Judge halts Trump college data plan, calls rollout ‘rushed and chaotic’

WASHINGTON, DC: A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s effort to expand college admissions data collection across public universities in 17 states.

The ruling temporarily halts a key component of the administration’s initiative to examine the role of race in admissions decisions.

The decision follows a lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic attorneys general who challenged the policy’s rollout and feasibility. 

Judge blocks data collection citing concerns

US District Judge Dennis Saylor of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction on Friday, preventing the administration from enforcing its expanded data collection requirements in 17 states.

In his ruling, Saylor wrote that the survey was developed in a “rushed and chaotic manner” and that existing issues were being “compounded” by efforts to dismantle parts of the Department of Education.

The administration had significantly broadened the scope of data colleges would need to provide, requiring detailed information on applicants, admitted students, and enrollees.

This included data on race, ethnicity, gender, family income, parental education, test scores, and grade point averages, spanning a period of up to seven years.

Previously, federal data collection had focused primarily on the racial composition of enrolled students rather than the full admissions pipeline.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys general from 17 states, argued that the changes were impractical and legally questionable, particularly given staffing reductions at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the agency responsible for collecting and analyzing such data.

The states said the workforce had been cut dramatically, complicating its ability to manage the expanded survey.

“This is not a merely technical issue,” Saylor wrote, adding that once the agency ceases to exist, its authority to collect and analyze such data would effectively “vanish.” He also questioned how data would be stored and who would have access to it going forward.

Ruling leaves room for future action, hearing scheduled

Despite blocking the immediate rollout, Saylor’s ruling did not entirely side with the states.

The judge affirmed that the federal government does have the authority to collect admissions-related data and rejected arguments that the administration would necessarily misuse it to penalize institutions.

Saylor also declined to prevent the Education Department from using such data in future investigations into potential discrimination.

The administration has argued that the expanded data collection is necessary to determine whether colleges are violating legal standards following the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admission, Inc. v. Harvard, which limited the use of race in admissions.  

The ruling applies specifically to public universities in Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Together, these states account for nearly 3 million public university students, creating a significant gap in the administration’s data collection efforts.

A hearing is scheduled for April 13 to consider those requests, which could determine whether the pause on data collection expands beyond the initial 17 states.

The administration had aimed to release the collected data as early as this summer, working under a 120-day deadline set by Trump.