- Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell, California AG Rob Bonta, and Maryland AG Anthony Brown co-led a coalition of 17 Democratic AGs in suing the U.S. Department of Education and OMB over a new mandate requiring colleges and universities to turn over sweeping amounts of disaggregated student data, alleging the rushed rollout violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act.
- The lawsuit challenges the newly finalized Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement, a new component of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) that requires institutions to report race- and sex-disaggregated data for applicant, admitted, and enrolled cohorts, along with academic, financial-aid, and outcomes data spanning seven years.
- The states argue the new reporting mandate transforms IPEDS from a neutral statistical tool into a “fishing expedition” aimed at policing compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. They also contend the rushed compliance timeline imposes an unprecedented burden on schools while heightening the risk of exposing personally identifiable student information.
- The coalition seeks to vacate the mandate and block the federal government from compelling responses, penalizing noncompliance, or using the data for enforcement.