DOJ Finds Duke Law Discriminated Against White and Asian Applicants
“This isn’t a coincidence—Duke Law discriminates & the @CivilRights Division will end it!”
Duke University’s School of Law is being accused of discriminating against white and Asian students in admissions. Have you noticed that when it comes to this issue, the discrimination always seems to go in the exact same direction?
Why do schools think they can get away with this? Perhaps because they have for so long.
The Hill reports:
DOJ accuses Duke Law of racial discrimination against white, Asian applicants
The Justice Department (DOJ) concluded an investigation into Duke University School of Law, determining the school unlawfully discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions for three past incoming classes.
In a findings letter released Thursday, the department’s Civil Rights Division said Duke Law took racial diversity into consideration when admitting students to its 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes, violating the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that severely limited the use of race in college admissions.
“Duke Law School doesn’t get a free pass to discriminate against white and Asian students simply because it thinks it has good intentions,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Using ‘diversity’ essay questions to identify preferred races for admission is still illegal discrimination based on race.”
The DOJ plans to seek a voluntary settlement with the university to bring its admissions practices into compliance with federal law. If negotiations fail, the department said it’s prepared to sue…
Admissions data for Duke Law showed Black applicants in the 2025 admissions cycle had roughly 3.5 times the probability of admission as similarly qualified Asian applicants with comparable academic credentials, according to the DOJ. The department also said that, in both 2024 and 2025, the median LSAT scores of denied white and Asian applicants exceeded those of admitted Black applicants.
At Duke Law, REJECTED white & Asian applicants had higher LSATs than admitted black applicants. With similar credentials: black applicants have a 3.5x higher chance of admission than Asians. This isn’t a coincidence—Duke Law discriminates & the @CivilRights Division will end it!…
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) August 6, 2026
From the DOJ press release:
Justice Department Finds Duke Law School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today investigative findings that Duke University School of Law (Duke Law) intentionally discriminated based on race in granting and denying admission to its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes. Duke Law’s discriminatory conduct violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), which banned race discrimination in higher education.
“Duke Law School doesn’t get a free pass to discriminate against white and Asian students simply because it thinks it has good intentions,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Using ‘diversity’ essay questions to identify preferred races for admission is still illegal discrimination based on race, and this Department is committed to eliminating it everywhere we find it, including in our nation’s law schools.”
The Department’s investigation found that post-SFFA, Duke Law emphasized racial diversity in admissions and engaged in a deliberate effort to preserve race-based outcomes for its incoming classes. Duke Law revised its Mission Statement to express its goal to “help build and sustain a dynamic legal profession that embodies a commitment” to a number of stated values, such as equal justice, public service, and a “diversity of perspective and experience.” Duke Law’s application included short answer essay questions, which allowed candidates to discuss how they would further Duke Law’s mission.
Admissions reviewers were then instructed to “tag” responses to these short answer questions. To capture answers related to “diversity of perspective and experience” reviewers used the “Diversity/Services” tag. Reviewers were also instructed to use tags to capture specific applicant characteristics that are commonly correlated with race, such as being a Pell grant recipient. Thus, while Duke Law’s published policies assert that admissions reviewers did not see racial demographic data, Duke Law directed its admissions staff to highlight applicant information that could be used to advance Duke Law’s racial diversity goals.
As a result, a black or Hispanic applicant has a substantially higher likelihood of admission to Duke Law than a white or Asian applicant with the same academic credentials.
If Trump had not won in 2024, the DOJ would have likely ignored this problem completely.
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Comments
Mr. LaChance nailed it: “Why do schools think they can get away with this? Perhaps because they have for so long.”
Well, there’s a clear solution …send in Duke Nukem.
Maybe not literally but definitely start hammering the admissions dept and the supervisor chain up through the Univ President and including their Board for deliberately violating the civil rights of some applicants by unlawfully giving an advantage to others based on impermissible criteria. Hit the University and the individual’s wallets. Any agreement should include a consent decree for monitoring. Academic hubris, entitlement and/or false belief they posses immunity to stiff consequences won’t be shattered until they have to pony up huge fines, lose their posit and their pensions. Then Feds gotta create a blacklist that any entity choosing to employ these ‘ists full of isms’ lose eligibility for participating in any Federal program ….with the exception of janitorial positions, the former Dean/Provost or whatever can clean toilets, cut grass, do landscaping, sweep the hallways as an object lesson.
Who do they think they are? Cambridge? Duke will get away with it as long as they want under a different title until the Trump Adm is gone and resume the original.
To me I don’t care if a place discriminates against whomever.
The truth is I would want nothing to do with a place that actively doesn’t want me.
But I don’t think a place like this should get any of my tax money neither.
Sink or swim on your own scumbags.
Duke had a choice of accepting federal money or not. A condition of the federal money is they agreed not to discriminate on the basis of race. The allegation says they have been intentionally discriminating. While you may choose not to go there, others tried to, and per the allegation, were not chosen — on the basis of race.
They could have gone the Hillsdale College route — no federal money. Since they didn’t, they ought to be punished — harshly —- for intentional racial discrimination.
A properly done resolution to this should include a consent decree that has (i) a monetary fine, and potentially financial payments to the victims, (ii) identification of the individuals responsible for implementing the process, and punishment of those, which should include terminating those primarily responsible, (iii) a monitoring regime to ensure there are no repeats, and (iv) additional deferred penalties that would apply in the case of repeat offenses.
I have no problem punishing them just on the basis that all of these colleges have sucked the life out of this nation.
Raze them all to the ground and arrest all the stinking people who work there.
Start with Elizabeth Warren.
It isn’t that they don’t want you, they want their campus to look less white so they want more blacks and hispanics.
Why do you capitalize “black?”
Mike was merely quoting text from an article at “The Hill” whose author used “Black.”
In that case, the improperly displayed word should be followed by “sic.” For example, “…Black (sic)…”
Who can forget the Duke Lacrosse fiasco?