'As a woman': Duke Law quietly pushes insane diversity statements for law journal applicants

Duke Law at Duke University distributed an information packet that puts bizarre diversity sentiments front and center for possible applicants.

More than two years after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, some major schools are still in the weeds regarding preferential treatment of candidates based on skin color or ethnicity.

This week, Duke Law's very own publication meant to produce "scholarship by premier legal thinkers" was exposed for heavily encouraging students to include diversity statements in their applications to work for the journal.

'To combat the lack of diversity in legal academia, I plan to use my voice ...'

Duke Law Journal has been around since 1951, but likely did not advise students to write about their Asian-American "privilege" or experience as a "Middle Eastern Jewish woman" in order to work for the publication more than 70 years ago.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, those types of topics are precisely what Duke Law Journal suggests second-year students write about in their application to become staff editors.

The Free Beacon acquired a 2024 information packet sent to Duke Law's affinity groups, in which the journal gave advice on, and provided examples of, personal statements that could help students land a position. The packet was distributed only to the affinity groups, according to the outlet's sources.

Under possible topics, the first suggestion given in the packet is "your upbringing or personal identity and how it has shaped your perspectives and experiences."

Then, when describing how the personal statements are graded, the first point asks students how a person's perspective could contribute to Duke Law Journal's goals of "promoting diverse perspectives in legal academia."

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The notes specifically mention being a member of an "underrepresented or marginalized group" or a "non-traditional student" as being worth mentioning.

The packet then suggests students write about ways in which they have "meaningfully advanced the interests of diverse communities."

These suggestions are immediately followed by personal statement examples, which journalist Aaron Sibarium included in a series of posts on X. The samples included redacted portions, signaling that they were from real applicants.

The first example began, "To combat the lack of diversity in legal academia, I plan to use my voice at Duke Law Journals, through article selection, critiques, and writing my note on pertinent legal issues that affect the Asian-American community."

The statement sample continued, saying that the student wanted to ensure diversity in the legal academic profession, while advocating for "institutional and issue-area diversity."

The second sample personal statement explained how the student's experience could "be useful in promoting diversity," adding that "Asian-Americans" need to have community leaders who "understand and reflect our experiences."

Yet another Asian applicant wrote, "As an Asian-American woman and a daughter of immigrants, I am afforded with different perspectives, experiences, and privileges."

Another applicant broke the trend, though, and instead claimed that her "unique perspective as a Middle Eastern Jewish woman" could "prove useful" as she explores her "intersectional identity in both academic and professional settings."

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Duke Law Journal's application process appears to reflect a current, disturbing trend of circumventing bans against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at once-prestigious institutions.

Harvard's law journal was also exposed recently for allegedly picking articles "on the basis of race," in such a way that the race of the legal scholar is "as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission," the Civil Rights Office wrote.

Duke Law Journal applicants, if they can make it through the process, can look forward to writing on an array of progressive topics. Under "articles you might work on," the journal included sample titles like, "Abortion Disorientation," "Reparations for Project One Hundred Thousand," and "Lutie Lytle Black Women's Scholarship Workshop."

Neither Duke's general counsel nor Duke University's media relations team responded to Blaze News' request for comment.

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