Musings of Student #G00-------------

The Associate Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs will not talk to students. It sounds ironic, I know, but try it. Go to his office. You won’t be given a sit down appointment time, you won’t be asked to come back later, you will be directed to a form, identified by a G-prefixed serial number which will pass through several bureaucratic processes, and may or may not reach the person who represents our effective voice to the university.

I’ve been at Mason for five years and have worked full time to put myself through college. I understand that this situation isn’t universal, but the uneasy feeling of not being heard is certainly prevalent throughout the student body.

We all would agree that our concerns of parking have fallen on deaf ears, 100 level classes have exploded into sizes of preposterous anonymity and, I would argue, the majority of us feel disconnected from the institution as a whole.

I fear that as an entity, and as reflected in its policies towards its students, this will only get worse as our alma mater observes its manifest destiny over Northern Virginia. Over the past few months, I’ve been attempting to get permission on a minor course substitution that has withheld my graduation. Despite the approval of my advisor and the Registrar’s Office, it was declined on an issue of course numbers.

To be fair, my adviser, LaKesha Anderson, has been extremely helpful and an advocate of helping me graduate. When my waiver was declined by Dean Jamie Cooper, who oversees undergraduate affairs, I simply wanted to sit down, and speak with him about my situation. Upon arriving at his office, I was offered several forms which I’ve already submitted, and was told it was against policy for a student to talk to the dean directly.

Of course, this is no fault of the dean himself, but in itself, is scary. For as Mason grows larger in campus size, class size and capacity, I see this as the devolution of us as students, into simple numbers who, semester by semester, contribute to the bottom line of a growing education factory.

Mason is an institution that prides itself on diversity, understanding, tolerance and blending of different people with different backgrounds. But as it grows, the university itself is developing its own culture and behavior that undermines the idealism of its mantra.

I beseech us, as students, not to let them forget we are individuals, not just "G numbers", and to acknowledge and treat us as such. I’m not advocating an intrinsic right for special treatment; I’m advocating a consideration for human treatment.

Aaron Truax