Donald Trump Administration

A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit in Boston on March 11, 2026, challenging a Trump administration policy that forces colleges and universities to submit detailed admissions data disaggregated by race and sex to prove they are not considering race in admissions. Ordered by President Donald Trump in an August memo and implemented by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the policy requires institutions to provide seven years of retroactive data on applicants, admitted students and enrollees by March 18, with potential Title IV penalties for incomplete or inaccurate reporting. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell calls the move unlawful, rushed and arbitrary, arguing it threatens student privacy, could lead to flawed data and “baseless investigations,” and puts federal funding at risk for schools that cannot comply in time. The Education Department, through spokesperson Ellen Keast, defends the effort as transparency for taxpayers and an expansion of existing tools like IPEDS and prior Brown and Columbia settlements to show whether universities are using race in admissions despite the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative‑action ruling. The case tees up a major legal fight over how far Washington can go in using data demands and funding leverage to police post‑affirmative‑action admissions practices and could shape both civil‑rights enforcement and student‑privacy norms across U.S. higher education.