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The federal probe, announced Friday, centers on language embedded in the Board of Regents' executive budgets for Fiscal Years 2021–2022 and 2025–2026, which set specific performance objectives requiring Louisiana's public colleges and universities to prioritize students of "all races other than white [and] Asian." The Board's stated goal is to increase the number of such students earning a degree or credential in a given academic year — raising that figure from a baseline of 14,579 in 2020–21 to 16,000 by Academic Year 2025–26.
"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 antidiscrimination laws, but our nation's core principles," said Kimberly Richey, the department's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. "Title VI guarantees all students equal access to educational programs and opportunities regardless of race and OCR is committed to preserving these rights."
The Louisiana Board of Regents oversees all public colleges and universities in the state, giving its policies broad reach across Louisiana's higher education landscape.
The investigation is notable for targeting language that appeared in board budgets as far back as FY 2021–2022 — predating the current federal administration — but which survived into the current FY 2025–2026 budget cycle. The explicit racial classifications embedded in the Board's performance metrics have drawn the department's attention at a moment when the Trump administration has made aggressive enforcement of race-neutral policies in higher education a centerpiece of its education agenda.
Board Chair Misti S. Cordell issued a statement saying the board had received the department's letter and pledged cooperation.
"We will provide all requested information as it relates to our Master Plan and the state budget," Cordell said. "We are committed to being aligned with Governor Landry's and President Trump's administrations."
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who has made eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in higher education a priority of his administration, welcomed the federal scrutiny.
"Over the last two years, my administration has taken steps to eradicate unfair and harmful DEI practices from Louisiana's higher education system," Landry wrote on social media, adding that he hoped the investigation would "shed light on any areas where DEI is still seeping into our systems."
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon echoed that sentiment. "This is unacceptable," McMahon wrote in a social media post. "We will uphold fairness and equal opportunity for students."
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Because virtually all public colleges and universities receive federal funding through student financial aid and research grants, they are bound by its provisions.
The investigation marks the latest in a series of high-profile OCR actions under the Trump administration's Education Department, which has used the civil rights enforcement office to scrutinize race-conscious policies at institutions ranging from K-12 school districts to elite research universities. The administration has previously threatened to withhold federal funding from institutions it determines to be out of compliance with federal antidiscrimination law.
Higher education legal scholars and civil rights advocates have long grappled with the tension between targeted efforts to close equity gaps for historically underrepresented students — particularly Black and Latino students — and race-neutral legal requirements. The Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC, which struck down race-conscious admissions policies at colleges and universities nationwide, dramatically narrowed the legal space for institutions seeking to use race as a factor in enrollment decisions.
The Louisiana policy in question takes an unusual form. Rather than weighing race as one factor among many in individual admissions decisions — the approach the Supreme Court struck down — the Board of Regents embedded racial targets directly into its statewide performance metrics, explicitly defining the population to be prioritized by exclusion of two racial groups: white and Asian students. Legal experts say such explicit racial classifications in institutional goal-setting carry significant Title VI risk, particularly in the current legal and political environment.
The Board of Regents has not indicated whether it plans to revise its Master Plan ahead of any OCR findings. The timeline for the investigation's completion has not been announced.
