The U.S. Naval Academy has ended racial preferences in its admissions process, President Donald Trump’s administration said in court filings Friday.
The new changes to policy come in the wake of Trump issuing an executive order on Jan. 27 banning all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the military, which prompted the policy change from the academy, according to the filings. The naval institution continued to implement race-based admissions after U.S. district court Judge Richard Bennett ruled in December 2024 that their consideration of race in admissions did not violate the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling to strike down affirmative action in college admissions.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Students for Fair Admissions, a student advocacy group who brought the original case striking down affirmative action in the Supreme Court in June 2023.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed suit from the executive order, issuing guidance prohibiting “sex-based, race-based, or ethnicity-based goals for organizational composition, academic admission, or career fields.”
“In response to those directives, in February 2025, the Naval Academy Superintendent, Vice Admiral Yvette M. Davids, determined that it was necessary to change the Naval Academy’s admissions policy,” the filing read. “Under revised internal guidance issued by the Superintendent on February 14, 2025, neither race, ethnicity, nor sex can be considered as a factor for admission at any point during the admissions process, including qualification and acceptance.”
Additionally, Trump fired the board of visitors for the U.S. military academies in February, which included the Naval Academy. Trump said the move was to purge “Woke Leftist Ideologues” that have entrenched themselves in the institutions.
The Naval Academy declined to comment.
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