Education Department Probing Duke University, Law Journal for Breaching Title VI

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it said in a July 28 statement.

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

The Duke Law Journal is a student-edited publication of the university’s Duke Law School.

The probe is related to a competition held by the journal each May to select editors for the next academic year.

In 2024, the law journal implemented an “additional grading rubric,” the department said, citing a June 30 report from The Washington Free Beacon that had uncovered an “application packet” document issued by the journal.

Under the new rule, applicants would get extra points “based on their personal statements that referenced their race or ethnicity,” the Education Department said.

For instance, applicants who described how their “membership in an underrepresented group” contributes to “diverse voices” in legal academia may receive up to 10 points. Applicants could also get 3–5 more points if they held a leadership position in an “affinity group.”

“Duke Law Journal reportedly only sent the packet to affinity groups and allegedly instructed applicants not to share it with other students,” the department said. “The first page of the packet indicates that it was made for ‘Affinity Groups.'”

Title VI bans discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, or color in education programs or activities receiving federal funding. Institutions violating these rules stand to lose such funding.

According to its website, Duke received millions of dollars in federal support in fiscal year 2023, topped by more than $61 million from the Department of Defense and more than $45 million from the National Science Foundation.

On July 28, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon also sent a letter to Duke University over accusations of racism at the institution.

There are allegations that Duke University School of Medicine and other components of Duke Health are engaged in practices violating Title VI, the letter said.

“These practices allegedly include illegal and wrongful racial preferences and discriminatory activity in recruitment, student admissions, scholarships and financial aid, mentoring and enrichment programs, hiring, promotion, and more,” the letter said.

If true, this would make Duke Health “unfit for any further financial relationship with the federal government,” it said.

The letter asked Duke University to review all policies and practices at Duke Health on the matter of illegal race preferences and take “immediate action” to end such discrimination. The institution was also asked to set up a “Merit and Civil Rights Committee” to implement the reforms.

If the university fails to eliminate the offending policies, practices, and programs, or if the committee and the federal government reach an impasse, the administration will “commence enforcement proceedings as appropriate,” the letter warned.

The Epoch Times reached out to Duke University and Duke Law Journal for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

“HHS is making it clear: Federal funding must support excellence—not race—in medical education, research, and training,” said Kennedy, according to a July 28 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) statement.

“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.”

McMahon said in the statement that blatantly discriminatory practices that are illegal under the Constitution have become “all too common” in America’s educational institutions.

“The Trump Administration will not allow them to continue,” she said. “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.”