I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2720 

To require institutions of higher education to report annually on the use 

of race, color, or national origin in the admissions process. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 10, 2015 

Mr. KING of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To require institutions of higher education to report annually 

on the use of race, color, or national origin in the admissions process. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sunshine in Academic 

5 Admissions Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Citizens and taxpayers have a right to know 

9 whether federally funded institutions of higher edu10 cation are treating student applications differently 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2720 IH

1 depending on the student’s race, color, or national 

2 origin, and, if so, the way in which these factors are 

3 weighted and the consequences to students and pro4 spective students of these decisions. 

5 (2) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

6 codified this right, forbidding in statute discrimina7 tion on the basis of race, color, or national origin by 

8 federally funded institutions, which includes nearly 

9 all colleges and universities. 

10 (3) This prohibition has largely been ignored by 

11 the Supreme Court, which has allowed racially dis12 criminatory admissions. 

13 (4) However, in Fisher v. University of Texas, 

14 the United States Supreme Court in 2013 affirmed 

15 that strict scrutiny should be applied to university 

16 admissions programs to ensure diversity is not de17 fined as ‘‘mere racial balancing,’’ but has a compel18 ling state interest to achieve diversity. The Fisher 

19 case clarified that any such discrimination is only 

20 permitted if it is necessary to achieve the edu21 cational benefits of a racially diverse student body. 

22 (5) Therefore, colleges and universities must re23 evaluate their use of racially selective admissions 

24 policies. The costs of such policies cannot outweigh 

25 the supposed benefits. If a less discriminatory means 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2720 IH

1 could achieve similar results, the discrimination is 

2 not permissible. 

3 (6) In order to ensure that these limitations are 

4 followed, colleges and federally funded institutions of 

5 higher education must make public through annual 

6 reports their use of race, color, and national origin, 

7 for admissions decisions so that Federal and State 

8 enforcement agencies and interested persons can 

9 monitor the schools. 

10 (7) Additionally, college and universities must 

11 provide evidence sufficient to demonstrate that any 

12 such discrimination does not exceed the limits im13 posed by the Fisher case. 

14 (8) Academic ‘‘mismatch’’ refers to a signifi15 cant discrepancy in academic qualifications between 

16 various groups within a student body, and is encour17 aged when universities lower their academic stand18 ards to artificially achieve a particular composition. 

19 (9) Mismatch works a harm because it sets par20 ticular students up for lower than average achieve21 ment, higher dropout rates, less competitive majors 

22 and, perhaps most damaging, a disproportionately 

23 large student loan burden. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2720 IH

1 SEC. 3. REPORT ON CONSIDERATION OF RACE, COLOR, OR 

2 NATIONAL ORIGIN IN STUDENT ADMISSIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

5 each institution of higher education participating in pro6 grams under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

7 shall submit to the Secretary of Education a report in ac8 cordance with this section. 

9 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.— 

10 (1) DISCLOSURE OF CONSIDERATION OF RACE, 

11 COLOR, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN IN STUDENT ADMIS12 SIONS.—The report shall include a statement indi13 cating whether race, color, or national origin is given 

14 weight in the student admissions process of the in15 stitution or any department of the institution. 

16 (2) ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES.—If the disclo17 sure under paragraph (1) states that race, color, or 

18 national origin is given weight in the student admis19 sions process of an institution or department, then 

20 the report shall include the following information 

21 with respect to the institution or department: 

22 (A) The racial, color, and national origin 

23 groups for which membership is considered a 

24 plus factor or a minus factor and, in addition, 

25 how membership in a group is determined for 

26 individual students. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2720 IH

1 (B) A description of how group member2 ship is considered, including the weight given to 

3 such consideration and whether targets, goals, 

4 or quotas are used. 

5 (C) A statement explaining why group 

6 membership is given weight, including the de7 termination of the desired level claimed and, 

8 with respect to the diversity rationale, its rela9 tionship to the particular educational mission of 

10 the institution or department. 

11 (D) A description of the consideration that 

12 has been given to racially neutral or less dis13 criminatory alternatives as a means for achiev14 ing the same goals for which group membership 

15 is considered. 

16 (E) A description of how frequently the 

17 need to give weight to group membership is re18 assessed and how that reassessment is con19 ducted. 

20 (F) An identification of the factors other 

21 than race, color, or national origin that are col22 lected in the admissions process. If the factors 

23 described in the preceding sentence include 

24 grades or class rank in high school, scores on 

25 standardized tests (including the ACT and 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2720 IH

1 SAT), legacy status, sex, State residency, eco2 nomic status, or other quantifiable criteria, 

3 then all raw admissions data for applicants re4 garding these factors, along with each indi5 vidual applicant’s race, color, and national ori6 gin and the admissions decision made by the 

7 school regarding that applicant, shall accom8 pany the report in computer-readable form, 

9 with the name of the individual student re10 dacted but with appropriate links, so that it is 

11 possible for the Secretary of Education or other 

12 interested persons to determine through statis13 tical analysis the weight being given to race, 

14 color, and national origin, relative to other fac15 tors. 

16 (G) An analysis, and also the underlying 

17 data needed to perform an analysis, of whether 

18 there is a correlation— 

19 (i) between membership in a group fa20 vored on account of race, color, or national 

21 origin and the likelihood of enrollment in a 

22 remediation program, relative to member23 ship in other groups; 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2720 IH

1 (ii) between such membership and 

2 graduation rates, relative to membership in 

3 other groups; and 

4 (iii) between such membership and the 

5 likelihood of defaulting on education loans, 

6 relative to membership in other groups. 

7 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The institution shall 

8 make the report publicly available. 

9 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

10 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow or 

11 permit preference or discrimination on the basis of race, 

12 color, or national origin. 

13 SEC. 5. DEFINITION. 

14 In this Act, the term ‘‘institution of higher edu15 cation’’ has the meaning given the term in section 102 

16 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002), 

17 except that the term does not include an institution of 

18 higher education outside the United States. 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS