President Donald Trump has signed an executive order requiring colleges to prove they do not consider race in admissions by submitting detailed racial and academic data to the federal government.
The order, which was issued on Thursday, mandates that colleges and universities provide data, including race, GPA, and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students, and enrollees, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Education.
Trump stated in the order that Education Secretary Linda McMahon must force colleges and universities “to provide adequate transparency into admissions.”
“The persistent lack of available data — 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,” continued the memo, as reported by The AP.
This move seeks to further enforce the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that banned affirmative action based on race in college admissions but allowed consideration of race only through applicants’ personal disclosures.
Trump has now alleged that colleges have been using indirect methods like personal statements and diversity proxies to circumvent the ban.
Universities will be expected to submit data on a website called the Postsecondary Education Data System, which had previously only asked for racial information on enrolled students.
Moving forward, this website will collect information regarding both applicants and enrollees, with the Department of Education writing that this change will “enable the American public to assess whether schools are passing over the most qualified students in favor of others based on their race.”
McMahon supported the directive in the Department of Education release, writing that universities will now be “required to provide this data directly to us through an existing data system.”
“We will not allow institutions to blight the dreams of students by presuming that their skin color matters more than their hard work and accomplishments. The Trump Administration will ensure that meritocracy and excellence once again characterize American higher education.”
Despite the call for action by the President and the Education Secretary, some have raised concerns about the ability of the Department of Education to accomplish this goal, pointing to the recent budget and staffing cuts that the department has undergone in recent months.
Jason Cottrell, the former data coordinator for the Education Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education, said that collecting the data will prove difficult due to the lack of employees.
“This isn’t flipping a switch or typing something up and saying, ‘Just do it,’” he explained, per NPR.
Currently, there is no indication about when Trump expects these numbers to arrive. Still, there remain concerns about whether the Department of Education will be able to complete the task in a short timeframe.