Louisiana Board Faces Allegations of Enrollment Discrimination

The Trump administration is investigating an enrollment initiative in Louisiana designed to boost the number of Black and Hispanic students graduating from a college or university, alleging in a Friday news release that the effort is discriminatory and violates civil rights law.  

When the campaign began during the 2020–21 academic year, the Louisiana Board of Regents tallied a baseline of 14,579 graduates from “all races other than white [and] Asian.” The goal was to raise that number to 16,000 by 2025–26. But the board, which oversees all public universities in the state, surpassed that milestone ahead of schedule in 2023–24, according to The Louisiana Illuminator.

This project was just one part of a much larger goal—to ensure at least 60 percent of the state’s adult residents would hold a college degree by 2030. Other demographic groups receiving increased attention include nontraditional adult students, rural residents, student parents and members of the military.

The Education Department argues that by focusing specific resources on recruiting and retaining Black and Hispanic students, the board has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin at federally funded institutions.

“The Louisiana Board of Regents’ objective to prioritize recruitment and graduation efforts for ‘all races other than white [and] Asian’ appears to blatantly violate not only America’s anti-discrimination laws, but our nation’s core principles,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in the release about the investigation. “OCR will fully enforce Title VI to ensure our education programs are defined by equality, not exclusion.”

Misti Cordell, chair of the Board of Regents, told the Illuminator that the board received the notice from the Education Department.

“We will provide all requested information as it relates to our Master Plan and the state budget. We are committed to being aligned with Governor Landry’s and President Trump’s administrations,” Cordell said in a statement.