Another federal probe at Duke; cites American national defense, China

U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns speaks to an audience at Duke Kunshan University in China on March 30, 2024. (U.S. Department of State, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

(The Center Square) – One month after federal Justice Department officials said Duke University discriminated based on race in admissions, and two months after $108 million in federal money was frozen for Duke Health, the U.S. Department of Education has followed with a probe of foreign funding tied to America’s national defense against China.

The investigation is in part triggered by this week’s Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Education Department said its auditing has also found incomplete, inaccurate and untimely disclosures in the records of the 6,500-undergrad private institution in Durham.

Duke University chose as a partner, a letter to the president says, an institution in China that “operates multiple national defense research laboratories, conducts research in at least five designated defense research areas, trains People’s Liberation Army cyber warfare specialists, and plays a central role in China’s Beidou satellite system, which supports missile guidance and military intelligence operations.”

Duke’s total research expenditures, nearly one-third from federal money, in fiscal year 2024 were $1.5 billion. This includes $863 million from the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.

In July, $108 million for Duke Health was put on hold with a threat it could be permanent due to “systemic racial discrimination” in the university’s healthcare system. In August, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice said Duke University School of Law discriminated based on race in admissions for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes.

The latter closed a 2025 launch by the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services involving policies on Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and more recent efforts by education institutions tied to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Similar to the past experiences in response, university statements said Duke is reviewing the letter and its concerns. A pledge of compliance to the law was also acknowledged “in a manner that is consistent with our academic mission.”

This week’s letter from Paul Moore, Kevin Slupe and Brendan Henzel, all general counsel in the Education Department, to Duke President Dr. Vincent Price notes its institutional revenue is one-third dependent on federal funding.

Central to the investigation is Duke Kunshan University, at Kunshan, Jiangsu, in China, that was established in 2013 between Duke and Wuhan University. Wuhan is a prominent research university overseen by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and the Ministry of Education.

Wuhan oversees military-related research in China, a key role in the country’s “national defense science and technology innovation system,” the lawyers wrote. Board of Trustees for Duke Kunshan, even though a private American university, are required to “govern and set policies at the university in accordance with the laws and regulations of the People’s Republic of China.”

Duke has 30 calendar days to produce several records for the Education Department.

The investigation comes through authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Per Section 117, it is required that “federally funded institutions of higher education disclose any and all foreign gifts at or above $250,000,” the Education Department said. “It is intended to protect national security and academic integrity by curbing undue foreign influence in higher education.”