Statements

Mason's eighth president Gregory Washington's inaugural video message to the university community.

As you know, last week George Mason University made the decision to test our most at-risk population—our residential students—to see if there was any significant impact from the Labor Day holiday. I’m pleased to share that with 97 percent of those results in, we have seen a remarkably low rate of transmission: just 11 positive students out of more than 2,400 test results, or a 0.45 percent positivity rate.

I’m pleased to say that our community continues to do a remarkable job of showing how to thrive during this pandemic. A crisis can be an opportunity to learn and lead, and we have done both.

We are a month into the Spring Semester. The best evidence shows that when people wear masks, practice physical distancing, wash hands regularly and stay home and isolate when they feel sick, we greatly limit the spread and are safer as a community. We also need to complete the Mason COVID Health Check every day.

President Gregory Washington reflects on the meaning of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the context of the current national climate.

George Mason University will start the Spring 2021 semester on time on Jan. 25.

Dear Patriots,

We are nearing the end of a remarkably successful fall semester, especially considering where we started and what we’ve been through. Just five months ago, our greatest challenge was figuring out how we could deliver a Mason education to a record number of students during a global pandemic. Now, in two weeks, we will graduate a class at winter commencement that includes more than 4,600 graduates and more than 5,000 when counting students earning certificates.

We are fewer than two weeks from the start of the Fall semester and soon will be welcoming many of our faculty, staff and students back to George Mason University’s campuses. We do so with a mix of excitement that accompanies every fall return to campus – and trepidation, because this is 2020 and the pandemic has changed just about everything.

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.