When the Department of Justice recently opened an investigation into George Mason University over accusations that the university’s diversity programs were discriminatory, many members of the faculty were outraged.

Professors quickly published a resolution supporting their president and the university’s efforts around diversity.

Now, Justice Department officials say they will investigate the faculty, too.

In a letter sent on Friday, the Trump administration said it would seek drafts of the faculty resolution, all written communications among the Faculty Senate members who drafted the resolution, and all communications between those faculty members and the office of the university’s president, Gregory Washington.

The university referred requests for comment to an outside attorney, who did not immediately respond.

Free speech advocates quickly denounced the move as an attack on academic freedom.

The faculty resolution affirmed the university’s previous stance that “diversity is our strength.” It also defended Dr. Washington, the university’s first Black president, who has been a target of the Trump administration.

Faculty senate resolutions are positions taken by a university’s elected faculty body, like the one at George Mason. They typically carry no force and normally attract little notice beyond the campus newspaper. But these are not normal times for higher education.