Trump admin withholds $100 million in funding for Duke University amid civil rights probe

The Trump administration has frozen $108 million in federal funding for North Carolina's Duke University, days after it opened a civil rights investigation into the school.

The investigation, announced Monday, centers on allegations that Duke's law school made hiring and acceptance decisions on the basis of race and color. It also accuses the university of using race preferences in hiring, admissions and scholarship decisions.

The Department of Education argued that the discriminatory practices, if true, would violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It would also violate the Supreme Court's ruling banning affirmative action, which previously allowed colleges and universities to use race as one of the many factors it considered when accepting or rejecting qualified students.

The National Institutes of Health is responsible for freezing the funds, which will impact the Duke University School of Medicine, a senior administration official told The Hill.  

The administration has also accused the medical school of accepting applicants on the basis of race.

The funding freeze is smaller than for other schools. The Trump administration has cut $3 billion in federal funding from Harvard and $400 million from Columbia University. However, Columbia's freeze was lifted after it agreed to certain reforms.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.