Pursuant to the Duke University-Wide Policy on Access to Applicant Race and Ethnicity Data, the SISS Office serves as the confidential steward of student race and ethnicity data across the University.

 In the ongoing effort to ensure the integrity and security of all sensitive data in DukeHub, and related student systems, SISS will implement the following measures immediately:

  • SISS will centralize student race and ethnicity data in DukeHub, and access to this data will be limited both at the page and at the query/report level. 
  • All students will retain the ability to view and update their own race/ethnicity demographic information in DukeHub. The only faculty, staff, and administrators retaining such access will be those with a demonstrated and legitimate educational interest that does not conflict with the policy that prohibits access to and consideration of race and ethnicity data for anyone involved in the admissions process (see below).  
  • Query access in DukeHub, especially access to race/ethnicity data, has been extensively reviewed to ensure full alignment and compliance with the policy on Access to Applicant Race and Ethnicity Data (see below).
  • Effective immediately with these changes to query access, all requests for reporting on race or ethnicity should be directed to the Office of Institutional Research (Data Access Form | Office of Institutional Research) or the University Registrar’s Office (Data & Reporting | Office of the University Registrar).
  • Lastly, SISS will conduct an annual review of all data feeds to any University systems to ensure compliance with all appropriate data access policies, most notably the policy on Access to Applicant Race and Ethnicity Data.

Please note that SISS has worked extensively and collaboratively with offices across campus, including in close partnership with the Office of Audit and Risk Compliance (OARC). We will continue to work with the campus to improve any processes impacted by these measures while continuing to ensure that Duke remains in compliance with all applicable policies.

 

Please see below for the full policy on Access to Applicant Race and Ethnicity data.

Duke University-Wide Policy on Access to Applicant Race and Ethnicity Data

It is the Policy of Duke University that an applicant’s race or ethnicity may not be considered in admissions decisions.

To effectuate this Policy, no person involved in making admissions decisions may access race/ethnicity demographic data provided by applicants through the reporting mechanisms on their application, or such data provided by potential applicants and categorized as prospect data (collectively, Race or Ethnicity Data), during any portion of the admissions cycle.

Student Information Services and Systems (“SISS”) will serve as the confidential steward of Race or Ethnicity Data and is responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of the data implicated by this Policy. SISS will ensure that all Race or Ethnicity Data is electronically hidden and/or removed from all data sources available to any person involved in making admissions decisions throughout the entirety of each academic year’s admissions process. SISS may make Race and Ethnicity Data available during the admissions process to non-Admissions University personnel who (1) demonstrate a need for the data in order to fulfill other important University functions; and (2) affirm that they will not share the data with any person who makes admissions decisions.

Following the conclusion of the admissions process, SISS may make Race or Ethnicity Data available to University admissions staff for purposes of analyzing that year’s admissions process and the racial composition of the resulting admitted class. SISS may also make such data available to non-admissions staff for other lawful purposes.

Christopher Derickson 
Associate Vice Provost and Director Student Information Services and Systems
Duke University