The Trump administration has identified a new target in its battle with elite higher education, announcing a two-pronged front against Duke University on allegations the North Carolina school is in violation of the Civil Rights Act.
The Education Department is launching an investigation into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal, the department announced in a news release Monday, citing reporting that alleges the university was violating the Civil Rights Act. Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also sent a letter to Duke University “outlining shared concerns about the use of race preferences in Duke’s hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions.”
The announcements come days after Columbia University reached a $200 million settlement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding to the school. Trump administration officials have cast the Columbia deal as a blueprint for other schools, and an administration official told CNN that Cornell and Brown universities are engaging in negotiations and agreements are in sight. The administration remains in multiple legal battles with Harvard University after freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding for the school.
Duke, so far, has not indicated that it’s willing to negotiate with the Trump administration, the official said. This marks the first time the administration has targeted a school in a state that President Donald Trump won in the 2024 election.
A spokesperson for Duke University did not immediately comment in response to a CNN request. CNN has also reached out to the Duke Law Journal.
The administration will investigate whether Duke and its law journal violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal funding.
Separately, the letter from McMahon and Kennedy alleged “serious allegations of systemic racial discrimination permeating the operations of Duke University School of Medicine and other components of Duke Health.” The letter, according to HHS, “outlines expectations for a partnership-style pathway for Duke to work with HHS and the Department of Education to swiftly uncover prohibited race-based discrimination in Duke Health and come into compliance with certain Federal civil rights laws.”
Kennedy said in a statement that he and McMahon are calling on Duke to form a “Merit and Civil Rights Committee” to work with the federal government.
.The Education Department requested that Duke University “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.
Trump has been making good on a key campaign promise in his second term as he’s worked to eliminate programs that boost diversity. The Trump administration contends that diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, “creates and then amplifies prejudicial hostility and exacerbates interpersonal conflict.”
After Trump issued a series of expansive executive orders banning DEI programs, the Department of Education in February threatened the federal funding of any academic institution engaging in DEI initiatives, which prompted many to scrub DEI mentions from websites, shutter programs and some to lose scholarship funding.
Proponents of DEI have criticized the moves, saying many initiatives are beneficial. Studies have shown college students exposed to more diversity have greater levels of cultural awareness and political participation.
Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who has been a driving force of the president’s policies on higher education, is a Duke alumnus.
The investigations could ultimately result in the loss of federal funding, which comes as Duke and other major universities are experiencing heightened pressure due to cuts in grant programs at the National Institutes of Health. Duke has initiated a voluntary separation incentive and layoffs are expected to begin in August, according to the Duke Chronicle.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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