Source: Fox News
Summary
A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to investigate race-based admissions at U.S. colleges. The judge granted a preliminary injunction, barring the Trump administration from forcing public colleges in 17 Democrat-led states to submit detailed admissions data. The administration had sought a four-month deadline for race data on college admissions, but the judge found the deadline to be “rushed and chaotic” and “arbitrary and capricious agency action.” The coalition of 17 Democrat state attorneys general argued that the new reporting regime would invade student privacy, burden universities, and trigger unwarranted federal investigations.
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As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
The Trump administration’s effort to collect race data on college admissions has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The judge found the deadline for submitting the data to be “rushed and chaotic.” The administration had sought to collect data on the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students. The data was to be disaggregated by race and sex and retroactively reported for the past seven years. The judge’s injunction applies only to public institutions in the 17 Democrat plaintiff states.
The administration’s policy echoes settlement agreements with Brown University and Columbia University, which agreed to provide data on the race, grade-point average, and standardized test scores of applicants. The universities also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public.
The Trump administration has separately sued Harvard University over similar data, saying it refused to provide admissions records. Harvard has said it has been responding to the government’s requests and is in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action.
The process has become a familiar pattern of data requests, lawsuits, and injunctions.
