US probes Minnesota, George Mason University over DEI, hiring practises

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday announced probes into hiring practices and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by the state of Minnesota and Virginia's George Mason University.

It was the latest crackdown on such programs by President Donald Trump's administration.

The U.S. Education Department said it opened an investigation into George Mason University over its DEI practices. The department alleges that they violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination in U.S. education programs that receive federal funding.

The U.S. Justice Department said its civil rights division opened an investigation into Minnesota, including the Minnesota Department of Human Services, to determine whether it has engaged in race- and sex-based discrimination in its state employment hiring practices.

George Mason University said it received a department letter on Thursday morning and would "work in good faith to give a full and prompt response," adding it did not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

The Education Department statement cited a complaint from some professors at the university.

"According to the complaint, GMU leadership have promoted and adopted unlawful DEI policies from 2020 through the present, which give preferential treatment to prospective and current faculty from 'underrepresented groups' to advance 'anti-racism,'" the department said in its statement.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services said it followed all state and federal hiring laws. "Justification of non-affirmative action hires for some vacancies has been required by state law since 1987," it said in a statement.

The Trump administration has threatened educational institutions and some U.S. states with federal funding cuts over DEI practices, climate initiatives, transgender policies and pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel's military assault on Gaza.

Trump has signed multiple executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity initiatives, and has cast DEI as anti-merit and discriminatory against white people and men.

Civil rights advocates say DEI practices help address historic inequities for marginalized groups like women, the LGBT community and ethnic minorities.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Thursday it would no longer consider a farmer's race or sex in many of its farm loan, commodity and conservation programs, ending a longstanding effort to address the agency's history of discrimination.