Bill would require colleges to report use of affirmative action

Conservative firebrand Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has authored legislation requiring institutions of higher education to report on how much they weigh factors like race and national origin in the admissions process each year.

King said the annual reports would instill transparency into the annual college admissions process at public universities. 

“Citizens and taxpayers have a right to know whether federally funded institutions of higher education are treating student applications differently depending on the student’s race, color, or national origin,” King said in a statement.

{mosads}”Further, it gives students opportunities based on their own merits alone, not race, color or national origin and guarantees equal opportunity for all rather than special privileges for some,” the Iowa Republican added.

Under the bill, public universities would have to provide publicly available reports to the Department of Education describing why specific racial or cultural groups are given more weight and if they adhere to quotas for specific populations.