FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2025
Contact: [email protected]

Columbia and Brown’s Agreements to Share Student Data with the Trump Administration Aids and Abets a Racist Agenda
Statement from EdTrust President and CEO Denise Forte

“The Trump administration has opened a new front on the war against Black and Latino students, aided by America’s ‘elite’ higher education institutions. Columbia University and Brown University both agreed to share personal student data with the Trump administration that includes standardized test scores, GPAs, and race. The purpose of this data-sharing is clear: to cancel pathways for Black and Latino students to access higher education.

“What Columbia and Brown agreed to is a national disgrace. They have openly announced that gaining access to their federal research funding is more important than protecting their students’ privacy and civil rights. These universities and others like them have legal rights and a responsibility to protect students, and they have the money and resources to do so through administrative processes and the court system. Their actions threaten the rights of Black and Latino students, their own institutions, and American higher education as a whole. The decision to capitulate to the Trump administration displays a willingness to dilute diversity and equity on their campuses — and may cause other colleges to follow suit.

“In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities could not use race as a factor for admissions. As a result, many institutions admitted fewer Black and Latino students in 2024. Now, the Trump administration is searching for any pretext to hollow the numbers out even further.

“This is the latest step in this administration’s attack on higher ed, which has included cuts to research grants, the demonization of DEI, and launching pressure campaigns against university and college presidents.

“The Trump administration is clearly scared of a diverse America and has used every opportunity to malign successful individuals from every race and gender. EdTrust will continue to champion diversity, and we are going to fight for students of color to access opportunities and pathways to college.”

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