The Duke Law Journal is facing serious questions about fairness and transparency after it was revealed that the prestigious law school secretly sent a memo to minority applicants, encouraging them to highlight their race in personal essays. Applicants were also hinted that doing so would boost their chances of acceptance.
The Duke Law Journal hosts a two-week-long competition to select its next batch of editors, where applicants are required to write a 12-page memo analyzing an appellate court decision and a 500-word essay about what they would “contribute” to the publication. The journal previously had race-based essay prompts for students to answer.
However, in 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for universities to consider race when making admissions decisions that receive federal funding.
“Universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court’s majority.
However, the university found a workaround. Rather than explicitly asking applicants to write about their race or ethnicity, the Duke Law Journal encouraged personal statements on how belonging to an “underrepresented group” would help promote “diverse voices” in the publication. The law school’s identity-based affinity groups reportedly received a memo outlining this guidance, with instructions not to share it with other students. One example essay read: “As an Asian-American woman and a daughter of immigrants, I am afforded with different perspectives, experiences, and privileges.”
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That’s not all. Students were told they would receive ten extra points on their essay if they wrote about how their “membership in an underrepresented group” would help “promote diverse voices.” An additional three to five points were awarded to those who held leadership positions in identity-based affinity groups.
