Calif. Students Sue Education Department Over DOGE Access
The University of California Student Association on Friday sued the U.S. Department of Education for the unlawful and continuous disclosure of sensitive information in department records to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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“Despite’s ED’s representations that it “is committed to protecting the privacy rights of all individuals whose information it maintains,” recent events demonstrate otherwise,” the complaint said. “According to public reporting, Defendants have violated the applicable statutory and regulatory restrictions by granting DOGE-affiliated individuals access to ED’s sensitive internal systems that house federal student financial aid information. Defendants have done so without making any public announcement, providing any legal justification or explanation for this decision, or undertaking the process required by law for altering the agency’s disclosure policies.”
This lawsuit was filed the day after a coalition of Democratic attorneys general released a statement saying they would also file a suit to block Elon Musk’s data-collection efforts at DOGE (see 2502070050). The White House released a statement last week that said Musk and DOGE were in “full compliance” with federal law (see 2502050046).
“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is enormous and unprecedented,” said the student association. “The personal data of over 42 million people lives in these systems. These are people who trusted ED with their sensitive personal information when they filled out the [Free Application for Federal Student Aid] and applied for federal student loans and grants, in reliance on the agency’s rules and other representations.”