July 29 (UPI) -- The Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Duke University amid the Trump administration's crackdown on higher-learning institutions as it seeks to rid the private and public sector of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The civil rights investigation was launched Monday into not only Duke but its law journal for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allegedly discriminating against students based on race.
The investigation coincides with the departments of Education and Health and Human Services sending a joint letter to Duke University outlining their "shared concerns" about its use of race in its hiring, admissions and scholarship decisions.
"If Duke illegally gives preferential treatment to law journal or medical school applicants based on those students' immutable characteristics, that is an affront not only to civil rights law, but to the meritocratic character of academic excellence," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
"Blatantly discriminatory practices that are illegal under the Constitution, anti-discrimination law and Supreme Court precedent have become all too common in our education institutions. The Trump administration will not allow them to continue."
