The New College Race Preferences
Three years after university racial preferences were struck down by the Supreme Court, they’ve re-emerged in stealthier form. Late last week the Justice Department told Duke University Law School that a compliance review has found its admissions violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“Duke Law continues to intentionally discriminate,” including “in the incoming classes of 2023, 2024, and 2025,” says a letter signed by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. She cites internal school communications and policies that “reflect a sustained, determinative emphasis on racial diversity in admissions and a deliberate effort to preserve racial outcomes.”
The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions was supposed to stop colleges from picking students based on race, but admissions offices have looked for ways to circumvent it. Ms. Dhillon says Duke Law encourages applicants to dilate on their backgrounds, and “those variables were used to advance racial diversity goals and thereby operated as material race-related proxies.”
The school says its reviewers don’t consider racial demographics or try to meet quotas, but the Justice Department cites communications showing it kept close count. In a 2024 memo, an associate dean of admissions and student affairs wrote that the previous fall’s class had “broad diversity,” with “27 Latin[o] students, 23 [b]lack students, and 67 Asian/Asian American students.” He pledged to continue to focus on “developing effective race-neutral admissions policies.”
