November 16, 2015 by Student Media George Mason University

FOURTH ESTATE November 16, 2015 | Volume 3 Issue 10 George Mason University’s official student news outlet gmufourthestate.com | @IVEstate

OFF YOUR

PLATE AND INTO A

LANDFILL

PAGE 6

(MEGAN ZENDEK/FOURTH ESTATE)

INSIDE: NEWS / FAIRFAX SLAVE HISTORY / 4 • LIFESTYLE / ASL PROGRAM / 10 • SPORTS / HOLLOWAY SUSPENDED / 14

Fourth Estate

2 11.16.2015

CLASSIFIEDS Help Wanted

Help Wanted

Steiner Vision Pt/Ft - Office Work . Will Train, Excellent pay, low stress work environment-many George Mason and NOVA students over the years have gained valuable work experience in our 7 Corners, Falls Church, VA office. For more info call Dr. Steiner at Cell 571-276-1534 or ask for Maria at Office- 703-237-1770

High-end Optometry office in Pentagon City and DC has immediate opening for F/T & P/T reception/optical sales positions. Must be energetic, personable, and detail oriented. No experience necessary. Email resume to n_bindal@hotmail.com. For more info, please call 703-418-2020 or visit our website at www.avisualaffair.com

Reston, Virginia based software company looking for a college student to perform basic marketing duties including company research and trade show preparation. Up to $20 per hour. Please send your resume to robert@zoomdata.com. Thank you for considering us.

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Crime Log

Sara Moniuszko & Alexa Rogers Editors-In-Chief

Ellen Glickman News Editor

Natalia Kolenko

Nov. 06 2015-035050 / Liquor Law

Assistant News Editor

Savannah Norton Lifestyle Editor

Violations / Drunkenness /

Tatyana White-Jenkins

Possession of Fictitious ID

Courtney Hoffman

Subject (GMU) was issued a releasable summons for possessing a fictitious identification card and was referred to Office of Student Conduct (OSC) for possessing alcohol in public while under age 21. A second subject (non-GMU) was issued a releasable summons for possessing a fictitious identification card. Parking Services / Cleared by Summons / Referred to OSC / 2:49 AM

Assistant Lifestyle Editor Sports Editor

Claire Cecil Photography Editor

Katie Morgan Design Editor

Megan Zendek Visual Editor

Barbara Brophy Copy Chief

Ryan Adams Distribution Manager

ON THE COVER Graphic by Megan Zendek shows how human eating habits can impact food waste and climate change. Full story on page 6.

Kathryn Mangus

Nov. 08 2015-035383 / Drug/Narcotic Violations / Drug Equipment Violations / Liquor Law Violations / Drunkenness

CORRECTIONS Corrections: Volume 3, Issue 9 “unknown/FOURTH ESTATE”: Photo credit should be changed to “Photo courtesy of Sarah Kladler”.

Two subjects (GMU) were referred to Office of Student Conduct (OSC) for possessing illegal drugs, drug equipment, and alcohol while under age 21. The RAC field / Lot I/ Referred to Osc / 12:33 AM

Nov. 12 2015-035978 / Intimidation Complainant (GMU) reported an offensive drawing on a dry erase white board possibly motivated by hate or bias. Eisenhower / Information only/ 12:04 AM

Director

David Carroll Associate Director 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. 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. Fourth Estate is a free publication, limit one copy per person. Additional copies are 25 cents payable to the Office of Student Media. Mail Fourth Estate George Mason University Mail stop 2C5 4400 University Drive Fairfax, Va. 22030 Phone 703-993-2950

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11.16.2015 3 IV Whine and dine: Students misunderstand change in dining hours GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

Pilot House cuts hours, Ike’s follows original schedule LUKE WALTERMIRE | STAFF WRITER

On Sunday, Oct. 18, Mason Dining announced that the hours of operation at Ike’s and Pilot House would be changing. Students on the Anytime Dining meal plan were upset about this change, but a misunderstanding was later revealed. The original announcement stated that Ike’s would be opening later on weekdays, changing its opening time from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and closing two hours earlier, at 2 a.m. rather than 4 a.m. Pilot House’s hours were also cut, changing from opening at 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. while continuing to close at 2 a.m. Students were upset about these changes. A petition was posted on Change.org, proclaiming, “We [the students] have the power to change the dining hours back to what was promised when we paid for our meal plans.” The petition was quickly circulated among social media, eventually gathering over 500 signatures. On October 20, an update to the petition was put up, claiming that “Mason Dining has announced that Ike’s is NOT changing its hours.” There was only one complication: the changed hours at Ike’s were not intended to be permanent. Mark Kraner, executive director of Campus Retail Operations, clarified that the posted “change in hours” at Ike’s was only meant to be a temporary switch. “It was because it was Family Weekend, so the folks from Family and Alumni Relations asked us to change the hours for that morning. That was meant to be the only change in the hours at Ike’s,” Kraner said. However, the petition was correct in regards to the changing hours at Pilot House. Kraner said that Pilot House’s original, extended hours were the result of projected overcrowding at Southside. When reviewing the number of students signed up for Anytime Dining in early August, Kraner and his team projected that there would be too many students eating dinner at Southside and the facility would not have room for everyone. In an attempt to rectify this, Dining chose to open Pilot House earlier, at 5 p.m., to provide an alternative dining space for students. However, Kraner and his team soon realized that their estimation of the number of students on the Anytime Dining meal plan was too high. After observing in mid-October that the extra space provided by Pilot House at dinner time was not needed, planners decided to trim Pilot House’s hours and reallocate funds to improving the quality of the food at Southside. “We didn’t want to be stealing funds from Southside to provide extra space that wasn’t really needed, so we decided to make the switch back,” Kraner explained. However, some students, such as the anonymous student who created the Change.org petition, believe that if Pilot House’s hours are being shortened, the price of Anytime Dining should be cut in response. Kraner, on the other hand, insisted that any money being saved by measures like this is being used to improve food quality at the dining halls.

“The other day I was in Southside, and I had shrimp and grits. They were beautifully done, and you don’t get to go to many dining facilities and find shrimp on the menu at lunch, but we were able to put it there because we’re able to put more money into the food program,” Kraner said. Tyler Raffensperger, a sophomore computer engineering major, agrees with the sentiment that shorter hours can often result in higher-quality of food, noting that while “Southside used to be 24 hours, but when you would get there late in the night, the food kind of tasted like it was made out of mud.” By keeping the hours of these facilities as economical as possible, Kraner and his team hope to avoid this problem. Some students, however, are still unsatisfied with Pilot House’s new hours. Freshman criminology major Gina Rosa, reported “waiting 15 minutes in line outside of Pilot House at 10 o’clock just to get some mozzarella moons.” Kraner said Dining would look into the compliant and attempt to mke necessary adjustments.

student demand. “We heard from students that were saying they didn’t have enough time to get from [class] to Southside to get something for lunch, so what do we do to add something positive and add a service that students were in need of ? That’s what created something like Simply To Go,” Kraner said. Kraner also mentioned an upcoming addition to the dining halls that he thinks will be popular among students. “We were talking with some students, and they actually want to do a macaroni and cheese bar, where you have the noodles and the cheeses, but what are the things we can put in it and run it through the oven to give it that nice toasty crust on top?” Kraner said. “And so I think you’ll see that one pop up on [an upcoming] Friday.”

While the petition did not directly affect Ike’s hours changing back, Kraner stressed repeatedly that student feedback is very important to Dining. One way Dining receives feedback is through the Student Dining Board, a division of Student Government’s University Services committee. According to Greg Warren, one of the interim chairs of this committee, “We meet with Sodexo administration every other week… It’s really designed to be a direct, short-term communication between students and Sodexo for any issues that need to be addressed, as well as functioning as a type of planning committee.” Kraner said Dining discusses a wide variety of issues with this board. “We’re always talking to the [Student Dining Board]…Everybody’s represented there, and they voice their opinions, everything from the strategic decisions to ‘You ran out of Ranch dressing last week!’” Kraner said. According to Kraner, Dining also checks social media for student feedback. “We do monitor all the social medias… Sometimes, the students say something, and we sit there scratching our heads wondering why we didn’t think of that ourselves, and we pull together to try to make that happen,” Kraner said. He cited this year’s addition of Simply To Go in SUB I as an example of an addition to Anytime Dining that was inspired by

(SARAH KLADLER/FOURTH ESTATE)

Ike’s operating hours changed for Family Weekend then reverted back to the original schedule, seen above.

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11.16.2015

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Mason student explores the history of slaves in Fairfax County Hannah, Winn and Nate. A card was made for Zimmerman and then three separate cards were made for his slaves. The information on the cards reveals a lot about the individuals, but there are many holes. For example, Hannah had a list value of 50 cents, which indicates her older age, according to Brown. The estate account did not list to whom the slaves were sold after Zimmerman’s death, so Brown has not found any additional information about the lives of Hannah, Winn and Nate. Still, she is hoping that some mention of them will appear in later records. Heather Bollinger, an archivist who works with Brown, said that although most of the mentions of slaves in court records occur in relation to their owners, they would sometimes make appearances in relation to emancipations. An example Bollinger gave was about a man named Whiting Mills who indicated in his will that after his death, his slaves should be freed either at the death of his wife or in the case that she remarried. His wife, Ruth, did remarry, and the slaves showed up at court with a lawyer sometime between 1810 and 1815 to sue for their freedom. (ALYA NOWILATY/FOURTH ESTATE)

This book was used to record details of free men in case their indentities were doubted. It includes names, origins and physical descriptions, among other characteristics. HAMNA AHMAD | STAFF WRITER

Georgia Brown, an undergraduate history major, is working with the Fairfax County Historic Records Center to create a searchable index of slaves mentioned in court documents. Brown, along with the other historians in the office, searches through documents like wills, inventories, deeds and estate accounts, looking to find any mention of slaves: who owned them, who they were sold to or even if they were emancipated. Brown started the project when she began her internship with the Historic Records Center in January. The center had a few projects that the interns could choose from and Brown chose to work on the slave index. “I chose this project because I love finding people in historical records that are either lesser known or unknown,” Brown said. “Of course, we have some big names in our records, but the wills I enjoyed reading were from those who had maybe one horse or one bed to give away in the end.” Early in the endeavor, Brown said that she and historians at the center were not sure what they would find or even how they would note down and compile the information. “I didn’t know if [the slaves] would even be named,” she said. “But as we’re going along, I’m seeing a lot of them have names and a lot of them have last names. We had African names also, names like Mohammad and Anya, Arya, Cato and Sambol.” By the time they had searched through half the records, Brown and the other historians decided to find a way to compile the information into a searchable database. When they found out that the online infrastructure for a slave index did not exist, they created their own index with three-by-five index cards and filing cabinets. “Now we’re going through, and each time there is a slave’s name we make a card for the slave owner, and then we list everyone who was in [the document],” Brown said. Each slave also gets his or her own card, filled with as much information as the historians can find. The cards are organized in the filing cabinet by name, and whether the individual was a slave, slave owner or a freed black. One example was Henry Zimmerman, who had three slaves:

Brown has studied over 120 years of wills in one semester and hopes to finish the index before she completes her internship in May. Although the entire records center is lined with bookshelves and boxes containing historic probate records, Bollinger said that many records were also lost during the Civil War. Going through the documents to compile the index, Brown said, is like a really good story she would like to keep reading until the end. “The fact that we now have 10,000 previously unnamed people indexed and searchable makes me extremely proud of what we’re doing,” Brown said. “We’re giving a voice to those who were stifled for one hundred and twenty years in this county. That’s definitely enough motivation for me to see this project through to the end.”

Virginia slavery and the founding fathers

from tobacco to grains, the demand for slave labor in the Commonwealth decreased, as the soil was left depleted from the tobacco. To continue making profit, Virginia slave owners started to export their slaves to southern states that grew cotton, like Alabama and Mississippi. According to Sweig, as many as 5,000 slaves were sold and shipped down south. “Something to keep in mind is that the value of enslaved people in this country in the nineteenth century was higher than the value of all the industry, all the maritime activity and all the financial institutions combined,” Crew said. “They were a very important commodity.” Although Virginia did not have the expansive cotton plantations of the Deep South, plantations like Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall did exist and are remembered today because of their prolific owners: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington and George Mason, respectively. These Virginians were founding fathers, future presidents and slave owners. “They’re not perfect,” Crew said about the founding fathers. “I don’t believe that the founding fathers are perfect and should be put on pedestals. I see them as human beings who have weaknesses and strengths. It is a very useful way to view and understand them, to understand the country and to understand that from the very beginning the issues of slavery and race are sort of central to conflict and discussion to our nation.” The wills of two of our founding fathers, George Mason and George Washington, can be found in the Fairfax Historic Records Center and illustrate that conflict. “We have all the good ones!” joked Brown about the documents. “We have George Washington’s will and his wife’s. In his will, he actually only freed one slave. The other ones went to his wife until she died, but she had her own slaves from her first marriage, and she never frees her slaves. She gives them to her kids.” George Mason had a different story. According to Crew and Gunston Hall’s website, Mason indicated in some of his publications, including speeches given at the 1787 Constitutional

By 1749, 28 percent of Fairfax County’s population was composed of slaves, according to “A Brief History of Fairfax County” published by county historian Donald M. Sweig in “The fact that we now have 10,000 previously 1995. By 1782, that percentage had increased to 41 makes me extremely proud of what we’re doing. percent.

unnamed people indexed and searchable We’re giving a voice to those who were

The first slaves who came to stifled for one hundred and twenty years in this county.” Virginia arrived in Jamestown, - Georgia Brown, senior and some historians argue that the first Africans to arrive were indentured servants from an Iberian ship, said Spencer Crew, a Clarence Robinson professor at Mason. It was Convention, that although he was not willing to abolish the pracnot until midway through the seventeenth century, at which point tice of slavery, he did question the morality of the business. the status of African workers changed from indentured servitude to enslavement, that the British began to take control of the slave “He’s struggling with it in his own mind’s eye, as opposed to some people who think, ‘It’s just the way it is, it’s fine, I need them,’” trade. Crew explained. “As more individuals were brought to Virginia, [the settlers] needed a permanent labor source. The Native Indians were not In his will, however, Mason chose not to emancipate his slaves, working out for a variety of reasons. One is that they knew the instead bequeathing them to his children. An example: “To my land so they could run away and disappear, and another is that eldest Daughter Ann the four Following Slaves and their increase. they were being harmed by the diseases that were brought [by the To wit, Bess (the Daughter of Cloe) and her child Frank, mulatto Priss (the Daughter of Jenny) and Nell (the Daughter of Occoquan Europeans],” Crew explained. Nell) [sic].” When Virginia changed its agricultural system and cash crop

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At Mason, a different reality exists. Crew said he is often struck by how outwardly repelled students are by the concept of slavery. “I find it gratifying that there’s a real sense of ‘this is wrong,’ and it makes me feel like I got hope for the next generation,” Crew said emotionally, followed by a chuckle.

Solving ancestral mysteries Chanel James, a junior graphic design major, said she knows her family has slave roots, but they have trouble tracing their ancestral line. “My great grandparents were sharecroppers, which is when freed slaves were given land and a little bit of money. All the money they would make from that land would be given back to the [landlord], so basically it was still slavery,” James said. Her family relies on passing down its history orally, but sometimes obstacles, such as losing tapes with recorded stories or the death of an older family member, can create ancestral mysteries. Coming to Mason from Richmond and seeing the diversity of Northern Virginia sparked an interest in James to search for her roots. “Before I came here, I really didn’t tell my story. I just said that my family is probably from Africa, because you feel bad thinking your family were just slaves. Now I think it is a cool history,” she said. James took an African American history class last semester to learn more about her past. She now wonders if her African ancestors were shipped to other countries, such as Caribbean states with sugar plantations, before ending up in the United States. Brown hopes that the slave index she is working on will make it easier for African Americans to trace their families and find their

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ancestors. “Before, it would have been like finding a needle in a haystack,” she said. “[The index] is linking them together, so we can find them now, trace them from dad passing them on to his son or daughter.” For Crew, tracing African American family history is personal to him, as he said he and his family have started doing their own family research. The historical society located in his family’s town in South Carolina had a publication that compiled every single mention of African Americans in the local newspa(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE) per, which helped him discover Gunston Hall was home to founding father George Mason. Even though Mason questioned the more about his family members. morality of slavery, he never freed his own slaves and instead left them to his children. For James, whose family is not Brown’s project also inspired her to check out the local historic native to Virginia, the index provides her with the ability to learn centers around her family’s hometowns to expand her search. more about the lives of slaves. “Being younger, I would have approached [my family history] being “In school, when you learned about slavery, you always heard ashamed. Growing up in a majority black community, everyone about the negative consequences and the majority. You didn’t hear was everything but black. No one wants to admit that they’re black about the individuals. So even if I were to go through the Fairfax or African American,” James said, laughing about how people like index, even if I were to look at individuals who aren’t related to me, to talk about their German or Native American ancestry instead I think I would like that. It would be cool,” she said. of discussing their black roots. “Now, I find it more empowering With a family reunion approaching this summer, James is excited because of the fact that it is a topic that no one wants to talk about. to continue gathering her family history from her older relatives, It is like you’re a survivor; a lot of people died on the slave ships, some of whom she has never even met before. Hearing about but the one person who survived is why I am here.”

(ALYA NOWILATY/FOURTH ESTATE)

The Fairfax County Historic Records Center houses court documents that date from the formation of the county in 1742 until the early 1900s. Mason student Georgia Brown is working with local historians to search through all of the center’s documents in order to create a comprehensive index of slaves.

11.16.2015

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From your plate to the atmosphere: How food waste contributes to climate change

(CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE)

NATALIA KOLENKO | ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

An often overlooked contributor to climate change is food waste. A Time article co-written by Raul Grijalva and Mason professor Michael Shank discusses food waste and how human beings can be large contributors to the issue. The article stated: “Waste appears throughout the supply chain, from produce damaged at farms to retail packages that don’t properly store food, to our very own eating habits that lead us to discard food before it has passed its prime. And when this food goes uneaten, we waste the water and energy needed to produce it, harvest it and bring it to market.” Grijalva and Shank go further to say that “if ‘food waste’ were a nation, it’d be one of the largest emitters globally, outranked only by China and the U.S.” But the impact of food waste does not end at carbon emissions, there are also socio-economic consequences as well. “Direct economic losses from wasted food total $750 billion annually, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. That hits the pocketbook of every single American, with an average cost per person in this country of $640 worth of wasted food each year,” the article said. Another way in which food waste contributes to climate change is through industrial agriculture, said Danielle Wyman, the outreach and community engagement manager for the Office of Sustainability. Industrial agriculture practices contribute to about 30% of the world’s overall carbon emissions, Wyman said. She added that these emissions are created by everything from production, to irrigation, to processing and transportation.

So what does all this have to do with Mason? Mason students also waste food, but unlike people who go to the grocery store with a certain amount of money to spend or a limited list of items to purchase, students have all-you-can-eat dining halls at their disposal. With meal plans like Anytime Dining, students can eat all they want, whenever they want. “Mason’s food waste is approximately 30 percent of the total waste generated on campus. Total waste for FY15 was 1,010,000 pounds. This means that the estimated amount of food waste was 303,000 pounds,” said Dustin Adams, the manager of Recycling and Waste Management for Facilities Management.

However, compared to these two other schools, Mason has a low point value in dining with a 2.08 out of a possible 7.00. Despite this low number, though, Wyman was quick to point out that Mason Dining has improved a lot over the last couple of years. “Mason Dining is doing a lot. Since I’ve been working with them, about seven years ago, they’ve grown leaps and bounds in terms of sustainability,” Wyman said. She added that Dining has been working to improve their record keeping and recording in terms of sustainability practices. In addition to better record keeping and recording, dining has started to search for ways to better deal with the food waste at Mason. This past September, Mason joined the Campus Kitchens Project, a national organization that has empowered student volunteers to turn wasted food into healthy, balanced meals for

The amount of food Mason wastes is also reflected in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) rating Mason received from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) in 2014. STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for “Mason’s food waste is approximately 30 percent of the total waste generated on campus... colleges and universities to measure their sustainability This means that the estimated amount of food waste was 303,000 pounds,” said Dustin performance, the AASHE website said. The four Adams, the manager of Recycling and Waste Management for Facilities Management. ratings a school can receive are bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Mason was the first school in Virginia to receive a STARS rating in gold with a 68.78, the second best rating a school can receive. Only two other schools, UVA and Virginia Tech, have gold ratings out of the ten STARS participants in Virginia.

the community, and launched its own Campus Kitchen to address local hunger and food waste in the Fairfax community. Caitlin Lundquist, the marketing director for Dining, said that

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11.16.2015

so far this school year, Mason’s Campus Kitchen has recovered approximately 300 pounds of leftover food (as of Nov. 9) from the Globe and Southside dining halls and through university catering. Zuri Gagnon, the vice president for the Campus Kitchen at Mason and an intern with Dining, said this leftover food creates several meals per week. “This food turns into over 50 meals a week,” Gagnon said. “Campus Kitchens typically gets food that is already prepared but didn’t make it out to be served and prevents it from being thrown away.” Another way that dining tries to reduce food waste is with the shape of their plates. “The plates are smaller and all different shapes, triangles, long rectangles, etc. This encourages students to consider whether they need to get a second serving. We also do not have trays, which serves a similar purpose, inhibiting students from taking more food than they can eat,” Lundquist said. Along with turning food waste into meals for the homeless, Mason is also looking to incorporate composting on campus in the future. Adams said composting accounts for 30 percent of Mason’s total waste and can be very beneficial to the Mason community. “The most obvious [benefit is] the diversion [of food waste] from the incinerators and landfills. It can be converted into highly nutrient rich soil that is then sold to local citizens and farms to reduce the demand for manufactured fertilizers,” Adams said. “Composting is cheaper than regular trash, so it saves the university money, and may allow us to negotiate a discounted price on the purchasing of the finished compost product.” Wyman explained that landfills harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases. Thus, composting is a more Earth-friendly option. “[What generally happens with] food waste is it goes into landfills; in our case here in Fairfax County, it goes to the waste energy plant. [This food waste] generates methane, methane contributes to greenhouse gases, which contributes to climate change,” Wyman said. Adams continued that Mason has worked to find a facility in the area that can compost on a large enough scale. “We have recently identified a new composting facility in Prince William County that is working on building the infrastructure to handle the amount and type of material we generate,” he said. “The facility, Free State Farms, anticipates reaching full capabilities in July of 2017 and this will be the first viable option for Mason’s entire food waste diversion.” In the meantime, Wyman says there are a number of ways that students can be more conscientious of the food they waste. She said getting students involved in Campus Kitchens, the food pantry and composting can all help reduce waste. The other way is through education. “Get to know your food,” Wyman said. “Start asking questions. Where’s my food coming from? Am I ok with how it’s being produced? Then if you’re not, then how can you make some choices that you are ok with it.” Wyman added that student action is the key to changing the way Mason handles its food waste. “It’s just a little team of five of us [in the Office of Sustainability],” Wyman said. “We can shout this till we go blue in the face, but really, it’s when we get the students support and involvement [that] we see major change happening.”

(MEGAN ZENDEK/FOURTH ESTATE)

Lifestyle

11.16.2015

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TO DO THIS WEEK:

#GMU

MONDAY 11/16 On campus:

Off campus:

Overcoming Procrastination

“GMU horror story: the rapp deck elevators”

none

Student Union Building 1, CAPS Group Room C 3 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

@haleyyspicer Haley

TUESDAY 11/17 “walking to the third floor of the JC via the stairs should be a marathon within itself”

Off campus:

On campus: Women’s basketball: Mason vs. Townson

Matinee Idylls:Virginia Opera: A aste of Opera Hylton Performing Arts Center

Eagle Bank Arena

Family theater

7 p.m.

@alinthicum Amanda Linthicum

1:30p.m.

WEDNESDAY 11/18 “GMU students have had it with contruction, someone pushed open the gate between Rob A/B and just walked through the contruction zone.”

Off campus:

On campus:

Oxfam America Hunger Banquet

Exam Strategies

641 S Street NW

Student Union Building 1, CAPS Group Room C

Washington, D.C.

3 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

6p.m.

@KingM_Withers Dr. Micah

THURSDAY 11/19 Off campus:

On campus: “Just spent 2 hours talking to some random guy outside because he was so ineresting and nice wow I love GMU”

Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers

Peacock room Shutters Open

Performing Arts Building, Theater Space

1050 Independence Ave SW Washington, D.C.

8 p.m.

12p.m.

@hilluhhree Hillary Hernandez

FRIDAY 11/20 On campus:

Off campus:

Jazz for Justice

Bollywood Masala Orchestra and Dancers of India: The Spiri of India

Center for the Arts, Concert Hall 8 p.m.

Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall 8p.m.

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11.16.2015

Students learn Vampire 101 MIA WISE | STAFF WRITER

Many students arrive at college looking forward to finally being able to study the things that interest them. For students with a fascination for human-like, bloodthirsty monsters, this upcoming spring semester at Mason is sure to bring a ‘biting’ thrill. This spring, Mason’s English department is offering a course entitled “Vampires.” The class, which satisfies a literature requirement, will examine novels and short stories about vampires. The course recently garnered attention from USA Today College with the publication of the online article “George Mason students fulfill lit requirements by slaying vampires.” “Vampires,” or English 202, will enroll about forty students and take place Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Dr. Eric Anderson, who won a Teaching Excellence Award last year with special recognition for his contributions to general education classes, will be teaching the course.

course of the spring semester, you can earn one point of extra credit. I will ask for evidence.”

When she completed the project, Haynes chose to make a video co-starring her dog.

Haynes attempted this extra credit opportunity when she took the class last spring. “I cut up some plastic vampire fangs, dipped the ends into red paint and strung them up on a necklace and brought it in as proof,” Haynes said.

“I made a short film with my dog, Gypsy, as a vampire hunting dog,” Haynes said. “It was set in the park and a child vampire was terrorizing the community. Gypsy and I chased the vampire and slew it. Others also did films or wrote stories or something in between.”

Both Haynes and Anderson highlighted the final project as one of their favorite parts of the class. The project requires students to create their own vampire stories and express them through any art form. “They can write a short story, do a video, write and perform a song, create a children’s book, and so on. No limits.” Anderson said. “I love what students come up with -- There are always some great surprises, and I love how this assignment brings home the idea that vampires can be, and can mean, so many different things.”

The course has earned the attention of not only USA Today College, but also Mason’s Newsdesk and the Fairfax City Patch. “I think vamps are interesting to students and news outlets because they’re the most human of monsters: they look human, they can pass for human, they can be romantic and intellectual and worldly,” Anderson said. “Plus, vampires give us ways of considering some very familiar, very human questions such as ‘What happens after we die?’ and ‘Is there an afterlife?’ and ‘Is it ever possible for the dead to rise up and become undead?’.”

Last month, Anderson’s book “Undead Souths: The Gothic and Beyond in Southern Literature and Culture,” was published by Louisiana State University Press. Anderson co-edited the book, which is a collection of scholarly essays, with Taylor Haygood of Florida Atlantic University and Daniel Cross Turner of Coastal Carolina University. Students who have taken Anderson’s classes have plenty of positive things to say. “Dr. Anderson is a cool, relaxed professor and I was excited at the opportunity to take another class with him,” senior anthropology major, Maggie Haynes, said. Anderson is not new to the world of vampires and horror, describing himself as having been a “huge horror geek” since childhood. “In grade school, I used to run home when school let out so that I could watch the afternoon soap opera ‘Dark Shadows,’” Anderson said. “Around that same time, I got hooked on old black-and-white Universal horror movies like ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘The Wolf Man’ and ‘Dracula.’ The strange thing about my career is that it took me a long time to find ways to incorporate these interests into my teaching. Our English 202 has given me the perfect opportunity to teach vampires.” The class discusses classics like Bram Stroker’s “Dracula” and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” along with newer vampire stories and novels. It also looks at how vampire legends have changed and stayed the same over time. “It turns out that my students know a lot about vampires, and it’s very satisfying and fun to share this information and build a really solid foundation for the semester,” Anderson said.” I also really like explaining why ‘Twilight’ is absolutely not going to be a part of the course.” This is the third time Anderson will teach “Vampires” at Mason. He offered the course in the spring of 2013 and again in the spring of 2015. Haynes, who took the class last spring, enjoyed its casual, upbeat atmosphere. “The class was fun and very relaxed, but still interactive, despite the large number of students,” Haynes said. This semester’s section of “Vampires” will take after past versions. Over the course of the semester, students will participate in class discussions, complete in-class writings, take reading quizzes and watch and discuss film clips. In addition, students will receive extra credit for killing vampires and bringing in evidence of the slaying, according to the course’s syllabus, which reads, “For each vampire you slay during this

(MEGAN ZENEK/ FOURTH ESTATE)

11.16.2015

lifestyle Mason ‘Signs’ On New ASL Program

SAVANNAH NORTON | LIFESTYLE EDITOR

The College of Education and Human Development recently announced that there will be a new three-semester sequence of American Sign Language (ASL) courses that fulfill the foreign language requirements for Bachelor’s of Arts (BA) students. ASL is a complete and complex language that engages signs made by moving the hands combined with facial expressions and postures of the body. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), it is the primary language of many North Americans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Lynn Wiley is the Director of the Training and Technical Assistance Center (T/TAC) at Mason. The T/TAC is funded by the Virginia Department of Education through the Helen A. Keller Institute for Human Disabilities in the Graduate School of Education. She assists in the development of the course.

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Richmond and use it as my foreign language credit. I am excited and relieved to know I can take ASL at Mason.” Row explained that she has been reading lips in conversations since birth and has learned to advocate for herself. “Unfortunately my hearing disability is in the mid tones, so the use of a hearing aid does not always help,” Row said. “I am used to sitting in the front of classrooms, making my professors aware of my disability. I have my disability on file with the Office of Disabilities and I have gotten used to asking if people can repeat themselves.” She even attempted to take a French course at Mason, but it proved difficult. “I wanted to learn a new language however with a disability that

Berguist explained that her professor is hearing and has background with interpreting, along with a Teacher’s Assistant (TA) who is a deaf student at Mason. “The class is taught in a pretty immersive fashion, where we rarely talk,” Bergquist said. “The professor will use stories and lecture to teach new words.” According to Bergquist, the course encourages students to get involved with the real world deaf and hard-of-hearing community. “It’s not how I thought we would learn, but it’s super effective,” Bergquist said. “We are required to spend time in the deaf community and write a reflection paper on it. This is exciting because it gets us into real world application of ASL, instead of just classroom instruction. The program is now expanding, and they will be offering ASL1&2 next semester, as well as ASL3 in the future. This allows students to become more efficient signers.” Although ASL takes the same amount of focus and practice as any other language to increase one’s knowledge and skills, Wiley explained, there are some differences.

“Over the years, [the Division of Special Education and Disability Research] have asked us if Mason might consider offering courses in American Sign Language,” Wiley said. “Recently, an opportunity to do just that came up and we felt it was the perfect time to follow through on something that we had always wanted to do. Wiley and her colleague Nancy Anderson, both of whom have masters degrees in the education of the deaf, worked together to make this course become a reality. “I think our collaboration worked well because we could bring both our expertise and our different perspectives together to develop the series of courses,” Fourth Estate staff signs out “GMU” in American Sign Language. Wiley said. The series of the three ASL courses can be taken for both undergraduate and graduate credit. “Students will be able to immerse themselves in ASL during each class period,” Wiley said. “They will be required to delve into the history of Deaf culture and the Deaf community in the local area.” The course offers students a chance to understand how important the language of sign is as a communication system. “If students are able to pass all three levels of ASL, they should have a good grasp of the language and be able to communicate well with others,” Wiley said. Helen Row, a junior studying Communication, is excited for the opportunity to take these courses because she has a hearing disability. “It has affected me my whole life, but I have learned to compensate for myself,” Row said. “I am very interested in taking ASL. I was actually planning on seeing if I could take it over the summer in

causes me to not hear parts of words or not hear some words at all this was very difficult,” Row said. “I have been told my audiologist that my hearing may get worst with age, so I am excited and reassured to know there is a class I can take now where what I am learning I may have to use to communicate later in life.” Although the three-semester sequence is new, some students are already taking the first course in the sequence, ASL1, this semester. Among them is Megan Bergquist, a senior and Events and Tourism major at Mason, who is excited to expand her knowledge in this language. “I’ve always wanted to learn ASL and pretty much only knew the alphabet and numbers 1-10 from growing up,” Bergquist said. “Mason had never offered ASL as a course, which I thought was strange since we have such diverse campus and they offer a ton of languages. When I heard about ASL1 being offered this fall, I jumped on it.”

(COURTESY OF GMU STUDENT POWER

“The main difference between ASL and another language is that ASL is communication through the visual mode rather than the auditory,” Wiley said. “Things such as facial expressions and facial movement carry meaning. Additionally, ASL does not have a widely accepted written form, so students must be able to remember what they learn in order to practice and use it. Learning ASL will help students if they plan to work in any field that provides services to others such as education, medicine, social work, theater, etc. It will give them the skills to communicate in another language in order to better serve their students or clients.”

Row is excited to excel in a course that she has been patiently waiting to arrive to help her in the future. “While I am not only excited to take ASL to take a language [that] I will not need my hearing to learn, I am also excited because knowing sign language is a skill that could set me apart later in life.” she said. Row also agreed that Mason students will benefit from offering this course. “As a student with a disability, I feel that Mason prides itself on its diversity and how the university treats its students,” Row said. “For someone like myself, I was discouraged that I had to take a foreign language class to graduate even when I knew I would not succeed as well because of something out of my control. I am overjoyed to know that students like myself can not only take a class that we can succeed in, but also may need.”

lifestyle

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11.16.2015

Students Form College Diabetes Network Chapter “I have had type 1 diabetes since I was nine years old, and I feel that not many people know anything about diabetes at all,” Kelly said. “Diabetes awareness is important to me because the more people know about it, the more they can understand what I go through. It isn’t meant to be a pity party when I educate people about diabetes, I think of it as a really great learning opportunity.”

through every day,” Jennette explained.

Medical News Today defines diabetes as a family of metabolic diseases in which an individual “has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both.”

Diabetics often have to take insulin pumps, injection needles, test strips and snacks or juice boxes with them wherever they go in case their blood sugar fluctuates.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States and affects approximately 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent of the population, according to diabetes.org. William Jennette, CDN’s faculty advisor, explains that a lot of awareness needs to be brought to type 1 diabetes because there are a number of myths circulating about the disease, including who it affects and why it affects them. “Type 1 diabetics, such as myself, are usually diagnosed young,” Jennette said via email. “The average age of diagnosis is 13 years old. This is incurable, unpreventable, and permanent and can lead to very immediate danger just about every time you eat or do anything.” Jennette also said that many people wrongly assume that type 1 diabetes results from improper diet and exercise habits. “Type 1 diabetics did not do this to themselves, and it is not appropriate to automatically assume that if someone has diabetes they simply ate too much sugar as a kid,” he said. Distinguishing between type 1 and type 2 diabetes is important because the former is preventable, and the latter is not. According to the Diabetes Research Institute, type 1 diabetes is unpreventable, incurable and rare.

(MEGAN ZENEK/ FOURTH ESTATE)

BASMA HUMADI | STAFF WRITER

November is not just a month dedicated to sweater weather, falling leaves and unshaven beards: It’s also Diabetes Awareness Month. This fall, a group of Mason students formed a chapter of the College Diabetes Network (CDN), a national organization with chapters at numerous universities around the country. Since Mason has not been involved with Diabetes Awareness Month in the past, CDN members are dedicating significant time and effort to promoting the cause this year. Last week, CDN hosted College Diabetes Week at Mason, which aimed to raise awareness for students with type 1 diabetes. Over the course of the five-day period, November 9 to 13, CDN members could be spotted around campus holding signs with diabetes facts and figures or handing out gray awareness ribbons. One of CDN’s members, Gilly Kelly, has a personal connection with type 1 diabetes, as she was diagnosed as a child, and says she hopes last week’s festivities were able to strengthen students’ understanding of the disease.

Roughly 1.25 million Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes, just five to 10 percent of the the total number of Americans with either type. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 to 95 percent of diabetes cases, results from lifestyle choices such as lack of exercise and poor diet. On a basic biological level, the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes is that those with type 1 cannot produce any insulin, a chemical that helps cells absorb glucose, while those with type 2 can, but type 2’s bodies have developed a resistance to insulin due to diet and exercise habits. Jennette hopes that by educating the Mason community about facts like this, he and CDN members will foster a greater sense of understanding for students with diabetes. “What we [CDN members] hope to do is raise awareness of the disease to help people understand better the struggles that so many people (statistically 150 [students] on the GMU campus) go

Living with diabetes can be difficult, as it affects numerous aspects of a person’s day-to-day life. For those with diabetes, seemingly simple tasks often demand significant thought and effort. Jennette explained that he and other diabetics have to spend a lot of time monitoring their blood sugar levels throughout the day: before leaving the house, when exercising or when doing anything beyond their usual routine, like taking a test.

Having to manage a disease that is beyond one’s control is a significant challenge for someone in college, Kelly explained. “As a diabetic, my life is slightly different than the rest of my non-diabetic friends,” she said. “For example, I have to think twice about the food that I consume whenever I go out and also have to always ask for nutrition facts so that I can calculate how much medicine to take.” Kelly said that carrying her insulin pump, which is attached to her body at all times, and having to prick her finger to test her blood sugar levels are also hurdles. Having her family and friends by her side, however, has made the process easier. “My close friends... are used to seeing my tubes and finger pricking that happens every day,” Kelly said. “My family has been really supportive over the last nine years and it has definitely impacted all our lives. People who don’t have diabetes can be affected because if their friend is diabetic, they may need to assist with finding nutrition facts, and just generally supporting them as they deal with their daily lives.” Kelly explained that people with diabetes have to keep track of three things: consuming too much sugar, consuming too little sugar and monitoring blood sugar levels in general. If a diabetic does not have enough insulin, their blood sugar will rise and they may experience negative side effects, including hyperactivity, the need to urinate and excessive thirst. If the body has too much insulin and not enough sugar, blood sugar levels rise, which can cause shaking, blurred vision and lethargy. Though College Diabetes Week primarily focused on raising awareness for type 1 diabetes, participants showed support for those with type 2 as well. Evelyn Koutsoudis, a freshman at Mason, is familiar with type 2 diabetes, since several of her family members have been diagnosed, and says she has seen the often adverse repurcussions of avoiding treatment. “Everyone in my family has type 2 diabetes,” Koutsoudis said. “Both of my mother’s parents were diagnosed with it later in life. They were both told that they should be checking their levels and eating healthier. However, they both have ignored the doctors and, as a result, shortened their life. Growing up knowing this has been difficult to understand why someone who knows they have a medical issue could just blatantly ignore this. Though watching her loved ones grapple with type 2 diabetes has been confusing for Koutsoudis, she understands the reasons for their lifestyle choices. “I can understand that they both have had a hard life as they lived through wars and political instability growing up. They chose to live their life enjoying what they want despite the consequences,” Koutsoudis said.

lifestyle

11.16.2015

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Mason students take the NaNoWriMo plunge Mary Margaret Bowerman, a sophomore psychology major, is participating in NaNoWriMo this year. “NaNoWriMo is where people from all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of November,” Bowerman said. “You can do it either start to finish, or work on one that you’ve already started, but the goal is 50,000 words in November.” A non-profit that manages other writing projects, National Novel Writing Month uses NaNoWriMo to inspire writers of all ages to finish a novel in 30 days. The event kicked off November 1 and will end at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, November 30. There is no content requirement, but it helps if the story has a definite theme. Anyone who completes 50,000 words by the end of the month is a winner. The prizes for winning NaNoWriMo include receiving a print version of one’s writing, free or reduced prices on writing software or even an opportunity to have a novel published for profit. The best-selling novel “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen was one such NaNoWriMo winner.

(COURTESY OF MARY MARGRET BOWERMAN)

Mary Margaret Bowerman poses for a picture in a book themed shirt. ASHER ACKMAN | STAFF WRITER

November brings more than just good food and quality time with family: It’s also National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short.

Winning NaNoWriMo is no small feat. Bowerman says that one of the biggest challenges for her will be finding the time to write with Thanksgiving and final exams approaching. “It’s hard to always balance the homework and the writing, so I gave myself a certain amount of words to write each day. That way, I get it done in manageable chunks instead of trying to cram it all in at once,”

Bowerman said. To encourage writers along the way, NaNoWriMo’s website offers pep talks from published authors, badges to incentivize writers to

keep going, tutorials for defeating writer’s block and opportunities to connect with other writers online or in person. Even with these resources, authors need concentration and stamina to reach their goal. “To evenly divide the 50,000 words into 30 days, I’d have to do 1,667 words a day,” Bowerman said. “I aim for 2,000 to give myself a little cushion for the days that I don’t feel like writing, or the inspiration’s slow.” Bowerman has unique methods for motivating herself to reach her daily word count. “To make sure that I complete it, I give myself little rewards for getting the amount done,” Bowerman said. “So like a piece of candy or something for every 500 words or a TV show episode if I finish for the day. [This method is] basically how I study, so I just modified it a little for my writing.” People have different reasons for entering NaNoWriMo. “I’ve always loved writing, but the main issue for me is sticking to one story line,” Bowerman said. “I’ll write well-over half a novel and then get bored with it, so I’m hoping that this will make me finish one. I’m very competitive with myself, so signing up for NaNoWriMo is like giving myself a challenge which I’m hoping will encourage me to finish it.” NaNoWriMo accepts all genres and encourages participants to write about what they love. For example, Bowerman’s novel is a combination of fantasy and mystery. “I get to combine two of my favorite genres to write and read,” Bowerman said. “The complete planning hasn’t been done yet, but so far it’s about three people who have to band together to find a woman who’s planning a political coup.” Bowerman encourages students to make sure to enjoy the experience. “Write what you really like to read,” Bowerman said. “If you love fantasy, don’t box yourself into a historical fiction. If you really like mystery stories, write a mystery story.” For any aspiring writers, Bowerman says to keep writing. “Even if it’s only a little bit each day, as you build it up, you’ll be able to make something out of all those little snippets,” Bowerman said. “Some of my longest stories were built out of short bits that I wrote just while I was in the car or waiting somewhere. If it doesn’t perfectly fit the main plot, you can always tweak it a little.”

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11.16.2015

Sports

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Holloway receives six game suspension

Holloway on the court during last season’s game against Princeton.

KALEEL WEATHERLY AND DAVID SCHRACK | STAFF WRITERS

Shooting guard Patrick Holloway has been suspended from the men’s basketball team for six games due to poor academic performance, Head Coach Dave Paulsen announced Nov. 10. Because the Patriots will be playing five away games in a row after the season opener, the team will have less time to study, something Holloway cannot risk according to Paulsen. Holloway will be returning to the court Saturday, Nov. 28, when the Patriots take on Wright State at home. In his message to the team regarding Holloway’s suspension, Paulsen stressed that academics will always take priority over sports but was careful to add that he did not mean to make an example of Holloway. “We are not going to take any shortcuts,” Paulsen said. “It doesn’t matter who, and it doesn’t matter when. I think that the message should be pretty clear to our guys that I’m serious about that.” Holloway’s suspension came just days before the season opener against Colgate, which left an opening in the team’s rotation. Though Holloway, who is a veteran player, will be missed on the

(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

court over the next five games, Paulsen believes his absence may give the team a chance to showcase other players, like guards Kameron Murrell, Jaire Grayer and Deandre Abram. In reference to the new season, Paulsen also said he expects the team’s freshmen players, who constitute half of the roster, to play a major role. “They’ve worked really hard, you know. It is amazing. They looked better and more comfortable [for the] last couple of days and even last week. But it still takes one guy out of the rotation, so it will certainly have an impact on our depth,” Paulsen said. Holloway, a senior, has been a star player for the Patriots over the past three years. Last season, Holloway started eight games and played in 27. He scored 22 points in the season opener while continuing to score at least 10 points in every proceeding game. Holloway was awarded Rookie of the Week during the 2012-2013 season after netting five 3-point field goals in a win against William and Mary, and he scored 51 3-point field goals in the 2013-2014 season. Paulsen said that when Holloway returns from his suspension, he will have to earn back his original role on the team, partly because

he will have missed a significant number of practices. “He is going to have to earn his way back in. But at the same token, a mistake was made, a reaction was made, and we are moving forward,” Paulsen said. Paulsen, who in his 22 years as a head coach has never had to suspend a player, said Holloway’s suspension was “disheartening and disappointing.” Still, Paulsen emphasized that the team cannot dwell on the suspension. “I think the biggest message to our guys is that you are going to make mistakes on the court, and you are going to make mistakes in life.” he said. “Admit them, you learn from them, and then you put them behind you. Hopefully that will happen for Patrick [Holloway] and the rest of the team.” Holloway’s teammates declined to comment on his suspension or the impact they believe it will have on the team. Three days after Holloway’s suspension, the men’s basketball team was defeated 53-66 in its season opener against Colgate.

sports

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

11.16.2015

Men’s basketball lose season opener KALEEL WEATHERLY | STAFF WRITER

In its season opener at EagleBank Arena Friday evening, the men’s basketball team was defeated by the Colgate University Raiders with a final score of 66-53. Both teams had a rough first half. Mason shot 9-24 from the field, while the Raiders shot 8-22 and only one for nine from beyond the arch. Both teams shot under 50 percent from the free-throw line. Still, the Patriots did a nice job crashing the boards in the first half, finishing with 22 rebounds. The Raiders were not far behind with 20 boards. Even with more rebounds, however, the Patriots could not seem to keep the ball to themselves, resulting in nine turnovers in comparison to the Raiders’ four. The first half was shaky for everyone, but there were still some impressive moments from both teams. Raiders’ forward Jordan Swopshire made a nice drive to the basket for two points on the baseline. Managing to keep his feet in bounds by mere inches, Swopshire made a tough layup amid a crowd of Mason defenders. The Patriots’ best play of the half came from guard Marquise Moore who made a step-back jumper that put Mason in the lead at the half-time buzzer. (DAVID SCHRACK/FOURTH ESTATE)

Mason forward Marko Gujanicic finished as the team’s leading scorer for the half with seven points, having shot three for six from the field. Though the Patriots entered the second half with a 22-20 lead, the Raiders managed to catch up quickly with 46 boards in the second half. Raiders forward Tom Rivard put on a solid performance in the second half with 20 points, while guard Austin Tillotson was

Men’s basketball in their home opener against Colgate racking up assists in the second half with five assists. The team as a whole finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor.

In one play, Moore’s defense helped him record a steal that let him score two points on a fast break.

The Patriots’ shooting percentage regressed in the second half. Players shot just 28 percent from the field because they could not get most of their shots to fall and the team made just five assists in total and shot 8.3 percent from beyond the arc.

“I was just trying to be aggressive and make plays,” Moore said. “Coach told me to attack and said that I was playing too tentative. I was just trying to get inside and make plays for myself and my teammates.”

“We are not a good 3-point shooting team. We knew that, so that is not a surprise. We are definitely a work in progress offensively,” Patriots’ Head Coach David Paulsen said.

Center Shevon Thompson shot poorly from the field, but he managed to finish the game with five points and 14 boards for the Patriots.

The team seemed to have many missed shot attempts, which Paulsen said the team will look to improve in the future. He also noted that first-game jitters took a toll on the team’s freshmen players, who happen to be some of Mason’s strongest 3-point shooters. Still, the Patriots had some solid moments during the second half. Constantly driving into the paint to score points, Moore finished with 13 points, staking the team lead.

Thompson said that his first priority during Friday’s game was to rebound the ball for his team. He would have had a higher point total, he said, but he missed most of his free throws, going one for nine at the free throw line. Shooting 51.4 percent for the game, the Patriots did not shoot well from the free-throw line. “Free throws were obviously a big issue,” Paulsen said. “We shot them well in practice. I think that there was a little bit of performance anxiety from some of our guys.” Paulsen said that the team will be using upcoming practices to review game clips and tighten up ball work. “We will come in tomorrow and get a lot of shots up,” he said. “We will watch the film of the game, so they can see what they did wrong or how they can do it better. We are going to respond.” Mason’s men’s basketball team’s next match-up is Monday, Nov. 16, against Mercer University. The game will take place at the Hawkins Arena in Macon, Ga. Tip-off is at 7 p.m..

sports

11.16.2015

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Patriot fans show hope for new season COURTNEY HOFFMAN | SPORTS EDITOR

With a new season comes a newfound excitement and hope for the Mason men’s basketball program. Mason students and fans were found waiting outside in lines covered in green face paint with pom poms in hand, ready to cheer on the men’s basketball team as they took on their first opponent of the season, Colgate. To get everyone excited for the season, new Head Coach Dave Paulsen had different events leading up to the home opener. He hosted “Donuts with Dave,” where he enjoyed some donuts with Mason fans. The team enjoyed Dribble to Class day, where Mason spirited basketballs were strategically placed around campus and you could keep the basketball if you found it. And, the men’s basketball twitter page has been blowing up with fans’

support as they dribbled to class or bought new Mason gear to represent the team As heards of green and gold clad fans filled into the seats on Nov. 13, they shared why they are looking forward to the season ahead. It seemed clear among all fans that Paulsen has already made a big impact on the Patriots. They agreed that Paulsen is bringing new hope to the men’s basketball program. Hear what these fans are most excited about this season:

Junior Hannah Brawley said, “I’m interested to see how the new freshman recruits play, because I’ve heard a lot of really good things about them. And, I’m interested to see what Coach Paulsen does with the team. He seems like he’s really geared up and energetic about the season, so I want to see if he’s projected that enthusiasm into the players.” Junior Chad McCutcheon said, “I’m excited to see a great senior season for Shevon Thompson, possible NBD draft pick.” Freshman Jared Bivens said, “I love basketball and I love George Mason... It’s so exciting.”

Matt Newman, Senior, three year patriot platoon member, said, “I’m looking to see a new culture with the new coach. I think Coach Paulsen will bring some great stuff to the table.”

Luis Albisu, parent of two Mason alumni, said, “We’re looking forward to a better season with the new coach.”

Senior Nick Palczewski said, “[I’m excited for ] the coach. I think a better work ethic from the players is going to show.”

Junior Taylor Claybrook said, “I’m really excited for the new coach and hope we’re going to do really well this season.”

Matt Newman and friend pumped for the first men’s game.

Jared Bivens and friends before the game begins.

(DAVID SCHRACK/FOURTH ESTATE)

Parents of two Mason alumni, Luis Albisu and his wife.