President Donald Trump will force colleges and universities to disclose more student admissions data as the White House seeks to crack down on the use of race in the higher education application process.
Colleges have been barred from considering race in admissions since 2023, when the Supreme Court gutted decades of precedent that allowed institutions to factor in race in a narrowly-tailored manner. Trump’s directive would intensify scrutiny of schools and their admissions process while they’re still grappling with the ruling and their goals of enrolling diverse freshman classes.
According to the White House, Trump will issue a memorandum Thursday directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to require that higher education institutions submit “the data necessary to verify that their admissions do not involve unlawful discrimination.”
“In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that consideration of race in higher education admissions violates students' civil rights,” the White House said Thursday in a press release ahead of the memorandum signing.
“However, the lack of available admissions data from universities — 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 admissions decisions in practice.”
The full text of the directive will not be made available by the White House until it receives Trump’s signature.
The president’s expected memo coincides with recent Justice Department legal guidance that said race-based scholarships and programs are likely illegal, including internships, mentorship programs or leadership initiatives for specific racial groups.
The Justice Department also warned that entities that receive federal funding, including higher education institutions, should no longer prioritize “underrepresented groups” for admissions or hiring, especially if they are considering race.
Additionally, the guidance attempts to address potential proxies for race, including asking for “lived experience,” “overcoming obstacles” or “cross-cultural skills” in hiring or admissions, or seeking candidates from specific geographic areas.
Several institutions have faced federal government probes over their admissions policies, including one K-12 school in the Washington, D.C. region.
In May, the Education Department launched an investigation into Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in northern Virginia that has been hailed as a national model for institutions that want to diversify their classes.
The Trump administration also touted settlements with Columbia University and Brown University in July, which included provisions that the institutions would halt the use of proxies for race in their admissions processes — and provide access to admissions and hiring data, including test scores, grade point averages and the race of applicants.
Comments