It’s hard to feel sorry for a wealthy university like Duke University that has an enormous endowment; however, the Trump Administration’s current little-publicized attack on the institution raises a larger issue.
Duke University will survive without federal grants, at least for a while. Its endowment can pick up the slack, at least for a while.
The larger issue is the Trump Administration’s continual attack on education on all levels. I believe Trump has no interest in education. He has no interest in what any school, college, or university teaches. He says, “I love the uneducated.” It might be the only truth he has ever spoken.
In a democracy, a president does not dictate university admissions or curriculum in public schools or private schools. In today’s United States, though, Trump believes he has that authority.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent Duke University a letter. Specifically, Kennedy and McMahon threatened the Duke University Medical School and Duke Health (the entire Duke Health healthcare system). If writing letters to threaten universities for having diversity, equity, and inclusion is the only thing the U.S. Department of Education is going to do now, perhaps it needs to be abolished.
The letter alleges that the medical school and healthcare system engage in “wrongful racial preferences” in hiring and admissions. The letter reportedly states, “This vile racism carries a host of excuses and hides behind a smug superiority that such ‘benefitted’ races cannot compete under merit-based consideration.”
Furthermore, the letter says, “Like all racism, ‘affirmative action’ undermines America’s commitment to merit-based justice and violates the nation’s civil rights laws.”
North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC, reports, “Kennedy and McMahon urge Duke administrators set up a ‘Merit and Civil Rights Committee’ to review its diversity policies ‘to avoid invasive federal engagement.’ The secretaries warn the university’s federal funding could be at risk if it doesn’t change course. ‘It is our hope that Duke Medical School and other components of Duke Health will either demonstrate that they merit the privilege of receiving taxpayer support or will enact reforms that make further enforcement efforts unnecessary,’ the letter said.
“McMahon and Kennedy ask the university to respond to the letter within ten business days.”
Earlier this year, nearly 600 Duke employees took voluntary buyouts after Trump slashed research funding. According to WUNC, “Cuts at the National Institutes of Health, along with reductions in Medicare/Medicaid funding could cost the university $350-600 million annually.
Duke plans to lay off more employees between August 5 and August 19.
That’s not just what Duke as an institution and business will lose: Duke Health operates Duke Children’s Hospital, Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, and Duke University Hospital, as well as 12 urgent care facilities.
But that’s not the only attack on Duke University
The U.S. Department of Education also sent Duke University a letter last week threatening the Duke School of Law’s student-edited Law Journal.
It seems that the law students are too open to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We have gone from recognizing that the playing field is not level to declaring that it is so level that to give anyone a hand up is a violation of everyone’s civil rights.
The playing field in the United States is not level, folks. For an alleged billionaire living in the White House to proclaim that it is level does not make it so. Someone who was born with a silver (or gold?) spoon in his mouth does not have the right to say that every person in America has an equal opportunity.
Those who say that white privilege does not exist are only fooling themselves. This falls into the category of “alternative facts” that the first Trump White House was famous for giving us.
Want to learn more? Here’s a link: https://www.wunc.org/education/2025-07-30/duke-university-dei-federal.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 
I just cannot believe how people in the US can put up with these dictatorial rulings from a president. I have never heard of a president being so intrusive on people’s lives and other things that have nothing to do with being the employee in charge of presiding over the governing body of a country. He is not the king of the US who must rule over the people. As far as I understand US constitutional democracy, the executive branch has powers over foreign affairs and the defence of the nation. So why does your president get involved with fighting the press, the universities, and even with Brasil over their treatment of Bolsonaro? And I admit, I am not in favour of left-wing, communist leaning leaders like Lula da Silva, but it is their country and they can do as they please without US interference. This all sounds like fiction, though I know that it is truth, solid and implacable. Thank you so much Janet for your posts that inform and educate us because here in Europe we do not get all those detailed news items. All the best and I hope it is going good for you during this heat wave (at least it started hitting Europe last Sunday and it is still going strong).
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“He says, “I love the uneducated.” It might be the only truth he has ever spoken.” Gosh!
Sadly true of the President of my country in Africa too.
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Norah, it is indeed sad for your country and for my country. I never thought a United States President would say something like that. Our democracy is in trouble with Donald Trump as President. Thank you for reading my blog and for the time to write a message.
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Thank you, Francis. We are putting up with it because all our complaints to Congress are falling on deaf ears. The Congress, through its inaction and through adopting Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” has completely relinquished its power as a co-equal brand of the government. The House of Representatives has taken a five-week vacation in order to not address the Epstein Files case — which, by all indications, involves Trump. They think it will just disappear if they take five weeks off. They think the American people don’t care whether or not Trump was hooked up with Epstein’s child trafficking operation. Maybe they’re right in thinking that. MAGA folks think Trump can do no wrong. Trump is already trying to rig the 2026 mid-term Congressional election by pressuring the State of Texas to redraw its Congression district maps to guarantee that five seats in the House of Representatives currently held by Democrats will be won by Republicans! Congressional districts are redrawn after each ten-year census. That was done after the 2020 census. The legislature in Texas is doing the President’s bidding this week by trying to push through unprecedented legislation to redraw the districts immediately. Around 50 Texas state legislators left Texas this week so a vote could not be taken in the absence of a quorum. In response, Gov. Abbott has ordered those Democrat legislators to be arrested and to lose their seats in the legislature. There are floods and wildfires, yet there are lawmakers in the United States who find time to pull political stunts in order to rig the 2026 election! Tomorrow’s blog post is about the Trump attacks on our judiciary system and the extreme measures his followers are taking to carry out his reign of hate and intimidation. And, as you will learn in my blog on Friday, Defense Secretary Hegseth has time to reinstall a Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, and Trump has announced that he is going to decrease prescription drug prices by 1,500 percent. I wish I were making this up. Our heatwave broke and we’ve been thrown into a week of rain, localized urban flooding, and unseasonably cool temperatures. I don’t recall anything like this happening in August before. The weather is definitely not behaving as it has over the last 75 years. Mild earthquakes this week in both New York and New Jersey. Smoke from wildfires in Canada so bad in the upper Midwest that cities like Detroit have the worse air quality in the world. The wildfire at the Grand Canyon has scorched more than 150,000 acres. I can’t comprehend how big that is. Tragedies taking place in so many places, and our President and Congress members are playing golf. I hope you get some relief from your heatwave soon.
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This information you provide is very disturbing and very sad to hear. It is as if a thief were stealing all your valuables and you, sitting tied to a chair can only look. Incredible! I hope your area is safe from flooding Janet and that you get good weather. Here it cooled off this evening and the sea always brings refreshing breeze…
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Your analogy is excellent. That’s what it feels like. We listen and watch and nothing we do will stop it.
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He is against anyone who says or does anything negative about him, and by selecting a professional wrestling promoter to run the Department of Education and an anti-vaxxer for the Department of Health and Human Services, that says it all. The current administration doesn’t care about education or our health. I think universities need to learn from what’s going on right now and keep their dependency on federal funding to a minimum in order to maintain their autonomy. At a minimum, they should isolate government projects and research so that if the federal government decides to cut those funds, it will only affect the government-sponsored initiatives rather than the entire university. Great post, Janet.
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This behavior is on a par with an eight-year-old bully shaking down a younger boy for his lunch money just to make himself King Sh*t on the playground—but with life or death consequences.
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One would expect a ‘normal’ president to have more important things to do than destroy our economy, education system, and health care in less than 6 months. What about the two wars that were going to be stopped on day one–one war has evolved into genocide and the other how easily he can be manipulated and lied to.
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Thank you, Edward. I agree with you on all points. You are right about the universities needing to minimize their reliance on federal funding and isolating how those funds are used.
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It’s unbelievable, Liz. If we saw this happening in another country, we would marvel at how the citizens were letting it happen.
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Groan. I know.
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Yes, no doubt Putin will praise him next week and he will once again think that Putin is America’s best friend. It boggles the mind to think of a U.S. President wanting to spend his time micro-managing not only the federal government but every aspect of our lives.
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You’re welcome, Janet. I think the federal government is the biggest loser in all of this. Universities will find a way to continue their important research, educated people will stay connected to these great institutions, and state governments, as well as the world, will benefit from their breakthroughs, even if our federal government is unwilling to accept their contributions.
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I hope you’re right, Edward.
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So true Janet…
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Sadly, despotic presidents on our mother continent, Africa are taking cues for the current ‘leader of the free world’ and are normalizing the abnormal. Thank you for courageously sharing your insights. Considering what we read and hear about the crack down against dissenting voices in your country!
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That is very sad, Norah. The United States used to be a beacon of freedom and hope and fairness. In six short months, our current leader has destroyed our country’s reputation and he is chipping away at our freedom and the foundations of our democracy day-by-day. It is amazing to see how quickly he has done so much damage and how the members of Congress have allowed it. The “checks and balances” built into our system of government are failing us. I am sorry for any country that is following his example.
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It is not so much following, but justifying the abnormal. When Congress of the United States is seen as unable to reign in POTUS is used to okay dictatorial tendencies in our part of the world where the is no clear separation of powers and the other arms of government bow and kowtow to the President. It is devastating not only to watch, but to experience. I mean the damage worldwide in an instant that shut down USAID😳☹️
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I see what you’re saying. I was horrified when POTUS shut down USAID! I shudder to think of the millions of people around the world who will suffer and die because there is no more food or medical aid coming from the United States — all while the billionaires get richer. If they think they can take their riches with them when they die, they are woefully mistaken. Some people are pure evil even as they walk around in sheep’s clothing.
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Mercifully, there are some who are doing something to try and reduce the impact. Case in point back donors of GlobalGiving who have made the planned “Passport to Purpose” fundraising campaign possible. Our organization, CPAR Uganda is among such nonprofits benefiting from partnership and support via GlobalGiving. We plan to do a little bit to intervene in the plight of Ugandans at high risk of contracting and dying from TB, a preventable disease. The people of US via USAID were the biggest donors for TB diagnostic services, therefore, contributing to prevention. Without USAID TB infection rates will likely be in the millions, up from 90,000 annually. Read more https://cparuganda.com/2025/08/10/passport-to-purpose-campaign/
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Thank you so much, Norah, for sharing this information with me. I visited the website, and I am impressed and encouraged by the work you are doing at CPAR Uganda. The situation now without USAID is dire in so many places. It is a cruel reality of our current POTUS. Please know — and please spread the word — that the people of the United States are heart-broken and angry over the sudden end of USAID. I have shed tears over it and so many things the current president has done. I continue to write letters to my two U.S. Senators and my Congress representative, but it seems I am accomplishing nothing. The generic responses I receive in return are filled with praise for POTUS. Those letters only serve to fuel my resolve to continue whatever little I can do in the Resistance. What has happened here in less than seven months is unbelievable, and yet some people continue to support whatever POTUS does. Many of them claim to be Christians, but they do not follow the Jesus Christ that I believe in and follow. Jesus Christ taught us to welcome the stranger and help the poor, the sick, the elderly, the helpless. The Trump Administration claims to be Christian, but nothing could be further from the truth. No true Christian would cut off funding for food and medical supplies and medical research. POTUS only cares about himself and making more and more money for himself. He has announced plans to construct a $200 million ballroom at the White House which will dwarf the White House itself in size. It is an outrage. We have never in the 249-year history of the United States had a president anything like this man. It is a situation I never in my 72 years imagined I would see in the U.S. Most of us are heart sick over the end of programs like USAID. I pray that someday, when we have a normal POTUS, USAID will be reconstructed. Sadly, millions of people will die unnecessarily before that day comes. Norah, I am so very sorry for what my government has done to Uganda and so many other countries. All I can do right now is apologize, pray, keep speaking out through my blog, and seeking other ways to Resist. Thank you so much for connecting with me!
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Thank you Janet for inspiring my answer to today’s daily writing prompt https://nowaraga.com/2025/08/18/enabling-human-connections-around-the-world/
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Thank you so much, Norah. I am flattered that you used some of my words in your wonderful blog post!
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Thank you, Norah. It made me feel so good for you to use some of my words in your blog post. I apologize for being slow in responding. It’s been quite a day as I have encountered some technical difficulties getting my devotional book published as an ebook. I’m afraid I’m not very tech savvy, so everything like that comes hard for me. I’m sure I will get it all straightened out in a couple of days, but I’ve had a frustrating afternoon!
Your blog post is excellent! Those USAID dollars that have been eliminated in each country are staggering! The elimination of the program is tragic. I still cannot quite comprehend that it happened, and that it happened so quickly. More changes seem to take place here daily, and it’s difficult to keep up with all of them. This is not normal for us.
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Frankly, I was surprised too, especially by the amounts cut to Ukraine. It nurtured my appreciation the more of the volume of giving from the people of the US to other nations!
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I hope we will get out from under the Trump Administration with the 2028 election, and I pray some things like USAID can be put back in place. I still cannot grasp the magnitude of what has happened and how easily such a wonderful thing was destroyed.
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