ANALYSIS: New Trump memo closes affirmative action's backdoor access into DEI infrastructure
Even after the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in 2023, race has held a firm grip on college admissions.
President Donald Trump's latest education executive action brings transparency to the admissions process to ensure universities are not discriminating against students in admissions.
The landmark Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Supreme Court case made it clear: universities cannot discriminate against students based on race in admissions.
Affirmative action is dead, right?
Wrong. The spirit of affirmative action was subsumed into the bureaucratic infrastructure of diversity, equity, and inclusion programming on college campuses. And now, it’s time to nail the coffin shut on both.
The Supreme Court barred universities from asking students to tick a box next to their race and then use that to sink their chances of admissions. But the ruling left the door open to essay prompts asking students about their race and contributions to diversity, like we saw at Harvard University, Rice University and John Hopkins University.
Diversity statements aren’t harmless; they’re ideological litmus tests that pressure students to pledge allegiance to DEI or face the risk of a rejection letter. Skip the DEI questions or answer “incorrectly,” and you can picture your application heading straight for the shredder.
These statements effectively created a backdoor for affirmative action. Race continued to shape college admissions in shadowy ways like diversity statements, a loophole that masks race-conscious admissions practices.
The solution? Radical transparency in admissions.
President Donald Trump’s latest executive action, “Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education Admissions,” is built to address that need.
The president has a simple message for universities: If you want taxpayer dollars, you must show you’re following the law and not discriminating against students. Universities that receive federal funds must submit admissions data to the National Center for Education Statistics to prove they’re not using race as a factor.
The terms are straightforward: follow the law or forfeit federal funding. A commonsense policy that shouldn’t be a problem for universities unless they’re hiding something. If they’re running a legitimate, fair admissions process, they’re good to go.
It’s transparency with teeth, and it’s already making the DEI bureaucracy squirm. Campus Reform’s years of reporting prove race-conscious admissions never really left, and now there’s enforcement to end it.
[RELATED: Trump executive order aims to reform college accreditation agencies]
The memo is just the latest in the Trump admin’s crackdown on discriminatory university policies.
In February, the administration warned universities that they risk their federal funding if they continue race-based preferences in admissions, hiring, promotion and scholarships. In March, the Department of Education launched investigations into 45 universities for race-based practices.
Just last month, the administration came to a historic agreement with Columbia University, where the university agreed to disclose admissions data.
Trump made scrapping DEI a day-one priority. Eliminating DEI means ensuring affirmative action stays dead, and this order will help nail the coffin shut.
The more we know about what’s really happening behind closed doors in admissions offices, the harder it will be for universities to hide their discrimination disguised as DEI. Bringing transparency to the admissions process will restore the fairness students deserve.
And with federal funding on the line, money will do the talking, and this nation will see the meritocracy comeback tour.
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Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.
