From the LA Times: California and 16 Democratic states are suing to challenge a Trump administration policy requiring higher education institutions, including University of California and California State University campuses, to collect data — including student grade-point averages — to prove they don’t illegally consider race in admissions. Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is among the state attorneys general who filed the suit [last] Wednesday against a Department of Education rule that asks colleges to submit “the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students and enrolled students.” Bonta called the requirement a “fishing expedition” that is “demanding unprecedented amounts of data from our colleges and universities under the guise of enforcing civil rights law.” ...
The policy, announced in August, requires schools to submit disaggregated data on gender, race, grade-point averages and test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students by March 18...
The new policy is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade-point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public... The government made a similar ask of UC in August when it proposed a $1.2-billion settlement fine to resolve allegations of federal civil rights law violations at UCLA after cutting off more than half a billion dollars in federal medical, science, and energy research funding. UC President James B. Milliken said the university will not pay the fine but is open to talks with the Trump administration...
Note that it is unclear - apart from not being willing to pay $1.2 billion - what UC's position is with regard to the data request. Is it passively part of California's lawsuit? Did it have any input into the lawsuit? Any comments by UC on the specifics of the lawsuit? There are no recent statements on this matter posted on the UC news or federal developments websites.
The ongoing conflict with the feds is on the agenda of the Regents this week, but discussion will be behind closed doors.
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