GMU president keeps job, gets pay raise amid concerns of political pressure

The president of George Mason University is keeping his job and receiving a 1.5% pay raise after concerns he would be ousted by the Board of Visitors.

Students, faculty, and community leaders gathered on campus Friday morning to protest what they describe as political interference in university governance, coinciding with a closed-door board meeting to evaluate President Gregory Washington’s performance.

The rally, dubbed a “Day of Action,” comes amid federal investigations into GMU’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies under Washington ─ the university’s first Black president. The university faces four federal investigations, with two of them surrounding allegations of racial discrimination in employment practices.

In July, the Department of Justice released a letter accusing Washington of using race and sex to motivate who is hired to achieve diversity goals. Washington fired back with a statement saying, “longstanding efforts to address inequality – such as mentoring programs, inclusive hiring practices, and support for historically underrepresented groups – are in many cases being reinterpreted as presumptively unlawful.”

Despite the investigations and protester concerns, the board ultimately voted to give Washington the salary increase during Friday's closed door meeting, bringing his total salary to $823,452. Supporters were pleased by the outcome.

"I believe they realized the consequences would be too great," said GMU professor Benjamin Manski. "I think thi sshows peopel can stand up for public institutions and democracy, and that's important today."

Prior to the closed-door session, Washington revealed his goals and the university's accomplishments under this leadership. He said the largest public university in the Commonwealth raised hundreds of millions of more dollars compared to the last several years through state appropriation, increased student population, and auxiliary enterprises. The financial success meant preventing a tuition increase, according to Washington.

"Despite the commentary you're hearing, this institution is doing extremely well," Washington said during his presentation.

GMU also has a $38 million budget surplus, but Washington warned the school is still underfunded by up to $6,000 per student or up to $150 million below average.

Some of his goals include capital projects, better public and private partnerships, integrating AI in lesson plans and operations, and setting up students for success amid economic uncertainty.

When asked if this means the board has full confidence in Washington as president, Vice Rector of the George Mason University Board of Visitors Michael Meese said, "The vote speaks for itself."

"Regardless of how one views the events unfolding at George Mason University, today's discplay of unity by the Mason community is inspiring," GMU said in a statement following the meeting. "It is a reminder of how centrally improtant our university is to northern Virgini's families and economy. For now, the community can refocus on what really matters most: in just three weeks we will welcome the incoming class of 2025, which is once again the largest, most diverse and one of the most qualified freshman classes in the history of George Mason. Fellow Patriots, you are simply the best. Let's get back to work."

Organizers of Friday's protest had previously voiced concern over what they called a “hostile Trump-Youngkin takeover,” referencing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s influence on higher education.

"These are independent, public universities in the state of Virginia," Professor Tim Gibson, president of the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors (VA-AAUP), said in July after the Department of Education first launched its investigations. "You have no role in telling us who we should hire or what policies we should pursue."

Supporters held signs and called for the federal government to stay out of university affairs, citing recent data presented by Washington showing strong institutional performance.

But not everyone in the GMU faculty agrees. Economics professor Bryan Caplan, a longstanding critic of DEI, believes the federal allegations have merit.

"I think GMU is guilty and they should stop doing what they’re doing," Caplan said. "There was a lot of informal pressure to hire based on race. You can see it reflected in written documents."

Caplan also described a culture of self-censorship among faculty who are afraid to publicly share the same viewpoint.