Attorney General Tong Sues Trump Administration to Stop Unlawful Data Demand to Colleges and Universities

Press Releases

03/11/2026

Attorney General Tong Sues Trump Administration to Stop Unlawful Data Demand to Colleges and Universities

New Department of Education Data Reporting Requirements Jeopardize Student Privacy and Threaten Baseless Investigations of Colleges and Universities

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general in challenging the Trump Administration’s demand that higher education institutions provide new data via a recently added component to the Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS), a collection of interrelated surveys administered by the Department of Education. The purpose of this new survey is to track institutions’ compliance with the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which says that race cannot be used as a factor in admissions. The coalition argues the rushed implementation of the new survey requirements leaves institutions vulnerable to inadvertent errors and unreliable data that could lead to costly penalties and baseless investigations into their practices, and that it jeopardizes student privacy by requesting in-depth information about individual students.

“These data demands have nothing to do with fairness or the law. This is more of Donald Trump and Linda McMahon’s scorched earth crusade to give kids with backgrounds they like and prefer an advantage in elite college admissions. These surveys are methodologically useless and inappropriately invasive. We’re suing to protect student privacy and the integrity of our college admissions systems,” said Attorney General Tong.

Administered through the Department of Education (ED), IPEDS is a mandatory survey that gathers data from colleges, universities, and technical and vocational programs participating in federal student financial programs. Since 1986, it has served as a valuable tool for reliable data collection and statistical reporting by universities. On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued a memo stating that IPEDS would now become a tool to track “consideration of race in higher education” and investigate universities’ compliance with Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

Following the memo, ED Secretary Linda McMahon announced new requirements for institutions demanding they report data via IPEDS disaggregated by race and sex and retroactively report data from the past seven years. On December 18, 2025, following a notice and comment period in which members of the coalition provided comments strongly opposing the new rules, the Trump Administration finalized the new requirements. The deadline for institutions to provide the new data is March 18, 2026.

In the lawsuit, Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that the ED’s rushed implementation of the new data requirements ignores the incredible burden they place on institutions and dramatically increases the possibility of inadvertent reporting errors and unreliable data. For example, in their haste to roll out the new requirements, ED failed to provide definitions for critical terms, leaving universities guessing what information they are supposed to provide, and facing severe financial penalties if they guess wrong. Furthermore, the Trump Administration has eliminated hundreds of positions within ED, including within the very offices responsible for providing clarity about the requirements to universities.

Moreover, the coalition argues the new data demands jeopardize student privacy and could lead to individuals being easily identified. Many institutions have state and federal statutory data protection obligations to their students, which are placed at risk by the Administration’s new IPEDS demands.

The attorneys general argue the Trump Administration’s actions are contrary to law, fail to observe the procedure required by law, and are arbitrary and capricious. They argue the implementation of the new data requirements was unlawful and will place an undue burden on colleges and universities.

Joining Attorney General Tong in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
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