CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The U.S. Department of Education Friday informed George Mason University that its President, Gregory Washington, has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “by illegally using race and other immutable characteristics in university practices and policies, including hiring and promotion”.

This as the University of Virginia is in apparent negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department in apparent Civil Rights Act violations leading to the resignation of Jim Ryan.

WINA legal analyst Tim Heaphy told WINA’s Morning News those negotiations were revealed in UVA’s response for an extension in answering questions posed by State Senator Creigh Deeds. Heaphy said Deeds submitted 46 detailed questions to the current rector and vice rector of the Board of Visitors to which a Washington, D.C. law firm responded with a request to extend by two weeks last Friday’s deadline.

“My guess is they are hopefully finishing a negotiated resolution of the Department of Justice investigation that will include some obligations for the University in exchange for no actions being taken such as frozen federal funding or the like,” Heaphy said.

Heaphy said he, indeed, advises clients who are in the midst of negotiations not to discuss details of an investigation about which the negotiations are occurring.

The Friday advisory of finding to George Mason University said:

“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. You can’t make this up,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “Despite this unfortunate chapter in Mason’s history, the University now has the opportunity to come into compliance with federal civil rights laws by entering into a Resolution Agreement with the Office for Civil Rights. In the last seven months, this much is clear: The Trump-McMahon Department of Education will not allow racially exclusionary practices—which violate the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Protection Clause, and Supreme Court precedent—to continue corrupting our nation’s educational institutions.”

The Department’s proposed Resolution Agreement requires GMU to take the following actions to comply with Title VI:

• GMU’s President will personally issue a statement to all University 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 will include a personal apology from GMU’s President to the University community for promoting unlawful discriminatory practices in hiring, promotion, and tenure processes;
• GMU will post the statement prominently on the University website and remove from its website any contrary statements;
• GMU will review its policies and revise any documents (e.g., instructions for hiring panels, scoring rubrics for resumes and interviews) currently used in the University recruitment, hiring, and promotion process to ensure compliance with Title VI, and remove any provisions that require or encourage the use of race to favor or disfavor any candidate;
• GMU will conduct an annual training of 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; and
• GMU will maintain all records necessary to demonstrate compliance with the Agreement, making them available to the government upon request, and will assign an individual to coordinate GMU’s implementation of the Agreement with OCR.

The Education Department informed GMU of their investigation July 10, the day before UVA President Jim Ryan was to step down as President at the University of Virginia. GMU President Gregory Washington told ProPublica in response, “The same people who are kind of aligned that got rid of Jim Ryan are aligned against me.”

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