Communications & News

Understanding what anti-racism, diversity and inclusion mean for George Mason University was just one of the goals of Monday’s Freedom and Learning forum hosted by President Gregory Washington. Ensuring a common definition of the terms helps create meaningful dialogue, and helps the Mason community understand the work of the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force.

Members of Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force have been analyzing the state of the university, making recommendations, and preparing for the work ahead. We recently spoke with the task force leadership to see how the initiative is going.

We are halfway through the fall semester, and by all accounts, we have passed one of the biggest hurdles facing universities: George Mason University has successfully reopened our campuses, kept our community safe, and delivered on our educational mission despite the pandemic. This has been challenging work for everyone in our community, and I want to applaud the efforts to make Mason a model for success.

Members of the George Mason University community learned about leadership and activism from world soccer champion, double Olympic gold medalist and author Abby Wambach at Mason Reads on Monday afternoon.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam praised George Mason University for keeping its coronavirus numbers low during a visit to the Fairfax Campus on Tuesday where he announced a refinancing plan for colleges and universities.

A number of Carter School faculty and staff members are working closely with President Gregory Washington to make our university a national model for anti-racism and inclusive excellence.

The Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force will be led by Wendi Manuel-Scott, Associate Professor (CHSS), and Shernita Parker, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources.

At his first planning conference with the Board of Visitors, George Mason University President Gregory Washington outlined his ambitious framework for the university, including a mission to “reposition, restore and reinvent” Mason to achieve success in the post-COVID era.

President Washington is creating the President’s Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence, and giving its members some big assignments. This task force will have a broad focus, with particular areas of emphasis including short-term and long-term improvements.

Preparation is underway for what may be the greatest campus-wide challenge the George Mason University community has ever taken on – our safe return to campus.

This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it would discontinue visa exceptions for international students on F-1 visas who take all of their courses for the semester online. This decision could force hundreds of thousands of international students to leave the United States and threatens to interrupt the academic work of more than 3,000 students here at George Mason University.

Newly selected George Mason University President Gregory Washington told a group of journalists Thursday that he’s “ecstatic” to be the school’s eighth president. He will join the university on July 1, 2020.