Trouble appears to follow the Tufts admissions office. Joseph “JT” Duck, Tufts’ Dean of Admissions for the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering, was investigated by a third-party law firm for alleged discrimination against former Tufts admissions staffers. Duck, the former director of admissions at Swarthmore College who assumed leadership of Tufts’ admissions office in 2019, was the subject, along with some other Tufts admissions leaders, of a Tufts internal investigation. So what exactly did Dean Duck allegedly do, and what was the ultimate outcome of this sticky situation?

Insiders Allege Culture of Discrimination at Tufts Admissions Office

As Liam Knox reports for Inside Higher Ed in a piece entitled “Admissions Dean Under Investigation for Alleged Discrimination,” “Duck…has been the subject of multiple complaints from current and former employees—including allegations of racial discrimination, sexism and creating a ’toxic’ workplace environment…A former Tufts admissions office employee…acknowledged filing two formal discrimination complaints against Duck and making several other informal complaints about other admissions office leaders. The former employee, who left earlier this year after well over a decade at the university, said colleagues had voiced similar complaints about alleged discrimination in the office. The employee said that under Duck’s leadership, the admissions office has suffered from high turnover—22 employees left since his arrival, according to the Daily—and ’lost a lot of talent.’”

And it gets worse. As Knox reports, “The employee, who is Black, also alleged that Duck played favorites with white male employees, promoting some with pay raises over Black women who had worked there longer or were more qualified. The employee also said that Duck repeatedly ignored or dismissed complaints of microaggressions and alleged discrimination against other members of the admissions office.”

Internal Investigation Clears Tufts Admissions Officers of Discrimination Charges

The irony, of course, is surely not lost on us. The admissions process at an elite university that prides itself on diversity, on admitting classes of students of all different backgrounds, is being led by a white man who is allegedly discriminating against Black women on his own staff? But how has this highly controversial case unfolded? According to a follow-up piece by The Tufts Daily, the third-party law firm charged with investigating the claims found no evidence of wrongdoing.

As Daniel Vos reports, “An investigation into the Tufts admissions office has concluded and found no evidence of discrimination by Dean of Admissions JT Duck, according to a statement by James Glaser, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Kyongbum Lee, dean of the School of Engineering. ‘The investigators conducted a thorough review of an abundance of factual material corroborated by neutral witnesses and found no evidence of discrimination by Dean Duck,” the deans wrote in a statement to the Daily. “The investigation included interviews with 20 current and past employees, supporting the findings.’”

While the university declined to share the independent report itself, the proof of their investigation is in the pudding: JT Duke remains the Tufts Dean of Admissions in 2025. Do we at Ivy Coach buy it? Or does something smell awry here?

Well, if Tufts’ investigation found no wrongdoing, that’s going to have to be good enough for us, because we certainly weren’t flies on the wall during the time the discrimination claims were adjudicated. However, we appreciate the concerns from students of color and women that Tufts might still be evaluating undergraduate applicants within a discriminatory atmosphere. So, what is a high school senior with hopes of going Jumbo to do?

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Tufts University Admission

Instead of leaving it all up to chance, why not take control of your admissions destiny with Ivy Coach? Whether you’re an Asian American applicant, a Black woman, a queer first-generation low-income student, you name it, we’ll help you ensure that there is no room for discrimination once your application makes it into the hands of Tufts admissions officers.

To get started with enlisting our services for optimizing your odds of admission to Tufts, fill out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch with an outline of our services.