GMU Community Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By the GMU Community Response Network


We appreciate our Administration’s efforts to promote social distancing to keep our community safe. These past few weeks have been filled with many uncertainties for students, professors, campus workers, and the university administration, but the harsh reality is that things will not return to normal anytime soon. That being said, it is our collective duty to make sure vulnerable communities are looked after and protected.


Students have banded together to comfort, problem solve, and share frustrations in this time of crisis. Some of these students, including student organizers from Radical Organizers for Socialism and Equity, Transparent GMU, the Vegan Society at GMU, Mason for Survivors, Students Against Israeli Apartheid, the Mason Environmental Justice Alliance, and Roosevelt at Mason have come together in solidarity to form the GMU Community Response Network. In order to ensure the wellbeing of our community members, the GMU Community Response Network requests the following:



  1. Guaranteed paid sick leave and emergency leave for workers who are unable to attend their workplace.

  • All George Mason University employed and contracted workers who are unable to continue working due to COVID-19, including all student workers, must be provided indefinitely with unlimited paid sick leave, with benefits. This must include all workers who are self-quarantining, all workers who are caring for sick family/household members, and all workers whose workplaces have been forced to close due to COVID-19.

    • Response:


  1. Hazard Pay & Unemployment

  • GMU employed and contracted workers who are being asked to put their health and safety at risk by coming to work, including student workers, must receive hazard pay at the rate of time and a half. We urge the university to reach out to contractors such as Sodexo for dining, LT Solutions for custodial workers, and Whitley-Turner for construction workers about how they will provide paid sick leave, hazard pay, severance for laid off workers, and healthcare to their workers during this time of crisis.

  • LT Solutions' custodial workers are classified as 'independent contractors' . As a result, these workers are not eligible for unemployment benefits. The university must ensure that these independent contractors are classified as employees so that they have access to unemployment benefits.

    • Response:


  1. The Mason administration must place the authority to govern academic affairs during this crisis in the hands of the Faculty Senate - as per the Faculty Handbook. We as students advocate for shared governance and request that the University adhere to these policies.

  • These Faculty matters include compensation for Professors, adjuncts, and TAs for the extra labor it took to transition their courses online, extensions of grading deadlines, and leniency for faculty members otherwise influenced by COVID-19, especially contingent or part-time faculty members.

  • We urge that updates for the Mason community be given in a timely and comprehensible manner. Updates must include concise and easily understood information to avoid further misunderstanding in a time of overall confusion.

    • Response:


  1. Faculty must exercise academic leniency in this time of crisis. A clear policy of an opt-in pass/fail grading system would give students control over their academic future in a time where the future is uncertain. We also ask that students who are unsatisfied with the quality of education they received in a course be given the opportunity to repeat the course the following semester without financial burden.

  • We understand that the ongoing crisis has created unprecedented challenges to the university and to faculty. That being said, drastic measures are necessary to address a drastic situation. Academic leniency is essential. As the situation continues to change rapidly and intensely, not every student will be able to do their best work in the current climate. We ask that Professors, Department Heads, and the University administration consider this with empathy.

  • We commend the perseverance of Mason faculty during this intense shift to virtual learning, however, we also recognize that there are certain classes ie. major prerequisites and skill-based learning courses that heavily influence a student's future academic abilities. We ask that students who feel unsatisfied or ill-prepared to move forward with their coursework be given the opportunity to repeat a course the following semester without financial burden.

    • Response:


  1. Students who were not able to remain on campus should be refunded by a pro-rate back on their room & board, meal plans, parking passes, graduation fees, and all other class-related fees such as labs, music, art, and recreation classes .

  • We appreciate that the resident and dining halls will remain open for students who are not able to return home, but many students were forced to leave under these extenuating circumstances. Refunds should apply to all students that will not be able to use their meal plans, parking passes, or room and board. There should be refunds for all courses that are based on physical site-based learning that include additional fees.

  • Mason should also extend due dates for all library books and textbooks from the bookstore until students can return to campus safely.

    • Response: Refunds “Students will begin to receive their refunds in the coming weeks, with all refunds expected to be processed by the end of the semester. Students who have an Independence plan may receive up to $2,000 from their combined housing and dining refunds, although each refund will vary and be based on specific housing and dining plans. Please refer to these charts to understand what you can expect for your specific refund. Additional information is available in our Student Accounts FAQs.”


  1. We call on the Board of Visitors to vote against the potential increase of tuition on April 2nd 2020 during the Finance and Land Use Committee Session.

  • It’s reprehensible that University Officials and the Board of Visitors would continue to discuss a tuition increase in light of a near guaranteed economic recession. A tuition increase at this time would be harmful and indifferent to the well-being of Mason students. Moving forward with an increase would completely disregard the impact this will have on Mason students during an unprecedented global pandemic.

  • We encourage all Mason students to enter into the public comment period to vocally oppose a tuition increase. Student can register to comment using this link: https://forms.gle/ZbUgMNPjQFKT3eXt7

    • Response: The Board of Visitors will be postponing their May 6th meeting where they would have voted on a tuition increase to later in May due to the State Government re-doing their budget in late April.


  1. Suspend Collection of Unpaid Student Account Charges

  • At a time when students are struggling to pay basic living expenses due to the economic impact of COVID-19, Mason must halt all collection of student account debt.

    • Response:


  1. Suspend Parking Enforcement on Campus

  • To protect the health of Mason's workers and the already-precarious finances of the members of our community, all parking citations must be suspended for the remainder of the COVID-19 crisis. With the exception of rules that protect health and safety, such as obstruction of disability parking, fire hydrant zones, and “no parking” zones, all parking rules and regulations must be indefinitely waived.

    • Response: Most parking enforcement has been suspended but a permit is still required and there are still areas that require enforcement such as time zones, disabled, reserved spaces and fire lanes. However permit rules are mostly relaxed so people can park in other lots besides their normal access. (Parking Services Facebook)


  1. Pause the Tenure Clock, Extend Graduate Student Programs (With Funding)

  • The severe limitations placed on graduate students and untenured professors by COVID-19 must not be allowed to harm their careers. Any work that they are able (or unable) to complete during the remainder of this semester cannot be considered representative of their abilities. Deadlines and funding packages must be automatically extended until after the crisis has ended.

    • Response: All tenure-track individuals may seek to extend their tenure clock by one year by notifying their local academic unit head as soon as possible, but no later than August 25 of the academic year in which their tenure decision would have been made. All tenure-track faculty who are in their first or second year of their tenure clock, including those hired in January 2020, may seek to extend their third-year contract renewal by one year by notifying their local academic unit head as soon as possible, but no later than August 25 of the academic year in which their tenure decision would have been made. Tenure-track faculty will receive only one extension due to this extraordinary circumstance. (Provost Newsletter)


  1. We request that the university administration host a virtual Town Hall or Open Question Session to provide a platform for students, faculty, and staff to ask questions of the administration.

  • Response: Interim President Anne Holton will be hosting a Virtual Town Hall this Friday from 10:30 to 11:30am. The GMU Community Response Network outlined in our List of Needs that a Town Hall should be held virtually to allow GMU community members to ask questions to the administration, we appreciate this need being met.

  • Click here to send in a question: https://gmu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eR5GdkSS9l5LjWl

  • You can view the Virtual Town Hall using this link: https://gmutv.gmu.edu/live-broadcast/