The Trump administration started its fourth investigation in four weeks into George Mason University’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division on Monday opened a compliance review into whether the Fairfax, Virginia, campus “has denied equal treatment of individuals based on race or national origin” in student admissions, scholarships and benefits.
The federal agency said the review will also weigh the public university’s “response to antisemitism on campus.”
“Public educational institutions are contractually obligated to follow our nation’s federal civil rights laws when receiving federal funds,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said. “No one should be denied access to opportunity or resources because of their race, color or national origin, and the United States is committed to keeping our universities free of such invidious bias.”
In a notice letter to the GMU Board of Visitors, Ms. Dhillon gave the school until Aug. 1 to submit “full and complete responses” to investigators’ questions, with a request for unrestricted access to school records.
The letter didn’t specify any civil rights complaints or violations of federal law.
George Mason, Virginia’s largest four-year public university with more than 40,000 students enrolled, accepts 90% of its applicants.
In an unsigned statement on Monday, its Board of Visitors pledged to ensure “that GMU fully complies with federal anti-discrimination laws” as part of its public obligations.
“The University and the Board will respond fully and promptly to the requests from the U.S. Government and intend to keep the public informed along the way,” the statement added.
Virginia Democrats and some racial justice advocates have accused the Trump administration of threatening federal funding sources to pressure universities into complying with its anti-DEI policies.
Omekongo Dibinga, a professor of intercultural communications affiliated with American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center, called the George Mason probe the latest in a series of “racist endeavors” by Mr. Trump to upend civil rights.
“It’s disgusting and disgraceful, but not surprising,” Mr. Dibinga said Wednesday. “He publicly targets the more prestigious schools while covertly targeting the lesser-known schools, but it’s all the same.”
The compliance review comes as part of a widening federal effort to enforce a January executive order from Mr. Trump ending public funding for race-based programs designed to support Black, Latino and American Indian students and faculty.
Promoted by the Biden administration, DEI has sought for decades to give underrepresented minorities a leg up in college admissions and faculty hiring to make their numbers reflect broader U.S. demographics.
Mr. Trump has adopted a stricter reading of color-blind provisions in federal civil rights law since returning to office. Building on a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that overturned race-based college admissions, his administration has insisted that DEI fosters reverse discrimination against White and Asian candidates.
The Trump administration is now investigating dozens of universities, including George Mason, for evading presidential directives by renaming DEI programs and giving new titles to DEI staff.
University of Virginia President James Ryan resigned last month amid a Justice Department investigation into his refusal to end DEI practices at the state’s flagship public campus. According to Democratic officials, Mr. Trump pledged to withhold federal funding from the school if he didn’t depart.
This week’s probe into George Mason’s admissions practices comes days after the Justice Department opened a similar inquiry into the school’s consideration of race in faculty hiring and promotions.
The Education Department opened two similar investigations this month after receiving reports from professors that Gregory Washington, George Mason’s first Black president, simply rebranded its DEI programs.
In a July 10 news release, the department cited a complaint filed with its Office of Civil Rights by “multiple professors at GMU who allege that the university illegally uses race and other immutable characteristics in university policies, including hiring and promotion.”
According to that complaint, Mr. Washington announced in a March email the renaming of its DEI department as the Office of Access, Compliance and Community.
The complaint also said Mr. Washington wrote that the university needn’t make any changes because it has “always complied with existing civil rights laws.”
Alumnus Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston, said the Trump administration is right to challenge that claim.
“George Mason University has long favored unlawful DEI policies, while failing to meaningfully address antisemitism on campus,” said Mr. Blackman, who earned his law degree from George Mason. “President Washington has not taken sufficient steps on his own to address these issues.”
The Trump administration has shown no sign of backing down on enforcement.
In March, the Education Department opened a civil rights investigation into 45 universities for engaging in “race-exlusionary practices” in graduate admissions rather than accepting students based on merit. Schools under investigation include Yale, Duke, New York University, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Ohio State and the University of Chicago.
At the same time, the federal agency announced it was probing seven other schools for “race-based scholarships and race-based segregation.”
Those schools include the University of South Florida, Ithaca College and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In a statement to The Washington Times this month, White House spokesman Harrison Fields said the administration expects more than token compliance with its DEI bans.
“That sham virtue signaling of DEI has no place in our country, and the Trump administration is working tirelessly to erase this divisive, backward and unjust practice from our society,” Mr. Fields said. “Any university president willingly breaking federal civil rights laws will be met with the full force of the federal government, and it would behoove every school in America to prioritize the civil rights of every student and end DEI once and for all.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.