President Gregory Washington PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK.COM/PRESIDENTGREGORYWASHINGTON

George Mason University’s efforts to diversify its workforce violate a civil rights law intended to end segregation, according to the Trump administration.

Following a roughly six-week-long investigation of GMU’s hiring practices, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has found that the Northern Virginia-based university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race in public education.

To resolve the alleged violation, the department has proposed an agreement that would require Mason President Gregory Washington to issue a statement and “personal apology … for promoting unlawful discriminatory practices in hiring, promotion, and tenure processes.”

The university would also have to revise any policies deemed noncompliant and conduct annual trainings for staff involved in hiring and promotional decisions.

OCR announced Friday that Mason leaders would have 10 days to agree to the directives.

“In 2020, University President Gregory Washington called for expunging the so-called ‘racist vestiges’ from GMU’s campus. Without a hint of self awareness, President Washington then waged a university-wide campaign to implement unlawful DEI policies that intentionally discriminate on the basis of race,” Education Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement, calling the past five years an “unfortunate chapter” in Mason’s history.

The Education Department says it launched the Title VI investigation into GMU on July 10 after “multiple” professors filed a complaint that the university was giving “preferential treatment” to job candidates and current faculty members from “underrepresented” backgrounds.

Though Mason’s U.S. student body for 2024-2025 was racially diverse, with white students representing the largest percentage (33.7%), its faculty and staff, as of July, is more than 50% white, according to data shared by GMU.

Mason’s eighth president and the first Black person in the position, Washington took office on July 1, 2020 just weeks after students joined nationwide protests against police brutality, prompting him to establish an anti-racism task force and order a review of the university’s policies.

Envisioned as a model that other universities could follow, the anti-racism initiatives continued efforts already underway to reckon with namesake George Mason’s history as a slaveholder. A memorial to the people he enslaved was ultimately dedicated in April 2022.

When asked in 2021 how Mason could make its staff more representative of the student body without illegally targeting people based on race, Washington noted that only 30% of the faculty at the time were from ethnic minorities or the international community. To attract a more diverse workforce, the university needs to rethink its search processes and what might make someone the “best” candidate for a job, he argued.

“Our mission of educating and preparing the future leaders of America’s economy and society demands that we recruit people with the full breadth of lived experiences as well as professional backgrounds that our students encounter,” he wrote.

As evidence that GMU was violating Title VI, the Education Department points to that statement as well as a requirement that new faculty hires get approved by the university’s Office of Access, Compliance, and Community (OACC), among other officials.

Previously known as the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the OACC, which oversees accommodations for people with disabilities and investigations of bias and discrimination complaints, was renamed in March after the Education Department demanded universities end “race-based decision-making.”

The OCR also cites “one high-level university administrator” who said Washington “created an atmosphere of surveillance” when it came to diversity in hiring.

Board of Visitors reviews proposed agreement

The GMU Board of Visitors called the Education Department’s finding “a serious matter” and said it’s reviewing the proposed agreement.

“We will continue to respond fully and cooperatively to all inquiries from the Department of Education, the Department of Justice and the U.S. House of Representatives and evaluate the evidence that comes to light,” the board said. “Our sole focus is our fiduciary duty to serve the best interests of the University and the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”