Author: Eleftheria Giannopoulos

Celebrating Juneteenth in ADVANCE: Taking a Stand Against Racial Injustice

Dear Nighthawk Patriots,

Today is a very important day in our country’s history. This day, recently declared a holiday in Virginia by Governor Ralph Northam, commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, the last of the former Confederate states to abolish slavery. This is also an opportunity to honor the significant roles and innumerable contributions of African Americans to the Commonwealth and the nation, especially as we come together to collectively fight anti-Black racism at both the individual and institutional levels following the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and far too many others.

By now, we hope you may have read full statements sent by President Kress at NOVA as well as Interim President Holton and President-designate Washington at Mason representing the inclusive views of both institutions. ADVANCE reiterates that diversity is our strength and racial injustice will not be tolerated. Moreover, ADVANCE is committed to improving the social and economic inequities experienced by historically marginalized student populations within U.S. higher education.

In addition to providing support, listening to, and being in conversation with Black students and other oppressed student groups, several action steps are happening at both institutions to address systemic racism and will have a positive impact on ADVANCE students, including a few examples below:

NOVA is implementing implicit bias and cultural awareness training for all employees
Mason is directing senior leadership to conduct a thorough review of offerings and resources that contribute to social justice, racial equity, and peaceful conflict resolution
Mason is committed to rooting out areas where the institution has fallen short of their intentions, through either conscious or unconscious bias
NOVA will be advertising for their first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer this summer

The ADVANCE Team is also aware that students may be coping with recent events in varying ways or may experience racism as a daily occurrence. Whether you are looking to engage in self-care or get active in your community, we recommend taking action steps, a few of these including:

Supporting, connecting, and checking-in with your community
Learning about and challenging identities, privileges, and how we contribute to systemic racism and other forms of oppression at the individual and institutional levels
Engaging in behavior/actions that foster environments of safety and inclusivity
Educating ourselves and our community with resources including the University Life Supporting Black Lives Page to inspire engagement, reflection, and advocacy

As ADVANCE Success Coaches, we hear, see, and value the lives of our Black students and colleagues. We understand the severity of our national climate and the negative impact on your mental health and well-being while trying to prioritize your education. We are motivated to ensure our direct support for you as ADVANCE students. Our emails and virtual office doors are always open if you are seeking comfort and safety.

In solidarity,

The ADVANCE Team

Response to today’s SCOTUS decision on DACA

On Thursday, June 18, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision to uphold the decision to maintain Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which provides work permits and protection from deportation for close to 700,000 DACA recipients in the United States. We are very happy about this decision and acknowledge that even in times of difficulty and tremendous change in the United States, it is also important to recognize the wave of positive decisions and actions that can happen when the voices of a community are heard.

DACA has opened up educational pathways for our students and for many others across the country through access to admissions, in-state tuition, and financial resources. DACA recipients at George Mason University contribute to and shape our campus culture and identity. This decision from the Supreme Court will continue to grant access to higher education for some of the best and brightest students in the United States.

We want to take this time to communicate ODIME & LGBTQ+ Resources’ strong and continuous support for our DACA recipients and their families. We will work with DACA recipients to continue to connect them with legal service providers on and off campus, mental and physical health services, and other support services to support their success at Mason. Below are resources for students and also for YOU to learn more about how you can help!

You are also welcomed to reach out to the Student Access and Equity team within ODIME & LGBTQ+ Resources to learn more by emailing Dr. Amber Holton-Thomas, Associate Director of Student Access and Equity ([email protected]).

Financial Support:
• Emergency Fund (accepting Summer 2020 applications)
• First Gen Next Gen Fund Scholarship (Spring 2021 applications due in November). For more information email [email protected]

Emotional Support:
• Counseling and Academic Programs and Services (CAPS) Link: https://caps.gmu.edu/
• Student Support and Advocacy Center (SSAC) Link: https://ssac.gmu.edu/

Peer Support:
• Connect with Mason DREAMers, the primary collective of students who support and advocate for students who are undocumented, DACAmented, and who have TPS and their families.
• Website: https://www.masondreamers.org/
• Email: [email protected]
• Social Media: Twitter @MasonDREAMers | Instagram @masondreamers

Legal Support:
• Legal Aid Justice Center (Falls Church) Link: https://www.justice4all.org/
• Ayuda (Fairfax) Link: https://www.ayuda.com/
• CASA (Woodbridge) Link: http://www.wearecasa.org/
• Just Neighbors (Annandale) Link: https://www.justneighbors.org/

What else can you do as a person who holds citizenship in the United States?
• Review policies or procedures in your department that might have additional barriers for undocumented or DACAmented students – if you change something, let us know! Email Dr. Amber Holton-Thomas ([email protected]) who serves as the Chair for the Undocumented Student Task Force at Mason
• Educate yourself! Sign up for 1 of the 6 UndocuAlly Training sessions (3 in Fall | 3 in Spring) offered this academic year.
• Review resources on the ODIME & LGBTQ+ Resources Website: https://www.gmu.edu/financial-aid/eligibility/undocumented-daca-students

To the DACA students, faculty, and staff, know that you have the full support of our department. We remain as supportive as ever of DACA recipients and other immigrants learning and working in our community, and remain committed to enabling the continued success of DACA recipients and to securing permanent relief for these aspiring Americans.

ODIME & LGBTQ+ Resources

President Holton to host virtual town hall June 24

Dear Patriots,

As President Holton noted in her message last week, George Mason University will reopen on time on Aug. 24 with a mix of in-person and online classes.

We know there are many questions about our Safe Return to Campus and the university’s overall operations. We invite students, their families, faculty, staff and community members to submit questions here ahead of the town hall that President Holton will host with senior leadership from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 24.

The town hall will be livestreamed on GMU TV and a link also will be available directly from the university’s homepage.

This is new territory for all of us, and your flexibility, compassion and creativity will be essential as we move forward together. We look forward to gathering with you virtually on Wednesday.

Sincerely,

Paul G. Allvin
Vice President of Strategic Communications and Marketing

Statement of Solidarity – Women and Gender Studies

This is a time of sorrow, of anger, of introspection, of discomfort, of activism. As we confront anti-black racism in the wake of the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, Women and Gender Studies reaffirms our collective mission to understand and address social inequities. We mourn and march and commit to the work of social justice collectively. We are not all experiencing this the same way. For some of us racism is a daily and familiar experience while others of us must interrogate our own racism and complicity in oppression. Women and Gender Studies has been articulating these concerns through academics, advocacy, and support, and we have more work to do. Black women have fundamentally shaped gender activism and critique from the very beginning of modern feminism. Sojourner Truth, Harriet Jacobs, Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper, Audre Lorde, Bernice Johnson Reagon, bell hooks, Barbara Smith, Ntozake Shange, Anita Hill, Patricia Hill-Collins, Cheryl Dunye, Dorothy Roberts, Janet Mock, Sybrina Fulton, and many others have challenged those practices that, to quote Kimberlé Crenshaw, “relegate the identity of women of color to a location that resists telling.” Critical tools like intersectionality were developed to name blindness and oppression within the most visible articulations of feminism and women’s studies and they remain powerful because that critique is still necessary. Through introspection and advocacy we will work for institutional change here and in the world. The university is one place where we can make this change as we hire faculty, develop curricula, and reform academic and institutional policies. We who are faculty and staff prepare our students to make changes in those institutions that they will shape outside the university, and we must listen when they in turn hold us accountable and make us better.

In community,
Tamara Harvey, Interim Director of Women and Gender Studies
David Powers Corwin, Associate Director of Women and Gender Studies
and our core faculty in Women and Gender Studies

The programs and services offered by George Mason University are open to all who seek them. George Mason does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic national origin (including shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics), sex, disability, military status (including veteran status), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, pregnancy status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. After an initial review of its policies and practices, the university affirms its commitment to meet all federal mandates as articulated in federal law, as well as recent executive orders and federal agency directives.

A co-authored message from Rose Pascarell, VP of University Life and Amy Takayama-Pérez, Dean of Admissions

George Mason University is aware of objections by some members of our community to the admission of a student whose presence they believe would create an unsafe and threatening environment due to the student’s alleged expression of support for neo-Nazi and white supremacy ideology.

Mason leaders understand the community’s objections. We want to again reiterate that we are wholly committed to maintaining a safe, welcoming, inclusive, and respectful learning environment. We understand that some in our community hold beliefs that are antithetical to Mason’s stated values.

It will be unavoidable that some students will engage in a way that is contrary to our institutional values. Mason has a very clearly outlined Code of Student Conduct and behavioral requirements for admitted students. Mason will not only uphold these codes and requirements but also act accordingly if made aware that any member of our student body has broken the law or university policy. In cases where the actions of a Patriot, while not breaking policies or laws, cause great concern within our community there may not be a path to legal or disciplinary action. But we believe there is still an important opportunity not to be missed. We, as educators, can use the tools available to us to guide these students in critically examining and understanding the potential impact of their decisions and actions. To that end, we urge you to keep informing us when you witness behavior that falls short of Mason’s standards; We also ask you to remember that intervention can take many forms, and we will employ every resource available to us to bring about a positive change in a situation. If you would like to report an incident of bias you can do so here: https://campusclimate.gmu.edu/report-an-incident/bias-incidents-and-the-reporting-protocol/

Mason is reviewing this matter. Due to extreme personal sensitivities that touch everyone involved, we do not anticipate having any more specific comment on this situation.

Rose Pascarell , VP of University Life

Amy Takayama-Pérez, Dean of Admissions

Student Health Services Commitment to Create a Culture of Inclusion and Trust

“I can’t breathe.” Those words resonate strongly for many Black Americans and do as well for those working in healthcare. In healthcare, those words often spur action to save a life. With those words, Student Health Services mourns the killing of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black Americans, and we stand with the racial justice movements working to prevent the further loss of Black lives.

The Black Lives Matter movement and the current covid-19 pandemic continue to emphasize the public health crises brought about by systemic racism and racial injustice. Black and Brown communities have a higher burden of infection and death from covid-19 and other diseases and are at increased risk of experiencing institutional violence. Systemic racism underlies both of these disparities. Black lives matter. Black voices must be heard.

Student Health Services recognizes that to fully support the health of our students of color at Mason we must move beyond only cultural and linguistic competency and take a more active role to support movements for racial equality. Student Health Services commits to using a framework of racial justice to examine our own procedures and initiatives as we work toward creating a culture of inclusion and trust.

We commit to listening to the voices and hearing the experiences of Black students and underserved students. We will be vocal and active in conversations and movements that support the Mason Black community.

We will continue learning about social, economic, and environmental conditions that put Black students and students of color at higher risk of disease, violence, and negative health outcomes and take action to address those disparities in our practice. We will identify and address our own privileges and implicit biases that could harm students and our patient interactions. We will do the hard work needed to create an environment of trust and inclusion.

-Student Health Services

Survey shows continued career success for Mason alumni

George Mason University alumni have a strong track record of landing jobs they want, and that professional success continued with the class of 2019.

In the university’s Career Plans Survey, 87% of respondents reported attaining a position that aligned with their career goals, up from 82% in 2018. The survey also showed that 86% of students who earned graduate degrees and 81% of students who earned undergraduate degrees reported a positive career outcome within six months of graduating, both remaining consistent with 2018.

A holistic approach to student health

All Mason students have access to high-quality health care, counseling and health education at Student Health Services (SHS). Visits with a health care provider are free, and services such as supplies, immunizations, physical exams, and lab tests carry only nominal fees. Students do not need health insurance to be seen at SHS.

“SHS doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses have experience with treating a wide range of health concerns, from illness to injury, to sleep and chronic health concerns. We offer diagnostic and preventive health care services including an on-site lab, physical exams, nutrition and health counseling,” said Lisa Park, MD, executive director of SHS.

Mason students organize peaceful protest for victims of police brutality

UL: UNITING ACROSS ALL CAMPUSES OF GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: Commitment from University Life Arlington and University Life SciTech

George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown and many, many others have lost their lives as victims of violence and racism. These lives were taken because a system or a person or a group decided they did not matter. Today, in our communities and in our nation, we are called to make positive change.

The University Life teams based at the Arlington and Science & Technology Campuses, in partnership with our colleagues across the Mason Nation, are committed to working, partnering, and leading that change on our campuses and beyond. We stand with you.

We acknowledge the systematic oppression and trauma our Black students and colleagues face every single day in our community. We believe and stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. We firmly believe that we must be a part of the work to support Black students and colleagues and to address systemic racism in our community and on our campuses. University Life Arlington and University Life SciTech are committed to being a part of the deep and important work to support racial justice.

We will do this by working to understand our privileges.
We will do this by promising to not burden our Black colleagues to educate us, but instead by actively engaging in this work and by listening and supporting initiatives and programs shared by Black voices.
We will lift up black voices because they deserve to be heard because Black lives matter.
We will do this by being vocal and active in conversations and movements that support the Mason Black community.
We will do this by devoting time and resources to educating ourselves about the needs of Black students on each of our campuses.
We will do this by centering the voices of Black scholars, students, practitioners, and survivors in our community as we work to be a part of creating an inclusive university community.
We will take the time to listen and hear what is happening around us, and we will do the hard work that is needed.
We will acknowledge our biases and missteps and we will continually strive to do better.

University Life across each of Mason’s campuses and locations shares with you a collective commitment to a society in which all public officials are held accountable for advancing the well-being of the people they serve. We dream with you of a system of justice that consistently upholds human dignity and the equal protection of law. Please reach out if you are interested in initiating or actively engaging in dialogue or programming at any of Mason’s campuses or locations. We stand with you in community, in support of our Black students and colleagues. We will not stand in silence.

—

Melissa Thierry, Associate Director, University Life Arlington
Michael Galvin, Associate Director, Univerisity Life SciTech
Lori Scher, Assistant Dean, University Life Regional Campuses