George Mason University

Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website as written by Angelica Garcia and Genna Duplisea:

Introduction
Named in honor of Virginia politician George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights that supported independence and served as a model for the Bill of Rights, George Mason University is the largest largest university by enrollment numbers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1957, GMU became an independent institution in 1972. This statue of George Mason honors the school's namesake and is frequently decorated by student groups with the approval of the university's administration. Mason is notable for many reasons; his opposition to the US Constitution led to the creation of the Bill of Rights. He was also a slave owner who hoped to end the slave trade. Like several Founding Fathers, he freed his slaves in his will but refused to do so during his own lifetime, owing to his financial dependency on the institution of slavery.

Backstory and Context
George Mason University (GMU) is the largest public research university—and the largest university by enrollment numbers—in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition to the Fairfax location, George Mason University also has campuses in Arlington, Prince William, Fort Royal, and Songdo, South Korea.

In 1949, the University of Virginia (Charlottesville) opened an extension center within the halls of Washington & Lee High School in Arlington. This facility would allow U.Va to gain traction in northern Virginia and demonstrate that there was a demand for a higher education in the area. The U.Va Northern Virginian University Center offered informal classes and courses for credit, such as "Government in the Far East," "Introduction to International Politics," "English Composition," "Principles of Economics," Mathematical Analysis," "Introduction to Mathematical Statistics," and "Principles of Lip Reading."1 By 1956, growing enrollment numbers encouraged the Virginia General Assembly to convert the extension center into University College, a North Virginia branch of U.Va.

Much of the credit for the establishment of GMU is the result of the efforts of Charles Harrison Mann, Jr. As President of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, Mann advocated for the development of a college system in the region. In his words, GMU “was birthed with the help of several midwives,"2 including figures such as U.Va President Colgate W. Darden, Jr.; U.Va Extension Division chief George B. Zehmer; Head of U.Va’s Northern Virginia University Center, John Norville Gibson Finley; Clarence A. Steele; and Fairfax Mayor, John C. Wood. Mann would go on to serve as the Chairman of George Mason College's first Board of Control, as well as on the George Mason University Board of Visitors.

In 1959, the Board of Visitors chose a permanent name for the North Virginia branch: George Mason College. Construction began in early 1960 on land donated by the city of Fairfax. The college opened its doors to its first class of 356 students in the fall of 1964. Several years later, a bill to make George Mason College a 4-year university was introduced by James M. Thomson to the Virginia General Assembly. Measure H 33 passed and, under the direction of U.Va, George Mason College became a degree-granting institution. Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton signed Virginia General Assembly Bill H 210 on April 7, 1972. With this measure, George Mason College formally separated from U.Va and became George Mason University.

Today, GMU is the largest public research university in Virginia. The Fairfax campus spans 677 acres and is located approximately 20 miles from Washington, D.C. Its notable buildings include the Johnson Center, which features a library, dining establishments, shops, and more. Other significant facilities include the Center for the Arts, a 2,000-seat concert hall, the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building, Exploratory Hall, the Art and Design Building, the Fenwick Library, and the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study.

Academically, GMU is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. Mason offers 81 undergraduate degrees, 88 master's degrees, and a law degree. The university is particularly recognized for its economics, law, creative writing, computer science, and business programs. It is ranked among the highest research institutions by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions for Higher Education. Prominent alumni and faculty members include such figures as James M. Buchanan and Vernon L. Smith—1986 and 2002 Nobel Prize Winners for Economics, respectively.

GMU also boasts a robust athletics program, competing under in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Student athletes participate in 33 men's and women's Division I sports: baseball, basketball, cross-country, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. Its intercollegiate teams are members of the National Athletic Association Division I, the Atlantic 10, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, the Eastern Wrestling League, and the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America.

In addition to the Fairfax campus, George Mason University also has three other campuses in the state of Virginia, located in Arlington, Front Royal, and Prince William. In 2014, a fifth campus was opened in Songdo, within South Korea's Incheon Free Economic Zone. GMU's official colors are green and gold colors; the University mascot is The Patriot.


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Here follows an excerpt from the George Mason University library website:

George Mason University: A History

1949-1954:

The Idea:
Charles Harrison Mann, Jr., a founder and early historian of George Mason University noted that its development was unlike many other institutions in that it did not spring from the idea or efforts of just one person. Instead, it was the end result of the labor of a group of people all with the same goal; to bring higher education into the rapidly growing Northern Virginia region. Mann, in his unpublished historical manuscript detailing the birth of George Mason University, insisted that Mason was not built by one man’s hands, but instead “was birthed with the help of several midwives,” each playing a critical role in the creation of the University.

A short list of these key persons would include University of Virginia President Colgate W. Darden, Jr.; Mann himself, an Arlington lawyer and University of Virginia alumnus; University of Virginia Extension Division chief George B. Zehmer; Head of the University of Virginia’s Northern Virginia University Center, John Norville Gibson Finley; civil servant and Northern Virginian, Clarence A. Steele; and Mayor of the Town of Fairfax, John C. Wood, among many other dedicated men and women. All played important roles in the establishment of George Mason University. Finally, the citizens of the Northern Virginia area deserve credit for their unflagging support for George Mason University and its ancestors from the very beginning. Without the participation of these pioneers in Northern Virginia higher education, the resulting institution would most likely have turned out very different, or perhaps, might not have even existed.

The Phone Call:
According to C. Harrison Mann, Jr., it all started with a phone call...

Sometime in 1949, University of Virginia President and former Governor of Virginia, Colgate W. Darden, Jr. telephoned Mann. At the time Mann was an Arlington, Virginia lawyer and President of the Washington Chapter of the University of Virginia Alumni Association. Mann later wrote that the date of this call had been “lost in the mists of time,” but Darden’s message was clear. “Hank, the people of Northern Virginia need higher education, but they don’t know it yet,” Darden told him. [1] He then asked Mann to head up a committee to explore the feasibility of an institution of higher learning in Northern Virginia under the auspices of the University. With that telephone call, Mann and Darden had just started the process that would lead to the creation of one of the most rapidly-growing public universities in the United States.

The reason behind the need for higher education in Northern Virginia was clear to Darden and his chief of the Extension Division, Dr. George B. Zehmer. The post-war Washington, D.C. area was rapidly advancing. Northern Virginia had the highest proportion of college-bound students in the state. Families in the region had relatively high incomes, a great deal of civic pride, and the ability and the desire to organize. But there were no state colleges in the area. Also, with the advent of the G.I. Bill, veterans would be looking for educational opportunities like never before. Darden believed that a new educational infrastructure was needed to serve the educational needs of this growing population. He was determined to start a branch college of the University in Northern Virginia. This branch would offer two years of course work towards a four-year degree. However, President Darden wanted the people of northern Virginia to lead the charge for this new institution of higher education. [2]

The late George Mason University faculty member, William H. McFarlane, in his unpublished work on the history of the university, suggests that Darden did not want to be seen as directly sponsoring the University’s expansion in Northern Virginia, but rather he wanted the citizens to invite the University in. The reason for this was to avoid a possible “turf war” with its major institutional rivals, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (today referred to as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) and the College of William & Mary .” [3] Also, as McFarlane posits, if the University were to push for expansion into northern Virginia without strong local support, it might appear to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond to be simply a ploy used by Charlottesville to gain additional funding for itself. The General Assembly at that time still did not consider the allocation of state funds for higher education a high priority. In the early 1950s, the Commonwealth of Virginia spent only fifteen cents on higher education for every dollar it spent on elementary education. [4]

But if the people of Northern Virginia themselves asked to bring the University into their community, the chances for success would increase, Darden figured. By recruiting influential people in the area, such as Mann (who later served four terms in the Virginia House of Delegates), Clarence Steele, a federal government employee and president of the Associated PTA’s of Northern Virginia, and other political and business luminaries in the area, Darden gained a foot in the door with the local power structure. With the Northern Virginia governmental and educational organizations on his side, Darden could then forward his request to the General Assembly. In the spring of 1949 four major Northern Virginia jurisdictions: Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria banded together to support the establishment of an institution of higher education associated with the University in Northern Virginia.

The Mann Manuscript:
Charles Harrison Mann, Jr. was born in Alabama in 1908 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1931. He subsequently became an attorney both in Washington, D.C., and in Arlington, Virginia where he and his wife Betty Hart Mann, maintained their home. In 1949, while serving as President of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, Mann organized an exploratory committee of local citizens to develop support for higher education in Northern Virginia. Through these efforts, the Northern Virginia Center of the University opened in October 1, 1949.

In 1953 Mann organized the Advisory Council of the Northern Virginia Center, which held that a two-year branch college of the University of Virginia should be established. Elected as a Democrat to the Virginia House of Delegates from 1954 to 1970, Mann sponsored a resolution calling for a study of educational needs for Virginia and was instrumental in recommending the development of a college system in Virginia, particularly the establishment of a branch in Northern Virginia.

Mann was responsible for creating an educational financial assistance program for Virginia college students and was instrumental in sponsoring legislation allowing local governments to form regional boards to acquire and transfer land and buildings for educational use. He also served as the Chairman of George Mason College's first Board of Control. He sponsored bills constituting George Mason College as a branch of the University of Virginia and later elevating it to a four-year division of the University with the right to grant degrees and offer a graduate program. He served on the George Mason University Board of Visitors from 1975 to 1977. He died later that year.

After Mann’s death, his personal papers were donated to George Mason University Libraries. Among them is his unpublished manuscript, which he began writing in the last years of his life. The work covers the years 1949 to 1957 and details the early years of the University and its predecessor, the Northern Virginia University Center, as Mann himself experienced them. [1] An active agent in the development of first the center and later the branch college, Mann participated in nearly all of the actions leading to the establishment of George Mason University.

The 150-page manuscript provides an insider’s view into not only the events, persons, and organizations involved in the creation of the institution but also the political atmosphere in which it all took place. It was clearly written from Mann’s own point of view, and he was quite open about certain beliefs he held. The most significant of these opinions was the notion that there existed a prejudice against the Northern Virginia region among members of Virginia’s political elite in Richmond and in other parts of the Commonwealth, as well as among including certain members of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia. This prejudice, Mann argued, factored into the controversy over the selection of the permanent site for the branch college during 1956-1958.

Most importantly, the Mann manuscript provides a much-needed chronological sequence of the critical events beginning in 1949 and leading up to both the establishment of the institution that became George Mason University in 1957 and the acquisition of land which later became the Fairfax Campus in 1964.

The Northern Virginia University Center:
While building a full-fledged branch college of the University of Virginia in Northern Virginia might take several years and a good deal of political wrangling (as indeed it did), the quickest and easiest way for the University to gain an initial foothold in the area would be to establish an extension center. Such a center would have an emphasis on adult education and be aimed at returning veterans and other Northern Virginians who wished or needed to enroll in college-level instruction. Once the center was established and serving local citizens, the case could then be made that the University should take the next step--with the help of the Virginia General Assembly, of course. To that end, the University of Virginia’s Director of the Extension Division, George B. Zehmer, sent John Norville Gibson Finley, a faculty member in the Extension Division, up to Northern Virginia to begin this effort. An organizational meeting for the extension center was held on January 5, 1949, at Washington & Lee High School in Arlington.

To reinforce the idea that Northern Virginians wanted the University to start an extension center in the area, Clarence Steele, appointed head of an eight-person exploratory committee on the center by Mann, wrote a letter to President Darden dated April 4, 1949, officially requesting that the University establish an extension center to serve the local population. [1] The local committee, whose members hailed from each of the four major municipalities, and representatives from the University would meet several times during 1949 to formulate plans for setting up an extension program in northern Virginia. Because it might take some time to get a free-standing extension center in place in Northern Virginia, the Extension Division, working with the local exploratory committee, investigated temporary locations that could house the administrative aspects of the program, as well as offer some classroom space.

Washington & Lee High School, located at the intersection of Quincy and North Stafford Streets in Arlington, offered to help. Built in 1924, it served as the only high school for area students for decades. The high school had plenty of space to offer when the University of Virginia needed to operate a small extension center in the evenings after the school day ended. An early 20th-century house, which stood on the campus and belonged to the high school, served as the Center’s office and first classrooms. Washington & Lee also offered the Center several classrooms inside the school and its library. The committee members were well acquainted with W&L, as it was the venue for most of their planning meetings. With Finley at the helm as Director, UVA’s Northern Virginia University Center was officially open for business on October 1, 1949.

The Center spent its first year organizing, hiring faculty, and developing a curriculum. Organized classes began during the winter of 1950, and both credit and non-credit enrichment courses were offered. All classes were offered in the evening because of classroom availability. The first semester offered non-credit courses in public speaking, conference leadership, introductory electronics, literature of the Bible, local planning and zoning administration, and rapid reading. The for-credit courses included money and banking, accounting, several education courses, refresher courses for architects, and several engineering and mathematics courses. [2] Theoretically, students of the Extension Center could complete two years of college classes at the Extension Center that could be transferred to the University or other colleges. But, by 1954, due to changes in accreditation requirements, that scenario would no longer be possible.

The Extension Center was an instant success. During the first semester, it organized twenty classes and had 478 individuals enrolled. During the 1950-1951 academic year the center offered a total of forty-four formal for-credit courses and had an enrollment of 665 students. By the end of 1952 enrollment had increased to 1,192 students. In only two years the Northern Virginia University Center had grown by 79%. [3] This explosive growth illustrated both a need and a desire for higher education in the rapidly-growing region. The success of the Center, Finley proclaimed, “must be credited to these people in Northern Virginia.”

The Next Step:
The Northern Virginia University Center was serving its purpose by providing educational opportunities that citizens of Northern Virginia previously lacked. However, extension education was not exactly the best solution for the entire population. While suitable for some citizens, it was not enough for others. Sooner or later the region’s serious college-bound students--many part of the postwar baby boom--would need something more substantial.

In January 1954, the Advisory Council for the Northern Virginia Center was formed with Clarence A. Steele as Chairman. This sixteen-member group of citizens from Arlington County, Falls Church, Alexandria, and Fairfax County was commissioned to advise the University on the operation of the center and to explore the possibilities of its expansion to a branch of the University of Virginia. During its first meeting on January 4, 1954, the Council would discuss the merits of offering daytime classes for college-age students. But, more importantly, it began initial discussions on the creation of a branch college in Northern Virginia, whether under the auspices of the University or not.

In May 1954 Council members met with President Darden to request formally that the University create a branch college in Northern Virginia. Darden was sympathetic but set conditions upon which it could act. He told them that funds for the maintenance and operation of a branch would have to initially come from the localities. The institution should initially be self-supporting. [1] And the Advisory Council would have to inform the Governor and get his endorsement. All of these points were well within the reach of the Committee and the localities they represented, but the entire issue would be made more complicated by recent events.

In late 1953 the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (SACSS), the organization which governs the accreditation of higher educational institutions in eleven states including the Commonwealth of Virginia, changed a regulation regarding extension education. The new rule permitted accredited institutions to allow only one year of classes to transfer toward a bachelor’s degree unless it came from an officially established branch of the parent institution. [2] This change in the rule would force the University to expand its operations in Northern Virginia if it hoped to continue to serve the area. The Center would need a permanent facility, a library, a full faculty, and would have to have a genuine connection to the parent institution in order to legitimately transfer two years of study from an extension center, according to SACSS. This meant that Charlottesville would need to establish a branch college, sooner rather than later, in order to meet these requirements.

Also in 1954 the Virginia General Assembly attached to the 1954 Appropriations Act a rider that prohibited the establishment of branch colleges without approval of the state legislature. The rider was enacted both to limit the growth and cost of education institutions and to give the legislature more say in their operations. Because of this new limitation, the University of Virginia and Northern Virginia leaders would need to lobby the General Assembly to get approval for this expansion. It also meant that college proponents might have to wait up to two years until the 1956 General Assembly session to petition it since the Assembly only met for one month during odd-numbered years and two months during even-numbered years. C. Harrison Mann, Jr., of Arlington would lead the effort in the House of Delegates, after his election in 1954, and Charles Fenwick, also of Arlington, would work to secure support for the branch in the Virginia State Senate.

Later that year, the Virginia Advisory Legislative Committee, which was composed of members of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, conducted a study on higher educational opportunities in the Commonwealth and issued the report: The Crisis in Higher Education in Virginia and a Solution. The report, published in 1955, recommended the establishment of two-year branches of the larger institutions in Virginia in areas of the state where no such facilities existed, giving college-aged men and women an option to stay in-state for at least the first two-years of their education. [3]A contributor to the report, Dr. Lorin A. Thompson from the University of Virginia, would later become Chancellor of George Mason College in 1966 and the first president of George Mason University in 1972. Delegate C. Harrison Mann, Jr., and George Zehmer participated in the VALC's report as subcommittee members.

The Resolution:
Given the favorable recommendations of the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council report of the previous year, representatives from the Northern Virginia Delegation to the General Assembly found the 1956 General Assembly Session an encouraging one before which to submit a resolution creating a Northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia.

In January 1956 Delegate C. Harrison Mann, Jr., brought House Joint Resolution 5 to the House floor for consideration. The resolution would establish a branch of the University of Virginia in the Northern Virginia area. The only fear Mann had was that some southern members of the General Assembly would see this bill as a first step in building a larger independent university in Northern Virginia. To help ensure the passage of this bill and demonstrate to lawmakers that the University did not want to build an independent college in Northern Virginia, Mann added a clause that would limit the branch college to one “offering two years of collegiate instruction, which branch shall provide instructional facilities only.”[1] With this small addition to the language of the bill, it passed in the House quickly and with very little resistance on February 6, 1956. With Senator Fenwick’s endorsement, it was approved in the Senate on February 24. With the passage of Resolution 5 Northern Virginia had legal authority to build a permanent college. [2] But before that could happen, a location would have to be selected.

1954-1958:

Terra Incognita:
In 1956, after the passage of Virginia House of Delegates Joint Resolution 5 giving the University the authority to open a branch in Northern Virginia, the search for a permanent location for the branch was officially underway. It would span more than two years and be quite difficult for groups representing both Northern Virginia and the University. C. Harrison Mann, Jr. wrote that this period was a chapter that “everyone would prefer not be written. The events to be detailed were very discouraging and depressing, yet ... cannot be avoided if the history of how the site, essential to the personality of the institution now occupied by George Mason University, came to be chosen.” [1]

The process of selecting a permanent site for the new branch would be highly political and would include every level of Virginia government, from local city councils and appointed boards up to the Governor, himself. At one point it even looked as if the plans for a Northern Virginia branch college might be pushed aside altogether, as appointed groups representing the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors and Northern Virginia could not agree upon a permanent location. Each side considered the proximity of land to the more populous part of the Northern Virginia region the main issue in the site selection process, but for differing reasons. The University of Virginia Board of Visitors hoped to keep the branch further away from the center of Northern Virginia, while the Northern Virginia group wished to locate it closer to home. To them, the extreme western part of the area might as well have been uncharted territory.

C. Harrison Mann, Jr.’s unpublished manuscript is one of the very few first-hand accounts of the struggle to acquire a permanent site for the branch college. Having been an alumnus of the University of Virginia, a Northern Virginia lawyer, a member of the House of Delegates representing Arlington, and a leader on three advisory councils assisting the University in creating a presence in Northern Virginia, Mann was exceptionally suited to write this story. During the site selection period he found himself on the front lines battling for the people of Northern Virginia, sometimes against representatives of his beloved alma mater, some of whom with which he shared a friendship.

In the end, and arguably at the last minute, a compromise was struck with the help of the Town of Fairfax. Without the initiative of Fairfax Mayor, John C. Wood and the members of the Fairfax Town Council, George Mason College, might have been located in a more remote location. Consequently, its development might have been on a much smaller pace and scale. And, quite possibly, the University of Virginia might have decided to pull the plug altogether on the branch college, leaving Northern Virginia with no institution of higher education at all after eight years of hard work.

Sectionalism:
It has been a commonly-held belief among many individuals actively involved in Virginia politics and government that the Northern Virginia region differs from the rest of the Commonwealth. The region is often portrayed as having higher median incomes, a more vibrant technology sector, more diverse national backgrounds among its population, and a tendency to lean more to the liberal spectrum in terms of politics than the other parts of Virginia, among other characteristics. [1] Though there is no official designation of what constitutes Northern Virginia, it has been minimally defined as the area containing the following governmental units: Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford counties, and the cities of Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park, though other counties and cities have also been assigned to it from time to time. [2]

It has been suggested by many through the years that George Mason University's birth and early development took place in an environment in which a prickly relationship existed between the citizens of the Northern Virginia region and those from the rest of the Commonwealth with regard to politics and government. Individuals intimately familiar with the growth and development of George Mason University have claimed that as a result, this Northern Virginia institution has faced, to varying degrees, opposition to its development by individuals and groups from other parts of the Commonwealth since its inception. Some insist that, though perhaps more subtly, this condition continues today. Serious students of the history of the University, including C. Harrison Mann, Jr., one of its founding fathers, have documented this phenomenon in detail in their works on Mason's origins.

Mann, in his unpublished manuscript of the university's history, describes what he observed as an elected representative (1954-1970) from Arlington in the Virginia General Assembly at Richmond. He suggests that there existed:

a strong emotional influence on men...There arose a feeling in the minds of Virginia that this community [Arlington] and indeed, all of Northern Virginia was not like the remainder of the state, that it had become occupied by a large number of outsiders who had nothing in common with the rest of the Commonwealth...The area was inhabited by a bunch of carpetbaggers and radicals. [3]

These “outsiders” first immigrated to the area during the 1930s and 1940s to work in the expanded federal government during the Roosevelt administration and later in the area's burgeoning defense and technology industries.

A major cause of friction between Northern Virginia and the Virginia political establishment in Richmond and elsewhere centered in the 1950s around Mann's hometown, Arlington, its insistence on expanded local governmental powers, and what it did with them. Arlington would be the first county in Virginia to have a county manager and an elected school board. These initiatives, Mann recalls, were alien to the rest of Virginia. [4] Virginia was at the time, and though to a lesser degree still remains today, governed by the Dillon Rule, a 19th-century axiom which states that local governments derive their powers, and in fact their very existence from the state legislatures, and as a result must defer to them on issues of governance. Most importantly, and in the context of the establishment of a college in Northern Virginia, ill feelings toward Arlington and its leaders came to a head when its elected school board initiated plans to desegregate its public schools shortly after the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. [5]

Virginia's Tenth Congressional District in 1956 comprised the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church and the counties of Arlington and Fairfax. By virtue of its having Arlington as part, the Tenth was often thought of as a hotbed of radicalism in other parts of the Commonwealth. [6] Geography and politics would both figure heavily in the site-selection controversy, which will be discussed in a later part of this chapter.

Mann himself was associated with George Mason University from 1949 until his death in 1977. His manuscript history of George Mason University only covers the period 1949 to 1958. It is, however an intricately detailed accounting of events during that period. His recollection of the sequences of specific events, personalities, conversations, and his personal feelings from that period are remarkable and make for a compelling read. Unfortunately, his death came less than a year after the completion of this part of the manuscript. His narrative describes the period as one which pitted in his words “the Northern Virginians” against certain members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, certain political groups, and to a lesser degree, members of the Virginia Legislature and other individuals seeking to disrupt or worse derail the establishment of an institution of higher education in Northern Virginia.

Michael Ronald Sorrell, in his 2002 University of Virginia dissertation entitled Extending Public Higher Education into Northern Virginia: The Formative Years of George Mason University, 1949-1972, seeks to understand the perceived political conditions in the Commonwealth during this period. In his chapter entitled “Northern Virginia versus Southern Virginia,” Sorrell explores the roots of sectionalism in Virginia. He suggests they can be traced back to the Civil War and later the Reconstruction era, when Arlington and Alexandria were considered “Union territory.” Even nearly one hundred years after the War, it would not be unusual to hear a southern member of the General Assembly suggest that Virginia should “give Arlington and Alexandria back to the District of Columbia.” [7] Sorrell adds that some Virginians would have characterized Arlington County's elected school board as “infiltrated by Northerners.” It would later be “reprimanded for its disloyalty,” in this case exercising its option to desegregate its schools, by legislation in the General Assembly that would dissolve its elected board. [8]

Mann suggests that George Mason's early development would be affected directly by individuals who believed that perhaps the northern part of the Commonwealth should not be rewarded with a college of its own, or at least not a conveniently located one. This appeared to be the case during the selection of a permanent site for the branch college which was authorized by the General Assembly in early 1956.

The Search:
As early as April of 1954, the Advisory Council for the Northern Virginia University Center actively studied various sites for both temporary and permanent locations for the branch college. Although the group’s main function was to advise the University on the matters pertaining to the operation of the Northern Virginia Center at Arlington, it attacked its secondary responsibility of exploring how the center might be transformed into a branch college with as much, if not more, enthusiasm. A large part of the establishment of the future branch was finding a suitable tract of land on which to build, or at least a temporary location with an existing building or buildings, that could host the college until permanent quarters were finished. The Council was given the responsibility of finding appropriate properties and submitting them to the University for consideration by its Board of Visitors.

Early in the site selection process University of Virginia President Darden had suggested some guidelines for acquirable land to members of the Advisory Council and the Board. He believed that any site must be no less than 50 acres in size. It must be near the geographic and population center of the region, have access to local transportation, and, if possible, have water and sewer available. [1] Later, a suggestion that the site have some sort of historical significance was added to the discussion. By 1956 a more elaborate and official set of guidelines was disseminated. [2] With these principles in mind, the two groups would begin looking for a suitable place for the new branch college.

In order for a property to be considered as a temporary site for the branch, it had to be able to conform to the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools definition of a “branch.” Viable locations primarily had to consist of a separate physical plant and not share space with some already existing organization. A branch also had to have its own faculty, curricula, stable course offerings, classrooms, and laboratories. [3]

While the Advisory Council focused on meeting all of the guidelines established by President Darden, one guideline upon which they would remain non-negotiable throughout was that the site was near as possible to the center of the population of Northern Virginia. The exact meaning of this concept was at the center of the debate between the local Advisory Council and the Charlottesville-based Board of Visitors. The Advisory Council wished to establish a location that would serve the Northern Virginia population of the late 1950s and early 1960s immediately. They focused on locations in the central part of Fairfax County which were easily accessible to students traveling from Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church, and to a lesser degree, Prince William and other counties. As for the Board representing the University, their ideal location was in the far western part of Fairfax County, or even further west. The Board suggested that such a location would be well-placed to serve the population as future land development expanded west.

But was this stance simply a thinly veiled attempt by certain members of the Board aimed at locating the branch a significant distance away from the perceived progressive bastion of Arlington, as Mann strongly suggests in his unpublished narrative of the early history of George Mason? Although it could be argued that the Board was acting with the best interests of the University in mind, Mann was convinced that certain members were not immune to exercising their political beliefs during this process. It should be noted that the local jurisdictions (Arlington County, Fairfax County, and the cities of Falls Church, and Alexandria) would be purchasing the land. Each would be responsible for providing part of the cost of the land and a portion of the operating costs of the new college. This simple fact should have made it difficult for the Board to force any unwanted location on the local population, especially when they were prepared to pay any reasonable amount to secure a convenient location for their school.

Ravensworth vs. Sunset Hills:
Over the course of the search many sites were mulled over--as many as two-dozen. But, from the many properties studied, only two were seriously considered for the new home of the Northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia. These were the Ravensworth Farm and Sunset Hills tracts. These two sites were on opposite ends of Fairfax County and were separated by about ten miles. In the end, each of the two groups, the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, and the Advisory Council, settled on its own site, arguing that it best fit the guidelines established by the University.

At the intersection of Braddock Road (Virginia Rt.620) and the future Capital Beltway, the former Ravensworth Farm would be served by decent roads, and its location would put it just south of the geographic and population centers of the Northern Virginia region in 1956. The land was once owned by Col. William Fitzhugh the grandfather of Mary Custis Lee, and now was owned by Edward M. Carr, James McIlvaine, and John C. Mowbray. The fact that the site had local history implications was seen as an asset by its backers. In the spring of 1956 the owners of Ravensworth initially offered fifty acres as a donation with an option to buy up to an additional 240 acres. They also offered conveyance of existing buildings and other cash incentives as well. [1] Combined, these factors made Ravensworth quite attractive to the Advisory Council. [2] The only perceptible drawback to the Ravensworth site was the fact that the federal government had proposed the construction of an international airport four miles southeast at Burke in the early 1950s. There was concern that if the future flight path went from east to west, the Ravensworth site would be directly in the path of jet planes during takeoff and final approach for landing. It was suggested by some that the noise could be detrimental to the everyday operations of the campus. [3]

Sunset Hills, on the other hand, was located in Herndon in the northwestern part of the county. Located on the north side of Route 606 near what is now Reston, it belonged to the sons of the late A. Smith Bowman, founder of the A. Smith Bowman Distillery, and maker of Virginia Gentleman bourbons. The site was more than twenty miles away from Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church, sparsely populated, served by a network of smaller roads fed by Route 7 to the North, and lacked a convenient water and sewerage source. The Bowman brothers initially offered 50 acres of land along with $25,000 cash with which to erect the first buildings back in December 1954 to President Darden. [4]In March 1956 the offer was expanded to 250 acres, with an option to purchase 250 additional acres. [5]


On June 7, 1956 the Advisory Council met to consider the Ravensworth tract. In a vote among its members, Ravensworth was accepted unanimously. [6] Though the Bowman offer was studied by the Council, it wasn’t given much consideration, primarily because of its location. To the Council, Sunset Hills was too far west from where the majority of the potential students lived. For all intents and purposes it seemed as if the search for a permanent home for the new college was over. The location was right; the size fit; the cost was reasonable; and, located between the more populous Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church on the east and less populous Herndon, Chantilly, and Centreville on the west, it could be argued that it was nearly in the exact center of the Northern Virginia population. All that was needed was consideration and approval by the Board of Visitors.

At its September 15, 1956 meeting, the Board assembled to consider the sites currently available to the University. In this meeting, a special Board subcommittee submitted its preliminary recommendation of the Sunset Hills tract for the construction of the new campus. Cited among reasons for its selection were the ample acreage, the projection that the Herndon area was going to be near the center of the area’s population in the future as land development increased in the western end of the county, and numerous recommendations from interested persons in western Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. The proximity of the proposed airport and potential noise was the Board’s sole objection to Ravensworth. [7] It was, at that time, considered common knowledge among many in Northern Virginia that if an airport was going to be built at Burke, the flight path would travel north to south so as not to interfere with traffic using the existing Washington National Airport located north of Alexandria to the east. [8]C. Harrison Mann, Jr. adds in a footnote to his unpublished manuscript that the Burke site was never seriously considered for the international airport. [9] Ironically, in 1958 the federal government abandoned the Burke location for a larger tract in Chantilly, situating it very near the Sunset Hills site. This facility, now known as Washington Dulles International Airport, opened in 1962.

As expected, the Advisory Council and the local jurisdictions did not care about this decision. Mann’s letter of October 18 to the Board of Visitors fully registered their dissent. [10] This location was impractical and utterly unacceptable. By the end of 1956, the question of who had the right to choose the location for the new college was in question. Advisory Council chairman, Clarence Steele, and others suggested that if the Council, who represented the jurisdictions that were going to pay for the land, could not choose where the branch would be built, then perhaps the Council should disband. [11]

At about this same time the Board of Control for the Establishment of a Branch College in Northern Virginia stepped into the picture. The Board of Control was created by the General Assembly soon after the 1956 passage of Resolution 5, enabling the University to create a branch in northern Virginia. The Board of Control would take up the site selection duties of the Advisory Council, if necessary, and at the end of 1956, it became so. Fortunately, many of the people involved in the Advisory Council were also members of the Board of Control. [12] The Board of Control would use a different approach than that of the Advisory Council to find land. Instead of seeking land offerings through word of mouth or through personal connections, it publically requested proposals of land offerings. In early 1957 the Board of Control received information on new sites as well as upgraded offers on previously-studied sites. Although many new and upgraded parcels were offered and examined, Ravensworth and Sunset Hills remained the frontrunners. [13] The Sunset Hills owner’s new offer included a donation of 250 acres, an additional 250 for sale for $1000 per acre, and $25,000 cash. As expected, the Board of Visitors continued its strong endorsement of Sunset Hills.

However, the newly established Board of Control, which represented the local governments participating in the creation of the Northern Virginia branch, did not wish to have anything to do with a site so far away from the center of the population. Board chairman C. Harrison Mann, Jr. argued vehemently against the BOV’s recommendation of Sunset Hills and implored them to reconsider. While some members of the Council seriously considered accepting the Board’s recommendation, representatives from Alexandria, the jurisdiction furthest away, stated that they would not support the Sunset Hills location and would “withdraw from any participation in the establishment of the college.” [14] The city's motivation was clear: the Sunset Hills tract was too far from the City of Alexandria to make a commuter college practical. If its taxpayers’ money was going to help build this college, Alexandria wanted them to have reasonable access to it. None of the other groups on the Board of Control wished to see Alexandria leave. They hoped to keep a common front and work together. Also, if Alexandria pulled out, the financial burden would increase for each of the remaining members once a site was finally chosen.

When it was all but certain that the Ravensworth would never be approved by the Board of Visitors, the Board of Control began looking at other pieces of land and fell upon the Chiles tract three miles north of Ravensworth. The Chiles tract was seen by many as the next best location to Ravensworth because it was located in the exact center of the population of all four jurisdictions. [15] This site also was located right next to the future Fairfax Hospital, and the “Board [of Control] saw in this close proximity an ideal situation for a School of Nursing.” [16] Although this tract was not for sale at the time, it was suggested that the Fairfax County government could have used eminent domain to acquire the land. This made the debate of the Chiles tract a moot point because President Darden made it clear that the University was not interested in acquiring land by condemning it. [17] The Chiles tract was thought to be valued at about $623,000, a sum that was a bit outside of the budget for the group represented by the Board of Control.

In January of 1958, President Darden wrote to Mann, asking him to consider the Sunset Hills tract and try to convince others on the Board of Control to see it as an opportunity to establish a college in Northern Virginia. “Certainly it would seem to be wiser to have it there rather than abandon it.” [18] In the Washington Evening Star on April 3rd Darden was quoted as saying, “I would regret to see the University leave Northern Virginia, but I am satisfied we cannot carry on unless we have general support in the area. If these very deep differences cannot be resolved I would, with real sadness, recommend that we withdraw.” [19] In his manuscript, Mann infers that Darden was losing patience with the process and threatened to delay or abandon the project altogether unless the Board of Control go along with the Board of Visitors and approve the Sunset Hills site. Both the Board of Visitors, and the University, appeared dead-set on the Sunset Hills site, and did not seem to be considering any others by this time. This was evident in the shift in attitude towards the proposed airport now slated for Chantilly. As Mann notes in his history, “Even the proximity of the airport at Dulles was advanced as an argument for Sunset Hills, though Judge Bryan (Judge Albert V. Bryan, a member of the Board of Visitors) had used the airport argument so effectively against Ravensworth when it was believed that it might be located at Burke.” [20]

With the final vote of the Board of Visitors on the permanent site for the college set for February 1, Northern Virginians initiated some last-minute scrambling in a final attempt to secure a more convenient location for the branch. On Sunday, January 19, 1958, Fairfax Mayor John C. Wood called an emergency Town Council meeting to discuss the possibility of the Town of Fairfax becoming a player in this process. Wood represented the owners of the Ravensworth property, and he had first-hand knowledge of the difficulties surrounding the site selection for the branch. Most probably by that time, Wood was certain that Ravensworth would never be selected. He was aware of a tract of land owned by a Fairfax lawyer and former Commonwealth’s Attorney located just south of the Town of Fairfax and suggested to the Council that the Town purchase the land in an effort to lure the University to Fairfax. The Town Council unanimously agreed to secure an option on the land and offer it to the University as a donation. Hopefully, the University would accept, bringing the branch college to Fairfax. He submitted the proposal to C. Harrison Mann on January 21 for the Board of Control’s consideration. [21] The Board of Control at that time was still hoping that the Board of Visitors would somehow reconsider its bias against Ravensworth.

The owners of Ravensworth issued one more offer, which increased the amount of donated land in order to make the offer more competitive with the Sunset Hills site. The Board of Control voted on this offer, and all but one member voted in favor of the Ravensworth site. The Board of Control sent their recommendations to the Board of Visitors in Charlottesville a few days before their vote.

Mann himself traveled to Charlottesville for the February 1 meeting to make sure that he was on hand to answer any questions the Board of Visitors might have during their deliberations. The Board did not call upon Mann during the meeting, and Mann received a phone call at his Charlottesville hotel notifying him that the Board of Visitors had voted 9 to 2 in favor of the Sunset Hills site. [22] This effectively ended the competition between Ravensworth and Sunset Hills.

The Governor Intercedes:
With the Sunset Hills site selection confirmed by a 9 to 2 vote of the Board of Visitors, the selection of the Bowman property was all but complete. The only issue remaining was obtaining the approval of Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. for the acquisition of the parcel from the Bowman family. Mann, who felt that Northern Virginians were about to be done a major disservice by the selection of this location against their wishes, was determined to prevent this scenario from happening. Soon after he learned of the Board of Visitors vote, he requested and was granted a meeting with Governor Almond in his office at Richmond to confer about the situation. The General Assembly was still in session at the time, so Mann was scheduled to be in Richmond. Although he did not disclose the details of this visit to the Board of Visitors, he did discuss it with his colleagues on the Board of Control afterwards.

Mann asserts in his manuscript that he did not visit Governor Almond as a member of the Board of Control, but rather as a Northern Virginian. He explained the situation fully to Governor Almond in his office. Mann focused on the key issue in the minds of the Board and their constituents, which was that the Sunset Hills location would never serve the population of Northern Virginia adequately. The citizens for whom it was going to be built did not want the branch located there. Governor Almond told Mann that if the people of Northern Virginia did not want the Bowman site, then the Commonwealth would not accept it. [1] On April 16th the Board of Visitors petitioned the governor to approve the transfer of ownership of Sunset Hills to the University. Almond declined to do so citing the disapproval of the four major municipalities it was intended to serve. [2] After two years of hard work by the representatives of Northern Virginia and the University of Virginia, a site on which to build the new branch college in Northern Virginia had still not been secured.

Farr Tract Revisited:
Right around this time the new property near Fairfax that had been offered to the Board of Control in January came into play. Simply known as the Farr tract, the 146-acre parcel was located just south of the Town of Fairfax, just beyond the southern terminus of Mechanic Street (now known as University Drive) and along Payne Street (now known as Ox Road/Va. Route 123). The land was owned by Wilson M. Farr, a retired attorney for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and his daughter in-law, Viola Orr. The land had been in the Farr family since the eighteenth century. By June 1958 the Town of Fairfax had begun the purchase of the land from Farr and Orr for about $300,000. On June 17 Mayor Wood wrote Governor Almond alerting him to the availability of the property. [1] One week later, Wood made an official offer of the property to the University of Virginia. [2]

Because it was located away from Ravensworth and closer to the Sunset Hills site, the Farr tract was acceptable to the Board of Visitors at Charlottesville. The low initial cost also helped its cause. All parties involved in what had become a protracted selection process seemed optimistic about the Farr tract either because of price, location, or perhaps because it was a new property that fit all of the prerequisites. After some discussion, the Board of Visitors accepted the Town of Fairfax’s offer of the Farr property for the site of the new branch college in December 1958. The Town of Fairfax completed the purchase of the land from Wilson Farr and Viola Orr on February 9, 1959, and deeded the land to the University the next day for the sum of ten dollars. [3] In taking the initiative and securing the Farr tract, the Town of Fairfax saved the day for higher education in Northern Virginia by breaking the deadlock and allowing for the process of building the permanent facility to begin.

1957-1964:

The Little Red Schoolhouse:
While the site selection controversy between the committee representing the Northern Virginia jurisdictions and the University of Virginia Board of Visitors played out during 1956 and 1957, and with classes at the new branch set to begin in the fall of 1957, President Darden announced the temporary leasing of an old elementary school building in Bailey's Crossroads at the intersection of Va. Route 7 and Columbia Pike (Va, Route 244). This building would house the newly created University College of the University of Virginia until a permanent location could be chosen and suitable facilities constructed. In early August of 1957, the Bailey's Crossroads location was occupied by University staff, and classes began on September 23 with an initial enrollment of seventeen. With John Norville Gibson Finley as its director (he oversaw both the Northern Virginia Center at Arlington and the University College at Bailey’s Crossroads from 1957 to 1960), Bailey’s served as the home of the college while the search for a permanent site continued, and for several years after until construction of the new campus was finished.

The Bailey's Crossroads Campus:
The former Bailey’s Elementary School located at 5836 Columbia Pike was a well-used eight-room elementary school constructed in 1922 of red brick. In 1955, a new, larger elementary school was constructed nearby, and “Old Bailey’s” was abandoned. The lower level had four classrooms - two were used as science labs, and the other two as lecture rooms. On the upper level, three rooms comprised the library. The last served as an additional lecture room. The library was staffed by librarians from the local public library, who moonlighted there after-hours. The administrative staff worked in a walled-off area at the entrance to the building. Overhead pipes in the basement leaked onto the floor and the stairs in the center hallway creaked as students went up and down during the day. Former occupants of Bailey’s have characterized the building’s climate control as “hot in the summer and cold in the winter.” [1]

The building was small and probably did not come close to meeting the standards for a branch college. Because all spaces in the building were in use at all times, there was no place for the students to socialize before and after class. To help remedy this, the Bailey’s Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department next door kindly allowed students of the college to use the station’s upstairs break room as a lounge. Former Bailey’s student Richard Sparks suggests that because the physical plant of the college was so small, “there was no way for students not to get to know each other. There was nowhere to hide out,” and faculty would often catch those who attempted to skip class playing sports on the lawn. [2] The small quarters did allow students and faculty to form close bonds, as they were nearly always together. This is evident in many of Sparks’ original photographs of the Bailey’s Crossroads campus, which now comprise the Richard M. Sparks Photograph Collection. [3]

The idea to use the old elementary school building came from lawyer, and Fairfax Mayor, John C. Wood. Wood, who would later become the first Rector of the George Mason University Board of Visitors in 1972, was working as the attorney for the Fairfax County School Board in 1957. An early booster of higher education in Northern Virginia, Wood asked the Fairfax County School Board if they would be willing to lease the building to the University temporarily for their new branch college. [4] The School Board offered the building on a yearly lease. The University was responsible for utilities and insurance. The total move-in and first year’s operations cost of the college was $40,000. [5] This was financed through appropriations by Falls Church, Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax County in July 1957.

The school also would receive several donations to help them develop a library onsite. President Darden personally made a substantial contribution to begin the library in August 1957. In 1959 a University alumnus and doctor living in the Northern Virginia area donated $1,000 worth of books to the college library, two more Arlington residents gave books valued at $100, and the Clarenford Woman’s Club donated $100 worth of back periodicals. [6] These early examples of support would serve to build the library and offer a greater academic experience to the students at Bailey’s Crossroads. However, these gifts did not come without a price. Every time a donation of books was made to the school, library staff would have to work to find a place to store them. Director Finley wrote in 1959 that “[w]e can squeeze one bookcase more into the library-lounge on the second floor; put two on the stair landing and four in the hall on the second floor.” [7] College staffers sought to store books in nearly every nook and cranny in the cramped schoolhouse.

Space for other collegiate pursuits was always at a premium. Bailey’s lacked a room that could house more than 30 persons comfortably. As a result, college functions such as assemblies, meetings, dances, and Final Day Exercises (since there were no terminal degree programs at the branch “Final Day Exercises” were the equivalent of graduation) were held at locations nearby, such as the Bailey’s Crossroads Fire Department, the Alexandria Episcopal Seminary, and local hotels and churches. Athletic events, which were never more than a pick-up or faculty vs. student game, took place either on the dirt field adjacent to the building which doubled as overflow parking or on the fields of local schools, such as Glen Forest Elementary School, which was located one-half mile to the north.

Bailey’s served as the primary location for the University College (which would later be renamed George Mason College in January 1960) from August 1957 until August 1964. Though conditions were challenging for the early pioneers at Bailey’s Crossroads, the students, staff, and the local population became fond of their school, and some were even sad to have to leave. The staying power of Bailey’s (or BXU as some students affectionately called it) is a testament to the commitment of the people of Northern Virginia toward higher education. Individuals from all backgrounds and parts of the area labored to make certain that Bailey’s would make a go of it until more permanent quarters were available. This was finally realized on August 27, 1964, when the last of the moving vans left Bailey’s with equipment and furniture bound for the brand-new permanent campus just south of Fairfax.

John Norville Gibson Finley:
Early in 1949 John Norville Gibson (J.N.G.) Finley met with University of Virginia President Colgate W. Darden, Jr. to discuss a project that the president had for him. “I want you to go up [to] northern Virginia and establish that community college,” Darden told him. [1] A twenty-year veteran in the field of education and faculty member of the University’s Extension Division, the fifty-year-old Finley accepted the assignment and began work in Arlington that fall. Indeed, Darden wanted him to start a community college branch of the University in the area, but it would prove to be no easy task for Finley. It took eight long years for the school, which would later be named George Mason College, to come into being. Finley labored tirelessly as the University’s point-man in Arlington until that day came.

Working directly under Dr. George B. Zehmer, the Director of the University of Virginia Extension Division, Finley first established the Northern Virginia University Center (NVUC) on the campus of Washington-Lee High School in Arlington on September 1, 1949. Finley had previously been up to Arlington and other locations in the Northern Virginia area on several occasions to discuss the University’s initiatives in the area with local citizens. Now it was time to set the process in motion. Initially, the NVUC provided primarily adult education. Its offerings were tailored to working people who needed specialized coursework related to their professions or for re-certifications. Later on, it offered formal college courses, though at the basic level. A resident of Charlottesville, Finley, who was Director of the NVUC, commuted up to Northern Virginia several times a week until he and his wife Cecile, also a faculty member at the University, rented an apartment at the Park Fairfax complex in Alexandria.

As director of the NVUC, Finley, along with prominent members of the community, conducted a public relations campaign to promote the work of the University in Northern Virginia. He participated in many newspaper, magazine, and radio interviews, to talk up the NVUC. He made presentations to clubs and civic organizations. As a result, the NVUC was astoundingly successful. Enrollment increased each year under his management. Most importantly, awareness regarding the need for, and the positive effect of, higher education in Northern Virginia steadily increased among its citizens.

Finley continued to work toward his aim to establish a college in Northern Virginia while directing the NVUC. He worked very closely with the Advisory Council of the Northern Virginia University Center, most times serving as its secretary and taking minutes at meetings. These meetings were always held after regular work hours and sometimes went very late into the night. It was no secret to Finley or anyone else at the University of Virginia that the Advisory Council spent more time discussing how to establish a new college than offering input on the operations of the NVUC. Finley strongly supported the Council’s actions, and he shared their desire to see a branch college created in the area.

After the General Assembly passed legislation in February of 1956 enabling the University to create a Northern Virginia branch, Professor Finley was asked to serve as its director. Finley gladly took on a second job as the head of the new branch college, running both institutions from the same office in Arlington. During the summer of 1957, he set up operations of the new branch college in the former Bailey’s Crossroads Elementary School. He brought in faculty from the NVUC to help staff the new college, and opened the University College of the University of Virginia in September 1957, with an enrollment of seventeen freshmen. He would continue to serve as director of both until 1960, when he became full-time head at the branch college, which, by this time, was called George Mason College.

Finley continued to serve as director of George Mason College until his retirement on December 30, 1963. Having helped establish and operate both the Northern Virginia University Center and George Mason College, John Norville Gibson Finley achieved the goal that President Darden had set long ago to provide a place of higher learning for Northern Virginians. Professor Finley passed away on November 28, 1971, at his home in Charlottesville. It is fitting that the first building constructed at Fairfax, the former North Building, was renamed for him in 1972.

Naming George Mason:
How George Mason was selected as a name for the University’s branch college in Northern Virginia is a bit of a mystery. There is very little documentation that details exactly whose idea it was and why “George Mason.”

Most likely the choice of George Mason was advanced to candidacy through conversations in both administrative offices and the Board of Visitors meeting room in Charlottesville. The strongest available evidence might lead us to believe that the president of the University of Virginia, Colgate W. Darden, Jr., made the selection. However, in an oral history interview from 1983, early Mason backer and Fairfax leader John C. Wood credits Virginia Senator Charles Fenwick of Arlington as the one who first suggested naming the college after the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights and an early supporter of the abolition of slavery. [1]

On June 16, 1959, President Darden wrote Director John Finley at the University College to suggest George Mason as a possible name for the college. The college had been in existence for nearly two years and giving it a distinct name had come up at the University’s Board meeting just a few days prior to Darden’s letter to Finley. Though officials in Arlington and the local community at Bailey’s Crossroads called the school “The University College of the University of Virginia,” many in Charlottesville simply referred to it as the “Northern Virginia Branch College.” Darden asked Finley for his opinion as to how Northern Virginians might feel about the new name, “George Mason.” [2]

During the process, three different names were in the running to become the new name of the branch college. Both “George Mason College” and “University College of the University of Virginia,” the school’s name at the time, were discussed during the June 13, 1959, meeting of the Board. In this meeting, Darden suggested “George Mason College of the University of Virginia” to the Board. Board member Charles Fenwick pointed out that “University College of the University of Virginia” was currently being used and would be suitable as well. After some discussion, the Board decided to defer the decision until the October 7, 1959, meeting. Although it is not mentioned in the minutes of the meeting of October 7, another name, “Northern Virginia College,” must have been proposed. This new name joined the previously suggested “George Mason” and “University” Colleges. Back at Bailey’s Crossroads, Director Finley was apprised of these discussions, presumably by telephone, and asked for his and his colleagues’ opinions regarding the name choices.

On October 12, 1959, Finley sent a brief letter to Dr. James W. Cole, Jr., Dean of Extension and General Studies. In this letter, Finley told Cole that he asked about thirty individuals who were evenly divided among the three name suggestions. [3] This left the decision squarely in the hands of the Board. The Board did choose the name for the college, as it was finalized at its December 12, 1959, meeting at Charlottesville. Under the heading GEORGE MASON COLLEGE MATTERS, the minutes affirm:

"The following resolution was adopted RESOLVED by the Board of Visitors of The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia that the Northern Virginia Branch College, heretofore established on the site adjacent to the Town of Fairfax, is hereby named George Mason College of the University of Virginia. [4]

Planning for George Mason College's New Home:
During the summer after the Farr property was deeded to the University of Virginia, the University hired an Alexandria – based architectural firm, Joseph Saunders and Associates, to design the first buildings to house the branch college. In its August 1960 master plan report, the firm presented the entire concept of the new college to be built at Fairfax.

According to the master plan the campus was to be built in three phases. The first phase consisted of five buildings. These buildings would contain science labs, classrooms, administrative offices, faculty offices, a temporary lounge space for students, and a lecture hall. The plan was to then add nineteen additional academic, administrative, student union, auditorium, library, and chapel buildings to relieve stress on the original ones as the college grew. The initial phase of building construction would support a campus of 500-700 students, but after the build-out of phases two and three the physical plant would accommodate 2500 students.

The 1960 plan called for “simplicity, permanence, and economy” in its design. The buildings were to “reflect the materials and scale that Thomas Jefferson employed” at UVA, namely brick buildings with white or off-white trim. The brick used was the same used by the parent institution, Old Virginia No. 14. High sloping roofs raised 18” above the cap slabs of the buildings which increased ventilation and air conditioning throughout the entire campus--a first for any state educational building at the time--were employed to create an atmosphere conducive to learning during “the extremely hot and humid summer climate of the Washington area.” Landscaping was to be kept to a minimum “for economy reasons,” but the design strived to create “pleasant courts and gardens, and interesting vistas” through the interconnection of the four original buildings. The plan called for a circular road around the campus with a parking lot for one thousand cars. [1]

By the time construction began in August 1963, more than four years had passed since the land was deeded to the University. Although the clearing of trees from the 150-acre site began in 1962, construction would not begin until more than a year later. This delay was primarily due to cost overruns in planning the first phase of the project. An insufficient allocation by the General Assembly combined with unexpectedly high construction estimates forced the University to reassess parts of the master plan. The selection of a construction company was made on the basis of a sealed bid, and the first low bid came in at $2,230,000. This was far more than budgeted for, consequently parts of the planned construction had to be removed or made smaller, and new monies had to be found in order to close this gap. Virginia Governor Albertis S. Harrison decided to borrow additional money already earmarked for the construction of the library in phase two and add that to the phase one budget. The University also chose to remove the fifth building, the lecture hall, from the original plan. It would be constructed in 1968.

During the summer of 1963, the University requested a second round of sealed-bid proposals for the campus construction at Fairfax. It eventually chose a local contractor, Eugene Simpson & Brother, in the summer of 1963 to construct the campus designed by the architects, Saunders and Pearson. Simpson’s bid of $1,809,000.00 won over the next lowest bidder by $58,000.00. [2]

Construction formally began on August 1, 1963, with a groundbreaking ceremony on the spot where the first four buildings were to be constructed. The Gunston Ledger, Mason’s student newspaper, described the groundbreaking ceremony, noting: "[a] hot sun, and bare dusty ground failed to destroy the obvious pleasure felt by the university and college officials, Northern Virginia members of the General Assembly, and some forty spectators as Senator Charles R. Fenwick turned the first shovel of earth." [3]

Once construction had started it would take almost exactly one year to build the four original buildings. The first four buildings were quite Spartan in design, appearance, amenities (with the exception of the air conditioning), and name. Each would have two levels and a basement that doubled as a fallout shelter. The exteriors were to be of red brick with white vinyl-coated concrete columns. They would hold a total of four lecture rooms, four labs, half a dozen classrooms, administrative and faculty offices, a library, bookstore, dining facilities, and locker rooms for physical education. Their names would be taken from the points of the compass: North, South, East, and West.

As completion of the campus at Fairfax approached, excitement began to grow. College functions once taking place in and around Bailey’s Crossroads shifted to its new adopted home in Fairfax. Instead of at the Alexandria Episcopal Seminary, the 1964 Final Day Exercises took place in the Fairfax Town Hall on June 8. New college director Robert Reid, who assumed the directorship from the retiring John Finley on January 1, 1964, brought groups both large and small by the construction site for tours. One such group, the Fairfax City Chamber of Commerce, presented Reid and the college with the Chamber’s first-ever honorary membership during the last week of July. [4]

Helen Momsen, The Gunston Ledger, and the Beginning of Student Media at Mason:
“In fifty years, your heads, bowed with age, will raise with pride when a current of curiosity ripples through the students of well-known George Mason College, ‘I wonder who started this tradition? Someone had to!’ That Someone will be you.” – Helen Momsen, Editor, The Gunston Ledger, October 15 1963

The story of how a student newspaper started at Mason doesn’t begin with a journalist, but with a candidate.

In 1963, Helen Momsen, a female student from Falls Church, ran for student body president of George Mason College. For Momsen, running for office at a branch college of the University of Virginia, which was an all-male institution at the time; presented a challenge for a coed with political aspirations. Momsen, facing considerable opposition, did not prevail in the election.

After her defeat though, a member of the college's administration approached her with a “consolation prize.” She was offered the job of editor of the student newspaper. Years later Momsen explained that when she was handed a copy of the newspaper, it was nothing more than a loose stack of unorganized mimeographs. [1] Mimeograph was a low-tech and low-cost method, used most often in elementary schools for printing worksheets for school children.

Student publications at George Mason during the early years were hardly successful. Prior to what would eventually be called the Gunston Ledger after the name of the home of George Mason, there had never been a student publication that ran for more than a handful of issues. [2] “I don’t think anybody really read it a lot. I don’t remember there being a staff. I don’t even really remember knowing it existed until they put it in my lap,” Momsen said in an oral history conducted in 2013. After Momsen’s first and only year as the Ledger’s editor-in-chief, the newspaper would forever be established as a permanent fixture of student life at Mason.

Momsen’s initial steps were to connect with the Fairfax County Sun Echo, a popular Northern Virginia paper during the early 1960s. Momsen’s mother worked in the Sun Echo’s office in Falls Church, and she enlisted the support of the paper’s publisher, Major Roosevelt Der Tatevasion. The first issues of the Gunston Ledger were laid out and printed using the Sun Echo office, and Momsen received advice and guidance from the paper’s staff. The Sun Echo even took out a full-page advertisement on the back page of the first few issues of the paper.

“We talked about actually setting the paper up at his offices where they had all the supplies and all the equipment,” Momsen later said. “And printing it wherever [Der Tatevasion] got the newspaper printed. And so they came up with the format of the white paper with the offset printing. He did a lot. If the budget at the school wasn’t big enough, he would help. We wanted to go from eight to twelve pages and he paid the difference. They had an office in a building that’s probably not even there, on Broad Street in Falls Church. I would go down there and work in the evenings. And there was a young man… that would help me set up the newspaper. That was how that came about.” [3]

The first issue of the Ledger, published on October 15 1963, looked more like a small newsletter than a traditional newspaper. Bearing the seal of the University of Virginia on the top left corner and a recently-designed George Mason College seal on the right, the Ledger’s first issue depicted a sketch of the college’s namesake with a bold title across the top: “George Mason – Illustrious Native Son.” The Mason seal was an adaptation of the George Mason Family Seal, with the motto Pro Patria Semper; for my country ever. The first issue of the monthly publication was just eight pages in length, but it would add an additional four by the next issue.

“It was a vision, for me at least, to make it the best it could be,” Momsen said. “I didn’t want it to be a stack of mimeograph papers. I wanted it to be bigger, and I wanted it to be better, and I wanted it to be a real newspaper. I wanted it to be something that I and the students, and hopefully the administration, would be proud of. We had our ups and downs but overall I think they thought it was a good effort.” [4]

In an editorial published in the inaugural edition of the Gunston Ledger, Momsen opined about the need for the young college to establish a set of traditions that it could carry on through future generations.

Our sister college at Charlottesville, more than a century old, is steeped with both gentle and dynamic traditions. It took all that century and more to develop and establish these customs, but somewhere sometime, someone made the initial step. It is these “someones” who strengthen foundations, who instill a deep sense of loyalty through tradition, who shape the destiny of nations. We can never hope to catch up, a hundred years handicap is too great to overcome, but we can start. All things that are accomplished have one thing in common---they all have a beginning. [5]

It wasn’t until Momsen would establish the Ledger that student media would make a significant impression on student life at Mason. In creating the Gunston Ledger, Momsen would begin a tradition that would help George Mason College forge an identity. While the Ledger would later be renamed Broadside in 1969, Momsen created the foundations for student media at Mason that can still be felt today. As Helen Momsen would later say:

I felt like we were building something. I do remember that I used to think that I wished we could build things. And for me, that effort was the Gunston Ledger. And it wasn’t that I wanted to build something that no one had or could or would. But it seemed that there ought to be something that moved forward from George Mason College. And if I could make the paper good enough then they would have something to at least build from when they got where they were going even if they changed it - that we would have left a mark. [6]

1964-1972:

Permanence:
By the fall of 1964, George Mason College was finally in its permanent home just south of the City of Fairfax. It had taken a little over a day and a half and a couple of moving vans to bring the entire Bailey’s Crossroads campus eleven miles west to the new location. Director since January of that year, Dr. Robert H. Reid worked diligently to generate interest among the general population for what he called “the best-kept secret” in the area. Unfortunately, Dr. Reid had difficulties generating support among the campus community because of his leadership style.

As the college took root in its new location, campus life also began to take root and develop. The official University colors, green and gold were decided upon by what was often characterized as an "apathetic" student body of three hundred fifty-six. As the college was promoted to a four-year degree-granting institution in 1966, student organizations and clubs began to form. Mason Day and Patriot's Day became George Mason traditions. Students also criticized the U.S. involvement in Vietnam and were encouraged by instructors, such as James Shea, and the student newspapers, The Gunston Ledger and Broadside. In June 1968 fifty-two seniors--the first graduating class ever--received their four-year degrees from George Mason University.

Chancellor Lorin A. Thompson, a faculty member from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville who had succeeded Robert Reid in 1966, set the college on a massive trajectory of growth. An enrollment of eight hundred forty in 1966 grew to over forty-one hundred by the fall of 1972. By 1969 Thompson had secured 421 additional acres of land for George Mason. He and his staff helped Mason plan for a student body that was projected to be 15,000 by 1985. But most importantly, Thompson readied the college to become an independent university, which it did in the office of Governor A. Linwood Holton on April 7, 1972.

George Mason's First Director at Fairfax: Robert H. Reid:
On January 1, 1964 Robert H. Reid began his tenure as Director of George Mason College following the retirement of John Norville Gibson Finley in December 1963. Director Finley guided the young institution through its first seven years. Before that, Finley started up and directed the University’s Northern Virginia Center (NVUC), which introduced public higher education into Northern Virginia. Dr. Reid was hired in early October 1963 and assumed the position of lecturer in History, working out of Bailey’s Crossroads until moving into the new branch at Fairfax during the summer of 1964. Reid was charged with the task of opening and expanding the new branch in Fairfax and directing it toward four-year status. Though the new campus was lacking several key administrators and support staff, Reid cheerfully accepted his assignment under Chancellor of Community Colleges, Joseph Vaughn.

Oddly enough, Reid first interviewed with the then-president of the University of Virginia, Colgate W. Darden, Jr. for the position of Director of the NVUC several years prior. Instead of taking the job, Reid opted for a position with the National Education Association and later received an Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship. In this role, he traveled the world studying educational policy in different countries. Reid’s 1963 (Columbia University) dissertation, entitled American Degree Mills, examined the state of higher education in America and compared it to institutions he studied in Europe. Before coming to Mason he served as Dean at Kendall College in Evanston, Illinois.

Reid was ceremonially installed as Director at the November 12, 1964 dedication of the new campus, which was attended by Virginia Governor Albertis S. Harrison and other local, state, and national dignitaries. During his brief inaugural remarks, Reid characterized the opening of the branch as a fulfillment of Thomas Jefferson’s dream and he “pray[ed] for the grace, wisdom, and strength to fulfill this task .” [1]

Although Dr. Reid’s tenure had started off on a positive note with the successful opening of the Fairfax campus, the very positive public relations he generated during his first year in office culminating in Mason’s triumphant dedication ceremony in November, this brief era of good feelings ended soon after the Dedication. He and several key faculty and staff members had a difficult relationship. Some disapproved of his style as an administrator and complained to University officials in Charlottesville. Some members of the student body insisted that he was a bit autocratic with regard to student affairs, particularly with his insistence on a coat-and-tie dress code he instituted during the spring 1965 semester. In May 1965, faculty members staged a protest to Reid’s administration, which ended with several instructors resigning. After a turbulent year, Reid would himself leave George Mason in March 1966. Dr. Reid died in February 1970 at the age of fifty-six.

Opening Fairfax Campus:
The campus at Fairfax officially opened on Monday, September 14 to 356 registered students. The original faculty consisted of seven full and eighteen part-time instructors. Although the weather on that day was a pleasant seventy-five degrees, Mason’s new director, Dr. Robert Reid, could not help but point out to the Fairfax Times that Mason was the only college in the Washington area that was fully air-conditioned. [1] Perhaps the most sorely missed amenities were food service and a lounge for the students and faculty. During the first week, vending machines were hastily set up in a study hall. Mason would later set up an actual dining hall, the Ordinary, in the South Building. It would remain there until the University Union (now known as Student Union I) was built in 1974.

The Fairfax campus was formally dedicated on November 12, 1964. The hour-long ceremony presided over by Virginia Senator Charles Fenwick, took place directly in front of the North Building. The United States Marine Band, under the direction of Master Sergeant Jack Kline, performed the music for the Academic Procession, the National Anthem, and the Recessional. Among the nearly one thousand attendees were the daughters of Wilson N. Farr; U.S. District Court Judge, Albert V. Bryan, Sr.; Interior Secretary, Stuart Udall; members of the University of Virginia faculty; and presidents from area universities and colleges.

Speakers included Albertis S. Harrison, Jr., Governor of Virginia; local radio station and newspaper owner, Arthur W. Arundel; Senator Fenwick, who presented a Resolution of Appreciation from the University of Virginia Board of Visitors to the Farr Family; President of the University of Virginia, Edgar F. Shannon; Chancellor Joseph Vaughn, who installed Robert H. Reid as the college’s first director; and Dr. Reid himself. Governor Harrison’s speech stressed the State of Virginia’s intent to make its higher education institutions more responsive to change, particularly in the burgeoning area of technology. He challenged the George Mason faculty and students to “lead…and direct” change while “put[ting] all the technology of education to work.” [2]

The Faculty and Student Revolt of 1965:
On May 20 and 21, 1965 six faculty members of George Mason College resigned in protest against the administration of Mason’s director, Dr. Robert H. Reid. These instructors accounted for about half the full-time faculty of the college at the time. The episode occurred barely eight months after the extremely optimistic opening of the new permanent campus in Fairfax. Coupled with the events preceding and following it, this incident created a distraction for faculty, students, and staff and drew unwanted local news media attention to Mason. The whole affair would be yet another in a series of difficult tests for the institution during the early years.

When hired in October 1963, Dr. Reid was tasked with opening and expanding the college, recruiting new students and faculty, and preparing the school for the transition from a two-year institution to a four-year degree-granting college and eventually, an independent university. While his title was Director of George Mason College, Reid was also serving temporarily as Dean of the College, Dean of Students, Director of Admissions, and Business Manager, all with few support staff during the first two semesters.

During the spring semester of 1965, the relationship between Dr. Reid and the students, faculty, and staff at Mason began to unravel. The faculty became dissatisfied with what they characterized as Dr. Reid's sporadic attendance at meetings, arrogance, and lack of respect for students, faculty, and staff. A number of incidents, coupled with a general feeling in the campus community that Reid was not the right person for the directorship, drove events further toward an inevitable confrontation between Dr. Reid and the students, faculty, and staff at George Mason. [1]


On February 3, 1965 Dr. Reid announced in a meeting with students that Mason would be officially instituting a dress code. After that date men would be required to wear coats and ties on campus, while women would be required to wear dresses or skirts and blouses. Though students at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville traditionally wore jackets and ties or dresses to class, it was not compulsory. It was simply a tradition at the University that students dressed in that manner to show respect for the institution and faculty. George Mason had not previously had a proscribed dress code, and the initial reaction among students was one of dismay. Faculty members were instructed to ask any student not conforming to the directive to leave their classroom. In a show of protest, some men wore kilts to class, while women came dressed in sport coats and ties on some occasions. [2]

Sentiment against Dr. Reid among the faculty began to simmer soon after he arrived at Mason. Initially, faculty members complained that Reid was discourteous, did not communicate with the faculty adequately, and was an ineffective administrator. These relatively minor issues paled in comparison to allegations made by some that Reid misrepresented himself with respect to his employment and academic credentials to University officials during his recruitment by the University. [3]

Mason faculty also took issue with what they characterized as a disdain for the Honor Code of the University of Virginia on Dr. Reid’s part. Ever since the University’s early days, members of the academic community at Charlottesville governed themselves by the University’s Honor Code. Because students were bound by the Honor Code, examinations were rarely proctored in either Charlottesville or at Bailey’s Crossroads. When Reid demanded that examinations be proctored, even going so far as to proctor them himself or send an assistant in to monitor them, the faculty was resentful. They considered this an insult to the time-honored code which had served as a cornerstone to the University for nearly one hundred fifty years.

By April of 1965 faculty members who were dissatisfied by these and other issues had requested meetings with university officials at Charlottesville. They took their complaints to Joseph L. Vaughan, Chancellor of Community Colleges for the University. Vaughan attempted to mediate between the faculty and Reid but was unable to help them arrive at a resolution. The faculty demanded that Reid be relieved of his role as Director. University President Edgar F. Shannon was reluctant to make any moves at this time, as the University and Reid were in the midst of preparing Mason for the transition from a two-year to a four-year college, and stressed the necessity that students, faculty, and staff remain focused on completing courses and exams during the controversy. [4] The University and the General Assembly also acknowledged the inevitability that George Mason would have no choice but to become an independent University sometime in the near future. An administration change at this time would be inconvenient at best, disastrous at worst.

The month of May marked the beginning of the faculty’s escalation of the situation. On May 9 a faculty meeting was called and a petition was signed by fifteen faculty members. The petition amounted, essentially, to a vote of no confidence. [5] On May 20, at a regularly-scheduled faculty meeting, five senior instructors: Dr. Lee Potter, Dr. Joseph Harrison, Dr. Fanny-Fern Davis, Dr. Linda Grant DePauw, and Mrs. Yveline Bretschneider publically submitted their resignations. Kosara Gavrilovic, submitted her resignation on March 21 via telegram, as she was in Europe at the time.

President Shannon continued to support Reid during the controversy, though he periodically admonished him on his responsibilities as director and pushed him to improve his performance during the very difficult last months. By the summer of 1965, Dr. Reid’s administrative staff began to fill in critical positions which had been vacant when Mason moved to Fairfax. Deans Robert C. Krug (Dean of Faculty) and H. Mebane Turner (Dean of Students) arrived in the summer of 1965. Krug began the long task of hiring several faculty positions that were open both before and after the events of May 20.

Dr. Reid resigned from the directorship in March 1966 citing the Commonwealth of Virginia’s reluctance in granting George Mason independence from the University of Virginia.

The Green and Gold Mystery Solved!:
There have been quite a few differing explanations as to how George Mason University ended up with green and gold as its school colors. The most often-cited account is that they were chosen by a faculty member at George Mason College looking to design uniforms for the college’s first athletic teams, baseball, basketball, and rugby. Legend has it that H. Mebane Turner, the Dean of Students, chose green and gold because a relative of his played baseball for the University of San Francisco, and Turner thought their colors (green and gold) looked good on a uniform. There are others who are certain that the idea came from Christmas decorations in Chancellor Thompson’s office in 1966. Apparently, Thompson’s assistant chose green and gold as the color scheme. Thompson liked the combination so much, that he made the decision to use them as the new Mason colors. [1] Still others believe that George Mason’s home, Gunston Hall, which just happens to have a green bedroom and a gold dining room was the inspiration. Finally, and perhaps most oddly, it has been suggested that George Mason himself suffered from gangrene, a disease, which turns the toes green and yellow. [2] So many theories exist, and each is very different from the others.

One thing is for certain. The green and gold began to be used extensively in publications by or about George Mason College beginning in 1966. While the 1965 Mason yearbook, Advocate, for example, was bound in blue and gold, the 1966 and 1967 printings featured a green and gold design. Other publications during the 1966 year also contained either predominately green or green and gold motifs. And yes, Mason’s baseball team showed off new uniforms in the new school colors in the 1966 edition of Advocate. [3] Unfortunately, that publication was still printed in black and white, so the impact of the story was probably somewhat muted.

Perhaps the best answer to the question of where the colors came from is from the students, themselves. In fact, the simple truth lies in the pages of The Gunston Ledger, Mason’s first student newspaper. Starting in November of 1964, the month during which Mason’s new modern Fairfax campus was dedicated, the student body at Mason addressed the need for enhancements to the college’s image and academic atmosphere. Articles in The Ledger pointed to the perception among the student body that Mason needed its own official seal and its own school colors. A rather inconspicuous Ledger article of February 10, 1965 entitled: “Assembly to Campaign for Academic Atmosphere” reported that:

A poll of the student body was taken to select the school colors...the colors selected by the students were green and gold. Only 103 (of 360 total students) voted in the poll, but green and gold received almost twice as many votes as the next most popular color. [4]

One of those who voted for the school colors was Ann Walker (Sparks). She recalled in 2004 that, since the majority of the students enrolled at George Mason in 1965 were from local high schools, their selections for the school colors were motivated by local high school rivalries. No one wanted George Mason to have the colors belonging to their former high school rivals. [5]

Mason Becomes a Four-Year College:
Beginning in the summer of 1965, even amidst the controversy regarding the student body and faculty, Dr. Reid and administrators at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville were busy planning for Mason’s change in status from a two-year to a four-year degree-granting college. At that time fewer than six hundred students were enrolled at Mason. But there was no denying that Northern Virginia’s unprecedented growth, highlighted by a dramatic increase in the population of college-aged men and women, pointed up the coming need for a four-year college in the area.

Both the University of Virginia and the Commonwealth were acutely aware of this need. In a December 1965 report to the Governor and General Assembly, Virginia’s Higher Education Study Commission, chaired by John Dale Russell, recommended that new four-year institutions of higher learning be introduced in the Northern Virginia and Tidewater areas of the state. The “Russell Report,” as it was commonly called, also recommended that Mason eventually become a new state university, independent of the University of Virginia. Finally, it recommended that George Mason have a more liberal admissions policy, allowing more college-aged students from the area to attend. Reid, his staff, and their counterparts at the University were active participants in this study, supplying necessary statistical data to the commission. [1]

During the 1966 Session of the Virginia General Assembly, Alexandria delegate James M. Thomson, with the backing of the University of Virginia, introduced a bill in the General Assembly to make George Mason College a four-year institution under the University’s direction. By then the legislature was fully aware of the need as it had already digested the contents of the Russell Report the previous winter. The measure, known as H 33, passed the Assembly easily and was approved on March 1, 1966. [2]

Although not independent, George Mason College was now a degree-granting institution and managed some of its own administrative functions at the Fairfax campus. By September 1966, George Mason’s new chancellor, Lorin A. Thompson, was reporting directly to the University of Virginia’s president Edgar F. Shannon instead of former Chancellor of Community Colleges, Joseph Vaughn. Even though the Board of Visitors and president at Charlottesville still made major decisions regarding George Mason’s overall operation and future, there were two advisory groups made up of Northern Virginians, which helped advise the University on issues pertinent to George Mason College. The Board of Control was made up of eight prominent Northern Virginians appointed by local jurisdictions, while the Advisory Board was made up of local citizens appointed by President Shannon.

The Longest One-Year Appointment: Lorin A Thompson:
With the departure of Mason’s Director Robert H. Reid, University of Virginia President Edgar F. Shannon tapped Lorin A. Thompson for the post. A proven leader as Director of the Bureau of Population and Economic Research at Charlottesville and an expert in population demographics and education, he seemed the perfect fit. Already sixty-four years old and nearing retirement, he accepted what was to be just a one-year appointment under the new title of Chancellor of George Mason College, reporting directly to Shannon. Dr. Thompson can be considered among the “founding fathers” of George Mason University as his work - both outside the university and as its chief executive – has had lasting effects on its development. What began as a one-year appointment as Chancellor of a branch college became a seven-year run, which culminated in his appointment as President of the newest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Thompson moved to Virginia from the Midwest in 1940 to work for the Virginia State Planning Board in Richmond and direct the Virginia Population Study. In 1944 he went west to Charlottesville to head up the Bureau of Population and Economic Research at the University of Virginia. There he conducted statistical and economic research for state agencies and organizations. One such organization was the Virginia Advisory Legislative Committee (VALC), where, in 1955, Thompson contributed to a report entitled The Crisis in Higher Education in Virginia and a Solution. In this report VALC, bolstered by Thompson’s studies, argued that Virginia’s universities and colleges would not be able to accommodate its “Baby Boom” generation, and more higher-educational opportunities, in the form of branch colleges, were needed. [1] Less than one year later after the report was published, the Virginia General Assembly issued a resolution establishing a two-year branch college of the University of Virginia in Northern Virginia.

By the time Thompson arrived in June of 1966 enrollment had more than doubled (from 356 to about 840) in the first two years at Fairfax. The original master plan of 1960 allowed for a peak enrollment of only about 2,500 total. In his first public statement of June 6th, he addressed the future growth of the college, listing four action items needing to be in place for growth to happen at Mason – additional land, a comprehensive educational program, a new master site plan, and access to capital. At the end of this message, he hinted that it was his opportunity and responsibility to transform George Mason into an independent university. It was, as he characterized it: “time to move ahead boldly toward the development of an important university in the Northern Virginia area.” [2]

Keenly aware of the need for more land, Thompson hit the ground running. It was determined that the additional acreage surrounding the campus (nearly 450 acres in all) would cost $3,000,000 to acquire. He and his small staff prepared a slide show featuring some diagrams of new buildings that were needed for George Mason’s growth. Thompson took the traveling slide show to the people and elected officials of the local municipalities: Alexandria, Fairfax, Arlington, and Falls Church. Arguing that for the cost of a steak dinner ($4.50 at the time) for each resident in the region, Northern Virginia could have a top-flight university. [3] His persistence paid off, as local leaders and the people of the area agreed to fund Mason’s expansion. Through bond referenda and generous allocations by local governments, Thompson succeeded and raised the $3,000,000. The land was officially transferred to the college in July of 1969.

Thompson’s initial success must have impressed Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. who brought his Capital Outlay Budget Advisory Group to Northern Virginia for the first time in the state’s history to visit George Mason College in May 1967. Thompson suggested to the group that George Mason would need over $39,000,000 for the major expansion he envisioned over the next seven years. Included in this plan were the addition of a stack tower to Fenwick Library, a new arts and sciences building, student union, and a health and physical education building and gymnasium. [4]


Beginning in 1967 Mason took several internal steps toward becoming a viable independent institution. A number of key studies were done by and on behalf of the college, culminating with the 1970 Self Appraisal, which was required for accreditation. Each argued for an expansion of facilities, programs, services, and for the eventual independence of the college. Thompson believed that future enrollment would be much higher than his predecessors did, and these studies anticipated a student body of 10,000 to 15,000 by 1985. [5] Enrollment by 1970 had already grown to 2,390. [6]

Also, beginning in 1967, George Mason began to experience the first strains of social upheaval. Even though events at Mason were not as violent, destructive, or highly publicized as those at other colleges and universities; certain episodes during the late 1960s challenged the entire Mason community regarding free speech, academic freedom, and racism. The radicalization of the student body (albeit a very small percentage) with regard to the Vietnam War was illustrated in the student newspaper The Gunston Ledger, later renamed Broadside. Student participation in demonstrations drew a patient yet firm response from Thompson and the administration at Charlottesville. The long-running episode concerning faculty member James M. Shea’s classroom techniques and actions in opposition to the Vietnam War became a very public crisis at Mason until his exit in 1971. In that same year a report by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, entitled George Mason College: For All the People?, examined the makeup of the student body and questioned whether or not Mason was trying hard enough to recruit minorities.

In the meantime, while all of this was occurring, Mason’s enrollment was soaring. It was approaching 4,000 in January 1972. When the former Fairfax High School on Route 29 had become available at that time, Thompson made a play to obtain it for George Mason. Striking a clever deal with the Fairfax County Public School System, Thompson, working with the George Mason College Foundation, bought the site. Renamed “North Campus,” the new building added 80,000 square feet of desperately needed space.

On Friday, April 7, 1972, Chancellor Thompson brought a small group of George Mason staff and students to meet with Virginia Governor, A. Linwood Holton, Jr., in Richmond. There, they participated in the Governor’s signing into law H-210 separating George Mason College from the University of Virginia and renaming it George Mason University, effective July 1, 1972. During the brief afternoon ceremony, Thompson and his colleagues proudly looked on as Holton signed one of the most critical documents in the history of the very young institution. A month later, during the first meeting of the new George Mason University Board of Visitors, the Rector, Fairfax Mayor Jack Wood and the Board, appointed Thompson President of George Mason University. Finally, on June 30, 1973, Dr. Thompson actually retired. He handed the reins over to Dr. Vergil Homer Dykstra in a brief ceremony in his former office. Completed in October 1971, the Arts and Sciences building was later renamed Thompson Hall in his honor.

Dr. Lorin A. Thompson will always be remembered as the president under whom George Mason took its first steps toward becoming a regional leader in higher education. During his seven-year tenure the size of the Fairfax campus went from 150 to nearly 600 acres. He initiated $10.5 million in construction projects, and ten different campus buildings were completed. He laid the critical economic groundwork for others who would follow him. Enrollment went from 840 to 4200. And perhaps most importantly, George Mason went from being a two-year branch of the University of Virginia to an independent university of its own.

George Mason Day, Patriot's Day, and Early Signs of Campus Life:
As is often part of the two-year commuter college experience in America, the George Mason College student body often showed signs of detachment and disinterest during the early years at Fairfax. The atmosphere at Bailey’s Crossroads in the not so distant past differed in that the number of students was smaller, the building, though quirky and in need of repair, was thought of as a special place. The relationship between the students and faculty was seen as much closer. General morale and spirit seemed to be high at George Mason, even during the controversy surrounding its director in 1965, but still students were hesitant to organize new activities and groups or take part in the creation of new college traditions. [1] This condition was chronicled most clearly in the pages of the student newspaper, The Gunston Ledger.

The idea that apathy was endemic to the George Mason College student body was a common thread in the Ledger’s description of campus life at Mason. Almost weekly, the Ledger and its readers chided their fellow classmates for their apparent lack of cohesiveness and interest in improving student life at Fairfax. Whether it was that some students preferred to drink beer in the parking lot during off-class times, or that the student body did not react strongly enough to the mandatory dress code enacted by the administration or to early American intervention in Vietnam, or ignored three opportunities sponsored by the Ledger to choose the school’s mascot, apathy at Mason was a continuing story.

A subtle change seemed to occur once Mason made the change to 4-year curriculum beginning in April 1966. All of a sudden Mason had a junior class which looked forward to becoming the first graduates of the institution. Beginning that year, the student body published both a handbook and student directory. New campus organizations began to flourish. Among them were SAGE, a women’s service club, the Pep and Glee clubs, the Women’s Athletic Association, the Sports Car Club, and People to People, to name a few. The Student Assembly drafted a new student constitution. While the fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon was in existence at Mason since 1964, two new Greek organizations (fraternity Delta Tau Sigma and sorority Lambda Tau Omega) began in 1967, with Delta Tau Sigma sponsoring the first Spring Formal that year. A drama club named the Agora Society, which was formed in the fall of 1965, staged its first play in 1966. [2] Agora also created a film adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1967, screening it in the new Lecture Hall Auditorium in February of 1968. [3]

Undoubtedly the most enduring traditions to emerge from the awakening of the Mason campus were Mason Day and Patriot's Day. The celebration of Mason Day sprang from the University of Virginia's tradition of celebrating Founder's Day on April 13, Thomas Jefferson's birthday. George Mason College celebrated Founder’s Day along with its parent institution since the early 1960s. Beginning in the mid-sixties, the college observed “George Mason Day” the day after the University’s celebration of Founder’s Day. The first few celebrations of George Mason Day were very simple and solemn affairs. In the spring of 1965, the first George Mason Day featured a brief program of lectures and speeches given by the faculty and administration, but it soon turned into a day of shortened classes and entertainment. In 1967 it became a high-visibility event and expanded to include academic and service awards presentations, food, and an afternoon of field day-type physical activities. [4]

As George Mason College continued to develop its own unique identity, it moved away from the University of Virginia’s tradition of observing Founder’s Day altogether and celebrated George Mason Day exclusively. Students, faculty, and the administration each took a part in its organization, and it became a more festive occasion, which promoted spirit and unity on the campus. Classes were shortened or canceled, depending upon the time of day, so that all could attend the noon start of activities. After a speech by the Chancellor and presentation of awards and recognition for scholarship, the afternoon celebration would begin.

The 1968 George Mason Day featured a barbecue, the annual student/faculty softball game, a greased pig chase, tricycle races, a Hawaiian luau, the Miss GMC contest, the tug-of-war, car smash, a dunk tank, human-powered “chariot races”, and other activities; many of these would continue to be part of later George Mason Days. Music was also introduced to George Mason Day as that afternoon a “Folk Fest,” featuring a host of singers and acoustic guitar groups, took place on the Quadrangle. [5] In 1969 George Mason Day had expanded into a multi-day event as about forty students camped behind South Building (today’s Krug Hall), their tents going up on the Tuesday or Wednesday before Friday’s celebration. Late night movies were shown in the Lecture Hall auditorium, and live musical acts played that Thursday night and Friday afternoon.

Another George Mason tradition, Patriots’ Day, came into being during the fall of 1968. The entire campus was encouraged to take part in this first-ever event on December 6. Classes from 3:00 in the afternoon onward were canceled in order to promote attendance by both the faculty and students. The astonishingly successful event was planned entirely by the Activities Board, and with great attention to detail.

The original Patriots’ Day began at 3:00 PM with a parade around campus led by a fifteen-piece marching band. The band completed a circuit around campus and even through campus buildings, encouraging bystanders to join in. About 75 students joined the band as it marched through campus. The band led the parade to the “athletics field,” the grassy field in front of the North Building, where a flag football game was planned for 3:30. The match pitted the students of George Mason College against those from Northern Virginia Community College, located about ten minutes from campus in Annandale. The George Mason team was victorious by a tally of 14 to 0. A post-game banquet of hot dogs and baked beans was served in the Ordinary, and a movie, The Bedford Incident was shown to a large crowd in the Lecture Hall. The event ended with an 8:00 PM dance in the Ordinary. [6]

Student Unrest at Mason and The Gunston Ledger/Broadside:
The late 1960s were a time of protest and unrest on college campuses across the country. George Mason, although its student body was mostly conservative and quite often characterized as apathetic, was no different. Friction between the few radicalized young people and the establishment was growing over U.S. policy in Vietnam. Students and some faculty would indeed take part in larger protests and demonstrations and would even instigate their own.

A key organizing agent during this period was the student press at Mason. The student newspaper, The Gunston Ledger, was begun in the fall of 1963 and served to inform students of news and events on the George Mason campus, first at Bailey’s Crossroads and later at Fairfax. Initially, The Ledger was a monthly publication. It tended to be more informational in substance and kept a low profile, reporting and opining on current campus items of interest, such as dances, sports, clubs, faculty, and students in a very measured and matter-of-fact style. It later moved to a weekly format and developed its own personality as the issues of the mid-1960s made their way into campus consciousness. Beginning in the fall of 1967, the staff of the Ledger became more political in their reporting on social issues such as the Vietnam War, poverty, racism, and academic freedom. The editorial opinion and news reporting of the Ledger (renamed Broadside in October 1969) leaned decidedly to the left. On at least two occasions during 1967-1970 the political tenor of reporting in the Ledger/Broadside, put the paper in a difficult position with the college administration and student government.

There were sporadic events dealing with social issues being talked about on the Mason campus in 1967. During that year The Human Be-In, which took place in Washington on April 14 was mocked by the Ledger, and its participants were treated as oddities. On April 28, activist George Lear spoke to about thirty students in the Lounge about the Vietnam War and pacifism. This story drew letters to the editor from both sides of the spectrum. By October 4 a Ledger editorial piece lobbied for the legalization of marijuana. Mason philosophy professor James M. Shea’s long letter of October 19th declaring his opposition to the draft, began the paper’s three-year fascination with his story.

One of the earliest protest events covered by the Gunston Ledger was the two-day march on the Pentagon on October 20 and 21 in 1967. This nationally-organized gathering drew an estimated seventy thousand participants. In the October 26 issue of the Ledger a first-hand account of the rally was provided by an unnamed Mason student who participated in the event. The story featured four photographs of the event, taken presumably by the writer. [1]

From this jump-off point the Ledger became increasingly political and appeared to place a much higher value on reporting and editorializing on social issues such as the Vietnam War, pacifism, and illegal drug use. Closer to home, the Ledger became a vocal critic of the administration and the Student Government (SG). Articles and political cartoons, particularly during 1969 and 1970 were often critical of Chancellor Thompson, Dean Krug, and their superiors in Charlottesville, often portraying Thompson and Krug as either puppets of president Edgar Shannon or as dictators lording over the Mason community. Throughout the end of the 1960s there would also be friction between the paper and the SG. This was a precarious situation for the Ledger, as the SG managed student-run activities and controlled the paper’s budget. The SG sometimes wished to keep the time, place, and subjects of certain meetings secret. However, the paper’s staff somehow was able to glean this information and print what they had learned in later issues to their dismay. The SG often took issue with the Ledger’s content, declaring that there was too much coverage of social issues and not enough of college events, sports, clubs, and academics. Twice during the late 1960s members of the SG attempted to reign in the Leger by threatening or actually cutting back needed funds for the paper.

Even though 1968 was a banner year for overt and sometimes violent protests, both at college campuses and elsewhere, the campus of George Mason College remained peaceful. In the wake of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination, the Ledger simply mourned “the passing of a friend.” A few low-key teach-ins took place on campus in April, but the campus was relatively quiet throughout the year. Perhaps this can be partially attributed to a University of Virginia policy of May 1968 designed to limit the size and scope of demonstrations on University grounds. Leaders of legitimate student groups were required to give ninety-six hours notice of planned protests. Picketing would not be allowed inside of buildings, and outside picketing should not disrupt the flow of traffic. Finally the location and numbers of participants had to have been agreed upon in advance. On May 7, Chancellor Thompson passed a typewritten document along to the Student Government and The Gunston Ledger to be distributed to the students. Dubbed the “Riot Kit” by the Ledger, it contained a form to be filled out by those planning on staging a protest.

During the first half of 1969, the Mason community probably came as close to holding a newsworthy demonstration as it ever would, as a student strike threatened in May. At issue in 1969 was academic freedom and the perception that the administration was attempting to stifle it. The fight against the Vietnam War itself temporarily took a backseat to the fight for the right of faculty members to speak out against the war and encourage students to follow suit. Several popular Mason professors would take center stage in this drama, while the Ledger helped to fan the flames of discontent. The Gunston Ledger itself would change its name to the more revolutionary-sounding Broadside in October claiming that the old name “no longer represents the things which we want it to stand for.” [2]

Two popular instructors, Larry Leftoff (Mathematics) and Ruth Flint (Biology) were dismissed by the University in December of 1968. It was suspected by students that they were let go because of their political beliefs and associations, although the University maintained that it was strictly because they had not fulfilled requirements for renewal. A third, an Asian history instructor named William Tsow, was let go for budgetary reasons, according to Chancellor Thompson. Former students of Tsow believed that his dismissal was brought on by his frank discussions regarding French and American involvement in Vietnam in the classroom. [3]

Undoubtedly, the subject of most of the discussion during this period was professor James M. Shea of the Philosophy Department. Shea refused to be inducted into the army in 1967 and had taken part in numerous demonstrations, including draft card burnings over the years. In 1968 he started the Free College of Northern Virginia, which offered free lectures focusing on modern social problems such as poverty, war, disease, and injustice. Free College field study trips included the March 14, 1969 picketing the Fairfax office of the draft board. While Shea remained at Mason until the fall semester of 1970, he was the subject of constant scrutiny by the administration and would only receive one-year contract renewals, instead of the customary three-years. A May 15, 1969 special edition of the Ledger detailed a planned student strike in support of Dr. Shea set for the next day, but the strike failed to materialize. [4]

One event that did materialize, however, was the October 15 Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. As part of a larger international movement, this peaceful day of protest took place on the George Mason College campus and at other locations in Fairfax. Over 300 George Mason students participated in the events which included readings, speeches, and singing in the Lecture Hall and a procession to the local office of the Selective Service in downtown Fairfax. [5]

On May 4, 1970, at 12:25 PM Ohio National Guardsman opened fire on a group students protesting on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio, killing four of them. Two days later, several George Mason Students gathered in the quadrangle to listen to speech by an unidentified man, purportedly a student of Kent State. After hearing the speech, the Mason students went to the flagpole in front of the North Building and attempted to lower the flag to half-staff to honor those killed at Kent. Though some reports of this incident maintain that someone climbed the flag pole and others claim that the flag rope was cut, all seem to agree that the students demanded that the flag be lowered. Campus police arrived shortly as did Chancellor Thompson. Thompson, in an oral history interview conducted in 1983, recalled that he did not believe that he had the authority to lower a flag to half staff on his own. But, as tensions grew he asked that a small group of students join him in his office to talk the situation over. After a short meeting, Thompson agreed to lower the flag. He did so for an unspecified amount of time and offered a moment of silence. Satisfied with this gesture, the students dispersed. Looking back at the events of that day, Thompson felt that he had avoided a small riot. [6]

The flag pole incident in 1970 seems to have marked the beginning a slight lessening of the Broadside’s fixation with radicalism and activism on campus. The newspaper’s focus appeared to have shifted from that of mainly political action to a more balanced mixture of academics, sports, events on campus, and student life. Throughout the early 1970s the Broadside found more space to concentrate on Mason’s rapid enrollment growth, its forthcoming independence from the University of Virginia, campus expansion, and the beginning of the shift from a strictly commuter school to a partially residential university with the start of construction of student housing in 1976. Of course, the Broadside would never cease reporting or commenting on issues of academic freedom, social concern, or politics, as in the case of professor, Edmund “Fred” Millar in 1976. It would simply have to weigh those against other happenings on what was rapidly becoming a larger, busier campus.

The Dr. James M. Shea Affair:
The James Shea episode was yet another difficult test for Mason to weather during its early development. In this case, the limits of the college’s support of academic freedom and freedom of conscience were tested by a member of its faculty. Dr. Michael Ronald Sorrell, a historian of George Mason University, aptly calls the period “Shea’s Rebellion.” [1] In April of 1967 James Shea, an associate professor of Philosophy at George Mason, emerged as the first faculty member at Mason to speak out publicly and at length on current social issues. Because of his views regarding Vietnam and the draft, his criticism of the administration at the University of Virginia and at George Mason, and his unorthodox teaching methods, Shea stirred up controversy at what was, for the most part, a quiet college campus.

By 1967, public comment on academic and social freedom was becoming commonplace at colleges and universities throughout America, although dissent against the Vietnam War was still considered radical at that time. Shea was a popular professor, largely respected by the student body. He was also very outspoken regarding his views on America’s intervention in Vietnam and was personally committed to a non-violent lifestyle. During his time at George Mason, Shea challenged students to become politically active and think critically with respect to figures of authority, be they the President of the United States or the President of the University of Virginia. Shea actively helped students organize protests, however small, on-campus and at other locations around Northern Virginia, and invited them to join him in demonstrations of his own.

James Marvin Shea, Jr., was hired in the fall of 1966 by Dean Robert C. Krug as part of an effort to fill vacancies created by both faculty resignations in May 1965 and Mason’s expansion to a four-year institution. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1960 and took his doctorate at Cornell. He was teaching at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana when he was hired on at George Mason. As Krug relates in a 2005 oral history interview, Shea traveled from Louisiana by bus as he did not own a car. Krug also recalls lending Shea a coat, as he did not own one of those, either. According to Dr. Krug, Shea was a very bright young scholar when they first met. Dr. Shea also volunteered to coach Mason’s fledgling baseball team. [2]

Shea first gained notoriety among the Mason community and in Northern Virginia by his outspokenness regarding conscription. In April 1967, he refused to accept a draft card mailed to him by the Selective Service System. Being a father to two young daughters, Shea had already been classified IIIA by the Selective Service, which meant he could not be drafted. By returning his card, he was performing an act of civil disobedience. As a result, Selective Services changed his classification to 1-A, eligible to be enlisted at a moment’s notice. Shea, who explained his personal philosophy of non-violence in a letter to the Gunston Ledger that October, declared that he was ready to go to jail if need be to avoid having to participate in the Vietnam War. He encouraged others who shared the same philosophy of non-violence to do the same. When a local politician got wind of Shea’s draft refusal, he suggested to Chancellor Thompson that Shea be removed from his teaching job. [3]

Over the next three years, Shea would be involved in several public incidents of civil disobedience. In November 1967 he reported to an induction center in Richmond as ordered by Selective Services, took the required tests and physicals, and then publically refused to step forward and take the oath. He left the center soon afterward, refusing to be inducted. [4] He would be a participant in several other episodes including draft-card burning, allegedly assisting a deserter after an automobile theft, impromptu debating with a recruiting officer in the South Building, having several arrests during demonstrations, and being interrogated by an agent of the Internal Revenue Service. Though his views and actions regarding the Vietnam War were slightly unsettling to the mainly conservative student body, faculty, and administration, they were not enough to warrant his dismissal from the college, according to Krug. Krug and Thompson did not agree with Shea’s views, but as long as the courses Shea taught were not affected by his extracurricular activities, he would be able to continue at Mason, Dean Krug maintained. [5] Dr. Shea’s teaching contract was renewed, albeit on a year-to-year basis instead of the customary three-year period.

But Dr. Shea openly rebelled against Thompson and others in the Mason and University of Virginia administrations, citing what he saw as their unwillingness to include faculty members in important policymaking processes. [6] He characterized Chancellor Thompson’s regime as repressive towards free speech and assembly, particularly with respect to new regulations instituted by the administration concerning organized protests on University of Virginia campuses in May 1968. [7] Shea aggressively pushed the boundaries of academic freedom in the classroom. For a freshmen philosophy course, Shea allegedly assigned a controversial article written by Jerry Farber, an activist and member of the UCLA faculty. The article assailed what Farber saw as a lack of freedoms offered to students at the time. The article was meant to rally the students to fight for more educational options. After Dean Robert Krug heard a student complaint that this text was substituted for Plato’s Republic, Shea became the target of increased scrutiny. [8] The administration was also concerned about Shea’s educational philosophy related to self-evaluation. Shea believed that students were the best judges of their own academic performance, therefore he encouraged each of them to submit to him their final grade based on their own self-assessment. In late 1969 he produced and distributed among the Mason community a leaflet entitled: “The Case Against Grading.” In it, he argued that the institution of grading itself was artificial and unfair. [9]

In November 1969 Shea was found guilty of being an accessory to auto theft by a Fairfax County court. Later that same day, the George Mason College Advisory Council recommended to Chancellor Thompson and University President Shannon that Dr. Shea be dismissed from his teaching duties. Still. Thompson did not act against him, and Shea remained at Mason until the fall of 1970. That November, after being convicted of a violation of federal tax law and sentenced to one year in prison, Shea abruptly left the area to avoid serving the prison term. He returned three years later to turn himself in and serve his sentence.

The Graduating Class of 1968:
In 1964 George Mason College moved to its permanent location in Fairfax from the former elementary school in Bailey's Crossroads. Freshmen who arrived at Mason in 1964, a year characterized by Director Robert H. Reid as a “heroic” period for the college in his annual report that year, would be part of Mason’s first graduating class as a four-year school. [1] Conceived in 1965 and approved by the state legislature in 1966, George Mason’s new degree-granting program would graduate its first class in June of 1968.

What was the last year of college life at George Mason College like for these young men and women who comprised the graduating class? There were no dorms - Mason would not have on-campus housing until 1977. George Mason’s three intercollegiate athletic teams (baseball, basketball, and rugby) were nicknamed the “Marauders” at the time. In 1968 there were three Greek organizations: fraternities Tau Kappa Epsilon and Delta Tau Sigma, and sorority Lambda Tau Omega. Mason Day 1968 boasted a dunk tank, the “Spring Car Bash,” a Miss GMC contest, and the infamous, and very muddy, tug of war. The Pep Club hosted a luau, which featured grass skirts and a barbecue. One of the graduating class's very own was elected Student Government president. The spring dance was titled “The Ides of March gone Psychedelic.” [2]. Of course, the intense discussion over the Vietnam War and student/faculty protests dominated the pages of the school newspaper, The Gunston Ledger. A regulation passed on to George Mason College from the University at Charlottesville governing campus protest generated much controversy, and there was much debate over revisions to the George Mason College Constitution.

Preparation for the Commencement started in February of 1968. The Commencement Committee was comprised of students and faculty members. Dr. B. Prince Woodard, Chairman of the State Council for Higher Education, was asked to speak at the ceremony. The Ledger estimated that as many as eighty seniors would be part of the commencement in an article that month and candidates were told that they were required to submit a five-dollar diploma fee to the Bursar’s Office in order to graduate. [3]

Of course, the 1968 Commencement would experience small amount of protest. Two outspoken Mason faculty members, Dr. James M. Shea of Philosophy and Larry Leftoff of ­­­­­­the Mathematics Department­­ wished to make a statement by not wearing caps and robes during the ceremony. They bought their intentions to the attention of the Commencement Ceremony Marshal in advance. He suggested that they then simply not march in the procession, a request to which they complied. Professors Shea and Leftoff later suggested in a September 20, 1968 letter to the editor of the Ledger, that George Mason College should abandon the tradition of wearing caps and gowns at graduation, starting its own new tradition. They proposed that instead of spending money collected from the students for caps and gowns, they use it for “more humanely productive projects” instead. [4]

Commencement took place on June 9, 1968 in the newly-constructed Lecture Hall, Auditorium I. It was held indoors because the weather forecast called for rain. The start time was 3:15. According to the account in an annotated program belonging to the Assistant Marshall, the proceedings went as follows. The first guests arrived and were seated at 2:25. The graduating class robed in the East Building before the ceremony and entered the auditorium to “Pomp and Circumstance” played by the Fairfax High School Band shortly before 3:30. A moment of silence was observed for Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated three days earlier. The Reverend Kenneth C. Holmstrup gave the Invocation. Chancellor Thompson introduced the Platform Party and Dean Krug made some brief remarks. Dr. Woodard gave a 22-minute address entitled “Expectations”, in which he told the graduates that Mason would grow so fast that they would “need a map just to get around campus” at their ten-year reunion. The address was followed by conferral. The conferring of degrees for the fifty-two graduates took about eight minutes, and the ceremony was over at 4:22. Five of the graduates were recognized for Distinction, while four others earned High Distinction honors. After the ceremony was finished the graduates stepped outside for a photograph. The entire graduating class was photographed against the west side of the Lecture Hall, just outside the doors. By 4:30 all guests had gone, and it had begun to rain.

Preparing for Rapid Growth:
George Mason College had barely been in its permanent home at Fairfax one year when it was asked to radically change. It had been determined by experts conducting studies for the Virginia government that the Commonwealth of lacked the necessary educational infrastructure to handle the growing number of college-age and soon to be college-age citizens. The small college which enrolled only seventeen students eight years prior would be required to become a four-year degree-granting institution and grow very large in a very short amount of time. It would become independent within the next seven years, and it would have to plan for an enrollment nearly one thousand times that of 1957 within the next twenty.

In 1965 Virginia’s Higher Education Study Commission conducted a study of the efficacy of the Commonwealth’s higher education system. In December of that year, the commission released a 206-page report with recommendations for the improvement of the state system. Known quite simply as the “Russell Report” after the commission’s director, John Dale Russell, it suggested that certain areas of Virginia, such as Northern Virginia, were not being adequately served by the current arrangement of branch colleges. It went on to recommend that some branch colleges of the University of Virginia become part of the Commonwealth’s new system of community colleges, while others become independent four-year institutions. George Mason, the report suggested, should become a new state university for Northern Virginia. [1]


The Russell Report was released just prior to the start of the 1966 Session of the Virginia General Assembly. James M. Thomson, a delegate from Alexandria and a contributor to House Resolution 5, which in 1956 established George Mason College, introduced a bill to make it a four-year degree-granting institution. In passing this bill, known as H 33, and other legislation that spring, the General Assembly enacted sweeping reforms to the Commonwealth’s system of higher education. George Mason College was removed from the University’s community college system of two-year branches, and other branch community colleges were placed under state control. Mason became a four-year liberal arts college granting degrees under the aegis of the University for the time being. That too would change in six years.

With both the departure of Director Robert Reid and the General Assembly’s advancement of George Mason College to a four-year institution occurring in March 1966, the University created a new title and job description for the chief executive of George Mason College and brought in a new individual for the job. Lorin A. Thompson became Mason’s Chancellor on June 1. Thompson was part of the University’s Graduate School of Business Administration and had over 20 years of planning experience, heading up the university's Bureau of Population and Economic Research in Charlottesville. As Chancellor he would report directly to the University’s president, Edgar F. Shannon. Shannon gave him the mandate to expand George Mason College, both physically and educationally. This seemed not to come a moment too soon, as enrollments steadily increased (356 in 1964, 577 in 1965, and 840 for the fall of 1966). The original four buildings were designed and built to comfortably accommodate from 500 to 750 students.

In early 1966 George Mason College’s Board of Control asked member and Alexandria City Councilman John T. Ticer, to initiate a study by the Northern Virginia Regional Planning and Economic Development Council, of which he was a member. The Board wanted the Council’s recommendations in terms of how much land and what types of buildings might be needed for Mason’s future expansion as a four-year college. The report completed in April 1966 was based upon the Council’s and others’ estimates that Mason’s enrollment would be about 15,000 by 1985. Given this figure, it suggested that Mason would need to acquire about 450 additional adjacent acres to make a campus of 600 total acres. According to then-current sources, the necessary land would cost about $3 million. Since the Commonwealth does not purchase land for schools (it merely allocates money for construction and operation), funding would have to come from the localities involved. The Council advised that land had to be acquired quickly before developers seeking to build near the college could do the same. Both land prices and interest rates were rising, it admonished. The final passage of the report [2] read, in capital letters:


EXPAND THE CAMPUS TO 600 ACRES TODAY!
THE LAND WILL NOT BE VACANT TOMORROW!

Chancellor Thompson took the report’s findings seriously and set about how to make this happen. He and the Board of Control recommended the following division of land costs among the local governments, based upon population: Fairfax $1.6 million; Arlington $850,000; Alexandria $495,000; and Falls Church $52,000. The City of Fairfax was not asked to contribute because it bought the original land and financed the sewer facilities. Thompson prepared a slide show detailing Mason’s land needs for continued growth and took the traveling slide show to citizens and elected representatives of the four local municipalities. He suggested that by collecting $4.50 (the cost of a steak dinner at the time) for each resident, Northern Virginia could build George Mason College into a regional university. [3]Thompson succeeded in convincing the local governments to fund Mason’s expansion. Falls Church appropriated the funds that summer. Fairfax and Arlington Counties placed bond referenda for the funds on their respective November ballots, and the City of Alexandria appropriated the money in November. The Board of Control then began the process of purchasing the necessary land. To assist them, the Board hired a local attorney who specialized in eminent domain and land condemnation, John T. “Till” Hazel. Hazel helped the Board secure the more than thirty individual parcels of land totaling 421 acres, the last of which were officially transferred to the college in a ceremony on July 18, 1969, attended by Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr.

As the University began amassing the individual tracts of land which surrounded the original 147 acres, planning for the new George Mason College began. By January 1967 the initial master plan drawn up only seven years prior would be obsolete, as it called for a maximum enrollment of only 2,500. Given the estimates in reports disseminated by knowledgeable individuals in 1965 and 1966, University officials were expecting future enrollment to top 15,000 by 1985. Thus work began on a new master plan for 1968. The University hired the architectural firm of John Carl Warnecke and Associates of Washington, DC.

The 1968 Master Plan was the architectural complement to the 1968 Educational Plan, which proposed to divide the student body into six cluster colleges of 2,500 students each. A college would be oriented toward a particular discipline and would contain teaching space, dormitories, and a student union to serve the students in that particular college. Professional programs, such as business, engineering, nursing, and education would join traditional academic ones, and the Northern Virginia Center of the University of Virginia at Arlington would be moved to George Mason in Fairfax. Later it would eventually become part of George Mason. [4]
The 1968 Master Plan proposed that the individual colleges be built around the original four buildings, with Fenwick Library serving as the main focal point in the center. All college academic buildings would be surrounded by an inner ring road with parking facilities placed outside of it. The first cluster college would be finished by 1970 and would include the original four buildings, and the new planned Arts and Sciences Building (today known as Thompson Hall). The final college would be completed in 1985 when the enrollment would reach 15,000. [5]

The main entrance to George Mason would be at Ox Road (Va. Route 123). The entrance road would terminate at the center of campus where the Administration, Fine Arts and Continuing Education buildings would be located. This design was meant to attract the Northern Virginia community and have them interact with the college by attending concerts or performances in the Fine Arts building or classes in the Continuing Education Center. [6]

By the 1967-68, academic year enrollment was up to 1,128, four times as many students as the college drew in its first year at Fairfax, only 3 years ago. Crowding was relieved in the fall of 1967 with the new free-standing Library and Lecture Hall buildings. Spaces that once housed these two functions were opened up for new classroom space. The Library measured 31,000 sq ft, and had a capacity of 31,000 volumes and reading facilities for 500 users. It was built at a cost of $1.2 million, which included a $373,333.00 federal grant. Students helped move most of the 20,000 books over from the East Building when the library opened. It was dedicated in December 1967 and named for state senator from Arlington, Charles Rogers Fenwick. The Lecture Hall, also completed in December 1967, featured a 325-seat auditorium and two lecture rooms each with a capacity of 100. This would give George Mason College a dedicated place for meetings, seminars, workshops, and other programs. The Lecture Hall had been originally removed from the 1964 build-out as a money-saving measure. [7]

To continue forward progress, Chancellor Thompson stepped up the budget requests in 1967 and asked the 1968 General Assembly for $9.7 million (of which the Assembly agreed to $4.3 million) for the 1968-70 building program and $30 million for capital outlay projects for the next 6 years. Mason looked to use the money to build the Arts and Sciences Building (today’s Thompson Hall), a Physical Education Bldg (now known as the RAC) and new science labs. Mason was also authorized by the General Assembly to issue its own bonds to finance the construction of a Student Union (which would eventually be built in 1974, and is now known as Student Union Building I) and two dorms in the future.

How Mason Became the Patriots: A Mystery Not Yet Solved:
The story of how George Mason adopted the nickname “Patriots” is a mystery that has yet to be solved. It begins during the 1964-1965 academic year, the year George Mason College relocated to the Fairfax Campus. Though George Mason was not large enough to support an intercollegiate athletic program during its time at Bailey’s Crossroads – the student body never amounted to much more than two hundred – interest in sports was still high. There was a healthy intramural program during the early 1960s. Organized baseball and football were played at local school fields and in the dirt parking lot of the college during this time. Things would change as Mason moved into its permanent quarters in Fairfax and begin to grow.

Beginning during the fall of 1964 Mason fielded a basketball team to compete in the Fairfax County Men’s Recreational League. [1] According to the 1965 Advocate, the George Mason College yearbook, and a February 1965 edition of The Gunston Ledger, [2] the predecessor to today’s Broadside newspaper, the first basketball team from George Mason College went by the name “GM Chargers.” There are no records that indicate exactly how this name was chosen, but it is most likely the team itself made the choice. At that time there was no gymnasium on campus, and home games were played at nearby W.T. Woodson High School. In November 1965, while the basketball team was still called the “Chargers,” [3] the staff of The Gunston Ledger proposed that the student body choose a new “school name” for the college and teams who would become part of its budding athletics program. This, The Ledger argued, would help George Mason further distinguish itself from its parent institution, the University of Virginia. [4] The paper held a contest in which students would submit proposals for a new college “nickname;” the author of the winning name would receive a prize of five dollars. Over the next two months, the contest was conducted with little fanfare and few entries. [5]The Ledger staff would attempt to stir up interest in subsequent issues. In a December 1965 issue of The Ledger, its staff complained about the school’s lack of enthusiasm for the contest, citing that it had only received three entries. [6]One of these entries was “The Patriots.” In a January 1966 issue, the newspaper staff suggested to its readers that the word “Patriot” referred to “enthusiasts for a cause, or those who love their country and defend their ideals.” [7]

In February 1966, the publication’s staff decided to move on to the next part of the contest, which asked the student body to vote on the name they liked best. The staff created a ballot that allowed students to select a nickname from ten choices. [8] Names on this ballot included “The Chargers,” “The Marauders,” and “The Trojans.” Oddly enough, “The Patriots” did not appear on the ballot, which was printed in an April 1966 issue of The Ledger. [9] The next month it was reported that the final vote ended in a tie between “The Marauders” and “The Trojans.” [10] The paper urged more students to vote in the runoff election, pointing out that only 20% of the student body (about one-hundred sixty) participated in the name selection process.

While the particulars behind the decision were not reported in The Ledger, the “Marauders” became the official name of the George Mason College basketball team for the 1966-1967 season. [11] The first public reference to the basketball team’s new name was in a December 7, 1966 issue of The Gunston Ledger. [12] Other George Mason College teams in existence during this time included an intermural football club, a rugby team, cheerleading, and baseball. While the baseball team was called the Marauders also, the football teams were named after the team captains. Two of the football teams, “Ed’s Angels” and “Yancey’s Derringers,” were named after team captains Ed Fredette and Bill Yancey. [13] The remaining teams, like the Rugby team, were simply called “George Mason College.” The Gunston Ledger frequently gave their own nicknames names to sports teams, referring to the Mason basketball team as the “Hoopers” [14] and the rugby team as the “Ruggers.” [15] The Mason basketball team continued as “The Marauders” in both the 1967 and 1968 [16]editions of the Advocate, but the program was not given any name in the 1967-1968 George Mason College Student Handbook. [17]

The name “Patriots” reappeared when it was first attributed to George Mason’s soccer team in a November 1968 issue of The Gunston Ledger. [18] In the newspaper’s December 13, 1968 edition, Mason’s men’s basketball team was now referred to as the “Patriots” for the first time. [19] In this same issue, the lead story was about the first annual “Patriot’s Day” on campus. This was also the first time that Wayne Grandy, a sports writer for The Ledger, published an article about Mason’s basketball program. In subsequent newspaper issues, Grandy would continue to call the team “the Patriots.” The George Mason College Student Handbook for 1968-1969 [20] and the 1969 Advocate [21]also referred to the basketball team the Patriots.

Since 1969, Mason’s sports teams have consistently been known as either “the Patriots” or simply “George Mason.” Since there are no official details regarding how the “Patriots” name was given, and there have been no former students or faculty from the era have been able to recall the exact details, it is likely we may never really know for certain exactly how George Mason’s nickname became the Patriots. However, based on the clues revealed in archives of past student publications, one can at least establish a timeline that pinpoints the general period during which the “Patriots” name was finally adopted. Perhaps one day, a new piece of evidence will be uncovered allowing us to finally solve the mystery of how George Mason University became known as the “Patriots.”

1972-1978:

Independence:
On July 1, 1972 George Mason College officially became independent of the University of Virginia and became known as George Mason University. On its own now, it was up to the newest regional university in the state system to distinguish itself. During the six-year period from 1972-1978, George Mason University witnessed three presidents; Dr. Lorin A. Thompson, Dr. Vergil H. Dykstra, and Dr. Robert C. Krug. Dr. Thompson served as Chancellor of George Mason College before becoming the first President of George Mason University. Thompson, serving out the end of his temporary appointment, handed the reins over to Dr. Vergil Dykstra in July 1973. Dykstra, a university administrator from Northern New York, promoted social change on the campus. Dr. Dykstra’s unexpected resignation four years later prompted the assignment of Robert Krug, George Mason’s Vice-President for Academic Affairs, as President. Krug served as Interim University President for one year as a search committee looked for a permanent replacement.

The mid-1970s was a period of challenges, change, and rapid growth for the University. George Mason made the commitment to provide equal opportunities within the organization for faculty, students, and staff, with Dr. Dykstra creating high-profile minority affairs positions within the University's administration. Significant growth took place on the campus as landmarks such as the Student Union Building, Robinson Hall A, and the Fenwick Library Tower were constructed. The first housing facilities on campus, the Student Apartments, opened in October 1977. George Mason University also opened its first satellite location, the North Campus, in 1972. Two Mason Faculty members discovered the archives of the Federal Theater Project, a Works Progress Administration initiative during the Great Depression. The papers were brought to Fenwick Library to be used by researchers from all over the country and the world. Enrollment more than doubled from 4,166 to 10,767.

Despite all the positive change and growth that was happening at George Mason, there were indeed some challenging episodes as well. Prior to Dr. Dykstra’s reforms there were those, both within and outside the university community, who questioned Mason’s dedication to equal opportunity. The University supported the start-up of a private day-care facility on campus, only to have its licensing status cause a controversy. And a member of the faculty created a stir among the students, faculty, and administration by suggesting that students in his class make a public statement at a political rally for a very powerful politician.

At the beginning of this brief period, George Mason found itself a brand-new institution among several already-established ones in the Commonwealth. During the period, it took early steps toward forging its identity as an important institution in the region that aspired to larger things. By the end, the University found itself ready to choose a leader who would take it farther than it ever imagined and cement its position as an integral part of Northern Virginia.

April 7, 1972:
On Friday, April 7, 1972, a contingent from George Mason College, led by Chancellor Lorin A. Thompson, met with Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton at Richmond. They were there to participate in the Governor’s signing into law Virginia General Assembly Bill H 210 separating George Mason College from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and renaming it George Mason University. During the brief afternoon ceremony Thompson, George Mason College Dean Robert Krug, Virginia Delegate James Thomson, and members of George Mason’s Advisory Board and Student Government proudly looked on as Holton signed one of the most critical documents in the history of the very young institution.

For its first twenty-three years George Mason University and its “ancestors” were part of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, initially as an extension center and later as a branch college. Mason began down the road to independence in the mid-1960s. In 1965 Northern Virginia’s unprecedented growth, highlighted by a dramatic increase in the population of college-aged men and women, pointed out the need for a four-year institution of higher learning in the area. Both the University of Virginia and the Commonwealth became acutely aware of this need. In a December 1965 report to the Governor and General Assembly, Virginia’s Higher Education Study Commission recommended that new four-year institutions of higher learning be introduced in the Northern Virginia and Tidewater areas of the state. The report also suggested that the Northern Virginia institution be independent of the University of Virginia and have a more inclusive admissions policy. [1] In 1966, Alexandria Delegate James Thomson, with the backing of the University of Virginia, introduced a bill in the General Assembly to make George Mason College a four-year institution under the University’s direction. The measure passed the Assembly and was approved on March 1, 1966.

Although not independent, George Mason College was now a degree-granting institution and managed some of its own administrative functions at the Fairfax campus. By September 1966, George Mason’s new Chancellor, Lorin A. Thompson, was reporting directly to the University of Virginia’s president, Edgar F. Shannon. Although the University’s Board of Visitors and president at Charlottesville still made major decisions regarding George Mason’s overall operation and future, two groups made up of northern Virginians, helped to advise the University on issues pertinent to George Mason College. The Board of Control was made up of eight prominent northern Virginians appointed by local jurisdictions. The Advisory Board was made up of local citizens appointed by the University’s president, Edgar F. Shannon.

Beginning in 1967, under the guidance of Chancellor Thompson, George Mason College took several initial steps toward becoming a viable independent institution. A number of key studies were done by and on behalf of George Mason. Each of them recommended the expansion and eventual independence of the college. In a document entitled A Regional University for Northern Virginia (November 1967), Chancellor Thompson foresaw the development of George Mason into a major university and outlined what was needed in terms of budget, land, buildings, and personnel. The Educational Plan for George Mason College of the University of Virginia (January 1968) detailed academic program proposals for an institution expected to grow six-fold within ten years. [2] Finally, the George Mason College of the University of Virginia Master Plan (August 1968) detailed the infrastructure needed to accommodate a major university. These studies each anticipated a student body of 10,000 to 15,000 from 1975 to 1985.

In 1970 George Mason prepared for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In its June 1970 Self Appraisal, it listed among its priorities the need to be a service university for the growing Northern Virginia area and to fill in gaps where the University of Virginia could not as was recommended by the 1965 Commission on Higher Education report. The Self Appraisal noted that the Northern Virginia area was unlike other areas in the state with its high population density and high degree of economic and intellectual resources. [3] During the 1970 fall semester, George Mason introduced graduate degree programs in biology, mathematics, and education. Enrollment had grown to 2,390.

Between 1971 and early 1972, a series of decisions and subsequent events involving the University at Charlottesville and its other branch colleges, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and the Virginia General Assembly advanced George Mason’s status towards independence. Firstly, President Shannon and Dr. Roy E. McTarnaghan, Director of the State Council of Higher Education, continued their long-running dialogue about whether the University should grant independence to George Mason College or retain it in the University system. They corresponded several times to discuss the merits and drawbacks to both positions. It was by then no secret that McTarnaghan supported independence for George Mason College. [4] Secondly, the University had begun to divest itself of its remaining branch colleges. Patrick Henry College at Virginia Beach was transferred to the state system of community colleges on July 1, 1971. In December 1971 the University’s Board of Visitors voted to recommend to the State Council of Higher Education that Mary Washington College at Fredericksburg become an independent institution. At the same time, Delegate Thomson, who figured prominently in the legislation making George Mason a four-year degree-granting institution in 1966, was drafting legislation to make George Mason an independent institution. The bill, H-210, was introduced into the General Assembly on January 24, 1972.

At their February 3, 1972 meeting at Charlottesville, the University’s Board of Visitors adopted a resolution to recommend to Virginia Governor Holton and the legislature that George Mason become independent of the University of Virginia. In effect, they endorsed the legislation already introduced by Thomson. In the resolution, the Board cited George Mason’s accomplishments, accreditation status, current and expected growth, financial support, and the backing of the State Council. On February 11 the House of Delegates, and on February 23, the Senate unanimously approved the bill making George Mason College independent effective July 1, 1972. The legislation also made provisions for the creation of George Mason University’s first Board of Visitors, which was appointed by Governor Holton later in May.

Governor Holton made George Mason’s separation official in Richmond on April 7, 1972, when he signed the bill creating George Mason University in the company of George Mason administrators, faculty, students, and Northern Virginia community leaders.

Innaugural Meeting of the George Mason University Board of Visitors:
On April 7, 1972, Virginia General Assembly bill H-210 was signed into law making George Mason College independent of the University of Virginia. Among the provisions in this law was the creation of a Board of Visitors for the newly independent and renamed George Mason University. A little over a month later, on May 31, 1972, the new Board of Visitors for George Mason University met for the first time. In this meeting they would discuss and make some initial decisions on several issues, including choosing the President for the new university.

Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton, Jr. had begun to look for members for the Board of Visitors in March of that year, and by May he was still finalizing his list. All sixteen board members had been chosen in time for the May 31 meeting. Members who were already associated with Mason included: Arthur W. Arundel, owner of the local radio station WAVA and the Loudon Times-Mirror newspaper; U.S. District Court Judge, Albert V. Bryan, Jr.; Preston C. Caruthers, Chairman of the State Board of Education; John T. “Til” Hazel, a Fairfax attorney; C. Hunton Tiffany, a Fauquier County banker; former Fairfax City Mayor John C. Wood; and John J. Corson, former assistant to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John Gardner. There were nine new members: educational consultant, Elias Blake; Harriet F. Bradley, former Drainsville District member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Dr. Alvin E. Conner, a Prince William County physician; Alexandria City councilman A. George Cook; William C. Frogale, a Falls Church businessman; Carol Griffee, Executive Editor of The Northern Virginia Sun newspaper; Dr. Warren J. Pace, Superintendent of the Falls Church Public School System; Lutrelle F. Parker, attorney and former County Planning Commission Chairman; and Lester G. Sturgill a Northern Virginia consulting engineer. These men and women would be sworn-in on May 31. [1]

Chancellor Lorin A. Thompson, local lawyer and university legal counsel, A. Hugo Blankingship, Jr., and the members of the Board were in attendance for the inaugural meeting. Chancellor Thompson called the meeting to order at 5 pm in the Conference Room on the second floor of Fenwick Library. Decisions that would be made in this meeting would come into effect as of July 1, 1972, the date Mason officially became independent of the University of Virginia. They began by electing a rector, John C. Wood. After this decision, Chancellor Thompson excused himself from the meeting, and Rector Wood assumed charge of the meeting. The Board discussed who should be appointed Mason’s first president. They recommended that Chancellor Thompson be appointed president of the university at an annual salary of $30,000. They chose Dr. Thompson because he had expertly guided Mason during its development from a community college to a 4-year college and eventually, an independent university. Given that Thompson was already 70 years old they recommended that he serve as Acting President until a proper search could be completed. After this decision, they asked Dr. Thompson to return to the meeting. They continued to discuss the budget, faculty, curriculum, and a number of other topics including a resolution to ask University of Virginia President Edgar F. Shannon to permit students graduating in June 1972 the opportunity to choose as to whether their diploma was issued from George Mason College of the University of Virginia or George Mason University. The Board set the university budget at $5.5 million for the year 1972-1973 and approved a tuition increase of twenty-five dollars per semester. They adjourned at 8pm. [2]

That evening, Chancellor Thompson released a statement announcing that Governor Holton approved the recommendation of the Board to make him the president of George Mason University. Thompson would accept this assignment because it would be a temporary appointment that would give the Board time to conduct a search for his successor.

Growing Pains: The North Campus:
Even before George Mason College’s split from the University of Virginia it was looking to expand its horizons. Enrollment, which had been increasing steadily, was growing at a much faster rate than the college’s budget or construction plans. Alhough there were plans for new buildings in the future, student body and program growth outpaced that of the physical plant. The need for more space caused the college to look into purchasing a “surging space,” an area where programs and classes could temporarily meet until construction at the permanent site on the main campus was completed. [1]


George Mason’s 1968 Master Plan allowed for the creation of six schools and colleges within the larger college, each with an enrollment of 2500 students. Spurred by continuing growth, the Business Administration and Education Departments combined to form College II, the College of Professional Studies, under Dean Clayton Schindler. [2]Its long-term goals included: establishing programs in nursing, paramedicine, criminology and police sciences, journalism, advertising, graphic and the communicative arts, as well as working closely with the surrounding community to provide internship opportunities. The plan also anticipated cooperating with Northern Virginia Community College, a factor that would change some admissions and graduation requirements, although “[the new college would] remain largely within the physical plant of George Mason College and [would] even share much of the existing faculty, but [would] split mostly in terms of administration.” [3]

The approved 1972-1974 budget allotted $3,368,565 for the construction of a permanent building (IIA, now Robinson Hall A) for the College of Professional Studies, but construction was not scheduled to be completed until 1974, so Mason administrators decided that College II would occupy the temporary “surging space.” [4]

Negotiations between the City of Fairfax and the George Mason Foundation, [5] took place in early January 1972 regarding the former Fairfax High School building. [6] The thirty-five-year-old school building, which sat on sixteen acres on Route 50, had been replaced by a new high school two miles to the west, but the city wished to put the old building to some use and wanted it to remain as an educational building. [7] In a shrewd example of deal-making, the George Mason Foundation purchased the building in January 1972 for the appraised price of $1.8 million and rented it to George Mason College. The Virginia General Assembly appropriated the necessary funding for the rental of the building. [8]

Although renovations would be necessary, the former Fairfax High School, renamed the North Campus, would add an additional 80,000 square feet of classroom space for George Mason. [9] This created a “surging place” for the College of Professional Studies, which opened on July 1, 1972. Other features—an auditorium that seated three times as many people as the main campus’ Lecture Hall, a small gymnasium, a football field, and a baseball diamond—provided George Mason with “badly needed space to accommodate its projected increased enrollment and expanding academic programs.” [10]

These expanding academic programs included the Department of General Studies (which fell under the College of Professional Studies), new medical technology programs, and graduate programs in Business Administration, Education, Special Education, and Guidance. [11] There was even talk of a law school starting at the former high school. [12] Two new undergraduate programs, Secondary Education and Health and Physical Education, were to be implemented in the fall of 1973. [13] The North Campus also became home to the School of Fine and Performing Arts. [14] Dr. Hale Tongren, chairman of the department, expected an enrollment increase of 30-40% in the Business Administration program and the establishment of a separate School of Business Administration within four to five years. [15]

Further growth would prove difficult at the North Campus, however, because this “surging space” was already suffering from a lack of parking, and the situation would only get worse. Students had to return to the main campus for electives, and the distance from North Campus, about four miles, was not conducive to walking. Administrators debated lengthening the time period between classes to twenty minutes, but eventually decided to bus students to and from the campuses instead. [16]

When he visited the Nort Campus site in 1972, Freshman President Ronny Acker called it “anti-educational in spirit” and “judged [it] potentially disastrous to the aesthetic evolution of the student’s mind.” [17] The university allotted funds for renovations, and although the School of Fine and Performing Arts seemed to appreciate the facilities, many members of the School of Business Administration expressed growing discontent. They cited the “decrepit high school building where the lights are too dim, rooms are too hot, business facilities (especially the computer room) woefully inadequate and classrooms too crowded” among their chief complaints. [18] They also believed that there were too few teachers and were upset that the North Campus and its students and faculty had received no coverage in the Advocate, the student yearbook, the previous year. The yearbook’s editor said that issue would be corrected, and senior business students Jeff Hetrick and John Willet formed the North Campus Improvements Committee to help address the students’ concerns, which they felt were especially relevant because “[business students] account for nearly one-fourth of the student body, yet we are awarded a mere 12% of available funds.” [19] While the university sought to appease some requests, one problem they could not fix was a widely-held conviction: “It’s [North Campus is] kind of closed off from everybody. They ignore us…we’re over here by ourselves.” [20] That issue remained unresolved until George Mason brought all students from North Campus back to the Fairfax Campus. North Campus was later sold to the Catholic Diocese of Arlington to become Pope Paul VI High School in 1983.

During the North Campus period, Acting President Dr. Robert Krug suggested further expansion in Arlington with the establishment of an East Campus which would be similar in size and function to the North Campus. [21] And like North Campus, and Bailey’s Crossroads fifteen years before, it might be the acquisition of an older abandoned school building. It was an idea that he did not see come to fruition during his tenure. His Arlington initiative, however, overlapped with another project, the acquisition of a law school there, which was approved by the Virginia General Assembly in 1979.

Although the North and Arlington Campuses would serve very different purposes, they both served as a testament to increasingly important aspects of George Mason’s identity: academic and geographic expansion and the eagerness to introduce new and innovative programs.

Mason's First Building Boom: Filling out the First Forty Acres during the 1970s:
In late 1970 the 568-acre Fairfax Campus of George Mason College comprised six buildings and a parking lot. The tiny North, South, East, and West Buildings opened in September 1964 and hosted classrooms, labs, administrative and faculty offices, and the dining hall. Fenwick Library and the Lecture Hall were completed in the fall of 1967. A seventh building, the Arts and Sciences Building, which was later named Thompson Hall, was still under construction and would not open until September 1971. The steady increase in enrollment, coupled with Mason’s ambitious expansion program, necessitated additional buildings.

In 1970, a new wave of building began at Mason. Key buildings would begin to fill the first forty cleared acres of the original 147 given by the Town of Fairfax in 1959. Aerial photography of the campus from that era showed some kind of construction, no matter what year the photo was taken. At one point in 1974, three major construction projects within yards of each other (the Fenwick Library Tower, Robinson A, and the Student Union) were in progress simultaneously. Construction trailers and vehicles, steel framing, and large piles of dirt were an everyday part of the campus landscape for much of the 1970s.

The first new building to appear on campus after 1971 was the Physical Education Building, known today as the Recreation and Athletic Complex, or RAC. Planning for this space, which included both an indoor gymnasium and outdoor field, began in 1968. [1] In May 1970 a $1.5 million contract for the construction was awarded to the Sherman Construction Corporation, and the groundbreaking took place on July 16, 1970. Chancellor Lorin Thompson pushed for construction to be completed by the beginning of the fall semester in September 1971. However, progress was plagued by construction-related delays, and the building was not opened until July 1972. The P.E. Building was closed and completely renovated and expanded in 2008. It reemerged in April 2009 and was renamed the Recreation and Athletic Complex. [2]

By 1970, library administrators concluded that Fenwick Library was not large enough to be able to handle the projected enrollment and collections growth that was to take place over the next several years. Library Director Patrick Larkin and Chancellor Thompson drew up plans for a massive five-story tower, which would be connected to the south façade of the library. [3] The tower would provide much-needed additional space for research, administrative offices, library collections, and expanded library services. The Fenwick Library Tower would eventually open in November 1974 after library administrators closed down the library for several days to facilitate the movement of books and other materials into the new space. [4]

Student Union Building I, still one of the most visible structures on campus today, was in the planning stages in the early 1970s before groundbreaking occurred on February 29, 1972. [5] The building cost almost $1.4 million to construct and was scheduled to open in two phases. The first phase of the building, which included a lounge on the main floor and dining facilities on the lower level, was scheduled to be completed in 1973. The second phase, which added additional office space to the Student Union, would be finished in 1975. The Student Union Building was beleaguered by several small construction delays, and the first phase of the structure did not open until February 1974. Mason’s dining hall, known as the Ordinary, and the university bookstore, both of which had previously been housed in the East Building, found their new home on the lower level of the brand new Student Union.

Academic II, later named Robinson Hall for the late George Mason College Advisory Board Chairman, Clarence Robinson, was the largest academic building to open on the Fairfax Campus during the 1970s. The building cost $2.4 million to construct, and its first phase, Wing A, was opened in July 1975. [6] Robinson Hall figured heavily in University President Vergil Dykstra’s plan to move the entire population of the North Campus, Mason’s satellite campus located on Route 50, four miles to the north, back to the main Fairfax Campus by 1978, the date Robinson B was scheduled for completion. This would have indeed mitigated complaints among students, faculty, and staff there of isolation from the Fairfax Campus. Although Robinson provided a significant amount of classroom and lab space--it contained 28 classrooms, 14 labs, and a 500-seat two-story theater--North Campus would remain in operation for another five years.

As the finishing touches were put on the design plans for Robinson Hall, Wing B, another important campus feature located 150 yards to its southwest was beginning to take shape, the Student Apartments.

First Steps toward a Diverse Campus:
On July 21, 1971, the Holiday Inn in Fairfax City, Virginia bustled with activity. The Virginia State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (VSAC) held a press conference to release the findings of a report compiled the previous spring detailing the current state of racial integration at George Mason College. College Chancellor Lorin Thompson almost certainly knew that the report, which was titled: George Mason College: For All The People?, would most likely chastise George Mason for not having many minority students, but he was probably not ready for the VSAC’s declaration that “George Mason College was conceived of, by, and for the white community of Northern Virginia and not for the entire Northern Virginia population.” The report concluded that: there was no affirmative action system in place at Mason to recruit minority students; “stiff admission criteria” discriminated against minority applicants; there existed a lack of African American history-related courses, and the college exhibited only “half-hearted support” for a program to assist “educationally-disadvantaged” students. [1]

The Commonwealth of Virginia had been relatively slow in the desegregation of its public higher educational institutions. A part of the state government which had at one time promoted the policy of discrimination against African Americans in education, particularly during the period of “Massive Resistance” after the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling in 1954, state colleges and universities in the Commonwealth only began to admit persons of color in numbers during the late 1960s. In 1969 University of Virginia President Edgar F. Shannon commissioned a committee under faculty member William Rotch to study how best to increase African American enrollment at Charlottesville. The “Rotch Report,” as it came to be known, recommended that the University must make it known that blacks are welcomed and hire administrators who could make certain that black students and faculty were recruited and retained. The University at Charlottesville under President Shannon took a serious approach to this policy suggestion.

For as long as it existed, George Mason had never considered itself “segregated”. In fact, in 1963 George Mason College Director, John Norville Gibson Finley chided an official from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights when he wrote Finley for confirmation as to whether or not George Mason was segregated. Finley replied that Mason was not, and while it was true that it had “never had a Negro student…no Negro ha[d] ever applied for admission.” Admittedly, according to Finley, George Mason did not “exert the same effort to recruit Negro high school seniors that we exert in the recruitment of white students.” But Finley assured him that “no qualified Negro applicant will be denied admission to George Mason College.” [2]

But it was an inescapable fact that African American enrollment at Mason was indeed very low during the first fifteen years of its existence. There were some occasional black and international students at Mason, but never more than a handful at any one time. During the 1970-71 academic year, when the VSAC conducted its study, there were sixteen black students out of a total of 2,456. Of 164 total faculty members, only two were black. The VSAC sought to find out why.

The VSAC interviewed various members of the campus community (students, faculty, and staff) during the spring of 1971 in order to get input on the racial situation at Mason. Some African American students told committee members that they experienced “animosity” in dealing with white students. They felt that textbooks were geared more toward white students. Some faculty members reported that the few courses designed to teach African American studies had little administrative support and were sometimes discontinued. The VSAC found that while the University of Virginia in Charlottesville had implemented many of the suggestions in the Rotch Report, administrators at George Mason College had not yet done so.

The committee concluded the report by listing several recommendations for how to improve minority relations at George Mason. The recommendations included appointing an African American to George Mason College’s board of advisors, the establishment of performance standards geared toward African American students, and the hiring of a staff member whose full-time job was to assist minority students attending George Mason.

Once George Mason College gained independence from the University of Virginia, an effort to bring more minorities into the campus community began. One example was the appointment of two African Americans from the area, Lutrelle F. Parker and Elias K. Blake, to the university’s first Board of Visitors by Governor A. Linwood Holton, Jr. in 1972. Parker was a lawyer and official in the U.S. Patent Office, while Blake was an educational consultant and later president of Atlanta's Clark College. However, despite the initial efforts of university administrators to formulate policy, it was still seen by students, staff, and others as not enough. The student-run Broadside ran an editorial in September 1972 complaining that certain members of the Admissions Office lacked the necessary experience to work in an integrated campus. [3] A letter to the editor in a November 1972 edition of the Broadside urged the Student Government, along with the administration, to create a task force to advance minority enrollment and help ease tensions related to minority affairs within the university. In December of 1972, an ad hoc committee formed by Mason’s administration found that there were several discriminatory practices in place at the University, especially with regard to recruiting and housing minority students.

In July 1973, Lorin Thompson retired as the President of George Mason University and was succeeded by Dr. Vergil Dykstra of the State University of New York at Binghamton. Dykstra was a Midwesterner who spent much of his previous career in northern university settings and was a strong advocate of integration and Affirmative Action. One of Dr. Dykstra’s first priorities as president was to increase the number of minority students applying to, accepted by, and enrolling at George Mason. In order to achieve this goal, Dykstra created the first Office of Minority Recruitment (OMR) at Mason. Its charge was to increase the admission rate for minority applicants. The OMR challenged the Office of Admissions to become both more aware and accepting of minority students.

But the new administration did not stop there. Dr. Dykstra replaced the University’s Director of Admissions with an administrator who was seen as more suited to working in an integrated academic institution. In March of 1974 the Office of Admissions, at Dykstra’s urging, hired Andrew (Andy) Evans, the University’s first-ever African American admissions officer. Evans was tasked with recruiting minority applicants. During Evans’ first year, enrollment of African American students to George Mason University doubled. Other changes included adjusting academic standards for minority applicants, which was met at first with some criticism. The criticism would recede as students proved that they were up to the task of college-level work. That fall, religion Professor Darius Swann was appointed Special Assistant to the President for Minority Affairs and was the first Mason faculty member whose sole job revolved around assisting existing minority students. [4]

Dr. Dykstra resigned his post as president in 1977, but not before changing George Mason University forever with respect to diversity. Through his efforts, Dr. Dykstra was not only able to increase the number of minority students at George Mason, but also strongly encourage the hiring of minority faculty members. Dykstra’s successor, Dr. Robert Krug, would continue the legacy of affirmative action, most notably by introducing formal affirmative action conferences at the university in the fall of 1977. [5] In addition, special academic scholarships were offered to African American students in order to help alleviate their previous financial concerns. [6] In 2010 George Mason University received recognition from the Education Trust for having one of the nation’s highest minority graduation rates. George Mason’s student body hails from over one hundred thirty nations, while one in every four undergraduates identify themselves as African American or Hispanic. [7] George Mason University has been considered one of the most diverse higher education institutions in the nation.

Changing the Culture at Mason: Dr. Vergil H. Dykstra:
In July 1973, George Mason University was about to undergo another major change. It had only become independent a year earlier. In its relatively brief history of just sixteen years, Mason had three different chief administrators, two of whom were sent from Charlottesville to operate the college. After an extensive search, the Board of Visitors appointed an outsider, Dr. Vergil Homer Dykstra, as the first administrator actually hired as President of George Mason University. George Mason’s new leader hailed from Binghamton, New York, where he was Vice President of the State University of New York’s campus there. This narrative is based on a 2009 oral history interview with Dr. Dykstra.

While George Mason University had come a long way from its beginnings as a small Northern Virginia branch of the University, there were those among the faculty and its student body who felt that there were a few fronts on which progress still needed to be made at the very young institution, according to Dr. Dykstra. Some members of Mason’s faculty and student groups had a strong distrust of its previous administration. Though Chancellor, and later President, Thompson had expertly helped George Mason grow and become an independent university, there were some who thought his administration did not share their opinion on issues of free speech and academic freedom. The new university was also still having difficulty implementing equal opportunity standards in the recruitment of students and faculty. [1] Dr. Dykstra would meet these issues head-on as President.

Dykstra, was born in South Dakota and raised in Iowa. [2] He received his undergraduate degree from Hope College in Michigan, before receiving his doctorate in philosophy with a minor in English from the University of Wisconsin. His first experience in higher education leadership came when he received a fellowship to study college administration at the University of Michigan Higher Learning Center. He took a job teaching at the University of Cincinnati before moving to Harpur College, where he not only taught but became a part of the school’s administration as Vice-President. Dykstra oversaw the transition of Harpur College into Binghamton University, one of today’s highest-regarded public universities in New York State. Dykstra was Vice President of Administration for Binghamton University when a friend invited him to apply for the position of President at George Mason University.

Dr. Dykstra had never heard of George Mason University and only applied because of the university’s proximity to Washington, D.C. [3] He was invited to interview with the Board of Visitors in the spring of 1973 and was later offered the position as President. [4] Dykstra would later remark that he was very excited about this opportunity because he had previous experience with ushering in a new university and wanted to lead another school in its early years. [5] He officially assumed the role of President of George Mason University in July of 1973 in an impromptu ceremony in which President Emeritus Lorin Thompson transferred to him the keys to the President’s Office. [6]

According to Dr. Dykstra, almost immediately upon taking office, he was surrounded by what he characterized as tensions present on campus. Some members of the faculty and student body had been troubled by the conduct of certain members of the university’s administration. Key faculty members requested the dismissal of some high-level administrators. Dykstra would later comment that some of these administrators were appointed by the University of Virginia prior to Mason’s independence and were resistant to efforts to enact Affirmative Action programs at the University [7]

Dykstra himself wasn’t very certain of his standing with the faculty with some of the faculty at the beginning of his tenure. He later commented that he initially suspected that some at George Mason might have thought of him as “a Yankee coming to Virginia.” Perhaps he would not fit into the southern culture he assumed was a strong part of the university’s heritage. [8] Over the course of his career at George Mason, Dykstra would work to bridge the apparent gap between the faculty and administration by striving to earn their respect. Dr. Dykstra would later say that opening the line of communication between faculty and administrators was an important first step in bringing the two groups together. [9]

Dr. Dykstra sought to foster a closer sense of community at George Mason University. When he arrived, according to Dykstra, the university operated under a system where “students were only there to learn, teachers were only there to teach, and administrators were only there to run the school.” [10] Dykstra believed that the university needed to become more of a family environment. He was particularly supportive of any efforts to diversify the school’s student body and staff. [11]

Dykstra was a strong advocate of minority recruitment. The Civil Rights Act-- passed almost a decade earlier--was designed to remove barriers to education for minority students, but the Commonwealth of Virginia had only seriously begun the process of desegregation in the late 1960s. Some in Richmond and other areas in Virginia still wished to slow the process of integration of minorities into its public schools. Dykstra, who came from a northern environment supportive of racial integration, was taken aback by what he described as a “southern, plantation-style mentality” exhibited by officials in the Virginia government and at other universities in the Commonwealth. [12] Over the course of his career at Mason, Dr. Dykstra would have little patience for staff members who attempted to sabotage his efforts to enact an affirmative action program at Mason. [13] During his first few months on the job, Dykstra established the first Office of Minority Recruitment and hired the first staff members charged with bringing minority applicants to Mason. [14]

Dr. Dykstra oversaw the construction of some of the most prominent landmarks on campus today. The University Union (now known as Student Union Building I) and the A-Wing tower of Fenwick Library were completed during Dykstra’s term as president. [15] Construction of student residential housing also began during Dykstra’s presidency, although he was not an early supporter of on-campus housing, believing that Mason should focus on being a university for Northern Virginia commuter students. [16] However, the administration eventually bowed to pressure from students, and the Student Apartments became the first student housing on campus in August of 1977. While not established during his presidency, extensive plans for George Mason’s future School of Law were drawn up during Dykstra’s tenure at the university. [17] However, as with on-campus housing, Dykstra was not a fervent supporter of the law school. [18] He agreed with other Virginia officials who believed that state funds should be used to improve existing law schools instead of opening new ones. The George Mason University School of Law would eventually open in 1979, just two years after Dykstra’s tenure at Mason. [19]

Citing fatigue, President Dykstra unexpectedly resigned in April 1977 after four years of service at George Mason. [20] Dr. Dykstra was followed by Robert Krug, Mason’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, who would serve for one year as acting President. Dykstra would later become a vice-president at Montgomery College in Maryland. Dr. Dykstra passed away in December of 2010 at his home in Fairfax.

The Discovery of the Federal Theatre Project Archives:
In the late summer of 1974, faculty members Lorraine Brown and John O’Connor of the George Mason University English Department made an important discovery. Brown and O’Connor had been attempting to locate the archives of the Federal Theater Project, a Depression-era program through which the government funded the performing arts. These archives were thought to include hundreds of plays written between 1935 and 1939, including productions created specifically for Black and Jewish communities. After a solid year of research, the two GMU professors had finally tracked down the archives to a hangar near Baltimore Maryland. [1] The find was even more wonderful than anyone had anticipated; it included at least one copy of all 800 plays written for the program, dozens of scripts for radio shows during the era, newspaper clippings that contained stories that served as inspiration for many of the plays, and original hand-drawn posters for certain productions. The Library of Congress, which owned the papers but did not have the room to store the materials in Washington D.C., placed the collection on permanent loan to George Mason University.

The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was begun in 1935 as part of the Works Progress Administration. Under the direction of Hallie Flanagan, the FTP employed several thousand actors, directors, playwrights, producers, and others in the entertainment industry during the Great Depression. In its four-year lifespan the FTP produced many plays, radio shows, and marionette shows. The program featured the early works of notable writers, actors, and producers such as Orson Welles, Arthur Miller, and Elia Kazan. In 1939, in light of the large amount of money needed to fund the program and after complaints of excessive amounts of left-wing works being produced, funding for the program was discontinued by the Federal Government. [2]

After the cancelation of the FTP thousands of scripts, photographs, and other records were dispersed between the National Archives, the Library of Congress, public libraries, and some educational institutions. Costumes, props, and other materials were sold or given away. The National Archives and the Library of Congress began to sort through and organize the material but in 1941 funding was cut from the project and with the onset of World War II, the project seemed to have been dropped indefinitely. [3] In 1964 the collection in possession of the Library of Congress was shipped to an airplane hangar in Middle River Maryland.

In the summer of 1973, Dr. Brown along with Professor O’Connor began a search for the FTP records. Brown later told the Washington Post that her interest in the collection came from “… a course I taught in American drama. Materials from the 1930s were very scant. When I heard about some unedited play scripts at the Library of Congress, I began … asking questions.” [4] Dr. Brown and Professor O’Connor came into contact with John Cole, a reference librarian at the Library of Congress, and began to investigate the materials in Middle River.

With the announcement of the Library of Congress that the materials were going to George Mason, the University immediately began plans to safely preserve the archives and make them accessible to scholars. University president Dr. Vergil Dykstra made the decision to house the papers in a section of the soon-to-be-opened Fenwick Library Tower. [5] Several purchases would need to be made, including special shelves to hold the boxes of manuscripts and large file cabinets to hold the original artwork. In addition, an archivist and a support staff would need to be hired to preserve the archives. The university applied for and received outside grants to supplement its own monetary contributions to the project. Graduate and undergraduate courses regarding drama during the 1930’s were created to introduce students to the archives.

When the FTP was canceled in 1939, the information relating to the works produced by the program was virtually lost to the general public. With the acquisition of the records by George Mason University they became widely available for public research. The interest generated by the newly available documents was immediate. By 1979 four doctoral dissertations had been completed using the collection and a further eleven were in progress. Articles on the collection began to appear in nationally distributed newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times soon after the processing of the collection began. In April of 1980 the collection was awarded a National Golden Circle award from the International Performing Arts Festival for its “scope and influence as well as the extraordinary wealth of information it provides for all the world.” [6]

One of the FTP Collection’s greatest contributions was to preserve the history of the Negro Theatre Project (NTP) which featured all African American produced shows. Without the work of the research center to make the material available, books such as Black Drama of the Federal Theatre Era by E. Quita Craig could not have been written. Craig later commented that upon hearing the material was available at Mason “I thought, well, I’ve got to go see it. And then I ran into these black plays. They were just beautiful.” [7] The material of the NTP also inspired new classes at George Mason. A university news release in April of 1980 details a new drama course to be offered focusing on the “upsurgence of black drama during the 1930s.” [8] The course included research work with the FTP collection. Dr. Brown and Professor O’Conner published their own book on the collection titled Free, Adult, Uncensored: The Living History of the Federal Theatre Project in 1978 to national acclaim.

Gaining the Federal Theatre Project collection not only ensured that the FTP would continue to be accessible to those who were interested, but it also helped to establish George Mason University as a university nationally renowned for its research and scholarship. The many conferences, workshops, exhibitions and symposiums organized around the collection put George Mason in the national spotlight.

As part of the agreement between the Library of Congress and George Mason, the collection was always the property of the Library of Congress. In 1993, the Library of Congress began to recall several of its loaned materials, including the archives of the Federal Theater Project. They had concerns over how well Mason could preserve the papers in the future and believed that the archive would be more accessible at the Library’s location in Washington rather than in Fairfax. Dr. Lorraine Brown, who was still very heavily involved with the archive, tried to fight the Library of Congress’ decision by enlisting the support of researchers and archivists, but the collection was eventually returned to the Library in August of 1994

Copies of many of the records and oral histories of FTP personnel remain in the George Mason University Libraries, ensuring that future researchers will continue to have access to the materials at Mason.

The Day Care Center Controversy:
Child care facilities have been in existence since the mid-nineteenth century. At that time, such services were needed by impoverished families for which it was necessary that both parents work to provide an income. During the first half of the twentieth century, most mothers stayed at home to take care of their children. That began to change in the 1960s, as the feminist movement gained power and women began to integrate themselves into traditionally male-dominated institutions, such as the workplace and universities. This shift caused a change in the family structure as now fathers and mothers worked, leaving no one at home to take care of the children. Working parents found they needed childcare facilities. During the early 1970s, working families with a student, faculty, or staff member at George Mason agreed that a facility that would take care of their children while they worked or attended class would be helpful.

In February of 1971, Hourly Child Care Inc., the first daytime child care center on the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University, opened for business. The center, run by Reverend Roger Verley of Market Place Ministries, had been in the planning stages for one year by the time it was established along Ox Road on the western side of the Fairfax campus. [1] Rev. Verley and Dr. Ruth Green, a child care specialist who was a consultant at daycare facilities across the country, had previously operated a childcare facility in Alexandria, Virginia. That center permitted parents to leave their children to be supervised by an adult while they shopped in local malls. After conducting extensive surveys of the students and faculty at George Mason, Verley and Green determined that a similar service would thrive there as well. The daycare center was endorsed by then-college Chancellor, Lorin A. Thompson, who approved a rental agreement that would allow the school to operate on university grounds. [2]

Verley and Green conducted their not-for-profit operation out of a series of trailers and an old stone home, known as the Mallory House, on the west side of campus. This was a part of the former Oliver F. Atkins property located not far from the present location of the Field House. Atkins, a photographer for the Saturday Evening Post provided his services to George Mason from time to time. The childcare facility was particularly popular with faculty members, who often had to work around erratic class schedules. [3] However, the following year, signs of trouble emerged. In September of 1972, Lorin Thompson received an inter-office memorandum from the Dean of Students Robert Turner, conveying a variety of concerns voiced to him about the center. The subjects ranged from sanitary concerns to legal issues arising from the fact that the Hourly Child Care Center was not properly licensed by the State of Virginia. Not long after that, Broadside ran a story about the complaints lodged against the facility, popularly referred to as HCC.

HCC began a long correspondence with Virginia state officials, who now told the center that they either must apply for a license or close. Verley and Green expressed the belief that their school did not need a license, citing an obscure law that stated that a child care center affiliated with a university did not need to be licensed. President Thompson, while still a strong advocate of the center, was firm in his stance that HCC was a private entity not affiliated with the university. HCC’s only connection with George Mason University was that it rented space on the Fairfax Campus. HCC finally agreed to apply for a license, but disagreed with several stipulations, such as the requirement that children staying past noon must be served a hot lunch. Verley and Green argued that such rules hurt the center’s role as a place where parents could leave and pick up their children on an irregular schedule. In August of 1973 HCC learned that they would be issued a license by the Department of Welfare and Institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. This license authorized HCC to operate the child care center for one year.

Earlier that summer, however, Dr. Vergil Dykstra had been named the new President of George Mason University. Dykstra did not think that it was appropriate that a child care center should operate on university grounds. [4] In July of 1973, just before HCC was scheduled to receive its license, Dykstra sent a letter to HCC expressing his intent to immediately terminate the child care center’s rental agreement. [5] Verley was able to convince Dykstra to negotiate a year-long extension of the rental agreement since the center was now licensed. HCC would eventually move to a nearby church in 1975.

The Student Government (SG), troubled by the allegations brought up by Broadside, weighed in on the controversy. It formed its own child care center on campus. The George Mason University Student Government Child Care Center opened on campus in time for the Fall 1973 semester. [6] Though some money was allocated to the center by the SG, the group helped choose its board of directors, and the center was named for the SG, it did not claim to be directly affiliated with the SG. The Student Government Child Care Center proved to be a popular solution to the childcare problem on campus, though it eventually closed.

In 1992, the Child Development Center opened in Patriot Village, a series of trailers located not far from the present location of the Mason Inn. The facility, which only accepts the children of Mason faculty, staff, and students, has been widely praised by its patrons. In 2007, the Child Development Center moved to a new building next to the water tower on University Drive where it is presently located.

The Student Apartments: From A Commuter College to a Residential University:
George Mason’s rapid expansion from a branch campus of the University of Virginia to an independent university in such a short span of time was mirrored by its geographic and academic growth. The number of students who attended the University increased at a steady rate of approximately 35% a year during the mid-to-late-1960s. [1] By the mid-1970s, student requests for on-campus housing were beginning to create an identity crisis for the new university, which many had previously considered a commuter college.

The construction of on-campus housing had been under discussion for a number of years. Dr. Lorin Thompson, Chancellor of George Mason College, met with local construction experts to discuss apartment-style housing for students as early as 1968. [2] The college, then still a branch campus of the University of Virginia, had been chartered through a 1956 resolution that expressly denied permission to construct residential dormitories, as the college was to serve only the local region. The accelerated movement by the General Assembly and the State Council of Higher Education to expand Mason’s stature to a large independent university was set in motion by the Russell Report in late 1965. Hence the notion that it would not someday have student housing was becoming more and more antiquated.

Upon George Mason’s becoming an independent institution in 1972, the housing debate arose again. A meeting was called on October 29, 1973 to decide whether the university needed and wanted student housing, and if so, how it should be financed. [3] Lutrelle Parker, chairman of the Board of Visitors’ long-range land use committee, voiced some of the University officials’ enthusiasm when he stated: “My own philosophy is that a great university should have diversity and needs student housing.”[4] Others, like university patriarch C. Harrison Mann, Jr., would cite the increase in operating costs for both the state and the students and smaller budget allocations as deterrents to construction. No particular supporter of on-campus housing for George Mason, Mann also considered it his duty to remind the BOV of the stipulation in the 1956 resolution. [5] In the late Fall of 1973, the Board of Visitors consented to further discussion and possible action and asked for a presentation of dormitory financing options during its February 1974 meeting, believing the “issue of student housing to be an important one which has crucial implications for the future of George Mason University”. [6]

By 1976 the administration of the University had consented to the construction of student housing, and a plan was drawn for nine three-story apartments to house 497 students. Ground was broken in March 1976. [7] The two-, four-, and six-person apartments were designed to meet the need for housing that faced many commuter students at the time. The university had actually appealed to the local community to reach out to the 30% - 40% of the student body who struggled to find inexpensive housing during a time of economic distress and in an area with limited public transportation. [8] Apartment spaces were reserved for exchange students, athletes, minority students, and students with physical disabilities. The remaining spaces were open for out-of-state and commuter students. [9] The apartments were to be completed by the beginning of the 1977 school year. Wilson Sherman, the contractor, citing “abnormally bad ground conditions, bad weather, [and] the substantial number of changes and supply problems” among the unexpected delays, could not finish construction on time. The delay was more than just problematic for the construction company. The University had already promised housing for a number of students and had collected money from them.

These delays sent students already assigned to new dorm rooms instead of hotel rooms on Route 50, three miles north of campus. [10] Moving into a hotel was one of three options given to students whose dorms were not finished. Students could also receive a full refund or stay at home until the completion and receive a partial refund or prorated rent. [11]

While Dr. Robert C. Krug, Vice President for Academic Affairs, recalled that the students had a terrific time living in the hotels (they enjoyed throwing parties), the novelty soon wore off for many of them. [12] Students complained because they had no way to cook and were exceeding their budgets by eating out for every meal. They wanted to move into rooms with kitchenettes, but those weren’t available until after Labor Day. This problem was temporarily relieved in mid-September as students voluntarily “tripled-up” in the newly-available kitchenettes to cut down on costs, but feelings of isolation from the campus still remained. [13]

The university had been running free shuttle buses back and forth to the campus from the Quality Inn and Breezeway Motel every hour, and in response to student requests, weekend shuttles were offered as well so that the “inmates,” as the hotel-bound called themselves, could attend events and parties on campus. [14] The weekday shuttles cost the university about $1500 alone. [15] There were approximately 105 students living in the hotels, so the bill for those rooms also fell to the university, as well as long distance phone calls made by the students in the hotels and the overtime hours necessary to complete construction. George Mason withheld ten percent from each contractor’s payment to offset its costs. The University’s losses were then deducted from the final payment to Sherman. [16]

Five of the nine apartment-style buildings were opened on October 15, 1977, and residents were finally able to move in, though some assignments were temporary pending the completion of the other four units. [17] Though the apartments still had bugs to be worked out—the lights went out the first night and many students had trouble with the plumbing—the students were happy to finally be moved in and to have a college experience in which they interacted with one another outside of class.

While the delay caused a great deal of stress for both the administration and the students, the $4.15 million apartments ushered in a new era for the university. [18] As enrollment continued to skyrocket, demands for on-campus housing in the coming years would shape the university’s future and change the dynamics of student life forever.

Political Activism on the George Mason Campus and the Case of Dr. Fred Millar:
George Mason hadn’t been considered a politically-charged campus, nor had it been the focus of large demonstrations that characterized many other college campuses during the 1960s and 70s. There were some incidences of political activism on the part of both students and faculty on Mason’s otherwise relatively quiet campus. In some cases students took the lead in organizing and/or participating in acts of protest, such as the March on the Pentagon in 1967, the ill-fated Student Strike and Vietnam War Moratorium events of 1969, and the Kent State flagpole incident of 1970. In others members of the faculty served as catalysts for student and faculty action. A few George Mason faculty members may have lost their jobs because of their political activism. At least one, Dr. James M. Shea, went to prison for his beliefs.

During the late 1960s popular faculty members Lawrence Leftoff, Ruth Flint, William Tsow, and Dr. James M. Shea came under fire from the administration for encouraging anti-establishment thinking and acts of civil disobedience among their students with regard to the Vietnam War. [1] Administrators such as Dr. Robert C. Krug (Dean of the College) and Chancellor Lorin A. Thompson received complaints from a few students that these faculty members were not following the proscribed course objectives in terms of class readings and discussion, though a much larger number of their students approved of their classroom techniques. Dr. Shea, a professor in the Philosophy department took part in several high-profile acts of civil disobedience and protest over a three-year period. In some cases Dr. Shea encouraged students to participate with him. The Shea controversy was well-documented in the pages of The Gunston Ledger (later Broadside) and in local-area newspapers. He had both supporters and detractors.

During the mid-1970s Edmund Frederick Millar, a sociology professor, sparked a controversy that spurred students and faculty to take sides in a case regarding academic freedom and freedom of speech as it applied to a controversial but popular instructor. Millar came under faculty scrutiny after he canceled class one afternoon so his students could attend a speech by Senator Harry Byrd, Jr. of Virginia, who was up for reelection. The faculty did not seem to have a problem with the class cancellation; what it did have a problem with, however, was how the students’ time was used during the speech. Students allegedly passed out flyers containing anti-Byrd sentiments and statistics to other students at the speech in what some reports called a graded exercise. Millar defended his actions in a letter to the Editor of the Broadside, stating that the “aim [of going to Byrd’s presentation] was holding our elected officials accountable to us.”[2] He maintained that the “action/research project” was “optional and non-graded” (though Broadside interviews of some of his students refuted those claims) and that students used multiple sources to find information and presented what they considered a “balanced” perspective. [3]

The senior tenured faculty of the Sociology Department eventually recommended the termination of Millar’s contract. This advice was heeded by Acting President, Dr. Robert C. Krug. Outraged by the lack of information he was given as to what exactly the charges against him were, Millar responded to editorials and student newspaper articles, claiming that he believed the decision was purely political—his professed Marxist philosophy did not resonate well with many others. [4] Students who praised his teaching style or simply sought to protect “academic freedom” and promote student involvement in faculty decisions created the Student Coalition to Retain Fred Millar. Some forty-one faculty members signed a petition to keep him on board, citing his “valuable contributions to the George Mason community.”[5] They asserted that his “radical political perspective enable[s] him to challenge students to question their received ideas about themselves and their society, not only in an academic manner but in ways which actually result in genuine changes in feeling and attitude,” and that he had sparked student interest in current issues by bringing numerous speakers to the university. [6] While not necessarily supporting Millar, the Student Government passed a resolution stating that it was not happy with what they characterized as a lack of student input regarding the Millar case. [7]

About two hundred students and faculty members attended a rally in support of Millar in April 1977 before a public hearing was to be held on April 13. [8] Dr. Krug received an invitation to the hearing from two members of the Student Coalition, but said that his response—“Thank you for your communication of April 6, 1977”—reflected all his thoughts on the matter. [9] Neither Dr. Krug nor the senior Sociology faculty went to the hearing on April 13 in protest of the Sociology Department’s recommendation in February 1977 that Millar be granted a one-year terminal contract which would end his employment on June 30, 1978. [10] Senior professors of sociology who comprised the committee maintained that they had found “no current evidence that he [Millar] has attempted to improve his teaching” and that Millar “does not reach even minimal standards established in our profession”. [11] The latter comment was largely based upon Millar’s lack of publication in his six years at George Mason; Joseph Scimecca, Chair of the Sociology Department, called publication in peer-reviewed journals “the standard measure of scholarly productivity.” [12] Millar had previously been praised as a “strong and enthusiastic teacher” in a 1975 evaluation, however, and was voted George Mason’s “outstanding teacher of the year” that same year. [13]

Believing that strong support for his teaching methods merited reconsideration of his stance, Millar fought to have an open appeal hearing. He was eventually granted one in February 1978 after months of petitioning, citing alleged violations of the Faculty Handbook policy in regard to the handling of his case. [14] The College of Arts and Sciences Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure voted three to two that the recommendation to grant Millar a one-year terminal contract be reevaluated, but “the tenured faculty voted unanimously, 4 – 0, to uphold the original decision, on March 8, 1978.” [15] The announcement of Millar’s pending dismissal left some students and faculty disillusioned, and the decision, though perhaps welcomed by some in the Sociology Department, still for some in the Mason community “implie[d] that a teacher whose intellectual perspective is somehow unorthodox, whose teachings are unconventional, or who is in some other way out of step with his colleagues is unwelcome at [George Mason].” [16] An atmosphere of intolerance was not one for which the young university was known. The entire affair proved to be yet another of the many growing pains Mason would endure during its development into a major institution.

Dr. Robert Krug: A Short Presidency, A Long Legacy:
The unexpected resignation of President Vergil Dykstra in April 1977 came as a surprise to many, but to none more so than Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Robert C. Krug. Krug was appointed Acting President immediately following Dr. Dykstra’s departure having learned of his new position after returning from a short vacation. Though not an appointment he hoped to retain for an indefinite period, Dr. Krug’s brief presidency was just one of many important contributions he made to the University during its formative years.

A Richmond native, Dr. Krug returned to Virginia in the summer of 1948 after a number of years of successful academic and professional work after the completion of his degree in chemistry in 1940 from the University of Richmond. [1] Dr. Krug’s fiancé, Katherine Livingston, was a year younger than he, and they thought it best to wait to get married until after she graduated from college. That arrangement left him an extra year with which to explore his career options.

Dr. Krug and Katherine were married in 1941 and moved to Columbus, Ohio where he had accepted a research assistantship at Ohio State University. [2] After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, his project became a war research project in conjunction with the British Scientific Office and involved using hydrocarbons and mass spectrometers to analyze fuel. This project would prove to be a good experience for his next professional endeavor. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Ohio State in 1944. [3]

After completing his studies, Dr. Krug received a job offer from the Atlantic Refining Company in Philadelphia. He and Katherine moved again, and he began work on a second war-related project, this time to develop ways to increase fuel production. Though he passed his Army physical, his work at Ohio State and Atlantic Refining kept him from being drafted. Part of the job also involved basic research regarding petrochemicals, and one of his projects at Atlantic earned the company a patent. [4]

While still at Atlantic Refining, Dr. Krug received a call from a colleague at Washington and Lee University who needed to be relieved of teaching for one year to serve as Chairman of Washington and Lee’s Bicentennial program. He asked Krug if he would be willing to fill in. Thinking that a one-year contract would serve as a good introduction to teaching, Krug accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, and he and his family moved to Lexington, Virginia in the summer of 1948. His next foray into the world of teaching took him far beyond Washington and Lee.

Dr. Krug loved teaching chemistry, and after completing his year at Washington and Lee, he accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI, later known as Virginia Tech), so he and his family moved again in the summer in 1949. The Research Corporation of America and the United States Air Force provided assistance for his work there. Dr. Krug was named Department Chair in 1957 and became one of the first winners of the W. E. Wine Award for distinguished teaching at VPI in the School of Business Administration and Applied Science. [5] While he enjoyed his administrative work, he had a passion for the classroom and was particularly excited about the opportunity to introduce recent developments in chemistry, especially the discovery of DNA and RNA, in some of his classes.

In 1965, Joseph Vaughan, Chancellor of Community Colleges at the University of Virginia, invited Dr. Krug to visit Charlottesville. The topic of their meeting was the University’s branch campus in Fairfax: George Mason College. Dr. Krug met President Edgar F. Shannon of the University as well as several deans. He then visited the campus at George Mason College, where he was introduced to Dr. Robert Reid, the director, and other staff. At the time of Dr. Krug’s visit, there were only four buildings on the campus. Plans for expansion were already well underway; though enrollment was not expected to exceed around 2,500 students. There were plans for the construction of a free-standing Lecture Hall and a library.

Following another interview, Dr. Krug was offered not one, but multiple positions: Professor of Chemistry, Chairman of the Chemistry Department, Dean of the College, and Head of the Summer Session. This last title surprised him, as he hadn’t realized that George Mason College had a summer program. When he mentioned to Vaughan that he did not know Mason had a summer program, Chancellor Vaughan, according to Krug, replied: “We do now.”[6] The institution’s reliance on and confidence in Dr. Krug’s ability was a hallmark of his tenure. After accepting the positions, Dr. Krug returned to the campus for another visit and discovered that he was the only department chair at Mason because an earlier conflict—of whose origins he was unaware at the time— had caused many faculty members to resign. He had not known that the resignations were a result of the faculty’s conflict with Dr. Reid. He found himself, he later said, “in a position of having to build an entire college faculty practically from scratch.”[7]

Major initiatives during Dr. Krug’s first year at Mason included hiring at least a dozen new faculty members and establishing an “academic structure” at the college. Chancellor Vaughan personally tasked him with one of his biggest duties. At the first faculty meeting in September 1965, Vaughan announced that George Mason College would become a four-year college under the University of Virginia, and Dean Krug was assigned to draft the proposal—which was due by November 15. [8] Krug’s model for the new four-year college included four majors: Biology, English, History, and Business & Public Administration. The Business and Public Administration Program, which was unique to George Mason College, had been designed by Krug as he sought to create a solid foundation upon which George Mason College could grow. Wanting to separate the college from its contemporaries, he focused on Mason’s proximity to government agencies and the need for people with business skills to work in this sector made Business and Public Administration a good fit. The program was approved by the University at Charlottesville.

In meetings with Dr. Shannon at the University Krug discussed his future plans and goals for the college. Dr. Krug placed a high value on recruiting quality faculty, and he wished to have 70% of the full-time faculty with terminal degrees in their fields by the end of 1970. Another of his goals was to complete a demographic study of the college. Krug felt it was particularly important to consider the size of the school and how much room it would eventually need for growth. His insight did not go unnoticed. A commission was established to purchase several hundred acres of land in the name of the University of Virginia in order to lay the groundwork for the geographic expansion of the campus. The “academic expansion …was well underway.”[9] The construction of the buildings discussed at Dr. Krug’s interview in 1965 was now in progress: The Lecture Hall and the first building of the library were finished in December 1967 (students helped to transfer books to the new location and were rewarded with a free lunch). [10]

Exploring the college’s demographics was important to Dr. Krug, especially because of his recruitment efforts. During the early 1970s he met with members of the National Urban League. The group suggested to Krug that Mason did not have a sufficient number of black students and faculty. This meeting led to discussions about the roadblocks faced in minority recruitment: "It [was] very difficult for George Mason to recruit black faculty when they [could] get a higher-paying job at a more prestigious university like Harvard,” [11] recalled Dr. Krug. Both parties agreed that there existed a need to diversify the faculty and student bodies. Dr. Krug thought that the Bachelor of Individualized Study program, offered at the North Campus, might increase diversity, but it brought mostly changes in student age and interest, not necessarily race. Robert Hawkes, the Director of Extended Studies, introduced courses into minority communities in an attempt to reach out to students who might not ordinarily come to George Mason. This was a positive first step toward increasing diversity, but major strides were not made until the presidency of Dr. Vergil H. Dykstra.

George Mason College had been accredited as part of the University of Virginia, but the University thought that it was important for the college to be accredited in its own right due to its academic and geographic expansion. The process would require two years of intensive self-study. Chancellor Thompson asked three senior faculty members each to chair, but all three refused because of the workload. Dr. Krug consented to lead the project, and he was named Director of the Self-Study. The report, another of Dr. Krug’s major contributions to the College’s growth, was to be completed in July of 1970.

When George Mason College became an independent university in April 1972, Dr. Krug became Provost, then Vice President of Academic Affairs. When Dr. Dykstra, who had served the new university since 1973, left in April 1977, Dr. Krug became Acting President. He accepted the position with the stipulation that he did not wish to remain President; he would only fill in until a new president was chosen. [12] His official duties began on April 1, 1977.

Dr. Krug’s most important goals during his short term as president were to effectively define and manage the budget and to oversee the emergence of a law school in Arlington. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia did not support a law school connected to George Mason University during Krug’s term, but the issue was eventually resolved after, in Krug’s words, “Til Hazel later won over the Council” [13] by skillfully brokering the merger with the International School of Law in 1978. 1978 was a major budget year for the new university; one of the biggest disappointments of Dr. Dykstra’s term was that small budgets had not allowed the University to grow and that no new construction had been approved during his term. [14]Henry Adams, Vice President for Business Affairs, assisted Dr. Krug with planning. Adams succeeded in raising the salaries of classified staff and helped Krug develop a budget that allowed for new building expansion. Dr. Krug authorized the creation of a new psychology research building, oversaw the completion of the first on-campus housing, and worked to establish a computer system for the university.

Dr. Krug wanted to prepare the university for the future, and he believed that accomplishing that goal entailed developing a symbiotic relationship with the Northern Virginia and greater-Washington, D.C. areas: “The need, as I see it, is for GMU to move beyond the boundaries of the North Campus and the Main Campus,” said Krug in 1977. [15] The realization of that objective meant serving the surrounding area and utilizing the resources it made available. Dr. Krug wanted the graduate program to grow and pushed for the expansion of the Nursing, Fine Arts, and Business and Public Administration programs. He also wanted to explore the possibility of offering engineering and creating an East Campus in Arlington. [16]

Dr. Krug was a candidate for early retirement, so a search for a successor was in full swing at the end of his appointment. George Johnson, Dean at Temple University, was selected as President and slated to begin June 1978. He asked Dr. Krug to stay on for one last year as Vice President for Academic Affairs. That same month, Dr. Krug was honored to learn that the South Building would be named for him, and the Board of Visitors retroactively named him President, rather than Acting President, from April 1, 1977. [17] In his final year, he served once again as Vice President of Academic Affairs and followed a ten-year academic plan that had been developed by Dr. Ralph Baxter, who had taken Krug’s place while he was Acting President. After teaching chemistry for a few more years, he enjoyed a relaxing retirement with his wife and got into the cattle business. Dr. Krug passed away on October 29, 2006, but his contributions to George Mason have left a lasting legacy.

1978-1996:

Emergence:
Although George Mason University’s initial years of independence in the mid-1970s were met with some successes, the argument could be made that Mason was perhaps not reaching its fullest potential. Student housing had only been brought to campus after former President Dykstra, who strongly opposed dorms being built on campus, acquiesced to popular opinion. There were very few established graduate-level programs at Mason, and a potential law school was met with criticism from members of the university’s administration as well as the Commonwealth’s political establishment. Perhaps sensing that it was time for more dynamic leadership, George Mason’s Board of Visitors turned to a man from Temple University named George W. Johnson to serve as Mason’s fourth president in 1978.

Under Johnson’s eighteen-year tenure as President, the University expanded both its physical size and program offerings at a tremendous rate. Shortly before Johnson’s inauguration in April 1979, Mason acquired the School of Law and the new Arlington Campus. The University also became a doctoral institution. Toward the end of Johnson’s term, Mason would be deep in planning for a third campus in Prince William County at Manassas. Major campus facilities, such as Student Union Building II, Patriot Center, Center for the Arts, and the Johnson Learning Center, were all constructed over the course of Johnson’s eighteen years as University President. Enrollment once again more than doubled from 10,767 during the fall of 1978 to 24,368 in the spring of 1996.

The desire to create new academic programs and innovative centers for research were hallmarks of Johnson’s tenure. Undergraduate programs such as the Plan for Alternative General Education (PAGE) program (the predecessor of today’s Honors College) and New Century College were created during this time period. The Center for the Study of Public Choice, the Institute (later School) of Public Policy, the Institute (later school) for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and the Krasnow Institute are just a few of the many institutes established. Oftentimes, institutes and centers at Mason were staffed by talented faculty members who were restless in their previous places of employment, such as Nobel Laureate, James M. Buchanan. Johnson promised them the freedom to operate on their own, within certain limits, of course.

During the George W. Johnson era the University developed from an institution that was mostly local in scope to a major nationally-recognized university. Johnson, in contrast to previous presidents, drove George Mason to expand and grow in new and innovative ways and emerge from relative obscurity. Mason would now become a major player in Virginia higher education.

George W. Johnson: A Biographical Sketch:
As the 1970s came to a close, George Mason University found itself once again in need of a new president. Dr. Vergil H. Dykstra, Mason’s second president, left the university abruptly in April 1977. His replacement, the Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert C. Krug, declared he would only serve temporarily as acting president until a replacement could be found. The George Mason University Board of Visitors was intent on finding a permanent replacement, one who could lead the University effectively through the anticipated admissions growth and turn the University into a true educational force in Virginia. The Board found such a leader in Dr. George W. Johnson.

Johnson was born and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota during the Great Depression. His family was too poor to send him to college, but Johnson’s academic tenacity helped him receive a full-tuition scholarship to Jamestown College, a local liberal arts school. While he excelled in college--graduating with a 4.0 grade point average--Johnson was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. Serving in the military during the Korean War gave Johnson time to think about his future, and the G.I. Bill allowed him the opportunity to attend graduate school. Jamestown College had a strong alumni network, which helped Johnson get into Columbia University in New York City, where Johnson earned his masters and doctorate. [1]

After Columbia, Johnson studied in Heidelberg, Germany before taking jobs teaching at the University of Missouri and Rutgers University. [2]Johnson would then go on to Temple University in 1957. At Temple, Johnson claims he became enamored with teaching. However, Johnson soon took his first foray as a university administrator when he became chairman of the English Department. Johnson would later say he never wanted that job but felt pressured by his superiors to take it. [3]He then advanced to Associate Dean before becoming the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, a position Johnson held for ten years.

As dean at Temple, Johnson learned many of the skills needed to be an effective college administrator. He established a budget system in which each expense was seen as a project, and the associate deans helped prioritize all the projects. To assist in his efforts to run his department efficiently, Johnson learned to use his imposing six-foot-six-inch height and willingness to fight in order to forward his agenda. [4]Even Johnson characterized his demeanor as brash, rebellious, and stubborn. [5] Whether arrived at unfairly or not, Johnson earned a reputation for having an adversarial relationship with Temple University’s president and the Board of Directors, which led to many tense situations. [6]

After witnessing a number of altercations between Johnson and the Temple University Board of Directors, a friend submitted Johnson’s name for consideration for the open position of president of George Mason University in late 1977. Johnson had never heard of the school; however, a letter from the George Mason University Board of Visitors regarding his candidacy intrigued him. Johnson would later remark that the letter seemed to be written by someone unfamiliar with university administration, and he found it to have “a kind of charming freshness to it.” [7] The Board of Visitors held the search for a new president mainly in secret and met with Johnson for the first time at Dulles International Airport in early March of 1978. On March 8 the Board put Johnson on a short list of three candidates for a final interview. [8] During the interview process, Johnson was asked about his views of Mason’s future. “The shape of education in the future,” said Johnson, “is going to be wrought at places like Mason.” [9] According to Johnson, this was just the type of answer the committee wanted to hear. [10] The Board of Visitors officially offered the presidency to Johnson, who made the difficult decision to leave Temple after twenty-one years of service to move on to George Mason University.

Johnson set to work immediately after his July 1, 1978 start date to shake up George Mason University. He found Mason to be, in his words, an empty slate, as it had not distinguished itself in any field: academics, research, publication, or athletics. What it did have was the location—only fifteen miles from Washington DC in a community that was growing rapidly. Taking into consideration Mason’s lack of distinguishing traits and its newness, Johnson would use his mandate from the Board of Visitors to mold Mason into a major state university, but one that would be markedly different than the existing schools. Mason would not be allowed to imitate the other schools, according to Johnson, so it had to innovate, to be the prototype. [11]

One of Johnson’s earliest innovative moves was to form strong bonds between the University and the Fairfax County business community. Since its inception, the surrounding business, government, and corporate leaders have supported Mason through gifts of land and financial support, as well as participation on advisory councils and governing boards. [12] Mason could have remained a commuter college in one of Washington DC’s bedroom communities. However, the local business leaders had much grander plans for the area. [13] Personal computer technology was expanding, changing how people used computers. The growth of the federal government meant a growing need for more technological and consulting support. The business community in the Northern Virginia region was already planning on filling those needs. [14] In the future, the area businesses would demand a highly educated workforce as well as top-notch research facilities. This was exactly what a university like Mason could provide if it had the proper programs in place.

Johnson immediately joined the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and soon became its director. He had a foot in both the business world and the world of academia and made communication between the two worlds seamless. Many of the leaders of the Fairfax business community also served on the Mason Board of Visitors, and consequently had direct access to the decisions made at the university as well as at local governmental agencies. Because Mason was so young, it did not have a network of alumni who sponsored programs that enhanced the University’s legacy. Instead, Johnson forged a network of business leaders who sponsored the future of the University through donations and access to their businesses. Johnson called this network the George Mason Institute of Science and Technology (GMI). The formation of this organization might have started as an informal gathering of eighteen firms, however, the intentions and the efforts behind it were in earnest—Johnson wanted to create an environment for innovation similar to California’s Silicon Valley and its ties to Stanford University. [15] Here the leaders of the high-tech community could put forth their ideas and needs for higher education at Mason, and Johnson could encourage the businesses to donate time, money, and personnel to train students. GMI gave these leaders a perfect umbrella under which to meet and plan the future. By Johnson’s estimate, the GMI was responsible for raising six million dollars from 1978 to 1986. [16] Eventually, GMI was superseded by Northern Virginia Technology Council in 1993 and is today one of the leading forces of growth in Northern Virginia, with over 1,100 member firms. [17] The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) in Herndon, which provides funds and facilities for high-tech partnerships, was also an offshoot of Johnson’s efforts to marry the innovative potential at Mason with the entrepreneurial drive of the Northern Virginia area. [18]

The 123 Club, another Johnson-initiated business/university organization, was not an official structure, but instead an informal gathering of movers and shakers. Additionally, there was significant membership and activity overlap between this group and GMI. However, the 123 Club was formed, not only to improve the community but also to work on the challenges faced by the Northern Virginia region when dealing with the Commonwealth of Virginia. Early on, they met over dinner at the University President’s residence to hammer out strategies in which the University could aid local businesses and vice versa. [19] Johnson had noted the animosity between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state—an animosity he surmised was aggravated by the rise of the new economic realities of high tech, information, and international business relationships in Northern Virginia that were quickly supplanting the fading economic fortunes of tobacco, ironworks, paper mills, and shipyards that had previously ruled the commonwealth. Resentment also came from older political fights where some “down-staters” characterized the Northerners as Federal sympathizers and “carpetbaggers” who pushed against long-passed Virginia traditions such as segregated schools. [20] The 123 Club, named after the main highway through Fairfax County at that time, was meant as a subtle mockery of Richmond’s Main Street Club, the capitol’s organization of influential business interests. The fights the 123 Club won in Richmond affected how Northern Virginia and George Mason would grow in the future.

The usefulness of Johnson’s university/ business cooperation became readily apparent in the first battles he faced with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) over Mason’s acquiring of a law school and becoming a doctoral-degree granting institution. These were not fights Johnson had started, but he saw these steps as critical to his attempts to mold Mason into a pre-eminent university. The business community agreed and aided him in the fight through lobbying efforts. The story of this fight is covered in detail in two other essays in this exhibit: “Before We Became Part of the Mason Family,” and “The Law School Battle: Trial and Triumph.” Aiding the forces supporting George Mason University in Richmond was J. Wade Gilley, who was the Virginia Secretary of Education from 1978-1982. After his term was over, Gilley joined the Johnson administration at Mason as Senior Vice President for Facilities and supervised the explosive growth of the Mason campus until 1991. [21]

The emerging computer software and hardware industry demanded a workforce trained in the different specialties needed to program, install, repair, and operate these complex systems. In 1985, Johnson’s solution to this was one of his trademark marriages between the University and the business community: the School of Information Technology and Engineering (IT&E). Even the first dean of the program came from the high-tech business community: Andrew Sage of IBM ran the first-of-its-kind IT school in the United States. [22] The instructors came from the workbenches and cubicles of the industry as well as from other colleges; business needs determined the curriculum. Now the Volgenau School of Engineering, which features graduate degrees in information technology, is Mason’s largest school. [23]


Not all of Johnson’s initiatives to grow George Mason University came about as results of the interplay of business and academia, although Johnson did depend on community support for some of them. Johnson had wanted to shake up the established traditions of education during his time at Temple University, and he saw his opportunity to experiment with some ideas at Mason. [24] The initiatives took three forms: one was to change the structure of the disciplines, the second was to grow the facilities, and the third was to reform how teaching was done directly. The first two efforts included the formation of multiple institutes and new buildings and the third created new educational programs. True to Johnson’s form, each proved to be innovative in its own right.

Given the Board of Visitors’ mandate to turn Mason into a major state university, Johnson had to find ways to grow the university quickly but still strive toward high academic standards. He knew he did not have the decades it generally took to establish full programs in science, social studies, or humanities. [25] Johnson instead chose the more expedient but piecemeal method of attracting or creating institutes and anchoring them to the central university. In this way, George Mason became the home of the Institute for Conflict Analysis, the Center for the Study of Public Choice, the Institute for Public Policy, and the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies. Each of these programs are detailed in later essays in this exhibit.

The growth in the student population meant that Mason needed new buildings to hold the ever-increasing student body. For some time, the overflow was contained in mobile classrooms. However, Johnson wanted permanent new facilities that would not only grow with the number of enrollments but also enrich the students and the general regional population, too. He saw sports and the arts as two ways the University could interact with the community. To that end, Johnson lobbied the state legislature and the local community to build two much-needed facilities: the Patriot Center and the Center for the Arts. These two buildings provided state-of-the-art medium-sized venues for sports, the performing arts, and community events such as high school graduations and political rallies. In addition to these buildings, Johnson added major additions to the Arlington Campus and the Fairfax Campus, including the building that would eventually bear his name: the Johnson Center. Essays in this exhibit flesh out the struggles to get these major expenditures through the Commonwealth and to get them built.

Johnson’s third initiative to turn Mason into a prototypical university was to change how the curriculum was organized and teaching was done. Even though George Mason University itself was only seven years old in 1979, Johnson observed that many of the faculty were hold-overs from the days when Mason was still a branch college of the University of Virginia. Johnson railed against what he called a “restive” faculty, and complained that he was in charge of a local university that could have national significance, but that his “Harvard aspirations” were coming up against a “community college attitude.” [26] Johnson perceived what he described as an “inappropriate, inherited UVA culture,” [27] and that many of these “UVA people” might have distrusted him since they had not seen such an assertive president at the University of Virginia. [28] To get his innovations injected into the classical educational system, Johnson created and sponsored a group of “wedge programs” that emphasized inter-disciplinary learning. Johnson was an early champion of the inter-disciplinary approach to education—allowing students to learn the same information from multiple specialties. The Plan for Alternative General Education (PAGE), the New Century College (NCC), and the Honors College were all experimental wedge programs that brought interdisciplinary study to Mason, and their rise is detailed in a later essay in this exhibit. The changes in the curriculum and the organization of degree programs helped Mason to develop the wider scope of classes that characterize a “university” in all the senses of the word.

One of Johnson’s many enduring legacies to Mason was his innovation of the Robinson Professor Program. His goal was to help community leader Clarence Robinson fulfill his desire to see undergraduate education at Mason achieve the highest possible caliber. Robinson did not want his generous donation to the University to go for bricks and mortar but instead wanted to encourage increased enrollment by bringing in great teachers. Against the opposition of some faculty members, who wanted the money to go to the entire faculty, Johnson instead created a program focused on bringing fifteen outstanding instructors to teach only undergraduates. [29] The essay “A Dedication to the Teaching of Undergraduates” outlines the entire program.

Throughout his tenure, Johnson continued to enjoy the same unwavering support from the Board of Visitors as he had received upon his initial ascension to Mason’s presidency in 1978. Johnson claims that this support encouraged him to postpone his retirement by three years. Ultimately, in 1994, newly elected Governor George Allen changed the composition of the Board in ways that made Johnson’s relationship with the University’s governing body increasingly difficult. While Johnson said he probably could have stayed on longer, he announced his impending retirement in August 1995. [30] Johnson retired at the end of the 1996 school year and was succeeded by Dr. Alan G. Merten. Johnson died May 30th, 2017. [31]

Johnson’s legacy still lives on at George Mason University. The building which has become the center of campus, both literally and figuratively, bears his name. The innovative programs begun under him continue to be highlights of Mason’s success. Having earned the distinction of being the university’s longest-serving president, George Johnson’s influence both within the institution and outside it has had a strong bearing upon what George Mason University is today.

Before We Became Part of the Mason Family: The Story of the International School of Law:
Vietnam veteran and recent graduate of University of Virginia School of Law, Daniel D. Smith and his wife were on their way to the Brabner-Smith farm one day during the summer of 1972. Smith was a United States Marine officer stationed at Quantico and was looking into going into private practice after being discharged from the service. While Smith’s career was just starting, John Brabner-Smith’s was winding down. Since receiving his law degree in 1927, Brabner-Smith had a long and distinguished career which included working to bring down Al Capone and teaching law at Northwestern Law School. [1] Mrs. Brabner-Smith and Mrs. Smith were already friends. They thought their husbands, who both shared similar interests, should meet. The two men hit it off almost immediately, and Brabner-Smith went on to reveal his plans for the next stage in his career to Daniel Smith. [2]

Brabner-Smith planned to start a law school. He told Daniel Smith that the outlying areas in Northern Virginia needed an exclusive school to call their own. The great demand for a legal education meant that hundreds of unsuccessful law school applicants were left without a seat at any institution each year. These applicants could potentially constitute the student body of a brand new law school. Brabner-Smith insisted that his institution would be different from la schools operating at that time: it would provide students with a strong foundation in the origins of law, particularly its Judeo-Christian roots. The study of morality and ethics would be an integral part of the curriculum of Brabner-Smith’s school. Several weeks after their initial meeting he offered Daniel Smith a spot on the small committee he founded to organize the law school. At first, Smith declined, hoping to continue with his plan of opening a private practice. After reconsidering the idea, Smith accepted the offer in August 1972 to help organize a new law school. [3]

In order for a law school to succeed it must have students willing to attend it. Daniel Smith and another school organizer, recently retired labor law judge George Powell, traveled to the admissions offices of several area law schools. While the offices could not legally release any confidential information, they did give Smith and Powell the names and contact information of approximately six hundred applicants. Using a mimeograph machine, Smith drafted letters to be sent to them, gauging their interest in attending a brand new law school. Smith also found a home for the school in a classroom at the Federal Bar Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. A deal was struck to allow the law school to rent the classroom space when not being used by law review courses. Brabner-Smith formally christened the law school the International School of Law (ISL). The name was chosen because Brabner-Smith intended for the school to focus on international law, although this idea never quite fully developed. [4]

The International School of Law began meeting with prospective students in the rented classroom in September of 1972. It was decided that veterans entering the school would not be charged tuition. Usually, the federal government compensated veterans for tuition at approved schools. However, the ISL was not accredited at the time and thus, not approved. Veterans made up about one-third of the inaugural class, and despite considerations to the contrary, the ISL would never charge veterans for tuition during the entirety of its existence. [5]

Obtaining accreditation by the American Bar Association (ABA) was the first major problem the ISL faced in the beginning. Such accreditation is necessary in order for a law school’s students to be permitted to take the Bar Exam in the United States. While it is not uncommon for a school to be rejected for approval the first or even second time an accreditation review is requested, school administrators needed a contingency plan in case the school was not accredited by the time the first class graduated. Administrators discovered ways in which a student could still sit for the Bar Exam in certain states without graduating from an ABA-accredited school. The ISL did receive accreditation by the Virginia Bar Association about 3 years after its founding. This permitted ISL students to sit at least for the Virginia Bar Exam.

The first ISL class was comprised of 32 students, and all faculty members were hired on a part-time basis. Brabner-Smith was appointed Dean of the Law School and Daniel Smith was named Administrative Dean. As Administrative Dean, Smith’s job was to hire faculty, set up classes, and maintain facilities. Both Brabner-Smith and Smith taught classes, and in keeping with law school tradition, the ISL did not permit first-year students to take classes outside the established curriculum.

During the second year of its existence, the ISL moved its operations to the home of former United States Chief Justice Douglas White on Rhode Island Avenue. [6] It was during this time that the ISL finally began to grow in size and stature: the school now had extracurricular activities such as a Student Bar Association, a law review journal, and a moot court. However, despite these achievements, it was turned down for accreditation by the ABA. The ABA told the ISL that it needed a larger library, more updated facilities, and a full-time faculty. Students and faculty pitched in to renovate their existing building, although a lack of money made it very difficult to expand the library or hire full-time faculty. The ISL began to participate in a network with other law libraries in which books and journals were traded. Daniel Smith supervised the law library until the ISL garnered enough money to hire a law librarian. When Brabner-Smith left the school in 1975, Smith served as Acting Dean of the ISL for a few months. [7]

In September of 1975, Ralph Newton Norvell, a respected legal scholar, was appointed Dean of the ISL. Norvell believed that the ISL needed a bigger facility, so the institution purchased a building in Arlington which had recently housed Kahn’s Department Store. [8]There was talk of a Metrorail line running through Arlington, and Norvell thought that the future Metro line would make the ISL more attractive, thereby increasing admissions. However, despite all the improvements, ISL still could not achieve accreditation. The school administrators knew that the only way to achieve accreditation would be to affiliate the ISL with a major university.

The idea of a merger of the ISL with George Mason University first emerged in1976. The Honorable Charles S. Russell, a judge for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and later, the Supreme Court of Virginia, was a close associate of ISL dean, Ralph Norvell. Russell became aware that the George Mason University Board of Visitors was interested in adding a law school to their relatively new university. Aware that both institutions were looking for possible partnerships, Russell set up a meeting between Norvell and the Rector of Mason’s Board of Visitors, John “Till” Hazel. The meeting took place in Arlington at an eatery across the street from the ISL campus. Hazel and Norvell agreed that a merger would be highly beneficial for both the ISL and George Mason. It would be particularly appealing to the ISL as the ABA was in the process of instituting a new regulation requiring law schools to be affiliated with an existing institution of higher education in order to receive accreditation. Mason’s Board of Visitors thought that acquiring an existing law school would probably be more attractive to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and the General Assembly than establishing a brand new, and most likely, more expensive school. The two men had lunch, shook hands, and agreed to work together and do whatever was necessary to convince SCHEV to approve the merger.

The Law School Battle: Trial and Triumph:
On November 14, 1973, the George Mason University Board of Visitors agreed that Rector John C. Wood would send a letter of intent regarding the creation of a law school to the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) in Richmond. A feasibility study that was already underway would be continued, and an advisory committee of citizens would be established to present a report on their findings to the Board as soon as possible. [1] The next day the letter was sent and what would prove to be a long, hard battle was underway.

George Mason became an independent university in the spring of the previous year and President Lorin A. Thompson began drafting plans for expansion almost immediately. John T. “Til” Hazel, an attorney, real estate developer, and a driving influence behind Mason’s acquisition of the Law School, had served the University in a variety of ways. He was a member of Mason’s Advisory Board, a member of the first Board of Visitors (later the Rector), and as both member and chair of the Board of Trustees of the George Mason University Foundation, which he had helped to establish. [2] Hazel believed that George Mason would need a law school in order to become recognized as a world-class university: “It would give professional status to the University and raise it above the community college status it otherwise always would have… [George Mason] needed a professional school, and the law school was the doable way to achieve that because it was not capital intensive. [3] Mason desired the support of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and needed the approval of the General Assembly before it could proceed. [4] While Rector John Wood and the Board of Visitors petitioned SCHEV, Hazel began a five-year lobbying effort in 1973 to request the General Assembly’s support, but his efforts bore no fruit. [5]

The Board of Visitors’ 1973 letter to the State Council was not received warmly. Dr. Daniel Martin, the Director of SCHEV, replied to Wood’s letter on December 21, 1973, emphatically stating: “…It is the judgment of the State Council on Higher Education that an additional law school is not needed in the Commonwealth in the foreseeable future.” [6] If anything, the Board of Visitors’ resolve was strengthened by this rejection. The University and Board of Visitors formed a law school advisory committee. It was chaired by James H. Simmonds, former president of the Virginia State Bar Association, and comprised twenty-two prominent attorneys and judges from Northern Virginia. It was tasked with compiling a report on the need for a law school in Northern Virginia. Dr. Lorin A. Thompson, who had retired the previous year as the first president of George Mason University, along with Michael Cardozo, former executive director of the Association of American Law Schools, also contributed. [7] The committee’s final report expressed its determination:

The establishment of a law school at George Mason University would be a step toward the development of a strong and diversified institution in accordance with the broad general goals of the Master Plan adopted and approved in 1968. In 1965 George Mason was recommended to become a regional university for Northern Virginia in the State Plan for the Development of Higher Education in Virginia...The bare fact that over 800 Northern Virginians are now forced, because of lack of facilities, to attend District of Columbia law schools, paying more than 3 times the tuition of the two state law schools, not only establishes a conclusive case of need, but speaks loudly as to the gross inequity of treatment of a large body of Virginia citizens. [8]

Undeterred by the previous dismissal, the Board of Visitors formally requested permission from SCHEV to establish a law school on September 26, 1974. [9] The Law School Advisory Committee held that “…The establishment of a law school at George Mason University represents an educational bargain for the Commonwealth of Virginia. With no capital outlay requirement and a small operating cost, the state can fulfill an obligation to its citizens and at the same time relieve the growth pressures on other institutions.” [10] The Board believed this proposal made a great deal of sense, considering the law schools at the University of Virginia and William and Mary were unable to serve hundreds of qualified students because of a lack of space. [11] They planned to house the law school at George Mason’s North Campus (the former Fairfax High School acquired by George Mason in 1971), so no construction costs would result.

Wood hoped that the law school would be approved by SCHEV so that it might receive the General Assembly’s backing during its brief 1975 session, in which case funds could be allotted for the University’s 1976 – 1978 budget. The Advisory Committee projected enrollment of 300 – 400 students in its first year; Virginia students would pay $1000 per year, and out-of-state students, $2100 per year. [12]

Some legislators, like Edward Holland, a state senator from Arlington, believed the Committee’s report “made an excellent case for the law school, pointing [out] the problem, the need and the feasibility for establishing the School within current budgetary limitations,” though he cautioned that the economic downturn during that time might present a roadblock to the proposal’s ratification in the General Assembly. [13]

In November 1974, the Board of Visitors received disheartening (and indeed hurtful) news. SCHEV had produced its own report about the feasibility of a law school at George Mason, and its desire to prevent the establishment of one was quite clear. George Mason, it maintained, was a “regional” university, independent for only two years, and as such, it “must be regarded as a developing institution with a promising future but one which has yet to establish either a reputation for excellence or the facilities required to achieve excellence.” [14] The report cited graduate programs that were not yet “fully productive,” a “markedly inadequate library,” lack of development, and the need for “considerable expenditures and commitment” among some of its concerns. It also relayed the expectation of Millard Ruud, Executive Director of the Association of American Law Schools, that “it [is] essential for a new law school to be competitive with the middle range, or average, law schools in the United States…there is simply no need or justification to start a new law school at any lower level.” [15] Seemingly associating George Mason with “lower level” institutions, the report attempted to console the Board of Visitors by offering: “[i]t is, in fact, more essential that a law school be part of a major university than it is that a major university have a law school.” The letter concluded by noting that the Council staff felt that George Mason was not the proper place at which to establish a law school, “even if one were needed in Virginia…It is clear from its [George Mason’s] own study that [the] university cannot, at this time, aspire to such excellence.” [16] Not surprisingly, the Board of Visitors’ request was struck down in the January 1975 General Assembly, as well.

The issue was becoming of increasing interest to the general populace throughout the state, and tensions were growing. An editorial entitled “Enough Law Schools” in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on January 24, 1975, called the State’s veto of a George Mason Law School “highly encouraging,” citing the evidence collected by the SCHEV report, the lack of jobs for lawyers, and the expansion plans in place at Virginia’s four law schools (the University of Virginia, William and Mary, Washington and Lee, and the University of Richmond). The author of the editorial C.L. Sulzberger, acknowledged that “Northern Virginians may regard their populous realm in the shadows of the District of Columbia as a region that merits its ‘own’ law school. But any law school worthy of the name is much more than a ‘community’ college; it is at least a statewide resource, and at best one of national attraction.” [17]

C. Harrison Mann, Jr., who was a major contributor in the fight for the law school, responded with his own commentary: “I was somewhat saddened, though not especially surprised, by your January 24 editorial, ‘Enough Law Schools’. I had hoped you had outgrown your parochial (‘to hell with them’) reaction to the needs of Northern Virginia.” He reiterated the number of Northern Virginians forced to pay thousands more to go to law school in Washington, D.C., and again pointed out that the existing Virginia law schools simply could not accommodate enough people: “‘That’s tough’ seems to be the attitude of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the State Council of Higher Education…Obviously you couldn’t care less about the gross inequity of treatment of a large body of Virginia citizens.” [18]

Still resolute, the Board of Visitors made another formal request in 1976, but this also to no avail. [19] In a letter to the Honorable W. Roy Smith before the decision was made, Mann wrote:

I was asked …to make a presentation for the George Mason Law School, which is needed as badly as the dormitories aren’t [he did not at all support the construction of student dormitories on campus]...The object, as you know, was to get a reconsideration of last year’s decision, which I am afraid reflected some University of Virginia and William and Mary staff lobbying. Why the devil these two law schools should want to gig this proposal I don’t know since they aren’t admitting but one-third of the Virginia applicants, leaving the rest to scramble the best they can. Of course, they could admit more Virginians—but just try to get them to forget their Ivy League delusions. We have a tremendous professorial potential here in the large number of retireds and members of the bar who are highly desirous of teaching part-time. Admittedly, the professors’ union takes a dim view of this, much preferring to take theoretical, untrained teachers rather than the real world types. These ivory tower boys have considerable impact and influence on their counterpart types in the Council’s staff. I call your attention to the fact that there are also those who like to play God and contend that since nationwide we are over-producing lawyers, Joe Doaks should not be given his opportunity to get a legal education and try his hand at it if he wants. [20]

While Mann lamented the decision, it was praised by another editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “In restating its opposition to the establishment of a law school at George Mason University in Fairfax County, the State Council of Higher Education made exactly the right decision. It would be an egregiously irresponsible act for the General Assembly to override that decision.” The author expressed concern about spending during a period when funds for local schools and state colleges had been reduced and believed that the state already produced enough lawyers, continuing: “There is neither need nor money for such a facility. Until both materialize, George Mason’s proposal should be filed and forgotten.” [21] Following the two failed attempts and the wishes that the proposal be “filed and forgotten”, individuals within the George Mason community were beginning to feel as though their institution was not being treated as a “real university.” Former president of George Mason University, Dr. George W. Johnson, would later say, “[a] law school was the mark of a real university. For that reason, if not for others, it was fiercely resisted [by the state educational system].” [22] The two sides were pitted almost bitterly against each other—and George Mason was losing.

The winds of change would sweep through Northern Virginia later that year. The International School of Law (ISL) in Arlington was experiencing difficulties gaining accreditation and faced imminent closure. Realizing that a merger between the two schools would be mutually beneficial, Til Hazel and ISL dean, Ralph Norvell, met and agreed to work together for the mutual benefit of both parties. After meeting and entering into negotiations, the George Mason Foundation purchased the ISL property in Arlington’s Virginia Square neighborhood for $3.2 million in November 1978, one month before ISL’s lease was set to expire. The Foundation, a non-profit corporation established to supply the university with funds beyond that which it receives from the state, initially intended to lease the former Kann’s Department Store building, to prospective businesses to raise money for a new law school. [23] Following this relatively bold move, SCHEV issued another report to the General Assembly strongly recommending that the merger not be approved. [24] Things looked bleak for George Mason, as it faced a third rejection. The situation was even bleaker for ISL students, whose degrees would mean nothing without the merger because their school was not accredited. On November 7, 1978, Dean Norvell sent a message to the students and faculty of the ISL:

“I regret that I must confirm what most of you already know. [SCHEV] has acted unfavorably as to the authorization of a law school at George Mason University with the obvious consequence as to merger….There is no ambiguity as to the unfavorable nature of the Council’s action in terms of plans George Mason has been proceeding upon.” [25]

The next day, he added that the Board of Visitors and administration at George Mason were not prepared to back down but that “the responsible officials at GMU do not consider the matter resolved and have pledged to do all that is within their power to see the matter through to a successful conclusion.”

As preparation for the 1979 General Assembly Session began, Norvell commended his students for their poise and composure during such an uncertain period. [26] Dean Norvell’s students were more than just simply poised and composed. They became energized, and in the end they would play a crucial role in influencing the General Assembly’s final decision. In February 1979 several ISL students traveled to Richmond to personally lobby the General Assembly on behalf of the merger. Til Hazel also drove to Richmond to appeal to the legislature. Time was of the essence, because the Assembly is only in session for thirty days during odd-numbered years. “I was down there lobbying every way I knew how, but the real lobbyists, the effective ones, were the law students,” Hazel said. “They went down there and talked quietly and behaved and got the job done. The legislators saw they weren’t a bunch of student radicals, but were serious people who wanted a good law school.” [27] Legislators noted the power of their presence; one found them the “most positive effort of the merger campaign,” and many legislators would vote against SCHEV’s opposition this time because of the passion and eloquence of the ISL students. [28]

While the arguments both for and against the establishment of a George Mason Law School were essentially the same as they had been in the previous hearings, the stakes were much higher this time. Til Hazel noted that 1979’s request was distinct from the earlier petitions because it was “a once in a lifetime chance.” [29] George Mason could move into an existing facility with a large library, so there would be few start-up costs. Proponents of the merger continued to point out that Northern Virginians were in need of access to an institution offering legal education. Despite SCHEV’s advice, the State Senate and House of Delegates both passed Senate Bill 607 (on February 5 and 7, respectively) by large margins, to the surprise and delight of the George Mason community. [30] Vice President of Academic Affairs, Robert Krug, remarked that it was highly unusual for the General Assembly to vote against SCHEV’s recommendations. Marshall Coleman, Attorney General, noted, “I recognize that the Council of Higher Education has different views, but the Council’s function is advisory.” [31]

With the General Assembly’s passing of the bill, ISL merged with George Mason to form the George Mason University School of Law. The former ISL students received accredited degrees during the spring of 1979 and were able to take the bar exam. George Mason finally had a law school and the prestige that came with it. Harriet Bradley, a former Fairfax County supervisor and member of George Mason’s Board of Visitors, later noted that Til Hazel and George Johnson (along with the help of many others) “accomplished the seemingly impossible. [The acquisition of the law school is] a remarkable story.” [32] After losing several tough battles, George Mason University had finally won the war.

The School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution:
In the spring of 1979, just seven years after it became an independent University, George Mason established a law school and became a doctoral degree-granting institution. This development encouraged the establishment of new programs—both graduate and doctoral—that would continue to make a name for the young university.

The School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (SCAR) is one such program that evolved in the years following Mason’s becoming a doctoral degree-granting institution. Its name has gone through many variations since its inception in 1981—it was known as the Center for Conflict Resolution, the Center for the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict, the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) before it was promoted to “school” status. The idea for the Center initially stemmed from proposals in the United States Congress to create a United States Academy of Peace during the late 1970s. [1] Dr. Bryant Wedge, a social psychiatrist, first suggested the creation of the Center for Conflict Resolution at George Mason. Dr. Wedge became its first director after he and Henry C. Barringer established the Center in 1981 as a model for the future national center. [2] In an interview with The Washington Post, Wedge stated that “[c]onflict is an inevitable part of the human condition and can result in great growth. The enemy is not conflict. The enemy is war.” [3] This theme, which identified conflict situations as presenting the opportunity for growth, was reflected in the mission statement issued by the Center in its early years: “[t]he mission of the Center is to advance the understanding and resolution of significant and persistent human conflicts among individuals, groups, communities, identity groups and nations through research, instruction, clinical and outreach activities.” [4]

The four components of the Center—research, instruction, clinical service, and outreach—in addition to relationships with the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution (NCPCR), the Consortium on Peace Research, Education, and Development (COPRED), and the Conflict Clinic, Inc., a dispute-resolution organization, “provide[d] the critical mass required for the Center to lead the development of the field of peacemaking and conflict resolution into the coming decades.” [5] Dr. James H. Laue used the term “critical mass” to describe the phase in development reached by the Center in 1987 when it received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation for several hundred thousand dollars to create four tenure-track faculty positions and saw the establishment of the Edwin W. Lynch Professorship. [6] The Lynch Professorship complemented a faculty that included esteemed and well-published professors including Dr. Dennis J. Sandole, the Center’s part-time faculty member; Dr. Laue; Dr. John W. Burton; Dr. Joseph Scimecca, the Center’s second director; and Professor Richard Rubenstein, his successor. [7]

Rubenstein noted that a key turning point in the Center’s direction had come with the appointment of Dr. Burton, former head of the Australian Foreign Office and founder of the Conflict Resolution Program at the University of London, as a distinguished visiting professor in 1986:

A man of broad experience, innovative ideas, and strongly held opinions, Burton’s overall goal was to help establish CCR as an autonomous discipline liberated from the assumptions and methods governing other disciplines. His particular aims, which strongly influenced the center’s work, were to focus research on long-term conflict resolution, not just temporary settlement of disputes; to develop the theory of Basic Human Needs as a basis for understanding deep-rooted social conflicts; and to put theory to the test of practice by developing and facilitating analytical problem-solving workshops.[8]

Professors like Burton were essential to the Center’s interdisciplinary programs. The Center began offering a Master of Science degree in Conflict Management in 1982 through the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 1987; both were the first degrees of their kind in the United States. [9] The Center promoted a “cross-disciplinary approach that involves several academic disciplines” so as to “separate it from the mass—or mess—of peace studies generally, and place [it] firmly in the consultative, decision-making, preventive area of studies,” an approach which linked it with management studies and political science, among other subjects. [10]

Following a period of steady growth in both student enrollment and faculty and staff appointments that began in 1988, the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution became the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, an independent unit that reported directly to the Provost’s Office, in 1991. [11]

Enrollment continued to increase, bolstered by programs like the Applied Practice and Theory Program, which started in 1992. [12] ICAR was selected as a Commonwealth Center of Excellence by the State Council on Higher Education for Virginia, and in 1997 was awarded a $325,000 grant to “hire new faculty, increase student enrollment, and undertake new research and conflict intervention projects.” [13] The Institute then received a one million dollar grant from the Rice Family Foundation to create the Henry Hart Rice Chair for Conflict Resolution, to be held by the director of a proposed retreat center. This International Conference and Retreat Center was to be built on land donated by long-time benefactor Edwin W. Lynch, a local politician and businessman, and his wife Helen, who gave their thirty-nine acre Mason Neck property, “Point of View,” specifically for its construction. [14] The Retreat Center was designed to provide a quiet meeting space for research and learning and could host up to 100 participants with overnight accommodations for twenty-seven.

An increased interest in the field following the September 11, 2001 attacks led to a 35% increase in applications in 2002; the number of students accepted, seventy-two, represented a 25% increase from 2001. [15] As enrollment increased, ICAR became too large for its Fairfax location in the University Townhouses, and it moved to the Arlington Campus in the fall of 2004. In July 2011 the Institute became the School of Conflict Analysis, the first of its kind in the world. Today it is known by the name Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

The Calculus of Achievement: James Buchanan and His Nobel Prize:
During the 1980s, George Mason University was still a relatively little-known local institution that had been quietly growing year by year. Despite an impressive building program on campus and a rapidly growing student body, the University still lacked a major accomplishment that would allow it to compete with the leading institutions of the era. That would all change in 1986 when a faculty member in its Economics department, Dr. James M. Buchanan, won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

James McGill Buchanan was born in rural Tennessee on October 3, 1919. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middle Tennessee State Teacher’s College in 1940, where he majored in Social Sciences, English, and Mathematics. At that time there was no undergraduate economics major available at Middle Tennessee State. After graduation, Buchanan was presented with three possible directions in which he could go: he could teach at the local high school, he could work at a bank in Nashville, or he could accept a fellowship in economics. Buchanan accepted the fellowship because of the money and housing opportunities it offered. He would later say that he could have easily become a literary critic if he was offered a fellowship in English. [1]

In 1941 Buchanan received his Master of Science from the University of Tennessee, and in 1948 he completed a PhD. from the University of Chicago. While studying at Chicago, Dr. Buchanan met economist Frank Knight and studied the writings of Swedish economist, Knut Wicksell. Buchanan would later say that Frank Knight taught him “everything,” particularly “to challenge conventional wisdom in all areas.” [2]

Buchanan began developing his Public Choice Economics Theory in the late 1950s when he accepted a professorship at the University of Virginia. Also on the school’s faculty was G. Warren Nutter, a former fellow doctoral student of Buchanan’s in Chicago. The two decided to continue their previous doctoral work on a “public choice” system of economics, dealing with public officials’ economic interest in public safety and other government interactions. Quite simply, Buchanan maintained that it was naïve to think that elected officials are public servants who principally make policy in the “public interest.” Rather, he argued, they make decisions based upon their own self-interests and motivations.

In 1957, the University of Virginia established the Thomas Jefferson Center for Studies in Political Economy, designed to introduce economics students to public choice theory. [3] The new center would be visited by high-ranking scholars, such as Frank Knight, and also hire new instructors, such as Gordon Tullock, a post-doctoral fellow. During the 1959-1960 academic year, Buchanan and Tullock collaborated on The Calculus of Consent, which would go on to become the most respected work on the topic of Public Choice economics. Towards the end of the 1960s, the University hired a new director of the Center who changed its approach to the teaching of economics. Buchanan did not agree with this move, and in 1968 he left Virginia to take a one year teaching position at the University of California Los Angeles.

After his one year term at UCLA ended, Dr. Buchanan moved back to Virginia in 1969 to join the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, better known today as Virginia Tech. Dr. Gordon Tullock and the faculty at Buchanan’s Thomas Jefferson Center at Virginia then moved to Virginia Tech to rejoin Buchanan. The new center was named the Center for the Study of Public Choice. The Center was housed in the University president’s former residence. Buchanan would later remark that the new office configuration permitted faculty members to simply open their doors and consult one another. He also liked the building because it was freestanding, and spacious enough that all classes affiliated with the center could be taught inside it. Buchanan and his colleagues were content to stay at Tech for the next fifteen years, until another university offered a new home for the Public Choice Center.

George Mason University had only been an independent university for eleven years in 1983 and had a promising but relatively unknown Economics Department. University President George W. Johnson was in the midst of implementing his ambitious faculty recruitment plan, a then-radical approach that promised new faculty more control over their courses. Mason professor, Dr. Karen Vaughn, then Chair of the Economics Department, along with J. Wade Gilley, Vice President for Academic Affairs, convinced Buchanan to move the entire Public Choice Center to Mason.

The arrival of Buchanan and his associates in 1983 doubled the size of Mason’s Economics Department, which had just begun to offer a doctoral degree program. Gordon Tullock once again followed the Center to Fairfax, its latest home. Dr. Tullock remained at Mason for a few years before leaving to teach at the University of Arizona. In 1999, Tullock returned to George Mason to teach courses at the School of Law. He retired in 2008. Economist Dwight R. Lee joined the Center in 1981 while it was still at Virginia Tech. He followed it to George Mason, where he remained until 1985. Lee is now a faculty member at the University of Georgia.

On October 16, 1986, Dr. Buchanan was notified that he would be the recipient of the 1986 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for "his (Buchanan’s) development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision-making.” [4] This prestigious award had previously been given to such luminaries in the field of economics as Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. University President Johnson commented that the award rightly “calls attention to GMU” and added that “we are basking in his (Dr. Buchanan’s) reflective glory.”[5] Dr. Buchanan was presented with the award on December 8, 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden. The first-ever Nobel laureate in the Virginia State University System, Dr. Buchanan was asked by Dr. Johnson to be George Mason University’s 1987 Commencement Speaker. [6]

Since being awarded the Nobel Prize, Dr. Buchanan has continued to play an active role in the field of economics. He is currently a professor emeritus at both George Mason University and Virginia Tech. In addition to contributing to the field of economics, Dr. Buchanan’s Nobel Prize helped firmly establish Mason’s emerging reputation as one of the finest public universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

George Mason Women’s Soccer Wins the 1985 National Championship:
Fans of George Mason University athletics recall the Men’s Basketball team’s road to the NCAA Final Four in 2006 as a seismic event in Mason’s athletic history. But this was not the first major accomplishment by a George Mason University team. Twenty-one years earlier the George Mason University Women’s Soccer team became National Champion by winning the 1985 NCAA Division One Tournament.

Mason’s road to the title began three years earlier with the birth of the program. In 1982 Mason Athletics added Women’s Soccer to its existing varsity sports. Men’s Soccer at Mason had been around since the late 1960s and by the early 1980s, had built up a respectable record. Athletic Director Jack Kvancz hired Hank Leung, a thirty-three-year-old graduate of Drexel University to begin and direct a women’s program at Mason. During that initial season, the Patriots compiled a 14-4-1 record and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, only to lose in the first round to Princeton. The Mason women would earn a spot in the Tournament in each of its first four years, winning a total of 63 matches while only losing 14 and tying 7 during that period.

The Patriots ended the 1985 season at 14-2-1 and ranked Number 3 in the nation, earning them a spot in the NCAA Tournament. In the first match Mason defeated William and Mary in a penalty kick shootout after double overtime. Their next opponents were the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons. Mason defeated Cortland 1-0 in regulation to set up the next match against the undefeated Number 1-ranked University of Massachusetts. After a 0-0 tie at halftime, the Patriots scored 3 second-half goals to defeat the top-seeded Minutewomen 3-0 and set up a final with North Carolina.

The final match, pitting Mason and the Tarheels, was played on the George Mason University Campus at Fairfax on November 24th. Before a partisan crowd of 4,500 and an ESPN television audience of millions, Mason scored first at 30 minutes on an 18-yarder from All-American Pam Bauman. The Patriots held the Tarheels scoreless for the rest of the game, while All-American Lisa Gmitter scored for Mason in the 86th minute to seal the 2-0 victory. The win, against a team that had a record of 99 wins and 4 losses during the previous 4 years, was indeed the first shot heard round the world for Mason athletics.

A Dedication to the Teaching of Undergraduates: The Introduction of the Robinson Professors Program:
Clarence J. Robinson was a successful Northern Virginia businessman who had a tremendous interest in the education of the area’s citizens. In 1939 he founded the Robinson Terminal Warehouse Corporation in Springfield, and in 1957 he became president of the First and Citizen Bank in Alexandria. Robinson joined the George Mason College Advisory Board in 1964, and served as its chairman until 1970, while also making generous donations to the school, including some real estate property in the early 1970s. [1] In 1975 George Mason University’s Academic II building was renamed Clarence J. Robinson Hall in his honor. Upon his death in 1983, Robinson’s will stipulated that half of his estate was to be given to George Mason University. [2] However, just before his death, Robinson made clear that he had specific plans for how the money was to be used.

Dr. George W. Johnson, who became president of George Mason University in 1978, had quickly become good friends with Robinson when they first met. As his final years approached, Robinson discussed the bequest from his estate with Johnson. Robinson told Johnson explicitly that he did not want the money to be spent on buildings, but rather on people. [3] Robinson felt that if exceptional faculty members came to the University, the buildings would follow. After Robinson’s death, in 1984 Johnson initiated one of the most well-known institutions at the University today: The Clarence J. Robbinson Professors program.

Funded by Clarence Robinson’s gift, the program sought to attract renowned professionals and academics from various fields and disciplines to teach undergraduate courses at Mason. There was no specific academic or professional background necessary to qualify as a candidate for a Robinson Professorship; the only requirements were that a candidate displays a commitment to undergraduate education and that he or she does not seek to use their university position for their own ambitions. Dr. Johnson’s plan was that the program would host approximately fifteen professors at any one time, but he soon found it difficult to gain interest among academics. Johnson asked himself how he could convince professors from some of the top universities in the world, such as Harvard or Princeton, to come to George Mason, which at the time, was still largely unknown. Johnson thus began to promote what he described as his “clean blackboard” policy, which meant that professors would have complete control over courses and their curriculum. While certainly more common in higher educational institutions today, this was a radical and untested concept in 1984. Just as Johnson suspected it would, the strategy worked, and soon many academics were interested in being a part of the program. [4]

While most of the university community was thrilled at the idea of distinguished academics coming to Mason, there was a small faction who opposed the program. Faculty members who had been a part of George Mason for many years felt that the funds set aside for the Robinson Professor Program should instead be used for existing faculty. Disgruntled faculty members even threatened to march on Richmond in order to obtain what they saw as rightfully theirs. Still, Johnson refused to back down and continued forward with plans for the program. [5]

Among the first Robinson Professors were: Dr. Shaul Bakhash, a Harvard and Oxford-trained author specializing in the history of the Middle East; Professor Paul D’Andrea, a Harvard PhD. scholar and playwright; musician and scientist Dr. Robert Hazen; Dr. Hugh Heclo, a government and public affairs specialist; biophysicist Dr. Harold Morowitz; Dr. John Paden, a former Rhodes Scholar with credentials from Oxford and Harvard specializing in public and international affairs; physicist and author Dr. James Trefel; and Roger Wilkins, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who served in the Justice Department during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Since the start of the program, the Robinson Professors have maintained their offices in the East Building, one of Mason’s original buildings constructed in 1964, while conducting their classes at locations throughout the Fairfax campus. Many of the newer academic buildings on campus where the Robinson Professors teach, such as the Nguyen Engineering Building and University Hall, were built decades after the program began, echoing Clarence Robinson’s belief that “you need people before the bricks and mortar.” [6] Decades after his death, Clarence J. Robinson’s name and legacy live on at George Mason University, and the program which bears his name ensures that undergraduate students at George Mason University are offered the best educational opportunities available.

For the Betterment of Mankind: The Creation of the Krasnow Institute:
Shelley Krasnow was a Northern Virginia scientist and businessman. The son of Russian immigrants, Krasnow was born in 1907 and educated at the City College of New York. He began his career as an engineer and physicist, later becoming the holder of over 30 patents. Krasnow directed the Geophysical Instrument Company, which later became Georator Corporation, a manufacturer of sophisticated electronic generating equipment. A man of many talents and interests, Krasnow was a savvy businessman who invested in land holdings throughout Northern Virginia before the development boom of the mid-twentieth century. During the late 1950s, Krasnow offered the University of Virginia several different properties in Prince William County upon which to build its Northern Virginia branch.

Krasnow deeply believed that knowledge and education were to be applied in service to the larger community. He was intrigued by the research and study of human life as it responds to its environment. During the 1960s, he began researching the relationship between geography and cancers in humans. By the end of his life, Krasnow had expressed a desire to establish an “Institute for Advanced Study” which would work “for the betterment of mankind.” [1] In 1988 Krasnow and his attorneys created the Virginia Institute for Advanced Study that, once built and staffed, would conduct cutting-edge research. While Krasnow envisioned his institute would be built on thirty-nine acres he owned adjacent to Pickett Road on the eastern end of the City of Fairfax, zoning regulations would not permit it. So Krasnow would need to petition the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to re-zone the tract or locate another site for the Institute.

He was later introduced to George Mason University President George W. Johnson and Northern Virginia businessman, Sidney Dewberry, the founder of a local architectural and engineering consulting firm. Dewberry and Johnson, along with Senior Vice President J. Wade Gilley, courted Krasnow, hoping that he would consider establishing the Institute at George Mason. Though initially unsure as to whether scientists at the Institute would be given enough free reign to succeed in their research at a state university, Krasnow was soon convinced that Mason would be an appropriate home for the Institute. In September of 1989, Krasnow died, bequeathing the thirty-nine acres to George Mason University to sell and use the proceeds to build the Institute for Advanced Study. Initial estimates placed the value of the land as high as $20 million, depending upon how the land might be re-zoned and what a developer might pay for it. In 1991 it was discovered that a local petroleum tank farm associated with Texaco had begun leaking petroleum underground and into the water table under the former Krasnow property. In July 1992 a settlement awarded $7.35 million to the Krasnow estate.

In May 1993 the University held a scientific conference, co-sponsored by the prestigious Santa Fe Institute, to help determine which specific area of science the Institute would pursue in terms of research. Titled “The Mind, the Brain, and Complex Adaptive Systems,” the conference brought together an unusual group of scientists whose ranks included Nobel laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Herbert Simon. The conference and resulting published paper introduced new ideas regarding the study of the human brain and mind. The Institute would make its mission to study the human mind and how it operates. Closely related is the second area of inquiry, namely how the human mind functions in education, decision-making, and other day-to-day human activities.

The Institute’s initial Board of Directors included several prominent figures in the Fairfax community, including George Mason University President Johnson and University Provost Frederick Rossini. Scientist and Robinson Professor Dr. Harold Morowitz was named the first director of the facility in the fall of 1993. Morowitz’s resume at the time of his appointment included: teaching at several institutions of higher learning, publishing sixteen books, and authoring over 125 research papers. Several advisory committees were also established to advise the administration of the Institute. The memberships of these “boards” comprised professors and administrators in many different fields from universities all across the country. Dr. James S. Trefil, a George Mason University Robinson Professor who played a role in the creation of the George W. Johnson Learning Center, joined the Executive Committee of the Institute.

In the summer of 1994 the Krasnow Institute opened in the Commerce Building, a rented property about one-half mile to the north of the Fairfax campus in Fairfax City, while its main building on the University grounds was being constructed. University administrators announced that the 30,000 square-foot permanent building on campus for the Institute would be ready for occupancy in the summer of 1996. The $4 million building would have office space for a staff of forty, an MRI scanning center, a library, and several meeting rooms. [2] The building’s opening was delayed until the next spring. It was dedicated on April 2 and occupied by staff on May 2, 1997. [3]

Dr. James L. Olds became Director of the Krasnow Institute in 1998, and took an additional role as the Shelley Krasnow University Professor in 2000. [4] After stepping down as the Institute’s director, Dr. Harold Morowitz remained a member of the facility’s faculty. Since its inception, the Institute has received over $41 million for research. Every year, the Institute hosts conferences on topics in the field of cognition. As the University moves further into the twenty-first century, it is almost certain that the Krasnow Institute will continue to conduct exciting new research and further society’s scientific knowledge.

Eastward Expansion: The Arlington Campus
George Mason University’s Arlington Campus has always claimed a unique mission, namely to serve Arlington as a community, cultural, and educational center. [1] The 2011 completion of the 256,000-square-foot Founders Hall was a continuation of the expansion that has been ongoing in Arlington since the 1980s. The campus, home to the School of Law and many graduate programs, has played a distinctive role in the community since its inception.

George Mason University will forever share a special bond with Arlington. It was an Arlington lawyer and later Delegate, C. Harrison Mann, Jr., who teamed with a fellow Arlingtonian, Clarence A. Steele, to establish the branch of the University of Virginia, which would eventually become George Mason University. Less than one mile to the west of the Arlington Campus is Washington – Lee High School, which in 1949 housed the Northern Virginia University Center. Its director, John Norville Gibson Finley, would become the first chief executive of George Mason College in 1957 and oversee the construction of the Fairfax Campus. The citizens of Arlington themselves would band with other northern Virginia municipalities to nurture, finance, advise, and build George Mason University beginning in the middle of the twentieth century.

On November 28, 1978, the George Mason University Foundation acquired eleven acres of land and a single building: the twenty-five-year-old former department store belonging to the International School of Law in the Virginia Square section of Arlington. The two institutions expected that they would merge the next year to form a new law school. Indeed, they did. The Virginia General Assembly approved George Mason’s union with the International School of Law in March of 1979 creating the George Mason University School of Law, while simultaneously recognizing the university as a doctoral institution. [2] This ended the university’s difficult struggle with state authorities and gave Mason a distinctive program to feature at Arlington, beginning July 1, 1979. The George Mason University Foundation later sold approximately half of the land on the western side of the parcel to the Federal Government for nearly five times the amount it paid for the entire property. [3] After the purchase, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation built its L. William Seidman Center on that property.

The School of Law on Mason’s brand new Metro Campus (it would be known as Arlington Campus beginning in 1989) was soon joined by additional programs. In 1979 the Office of Extended Studies developed its Professional Center on the campus which “promote[d] and provide[d] continuing education and professional development activities to meet the needs of the business community.” The Professional Center accounted for approximately 35% of the students enrolled in programs at Arlington. [4] The Center was part of the Division of Continuing Education, which by the mid-1980s was known as The School of Continuing and Alternative Learning (SCAL). [5] SCAL, an “educational incubator,” originally opened the Professional Center in a nearby rented space in September of 1980, but moved into the third floor of the law school building in January 1981; by 1987, the Center had served about 7,000 students and members of the community. [6] Its name changed again in 1990 to the Center for Professional Development, and by that year it and other programs “directly served, through conferences, institutes, professional training programs, and credit activities, more than 50,000 citizens annually.” [7]

Other programs and institutes, like the Center for the Productive Use of Technology (founded originally as the Center for the Improvement of Productivity in 1983) and the Law and Economics Center, soon followed. [8] University Provost, Dr. Clara Lovett, established the one-of-a-kind Center for European Community Studies in October of 1989 to study the effects of Europe’s change from the European Common Market to the European Union. [9] Due to the lack of space in the nearly-full law school building (the campus’ second building would not be completed for nearly six years) the university chose to rent the fourth floor of the new Quincy Street Station building about one-third of a mile to the west at 4001 Fairfax Drive.

The Center for European Community Studies became one of the first programs of the International Institute, which Dr. Lovett established in 1990 as “the focal point for developing and administering the university’s international programs and activities.” [10] The Institute, housed at Quincy Street, also featured the Office of International Exchanges, the Center for Global Market Processes, and the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS), which later became the Master of Arts in International Transactions (MAIT). [11] The International Institute was incorporated into the Institute of Public Policy in 1997, which became the School of Public Policy in 2000. [12] The MAIT degree then became the MA in International Commerce and Policy and was offered through the School of Public Policy. [13] In addition to the School of Law and these programs, the campus was also home to Arlington’s community public television station, the Arlington Campus Art Gallery, and the Small Business Development Center. [14]

While the School of Law anchored the Arlington Campus, the university realized that additional programs and facilities needed to have a “logical, symbiotic relationship with the Law School…and be able to stand real separation from the main campus” which was fifteen miles away in Fairfax. [15] The university chose not to view Arlington as a branch campus, but rather as one component of their “distributed university” concept. To the university: “Northern Virginia [was now] its ‘campus,’ which it [would] serve through major academic centers and access to business locations and other schools throughout the region.” [16] The administration wanted to ensure that the programs that were housed at Arlington complemented the environment of the law school and simultaneously served the people of Arlington while utilizing the area’s resources.

A number of studies were conducted to determine how best to accomplish these goals. One proposal expressed a vision of the synergetic relationship between the university and the community that both parties hoped would develop, a vision that ultimately shaped the development of the campus:

[O]ur vision of the education community in Arlington and Mason’s role in realizing it is broad and deep and extends far into the future. It includes a major enlargement of physical facilities, many new programs, some of which will be experimental in purpose, content, and mode of delivery; continued growth of existing programs; novel ways of organizing, financing, and managing the enterprise; cooperation with schools, colleges, institutes, and other educational entities; and adapting creatively to Arlington’s concept of an educational and culture zone in the Virginia Square part of the county. [17]

Focusing on this idea, plans for expansion were drafted. The School of Law was situated in what had previously been Kann’s Department Store, a building which was built in 1953. Featuring a working escalator, the building was known on campus as “Arlington Original” or simply “Original.” University officials decided that new construction would be staged in three phases, encompassing 750,000 square feet above the ground with underground parking for at least 1000 cars. Phase I, scheduled for completion in 1998, was to provide a modern home for the School of Law and its rapidly expanding library—which had grown from over 100,000 volumes in 1979 to over 300,000 by 1994—at an estimated cost of $18 million. It would be built on the law school’s parking lot. Two additional buildings on the site were to be constructed, the second of which would eventually replace the Original building altogether. [18] Phase II was to be constructed by 1999, and Phase III, adjacent to the FDIC Building, was planned for 2004. [19]

Development of the 5.2-acre Arlington site was reaching a critical phase, as the university had heeded a planning committee’s suggestion that “strongly recommend[ed] the Arlington Campus be rebuilt to house greatly expanded programs of post-graduate, professional and continuing education studies and of lectures, conferences, and cultural activities.” [20] When the School of Law was originally chartered in 1979, it served approximately 450 students; by 1989 1,200 students were enrolled in programs at Arlington (700 of them in the School of Law), and enrollment by 1999 was projected to reach 4,000 students. [21]

The ground was broken in April 1996 for the $19 million first phase of construction on the site of the Original building’s parking lot. [22] By 1998 the new building—Arlington I—was completed, and after its dedication in January 1999, the School of Law and its library, as well as the Mercatus Center and the Institute for Humane Studies, moved in. [23] The Mercatus Center, formerly the Center for Market Processes, is a 100% privately-funded libertarian think tank funded chiefly by Koch foundations. It conducts research, education, and outreach to advance market-related ideas. The Institute for Humane Studies is another Koch-funded libertarian nonprofit organization that merged with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation to promote “many of the principles of a free society while assisting market-oriented intellectuals and scholars” through seminars and fellowships. [24]

The newly-built Arlington I was described by University officials as a “state-of-the-art educational facility,” which housed over 360,000 volumes in its four-story circular library and boasted three new computer labs. Additionally, it featured integrated data outlets to provide Internet access at each desk. [25] The programs housed in the Quincy Street Station location, such as the Institute of Public Policy’s M.A. in International Commerce and Policy program, moved into the Original building in 1999, joining other programs already established there like Nonprofit Management, Actuarial Mathematics, and Economics. [26]

Phase II expansion was to include a 240,000-sqaure foot building and public plaza between Arlington I and the Original building and would house a library, art gallery, and large auditorium. [27] In 2000 the university rented the Truland Building from the Truland Group, a local electrical contracting firm, to accommodate several of its programs while the second and third phases of construction were underway. [28] Student Health Services moved to the Truland Building in 2002, and the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (formerly the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution) relocated from the University Townhouses in Fairfax in 2004. The Foundation Building, situated between the Law School and the FDIC headquarters, was completed in 2006. Built by the George Mason University Foundation in an attempt to alleviate parking shortages created during the construction of Arlington II, it houses reserved spaces for students, faculty, and staff; its office space is leased to SRA International, a contracting firm specializing in national security, civil government, and global health.

Arlington I was renamed John T. Hazel, Jr. Hall—or “Hazel Hall”—in 2005. [29] Hazel, known to friends as “Til”, was an attorney and real estate developer and had been the driving influence behind Mason’s acquisition of the Law School. He had served the university in a variety of ways—as a member of Mason’s Advisory Board, a member of the first Board of Visitors (and later as Rector), and as both member and chair of the Board of Trustees of the George Mason University Foundation, which he had helped to establish. [30]

Although the completion of Founders Hall (Arlington II) -- home to the School of Public Policy and the Mercatus Center -- in 2011 marked a pause in the decades-long expansion of the Arlington Campus, the academic excellence and community enrichment that the campus pursued from its inception continues.

Bringing the Mason Community Together: Patriot Center, the Center for the Arts, and the Bellarmine Chapel:
During President George W. Johnson’s tenure at George Mason, construction was commonplace; new dormitories and academic buildings sprouted all over campus. Residence halls and classroom space resulted from the practical needs of the student body, but Dr. Johnson desired George Mason serve not only its students, faculty, and staff, but also the Fairfax and Northern Virginia communities as well. Three special buildings have left their unique mark on the campus and continue to shape its legacy today.

The Patriot Center

The white “dome” of Patriot Center is an instantly recognizable feature on George Mason’s campus. The 10,000-seat arena, which hosts sporting events, concerts, and other major performances, has served the campus since its completion in 1985. [1] Construction began in August of 1983 but was continually hampered by a series of unfortunate events. Bad weather contributed, as did an accident with a crane that collapsed onto the roof, damaging several large beams but harming no workers. [2] Contractors also discovered during the process that the composition of the soil would not support the load of the planned concrete columns, so drawings had to be revised after the columns failed inspection. [3] Finally, the theft of $12,000 worth of tools and heavy equipment, though no building materials, added to the delays. [4]

There was some tension regarding Patriot Center’s completion date, which was continually changing due to unforeseen occurrences. Chris Allen, the project manager for the Gilbane Building Company, expected the Patriot Center to be ready in January 1985 after the target projection date of November 1984 was no longer possible. [5] When January came and went, President Johnson expressed —with typical forwardness—his determination to see the finished product sooner rather than later: “We will have graduation in the arena on May 18. You may have to wear a hard hat, but we’re having it in there.” [6]

President Johnson got his wish. Though the building was not completed by May 18 and students had initially been told that their graduation would be held on the Quad in front of Fenwick Library, the university received special permission from the contractor to use Patriot Center—which had passed the necessary inspections—for the ceremony. [7] The $16.7 million complex opened officially on September 12, 1985. [8] Basketball coach Joe Harrington believed that the new center would bolster recruitment efforts and called Dr. Johnson “a president who is not only a dreamer but a doer.” [9]

George Mason became the first university ever to contract a private firm to manage its arena, as opposed to hiring a professional staff member to take charge of the Patriot Center. [10] Centre Management, which scheduled many events in the greater Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas, was chosen in 1985. The company worked closely with the university to ensure that their policies were in accordance with George Mason’s guidelines; for example, shows were only scheduled on weekends or when school was not in session, often at the expense of a profit, because of parking shortages that inconvenienced students. [11] The arena established itself as an attractive venue for shows too small for the 19,000-seat Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland (also run by Centre Management), but too large for concert halls like DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Despite the publicity, Patriot Center did not see great returns during its early years of existence. In 1986, its 80 events grossed $2.6 million. [12] Centre Management predicted the 105 shows slated for 1990 would gross about $3.8 million. [13] While Centre Management only made an estimated $75,000 a year according to Mason officials, the management company claimed it had helped Patriot Center gross over $13.5 million in its first four years. [14] It credited this revenue to its suggestion that George Mason bring major performers like Kenny Rogers, The Beach Boys, The Muppets, and the Harlem Globetrotters, among others, to the Center, rather than reserving it solely for sports. [15]

George Mason officials indicated that Patriot Center generated about $300,000 annually toward subsidized student activities as of 1990. [16] The student population—generally the target audience—was given preferential treatment. Students received discounts for events in Patriot Center, were admitted to all Mason sporting events for free, were able to suggest shows to Centre Management, and were offered employment and internship opportunities. [17]

The Patriot Center also aimed to serve the larger community; family shows like the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus and Disney on Ice continue to be extremely popular. This is the scenario that President Johnson envisioned, where George Mason’s presence in and links with the surrounding community are clearly evident. He called the completion of Patriot Center “a rite of passage for GMU…a coming of age.” [18]

On October 4, 1985, the arena was open to the public for its first event; a sold-out crowd, which included actor Jack Nicholson, watched an exhibition game between the New York Knicks and the Washington Bullets. [19] When asked which team he thought would win, George Johnson replied, “George Mason is going to win tonight…the future looks very good.” [20] He was right: now managed by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the Patriot Center boasts a total attendance of more than 10.5 million for nearly four thousand events. [21] It hosted the Men’s Basketball CAA tournament in 1986, the Women’s Basketball CAA tournament in 2005, the NCAA Men’s Volleyball championships in 1990, and two of George Mason Basketball’s NIT appearances (in 2002 and 2004). In 2011, the trade publication Venues Today ranked Patriot Center eleventh nationwide and seventeenth worldwide in ticket sales for venues with a capacity of 10,001-15,000; likewise, that same year, the trade magazine Billboard ranked it eighth nationwide and twentieth worldwide for top-grossing venues that accommodate the same capacity. [22]

Update: On May 7, 2015, the university announced that the name would be changed on July 1, 2015 to "EagleBank Arena at George Mason University" following a partnership deal with EagleBank.

The Center for the Arts

While Patriot Center’s large venue is a great place to showcase athletic talent, Dr. George Johnson and his wife, Joanne—a former chair of the George Mason Fund for the Arts and a longtime patron of the performing arts--also sought an impressive setting in which to feature outstanding dancers, singers, musicians, and other performing artists. No such facility had existed for most of Johnson’s tenure. It was not until 1988 that funding for the proposed Performing Arts Center was granted by the state legislature. Performance revenue and student fees also contributed to the construction of the $10.6 million building. [23]

The completion of the Center for the Arts, initially called “Humanities III,” was the final component of a three-phase Humanities complex. The first phase --now known as the deLaski Performing Arts Building—was completed in January 1988 and includes music and dance studios, classrooms, a small recital hall, and the Black Box studio theater which seats one hundred fifty people. Humanities II consists of administrative offices and was completed in the fall of 1989. [24] The Center for the Arts serves as the “performance arm” of the entire complex, in part because neither the Black Box nor Harris Theater can accommodate a full-size symphony orchestra or large theater or dance troupes, but also because of its beauty and architectural innovations. The “crown jewel of the Center for the Arts,” the state-of-the-art Concert Hall, is a unique structure designed by theatrical and acoustical consultant George Izenour. [25] The famous engineer, inventor, and writer served as the lighting director and designer for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theater Project in Los Angeles in the late 1930s, established the Electro-Mechanical Laboratory at Yale University, and consulted on the design of over one hundred buildings around the world. [26] A large collection of Federal Theater Project materials is housed in the Special Collections Research Center within University Libraries.

The Concert Hall’s maximum capacity is two thousand, but the space can be reduced to just eight hundred seats when a performance is smaller or a more intimate setting is desired; acoustic panels can be adjusted to complement either situation. [27] The stage is also adaptable—in addition to the main stage, a front “lift” stage provides an enlarged space for actors when raised, an orchestra pit when lowered, and further seating if necessary (when portable rows of seats are raised to the stage level). [28]

The Grand Opening of the Center for the Arts on October 6, 1990, highlighted the Center’s exceptional Concert Hall. Marvin Hamlisch, the Oscar-winning composer and the evening’s Master of Ceremonies, noted: “There are a lot of wonderful performers here this evening, but the star is undoubtedly the theater.” [29] Although certainly a centerpiece, the Concert Hall was not the only component that impressed; the dazzling show featured celebrated performers including, among others, the comedy troupe PDQ Bach, opera singer Roberta Peters, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, and members of Broadway’s A Chorus Line. [30] Dr. Johnson expressed his excitement for its future: “What’s really happening here tonight is the beginning of a dream. Dreams are the stuff of this university. A university that conceives of itself not as a place, but as a state of always becoming, dreams realized and dreams begun.” [31] Johnson emphasized the importance of the bonds that the Center for the Arts had the potential to create between the university and the community; it allows “a blending of students and community so that we gain support from the community and we also enable our students—when they graduate—to have a community receptive to them.” [32] He added that the Center’s professional productions also “enable students to be more culturally literate and exposed to serious theater, dance, and orchestral music, visiting companies from abroad, and to be able to interact with those people.” [33] The opening of Humanities III provided “a hopeful predilection that GMU and the surrounding community will enjoy a long and fruitful relationship immersed in the arts… [that will bring] prestigious cultural riches to the campus and to northern Virginia.” [34] The Center for the Arts has done just that.

The Bellarmine Chapel

The Center for the Arts was not the only dream fighting to become reality in the early 1990s. Active student ministry programs have been involved at Mason since its inception, and as early as 1961 the University of Virginia planned for the eventual construction of a chapel at Fairfax, as had existed at Charlottesville. [35] Mason’s Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM), which serves a large student population at George Mason, was one such group that desired a chapel in which to hold services and social events. Students often gathered in a small house that served as rectory on Roberts Road (behind President’s Park), overtaking the first floor. The Reverend Robert Cilinski, who came to George Mason in 1986—the year that the Bishop of Arlington, John Keating, first assigned a full-time priest as chaplain of the campus—joked that “For eight and a half years, I was basically living above the store.” [36] Services were also held on-campus in Student Union Building I and Lecture Hall. The Diocese of Arlington purchased the property on Roberts Road, just off-campus, that housed the rectory to establish a Catholic Campus Center, but the fast-growing community outgrew the space quickly.

In 1992, the Diocese purchased the adjacent property, which had at one time belonged to the Kappa Sigma fraternity at Mason, to build a chapel. Interestingly, the property is very near the former St. George’s United Methodist Church, which is actually part of George Mason’s Fairfax campus and is located on Rockfish Creek Lane, just off of Shenandoah River Lane. The building was donated to the university and named George’s Hall. It was later renamed Carow Hall for the family who gave it to the university, and it now houses the Center for Study of Public Choice. [37] Construction began in August 1993 to create what Rev. Cilinski called “a modern version of a colonial chapel.” [38] Architects sought to reflect the style of buildings within the City of Fairfax as well as older churches in the area, like the historic St. Mary’s. The tract had a forty-foot slope which had to be built up so the front of the chapel would be level with Roberts Road. Rev. Cilinski reached out to people from all backgrounds: “We wanted to be a beacon. We wanted to be a ‘welcome to worship’ to the campus community.” [39]

Rev. Cilinski declared that the completion of the Chapel was the result of the students’ shared dream and made possible by the “generosity of the Northern Virginia Catholic community.” Funds were contributed by students and their parents, the Diocese of Arlington, and other local churches. [40] After much discussion, the chapel was named for St. Robert Bellarmine, a cardinal from Sienna, Italy, who lived from 1542 – 1621 and according to Rev. Cilinski was “known as a scholar, a defender of the faith, and a lover of the poor. He dedicated his life to working with youth.” [41] The name seems an apt choice for the chapel, which continues to serve the campus community today under the direction of its chaplain, Rev. Peter Nasetta. During the Friday of freshman move-in, the Chapel hosts a luau and pig roast that attracts well over a thousand new freshmen and provides a way for them to meet new people and learn about the community. It also offers a wide variety of service and community outreach programs.

A common thread links these three buildings: each was the result of a dream to serve and develop a close relationship with the larger community and to provide enriching cultural and social experiences for those associated with the University. George Johnson’s goal to expand George Mason’s influence beyond the boundaries of the university is reflected in part of the school’s mission statement: “To maintain an international reputation for superior education and public service that affirms its role as the intellectual and cultural nexus among Northern Virginia, the nation, and the world.” [42] It is a role George Mason will continue to strive for, and it will be achieved by recognizing itself, in Dr. Johnson’s words, as “a university that conceives of itself not as a place, but as a state of always becoming, dreams realized and dreams begun.”

The School of Public Policy:
The School of Public Policy was one of many innovative interdisciplinary programs introduced at Mason during the 1980s and 1990s. It began as the Institute for Public Policy (TIPP) in 1990. A task force had been created in 1987 to discuss the feasibility of such an institute, and in 1988 their proposal was the recipient of the Smith-Richardson Foundation Organizing Grant. [1] The next year, two endowments were established: the professorships of the Hazel Chair(s) and the Northern Virginia Chair. In 1992, a Ph.D. program was established, and by 1994, TIPP was developing an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Economic Development and Technology in partnership with the Schools of Business Administration and Information Technology and Engineering. The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, the departments of Economics, Public and International Affairs, and Communication in the College of Arts and Sciences were also involved. [2] These developments promoted the goals of the Institute: “[t]he free-standing structure of the institute and its commitment to interdisciplinary training and research at the doctoral level will allow it to reach across the university’s schools and colleges to bring together knowledge and skills needed to address a wide variety of policy concerns”—concerns ranging from public policy management and science/technology policy to health policy and human resource policy. [3]

By incorporating economics, public administration, business, law, information technology, and the liberal arts, as well as “American ideas, practices, and traditions” into its curriculum, TIPP understood that “future policy leaders will need a firm grounding in history, ethics, and world culture if our country is to deal successfully with its budget, the trade deficit, and jobs for all its citizens. This will be part of George Mason’s contribution to correcting wrong-headed policies.” [4]

In 1994, TIPP was awarded a $181 million contract as part of an area consortium through the Defense Information Systems Agency of the United States Department of Defense. [5] Within the first five years of its existence, TIPP had also brought in over $8 million in research funds and had established partnerships with universities in Mexico, Taiwan, Australia, the Netherlands, and Japan. [6]

In 1997, the Entrepreneurship Center, established in 1985 as a “leading innovator in delivering high-impact business development assistance to small businesses,” came under the direction of TIPP. [7] The Entrepreneurship Center provided services that ranged from business counseling and micro-loans to computer-based training and telework facilities. The Center came to TIPP “in an attempt to help promote good relations between George Mason University and the Northern Virginia business community.” [8] While focusing on regional development with the Entrepreneurship Center, TIPP’s goals also took on a broader perspective through its dealings with the International Institute. The Institute for Public Policy only granted doctoral degrees until it absorbed the Master of Arts in International Transactions degree following the dissolution of the International Institute in 1997. This arrangement expanded the curriculum, increased faculty and resources, and gave students access to TIPP’s relationships with other universities all over the world. [9] The Institute’s global focus then became increasingly noticeable. In 1998, TIPP led an International Electronic Commerce (EC) Consortium with universities in Peru, South Korea, and China. [10] That same year, it had also developed close partnerships with universities in Taiwan following George Mason’s hosting of the World Congress on Information Technology. TIPP, partnered with Germany’s University of Bremen and BALance Technology Consulting, then hosted MAREXPO, a European Union-sponsored working group focused on research and development in information technology in shipbuilding. The invitation-only event was one of twelve conferences, and TIPP’s program at George Mason University was the only one in the United States; TIPP’s electronic commerce (EC) research had captured the attendees’ attention. [11] International exposure, partnerships, and research led to increased publicity and acclaim for the Institute of Public Policy, which became the School of Public Policy (SPP) in 2000 with the Board of Visitors’ approval and was described by some as the fastest-growing field in the University. [12]

In 2001, the School of Public Policy ranked fifth nationally in the total amount of research and development funds it received, and second nationally in federal funding for research and development. [13] Its five concentrated areas of study—national governance and public management, transportation and regional development policy, international commerce and policy, science and technology policy, and the role of culture and values in policy formation—“distinguished [SPP] from other leading schools in that [they] place emphasis on the interactions between the stabilizing influences of diverse national, ethnic, and regional cultures on individual and institutional behaviors, and on the sustained challenges to the established order of the continual innovation of new technologies. SPP also focuses on the rapidly eroding barriers and emerging partnerships between what have traditionally been the public and private sectors in Western democracies.” [14]

These objectives were stated succinctly by former Dean of the School of Public Policy, Kingsley Haynes: “[w]e want…to act as an international beacon for integrating regional and national support to carry out domestic and global international functions in the public and private sectors.” [15] His vision of acting as an “international beacon” was not limited to the School of Public Policy. As George Mason entered the new millennium, its desire to reach and serve a global community would shape the course of its policies and the future of the University.

Learning Outside of the Box: PAGE, The Honors College, and New Century College:
During the 1980s and 1990s, George Mason University aimed to improve on the quality of its academic offerings and provide students with an education in multiple fields. University President George W. Johnson, beginning with the PAGE program in 1981 and continuing with New Century College in the early 1990s, envisioned programs that would provide students with a solid, interdisciplinary approach to education with the objective of better preparing them for working in the real world.

In September of 1981, Dr. Johnson met with faculty members to discuss the possibility of creating a program that would bridge the divide between “general education and the contemporary world.”[1] One year later, a committee was established whose members were tasked with designing a new general education program for freshmen and sophomore students. [2] This program would retool Mason’s general education courses to give each class a more interdisciplinary approach. It had been suggested that this approach helped students develop more marketable and relevant technical and communication skills. Thus, the Plan for Alternative General Education (PAGE) program was born. The two-year general education sequence would consist of “strands” of courses that would span over four semesters; “strand seminars” would seek to connect the seemingly unrelated courses. [3] The general education classes covered topics including mathematics, natural sciences, biology, computer technology, and non-Western cultures. There would be no GPA requirement to enter the program, although a student must be accepted by the program at the beginning of their freshman year to participate. The Commonwealth of Virginia provided $500,000 towards the program’s “curriculum development and faculty training.”[4] Faculty members from several departments across campus were eager to help in creating and teaching the new PAGE curriculum. The Robinson Professors in particular were major advocates of the PAGE Program, with Drs. James Trefil and Robert Hazen playing instrumental roles in the creation of Scientific Thought and Processes I and II (PAGE 227 and 228), the program’s science sequence. [5] In 1983, the PAGE Program, based in the Finley Building, opened the doors to its first class of students.

George Mason University physics professor William Lankford served as the director of the PAGE Program during its first year. English Professor Patrick Story was its final director beginning in 1990. [6] In 1993, the program had begun to require a minimum GPA for admission, and although it meant tougher admission standards for the program, administrators were quick to insist that nothing else in the program was changing. In 1997, the Faculty Senate voted to convert the PAGE Program into an honors program. In 1998, the last PAGE Program class graduated from the general education sequence. The new Honors Program moved from the Finley Building to a new student lounge and office in Student Union I.

Professor Story remained with the Honors Program and served as its first director. In 2009, the Honors Program was revamped and expanded to become the Honors College. [7] This new college at Mason would include not only the former Honors Program, but also the University Scholars Program, the Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program, and the Postgraduate Fellowships and Scholarships Program. Honors Program Director Dr. Zofia Burr was promoted to Dean of the Honors College, and her colleague Dr. Kathleen Alligood was promoted to the position of Associate Dean. By 2009, the Honors Program had expanded many of its offerings in the science and math fields, bolstering its Science, Technology, Engineering, Economics, and Mathematics (STEM) track. Many of today’s Honors courses, such as Conceptions of Self (HNRS 130), Reading the Arts (HNRS 122), and Scientific Thought and Processes II (HNRT 228), have been carried over from the original PAGE Program.

The Zero-Based Curriculum or ZBC, the original working title for Mason's New Century College, was developed as a project of University Librarian Charlene Hurt. First discussed in 1993, the project was to be a partnership between the University Libraries and the Department of Public & International Affairs, creating an entirely redesigned undergraduate curriculum. As a collateral benefit the Libraries' computing capabilities would be upgraded. "Zero-Based” meant that this new curriculum would not be hampered by already “existing general education or degree requirements.”[8] The new academic structure would use small classes and integrate information from multiple disciplines and perspectives. The team in charge of implementing ZBC hoped it would spread learning outside the classroom and take advantage of the new technologies being built. $200,000 was allocated through a statewide program for the technology necessary for the program and an additional $300,000 was earmarked to design the curriculum. [9]

In late 1993, concerns were raised about the ZBC by faculty and administrators. Some wondered whether faculty members would be willing to devote their time to teaching new courses designed for ZBC. It was expected that the majority of students entering the program would be coming from traditional academic backgrounds at Mason, thus the issue of how easily existing students could integrate into the program was raised. As for students who may be transferring out of Mason, it was asked how well ZBC would prepare students for programs at other universities. Lastly, administrators were concerned that too many choices were available to ZBC students, exposing the need to bolster academic advising.

The ZBC Program’s initial implementation began in the spring of 1994 when the pilot run of a new Design Exhibition course (CS 490) was approved by the University. [10] The goal of this course was to allow students to work together in groups to create a software program. The ways in which students interacted together, and the learning that transcended the walls of the classroom, were to be the foundations of the ZBC Program.

The program finally was fully implemented into Mason's academic curriculum and named the New Century College for the 1995-1996 academic year, after being approved by the University's Board of Visitors in November 1994. [11] This new program, through which students could earn a Bachelors of Arts or Science in Integrative Studies, was divided into three divisions. The first division consisted of a core curriculum which was to be completed during a student’s first academic year. The core curriculum consisted of four courses, including one course which would assist in the freshman college transition and provide students with the necessary skills for future college courses. [12] The other core curriculum classes focused on the natural world, the social world, and students as citizens. The second division introduced students to “learning communities,” which were created to facilitate better relationships between students and faculty. In addition, this division would ease time constraints for commuting students. The last division consisted of specialized courses based on a student’s area of interest. All students in New Century College were also expected to partake in learning through experience, such as engaging in a practicum or internship. English faculty member, Dr. John S. O’Connor, was selected as the first Dean of New Century College. In January 2004, New Century College was integrated into the College of Arts and Sciences, known today as the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. [13]

The PAGE program and New Century College are examples of unique academic endeavors pursued by George Mason University in an attempt to offer alternatives to traditional undergraduate education. New Century College today is one of the largest programs of its type at Mason. The PAGE program, which was reborn as today's Honors College, is seen as one of the most prominent honors programs in the country. As George Mason University continues to thrive and grow, these two iconic programs continue to develop along with it.

The New Center of Campus: The Creation of the George Johnson Center:
The George W. Johnson Learning Center, better known to George Mason University students and faculty as the Johnson Center, or simply the “JC,” is easily the most recognizable building on George Mason’s Fairfax Campus. Its image has been used as a symbol for the University. Its distinctive cupola can be seen from nearly all corners of the campus. The Johnson Center serves as both a location for academic pursuits and a meeting place for members of the Mason community and the local community. The green clock tower and the bronze sculpture of George Mason at both ends of the North Plaza in front of the Johnson Center are campus landmarks. The story of how the center came to be built begins interestingly enough in the administrative offices of Fenwick Library.

In the mid 1980s, it became clear to Director of Libraries, Charlene Hurt that Fenwick Library, which was comprised of the original 1967 building and the connected Library tower, was becoming insufficient for the expanding student and faculty population. The library tower was built during “Phases II and III” of the library expansion plans with A and B Wings completed in 1974 and 1983 respectively. Extensive plans were being drawn up for what was called “Phase IV” of the Fenwick Library expansion. Phase IV would add a second library tower (or more accurately, one half of a second library tower). The remaining half of the second tower was to be built during “Phase V” of the expansion. Faculty members were consulted in 1988 and asked for their opinion as to what features the new library tower should contain. [1] It was suggested, among other ideas, that an informal lounge and a coffee shop were essential to making this new library addition more useful and welcoming to researchers. Faculty suggestions that the library integrate other useful campus functions would re-enter the discussion as the simple library expansion idea evolved into that of a larger self-contained building.

In the very early 1990s, planning for a University Learning Center in lieu of the library expansion began to evolve among library, faculty and other university administrators. This center would to include not only a state-of-the-art library, but also a media center, bookstore, a movie theater, meeting rooms, a restaurant and a food court. The building would be the new center of campus, although the University made certain to point out that this building would not be “Student Union Building III,” nor would it replace the two existing student unions. [2] Up until the facility was opened, a popular rumor spread around campus that a bowling alley was part of the plans. University administrators were quick to deny such speculation.

In order to build the University Learning Center, university administrators needed to remove a structure dubbed the Humanities Module, which had previously occupied the space where the new building was to be built. The Humanities Module was a series of large temporary buildings which housed classrooms and lecture halls. The module was host to subjects such as literature, economics, and music appreciation, from small classes to 100-student lectures. The buildings that made up the Humanities Module were arranged in such a way that students sometimes had to walk through other class and lecture rooms in order to move throughout the module. The Humanities Module was finally demolished in 1993 in order for the land to be cleared for the new Learning Center. Modular classrooms continued to be in use at the University until the mid-2000s, and some modular offices are still in use at Mason today (2012).

The University Learning Center, which was designed by Sheppley-Bulfinch Architects of Boston Massachusetts, was modeled after several existing buildings in the United States. The design called for a ground floor that would have a large meeting area (today’s Dewberry Hall), a lower level of the planned bookstore, a staircase that would rise all the way to a third floor and a “pub” area (today’s Bistro). The original first floor plans are almost identical to the current layout of the Johnson Center, although they did not specifically name computer store or mail facilities on that level. The remaining drawings for the second and third floors accurately depict the layout of the current Johnson Center today.

The University Learning Center’s construction was completed in late spring of 1995. Administrators pushed for library staff and furniture installers to have the inside of the building ready for the new academic school year, although library supervisors expressed the concern that it would be difficult to hire and train new staff before the deadline. The first part of the University Learning Center opened in October 1995 to much fanfare. [3] The new building was almost “twice the size of the Patriot Center,” contained multiple computer labs and a 315-seat cinema. The building cost $30 million to build and contained over eight acres of floor space. Taco Bell, Sub Connection, and the Bistro were among the original restaurants serving food in the University Learning Center. [4] La Patisserie, originally based in Student Union Building I, moved to the Center just in time for its opening. Pizza Hut rounded out the food choices.

In August 1995, George W. Johnson, the University’s president since 1978, announced that he would retire at the end of the school year in 1996. Dr. Johnson at that point had been arguably Mason’s longest-serving and most successful president. During his tenure, the university had expanded from a medium-sized local institution into a nationally-recognized university with distributed campuses in Arlington and Prince William, a law school, and doctoral programs. To honor Dr. Johnson’s service and accomplishments, the University Learning Center would be dedicated to him and bear his name.

On April 12, 1996, the University Learning Center was renamed the George W. Johnson Learning Center in a ceremony held on the North Plaza. Former Rector of the Board of Visitors and pivotal partner with Johnson in the expansion of the University, John T. “Til” Hazel gave the keynote speech. [5] During the same ceremony, the eight-foot tall statue of George Mason, sculpted by Wendy Ross was unveiled. Ross later created the George Mason Memorial in Washington D.C. ;

Since its dedication, the Johnson Center has been host to a number of memorable and important university and community-related gatherings. In 1998 it was the home of the World Conference on Information Technology, which was attended by many leaders in that field and featured appearances by former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbechev and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Center was filled to capacity during the 2006 NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament, when George Mason’s Patriots advanced to the Final Four by defeating the top-seeded University of Connecticut in overtime on March 24. Giant television screens placed on the atrium wall above the entrance to the Bookstore at the north end permitted viewing by those in the packed atrium and on the floors above. In 2007, then Senator Barack Obama gave a pre-election campaign speech inside the Johnson Center. In 2008, former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton spoke at separate rallies for then-presidential candidate Obama at the Johnson Center.

The George W. Johnson Learning Center still remains a focal point on the Fairfax Campus. It is a gathering place for the Mason community and an outward sign of the work that Dr. George W. Johnson had done to help make George Mason University what it is today.

A Community of Excellence: The University Scholars Program:
In 2010, Dr. Anthony Hoefer, the then-new Director of George Mason University’s University Scholars Program, remarked that he wanted the program to “offer a chance [for students] to develop a rich intellectual life, in which research, learning and inquiry are deeply connected to citizenship and community.” [1] Since the late 1980s, the University Scholars Program has brought the best students from across Virginia, and later from across the country, to George Mason University. [2] Over time, the University Scholars Program has evolved to bring a more diverse group of learners to Mason. Today, the University Scholars Program showcases some of the highest achieving students in its history.

The Mason Scholars Program began in 1987 as an initiative by the university and President George W. Johnson with the intention of bringing bright young intellectuals to Mason, while promoting the school’s image as a “great university with a student body second to none.”[3] In the original program ten Virginia high school students, one from each congressional district, were chosen each year as University Scholars. The admission decision was based on a combination of their school activities record, essay score, letters of recommendation, standardized test scores, class rank, awards, academic record, AP credits, and finally, an interview. The Admissions Office at the university would review an applicant’s entire file before either recommending them for an interview or declining their application. Applicants who passed this first admissions phase were then interviewed by a special committee organized by the university from among the most influential educators and public figures in each Congressional District. The first interview committees included prominent lawyers, politicians and local community college presidents. Students accepted to George Mason University as Mason Scholars were given a four-year scholarship which covered the cost of “tuition, fees, books and basic living expenses – an estimated $40,000 over a four-year period.”[4] The process of recruiting the first Mason Scholars class began in the fall of 1987 and continued through the Spring of 1988.

The first group of Mason Scholars entered the university during the fall semester of 1988. This elite group came from as far away as Blacksburg, Virginia and as near as Fairfax. [5] The class had an average SAT score of 1312 and an average GPA of 3.9. One special perk of being part of the Mason Scholars was access to a special study lounge and computer center, located on the first floor of the East Building. The lounge still remains there today (although it was moved to Krug Hall for at least one semester[6]). The position of “Director of the Mason Scholars Program” was created to provide faculty assistance to Mason Scholars on-campus. The first Mason Scholars Director created a program that matched each scholar with a faculty member, who functioned as a mentor.

Throughout the first decade of its existence, the Mason Scholars Program expanded to provide more opportunities for its students and more options for applicants to George Mason University. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the university arranged for Mason Scholars to partake in an internship program on Capitol Hill (with the member of Congress from each Mason Scholar’s Congressional District). [7] In the mid-1990s the internship was restructured to allow freshman scholars to intern on Capitol Hill and sophomore scholars to intern with university administrators. [8] Another popular scholars activity in the mid-1990s was a sophomore and freshman retreat to Cold Stream Lodge in West Virginia,[9] which was owned by a member of the Mason Scholar Selection Committee and given as a “weekend gift” to the scholars. [10] In 1990, Mason partnered with the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University to offer pre-med Mason Scholars guaranteed admission to medical school (contingent upon the scholars completing their undergraduate degree). [11] Years later, a similar program was created for pre-law University Scholars who wanted to attend George Mason Law School. [12] In 1991 the University admitted the first members of the Presidential Scholars Program. The Presidential Scholars comprised both in-state and out-of-state students who were offered partial scholarships to attend Mason. [13] Except for the monetary value of the scholarships, the Mason Scholars and the Presidential Scholars enjoyed the same benefits.

Various incarnations of a “Presidential Scholars”-type program had existed at Mason since the late 1970s, although the version introduced in 1991 was more formalized to complement the Mason Scholars. [14] One of the few events specific to only one University Scholars group was the Mason Scholar Weekend, when interview “committee members would come from the different congressional districts of the Commonwealth to view the campus and converse with [the Mason Scholars].”[15] The two groups were placed under one administrative unit called the “University Scholars Program,” and the Mason Scholars Director became the Director of the University Scholars Program. All of the scholars lived together in a residence hall usually reserved for upperclassmen during their freshman year, a tradition that started with the Mason Scholars Program. [16]

Five years after the original Mason Scholars class was selected it became clear to university Administrators that there were some issues concerning the admissions process that needed attention. In a June 1992 memo to President Johnson, the Dean for Undergraduate Studies conveyed his belief that the Congressional District Interview Committees, which had the final say in selecting a Mason Scholar from their districts, were not selecting the best candidates for admission, thus producing one Mason Scholars group which faced serious academic problems. [17] The dean suggested strengthening the university’s control over both the membership of the committees and the selection of scholars. In 1997, under the new administration of D. Alan Merten, the Mason and Presidential Scholars merged into a single group called the University Scholars. [18] The Congressional District Interview Committees were disbanded to eliminate politicizing the process and an in-house selection process utilizing a faculty committee was put in place. [19] In 1998,[20] the Scholars Program was moved from under the leadership of the Provost to New Century College. [21]

The University Scholars Program would not undergo another major structural change until 2009, when it was placed into the newly formed Honors College. [22]The University Scholars Program has had several directors during its existence. Assistant Provost Madelaine Marquez was the first Director of the Mason Scholars, and served in that position from the program’s inception[23] until mid-1989. [24] Donna Bafundo, a former director of the EXCEL Program (Experience College Education and Living, an on-campus college program for rising high school seniors), was assigned the role of Mason Scholars Director after Marquez’s departure. [25] Her title was changed to “Director of the University Scholars Program” after the Presidential Scholars were introduced in 1991. Bafundo served as Director of the program for just over ten years, until her retirement in 2000. [26] During Bafundo’s tenure, Deborah Hobson became the first and last Assistant Director of the University Scholars Program, serving from 1998 to 1999. [27] In mid-1999 Bafundo assisted Dr. John O’Connor, then Dean of New Century College, in selecting a replacement Scholars Director. [28] Dr. Noreen McGuire was appointed Director of the University Scholars in 2000[29] and served until 2002. [30] In 2005, the University Scholars Lounge in the East Building was renamed the “Dr. Noreen McGuire Prettyman University Scholars Lounge” in recognition of Dr. McGuire’s contributions to the university and the Scholars Program. [31]

After Dr. McGuire’s departure in 2002, Dr. Peggy Chalker and Virginia Ann Lewis were asked to lead the University Scholars Program, but neither was named Director of the program. [32] A short time later, Dr. Chalker left the university and Lewis served as the interim University Scholars Director for two years. [33] While serving as de-facto Acting Director, Ms. Lewis strove to improve communication between the Scholars Program and the families of Scholars. Under her leadership, out-of-state enrollment in the program rose and eventually constituted one third of all University Scholars. In 2004, Dr. Erek Perry came to Mason from Ohio University to become the new University Scholars Director and Associate Director of Student Academic Affairs. [34] Perry continued as Director of the program until 2009. In 2010, Dr. Anthony Hoefer, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, was chosen as the new Director of the University Scholars Program.

The University Scholars Program continues to be one of the most prestigious opportunities available to matriculants to George Mason University. In 2012, retiring university President Dr. Alan Merten announced that he and his wife would be contributing funding towards a “Merten Scholar” program. [35] In each incoming University Scholar Class, one Virginia resident will be selected as a “Merten Scholar,” receiving a special scholarship that will cover tuition, room and board, books, and related travel expenses. The first “Merten Scholar” is expected to arrive at Mason in Fall 2015. By creating a full scholarship only offered to Virginia students, it is apparent that the University Scholars Program has come full-circle as it begins to enter another chapter in its long history.

Changing the Way We Learn About the Past: Roy Rosenzweig and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media:
At a March 2008 remembrance event for the late Dr. Roy Rosenzweig,Barbara Ashbrook, of the National Endowment for the Humanities, said, “When Roy began his career as a professional historian, I doubt that he imagined he would end up making history himself, and that he would be one of those builders of America -- the best parts of America – but, in fact, that is just what he did.” [1] Over the course of his twenty six-year tenure at George Mason University, Dr. Rosenzweig became one of the most respected and influential faculty members in Mason’s History department as well as a nationally recognized figure in the field of digital humanities. His enduring legacy to the University is the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, a leader in the academic world for promoting the use of digital media to teach history. [2] As the center approaches its twentieth anniversary, new and ongoing initiatives continue to make it one of Mason’s preeminent humanities research institutions.

The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (CHNM) was founded in 1994 by Dr. Rosenzweig. Originally the Center for History and New Media, it was renamed for its founder in 2011. The center’s focus is to help integrate “digital media and computer technology to democratize history – to incorporate multiple voices, reach diverse audiences, and encourage popular participation in presenting and preserving the past.”[3] Prior to establishing the center, Dr. Rosenzweig had been awarded a grant in 1991 to work on a portion of a computer program on CD-ROM entitled Who Built America: An Electronic Book. Released in late 1994, Who Built America helped introduce college students as well as the general public to issues in the history of the working class in America. [4] The original CHNM was located in Dr. Rosenzweig’s tiny office in Dickenson Hall on the Fairfax Campus. Three staffers worked in one room, while a printer occupied a smaller room just off of the office. In the late 1990s, the CHNM hired its first full-time staff members, including Dr. Dan Cohen, who came to the Center as part of his post-doctoral work. [5] One of the first CHNM initiatives in which Dr. Cohen took part was ECHO, a digital resource for the history of science. The ECHO project was particularly challenging because it was difficult for the CHNM staff to convince scientists to take time away from their research to assist in archiving and digital preservation. Many ECHO projects are archived in the MARS digital repository maintained by University Libraries.

The CHNM staff grew during the early 2000s with the addition of staffers who served dual roles as faculty in the Mason History Department and producers in the center. One such new staffer was Dr. T. Mills Kelly, who was hired in the Summer of 2001 as a faculty member in Mason’s History Department and as an Associate Director in the CHNM. [6] The expanding center embarked on its newest assignment in late 2001, when its staffers started work on the September 11th Digital Archive. [7] This web resource provided a means by which people affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks could share their stories, as well as photos and videos that were relevant. [8] The project won nationwide acclaim and the center went on to partner with such prestigious organizations as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the Red Cross. [9] After the September 11th archive project ended, the CHNM embarked on a similar project digitally archiving the stories of people affected by storms in the Gulf region, especially Hurricane Katrina, during the mid-2000s. [10] As the CHNM grew in size and importance, it left Dr. Rozensweig’s office and moved to the Pohick Module, a temporary building on the Fairfax Campus which once stood where the Pohick Building stands today. The center remained there for four and a half years before moving to its current location in Research Hall. [11]

The center has realized several achievements in recent years, including the creation of an online scholarly sourcing and citation program named Zotero and the digital humanities publishing and exhibition platform Omeka. [12] In 2007 and 2008 Zotero was included on the list of “Best Free Software” by PC Magazine, and in 2008 Omeka was awarded a $50,000 Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration. [13] Since Omeka’s introduction, many successful digital humanities projects around the world, including this Mason history site, have been built using the Omeka platform.

Today, the CHNM has grown to encompass nearly fifty employees, most of whom are also part of the George Mason History and Art History Department. [14] While certain staff positions at CHNM require strong computer skills, the center’s leadership usually prefers candidates with some form of a history or humanities background. CHNM’s projects fall into three main categories: teaching and learning, research and tools, and collecting and exhibiting. [15] Many “teaching and learning” projects are aimed at a K-12 audience rather than an advanced academic one, though the center has a significant presence within Mason’s Department of History and Art History. Individuals earning a doctoral degree at Mason are required to enroll in two semesters of digital history, giving the program a tie-in with the CHNM. [16] Course offerings such as “Clio Wired: An Introduction to History and New Media” and “Advanced Topics in History and New Media” demonstrate the center’s influence within the department and the curriculum.

In 2007, in his twenty-sixth year as a faculty member at George Mason University and his fourteenth year as Director of the Center for History and New Media, Dr. Rosenzweig passed away after a battle with lung cancer. [17] Dr. Daniel Cohen, CHNM’s Research and Projects Director, was appointed the new Director of the CHNM. [18] He served as the Center’s Director until April 2013, when he became the Founding Executive Director of the Digital Public Library of America. Dr. Stephen Robinson of the University of Sydney in Australia was chosen to replace Dr. Cohen in June 2013. [19]

The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media continues to create nationally-recognized digital and interactive resources for learning and teaching history. One of its newest projects is a Web-based American History course named Hidden in Plain Sight. [20] The class consists of several online modules and can be taken either for graduate credit or for teacher recertification points. Even though a new leader is preparing to take the helm at the Center for History and New Media, the institution will continue to produce unique history learning experiences for not only the academic community but a broader audience across the globe.

1996-2012:

Prominence:
George Mason underwent extensive academic, physical, and geographic expansion under the direction of its fourth president, Dr. George W. Johnson. During his eighteen years, the university attained doctoral degree-granting status and acquired a law school, the Arlington Campus, and the Prince William Campus; established several new institutes; and became home to a Nobel Prize winner. Dr. Johnson’s presidency ushered the young university into a period of tremendous growth in size, reputation, and quality, and paved the way for the great strides made under the leadership of President Merten.

Dr. Alan G. Merten’s story, like Johnson’s, is filled with several major successes. He came to George Mason in 1996 believing that the University’s location made it responsible for both contributing to and drawing upon its surrounding communities—local, national, and global. George Mason was becoming recognized and acclaimed in all of these spheres, following its hosting of the World Congress of Information Technology (WCIT) in 1998 to its celebrating a second Nobel Prize-winning faculty member in 2002 and its cheering on the Men’s Basketball team’s in their NCAA Final Four appearance in 2006. Enrollment increased from just over 24,000 students in 1996 to approximately 33,000 during the spring semester of 2012, making George Mason Virginia’s largest public university. With these and other accomplishments, George Mason had begun to gain prominence at the national level.

Strong academic programs, diversity (Mason’s population is drawn from all fifty states and nearly one hundred thirty different countries), and the construction of almost twenty buildings—including the Nguyen Engineering Building, the Mason Inn, the Biomedical Research Laboratory, and the Hylton Performing Arts Center—across Mason’s three campuses earned the University U.S. News and World Report’s prestigious title of “Number One University to Watch” in 2008 on its first-ever list of “Up-and-Coming Universities”. That distinction speaks both to the excellence George Mason has achieved under Dr. Merten’s sixteen years of guidance and to the innovative, dynamic nature of the University that will carry it into the future.

On December 15, 2011, the George Mason University Board of Visitors announced the appointment of Mason's next president. Dr. Ángel Cabrera, former President of Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona became George Mason's sixth president on July 1, 2012. Dr. Cabrera served as president until 2019.

Dr. Alan Merten, George Mason, and Sixteen Years of Trying to Do it The Right Way:
Alan Merten’s journey to become President of the University began long before his appointment in 1996. Dr. and Mrs. Merten were married in Northern Virginia in 1967 and followed the growth of the University throughout the years. He could have had no idea that thirty years later he would lead the University through an unprecedented stage in its development and be marked as one of the greatest contributors to the young school’s already-rich history.

Alan Gilbert Merten was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended both the Universities of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and Madison in his undergraduate years to study mathematics. He joined the Air Force shortly after graduation, and his first assignment was to get his Master’s degree from Stanford University in Computer Science. Upon completing the degree, he worked in the Pentagon’s computer center for three years and served as military aid to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He met and married his wife, Sally during this time and after completing these assignments, he returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his doctorate in Computer Science. His time in the Air Force had piqued his interest in computing—he enjoyed research and teaching, so he thought becoming a university professor would offer the best of both worlds. Though he considered working for a big technology-focused corporation, he decided to follow the example of professors who had inspired him to teach. That career choice profoundly shaped the rest of his life. [1]

Dr. Merten’s first position was as a professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan. There he developed an interest in the business applications of the computer. After his first four years of teaching, he transferred from the engineering school to the business school to teach the application of computer science to business. This eventually led to his teaching programs for business executives as well, and soon he was offered his first administrative position: Associate Dean for Executive Education and Computing Services at the School of Business. [2]

In 1986 Dr. Merten became dean of the School of Business at the University of Florida and remained there until 1989 when he accepted the position as Dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

After serving at Cornell for seven years, Dr. Merten was ready to take on another role. He looked at advertisements for university presidents around the time of Dr. Johnson’s approaching retirement, and as fate would have it, he received a call from none other than George Mason University’s presidential search firm in December 1995 asking if he had any interest in the position. He did. By February 1996, the committee had narrowed the applicants to ten and asked Dr. Merten to come to Fairfax for a meeting. On his way back to Ithaca, he received another call saying they had further reduced the number to four, and that they hoped he might return. Interestingly, he later found out that his background was well-suited to specific criteria the search committee desired; one member had actually suggested to the committee: “I know it’s not possible, but it would be great if the new President had a Ph.D. in computer science.” [3] Dr. Merten was offered the position based on his many other qualifications, however, after talking with his wife and some colleagues, he decided that it was “the place to be.” [4]

Dr. Merten knew George Mason had a reputation for being a “very innovative university; what Dr. Johnson had created was an environment where things were happening …often in a somewhat brash way that got people’s attention.” [5] He saw that it was a university that took advantage of its location, and he also associated it with a place where those who were “innovative” --particularly in regard to faculty--and who did not quite seem to fit at other universities could find a home. George Mason held “both the excitement and downsides of youth.” [6]

Dr. Merten already had an established vision by the time he took office in 1996. He sought to develop a great university in the greater Washington, D.C. area, to expand research activities to match the University’s strong reputation as a teaching institution and to continue to establish excellent academic programs in new areas (information technology, law, policy, economics, and performing arts were already strong disciplines). Dr. Merten understood that in order for the University to not only “survive, but thrive” it was necessary to “create order out of chaos without killing the entrepreneurial spirit.” [7] He appreciated Dr. Johnson’s approach to improving quality at Mason, but the many ideas that had been suggested by others during Johnson’s time sometimes resulted in programs, departments, institutes, and organizations that overlapped and competed with each other. Merten felt that the “let every flower bloom” mentality created the atmosphere of a “start-up company”: things were exciting, but there was a certain amount of disorder. [8]

In order to curtail that chaos and channel it into productivity, Dr. Merten saw it necessary to combine competing or non-complementary academic programs and departments. When Merten arrived, a School of Management and a Graduate Business Institute existed, so the latter was incorporated into the former. The Institute of International Education was disbanded because, according to Merten, “I wanted everyone to be international.” [9] Many other programs were dealt with similarly, but sometimes decisions were made not to merge, for example the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution was not combined with any existing structure because it served a unique role. While he recognized that good organizational structure does not automatically lead to success, Dr. Merten believed that without it, an institution cannot thrive. He understood that the University had been permeated by a culture that had associated innovation with new things, like the creation of new institutes, but his plan called for a different tactic:

"What we’d do is go into existing things and tell people you have to become innovative, as opposed to creating something new. We had to merge things that had been created for the purposes of innovation. We had to convince people on campus that new organizations weren’t the only ones that were going to be innovative. Existing organizations had to be innovative, too. That was a little bit hard for a while; people had associated the creation of a new entity with innovation and the old entity with lack of innovation. We couldn’t do that—we couldn’t afford that." [10]

In a time of transition, Dr. Merten’s new method faced some criticism. He was proud of the University and wanted to keep its spirit alive while also giving it some more traditional elements, using UCLA and UC Irvine as examples. They were older institutions in metropolitan areas that had been involved in their communities and had solid reputations for teaching, which they had parlayed into research. This was a challenging proposition when most thought of Mason as non-traditional; many thought his attempts to create order would kill the entrepreneurial spirit, but Dr. Merten believed the lack of order itself would kill that spirit. Doubt about his plans also surfaced initially because his style was different from that of Dr. Johnson. A colleague once told him, “You’re replacing a cowboy—someone who comes charging into the room, shooting in all directions, makes things happen, and maybe takes a few casualties…There are two ways of getting someone’s attention: one [Dr. Johnson’s style] is to poke them in the eye.” [11]

George Johnson had created meaningful friendships for the University in the Northern Virginia community, and Dr. Merten wanted to maintain those while also expanding the University’s circle. He spent a great deal of time (almost every night during his first year as president) building relationships with the University’s existing friends and also “going places where Mason had never been.” [12] He knew he needed to attract colleagues who shared his vision and who would contribute to the University beyond their academic and administrative roles. In order to achieve both of these goals—making new friends for the University and finding new faculty members—Dr. Merten had to become involved in the Northern Virginia community. Over time, he served on the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Northern Virginia Roundtable, the Potomac KnowledgeWay, the Federal City Council, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the 123 Club, and various community organizations. [13] His wife, Sally, also got involved in organizations like the local public television station WETA and the Women’s Military Memorial. They wanted to be invested in the community and to have that community realize “that George Mason was here to stay and that it was going to thrive.” [14]

During Merten’s first year, a number of high-ranking university positions opened up and needed filling. He looked to hire about ten to twelve faculty and administrators, ranging from the Dean of the School of Information Technology and Engineering to the Vice President for Information Technology to the basketball coach. His vision to expand the University’s influence attracted one dean who had no previous interest. At George Mason, however, with “so many chairs around the table…empty, he realized that he could have influence not only in his chair, but also an influence [on] whom [else] we hired and in creating the organization.” [15] The combination of faculty from Dr. Johnson’s tenure and the new hires appointed by Dr. Merten signified a “dramatic change in the nature of the University,” but one that was met with a positive reaction by the Mason community. Merten recognized that people believed in the institution, knew what Dr. Johnson had done and respected it, and also knew what needed to happen next.

Dr. Merten maintains that he and Dr. Johnson were “different leaders at different times,” both admired each other and said they could not have done what the other did. To Dr. Merten, his role was different from Dr. Johnson’s and required support from all facets of the University:

Dr. Johnson was the face of the University in Richmond and all over. I had a bigger view of whom we had to touch, and I couldn’t do it all myself. I told the new deans, “When I show up at a meeting at 7:30 in the morning at Tyson’s Corner, I want someone to come up to me and say, "Gee, Alan, it’s nice that you’re here, but dean so-and-so has been here for a half an hour already.’” The first time, about a year or so after I got here, when that started to happen, I knew we were winning. [16]

In addition to merging departments and hiring new faculty, one of Dr. Merten’s first big decisions was to promote the concept of Mason as a distributed university: he assigned all three campuses equal status. He had also decided upon his arrival that there should be a major capital campaign; one had been proposed and started briefly in the early 1990s, but it had never come to fruition due to the period’s poor economic climate. A relatively quiet planning phase beginning in 1998 involved many changes in staff in the Development and Alumni Affairs Offices and the process of assessing each academic department’s needs. $78 million was raised during the pre-public phase, and the campaign was launched publicly on April 6, 2002, at a dinner celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the University’s independence. [17] Merten explained to donors that “We were trying to move George Mason from good to great, from good enough to excellent, and that was going to take private money.” [18] He believes support came because “people want to put their name on success; they want their money and name to be associated with [it].” [19] Alumni gifts were significant, even though the alumni population as a whole is relatively young. A community of 45,000 donors contributed to the campaign, which raised $142 million by its close on September 24, 2005. [20]

Dr. Merten also worked diligently to increase the opportunities made available by George Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C. because as a friend had told him: “[l]ocation by itself doesn’t guarantee you anything. You have to take advantage of it.” [21] Merten felt that George Mason had begun to do that, but believed that it could do much more. He saw Mason as involved in five levels of community: technology, arts, and public community affairs of Northern Virginia; Virginia itself; the greater-Washington, D.C. business and arts community; the nation’s capital; and the world’s capital, stressing the last two as extremely important. All were vital to Mason’s growth, however: “We have a responsibility to both contribute to and draw upon those five communities, and we do”. [22]

Another way George Mason takes advantage of its location, according to Merten, is that it provides faculty members who are well-versed in their disciplines. Students have access to both tenure-track professors who teach the theory of a discipline and the practical knowledge of adjunct professors who work in the discipline each day, as for example, at the Smithsonian Institution. Students are also given a global view. Dr. Merten stressed the importance of experiencing different cultures: “I tell students, when you walk into a classroom, sit down by someone who doesn’t look like you; they could be from one of 120 – 140 different countries.” He believed George Mason’s location provided incredible opportunities for its students: “[These are] things that our students get with relatively little effort…if they were someplace else it would take a major effort; they get it by showing up in class. And our students know that. They appreciate the location, the diversity, the rigor, and the applied aspect of what they’re getting.” [23]

That students appreciate the location, diversity, and programs at Mason is evident in the dramatic increase in enrollment that took place during Dr. Merten’s tenure. In 1996, approximately 23,000 students attended George Mason; by 2010, about 32,500 students were enrolled. [24] He has noted that the percentage of undergraduates who are full-time students has increased between fifty to sixty percent, partially due to the influx of out-of-state students--from about ten percent to twenty-five percent of the undergraduate population--and the increase in the number of students living on-campus as the University has become a primarily residential institution with a residential population of approximately 7000 students in 2012. [25] Masonvale, a large neighborhood of townhouse-style apartments for faculty and staff on the Fairfax campus, has further contributed to the residential feeling of the University.

Dormitories were not the only buildings under construction; during Dr. Merten’s presidency, over twenty major buildings were built on Mason’s three campuses, including new academic buildings like the Art & Design and Engineering buildings at the Fairfax Campus (both opened in 2009), the Biomedical Research Laboratory at Prince William (2001), and Founders Hall at Arlington (2010). The Hylton Performing Arts Center at Prince William (2009) and the Mason Inn Hotel and Conference Center at Fairfax (2010) quickly became important fixtures to their respective communities. They are facilities Dr. Merten associates with a more mature university, because they serve not only students, faculty, and staff, but also the greater community. As he later stated: “George Mason’s buildings that reach into the community are part of who we are; there wouldn’t be a George Mason without [the community], [because] George Mason was founded with the belief that Northern Virginia needed a great university and that it needed to be involved in the community.” [26] Dr. Merten takes pride in that the quality of the University—its academic programs, buildings, and campus life—has increased with demand as the University has grown, instead of the other way around.

Merten felt that the increase in quality and visibility permeated virtually every facet of Mason during Dr. Merten’s sixteen year service. “We accomplished much more than I figured we would…it’s not only what we did, but how we did it, and the pace at which we did things.” One of these big accomplishments included Vernon Smith’s winning the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002; Mason, the only Virginia school to have one Nobel Prize-winning faculty member, now had a second. Perhaps one of the greatest achievements—and one which has had a profound impact on the University—also happened during Dr. Merten’s presidency: the Men’s Basketball team’s “Cinderella Story” journey to the Final Four in 2006.

Dr. Merten has called the Final Four trip timely: “[i]f it had happened earlier or later, it wouldn’t have had the same impact. We were on the map, and this really put us on the map. Local, state, national, international media picked up on it.” [27] George Mason appeared on the front pages of newspapers across the country—sometimes as many as 200 per day--all displaying the George Mason logo. Dr. Merten acknowledged that Jim Larranaga, the Men’s Basketball coach, “did basketball right: students first, student-athletes second,” and stressed the importance of having strong academic and athletic programs: “You’d better be doing the right things at your university in regard to academics and athletics if you ever get a hit like we did, because the media is going to write about you. The media has got to fill in either time or space—if you’re as hot as we were, they’re going to fill in good or bad; we kept them filling in with good things and they kept printing more and more.” [28] Papers like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times asked for more and more information about the school, and Mason sent articles, brochures, letters, and interviews to them and all over the country, garnering publicity unparalleled in the University’s history. It also imbued George Mason with a spirit that has never left.

A friend once told Dr. Merten, “[e]very once in a while, the world gets a George Mason wake-up call. We all know you’ve been doing more than we expected, and then all of a sudden something happens.” [29] Mason’s appearance in the Final Four was one such occurrence; another was its designation by U.S. News and World Report as the “Number One University to Watch” in 2008 on its first-ever list of “Up-and-Coming Universities”—schools “that have recently made the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus or facilities.” [30] This recognition, coming on the heels of the Final Four appearance, was huge for George Mason; it was “a major reaffirmation of what we believed we were.” [31] Dr. Merten said in 2010 that “[p]eople around the nation and around the world are stunned when I tell them we’re only thirty-seven years old because of our size, quality, and reputation. Some people tell me I’m lying!” [32]

After sixteen years of witnessing and contributing to incredible milestones in George Mason’s history, Dr. Merten will retire on June 30, 2012, and Dr. Ángel Cabrera will become the sixth president of the University. [33] Dr. Merten believes that the faces of the campuses will continue to change--with new dorms at the Fairfax campus, commercial development around the Prince William campus, and more programs at Arlington--but that the University’s mission to both contribute to and draw upon the local, national, and global communities will remain constant. He hopes Mason’s culture does not change—that it stays “one of the most innovative universities in the country” and one of the best universities to work for, and that it continues to take advantage of its location and to market itself. [34] He would also like to see more research conducted, though not at the expense of teaching, and the construction of more facilities that support research activities. “We’re doing the right things in the right way” he said, and stressed the importance of looking toward the future with care and excitement.

The Prince Wiliam Campus:
During the last decades of the Twentieth Century, Prince William County experienced tremendous growth due to its close proximity to Washington D.C., eventually becoming the third most populous county in the entire state of Virginia. [1] Over the course of the late 1980s and 1990s, Prince William County would become the site of George Mason University’s newest campus. Now (2012) in its fifteenth year, the Prince William Campus continues to be an essential component in Mason’s Distributed Campus system.

During the fall of 1986, elected officials from Prince William County approached George Mason University regarding the potential establishment of an institution in the area. [2] Mason worked with Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) to form an exploratory committee that would study demographic shifts in the region, allowing the two schools to see whether establishing an institution was feasible. The exploratory committee returned with a full report in June 1987. The report found that Prince William County was “experiencing unprecedented growth in population and overall economic development.” George Mason’s schools of Business Administration and Information Technology were believed to offer the classes most relevant to the local population. Graduate courses in education from Mason’s College of Education and Human Services were also suggested. The committee finally recommended that Mason “establish a Center for Higher Education” at NVCC’s Manassas Campus located on Va. Rte 234, just above U.S. Rt. 66. According to the proposed plan, the first courses offered at the center would be “professional programs” in engineering, information technology, education and business. The center would serve as a model for new teaching techniques in the Twenty-first Century.

George Mason University President Dr. George W. Johnson began to seriously consider installing a facility in Prince William County during the spring of 1988. In an April 1988 memo, Dr. Johnson laid out his entire presentation to the Board of Visitors regarding the proposed facility. [3] The memo listed different concepts for the Prince William County space, including ideas to create a new residential campus, a satellite campus, or simply to establish a new graduate school. In August 1988, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors began to organize an advisory committee that would submit a proposal for the project. [4]

“A Proposal for a University Presence in Prince William County,” which was made public in September 1989, was fully backed by the Board of County Supervisors, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Richard J. Ernst, the President of NVCC. [5] It included plans for a 100-acre campus, complete with a 50,000-square-foot “gateway academic building,” scheduled to be completed by Fall 1991. An additional, 150,000 square foot building was set to be completed by Fall 1993. The original idea of using NVCC’s Manassas Campus was eventually abandoned because it was not conveniently located for many residents of Prince William County. [6] In addition, the committee strongly suggested that the Prince William facility be given its own identity from the start. The proposal also explained the different academic programs (both graduate and undergraduate) that Mason should offer at the institute, NVCC’s eventual involvement with the facility, a funding plan for the project, and the sharing of academic resources with George Mason University.

Mason’s Board of Visitors (BOV) was generally receptive to the Prince William plan. The initial idea of planning a potential Prince William Institute was proposed by Dr. Johnson at the September 1987 BOV. [7] A majority of Board members supported the drafting of a formal proposal, although some questioned the funding required and criticized what they saw as possibly fragmenting programs by offering them at two locations. At the May 1988 BOV meeting, Dr. Johnson formally proposed constructing an institute in Prince William County. Some BOV members objected to the idea initially. They cited an uncertain development future for Prince William County, potential problems in acquiring land, possible exaggeration of public support for the project, and possible concerns from the Arlington Campus. At the time, it was unclear whether or not Prince William County would continue to grow. Additionally, its infrastructure was not in optimal condition. However, the Board voted to approve the Prince William Institute project on a 12-3 vote. [8] Later, in a September 1989 Board of Visitors meeting, Dr. Johnson discussed how the establishment of the Prince William Institute could be the first step in expanding the University to other parts of Northern Virginia.

In 1991 The Prince William Institute opened at a temporary site in a shopping center located on Sudley Road in Manassas. At the same time George Mason University, partnering with Prince William County officials and NVCC, submitted a proposal to the state that would allow for the construction of a permanent campus for the institute. While the Commonwealth debated whether or not to approve the project, classes and events were held at the Sudley Road location. An on-site library was just one of the several resources available to students at the institute.

After receiving approval from the Commonwealth, Mason began organizing land acquisitions that would be home to the future campus of the Institute. By 1995, the University had acquired enough land to start building a new campus. On September 14, 1995, Dr. Johnson presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for the new location of the Prince William Institute. [9] Various representatives from Prince William County and George Mason were given puzzle pieces which, when put together, formed a map of the new campus. The joining of the puzzle pieces symbolized the many partnerships that were needed to create the institute’s new home.

Dr. Johnson retired at the end of the spring 1996 semester and was succeeded as President by Dr. Alan G. Merten. During Dr. Merten’s first month in office he was briefed on all ongoing projects, including the construction of the Prince William Institute’s permanent home. [10] At the time, the Fairfax Campus was referred to as the Main Campus and the Arlington Campus was referred to as the Metro or Law School Campus. Merten felt that unless the Prince William Institute was formally recognized as a “campus,” it would appear inferior to Mason’s other two locations. Therefore, one of Dr. Merten’s first decisions as president was to change the new location’s name to the Prince William Campus.

The Prince William Campus was dedicated on September 24, 1997, when the first building on its grounds opened. [11] Since the campus’ opening, Prince William has constructed other academic buildings, the Hylton Performing Arts Center, the Verizon Auditorium, Bull Run Hall and the Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center. The campus is also home to the Edge, a popular team-building facility in the Northern Virginia area. George Mason’s third location has been widely successful, with enrollment rising from 1,000 students in 1997 to over 2,200 students in 2010. [12] The Prince William Campus is still growing physically, with a new addition to one of the academic buildings and student housing set to be completed in 2013. As Mason continues to thrive in the future, the Prince William Campus will be a vital part of its success.

The Distributed University
One of the decisions Dr. Alan Merten made within his first week as president of George Mason University was to clarify the status of the University’s three campuses. He disliked their designations as the “Main Campus” (Fairfax), the “Law School Campus” or “Metro Campus” (Arlington), and the Prince William Institute, so shortly after his arrival in early July 1996 he declared that George Mason did not have a “main campus”—it had three campuses that were equal in status though varying in size and development. [1] He believed that different titles sent a bad signal; calling one campus “main” designated the others as remote or satellite campuses. Instead, he preferred to view George Mason as a “distributed university” and became a leading proponent of that vision.

Dr. Merten noted that the idea of a distributed university required “an interesting blend of centralization/decentralization;” campuses share operational systems but have distinct focuses. [2] In 1997, Provost David Potter worked closely with Executive Vice President Randall Edwards to ensure that services provided to students at Arlington and Prince William helped them to feel “fully a part of the University.” Edwards ensured that the Arlington and Prince William campuses received “the same high level of support present on the Fairfax Campus” with the implementation of similar telecommunications, public safety, and administrative services. [3] Potter also noted the importance of determining the academic needs of each campus community and adjusting programs accordingly in order to avoid overlap and to address the demands of the surrounding areas. In 2000, Provost Peter Stearns introduced his Strategic Plan for the Distributed Campus, which called for accelerated development at Prince William and Arlington to create “distinctive centers of excellence appropriate to the distributed campus concept.”[4] Plans for major building programs and enrollment growth at both campuses were to further establish Arlington as George Mason’s center for law, policy, and graduate studies and Prince William as the leader in computational bioscience and computational medicine. The Fairfax campus was to continue to serve as the undergraduate student residential center. [5]

Though Dr. Merten referred to George Mason as a “distributed university” and promoted it as such, he was not the first to use the term. Provost Clara Lovett and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Research Frederick Rossini had produced a paper conceptualizing George Mason as a “distributed university” following meetings of a university planning group called the Urban Village Task Force in 1989. They defined a “distributed university” as “a geographically dispersed institution that is academically, organizationally, and technologically integrated. It will be a network of dispersed nodes for teaching/learning research, each of which is equal to every other node.” They also noted that a distributed university would allow access to a greater number of resources, assure quality, and “enable specialization, experimentation, innovation, and development of educational cluster communities with distinct cultures.”[6] Three years later, a planning committee for the campus at Arlington also affirmed its commitment to that model:


Northern Virginia will be [George Mason’s] ‘campus’, which it will serve through major academic centers and access to business locations and other schools throughout the region. [The Arlington campus] will have world-class programs; [it will] not be a branch campus or extension center. George Mason has a strategy of building the University from the 'top down’, starting with world-class graduate and professional centers. [7]


Though land for each of George Mason’s campuses was acquired differently, all three have a shared goal of drawing upon and contributing to their respective communities. This idea was again expressed in regard to the expansion of the Arlington campus just before Merten’s arrival: “The Arlington Campus is the location of flagship programs developed as centers of excellence to serve Northern Virginia and the Arlington community as an integral part of George Mason’s distributed identity.”[8] The desire to promote excellence and to serve local communities sparked exploration of further expansion in Northern Virginia—a gift of land to George Mason in Loudoun County remains a possible site of future activity. [9] Lovett and Rossini’s vision had suggested that a distributed university would “facilitate the university’s response to externally-generated intellectual and programmatic opportunities.” [10]

Mason did respond to external intellectual and programmatic opportunities, and soon international expansion was at hand; the university partnered with the United Arab Emirates to found a campus at Ras Al Khaimah (RAK). The agreement, chartered in February 2005, was terminated in spring 2009, however. [11] Students enrolled in classes there were allowed to finish the semester and were offered help in transferring to one of Mason’s campuses in Virginia or to another institution of higher learning in the area. Dr. Merten acknowledged that “We made a good decision, but didn’t have a good outcome. We didn’t receive the support we needed from the government. Not just financial support, but support to maintain the academic integrity of our programs.” [12] University Provost Peter Stearns maintained that those same challenges had existed and noted his disappointment that the RAK campus had to close. He believed it to be “in the best interests of the students and the institution,” however, and reiterated that “Mason remains committed to international collaborations.” [13] This is evident in its 1 + 2 + 1 Dual Degree Program with several major universities in China, an exchange program for faculty and students at Moscow State University, and George Mason’s array of study abroad options across all seven continents.

Although the Ras Al Khaimah campus had not been successful, Dr. Merten recognized, “If you don’t have any failures, you’re not trying enough. We backed out. We’re giving them [RAK administrators] advice. We’re going to be involved globally in other places; South Korea is being discussed, among others.” He understood George Mason’s role as a “distributed university” as essential to its mission: “its connections to its environments are what create its life. Being distributed in the United States and doing things in other parts of the world creates excitement.” [14] That excitement, he said, makes the “distributed university great for our programs, our competitive advantage, and our image.” [15]

Update: GMU Korea (now known as Mason Korea) was established in 2014 as part of the Incheon Global Campus, aiming to become the best global education hub in Northeast Asia. George Mason University was invited by the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority to come to Songdo and participate in an innovative initiative to educate the next generation of global leaders. GMU Korea now offers U.S. degrees in six undergraduate disciplines. Approved by the Korean Ministry of Education, the degree programs offered afford students the unique opportunity to spend three years at GMU Korea in Songdo and one year in the U.S. at Mason in Fairfax, Virginia. When these students graduate, they receive the same degree as all students from George Mason University.

The Creation of the Office of University Life: Enriching the Mason Experience:
Beginning in the late 1990s George Mason University has been transformed from what many considered a strictly “commuter college” offering relatively little beyond an education to a residential institution with a vibrant campus life and many activities and services available to students, faculty, and staff. The Office of University Life, a unit that comprises nearly thirty academic, cultural, and social entities, is one of the largest administrative units at George Mason University, connecting students, faculty, and staff to a wide variety of programs and resources essential to their successful integration into the university. University Life is relatively young, having been instituted only shortly after the installation of Dr. Alan G. Merten as President in 1996. [1]

Previously, university groups that catered to student life had been under the direction of the former Student Affairs Office and had reported to the Senior Vice President of the university, Dr. Maurice Scherrens. Upon arriving at Mason, Dr. Merten found this indirect reporting structure unsatisfactory for such an important function. He expanded the scope and clout of the Student Affairs Office by renaming the division “University Life”, appointed a vice president to head it, and included it in his weekly roundtable discussions with key university groups. [2]

Dr.Karen Rosenblum, a sociology professor at Mason and the first director of its Women’s Studies program, was appointed the first Vice President of University Life in 1997. Rosenblum later noted that President Merten’s choosing to fill the position with a tenure-track faculty member (particularly a woman), rather than someone with a Student Affairs background, was almost “unprecedented”—“it put Dr. Merten on the map for that kind of thing within the university and in the country.” [3] Merten had hoped to strengthen student and faculty ties to the administration by appointing a faculty member to direct the office, and Dr. Rosenblum felt that her connection with the faculty did provide a vehicle for them to become more involved. [4] The increased visibility of the office and its upgraded position during budget decisions were important changes, and with a new name and a bigger budget came new opportunities to craft initiatives aimed at increasing spirit and the sense of community on campus. In her 1998 End-of-the-Year Address to University Life staff, Dr. Rosenblum stressed that building community would require “building tradition; personalizing the campus; making visible a George Mason identity; enticing faculty out of the classroom and into student interaction; and creating a climate in which students, faculty, and staff feel recognized and valued.” [5]

While “University Life” as a division was conceived by President Merten, the concept was also on the mind of Dr. George Johnson, his predecessor. In the early 1990s Johnson commissioned a University Life Project Team to assess the needs and strengths of George Mason’s growing campus community, particularly its “learning communities”. However, the interim report produced by the team in May 1991 focused largely on faculty needs and administrative policies, rather than on student-related issues, a choice stated explicitly by the committee: “We did not give serious attention to students, student cultures and motivation, student involvement in university decision-making and such matters.”[6]The report reflected faculty, staff, and administrators’ suggestions for the university’s improvement; they believed that “addressing [student concerns] effectively depend[ed] on resolving more basic issues concerning the institution and its faculty”, and so became the team’s “top priority”. [7] However, a Student Services Transition Team was constituted by President Johnson in December 1994 to “assess existing student service in terms of current functions, their current linkages with other academic and support services, and possible realignments” in order to determine “the extent to which they reinforce learning”. [8] This team, which suggested organizing student services into five “clusters”—for example, “Student Development” and “Intercultural,” among others— paved the way for the structural foundation of University Life, which reorganized itself into three clusters (Health and Wellness, Campus Life, and Academic, Career, Counseling, and Educational Services) in 1998. [9]

University Life’s initial Mission Statement was drafted in the spring of 1998. It stated: “University Life provides academic, career, social, emotional, and health services that are integral to students’ educational success and to the fostering of a unified community”. [10] Dr. Rosenblum believed that it was evident that the offices encompassed by University Life needed a more focused, unified vision, as surveys taken by graduating seniors in 1997 indicated a general dissatisfaction both with their sense of belonging on campus and with overall “campus life”. [11] By charging the multiple offices within the University Life division to consider their programs in terms of their “impact,” Rosenblum hoped that the multiple offices would become more “open to new ways of working—ways not based on the fact that we have always done this, or done this much, or done it this way, but instead operate from what we can determine to be the outcome of our work”. [12] In order to determine how University Life could continue to improve the campus experience for students, Dr. Rosenblum hosted the university’s first “Listening Days” in April 1997. [13] She and other faculty and administrators took comments, complaints, and suggestions from students, faculty, and staff. Both a lack of faculty-student interaction and the perception of a lack of community were frequently raised criticisms by students, and these were two issues that Rosenblum worked to address through University Life’s various offices and resources. [14] Faculty members were invited to participate in Welcome Week events for Freshmen, and the advising process was addressed. [15] A committee was established in the summer of 1999 to design and implement a greater number and variety of weekend programs. [16]

Dr. Rosenblum felt that her efforts to promote diversity—“the university’s calling card”—were one of her greatest contributions to University Life. [17] Rosenblum believed that “[W]e are on a good trajectory on a number of things [including] creating an environment where we have a lot of student diversity, and that diversity is a positive experience for our students. That trajectory we want to maintain”. [18] She had experience promoting diversity before her time in University Life; shortly before her appointment as its Vice President, Rosenblum had helped to organize the “Changing World of Work” series, which included lectures, seminars, and workshops that explored the roles of women and minorities in the workforce. [19] The event was one that represented a goal of Dr. Merten’s for the university: “We want to provide an ultimate tolerance for diverse opinions at this institution.” [20]

Dr. Rosenblum explained that an influx of immigrant and refugee students from areas like Korea, India, and the Middle East had a significant influence on the student body and made the university “much more appealing to students who live in areas that don’t have this diversity.” [21] In an effort to increase awareness of diversity, she promoted Mason’s partnership with the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI). In a letter to members of the President’s Council, Rosenblum explained that NCBI teaches “prejudice reduction and conflict resolution models that have been key to reducing inter-group conflict at many colleges in universities” and that its “programs offer a systematic approach to welcoming diversity and addressing controversial issues both in and outside of the classroom”. [22] She encouraged faculty and staff to attend workshops and to extend the invitation to their co-workers, as well. In the early 2000s, a committee tasked by Dr. Merten to review the function of the University Equity Office agreed that the office should “broaden its mission to include the issue of diversity.” [23] It noted that “University Life has done a much better job with students than we have for employees on the issues of diversity. Graduating seniors on our annual survey routinely report that GMU’s diversity is one of the strengths of their experience at Mason;” that observation was likely due to Rosenblum’s initiatives. [24]

Dr. Rosenblum noted that one of the biggest changes brought on by the advent of University Life was in regard to housing. In 1995, George Mason “became one of the first universities in America to privatize campus housing for students.” [25] The university had “neither the staff, nor the expertise, nor the money” to direct housing on its own at that time. But students soon found the quality of the administration and upkeep of housing by outside contractors unsatisfactory. Rosenblum felt that housing’s later coming under the control of the university again, this time as part of University Life, has resulted in a dramatic positive change. [26] Dr. Rosenblumadded that she did not necessarily feel that a great deal of change in regard to spirit on campus occurred during her tenure (1997-2004). While the student body grew in size and became more diverse, she felt that many of the traditional attitudes toward campus—that it was a place to get a degree in order to prepare for a career, that it was a place to take classes during the day before returning home—remained. She cautioned against this mindset: “The more engaged a student is with a full [campus] life, the more they get out of their classes and the more they develop as human beings. So students should not just go home after class because then they are not getting a college education; they are taking classes.” [27] Dr. Rosenblum left her position as the head of University Life in 2004 to return to the classroom. While she did not believe a dramatic shift occurred in campus culture during her time as Vice President for University Life, many students felt that her work was highly influential; the Editor-in-Chief of Broadside said in a special letter that “Her dedication and passion toward shaping the minds of tomorrow are unparalleled.” [28]

Dr. Sandra Hubler Scherrens became the second Vice President of University Life that same year. Though she had been working in California in a similar capacity for a number of years, Dr. Scherrens was drawn to George Mason because of the beauty of the campus and the people she met, particularly President Merten. His acknowledgment of the fundamental importance of students was one that inspired her, as he believed that “the co-curricular experience is just as important as the academic experience; they go hand-in-hand.” [29] She was attracted by George Mason’s vision for University Life—it was the only university in the country to give the division that title rather than “Student Affairs”—because it was dedicated to “integrat[ing] the whole university experience into student life” by focusing on faculty and staff experiences, as well, and how they influence student experience. [30] She continued to pursue Rosenblum’s mission of promoting a more engaged and spirited university community, a mindset exemplified through the introduction of University Life’s new Vision Statement in 2007: “University Life creates purposeful learning environments, experiences, and opportunities that energize ALL students to broaden their capacity for academic success and personal growth. Through innovative programs, partnerships, and direct services, students discover their unique talents, passions, and place in the world.” [31] Under her leadership, University Life also introduced its Core Values in 2007: Foster Student Success, Live and Act with Integrity, Embrace Our Differences, Catch the Mason Spirit, Show You Care, Dream Big, Celebrate Achievements, Pursue Lifelong Learning, and Lead by Example. [32]

Dr. Scherrens recognized the symbiotic relationship that existed between the student body and University Life; the ever-growing student body necessitated the programming of University Life, and the success of University Life programs and services continued to draw more students to campus because of the appeal of its vibrant community. That community has been shaped by events and programs like Greek Week, student lunches with Vice Presidents, and the on-campus student employment program, as well as the construction and/or renovation of student centers—Student Union Building I and the HUB—and dormitories, all of which have had “dramatic [effects] in terms of student engagement.” [33] Scherrens noted that the residential community grew fifty percent during her time as Vice President of University Life and was designated a “primarily residential campus” in 2011 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of teaching. [34] Like Rosenblum, Scherrens saw that the direction of housing was one of the biggest transitions during her time at Mason; the Office of Housing and Residence Life came under the management of University Life on January 1, 2010 after being outsourced, and a number of positive changes resulted. [35] Student retention increased, as did the size of Scherrens’ staff; when she came to Mason, approximately 100 staff members worked for University Life, and by spring 2012, around 600 did (including those in housing). [36] This change in residential life was not just about numbers, however; it represented a “culture shift,” as a greater number of resources became devoted to creating evening and weekend programming and new facilities: “This growth is very exciting, and it makes the mission of University Life more important than it has ever been.” [37] Scherrens said that when she came to George Mason, she often heard that there was “nothing to do” on campus. When she read an editorial in Broadside in 2011 that said, “[George Mason] feels like a real campus”, it was “the best thing [she] could possibly hear.” [38]

The increase in the number of residential students led to new programming also called University Life to examine other constituencies that it could better serve. Off-Campus Student Programs and Services was created to provide information and resources to a large commuter population, and Graduate Student Life was developed to ensure the integration of graduate students into the campus community. [39] New offices were also created to help students foster particular skill sets; when Scherrens came to campus, she did not feel as though there were opportunities for students to engage in leadership development, so the LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) Office was born just two years after her arrival. [40]

At the beginning of her time as Vice President of University Life, Dr. Rosenblum had seen unsettling “satisfaction” surveys in regard to feelings of community at George Mason. Dr. Scherrens initially faced those issues, as well, but over the course of her eight years as Vice President, National Student Engagement (NSE) surveys taken by students during their freshmen and senior years revealed that students’ sense of belonging had “increased dramatically.” [41] Scherrens credited University Life as a major contributor to helping students get involved and take pride in their university. Rosenblum’s “Listening Days” initiative revealed that many students had been dissatisfied with the lack of student-faculty interaction; one of Scherrens’ responses was to create the Faculty Fellows program in 2004 based on an initiative begun in 1999. [42] During a five-year period, forty faculty members were given stipends and release time to work with University Life in co-curricular areas like retention or “campus climate.” [43] University Life and faculty have a “great relationship”, Scherrens said—faculty “are eager to get involved and really do care about students.” [44] While formal assessments are a part of each office’s programming, Dr. Scherrens believes that University Life is effective because its staff interacts with students: “University Life is so good at relationships. We care, we ask, we go to student organization meetings; that’s really how we learn what their [students’] needs are and whether or not we’re meeting them.” [45]

Dr. Rosenblum believed that diversity was one of George Mason’s strengths, and Dr. Scherrens viewed it as a great asset, as well. University Life continued its partnership with the NCBI, collaborating with professors to provide diversity workshops in entry-level communications classes and becoming the headquarters for the Northern Virginia NCBI program. [46] The campus, which had been diverse when she came in 2004, continued to become even more diverse, and the success of University Life lay not only in recognizing that diversity but also in addressing issues associated with it: “What we continue to do better is to celebrate the diversity, to recognize where we are diverse. You want to bring everybody together to celebrate diversity, but you also need to make sure that individuals from distinct groups are getting the experience they want. [We have been] more deliberate about making sure we address the needs of our diversity.” [47] This philosophy was embodied in one of the Core Values introduced by University Life in 2007 in “Embrace our Differences.” [48]Cultivating an atmosphere of diversity is also part of the strategic plan of the university and is shared across the institution, from Admissions to university and student publications to the identity-based organizations of University Life and its Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education. [49]

Perhaps one of the biggest changes in the campus community came through an athletic event—something outside the scope of University Life. George Mason’s “Cinderella story” NCAA Final Four run in 2006 certainly played a major role in increasing “Patriot Pride”—Dr. Scherrens commented that the historic event was “unbelievable”, bringing about “a huge culture change” on-campus in terms of spirit. [50] Several University Life publications in subsequent years allude to that change, and in a letter to alumni in the fall of 2006, President Merten also addressed its importance: “Fresh off a year that brought us that magnificent march to the NCAA Final Four by our men’s basketball team, the Mason community is energized by the spotlight of international recognition for who we are and what we have accomplished as a university…Patriot Pride abounds.” [51] University Life capitalized upon that achievement:

For many years, the administrators within Mason worked to develop a plan that would make the university an attractive place for all students—preparing for any opportunity that would thrust Mason into the spotlight. With the proper foundation in place, thanks
in large part to the work of Dr. Morrie and Dr. Sandra Scherrens, Mason was primed to take advantage of their opening, when the men’s basketball team made its improbable run into the Final Four. Freshmen applications increased exponentially, transfer applications hit an all-time high and, most importantly, students were arriving at Mason because they wanted to be a part of something. [52]

When asked what she would tell a future Vice President of University Life, Dr. Scherrens responded: “People and relationships are key, and I think that’s what’s special about Mason. [They’re] the foundation of everything; with solid relationships, you can create and overcome anything.” [53]The transition to a new Vice President came more quickly than Scherrens anticipated, as her husband, Senior Vice President Dr. Maurice Scherrens, accepted a position as president of Newberry College in South Carolina in May 2013, and she decided to leave Mason with him. [54] Associate Vice President of University Life Rose Pascarell became Vice President in 2013 to oversee University Life’s Strategic Plan for 2014. [55]

University Life continues to provide the services that draw students to George Mason through its current initiatives and programs. Career Services offers resume review sessions; conducts an On-Campus Interviewing program; directs HireMason, a website that connects students and employers throughout the country and through which students can apply for internships and full-time positions posted on the site; and hosts job fairs and career panels with professionals in the defense and intelligence fields. [56] The LEAD (Leadership Education and Development Office), which was implemented by Dr. Sandra Scherrens, hosts leadership conferences and retreats; directs the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement (CLCE), which offers alternative spring break trips and a new Nonprofit Fellows Program through which select students can gain a Nonprofit Studies minor in a single semester of experiential learning; and began the Mason Gives Back blog during the 2012 – 2013 academic year, which allowed members of the Mason community (whether students, professors, or alumni) to post about new initiatives and service projects with which Mason students could become involved. [57] The Early Identification Program (EIP), which serves as Mason’s college preparatory program, celebrated twenty-five successful years in 2012 and has worked with over 1000 first-generation college students since their middle or junior high years to equip them “to become lifelong learners, leaders, and responsible global citizens.” [58]

Whether overseeing intramural sports programs, planning weekend programs, or helping students to prepare for life after college, the offices of University Life “continue to be the catalyst for keeping the university connected and engaged” on campus and in the global community.

The Great Football Debate of 1998:
Though not the University's showcase sport, the George Mason University Football program is a popular draw on the Fairfax Campus during the fall semester. Led by Coach Matt Dyson, the team has been successful for much of its history and has sparked enthusiasm on the campus during chilly fall weekends. Oddly enough, the Patriots do not play in Division I, II, or III. There are no scholarships for players. Football is currently a club sport at Mason.

A student-led movement at Mason to upgrade the football program was gaining momentum during the late 1990s. Its members pressured university officials to effect the changes necessary to raise its status from that of a “club” to an NCAA Division I-AA program. At the same time, another group advocated for the University's maintaining the status quo. The debate led to a monumental meeting of the Board of Visitors (BOV) in May 1998, where a tie-breaking vote was necessary to settle the issue.

Mason had seriously considered starting an NCAA Division I-AA football program as early as 1991. At that time the University already had several Division I athletic teams, which meant that a Mason football team would have to play in either Division I-A or I-AA. Division I teams are generally more expensive to maintain than those in Division II or III, due to staffing and scholarship requirements. The University decided to pursue a Division I-AA football team, mainly because a I-A team would be much more expensive to field. Maintaining a program even at the lower level, would cost Mason an estimated $1.98 million to establish the team and $5.3 million in facility improvements.

Other costs would need to be factored in, such as monetary obligations to women’s sports teams, which were required by law if Mason planned to add such a large men’s team. These costs would, in the end, have to be passed on to students. University officials calculated that it would necessitate a $200 fee increase per student to create a 1-AA team. [1] In the meantime, a football team at the “club” level was established in 1993, and led by Head Coach Dr. Joseph Pascale, Sr. The team performed reasonably well, and enjoyed a decent attendance record for home games heading into the 1997 season. [2] However, in late October 1997, while compiling a perfect season record, Coach Pascale was dismissed. [3] Senior Athletic Director Tom O’Connor had reason to believe that Pascale had allowed an ineligible player to participate during the 1997 season. The team, unhappy with Pascale’s abrupt termination and the University’s apparent refusal to allow the coaching staff to choose Pascale’s replacement, unanimously decided to boycott the rest of the season. While University President Dr. Alan G. Merten supported the Athletic Director’s decision, Coach Pascale believed he had been wrongfully terminated. [4] Pascale petitioned for a full hearing before the BOV, expressing his belief that the University fired him simply because he was a strong advocate for a Division I football program at Mason, while others in the administration were not.

Pascale was eventually rehired after apologizing to Athletic Department officials, although he maintained that he did not fully realize the player in question was ineligible. [5] It was during this same time that a Student Senate poll claimed that eighty-eight percent of the student body supported expanding the football program. Seventy-two percent were said to be willing to accept extra fees to cover the costs. [6] It should be noted that the poll only represented approximately two percent of the non-law school student population at the University.

The football debate heated up during the Spring 1998 semester, as the BOV took up the issue. At the January 1998 Board meeting, consultants hired by the University estimated that a Division I-AA football program would cost the University $4.2 million a year, including scholarships for over fifty student athletes. [7] Lacking any other way to raise this kind of capital, this cost would have to be passed on to students in the form of a $225-$250 activity fee increase per year over a five-year period. Some presenters at the meeting suggested that an expanded football program could help strengthen the University community, build school spirit, and allow Mason to better compete for talented students and faculty with schools such as James Madison University. A task force, comprised of Mason staff, faculty, students, and community members, was established to create a report on this matter and submit it to the Board by March 1, 1998. [8]

Proponents of the expansion of the football program made public statements to build support in preparation for a BOV vote. Coach Pascale and Student Government (SG) President Kimberly Farfone both expressed their enthusiasm for the football proposal. Farfone commented that she had never seen either the BOV or the President so interested in the student body’s opinion. She speculated the interest was keen because of the financial burden which would be placed on students should the new football program be established. [9] The task force reported that current athletic facilities were not suitable for Division I-AA football, and a large overhaul of existing structures would be needed to construct an appropriate football facility. [10] The SG debated a proposed plan that would gradually turn the “club” football team into a Division I-AA team. [11] At a later meeting, the SG voted to endorse the proposed Division I-AA team. [12] The George Mason University Faculty Senate, however, voted against adding a Division I team, citing academic concerns at Mason that needed to be met first. [13] By a single vote, the Football Task Force chose not to endorse the expansion of the program.

At the March 1998 BOV meeting, President Merten expressed his view that the football team expansion would be “a poor use of time and expected financial resources.” [14] The BOV moved to delay the final vote until the May meeting in order to conduct its own study, analyzing the financial feasibility of the project.

The BOV meeting scheduled for May 13, 1998 was shaping up to be the most important one of the year. Visitor Robert Lautenberg, Chairman of the Football Task Force, presented the BOV with a ten-year funding plan for the football expansion. [15] The presentation included the proposal to raise student fees over a four-year period and suggested that as many as seventy-six percent of the student body favored the project if fee increases were reasonable. Lautenberg moved that the BOV vote to pass the budget proposal and begin work on the project.

Dr. Merten then passed out a memo he had written to all Board members in attendance. [16] The memo recapitulated Merten’s sentiment against expanding the football program, citing the extreme limitations it would place on university funds. Merten expressed his concern that funding commitments for the football expansion would take away much-needed monies from other campus institutions. Lastly, he challenged the statistical data referencing student support of the expansion. The poll did not measure whether the football project would actually increase school spirit, an ultimate goal of the expansion of the program.

The vote on the expansion of the football program was one of the closest in BOV history. Six members voted in favor of the project, while six voted against it. [17] Two members of the Board were absent, and none abstained from voting. Rector Marvin Murray cast the tie-breaking vote, choosing to not approve the football program.

The Great Football Debate finally reached a conclusion. At the beginning of the Fall 1998 semester some members of the student body spoke out against the Board vote, but the brief conflict eventually ended quietly. While Mason’s football team still has not achieved NCAA Division I-AA status, it still remains competitive and is a popular team sport at Mason. It has benefitted from Mason's recent sports successes and its continually-growing enrollment. Although it is supported on a much smaller level than other team sports on campus, football at Mason remains a source of spirit and pride.

Mason Hosts the 1998 World Congress on Information Technology:
The World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), held every two years, is a gathering of top executives in the Information Technology (IT) field who meet to discuss the latest innovations in IT and how these advancements can help consumers. [1] The conference also allows business leaders to forge connections with colleagues from around the world and speak about changes in their markets. The WCIT, which began in 1978, had previously been held in such locations as Paris, Tokyo, and London. [2] In 1998, Fairfax joined that list of key cities in the IT realm when George Mason University hosted the 1998 World Congress.

During the early 1990s, Fairfax had become a beacon for technology corporations. America Online, once a world-leading internet provider, was headquartered in Fairfax County during the early to mid-1990s, before moving to neighboring Loudoun County. Fairfax County was looking to bring global attention to the area and to further solidify its standing as a capital of the IT industry. The Fairfax Board of Supervisors budgeted $200,000 to attract such an event in 1995. [3]

Meanwhile, the WCIT was looking to find a location for its 1998 conference. Jim Poisant, the CEO of the World Congress, previously helped plan the 1992 Olympics and the 1994 World Cup, but the WCIT was a much more complex event to coordinate. In 1995, Harris Miller, the president of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance, the organization which stages the World Congress, began talks with George Newstrom. Newstrom was the chairman of Electronic Data Systems (EDS), a global IT contracting firm and a major technology employer in Northern Virginia. Newstrom was keenly aware of the push by Fairfax County, and in particular, the Fairfax Economic Development Authority, to attract an event of the magnitude of the WCIT. Miller intended to scout other locations across the United States, but timing concerns necessitated that he support a bid to award hosting privileges to Fairfax County. [4]

Lacking anything remotely resembling a convention center in which to host the conference, Fairfax leaders turned to George Mason University. President George W. Johnson was initially concerned that a college setting would give the event an inappropriate “academic appearance,” but eventually acquiesced to the pleas of officials and permitted the county to use locations on the Fairfax Campus as convention center space in their bid proposal.

A delegation from Fairfax, including Harris, traveled to Seoul, South Korea in November 1995 and submitted their hosting proposal to the committee tasked with selecting a site for the 1998 WCIT. The other top contenders for hosting privileges were locations in Australia, India, and Taiwan. The Fairfax delegation was asked by the committee for biographical information about George Mason, the university’s namesake. A short time later, the committee voted to award the hosting privileges to Fairfax and George Mason University, largely due to the high concentration of IT companies in Northern Virginia. [5]

After winning the bid, the Fairfax group focused on fundraising efforts. Representatives began a world-wide campaign to try to influence international technology figures to purchase tickets, at a cost of over $1,000 per person, to attend the conference. A not-for-profit organization to fund the conference was established, raising $5.8 million from the private and public sectors. The federal government and the Commonwealth of Virginia each contributed $1 million. Fairfax County, itself, would end up spending over $3 million to promote the conference. [6]

George Mason University would then begin to plan for what would be one of the most high-profile events ever to occur on its campus. The new president of the university, Dr. Alan G. Merten, expressed excitement that Mason would be the first university ever to host the WCIT. Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and publisher Steven Forbes of Forbes Magazine were booked as keynote speakers for the event. [7] The conference was scheduled to be held at the end of June in both the George W. Johnson Center and the Center for the Arts. The University would act as more than just rented space, as Mason faculty members were scheduled to take part in the event.

The 1998 World Congress on Information Technology ran from June 21 to June 24. One of the most recognizable figures at the event was Michael Dell, the CEO and founder of Dell Computers. At the event he gave his impressions about what constituted a top-of-the-line computer. According to Dell, this computer in 1998 would have at least a 10 GB hard drive, 128 MB of RAM, and would cost around $2000. Other notable guests among the over 1,700 attendees included the President of NASDAQ, then Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore, former Virginia Governor, George F. Allen, and representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency. Government officials from all over the world attended the event, hoping to achieve lucrative contracts with technology giants.

The 1998 World Conference on Information Technology exposed George Mason University to the global IT community. Many years after the conference, the University continues to embrace and creatively exploit technology. Today, Mason employs the most innovative classroom technologies to assist in its mission and partners with the world’s leading technology firms, such as CISCO Systems and others.

A New Era of Academic Leadership at Mason: Provost Dr. Peter N. Stearns:
Just before the start of the new millennium, George Mason University had undergone a dramatic personnel change at the highest levels of its administration. In 1996, Dr. Alan G. Merten was hired as President of the University to replace the retiring Dr. George W. Johnson. [1] Three years later, in the summer of 1999, Dr. David Potter, the University Provost, announced he would be leaving George Mason to become the President of Delta State University in Mississippi. [2] Dr. Joseph S. Wood, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and a professor in the Geography department, was announced as Interim Provost while Mason’s Board of Visitors formed a search committee to find suitable candidates for the University’s second-highest administrative officer. [3] In January 2000, Dr. Peter N. Stearns of Carnegie Mellon University was formally installed as the new Provost of George Mason University. [4]

Dr. Stearns was initially attracted to the opening of Provost at George Mason University for a variety of reasons. He was interested in the possibility of filling a high-level administrative position at a major university. [5] As a Dean at Carnegie Mellon, Stearns knew he would never be able to become Provost at that university because it was a highly technical school and he was a historian. Stearns was impressed with the growth George Mason University had exhibited during its short existence, and at the time he applied for the Provost position there was a suggestion that the State of Virginia would add an additional twenty-five million dollars to the university’s operating budget in the coming year. The legislature eventually did increase Mason’s budget the next year, though only adding an extra nine million dollars.

Dr. Stearns possessed a distinguished reputation for academic excellence long before coming to Fairfax, Virginia. He received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. in History at Harvard University [6] before going on to become a teaching fellow at Harvard in 1961. [7] Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, Dr. Stearns taught History at several universities across the country, including Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and Rutgers University. Dr. Stearns served as the Chair of the History Department at Rutgers from 1969 until 1974, when he accepted a position as Heinz Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University. During his tenure at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Stearns served in a number of positions, including Chair of the History Department and Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. [8] A prolific writer of history, Dr. Sterns has authored, co-authored, or edited more than one hundred books. The University Libraries recognized his one hundredth in a celebration honoring him in 2008. [9]

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest overall impacts Provost Stearns’ tenure has had at Mason has been on academics. One of his earliest and most successful initiatives was participating in the reshaping of the University’s general education program. [10] Along with a faculty committee and a new Associate Provost overseeing general education, Dr. Stearns expanded assessment opportunities (for both students and faculty) in general education courses. He pioneered the creation of the Center for Teaching Excellence a university unit that seeks to enhance the skills of Mason faculty members by helping them pursue professional development, leadership, and scholarship activities. Dr. Stearns has sought to promote an increased emphasis on teaching as well as research opportunities across the university. His strategies for improving the academic climate on campus have resulted in increased student retention rates for the University and a better quality of incoming freshmen and transfer students. The required high school G.P.A. for admittance into its Honors College during 1997 is now the required high school G.P.A. to simply enroll in George Mason University. Enrollment in Honors College has increased over the course of Dr. Stearns’ tenure at Mason. Today, Honors College freshmen comprise approximately one-eighth of the University’s incoming class. Local employers in the Fairfax region have also reached out to the University to convey how impressed they are that Mason graduates do not require significant job training after graduation. [11]

Under Dr. Stearns’ leadership, the number of academic programs offered at Mason has significantly grown. When he arrived at the university in 2000, there were only 12 Ph.D. programs offered. [12] In 2012, George Mason University offered 33 Ph.D. programs. [13] Dr. Stearns spearheaded the creation of a Ph.D. program in Computational Social Sciences at Mason; George Mason University was the first institution in the world to offer a Ph.D. in this area. The Global Affairs Program at Mason was inspired by Dr. Stearns’ desire to build faculty interest in an interdisciplinary approach to global education. Currently, George Mason University “turns in more new program approval requests [to the state legislature] than all the other universities in the state of Virginia combined.” [14]

An increase in the diversity of Mason’s student body has been another corollary of Dr. Stearns’ time as Provost. [15] Dr. Stearns has witnessed a rise in out-of-state student enrollment of from 14% to 20%, and he hopes to see it reach at least 25% in the near future. International students now come from 140 countries around the world and, depending on the measurement used, it is estimated around half of all George Mason University students come from some sort of diverse background. [16] Dr. Stearns has said that improving diversity on campus helps create a more productive learning environment for all students. The increase in out-of-state enrollment at Mason could not have occurred without the significant increase in the amount of on-campus housing that the university’s administration undertook during Dr. Stearns’ tenure. In 2000, there were about 2,800 beds at Mason. [17] By 2011 that number had nearly doubled to about 5,500. [18]

Since his arrival at Mason, Dr. Stearns has worked tirelessly to develop George Mason University’s relationship with other institutions in the Fairfax area and around the world. [19] The University’s most significant collaborations include its academic partnership with the Smithsonian, an environmental program with Brazil, a joint medical program with Georgetown University, and dual degree programs in Moscow and Malta. Two international campuses affiliated with the University also opened under Dr. Stearns’ supervision; one in the United Arab Emirates, which operated for three years, and one in South Korea, scheduled to begin an academic program in Spring 2014. [20]

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the Virginia Tech shootings on April 16, 2007, impacted the Mason community and Dr. Stearns while he was serving as Provost. [21] These events created special security concerns on campus due to Mason’s proximity to both the Pentagon and the Virginia Tech campus. Following the September 11th attacks, the University worked with Muslim student groups to reassure the community that Mason students were still accepting and tolerant. University life officials stressed how the community must be willing to see different viewpoints, and open dialogues were held to allow students to openly express their feelings about the attacks. [22] During other international tragedies, such as the tsunami in Sri Lanka, Dr. Stearns helped ensure that support groups were available to assist students whose families were affected by the disasters. Dr. Stearns sent an e-mail to members of the Mason community expressing his personal sorrow and concern after each of these events. Assistance for international disasters has become increasingly important to the University as its international student population continues to grow.

When asked about what he would like his legacy at George Mason University to be, Dr. Stearns gave three answers. [23] First, he wanted to be remembered for “establishing a trajectory in which teaching and research go hand-in-hand, not working against each other.” Next, Dr. Stearns hoped that he established a strong foundation for global, interdisciplinary education at Mason. Last, Dr. Stearns was extremely proud of his work building Mason’s standing as a doctoral institution and expanding the number of Ph.D. programs available at the University. As Dr. Stearns plans to retire as Provost in the summer of 2014, it is clear that he has left an indelible mark on George Mason University’s history, present, and future.

When an Engineer takes on the "Dismal Science": Vernon L. Smith and the Nobel Prize for Economics, 2002:
The tall man with the ponytail and the flashy silver rings gave a slight smile as he shook hands with the King of Sweden on December 10, 2002. [1] Even in the formal setting of the Nobel Prize ceremony, Dr. Vernon Smith’s idiosyncratic style shown through the tuxedoes and satin sashes. He was then presented the award "for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."[2]

Smith, a Kansas farm boy, raised during the Dust Bowl and trained in electronic engineering, had taken on the established ideas of economic theory and brought an engineer’s and scientist’s sensitivities to the field. His experiments created a new way for students to learn theory and for seasoned economists to test their assumptions. Experimental economics, and the model experiments devised by Smith, have become commonplace in economic and business courses internationally. More importantly, economists now have methods to test hypotheses in a laboratory setting before putting them into use. These results owe their popularity to Smith’s “outside of the box” ideas. This innovative spirit found a home at George Mason University from 2001 to 2008, where Smith and seven colleagues brought their brand of experimental economics to Mason’s already well-known economic department.

Vernon Smith was born in Wichita, Kansas on January 1, 1927. His father was a mechanic but had lost his job, and the family was forced to move to a farm to try to make ends meet. Smith recalled that his childhood on the farm, even though it lacked such amenities as running water and electricity, was an adventure. [3] His early school experiences in a one-room schoolhouse, where all the students of six grades shared the same classroom and teacher, allowed him to listen in on his upperclassmen’s lessons and consequently skip second grade. Back on the farm, Smith gained from his mechanic father a deep interest in how things work. This led to Smith’s application at age sixteen to work in Boeing Aircraft’s Wichita plant assembling and testing the machine guns on B-29s. After the war, and with some remedial classes at a local Quaker college to bring up his high school grade point average, Smith headed west to California Polytechnic Institute (Caltech) to earn his BS in electrical engineering. During his senior year, he took an economics class, found that he really enjoyed the intellectual challenge of the discipline, and headed first to Kansas University to get his MA, and then to Harvard for his Ph.D. in the field, which he finished in 1955. [4]

For the next twenty years, Smith taught at several top-flight universities including Purdue, Stanford, and Harvard. More importantly, he was building a network of fellow economic researchers and publishing studies. It was also during this time that he began to develop his theory of experimental economics. Since his first days teaching, he experimented with using his students as models of the market, and asking them to perform selling/buying experiments. These simple experiments started as a way to answer a particular research problem. In repeating these tasks, Smith gathered data, as any good scientist should. He found his results correlated very closely to the results found in the market in general. Consequently, Smith broadened his questions and created new exercises that he used with his students, as well as asking his colleagues to try them with their students. [5] Prior to this, economists thought that markets would behave differently than small groups because of the dynamics of the interaction of large groups. Smith’s work showed that not only could small groups get some of the same results as the market in general but also that, given sufficient trials and applications, the results of the small-group experiments could be used to predict the behavior of markets. [6]

Thomas Carlyle dubbed economics “the dismal science” in an article printed in 1839. [7] Economics had been considered a science like astronomy—destined to gather data by way of field observation. Smith’s experimental economics showed that economics could be treated like a laboratory science, and starting in 1975, he founded that laboratory at the University of Arizona. For twenty-six years, Smith and his colleagues grew the field of experimental economics into a powerful set of tools. In keeping with their unconventional practices, their work encompassed such non-economic methodologies as game theory and psychology to find the answers.

In June of 2001, George Mason University, through the efforts of Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Daniele Struppa, presented Smith with an offer he could not refuse: a chance to lead the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science (ICES)[8] at the Arlington Campus. This Center, created in part by a three million dollar grant from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, would be part of the Department of Economics and would offer Smith and seven of his colleagues links to the Mercatus Institute and the opportunity to work in the heart of the Washington DC area, with its confluence of government, business, and high tech industry. [9] It was only a short year and a half later that the Nobel Committee chose Smith and Princeton economist Daniel Kahneman as the 2002 recipients of the prize for Economic Science. Kahneman also approached economics from outside the field, pioneering the research on the role of psychology in the market process. [10] The two professors divided the one million dollar prize: Smith donated his portion of the award to fund the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics (IFREE), which he founded in 1997 to further education in experimental economics. [11] George Mason University’s Department of Economics now had an international reputation as a school that hosted two Nobel laureates with major research facilities in experimental economics.

In 2008, Smith left the University to join the faculty of Chapman University in Orange, California. There he established a research facility for IFREE. [12] He is still an advisor to the Mercatus Institute, and research using experimental economics continues at George Mason University’s Department of Economics Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science.

A New Look: George Mason's Branding Initiative:
In 2003, George Mason University President Alan Merten and Helen Ackerman, Vice President for University Relations and a George Mason alumna, had decided that it was time for Mason to create a new institutional logo for both the University and its athletic teams. The then-current logo had been designed in 1982. [1] Ackerman explained, “We want people to know what a distinct place George Mason is…Creating a visual that people will recognize is one way to do that.”[2] The branding initiative was a task that neither took lightly, given the failed attempts Merten had seen at other universities with which he had been involved and the great amount of work it entailed for Vice President Ackerman.

Ackerman formed two committees: one to work on the university logo, which was more historical in nature (reminiscent of the university seal rather than a logo, according to Dr. Merten), and one to work on the athletic logo, which Dr. Merten “despised [because] it didn’t even have our name on it.”[3] Students and faculty members were active on both committees, and Ackerman also decided to hire a consultant—the company Grafik was chosen, and it examined competitor’s logos, conducted interviews, and took a campus tour. [4]

The university logo was examined first, and eight different designs were proposed. Dr. Merten made the final decision. [5] He was at first skeptical of his two remaining options, but soon realized the genius of the one he ultimately chose: “The university logo is subtle; you can mix and match [and customize] it any way you want—[for example], ‘George Mason’, ‘George Mason University School of Public Policy', etc. You can add to it.”[6] The logo “is meant to symbolize George Mason himself, a man strongly committed to traditional values but also a revolutionary in his own right.” The logo’s designers transformed the quill—a symbol of George Mason used on the university seal—to symbolize the essence of a flame, “a sense of movement and energy” that represents the University. [7] Ackerman added that the “University’s name…use[s] a combination of typefaces that suggests the diversity of our campuses.”[8]

The new athletic logo was not a “complete departure from the old [design], but [was] in a sense a restructuring of a classic design,” and it prominently displays the University’s name following Dr. Merten’s criticism of the former design. [9] Ackerman decided to incorporate “Mason” into the new logo because, according to Dr. Merten, “Students had already changed the name of the University: whatever we created for the logo, students were going to get hats and shirts on their own that said ‘Mason’ because they’d started calling the University by that name informally.” It was unclear exactly when or why that shift had occurred. [10] Designers felt that the “new design embodies the speed, strength, excitement, and energy of Mason athletics.” [11]

Marketing to students came through open houses in spring 2004, and the logos “were a huge hit immediately.” [12] Faculty also liked the new university logo because it could be tailored to their specific school or college. Ackerman and Merten “declared victory” through 2004 and 2005. The following year may have garnered the greatest acceptance and publicity of the new logos; when the Men’s Basketball team made it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in 2006, Dr. Merten noted that university officials estimated that “almost two hundred newspapers on some days had our athletic logo on their front page. [We gained] much more attention than we could have imagined.” [13]

Ackerman’s hope was that the new logo would “reflect the dynamic environment of a school committed to the kind of educational excellence found at the best traditional universities while also being committed to maintaining an extraordinary culture of innovation and diversity.” [14] The embracing of the design by the University and the national recognition of George Mason following the Final Four appearance confirm that vision.

The Season of a Lifetime: George Mason University's Improbable and Amazing Journey to the Final Four:
Around the country, college basketball fans watched in disbelief. It was March 26, 2006, and for weeks the George Mason University Men’s Basketball Team had astonished college basketball aficionados by continuing to advance in the NCAA Tournament. Now, George Mason was battling the top-seeded University of Connecticut at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington D.C. for the Northeast Regional Final. The winner would advance to the celebrated Final Four, a lofty goal for any college basketball program, as Final Four teams and their universities receive enormous amounts of publicity in the national sporting and news media outlets. The University of Connecticut fielded a strong team that featured several players who would later compete in the National Basketball Association. Connecticut’s program was nationally known and had several Final Four and National Championship appearances under its belt. By contrast, George Mason had a solid team but, up until a few weeks prior, no major accomplishments. As the final buzzer sounded to end overtime at the Verizon Center, George Mason emerged the winner, defeating Connecticut 86-84.

George Mason, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), began the 2005-2006 season by losing their home opener in November 2005 against Creighton University 72-52. Head Coach Jim Larranaga, who had been at George Mason since 1997, made some adjustments to the team lineup with the hopes of order to make Mason more competitive. [1] Larranaga’s reorganization seemed to work, as the Patriots won their next game against Manhattan College. Mason next went on to defeat Georgia State, a new team to the CAA. In December, Mason beat American University decisively in the BB&T Classic Basketball Tournament, winning 75-35. [2] By January 2006, Mason was tied with Old Dominion University for first place in the CAA. [3]

The Patriots went on to defeat Old Dominion 66-47 at the end of January and remained tied for first place, but this time with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. [4] In early February Mason became the sole first-place team in the CAA after defeating the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. [5] By this point in the season, Mason had won 16 of their last 19 games. The Patriots continued to hold onto first place by beating Towson University in the Homecoming game. [6] At the end of February, Mason finished their regular season with an overall record of 22-6 and 15-3 in the CAA, sharing the conference regular-season title with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. [7] This was Mason’s first Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title since 2000 and only the third in the University’s history.

On February 18 Mason played against Wichita State in an ESPN BracketBusters game. [8] Teams who could potentially be “bracket busters,” or play better than expected by pundits, in the NCAA Tournament are showcased during this weekend. Always scheduled shortly before Selection Sunday, the BracketBusters series is designed to give up-and-coming programs national exposure and increase their chances of being selected to compete as an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Mason won in its 2006 BracketBusters game against the home-standing Wichita State University Shockers by a score of 70-67. [9] Out of all fifty games played during the Bracketbusters, the Mason vs. Wichita State event had the second biggest attendance, a partisan crowd of over 10,000 Shockers faithful. The contest was also Mason’s second nationally televised basketball game in the University’s history. This win catapulted George Mason into the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll.

Armed with an impressive season record, the Patriots traveled to Richmond for the CAA Tournament. [10] Mason faced Hofstra University in the semifinals. Though the Patriots led the Pride at the half by four points, Hofstra finished stronger to win 58-49. The game also ended on a sour note, as Mason’s starting point guard, Tony Skinn, was ejected late in the game for punching a Hofstra player. Hofstra and UNC-Wilmington would meet in the tournament championship game. Despite the fact that Mason’s CAA Tournament loss meant the team would not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Coach Larranaga believed the team’s record, especially the long win streak and the impressive win in a hostile environment at Wichita, would convince the tournament’s selection committee to allow George Mason a spot in the tournament.

Mason was surprisingly selected as an 11th seed. [11] Immediately, college basketball experts criticized the selection, questioning the wisdom of the Selection Committee. In their first game, the Patriots faced Michigan State, a team that was the National Champion in 1979 and 2000 and had reached the Final Four a year earlier. George Mason won the game 75-65, while Skinn served a one-game suspension. In the next game, the Patriots defeated North Carolina, a five-time national champion and the winner of the previous year’s tournament, by a score of 65-60. In less than one week, Mason had reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and became the most successful basketball team in the University’s history. Mason next defeated Wichita State by a score of 63-55 to advance to the Regional Championship at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington D.C. The Patriots won against the top-seeded University of Connecticut in overtime by just two points. [12] By winning what was characterized by Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin as one of the most exciting basketball games he’d ever seen, [13] George Mason moved on to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Mason’s climb to the Final Four brought valuable widespread media attention to George Mason University. In press interviews, President Alan G. Merten and Coach Jim Larranaga were given the opportunity to discuss the University’s achievements other than basketball, such as the two Nobel laureates who were part of Mason’s faculty. A study by Robert Baker, the Director of the Sport Management Institute at George Mason, estimated that the University received over $677,000,000 worth of free publicity during the NCAA Tournament. [14] Fundraising for the Patriot Club, Mason’s fundraising arm for its intercollegiate athletics program, [15] increased by over 50% during this period. There were also notable increases in admissions applications to Mason, especially from out-of-state applicants. Giving by members of Mason’s alumni network posted significant gains both among registered and active members.

George Mason eventually lost in the National Championship Semifinal to the University of Florida, who would go on to be the 2006 NCAA Champions. However, the accomplishments of the 2005-2006 Mason Basketball team still live on to this day. George Mason is a nationally known university, thanks in part to the publicity Mason’s Final Four run brought to the school. Today, approximately 25% of Mason’s students hail from outside the Commonwealth. School spirit and attendance at Mason’s home basketball games remain high, due to the team’s successes. Mason’s journey to 2006 Final Four proved to the nation and the world that George Mason University has a committed record of excellence, both in athletics and academics.

Building Patriot Pride: Construction at George Mason University into the 21st Century:
Over the course of the last five decades, George Mason University has grown from a tiny regional college into a large nationally recognized university. Its earliest buildings, Krug Hall, the Finley, East and West Buildings, Fenwick Library, and the Lecture Hall, have been part of Mason since the creation of the Fairfax Campus. Other Fairfax Campus landmarks, such as Patriot Center, the Center for the Arts, and the George W. Johnson Learning Center, were built during the 1980s and 1990s. George Mason University has continued to expand on a rapid scale. Since the turn of the new century, new buildings such as Research, Founder’s Hall, and the Mason Inn have become integral to George Mason University. The new “class” of buildings at Mason are designed not only with the intent to provide appropriate spaces for Mason’s growing population and programs, but to be energy-efficient, sustainable, and make use of technologies that enhance classroom and research spaces.

Several buildings constructed during the first part of the 21st Century on the south end of the Fairfax Campus for scientific study, research, and art are part of this group. Research Hall opened in 2006 on the Fairfax Campus at a cost of $20.5 million. [1] Research was the first building on campus designed primarily to enhance research. The facility is known for its silver silo-shaped observatory adjacent to it. The observatory became home to a powerful 32-inch Ritchey Chrétien telescope in 2011. Just a few yards to the south of Research is the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building, which opened in 2009 at a cost of $67 million. It contains office, classroom, and research space. The building was named for Long Nguyen, a Northern Virginia businessman and former member of Mason’s Board of Visitors, and his wife Kimmy. The Engineering Building was the first structure on campus to earn the LEED green certification and incorporates an impressive array of technology into its classroom spaces. [2] Other new buildings near the Engineering Building include Innovation Hall, which opened in 2003, and the Art and Design Building, which opened in 2009 and won an Exceptional Design Award from Fairfax County, Virginia.

On the north side of the Fairfax Campus, new buildings have also been added to supplement the growing student population and academic offerings at Mason. The Aquia Building, opened in 2010 at a cost of $24.8 million, is situated between Student Union Building I and the West Building. [3] The Aquia Building, which replaced a long-standing temporary “module,” houses The Department of Criminology, Law and Society, The Department of Modern and Classical Languages, and the Data Center. The Data Center, formerly located in Thompson Hall, is the center of Mason’s computer network, which includes the Mason e-mail and telephone systems. [4] In the spring of 2011, the Fairfax Campus officially opened its northernmost facility, University Hall. The building, which cost $34 million, houses the majority of Mason’s administrative staff. There are classroom spaces on the bottom floor as well as several retail spaces. A few hundred yards to the west of University Hall are the Whitetop and Rogers residence halls. These apartment-style dorms, formerly known as Housing VIII, opened in Spring 2012 at a cost of $53 million. [5]

On September 2, 2009, the former Physical Education Building, after going through extensive renovations, was reopened as the Recreation and Athletic Complex, better known to the Mason Community as the RAC. [6] The 120,000-square-foot, two-story structure features three gyms, two basketball courts, and three volleyball courts. At the Grand Opening, University President Dr. Alan Merten noted that the new construction taking place on campus was “continuing to make Mason better and better.”

Perhaps the most unique addition at the Fairfax Campus has been that of the Mason Inn. Opened during the summer of 2010 at a cost of $52.6 million, the Mason Inn is a full-service conference center and hotel adjacent to the RAC. The University had been looking to build a conference center since the 1980s but never began serious planning until 2000. [7] The Inn features 148 guest rooms, conference accommodations, and an upscale restaurant and bar. The Mason Inn is LEED-certified at the Gold Level. The hotel was designed with the history of both George Mason University and George Mason the man in mind. The hotel’s restaurant, Boxwoods, is named for the landscaping at Gunston Hall (George Mason’s original home). The conference center bar, the Well, is a reference to Mason’s ink well. Other references to George Mason at the hotel include carpeting with designs based upon Mason’s handwriting and framed facsimiles of Mason’s love letters to his wife in the guest rooms. The hotel was designed to allow for the easy addition of extra guest rooms if necessary, ensuring that the Mason Inn would be able to continue growing if need be.

The Arlington and Prince William Campuses have also added facilities since 2000. The most prominent addition to the Arlington Campus has been Founder’s Hall, which opened in late 2010 at a cost of $87.9 million. [8] The new building has become the center of the Arlington Campus and features a library, bookstore, food service, a large auditorium, and classroom spaces. [9] Several offices in Founder’s Hall moved there from the original building on the Arlington Campus, which was formerly Kann’s Department Store from 1951 to 1975. Bull Run Hall, the largest building on the Prince William Campus, opened in 2004 at a cost of $23.4 million. [10] The building contains classrooms, offices, science labs, and lecture halls.

George Mason University continues to construct new buildings to further the University’s mission. One of the most noticeable projects on the Fairfax Campus is the construction on Science and Technology II. This addition is estimated to cost $47.7 million and is expected to be completed by Summer 2013. Other projects, including an addition to Fenwick Library, and renovations to other existing structures on campus are currently underway. The continued expansion of Mason’s physical presence ensures that the University will continue to expand and grow throughout the 21st Century and beyond.

A New Chapter: the Appointment of Dr. Ángel Cabrera:
Dr. Alan Merten’s retirement after sixteen years as president of George Mason University was not a shock to the institution, but rather like inevitable graduation. By announcing his retirement in March of 2011, Merten gave the University a chance to adjust and prepare for the change in leadership and possibly a change in direction. [1] Sally and Alan Merten’s last year at George Mason was full of celebrations, tears, and remembrances, [2] culminating in a dinner for 700 guests at Patriot Center to celebrate both the Mertens’ service and the 40th Anniversary of Mason’s independence from the University of Virginia. [3]

The engines were already moving in the search for a new president in the summer of 2011, and the university website even featured a page where one could follow some of the process. However, as is the case of most modern high-level job searches, the details were kept secret to protect the individuals being considered. Rumors of who was in the running for the position were rife all over the campus, as the names of well-known politicians and retired military leaders were among the many believed to be “in-play” by curious members of the Mason community.

The guessing game reached a fever pitch when the Board of Visitors (BOV) called a press conference for the morning of December 15, 2011. Early that morning at the Mason Inn representatives of the regional print, television, and radio media rubbed elbows with interested members of the campus community while awaiting the announcement. The Rector of the Board of Visitors, Dr. Ernst Volgenau, announced that the committee had recommended, and the BOV had unanimously approved Dr. Ángel Cabrera as the sixth president of George Mason University. [4]

Dr. Cabrera, a native of Spain, brings to the office of University President impressive credentials as an educator, a business school leader, a scholar on global business practices, and an international figure concerned with ethical practices in business. He earned a BS and an MS in engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. While a Fulbright Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he earned his MS and PhD in psychology and cognitive science. Cabrera worked as a professor and later as Dean of the IE Business School in Madrid before accepting the presidency of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona in 2004. During his tenure at Thunderbird, Cabrera set the institution on a solid financial footing while initiating successful fund raising programs. He published papers and books on global management, helped to start foundations that funded women entrepreneurs in Asia, and led “an international initiative to establish a code of conduct for business leaders.” [5]

Dr. Cabrera’s service officially began July 1, 2012, although he was frequently seen around the campuses in the months leading up to the change in leadership, speaking with university officials and other stakeholders. In his initial e-mail message to the faculty and staff of July 2, 2012, Dr. Cabrera announced that he was “planning a process to gather and test ideas with faculty, staff, students, alumni, community leaders and friends of the university over the coming months.” [6] He added that “I do not believe we have to choose between inclusive decision-making and decisive strategic action. My goal is to achieve both in the spirit of shared governance and constructive debate that is the hallmark of a great university.”

2012-2019:

Vision:
President Ángel Cabrera: Working for Access to Excellence:
Soon after George Mason University’s new president, Dr. Ángel Cabrera, officially took office on July 1, 2012, he was tasked with spearheading the creation of a new vision for the university. Cabrera was entrusted with this monumental project by Mason’s Board of Visitors, who asked him to draft a new set of ideas to guide George Mason into the future. Mason’s sixth university president began his tenure by overseeing the creation of an optimistic, forward-thinking agenda for a university already named among nation’s most up-and-coming institutions.

Both Cabrera and the board were well aware that Mason was part of a rapidly changing academia, full of challenges to the viability of higher education. In a resolution of August 17, 2013 the board asked Dr. Cabrera to create of a new strategic vision that would help Mason remain relevant and competitive in the future.

Accepting this task, Dr. Cabrera set to work on assembling a team of university stakeholders to help him formulate ideas. The vision would have to address emerging challenges Mason and other universities would face in the coming economic and technological climate, particularly funding, technology, and public perception. The vision would be used to guide the upcoming strategic planning process in 2014.

Eight working groups were established to focus on pertinent issues that were identified during President’s Council sessions with the Board of Visitors in early August of 2012. The groups studied the following issues: program innovation and growth; funding and resources; research; online education and executive education; global strategies; regional strategy; values and the Mason graduate; and student value and affordability. The working groups were overseen by a steering committee, which organized their findings and processed them into “big ideas.” [1]

Sixteen town hall-style meetings were scheduled across the three Mason campuses, Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William. Students, faculty, staff, families, alumni, and community members were encouraged to attend these general meetings and give input regarding the university’s future. A number of shorter-in-length focus group meetings were arranged for members of the Mason community to address particular working group topics. Numerous e-mail notifications to students, faculty, and staff, as well as an updated website, kept participants informed throughout the process.

All told, the process was said to include more than four thousand individuals participating in committees, town meetings, and focus groups. [2] The drafting of the initial version of the Mason Vision document in February would include professional and analytical groups and members of the Mason community both internal and external. [3] Dr. Cabrera put this inclusivity into perspective, declaring: “The question [was] not ‘what are my plans for the university’, but ‘what are our plans for the university?”[4]

The initial draft of the Vision document was released on February 5th 2013. The 17-page document not only suggested initiatives Dr. Cabrera intended to implement during his tenure at Mason to address challenges to Mason’s viability in the future, but further defined, and redefined, Mason as an institution. [5] The Vision document identified six areas by which the University wished to define itself: the Motto; a redefined mission statement; a list of Mason’s core values as an institution; the characteristics of Mason graduates; and commitments the university intended to keep. [6] Perhaps most importantly, the Vision introduced the concept of the “Mason IDEA.” The letters in the IDEA acronym stand for characteristics Mason uses to describe itself: Innovative, Diverse, Entrepreneurial, and Accessible.

Speaking on what is contained within this initial draft, Dr. Cabrera stated: “There is one component that talks about what shouldn’t change, and then there is a part that talks about what should change.” [7] He continued on to imply that the process as a whole had been an effort in inclusion—a project that synthesized the opinions of all those affected. The purpose behind the release of the preliminary draft of the Vision document was to facilitate discussion. The Board of Visitors’ vote on the document was set for March 20, 2013. If the Vision were approved by the Board, it would then be sent to state higher education officials in Richmond for ultimate review and approval. [8]

With the Vision draft released and available to the public, the next step was to invite feedback from students, faculty, and community members on the content of the draft to aid in the shaping of the final Vision. Much like the town hall events held prior to the completion of the original draft [9], four townhall style events were announced by Dr. Cabrera. A fifth meeting was later added. Mason community members were invited to attend these events and provide input to the final vision process. An e-mail option was added for those with valuable ideas who found themselves unable to attend a town hall. And in keeping with its original inclusiveness, the process was opened to the entire community.

The five town hall meetings took place in the final weeks of February. They were spread out over the three Mason campuses so as to make them accessible to as many people as possible. Among the ideas suggested at these meetings was a consensus from the Student Government that parts of the final Vision include reference to enumerated and protected student rights. [10] As expected, some questions dealt with the ever-present theme of a possible NCAA-level football program at Mason, and Dr. Cabrera, diplomatic in his answers, discussed both the pros and cons of such a venture: “It’s a pretty expensive proposition. In an environment where we have so many pressures and demands to increase quality and to remain affordable to our students, we have to be very careful about it.” [11] The subject of football will no doubt remain a hot-button issue, but for the time being, it can be assumed that Dr. Cabrera felt that the cost passed on to students might not be worth having a program at that stage.

After another slate of town hall discussions, flurries of social media promotion, and a full semester of internal analysis and work, the Vision proposal was presented to the Board of Visitors on March 20, 2013. In a congratulatory letter to the University as a whole, President Cabrera lauded the efforts of all involved to create the official Mason Vision framework, which would move into the strategic planning process during the summer of 2013. “Now we have the foundation, the framework on which we can build a plan…the plans of each academic unit, for technology, for libraries—you name it,” said Cabrera on the completed document. [12] In addition to the official announcement, a festive e-mail was sent out to the entire Mason community and, in keeping with his propensity to leverage modern social media as a means of communication, Dr. Cabrera utilized his presence on Twitter to promote the news, as well. [13]

The drafting of the Vision for Mason, from conception to official outline, created a new mission statement that defines the university as “a public, comprehensive research university established by the Commonwealth of Virginia in the National Capitol Region…an innovative and inclusive academic community committed to creating a more just, free, and prosperous world.”[14] Dr. Cabrera has spearheaded a process that has succeeded in “craft[ing] a vision that [is] both aspirational and inspirational.”[15] With the visioning process concluded, the results of the work of the many individuals and groups were to be used to inform the university’s planning sessions for Mason's 2014 Strategic Plan.

The philosophy underlying the Vision and the 2014 Strategic Plan is the notion that Mason will find innovative ways to best serve the needs of its stakeholders, defined as students, the surrounding community, faculty and staff, and the world. The twelve goals to be accomplished in the plan do not serve the university’s needs or self-centered aspirations, but rather have potential value for others. [16] Mason would strive to be a top research university, making valuable contributions to the world, while remaining highly inclusive. Success would be measured by the value that it provides to the community that it serves, and not by accolades and the rankings. Besides, in October 2014, the Commonwealth of Virginia released a plan to exponentially increase the number of higher-educated Virginians by 2030. [17] George Mason University would play a large role in this endeavor.

Arguably, the university began to realize some of the goals enumerated in the 2014 Strategic Plan. On February 1, 2016 George Mason University was named a Research 1 institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This classification made Mason a part of an elite group of about 115 institutions known for performing research at the highest level. The university saw an increase in research grants and expenditures in STEM, biomedicine, education, criminology and homeland security. Specific research work pertaining to treatment of HIV, detection of Tuberculosis, prevention of head trauma in athletes, Lyme Disease treatment, and prosthetic limbs for people with disabilities were of national interest. Mason also increased the number of doctoral degrees it awarded by 27% in that same period. [18]

And George Mason has made its programs accessible to a larger number of those seeking higher education, as well. In the Fall 2018 semester 36% percent of Mason’s undergraduate enrollment were the first generation within their families to attend college, while 52% of 2018 enrollees came from underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds. [19] This was the first year that George Mason could be considered a “minority-majority” university. George Mason and Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC)’s ADVANCE partnership, initiated in 2018, streamlined the transfer and graduation process so that transfers from NVCC can graduate from Mason in 2 years, while realizing the savings in tuition associated with attending a community college for the initial two years. [20] Overall, George Mason students accounted for 64% of the growth in enrollment for all 15 public four-year higher education institutions in Virginia between 2012 and 2019. [21]

Over that same period, Mason’s graduation rate grew to 70%. [22] In 2019 it was admitted to the American Talent Initiative, a coalition of elite schools known for very high graduation levels while expanding access and opportunity for highly-talented, moderate- and lower-income students. [23] George Mason joined the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and William & Mary as the fourth state university in that group.

On March 3, 2014 Mason opened Mason Korea as part of the Incheon Global Campus in Songdo, South Korea to 40 students. Mason Korea offers U.S. degree programs in five undergraduate disciplines. Its students spend three years at the Songdo campus and one year in the U.S. at Mason’s Fairfax, Virginia campus. [24] In 2020, enrollment at Mason Korea was about 400. [25]

Beginning in 2015 Mason’s Prince William Campus in Manassas, Virginia began a multi-year expansion of its facilities and programs. On April 23, 2015 the university officially opened its Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research (IABR). The IABR is a $40 million, 75,000-square-foot research facility housing university researchers working on advanced diagnostics and treatments for cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening diseases. It collaborates with community hospitals, regional medical centers and other major research universities. Research activities at IABR include personalized medicine, proteomics, cancer treatments, the study of Lyme Disease, nanotechnology-based diagnostics, and infectious diseases. Researchers from science, engineering, health, and education disciplines collaborate at the institute. The Prince William campus was renamed the Science and Technology Campus (STC) on the same day IABR opened, further defining its role in Mason’s distributed campus system. [26]

Further expansion of the STC was announced in the summer of 2019. Two new academic buildings, four-degree completion programs and housing for undergraduates, as well as a possible town center, were planned as part of Mason’s goal of more than tripling the current 1,000 full-time student population to about 3,550. One of two future academic buildings planned for STC is a 100,000-square-foot site consisting primarily of teaching labs, the other will be made up of classrooms and labs and will total over 200,000 square feet. [27] Also in 2019 the university also publicly expressed its interest in the creation of a state-of-the-art, specialty medical school at the STC. Currently, some pre-med classes are among the STC’s offerings. The campus also is home to a nine-month advanced biomedical sciences certification program through the George Squared program, designed for those who have a bachelor’s degree and are interested in health-related careers. [28]

The Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall on the Fairfax Campus opened for classes in January 2018 after a three-year construction period. The $71 million state-of-the-art building is the home of the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). It is also LEED-certified Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council for including sustainable features in its design, such as the recycled material used for the building’s terrazzo floors. The building was named for the family of George Mason University benefactor, and Board of Visitors Vice Rector, Jon Petersen, whose family donated $8 million towards its construction. [29]

At 165,000 square feet, the Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall was designed to accommodate all six departments within the College of Health and Human Services: Social Work, Nutrition & Food Studies, Nursing, Global & Community Health, Health Administration & Policy, and Rehabilitation Sciences. The five-story building is the largest on the Fairfax Campus and the second-largest building on any of GMU’s four campuses. Petersen Hall features academic classrooms, learning and performance labs, clinical practice space, medical simulation suites, a kitchen for training students to prepare nutritious meals, an amphitheater, and a medical clinic for non-emergency services to the local community and Mason faculty and staff. [30]

Mason’s Potomac Science Center, an academic and research facility near the mouth of the Occoquan River was dedicated on April 12, 2018. Located on Belmont Bay in Woodbridge, Va., the Center is a 50,000-square-foot research facility that houses laboratories for teaching and research, lecture rooms, event space and outdoor trails. The $32 million waterfront building, which opened for use in late 2017, is home to the College of Science's Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center and its Center for Geospatial Intelligence. [31]

As the decade closed, George Mason University’s enrollment reached nearly 38,000. The university began looking at options for increasing housing opportunities for its growing population in the last half of the 2010s. While state support for buildings and programs for the largest university in the Virginia system continued to shrink, requirements, for its service to students, continued to increase. University officials studied the possibility of partnerships with Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax for the construction of housing near the campus that could serve both George Mason students and low-income Fairfax residents. Several promising projects were explored as a result of these discussions.

George Mason University, much like other colleges and universities that make up the Commonwealth’s higher education system, has seen a significant decrease in appropriations from the General Assembly over the past 30 years. Between 2008 and 2016 financial support had gone down nearly 30%. Only the Virginia Military Institute had a larger reduction in support during that period (41%). [32] While the university has resisted increases in tuition fees – during the period 2008-2016 Mason had the third-lowest percentage for tuition increases among state colleges and universities[33] – it has tried to make up for the gap in funding through capital campaigns, philanthropy, and other forms of fundraising. It was in this context that a long-standing controversy over private donations to the university reached a high point in 2016.

On March 31, 2016, the Board of Visitors of George Mason University approved a request to rename the GMU School of Law in honor of the late Supreme Court justice, Antonin V. Scalia, effective July 1 of that year. Scalia passed away a little over a month prior to this action. The request was made by an anonymous individual who donated $20 million to the George Mason University Foundation, along with the Charles Koch Foundation, which added $10 million. The announcement of the naming and gifts outraged some students, faculty, staff and alumni, who resented both the naming of the school after Justice Scalia and what they saw as Koch’s undue influence on university administrators and operations. Attempts by student and faculty groups to convince the university to delay or rescind the renaming of the School of Law failed. However, pressure by these groups, which included student-led Un-Koch My Campus and Transparent GMU, along with the George Mason University chapter of the American Association of University Professors, did lead to a reexamination of private donor agreements at George Mason University in 2018.

George Mason University is just one of over 300 institutions of higher learning that has received some financial support from the Koch Foundation. On October 9. 2018 the university released the resulting report from a four-month study of donor gifts to the university. Past gift agreements were scrutinized for language that might give donors influence in academic affairs and hiring processes, and recommendations were made to assuring that future donations follow a strict policy as codified by the committee. [34] A lawsuit filed by Transparent GMU against the George Mason University Foundation to release donation records was dismissed in the Virginia Supreme Court in December 2019. [35]

On June 6, 2019 the Mason community was notified via an e-mail message that Dr. Ángel Cabrera was a finalist for the presidency of Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Cabrera earned both his Ph.D. and M.S. in cognitive psychology at Georgia Tech, which he attended while a Fulbright Scholar. Georgia Tech had always been very special to the Cabrera family. He met his wife, Beth there, and his son, Alex, had recently graduated from that institution. On June 13, 2019 the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia officially named Dr. Cabrera president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. [36] He assumed the presidency in September of 2019.

On June 20, 2019 the George Mason University Board of Visitors named Dwight Schar School of Government and Policy faculty member, Anne Holton, Interim President of George Mason University. Professor Holton was serving as a visiting professor in both the Schar School and Mason’s College of Education and Human Development since May 2017. Holton was Virginia Secretary of Education under Governor Terry McAuliffe from 2014 to 2016, and former First Lady of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2006 to 2010. [37] Holton is also the daughter of A. Linwood Holton, Jr., who served as the 61st Governor of Virginia from 1970 to 1974. Holton is known for being a strong proponent of school desegregation, increasing opportunities for women and minorities in the Commonwealth, educational, and environmental issues. As Governor, Holton signed the bill which George Mason University an independent institution in March 1972.