Stuff Mason Students Like #1: Ditching Campus Every Weekend

Students clear out of campus come Friday afternoon.   
(Photo via camera phone by C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker)

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[Writer's Note: Inspired by the popular blog, Stuff White People Like, “Stuff Mason Students Like” is pretty self-explanatory in drawing attention to the stuff that George Mason University students like.  This column aims to foster a common culture among Mason’s student population, publish what people are thinking and say, and most importantly, to poke some fun at the Mason student body.]

With a little over a month into the spring semester, weekends on campus are back to looking like they have always been: empty and dead.  I always pity the tour groups of high school juniors and seniors that choose the inopportune time of visiting campus on a weekend.  They walk around a bare campus, spotting only a few students here and there as their tour guide assures them that nearly 5,000 students live on campus.  I don’t disbelieve this fact, but it is hard to believe when campus turns into a seemingly deserted island once Friday rolls around, and remains this way until Monday morning.

Weekends on campus portray a stark contrast of daily life at Mason to when classes are in session on weekdays.  Campus is bustling, the parking lots are full and people bump into each other in a crowded Johnson Center.  But once it hits Friday, the commuters that comprise much of the population avoid campus like it was high school; those that do live on campus either go home or ditch Mason altogether in favor of another school.

Why do people choose to desert Mason on weekends?  Or is this just typical college student behavior, and many campuses experience this, not just ours? 

It appears that the former of the two questions posed deserves more probing.  While still a senior in high school and contemplating my college choices, I heard Mason had a reputation for being a commuter school, meaning that most students simply just came to class and left.

What, if anything, is it about Mason that seems to drive its on-campus residents away from Friday through Sunday?  Is it that boring here?

In Mason’s defense, there are options here on campus for those that choose to remain in the dorms, or are simply stuck with no means of leaving.  With the game room in SUB I, Corner Pocket in Shenandoah, free movie showings at the JC Cinema and scheduled shows on behalf of Every Freakin’ Friday, Mason provides its on-campus residents with many activities to do.  This should give some incentive for students to stay on campus, right?

Not to mention the close proximity to Washington D.C., Tyson’s Corner and shopping at Fair Oaks mall and Fairfax Corner (which Mason has now provided 7-days-a-week transportation to). You would think people would feel satisfied with staying here when classes are not in session.

Nevertheless, to some, or apparently to many as evidenced by an empty campus on weekends, this simply does not suffice.  Perhaps for them, going home or visiting a friend at another school is more enjoyable.  Or maybe many people do stay on campus but never leave their dorms and are therefore never seen.

Either way, the practice of leaving Mason every weekend has a circular effect.  When people leave campus, it contributes to others wanting to leave campus as well.  After all, who really wants to be around when no one else is? The cycle just keeps going on.

Whatever the reason is for why people ditch Mason on the weekends, Mason’s reputation for being a commuter or a “suitcase” school still remains.  Whether this activity will continue as Mason creates more housing for more students that want to live on campus is unforeseen.  But for the meantime, those living on campus still like to ditch Mason every weekend, leaving the place like a ghost town.