Administrators at Duke advised some faculty to forward media inquiries to central communications as the university navigates a $108 million federal research-funding freeze and multiple investigations. Internal guidance emphasised that institutional responses to policy changes be channelled through designated spokespeople, a move some faculty and observers say risks constraining academic speech on institutional issues. The memo followed heightened federal scrutiny of university programs and public attention to institutional compliance. Faculty leaders pushed back, framing the guidance as an institutional risk-management response that nonetheless raises questions about transparency, academic freedom and scholars’ ability to explain research implications publicly.