Recent Posts

• Spring Break Kiosks Pop Up: Students Encouraged to Stay Safe

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  Sandra Evans, Broadside Correspondent Spring Break is a time for some fun in the sun amid a hectic, energy-draining spring semester; however, the special occasion has a bad reputation, with some college students making not-so-great decisions that can sometimes have very serious consequences. The Office of Alcohol, Drug & Health Education (OADHE) will set up its Safe Spring Break kiosk today through Wednesday before the start of break. It will be held at the Johnson Center Kiosk A from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “[Our goal] is just to let people know about the resources on campus . . . and [for people to know] the high-risk behaviors they may be exposed to and try to minimize that,” said Health Promoter Coordinator for OADHE Megan Grant. The kiosks will have information on safe and healthy decision making and how to have an enjoyable Spring Break while staying out of harm’s way. Topics that will be discussed include what behaviors are considered high-risk, how to plan a safe trip and what factors into good decision making. Many are skeptical about whether or not Safe Spring Break can have a posititive impact on certain college students who are already determined to fully […]

   

• Mason Group Clashes with Mining Companies: Students Work to Pass ‘Stream Saver’ Bill

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:45 pm Comments are Disabled

  Allison Rutledge, Broadside Correspondent Over the past month, members of George Mason University’s Environmental Action Group, or EAG, have been working hard to help pass legislation to protect streams and mountains in the commonwealth. One bill in particular, the “Stream Saver” bill, would stop coal companies from dumping surface mining waste into streams, effectively ending mountaintop removal in Virginia. The EAG is familiar with the environmental destruction caused by the extraction of coal. Last October, five EAG members traveled to the coal fields of West Virginia for the annual Mountain Justice Fall Summit. The students witnessed the impacts of mountaintop removal, the predominant type of surface mining in Appalachia. According to the EAG, mountaintop removal is the practice of leveling mountain tops with massive explosions and then dumping the resulting debris in adjacent valleys — a common location for streams. The waste pollutes the watersheds, decreases biodiversity and deprives Virginia residents of clean drinking water. This type of mining has already destroyed 67 Virginia mountains. A 2001 assessment by the U.S. EPA says that the waste from mountaintop removal mining had affected 151 miles of streams in Virginia. Many more miles of streams have been destroyed since 2001 and, according […]

   

• Your Body is a Wonderland: Love Your Body Week Promotes Healthy Body Images

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:42 pm Comments are Disabled

  Yasmin Tadjdeh, News Editor Last week, George Mason University celebrated Love Your Body Week. The week, which was hosted by the Eating Disorders and Positive Body Image Awareness Taskforce, aimed to encourage students to love themselves no matter what they look like. “Formerly known as Positive Body Image Awareness Week, Love Your Body Week coincides with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week,” said Assistant Director of the Office of Alcohol, Drug and Health Education Danielle Lapierre. “The taskforce decided to take a more positive approach to the week, encouraging students to love their bodies, love themselves and recognize that all bodies are beautiful.” “From a very young age, both boys and girls are exposed to negative body images and body expectations from the media, and these images can create unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for their own body ideals,” said Lapierre. “[Our] popular culture is permeated with unrealistic expectations,” said Ruthie O’Donnell, a junior economics major. According to O’Donnell, these unattainable expectations promote unhealthy body images in many people. During Love Your Body Week, students were able to visit kiosks in the Johnson Center where they could learn about having a better body image. According to the OADHE website, “Students can express […]

   

• Cuccinelli Files Lawsuit Against EPA: Attorney General Wants Virginia Out of Clean Air Act

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:39 pm Comments are Disabled

  Nya Jackson, Broadside Correspondent With Virginia facing a deficit of $1.59 billion for the 2010-2011 biennial budget, one George Mason University organization alleged that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is wasting taxpayers’ money with “frivolous lawsuits.” The Mason Environmental Action Group, or EAG, was referring to petitions the attorney general filed in federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. to block the Environmental Protection Agency from complying with a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The ruling allowed the agency to set limits for greenhouse gas pollution in order to protect public health under the Clean Air Act. “Cuccinelli’s actions are a slap in the face to the thousands of people around Virginia that have been working for years to combat climate change,” said Jason Von-Kundra, physics major and co-chair of the EAG. At a recent press conference, Cuccinelli said that the EPA was making its decisions based “on unreliable, unverifiable and doctored science in its bid to regulate greenhouse gases.” Others disagreed. “Cuccinelli’s extreme claims are without warrant,” said atmospheric scientist Jennie Moody, research associate professor at the University of Virginia. “The public welfare is threatened by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.” “If Jennie Moody and other scientists at the University of Virginia […]

   

• Women’s History Month Begins: Events to Showcase the Contributions of Women

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:36 pm Comments are Disabled

  Yasmin Tadjdeh, News Editor This month, students on campus will have the opportunity to learn more about the contributions of women to our society. The Women and Gender Studies Center will be hosting Women’s History Month at George Mason University this March. Through performances, art and seminars, officials involved in making Women’s History Month hope to educate students on women’s issues. “During Women’s History Month, we strive to raise awareness of women’s and gender issues as they intersect with issues of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, religion and other additional aspects of identity and culture,” said the Associate Director of the Women and Gender Studies Center Vicki Kirsch. “It is also a time to celebrate the contributions by women to all aspects of cultural and political life.” Through events such as the Reve(a)ling Feminist Art Gallery that will be in the Johnson Center 123 Gallery, Kirsch hopes that students will gain a better understanding of feminism. “The Feminist Art Show is always thrilling,” said Kirsch, “and this year we invited artists from Empowered Women International, an organization we have collaborated with in the past, to join our Mason artists to give a broader and perhaps deeper response to the questions evoked […]

   

• A Dirty Word No More: Confidence on Display at This Year’s Vagina Monologues

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:32 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ramy Zabarah, Staff Writer “Vagina” — the word is taboo, yet when used in the right context, so intriguing. For most people, it’s an evil-sounding word. It’s unsettling, upsetting and inappropriate. Heck, one might even wince at the sound of it. Despite this social bias, the women in last weekend’s performance of The Vagina Monologues at George Mason University broke through that awkward shell and put on a spectacular show. I walked in about 15 minutes prior to the show to a nearly full theater. Immediately realizing I was only one of a few male attendees, I took a seat in the third row, and waited for the monologues to begin. After an emotional introductory video focusing on the struggle of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the show began as three ladies entered the stage and performed a monologue concerning the general perception of the word “vagina.” The idea that the word “vagina” is such a hard word to say casually because of its negative connotation is introduced in this monologue, and done so with quite some humor. “It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument. ‘Hurry, nurse, bring me the vagina.’” After this […]

   

• McDonnell Order Does Not Protect Gays: Omission Based on McDonnell’s State Constitution Interpretation

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:30 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ethan Vaughan, Asst. News Editor Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell issued an executive order last month protecting state workers from discrimination, but one particular group was left out: gays and lesbians. McDonnell’s Feb. 5 order, issued a month after he took office, “specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities. The policy permits appropriate employment preferences for veterans and specifically prohibits discrimination against veterans as contemplated by state and federal law.” The governor’s executive order was mostly non-notable — it continued a long tradition in Virginia gubernatorial history — but it was significant in that it omitted gay and lesbian workers, who had been included in executive orders issued by Gov. Mark Warner and Gov. Tim Kaine in 2001 and 2005. “Had he simply not been the governor to take the next step, it would not have been noticed,” said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. “But what McDonnell did was to take us back. An executive order is only viable as long as the next governor lets it be. In a symbolic way, it takes civil rights a couple […]

   

• Textbooks Allegedly Sold for Crack: Mason Police Bust Bookstore Theft Ring

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:28 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ethan Vaughan, Asst. News Editor The George Mason University Police Department broke up a theft ring at the university bookstore earlier this semester, busting an operation where textbooks were stolen from the school and allegedly sold for crack cocaine. On Jan. 28, Mason police arrested Sandra Reid, 43, and Brian Boyd, 33, both non-students who had taken merchandise from the bookstore on two separate occasions. Both are to be tried in the Fairfax County court system, with Reid facing charges of grand larceny, concealment of merchandise and possession of cocaine, and Boyd standing for conspiracy to commit grand larceny. A third suspect has yet to be identified, but the police department says they are actively pursuing information. The drama began on Jan. 15, when bookstore employees observed several individuals behaving “strangely.” “It was the way they acted,” said John Howard, assistant general manager at the bookstore. “They lurked.” General Manager Barbara Headley stopped and confronted an unidentified suspect at the door who appeared to be putting books into his backpack. After a brief conversation, he dropped his bag and ran, whereupon Howard began chasing him while Headley contacted the police. Officers responded to the scene but the suspects had successfully […]

   

• Tuition Expected to Increase Due to State Budget Cuts

  News1 March 1, 2010 at 1:26 pm Comments are Disabled

  Kevin Loker, Connect2Mason Executive Editor Wounded from recent economic troubles, current plans in Virginia’s General Assembly regarding the state’s budget and higher education may leave George Mason University students, faculty and staff stuck with more financial burden. In the proposed budgets, Mason faculty and staff would face a combination of furloughs, stagnant pay and general reductions in research funding — and students would face a projected tuition and fees increase between eight and 10 percent each year for the next three years. During a town hall budget forum for faculty last Wednesday, Provost Peter Stearns and Senior Vice President Morrie Scherrens discussed options for combating the state budget cuts, options that, without attention in the present, would prevent the university from fully functioning in the future. “During the past snowstorm, many of you probably had the same experience as I had. My son asked me after I had shoveled the driveway about four or five times – or six or eight times, rather – he said, ‘Do you really enjoy shoveling snow, being from Michigan, or are you just glad to get it done?’” said Scherrens, creating an analogy to the university’s financial situation. “I had never heard the question […]

   

• Lewis Dominates Mason

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:44 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer The men’s volleyball team started off a long weekend with a loss against the No. 15 Lewis Flyers in a non-conference match. Mason fell short in three sets (21-30, 21-30, 28-30). Lewis improved its record to 8-2 while the Patriots dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in conference matches. After beating the Saint Francis Red Flash in four sets (30-23, 24-30, 30-26, 30-25) and falling to the Juniata Eagles in three close sets (30-28, 32-30, 30-28) on the road, the Patriots could not pull off the victory against the Flyers. The Flyers led throughout the first set and the majority of the second set, but Mason challenged the nationally ranked team in the third set, as the teams battled through five ties. “I think we came out a little flat,” said junior outside hitter Eric Lucas. “Every time that we brought it back, it seems like we made an error and we let them get ahead of the game. We didn’t continue our momentum.” The Patriots were led by sophomore outside hitter Andrew Dentler with 10 kills and Lucas with eight kills. The Mason offense was inconsistent compared to the Flyers. The Flyers were led by […]