DOJ Investigates George Mason University for its DEI Policies
The focus of the government's third investigation against the educational institution is the tenure of its president, Gregory Washington. Internal emails allegedly show that Washington "openly advocated for race- and sex-based hiring processes."
George Mason University
The Department of Justice (DOJ) opened an investigation into George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia for alleged discriminatory practices in the treatment of its staff. It is the administration's third investigation against the institution, the first led by the DOJ.
"It is unlawful and un-American to deny equal access to employment opportunities on the basis of race and sex," said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. Discriminatory conduct allegedly committed by GMU against employees, applicants and participants in its training programs.
In a missive to Chancellor Charles Stimson, Dhillon explained that the department possesses internal emails from the university's president, Gregory Washington, in which he "openly advocated for race- and sex-based hiring processes." In one, Washington reportedly stated that he intended to "develop" a "renewal, promotion, and tenure process" that would benefit "faculty of color and women in their professional work."
Internal documents in the hands of investigators would indicate, according to Dhillon, that the university targets the race of members of its hiring panels to increase the number of non-whites in hiring processes. A recorded meeting of the institution's Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force would also show him touting "his history of hiring 'record numbers of diverse faculty' based on race and sex characteristics at another public institution."
The DOJ also appears to have checked its social media. Dhillon cites as part of the evidence against him a June 27, 2022 tweet retrieved by VOZ in which the university president celebrates an employee whose "leadership has helped incorporate DE&I in curriculum, the hiring process & more."
Two more investigations against the university
"It is disheartening that the leadership of a university named after the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights - which inspired the Constitution's Bill of Rights - needs a refresher on the primacy of treating people equally under the law," Under Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said.
Days earlier, the department sent a missive advising that it had launched an investigation into the alleged hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty, along with 60 other universities.
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