Wednesday, July 16 — In an email to alums this afternoon, Gregory Washington, president of George Mason University, reported the school is now under investigation by the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. A letter alleges violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 relative to faculty hiring. Washington writes that the university has hired the Torridon law firm to represent the school.

      “I can assure you that George Mason has always operated with a commitment to equality under the law. It is simply the Mason way,” Washington writes. The Mason way, he added, “Includes the belief that diversity includes thought, background, and circumstances and any attempt to artificially redefine our diversity as one of race-based exclusivity, is doomed to fail no matter who ends up being excluded.”