Madalyn Godfrey/ Fourth Estate
Freshman Sam Brown leads the charge of legalizing pepper spray on campus
BY MADALYN GODFREY, COPY EDITOR
In July of 2007, Mason’s former Senior Vice President Maurice W. Scherrens and Provost Peter N. Stearns approved University Policy 1120, prohibiting “the possession of any weapon on campus by any member of the faculty, staff and student body.”
The policy defines weapons as “designed or intended to propel a missile of any kind,” knives, flailing instruments or “pointed blades which is designed to be thrown or propelled.”
Pepper spray, a device containing an incapacitating aerosol, therefore challenges these definitions.
To clear ambiguity regarding its acceptance on campus, freshman Sam Brown is petitioning for the legalization of pepper spray on campus on behalf of Young Americans for Liberty at GMU.
“Pepper spray is one of the most common forms of self defense tools that people use,” Brown said. “It’s not lethal and students [at Mason] should have the right to feel safe on campus. They should be able to defend themselves if need be.”
Aware of misconduct incidents on campus prior to his arrival to Mason, Brown took an interest in looking at Mason Police crime reports from previous years.
“I believe in 2022, there were about nine rapes on campus, about 10 instances of fondling along with two aggravated assaults,” Brown said. “The instances could have been prevented if victims were able to carry pepper spray without the limits from owning pepper spray without violating the code of conduct.”
When comparing Mason’s policy around pepper spray to other public universities in Virginia, Brown expressed disappointment in Mason.
“Most schools in Virginia do allow you to carry pepper spray to some extent, at least in VCU, they allow you to carry and show you how to use it,” Brown said. “There are Virginia State schools that allow you to possess this most basic form of self defense and yet George Mason does not, which I think is quite unfortunate for the students on this campus.”
Brown started the “Fight to Remove the Pepper Spray Ban at George Mason University” petition in mid-September of 2024. At the beginning, Brown set a goal to receive 200 signatures by the end of the month. In the first week, Brown received over 150 physical signatures from Mason students in support, not including online signatures received through QR codes displayed around campus.
“We, myself and Young Americans for Liberty, want to go in and pressure campus administration to respect student rights,” Brown said. “Our goal is to make liberty win above all else. It starts with not infringing on students’ right to use pepper spray on campus for self-defense.”
