US probes Minnesota, George Mason University over DEI, hiring practises

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

July 10, 2025 7:02 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago


WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday announced probes into hiring practices and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by the state of Minnesota and Virginia's George Mason University. It was the latest crackdown on such programs by President Donald Trump's administration.

The U.S. Education Department said it opened an investigation into George Mason University over its DEI practices. The department alleges that they violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination in U.S. education programs that receive federal funding.

The U.S. Justice Department said its civil rights division opened an investigation into Minnesota, including the Minnesota Department of Human Services, to determine whether it has engaged in race- and sex-based discrimination in its state employment hiring practices. George Mason University said it received a department letter on Thursday morning and would "work in good faith to give a full and prompt response," adding it did not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

The Education Department statement cited a complaint from some professors at the university. "According to the complaint, GMU leadership have promoted and adopted unlawful DEI policies from 2020 through the present, which give preferential treatment to prospective and current faculty from 'underrepresented groups' to advance 'anti-racism,'" the department said in its statement.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-probes-minnesota-george-mason-university-over-dei-hiring-practises-2025-07-10/

[markie]

1. maybe look at Yale and Vance

"....Thomas Burke Jr. explains that he attended Yale University at the same time as Vance. Both Vance and Burke were former marines who attended Yale University with the aid of the G.I. Bill. Burke explains, “We both were able to be recipients of DEI efforts at Yale University. At the time that I was a student, there were only five veterans in my entire program.” In Vance’s law program, he was one of just six veterans enrolled. Today, through DEI measures meant to increase veteran enrollment, the number of veterans at Yale Law School is in the “20s or 30s.” Although these measures benefitted Vance, Burke notes, “He’s now turning around, and he’s pulling the ladder up, so that people like him, who grew up in poor Appalachia, who joined the marines, who were able to use the G. I. Bill, are no longer able to follow in his footsteps because he wants to remove the same DEI programs that got him to where he is today.”

[William Seger]

2. "Preferential treatment" for rich alumni, however, is still fine

Decades ago, we allowed the word "discrimination" to become a softer euphemism for hateful racial and ethnic bigotry that treated non-whites as less than human and therefore less deserving than white people. That perversion of the word allows reactionaries to call DEI "discrimination" by referring only to it's unburdened original meaning of treating groups of people differently, without regard for the reason.

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. It was just a matter of time.

They re going to attack all blue states in every way they can.

Unless we stop them.



Anyone?



Hello??

[BumRushDaShow]

4. There were multiple court cases where judges are blocking the pulling of funds for schools for this bogus reason

which is why 45's racist goons have "switched tactics". I.e., using DOJ's " (reverse)-Civil Rights" Division to "harass" the schools instead.

Any time we "anticipate" these types of actions and file suit, the courts throw the cases out telling us that "it hasn't happened yet". So that is why it ends up where we have to suffer through an initial onslaught and THEN be "allowed" to file suit.

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. Exactly.

But, we are supposed to follow the 'rule of law'?

Really??

[BumRushDaShow]

7. "'Rules' apply to thee...

... not to me".

[erronis]

5. George Mason Is the Latest University Under Fire From Trump. Its President Fears an "Orchestrated" Campaign.

https://www.propublica.org/article/george-mason-university-antisemitism-investigation-trump

When university president Gregory Washington received notice that the Trump administration had opened an investigation into complaints of antisemitism, he was “perplexed.” But there are signs it may be part of a coordinated campaign to oust him.

When the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights notified George Mason University on July 1 that it was opening an antisemitism investigation based on a recent complaint, the university’s president, Gregory Washington, said he was “perplexed.”

Compared with other campuses, where protesters had ransacked buildings and hunkered down in encampments, George Mason had been relatively quiet over the past year, he said. His administration had taken extensive steps to improve relations with the Jewish community, had enacted strict rules on protests and had communicated all of that to the OCR during a previous antisemitism investigation that remained open.

By the next day, though, there were signs that the new investigation was part of a coordinated campaign to oust him.

One piece of evidence: the speed with which conservative news outlets reported on the OCR’s action, which hadn’t been publicly announced. The OCR letter was embedded in a July 2 article published by a right-wing news outlet, The Washington Free Beacon. The next day, the City Journal, published by the influential and conservative Manhattan Institute, ran an opinion essay headlined “George Mason University’s Disastrous President.” The article accused Washington, the university’s first Black president and a first-generation college graduate, of backing “racially discriminatory DEI programs” — referring to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — and failing to address campus antisemitism. It concluded that “Washington’s track record warrants his resignation or dismissal.”