The University Should Work for Us
The Tailgate: How It Happened
By: Colin McAulay
I joined the student government my freshman year in November of 2021. I’ve paid attention to a few elections, and I’ve spent a lot of time listening to what students want at George Mason. By far, the most common request from the student body has been increasing tailgating opportunities. After the homecoming tailgate, so many students ask when the next one is. I’m one of them. Tailgating is a part of college life in America. Saturdays at football schools are dedicated to school spirit. George Mason doesn’t have an FBS football team. Does that mean we can’t have tailgates?
​
I met a few student leaders in the fraternity & sorority life community over the summer. We had long conversations about how we could take university life at Mason to the next level. We all know that our friends and community want more on campus events, school spirit, and something that could bring us together. These conversations led me to how I would spend my time as a student representative this past semester. I wanted to answer the tailgate question. And so, I did.
​
As a student senator, there is a process to beginning an initiative. You must do your due diligence. When you have an idea, the first thing you do is share it in a forum where others can provide feedback or support. For this initiative, it was the University Life Committee. From there, I found a partner. Her name is Maria Cuesta. She saw the same vision, student-led tailgates, and wanted to help make it happen. The next step is a collection of information and contacts. To make things happen at George Mason you need to have a relationship with University Administrators. For tailgates, you need to make sure Parking Services, University Life, Athletics, Environmental Health & Safety, and GMU PD are all on board with your plan.
​
This is where planning gets complicated. I reached out to members of the University Tailgate Committee. This is a committee of the aforementioned offices that plan university sponsored tailgates. I quickly learned that the University cancelled all planned tailgates except for homecoming. This news was disheartening. After my constant conversations with the student body where tailgates were what they asked for, I learned they’d get the opposite. I was also told that this was not up for debate. These were huge setbacks. We’d have to do this without the university. The problem is, if you show up in a parking lot at GMU and start partying, you are breaking both university policy and the law. There were some big problems to solve, but Maria and I were not dismayed. We organized meetings with the leaders of Greek life organizations to pitch an idea. We explained to them the situation and told them that we were going to tailgate anyway. These student leaders wanted in. We knew we had the students behind us, so we went on a mission to negotiate with the university. Maria and I sat down with the Student Involvement Office, Mason Athletics, Patriot Activities Council, University Life, and GMU PD. We kept hearing bad news. The university kept telling us the same story. Horror stories of tailgates past haunted university employees, keeping them from signing an ABC banquet license that would permit alcohol at our tailgate. Budget shortfalls and finance was used as an excuse as it is the belief that these events wouldn’t be well enough attended for the amount of money spent. We were told stories of tailgates where no more than ten students had attended. This university was ready to give up.
​
Up until November 2nd we were sure that our dream was dead. Throughout that week, I had been sending requests to parking services for spaces to be reserved for students to tailgate. Even after we were told the university would not sponsor a tailgate event, I was told throughout the process that students can tailgate on their own as long as they don’t drink alcohol and follow
the laws of Virginia. Even at this level, where I had thought we were conceding, I was receiving push back. I had thought we wasted months of work. But I knew we hadn’t lost until November 10th. Finally, on November 2nd, I had received an email from Mason Athletics. It stated that the university would not hold a tailgate event, but 90 spots in Lot L would be reserved for students to park before the game. It was a dream come true. We had gotten what we wanted. They gave us an opportunity to have a student-led tailgate. Maria and I got right to work. We started calling student leader friends to rally their organizations. The tailgate was on. At this point, I had one last thing to do to protect students tailgating. I had to sit down with campus police. No one at this university is so naïve to think students wouldn’t bring alcohol to a basketball tailgate. I needed to speak with the chief of police and discuss the hypothetical. I secured the meeting that same day. There we talked about what this event would look like. We put our trust in one another. I made a promise to keep control of the event, and he made a promise to let it happen. That was the nail in the coffin. We had it locked in at that point. There was only one thing left to do. Make sure this tailgate proves the university wrong.
​
We could not have done this without the support of the student body. Throughout the process, Maria and I knew our classmates would be right there with us, and you were. We all threw an awesome tailgate; Tons of organizations came out to lead the event. Unaffiliated students came out with their cars and set up right alongside them. The event was looked at positively by the entire university. We’ve secured support for least 5 more tailgates throughout the spring semester. On my best days as a student senator, I’m a student activist and advocate. I sit in meetings representing 40,000 people and I don’t budge on their behalf. This tailgate was a protest. After hearing reason after reason about why we couldn’t have what we wanted, we went out and did it anyway. George Mason has a rich student life that is ready to be tapped into. This
tailgate has coalesced us together into a group ready to take our university life to the next level. If we want to be a community, we need to have these community events. If this tailgate had 400 people, the next one will have 600. The Student Government is ready to put in the work and ensure that our student life is thriving. We want you to have your college experience. We’ll make the spaces for you all to do it.
The Murals: How it Happened
By: Colin McAulay
When I joined the Student Senate in November of 2021, I wasn’t sure where to start. I wanted to work on the issue of mold in freshman dorms, but I was discouraged to follow that path by the leaders in the organization. A friend of mine at the time started talking about more murals on campus. I loved it. Colorful and vibrant art is what a campus needs to help breathe life into it. We had both never worked on anything like this before, so it was going to be a challenge. We spoke with our graduate advisor and the leaders in our organization, and everyone said they thought what we wanted was possible. What we wanted to vibrant art that represented the student body. We also wanted to give artists in the Mason community an opportunity to make their mark on our campus. We could do so much with one project, so we made it our mission that semester to commission this art.
​
Every good initiative’s first step is a meeting with the people who can make what you want happen. Our group sat down with Murals at Mason to do the planning for this project. Acquiring this program as partners were the reason, we were able to complete this project in the end. We decided on a location, a vision, and a price. The next step was outreach.
​
In the Student Government, you shouldn’t move a project forward unless you have at least one student from outside the organization in support of what you are doing. As freshman, we weren’t well connected. So, we went onto Mason360 and started reaching out to as my clubs as we could to see if they wanted to be a part of what we were trying to do. We secured meetings with 13 organizations and got their verbal support for the project. They, as much as us, wanted to see murals on campus that represented our student body. Now that we had the support of the student body and the university, it was time to submit a resolution into the Student Senate.
​
For all of us, this was our first resolution. We took it very seriously. Resolutions are due to the Clerk of the Student Senate at 4:30pm on Wednesday. Along with our resolution, we had a spending bill of $2,000 ready to go as we were told this would be the price of the murals. At 1pm on Wednesday, Murals at Mason informed us of a change to the expected cost. After the change, the price went from $2,000 to $20,000. My partner on the project called me to inform me. I was furious. What was meant to be a smooth process was just made complicated. The Student Government’s budget is $20,000 total. This could no longer be paid for by us. Many questions were running through my head. I felt played. I gave Murals at Mason a call and asked to meet with them immediately. There was no time to waste. We only had a couple hours to come up with a solution. We spoke at length about fundraising with Murals at Mason. It was our only option at this point. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the route we were willing to take. We submitted the resolution without the corresponding spending bill. This project went from being 3 months long to a much longer timeline. My partner was transferring schools, so it was on me to figure out the rest.
​
I recruited two more student senators to join this initiative. Together, we raised over $39,000 to make this project happen. We found funds within the University to apply for. We presented the project at the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference where we found more support from influential University employees. We even got a grant from the Office of Scholarships and Research. We did the work that was necessary. We created 2 jobs for Mason artists to be paid for their work. Most importantly, we created a symbol in SUB1. That symbol was what Mason is today, a diverse university that strives for excellence. Life at Mason lives within the six murals that hang in the atrium of SUB1. There was an event when the project was completed. Speeches were given, hands were shaken. We thanked each other for the work we did, and then we were done.
​
18 months. That was the final tally on how much time the Student Government had worked to make these murals happen. Through trial and tribulation, we worked till the end. It was a beacon that proved if you are patient and spend the time to do things the right way you can actualize your vision. Personally, this initiative taught me how the university worked. It taught me about how decisions were made and where the money is. It prepared me for the rest of my career as a student representative. Now, the murals hang indefinitely in SUB1 as proof that students have power at George Mason University.
Thursdays for Tomorrow: How it Happened
By: Colin McAulay
It was August of 2022. I was beginning my sophomore year, and my tenure as the Chair of the University Services Committee in the Student Senate. I called my work at this time “setting up the government”. I was meeting with every office that could help the student body pertaining to University Services. In one of these meetings, it was brought to my attention that the University was not going to sign off on the proposed Climate Action Plan. This plan was going to set University Policy that mandated the University to be carbon-neutral by 2035 and carbon-zero by 2050. While George Mason has a relatively low carbon output in comparison to other Universities, we had no plan for the future. The Student Government had worked in tandem with the Mason Sustainability Council to establish this plan and bring George Mason into the future. We couldn’t take no for an answer, and we sure wouldn’t lie down.
​
That same day was the Get Connected Fair. This event exists for every organization on campus to advertise themselves to the student body. I was meant to table for the Student Government that day. I made other plans instead. Having every involved student at your fingertips is an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up. I paced the rows of tables searching for any environmental activist I could find. When I found an organization, I shared the information I had and told them we were going to stage a rally at the Board of Visitors meeting that month. They all felt the same way I did. It was a transformative experience. We walked from table to table collecting more individuals as we went. By the end of the event, we had ourselves a coalition. Now that we had our network, it was time to organize.
​
My partner on this initiative was Liam Keen. He was my counterpart in the Student Government. His position was Secretary for University Services. It was only right for us to
pursue this together. We organized a meeting in a public space. We set an agenda and called our network together. 15 people came to this meeting looking to help. We knew we had something special. The student body wasn’t included in the decisions the President was making. We felt blindsided. We felt cheated. We didn’t understand the rationale for senior leadership’s decisions. It meant more than just inclusion for us. We wanted to show senior leadership that they couldn’t govern without student input anymore.
​
The operations of the rally had the makings of an activist movement. We contacted everyone. Within the University, we worked with staff to understand the gravity of the project and ensure that the information we were looking for didn’t exist. After conference with the involved parties, we didn’t receive the information we wanted. We collected background information. We spoke with former student leaders who initiated the Climate Action Plan in the first place. We spoke with activist networks in the DMV area. We spoke with leading climate scientists to find our message. We needed to be ready. If we were given our chance to influence the University, we couldn’t blow it. When the Board of Visitors come to town, every influential person at Mason comes to watch. An established presence at the event was all we needed to succeed. We knew if we were on message and present, we’d be acknowledged. We scheduled speakers every hour for our 10-hour rally. It consisted of students and faculty. We were ready. We worked hard to ensure that September 29th, 2022 would merit a win for the globe.
​
6:15am. My alarm blared. I had 45 minutes till I had to be at Merten Hall. One of the organizers made us all pins. It displayed my name, my pronouns, and the word “organizer”. It was a badge of honor that morning. I was proud to be a part of what was about to happen. We set up the event and were ready to go by 7:30am, which is when the Board of Visitors is expected to arrive for breakfast. That’s when the activism began. We waved as the Visitors strolled into
Merten. Introduced ourselves and let them know about our mission. Some gave us some long conversations about climate change. By 9am, we had the support of enough members of the board to be invited to speak at the meeting. We elected Liam Keen to speak for us. We ran the rally while he wrote a speech. His speech could be the nail in the coffin. We all realized this. If the board is on board with our sentiment, it means the President would be forced to act. Liam knocked it out of the park. The board’s discussion after the speech made it clear they wanted to see a climate action plan adopted at George Mason. By the end of the day, we had taken a huge step towards victory. The battle was won, but the war wasn’t over. We formed an official coalition. The Green Coalition. Every organization with sustainability as a part of their values was invited. This coalition was designed to do one thing. Influence the University to adopt a climate action plan. We worked together to prepare for our meetings with President Washington. It took until July of 2023, but the University came to a decision. The plan was a go.
​
Senior Leadership believed that we needed help to make this plan happen. So a selection committee was formed to contract the plan out to an engineering firm. I served as the student representative on this committee. We invited 5 of the companies who submitted proposals to make their pitch. After this process, a vote was taken, and we landed on Glumac Incorporated. Now, George Mason University and Glumac Inc. are obligated to make our University carbon-neutral by 2040 and carbon-zero by 2050. As the student representative, I ensured that the core tenets of our movement were included in the contract. Scope 3 emissions and Equity were made core focuses of the plan because of the rally. This plan was adopted in the speed it was because of the rally.