Education

17 States Sue Education Department to Challenge Policy Requiring Colleges to Collect Race Data

The coalition led by Massachusetts argues new survey reporting, intended to ensure race is no longer a factor in university admissions, is illegal.
17 States Sue Education Department to Challenge Policy Requiring Colleges to Collect Race Data
The Department of Education in Washington on April 28, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
Kimberly Hayek
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Seventeen states filed a federal lawsuit on March 11, seeking to block the U.S. Department of Education’s policy requiring colleges and universities to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions.

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, the states are challenging a new component added to the mandatory, annual surveys administered by the Department of Education, which would be used to assess colleges’ compliance with the ​U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling ending affirmative action in higher education.
Kimberly Hayek
Kimberly Hayek
Author
Kimberly Hayek is a reporter for The Epoch Times. She covers California news and has worked as an editor and on scene at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2018 migrant caravan crisis.