By: Laura Bea
In recent months, the federal government has intensified its scrutiny of university diversity initiatives, launching a wave of civil rights investigations and lawsuits that have placed higher education at the center of a national debate over race, institutional autonomy, and federal funding. In its latest attempt to challenge diversity, equality, and inclusion (“DEI”) among universities, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, alleging that the school improperly withheld race-related admissions data in violation of the terms of the government’s grants for federal funding.[1]
What appears to be a routine conflict over federal funding and compliance is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to redefine the function of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964[2] in the post-Students for Fair Admissions landscape. The administration’s pledge to put “merit over DEI” in its recent lawsuits reflects a broader standoff between the federal government and universities nationwide.[3] A statute once enacted to expand access and safeguard the civil rights of historically excluded communities is now being used to measure compliance and to place diversity initiatives under the threat of funding consequences. In this way, Title VI is being recast from a vehicle for dismantling exclusion into an instrument of federal oversight.
Background
According to the DOJ, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that protects individuals from discrimination based on “race, color, or national origin” in programs that receive federal financial assistance.[4] Such assistance includes federal funds for elementary, secondary, and higher education.[5] The purpose of Title VI in the educational context is not just to deter discriminatory conduct, but to commit federally funded institutions to non-discrimination, particularly for those populations whom have historically been excluded.
The enforcement of Title VI remains largely within federal administrative power.[6] The United States Department of Education (“ED”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) enforces Title VI as it applies to programs that receive federal assistance. ED-OCR’s mandate is to ensure compliance with Title VI.[7] Relevant here, covered programs under the statute include but are not limited to academic programs and admissions.[8] Importantly, Title VI’s enforcement power allows for the federal government to initiate fund termination proceedings or refer matters to the DOJ for legal action if recipients of federal funding are found to engage in discriminatory practices.[9]
The federal government’s enforcement authority took on a new significance in June 2023, when the Supreme Court of the United States issued its holding in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.[10] The Court’s decision in this case effectively struck down affirmative action in college admissions.[11] The conservative majority held that Harvard University and University of North Carolina violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause with its race-conscious admissions programs.[12] The Court’s ruling diverts significantly from decades of precedent that have permitted the limited use of race as a means to factor student diversity in education.[13]
As a result of the Court’s holding in Students for Fair Admissions, universities across the country overhauled their admission practices to meet the new strict scrutiny standard.[14] In turn, the ED-OCR issued guidance directing universities and other educational institutions alike to ensure that their “policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law” and to “cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means…”[15]
Against this backdrop, the federal government’s most recent lawsuit against Harvard University has intensified the debate over whether Title VI has shifted from serving as a traditional civil rights safeguard to a mechanism for federal, institutional control.[16] On February 13, 2026, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Harvard accusing the university for “unlawfully withholding admissions data information” that was necessary for the federal government to verify that the university had ended its race-conscious admissions process.[17]
Although nondiscrimination has always been a condition for the receipt of federal funds under Title VI, this lawsuit, along with the wave of lawsuits against universities in the past year, suggests a different use of that authority. Instead, the federal government is using financial pressure to potentially penalize diversity initiatives aimed at addressing the historical injustices that animated the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the first place.
Implications
Increased federal enforcement of the federal funding provision of Title VI, coupled with the Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, has profound impacts for educational institutions who are finding themselves in the middle of these lawsuits. Many universities and scholars have issued concerns over the new administration’s crackdown on DEI, particularly in that these new lawsuits will make it harder for underrepresented minorities to gain admission to selective institutions. In fact, universities have already reported shifts in their admission cycles. For example, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill reported a decrease in Black enrollment from 10.5% to 7.8% after their race-conscious programs ended following the Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admission.[18]Similarly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported a 14-point decline in first-year student enrollment who are Black, Hispanic, or Native American.[19] At the same time, some schools have attempted to offset these changes by announcing major boosts in financial aid for middle-income families, while other schools have increased the share of Pell Grant-eligible freshman.[20]
These shifts raise fundamental questions about the future of civil rights enforcement in higher education. As Students for Fair Admissions limits the permissible use of race in college admissions and the DOJ’s litigation against universities continues to expand nationwide, many institutions are left to pursue diversity under a constant threat of losing federal funding.
Conclusion
Under this new enforcement era, Title VI is now operating within a legal landscape that may require universities to turn to alternative, more innovative approaches to ensuring equal opportunity for higher education.[21] At the same time, these institutions will have to thread the needle carefully, finding ways to foster diversity without triggering the loss of federal funding for which many academic programs depend on. How universities balance this tension will shape the broader contours of access and opportunity in higher education for years to come.
[1] Michael C. Bender & Alan Blinder, Justice Department Sues Harvard for Admissions Records, NY Times (Feb. 13, 2026) https://perma.cc/H5K6-7SMH.
[2] Title VI is also known as 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.
[3] Collin Binkley, Justice Department sues Harvard for data as it investigates how race factors into admissions, Associated Press News (Feb. 13, 2026), https://perma.cc/V8PV-F2LP.
[4] Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Am. First Legal, https://perma.cc/6YN9-ZZSE (last visited Feb. 19, 2026).
[5] Id.
[6] Education and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, U.S. Dep’t. of Educ. (Apr. 11, 2025), https://perma.cc/K8R3-WCPM.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, U.S. Dep’t of Just. (Mar. 24, 2025).
[10] See Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181, 190 (2023).
[11] The Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, Cong. Rsch Serv. 1 (June 30, 2023) https://perma.cc/739V-6U3L.
[12] Id.
[13] See Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 269(1978); see also Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 312 (2003).
[14] See e.g., Neil H. Shah, A Month After the Fall of Affirmative Action, How Can Colleges Uphold Diversity? Harv. Crimson (July 28, 2023) https://perma.cc/ZN9P-YC9G.
[15] Cori Mishkin & Jeffrey M. Weimer, Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter foreshadows Title VI enforcement priorities, Reed Smith (Feb. 17, 2025) https://perma.cc/F7JX-DYZU.
[16] David Weisenfeld, The Legal Debate over Trump’s Title VI Campus Crackdown, Higher Ed Dive (Oct. 30, 2025) https://perma.cc/3NX4-APJV.
[17] Justice Department Sues Harvard University for Withholding Race-Related Admissions Documents, U.S. Dep’t of Just. (Feb. 13, 2026) https://perma.cc/7RPS-MQCP.
[18] Unpacking the Impact of the Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Ruling, Rennie Ctr (Dec. 18, 2024) https://perma.cc/976J-HJAT.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
