A federal court blocked the U.S. Department of Education from enforcing a new, expanded race-and-sex data survey deadline for members of multiple higher-ed associations and private nonprofit colleges, covering roughly 178 additional institutions. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor issued a preliminary injunction on Friday amid a broader lawsuit challenging the department’s new survey requirements. The order pauses the deadline and also prevents the department from seeking civil penalties or pursuing other enforcement actions against the covered parties while the case proceeds. Some institutions had already submitted partial or complete data, but the court found that burdensome compliance work and the risk of fines or funding loss created imminent harm. The ruling extends earlier injunction relief granted to public colleges in 17 largely Democrat-controlled states. Among the newly covered entities are the Association of American Universities and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, plus named private colleges including Harvard. For university compliance teams, the decision delays potentially complex system-wide data collection efforts tied to applicant and enrolled student information across multiple years, including GPA, standardized test scores, and family income.