Sept. 9, 2013

IV

BROADSIDE AND CONNECT2MASON PRESENT

FOURTH ESTATE Sept. 9, 2013 | Volume 1 Issue 2

Krasnow Institute uses millions in federal and private funding to support state-ofthe-art lab and research | page 9 (ANDY GHOLSON/FOURTH ESTATE)

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News

Sept. 9, 2013

In this issue

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

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Police Chief Eric Heath talks about Mason Alerts and the Aug. 30 shooting incident

COLLEEN WILSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF gmufourthestate@gmail.com

17

Chase Miller returns from injury as caption of the men’s soccer team (MAURICE C JONES/FOURTH ESTATE)

University Mall construction and renovation underway

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(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

(JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Fourth estate

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I don’t usually use this space for shameless self promotion, but this week I’m making an exception for an event that is neither shameful or self promoting.

On Wednesday, Fourth Estate will be hosting the second annual Never Forget 9/11 memorial, a tradition started by Broadside editors last fall.

When the editorial board realized that the university had no plans to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the attacks, we decided to take it upon ourselves to pull something together.

Our original plan was to purchase one American flag for each victim to illustrate the depth and scope of our country’s loss.

But as we did more research and reached out to more resources around campus, we came to learn that more than 90 countries had lost citizens in the attack.

We switched out the flags for candles and decided to light a floating lantern for each country that suffered loss.

Because we put together the whole thing together in such short notice, the few days leading up to the event were crazed and chaotic.

Nearly 3,000 paper bags had to be filled with sand and then transported over to the Mason pond – we weren’t sure that we were going to pull it off.

But we called in a few friends and worked through the night and the next day and as the sun started to set on Mason pond, volunteers began to light the candles and everything just came together.

Alex Williams, who was president of Student Government at the time, pointed out in his speech that while so many of us can remember every second of the horror 9/11 brought, with each freshmen class the memory grows fainter.

I was in fourth grade in 2001 and clearly remember the day, but my confusion and fright came out of my youth and ignorance, not a true understanding of the situation.

I even asked why a tourist would want to hurt America. I was too young to have any concept of a terrorist.

To be honest, it wasn’t until last year, when I stood in the middle of a sea of candles that I realized the magnitude of 9/11. The visual was overwhelmingly powerful, the thought that each small light represented an entire human life put so much in perspective.

That’s why I am so supportive of what 9/11 has turned into, a chance for America to pull together and remember its roots.

In my column last year, I encouraged everyone to go out and participate in the National Day of Service and Remembrance, something that

should be celebrated across all political aisles.

If you’re not sure how to go out and make a difference for the day of service, take a look at http://911day. onmason.com where you can pledge your service and check out a schedule of events.

Whether you drop off a plate of homemade cookies to a veteran’s center or spend your day volunteering to weed and get dirty in the campus organic gardens, try to take some time out of your day to give something back in honor of those who gave their lives.

If you’re interested in attending the Never Forget memorial this year, we’re meeting at the Mason pond on at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11.

You can find more information on our page at facebook.com/gmufourthestate under events.

If you’re not sold yet, take a look at the video linked below that a talented videographer named Josh Cruse produced of last year’s event. http://vimeo.com/49472678

A look inside the bureaucracy of student government (JOHN IRWIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Underwater Hockey returns to practice after strong showing at Nationals

20 (AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

Why FOURTH ESTATE ?

Prior to Broadside, the student newspaper was called The Gunston Ledger. It was changed in 1969 to better represent the politically out-spoken student body at the time.

A “broadside” was a pamphlet used during the American Revolutionary War to help spread information.

While Broadside has become an important part of life at Mason, we believe it no longer represents the overarching goals of student-run news.

Though not specifically outlined like the three branches of government, the concept of a fourth estate referred to journalism and the media as an important tenet in upholding justice and liberty through establishing an informed public.

These historic roots coincide with the transforming industry of modern journalism.

News

Fourth estate

Sept. 9, 2013

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Newsbriefs A-10 basketball schedule announced The 2013-2014 schedule for Men’s basketball was announced on Sept. 5. The schedule includes season opener at Virginia Commonwealth University on Thursday, Jan. 9 and first home game against Saint Joseph’s on Saturday, Jan. 11.

The season will be Mason’s first in the Atlantic 10 conference. Other notable games include home game against George Washington University on Saturday Jan. 25 and Saint Bonaventure for Homecoming on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Indoor workouts for staff/ faculty In an effort to get faculty and staff physically active during the workday, Mason has started a program: Mason Walk In and Mason Walk out. Human resources developed the program which details indoor walking paths for several buildings on campus and outdoor walking paths for better-weather days. The plan includes one-mile paths in 18 buildings across campus.

Aug. 26 corrections

Photo of the Week: Battleship

(JOHN IRWIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

- The “ODU shows path to success in football debate” story on page 21 originally stated that field hockey was one of the women’s sports added to comply with Title IX. The sport added was softball.

- The picture for the “Innovation Food Forest promotes sustainable gardening” on page 11 was of the organic garden behind Potomac Heights, not the Innovation Food Forest.

- In stories on page 8 and 6 the incorrect form was used when referring to alumni. Both references should have been alumnus, not alumni.

Sept. 5 at the Aquatic and Fitness Center, students participated in a real life Battleship competition, based on the popular board game.

Q.

Do you think the university’s response to the Aug. 30 incident where a police fired shots at a fleeing car was appropriate?

“If I was in President Cabrera’s shoes it would start kind of a panic.

If students know about it, then family members know about it and then they would get concerned. So it would cause a not necessary amount of fear.”

Roger Dean, sophomore Criminology Law and Society

“We should know about what happens on campus especially if gunfire is involved” Ashely Murphy, freshman Biology

“If the university is taking time to gather the facts then wait for the police officers to go through their processes to make sure that the correct information gets put out to avoid panic, I’m okay with the delay. But if it was foot dragging in the sense of, you know, we’re not going to release a statement because we don’t want to, or more like we don’t want to wake somebody up I’d be a little more annoyed with that.”

Nathan Smuckler, senior, Government and International Politics

“I think they should tell so that [students] know something is happening on campus.”

Eunji Lee, junior, nursing

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Sept. 9, 2013

News

FOURTH ESTATE

Students question police response to gunshot incident

(JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

(Left) Chief Eric Heath made the call to not send out a Mason Alert after a police officer fired shots at a car because the incident did not meet the threshold of an emergency that put students in danger. (Right) The morning after the shooting, chalk lines in front of Rappahannock marked where the altercation occurred.

VERNON MILES ONLINE NEWS EDITOR In the early hours of the morning on Aug. 30, two gunshots struck a car fleeing from the Fairfax campus after hitting a Mason police officer.

In the week that followed, the campus buzzed with discussion regarding the decision not to send out a Mason Alert and the discharge of a Mason police officer’s sidearm.

The incident occurred at 1 a.m. that morning as 19-year old Rodan Ayala Velazquez and 20-year old Gian-Carlo Reyes, who were allegedly intoxicated, fled from two Mason officers who stopped them for questioning outside Lecture Hall. Velazquez and Reyes entered an SUV and struck one of the officers in the leg as they fled the Rappahannock Parking Deck.

The other officer fired shots that hit the car but not the driver.

According to Mason’s Police Chief Eric Heath, the vehicle was stopped less than five minutes later. Velazquez and Reyes were arrested and are being held in the Fairfax County jail.

Heath believes the shooting incident Aug. 30 did not meet the requirements of the Clery Act, a federal statute requiring all public

colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on or near campus.

In a meeting with Michele McDonald, Mason’s senior communications manager, Heath addressed the decision not to put out a Mason Alert, a software system that sends emergency alerts and precautionary warnings to Mason students, faculty, staff and their families.

“My job, and my responsibilities, and my authorization specifically focus on emergency communications... These are events that have an immediate and continued impact on the campus community,” Heath said. “This particular incident didn’t meet this threshold. There was an arrest immediately after the event, within minutes… It then becomes a general communications effort, which is much larger in scope and a much larger involvement with university leadership.”

University officials released a statement eleven hours after the incident, stating: “The incident was immediately contained and there were no further injuries. There are no ongoing threats to the community and officials are confident that the campus community is safe. No other Mason students, faculty or staff were involved. The incident, including the use of force, will be thoroughly reviewed.”

McDonald said the statement’s release required careful crafting and logistics, which included talking with other university leadership “It was a matter of getting all the players in one room or on the phone at the same time,” McDonald said.

Between the time of the incident and the press release, the story had already spread to Twitter.

“Shots fired, car chase, officer almost run over…” tweeted “Matt Doodle” at 2:22 a.m.

“Also, definitely just heard two gunshots and saw a high speed chase on campus,” tweeted Vicky Kuharski, 2:47 a.m.

Other users expressed concern and confusion.

“Can someone please tell me what just happened on campus?” tweeted Kylie Rapso, 2:07 a.m.

However, Heath said, at the time, the police headquarters had received no calls or inquiries.

“When you look at the situation, we weren’t receiving any phone calls about concerned people, there were no media inquiries,” Heath said. “If I send out a message to 40 thousand people, which includes parents, then we have to start dealing with that panic, and we have to

look at the infrastructure of what we’re able to handle at two o’clock in the morning.”

Heath was not able to answer some questions about the case and the officer who fired the shots since the investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

The chief made sure to clarify that the Aug. 30 shooting was a “use of force” and not a “use of deadly force”.

“I think your overall policy with any law enforcement agency is the defense of life, of self or others. I think that’s the important piece and decision factor in this particular situation,” said Heath.

Heath and McDonald both agreed that there are still aspects to be improved upon with communication at Mason.

“I think the important piece that we learned is working with campus partners and making sure we all have the same goal of getting communications out as quickly as possible and asking the question ‘what is emergency communications?’” Heath said. “These are all policies we can revisit and revise, but at this juncture, what I take away is it was not an emergency communication, it was general communication, and we have to make sure that gets out better.”

News

Fourth estate

Sept. 9, 2013

Exceeding expectations A second look at the figures shows a new model of education at Mason NATHAN AMMONS LIFESTYLE EDITOR For many students, graduating within four years is at the top of their list of priorities, causing some to view Mason’s four-year graduation rate of about 44 percent as one of the university’s weak points. But Mason advisors see that figure in a different light.

Mason’s Dean of Student Academic Affairs, Advising and Retention, Jeannie Brown Leonard, spoke of the university’s graduation rates with pride.

“It actually is higher than would be predicted by student inputs alone,” Brown Leonard said.

According to Brown Leonard, the predicted graduation rate for incoming freshmen is based on the collective student profiles generated from GPAs and test scores. Based on the last graduating class Mason’s four-year graduation, rates exceeds the predictors.

“Our president and I are committed to talent development,” Brown Leonard said. “We are committed to inclusion and access and affordability.”

Mason’s diverse population consists of students from many different backgrounds.

Some students are the first in their family to go to college; some are coming in with a few years of work experience in order to continue their education.

Located in the Washington D.C. suburbs, Mason is easily accessible to several types of learners, which skews the four-year graduation rate.

For those students who come in with the intention of graduating in four years, the Mason advising network is more than happy to help

86% general graduation rate

10%

44%

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4-year graduation rate

increase in graduation rates between 2002-09

Despite a less than 50 percent 4-year graduation rate, overall, Mason graduates over 80 percent of its students. Information courtesy of Jeannie Brown Leonard. them reach their goal.

But some learners have been out of school for several years and are trying to pursue a degree they had long since given up on. Some students are changing their major for the fifth time.

In those cases, advisors will attempt to open dialogues with the students that look past graduation and towards the future.

“We work a lot with our colleagues in Career Services,” Brown Leonard said. “We are helping to break the bond that students and parents think exists between your major and your career.”

Mason offers several distinguished degree programs, but some students believe that only a few majors will turn a profit.

These misconceptions lead many students to pursue programs that do not interest them. These students often change their majors in their junior year, delaying their graduation for an extra semester.

More advisors are talking

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to students about their career goals and relating those goals to the appropriate paths.

“Rather than focusing on your major, let’s figure out what industry you want to go in and we’ll find your path,” Brown Leonard said.

This method of advising leads many students to realize their potential.

Mason is outperforming its predictors due in part to its location, its ample amount of career opportunities and its advisors who emphasize career goals in addition to academic goals.

However, Brown Leonard argues that the students at Mason are the biggest influence on its success.

“We are fortunate that we have enough students that are admitted to the university that see this as an opportunity to reinvent themselves,” Brown Leonard said.

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Sept. 9, 2013

News

Fourth estate

Long after construction completed, debt remains NIKI PAPADOGIANNAKIS NEWS EDITOR Five recent additions to Mason’s Fairfax campus, two dormitories, a parking deck and an academic building, cost about $20 million each. But only one of these projects is not entirely the university’s responsibility to pay off.

Exploratory Hall’s purpose as an academic building fills requirements set by the state for public universities on the number of square feet of teaching space per student. Therefore, the state pays for the construction.

“The state will never pay for an auxiliary enterprise. So all of those, parking, housing, athletics, recreation, won’t ever be funded by the state. They are generally funded by University debt,” Calhoun said.

Auxiliary buildings, ones that do not serve a direct academic purpose, like Whitetop, Rogers and the Rappahannock River parking deck, are initially funded through bonds. They are then paid off with operation revenue after project completion.

“Its similar to a home mortgage,” Calhoun said. “We borrow the cost of the construction... and in the next 10 to 20 years, we pay it off.”

The debt is paid off with user fees by an annual payment for the next 20 years. For housing buildings, dorm rental costs pay off the debt.

“Rooms rates we charge are based largely on what’s the debt that we have to pay and then obviously what the staffing costs are, utilities, that sort of thing, but debt service is a big piece of that,” Calhoun said.

For parking structures, permit fees are the primary source for debt payment. Parking and transportation’s annual debt is $6 million.

This debt includes Rappahannock River Deck at $3 million, Shenandoah Deck at $1 million, Founders Hall garage at $700,000 annually and standard parking and transportation operation debt.

“The parking fees that people pay go to pay off the debt of the parking garages,” Calhoun said. “Any debt that’s in parking is paid off by the revenue from parking revenue. Either the parking permit which we all pay or if there’s tickets.”

The long-term debt from bonds used to pay for construction, from 2013 to final payments in 2037 total to $354,496,120, according to Audited Financial Statements for the Year Ended June 30, 2012.

To prevent accruing unmanageable debt, the university sets limits and makes priorities for construction projects.

“When we build, when we construct something it is to deliver against the requirement.

So very early on in the process there has to be at the university level a need established,” Calhoun said. “Obviously the university has many many needs, and like any university we

(GRAPHIC BY WALTER MARTINEZ/FOURTH ESTATE)

have more needs than we have dollars.”

The needs of the university are determined by facilities administration, the rest of administration and the Board of Visitors. Then, they make a priority list to reflect those needs. This process is done every two years.

“So every two years we have a slightly different assessment of what the guiding priorities should be,” Calhoun said.

Facilities administration, the rest of administration, the provost, the senior vice president, the president and the Board of Visitors define the prioritization criteria and the Board of Visitors approves the criteria. The highest priority for projects that will begin in 3-4 years is improving existing facilities.

“We said there is an existing facility. Rather than build a new building over on West Campus, or whatever it might be, we want to invest money in fixing Robinson Hall,” Calhoun said. “There are 42 classrooms in there. They are a third of classes in Fairfax and they’re in such bad shape.”

Along the same lines, Parking and Transportation wants to make existing parking space more efficient by transitioning to a zone parking system. With this system, the permits would be valid in only one zone of parking to better predict space availability, similar to the current permits for Lot I, Lot J, Lot R and the parking decks.

“If it was completely zoned out, the vision would be each parking lot - maybe a combination of parking lots - would have its own unique permit. It basically eliminated the general permit,” said Josh Cantor, director of parking and transportation. “Right now the general permit is valid in many different lots but you’re not guaranteed space for any specific lot.”

Zone parking has not been completely accomplished, but parking and transportation is pursuing it for logistical and financial reasons.

“Basically the idea is, use what you already have and what you’re paying for better before

you spend money to build something,” Cantor said Cantor projects that parking need will increase next to Whitetop and Rogers due to the expansion of the neighborhood.

“When that housing project moves forward, that will kind of trigger the need for the next parking garage,” Cantor said.

One of the reasons for fixing existing structures is because of President Angel Cabrera’s pending strategic plan. When the plan is approved at the end of this calendar year, a facilities master plan will be designed to meet the strategic plan.

“So we focused on existing infrastructure with this year’s plan,” Calhoun said. “Two years ago, our two highest projects were new facilities. And so then it was trying to make sure we had facilities to support growth in particular areas. The things that are important change every couple years but in general it’s following how do we make sure that we’re supporting the university’s strategic plan.”

Fourth estate

News

Sept. 9, 2013

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(GRAPHIC COURTESY OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT)

Student Government models itself after the United States government, breaking down into an executive and legislative branch. Student senators, pictured left, meet every Thursday at Mason Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

(JOHN IRWIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Student Government leaders explain organizational hierarchy JANELLE GERMANOS PRINT NEWS EDITOR Speaker of the Senate Phil Abbruscato, a junior government and international politics major, believes the quote “Serving you and the needs of the Mason community” accurately represents the role of Student Government at Mason.

“The biggest responsibility student government has is to appropriately and accurately represent the student body,” Abbruscato said.

“It’s as simple as that.”

Student Government is separated into senate and executive branches. The student senate is in charge of passing legislation including resolutions that aim to give the opinions of the student body. Student senate holds public meetings every Thursday.

“As chair of the senate, I make sure that the legislative branch of the organization is functioning up to par,” Abbruscato said.

The executive branch includes the student body president and vice-president, as well as secretaries and undersecretaries for each department. Members of the executive board focus on certain projects and issues and are responsible for working with student senate to accomplish those projects.

Student Government also includes an independent election and disputes committee that writes the election code each year.

Student body president Jordan Foster encourages all branches of Student Government to work together.

“If you look at the U.S. government executive branch, our executive branch is mirrored to that,” Foster said. “We have secretaries that

are appointed by the president and approved by the senate, and they all have specialized tasks.”

Foster has given secretaries more independence and the ability to be responsible for their individual projects since assuming his role.

“Since I’ve gotten into the position and been vice president, we’ve actually decentralized the role very much so that there’s a lot of us putting trust into secretaries,” Foster said.

Student body president According to Foster, his role as student body president consists of more than just one responsibility.

“My role as student body president is pretty much, well everything,” Foster said. “But my biggest role as student government president is being the branch between upper administration and the students.”

Foster is also responsible for meeting with university administrators, vice presidents and the provost to discuss the relationship between administration and students.

One of Foster’s main goals for student government this year is to improve Mason’s relationship with state and local government.

“At those levels, admin talks and interacts, but not as much on a student level,” Foster said. “We are trying to reach out as much as we can.”

Issues related to dining, parking and tuition are still focus areas for other members of student government, but Foster explained that reaching out to local government is his main priority.

“We have the same arguments with tuition, student conduct, parking, housing and

dining,” Foster said. “Those aren’t the biggest things on my agenda, but they very much so are on other people’s agendas.”

According to Foster, reaching out to local and state government includes student government’s continued involvement in Virginia 21, an organization that works to increase young people’s involvement in the political process. His outreach, will require establishing plans that can be followed in the future.

“One of the biggest roadblocks to reaching out to state and local government is that Student Government hasn’t really done that for five or six years, so I don’t have anybody that I can just easily reach out to,” Foster said.

“We’re not starting from scratch, but the only roadmaps we have are ones we would get from a different school.”

Student senators Student senators participate in committees dealing with various parts of the university. For example, senators in the university life committee help to raise spirit and deal with issues that fall under the department of university life, such as athletics, greek life and student organizations.

“We act as liaisons from the student body to administration within those various departments to enhance the experience of the Mason student,” Abbruscato said. “For example, when there are issues with the places you eat on campus, we bring those issues to them and they have them resolved.”

Student senators aim to pass resolutions that state certain opinions of the student body.

“If there is a concern, or someone has an initiative that they feel would better the

university as a whole, within those specific departments, they utilize the committees, and they try to work with administrators to see those initiatives,” Abbruscato said.

Student government progress According to Abbruscato, Mason Student Government has experienced several successes over the past year.

“From small things like the dining committee to the larger scale events such as lobby day, where we went down to Richmond, and basically said that our institution needs more money, and in comparison to other institutions in Virginia, we aren’t getting as much, we hit a whole spectrum of different types of successes,” Abbruscato said.

Abbruscato believes Student Government has come a long way since five or ten years ago.

“I feel that our organization has become more relevant on our campus,” Abbuscato said. “By this, I mean that we have grown to a point to a sense of maturity and a point where we’ve been given responsibilities that we may have not had in the past.”

Abbruscato said that Student Government also formed stronger relationships throughout the university in recent years.

“I feel like bridges that were not necessarily built in the past between Student Government and other facets of the university have been built and have been rebuilt, such as with administration and with different departments,” Abbruscato said. “With certain relationships that may not have existed before, we’ve done a great job with building new ones and expand on the ones that have already existed.”

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News

Sept. 9, 2013

Fourth estate

(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

(COURTESY OF COLLEGE TOWN ASSOCIATES, LP)

QUICK FACTS The Univsersity Mall renovations will be completed in fall 2014.

The construction will result in the following:

Giant Nearly doubling in size Closed for seven months

New vendors Verizon Cardinal Bank

Updated look Removal of old bricks New signage Outdoor dining

SUHAIB KHAN STAFF WRITER University Mall has been around since the mid-1970s, meaning it has existed almost as long as Mason itself. The mall underwent little construction since then, but the overall appearance remained stagnant while the facilities have deteriorated.

“Everything you see on the outside of the mall will change,” said Braddock District Supervisor John Cook. “All of the old brick will be gone, there will be new signage, and it will have been upgraded from its 1970s look to a more modern, 21st century look.”

The finished project will include changes on both the inside and outside of the mall, as well as 2-3 new building additions. Giant will close for seven months beginning in February and nearly double in size. In addition to adding 17 new tenants, including a Verizon store and a new Cardinal Bank, the newly finished mall will meet higher environmental standards and be more energy efficient.

Brion’s Grille will get a 2000

(Left) Proposed renovations and additions to University Mall include a new brick front and outdoor dining.

(Above) Construction has started and should be completed by fall 2014.

University Mall construction brings new stores, renovations square foot expansion, including an outdoor dining patio.

The strained relationship with Giant served as a major setback to proposals to upgrade University Mall. According to Cook, it took some time to get the consent of Giant.

“Giant committing to double its size creates more square footage for the mall and injects more money into the mall that allowed this project to occur,” Cook said.

Though planned before discussions to enhance the relationship between Fairfax and Mason, this renovation comes at a time when the university is making extra

efforts to strengthen the identity of Fairfax as a “college town.” This fall, the University added decals with “We Are Mason” printed on them to a few of the city of Fairfax’s major streets, as well as organizing a barbecue in Fairfax City Hall for new students during welcome week.

Cook believes the decision to renovate the mall was due in part to the rapid growth of Mason as well as the affluent status of the county of Fairfax.

“People in Fairfax, which is a wealthy county, have expectations. They want things to be done well, and the mall was in decline,”

Cook said.

While the ongoing construction causes inconveniences for mallgoers, some students are optimistic that the construction will pay off.

“I’m happy they’re finally remodeling the shopping center,” said graduate student Brian Boenau, a close resident and frequent visitor to University Mall.

“It was way overdue for a makeover. Yes, it’s a mess now, especially if you want to find parking, but I can’t wait to see what it will look like once it’s finished.”

While this large project involves over a year of construction potentially disrupting business, store owners feel that the pros of renovation outweigh the cons.

“It’s a little hard to find parking because of the construction. But school just started again, so this is technically our slowest time of the year, so it’s hard to tell. Is it slow?

Yes, but it’s always slow around this time,” said Terry Walline, head chef of Brion’s Restaurant.

The construction should be completed during the fall of 2014.

News

Fourth estate

Sept. 9, 2013

9

Students conduct high-profile research AMY WOOLSEY STAFF WRITER The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study is not easy to find.

Nestled away at the very edge of the Mason Fairfax campus, on a small side street off Shenandoah Lane, the institute looks indistinguishable from any other university building.

Inside, students labor over homework in the Great Room, a high-ceilinged library complete with a fireplace, and hunch over microscopes in the many labs.

Posters cover the hallway walls, displaying graphs, charts and titles like “Communication Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder Through a BehaviorLevel Approach.”

Although technically an academic unit similar to the College of Science, the Krasnow Institute is a premiere research facility. The institute’s faculty prepares aspiring scientists for the future and seek innovative ways to expand the boundaries of scientific understanding.

“Student projects include anything high-risk, high-pay-off in science,” said Dr. James Olds, Ph.D., director and chief academic unit officer of the Krasnow Institute.

“These [projects] are advanced studies in anything leading to an increase in human knowledge, not just a paper but a paradigm shift.”

Olds not only supervises the institution as a whole but also

teaches molecular neuroscience and serves as a chair on the department board.

The Krasnow Institute was founded in 1993 by Nobel laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Herbert A. Simon, using a substantial amount of money left by the passing of renowned philanthropist Shelley Krasnow.

In 2002, the Krasnow Institute merged with George Mason University and by 2007, became a full-fledged academic unit.

In addition to its top-notch research capabilities, the Krasnow Institute offers classes in molecular neuroscience and computational social science for both undergraduate and graduate students.

While neuroscience is of particular interest in the institute, research covers a wide range of topics. For example, Margaret Slavin, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in Mason’s Department of Nutrition and Food Studies “The Neuroscience Department is housed here so research tends to be focused there, but other types are also encouraged, especially collaborative research,” Slavin said.

Over the years, students received millions of dollars in funding from federal agencies and elite private institutions.

The National Institutes of Health sponsors the project of Giorgio Ascoli, who aims to create neural networks of mammal brains in hopes of understanding the connection between Alzheimer’s

disease and memory loss.

Another project, conducted by Harold Morowitz and centered on the origin of life, is sponsored by the National Science Foundation Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research grant.

Not all the students are experts, however. For example, Shweta Chaudhary, a senior majoring in biology, just started a research semester at the Krasnow Institute.

Chaudhary was unwilling to divulge any specific details about her research because the project is ongoing, but she mentioned that it involves using mice cells to study migraines.

“I wanted to work in a lab,” Chaudhary said. “I wanted to see if I could be a researcher some day.

This was a good opportunity for me to get used to being in a lab.”

There are no plans at the moment to expand the Krasnow Institute, as Olds wants to keep collaboration between researchers as easy as possible and limit bureaucracy to a minimum.

Even so, the institute continues to have a major impact on the global scientific community. The institution serves as a national resource for scientists interested in improving humanity’s wellbeing.

“This is one of the nation’s finest examples of trans-disciplinary science,” Olds said. “Students’ careers are transformed by meaningful research.”

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The Krasnow Institute is funded by private and federal dollars to produce research in areas of neuroscience and other cutting-edge fields.

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SCHOOL OF ART FACULTY EXHIBITION Aug. 26- Sept. 20.

FREE FG VISUAL VOICES SPEAKER SERIES ART, SCIENCE, AND SPIRIT in the 21st Century: Curiosity, Collaboration, and Compass Jennet Inglis, speaker September 5 at 7:30 p.m.

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Sept. 9, 2013

Lifestyle

FOURTH ESTATE

Revamp your summer wardrobe with warm layers

HALEY MCCOMBER STAFF WRITER With the weather cooling down, you might think you need a whole new wardrobe, but don’t put away your summer pieces just yet.

With just a few adjustments here and there, you can transform your wardrobe from summer to fall without breaking the bank.

Whether you add a cardigan to your favorite summer tank or tights to your sundress, you don’t have to say goodbye to your summer wear.

Fall can be a tough season to dress for since the temperature is lowering, but not quite low enough for chunky winter sweaters.

My favorite way to transition your wardrobe from warmer to cooler weather is layers. That way, you can still use your summer pieces, add some layers to them, and you have the perfect outfit for fall.

You can transition your look to fall through your makeup as well as your clothes.

Switch from bright summery shades to greens for your eye shadow, and swap your neon nail polish to darker grays, blues and purples.

Another great tip is to take some advice from Macklemore and try thrift shopping. It’s a great way to find some pieces to help transition your closet on a lower budget.

For the men out there, don’t just wear your shorts year round like I know most of you do. Switch to jeans and try colored denim.

If you insist on wearing your shorts till it snows, pair them with sweaters or long sleeves. Sperry’s are a great item for men to transition to Fall.

Instead of putting away my favorite summer dress, I added a couple pieces to make it appropriate for fall weather. Adding a jacket will keep you from being too cold in your short sleeves, but leave it unbuttoned so you can still show off your dress. The boots will not only keep you warmer than sandals or flip-flops, but they also give the dress more of a seasonal look.

If it’s still too warm for jeans but too cold for shorts and a tank, try wearing your shorts with a lighter sweater. That way, the sweater will balance out the shorts and you wont be too warm or too cold!

A great piece for transitioning to fall is flats. They steer you away from flip-flops but aren’t as hot as boots for those days that it are still a little too warm.

When the weather gets too cold for thigh-bearing shorts, the obvious solution is long pants. Don’t feel confined to jeans, though. Keep the excitement of summer alive with brightly colored pants.

Throw a cardigan over your cute summer tanks, and just like that, you have the perfect fall outfit. Make the tank last all year long by pairing it with jeans and a cardigan. Walking to class can be a pain, so try boat shoes for a seasonal look without sacrificing comfort.

(PHOTOS BY JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

LifestyLe

Fourth estate

Sept. 9, 2013

Mason makes careers

Each week, Fourth Estate features a student or alumnus with a great internship or job to highlight the opportunities a degree from Mason can provide

NEVER FORGET Join Fourth Estate in our second annual 9/11 memorial at the Mason Pond on Sept. 11 at 8:30 p.m. A candle will be lit to honor the lives of each victim, as well as for each country who lost a citizen.

MARY OAKEY ASST. LIFESTYLE EDITOR Joshua Pipes, a second year graduate student in peace operations at the Arlington campus, spent ten weeks at the embassy in Malaysia in the consular section.

Q. What did the job entail?

I wasn’t a coffee runner, but I wasn’t put in the back of a corner. They gave me projects to do. One of the projects was to contact hotels in Borneo and Malaysia. They had some military intervention back in February or March, so to do a project for the American Citizen Services I was getting all the contact information for the hotels so, in the future, when there is a problem out there and we need to get ahold of American citizens, we know which hotels to contact. It was a big project. It took a while to do and a lot of people to call and get a lot of information, and we’re not too loved over there.

I also got to sit in on the country team.

That’s with the ambassador and the deputy chief admissions and they sit around a table and all the big players would sit around the country team every week and say what was going on in their section. I was allowed to sit in on that and observe. Even though I was in a consular section they allowed me to go to other sections and observe, just pick anybody that I wanted to. Everybody had an open door.

I understand that not all embassies are that open, but it was really neat.

Q.

(PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSHUA PIPES)

How did Mason help prepare you for your internship?

I’m getting my degree in peace operations over at the Arlington campus and public policy. It’s a small program with a lot of dedicated students and a lot of dedicated professors so it’s a really great opportunity if you want to get into a international mindset. Even though you’re working for the embassy you’re seeing all these other organizations. I got to go to the United Nations Human Rights Council, they do high commission for refugees. That falls back to my degree program so I got to visit this headquarters and see them interviewing the refugees and see how they select them and there’s all these organizations that kind of fall in line with that. You don’t ever know where your opportunity will be, but it’s important to take that opportunity and see what happens with it.

Q.

What would you say to someone pursuing similar goals?

I had to sit down with a federal officer for an interview to make sure that I’m not a bad guy. It was a long stressful ordeal and in May I actually got told no, that I could not go to the embassy, which I was really upset so I emailed H.R. I thought I got to get this clear, there has to be a section that will take me, and she said it’s doubtful, but I’ll ask. Two weeks later she said pack your bags and within a week I was gone. So if they tell you no, just be persistent. I was really blessed.

Join the event and watch a video of last year’s memorial on Fourth Estate’s Facebook page, facebook.com/gmufourthestate

11

12

Lifestyle

Sept. 9, 2013

ROAD TRIP

Thrift shops and consignment stores

Fourth estate

Why is the media important to you?

ANDREW STEVENSON MANAGING EDITOR It can be pretty difficult to ball on a budget. And in this economy, I don’t know too many people who are inclined to spend $90 on a new pair of slacks. So what in the heck is one to do when they’re looking to gear up with last season’s freshest styles? One word: thrift store.

Northern Virginia is a hotbed of quality thrift shops with huge selections of clothing, sporting goods and wildlife paintings. The Fourth Estate editorial staff took a day trip to a few of the most popular stops within 15 minutes of campus to check out the goods.

(ANDY GHOLSON/FOURTH ESTATE)

Inova Hospital Thrift Shop 9683 Fairfax Boulevard, Fairfax

“Because it allows people to share information, opinions and art. It connects people together through a common interest in wanting to know the latest news and sharing thoughts.”

“Media is important to me because it allows for dissemination of important information to audiences. This allows for creative exchange of ideas and concepts.”

Laurel Mahoney

Alan Vargas

“Media is a powerful force that can both unify and destroy.”

“Media is the fabric that connects people in society with the events going on around them.”

Jennifer Sackitey

Ace Chapman

Contrary to their name, this thrift shop isn’t selling used medical supplies. They are, however, selling some awesome stuff at the lowest prices of any stores in the area. There isn’t a huge selection of men’s clothing but the uncomfortably large Beanie Baby selection more than makes up for it.

Tip: You can fill a plastic shopping bag with almost anything in the store for just five bucks.

Stay away from: The wigs. There were a lot of wigs.

Goodwill 9960 Main Street, Fairfax Goodwill is a relatively small thrift store. While it may have less of a selection than some of the other locations in the area, I have never walked out of there empty-handed. Be sure to check out the substantial DVD and CD collections. Last time I checked, there were at least three copies of Big Mama’s House. Remember that your purchase supports Goodwill’s work in our community.

(JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Tip: Students get 10% off on Fridays.

Stay away from: The furniture. Furniture prices are marked up big time.

Check out Unique instead.

Unique 2956 Gallows Road, Falls Church Unique is the Holy Grail of Northern Virginia thrifts stores. As you walk in, you’ll be greeted by six independent vendors selling bootleg soccer jerseys and Cricket Wireless cell phone plans. Make your way past the mini-bazaar to get to the actual retail store and go to town. It is important to know that Unique is a for-profit company, so they’ll charge a bit more for the nicer brands (Polo, Brooks Brothers, etc.). That being said, you’ll still save yourself a big chunk of change.

Tip: Get yourself a VIP card (they’re free) and save 25% on Mondays.

Stay away from: The electronics. There isn’t any way to test them out in the store and they won’t take returns.

(PHOTOS BY JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Thank you to everyone who came out to the HUB’s open house on Aug. 28 and stopped by the Office of Student Media!

For more information about how to get involved in student media, please visit http://www.gmufourthestate.com/content/ work-fourth-estate

(ANDY GHOLSON/FOURTH ESTATE)

(PHOTOS BY JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Lifestyle

Fourth estate

Sept. 9, 2013

13

Honest Tea CEO joins Fall for the Book GENEVIEVE HOELER ONLINE LIFESTYLE EDITOR On Sept. 24, Seth Goldman, CEO of Honest Tea, will be promoting his book “Mission in a Bottle” at the 12th Annual Fall for the Book, a week-long literary festival hosted by Mason and the City of Fairfax.

Since 1998, the Honest Tea product has grown beyond just their Honest Tea product. They now have Honest Ade, Honest Kids, Honest Fizz and other drinks that focus on keeping down the sugar while not sacrificing the flavor.

As a student of Yale’s School of Management, Goldman’s professor, Barry Nalebuff, became his future business partner and fellow Honest Tea co-founder.

Goldman and Nalebuff, now founders of a hugely successful company, decided to team up again to create another product: a comic book.

“Mission in a Bottle” is a book about more than just pursuing an entrepreneurial career.

It is, at its core, a story about two men pursuing their passion: to produce a product that both pleases their customers and helps their world.

Instead of selling just another business book, the Honest Tea founders wanted to create a new book for a new audience.

“We really wanted to bring a new audience in a different way that we knew a lot of people would be attracted to and could engage with differently,” Goldman said.

When choosing the illustrator for the comic book, Goldman and Nalebuff sat down and looked over ten different illustrators on ten different websites.

They both ended up choosing the same artist, Sungyoon Choi, and the comic book project officially started.

Students can see samples of Sungyoon’s artwork in the trailer for “Mission in a Bottle,” which you can find on the Fall for the Book website.

This is a book about success and rejection.

Goldman said that some of the trials they faced and consequently wrote about in their book was due to trying to do too much.

“One of the hazards of being an entrepreneur is that you don’t see

any obstacles even when they’re there. I was trying to get to a meeting in Montana with our partners and so in order to do that I had to drive back from the bottling plant in a blizzard.

There was a lot of snow and the car flipped off the road. It was not a good event, but it was a good wake up call that you have to make some rational decisions sometimes.”

According to Goldman, a young entrepreneur may feel that they need to do everything, but that does not mean that they should.

“We got rejected by everybody,” Goldman said. “By investors, distributors [and] retailers because they didn’t think there was any opportunity in a less sweet drink. Certainly when you look at the existing market place that was not what was being sold.”

When Coca-Cola decided to invest, they saw how Honest Tea was growing and reaching out to customers that Coco-Cola were not able to reach since they were in the lead of the natural foods market.

Seth said, “They saw that customers’ tastes were changing, so we were very fortunate that they saw the opportunity.”

While Honest Tea started as a drink company, it is now nationally recognized as a green, sustainable company.

“It’s a journey; it’s not a destination,” Goldman said. “You always have to think about what you can do to take it to the next level. For us, we started with less sweet drinks, then we moved to organics and then fair trade.”

As a company has to start small and work their way up into sustainable production, Seth said it was the same concept for a college campus.

“Bicycle racks and recycling bins are a good place to start, but what about the energy being used? What about composting? What about the materials you use? What about recycled paper or no paper, and how do you keep advancing this and encouraging yourself? You have to keep moving the ball down field.” Goldman said.

To learn more about Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff’s upcoming book “Mission in a Bottle,” come to his Honest Tea Presentation as part of Fall for the Book on Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. at the JC Cinema.

(BRAD HORN/HONEST TEA INC.)

14

Lifestyle

Sept. 9, 2013

DIY project: book necklace

Fourth estate

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Part time position for accounting clerk. Located near Clarendon Metro. Free parking. $13 an hour. Good opportunity to be introduced to public accounting. Send me your resume.

Relaxed atmosphere. www.arthurlander.com

Junior Engineers needed; full or part time contact steve@advancedgeos.com

(MARY OAKEY/FOURTH ESTATE)

A miniature book keychain made from miniature books, spacer bars, jump rings and craft glue is an easy craft for a rainy afternoon.

KAYLA COHEN STAFF WRITER As an avid reader and aspiring novelist – any mention of books and I’m sold. I like to say that my life is like “To Kill a Mockingbird”, minus the racism, court case and death.

My dogs are named Scout and Harper so that must count for something. But with every person I meet, I somehow manage to work into the conversation my love for this classic piece of literature.

I happened to stumble upon a miniature book necklace and had to have it. It was a small book, not more than half an inch, hanging from an average chain. Therefore I was completely mortified when I saw it would cost me over thirty dollars.

As I closed the webpage in defeat, it dawned on me: why couldn’t I make my own book necklace? I could personalize the pendant to my favorite novel.

I would no longer have to work my Harper Lee rant into every conversation because the conversation-starter would be on full display.

There’s so many great things about this miniature book accessory, it can be made into a necklace, bracelet or keychain. It’s incredibly simple to make and is only a fraction of the price I saw online.

I purchased all my supplies for this project from Hobby Lobby. I bought a package of miniature books ($1.80), spacer bars ($1.50), jump rings ($2) and craft glue ($1). I already

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had paint and Mod Podge from last edition’s DIY desk organizer. The only other thing I needed was to print out a picture of the book cover I wanted to use (the picture should be approximately the size of a penny.)

First, I applied a thin layer of Mod Podge on the cover of the book, put the picture on top and then covered the picture with another layer of Mod Podge.

Then I attached the jump ring to a spacer bar. I glued the spacer bar to the inside back cover of the book. I glued mine at a slight angle so the book would not hang perfectly straight.

Finally, I painted the rest of the book black so it would be a uniform color. With gold paint, I covered the exposed edges of the white paper to give it a vintage look.

After 10 minutes drying time, I slid the book onto a chain I already owned, and I was done.

It didn’t take me longer than 20 minutes, from set-up to cleanup, to make the necklace.

Since the package came with twelve books, I made a few more for myself and then made some for friends and family. Instead of buying the miniature books, a small piece of wood or a scrabble tile would work just as well.

This necklace is now my go-to accessory and I love wearing it wherever I go. I have necklaces, bracelets and key chains for all my favorite books—and trust me, there’s a lot. I no longer have to squeeze “To Kill a Mockingbird” into my conversations, because now someone points out the pendant before I even get the chance.

Services Seeking student to keep my 6-month old puppy during the days M-F for lots of love and playtime. Please live in Vienna close to the metro. Call (703) 217-9269 if interested.

Call (703) 993-2880 to place a classified ad

To learn more about Army Reserve opportunities, visit us at goarmy.com/v738

AR_Fairfax.indd 1

8/13/13 1:53 PM

FOURTH ESTATE Colleen Wilson Editor-In-Chief gmufourthestate@gmail.com

Opinion

Managing Editor

Niki Papadogiannakis News Editor

Janelle Germanos Nathan Ammons Lifestyle Editor

Mary Oakey Asst. Lifestyle Editor

Will Rose Opinion Editor

Hau Chu Sports Editor

Danny Gregory Asst. Sports Editor

Jenny Krashin Photography Editor

Walter Martinez Design Editor

Jill Carter Copy Chief

Kathryn Mangus Faculty Advisor

David Carroll Associate Director Fourth Estate operates as a publication of Broadside. 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 listed above.

Broadside 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

15

A call to inaction: Avoid repeating history in Syria

Andrew Stevenson

News Editor

Sept. 9, 2013

BILL BORMAN STAFF WRITER I sit down to write this article with a myriad of newspaper headlines aswirl inside my head, belaboring me with different variations of the same article about the Syrian conflict.

“White House launches bid to win Congress backing on Syria”, announces our modest local newspaper, the Washington Post.

The Wall Street Journal tells me about “Obama’s Road Map to Get Backing on Syria,” “McCain Urges Lawmakers to Back Obama’s Plan for Syria”, the New York Times declares with earnest. How is a poor, credulous student like me supposed to make any sense of this hocus-pocus?

We have all been beaten with the Syrian stick quite thoroughly over the past month or so, and with our President’s recent commitment to intervention, it is likely that we will be submitted to much more of the same.

We will be told that it is the right thing to do. They will tell us that it is the only thing to do. They will cantankerously stomp and fuss about, proclaiming that it is our ethical duty as the Awesomest Country Ever to ride off and bomb other people for their own good.

Now, when we are offered stupendous deals on textbooks from such credible sources as great-discount-text-books-usa.info, we have as much info as we need to say no.

When Low-Price Larry assures us he can hook us up with some fantastic student loans through his cousin in the back-alley, we are inclined to back out of the alley. When Wendy’s declares that they are ‘better than fast food’, some of us consider fasting from their food.

So when our ruling class comes down from on high and proclaims that they will fight the bad guys, heal the sick, feed the poor, fix the

What do YOU think?

healthcare system, cut taxes, solve the deficit and herald in a new era of peace and prosperity, all while operating on only the purest of convictions, should we instantly believe them? Of course not.

The legislators will tell you that the intelligence is too valuable to share but will assure you that Assad has used chemical weapons to kill 1,429 innocent people an oddly precise number. Why is it, then, that the British estimate the death toll to be about 350?

“We can’t show you exactly why – too dangerous,” they will say. “But you can trust us. We need to go to war.”

Perhaps they are right. These are the same sort of words, however, coming from the same people, that brought us the Iraq war. This is not a problem of parties, but of politicians; the division is not between Republican and Democrats but between the rulers and the ruled.

“These are chemical weapons”, they might say. “Hitler used these weapons”.

They will conveniently forget, of course, the years during the 1950s in which the US began manufacturing this same Sarin gas that now sends them into self-righteous conniptions.

The murder weapon does not alter the severity of the crime. Where was their outrage during the mass killings in Syria over the past few years? Where is their horror over the mowing down of citizens in Egypt by a military government they love to defend? Where is their disgust over the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by our “friends” the Syrian rebels, a people of whom we know remarkably little and who have been linked to Al-Qaeda?

This objection that murder by chemical is worse than murder by bullet would come from the same sort of man who objects his grandmother being strangled but not to her being shot.

One cannot help but recall our less-thanstellar track record of foreign intervention, Iraq being the most obvious example. This so-called “limited action” is a farce. No aggressor can claim a fight will be limited before it has happened.

Even in a street fight, the person to throw

the first punch cannot possibly guess at how far the fight will escalate.

We have already tried limited bombing in Libya, and our super-accurate strikes ended up killing several innocent people.

Who knows how many innocents our drone strikes kill – people whose only experience with the United States has been through an omnipresent flying automaton that sends rockets screaming into their wedding parties?

If our concern is truly to protect the innocent, dropping bombs willy-nilly is an odd way of doing it.

Alas, I suspect our glorious leaders might not truly have the protection of the innocent at heart.

Don’t take it from me though. Ask our officials, who have said our action ought to be “... just muscular enough not to get mocked,” as if the slaughter of innocent persons were an invitation to partake in some sort of global muscle-flexing contest.

The actions our government takes here will affect us more than we can know. The way we are perceived globally has serious consequences in respect to our nation, as we struggle to maintain our dominance, to our citizens who travel abroad, to our university, as we expand our campus to Seoul and bring in a rapidly increasing number of foreign students and to those who look to the example of the United States, hoping, as Senator Henry Clay did, that we will “keep our lamp burning brightly on this Western shore as a light to all nations, [rather] than to hazard […] utter extinction amid the ruins of fallen or falling republics in Europe.”

Please. Write your representatives. Call them and pester them to vote against this war.

There are many honorable reasons to oppose this attack.

No matter your background, religious beliefs, political convictions or personal principles, we can all unite behind a banner that stands for careful deliberation against a mad rush to war, for justice against ravenous vengeance, and for truth against political pretense.

In our Sept. 23 issue, editors and columnists will discuss the balance in the classroom between creating a positive learning environment and a positive relationship with students. Get in on the discussion by emailing 400-800 words on the topic to gmufourthestate@gmail.com by Sept. 16 and we will consider it for publication.

16

Opinion

Sept. 9, 2013

Fourth estate

Despite student protests, Ike’s makes unstoppable progress

MICHAEL GRYBOSKI COLUMNIST When I was a freshman living in Presidents Park, there were certain buildings which held great significance to me and continue to hold great significance to many students today.

Madison served as the epicenter of my freshman-year housing experience; I shared a dorm made for only two people with two other residents.

Adams was important to many because it was one of the few buildings in the Park where one could do their laundry.

And then there was Eisenhower, beloved by so many freshmen as it was the building that housed Ike’s.

In a residential area where most available meals were across Patriot Circle and through woods and hills, Ike’s stood as a very useful locale to find food.

I can recall plenty of nights where large numbers of students gathered at the indoor and outdoor entrances, forming lengthy lines as if waiting outside a concert hall. Standing around peering through the glass doors, we anxiously hoped for the employee with the keys to come to our entrance and open it before the other.

That was undergrad. Since then, much has changed about Mason—in fact, that’s an understatement.

A score of new buildings have risen upon our forested campus and others have been dramatically altered. Apparently—in this

constant ongoing metamorphosis—Ike’s will be next.

A renovation has been planned, with the promise of increasing patron seating from 100 to 385. The adjustments promised also include better outdoor seating, more programming and a shift from the traditional order and purchase restaurant to a Southside-style buffet—one swipe for one’s meal.

Additionally, the renovation promises extended hours, which also resembles the recent change at Southside.

Like every change, good or bad, noble or vile, Ike’s renovation situation has encountered opposition.

An online petition dubbed “Save Ike’s” has garnered hundreds of names, with some students arguing in campus media that Ike’s should remain as is in the name of preserving the true freshman experience.

This shall not be a critique of the merit of their cause inasmuch a critique of their chance of success. Mason’s progress from a minor college—a satellite of the University of Virginia— to an imposing, multi-campus academic institute did not come as a revolution from below but rather from above.

Through the years, administrators like the university president, the Board of Visitors and public sources of funding based in Richmond have held sway on the course that Mason has taken and seemingly have done so regardless of student opinion.

While they oftentimes use our money to advance the fairly recent building craze, they do not do it because we the students elected them. Furthermore, should they fall out of students’ favor, we have virtually no official ability to kick them out.

Heck, the two student members of the Board of Visitors do not even get the right to vote. They offer their input, get a pat on the head and then watch as the campus’ others determine fate.

Am I being overly cynical? Probably, but it would be hard to disprove the idea that there have been times in BOV meetings

where this description was reality.

The renovations at Ike’s are going to happen, just like how other building and renovation projects will happen despite how much they may inconvenience students.

Years back when they closed lots E and F, many students including me - were irritated by the parking issues that arose.

Some talked of protesting the closures, even standing in the way of the crews come the day. Yet none of this happened.

Presently, our driving populace enjoys the benefits of that construction, and odds are good recently enrolled youths wonder how anyone could have opposed such a benevolent project.

Mason’s leadership and most of its student body have long made peace with the idea of inconvenient construction being strewn across campus.

The reason being that—at least on paper—this burdensome present shall lead to a glorious future. Unfortunately for the dissidents, the promises of the Ike’s renovation are too good to fall away to sentimentality.

For the students opposed to the changes at Ike’s to succeed, they have to prove that the changes would give us no tangible benefits once completed; that, to the contrary, such changes will negatively impact Mason students for years to come, rather than just between now and the estimated time of completion— Fall 2014.

I fear such a task is too great, and that those who wanted a stop to this edificial progress have already failed.

In overreaction to controversy, community forgets to thank police

JOHN HILL STAFF WRITER Last week, Fourth Estate was the first to break a story about shots fired by a GMU police officer directed at a vehicle fleeing the GMU Fairfax campus. Since then, some controversy has surrounded the situation.

The incident happened around 1:00 a.m. on a Friday morning and was quickly resolved.

Shots were fired by a GMU police officer when the intoxicated occupants of the fleeing vehicle struck one of the officers with the vehicle.

Few students either saw what happened or heard the shots; most students woke up later in the morning unaware that anything happened.

Later in the morning, word quickly spread that something had happened, and Fourth

Estate had a report available by 9:21 a.m.

Even though Mason officials confirmed that there was no active threat to the community, students quickly took to social media complaining and questioning why they hadn’t been informed of the situation immediately through the Mason Alert system.

Those students seemed confused about the purpose of the emergency alert system, which is directly stated when you sign up to get the alerts: “Mason Alert is an alert system that allows George Mason University to contact you during an emergency by sending text messages to your: Cell phone, Email, Pager, Blackberry/Treo.”

GMU police were informed about two drunken NOVA kids on campus, officers went to investigate, the students ran away injuring an officer in the process, but the situation was quickly resolved with both suspects in custody while nobody on campus put in danger during the incident.

Does that sound like an emergency?

If an emergency alert was sent out, what exactly would it have achieved? Do they really need to wake up every student, faculty

member and all of the parents just to tell them,“there were shots fired, but it’s OK—go back to bed now.”

No need to worry, we’re just sending an EMERGENCY ALERT about something that has already been taken care of.”

If that was the protocol, every time an incident happens on campus that doesn’t pose a threat to the campus, they’d still feel the need to send an emergency alert—which wouldn’t take long to get really annoying.

Soon we’d see students back on social media complaining about getting too many alerts.

Sure, it might have been a little unnerving for the few students that did hear the gun shots, but they could have just called campus police to check on the situation.

Mason doesn’t need to wake up the whole campus and cause a ruckus every time a non-emergency incident occurs. I’m sure I’ll have my bone to pick with GMU policy or the GMU police eventually, but this isn’t one of those times.

I believe they handled the situation appropriately. They followed the appropriate

emergency notification protocol. Everything worked out in the end. You’ll hear no complaints from me.

I’m just grateful they safely got rid of drunken people who didn’t belong on campus.

Since no one else is doing it, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank George Mason University Police Department.

Thank you for handling the two intoxicated NOVA students last week.

Thank you for putting your life on the line for GMU’s safety. Thank you for protecting our campus.

Read a different opinion by Colleen Wilson, Editor-in-Chief, online at gmufourthestate. com

Sports

FOURTH ESTATE

Sept. 9, 2013

17

Men’s soccer team finds leadership in returning captain

(MAURICE C JONES/FOURTH ESTATE)

(Above) Chase Miller practices before the game vs. Denver on Sept. 6. (Right) Miller, team captain, gains control of the ball during the Denver game.

(JOHN IRWIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

DANIEL GREGORY ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Senior soccer player Chase Miller goes above and beyond. Just ask Nick Carlin-Voigt.

“Chase is the kind of kid if you tell him to eat 5 bananas after a match to recover faster, he’ll eat 6,” said Voigt, the former Mason top soccer assistant and recruiting coordinator.

Voigt now holds the same position at the nationally ranked UCLA soccer team, but he still remembers recruiting Miller. In fact Voigt claims he saw leadership skills in Miller very early in the process.

“During recruiting, I told Coach Andrulis he had a 2 or 3 year captain in Chase,” Voigt said. Sure enough, he was right.

Chase Miller enters his senior season this fall. It will be his second season as a captain, leading the men’s soccer program into the Atlantic 10.

While the transition may test the team, Miller’s work ethic will likely keep his teammates motivated for the challenge ahead.

“He leads by action. He’s a very upstanding man,” said Timi Mulgrew, a junior midfielder for Mason soccer. “Anyone can be vocal, but only a few guys back up everything they say.

He holds himself to a higher standard everywhere he goes.”

While these traits help push his teammates,

Miller’s experiences before Mason certainly helped him develop a sense of hard work and maturity.

Starting at a young age, Miller played soccer at the highest levels. From playing for an elite soccer academy to traveling internationally with the US national team, he always stood out.

Miller did not have a traditional high school experience. After his freshman year of high school, he left his family in Pennsylvania and joined the U.S. National Team in Bradenton, Florida.

After a year, he joined the prestigious IMG academy also located in Bradenton. The IMG academy is known for training elite athletes such as Grand Slam champion tennis player Maria Sharapova and U.S. National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard. Following his year with IMG, Miller graduated a year early. “[My high school experience] definitely made me more mature. I think it prepared me more for college in terms of my responsibility and living on my own,” Miller said about his time in Bradenton.

That maturity may have helped him transition into college, but it was his mentality and drive that attracted Voigt to recruit Miller.

“We had an opening at right back and we thought Chase could be that guy,” Voigt said. “Chase somehow completed his final

semester online in something like 3 weeks studying 12 hours a day so he could graduate.”

As a freshman at Mason, Miller started right away, requiring him to adjust quickly to the new environment.

“The change was challenging both physically and mentally. Mentally, the speed of the game is much faster,” Miller said. “College is a different playing style than club. It’s more physical. I didn’t have a lot of muscle to me at the time.”

Despite being younger than most of his competition, Miller did not need long to solidify his role on the team. Voigt recalls early in Miller’s freshman season how he stood out against #1-ranked University of Maryland team.

“He was a warrior against their captain.

Chase went out and shut down Drew Yates who was probably five years older than him at the time,” Voigt said.

The performance earned Miller the “Man of the Match” award and defined his position on the team.

After two successful seasons at Mason, Miller would have to rely on his work ethic to overcome another huge obstacle. In the summer before his junior season, Miller suffered a complete tear of his ACL MCL and meniscus.

The injury forced him to sit out his junior

“He leads by action. He’s a very upstanding man.

Anyone can be vocal, but only a few guys back up everything they say. He holds himself to a higher standard everywhere he goes.”

Timi Mulgrew, a junior midfielder for Mason soccer year. After months of rehab, Miller returned in the spring and played the entire scrimmage in his first game back.

Upon returning, Miller started every game during the 2012 season, and the team voted him captain. Now as a senior, Miller enjoys his leadership role.

“It’s a challenge because there are so many different personalities on a team,” Miller said.

“But I like it because when we come together as a collective group and have that cohesion then it’s something special.”

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Sept. 9, 2013

Sports

Fourth estate

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF GEORGE MASON ATHLETICS)

Tara Sankner is welcomed to the womens softball team as a lifelong teammate during an adoption ceremony on Aug. 29 in the Field House.

Softball team welcomes new lifetime teammate HAU CHU SPORTS EDITOR Mason softball recently welcomed a new recruit onto the team. While she will not be taking the playing field with the team this coming season, eight-year-old Tara Sankner will provide an inspiration to the team on and off the field.

Through a partnership with the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, the team has adopted Sankner as a lifetime teammate. Sankner was diagnosed earlier this year with Astrocytoma, a pediatric brain tumor.

A softball player in her own right, Sankner does not let her diagnosis faze her as she continues to play for the Vienna Girls Softball League.

Dennis and Lynda Murphy founded The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation in 2005 after their nine-year-old daughter, Jaclyn, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2004. During her treatments, Murphy was motivated by her desire to play lacrosse again once she got better.

Northwestern University’s women’s lacrosse team heard Murphy’s story and adopted her as an honorary teammate.

That year, Northwestern would claim the NCAA championship. Realizing how positive the experience was for their daughter as well as the athletes involved, the Murphys started the foundation to give other children with pediatric brain tumors the same joy and support Jaclyn felt from her Northwestern teammates.

Sankner is the latest of over 400 children adopted by a team through Friends of Jaclyn.

While the organization primarily matches children with college and high school sports teams, Friends of Jaclyn has also matched children with a Marine academy and a surfer and has paired a blind child with an art academy.

The connection between Sankner and Mason’s softball team developed quickly. After finding out about Friends of Jaclyn, Sankner’s mother, Tammy, reached out to Mason softball coach Joe Verbanic, who was immediately willing to help in any way possible.

“We had the adoption ceremony with the team and it was great for Tara because the girls were really great and welcomed Tara with open arms,” Sankner said.

The adoption ceremony took place in the Field House on Aug. 29 and some members of the softball team also joined Sankner later in the week at CureFest for Childhood Cancer on the National Mall on Sept. 1.

Sankner’s story not only inspired Mason’s softball team but has also touched the hearts of two local professional athletes.

Ian Desmond, shortstop for the Washington Nationals, invited the Sankner family out to Nationals games this season as his guest.

Last Wednesday, Pierre Garçon, wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, tweeted that he is dedicating his performance in tonight’s season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles to Sankner’s fight with Astrocytoma.

Though she has at least 38 more weeks of chemotherapy, Sankner and her family hope to make it out to as many Mason softball

“We had the adoption ceremony with the team and it was great for Tara because the girls were really great and welcomed Tara with open arms,” Tammy Sankner, mother of adopted softball player Tara Sankner

games, practices and events as possible this season.

“Hopefully, after it is all done, Tara can just continue on with life and to just live life like an eight-year-old should,” Sankner said.

Sports

Fourth estate

Sept. 9, 2013

Workout of the week: Unilateral training

MICHAEL SNOWDEN STAFF WRITER There are many benefits to training your body unilaterally, or one side at a time. Unilateral training helps improve any weaknesses or imbalances between our right and left halves. Solely relying on barbell exercises disguises these imbalances. Because each arm and leg works independently, dumbbell work prevents your dominant side from bearing most

of the load during a lift and allowing your weaker side to stay weak. Dumbbell work also requires the smaller stabilizer muscles of a joint to work in each repetition, increases joint stability and helping injury prevention over time. Unilateral exercise also provides additional core training. By having to stabilize and balance your body with a weight on one side, your deep trunk muscles remain activated throughout all of the exercises rather than only during a specific set of core exercises.

These exercises can be performed as a circuit by performing one exercise on both the right and left side directly after the other with as little rest as possible between them. That’s one circuit. Rest for 60-90 seconds before completing the circuit one or two more times, depending on your fitness level.

(Left) Perform a dumbbell chest press using only one dumbbell extending the weight toward the ceiling. For a more difficult lift, use an exercise ball, but be sure to keep your hips flat.

(Right) For the shoulder press, again extend the one dumbbell above your head toward the ceiling. You’ll notice with these exercises, the weight causes an uneven weight distribution making these exercises more challenging for your core muscles.

(PHOTOS BY JENNY KRASHIN/FOURTH ESTATE)

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Sports

Sept. 9, 2013

Fourth estate

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(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

The underwater hockey team practices in the Aquatic Center pool.

Underwater hockey team succeeds at national level HAU CHU SPORTS EDITOR One of the sports where Mason ranks among the top teams in the nation is not a sport known to many in the student body or even in the general consciousness.

But for the members of the Mason underwater hockey club it provides a competitive outlet and opportunities to travel to various locations across North America.

Mason is one of 10 colleges in the nation that field an underwater hockey team. The team’s major tournament each year is the U.S. Underwater Hockey Nationals, which were held in Milwaukee this past July.

The tournament field included 23 teams ranging from collegiate teams, adult club teams and even two high school teams. Mason entered the tournament in the ‘B Division’ but ended up as the winner of the ‘C Division.’

“The team that Mason sent to Nationals was a fairly young team. Though we ended up in a different division than we had planned, we were happy with how we performed as a team overall with the experience we did have and we learned even more about the game and the community by simply attending the competition,” said Hannah Kreider, the club’s president.

Mason’s biggest victory at Nationals came against the team’s main rival Michigan State University. The game clinched the ‘C Division’ for Mason. Per the rules of the tournament, this result earned Mason the fourth overall ranking in the U.S. “The team would probably all tell you that Michigan State’s team is our main rival, because we are two of the biggest collegiate teams in the community. I use the word ‘rival’

loosely because we are all friends outside of the game,” Kreider said.

Because of the lack of an official collegiate underwater hockey association, during the fall and spring seasons of competition, the club participates in potluck-style tournaments.

“In a potluck-style tournament, the coordinators of the tournament make teams of players from all who registered based off of the positions they play and the years of experience they have in the sport. So our players play in tournaments with people from all over the U.S., which is extremely beneficial, especially to new players,” Kreider said.

Past potluck tournaments have brought Mason’s club to locations such as Toronto and Atlanta. This year the club is hoping to travel to London, Ontario and Key Largo, Florida to compete in more potluck tournaments. This year, Mason will host a potluck tournament on the weekend of Sept. 28.

“We are planning on taking the experiences we get from the tournaments we attend before Nationals 2014 to do just as well or even better at this year’s competition,” Kreider said.

Because underwater hockey is still a growing sport and lacks dedicated youth programs, Kreider and half of her teammates have only been a part of the club for a year.

Because the world of underwater hockey is relatively small -- at the collegiate level in particular -- the community formed by the sport is very tight-knit, with past players willing to help beginners.

“There are many players in the DC area who have competed in the A and B divisions at Nationals and even at Worlds who are always willing to support our novice players and teach them what they need to know about the game,” Kreider said.

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