Amid ongoing speculation about the status of settlement talks between Harvard and the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in court on February 13 seeking “applicant-level” admissions data from Harvard.
The complaint, filed in a U.S. district court, came one week after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, M.P.P. ’13, announced that the defense department would discontinue graduate-level professional programs for active-duty service members.
In the filing, the DOJ stated that it seeks a “searchable electronic spreadsheet” containing individual-level admissions data. Previously, the government has requested that such data include applicants’ race and ethnicity, the demographics of their high schools and zip codes, grade-point averages, recruited athlete status, employment history, financial aid offerings, interviewer ratings, and internal ratings.
The government says that it “needs applicant-level data to determine whether Harvard is complying with Title VI and the Supreme Court’s ruling” in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the 2023 Supreme Court case that banned the consideration of race in admissions decisions. Title VI is a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.
In a statement, a Harvard spokesperson said that “Harvard has been responding to the government’s inquiries in good faith and continues to be willing to engage with the government according to the process required by law.”
Harvard changed its admissions practices in response to the Students for Fair Admissions ruling. Admissions team members do not have access to either aggregate or individual race and ethnicity data until after the close of the admissions process. All application readers, including alumni volunteers, are instructed not to ask about or consider an applicant’s race when performing their admissions work. And demographic data about each class is withheld until after the start of that class’s first academic year.
The Harvard College admissions application itself has also changed. Short answer questions no longer ask identity-based questions. Instead, the questions focus on how a student believes they will contribute to the Harvard community. Mandatory standardized testing—helpful in identifying talented students from across the socioeconomic spectrum—was reintroduced in 2024.
Based on data from the undergraduate class of 2029, the percentage of Black students admitted to the College declined for a second straight year this past fall, while the percentage of Asian students increased—both anticipated outcomes of the court ruling.
The government’s February court filing states that “the United States does not accuse Harvard of any discriminatory conduct, nor does it seek monetary damages or the revocation of federal funding.” Citing the absence of individual student data, it asks the court to declare that Harvard has violated its obligations under Title VI and to order Harvard to produce the requested information.
But because the government’s request for individual-level student admissions data from Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Law School involves personally identifiable information, some legal observers have speculated that it might violate student privacy laws.
In the statement, Harvard’s spokesperson added: “The University will continue to defend itself against these retaliatory actions which have been initiated simply because Harvard refused to surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights in response to unlawful government overreach.”
