Articles by: jdavis15

 

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  Bookstore more conscientious: New clothing line bought by book store pays employees fair wages

  Lifestyle September 7, 2010 at 5:14 pm Comments are Disabled

  With rising costs of living in a time of economic struggle, more corporations are becoming aware of the mistreatment of workers and recognizing their rights to unionize. In an attempt to also raise awareness, several colleges and university bookstores across the nation are partnering up with a new apparel company that promotes fair pay and works out of a factory that respects workers’ rights and ensures a safe and healthy work environment. The George Mason University bookstore is among those taking a stand against worker abuse and mistreatment. Alta Gracia is a new brand of T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies owned by Knights Apparel that works out of a factory in Villa Altagracia, Dominican Republic. There, workers are paid 33.8% of the legal minimum wage, which is equivalent to approximately $3 an hour. In a short statement about Alta Gracia’s initiative, CEO of Knights Apparel Joe Bozich explained the unique motivation behind this hopeful frontier. “To my knowledge, this is the first apparel brand anywhere in the world to compensate the people that are making the product not based upon what’s required of us, but based upon what we calculate as a living wage,” said Bozich. With wages this much higher […]

   
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  Future of Construction: A glance at the faces of Mason construction

  Lifestyle September 7, 2010 at 5:09 pm Comments are Disabled

  It’s become a familiar sight for students: bulldozers moving dirt, workers in hardhats leaning over blueprints and even the occasional parking lot conversion. For the past decade, George Mason University’s campus has been a place of drastic change. At the forefront of this change is Mason’s Facilities Management department. Led by Bob Endebrock, the department oversees the logistical aspects of new buildings on Mason’s three campuses in Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William. According to Endebrock, 10 new facilities have opened since April on Mason’s three locations. Helping Endebrock oversee these projects are two Mason alumni, Project Engineer Hieu Tran and Project Inspector Chris Ellis. Both interned at Facilities Management during their time at Mason and were offered jobs after graduation. Now, Tran oversees building projects and renovations while Ellis works to ensure the new work is properly installed and complies with city ordinances. As students know, the building process can be a long one. According to Endebrock, getting a building from its planning stages to completion can take as many as eight years, as was the case with the Arlington campus. Departments in need of a new building submit their plans to Endebrock and his team, who then work with […]

   

• Sodexo denies foul play: An employee retaliates against the accusations that the corporation faces

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 5:03 pm Comments are Disabled

  Has everyone gone stupid? The accusations against Sodexo are ridiculous.

   

• Environmental Action Group educates community

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:59 pm Comments are Disabled

  From everyone here in the GMU Environmental Action Group (EAG), we welcome you to campus. The EAG is honored to continue writing our weekly column, the Mason Ecosphere in Broadside this semester. In addition to having more of our usual hikes, movie nights and famous dance parties, the EAG is running three big campaigns this fall: ending mountaintop removal coal mining, advocating for more sustainable foods on campus and passing the Patriot Green Fund. The EAG has worked on ending mountaintop removal for the past two years and will continue to work on the issue until this social and environmental devastation stops. Mountaintop removal is a form of surface mining where coal companies clearcut forests on mountains, blow up the mountaintops with explosives and dump the waste containing heavy metals in valleys and streams. This practice is destroying mountains, watersheds and communities throughout Appalachia. The EAG is organizing a screening of the documentary film Coal Country and a panel of experts on mountaintop removal. Then the EAG will be taking action with thousands of other concerned citizens involved in the struggle by participating in Appalachia Rising, a mass mobilization in the District of Colombia on Sept. 25. Sustainable foods is […]

   

• Letter to the editor

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:57 pm Comments are Disabled

  Regarding advice dispensed to freshmen by Michatalie One encountered a column with advice for the newly inducted women to
George Mason in last week’s issue of Broadside. It advocated partying and gave advice regarding the
same. It was akin to the ten commandments: a list of dos and don’ts.
However it was filled with advice that makes a five thousand+ year old
religion look good. The advice was dispensed by those who portray
themselves as people who like to party and have fun. The following is
a mere echo of the light that was this article. And if their advice
given is a light then perhaps an intense light can burn?

 Partying or even living life ought not to end up
destroying you or your loved ones or the society you dwell in. Instead
people who love ought to ensure that they have the resources and the
wealth to recuperate after making love. This is because the act of
love making and/or partying is a selfless act involving giving up
your bodily fluids and energy (at the minimum).

 One will now attempt to provide alternatives to the advice they have
dispensed in this column by first quoting their advice and then
attempting to forward a possible alternative.

 They advised: “Be sure to dance and […]

   

• Southside hits a sweet note with patrons

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  Almost everyone who lives on campus has been to Southside, the restaurant that offers a buffet to students in return for one meal plan ($8.75 for breakfast and lunch, $9.50 for dinner), and I can guarantee that anyone who went to Southside last year can also remember the music. The food at Southside has always been great, but last year, all I can remember is the awful music that they played. Acoustic songs and acoustic covers, all the time, nonstop. True, there were a few exceptions. For instance, once Southside had live music, which they should definitely try to do again. However, the majority of the time I would be greeted with an acoustic cover of a random Bob Marley song, or something similar. I honestly can’t understand what the reasoning behind the music was. I understand that they were going for a calming effect, but I simply found it to be too dull. Not to disrespect acoustic musicians or people who like acoustic music, the music is just fine. I really don’t mind hearing one or two acoustic songs, but imagine being bombarded by draggy, dreary music for as long as you eat your food. It’s auditory torture. I […]

   

• The anguish of the everyday drive: The downsides of commuting to Mason

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:54 pm Comments are Disabled

  Over three-fourths of the students attending George Mason University are commuters. Unfortunately, living off campus and driving to class is not as simple as it sounds. When you factor in the traffic, the drive around Patriot Circle dodging pedestrians, and of course, that tortuous hunt for a parking spot, suddenly the daily routine of a commuter begins to reveal its true, ugly self. Granted, there are certain conditions of commuting that cannot be changed. There are, however, some issues of commuting that could easily be solved. For purposes of this article, today, you are a commuter. You are driving down the road and you seem to be making good time until a minivan on Braddock pulls in front of you in the left lane and goes no faster than the speed limit. You would go around them but the car in the right lane is going the speed limit as well. We have reached Commuter Issue Number One: People who do not use the passing lane correctly. For those of you who find yourselves frequently being tailgated in the left lane, it is not because Virginia is full of aggressive drivers who are out to get you. It is most […]

   

• Don’t build mosque on ground zero

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  On Sept. 11, 2001, just a few miles away from George Mason University, the pentagon was attacked by radical Islamists. In New York City, the World Trade Center fell after planes hijacked by the same al Qaeda terrorists struck the twin towers. Anyone who attended Mason, or lived in and around Washington, D.C. and New York City at the time was especially affected by this tragic event. Now, a debate is raging on whether to allow a mosque to be built near ground zero. The liberals argue this project is about religious freedom. However, the debate is not about freedom of religion, but about the sensitivities to those who died in the attacks. Let’s examine this issue by first taking a closer look at the ground zero mosque developers. The Park51 project, formerly known as the Cordoba House, is being organized by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a man described in the New York Post by his tenants as a “slumlord.” Rauf, a self-described “moderate,” once claimed that “the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened” on Sept. 11. He also refuses to denounce Sharia law, which condones the stoning of women and other equally disturbing practices. […]