GMU president Gregory Washington declined to apologize after the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights accused him of implementing unlawful DEI policies and demanded changes. Washington's attorney, Douglas F. Gansler, wrote to the university board that OCR curtailed its fact-finding, interviewing only two deans before issuing conclusions. Gansler alleged gross mischaracterizations and omissions, and asserted that OCR's own findings show no job applicant was discriminated against by GMU. The Education Department's Acting Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor said Washington pushed to remove 'racist vestiges' and then implemented unlawful, race-discriminatory DEI policies. ED demanded institutional changes and a personal apology from Washington.
Gansler also accused OCR of selectively interpreting various remarks by Washington, the first Black president in GMU's history. "To be clear, per OCR's own findings, no job applicant has been discriminated against by GMU, nor has OCR attempted to name someone who has been discriminated against by GMU in any context. Therefore, it is a legal fiction for OCR to even assert or claim that there has been a Title VI or Title IX violation here," Gansler wrote in a 10-page letter.
'In 2020, University President Gregory Washington called for expunging the so-called 'racist vestiges' from GMU's campus,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement released by the Department of Education last week. 'Without a hint of self awareness, President Washington then waged a university-wide campaign to implement unlawful DEI policies that intentionally discriminate on the basis of race. You can't make this up.'
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