The Education Department is launching an investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal, the department announced in a news release on Monday, citing reporting that alleges the university was violating the Civil Rights Act.
“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,” the department said in a press release.
A spokesperson for Duke University did not immediately offer comment in response to a CNN request. CNN has also reached out to the Duke Law Journal.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health & 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 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 — including by making all necessary organizational, leadership, and personnel changes to ensure the necessary reforms will be durable.”
Duke is just the latest university caught in the administration’s crosshairs, as officials have battled Harvard University over the administration’s $2 billion freeze in federal funding for research and a settlement with Columbia University to restore federal funding to the school.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
