The Department of Education said Thursday that it has opened an investigation into George Mason University’s hiring and promotion practices, the second federal probe of the Fairfax, Virginia, school launched in the past month.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating a complaint filed by GMU professors who alleged that the university’s personnel decisions are skewed to favor some racial groups over others.
The department said in a statement that the alleged behavior “creates a racially hostile environment” and could violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
If the investigation concludes that the university did, in fact, violate faculty members’ civil rights, GMU could be at risk of losing its federal funding.
George Mason is the second major Virginia public institution to be targeted by the Trump administration in recent weeks.
