President Donald Trump has issued a signed memorandum ordering colleges and universities that receive federal funding to submit admissions data to the federal government.
The Trump administration is seeking evidence that those taxpayer-funded schools are no longer using race-based affirmative action in their methods of admitting students.
The Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. V. Harvard decision said that the use of affirmative action in college admission decisions is unconstitutional.
However, that ruling doesn’t have any teeth unless there is a way to enforce it.
The vast majority of higher learning institutions in the U.S. are heavily invested in affirmative action and other “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) practices, and are not likely to just give them up because the Trump-dominated court says so.
The affirmative action practice uses a person’s skin color, rather than their abilities or character, when deciding whether to accept a student.
It typically results in qualified students being denied admission to schools because their race doesn’t align with the left-wing ideology of the college.
The order also expands the amount of information institutions will have to submit, as overseen by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
McMahon will also need to conduct more accuracy checks