Statement: Office of the President

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.

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.

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.

Mason is initiating the largest-scale surveillance testing protocol of any Virginia university, in which our goal is to test up to 13,000 members of the Mason community each week.

As COVID-19 infections increase in our region, especially the prevalence of the Delta variant, effective immediately, our university again will require all individuals on our campus to wear masks indoors, including classrooms and laboratories, regardless of vaccination status.

Mason is joining the growing community of universities that require all students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated, and to share verification of their vaccination status, in order to work, study, and live on campus.

As we turn our attention to the Fall Semester, we must all continue to do our part and work together to keep Mason safe. This starts with new policies for COVID-19 vaccination, testing and masking.

The sudden reversal of CDC mask recommendations has prompted many questions about what this means for George Mason University. As we review changing protocols, we will continue to require masks when on campus, and will provide an update with definitive guidance when we have it.

As we consider these factors and review the changing protocols, we will continue to require masks when on campus, just as we have done this past year. 

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.

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.