Summary
- White House demands payment from Duke University to restore federal funding.
- Duke faces similar financial conditions as other top universities.
- Columbia recently paid over $200 million related to antisemitism issues.
- Duke lost grants, leading to budget cuts and closures.
- University adjusting budgets amid admissions civil rights investigation.
Though the details are still unknown, the WSJ's exclusive claims that the Trump administration has put Duke on a short list of colleges that might have to make financial compromises in order to receive federal funding.
Brown University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, Harvard University, and Duke are on that list.
The administration views a contract with Harvard worth "hundreds of millions of dollars" as the primary aim, a source familiar with the situation told the WSJ. It's still unclear what specific funding is being considered or how far along the negotiations are.
The Chronicle reached out to Duke for comment on Friday morning, but he declined.
Two days prior, Columbia University had agreed to pay more than $200 million to resolve its disagreements with the White House over allegations that it had not done enough to stop Jewish students from being harassed on campus.
Although lost awards from the Education Department are not included, the unprecedented agreement between Columbia and the White House will return hundreds of millions of dollars in lost grant funding from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, some civil rights investigations into Columbia's actions will come to an end.
The federal government's pressure campaign against Duke has not been as strong as it was against Columbia.
Although it has not been named in antisemitism investigations like other universities mentioned in the WSJ piece, Duke is also the focus of at least one civil rights probe investigating its admissions procedures.
The Columbia agreement has generated controversy in higher education, with some hailing it as a practical step and others denouncing it as a surrender that creates a risky precedent.
What specific federal funding programs are impacted by the White House’s demand for payment from Duke University?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which awarded Duke around $580 million in grants and contracts in 2024, making it a top recipient of biomedical research funding.
The Department of Defense (DOD), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and other agencies also contribute tens of millions annually to Duke’s research enterprise.
The funding affected relates especially to research grants where indirect cost reimbursements (covering research facilities, administrative support, and related expenses) are significant. Recent federal proposals have capped indirect cost recovery rates at 15%, far below Duke’s previous negotiated rates (~61.5%), threatening losses of over $200 million annually.