Overview

• The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched its fourth federal Title VI investigation into George Mason University this month to probe alleged race and national-origin discrimination in admissions, scholarship awards and the institution’s response to antisemitism.
• George Mason University has denied creating discriminative policies and pledged cooperation with investigators as seven Virginia Democratic lawmakers criticized the probe as a politically motivated attack on diversity initiatives.
• On July 23, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights opened national-origin discrimination investigations into the University of Louisville, University of Nebraska Omaha, University of Miami, University of Michigan and Western Michigan University over scholarship programs exclusively for DACA recipients.
• The DACA scholarship probes, prompted by complaints from the Equal Protection Project, aim to determine whether limiting awards to undocumented or DACA students violates Title VI’s ban on national-origin discrimination.
• These actions are part of a broader Trump administration campaign leveraging a 2023 Supreme Court ruling to intensify enforcement against diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education.