Duke University under federal scrutiny for alleged discriminatory practices

The US Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Duke University and its law journal over allegations the school used race and ethnicity as factors in selecting journal members.

“This investigation is based on recent reporting alleging that Duke University discriminates on the bases of race, color, and/or national origin by using these factors to select law journal members,” the Education Department said on Monday.

The probe, initiated by the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), falls under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in programmes receiving federal funding.

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a joint letter to Duke University leadership, raising alarm over the use of race preferences not only in law journal membership but across admissions, hiring, and scholarship programmes.

“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,” McMahon said.

The letter calls for the formation of a “Merit and Civil Rights Committee” at Duke, tasked with overseeing reforms and working with the federal government to bring policies into compliance. The committee would have delegated authority from Duke’s Board of Trustees to implement organizational, leadership, and personnel changes.

“Blatantly discriminatory practices that are illegal under the Constitution, antidiscrimination law, and Supreme Court precedent have become all too common in our educational institutions,” McMahon added. “The Trump Administration will not allow them to continue.”

Secretary Kennedy echoed the sentiment, emphasizing that federal funds should not support racial preference in healthcare education.

“We are making it clear that federal funding must support excellence — not race — in medical education, research, and training,” Kennedy said. “We’re calling on Duke to uphold civil rights and merit-based standards at Duke Health.”

Duke University has not yet issued a public response.

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