Oregon AG sues Trump Administration over college data rules, warns of student privacy violations
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of 16 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration today to block new data reporting requirements for colleges and universities.
The legal challenge seeks to stop the Department of Education from collecting detailed student information that the coalition argues will lead to baseless investigations and violate student privacy.
The dispute centers on changes to the Integrated Postsecondary Education System, a collection of surveys known as IPEDS. The mandatory system gathers data from institutions that participate in federal student financial aid programs.
On Aug. 7, 2025, President Trump issued a memo directing the system to be used to monitor university compliance with the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which barred the use of race as a factor in admissions.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the new requirements following the president's memo. The rules demand that institutions report data disaggregated by race and sex. Additionally, colleges and universities must retroactively report this data from the past seven years. Although the coalition provided comments strongly opposing the rules during a notice and comment period, the administration finalized the requirements on Dec. 18, 2025.
The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Education rushed the implementation and ignored the significant administrative burden placed on schools. According to the coalition, the department failed to provide definitions for critical terms, which leaves universities to guess what information is required. The attorneys general argue this increases the risk of reporting errors that could result in severe financial penalties.
These challenges occur as the Trump Administration has eliminated hundreds of positions within the Department of Education. The coalition noted that these cuts included staff in offices responsible for providing clarity and guidance to universities regarding reporting requirements. The lawsuit further argues that the actions are contrary to law and fail to observe required legal procedures.
Student privacy is a central concern of the legal challenge. The attorneys general argue that the new data demands could allow individual students to be easily identified. Many institutions have existing data protection obligations to their students that the coalition claims are now at risk due to the new IPEDS demands.
Attorneys general from 16 other states joined Rayfield in filing the lawsuit. The coalition includes representatives from California, Colo., Conn., Del., Hawaii, Ill., Md., Mass., Nev., N.J., N.Y., R.I., Vt., Va., Wis. and Washington
Higher education institutions are currently facing a deadline of March 18, 2026, to provide the new data to the Department of Education.
