Latest news with #HarmeetDhillon
The Hill
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump administration widens George Mason University probes
The Trump administration announced Monday an additional probe against George Mason University (GMU), making it the fourth since President Trump took office. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it is investigating if the university has violated Title VI by discriminating against students based on race or ethnicity during admissions or scholarship practices. 'Public educational institutions are contractually obligated to follow our nation's federal civil rights laws when receiving federal funds,' said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. 'No one should be denied access to opportunity or resources because of their race, color, or national origin, and the United States is committed to keeping our universities free of such invidious bias.' The Hill has reached out to GMU for comment. The investigation comes on the back of a similar DOJ inquiry into whether George Mason discriminated against faculty for promotion or hiring based on race or ethnicity due to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Other investigations include inaction on antisemitism and an additional inquiry into discrimination in employment practices. 'As always, we will work in good faith to give a full and prompt response. George Mason University again affirms its commitment to comply with all federal and state mandates. The university consistently reviews its policies and practices to ensure compliance with federal laws, updated executive orders, and on-going agency directives,' a spokesperson for the university said in response to the investigation regarding DEI.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Ex-US policeman in Breonna Taylor killing sentenced to 33 months
Breonna Taylor, 26, was a decorated emergency medical technician. Photo: Facebook A US federal judge has rejected an appeal for leniency by the Justice Department and sentenced an ex-police officer to 33 months in prison for violating the civil rights of a Black woman whose 2020 killing fuelled widespread protests. Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police department detective, was convicted by a jury in Kentucky in November of one count of abusing Breonna Taylor's civil rights for shots fired during a botched police raid on her home. In an unusual intervention, Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, had asked Judge Rebecca Jennings last week to sentence Hankison to time served -- the single day he spent in jail at the time of his arrest. But Jennings, who was appointed to the bench by US President Donald Trump during his first term as president, rejected the recommendation and said she was troubled by the prosecutor's sentencing memorandum and arguments for leniency, the Louisville Courier Journal said. She sentenced him to 33 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Hankison faced a maximum penalty of life in prison. The deaths of Taylor, 26, and George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, became the focus of a wave of mass protests in the United States and beyond against racial injustice and police brutality. Protesters and volunteers prepare a Breonna Taylor art installation by laying posters and flowers. Photo: AFP Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were sleeping in her Louisville apartment around midnight on March 13, 2020, when they heard a noise at the door. Walker, believing it was a break-in, fired his gun, wounding a police officer. Police, who had obtained a controversial no-knock search warrant to make a drug arrest, fired more than 30 shots back, mortally wounding Taylor. Hankison fired 10 shots during the raid, some into a neighbouring apartment, but did not hit anyone. He is the only police officer convicted in connection with the raid. Dhillon, in her sentencing memorandum to the judge, had argued that a lengthy prison term for Hankison would be "unjust." "Hankison did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death," she said. "Hankison did not wound her or anyone else at the scene that day, although he did discharge his duty weapon ten times blindly into Ms Taylor's home." Responding to Monday's verdict, the Taylor family's lawyers noted that while the sentence did not "fully reflect the severity of the harm caused," it was "more than what the Department of Justice sought." "We respect the court's decision, but we will continue to call out the DOJ's failure to stand firmly behind Breonna's rights and the rights of every Black woman whose life is treated as expendable," they said in a statement. In May, the Justice Department announced that it was dropping lawsuits filed by the administration of former president Joe Biden against police forces in Louisville and Minneapolis that accused them of using excessive force and racial discrimination. -AFP
New York Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump's Perversion of Justice Has Reached a New Phase
President Trump's Justice Department is turning civil rights enforcement upside down. Last week, Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, asked a federal judge to sentence a former Louisville police officer named Brett Hankison to one day in prison. Last year, a Kentucky jury convicted Hankison of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights when he fired multiple rounds from his handgun into her apartment on the night the police killed her. The Taylor case was one of a series of dreadful killings of unarmed Black Americans that helped touch off America's racial reckoning in 2020. It was also a paradigmatic example of the way that flawed systems interact with reckless police conduct to create fatal injustice. In the early morning hours of March 13, 2020, police officers gathered outside Taylor's apartment door. They had obtained a no-knock search warrant based on allegations that a suspected drug dealer named Jamarcus Glover had received packages at Taylor's home. Glover and Taylor once had a relationship, but Taylor was not the target of the warrant. The police on the scene were instructed to knock, even though they had a no-knock warrant. And here's where the stories of witnesses start to diverge. Officers at the scene say they knocked and announced that they were the police. The early 911 calls indicate that neighbors didn't know the police were present. In fact, in initial statements made after the raid, not a single neighbor reported having heard the police identify themselves. One witness initially said the police did not announce themselves, but he later changed his story and claimed he heard the police identify themselves. Taylor was in the apartment with her boyfriend, a man named Kenneth Walker. He testified that they were startled by a loud pounding on the door, and he said he never heard the police announce themselves. Concerned that the pounding might be coming from an intruder, he grabbed his gun, which he owned lawfully, and approached the door. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ investigating George Mason University's hiring practices over alleged discrimination
The Justice Department is investigating whether George Mason University (GMU) engaged in discriminatory hiring practices. According to the department, it is focused on determining whether GMU violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. "It is unlawful and un-American to deny equal access to employment opportunities on the basis of race and sex," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement. "When employers screen out qualified candidates from the hiring process, they not only erode trust in our public institutions—they violate the law, and the Justice Department will investigate accordingly." Doj Investigating Minnesota Hiring Practices In Latest Clash With Walz In a letter to GMU Board of Visitors Rector Charles "Cully" Stimson, Dhillon wrote that the DOJ has "reason to believe" that race and sex were used as "motivating factors in faculty hiring decisions" under GMU President Gregory Washington. Dhillon stated that on July 23, 2020, Washington emailed a GMU faculty listserv in which he said he planned to create a process for "renewal promotion and tenure" that would benefit "faculty of color and women." Furthermore, Washington allegedly also said in the email that he aimed to "develop specific mechanisms in the promotion and tenure process that recognize the invisible and uncredited emotional labor that people of color expend to learn, teach, discover, and work on campus." "I have authorized a full investigation to determine whether GMU is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above. We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation," Dhillon wrote. Read On The Fox News App University Of Virginia President Resigns Amid Pressure From Trump Admin Over Dei Initiatives The investigation into GMU comes just weeks after University of Virginia President James Ryan resigned due to pressure from the Trump administration. "To make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University. But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job. To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld," Ryan wrote in a statement. The Trump administration has made tacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, particularly in government and educational institutions, a priority. As part of the DEI crackdown, the Education Department launched the "End DEI" Portal in February 2025. It allows parents, students, teachers and even concerned citizens to submit reports on what they believe to be DEI in publicly funded K-12 schools. President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at ending DEI. This includes "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing" and "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity." Fox News Digital contacted Mike Fragoso of Torridon Law PLLC, who is handling inquiries on behalf of George Mason University, but did not get a response in time for article source: DOJ investigating George Mason University's hiring practices over alleged discrimination
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
DOJ investigating George Mason University's hiring practices over alleged discrimination
The Justice Department is investigating whether George Mason University (GMU) engaged in discriminatory hiring practices. According to the department, it is focused on determining whether GMU violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. "It is unlawful and un-American to deny equal access to employment opportunities on the basis of race and sex," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement. "When employers screen out qualified candidates from the hiring process, they not only erode trust in our public institutions—they violate the law, and the Justice Department will investigate accordingly." In a letter to GMU Board of Visitors Rector Charles "Cully" Stimson, Dhillon wrote that the DOJ has "reason to believe" that race and sex were used as "motivating factors in faculty hiring decisions" under GMU President Gregory Washington. Dhillon stated that on July 23, 2020, Washington emailed a GMU faculty listserv in which he said he planned to create a process for "renewal promotion and tenure" that would benefit "faculty of color and women." Furthermore, Washington allegedly also said in the email that he aimed to "develop specific mechanisms in the promotion and tenure process that recognize the invisible and uncredited emotional labor that people of color expend to learn, teach, discover, and work on campus." "I have authorized a full investigation to determine whether GMU is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above. We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation," Dhillon wrote. The investigation into GMU comes just weeks after University of Virginia President James Ryan resigned due to pressure from the Trump administration. "To make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University. But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job. To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld," Ryan wrote in a statement. The Trump administration has made tacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, particularly in government and educational institutions, a priority. As part of the DEI crackdown, the Education Department launched the "End DEI" Portal in February 2025. It allows parents, students, teachers and even concerned citizens to submit reports on what they believe to be DEI in publicly funded K-12 schools. President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at ending DEI. This includes "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing" and "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity." Fox News Digital contacted Mike Fragoso of Torridon Law PLLC, who is handling inquiries on behalf of George Mason University, but did not get a response in time for publication.
