The Trump administration has launched an investigation into Duke University over allegations that the school’s law journal discriminated based on race, color, or national origin when selecting editors.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened the probe after the Washington Free Beacon reported that the Duke Law Journal distributed a packet exclusively to members of law school affinity groups.
The packet explained how applicants would be scored on their 500-word personal statements and encouraged them to “discuss traditional diversity (race, gender, ethnicity etc…)”
Applicants could earn up to 10 points for describing how their “membership in an underrepresented group” would “lend itself to … promoting diverse voices.”
Another five points were available for leadership roles in affinity groups or programs supporting diverse backgrounds.
Several sample essays in the packet referenced race explicitly, the New York Post reported.
One sample started: “[A]s an Asian-American woman and a daughter of immigrants, I am afforded with different perspectives, experiences, and privileges.”
The law journal instructed affinity groups not to share the packet outside their membership.
The Trump administration launched a similar investigation into Harvard University’s law journal earlier this year amid claims it used “race-based criteria” instead of “merit-based standards”