WASHINGTON

The US Department of Education said Monday that it initiated an investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal over allegations of discrimination.

"This investigation is based on recent reporting alleging that Duke University (Duke) discriminates on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin by using these factors to select law journal members," it said in a statement.

Separately, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a joint letter to Duke University to raise concerns about "the use of race preferences in Duke’s hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions."

“If Duke illegally gives preferential treatment to law journal or medical school applicants based on those students’ immutable characteristics, that is an affront not only to civil rights law, but to the meritocratic character of academic excellence,” said McMahon in the statement.

Duke University has not yet issued a public response to the federal government’s move.