Duke University has officially ended its scholarship dedicated to Black students, according to the latest report by its student newspaper, The Chronicle.
Announced last week, the college has formally stopped its Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program.
Created and launched in 1979, the decades-old full-ride scholarship was created to provide financial assistance to Black students. Named after the late Reginaldo Howard, the first Black student to serve as the university’s government president, the scholarship not only covered tuition but also housing, board, research, and study abroad.
The scholarship will now be replaced by a new program known as the Reginaldo Howard Leadership Program. Created in partnership with the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, the program will be available to students of different races.
As the new program begins to take shape, current students receiving the previous iteration of the Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program will still receive financial assistance, but no students past the Class of 2028 will be awarded the scholarship.
Speaking to The Chronicle, the recipients of the Reggie Scholarship expressed their frustration with the decision to end their scholarship program, emphasizing that they weren’t involved in discussions.
“I think that the Reggie is a program that has given me a lot over the years,” said senior Drew Greene per the school newspaper. “It’s given me not only a community, but a group of friends, a group of academic peers that I enjoy spending time with … It has been a fantastic experience, so of course in that regard, I am gutted.”
Duke announced that it would discontinue the Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship program, a merit scholarship for Black students, in light of legal changes related to race-based admissions:https://t.co/ox8lUNhIFq
— The Chronicle (@DukeChronicle) April 11, 2024
The announcement to end the scholarship program comes a year after the Supreme Court reversed affirmative action. Officially announced on June 29, 2023, the decision was made in 6-3 and 6-2 votes for cases brought to court by conservative anti-affirmative activists, with dissents being made by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor.
The announcement was met with public outcry with President Biden and former president Barack Obama condemning the decision.
“It allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged,” said Obama per a statement. “Now it’s up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve — and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives.”
The Supreme Court has previously defended affirmative action, with its latest upholding of the programs in 2016. Just seven years before the reversal, the Court ruled in a 4-3 vote that the Texas University program held up to previous court decisions.
Edward Blum, the same conservative anti-affirmative activist who filed the suit that reversed affirmative action and is now targeting venture capitals, was responsible for the lawsuit.
