A federal judge blocked the Education Department’s enforcement of new applicant-and-enrollee race and sex data reporting requirements for roughly 178 additional colleges and associations while litigation proceeds. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor issued a preliminary injunction limiting deadlines and restricting penalties for covered institutions. The order covers members of multiple higher education groups, including the Association of American Universities and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, and includes private and nonprofit schools such as Harvard and Columbia that had either partially or fully submitted some requested data. The underlying survey would require four-year colleges with selective admissions to submit multi-year, disaggregated data (including GPA, standardized tests, and family income). The ruling highlights how compliance timelines, potential fines, and federal funding risk are now central legal flashpoints for institutions responding to new federal data demands.