Nicolas Macotto/Fourth Estate
Gender and Social Justice Living Learning Community will join other Mason LLCs in the Fall
BY LAURA SCUDDER, SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
In Fall 2019, the Gender and Social Justice Living Learning Community (LLC) will come to Mason with a focus on the way gender plays a role in U.S. society. This new LLC is spearheaded by the Women and Gender Studies department, which is the only department on campus that is both part of University Life organization and an academics program. Now, it is a part of the Housing department as well.
“‘Why does gender matter in the pursuit of social justice?’ is a conversation we’ll continually be having through courses and programs,” said David Corwin, the program coordinator for the Women and Gender Studies department and the new LLC Coordinator for the Gender and Social Justice LLC.
“I really got on board with it the minute we started talking about it … and I’m excited for it piloting,” Corwin said.
The Women and Gender Studies department piloted the idea of the LLC after it was brought forth by graduate student and Potomac Heights Resident Director Christian Suero.
“As I work full-time with Housing and Residence Life, I always enjoy looking for ways to connect academic units, such as Women and Gender Studies, to our department,” said Suero. “When our applications for Living Learning Communities open, I shared with Women and Gender Studies that this seemed like a great initiative for the development of their office as well as an opportunity for collaboration.”
Students do not have to be women and gender studies majors or minors, or have even taken women and gender studies courses to apply for the LLC. “Many of our students may never take a class with us other than the LLC class and that’s actually fantastic,” said Corwin.
All students who are not first-year, first-semester students and have some sort of experience on the topic of gender in relation to social justice are encouraged to apply to the LLC. Such experience could include activism for gender-related social justice or studying a unit on gender in a class.
Corwin and his fellow colleagues plan to make the Gender and Social Justice LLC as active as possible throughout the year with trips to D.C.’s museums, film screenings and craft nights.
“We also hope this is an opportunity to work with other LLCs, like the LGBTQ+ one, Leadership and Community Engagement and the First Generation LLC,” he said. “So, we hope this just extends our footprint in Women and Gender Studies more broadly.”
The Gender and Social Justice LLC is not the only new LLC coming to Mason in 2019. New freshman LLCs include Accounting, Pre-Nursing and OGUN Black Male Success. Upper-level additions include the Business & Entrepreneurship LLC.
All students interested in the Gender and Social Justice LLC can email David Corwin at dcorwin@gmu.edu.
