Democratic States Sue Over Trump Demand That Colleges Provide Race Data

NY Times -   Several states sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over its mandate that colleges share with the federal government detailed student and admissions data, which the government has said is meant to ensure schools are not using racial preferences.

The Trump administration announced in August that schools would be required to report disaggregated data on the race, gender, test scores and grade point averages of applicants. Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, argued that the new requirements were a way to scrutinize whether colleges were abiding by a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed race-conscious admissions.

The states say the effort has been rushed into place to target diversity efforts and creates an undue burden on schools. In the lawsuit on Wednesday, filed by the attorneys general of 17 mostly left-leaning states, including New York and California, the states argue that the Trump administration was attempting to turn the National Center for Education Statistics, a nonpartisan agency, into a “mechanism for law enforcement and the furthering of partisan policy aims.”