The U.S. Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation into George Mason University on Thursday for alleged discrimination based on race in its hiring practices.
The department opened a separate Title VI investigation into the Virginia public research university on July 1 amid allegations it failed to respond to antisemitic discrimination and allowed for a hostile environment towards Jewish students and faculty after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—an environment that continued through the 2024-2025 school year.
For the most recent investigation, multiple professors at GMU allege the university “illegally uses race and other immutable characteristics in university policies, including hiring and promotion,” according to the department. GMU’s policies allegedly “give preferential treatment to prospective and current faculty from ‘underrepresented groups’ to advance ‘anti-racism,’” the complaint states.
GMU has “equity advisors in every academic department” that specifically take race, sex and other characteristics into account for faculty hiring, and guidance from GMU President Gregory Washington directed candidates to be hired on the basis of “diversity,” the complaint states, “even if that candidate may not have better credentials than the other candidate.”
“This kind of pernicious and widespread discrimination—packaged as ‘anti-racism’—was allowed to flourish under the Biden administration, but it will not be tolerated by this one,” stated Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “The Trump-McMahon Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights will investigate this matter fully to ensure that individuals are judged based on their merit and accomplishment, not the color of their skin.”
“That the leadership of a university named in honor of the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights—which informed the Constitution’s Bill of Rights—needs a refresher on the primacy of treating individuals equally under law is deeply disheartening,” Trainor stated.
