Statements

The verdict is in on the Derek Chauvin trial, and he has been held accountable for the injustice that occurred to George Floyd. We can breathe a collective sigh of relief that jurors reached the verdict they did.  With that being said, the nation must sustain its quest for systemic change to its criminal justice system, to ultimately make such episodes exceedingly rare.

First and foremost, all organizations need a North Star – a vision of what their best can be. With respect to diversity and inclusion, Mason’s North Star is that this university should reflect the rich diversity of our students, the broader Commonwealth of Virginia (whose tax dollars support us all), and the nation.

We are at an important moment in our fight against COVID, and I want to applaud everyone for their help in making George Mason University the safest campus it can be. Mason has received the go-ahead to begin vaccinating faculty and staff this weekend, and students later this month.

This week, the Governor’s Office issued new guidance on how universities could conduct commencement ceremonies this spring based on revised COVID-19 restrictions.

Tuesday’s mass murder in Atlanta returns us to terrible, familiar ground, as we try again to make sense of violence, and calm the terror that was already building within an entire cultural community.

The nation is struggling to understand what is happening, how to react, and how to move beyond this. Academic communities like Mason’s are at their best when they step into moments like these to offer perspective, clarity, and when necessary, hard truths that force us to grow even as we seek to heal.

Our ability to manage this crisis is in no small part a credit to the efforts of students, faculty and staff, who have done an extraordinary job of following new safety guidelines. We will continue to update the university community should things change.

We have just come through an historic election, which has taught us a great deal about ourselves and our society that we will spend time processing.

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.

Fall 2020 is officially underway, and George Mason University is marking a transition in our efforts to stay ahead of the pandemic. Now that we are starting a mix of online and on-campus operations, I am writing to walk you through some of the new measures that will begin with the start of classes.

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.

If we close our eyes and envision a patriot, we might see the classic image of an individual taking up arms to defend our country. But is that all there is to patriotism? By definition, it is an expressed feeling of love, devotion and sense of attachment to a particular place or way of life. There is so much more to being a Patriot than the physical defense of our country, and here at Mason, we have a more expansive, more inclusive approach to patriotism.