1.29.18- Fourth Estate

FOURTH ESTATE Jan. 29, 2018 Volume 5 Issue 12

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

@ivestate | gmufourthestate.com

PETERSON HALL NOW OPEN- MASON’S SECOND LARGEST BUILDING

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The Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall opens for classes after being under construction since 2015. What new additions for students are within the building’s levels?

LIFESTYLE

NEWS Students from Roosevelt@Mason introduce bills to the Virginia General Assembly

Mason student runs Farida Florala mother-daughter floral shop

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LIFESTYLE

OPINIONS Virginia needs tuition reform now - contributed

by VA senator Bill DeSteph

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Need tips for handling stress?

We’ve got you covered

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We are always recruiting volunteers for: - NEWS WRITERS - LIFESTYLE WRITERS - SPORTS WRITERS - COPY EDITORS - PHOTOGRAPHERS

For all inquiries, please email a resume and two clips (or visual samples) to: masonfourthestate@gmail.com AND apply online at http://c2ms.info/osmapply

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Fareeha Rehman Sosan Malik Co-Editors-in-Chief

Katya Beisel Copy Chief

Michael Eberhart News Editor

Alex Shedd News Assistant Editor

Dinanda Pramesti Lifestyle Editor

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Co-Editor-in-Chief Sosan Malik

Co-Editor-in-Chief Fareeha Rehman

Starting new takes on two meanings in the spring semester. For one, none of us will see any C’s on Blackboard for at least three more weeks - so we come back to school with new hope and hopefully better habits. But spring semester also transitions the campus from bare-branched to blooming pink blossoms. If you’re bored between classes, there’s always a frisbee game to join or a hammock to lay in. Spring doesn’t just bring the flowers to life, the campus suddenly sprouts hundreds of more students and activities to get involved in.

Basma Humadi Lifestyle Assistant Editor

Jamie Beliveau Opinions Editor

Catherine McKay Online Editor

Billy Ferguson Art Director

Allie Thompson Photo Editor

Emmett Smith Distribution Manager

News Editor Michael D. Eberhart

News Asst. Editor Alex Shedd

Lifestyle Editor Dinanda Pramesti

Fourth Estate is here to fill you in on what’s new and how to make the most out of your new semester. For some of us, it’s the last, and leaving the comfort of campus doesn’t bother you until it is your last. This semester is more than a transition from winter to spring, from one semester to another; for a lot of our editors it will be a transition from college to adulting. The only concrete plan now is that we are improving Fourth Estate every issue.

We’re bringing your faces to our pages (Faces of Mason - page 11 ). And we will continue to inform and connect the campus, leaving Fourth Estate this May in the hands of our eager and dedicated staff. But the goodbyes are for later - here’s to a new beginning!

Kathryn Mangus Director

David Carroll Associate Director

Jason Hartsel Assistant Director

Jessica Smith Business Office Manager

Fareeha Rehman Lifestyle Asst. Editor Basma Humadi

Opinions Editor Jamie Beliveau

Copy Chief Katya Beisel

Co-Editor-in-Chief ____________________________________________________________ Meet our team and learn about our opportunities!

Fourth Estate will be available this week to take your questions.

Mon. Jan. 29 - Southside from 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.

Thurs. Feb. 1 - JC Kiosk A from 3-4 p.m.

Art Director Billy Ferguson

Photo Editor Allie Thompson

George Mason University Mail stop 2C5 4400 University Drive Fairfax, Va. 22030 Phone 703-993-2950

Online Editor Catherine McKay

Thurs. Feb. 1 - Press Pass event in the Office of Student Media (HUB) from 4-6 p.m.

COVER PHOTO CREDITS Fourth Estate/Michael Eberhart and Allie Thompson and Creative Services/Evan Cantwell News Roosevelt Students Fourth Estate/Allie Thompson Lifestyle Bouquet Fourth Estate/ Angelique Arintok

Fourth Estate is printed each Monday for George Mason University and its surrounding Fairfax community.

The editors of Fourth Estate have exclusive authority over the content that is published.

Opinions Tuition Reform Fourth Estate/ Billy Ferguson

There are no outside parties that play a role in the newspaper’s content, and should there be a question or complaint regarding this policy, the Editor-in-Chief should be notified at the email provided.

Lifestyle Stress Fourth Estate/ Mary Jane DeCarlo

Fourth Estate is a free publication, limit one copy per person. Additional copies are 25 cents payable to the Office of Student Media.

NEWS

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FOURTH ESTATE/MICHAEL EBERHART

HOW A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AFFECTS YOU What happens to public education when the government shuts down?

ALEXANDER SHEDD NEWS ASSISTANT EDITOR

The facility is home to cutting-edge nursing simulators ASHLEY STEWART AND DANA NICKEL STAFF WRITERS

The Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall opens for classes this semester after being under construction since 2015. The building is the new home of the College of Health and Human Services (CHSS).

“We’re preparing our students to meet future health care needs of the many populations we serve, both locally and globally,” said Dr. Germaine Louis, dean of CHSS. “The Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall makes it possible to achieve our goals by bringing students, faculty and staff together in this incredible state-of-theart building.”

The 165,000 square-foot building has offices, classrooms, wet labs, a health clinic, a nutrition kitchen and an amphitheater. All five floors are being used for classes that range from Women and Gender Studies to American Sign Language, with each floor being utilized as an up-to-date area of study for different disciplines within Mason.

“The classroom was really nice,” said freshman Elizabeth Gillette, who is taking an American Sign Language class in the new building. “It had all the technology we needed.”

By the main entrance to Peterson Hall

This immense new building cost $71 million to build and is the second largest of all of Mason’s four campuses (Founders Hall in Arlington remains the largest overall). It is also LEED-certified Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council for including sustainable features in its design, such as the recycled material used for the terrazzo floors.

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Areas within the building are still being renovated despite being open for classes and full of students and faculty every day. Furniture is still wrapped in protective plastic as workers finish painting and adding other finishing touches to the new building, but the unfinished sections have not limited other areas that are open for the public.

“It actually got postponed a little bit, so we [faculty and staff] started moving in the week of Jan. 9,” said Danielle Hawkins, communication and marketing officer at CHSS. “Everyone is really excited to be in the space.”

there is a retail space intended for vendors that will provide healthy food service to students and faculty within the building.

The Dr. Camille Barry Nutrition Kitchen is also located on the ground floor. The new facility includes a camera system and iPads for students to watch the instructor’s demonstrations in real time from any station in the room, and classmates can play back any parts of the lesson that they miss. The new facility provides a high-tech alternative for students that once had to travel off campus to a rented diner for their nutrition and culinary arts classes.

The second floor is now the new home to the School of Nursing, Rehabilitation Science and a clinic.

All the classes are now centralized and located together within this new building. Patient simulators are provided in beds for students to practice their nursing skills, and these are accompanied by cameras so professors can observe and evaluate their work. This floor also includes a Gait Lab where Mason researchers can study participants with incomplete spinal cord injuries to determine new courses of treatment and rehabilitation.

The third floor houses the Department of Social Work and offices for the School of Nursing. Within these offices, there is a net lab that is expected to bring in new researchers while conducting current and future research projects.

The fourth and fifth floors were created to house the wet lab research spaces, as well as the Department of Health Administration and Policy and the Nutrition and Food Studies offices for faculty and staff. Some of the building’s internal walls were built with modular construction and flexibility in mind, so that lab facilities can expand over time into new areas of research.

The Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics is located on the fourth floor, alongside the Center for Study of Chronic Illness and Disability and other research areas.

The College of Health and Human Services’ deans’ offices can be found solely on the fifth floor, as well as Mason’s Department of Global and Community Health.

It’s unclear whether or not the Department of Education was affected by the most recent shutdown, or will be affected by future shutdowns. However, during the 2013 shutdown, the department was heavily impeded.

According to a Washington Post article published by Valerie Strauss in 2013, the Department of Education has a contingency rule, which took effect during the 2013 shutdown and calls for 94 percent of department employees to be placed on furlough, indefinite leave without pay, after a week of shutdown.

The text of the rule states that the ex t re m e measures are to protect the cash flow going to public schools around the country.

The suspension of these employees can lead to numerous problems around the department. Federal financial aid and Pell Grant payments can be delayed.

Public school advancement programs such as Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind can be hindered due to loss of staffers. Essentially, most of the bureaucracy involved in running the public school system on all levels is suspended during a prolonged government shutdown.

According to a Time Magazine article

by Laurence Arnold on Jan. 18, if a shutdown continues for more than a few days, it can also affect the “processing of applications for passports and visas; new enrollments for experimental treatments under the National Institutes for Health; and the maintenance of U.S. government websites, including ones used by businesses and researchers.”

For now, the government is “open” until the next budget vote on Feb. 8.

However, should another shutdown occur, it could af fect public education.

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PETERSON HALL OPENS FOR SPRING CLASSES

On Jan. 19, the government shut down for the first time since the shutdown of 2013, which lasted for more than two weeks. The shutdown occurred due to a lack of agreement in the Senate over a budget bill that included stipulations to give recipients of the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals program (“DACA”) a pathway to legal citizenship.The shutdown ended three days later on Jan. 22.

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NEWS

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PATRIOTS BASKETBALL CONTINUES VICTORIES OVER WINTER BREAK FOURTH ESTATE/MORGAN MCCARTHY

Although most students have been away from campus since the end of the fall semester, Mason’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have been busy representing the Patriots on the court from Houston, Texas to Kingston, Rhode Island. Mason’s basketball teams won nine of the fourteen games they played since the end of the fall semester.

For the men’s basketball team, the normally relaxing winter break was full of intense, heart-pounding moments.

After a win at home against Morgan State and a lopsided loss at Rhode Island, the Patriots raised their fans’ blood pressure in back-to-back games starting with an overtime thriller at the University of Massachusetts.

FOURTH ESTATE/BILLY FERGUSON

The game in Massachusetts was tight from start to finish, as the two teams were separated by two points at halftime, and were tied at 66 at the end of regulation. However, the Patriots pulled away in overtime in large part due to a career-high 30 points and nine assists from junior guard Otis Livingston II. After a loss to Davidson, the Patriots

returned to winning form against St. Joseph’s. Although Mason led for most of the second half, St. Joseph’s Hawks stormed back and took a 79-78 lead with just five seconds remaining. Fortunately, Livingston was prepared to save the day again for the Patriots. As time expired, he drained a three-point shot that brought the Mason faithful to their feet. His buzzer beater sealed an 81-79 victory for the Patriots, and kept them near the middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10 conference.

Meanwhile, Mason’s women’s basketball team took home more comfortable victories. The Patriots won five of their seven games over the winter break, including a 39-point blowout victory against Rhode Island’s Rams.

Most recently, the Patriots defeated Richmond at home by 21 points.

The women’s basketball team is currently in fourth place of the Atlantic 10’s standings, but they will face some stiff competition before the end of the

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LIAM GRIFFIN STAFF WRITER

season. The Patriots still have to face each of the three teams that are ahead of them in the standings before the season’s close.

As the spring semester revs back into gear, the Patriot basketball teams are hitting the home stretch.

The men’s and women’s teams both have about ten games left in their season, and all of these games are against opponents in the Atlantic 10 conference. Coming out of the winter break, the Patriots are in a solid position approximately two-thirds of the way through the season.

VIRGINIA SENATE CONSIDERS BILLS PITCHED

BY MASON STUDENTS Policy issues include voter registration, free SAT’s and more ISABELLA LAMAGDELEINE STAFF WRITER

Chosen from a number of policy issues considered important to the institute, the issues represented in the students’ legislation range from the SATs to voting registration to interrogation of those in police custody. On Thursday, Jan. 18 and Friday, Jan. 19, the group traveled to Richmond to lobby for their bills, which have since been formally introduced to state congress and sent to committee.

Danielle Melton, a senior Government and International Politics major, introduced a bill that requires voter

registrars to notify rejected voting applicants within five business days by utilizing the person’s phone and email.

It became HB 272 and was introduced into the House by Del. Jennifer Boysko, D-86th District.

Melton said of her bill, “Right now, if you don’t have the correct address, there is no way to contact you if you were denied, and oftentimes, students still think they are waiting for their voter registration card, in e-mail, and it’ll come, and there’s no reason to worry.” Her bill is currently tabled, meaning that final action on the bill is indefinitely suspended.

Jamie Thomas and Rasheda Elsamahi, junior and sophomore Conflict Analysis and Resolution majors, also wrote a policy proposal that eventually became the bill HB 1118. In the proposed legislation, the SAT would be administered during the regular school day for all

juniors in Virginia public high schools, free of charge.

Elsamahi said of her bill, “In taking the SATs, college information is more accessible, and accessing financial information about universities is more accessible, and it starts the thinking process, helps you prepare. The exams are early Saturday mornings, they’re expensive, and it’s not easy to get to your testing site always.”

The legislation was primarily sponsored by Del. VanValkenburg, D-72nd District, and co-sponsored by Del. Keam, D-35th District, and Del. Guzman, D-31st District. The bill is still currently in subcommittee.

Finally, Andrew Millin, a junior Conflict Analysis and Resolution major, developed a bill that became SB 734. Millin’s bill creates protection for those in police custody during the interrogation process, and also

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Danielle Melton, Jamie Thomas, Rasheda Elsamahi, and Andrew Millin, all members of the Mason chapter of the think tank The Roosevelt Institute, pitched legislation to members of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates that were introduced as bills to the state legislature over winter break.

requires interrogations to be recorded.

Sponsored by Del. McClellan, D-9th District, the bill’s status was “Failed to Report” as of Jan. 17, 2018, meaning the bill’s designated committee has declined to bring a vote to the full legislature thus far.

The Roosevelt Institute is a nationally recognized think tank named after Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. It is the nonprofit partner to Roosevelt’s presidential library, which was the first

presidential library in the country, and the only one that was ever used by a sitting president. The think tank brings together notable individuals from a large variety of disciplines in order to get the best policy that they hope will one day shape the world. Roosevelt@ Mason, Mason’s chapter, focuses on writing and advocating policy, and raising awareness of important issues.

NEWS

WHO BENEFITS FROM THE HIGH COSTS OF TEXTBOOKS? A look at the price of professors assigning their own work OLIVIA BOOTH STAFF WRITER

The start of the new semester has Mason students spending hundreds of dollars on textbooks, but what if professors are unethically benefitting from assigning their own textbooks?

The potential for a conflict of interest arises when professors are motivated more by profit than by what is in the best interest of their students.

“Certainly it seems problematic if a professor would assign a text that he or she profited from and that was not useful to the class,” according to Andrew Novak, a professor here at Mason.

Novak assigns his own text, “The International Criminal Court: An Introduction”, in his CRIM 405 class. However, Novak explains that his motive is not profit-based because some publishers pay authors upfront, not in royalties from later sales. In this way, no matter how many students purchase the book, the professor will not earn any more money than what they were initially paid. This is the case for Springer, Novak’s own textbook publisher. In fact, The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) claims that any profit gained after a textbook is initially published is usually insubstantial.

This leaves the question of why professors choose to use their own material, if not for profit? AAUP maintains, “professors should assign readings that best meet the instructional goals of their courses, and they may

well conclude that what they themselves have written on a subject best realizes that purpose.” This is also the case for Novak, who says he uses his own text because he is “dissatisfied with all the other books on the International Criminal Court that were out there since they were written for law students or lawyers rather than undergraduates.”

Mason has received criticism for this before. In 2010, a Washington Post story by Daniel de Vise revealed that some faculty members complained about other Mason professors who required students to purchase brand new copies of their own texts for each class to use an online course access code.

Since that time, many other universities have adopted policies governing when and how a professor can benefit from assigning their own textbooks.

Virginia Tech demands that any materials written by a faculty member must be approved by several committees before it is assigned. On the other

hand, faculty at North Dakota State University are advised to donate any profits they receive from sales.

As of yet, Mason has not assumed any policies on the subject. Some, like Dr. Kimberly Mehlman, a Mason criminology professor, do not believe that such policies are necessary.

“As far as restrictions or rules on professors assigning their own books, I think it is a case by case basis. As long as the author/professor is a leading authority on the topic, I don’t see any problem with it,” said Mehlman.

Despite her beliefs that more specific policies are unnecessary, Mehlman donates all of her own textbook profits.

“As referenced in the acknowledgements section of the book, 50% of my profit is being donated to a human trafficking survivor scholarship administered by Soroptimist International of Woodbridge,” explained Mehlman.

“The other 50% is being donated across various other organizations, including TEAM SummerQuest, a program administered by Manassas City Police for at-risk youth.”

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BOARD OF VISITORS REVISES MASON’S TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN The plan promises to keep tuition costs low while increasing enrollments by 8,000 MICHAEL EBERHART NEWS EDITOR

Mason’s Board of Visitors met just before finals in December to update the school’s ten-year strategic plan, which began in 2014.

Part of the strategic plan includes keeping tuition “at or below the average of Virginia’s doctoral universities.” Mason’s current average tuition is $8,672 - an increase of $468 from 2017. The statewide average is $11,942, or 37.7 percent more than Mason.

As part of the plan, Mason’s enrollment is expected to reach 43,000 students by 2024 - an increase of more than 8,000 enrollments from the current year.

According to President Ángel Cabrera, Mason’s total enrollment has already grown by 7,000 students during the last ten years.

Virginia’s own strategic plan for higher education calls for an additional 100,000 graduates across the state in the next decade, and Mason is expected to make up half of the total enrollment growth in that time according to Cabrera.

President Cabrera began the meeting by emphasizing his commitment to Mason DREAMers and preserving DACA status for the several hundred students affected by changes to federal immigration policy. This included signing a letter to Congress from the American Council on Education “urging swift action on DACA legislation,” and joining with other university presidents to found the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration Reform.

Cabrera also commended the Schar School for its partnership with the Washington Post’s coverage of special elections in 2017, including its polling

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that correctly predicted Doug Jones’s victory margin against Roy Moore in Alabama’s senate race.

President Cabrera then addressed the success of the ADVANCE partnership between Mason and Northern Virginia Community College, with the goal of directly enrolling 2,500 students in the streamlined transfer program over the next six years. The first students to enroll will begin going through the admissions process at Mason for this year’s fall semester as part of 15 different undergraduate programs.

President Cabrera said that the university’s ten-year partnership with the Wiley company to provide online graduate programs will begin this month with three masters programs in business, education and health, and two available certificates programs.

Mason’s partnership with the Online Virginia Network also begins this spring semester with eleven undergraduate programs.

Another goal of the strategic plan is to increase the number of active learning classrooms - that incorporate technology like LCD displays and WiFi for individual students to participate and gain hands-on experience with the instructor - to 30 percent, up from 4.8 percent presently on campus. The board voted to close the existing BS program in athletic training and open a new masters of professional studies in applied organizational/industrial psychology program.

The Finance and Land Use committee also included an update from Chief of Police Carl Rowan Jr. that Mason police will be adding wearable body cameras and a new K9 to the force in 2018.

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VERONICA LEWIS: LOW VISION, HIGH ASPIRATIONS

Mason student spreads awareness for students with disabilities in higher education

HAILEY BULLIS STAFF WRITER

For Veronica Lewis, junior, life is just a little bit different. Lewis has low vision, a disability that she was diagnosed with when she was three years old. She was diagnosed with Accommodative Esotropia and in January 2017 she discovered she also had decompensated strabismus. Accommodative Esotropia is a common form of strabismus in children that causes the eyes to cross when trying to focus, according to the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. For most children the problem eventually corrects itself, in Lewis’s case, her vision rapidly declined.

Lewis was also diagnosed with Chiari

“In general, not a lot of people understand low vision and people would tell me, ‘Oh my goodness, you’re so high functioning. Your vision can’t be that bad.’ My response to the ‘oh my gosh you’re so high functioning’ is usually, ‘Oh thank you. So are you. I like to tell people, a person with low vision or blindness can do anything a sighted person can do except maybe drive a taxi. So really just a lack of information from people, a lack of awareness of low vision,” said Lewis.

Lewis chose Mason due to its extensive Disability Services Office.

“George Mason has been really helpful because I’ve never been told I can’t do something. All my professors have

However, while Lewis has had a positive experience at Mason, she found that other universities’ disability services offices did not provide the assistance she needed. One even told her to not apply to the school as they could not provide the proper accommodations for her, according to a blog post Lewis made in November 2016 titled, “Ten Questions to Ask When Choosing a College.”

Lewis hopes that other schools expand their Assistive Technology programs and start allowing more technology in the classroom, “I know that a lot of universities take a pencil and paper approach to learning and that’s not Mason. They encourage you to use as many tools as you can. I hope that more universities realize that technology is the future and allow students to use it more often,” she said. “I think that will help a lot with eliminating accessibility barriers as well.”

To help spread awareness, Lewis created a blog called Veroniiiica.

“I created a blog called Veronica With Four Eyes, the url is veroniiiica.com.

I created that website to share what I had learned and write about the intersections of technology, education, and

FOURTH ESTATE/HAILEY BULLIS

Lewis, an Information Technology major, wants to raise awareness about low vision and people with disabilities.

never treated me differently in a bad way because I have low vision. They would give me all the materials I need and everything in an accessible format.

So, I could just do it myself and I’ve also had a lot of incredible people mentoring me at Mason,” said Lewis.

disability. I try to share several posts a week and just tell people ‘Hey this is stuff I wish people would’ve told me when I was younger. I’m telling you this now.’

“So my blog has had an incredible reach with over 50,000 readers from all over the world,” Lewis said. Lewis’s blog focuses on those with disabilities and provides them with information and tips they might not have thought of.”

Another project Lewis worked on to spread awareness includes a feature with Microsoft in which she was one of six students whose stories were shared on Microsoft’s website. In the video feature,

Lewis tells viewers how she uses many Microsoft programs to help her in her education. One of those programs includes “Sway.” Besides Microsoft programs, Lewis uses her iPad, phone, video magnifiers, desktop and laptop computers, and a blindness cane with a rolling tip to get around campus.

Lewis also talks about her disability at panels, such as Future Quest in 2017, and will talk at more panels in 2018.

Her goal is to be a role model to show students that, “there is no such thing as your ideal low vision student, we’re all different and that’s okay,” said Lewis.

FOURTH ESTATE/HAILEY BULLIS

FOURTH ESTATE/HAILEY BULLIS

Malformation when she was 18. Chiari Malformation essentially occurs “ …when part of the skull is smaller than normal or misshapen, which forces the cerebellum to be pushed down into the foramen magnum and spinal canal,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

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CHIPOTLE ARRIVES AT MASON Open seven days a week, students can eat burritos and more at the Johnson Center food court BASMA HUMADI ASSISTANT LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Chipotle opened on campus Thursday, Jan. 18, at 10:45 a.m just in time to feed hungry students this spring. The restaurant is located in the Johnson Center food court and open seven days a week from 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Photo courtesy of SAMANTHA HARRIS

“Chipotle offers a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads made from natural ingredients raised or grown with care and respect for the environment,” said Quinn Kelsey, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s PR and Communication Manager.

“By preparing, cooking, and serving nutritious food, Chipotle fulfills its purpose to cultivate nourished communities (and now, campuses!) where wholesome food is enjoyed every day,” Kelsey said.

Mason’s Chipotle will serve the franchise’s newest menu item, Queso.

The opening is also historic, as it will be only be the second Chipotle opened on a college campus.

“We’re always looking for new places where we can serve delicious food and establish new local partnerships, and the George Mason University campus is a great fit,” Kelsey said. “We’re looking forward to creating a presence on the campus and becoming involved with the student body!”

Students could also benefit from career opportunities with Chipotle, which offers financial assistance through tuition reimbursement program.

“We take pride in our program that helps our team members earn college credits to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees,” Kelsey said.

“Between Chipotle’s existing tuition reimbursement program and federal grants for those who qualify, Chipotle employees can pay as little as $250 per year to go to college.”

With all it has to offer, Mason students are just as excited for chips and guac to be a part of their afternoon snacking as the Chipotle team is to make its mark at Mason.

NIC’S FLICKS NIC MACOTTO STAFF WRITER

Star Wars: The Last Jedi does what the second chapter of any film trilogy should do. Despite having a surprising amount of swearing and one or two storylines that goes on for an extended length, there is much to praise about the latest addition to the popular saga. Director Rian Johnson brings us a tale with awesome action sequences and gorgeous visual effects while containing good character growth. The values of hope and hopelessness are stressed in a manner similar to The Empire Strikes Back (1980) while also seeing how the characters struggle with their inner angels and demons. [Star Rating: 3/4] The Post is a timeless film. The issues regarding the press and the government are prevalent now but this film shows us how it was a conflict decades ago and continues to this very day. Feelings of tension and paranoia were as evident during Nixon’s presidency as they are now. Led by a graceful performance from Meryl Streep, this political thriller takes us for a ride and reveals the valiance of these protagonists as the war on press started to take place. [Star Rating: 3.5/4]

Photo courtesy of SAMANTHA HARRIS

12 Strong sounded fictitious at first, but it is truly an amazing story. Two worlds collide and bring out a partnership between the main characters, both of whom lead their military squadrons. Their connection brings up the topics of Islamophobia and xenophobia while also deconstructing them. With decent performances and a blend between western and war thriller genres, it is worth-seeing to honor its real life heroes and the bond America and Afghanistan could have with each other. [Star Rating: 3/4]

KEY 4 = Great; 3 = Good; 2 = Fair; 1 = Poor; 0 = Ooh, let’s not go there

FOURTH ESTATE/MARY JANE DECARLO

After much anticipation, speculation, and anguish, the day has finally come.

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FLOWERS FOSTERED WITH LOVE AT FARIDA FLORAL

FOURTH ESTATE/CAT TONG

Mason student and her mother launch a floral business in Fairfax County ANGELIQUE ARINTOK STAFF WRITER

With Valentine’s Day approaching, local flower shops like Farida Floral cater to creating special and memorable moments for their clients.

Farida Floral was established in January 2017

by Farida in the Northern Virginia area. Farida initially worked as a university professor in her home country in central Asia. However, her talent and passion for creative work in the realms of fashion, design, and floral arrangements is what ultimately led to the conceptualization of Farida Floral here in the United States.

“I remember growing up she decorated our home with all kinds of floral arrangements,” said Akeda, Farida’s business partner and daughter.

Farida worked at two floral shops previous to starting her business with Akeda, a Mason student.

While working at the shops, Farida realized the impact she could make on the floral industry regarding her focus on quality and genuine care towards clientele, business partners, and staff.

Collaboration between Farida and Akeda showcase the duo as pioneering business women who take charge of the company’s central operations. Beyond Akeda’s role as a Mason biology student, she has extended her skills by pouring passion into the family business. Akeda even took time off from school when the business kick-started.

“This journey has made me courageous, and made me see my full potential,” Akeda said.

As soon as Farida made the decision to start her own business, she immediately gave her daughter Akeda a phone call.

Photos courtesy of FARIDA FLORAL

“When my mom called me and told me that she was starting a flower business, I was extremely excited and started getting the documents ready right away,” Akeda shared.

The process from concept to commodity happened quickly for Farida Floral. Within a week, operations quickly started and shortly thereafter, the mother-daughter duo held an open house showcase for about 20-30 flower arrangements that Farida customized. Since then, the business has grown unimaginably both in success and staff.

On its one-year anniversary as a business this month, Farida Floral expanded by taking on two more employees, including Graciela Billingsley, a Mason sophomore.

Despite entering an unfamiliar environment in the United States, Akeda and Farida demonstrate that in spite of challenges, the love and passion behind a family dynamic bleeds into the heart of a business.

The mother-daughter dynamic behind Farida Floral “understand[s] that every order has a significant meaning to the sender and recipient,” Akeda said.

Farida Floral’s creations are colorful, fresh, and eye-catching. With a range of glass vase arrangements, flower boxes, mix & wraps, and even unique Ecuadorian roses that last one year, there are plenty options to select from.

“We are here to support customers in putting together an exquisite experience whether it is a wedding, birthday, anniversary, holiday, or any special day of celebration,” Akeda added.

Bouquets and handmade floral formations range from $35 to a few hundred dollars. Farida Floral is also willing to work with clients in customizing an order that fits their budget.

For more information on Akeda and Farida’s family-oriented floral business, visit their website at faridafloral.com and Instagram account @ faridafloral.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: RAMEN FACTORY 42 CAT TONG STAFF WRITER

Growing weary of cup ramen noodles, as the typical college diet goes, I decided to go out for a change. I ventured into Falls Church to visit the “hot & new” restaurant as declared on Yelp, Ramen Factory 42. I heard this was the place for authentic Japanese ramen, with a twist. Perfectly fitting for the coldest days and even on a normal day, it is a warm, soothing, filling meal that tastes like home.

and never deviate too far from what they specialize in. Some honorable mentions include the Kagawa Special Shoyu Ramen and the RF42 Miso Ramen.

They offer each bowl of ramen with two options for the noodles: house-made wheat noodles and green tea noodles.

*Shoyu Ramen – The chicken bone soup base was tasty, along with the seafood marinate in soy sauce. The beef teriyaki was a weird touch. A Upon entrance, the ambience is commendable. lighter soup than the rest, comes with toppings: Providing a tasteful hipster-like yet simple interior sweet egg, green onion, radish, and dried seaweed. decor, the soft lighting and subtle nuances of *Tonkotsu Ramen - A very unique broth, with Japanese culture in every corner of the restau- a thicker and milkier base. It was savory with a rant, Ramen Factory 42 creates a really inviting garlicky taste. The lemon was a nice touch, the atmosphere. Featuring artists like the late Nujabes, citrus added a lighter element to such a heavy a Japanese DJ combining hip-hop with jazz to meal. The egg had an interesting taste, it did say introduce more modern tones balanced with “sweet egg” thus the reason for the flavoring. The traditional Japanese music. The back wall is filled green tea noodles made the dish more aesthetically with classic Japanese films, and memorabilia pleasing, with the contrast in color, but didn’t make from Hayao Miyazaki’s animated works. Ramen a significant contribution towards the taste of the Factory 42 showed a lot of thought when it came dish. to the design.

The number 42 in the restaurant’s name was As for the menu, it was short and simple. Like inspired by “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the most authentic ramen houses, they have a small Galaxy”, in which 42 is famously the answer to list of their main ramen dishes, a few appetizers, life, the universe and everything.

FOURTH ESTATE/CAT TONG

Photos courtesy of FARIDA FLORAL

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LIFESTYLE

09

FIVE SIMPLE STEPS TO FIND MOTIVATION

OSCAR NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Solutions that make you work smarter

WAFIR SALIH STAFF WRITER

CHRISTINE VIRAY STAFF WRITER

As you continue to get more notifications from Blackboard and less from your favorite social media outlets, you probably wish that winter break was longer. You might even feel demotivated after looking through the syllabus of one of your courses. But no matter what kind of student you are, there are a lot of simple ways to find motivation to help you through the new year and semester.

While motivation might seem like a short-term desire, you can make it continuous by reading about these five effective ways to help you raise or maintain your current GPA. Even if you plan to graduate soon, you can still apply these methods to your lifestyle because they are not exclusive to college coursework and are meant to help you become more productive.

1. Make a calendar This step might seem too easy or unnecessary, especially since people hand out free Mason-themed planners around campus. But instead of focusing on just the planner, you should also make a list that shows how many weeks are in the semester. By doing this, you will get a visual of how the long the semester is, which will make it seem less intimidating.

When the week is finally over, you can cross it off and see how many weeks are left until the semester is over. The best part about this simple step is that you would be one step closer to the next break—or even summer.

2. Think long-term While you should always focus on an assignment, you should not think

FOURTH ESTATE/MARY JANE DECARLO

1.29.2018

about how tedious it is. Instead of procrastinating or giving yourself unnecessary stress, you should consider how much free time you could have in the future if you finish the assignment right away. Not only will this tip help you get the motivation you need to complete the assignment, but it will also help you overcome procrastination.

3. Reward yourself There will always be those days when you find yourself having to finish a large amount of work in a short amount of time. If that’s not stressful enough, the workload could be from more than one class. Splitting up the workload and rewarding yourself after each assignment that you finish is one way that you can get through situations like these.

4. Read a self-help book There’s nothing to be embarrassed about if someone catches you reading a self-help book, even if it may have a title like one of Dale Carnegie’s books, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” In most cases, books that fall under the self-help category are motivational and life changing, and they will only help you if you choose to help yourself by

applying the principles that are discussed in the book.

It’s also important to note that you do not necessarily have to read the whole book in a single setting—you can read at least a chapter or thirty minutes a day. You can also think about how reading can help improve your writing skills, which is useful in both classroom and work environments.

5. Challenge your friends or classmates When I say “challenge”, I’m not talking about rushing to finish off an assignment. What you want to do is work effectively in the available amount of time and challenge your friends or classmates to do the same.

When you make your goals public to people, this will motivate you to keep your word because you will not want to “lose” the challenge of meeting the goal you set. If your friends or classmates decide to “compete”, then this will also help them become motivated in doing their work.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced the nominees for this year’s 90th Oscar Awards.

The eight films nominated for best picture include Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape Of Water” with 13 nominations, followed by “Dunkirk” with eight nominations and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven nominations.

Jordan Peele is making history as the fifth black director ever nominated for Best Director with his breakout horror film, “Get Out.” The movie shocked moviegoers last year with its depiction of modern racism. Many fans are holding out hope that “Get Out” wins best picture. The last and only horror film to win that Oscar was “The Silence of The Lambs” in 1991.

Greta Gerwig, director of “Lady Bird,” also made history as the fifth woman to ever be nominated for Best Director. “Lady Bird” won the golden globe for “Best motion picture.”

In a surprising twist, James Franco was not nominated for best leading actor in “The Disaster Artist”. A nomination seemed guaranteed, especially after all the accolades he received this awards season.

Franco won Best Actor at the Golden Globes and at the Critics Choice Awards, and those award shows typically provide a glimpse into who the Academy nominates.

However, after a number of sexual assault allegations and with the growing influence of the #MeToo movement, it seems the Oscars made a conscious choice not to nominate him. This decision is definitely an interesting one, given that Casey Affleck was nominated by the Academy for best actor last year and won despite facing similar allegations at the time.

The Oscars - hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will be televised March 4 on ABC.

FOURTH ESTATE/ALLY MCALPIINE

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

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LIFESTYLE

1.29.2018

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

MASON STUDENTS SHARE TIPS...

HUONG CAO STAFF WRITER

Here are some tips on planning, choosing a club or organization to get involved with, and professional development from upperclassmen students to help you kick off the new semester.

1. Stay On Top of Schoolwork To stay on top of schoolwork, printing new syllabuses and writing due dates of big projects and assignments in your agenda is a great way to plan ahead.

Tashara Bully, a senior balancing a job and schoolwork agrees.

“I use a planner or reminders in my phone to schedule things one week in advance. I have to make sure things are in order and using a planner or my phone helps me plan things out.”

Tiarra Lowery suggested looking at the syllabus weekly to see what is coming.

“If you know the deadline of a big project is coming, just start brainstorming how to approach and prepare for the assignment even if you cannot do it right away,” Lowery added.

2. Get Involved at Mason’s Diverse Campus

FOURTH ESTATE/BILLY FERGUSON

In addition to planning to succeed

academically, Mason students will miss out if they do not take advantage of the diverse community on campus.

With 350 organizations and clubs at Mason, choosing which clubs to join is a challenging task.

To help those who are still looking for a club, Bully suggested looking at an organization or a club’s social media channels to see what they do. By searching online, students could also see the value and mission of an organization. For Bully, inclusion is very important.

“I hope on-campus organizations have diverse group members and are organized,” Bully added.

3. Be Patient

FOURTH ESTATE/ALLIE THOMPSON

As a new semester has started, Mason students are getting adjusted to their stressful but exciting college life.

Whether you are a senior trying to balance school and part-time jobs or a freshman starting their college experience, Fourth Estate feels your worries.

MLK COMMEMORATION WEEK CELEBRATES DR. KING’S WORK

In regards to professional development, Bully suggested not being afraid if one feels like he or she is slower than others and to avoid any comparison.

DINANDA PRAMESTI LIFESTYLE EDITOR

“Find out what you want to do and be more patient with yourself. If it’s meant to be, it will be,” Bully said. Lowery shared that students need to be their own advocates and constantly improve themselves.

The Office of Diversity of Inclusion and Multicultural Education (ODIME) organized a week-long event to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of justice and inclusivity.

“Some people get ahead and some people are behind, but it is okay to be behind,” Lowery said. “The most important thing is to believe in yourself, and to make improvement at your own pace.”

Martin Luther King Jr. 2018 Commemoration week started on Jan. 20, where they honored Dr. King’s legacy by participating in Mason’s MLK Day of Service at Women Giving Back (WGB) in Sterling, VA. WGB’s mission is to support women and children in crisis, while also building their confidence and self-esteem by providing free clothing.

ODIME organized week-long Mason event honoring Dr. King.

On Monday, Jan. 22, ODIME hosted the Unify and Amplify Silent Listening Party. According to Mason’s MLK Day website, “music has long since been a tool of unity and amplifying the voices of marginalized cultures.” This is why “Unify + Amplify” is the theme for this year’s commemoration. On this day, they listened to “songs and music that have moved the culture from then until now, Silent Disco style.”

According to ODIME Assistant Director to Programming Dr. Michelle Allen, “This commemoration is something that the office has done for years, I just started in September, but from my understanding, this has been a long-standing

thing that our office has spearheaded.

What we try to emphasize is that this program is a campus wide event.”

“What we did was [bringing] all this campus constituents together to plan the event. So, people helping with this event would be like SAIL, the Honors College, Student Government, Parking and Transportation, all of University Life, and all of these offices come together. We’ve been planning this commemoration since the middle or beginning of October.”

This year, ODIME wanted to do five or six events to concentrate the effort of driving home the message of Dr. King.

“The theme is ‘Unify + Amplify: We Must Speak’ to get people to understand that Dr. King worked with a lot of different constituency groups to speak towards equity and purity and social justice.” She then added the ‘We Must Speak’ means that “we must speak up and resist against structures of racism, sexism, classism, and so on,” Allen said.

According to an email from intercultural communication professor Mark Hopson, the keynote speaker for the Evening of Reflection on Jan. 24 was Kevin Powell. Powell is one of the most acclaimed political, cultural, literary, and hip hop voices in America today.

He has written 12 books including a memoir about his life.

Along with his extensive and prolific

published works, he also travels nationally and internationally speaking at colleges, corporations, and various institutions.

“The Evening of Reflection [event] is primarily an opportunity for us to reward the acts and legacy of Dr. King by honoring the spirit of King on this campus. We give out awards this year to student organizations, alumni, faculty, staff, and give out one award for someone who is an upperclassman and one award to someone who may be a Freshman or Sophomore,” Allen said.

The Evening of Reflection also honored awards for student organizations that have done outstanding service projects.

During the evening, Kevin Powell spoke with vigor about social justice, how we must speak against oppression, and support those who have been oppressed.

“We would be hypocrites to sit here and celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King and talk about justice, freedom, and equality and not talk about all forms of oppression, all forms of discrimination, all forms of hatred, not just what is convenient for you.”

The evening was filled with education about forms of oppression and how we must progress towards a just and equal society by uplifting and supporting one another.

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OPINIONS

1.29.2018

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

Opinions do not reflect the views of Fourth Estate. Submit opinions to jbelive2@gmu.edu

DUMP YOUR SPORTS TEAM, LOVE FOOTBALL AGAIN ALEXANDER KENNY COLUMNIST

Just dump your team.

Thirty-one out of 32 teams have an unhappy end to their season and it’s more fun to back a winner. I’m not suggesting you should retroactively love the Super Bowl winners every year.

I’m suggesting you can arbitrarily love any new team just as your arbitrary birthplace probably determined the perpetual disappointments you love now.

Your fandom resembles the spouse who always forgives the cheating bum.

If you’re a Redskins fan, sixteen times a year you say, “okay, but this is the last time.” The home team, like all teams, is comprised of mercenaries. The home team is simply the most visible. They don’t represent you, their wins are not your wins, and you’re not getting a cut

of that paycheck. This isn’t Sparta versus Athens where the outcome determines property rights.

Let’s make sports fun again. I’d like to help you choose your new favorite team.

Some choose teams based on semi-manufactured ideology. In the 90’s, bad-boys followed the L.A. Raiders possibly because the team committed a record number of violent personal fouls or possibly because N.W.A. sported Raiders gear. Green Bay & Pittsburgh represent blue collar ideals because meat packers and steel boilers work hard. If you’re interested in social reform and kneeling, I recommend tuning in to San Francisco.

For 1.5 seasons, Denver championed deeply cherished Christianity because a different player also insisted on kneeling (this time they called it “Tebow-ing”).

New Orleans fans suddenly appeared two years after Hurricane Katrina, sympathetic towards an underdog. If you like hugs, apologies from strangers, and Eeyore, your team is the Cleveland Browns. To earn attention via contrarianism, you might find it fun being a Dallas Cowboys fan. Sure, you seem obnoxious and Redskins fans will ask, “have you even been to Dallas?” but

FOURTH ESTATE/BILLY FERGUSON

For many, choosing who to cheer for this Super Bowl Sunday feels like the 2016 election. The New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles are the most hated football teams in history (except for Michael Vick’s 2007 Falcons and Adrian Peterson’s 2015 Vikings).

Contentions run this deep: The Patriots win too often and Eagles fans are notoriously unpleasant. One of these teams will have happy fans on February 4th and you could be one of them.

you will meet everyone at the party by wearing Dallas gear. There’s more here, but you get the picture. One can align oneself with oddly specific values via team selection.

A team image is often assigned the values of its most visible players. A team has greater appeal when both a hero and an anti-hero emerge and sports writers like to create a buddy-cop drama between the two.

The immobile, chubby QB is balanced by a graceful safety better known for his luxurious hair (Ben Roethlisberger & Troy Polamalu). The intelligent,

calm QB needs a smashmouth counterpart known for his predator pose and luxurious hair (Aaron Rodgers & Clay Matthews). The bleached receiver with the stickiest fingers pairs well with the insanely lucky QB who perpetually needed a haircut two weeks ago (Odell Beckham Jr & Eli Manning). Unwieldy locks are a major factor when choosing your new team. Distinctive hair earns camera time, hence household familiarity, hence Adidas contracts.

the third quarter. Bill Belichick ordered a very rude fourth down conversion and frowned when he got the first down. Exciting, unpredictable, possibly evil. This is the team I want to watch.

Most Sundays in autumn, I join the rowdy family next door, including fiveyear-old Justin, to watch football and eat Doritos with hot cheese. When asked which team he likes, Justin responded: “I like the team that wins.”

He is the happiest sports fan I know.

This year I am a Patriots fan. I dumped the Lions and chose the Patriots Nov. 8, 2007 when they led 35-7 over Buffalo in

NEW RESOLUTIONS

FOURTH ESTATE/BILLY FERGUSON

SUSAN KATHERINE CORKRAN COLUMNIST

Unless your New Year’s resolutions have included shunning social media, you have probably already stumbled upon the updates, posts, and shares all latching onto the same revered goal of 2018—perfecting the body. Whether this means shedding pounds until the bathroom scale’s daily numbers conform to the imposed standards or gaining muscles at a superhero serum-induced rate, the goal of achieving the “perfect” body is quite the recycled objective. Each January brings a wave of newly-bought gym memberships while salad fixings and rice cakes find their way into shopping carts. It seems like a social convention, or collective punishment, after a festive season of sugar cookies and exam stress snacking.

My objection to this common goal is not born out of annoyance from repeated gym-selfie spam filling my feeds. Instead, what I object to is the

idea that all of us are nothing more than a handful of measurements (weight, waistline, and on and on) that must be changed until we are “perfect.”

I propose an alternative to this resolution: seeking peace over “perfection” and stable, good health over someone else’s demands for your body.

Everyone has their own unique needs in life—from how many calories our body requires to make it through the day to the kinds of rest needed to keep our mental health in check. There is no one magic diet or gym routine that is tailored for all mankind—so there should not be one set of standards to which we hold ourselves and others.

Ultimately, the way we treat others and ourselves is the only thing that can offer a lasting form of beauty. That simply cannot be found within a photo or a mirror’s reflection.

The beginning of a new year is also not the only time that we should examine

our life, our choices, and our satisfaction with what we have accomplished in our time here. Each day is a new chance to set goals, however great or small, and work towards achieving them. Perhaps this means taking the time to read a new book, just for fun, instead of idly surfing YouTube. It could mean finding the courage to go to an unfamiliar club or school activity that you worried you would be too shy to join before. Maybe it is even as small as just sitting outside for a moment or two and enjoying this unique time in our lives. As college students, we have chances available to us that we won’t have again later in life. Instead of staring anxiously at the shape of our bodies, it would be time well spent to actively take part in shaping our life experiences.

OPINIONS

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

1.29.2018

Opinions do not reflect the views of Fourth Estate. Submit opinions to jbelive2@gmu.edu

13

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE: WHAT CAN YOU DO TO NOT BE DUPED? News and reports on Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election has been unwavering for much of 2017 and so far in 2018. Investigations, intelligence reports, sensationalized news, etc. have plagued our screens.

These reports may seem unimportant to the average American on either side of the isle - an issue for politicians and the intelligence community to tackle, not an issue for regular Americans.

In early January 2017, the Intelligence Community (IC) released an unclassified assessment of Russia’s influence on the presidential election. The report details a multifaceted effort through both cyber attacks such as hacking into

FOURTH ESTATE/MARY JANE DECARLO

That cannot be further from the truth.

Foreign influence in our election has everything to do with the average

American. We were the targets of a sophisticated network of undue influence on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. No matter which party you support, these influences degrade the American political system and further polarize our already divided nation.

the Democratic National Committee’s emails as well as a network of internet trolls targeting Americans’ social media feeds. The targeting of social media feeds is arguably the most accessible and most relevant issue to the everyday American.

According to the IC report, “Russia used trolls as well as Russia Today as part of its influence efforts to denigrate Secretary Clinton. This effort amplified stories on scandals about Secretary Clinton and the role of WikiLeaks in the election campaign.”

The combined efforts of Russia Today, a state-funded media outlet, and the internet trolls resulted in potentially millions of Americans being influenced by sensationalized, sometimes false, information on presidential candidates. Throughout the campaign, Russia Today’s English-language site, which can reportedly reach around 85 million Americans, published several videos discrediting the American electoral system and Hillary Clinton,

VIRGINIA NEEDS TUITION REFORM NOW

VA SENATOR BILL DESTEPH CONTRIBUTOR

Last year, almost two dozen colleagues from both sides of the aisle and both Houses of the General Assembly came together to support the radical idea that a degree from one of Virginia’s public colleges or universities shouldn’t come with a virtual lifetime of student debt.

We also called for more accountability and openness with respect to tuition decisions, and said it wouldn’t be out of order to listen to what Virginia’s students and their parents thought about the spiraling cost of a degree.

colleges and universities, is headed back to Richmond to lobby the General Assembly to loosen the reins and reject requirements for financial accountability.

It didn’t take long for our state-funded colleges and their lobbyists to rush to Richmond to paint yet another rosy picture, offer promises to contain costs and do better, and suggest yet another study. A year later, the paint has peeled, promises have been broken, and another study is collecting legislative dust.

Last month, the University of Virginia’s board of visitors voted unanimously to raise tuition for nursing students by almost 18 percent. That decision comes at a time when there will soon be a shortage of nursing professionals as demands on the healthcare industry increase. And given the resources at that university’s disposal, that makes absolutely no sense. Over 15 years, tuition and fees at the College of William and Mary have increased 344 percent, while the consumer price index went up only 35 percent. There’s something predatory about the costs of a degree rising at such an astronomical rate.

Along the way, Virginia families and bright kids who want and deserve an affordable education are being priced out of the academic marketplace we fund with our tax dollars. Multiple studies conclude the high-tuition, high-aid model actually hurts low-income students.

Now a “business group,” which serves as a front for the same public

Yes, really.

Administrators and Boards of Visitors have become dangerously focused on expanding the budgets of the universities they run, often at the expense of the students they are meant to serve.

Examples abound, but here are two.

It’s been said that our colleges and universities are among Virginia’s greatest resources, and we would

never dispute the need to invest in their futures. At the same time, we have a greater obligation to ensure that Virginia’s children can actually afford to use them as pathways to brighter futures.

This year, we are not alone. During the recent gubernatorial election, both candidates made clear their concerns about the escalating cost of a college degree, and our next governor has already committed to holding tuition steady for Virginia’s full-time, in-state students who attend a four-year school.

That’s an important first step, if he follows through, but we need to do more for the 252,000 students who attend Virginia’s community colleges.

They are people of all ages and all walks of life who are just as motivated as their four-year brethren. Community college tuition can be just as daunting a challenge that stands between a two-year degree or a certificate attesting to training and a skill. Depending on the school, tuition has increased from 246 to 349 percent over the last 15 years. And as we seek to re-energize our economy and create broadly-based opportunities and jobs, community college and four-year degrees should be financial realities for all Virginians.

and generally fueling discontent.

This is an issue bigger than any one candidate or political party, it is an issue of our election integrity. The idea that a sophisticated network of foreign-funded trolls and news networks could possibly influence millions of Americans’ views of presidential candidates is quite scary. The idea that my Facebook feed could have been infiltrated by Russia in an effort to sway my opinions in a domestic election is disheartening.

As college students, we are well-versed in research, whether for writing an essay or looking up answers on Quizlet.

It is important we use these skills to determine whether the stories we read on Facebook or that we retweet on Twitter are accurate and as unbiased as possible.

Before you retweet, upvote, or share an article, make sure you read it first.

Often times, some of these articles will have clickbait titles designed to make

you angry or upset without even having to read the article. For example, Russia Today’s article “Assange: Clinton & ISIS funded by same money, Trump won’t be allowed to win” is sensationally titled.

Additionally, much like you would for a research project, ensure that the sources you read from are credible news networks.

Finally, if there are any over-the-top claims in an article, research them before believing them to ensure they are not just rumors or unfounded exaggerations.

No matter which party, candidate or idea you support, we can alleviate the influence that foreign entities have on the average American by researching.

Do not let Russia decide who you will vote for. It is critical that foreign actors have as little influence on our elections as possible to continue to strengthen and preserve the integrity of our democratic process.

That’s why I introduced three senate bills (SB) to address tuition affordability. The bills essentially prohibit any percentage increase in in-state tuition that exceeds the annual percentage increase of the Average Consumer Price Index (SB 373), median household income in the Commonwealth (SB 377), and national average wage index (SB 577).

We need you, the students of Virginia’s public colleges and universities, to speak out and get loud.

Please call your state senators and delegates to express your desire for tuition reform. As we’ve seen over the past year, when citizens organize and mobilize they can be powerful drivers of change. It is simply wrong for Virginia’s students and their families to continue bearing the burden of unconscionable tuition increases — at precisely a time when college affordability should be a basic economic imperative. The General Assembly has a clear and obvious responsibility to meet these concerns.

This year, we can do better. And must.

FOURTH ESTATE/BILLY FERGUSON

CHRIS KERNAN-SCHMIDT COLUMNIST

Senator Bill DeSteph is a state senator representing the 8th District in Virginia’s General Assembly. You can email him at contactbill@billdesteph. com. Discover your state senator and delegate at http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/

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ETC.

Recipe of the Week

LAST ISSUE’S CROSSWORD

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

Obtained from The Times Chilli Cheese Toast Ingredients: • 2-3 hot green chillies, finely chopped • A squirt of fresh lemon juice • Butter, softened • 1 slice of sourdough bread • 1 slice of monterey jack or swiss cheese 1. Using a pestle and mortar, mash together the chillies, lemon juice and a pinch of salt to create a relish.

2. Generously butter one side of the bread.

Spread 1 heaped tsp of the chilli relish on the other side of the slice, then top it with the slice of cheese.

3. Toast the bread, buttered side down, in a covered pan over a medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then uncover and cook for a further minute.

Remove from the pan. Slice diagonally and garnish each triangle with a dollop of relish.

LAST ISSUE’S GO FIGURE!

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ETC.

LAST ISSUE’S MAGIC MAZE

LAST ISSUE’S SUDOKU

1.29.2018

COMICS FOURTH ESTATE/BILLY FERGUSON

15

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Meet Student Media’s editors, DJs, writers, student leaders, and faculty advisers, learn how to get involved, and enjoy FREE pizza and drinks at our Spring Open House!

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