Judge Blocks Trump's Race Data Grab from Colleges

0:00It's April 5th. Vancouver News Today starts now, AI-powered and ready. I'm Corey, with the story. A federal judge in Boston just slammed the brakes on the Trump administration's push to gather race data from colleges on admissions. U.S. District Judge, F. Dennis Saylor IV, granted a preliminary injunction, Friday, siding with a lawsuit from 17 Democratic State. Attorneys General. This blocks the data collection for now, but only at public universities from those suing states. The move came after President Trump ordered the data grab back in August, worried schools were dodging the Supreme Court's 2023 ban on, affirmative action by using sneaky proxies like personal essays. The judge agreed the FES probably had the power to ask for it, but called the rollout rushed and chaotic, with a tight 120-day deadline messing up the process. States fire back hard, saying it invades student privacy, and gives schools no real time to pull the numbers. Teachers argued the hasty demand would just create headaches for universities. Meanwhile,

1:04the education department insists taxpayers need this transparency on how federal cash flows to these institutions. The data would come from the National Center for Education Statistics, broken down by race and sex, going back seven years, originally due March, 18. It mirrors deals the government cut, with places like Brown and Columbia, where they handed over applicant stats and opened up for audits to get. Research funding back. This injunction keeps things on pause while the case plays out, leaving college's breathing room but the transparency fight wide open for whatever comes next in court.