Broadside News

By Hayley Roder, Broadside Correspondent

While interviewing the ten candidates for George Mason University student government president and vice president, one common theme transpired: advocating for the student body.

The five tickets — Shane Smith and Rich Everett, Jillian Ferron and Mark Murphy, Sean Hobaugh and Evan Massengill, Lynn Gold and Dominic Pody and D’Leon Barnett and Jacky Yoo — have proposed different campaign platforms, but they all arrive at a similar goal: to let the voices of the students be heard.

“Advocating for the students is our number one priority,” Smith said. “There’s been a disconnect between student government and the university administration, and we want to advocate on behalf of the students.”

Gold echoed a similar statement. “Our main responsibility [as leaders of student government] would be to serve as the primary representative for students — to the administration, to the state legislature — to let them know what the students want and need to lead Mason into the future.”

Another common theme was transparency. “Really, you only hear from student government once a year [during election time],” Massengill said. “We don’t hear what student government is doing for us daily or weekly, or even monthly.” Hobaugh agreed: “In order for us to reach out and communicate with students, we need to be more transparent.”

A few of the campaigns suggested specific initiatives that would help students. Barnett and Yoo want to create visitor parking passes so that students who purchase a parking permit would receive three visitor parking passes for the semester. They also suggested a holiday shuttle bus to the three local airports. Others proposed extending Gunston Go-Bus hours and creating a university-wide event calendar so that students have a central place to find out about functions. Smith and Everett proposed “G-Span,” an initiative that would allow them to post weekly video updates that highlight what student government has accomplished.

The candidates come from varying levels of experience. Three of the candidates are committee chairs: Smith, of the University Services committee, Gold, of the University Life committee and Pody, of the Outreach and External Relations committee. Ferron serves as the undersecretary for Parking and Transportation Services. Two of the candidates, Everett and Barnett, are serving as senators.

Elections will be March 30 and 31. Ballots will be sent to students via e-mail.

By Rashad Mulla, Broadside Correspondent

George Mason University is targeting an untapped group for private financial support: undergraduate seniors.

Through the Patriot Pigs program, a first-year project of the Office of Annual Giving, seniors are encouraged to collect spare change in a green piggy bank issued by Mason and give the funds to the school. So far, the school has distributed 4,000 piggy banks and received more than $1,000 from the approximately 100 already turned in, said Jewelle Daquin, assistant director at the Office of Annual Giving.

The program is optional, and the school accepts donations of any amount. Patriot Pig donations, like regular private donations, can be restricted or allocated to the department or program of the donor’s choice.

Student reaction has been mixed. Combined with rising tuition costs and other mandatory fees, some students disagree with the premise of the program — asking undergraduates, many of whom do not have full-time jobs, for money.

“I feel like paying for tuition and the other fees for labs should be enough funding, alongside state and alumni contributions,” said Adam Katkhouda, a senior accounting major. “I don’t think they’re asking the right people. Undergraduates are not that well-off.”

Chuck Soo-Hoo, a senior film and video studies major, said the roles should be reversed and the school should be doing more to help its graduating class.

“If the school asks me to donate money out of my own pocket, I just can’t, because I don’t have the cash for it,” he said. “I wouldn’t ask the graduating
class to donate money. They should target another group.”

In an informal survey completed by 60 Mason undergraduates, 53 students said they were unable or unwilling to donate to the school this year, due to their financial situations. However, 32 students said they would consider donating after graduation.

With the Patriot Pigs program, Mason hopes to emphasize the importance of donating to the school as a senior, Daquin said.

“We are trying to get seniors to give back before they transition to the alumni phase,” she said. “Making a gift back to the university is helping someone else move forward. It’s important to leave your mark wherever you are.”

Some students, who have donated to specific Mason programs, agree with this sentiment.

“The closer you are to the university, the more inclined you are to give back,” said Student Government Vice President Tyler King, a senior finance major. “Once you graduate, go off working, move away and get new friends, Mason will be but a memory.”

The Patriot Pigs program is part of a larger initiative to get seniors to donate to the school. According to Nell Barnes, associate director of the Office of Annual Giving, 148 seniors donated last year, and a handful have donated this year.

As Mason has suffered from severe budget cuts, private support has become more important.

“The cuts are the result of state revenues being less than anticipated over the last few years,” said Donna Kidd, associate vice president for the Office of Budget and Planning. “So reductions have had to occur in the allocations to state agencies.”

To absorb the 15 percent general fund budget cut in fiscal year 2010, the university reduced administrative unit budgets, on average, by 1.7 – 2 percent and academic unit budgets, on average, by 1.5 percent. Since fiscal year 2008, the state has slashed the university’s general fund budget by 35 percent, or $45.3 million.

Mason received a school record of $34.5 million in private donations the last fiscal year. This year, as of Feb. 28, private funding has netted the school more than $42 million in gifts and pledges.

However, private funding fluctuates yearly and does not single handedly offset the budget cuts, said Marc Broderick, vice president for University Development and Alumni Affairs. This is where the Patriot Pigs program comes in.

“The value of students supporting the university is priceless,” said Broderick.

By Ethan Vaughan, Asst. News Editor

George Mason University’s Catholic Campus Ministry carried out its pro-life week starting last Monday, with special events at the campus chapel and elsewhere aimed at promoting pro-life views.

Organizers said that the event’s goal was to take the pro-life message, with which Mason’s Catholic students are already well acquainted, and
disseminate it to the school as a whole.

“We’d been talking about this throughout the year,” said Katie Robinson, a junior English major and a member of CCM’s Bellarmine Board, which functions as an activities coordination body. “We’ve done a lot at [the] chapel to educate and raise awareness, and we wanted to take that to campus as well.”

From Monday through Thursday, CCM participants set up a kiosk in the Johnson Center, where they used an innovative method to attract students.
“We had a sign that said ‘Free Brownies,’” Robinson said. “We knew if we just said we were pro-life a lot of people wouldn’t come, so we offered free brownies and then passed out flyers and talked to anyone who wanted to talk to us.”

The flyers included an advertisement for Olivia Gans, a pro-life speaker who came to campus on Saturday, and philosophical reasons for supporting the pro-life movement.

“People walking by took the fliers,” Robinson said. “And a few people stopped. We had a few who told us they were opposed to what we were doing and weren’t sure if they should take the brownies, but there were no big reactions.”

For Robinson, though, one particular visitor stood out.

“There was a man who stopped and said, ‘Thank you for making a philosophical issue about this. You really don’t need to have religious beliefs to understand the pro-life movement.’”

CCM members held all-day prayer sessions on Friday, and on Saturday, they heard from Gans, who became involved with pro-life issues after getting an abortion as a young woman and who is now the president of the Virginia Society for Human Life.

Robinson said that CCM’s Pro-Life Week activities on campus were limited, but that the organization thought initiating further outreach was important.
“It was our first time and we didn’t want to do too much,” Robinson explained. “We wanted to see people’s reaction, and we didn’t have the resources to do a weeklong outreach. It’s important, though. Most women who get abortions are 18-25, which means that there are dozens of women on our campus who are pregnant and considering abortions or who have had abortions already. We want to approach these mothers with understanding and let them know that there are other options.”

Robinson said that Life Choices, an organization with an office at University Mall, was a good resource for those who needed assistance making a decision or coming to terms with decisions already made.

“The Life Choices Pregnancy Center offers alternatives to abortion and will talk to women who have already had abortions,” Robinson said. “There are people out there who can help girls finish schooling and keep their child. People need to know that.”

By Kevin Loker, C2M Exectutive Editor

When the idea of an auction that would raise money to fund scholarships for students in financial need came up in passing conversation in the halls of the Admissions Office this past January, Dean Andrew Flagel suggested to two interested Mason Ambassadors that if they really wanted to make everything work smoothly, they should wait and take some time to plan the event for next year.

One of those students, sophomore Dani Miller, did not agree.

“No, we’re doing it now,” she said. And so started a two-month frenzy of speedy brainstorming, continuously securing supplies and co-sponsors and sleeplessly orchestrating a huge collaborative and campus-wide volunteer effort.

The end result is “GBAY,” George Mason University’s first annual bidding match in which a student can win such privileges as being chauffeured in the Mason Dining golf cart to and from class for a week and, at the same time, help fund a fellow student’s way through college.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but the rewards are worth it,” said Brittany Burkhart, Miller’s fellow Ambassador and co-organizer of the event. “It’s great for everyone in the Mason community because they’re really giving back to themselves.”

The event, which takes place at 7 p.m. in the Johnson Center Thursday, April 1, is modeled after similar auctions at Loyola University Maryland and George Washington University, where Flagel previously worked. According to Flagel, the auction at GW was one of the most popular events at the school, raising between $20,000 and $30,000 for student scholarships in one year in the 1980s.

“It was the intangible items that always brought people out,” said Flagel of why the event was successful. “People hash out big money for reserved parking. When you bid on one of these items, you still pay — and maybe you pay more — but you get the space.”

Parking spaces are only an example of the biddable items on GBAY’s list, items that one would not normally be able to buy. According to Flagel, departments and individuals from across campus have been more than generous. Biddable items include a complimentary wait staff for an evening at Southside, being university president for a day and a one-hour pick-up basketball game in the Patriot Center with nine friends. Someone can even win the opportunity to name an item on the Rat menu after him or herself, or create his or her own smoothie for the menu at Freshens.

“Everyone we’ve approached has said yes,” sad Flagel, emphasizing that Burkhart and Miller have been the aggressive ones in making the event happen.
But the two sophomores have not shouldered all of the work. Approximately 200 students from 14 co-sponsoring campus organizations have taken part in preparations for Thursday’s event. Some volunteers and co-sponsors have concentrated their efforts in advertising and events planning. Others, like the GMU ROTC, have volunteered their services. Whoever bids high enough can join the ROTC’s battalion for the day and rappel off Fenwick Library.

“Like the golf cart, we expect that one to be a hot item,” said Burkhart.

Many of the items have also come from off-campus donations.

“We sent out about 1,000 ask-letters,” said Miller, who while overseeing the project with Burkhart has concentrated her efforts on getting items students would want to bid on. “The letters went out to local businesses, museums, wineries, embassies, congressmen — everyone.” As a result of their efforts, the “Bunny” dress from Betsey Johnson, a beginner ski or snowboard package at Liberty Mountain Resort and a weekend-night stay with breakfast for two at the Ritz Carlton Tyson’s are all biddable items on GBAY’s list.

Auctions are both live and silent. Door prizes will also be given away.

Tickets for the event are $5 in advance. Tickets sold at the door are $7 for students and $10 for faculty, staff, alumni and the community. Payment must be made on site, but can be made with credit cards or cash.

By Ethan Vaughan, Asst. News Editor

“I had a parent come up to me, crying. She said, ‘My child can read.’”

That moment epitomized what got Marissa Herrmann out of bed early every morning five days a week, kept her going in the face of economic obstacles and gave her the strength to face down a classroom of teenagers who sometimes begrudged her presence.

Herrmann, 23, is a participant in Teach for America, which sends high-achieving college graduates to public schools in impoverished areas in the nation.

According to the group’s mission statement, its goal is “to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort.”

At an age when many of her peers are lugging backpacks and sitting behind desks, Herrmann is at the front of the classroom, responsible for instilling knowledge in the minds of special education students at Southeast Middle School in Baton Rouge, La.

While a senior at George Mason University and majoring in communication, Herrmann applied to the Teach for America program and was subjected to a rigorous selection procedure.

“It was the craziest interview process I’ve ever been in in my life,” Herrmann said when interviewed by Broadside in 2008. “But it was worth it.”

Two weeks following her graduation in May 2008, Herrmann was inducted as a Teach for America corps member and shipped off to Arizona State University for a month, where she received a crash course in teaching basics.

“I was thrust into a fifth-grade classroom with literally no teaching experience,” Herrmann said. “After that, I started immediately in Baton Rouge on Aug. 8, 2008 with 45 special education students and 15 regular ones.”

While Herrmann was forewarned that she would be entering an economically distressed environment (before her departure in 2008, she told Broadside that “America’s greatest injustice is educational inequality”), she says that the extent of the deprivation and lack of access to resources were shocks she could not have been prepared for.

“There were extreme behavior problems,” Herrmann said. “There were students who were completely unmotivated to work. There were 15-year-olds who could barely write their letters. I had one 17-year-old student who was in eighth grade. I thought, ‘When I was 17, I was a freshman at George Mason.’ These students have really big troubles.”

Herrmann teaches 13- to 17-year-olds with literacy gaps, with the goal of preparing them for the English language portion of the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) test that all students must pass to advance to high school.

“Some of these children are smarter than I ever was,” Herrmann said. “They just lacked the same basic knowledge that I had. There’s a whole population of students not getting the same education as I did, or as anyone middle class or higher did. The education gap is huge. If they’re coming
to middle school and they can’t read, they’ve obviously been failed [by the system].”

Herrmann never lost sight of her objective. Maintaining high expectations and working with parents were powerful tools used in meeting her goals.
“It’s like if you’re a coach and you want your team to play with better people,” Herrmann said. “I’m making sure I never lower the bar.”

Help also came from an unlikely source: her inexperience.

“They tell middle school teachers not to smile, but letting [the students] know you care can make a difference,” Herrmann said. “I was 21 and I came with an open mind, with the outlook that I’m young and learning and growing. I had naive confidence, and that really benefited me.”

As for the educational system, Herrmann minced no words.

“It’s ridiculous and embarrassing,” she said. “It’s almost a national security issue. It’s not these students’ fault they grew up in low-income communities.”

Whatever Herrmann is doing, it seems to be working. Teach for America aims for its corps members to improve student performance by two grade levels, and Herrmann’s students are on track for three and a half.

“My lines are never perfectly straight,” Herrmann said. “But I did a lot with what I was given. I feel like I’ve genuinely watched my students become happier people.”

By Kevin Loker, C2M Executive Editor

The Board of Visitors resolved yesterday to continue protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members of the George Mason University community under the university’s nondiscrimination policy.

Mason’s governing body reaffirmed the current “institutional commitment to nondiscrimination,” maintaining the protected classes within University Policy 1201.

The resolution comes over three weeks after Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote a letter to all state universities addressing the inclusion of ‘sexual orientation,’ gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ in the institutions’ nondiscrimination policies.

In the letter, Cuccinelli advised the state institutions to remove the language from their nondiscrimination policies on the basis of current Virginia state law as determined by the General Assembly.

The letter was later leaked to the public, sparking outrage, confusion and protest.

While most of the discussion that produced the resolution occurred during closed executive session, Press Secretary Dan Walsch confirmed Thursday that the BOV’s conclusion would leave the policy unchanged and unadjusted unless a serious external legal change occurs.

“If at [a point] in the future a new state law is passed that requires all state agencies and entities to make some changes, then we will comply with the law,” he said.

By Yasmin Tadjdeh, News Editor

Students parking on campus just lost an option.

Recently, Lot I, a surface lot, was closed to begin construction on the Northwest Housing VIIIA complex.

Students who previously parked in Lot I, which was used heavily by students living on campus, were given an option of getting a refund or parking at another location on campus.

“[People with Lot I permits] were all given a choice — either downgrade to a general lot permit and be refunded $115, [the] difference between [the] general lot and Lot I pass, or [a] free upgrade to the Rappahannock Deck reserved area, [which are] levels four [through] five,” said Director of Parking and Transportation Josh Cantor. “I think most have come in, but I think we still have a few stragglers. [It] seemed to be about a 50/50 split of which option people chose.”

According to Project Manager Nancy Pickens, the housing complex will begin construction soon.

“The project consists of 600 beds of student housing in two buildings,” said Pickens. “One building will consist of apartment-type living and the other will have suite-type rooms. Construction should begin shortly with the opening of the facilities scheduled for August 2012.”

The project, which shut down Lot I, will also change the road structure of the Fairfax Campus.

“There is also infrastructure and road work associated with the project consisting of [the] construction of [a] high temperature hot water tunnel, chilled water piping, electric, water and sewer lines, as well as the realignment of Occoquan River Lane,” said Pickens.

According to Pickens, the housing project is being funded by state funds and will also include a parking lot that is approximately the same size as Lot I.

By Emily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief

Despite cold temperatures and sporadic rain, a combination of students, faculty and staff of George Mason University’s law school, passersby and members of Pride Alliance gathered on Tuesday to protest Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s visit to the George Mason School of Law in Arlington.

The demonstration was in response to Cuccinelli’s controversial letter, leaked earlier this month, in which the attorney general advised state institutions to remove ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ from the language of their nondiscrimination policies on the basis of current Virginia state law as determined by the General Assembly. [Student Media recently received an op-ed written by the attorney general defending his position.]

About 65 protesters were present for the protest and rally. Many of them held signs, some of which read: “VA is for all lovers,” “hate is not a family value” and “who remembers Matthew Shepard?”

“I felt good about it,” said protest organizer Cathryn “Kate” Oakley, a second year law student and president of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Law Association (GALLA) at Mason’s law school. “I felt that there was a really good amount of support from the community.”

Speakers for the protest included Pride Alliance Adviser Ric Chollar, Robert Pilaud, current secretary of the Lambda Alumni Chapter of the George Mason University Alumni Association, Arlington School Board member Abby Raphael, Del. Bob Brink, D-Arlington, Del. Adam Ebbin, D-Fairfax and Arlington County Chairman Jay Fisette.

During their speeches, speakers referred to Cuccinelli as “an embarrassment to Virginia,” “out of touch with the realities of the 21st century” and a “bigot,” criticizing the legality and fairness of the attorney general’s statements.

“He’s wrong on the law,” said Raphael, who is also an alum of the University of Virginia School of Law. “The fact is they don’t need to change the law for public colleges and universities to be able to continue to include sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies.” Various legal opinions, some with similar conclusions, have been released in the weeks since the letter went public.

According to Richard Kelsey, the School of Law’s assistant dean for management and planning, it is a Mason School of Law tradition to invite the Attorney General of Virginia to speak. Cuccinelli, an alum of both Mason’s graduate program and the university’s law school, was invited to speak shortly after he was elected last fall and prior to the controversial statements, which were leaked to the public about two weeks ago.

Entry to the event was limited to students with a valid Mason Law I.D., but following the event, first year Mason Law students Brajan Kola, Ben Sperry and Alex Payne said Cuccinelli did address the controversy over his statements.

“How I believe he put it [is] that [some of the public] are misunderstanding the contents of his letter. He actually was simply advising the universities about the law as it stands now and was not suggesting any maneuver to expand or change the definition. He was simply telling them, ‘this is the law,’” said Kola.

“He also said that the letter did not contain legal discourse – it was not binding – and it was merely advice…And it was under his duties to give such advice when asked,” added Payne. “He just said that he understands the topic is very sensitive, but they are misunderstanding what he was saying.”

By Yasmin Tadjdeh, News Editor

For some students, the idea of a menagerie of animals coming to George Mason University is not one that settles well with them. Beginning this past Thursday, the Patriot Center hosted The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The circus, which performs annually at Mason, will be here until Sunday, April 4. However, its opening day was met with protests from various local animal rights groups, including Mason’s own Animals Rights Collective.

At the demonstration, protesters gave out literature against the circus and animal cruelty, carried signs that read “Ringling Beats Animals” and wore body television screens, which featured videos from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization.

Michael Dupuy, a junior systems engineering major and member of the ARC said, “By hosting the Ringling Circus, [Mason is] directly supporting animal cruelty.”

According to the ARC’s website, gmu.edu/org/arc, they are “a group dedicated to raising awareness about animal rights on our campus and within the surrounding community. ARC was founded by a group of students that came together to protest the Ringling Brothers Circus on campus and to organize events pertaining to animal rights and vegan outreach . . . Our events will work to cease the suffering and exploitation of animals, and to create a greater sense of community on campus.”

Since 1992, at least 26 Ringling elephants have died, said Dupuy. “They keep their lions and tigers in enclosures that are much too small . . . Ringling brings bull hooks [to the campus], which is what they use to make the elephants perform.”

According to the website, RinglingBeatsAnimals.com, a website created by PETA, “Since 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cited Ringling numerous times for serious violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), such as . . . Improper handling of dangerous animals; Failure to provide adequate veterinary care to animals, including an elephant with a large swelling on her leg, a camel with bloody wounds and a camel injured on train tracks; Causing trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm and unnecessary discomfort to two elephants who sustained injuries when they ran amok during a performance; Endangering tigers who were nearly baked alive in a boxcar because of poor maintenance of their enclosures; Failure to test elephants for tuberculosis; Unsanitary feeding practices.”

According to a statement on RinglingBrosTrialInfo.com, a website created by Feld Entertainment, Inc., the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, on Dec. 30, 2009 a federal court case against Feld Entertainment by the ASPCA and other animal special interest groups that was filed more than nine years ago was dropped. According to the website, Kenneth Feld, the chief executive of Feld Entertainment said, “‘We are gratified with today’s decision because it is a victory for elephants over those whose radical agenda, if adopted, could lead to the extinction of the species . . . We look forward to focusing on what we do best — providing quality care to our elephants and delivering unique family entertainment options to the public.’”

Dupuy said that in the future, he hopes that Mason would utilize circuses that did not contain animal acts, such as Cirque du Soleil, which is performed completely by humans.