President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order designed to get updated information from colleges and universities on admissions data.
The Daily Caller reported that the administration is concerned about whether incoming college students are being subjected to race-based filters for acceptance.
An advance copy of the order the Daily Caller obtained from the White House outlined the administration's concerns, highlighting universities failing to provide relevant admissions statistics, while some continue to use "diversity statements" as part of an apparent approach to work around the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that orders higher education institutions to refrain from using race-based criteria for admissions.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority voted in June to overturn admissions guidelines used at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. They are America's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a scolding opinion that said universities in America had for too long, "concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."
The new Trump order will require colleges and universities that get federal funding to provide complete admissions data to prove they are following the Supreme Court guidelines regarding race-based entry qualifications, according to the Daily Caller.
It is also designed to enable Education Secretary Linda McMahon to ensure the necessary data is supplied by universities to fully assess their compliance, and set up a process to force compliance in cases where universities are found to be skirting the law.
The Los Angeles Times reported in early May that a federal lawsuit had been filed accusing the medical school at UCLA of continuing to apply racial filters for admissions in a process contradictory to both the Supreme Court ruling and a state law that also outlaws racial preferences for admission. The lawsuit was initiated to stop UCLA from allegedly "engaging in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process."
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.