to collect the new data, including the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students and enrolled students, the AP reported. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said the data must be disaggregated by race and sex and retroactively reported for the past seven years, the AP reported.
The Trump administration separately has sued Harvard University over similar data, saying it refused to provide admissions records the Justice Department demanded to ensure the school stopped using affirmative action, the AP reported. Harvard has said the university has been responding to the government’s requests and is in compliance with the high court ruling against affirmative action, according to the AP. On Monday, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights directed Harvard to comply with the data requests within 20 days for face referral to the U.S. Justice Department, the AP reported.