GMU under investigation for alleged violations of the civil rights law in hiring

The Ministry of Justice is investigating the question of whether George Mason University (GMU) has embarked on discriminatory hiring practices. According to the ministry, it is focused on determining the violation of title VII of the GMU of the civil rights law of 1964, which prohibits employers to discriminate according to the race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

“It is illegal and non -American to deny equal access to the possibilities of employment on the basis of the race and the sex,” said the deputy prosecutor general Harmeet Dhillon of the Division of Civil Rights of the Ministry of Justice said in a statement. “When employers trigger qualified candidates of the hiring process, they erod not only confidence in our public institutions – they violate the law, and the Ministry of Justice will investigate.”

Statue of George Mason on the George Mason University campus, Fairfax, VA. (Group Robert Knopes / UCG / Universal Images via Getty Images)

Doj Investigation on Minnesota’s hiring practices in the last confrontation with Walz

In a letter to the board of directors of GMU visitors, the rector Charles “Cully” Stimson, Dhillon wrote that the Doj has “reasons to believe” that race and sex were used as “motivation factors in the hiring decisions of teachers” under the president of GMU, Gregory Washington.

Dhillon said that on July 23, 2020, Washington had sent an email to a list of GMU teachers in which he declared that he was planning to create a process of “renewal and occupation promotion” which would benefit “color faculty and women”. In addition, Washington would also have declared in email that it aimed to “develop specific mechanisms in the promotion and occupation process which recognize invisible and unbeaned emotional work that people of color spend to learn, teach, discover and work on campus.”

“I have authorized a complete survey to determine if GMU is engaged in a model or a discrimination practice as indicated above. We have not taken any conclusion on the object of the investigation,” wrote Dhillon.

Dr. Gregory Washington, the new president of the University George Mason, holds an introductory press conference in Fairfax, Virginia. (Bill O’Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The President of the University of Virginia resigns in the midst of Trump Admin Pressure on Dei’s initiatives

The GMU survey comes only a few weeks after the president of the University of Virginia, James Ryan, resigned due to the pressure of the Trump administration.

“To make a long story, I am inclined to fight for what I think, and I deeply believe in this university. But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job. In a declaration.

Illia Sheikholeslami, student of George Mason University, holds panels during the rally “Hands Off Our Schools” in front of the American Department of Education on April 4, 2025, in Washington, DC (Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images)

The Trump administration has made policies of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), in particular in the government and educational establishments, a priority. As part of the Dei’s repression, the Department of Education launched the “End Dei” portal in February 2025. It allows parents, students, teachers and even concerned citizens to submit reports on what they believe to be dei in the schools of K-12 funded by the public.

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President Donald Trump has published several decrees to end Dei. This includes “putting an end to the radical and useless programs of the Government DEI and preference” and to “put an end to illegal discrimination and to restore the opportunities based on merit”.

Fox News Digital contacted Mike Fragoso de Torridon Law PLLC, who manages investigations in the name of George Mason University, but has not received a response in time for publication.