The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has found that George Mason University violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it announced today. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. Institutions that are found in violation of Title VI can lose federal funds.
DOE’s Title VI Investigation
The Education Department initiated a Title VI investigation into GMU in July. OCR says it was based on a complaint filed “by multiple GMU professors alleging that GMU leadership has adopted unlawful DEI policies from 2020 to the present.”
OCR concluded that, under school president Gregory Washington‘s leadership, GMU “illegally [used] race and other immutable characteristics in university practices and policies, including hiring and promotion.”
GMU’s Resolution Agreement Requirements
OCR gave GMU 10 days to voluntarily resolve the Title VI violations through a resolution agreement.
OCR’s proposed resolution agreement requires that Washington personally issue a statement — posted prominently on the university’s website — to all students and employees that GMU “will conduct all recruitment, hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions in compliance with Title VI, and disseminate information to the campus community explaining how to submit a discrimination complaint.” The statement would also include a personal apology from Washington to the school community for “promoting unlawful discriminatory practices in hiring, promotion, and tenure processes.”
GMU must also review policies and revise any documents currently used for recruitment, hiring, and promotion to ensure compliance with Title VI. And, it would have to remove any provisions that “require or encourage the use of race to favor or disfavor any candidate.”
The school must also conduct annual training for all individuals involved in and responsible for recruitment, hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions “to impart that GMU will not give preferences based on race, color, or national origin in these processes.”
Feature photo of the GMU campus by Maggie Roth
