Statement: Office of the President

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.

The verdict is in on the Derek Chauvin trial, and he has been held accountable for the injustice that occurred to George Floyd. We can breathe a collective sigh of relief that jurors reached the verdict they did.  With that being said, the nation must sustain its quest for systemic change to its criminal justice system, to ultimately make such episodes exceedingly rare.

We are at an important moment in our fight against COVID, and I want to applaud everyone for their help in making George Mason University the safest campus it can be. Mason has received the go-ahead to begin vaccinating faculty and staff this weekend, and students later this month.

This week, the Governor’s Office issued new guidance on how universities could conduct commencement ceremonies this spring based on revised COVID-19 restrictions.

Tuesday’s mass murder in Atlanta returns us to terrible, familiar ground, as we try again to make sense of violence, and calm the terror that was already building within an entire cultural community.

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.