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Latest Cases & Developments
Date:
Department of Justice Title VI Investigation into George Mason for Admissions Process (Jul. 21, 2025)
The Department of Justice (the Department) launched a compliance review investigation into George Mason University (the University) to assess whether its admissions policies violate Title VI by discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The Department emphasized that any racially segregated access to programs or student life, as well as any race-based advantages in admissions or indifference to a racially hostile environment, would violate federal law. The investigation will examine whether the university’s admissions practices and scholarship distributions involve discrimination and evaluate its response to antisemitism allegations on campus. The Department has ordered the University to submit records, data, certifications, and other materials by August 1.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | External Investigations | Investigations | Race and National Origin DiscriminationDate:
Department of Justice Title VII Investigation into George Mason University’s Hiring Practices (Jul. 17, 2025)
The Department of Justice (the Department) opened an investigation into George Mason University (the University) to assess whether its faculty hiring and promotion practices violate Title VII. The Department is investigating whether race and sex have been “motivating factors” in hiring decisions, citing internal communications from the University’s President that date back to 2020-2022 in which he promoted diversity in hiring and expressed institutional commitments to racial equity. The president addressed the investigation in a letter to the University community, stating that his past comments came as responses to the national reckoning on racial justice that followed the murder of George Floyd, and further articulated that at the time of his statements, the University was operating under the “One Virginia Plan”—an initiative, which remains in effect through the end of 2025, that required all state agencies to develop strategic plans to promote inclusivity in hiring, compensation, and operations.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Diversity in Employment | External Investigations | Faculty & Staff | Investigations | Race and National Origin DiscriminationDate:
Department of Education Foreign Funding Investigation into the University of Michigan (Jul. 15, 2025)
The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced that it has opened an investigation into the University of Michigan following a review of the University’s reports pursuant to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. §1011f), alleging inaccurate and incomplete disclosures. The Department, requested that the University provide with tax records, a written narrative of the University’s procedures related to compliance with Section 117’s foreign funding disclosure requirements, a copy of each written agreement with a foreign government, foreign educational institution, foreign non-government entity, or foreign corporate entity relating to international student admissions, detailing the participation of non-U.S. individual or entities in university or university-affiliated research collaborations, identification of all university personnel and contract personnel involved in the university’s assistance and/or efforts related to F-1 Student Visa, work permits, and travel for international students, faculty, and other personnel, identification of all involved in bilateral or multilateral research collaborations with non-U.S. research institutions, identification of all university personnel responsible for the oversight and/or administration of the university’s compliance with federal Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Program restrictions, and, all foreign gifts, grants, and contracts between the University and any foreign source. The time frame for these requests is from January 1, 2020, through the present.
Topics:
Contracts | Employment of Foreign Nationals | Endowments & Gifts | External Investigations | Faculty & Staff | Grants, Contracts, & Sponsored Research | Immigration | International Students | International Ventures | Investigations | Research | Taxes & FinancesDate:
Department of Education Opens Title VI Investigation into George Mason University (Jul. 10, 2025)
U.S. Department of Education has announced a Title VI investigation into George Mason University after multiple professors at the University filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging that the University illegally used race-based hiring and promotion practices from 2020 through the present. The complaint alleged that the University created a racially hostile environment in violation of Title VI by way of several policies and practices that constituted racial discrimination, including the University’s DEI policies, the presence of “Equity Advisors,” the use of race-conscious promotion criteria, and the creation of diversity hiring directives. Additionally, the complaint makes note of a campus-wide email sent by the University president in March 2025 announcing the renaming of the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” office and stating that no University policy changes were needed to comply with civil rights laws.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Diversity in Employment | External Investigations | Faculty & Staff | Investigations | Race and National Origin DiscriminationDate:
The Univ. of Tex. Sys. v. The Franklin Ctr. For Gov’t & Pub. Integrity (Tex. June 30, 2023)
Opinion reversing and remanding. Plaintiff, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, sued the University of Texas at Austin under the Texas Public Information Act seeking complete access to the documents underlying a report by an external investigator examining whether external pressures influenced admissions decisions at the University. At issue was whether three sets of documents related to the production of the report, which was always intended for public release, are protected by attorney-client privilege. After finding that the investigator was employed by the System’s General Counsel as a lawyer’s representative, the Supreme Court of Texas held, first, that drafts of communications to be sent by the System’s General Counsel to University employees that were reviewed by the investigator in preparation for interviews are within the scope of privilege because no mention of those communications appeared in the released report. It held, however, that the trial court must determine on remand whether the released report disclosed in “significant part” (1) internal communications between System and University lawyers that were subsequently listed in a privilege log and shared with the investigators and (2) typed and handwritten notes created by the investigator based on interviews with System and University employees.
Topics:
Admissions | External Investigations | Freedom of Information & Public Record Laws | Investigations | Privacy & Transparency | Students
NACUA Annual Conference
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