Seventeen Democrat-led states sue Education Dept over requiring colleges report race admissions data

Seventeen Democrat-led states have filed a lawsuit against the Education Department for requiring colleges to report admissions and race data.California, Massachusetts and Maryland are leading the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. They are joined by Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.
The lawsuit alleges the Trump administration is trying to trample students’ privacy rights and has rushed the process of setting up a new system for colleges to report on the racial makeup of their applicants and those admitted, the Washington Times reported.
While the administration has argued that the data is necessary to ensure colleges comply with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling striking down racial preferences in admissions, the Democratic states claim it is a “fishing expedition.”
“This is the same administration, I’ll remind you, that gutted the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, leaving thousands of civil rights complaints and investigations in limbo,” Bonta said in a statement. “This latest sham demand threatens to turn a reliable tool into a partisan bludgeon.”
Last year, President Trump ordered the department to create a new survey to gather college admissions data, broken down by race and sex. The information would include those who applied, were accepted and enrolled, along with test scores, grades, and family income and financial aid.
According to the lawsuit, when the Department has added new data requests before, it provided more lead-in time to work out any issues and gave colleges a chance to adjust or deliver feedback about areas that were too difficult to comply with.
A penalty of more than $71,000 can be issued for each violation of the data demand. Colleges also risk losing eligibility for federal financial assistance funding.
“This mandate puts Maryland’s colleges and universities in an impossible position – face the threat of federal penalties or comply with vague, rushed rules, and risk exposing sensitive student data to a federal government that has already shown it will weaponize that information,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said.
Department press secretary Ellen Keast said the government gives $100 billion in higher education support each year, and that taxpayers deserve to know what colleges are doing.
“The department’s efforts will expand an existing transparency tool to show how universities are taking race into consideration in admissions,” she said. “What exactly are state AGs trying to shield universities from?”

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