The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has begun a directed investigation into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal following allegations that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The inquiry centers on claims that Duke uses race, color, or national origin as factors in selecting members for its law journal.
In a separate development, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a joint letter to Duke University leadership expressing concerns about the use of race preferences in hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions at Duke. The letter asks the university to review all policies at Duke Health related to race preferences, reform any that unlawfully consider race or ethnicity in providing benefits or advantages, and provide assurances to the government that new policies will be implemented properly. It also calls for organizational changes as needed.
Additionally, McMahon and Kennedy have requested that Duke create a “Merit and Civil Rights Committee” with authority from its Board of Trustees to facilitate resolution of alleged civil rights violations.
“I am proud to partner with Secretary Kennedy to ensure that Duke commits to excellence, integrity, and lawfulness in their training of our nation’s future leaders. If Duke illegally gives preferential treatment to law journal or medical school applicants based on those students’ immutable characteristics, that is an affront not only to civil rights law, but to the meritocratic character of academic excellence,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Blatantly discriminatory practices that are illegal under the Constitution, antidiscrimination law, and Supreme Court precedent have become all too common in our educational institutions. The Trump Administration will not allow them to continue.”
"We are making it clear that federal funding must support excellence—not race—in medical education, research, and training," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Today, Secretary McMahon and I are calling on Duke to address serious allegations of racial discrimination by forming a Merit and Civil Rights Committee to work with the Federal government to uphold civil rights and merit-based standards at Duke Health."
Duke Law Journal holds an annual competition each May for selecting editors for the upcoming academic year; this includes submission requirements such as a 12-page memo analyzing an appellate court decision along with a personal statement outlining what candidates would contribute to the journal—both scored using a points-based system alongside first-year GPA.
Recent reports allege that last year’s selection process included an additional grading rubric distributed only among affinity groups affiliated with underrepresented backgrounds. This packet reportedly allowed extra points for applicants referencing their race or ethnicity in personal statements—up to ten points for describing how membership in an underrepresented group promoted diverse voices—and more points if they held leadership roles within affinity groups.
It is reported that these materials were not shared widely but instead specifically sent only to certain student groups with instructions not to distribute them further.
This action follows similar scrutiny faced by Harvard University earlier this year when both departments began investigating Harvard Law Review amid comparable reports regarding possible race-based discrimination in their operations.
Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin at institutions receiving federal funds; violations can result in loss of such funding.
