George Mason University’s Board of Visitors recently extended the contract of President Gregory Washington, locking in his leadership through June 30, 2031. His previous agreement was set to expire in June 2027.
After his 2020 appointment as the eighth president of the university, and first black president in the school’s 77-year history, Washington became a target of the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In July 2025, a Title VI investigation from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights followed up on multiple complaints from professors accusing Washington of supporting hiring professionals from more “underrepresented groups” in an effort to diversify the university’s faculty and staff. The investigatos stated that GMU's hiring and promotion practices were race-conscious leading to noncompliance.
But despite the political turmoil, the exponential growth George Mason University has experienced under Washington’s leadership was hard to argue against; in his time as president, the university welcomed its largest and most diverse student cohorts — in 2025, enrollment reached 40,000, a record high for Virginia public colleges. And students are overwhelmingly successful, with 70 percent of freshmen boasting GPAs of 3.5 or higher, and a 73 percent university graduation rate.
Not only that, but George Mason has seen its share of state appropriations double during Washington’s tenure, going from $190M to $386; he has led five of the six highest funding years in GMUs history. Student academic and post-graduate success has increased, the institution launched the first AI master’s degree program in Virginia, and secured the largest public-private partnership, Fuse at Mason Square, under Washington’s leadership.
