In a major move against wokeness in America, the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights went on the warpath against George Mason University over its DEI-based discrimination in its hiring practices, noting that it appears to have violated the Civil Rights Act in its discriminatory policies.
As background, the Trump Administration has started pushing back against the virulent and open diversity-based racism engaged in by many institutions in America, from large corporate employers to university systems. To do so, it has stripped past affirmative action and disparate impact guidance, and instead started enforcing the CRA, which disallows any racial discrimination.
Leading the charge on that front has been Harmeet Dhillon, who sent the letter to GMU’s leadership. She began by noting that the DOJ suspects the university is engaged in discrimination and she has been delegated to deal with it, saying, “The Department of Justice (Department) is opening an investigation to determine whether George Mason University (GMU) is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race and sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . . . The Attorney General has delegated the authority to investigate compliance with these provisions to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division.”
Continuing, she noted that the cited CRA section “prohibits an employer from discriminating against an individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” which applies as much to discriminating against whites and Asians as it does to blacks and Hispanics, despite in the past only being enforced in certain cases.
Building on that, she noted what sort of discrimination GMU is alleged to have engaged in as part of its hiring practices, saying, “Our investigation is based on information that GMU may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants, and training program participants based on race and sex in violation of Title VII. Specifically, we have reason to believe that during Gregory Washington’s tenure as president of GMU, race and sex have been motivating factors in faculty hiring decisions to achieve “diversity” goals.
Further, Dhillon noted that the DOJ is not just speculating but has proof of what happened, noting, “The Department is in possession of internal emails Mr. Washington sent to the GMU faculty in which he openly advocated for race- and sex-based hiring processes at GMU.”
Giving an example, Dhillon’s letter noted, “In a July 23, 2020, email to a GMU faculty list-serv, Mr. Washington stated that he intended to ‘develop’ a ‘renewal, promotion, and tenure process’ to benefit ‘faculty of color and women in their professional work.'” The letter then went on to note numerous other examples of much the same bias in favor of DEI.
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Another such example was a discussion in which the same man pushed equity in the hiring process in the name of advancing anti-racism. Describing it, the DOJ letter provided, “In a November 2020 recorded discussion with other GMU administrators and faculty who served) on Mr. Washington’s Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence, he stated that he will advance an agenda of “anti-racism” as president of GMU. Mr. Washington then described ‘anti-racism’ as a ‘verb’ that means ‘conscious efforts and actions to provide equitable opportunities’ at a ‘systematic level.’ In this recording, he also touted his history of hiring ‘record numbers of diverse faculty’ based on race and sex characteristics at another public institution.”
So, the DOJ is investigating whether the impression of discrimination rooted in DEI thinking is accurate. As the letter provided: “Accordingly, I have authorized a full investigation to determine whether GMU is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above. We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation. We intend to consider all relevant information, and we welcome your assistance in helping to identify what that might be. We would appreciate your cooperation in our investigation.”
Watch SecDef Hegseth sound off on DEI here: