Trump Memo Orders Universities to Provide Evidence They Aren't Using Racist Affirmative Action

President Donald Trump has issued a signed memorandum ordering colleges and universities that receive federal funding to submit admissions data to the federal government.

The Trump administration is seeking evidence that those taxpayer-funded schools are no longer using race-based affirmative action in their methods of admitting students.

The Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. V. Harvard decision said that the use of affirmative action in college admission decisions is unconstitutional.

However, that ruling doesn’t have any teeth unless there is a way to enforce it.

The vast majority of higher learning institutions in the U.S. are heavily invested in affirmative action and other “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) practices, and are not likely to just give them up because the Trump-dominated court says so.

The affirmative action practice uses a person’s skin color, rather than their abilities or character, when deciding whether to accept a student.

It typically results in qualified students being denied admission to schools because their race doesn’t align with the left-wing ideology of the college.

The order also expands the amount of information institutions will have to submit, as overseen by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

McMahon will also need to conduct more accuracy checks on the information submitted and take action if the accuracy doesn’t meet federal standards.

In short, schools that get caught continuing to use affirmative action will probably lose at least some, or maybe all, of their federal funding.

Some schools have been hard at work trying to figure out how to still race as a criterion in their admissions process without it being affirmative action.

Harvard has implemented an essay prompt that allows students to detail how race has affected their lives.

UCLA, meanwhile, has practically boasted about its plans to increase diversity in spite of the ruling.

McMahon will be looking most closely at these schools, one would think, but they can’t be the only ones trying to keep doing what they’ve been doing, no matter what the courts say about it.

Since the ruling, some schools have seen an increase in Asian enrollment and a decrease in black students making the cut.

This is what would be expected without any use of affirmative action.

Looking at grades and achievement alone, the Asian population would score higher and would displace some of the black applicants and others who were given an advantage over them.

It’s understandable that things wouldn’t be exactly even among all racial and ethnic groups and that colleges would be concerned about “fairness.”

But race should not be the only criterion for fairness; there are so many others to consider, including ability, hard work, and more.

It’s not fair to have worked harder and achieved more, but be denied admission to a school in favor of someone who has not worked as hard or achieved as much.

After sixty-plus years of affirmative action, the practice has ended up further weakening the groups being “helped.”

The Left doesn’t consider that because affirmative action lets them act as Santa Claus to some voters, which they feel will come back to them in loyalty.

But that’s not fair, either.