Campus Reform’s Young Journalist of the Year: Michael Duke
Fordham University student Michael Duke has been named Campus Reform’s 2025 Young Journalist of the Year.
Duke published more than 75 articles and made over 50 media appearances in 2025.
Fordham University student Michael Duke has been named Campus Reform’s 2025 Young Journalist of the Year, recognizing a year marked by prolific reporting, national media appearances, and investigations into leftist policies dominating American universities.
Duke, a business administration major at Fordham with a concentration in finance, published more than 75 articles and made over 50 media appearances for Campus Reform in 2025, exposing ideological bias on campuses nationwide.
“Michael represents a gold standard for the Young Journalists Program. He has committed himself to the hard and unrelenting work that media demands,” said Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Dr. Zachary Marschall. “Michael continues to challenge himself every semester, taking advantage of every opportunity to find and report exclusive multimedia and represent Campus Reform on national media. He is mature, responsive, and always eager to improve.”
Duke began reporting for Campus Reform in 2023. He also serves as special counsel for the Fordham College Republicans, founded the New York City Activism Hub for Turning Point USA, and is a contributing writer for Fordham’s newspaper, The Ram.
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Campus Reform correspondents operate as front-line reporters on university campuses, and Duke has stood out for both quantity and quality of work. His coverage has ranged from lawsuits over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates to universities protecting illegal alien students.
One of his most high-profile investigations in 2025 detailed a scholarship advertised by the University of Florida (UF) for illegal alien students. An email newsletter sent to students by UF’s College of Journalism and Communications highlighted scholarships up to $1,000 for students who are illegal aliens or hold Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.
After Duke’s reporting, UF’s journalism department scrubbed mention of the scholarship in the email newsletter.
Duke’s reporting hasn’t been limited to print. In 2025, he appeared multiple times on television, including segments on Real America’s Voice and Newsmax.
In a January appearance on Real America’s Voice, he criticized medical schools for promoting diversity goals at the expense of merit.
“It’s just wrong,” Duke said during the segment. “Medical students should be going to college and learning to provide the best quality healthcare, not social justice ideologies.”
Duke’s coverage reflects Campus Reform’s mission to highlight liberal bias and promote accountability in higher education. By consistently uncovering how taxpayer-funded colleges are promoting leftist orthodoxy, his reporting has become a valuable resource for students, parents, lawmakers, and policy analysts.
“Campus Reform transforms young people who are passionate about conservative values and issues or stories. It doesn’t matter if you have experience and are seasoned when you start out, or if you were like me a few years ago and had little-to-no experience in journalism, Campus Reform offers an opportunity to young people by allowing them to succeed if they are gritty, diligent, and want to become better,” Duke said.
“The amount of success that you are owed at Campus Reform is equal to the amount of effort that you put in, and I’ve experienced this firsthand,” he added.
With his pace and expertise, Duke sets a high bar for conservative campus journalism in 2025.
If you are interested in becoming a Campus Reform Young Journalist like Duke, apply here.
