The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
Cook Center core faculty, Nancy MacLean, published an op-ed in the News & Observer titled “Duke leadership is letting down higher ed in a moment it should be fighting back.” In the piece, MacLean warns that American higher education is facing “the gravest menace to its mission in our history,” citing the Trump administration’s reported…
Faculty Affiliate Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, Professor of Population Health Sciences at Duke University, recently contributed two publications. She authored an op-ed in Health Affairs examining how Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) budget surge has created a growing public health crisis, highlighting the consequences of prioritizing detention spending over community health. In addition, Dr. Brinkley-Rubenstein co-edited the…
The Historic Durham Armory, the hopping location downtown that once featured acts from Duke Ellington to Ella Fitzgerald and was the inspiration for Ernie Barnes’ The Sugar Shack, hosted another lively event this week: A celebration of the 10th cohort of Young Scholars from the Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute. …
Founding Director William Darity Jr. co-authored a new literature review in The BMJ that directly addresses one of the most persistent critiques of reparations: the claim that no feasible plan exists. The proposal outlines direct monetary payments as the clearest economic measure of the cumulative and intergenerational effects of white supremacy. The article argues that…
New research co-authored by Faculty Affiliate Sarah Gaither, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, explores how something as routine as demographic forms can influence feelings of inclusion and identity among marginalized communities. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the study—“Enumeration or Exclusion? Demographic Forms and Latine Identity”—investigates how demographic questions may…
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman, Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, was quoted in a story by Marketplace examining how companies are quietly rebranding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The article explores how some corporations are scaling back or reframing public-facing DEI language amid political scrutiny. And, that the broader landscape is more nuanced…
