The US Justice Department has escalated its scrutiny of diversity policies in higher education, launching a formal review of George Mason University (GMU) over a Faculty Senate resolution that praised President Gregory Washington for advancing the university’s diversity goals. According to a report by The Washington Post, the resolution referenced an earlier institutional aim to ensure that faculty and staff demographics reflect the diversity of the student body — a goal that federal officials now suggest may signal race- or sex-based hiring, which would violate civil rights law.In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon informed GMU’s Board of Visitors that the Department viewed the resolution’s language as potentially endorsing discriminatory hiring practices. The letter warns of the possibility of extensive penalties and instructs the university to preserve all communications between the Faculty Senate and President Washington’s office, indicating an unusually deep level of federal scrutiny into internal university governance.
Part of a broader campaign against DEI
The GMU investigation is one of four federal inquiries recently launched into the university, all in rapid succession and tied to its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and its handling of antisemitism allegations. These inquiries come as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to reshape higher education institutions and curb DEI programs through legal and regulatory pressure.President Gregory Washington, the first Black leader of GMU, has been under increased federal focus following his implementation of several DEI initiatives, including an anti-racism task force established in 2020. His administration has defended these policies as compliant with federal mandates. However, critics within and outside the university view the latest investigations as politically motivated efforts to remove him from leadership — a concern amplified after the recent resignation of University of Virginia President James E. Ryan under similar federal pressure.
The Faculty Senate resolution and its implications
As reported by The Washington Post, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution affirming the university’s 2013 diversity plan and expressing support for President Washington’s leadership. The resolution stated that Washington had successfully fulfilled the diversity-related goals he was hired to achieve and called the federal investigations “politically motivated.”The resolution also urged the GMU Board of Visitors to strongly support Washington during his scheduled annual review and to uphold fairness and transparency in the evaluation process. The Justice Department, however, focused on one particular line in the resolution referring to the 2022 goal of aligning faculty and staff demographics with those of the student population. This was interpreted by the Department as potential evidence of hiring decisions based on race or sex.The letter did not indicate whether any specific hiring incidents were under review but signalled a broader intent to examine the university’s practices and internal decision-making structures.
Mounting pressure ahead
The timing of the DOJ’s letter, just before the board’s scheduled review of Washington, has intensified speculation about federal intentions and the possible use of these investigations to influence leadership decisions. GMU’s faculty union, part of the American Association of University Professors, has expressed concern that the board, composed entirely of appointees of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, could cite the investigations as justification for penalising or removing Washington.According to The Washington Post, the university’s Board of Visitors has pledged full cooperation with the Department of Justice and the Department of Education. Meanwhile, the university community is preparing for what could become a high-stakes board meeting, with faculty groups encouraging turnout in support of Washington.
A politicised educational landscape
GMU, once a commuter college and now one of Virginia’s largest public universities with over 40,000 students, is well known for housing ideologically conservative academic hubs such as the Antonin Scalia Law School and its economics program. Several board members have ties to the Heritage Foundation, a right-leaning think tank closely associated with Project 2025, a policy roadmap for a potential second Trump term.The controversy at GMU follows a growing trend in which the federal government is intervening in university policies and governance through investigations, warnings, and threats of funding withdrawal. Just last week, Columbia University agreed to pay over $200 million to settle discrimination claims, including allegations related to antisemitism, under pressure from the same administration.As The Washington Post highlights, this is a rare instance where the Justice Department has weighed in not on a university policy, but on a faculty resolution, raising alarms about federal overreach into campus speech and shared governance.
What this means for universities
The GMU case underscores a rapidly shifting dynamic between the federal government and public higher education institutions. Faculty members and academic observers are increasingly concerned that symbolic statements, long considered protected expressions of opinion in the university setting, are now being used as triggers for punitive federal action.This episode is being watched closely by administrators, faculty, and legal experts across the US, as it may set a precedent for how the federal government engages with, or challenges, campus DEI efforts and faculty governance in the years ahead.TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here.
