Author: Cay Smith

College Democrats, Republicans Gear Up for Upcoming Election

By Mason Votes Staff Writer Ethan Vaughan

The College Democrats and College Republicans are readying for Virginia’s November 3 election with a spate of campaign events and public outreach.

Pakiza Nasher, president of the College Democrats called the election “the most important thing on our agenda for the 2009-2010 school year.”

Both clubs plan to pursue a policy of aggressive visibility at George Mason, with both regularly canvassing and the College Republicans operating a kiosk in the Johnson Center from 11:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. on Election Day reminding people to vote.

“We want to have a massive presence on campus,” said Amanda Johnson, chairman of the George Mason University College Republicans. “It was so sad on election day ’08, because there were all these Obama people all over school, and no one for McCain. This time, I want to make sure we do that.”

For both sides, the stakes are high. “The results of the election and the voter turn out will reflect whether the College Democrats reached out to the Mason community and put forth all our effort for the canvassing,” Nasher said.

“The current political climate has definitely caused people to be more assertive,” Johnson said. “The Republicans fell asleep during the ’08 campaign and were complacent. The Democrats kind of attacked and really showed us that they were coming with their teeth bared. The Republicans weren’t ready. There’s increased awareness that both sides have to be ready to defend their beliefs. People, now more than ever, are voicing that.”

College Democrats and College Republicans have also hosted and plan to host guest speakers, among them state candidates for office such as Republican attorney general contender Ken Cuccinelli, who spoke at the College Republicans meeting last Tuesday night.

Cuccinelli Speaks At College Republicans, Urges Mental Health Reform

By Mason Votes Staff Writer Ethan Vaughan

Republican attorney general candidate Ken Cuccinelli appeared at last night’s meeting of the George Mason University College Republicans and urged Virginia voters to stand behind him on the issue of mental health reform.

“This isn’t just a personal safety issue for these [mentally ill] individuals,” Cuccinelli said. “It’s a public safety issue. Some of these people are being victimized because they’re vulnerable. Often they suffer from petty crime.”

Cucinelli advocated what he called a “step-down” process, wherein doctors would have more authority to move mentally ill patients from in-patient to out-patient treatment.

“I worked as a court-appointed attorney in mental health hearings,” Cucinelli said. “It’s a slow, cumbersome process. If a patient in a detention order proceeding is found to be mentally ill, they can be held on an in-patient basis, or an out-patient basis. The doctor can’t move them from in-patient to out-patient without another hearing, and we should give doctors that kind of authority to move patients to a less restrictive kind of care. It would be more cost-effective, and it would have an enormous impact in giving more opportunity to patients.”

Cuccinelli also called for changes in the way the mentally ill are dealt with in the prison system, which he said “amounts to a mental facility of last resort.”

“I don’t want to minimize their culpability,” Cuccinelli said. “But there are a lot of people who wouldn’t be in jail in the first place if it weren’t for their mental health issues. We need to change the statutes we have and get these folks treatment that is more appropriate. Deputies aren’t trained to deal with mental health issues, so they resort to things like imposed isolation to handle it, and that’s a problem. We need to deal with these people in a way that’s more humane and more effective.”

Cuccinelli also called for a vigorous defense of Virginia’s right-to-work status, which he alleged is threatened by Democrats in Congress. He said that as attorney general, he would bring legal challenge to any attempts by the national government to infringe upon what he called a “sovereign right.”

The attorney general candidate credited right-to-work laws for heavily contributing to Virginia’s economic prosperity in recent years and said they have given it “an advantage economically over our sister states.”

Political Minute Sept. 21-25

Mason Lt. Gov Debate Canceled

The debate scheduled for tonight at George Mason University between lieutenant gubernatorial candidates Bill Bolling (R) and Jody Wagner (D) has been canceled.

After Bolling pulled out from the debate on Sunday, Wagner had stated that she would still attend the event. The organizers, however, which included Mason and the Prince William Committee of 100, decided to cancel it altogether.

Click here to read more about why Bolling withdrew.

Submit Your Questions to VA Gubernatorial Candidates

C-SPAN Civics Bus Makes Stop at Mason

Mason SG President Emphasizes Ambition, Realism

By Mason Votes Staff Writer Ethan Vaughan

Student Government President Devraj Dasgupta, elected last April on a platform of “transparency, outreach, and action,” is beginning his term with a desire to affect practical change in the university.

Dasgupta acknowledged that skyrocketing tuition costs were likely the most important issue to Mason students.

The president, however, has discarded his predecessors’ practice of lobbying the school administration directly, saying it is ineffective.

“We have to be realistic,” he said. “We had one of the highest benefit cuts for any school in Virginia this year, eight percent. That being said, it comes down to having the right advocates in Richmond. We’re a young university, so we suffer because we don’t have the lobbyists and manpower. We need to advocate. Until that happens, tuition will increase. We can only do so much.”

Dasgupta encouraged students to get involved in youth political groups like Virginia 21, composed of Virginia college students, and to lobby the legislature itself.

He plans to play his role by being a representative on the Virginia Council for Higher Education’s Student Advisory Committee.

The Council meets once a month and has its first meeting in October. Dasgupta says he is “absolutely going to every meeting.”

“I plan to support our interests within that domain,” Dasgupta said. “I ‘m going to show everyone I can that GMU is the number one up-and-coming school, that we’re rising very fast. Richmond needs to understand that and they need to give us all of the support, all of the funding, and all of the respect. We’re transitioning from a commuter campus to a more traditional university. Tuition increase will always happen, that’s the story. Hopefully we can curb it, though.”

Dasgupta also planned to provide practical services, such as a Mason Events List Serve and policy information sheets from the College Democrats and College Republicans in advance of the November state elections.

Cabinet Secretaries to Host Town Hall at Mason

Kathleen Sebelius and Arne Duncan, United States secretaries of health and human services and education respectively, will be at George Mason University’s Fairfax campus hosting a town hall discussing the H1N1 Influenza. Sebelius and Duncan are both cabinet level secretaries and will present information about prevention of the virus, take students questions and announce the 2009 Flu Prevention PSA Contest Winner.

The event starts at 9 a.m. in Dewberry Hall and will be broadcasted live at MasonVotes.gmu.edu and Connect2Mason.com.

Universities More Moderate Than Believed

By Mason Votes Staff Writer Ethan Vaughan

America’s universities are far more middle-of-the-road than commonly believed. That’s the conclusion of paper co-authored by George Mason University’s Solon Simmons and Harvard University’s Neil Gross entitled The Social and Political Views of American Professors.

Simmons, who is part of Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, says that there are fewer radicals in the younger than in the older generation of university professors, which indicates that far-left-wing views in academia are declining.

“In general we find more liberals than conservatives among professors,” Simmons said. “That corresponds with literature going back to the ‘50’s. We’ve known that for a while. They’re not particularly radical, though. University professors tend to be left of center, but pretty pragmatic. They’re not really interested in overturning the current order.”

Simmons said that conservative critics of university culture have overstated to prevalence of extreme leftism in American colleges and he dismisses the idea that professors are indoctrinating their students.

“It’s always been the suspicion of many conservatives that there’s a Socrates effect,” said Simmons, “that these wise, older men and women are corrupting the young. The information I have seen shows that professors have little effect on converting people to different perspectives. They tend to frame views rather than convert others to their own views.”

Students agreed saying that while they acknowledged that some professors have been open about their beliefs, in general they felt the instructors were respectful of differing opinions.

“My college professors have been liberals and conservatives,” said Claudia Brito. “Each professor has their own views yet most of the time set aside their political preferences. My professors’ beliefs have made some contributions to my own political and personal philosophy. So far I have had good professors whose guidance and lectures have provided me with information that I was able to incorporate to my own beliefs. Their readings have been a great help and reference my own personal and political philosophy.”

Others said partisanship may play too large a role.

“Grading policies are highly influenced by [professors’ beliefs],” said Maria Tatarska who also said that her professors have changed her political views in the sense that they’ve made her aware of current events.

“I have become more familiar with political affairs, especially from the election.”

Mason Offers Class on Local Virginia Politics

By Mason Votes Staff Writer Ethan Vaughan

George Mason University Professor Toni-Michelle Travis is teaching an American State and Local Government class that focuses on Virginia and Fairfax County, giving students a firmer awareness of the political forces in the community where they live.

Over the years, the class has also featured guest speakers like city planners, state representatives, BOV member Vince Callahan, Delegate Tim Hugo, and former students who now work in state government.

Travis, who has been in the Department of Public and International Affairs for the last 25 years, teaches one section of the Government 304 course each semester which this fall has about 40 students.

Travis believes that by concentrating on such a specific area of government, her students will “gain an appreciation of the history, tradition, and culture of Virginia,and how the best-managed state in the country is run.”

It’s worth learning, she said, “Virginia is a unique and peculiar state.”

Among other things, students learn that Virginia is the only state in the Union whose governor is limited to one consecutive term, it stands alone with New Jersey in holding off-year elections, its budget covers a two-year rather than a one-year period, and its judges are appointed by the state legislature rather than being elected by the people.

Virginia is also a strict Dillon’s Rule state, meaning that a localities can only take those actions specifically allotted them in the state constitution.

“It’s a mother-may-I rule,” Travis said. “A few years ago, Fairfax County wanted to build a park, so they went down to Richmond and the legislature passed a bill approving it. After a few months, though, the park was overrun with weeds; the legislature had forgotten to put a clause for maintenance in the bill, so Fairfax County had to petition Richmond for permission to cut the grass. It covers even simple things.”

Travis’s students have responded well to her local approach.

Senior Erik Amason said that the class was “more interesting than it sounds” and added that Travis’s instruction “has increased my pride as a Virginian and made me think higher of our state in relation to the rest of the Union.”

“I was particularly interested in Dillon’s Rule,” Halima Ali, another of Travis’ students, said. “Virginia seems slow at accepting changes in the political system.”

Travis agreed. “I’ve never taught this course through the lens of Democrats vs. Republicans, because that’s not what’s going on; it’s urban vs. rural, NOVA vs. ROVA.”