George Mason University’s president will be getting a raise in exchange for the institution cutting some of its DEI programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Friday, George Mason University\u2019s governing board agreed unanimously<\/a> to give a 1.5% raise to university president Gregory Washington in exchange for the school nixing some DEI programming, the Washington Post reported.<\/p>\n In a comment following the GMU\u2019s governing board’s approval of his raise, Washington said, “Regardless of how one views the events unfolding at George Mason University, today\u2019s display of unity by the Mason community is inspiring. It is a reminder of how centrally important our university is to northern Virginia\u2019s families and economy.”<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal had previously suggested Washington’s days might be numbered given the prevalence of DEI on the campus. \u00a0<\/p>\n DOJ INVESTIGATING GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY’S HIRING PRACTICES OVER ALLEGED DISCRIMINATION<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n President Donald Trump has signed various executive orders targeting DEI and directing educational institutions to end all DEI practices or\u00a0risk losing federal funding<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Washington, who began his tenure as president at GMU in 2020, allegedly wrote a letter in 2021 highlighted by the WSJ where he said that “just 30 percent of our faculty are from ethnic minority, multi-ethnic, or international communities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “If you have two candidates who are both \u2018above the bar\u2019 in terms of requirements for a position, but one adds to your diversity and the other does not, then why couldn\u2019t that candidate be better, even if that candidate may not have better credentials than the other candidate,” Washington\u00a0wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This kind of thinking seems to have permeated the university in recent years,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n The board highlighted\u00a0work from the Manhattan Institute’s “City Journal”<\/u><\/a> which alleges that “one faculty search committee assessed each job candidate\u2019s contribution to \u2018diversity\u2019\u2014including, according to an\u00a0official memo<\/a>, \u2018demographic diversity,\u2019” another “scored<\/a> candidates on, among other factors, his or her interest in \u2018diversity,\u2019” and a “third<\/a> boasted that it had carefully crafted a job advertisement to signal its desire to make \u2018a diversity hire.\u2019”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, LAW JOURNAL SUED FOR ALLEGEDLY DISCRIMINATING AGAINST STRAIGHT WHITE MALES<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n On July 21, the Department of Justice\u00a0announced that they are investigating<\/u><\/a> GMU to determine if the university discriminated\u00a0on the basis of color, race, or national origin.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a\u00a0July 16 letter<\/u><\/a>, Washington hit Trump\u2019s attack on DEI.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Longstanding efforts to address inequality \u2013 such as mentoring programs, inclusive hiring practices, and support for historically underrepresented groups \u2013 are in many cases being reinterpreted as presumptively unlawful,” Washington said. “Broad terms like \u2018illegal DEI\u2019 are now used without definition, allowing virtually any initiative that touches on identity or inclusion to be painted as discriminatory.”<\/p>\n The WSJ piece also highlights that a judge in Fairfax County\u00a0ordered<\/u><\/a> that four George Mason board members named by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, as well as four at other universities, must be removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n