The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights notified schools in a Feb. 14 letter that they have 14 days to discontinue any consideration of race in their admissions or scholarship decisions as well as institutional programming, or risk losing their federal funds.

The letter, written by Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, was sent to all educational institutions that receive federal funding. It expands on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, which banned the use of race as a factor in admissions, and now encompasses as well as “hiring, training, and other institutional programming” decisions.

“The Department will vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance,” Trainor said in the letter.
Trainor also extends the Supreme Court decision, which previously did not bar universities from “considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life,” to prohibit the use of indirect methods to factor in the race of an applicant. He said schools should not use information pertaining to an applicant’s race in admission decisions, including personal stories in college essays or participation in extracurriculars oriented towards a racial demographic.

Trainor accused schools of using non-racial factors as “a proxy for race” and said future efforts to consider an applicant’s race through various application components would violate the law.

“Although some programs may appear neutral on their face, a closer look reveals that they are, in fact, motivated by racial considerations,” Trainor said. “And race-based decision-making, no matter the form, remains impermissible.”
UT declined to comment on whether its admissions process would change because of the letter.

The letter follows a precedent set by Texas Senate Bill 17, prohibiting schools from maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion offices. This resulted in UT closing multiple offices in 2023 to comply with the bill. UT declined to comment on whether organizations recognized by the university but that do not receive funding, such as registered student organizations, would be affected by the letter.

“Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes,” Trainor said. “Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school.”