Mason Runs on Coke A look at the contract that makes Coke the official beverage provider at Mason. NEWS• Page 2
Battle of Bands Winner Shines
Basketball Welcomes New Player
Broadside gets the scoop on student band that played Mason Day. STYLE • Page 6
Washington Post’s All-Met Player of the Year Patrick Holloway to play for Mason. SPORTS • Page 11
George Mason University’s Student Newspaper www.broadsideonline.com
April 30, 2012
Volume 88 Issue 23
Hot Chelle Rae Plays Mason Day Over 2,500 Attend Annual Event
Plan Developed in Conjunction With Dept. of Corrections
Krista Germanis Broadside Correspondent
Michael Lagana
The 47th annual Mason Day was a success despite the chilly weather and the threat of rain. The games, rides, entertainment and music were enjoyed by all. Another big draw for students was free food available at carts set up by various restaurants and other organizations on the crowded grounds. The offerings included ice cream, funnel cakes, popcorn, snow cones, pizza, cotton candy and many other types of junk food college students love. “I really liked the cheeseburgers, popcorn and funnel cake,” said senior integrative studies major Michelle Pineiro. “The fried doughnuts were good. I liked that they were warm!” “I got a burger, a snow cone, a bag of chips and some cake,” said junior communication major Willie Southard.
See MASON DAY Page 6
Staff Writer
Photo by: Stephen Kline
Hot Chelle Rae played Mason Day Friday. The band, known for its single “Tonight, Tonight,” played to a crowd after hours of fun and games. Over 2,500 people attended Mason Day this year.
Stearns to Remain Provost for 2013-14 Decision Made in Part to Ease Presidential Transition Justin Lalputan News Editor Provost Peter Stearns announced on Wednesday that he will stay on for an additional year as provost of George Mason University. Originally, Stearns was supposed to step down in 2013, a year after the departure of President Alan Merten, who will officially end his tenure as president this June. “Until fairly recently, I assumed that I would retire as provost in June 2013. At one point, I was going to [step down] this June. At one point, President Merten was going to leave in 2013,” Stearns said. “In which case, I would have left this year because I think having the president and provost leave in the same year is needlessly complicated.” The plan now is for Stearns to step down as provost in June 2014. According to Stearns, there are two main reasons for the change in plan. “I like the job, and there are still things that I want to personally accomplish,” Stearns said. One of the things that Stearns wants to accomplish is the Songdo expansion, which is slated to begin in fall 2015.
The second reasons concerns President-elect Ángel Cabrera. “President-elect Cabrera’s transition will be complicated. I think he will be a splendid president, and I enjoy working with him,” Stearns said. “But there’s a lot about the place he doesn’t know, as he acknowledges, and having a little more continuity, I hope, will be helpful for him and provide some transitional stability for Mason, as well.” Stearns said that in a year, it will be easier for Mason to deal with him stepping down as provost. According to Stearns, if he followed through with the original plan to step down in June 2013, the search for a new provost would have to begin as soon as Cabrera enters office. Conducting such a search might have proved challenging for a new president. However, once Cabrera has been president for a year, the search process will not be as difficult. According to Stearns, most people took his announcement that he intends to step down in 2013 as a reasonable personal decision, but some said it would have been nice for him to stay on a little longer. Stearns said, however, that he has already accomplished many important things in
his time at Mason. “Propelling Mason into a much wider range and visibility in the area of global activities [is one of my great accomplishments],” Stearns said. “But I think it’s at least as important that we’ve made the transition to become a major research and doctoral institution.” Since he announced his decision to stay on for an additional year, the reaction has been mostly positive for Stearns. “A number of people have contacted me in very flattering ways,” Stearns said. “But who’s going to contact me and say, ‘My God, this is awful’? But the reaction so far has been very fulfilling.” Stearns said that the most pressing challenge for him and other administrators in his two remaining years at Mason will be to put Mason on a different financial footing. “I won’t be able to do that,” Stearns said. “There’s no way that job is going to be finished in two years, but I think we can make some inroads on some more innovative budget thinking — that’s my real hope. Most other things are going along pretty well, and I hope that we can continue to push them in the right direction.”
Photo Courtesy of: Erin Cantwell
Provost Peter Stearns has announced he will remain as provost through spring 2014. He has been at Mason since 2000. After his tenure as provost he will return to the history faculty.
Center for the Arts Unveils 2012-13 Schedule Features Over 50 National, International Artists Heather Blevins C2M Copy Editor The Mason Center for the Arts unveiled its 2012-13 season of performances last week at a press conference attended by faculty and supporters of performing arts at Mason. The 2012-13 Great Performances at Mason season will feature over 50 performances by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists from across the globe. “I’m thrilled to reveal a fantastic season of performances with a range of extraordinarily diverse offerings from The Acad-
Mason Students, Profs Address Problems in Va. Correctional System
emy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble to The Blind Boys of Alabama. From the Russian National Ballet Theatre to Savion Glover to Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and everything in between,” said Tom Reynolds, Center for the Arts director of artistic programming, marketing and audience services. The Great Performances at Mason season comprises nine performing arts series, beginning in September 2012 and continuing through May 2013. The April 12 press conference and luncheon took place in the lobby of the Center for the Arts building on Mason’s Fairfax cam-
pus. The event began with an introduction from William Reeder, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, who acknowledged the collective efforts of the Center for the Arts staff and sponsors before welcoming George Mason University President Alan Merten to say a few words about the facility. “It takes a village,” Reeder said. “None of this would be possible without the excellent underwriting that we receive from our sponsors, who recognize the value that the arts have in the lives of their customers and employees.” Merten thanked patrons in
attendance and praised the Center for the Arts for inviting the Fairfax County community to be a part of Mason’s commitment to education and the arts for more than 20 years. “One of its greatest gifts is its ability to accommodate events as diverse as high school and college graduations, military bands, student performances and speeches by the president of the United States,” Merten said. “The highlight of each year is the diverse group of outstanding artists that visit the center as part of the Great Performances at Mason series.” Reeder said the range of pro-
gramming offered in the new season should entice a broad audience. “This season encompasses such a wide array of performances that I think we can truly claim to offer something for everyone,” Reeder said. “From the classical to the contemporary and spanning all kinds of performance styles.”
Story taken from Connect2Mason
Professors and graduate students in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society are working with the Virginia Department of Corrections to develop a Probation and Parole Action Plan to help address problems in the Virginia correctional system. Professor Faye Taxman and Associate Professor Danielle Rudes are conducting research with graduate students for the PPAP, developed through the Mason Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence, a research center in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society that focuses on researching correctional programs and devising solutions to address correctional needs. ACE’s latest project, the Probation and Parole Action Plan, is being developed in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Corrections, which is seeking to change some of the commonwealth's correctional trends. “We were approached by the Virginia Department of Corrections, whom Faye [Taxman] has had a relationship with for a long time,” Rudes said. “They approached us to help them work on a strategic plan for their organization, specifically on the community supervision side to help them come up with some key goals for the organization and a plan that would help them accomplish those goals. [It] would merge what they know as practitioners in the field and what we know as scientists about what works in corrections.” According to Taxman, who is one of the lead faculty researchers on the project, the PPAP is designed to move Virginia’s model of corrections from one that reacts to crime to one that becomes a force to prevent crime and support inmate re-entry into society. Many of the new crime prevention goals at the center of the PPAP emphasize paroles, probations and transitions, which will seek to reduce recidivism, the recommission of crimes by previously convicted felons, and also reduce the costs incurred to the state government by reducing the number of prisoners in Virginia’s prisons. Graduate students in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society are also participating in the development of the plan with Taxman and Rudes and will continue to research the techniques and strategies outlined in the plan. “We actually got to work with Dr. Taxman and other probation chiefs on developing one portion of the plan and getting to work with them on that, which was a really great experience,” said graduate student researcher Jill Viglione. Following the completion of research and data gathering, Taxman and Rudes will present their findings to various groups that have a stake in the future of Virginia’s correctional system, such as the Department of Corrections, legislators and the governor’s office. Taxman and Rudes hope that the PPAP will not only enhance the role of community supervision in Virginia’s corrections, but also reduce crime and improve circumstances for many convicted felons.