U.S. Department of Education Initiates Investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal

Today, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) initiated a directed investigation into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal for allegedly violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI). 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.

Separately, 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 outlining shared concerns about the use of race preferences in Duke's hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions. The letter requests that Duke "review all policies and practices at Duke Health for the illegal use of race preferences, take immediate action to reform all of those that unlawfully take account of race or ethnicity to bestow benefits or advantages, and provide clear and verifiable assurances to the government that Duke's new policies will be implemented faithfully going forward-including by making all necessary organizational, leadership, and personnel changes to ensure the necessary reforms will be durable."

The letter further asks Duke to create a "Merit and Civil Rights Committee" with delegated authority from Duke's Board of Trustees to enable Duke and the federal government to move quickly toward a mutual resolution of Duke's 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."

Background

Each May, Duke Law Journal hosts a competition to select their editors for the next academic year. In 2024, applicants were asked to write a 12-page memo analyzing an appellate court decision and 500-word personal statement about what they would contribute to the Journal. These materials, judged by a points-based grading system, were assessed along with applicants' first year GPA.

According to recent reporting, however, the Law Journal circulated a packet last year that included an additional grading rubric. In some, if not all, cases, select applicants were afforded the opportunity to be awarded extra points based on their personal statements that referenced their race or ethnicity. The packet stated that applicants could receive up to 10 points for describing how their "membership in an underrepresented group" promoted "diverse voices" and 3-5 additional 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 first page of the packet indicates that it was made for "Affinity Groups."

On April 28, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services launched a Title VI investigation into Harvard University and Harvard Law Review amid reports of race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the journal.

Title VI prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, color, and national origin in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. Institutions' violations of Title VI can result in loss of federal funding.

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