The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that George Mason University (GMU) violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by implementing policies that discriminated on the basis of race in hiring, promotion, and other university practices. The finding comes after years of criticism regarding the university’s aggressive implementation of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives.
OCR’s proposed Resolution Agreement requires GMU to revise its policies, provide training on compliance with Title VI, and issue a public statement promising to conduct recruitment, hiring, and promotion decisions without regard to race, color, or national origin. Failure to comply could result in serious consequences, including the potential loss of federal funding.
This is excellent news!
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No one who has paid attention to GMU’s policies in recent years can be surprised. The university went out of its way to signal that it was steadfastly pursuing a race-forward strategy in admission, hiring, and promotion. It did this on the grounds that such actions were justified to make up for the legacy of “systemic racism.” And it did so knowing that these actions were against the law.
Presumably, the university’s leadership calculated that federal authorities would turn a blind eye to it. And under the Biden administration, they were right. The Trump administration, however, takes its responsibilities under the Civil Rights Act seriously. It does not tolerate the unlawful DEI policies promoted by GMU President Gregory Washington, who is now saying that he rejects the Department’s apology demand.
The actions taken by OCR under Secretary McMahon will not only put GMU on a path of treating students and faculty according to impartial standards rather than group identity. Still, they will also send a clear message to other colleges and universities that the federal government will crack down on DEI scofflaws.
This is a widespread problem in American higher education.
After the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May 2020, numerous college and university presidents rushed to indict their own institutions of “systemic racism.” They pledged, like Gregory Washington, to implement rigorous new DEI policies.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June 2023, which banned racial preferences in college and university admissions, was met with hostility by many colleges and universities, signaling that they would do all they could to sustain those preferences. This has ushered in an era of lies, deception, and camouflage on the part of a broad swath of American higher education.
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OCR’s action announces loudly and clearly that the Trump administration is determined to bring that era to an end.
Not that GMU is going to concede graciously. President Washington, at this point, is refusing to apologize and instead has had his attorney, Douglas Gansler, send a ten-page letter to the university’s Board of Visitors explaining that OCR’s actions are completely unjustified. I predict that Washington and his supporters will lose this fight, but I expect Washington to know that full well and is positioning himself for a future where he can pose as a noble martyr to the cause of racial preference.
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Image: “Front facade of the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington D.C” by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash
