On the western side of Wilkins Plaza, directly in front of the Johnson Center, stands the Memorial to the Enslaved People of George Mason. This collection of bronze structures encourages those who visit it to consider another side of George Mason, one that owned and bequeathed human beings to members of his family. 

The memorial is comprised of a series of large freestanding interpretive panels and signage which detail the lives of two of Mason’s reported one hundred slaves: Penny, an enslaved child Mason gave to his daughter, and James, Mason’s personal manservant. Between them is Wilkins Fountain, which honors the former Mason faculty member, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and civil rights activist, Roger Wilkins for whom the plaza is named. The fountain bears the following quote from Wilkins: “We have no hope of solving our problems without harnessing the diversity, the energy, and the creativity of all our people.” Stones in the bottom of the fountain are arranged in a pattern resembling shells that were found underneath the slave cabins at Gunston Hall.

The memorial traces its roots to a student and faculty research project conducted during the summer of 2017. Five George Mason University students, all from completely different disciplines, and three members of Mason’s Department of History and Art History began research into the lives of the people enslaved by George Mason IV. Their research took them to the Fairfax County Courthouse Historic Records Center and Gunston Hall, Mason’s plantation home. The project’s goal was to learn more about the lives of the people who were enslaved at Gunston Hall to fully understand the life and beliefs of George Mason.

After the results of the research were shared with the university community, a plan to create a memorial to those enslaved at Gunston Hall was put in motion. The university hired the architectural firm of Perkins + Will to design the memorial, which was installed during the tail-end of the two-year complete reconstruction of Wilkins Plaza from 2019 to 2021.

The memorial was formally dedicated on April 4, 2022. The event, attended by hundreds of members of George Mason University and the local community as well as numerous press outlets, served as the kickoff of a year of events to celebrate Mason's 50th Anniversary as an independent institution. The event featured speakers from the university and the local community, and a ceremony led by Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, an associate professor of Public History and a member of the Piscataway tribe, in which water from the Potomac River was poured into the Wilkins Plaza fountain. 

Mason’s iconic statue of George Mason, built over twenty-five years prior to the memorial, plays a key role as part of the memorial. Each of the memorial panels contains a cutout of the Mason Statue that allows a visitor to view it within the cutout. The statue itself was removed during the renovation of the plaza and reinstalled on a new pedestal, which now includes four quotes attributed to Mason which highlight the various aspects of his life: as a legal scholar, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a family man, and a slaveholder.

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The Clock stands on Wilkins Plaza at the intersection of the Johnson Center, Horizon Hall, Fenwick Library, and David King Hall. The number "1999" appears on the clock’s face, as it was a gift to the university from Mason's Class of 1999. Its estimated cost, according to the only Broadside article written about the Clock from September 20, 1999, was $15,000.

The establishment of the Clock as a physical part of the Fairfax Campus began as a project led by John Butler, Student Government President, from 1998-1999. Butler wanted the Student Government and graduating class of that year to give back to the university and leave a lasting legacy. The plaque on the clock’s base lists the names of 113 students from the Class of 1999 who contributed toward the purchase of the clock. According to some members of the Class of 1999, they did not recall hearing about the clock and thought it suddenly appeared one day. Jimmie Foster, Jr., a Broadside photographer, took the earliest known photographs of the clock on May 1, 1999.

In December 2018, the clock was removed and stored in a warehouse to allow for the expansion of Wilkins Plaza as part of the Core Campus Project. While the clock was away, its manufacturer, Verdin, fully refurbished it. Students previously noticed that the clock’s time was a few minutes off. The clock now has digital controls that eliminate the need for it to be manually programmed and ensure that it displays the correct time automatically. Verdin also thoroughly cleaned the clock and gave it new scratch-resistant lenses. The clock was reinstalled on Wilkins Plaza in December 2020.

Today, the clock remains an important landmark and gathering place for students due to its central location on the Fairfax campus. Students conduct club activities like fundraisers and recruitment near the clock, where they can catch the attention of students leaving the Johnson Center and Fenwick Library. In addition, the clock serves as a meeting point for protests and emergency evacuations. Finally, it has become a tradition for graduating students to take photos with the clock.

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George Mason (1725-1792) a Fairfax, Virginia planter authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Bill of Rights and Constitution, on which the United States Bill of Rights is based. A member of the original Constitutional Convention, Mason refused to sign the initial draft of the Constitution because it did not include a Bill of Rights.

In 1959 the president of The University of Virginia, Colgate W. Darden, Jr, suggested that a new name be chosen for its branch college at Bailey's Crossroads. Three names were offered to faculty, staff, and students for their consideration: "University College" (the name it had been using since its inception in 1957), "Northern Virginia College", and "George Mason College". The voting ended in a virtual three-way tie, and the University's Board of Visitors broke the tie by choosing "George Mason" at its December meeting that year.

In the late 1980s, the Student Government pointed up that GMU needed new ideas and traditions to boost school spirit and a sense of community. In February 1989 it publicly proposed erecting a statue of the school’s namesake on the quad to foster campus pride, unity and tradition. They estimated that the statue would cost between $30,000 and $50,000 and hoped that donations from student organizations would cover the costs over a five-year period. Although they made this announcement in 1989, students privately proposed the statue 2 years earlier, according to the official dedication program. Unfortunately, college students are generally not in a financial position to donate, the Student Government’s fundraising campaign was unsuccessful.

In 1992, the Student Government asked for assistance from Mason administrators. The Offices of the Provost and Student Affairs sponsored a competition for a nationally renowned sculptor to design the George Mason statue. It is challenging for artists to depict George Mason. The only surviving portrait of Mason shows him in his thirties and was painted nearly 20 years after his death. Out of four finalists, the students comprising the George Mason Statue Committee selected the 18-inch clay model made by Wendy M. Ross.

Ross studied at the University of Wisconsin and the San Francisco Art Institute and later received a Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. She currently maintains studios in Bethesda, Maryland, and Oregon. Ross has enjoyed a decades-long career and created sculptures for the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Capitol, and National Park Service. Her concept for the George Mason statue shows him presenting his first draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776. She visited Mason’s home, Gunston Hall to do research, and the writing table in the sculpture replicates the one in his study. The books on the table are by John Locke, David Hume, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This selection of authors reflects Mason’s philosophical influences regarding ideas of personal liberty. Ross was also selected as the sculptor for the George Mason memorial on the National Mall, dedicated on April 9, 2002.

After attempts to secure public funds failed, the Arts Gala Committee, led by Joanne Johnson, commissioned the sculpture on August 1, 1995. They contributed $148,500, 93% of its $159,000 cost and presented the George Mason sculpture as a gift to the GMU community. The 10-foot-tall bronze statue was formally dedicated along with the Johnson Center on April 12, 1996. It was the first 3-D depiction of George Mason in United States history. The statue is located on the southern end of Wilkins Plaza and can be found between the Johnson Center and the Harris Theatre.

As the students envisioned, the George Mason statue has become a beloved landmark on campus with traditions and superstitions attached to it. It is a tradition for graduating students to get a photo with George. Student groups dress George up for festive occasions and milestones, like graduation and sporting events. He also dons t-shirts and holds signs to participate in student advocacy. Ross stated in interviews that she loves when students dress up the statue and how iconic it has become on campus. In addition, there are superstitions attached to the statue, bringing both good and bad luck. Students rub George’s left toe for good luck before important exams or papers. GMU legends say stepping on the plaques around the statue brings bad luck. If a current student does this, they will not graduate in four years, and a prospective student who does so will not be admitted to Mason.

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George Mason University's West Campus section of the Fairfax Campus comprises about 215 acres on Ox Road (VA 123) directly west of Fairfax campus. A complex of buildings, a stadium, athletic fields, and parking lots cover about 40% of the property. The land was acquired in 1969, but Mason Athletics did not leave a footprint there until the early 1980s. In the mid-1960s, the land that made up today's West Campus contained three small homesteads, one of them belonging to Oliver F. Atkins and his wife, Marjorie. Atkins was the Washington Photography Correspondent for The Saturday Evening Post. He and Marjorie watched the development of George Mason's Fairfax Campus from their home just across Ox Road ever since construction began in 1963. Sometime in 1964, Atkins contacted George Mason College officials and volunteered to serve as its first (unofficial) photographer for college events until a permanent one was hired. While Mason's photographer that winter and next spring, Atkins photographed the college's Dedication in the winter of 1964 and made several other photographs of the college campus. Atkins took a leave of absence from the Post in 1968 to become President Richard M. Nixon's official photographer. He and Marjorie moved from their home across the road from Mason out to Washington, Virginia. Atkins was Nixon's photographer from 1969 until 1974 and was responsible for the photograph of Nixon bowling (featured in the film, The Big Lebowski) and the images of the President meeting Elvis Presley, widely considered among the most recognizable of his work during this period. Atkins later donated his personal collection of his photographs to George Mason University Libraries in 1977. Mason had barely been in the new Fairfax campus two years and had about an enrollment of 800 when a sobering report by the Northern Virginia Regional Planning and Economic Development Council was released. The 1966 study estimated that Mason’s enrollment could grow to 15,000 by 1985, and that the college would need to acquire about 450 additional adjacent acres to be able to accommodate this growth. A push to acquire more land for the campus began.  There was available land on the south, east, and west of the original 150-acre tract, but Mason had to act fast before developers acquired it. Administrators hired local land attorney, John T. “Till” Hazel to help. Hazel's expertise helped the college secure more than thirty individual parcels of land totaling 421 acres (including the original Atkins homesite), the last of which were officially transferred to the college in a ceremony on July 18, 1969, presided over by Virginia Governor, Mills E. Godwin, Jr. Hazel went on to be one of Mason's biggest benefactors, serving as Rector of the Board of Visitors, playing a large role in the acquisition of the School of Law (who's building carries his name) and making other generous donations of his time and resources to the university.  The over two hundred acres just west of the campus remained mostly fallow after being acquired by the college until 1972, when Mason offered a former pig shed on the property to Astronomy professor, William Lankford for the construction of a telescope. Three of his students, John Whelan, Elaine "Chipper" Petersen, and Robert Veenstra took on the three-year task of constructing the 7-foot-long, 500-pound telescope. The site known as the Herschel Observatory opened to the university and local community in September 1975. At the time it was the most powerful telescope in the northern Virginia area. The observatory was torn down in the early 1980s to make way for the construction of the George Mason University Field House, opening in 1982. John and Elaine later married and continued to support George Mason University. With the opening of the Field House and Stadium in 1982 and 1983, respectively, West Campus became a home for Mason's larger Intercollegiate Athletics programs.  In November of 1985, the George Mason University Women’s Soccer team captured the highest prize in collegiate athletics, the Division I National Championship. After a 15-2-1 season, the Patriots earned a spot in the NCAA tournament. After wins in the first three rounds against William and Mary, SUNY Cortland, and University of Massachusetts, all that remained for Mason was a match with 4-time National Champion, North Carolina. Carolina had beaten Mason 4-0 in an NCAA semifinal match in 1983, and Mason was the consensus underdog in their upcoming rematch. Mason had drawn home field, the new Mason Stadium on West Campus, for the Final on November 24th. Before a partisan crowd of 4,500 and an ESPN television audience of millions, Mason scored first at 30 minutes on an 18-yarder from All-American Pam Bauman. The Patriots held the Tarheels scoreless for the rest of the game, while All-American Lisa Gmitter scored for Mason in the 86th minute to seal the 2-0 victory. The win, against a team that had a record of ninety-nine wins and 4 losses during the previous 4 years, was indeed the first shot heard round the world for Mason athletics. Eleven years later, the Men's Track and Field team became the second Mason team to win a Division I Championship at the Indoor Track and Field Champioships in Indianapolis Indiana.  Today's West Campus hosts Mason's larger indoor and outdoor athletics programs, including Softball, Baseball, Track and Field, and Lacrosse. Its buildings include the Field House, which house the Intercollegiate Athletics offices and indoor track and field venues, George Mason Stadium, Spuhler Field, named after Raymond "Hap" Spuhler, Mason's first Athletic Director, the Softball Complex, practice and recreational fields, and parking lots. In the spring of 2015, the university built a road to connect the West Campus to the main part of campus. An overpass was constructed to carry both directions of Ox Road over this road. The road, named Campus Drive improves pedestrian and vehicle access between the two parts of campus.

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Mason President George W. Johnson and his wife, Joanne Ferris Johnson, were enthusiastic patrons of the arts. They believed that the performing arts were a unifying force, bringing people from all walks of life together. Therefore, a high-quality venue would bring the community to the Mason campus and foster ties that would benefit students long after graduation. Given the commonwealth's tight budget situation at the time, Johnson believed it was unlikely that he would receive additional funding for a performing arts center, so he decided to get creative with his approach. He submitted a proposal to the legislature asking for $40,000 to dig a hole in the ground with a sign calling the hole a "performing arts center". His bluff worked. The ludicrous proposal attracted Richmond’s attention, earning him a meeting to discuss his true vision for Mason’s performing arts center, which the legislature eventually agreed to partially fund. However, additional funding was needed to create the grand theater that President Johnson envisioned.

Joanne Johnson served as the chair of the George Mason Fund for the Arts during her tenure as Mason’s First Lady. She led the fundraising efforts for the Center of the Arts, including the annual Arts Gala, a night of dining and entertainment with the goal of raising money for buildings and programs to support the arts at Mason. Each year ahead of the Arts Gala, beginning in 1983, Mrs. Johnson led a group of women in crafting an item they would later auction or raffle to fund performing arts and cultural projects at Mason. Two of the more notable items they produced as part of this effort were the Mason Heritage Quilt from 1984, which is on display in the lobby of the Center for the Arts, and a yellow MG TB kit car. At Mrs. Johnson’s request, students also helped at the gala. The gala became the first step in the Johnsons’ vision to connect the community to Mason through the performing arts. The Center for the Arts represented the culmination of Joanne Johnson’s arts fundraising.

Overall, the Center for the Arts took ten years of fundraising and approximately three years of construction to complete for a total cost of $10.6 million. The Center for the Arts was initially called Humanities III because it was the final building in Mason’s Humanities complex, which included the deLaski Performing Arts Building (Humanities I), completed in 1988, and the Music and Theater Building (Humanities II), completed in 1989. When the Center for the Arts opened, it was one of the most state-of-the-art theater facilities in the United States. George Izenour, a theatrical and acoustical consultant, designed the building’s Concert Hall, which was called its “crown jewel.” Izenour developed the first electronic dimming system for stage lighting in 1947 and later invented an electronic winch system to move scenery. He designed a convertible theater for Harvard University in the 1950s and eventually helped develop over 100 theaters across the United States. Mason’s Concert Hall features the technical innovations for which Izenour was known. Its maximum seating capacity is two thousand in concert mode, but the space can be reduced to eight hundred seats in theater mode for smaller, more intimate performances. Its acoustic panels also adjust to provide excellent sound for both settings. In addition, the Concert Hall features an adaptable stage. In addition to the main stage, a front “lift” stage can be raised to increase space for actors or provide additional portable seating. It becomes an orchestra pit when lowered.

The Concert Hall opened on October 6, 1990, with a black-tie event and an atmosphere of joyous excitement. EGOT winner Marvin Hamlisch hosted the formal opening night celebration, featuring performances by the cast of Broadway’s A Chorus Line, opera singer Roberta Peters, flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, comedian Robert Klein, musical satirist Peter Schickele, and the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. Despite the famous names on stage, Hamlisch declared, “There are a lot of wonderful performers here this evening, but the star is undoubtedly the theater.” President Johnson gave a speech that night, explaining his hope that the venue would bring cultural enrichment and build strong community ties in Northern Virginia.

Initially, Mason students had difficulty believing the new building was for them. In January 1990, Broadside shared artists’ renderings and reported detailed specifications for the Center for the Arts in a two-page spread to mixed responses from students. However, as opening night neared, students across all majors shared President Johnson’s enthusiasm and belief in the Center for the Arts’ potential to grow Mason’s prestige. In addition, they realized they could spend their time there since 500 free tickets for each performance were allocated for students. An average of 74% percent of free student tickets were claimed during the Concert Hall’s inaugural season. Despite the high percentage, for the following academic year and performance season, the Center for the Arts combined its outreach efforts with Broadside to make the process for reserving tickets clearer and stress that there was no dress code.

Today, Mason still offers free tickets for students to events at the Concert Hall. Performances with free student tickets are made public through the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Student tickets are also reserved via Mason360. In its 32-year history, over 120 Grammy winners have performed at the Center for the Arts. It has hosted world premieres of theatre, dance, and concert performances. The Center for the Arts has also been the site for political events and debates, including two visits by President Barack Obama. On January 8, 2009, President Obama, then president-elect, delivered his plan for economic recovery from the Great Recession to the American public from Mason’s Concert Hall. He returned on October 5, 2012, as part of his re-election campaign. The Johnsons’ vision of the Center for the Arts bringing prestige to the university and connecting the community to Mason has been fully realized.

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On the south side of campus, nearly adjacent to Braddock Road is EagleBank Arena. Mason’s 10,000-seat venue has hosted sporting events, commencements, concerts, and other major gatherings since its completion in 1985.

Ten years after becoming independent in 1972, George Mason University grew rapidly. Enrollment had increased by nearly 500% (14,500 from about 3,000). Mason president George W. Johnson was determined to increase the university’s visibility in northern Virginia and encourage citizens to visit the campus. The PE Building, built in 1973, served as a sports arena and an auditorium for commencements, university celebrations, and other affairs, but its maximum capacity was 3,000. By 1982 the university was nearing the point where it was graduating almost 2,000 individuals each spring. It was clear a large multi-use building for university events was needed.

Construction began in August of 1983 with an expected opening of January 1985. University President, George W. Johnson planned to have Spring Commencement in the building, initially called “Patriot Center”. Previous ceremonies were held in the PE Building (today known as the RAC) and on various outdoor spaces around campus. As unexpected construction delays pushed the opening back toward fall of that year, Johnson remained undeterred in his desire to hold the event in THAT building THAT SPRING, declaring: “We will have graduation in the arena on May 18. You may have to wear a hard hat, but we are having it in there.”

While graduating students had initially been told that their commencement would be held on the Quad in front of Fenwick Library, Johnson requested and received special permission from the building contractor to use Patriot Center, after passing necessary inspections, for the ceremony. Plywood was lain on the concrete floor and a temporary stage for the platform party was hastily set up. The concrete walls inside the arena, due to be painted in green and gold, remained unpainted and bare. Nevertheless, the ceremony went off without a hitch for the 2,204 graduates and their families on May 18. The arena was then re-closed to the public for completion of construction.

On October 4, 1985, the arena was open to the public for its first event; a capacity crowd, which included actor Jack Nicholson, saw a sold-out exhibition game between the New York Knicks and the Washington Bullets. The game featured then-rookie sensation and future Hall of Famer, Patrick Ewing. That fall Patriot Center became the permanent home of the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams, ending twelve seasons in the PE Building.

On March 26, 2006, the Patriot Center was host to raucous victory celebration, as the Men’s Basketball team defeated the Number One Seed, University of Connecticut to earn a seat in the NCAA Final Four. As the game in the Verizon Center in Washington, DC ended, students formed a spontaneous victory parade around Patriot Circle and filled the Patriot Center to await the team’s return. As the team pulled into campus, fireworks were set off over Mason Pond. The team triumphantly marched into a Patriot Center full of happy students and members of the community.

Since 1985, the building has hosted over 3,000 events and is among the top 100 grossing arenas in the world. Beginning in 1998, EagleBank Arena's Parking Lot L has been host to the university's Mason Day event.

On May 7, 2015, the university announced that the name would be changed on July 1, 2015 to "EagleBank Arena at George Mason University" following a partnership deal with EagleBank.

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The Recreation and Athletic Complex (RAC) is home to three intercollegiate sports at Mason (wrestling, volleyball, and tennis) and plays a key part in Mason Recreation’s programming. At over 120,000 square feet the RAC features racquetball and squash courts, a two-story fitness center, and two smaller gyms. It is also host to the ROTC offices, and offices and classroom space for Mason’s School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. While the RAC’s current modern look and amenities are due to a major renovation that took place between 2007 and 2009, the original building was completed in July of 1972.

George Mason College began planning for its Physical Education Center in 1968. Mason had just graduated its first class as a four-year college and was working toward becoming an independent university soon with an enrollment of over 15,000 by the mid-1980s. Virginia state-supported college programs at that time required all students to complete two years of physical education. Mason did not have the facilities to provide for an enrollment that was doubling every year in the late 1960s. Physical Education classes had to be held at Mason’s North Campus, 10 minutes away on Lee Highway. Its Basketball team had to play home games at W.T. Woodson High School over on Main Street in Fairfax. And at that time, it did not have a venue that could seat more than three hundred.

Planners stressed that a building for providing a space for physical education and other physical activities would surely have multiple uses such as: commencement exercises, musical events, dramatic performances, convocations, intercollegiate athletic events, large social events, and other uses for the local community, as well. With these uses in mind, the college successfully petitioned the Commonwealth to fund its Physical Education Center in 1969.

Groundbreaking and construction began in 1970 and was completed in July 1972 shortly after Hurricane Agnes passed through the northern Virginia area, dumping several inches of rain, and causing flood damage to the building’s floors. Cleanup crews were quickly brought in to prepare the building for immediate occupancy.

The new Physical Education Center or as Mason locals called it, “the PE Building”, was put to use immediately that fall. Faculty and staff moved into their new offices just ahead of the fall semester. Physical Education Classes (Phys Ed 123 and 133) for the Second Term of the Summer Session (July 18-August 17) were held in the building. On December 6, Governor A. Linwood Holton conducted his regional Governor’s Conference in the basketball gym. Nearly one-thousand Northern Virginia residents, business leaders, and constituents packed the bleachers for an opportunity to share their thoughts with the Governor. Athletes on the basketball, wrestling, and gymnastics teams began training and competing against their conference rivals on their new home turf, and Spring Commencement for 1973 was held there, as well.

Perhaps the most interesting and bizarre happening at the PE Building took place two days after the Governor’s Conference. On December 8, the rock band Mountain, then a major national act, was scheduled to play a show the PE Building. Oddly, an alumni dinner was taking place just above the gym on an upper floor. Rowdy behavior by gatecrashers trying to get into the sold out show prompted University President, Vergil Dykstra to come downstairs to assess the situation. Several windows in the building were smashed by the unruly visitors, and the doors into the gym were temporarily chained shut to prevent a stampede into the facility. Dr. Dykstra helped the situation by blocking a doorway himself until order could be restored.

In the mid-2000s, after over 30 years of continuous service, the venerable PE Building was due for a refresh. A multilevel addition was built, creating an additional two-story venue for wrestling and volleyball, as well as other multiuse rooms. Existing interior spaces were reorganized to maximize space. And a new, more modern exterior completed the upgrades. Overall, the building gained 67,000 additional usable square feet and received a new name, the Recreation and Athletic Complex.

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The original Student Union Building (today known as Student Union I or, simply, SUB I) was announced in January 1968 and was the first building at Mason intended to be entirely for student use. It provided dedicated space for student dining, student clubs, student government, student publications, and other student activities. Unfortunately, the building project was delayed for four years, due to difficulties gaining budget approval in the Virginia Legislature. Phase I of the Student Union Building’s construction broke ground on March 1, 1972. The building’s cost was estimated at $1.9 million at the time (about $9 million in 2023). However, upon completion, the Student Union's operating costs were to be supported predominantly by student fees. To achieve this, President Lorin Thompson added a "building fee" to tuition fees in 1973. By 1974, the Student Union was 97% student funded.

Because students funded the Student Union, they expected that the building would be entirely for student use, and that they would be engaged in decisions regarding its operation. However, the Board of Visitors and new Mason President Vergil Dykstra’s administration had its own plans for the building’s use and students’ inclusion in its governance, leading to conflicts and controversies before and after opening. For example, the Board of Visitors hired the Student Union's director without considering students’ input, although they had participated in the interview process. In addition, they relocated administrative offices for student services to the Student Union and opened its student-only dining room to faculty. Furthermore, the Board of Visitors unilaterally changed the building’s name from Student Union to University Union. Their decisions prompted backlash from students who felt they  were funding the building with the understanding that it was for them.

When Phase I opened on February 1, 1974, it housed the offices of Career Planning, Financial Aid and Placement, Campus Ministry, Honor Committee, Student Government, and the University Union Director. The 40,000 square foot space also included meeting rooms, study lounges, spaces for student clubs and activities, a game room, a bookstore, a cafeteria, a card room, a television room, a music room, telephones, and an information desk. In addition to the amenities advertised by Mason’s administration, the Student Government ran a coffee house program in the building that featured live poetry and music on Fridays. The Student Union replaced the Ordinary and provided students with a permanent hangout spot. By the end of the school year in 1974, the Broadside noted that the building “glowed with activity” late into the evening.

Although students were grateful for the building, resentments simmered over the lack of communication from Mason’s administration. After the building opened, students voted to change its name back to the Student Union, and the presence of administrative offices in the building remained unpopular. Tensions over space in the Student Union reached a breaking point in the fall of 1974. Students found out that the administration planned to relocate the Campus Ministry to use its office for a newly hired scholarship placement assistant. As a result, the Student Government circulated a petition against the relocation of the Campus Ministry. Those who signed the petition said they were signing for students’ rights to give input in decisions regarding the Student Union Building. Within two weeks, the petition had five hundred signatures from students, faculty, staff and administrators. The three-week controversy between Mason students and administration regarding autonomy over the Student Union Building concluded when President Dykstra canceled the Campus Ministry’s move and gave the new staff member a smaller space until the completion of Phase II’s construction. Construction on Phase II of the Student Union Building I began on January 1, 1974. It opened partially in May 1975 and completely in the summer of 1975. Phase II added 40,000 square feet to the building, doubling its size. Existing student clubs, fraternities, and student services received expanded space. Phase II added new amenities like a clinic, a counseling center, an arts and crafts center, a bank, dry cleaning, and a pub. The Rathskeller, Mason’s first and only student pub, operated in the Student Union from 1975 to 2019.

Phase III, which added to the back of the building, was completed in 2011. This additional space allowed the Registrar’s Office to move from the Chesapeake Module behind Fenwick Library into the Student Union. Many amenities originally located in the original Student Union eventually moved to Student Union Building II (The Hub) or the Johnson Center, but it retains its student focus and many original services and amenities. Financial Aid, Career Services, Health Services and the Counseling Center are still in the original Student Union. The building’s stairways look the same as they did in 1975, retaining the original walls and floors and still functioning as a place to hang posters and advertisements. In addition to the aforementioned student services, students new to Mason or craving waffle fries visit the building for the Mason Card office and Chick-Fil-A.

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There is a legend among long-time faculty and staff at George Mason that the Lecture Hall on the Fairfax Campus was intended for another university in the commonwealth. Indeed, the author of this piece has been told by more than one long-tenured Mason employee that our Lecture Hall was meant to be built elsewhere. Believers in the legend point to the fact that the Lecture Hall does not resemble the initial buildings constructed at Fairfax just three years earlier. It is true that the Lecture Hall was initially scheduled to be completed in 1964, and it was meant to resemble the North, South, East and West Buildings in many respects, but budget overruns forced the Lecture Hall to be eliminated from the initial construction.

In 1965 the University of Virginia (Mason's then parent institution) successfully petitioned the General Assembly for funding to add this missing piece to compliment the Library that was already underway. As with the original four buildings, the University chose a local architect to design the Lecture Hall. The firm, Vosbeck and Vosbeck of Alexandria was the same which designed Fenwick Library, but, interestingly, not the same which designed the original four buildings (Saunders and Pearson - also of Alexandria). Construction began in Spring of 1966 and was complete in December of 1967. The Lecture Hall had three auditoriums, one large one seating three hundred and two smaller ones, each seating one hundred.

By the spring semester of 1968, the Lecture Hall was busy around the clock hosting classes and other noteworthy events. In February, there was a controversial and well-attended program where faculty members debated whether colleges should eliminate the grading system. In March, Mason's Agora Society presented Shakespeare's The Country Wife. Tickets sold for $1.00 each. In April and May, Philosophy professor Dr. James Shea appeared in several Vietnam War-related teach-ins in the Lecture Hall. And on June 9, it hosted Mason's first Commencement. The college initially planned to confer degrees on the fifty-two members of Mason's Class of 1968 outdoors on the lawn in front of the Lecture Hall, but rain was in the forecast for that day, forcing the ceremony indoors. 

The Lecture Hall was the venue for another notable gathering in 1974. On February 11 peace activists Jane Fonda, her husband, founder of Students for a Democratic Society, Tom Hayden, and folk singer Holly Near visited George Mason University as part of the Indochina Peace Initiative tour. It was attended by about one hundred George Mason students, faculty, and staff, some of whom, it has been rumored, were FBI agents disguised as students.

In the early 2000's the Lecture Hall was among several buildings on the north side of campus set to be demolished for the creation of a global education complex. This never came to fruition, and it has remained a part of the Fairfax Campus. 

The Lecture Hall has played a key part in the function of the university ever since it first opened over fifty-six years ago. Simple but unique among the other places on the Fairfax Campus, it has had and continues to play a small yet significant role at Mason.

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George Mason University Libraries began operation in September 1957 at Bailey's Crossroads Campus, occupying three of the four rooms on the upper level of the building. As the number of library resources increased, librarians, who moonlighted at Bailey's while employed at other local libraries, stored newly acquired resources in closets and bookcases sitting in hallways.

When the college moved into the new campus at Fairfax in 1964, a permanent college librarian was hired by the University. Patrick Joseph Larkin, a recent graduate of the Master of Library Science at nearby Catholic University was chosen to head up the new Library. Initially, the Library was located on the 2nd Floor of the new Fairfax Campus' East Building. During this time planning for Mason’s permanent stand-alone library at Fairfax was gearing up with Larkin and officials from George Mason College and the University of Virginia actively participating in the design and functionality groundwork.

Mason's permanent Library was designed for a “commuter college” with specific needs: a large commuting student body, an evolving program of studies, and a rapid growth rate. Mason had less than 1,000 students during the late-1960s, but more than twice that many after only five years. In 1966 a report of the Northern Virginia Regional Planning and Economic Development Council estimated that by 1985, 15,000 high school graduates would be knocking on Mason’s doors.

The architectural firm Vosbeck-Vosbeck & Associates of Alexandria designed a two-story white concrete-columned structure with alternating brick panels. The building contained 31,500 square feet, housed up to 60,000 book volumes, and seated almost 500 readers. Construction began in July 1966 at a cost of $1.2 million (a little more than $10 million in 2023).

The library took about fifteen months to complete. By the third week in October 1967, it was ready for use. On move-in day library staff, along with dozens of volunteers from the student body, carted some twenty thousand volumes from the East Building to the new library to be shelved. The building was formally dedicated on December 15, 1967, in an hour-long ceremony which was concluded with an announcement that it would be named Fenwick Library, after State Senator Charles Rogers Fenwick, a longtime political ally of George Mason College.

By 1974 enrollment at George Mason, now a university, had increased by more than 500% since 1967. Library space expanded to keep up with the demands of a growing university. This came in the form of two adjoining towers, one completed in 1974, and the other in 1983. The towers now known as Wings B and C increased the library’s storage space by twelve times. During the late 1980s there were plans to increase library space once again, but these plans were scrapped to design and build the facility now known as the Johnson Center. Beginning in the 1980s, the stage for Mason Day band performances was placed on the plaza in front of the Fenwick Library entrance and for nearly twenty years, the sounds of live music would permeate the library on that day.

Beginning in September 2012 Fenwick Library underwent a four-year transformation to bring it up to par with other major university libraries in the commonwealth. This addition, which opened in 2016, wrapped the existing Wing B and C towers and doubled the library’s space, enabling the university to meet growing needs for a variety of study and research spaces.

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A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Fairfax campus was held on August 1, 1963. Students at Bailey’s Crossroads knew of the construction, but few were interested in following it. Student photographers Jim Wilson and Bill Flandermeyer visited the campus while it was under construction and took some of the earliest photographs of the Fairfax campus. The campus at Fairfax officially opened on Monday, September 14, 1964, to 356 registered students. This number represented a 58% increase in the student population from the final school year at Bailey’s Crossroads. The original campus consisted of four buildings, named North, South, East and West, each for the direction it faced. Because the campus was initially small, students spent much of their campus life from 1964 to 1974 in these first four buildings. The then-state-of-the-art buildings were designed and built by local businesses Joseph Saunders & Associates of Alexandria and Eugene Simpson and brother, respectively.   On opening day, Mason’s new director, Robert Reid, boasted to the Fairfax Times that Mason was the first fully air-conditioned college in the Washington, D.C., area. Air conditioning was a welcome change for students and faculty who experienced the lack of climate control in the old school building at Bailey’s Crossroads. They were delighted with the spacious, top-of-line classrooms and laboratories. The air conditioning and brand-new facilities temporarily distracted them from realizing the campus lacked some essential amenities. During the first week, there was no faculty lounge or place for students to get food and beverages. Mason’s administration quickly set up vending machines in a study hall as a temporary solution. The campus was formally dedicated on November 12, 1964. The ninety-minute dedication ceremony took place in front of the North Building. Nearly a thousand people attended, including prominent politicians, educators, members of the community and the local press. Construction was still ongoing when the Fairfax campus opened. The sidewalks were incomplete, so planks were put down when it rained. The covered walkways between the buildings had yet to be constructed. Former students described the campus as “a sea of mud.” Even with the wooden planks, mud was difficult to avoid since students had to cross an unpaved path between the North and East Buildings to reach their gravel parking lot. Photographs from the 1965 to 1966 yearbook show that in addition to the completion of sidewalks and covered walkways, the roads around campus and parking spaces were paved, finally ending the mud problem.

South Building (Krug Hall) By 1965, the students received a dining hall in the basement of the South Building. They named it the Ordinary, after the old English word for a pub. Chemical smells often drifted in from the biology and chemistry laboratories directly above. The Ordinary quickly became a popular hangout spot for students. Like their predecessors at the Bailey’s Crossroads campus, alumni from the Class of 1968 recalled playing competitive games of Hearts, Spades and Bridge. These card games were sometimes so intense that students nearly missed classes. The Ordinary started serving fresh food in the fall of 1965. Articles in The Gunston Ledger frequently complained that the Ordinary was too crowded, so additional spaces for students to gather were added or improved in the East and West Buildings beginning in 1965. The Ordinary featured a jukebox. When the original jukebox died in April of 1966, a student penned an obituary for it in The Gunston Ledger commemorating its year and a half of service to students. The Gunston Ledger gleefully announced the purchase of a new jukebox for the Ordinary in October 1966. The Ordinary remained a gathering place for students until 1974 when the building that is now SUB I was completed. Mason Day began in 1965 as a half-day of speeches and awards the day after UVA's Founder's Day celebration. During the 1968 to 1969 school year, Student Government Activities Chair, Mike Baker, transformed Mason Day into a multi-day spectacle of fun and entertainment. As part of Mason Day in 1969, for 3 days, 40 male students camped in tents behind the South Building. The event was labeled “Mason’s First Dormitories.” They ate their meals in the Ordinary, played sports on the lawn, roasted hot dogs, played music, watched movies and attended a presentation by local photographer Charles Baptie in the Lecture Hall, and staged a water balloon fight. Mason Tent City remained a tradition until 1977, when the university opened permanent dormitories.

North Building (Finley Building) The North Building originally housed Mason’s administrative offices. An anonymous article in The Gunston Ledger, on November 16, 1967, decried that Mason was the only institution in Virginia without a flagpole. The writer implored students to find a way to raise $150 for a flagpole. The shaming worked, and a flagpole, which no longer stands, was installed in front of the North Building shortly after. According to Broadside, beginning November 10, 1969, students stood in front of the flagpole in a memorial vigil of the lives lost in the Vietnam War. The previous month, the Vietnam War Moratorium Committee had presented Chancellor Lorin Thompson with a petition containing hundreds of signatures from students and faculty asking to be excused for one day of classes to participate in anti-war activities. Thompson rejected their petition. The vigils in front of the flagpole, visible from the administrative offices, were likely a response to his denial of their request. The Vietnam War Moratorium Committee had officially scheduled to attend an off-campus event on November 14, 1969. So students were shocked when a group of protestors, in a spectacle Broadside called "Guerrilla Theatre", burned an American flag in the Ordinary. That same afternoon, Professor James Shea led students in burning draft cards in the Quadrangle. The Guerrilla Theatre incident divided the Vietnam War Moratorium Committee's student leaders, with Jim Corrigan speaking out against it and George Whelpley behind it. The Student Government was similarly divided, voting 6-3-3 to oppose disciplinary action against those responsible for the incidents. The Student Government supported Shea and asked the administration to retain him. On the morning of May 6, 1970, Mason students asked Thompson to lower the flag in honor of students killed by the National Guard at Kent State University two days earlier. Thompson denied their request. A Kent State student spoke in the Quadrangle. Following the speech, a demonstration of fifty Mason students marched to the flagpole in an attempt to lower the flag by cutting the cord used to raise and lower it. Campus police confronted the demonstrating students. At noon, Thompson agreed to lower the flag to half-mast to accommodate the students and prevent any unrest.

East Building The second floor of the East Building served as Mason's library until its free standing library was completed in late 1967. The entire East Building had originally been allotted for the library. However, the librarian generously gave two floors back to the college, which they used for classrooms and an additional lounge. In 1965, SAGE, a women’s organization on campus, hosted a fashion show in the East Building. On June 9, 1965, the first final day exercises were held in the East Building, and Mason’s class of 1965 received their diplomas. In 1968, the first class to graduate with Bachelor’s degrees from Mason put on their graduation robes in Eats before proceeding to the ceremony in the Lecture Hall.

West Building The West Building became the center of attention at Mason on September 21, 1966. At 2:10 pm that day, a hot water pump motor in the boiler room burned out and caused an electrical fire. The building’s supervisor discovered it but found his telephone was out of order. He then drove to the Fairfax Fire Station to report to the fire alarm. Seven fire trucks from Fairfax, Vienna, and Annandale responded to the fire alarm. The fire marshal ordered everyone to evacuate the smoke-filled West Building upon arrival. Firefighters set up fans to blow the smoke out of the building. Once it cleared, they put out the fire with a regular fire extinguisher. No one was injured, but students and staff were inconvenienced because the fire knocked out all telephone service and many of the lights across campus. The food machines in the Ordinary also did not work. Classes were dismissed for the rest of the day.

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