Careers
Meet May Mailman, the lawyer leading Trump administration’s pursuit of universities
May Mailman, the lead counsel and director of the Independent Women’s Law Center, speaks during a news conference in May 2024 in Denver. (Phot by David Zalubowski/The Associated Press)
A 37-year old lawyer known for her “ruthless efficiency and engaging personality” is leading the Trump administration’s effort to “root out perceived liberal bias from colleges and deter the use of race in admissions,” according to a profile in the New York Times.
A 2015 graduate of Harvard Law School, May Mailman “is the most important, least-known person behind the administration’s relentless pursuit of the nation’s premier universities,” the article reports. She helped create the policies being used against universities and is leading negotiations with targeted institutions.
Her influence began at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term when he signed two executive orders that she had written. One called for an end to race-and sex-based preferences intended to promote diversity. The other declared that it is U.S. policy to recognize only two sexes that are not changeable.
The transgender policy had an impact on the University of Pennsylvania, which agreed to adhere to the administration’s definition of sex in connection with transgender athletes in women’s sports. The statement helped resolve an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Mailman also “had a direct hand” in seeking to ban the enrollment of international students at Harvard University and “closed a $221 million deal” with Columbia University that settled allegations that it failed to stop the harassment of Jewish students, the New York Times says. The Columbia deal led to restoration of its research funding, according to past coverage by the New York Times.
The administration wants to change Harvard’s hiring practices, admissions policies and governance, the Boston Globe reports. The pressure campaign against the school also included canceling nearly $3 billion in federal grants and threatening its accreditation.
Harvard is challenging the administration’s actions.
Mailman told the Boston Globe that her goal is to make Harvard better.
“It doesn’t feel like I’m against Harvard,” Mailman said.
Mailman’s pursuit of universities began as a senior policy strategist. She plans to leave the White House because of a pregnancy and is currently a senior adviser for special projects, a role in which she will continue as lead negotiator with targeted universities.
Mailman became interested in Republican politics in college at the University of Kansas when she saw former President George W. Bush at a campaign event. She had “various roles” in the first Trump administration after she left her job at a law firm to work there.
Mailman grew up in Kansas in mostly white towns after her father, a physician, met her mother, a teacher, when he was in South Korea vaccinating children. She dealt with childhood taunts by using her wits, she told the New York Times.
After her first stint in the White House, Mailman became the deputy solicitor general of Ohio and married a former baseball player. They currently live in Texas with their two children.
Last year, she became director of the conservative-leaning Independent Women’s Law Center, where she “quickly immersed herself in issues that animated Mr. Trump’s campaign,” the New York Times article says. In one case, she represented a woman who sued her sorority in 2023 over its admission of a transgender woman.
Mailman plans to return to the Independent Women’s Law Center.
“She is a visionary strategist and fearless advocate who delivers results,” said Heather R. Higgins, the CEO of the Independent Women’s Law Center, in an Aug. 7 press release. “We are thrilled to have her unmatched strategic and policy acumen back at Independent Women.”
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