C2M Staff Reporter Ethan Vaughan

New Student Government Committee to Promote Mason Events

Kevin Loker — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:07:09 +0000

Student Government, which was busy this semester with Vote Vans for the 2009 gubernatorial election and Gold Rush T-shirts, is looking to streamline Mason events of all kinds next semester through a new listserv and the newly created Executive Public Relations Committee.

The Executive Public Relations Committee will be made up of student leaders and will be responsible for providing the public with a positive image of the university and promoting school events through flyers, chalking, press releases and other means.

Student Government President Dev Dasgupta called increased student participation the biggest overall goal of his second semester in office.

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Environmental Awareness Group to Pursue 'Green Fund'

Kevin Loker — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:47:34 +0000

The George Mason University Environmental Awareness Group, which in the spring semester will be known as the Environmental Action Group, is petitioning the school to establish a Mason Green Fund. The fund would utilize money from a new student fee to help the university meet its environmental goals and reduce campus carbon emissions.

The money collected from the fund—which would be drawn from a proposed student fee of $5 per semester for each student—would be controlled by a majority-student committee charged with deciding how to disburse the moneys.

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Office of Sustainability to Publish Climate Action Plan Next Month

Kevin Loker — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:44:58 +0000

George Mason University’s Office of Sustainability will publish its biennial Climate Action Plan in January 2010, Sustainability Assistant Colin Bennett.

The office, which has existed since 2007, was created in response to the university's entry into the American College University Presidents Climate Commitment agreement in July of that year, which aligned the school with nearly 700 institutions of higher education pledged to “implement comprehensive plans in pursuit of climate neutrality.”

Mason’s Climate Action Plan, which outlines the university’s steps in developing zero-impact environmental practices, is updated, revised, and republished every two years.

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New Data Center to Open in Spring

Matt Loffman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:58:16 +0000

George Mason University’s Data Center will move from Thompson Hall to the newly-completed Aquia Building at the start of the spring semester, Facilities Management said.

“Substantial completion will be done by Jan. 28, which means that the electric, mechanical, and building and building systems will be complete,” said Mike Herman, a capital outlay engineer and project manager. “Then there will be inspection, and occupancy permits, and then we move the furniture in. We hope to have a certificate of occupancy by March 1.”

New Data Center to Open in Spring

Matt Loffman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:58:12 +0000

George Mason University’s Data Center will move from Thompson Hall to the newly-completed Aquia Building at the start of the spring semester, Facilities Management said.

University Participates in Prisoner Rehabilitation Program

Kevin Loker — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:53:48 +0000

Student rumors of prisoners working in George Mason University’s dining facilities are at least partially true, Mason Dining confirmed.

The school has been participating since the fall of 2008 in a program entitled Skill Source, in which non-violent offenders are able to take on a position of employment on campus through their detention center’s work release arrangement.

“These people are not criminals,” Mason Dining Human Resources Manager Marcella Biggins stated. “These offenders have done innocuous things, things like driving under the influence, not paying for child or spousal support, things like that. They’re not of any danger to society, and they’re paying a debt.”

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'Faces of Homelessness' Seeks to Clarify Misconceptions

Kevin Loker — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:02:06 +0000

Faces of Homelessness, a program highlighting homelessness awareness, was held in the Patriots’ Lounge on Monday evening. The event, carried out in cooperation with Lutheran Campus Ministry and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), featured a video presentation and several guest speakers, including and two individuals actually experiencing homelessness.

The focus of the gathering was to raise public knowledge of the issue and dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding it.

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At Leadership Dialogue, Merten Touts Incremental Change

Matt Loffman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:50:13 +0000

At a presidential leadership conference held in Mason Hall on Wednesday, George Mason University President Alan Merten touted the benefits of incremental change and spoke of the ways in which the university has adapted and modified since his arrival in 1996.

The conference was attended by approximately thirty student leaders who discussed the concept of personal and institutional change with the university president.