October 19, 2015 by Student Media George Mason University

FOURTH ESTATE October 19, 2015 | Volume 3 Issue 6 George Mason University’s official student news outlet gmufourthestate.com | @IVEstate

FIRST GENERATION

NATION

PAGES 6 & 8

IN OCTOBER,

MASON WEARS

PINK

PAGE 7

MASON’S GOT

MADNESS

PAGE 16

(CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE)

Fourth Estate

2 10.19.2015

CLASSIFIEDS Help Wanted

Help Wanted

Miscellaneous

Talk Radio Assistant $10/hour, 5 hr/week Get full info and send resume to mediatorQ@gmail.com

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

Dream Makers Needed! Become an Egg Donor Earn $8000 703-437-7722 or email sandy@vcrmed.com

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Crime Log

Sara Moniuszko & Alexa Rogers Editors-In-Chief

Ellen Glickman News Editor

Oct. 11 2015-0312893 / Felony Eluding / Driving Revoked Subject (non-GMU) fled scene following a traffic stop. Case pending warrent service. (44/Kendall) Rivanna River Way and Nottoway River Lane / Cleared by Arrest / 10:52 p.m.

Natalia Kolenko Assistant News Editor

Savannah Norton Lifestyle Editor

Tatyana White-Jenkins Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Courtney Hoffman Sports Editor

Claire Cecil Photography Editor

Oct. 15 CSA Report #101515-1 / Rape Mason Police was notified by a Mason employee that a student reported being sexually assaulted on October 3, 2015 by an acquaintance (GMU). Due to confidentiality of reporting, limited information is available regarding this incident. Fairfax Campus Student Housing Facility/ Information Only / 6:00 p.m.

Katie Morgan Design Editor

Megan Zendek Visual Editor

Barbara Brophy Copy Chief

Ryan Adams Distribution Manager

Kathryn Mangus Director

David Carroll Associate Director

Oct. 16 2015-032365 / Drug/Narcotics Violations / Drug Equipment Violations / Liquor Law Violations / Drunkenness Two subjects (GMU) were issued releaseable summonses for possessing illegal drugs, drug equipment, and alcohol in public while under age 21. (49/Broughton) Lower Fields / Cleared by Summons/ 12:54 a.m.

Corrections: Volume 3, Issue 3 From Issue 3, “Indie-pop band ‘The Duskwhales’ surge”: The photo credit was incorrectly attributed to Connor Smith. The photo is courtesy of Seanie Blue.

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

News

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

10.19.2015

Changes to University Drive aim to make road more bike-friendly MADISON ANTUS | STAFF WRITER

The City of Fairfax has announced a year-long pilot program that will decrease the number of driving lanes on University Drive. The program will shrink the number of lanes from four to three between Armstrong Street and South Street and will also install bike lanes along this stretch. The project will “repurpose the pavement on University Drive to provide three lanes, one lane in each direction plus a center turn lane, instead of four lanes, and add bicycle lanes,” stated Fairfax Director of Transportation, Wendy Sanford, at a city council meeting Sept. 29. This project is occurring in an effort to increase multimodal transportation between Mason and Old Town Fairfax. “We hope that the addition of dedicated bicycle lanes on University Drive will encourage more people to ride their bikes (and try other non-SOV [single occupancy vehicle] forms of transportation). Someone could ride their bike into downtown and then take the CUE bus back to campus, for example,” Sanford said via email. “…All CUE buses are equipped with bike racks.” Students with a Mason ID can ride CUE buses for free.

“This project was a recommendation that came out of last November’s charrette between the university and the city. This project was identified as a way to improve connectivity between the university and downtown,” Sanford said. The road diet will likely provide an easier way for students to get to downtown Fairfax, Sanford said. According to a report by City Manager Robert Sisson, “the cost to apply thermoplastic in the new, road diet configuration and add associated signage would be approximately $10,000. If, after one year, the road diet is determined to be unsuccessful, the cost to remove the thermoplastic markings and apply replacement markings in original configuration would be approximately $10,000.” The changes would affect the intersections of University Drive at Main Street, Sager Avenue, Fire Station #3 and Armstrong Street, according to the presentation given at the city council meeting. At the presentation the goals of the project were listed as follows: to reduce vehicular speed; to provide an attractive bicycle path on University Drive, which is currently listed as

a bike-friendly street by the City of Fairfax; and to ensure that the new roadway configuration will not negatively impact traffic or existing transit routes. The report stated that traffic would have to increase by 22 percent to create a failing intersection on this stretch of road and that traffic volumes on University Drive have decreased since 2005. At the council meeting, Sanford also mentioned that the pilot program will implement bicycle-detection technology. “We are piloting some new technology at this intersection, to have bicycle detection on University Drive at Armstrong Street,” Sanford said. “This will function similar to our regular vehicle detection, but it can detect a bicycle on the road and change the signal to green for a waiting bicyclist on University if there are no cars on Armstrong. It uses thermal infrared detection to identify approaching bicyclists, and then it will alter it for them, the same as it would an approaching vehicle.”

Sanford said that construction is currently being scheduled, but she does not know when it will begin. The proposed changes to University Drive meet the criteria of what the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) calls a road diet. According to the FHA, a road diet converts an existing non-divided four-lane highway into a three-lane highway with one lane going in each direction and adds a center two-way turn lane. Traditionally, road diets aim to improve safety by reducing speed, decreasing the distance pedestrians have to travel at crossroads and adding a center turn lane. If the project is found to be unsuccessful, Sanford said the current four-lane configuration will be restored. “Originally, the idea was to perform this road diet on University Drive between Armstrong Street and Layton Hall, but after our evaluation of this, it was recommended that in order to avoid peak congestion the limits be revised from Armstrong Street to South Street, and then after South Street the transition would be back to four lanes,” Sanford said at the city council meeting. According to Sanford, the pilot program is one result of the Vision Fairfax Mason workshop that took place in November 2014, where participants developed ways to improve the connection between the Mason and Fairfax City communities. (CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE)

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10.19.2015

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Mason going faster, farther NINA MOTAZEDI | STAFF WRITER

Mason has launched a fundraising campaign that aims to raise $500 million by 2018. The Faster Farther campaign hopes to increase funding for students, research and campus facilities. It will also contribute to faculty funds and Mason’s endowment, according to Janet Bingham, president of the George Mason University Foundation, Inc., and vice president of Advancement & Alumni Relations. The campaign aims to raise $25 million apiece for facilities and faculty, $100 million for programs and “big ideas,” $300 million for research and $50 million for students. The money will go toward a variety of things, including student scholarships, recruiting and retaining faculty, granting research fellowships and funds, and improving campus facilities. Faster Farther has already raised about $365 million of its $500 million goal. This money was raised during the campaign’s silent phase, which began in 2008. This phase involved “raising money towards the same needs, but not making a lot of noise,” said David Long, executive campaign director and associate vice president of Advancement & Alumni Relations.

This practice of raising about 70 percent of a fundraising goal prior to entering the public phase is standard procedure, according to Bingham. She said it demonstrates to potential donors that a campaign has already been successful in raising money and that others will likely be willing to donate to it. “It really says a lot about how enthusiastic people are and how much they believe in what we’re trying to do in our mission,” Bingham said. Long added that holding a silent phase leads to a “bandwagon mentality” that leads to more donations. The ‘For Mason. For Us.’ launch party that took place on Sept. 16 marked the initiative’s transition into the public phase. At the launch party, Faster Farther was introduced to faculty, staff and students. “I just think it’s awesome that so many people from so many different departments of the school are coming together to create scholarship funds and research opportunities,” Moyers said. She added, “I think we’re off to a pretty strong start. Everyone is just so excited about this, and just because everyone is working together and is so hyped about this, things can only keep going up.” The length of these campaigns can vary, Harrison says. “It’s not uncommon for the public phase of a capital campaign to last for five, even eight years, and our projections is so that it can be done in three,” said M. Leigh Harrison, director of advancement communications for the Office of University Advancement & Alumni. Reaching the $500 million goal by 2018 will mark the end of Faster Farther’s public phase. Michael Sandler, director of strategic communications at Mason, said a campaign like Faster Farther aims to accomplish more than just fundraising. “A campaign is an opportunity to create a culture of philanthropy, to bring in new donors and that allows a university to really grow and prosper and really think about its future,” Sandler said. Long agreed and explained that a formal campaign establishes an institutional focus that creates momentum for fundraising to occur. The campaign utilizes a “donor-centric approach,” according to Long. This means

(MEGAN ZENDEK/FOURTH ESTATE)

donors may decide whether their gifts will go toward the endowment or current use. Current use includes a variety of areas such as scholarships, updating facilities and research fellowships, among others. Up to this point, donors have included alumni, parents, friends, corporations and foundations. Long said corporations and foundations have donated the largest amounts to the campaign so far. Compared to other public universities in Virginia, Mason has a relatively small endowment. In 2013, the University of Virginia’s endowment totaled $5.2 billion; Virginia Commonwealth University’s totaled $1.3 billion; the College of William & Mary’s totaled $698 million; and Mason’s totaled $59 million. Harrison attributed this not only to Mason’s youth as an institution, but also to the age of its alumni. “More than half of them [alumni] are under the age of 40,” Harrison said. “They’re not at the age where they think, ‘Hmm, what shall my legacy be?’.” Bingham emphasizes the endowment’s importance to the future of the university. She said the current goal is to “increase the endowment by 10 percent every year.” As for next steps, Faster Farther is trying to reach out to potential donors across the country and achieve face-to-face interactions with them to raise the remaining funds, which total approximately $134 million. “Fundraising is about relationships,” Bingham said. The Faster Farther team is also starting programs to encourage people to hold events in their homes. According to Long, 31 of these events have been scheduled thus far with the first one anticipating 54 attendees. Programs to increase internal funding — donations from students, faculty and staff, that is — have also begun. In partnership with student government, the campaign hopes to engage current students to support Faster Farther. “Our donors want to know that our students, our alumni, and our faculty and leadership support the institution,” Bingham said. “That is a gauge for them about how we see the value of the university.” Harrison added that donors are interested in the participation rate and “how much the internal community is excited about what’s happening at the institution.” Bingham said internal donations signal to corporations and foundations interested in donating that Faster Farther is a worthy cause. The reasoning behind the name Faster Farther lies in Mason’s exponential progress, or as Long calls it, its “fast-forward mode.” “Mason has come faster, farther than any other university in the country in its very short history, and we want to continue moving fast and going far,” Bingham said. The name also conveys Mason’s impatience, according to Long. “We are impatient, we want to get ahead quickly here, and that’s why we want people to know we really are ambitious, we can make a big impact on the world through our graduates and the research that our faculty do,” Long said.

news Mason looks to assist first generation population

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

10.19.2015

NATALIA KOLENKO | ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

For every three students that attend Mason, one of them is a first generation student. According to the Office of Institutional Research and Reporting, the percentage of Mason undergraduates who were first generation had reached 33% for the 2014-2015 school year. Ten years ago, the percentage of first generation students was just 22 percent, according to a report done by the Office of Institutional Assessment. Mason has seen a spike in attendance of first generation students due to, in part, location and cost, according to a blog post by former provost Peter Stearns. “Location in a region of immigration, diversity and population growth provided an obvious spur. So did relatively low costs and reasonably high quality. For some students, Mason’s close connections with Northern Virginia Community College were (and are) an important factor as well,” the post said. With such a large percentage of first generation students, organizations like F1RST Gen Mason and programs like the Student Transition Empowerment Program (STEP) have been created to assist these students. F1RST Gen Mason is an organization that “[creates] an educational and supportive network that will increase the retention and graduation rate of first-generation students,” according to the F1RST Gen Get Connected profile.

Mason and programs like STEP, both Brissett and Ford believe that there is more Mason can be doing to assist first generation students. Brissett said she has heard the university talk repeatedly about the number of first generation students that attend Mason but does not think there is a lot the university actually does for these students. “As far as resources directly for first generation college students, there’s really not that many,” Brissett said. Ford agreed with Brissett and said, “I don’t think Mason does a lot in terms of providing resources for first generation students. I think overall, Mason has done a good job of improving their resources, but as to say a first generation student who isn’t from this area, speaking of myself, if I hadn’t known about the STEP program I wouldn’t have known how to acclimate to the college lifestyle and the environment here.” Ford added that she thinks Mason could do a better job in terms of public relations and advertising lives of first generation students,

and also giving credit where credit is due to these students. “I feel like Mason pushes, ‘Oh we’re diverse; we have a lot of different ethnicities and cultures here,’ but a culture is being first generation and I feel like that doesn’t get publicized or get enough recognition as it should,” Ford said. Despite thinking Mason could use some improvement in its assistance to first generation students, Ford said she wanted to thank Mason for the opportunity that it has given her. “As I have shared before I think they could do a better job publicizing on these opportunities,” Ford said, “but nonetheless they have them.” Brissett added that, “the university resources that we have, like I said, the writing, the math, th etutoring center, CAPS, WAVES, LGBTQ services, all that stuff are perfect to create an environment for not just first geneartion students but for all students to be as successful as possible.”

Junior Alicia Brissett, the president and founder of F1RST Gen Mason, said she created the organization her freshmen year in the hopes of giving first generation students at Mason a place to feel at home. “A lot of times you see with first generation college students...that they tend to feel out of place or they feel like they don’t really have a space, and that causes them to go to another university,” Brissett said. “We want students to feel like this is a place that they can actually see themselves graduating from.” Brissett continued that about 160 first generation students at Mason are a part of the STEP program, but that number does not reflect the actual amount of first generation students. This prompted her to create F1RST Gen Mason in hopes of reaching out to the larger population. “The thing with being a first generation college student is...the student has to know they’re first generation. So a lot of times we interact with students on a daily basis that don’t even know they’re first generation college students,” Brissett said. “They face the same obstacles and they have these ideas and pressures of education and in having to perform for their families and their peers, but they don’t really know what the term means. The STEP program is described as “an initiative in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Multicultural Education (ODIME) created to enhance the recruitment, engagement and retention of first generation college students accepted to George Mason University,” according to ODIME’s website. Junior Shanice Ford, who is a coordinator for First Generation Initiatives for ODIME, said STEP takes high school seniors who have been accepted to Mason and lets them take two classes over the summer as a way to transition to campus and network as well. Despite the existence of organizations like F1RST Gen

(MEGAN ZENDEK/FOURTH ESTATE)

In fall of 2014, 33 percent of Mason undergraduates were first generation, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Reporting.

10.19.2015

news

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Right and Wrong: Students discuss displaced populations

(ASTACIA PEGRAM/FOURTH ESTATE)

HAMNA AHMAD | STAFF WRITER

On Wednesday night, a group of students came together to ask, “Right, Wrong or Different?” The theme of this semester’s discussion was the ethical issues surrounding the global treatment of displaced populations, commonly referred to as refugees. The dialogue was sponsored by the Office of International Programs and Services (OIPS) and the Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Office, and facilitated by New Century College and School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution professor Al Fuertes. This is the fifth “Right, Wrong or Different?” program that Mason has hosted, with past topics ranging from substance abuse and gender identity to policy-community relations. Before the event began, students milled around the array of international snacks and drinks and found seats among strangers at the round tables set up in the middle of the room. Anna Ritter, a philosophy major, recounted to her group how a series published on the Humans of New York Facebook page motivated her to learn more about the Syrian refugee crisis, and ultimately, to attend this event. The session began with group discussions during which participants were encouraged to be open-minded and respectful, followed by a “four-corners” activity that led students to assess their own views on migration and talk with new people. A lecture by Professor Fuertes followed the activity. Fuertes has been working with displaced populations around the

world for the past twelve years. His presentation weaved together statistics, definitions, visuals and personal anecdotes about meeting displaced people and seeing firsthand how quickly their lives had changed. Fuertes projected pictures and videos of displaced Syrians that have been circulating the daily news cycle, but he also shared stories of the displaced populations of Myanmar, South Sudan, Burundi, Iraq and more. Ritter was shocked, she said, during his presentation. “What really stood out to me was his passion for helping these people. When he started talking about all those people living there and all those numbers—those are his friends. It made it so much more real for me, at least,” she said. Fuertes explained to the group why knowledge of global displacement is so limited and why the U.S. population is slow to react. “What we hear on social media is sifted,” Fuertes said. “Why bother? We are not interested. What can we get out of it?” Fuertes also taught the group about the legal differences between refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced and stateless people, as defined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He talked about how difficult it can be for displaced people to navigate the process without money or legal aid. Fuertes then introduced the concept of the smuggler industry, a “multimillion dollar business” that facilitates the often unsafe transport of people fleeing their home countries for a high price, which he compared to human trafficking. He also touched on displacement caused by nonviolent phenomena such as climate change, which

affects island populations in Eastern Asia. His goal, Fuertes said, was that participants leave the event “with a new perspective of looking at displacement.” Students who want to help at refugee camps, he said, should also want to learn from the people. Although the LEAD and OIPS offices partner up to host a “Right, Wrong or Different” program every semester, Nick Lennon, director of the Leadership Education and Development Office, said directors chose the topic of refugees and displacement because of its relevancy and urgency. According to a report published by the UNHCR in June, the number of forcibly displaced people reached 59.5 million at the end of last year. “I had no idea,” said Ritter after learning about the number of displaced populations all over the world. What surprised her the most, she said, was hearing that the United States has taken in only about 1,600 displaced Syrians. “It was astonishing and embarrassing and I am ashamed.” The group was not able to decide on a singular, concrete response on the right answer when dealing with displaced populations, although they did leave the room with the names of student organizations, study abroad programs and internships that can help them learn more about the causes and consequences of displacement. “Going to events like this reassures me that I am studying the right thing,” said Ritter. “Right and wrong are not as simple as you might think, but they still exist.”

lifestyle

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

10.19.2015

Stories from the first generation SAVANNAH NORTON | LIFESTYLE EDITOR

F1rst Gen Mason is a student organization designed to create a support network for first generation students at Mason. Some students do not even know that they are first generation students. It helps to talk to others going through similar experiences as you and to get involved. Fourth Estate sat down with two members of the executive board of F1rst Gen Mason and one of their members about their individual first generation experience. F1rst Gen Mason and the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Multicultural Education (ODIME) will be hosting a first generation panel and small group discussion Monday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Front HUB Ballroom. This event will have discussion about what it is like to be a first generation college student at Mason. The panel will include students and university life professional staff members who will lead attendees in conversation about the subject. F1rst Gen Mason also hosts regular “First Gen Fridays” where students can nominate a first generation college student that exhibits academic excellence and is making positive impacts in the Mason community.

(CLARIE CECIL/ FOURTH ESTATE)

(COURTESY OF KEOSHA QUIGLEY)

(COURTESY OF FELIX TOXEY JR.)

Alicia Brissett, President of F1rst Gen Mason

Felix Toxey Jr., Vice President of F1rst Gen Mason

Keosha Quiley, F1rst Gen Mason member

Major: Business

Major: Communication

Year: Junior

Year: Senior

Alicia Brissett is the founder and President of F1rst Gen Mason. This support group and organization has been around since she started it her freshmen year as a first generation student. “I was a part of a program out of ODIME, the STEP program,” she said. “The resources in the STEP program were so focused on us as individuals, it is such an intimate program. I wanted to figure out how we could give those resources to other students in a different way, in a mass form. And that’s when I started F1rst Gen Mason,” she said.

Felix Toxey is the first in his immediate family to attend a four year university. “Being a first generation college student is a hidden identity, meaning that there’s no physical features that a person has that points to them being first generation. With that being said, when I first started I didn’t know I was first generation or even what it was.” Toxey then met with Teejay Brown, the Assistant Director/Student Transition Empowerment Program (STEP) Coordinator, who informed him about his new identity. “Ever since then I wanted to inform others about being a first generation college student.”

Keosha Quiley is the first in her family to attend a four year university. “My academic success would not have been possible without the solid foundation I had with my high school, Friendship Collegiate Academy,” said Quiley. Collegiate had several advisers who helped students on their journey to college. “This was crucial because most of us, myself included, were from low-income households and would be the first in our families to go to college. Also, my mom raised me on her own as a single parent.”

Brissett also reflected on her life at home. “My parents are hard workers. My mom went to school and then she got pregnant with me and that’s when she had to stop,” she said. Growing up with stories from her mother about the things she wishes she could have done with a degree motivated her to reach higher education. “My extended family, they want to see me successful. I think that in this day and age, we what’s going to get you there and a bachelor’s degree is the minimum to go somewhere,” she said, “Having that degree is something that most employers require of you.” Brissett mentioned some of the pressures that come along with being a first generation college student. “Financially, paying for school, if you aren’t fortunate enough to come from a family who can afford your education and dealing with financial aid,” she said. “Secondly, I don’t want to waste my mom’s money while being and not plan to graduate or not really know what I’m doing.” Brissett works 40 hours a week between two jobs,working on campus at the Orientation Office and also as a sales associate at Alex and Ani. “I’m doing this to afford some type of lifestyle here in Northern Virginia,” she said. She likes to earn some money herself so she doesn’t have to ask her mom for little things. “Getting good grades is another thing. I want to be here and get good grades, I want to get a job. I have recently started to feel this pressure of ‘what is next?’” As her senior year quickly approaches she likes to plan ahead for success. “I want to make sure something is coming up next for me, personally.”

Toxey did not originally choose Mason. “I actually went to Randolph-Macon College in Ashland to play football, but after a few injuries, I decided to transfer. I was looking for a big school so I could meet a lot of new people near a major city.” He found that Mason was the perfect fit for what he was looking for in a university. He then became Vice President of F1rst Generation. “I thought it would be a great opportunity to reach out to other students that are first generation. This org allows first generation college students to meet and network with other students with the same identity,” Toxey said. F1rst Gen has hosted several events that have sparked conversation around identity such as panel discussion, ‘I Am First Stories’ and other awareness events. Toxey feels that F1rst Gen Mason creates a close-knit environment for students. “I am really proud to be identified as a first generation college students, and through F1rst Gen Mason we started developing a family,” Toxey said.

Quiley admits that college was not a priority to her until she started working with her high school advisors. “They encouraged me and told me that it was possible for someone in my situation to get a degree,” she said. After the motivation kicked in, she worked hard and persisted to get the tools and support that she needed to get to college. “I had no college fund, but my high school worked hard to help us find scholarships to pay for college,” she said. “Most of my financial aid comes from organizations that provide money to minorities who in line in D.C., such as the D.C. Achievers scholarship.” In the summer of 2011, Quigley was selected along with 60 other students across America to be a member of Cohort 7 for the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) Scholars program. LEDA is an organization that helps rising high school seniors who come from low-income, minority backgrounds prepare for the college application process. Their program is held on the campus of Princeton University. “Most of their scholars are first generation college students and LEDA’s mission is to help these student get into the most selective schools in the country,” said Quigley. She chose Mason because out of all the schools she visited, she felt at home right when she stepped foot on campus. “It was one of those warm, inspiring feelings you get when something magical happens. I instantly fell in love with the campus aesthetics and envisioned myself as a Patriot.” Quigley has had many opportunities to grow and develop during her time at Mason so far, she recently enjoyed going to the Career Fair to make connections with potential employers.

10.19.2015

lifestyle Student orgs raise breast cancer awareness

JEVETTE BROWN | STAFF WRITER

The pink ribbons popping up on everyone’s backpacks and sweaters on campus recently are not just for decoration. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Mason is doing its fair share of bringing attention to this notable cause. Mason’s chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha, a sorority whose national philanthropy is breast cancer awareness and education, is hosting a month full of events to support the cause. ZTA has partnered with several reputable national organizations to support their Think Pink campaign like the American Cancer Society, the National Football League (NFL) and a nonprofit educational organization, Bright Pink, to promote these efforts. ZTA members Katie Lynch and Evelien Krijnen, who are in charge of organizing the sorority’s events this year, said the kickoff for Breast Cancer Awareness Month at Mason was held on Oct. 1st, when members handed out ribbons in North Plaza. They also held a Kiss Away Cancer event on Oct. 6th where anyone affected by breast cancer could show their support by “kissing” it away by drawing a heart on a large banner. At the annual “Crucial Catch Game,” held on Oct. 4th, ZTA sisters attended a Washington Redskins NFL game to hand out ribbons. ZTA formed a partnership with the team to support the cause in 1999. Krijnen says it is especially important to her to raise awareness on college campuses because “it creates a community for those who know people that have been touched by the disease to get involved and find support.”

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Mason’s Wellness, Alcohol and Violence Education and Services office (WAVES) hosted its second annual Give Cancer the Boot event in North Plaza earlier this month. This event brings attention to the various cancers that affect young adults and teaches early detection and prevention methods through interactive activities. Student Health Services even gave out coupons for $5 off the HPV vaccine at its table at the event to further encourage students to utilize early detection methods and to pursue further information on this subject. In addition to hosting Give Cancer the Boot, WAVES offers online resources, including advice on its webpage for breast self-exams, as 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. This national awarness campaign, which started in 1985, was organized to increase knowledge about breast cancer and to help raise money for researching the disease. Multiple events are held around the country including Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure, a three day, sixty-mile fundraiser walk to raise money for cancer research. Mason’s School of Dance is also showing its support for the cause under the direction of junior dance major, Ariana Matthews, who is a passionate advocate of breast cancer awareness. Last year, Matthews challenged the entire department to wear pink the first day of October and each Wednesday of the month to show support, and over half the dancers participated. This year, Matthews has asked dancers to honor Wednesdays and Thursdays in October as a “pinkout,” where dancers can wear pink as a way of showing continued support. But ZTA is not the only student organization stepping up to support breast cancer awareness this month. Other student organizations are also doing their part to help raise awareness. The

Mason Caribbean Student Association and Mason’s chapter of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha paired up October 15 for a Think Pink fundraiser in the Johnson Center. For this event, students could be entered to win a Caribbean Corner gift card if they posted a picture of themselves wearing pink to social media, complete with the hashtag #PinkCSA or #AlphasNPink, then stopped by the fundraiser’s kiosk to donate to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Matthews says she thinks breast cancer awareness is especially important among dancers, since the field is largely made up of females. In addition, she thinks it is important to promote support within the School of Dance since she estimates that almost everyone in the department can name someone currently or previously affected by breast cancer. “Cancer and loss of life from it is never an easy thing to work around and it never will be,” Matthews said. Still, she applauds the support system of the Mason Dance Company and its efforts towards promoting education and awareness of this disease. “It makes the process that much easier,” she said. To wrap up the month, ZTA will be hosting one of the most popular Mason events for raising cancer awareness, Big Man on Campus (BMOC). This is a week-long competition in which students compete to raise money for breast cancer awareness and education. The culmination of the contest is a pageant, complete with talent and swimsuit portions and the crowning of a male student as Mason’s Big Man on Campus. Even though October is the nationally recognized month for breast cancer awareness, Krijnen reminds us that “breast cancer ... is something to be aware of 365 days a year.”

(CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE)

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

lifestyle

10.19.2015

Mason participates in movement to end hunger

(COURTESY OF EICA TETI-ZILINSKAS

Student volunteers help to prepare food waste from Soutside Dining Hall to give back to the Fairfax community SAVANNAH NORTON | LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Mason has recently partnered with the Campus Kitchens Project, the nation’s largest student movement to end hunger and food waste. On Sept. 23, Mason officially joined Campus Kitchens and officially launched its own Campus Kitchen to address local hunger and food waste in the Fairfax community. Mason’s is the forty-seventh Campus Kitchen to join the national network. Since 2001, the Campus Kitchen national organization has empowered student volunteers to turn wasted food into healthy, balanced meals for the community. With the help of Campus Kitchens, students from all around the country have been taking food waste from dining halls, community gardens, restaurants and grocery stores and transforming them into healthy meals. They have also been promoting the use of sustainable solutions for addressing hunger and food insecurity in their communities. “One of the values we reinforce with our Campus Kitchen chapters is that we’ll never end hunger with food alone,” said Campus Kitchens Project Director, Laura Toscano. “Our student volunteers have the opportunity to use the existing resources on campus to not only deliver meals, but to create and test new solutions to the root causes of hunger. We’re teaching the students we work with to go beyond the idea of traditional charity and look for those levers of change that will change the underlying systemic problems.” Next Friday, Oct. 23, Mason Dining will be hosting a World Food Day celebration that will focus on helping communities overcome hunger. The event will be the a culmination of a week-long food drive organized by Campus Kitchens student volunteers and will feature a showcase of the various plans Campus Kitchens has for its first year at Mason. As part of the celebration, a “local market” will be set up outside of Southside where student organizations that promote sustainability, like President Park’s Greenhouse partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Mason Dining, will be at tables to display some of Mason’s efforts. “On behalf of all the students involved with the Campus Kitchen at GMU, we are thrilled to officially launch,” said Kyle Brooks,

president of Campus Kitchens at Mason, said in a press release. “We are extremely grateful for the support from our sponsoring office, Auxiliary Enterprises, as well as Sodexo and Mason Dining. Though Fairfax is one of the wealthiest counties in America, there are many in our community who are food insecure. We look forward to a bright future for our Campus Kitchen and all of ATTENTION: those who will benefit from our efforts.” Mason is the fifth Campus Kitchen in Virginia, joining the Kitchens at Washington and Lee University, William and Mary, Virginia Tech and University of Virginia. Mason is one of the five schools that participated in the AARP-sponsored Campus Kitchens launch grant video competition in October 2014, for which representatives created videos explaining why their community would benefit from a Campus Kitchen. According to Campus Kitchen’s official website, Mason’s video received more than 1,170 votes. The Campus Kitchen at Mason will host cooking shifts at Southside Dining Hall and will recover excess food from Southside, the Globe and Mason Catering. Volunteers will begin holding meal services at Cornerstones and the Katherine Hanley Shelter. They plan to add more client agencies as the organization expands on campus.

In the last academic year, Campus Kitchens across the U.S. have preserved more than 972,664 pounds of food and served 310,948 meals.

A CLINICAL RESEARCH STUDY FOR WOMEN

Get involved in a new clinical study that is studying an investigational medication for birth control Local doctors are studying an investigational vaginal ring for birth control. If you qualify for the study, you may receive: • Investigational birth control medication at no cost to you for up to one year • Study-related care at no cost to you • Possible reimbursement for time and travel For more information, please contact:

PI-Coor Clinical Research / Neda Hashemi, MD 703-426-0800 or pi_coor@msn.com

10 10.19.2015

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

A STUDENT MEDIA PARTNERSHIP

A CULTURAL FESTIVAL FOR GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY AND THE DC AREA Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016 (AMSSH) is a book arts and cultural festival planned for January through March 2016, throughout the Washington DC area. Exhibits, programs, and events will commemorate the 2007 bombing of Baghdad’s historic bookselling street, and celebrate the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, to stand in solidarity with the people of Iraq, who have endured so much; and with people at home and abroad who are unable to make their voices heard. The Idaho Center for the Book and the Arts and Humanities Institute at Boise State University is currently presenting “Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here.” This exhibit comes to George Mason University and partners in January, 2016. Details from artwork by Michael Chabot, Csilla Kosa, and John Packer.

For al-Mutanabbi Street

Feature Partner: Brentwood Arts Exchange

“...books and stationery, some still tied in

Brentwood Arts Exchange (BAE) and the West have more in is a facility of The Marylandcommon than not – including National Capital Park and rich cultural histories in all Planning Commission. It is the of the arts, music, poetry, anchor and public component visual art, literature, film, of the public/private partnership dance… However, although the Gateway Arts Center, with a arts have the power to increase mission to serve the public understanding, to bridge our of Prince George’s County by differences, one other thing Phil Davis, Director presenting high quality arts we have in common is that the Brentwood Arts Exchange exhibitions, arts events, and arts face threats in all of our learning opportunities, as well as countries. At home the arts a fine craft store featuring suffer from displacement from education systems local artists. and low audience engagement. In many places in “For me, Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here is the Middle East, the arts are threatened by violence about human connectedness. We live in a time, and repressive government regimes. I believe that is not historically the first time, when the that because we’re connected globally, those two relationship between the West and the Middle threats are related. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here East are defined by misunderstanding and proposes a way forward. By giving the artists in conflict. And, because of our heightened pace the project a voice, by giving an audience to of global interaction, it’s more important than expression and understanding, we bring the ever that people far away from one another people of different cultures together beyond understand one another. Ignorance has and will rhetoric and politics, and hopefully toward a lead to misplaced animosity. The Middle East more collaborative world.”

A single sentence which mesmerized one mind for hours

charred bundles, littered the street.”

will not be seen again, in that edition, will not be seen tucked into the bookshelf of the friend we will never meet, on the street we will not know. What blows to pieces goes fast. They’ll give it namessuccessful mission, progress in security. What lingers long- quiet hours reading, in which people were the best they hadn’t been yet, something was coming, something exquisitely new, something hopeful anyone might do, and the paper flicker of turning. — Naomi Shihab Nye From the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here anthology, edited by Beau Beausoleil and Deema Shehabi, published by PM Press, 2012.

Partners include George Mason’s School of Art and Fenwick and Provisions Libraries, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Split This Rock, McLean Project for the Arts, Corcoran at George Washington University and Georgetown University, Cultural DC, Smithsonian Libraries, and National Portrait Gallery Library, and Brentwood Arts Exchange. For programming and AMSSHDC partner events visit www.amsshdc2016.org/events

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

This is part of an ongoing series about the AMSSHDC2016 project.

Responses to the Lineage Exhibition

10.19.2015

WELCOME to new team

associates of the AMSSH project: RITA ROWAND George Mason Office of Global Strategy ABBAS KHORSEED, George Mason Language Department, Fulbright Scholar HEBA F. EL-SHAZI George Mason Assistant Professor of Political Science SHATHA ALMUTAWA Split This Rock Program Associate for AMSSH

Alice Quatrochi, Fantasy Sprouts Fallow, 2015, sculptural book of appropriated paper and handmade flax paper, 36” x 5” x 10” Exhibited in LINEAGE, Fenwick Library

Anne Smith Alumnus, MFA in Art

Marcos Martinez Alumnus, MFA in Fiction. Editor-in-Chief for Stillhouse Press and Adjunct Faculty at George Mason University

Tian Luan, MA in Arts Management Program

MATT PINNEY Northern Virginia Community College, Manassas campus

“When my co-curators, M. Mack, Qinglan Wang and Marcos L. Martínez and I met to discuss a theme for this year’s Call & Response exhibit, we started thinking about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here project. Embedded in AMSSH is an awareness of a cultural and creative lineage that could not be destroyed because it is part of a lineage, a history that cannot be undone. This idea of “Lineage” — the idea of a shared past, a passing down of culture — speaks not only to the values of AMSSH, but to a shared recognition that each society’s, each family’s, each individual’s pasts are an indelible part of who we are. This year’s Call & Response exhibit, titled “Lineage”, asked pairs of visual artists and writers to explore this timely theme.” “At its heart, Call & Response is a conversation among artists and authors, but also a conversation within art and society. My initial thoughts on “Lineage” focused on artistic-ancestry: Who are the writers and artists that inspired and transformed our own development as artists? After brainstorming with my collaborator, Josh Whipkey, the theme of Lineage tapped into our own personal pasts, heritage, and the future-weight of ancestry. As Josh states, “Art is my birthright. It is my heritage. It is the lens through which I see the world…” For me, Lineage (like all history) is laden with gaps, erasures, the ways memory can re-tell and un-tell the past. This collaboration — my third Call & Response — tapped into deep veins of familial and cultural history, and has sparked an entire new project that attempts to untangle bloodlines: myth, truth, and grief. Art inspires art.”

Archival Photo: One of the oldest Baghdadi bookstores was the Al-Muthanna Bookstore & Publishing House (1936)

Get Involved! This project is made possible by a dedicated team of volunteers. To volunteer your time, contact: Helen Frederick, hfrederi@gmu.edu or Nikki Brugnoli, nbrugnol@gmu.edu

I am pleased to be involved in the project Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016, as an intern. Currently, I am pursuing a Master Degree of Arts Management in George Mason University. I used to intern with Meridian International Center, Fairfax Choral Society, and George Mason University Center for the Arts. In this semester, I joined American University’s EALS Ambassador Group on behalf of GMU to build connection and promote art events between us. Regarding the AMSSH Project, I will be committed to coordinating the performing arts events and assisting with the film programs organized by Phil Davis at Brentwood Arts Association. I really appreciate the opportunity allowing me to work with art professionals, artists, activists and intellectuals from Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland. I firmly believe that I will make a tremendous progress through one-year engagement in the project.

Got a question? info@amsshdc2016.org I am Iraqi / I Read YouTube Video: ow.ly/RtBB0 Join the conversation:

@AMSSHDC2016 Visit our website for more information:

www.amsshdc2016.org AMSSH thanks the Fourth Estate for its generous and ongoing support Designed by Danielle Coates

lifestyle

10.19.2015

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

Students bring well-being team to life “I thought it was lame and I couldn’t really meditate,” said Tilleman. “But once I learned about other facets like self-compassion, gratitude, and the idea of being able to empathize with other people, I started to care a lot about well-being.” In order to bring her passion to life, Tilleman approached Murray with a new idea for a well-being organization on campus. What began as a small idea quickly turned into something much bigger. “AnnaMarijka came to me with this idea and I told her that this is bigger than what you are making it,” said Murray, a sophomore integrative studies major. “So we just stayed up all night working on the idea. We continued working on it that week to make it more presentable so that we would be able to show that this is going to create a well-being culture on campus.” After countless meetings, hard work and perseverance, Tilleman and Murray were notified that their dream to form a Well-Being Team was going to become a reality. “We got the call that it was going to happen and we were super stoked,” said Murray. “We couldn’t believe it. And since then we’ve just been kind of building it from the ground up.” Located in the Student Involvement (SI) office, the Well-Being Team consists of Co-Directors Tilleman and Murray, five student coordinators and various team members. Lauren Long, director of SI, assists the team in accomplishing its goals and serves members with guidance along the way.

(CLAIRE CECIL/ FOURTH ESTATE)

AnnaMarijka Tilleman and Logan Murray pose for a picture to celebrate their Well-Being Team highlighting and spreading the well-being word on campus. TATYANA WHITE-JENKINS | ASSISTANT LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Mason students AnnaMarijka Tilleman and Logan Murray recently created a new departmental organization, the Well-Being Team, at Mason. The purpose of the Well-Being Team is to assist and spread the word about all aspects of well-being. The idea is modeled after Goal 7, one of the twelve ‘Goals for Students’ outlined in Mason’s 2014-2024 Strategic Plan. According to the document, Goal 7 is to help Mason “become a model well-being university” where students can thrive. The Well-Being Team hopes address this aim by creating programs, spreading awareness and showcasing the many sides of well-being. Tilleman and Murray created the team in hopes of providing well-being opportunities they believed were lacking for students. “If we are a well-being university and are doing things for faculty and staff and we are telling incoming freshman that we are a well-Being university, but we don’t show up that way for our students then that is an issue for me,” said Tilleman, a junior conflict analysis and resolution major. “So with the well-being team that is the main goal, to make well-being accessible to students.” Tilleman’s passion for well-being was ignited after she discovered it’s many facets. Previously, she struggled with the concept of well-being and some of its more popular practices.

“As a departmental organization within Student Involvement, my role is to advise the group and assist in building a strong foundation for the group to flourish,” said Long. “I provide guidance, leadership training and development, learning around event management and team development as well as serve as a liaison to the Center for Well-Being and Mason staff and faculty committed to moving this message

forward.” Although the team is just getting started, Long is impressed with its early successes and the great interest it has attracted in short amount of time. “Two students came to me with an idea and passion and it was contagious. I wasn’t sure if it would catch on but quickly word spread,” said Long. “We held a competitive application process for the coordinator positions. We already have a list of students interested in joining the team and many stakeholders reaching out to partner with us. It is clear that the vision the students had is what our campus needed.” Focusing on aspects like creativity, gratitude and happiness, the Well-Being Team hopes to highlight the lesser-known aspects of well-being. “When you see well-being, you see a stigma attached to it like yoga and meditation but there are so many other facets to it that don’t get touched on or acknowledged,” said Tilleman. “So the WellBeing team is here to break that stigma of things that only white women in their 30’s or 40’s do. We want to show that it is something everyone can tap into.” Because the activities cover a diverse range of topics and Mason is a diverse campus, the team believes its events will offer something

for everyone. Members encourage students to get involved not only to learn well-being practices for their own benefit but also to create a positive culture on campus. “People should get involved because it can be a part of them leaving their legacy at Mason,” said Tilleman. “We are new so any type of contribution you make to this will help students down the road.” In the coming months, the team will host numerous well-being events, including monthly mindfulness programs. This spring, the team will begin giving presentations in classrooms and meeting with other organizations to facilitate workshops on well-being. “We are also doing Well-Being Day, which is our biggest event and is part of Spring into Well-Being,” said Tilleman. “That day will just be a big celebration and mental health day for the campus. It’s going to be kind of like our signature.” Tilleman and Murray feel that these events and activities will promote students’ personal growth and deepen their understanding of how important well-being is to their lives. “We all are going through something. We all have our daily troubles and we all have stress,” said Murray. “So what’s great about well-being is that it is accessible in so many ways. And if you can show up in different ways to show students that it’s okay and we can show you ways to be less stressed or help you with your problems and be resilient, I think that is something that is invaluable.” Tillman anticipates big things for the organization and looks forward to leaving behind a strong legacy after she graduates. “I’m excited to see how it comes to life,” said Tilleman. “Obviously I won’t be here forever so I won’t be able to see what it turns out to be but I love being able to leave that legacy. And also being able to see my team members and coordinators grow into strong leaders.” Murray hopes the team will assist in sparking a change within the university that will ultimately strengthen the Mason community in the long run. “I think it’s important that we are the first Well-Being university so we need to show up in that way,” said Murray. “We want to see that change on campus. We want to better our university and help further the university initiative. We want to start showing what a Well-Being university looks like and I think the Well-Being team will be a great asset in doing that.”

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

#GMU

lifestyle

10.19.2015

TO DO THIS WEEK: MONDAY 10/19 On campus:

Off campus: Centerville Historic District Ghost Tour

Parent Training Group

Spindle Sears House 57

CAPS

“When you are having a down day and your school makes you feel so much better #GMU”

6:30-8p.m.

@Misselliemariee Elizabeth

TUESDAY 10/20 Off campus:

On campus: “I only came to class to get my midterm grade. He starts class with “I’m about half done grading the tests” *walks out* SEE YA.”

none

5th Annual Communication Insight Committee Industry Career Forum Johnson Center , Dewberry Hall 9:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

@Nikkiwantsjuice Nikki Gerald

WEDNESDAY 10/21 Off campus:

On campus:

none

Farmers Market

“These stupid people at Mason really be waiting a day and a half for that you can walk across the street sign to pop up”

Johnson Center Food Court 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.

@Ashbash825 Penné

THURSDAY 10/22 Off campus:

On campus:

Date Night on the Potomac: Pitch Perfect

Academic Advising Expo

“Half of the girls in my sorority are engaged, meanwhile I am planning how many pugs I can fit into one house.”

@electriccoasts jenna

National Harbor

The HUB, Ballroom Lobby

7 p.m.

8 a.m. - 2 p.m.

FRIDAY 10/23 On campus: Disney on Ice Presents 100 Years of Magic Eagle Bank Area 10:30a.m.

Off campus: Rock the Block Old Town Sqaure Town, Fairfax 6 p.m.

10.19.2015

Opinion

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

A letter to the editor

I am writing concerning your September 14, 2015 article “Mason earns freedom of speech award after changes to student code.” I write because the article mentions a free speech violation that happened to me in 2005 when I was assaulted by civilians and police, arrested, and taken to jail for protesting military recruiters in the Johnson Center. In response to what vigilantes and police did to me, several student groups, the Faculty Senate, local activist groups, individuals, and national non-profits, including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) – which the article references – courageously stood in my defense. I am grateful to all of those people and organizations, including FIRE. That being said, some of what Greg Lukianoff, CEO of FIRE, and Jonathan Haidt, a professor at NYU, are quoted in the article as saying, triggered some alarm bells for me. Based on the article’s quotes of Lukianoff and Haidt, the two seem to be suggesting that “political correctness” and an aversion to “offensiveness” on the part of students are at the heart of the attacks on free speech we are seeing at campuses across the nation. I argue that such a notion is both wrong and harmful. I am currently at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where I am teaching an undergraduate US history class and working toward a PhD in history. Here at UIUC we are well acquainted with controversy concerning academic freedom and free speech. Last year the American Indian Studies Program hired Professor Steven Salaita. Under pressure from wealthy donors, Israel lobby groups, and establishment politicians, the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees stepped in and “unhired” Salaita, citing the supposedly “uncivil” tweets he posted criticizing Israel’s indiscriminate killing of civilians – including over 500 children – in Gaza last year. In response to this unprecedented move by the Chancellor and the BOT, 15 departments cast votes of no-confidence in the Chancellor and the BOT, an academic boycott of UIUC was launched (which has affected us greatly), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) formally censured

UIUC, and the university is currently mired in an expensive legal battle over the matter. I stand proudly with the American Indian Studies Program and the larger academic community in defense of Steven Salaita and the principles of academic freedom. Was Salaita targeted because he was not “politically correct?” Was he targeted for being “offensive?” Was the campaign against him triggered by students who are uncomfortable with controversy? The answer to all three questions is no. Plenty of professors at UIUC have used swear words on social media with no repercussions, it was not liberals with supposed hypersensitivity about political correctness who raised their eyebrows about Salaita, and it was the student activist Left – the people who are supposedly policing uncomfortable language, according to Lukianoff and Haidt – who most boldly came to Salaita’s defense. The campaign against Salaita came not from below, but from above, from rich and powerful establishment interests. Was the repression against me at GMU ten years ago caused by a culture of hypersensitive “political correctness?” Again, no. The incident in which vigilantes and police used violence to silence me was sparked by two right-wing extremist students calling me a “pussy” and a “faggot” and ripping the sign off of my chest. After brutalizing me and handcuffing me, one police officer said to me, “What with 9-11 and all, there’s no telling what you’ll do,” and another police officer yelled at me, “You people are the most violent people in the world!” At the jail, the officer threatened to hang me upside-down from the ceiling for “running my mouth.” The first people to come to my defense, and to the defense of free speech, were leftist students and professors, LGBT students, South Asian and Arab students, the very people who the right would have us believe are too “politically correct” and “sensitive” to tolerate free speech. It was the local right wing, the people who complain that society is “offended” too easily – fascist groups such as Free Republic, which later merged with other similar groups to become the Tea Party movement – who reveled in my arrest and called for

more repression of students like me. The flawed notion that overly-sensitive “PC” students are shutting down free speech is harmful. Student initiatives on campuses to challenge things such as racial or gender micro-aggressions are not challenges to free speech and they are not based on the idea that micro-aggressions are “offensive.” Micro-aggressions must be challenged because they are oppressive, not because they are offensive. “Oppressive” and “offensive” are not the same thing. Racist speech leads to an environment that is conducive to racist violence. It marginalizes students of color and makes the university not “uncomfortable,” but unsafe. Anti-LGBT speech makes campus unsafe, not merely “uncomfortable” for LGBT students. Misogynist speech creates an environment that is conducive to sexual assault. Any decent social scientist knows this. It is not about people being “uncomfortable” or “offended.” It is about people being unsafe and oppressed. I was beaten, arrested, threatened, disrespected, and thrown in jail because I criticized US imperialism and militarism – two “isms” that GMU is deeply invested in. The Christian fundamentalists trying to bring everyone to Jesus, who were out there almost every day preaching were never arrested. The College Republicans with their capitalist, imperialist, white supremacist, patriarchal worldview were never arrested for being out there. The corporations handing out ads were never arrested for being out there. The antichoice people were never arrested for being out there with their giant fetus pictures and their condemnations of women who have had abortions. The only people that got arrested for speech were me, with my anti-militarism/anti-imperialism, and the animal rights people protesting the abusive B&B Circus. So do not use what happened to me as an excuse to stand idly by, in the name of “freedom,” while white supremacists and Christian fundamentalists persecute students of color and LGBTQ students. TARIQ KHAN / MASON ALUMNUS

Sports

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

10.19.2015

Men’s soccer records another tie MITCHELL WESTALL | STAFF WRITER

offense who appeared to dominate.

In need of a strong performance to remain in line for the Athletic-10 conference playoffs, Mason’s men’s soccer team pulled a close tie Wednesday against A-10 rivals, the University of Dayton Flyers. The Flyers’ overpowering offensive attack dominated the first half of the match, but Mason played a strong defense and limited the Flyers to a single goal. It was a match-up of backup goalies as Mason’s Michael Butts faced Dayton’s Oliver Hansen in the net. Both Butts and Hansen entered the match with impressive statistics, each holding a stronger record than his team’s starting goalie. These numbers are likely to remain unchanged since both keepers let in just one goal apiece during the match. Mason’s defensive performance was especially impressive considering one of the team’s top defenders, Taylor Washington, was out due to an injury. Dayton’s high-powered offense appeared to be heading toward a strong victory when the team scored early in the first half. In the eleventh minute, Mason committed a foul that gave Dayton a free kick. Flyer midfielder Michael Frasca took the kick, which midfielder Kissima Bojang put in the net, giving Dayton a 1-0 lead. Dayton’s offense continued attacking for the remainder of the first half, but players were unable to convert any opportunities into goals. Mason’s offense had three solid opportunities that they could not seem to cash in. In the seventeenth minute, forward Henning Dirks missed the net wide on a solid one-on-one opportunity. By the end of the first half, Mason had committed eight fouls compared to Dayton’s five. Mason also took four corner kicks during the first half but could not convert any of them into goals. Dayton was only given three corner kick opportunities during the first half. The match’s second half was a much different story. Though Dayton is widely known as a second-half team, it was Mason’s

In the sixth minute of the second period, Dayton had an excellent three-on-one opportunity, but Mason defender Alain Sergeant made an outstanding play that forced Dayton’s forward to send the shot wide. In the tenth minute, Mason’s Dirks came up close against Dayton’s goalie, but failed to execute a goal. Mason’s strong offensive effort finally paid off in the twenty-fourth minute when defender Jordan Edwards took the ball away at midfield and got it to midfielder Ryan Harmouche. Harmouche set up forward Matt Tucker for a shot on goal that found its way into the hands of Hansen. However, Hansen misplayed the ball, and it slid right through his grasp into the back of the net. “The players worked hard and [the bouncing ball] got to my foot, and I took a shot and luckily the goalie made a mistake and it went in the goal,” Tucker said.

the game in a tie. This was Mason’s second tie of the season in their conference. After a rough first half, it was apparent that head coach Greg Andrulis had made some adjustments that allowed Mason to tie it up. “In the second half we started a high press, we made them kick the ball to us, we played a little soccer, and then luckily we got a lucky chance that found the goal. From there on it was just hard work and perseverance and we got the tie, but hopefully next time we’ll get the win,” Tucker said. As for the tie against the Flyers, Mason currently sits twelfth in the Atlantic-10 standings, ahead of only St. Bonaventure. “We’re just [going to] play hard in practice for the next couple days, get in shape, get better, and hopefully we can get the next one,” Tucker said.

This was Tucker’s teamleading third goal of the season, giving him the team lead in points. His was the final goal of regulation as the match entered double overtime. In the second minute of overtime, forward Daniel Hoffman took the ball far in the offensive zone, but he failed to convert on a strong scoring chance that could have won the game for Mason. Following two strong tenminute overtime periods for Mason, neither team managed to score, closing

Men’s soccer during a timeout on Wednesday.

(MITCHELL WESTALL/FOURTH ESTATE))

Mason Patriots’ week ahead COURTNEY HOFFMAN | SPORTS EDITOR

Following Mason Madness last Friday, Patriot spirit is running high. Keep that enthusiasm strong and come out to cheer for your fellow Patriots this week. As teams begin to head into the end of their seasons, it is becoming more important than ever to bring home wins. The men’s golf team will be attending the Terrapin Invitational Monday, Oct. 19 and Tuesday, Oct. 20. The team started strong in September, placing fourth in the Navy Fall Classic. Unfortunately, they lost their momentum, finishing last in the Janney VCU Shootout at the end of September. The team stepped its game back

up in the Patriot Intercollegiate, finishing fifth out of 17 teams. Let’s hope they don’t fall back down during this next invitational.

waivers on the edge of a 500 season, the team needs to step up in the next few games to override its number of losses.

Wednesday, Oct. 21, the men’s soccer team will be taking on Duquesne at home at 7 p.m. The men’s team has not played Duquesne since 2013 when the game ended in a tie. The men’s team needs to win this game to help turn around its losing streak. The last five games have ended in either losses or ties.

Friday, Oct. 23, the women’s volleyball team will be squaring up against Fordham at 7 p.m. at home. After losing its last three games, the team needs to meet Fordham head-on to turn things around. Mason’s last game, which was played Friday against Duquesne, ended in a 2-3 loss. Players were close to victory but missed their opportunity. Friday’s game against Fordham is the next chance for the women’s team to take control of its season. The following day, Saturday, Oct. 24, the team will be taking on Rhode Island at 7 p.m. at home.

Thursday, Oct. 22, the women’s soccer team will be going up against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) at 7 p.m. at home. Mason’s team holds a 7-6-1 record, as of press time. As it

sports

10.19.2015

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

Mason Madness: Then and Now COURTNEY HOFFMAN | SPORTS EDITOR

A sea of students decked out in green and gold flocked to Eagle Bank Arena on Friday night to celebrate the start of the 2015-2016 basketball season. However, the bright lights and grand performances have not always been a part of Mason tradition. Associate Athletic Director Andrew Ruge joined Mason Athletics 19 years ago when Mason Madness was a much smaller event. “When I first started doing [Mason Madness], it was more [focused on] campus games like dizzy bat and free throw contests for two hours. Then they’d do a practice,” Ruge remembers. The idea of a late-night opening ceremony originated at University of Maryland in 1970 when Coach Lefty Driesell organized a midnight practice for his team after the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) stated that teams could only begin holding official season practices after midnight on a designated date. Driesell’s first run drew a crowd of almost 3,000 people, sparking interest among other college teams. About 10 years later, in the 1980s, Mason began holding Midnight Madness events. Because the NCAA still had a midnight rule for practices, Midnight Madness planned carnival-like games for attendees to enjoy before watching the team’s first practice at 12 a.m. Now the league allows teams to begin practicing a few hours earlier, so teams and fans no longer have to stay up as long to celebrate. A name change accompanied the new start time. “[Mason Madness] evolved a lot so it doesn’t start right at midnight anymore. We’ve evolved it with that time change. We’ve made it

(CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE))

Mason Madness in EagleBank Arena on October 16th more of an event. More of ‘come out and see the team’ than watch the first practice. It’s more of like a Broadway show,” Ruge said. At this year’s Mason Madness, spectators enjoyed a special pre-show to celebrate the start of the season.

never done that before, “ Ruge said. The pre-show featured Steve Max, a professional “Simon Says” caller, who was hired to hype up the crowd. “We noticed in the past that the pre-time before the show starts that there’s a lull and people need to be entertained during that,” Ruge explained.

“The basketball team has a new little routine they’re doing, they’ve An opening teaser of a special highlight video of the team played to pump up the crowd and kick off the festivites. Inspirational phrases like “tradition lives here” and “spirit lives here” landed on the screen in between clips of Mason’s basketball teams best performances from the following year. The video ended with a clip from Mason’s cinderella season in 2006 when the team made it to the Final Four to celebrate the 10 year anniversary. The video even had clips of Coach Paulsen at practices leading the way. The video seemed to be a success as the crowd happily clapped along to the beat. Performances by a professional juggler and the reappearance of a combined routine with Doc Nix & the Green Machine, Mason Cheerleaders and the Patriot mascot also helped round out the evening’s actitivites, all underneath a special new lights display. Since Mason Madness is not a ticketed event, Ruge is unsure of how many people were in the crowd Friday. However, Ruge said planners did a lot to get students, alumni, family and fans out to Mason Madness. They even hosted a pizza dinner with Coach Dave Paulsen in advance to encourage students to come support the basketball teams at Friday’s event. Ruge also estimates that the additional people on campus for family and alumni weekends probably added to the crowd’s size. Ruge believes that the energy that accompanies Mason Madness is one of its most exciting assets.

Mason cheerleaders perform during Mason Madness.

“I love the collaboration between the different groups on campus to get people there. Its just the synergy to get people working together, it embodies ‘We are Mason’,” Ruge said.