Articles by: Cody Norman

Chalk It Up As Another Win For Mason

Editorials, Multimedia October 23, 2012 at 9:59 am Comments are Disabled

Just when you think Mason cannot get any better, it pulls a fast one on us and raises the bar all over again. While this week’s announcement that the university will be expanding its territory and opening a beautiful campus in South Korea brings outstanding notoriety among East Asian countries, it is a campus that very few students will ever get the opportunity to experience first-hand. Perhaps more relevant to the Fairfax community, though, Mason celebrated the completion of its newest academic residential and dining facilities on Thursday just down the road in Front Royal. A $5 million gift from real estate developer Gerald T. Halpin, namesake of the G.T. Halpin Family Living & Learning Community, helped bring life to a vision imagined by Mason and the Smithsonian that will allow the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation to foster and nurture future generations of conservationists. His generous donation will provide funds to establish an endowment that will provide scholarship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. The campus, where students spend a semester living on campus and engaging in the study of endangered species, includes research halls, dormitories and an animal hospital. Highly qualified world experts – including Smithsonian scientists, Mason faculty […]
Security Report Finds Increase in Drug Arrests

Multimedia, News1 October 23, 2012 at 9:56 am Comments are Disabled

Recently released statistics from Mason’s Annual Security Report surprised many when the amount of reported drug arrests spiked dramatically. Although the numbers for Student Residencies dropped from 41 to 40 from 2010 to 2011, the reported drug arrests for the On-Campus category increased from 77 to 151 and Public Property drug arrests have increased from 34 to 120. However, the numbers alone do not tell a complete story of drug use on Mason’s Fairfax campus. “Due to a change in the definition of on-campus, we now have to include all parking lots and the patriot center, and other areas that previously had been in the public property category, into the category of on campus,” said Mike Lynch, Chief of Mason Police. This definitional distinction means that arrests that occur in residential buildings, which are inaccessible to the public, are counted in the same category as parking lots, which are. This means that drug arrests made from arresting the public are counted in the same category as the student body, which can make the numbers seem worse than they are. This year, drug arrests from parking lots and the patriot center, which totaled 120, “were tallied in both public property and […]
Ricky Gervais and Ideological Bias

Editorials October 16, 2012 at 2:43 pm Comments are Disabled

One big shortcoming of Twitter is its limited space to express views. Ultimately, 140 characters will never be enough to truly convey great ideas; after all, items like the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, “I Have a Dream” speech, and others sure couldn’t fit in Twitter-imposed barriers. Maybe that is why certain statements seem so off. Comedian Ricky Gervais is a good example. As religiously-engendered violence continued in Muslim countries, Gervais remarked “I see Atheists are fighting and killing each other again, over who doesn’t believe in any God the most. Oh, no..wait..that never happens.” While Gervais’ comment may require further explanation, it seemed sufficient a statement for many as it got posted on Facebook, receiving over 20,000 likes and over 6,000 shares. Yet his remarks are bizarre in light of history. Gervais was born in 1961, meaning the first 30 years of his life there existed the Soviet Union. This was a regime that had its share of large-scale killing to stamp out religion and whose leadership violently punished those who did not adhere to their atheism-based worldview sufficiently enough. In early twentieth century Mexico, here was plenty of secularist-driven violence against the Catholic Church. The extent of […]
Center for the Arts: Students Should Take Advantage of Access

Editorials October 16, 2012 at 2:41 pm 1 comment

In the months leading into my Mason career, my mother and father often reminded me to attempt to get all of the perks from my out of state tuition. I found a perfect venue for that at the GMU Center for the Arts. Any holder of a Mason ID is able to get at least one free ticket for most performances featured at the venue. The Center of the arts, apart from featuring Mason’s very own theatrical and musical ensembles, pulls in the likes of the American Symphony Orchestra and even the Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi. Indeed, the College of Visual and Performing Arts has a selection that’s just as diverse as Mason itself. Continuing on that point, the College of Visual and Performing Arts selects the program for the year, and strives to create “an academic environment in which the arts are explored as individual disciplines and interdisciplinary forms that enhance and strengthen each other.” Certainly a very admirable goal, I would say. The College of Visual and Performing Arts has aptly named the program of artists who pass through Mason “Great Performances at Mason” and great they are. Mind you, however, this is not like attending […]
Repetition is Not Always the Answer

Editorials October 16, 2012 at 2:40 pm Comments are Disabled

This world continues to have the same conflicts with a different name and leader. This has always been something that baffled me because as members of the human race, we cannot learn from our mistakes. Wars, attacks, and persecution have been going on since the beginning of time and will not end until we come together to avoid our past mistakes. Let’s start this look back in 1490 when Ferdinand and Isabella felt the only way to resolve the problems of Spain was to create a land with a single people. This resolution involved the expulsion of the Jewish and Muslim population in the country to create their perfect Spain. A similar situation happened in the United States as expansion across the vast countryside began. This conquest did not just involve inspecting unvisited sites. The conquest that celebrated expansion actually involved killing, raping, and displacing the Native American population. The U.S.’s goal was to expand and create an America that would make this country the best one on earth. The Native Americans were not a part of this picture similar to the Jews and Muslims in Spain. This ethnic cleansing continued with Adolf Hitler’s systematic killing of 12 million people. […]
Honesty: Always the Best Policy

Editorials October 16, 2012 at 2:38 pm Comments are Disabled

Take a moment to picture a chaotic world. It is easy actually; all it takes is for you to imagine living in a society where honesty is non-existent. We hear it over and over again: “You can’t have a good relationship without trust.” Though it is a cliché, it is inevitable to imagine that without honesty, the last bit of sanity that remains within society would vanish. What would you do if you were being lied to constantly? If honesty and truth were erased from the values of society, how would the human race function? To say the least, it wouldn’t. Honesty is one of the most important policies because without it, humans would be helpless. Asking someone you have never met before for something as simple as directions requires honesty. Taking classes requires honesty from the professors – if the material being taught is a lie, what is the point of going to school? Then of course, there are relationships. Without honesty, it is impossible to build any sort of relationship – or a successful one at least. Without a speck of honesty, the human race would most likely collapse. Being able to trust others reduces stress tremendously. It […]
The Goods of Social Media

Editorials October 16, 2012 at 2:37 pm 1 comment

We live in an iWorld. If you just take a look around campus, everyone is either on their phone or their laptop typing away with them all somehow interconnected in a parallel universe. Nowadays, social media and technology has become a prominent part of our everyday lives with using Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, the iPod and the iPhone. Social media provides a mean for information, entertainment and persuasion. In the past decade alone, social media has been responsible for the introduction of new ideas and inventions, the start of revolutions against tyrant governments, and the increase of human to human interaction. Social media has become a pathway used to communicate. It is the way we let others know what’s on our minds, a way to figure out what’s on other people’s minds and ultimately a way to share ideas in an interactive manner. Facebook and Twitter are effortlessly accessible; whether on your laptop or your smart phone, messages can be sent out within seconds. And within a couple of more seconds, replies, favorites, or even “retweets” start flooding in. This creates an interactive dynamic where people can interconnect, link and transfer information between one another. The ease of use of social […]
National Champions Rebuild Young Team

Sports October 16, 2012 at 2:36 pm Comments are Disabled

Many students do not have the faintest clue that a club sport at Mason won a national championship only a year and half ago. A far cry from the fame won by the Final Four basketball team in 2006, the club cricket team has not received much accolation for their success. Hashim Khan, who graduated last spring, founded the team two years ago. “It was hard to recruit members for the team, I remember Hashim telling me, as many Americans have never even heard of the sport,” said Muhammad Awais, current president of the cricket club. “I joined immediately.” This did not hold the team back, as they went on to win the collegiate cricket championship their first year as a club sport, becoming the 2010-2011 national champions. Mason shockingly beat out Montgomery College, the 2009 national champions, and favored team, 138 runs to 124 runs at the cricket national championship held in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “It was an amazing feeling to be a part of such talent,” said Awais. “No one expected us to beat Montgomery, and to exceed people’s expectations was truly an experience.” Cricket, a sport often compared to baseball, has not gotten much coverage in America, […]
Don’t Rock the Boat: Academics and Athletic Balance Recognized

Sports October 16, 2012 at 2:35 pm Comments are Disabled

The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) recently selected senior women’s rowing captains Merrideth Bennett and Madison Beumer as 2012 All-Region Scholar Athletes. This is the second year in a row for both women to be selected for this award. To be nominated for this award, athletes must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and participate in at least 75 percent of the current spring races or race in a regional event. Selection is then made by the CRCA, which has coaches from nearly every team. The award is a sign of not just academic and athletic success but also personal time management and scheduling balance. “With workouts, two-a-days, travel and all the extra time I put in with the team, it [totals] about 30 to 35 hours a week,” Bennett said. Time management is something that nearly all college students pick up on after their freshmen year. This is especially true of athletes. “Not going to lie, it is a little hard and requires a lot of sacrifice. Some nights, I want to go out but can’t, and other times, I’m on the bus cramming for tests,” Bennett said. In addition to being recognized for her academic and rowing […]
Former Patriot Finds New Voice With Redskins

Sports October 16, 2012 at 2:34 pm Comments are Disabled

Die-hard Redskins fans know his name and his voice, but most probably do not know that he attended Mason. Grant Paulsen, beat reporter for the Redskins on 106.7 the Fan, is a graduate of Mason. Paulsen’s time at Mason began during his senior year in high school. His first impressions of Mason were during the exciting time of Mason’s Cinderella run to the Final Four. He came in 2006 to visit friends, and as a result, Mason became his top runner for college. When it came time to finally decide where he would attend college, Paulsen picked Mason because it was a local college and it would help him continue to build rapport with people in the journalism and media fields in the area. Paulsen came to Mason knowing that he wanted to work in sports journalism one day. With guidance from professors, especially well-known journalism professor Steve Kline, Paulsen honed in on his journalism skills. “Professors here are really connected and active in their fields at Mason. They create great opportunities to make connections,” said Paulsen. Paulsen believes that for anyone trying to get into sports journalism or any other sports communication job, Mason is a good place to […]