Universities should fight to retain control over admissions policies amid a new transparency drive from the White House that risks publishing ¡°difficult to interpret¡± data without any context, scholars have warned.

In a recent memorandum, Donald Trump ordered universities to submit enhanced data around their admissions practices to the Education Department. The White House is concerned that institutions are not?following a 2023 Supreme Court decision?which prevented administrators from using race as a factor in admissions.

But Steven Brint, distinguished professor of sociology and public policy at the?University of California, Riverside, said selective universities have never admitted students strictly on the basis of their secondary school grades and standardised test scores.?

¡°They want to fill their classes with students who have a variety of skills and interests ¨C the sports teams need athletes, the musical groups need musicians, the theatre company needs actors.?

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¡°It has always been the case that these considerations, plus geographical distributions and many other factors go into admissions. The universities will presumably fight to retain a level of discretion that permits fielding classes with diverse talents and interests.¡±

Brint warned that the goal of the memorandum appears to be to reduce minority admissions, with white working-class and middle-class students set to benefit the most.

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Pedro Noguera, dean of the?University of Southern California¡¯s Rossier School of Education, said it was not clear who will collect the data since?the government has already started dismantling the Education Department.

And he added: ¡°The data by itself will be [hard] to interpret since most colleges now use a holistic review that doesn¡¯t prioritise test scores.¡±

Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the Cato Institute¡¯s Center for Educational Freedom, said wealthier students performing better may be an unintended consequence of the change, but it was not one he was concerned about.

The 2023 Supreme Court decision rejected the use of affirmative action in college admissions on the grounds that it violated the equal protection laws of the US Constitution.

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Gillen said the?rule will only apply to selective schools and will not affect the majority of higher education institutions and this?greater transparency will incentivise Ivy League universities to stop ignoring the Supreme Court ruling ¨C or risk facing further scrutiny from the White House.

¡°With this data requirement it¡¯s going to be very obvious if they¡¯re discriminating or if they¡¯re not. You¡¯ll basically encourage the schools to stop discriminating based on the threat of future losses.¡±

There were also some concerns that fully transparent admissions data would reveal a large number of legacy admissions at some top institutions. Brint said universities have an interest in holding on to what remains of such practices because these students are more likely to become significant donors in the future.

Frederick Lawrence, distinguished lecturer in law at Georgetown University, said the order was one of the more?reasonable requests from Trump since retaking office.

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¡°We collect all sorts of admission statistics, there¡¯s no reason why those statistics shouldn¡¯t be made public. The fact that the administration wants those things collected isn¡¯t the reason not to do it.¡±

But he warned a problem may arise if admissions decisions end up clashing with the mission of the institution.

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¡°Those decisions of who to admit and how to comprise an entering class should be made on academic grounds by academics. They shouldn¡¯t be made on political grounds by politicians.¡±

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com