President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum directing every college and university that receives federal money to submit detailed admissions statistics—including the race and gender of applicants, admitted students and enrollees—so the government can verify compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on affirmative-action admissions policies. The order instructs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to overhaul the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, expanding mandatory reporting and increasing accuracy checks undertaken by the National Center for Education Statistics. Institutions that fail to provide complete or timely data risk remedial action that could include suspension of federal funds, according to a White House fact sheet. In a separate directive titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” Trump placed discretionary grants across all agencies under the review of political appointees and temporarily paused new funding announcements until each agency establishes a process ensuring grants advance the president’s priorities. The order bars grant money that supports racial preferences, rejects the sex binary, encourages illegal immigration or promotes what the administration calls anti-American values. Higher-education lobbyists and research scientists warned the twin actions could politicize both admissions oversight and the federal research portfolio, while administration officials framed the moves as necessary steps to restore merit-based standards and financial accountability.