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Duke University has ended its Reginaldo Howard Scholars program, which granted full-ride merit scholarships to a small cohort of students of African descent in each incoming class. It will be replaced with the Reginaldo Howard Leadership Program, according to a university spokesperson, which is noncompetitive and open to all students. Duke’s student newspaper, The Duke Chronicle, first reported the news.
Current scholars will not lose their funding but no future scholarships will be awarded.
Both the scholarship program and the leadership program honor Reginaldo “Reggie” Howard, Duke’s first Black student body president, who died in a car accident in his sophomore year shortly after being elected.
“This transition will continue to offer a variety of options for financial assistance to our students while honoring Mr. Howard’s legacy,” Frank Tramble, vice president for communications, marketing and public affairs, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “Our commitment to diversity remains strong, including our support of HCBU graduates pursuing graduate programs at Duke and our full tuition grants for undergraduate students from North and South Carolina whose families earn less than $150,000 as well as offer various forms of assistance offered to students from North and South Carolina whose families earn below $65,000.”
The move comes roughly 10 months after the Supreme Court banned the use of affirmative action in admissions decisions, leading to debates at many institutions over how broadly to interpret the ruling.
