EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, is demanding answers from George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School over sexual misconduct allegations against a former law professor.
Foxx’s Tuesday letter, which seeks information on Title IX enforcement and investigations conducted by the school, comes after a Wall Street Journal report questioned whether the professor, Joshua Wright, became “‘too valuable to lose,'” resulting in the school and law firms turning a blind eye to the alleged misconduct.
The North Carolina Republican is looking to Wright’s “apparent use of his influence over academic and career opportunities to seduce young female law students into inappropriate sexual relationships or to harass them sexually at various points during the period 2004-2023 when he served on the faculty,” the letter states.
As the committee has oversight of Title IX enforcement, Foxx is looking for information on what steps were taken by GMU to investigate student allegations of sexual misconduct and the outcomes of those inquiries, as well as all Title IX policies and procedures over the course of Wright’s tenure at the school and any new policies pursued by the university to ensure the safety of its students in the future.
The school has until July 9 to respond.
According to the outlet’s series, Wright, a married man, had multiple affairs with students that continued into the women’s professional lives. After affairs were brought to light, including one with a former student whom he had brought to the law firm where he worked, his wife filed for divorce, and he was told to leave the firm, Wilson Sonsini.
Lindsey Edwards, whom he brought to the firm, believed she would start a life with Wright, but when the affair started to fall apart, she threatened to tell Wright’s wife. Edwards called the professor, who had made millions of dollars protecting big-name companies such as Amazon and Facebook from antitrust regulations, including as a member of the Federal Trade Commission, “a f***ing predator,” according to the outlet.
However, Wright has said the affairs were consensual and denies wrongdoing. He also filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against GMU in 2023.
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“Wright evaded scrutiny over affairs with students because the university, like Wilson Sonsini, found him too valuable to lose, some of the women alleged,” the report stated, citing a line from Foxx’s letter. “His conduct was known around campus, those women said, and complaints to school officials in past years went nowhere.”
The law school did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner. A representative for Wright did not respond to a request for comment.