California and 16 Democratic states are suing to challenge a Trump administration policy requiring higher education institutions, including University of California and California State University campuses, to collect data — including student grade-point averages — to prove they don’t illegally consider race in admissions. In that case, justices said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. UC and UCLA have said they follow California state law, which has banned considering race as a factor in admissions since 1997. “The Department’s efforts will expand an existing transparency tool to show how universities are taking race into consideration in admissions. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade-point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 12, 2026 23:08 UTC