The University of Virginia has been conducting investigations since early July.
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Gregory Washington, president of George Mason University in Virginia, must apologize to the university community for “promoting illegal discriminatory practices” in order to resolve allegations of the institution’s violation of civil rights laws.
The department claims that since at least 2020, the university has incorporated race and “other immutable characteristics” into recruitment, promotion and tenure practices.
The illegal practice began shortly after George Floyd’s murder, when Washington called on faculty and administrators to remove “relics of racism” campuses through “intentional discrimination.”[ing] Based on race. ”
“You can’t make up for this,” Trainor said in a statement. “Despite an unfortunate chapter in Mason’s history, the university now has the opportunity to comply with federal civil rights laws by entering into a solution agreement with the Office of Civil Rights.”
The Ministry of Education first announced in early July that it would investigate whether the GMU violated Chapter VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race and nationality. Later that month, the Justice Department announced that it would investigate the institution’s faculty and staff after the panel passed a resolution supporting Washington, which quickly withdrew its Trump administration and defended the university’s commitment to addressing social injustice. Many conservatives have called for the firing of Washington, the agency’s first black president. But the university’s visitor committee saved him from him at least one meeting on August 1 and gave him a raise.
“Trump-McMahon’s Department of Education will not allow racial exclusion practices – which violates the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Protection Clause and the Supreme Court’s precedent – continues to undermine the educational institutions in our country,” Trainor said in a statement.
In addition to the apology, the Ministry of Education also requested that GMU publish the statement to the university’s website, removing any statements to the contrary from past and revised campus policies to prevent future race-based programming. It also hopes that the agency will begin annual training courses for all individuals involved in recruitment, recruitment, promotion or term decisions to emphasize prohibited racial considerations and provide records of record compliance when required to move forward.
George Mason officials have 10 days to respond to the resolution agreement proposed by the department.
