Duke University Replaces Scholarship Program for Black Students with New Leadership Initiative

Duke University has discontinued its Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program, which traditionally supplied full-ride scholarships to excellent African descent candidates. This transformation follows the Supreme Courtroom’s choice final 12 months towards race-based affirmative motion in school admissions. As a substitute, Duke introduces the Reginaldo Howard Leadership Program, accessible to all undergraduates no matter race, specializing in fostering management and educational excellence. This new initiative will exchange the monetary backing beforehand allotted to the scholarship.

Established in 1979 to honor Duke’s first Black scholar authorities president, Reginaldo “Reggie” Howard, the unique scholarship supported 15 to twenty Black college students yearly. It lined full tuition, room, board, and supplied funds for unbiased analysis and studying alternatives each domestically and internationally. Though the scholarship will stop, present recipients, generally known as Reggie Students, will proceed to obtain assist. Nevertheless, future courses, ranging from the Class of 2028, won’t obtain this scholarship.

The college defined that the change displays changes necessitated by the evolving authorized requirements relating to race in greater schooling. This has brought on concern amongst college students who valued the scholarship for the alternatives and group it fostered. Students specific a powerful want to protect Reggie Howard’s impactful legacy at Duke, emphasizing his significance not simply to particular scholar teams however to all the college historical past.