Dear Patriots,

Welcome back! It’s definitely been an interesting week on campus with little robots hovering around, the main center of campus closing off and the Robinson building looking like a demolished and abandoned site.

Fourth Estate is also back yet again this semester, hoping to expand and build more on what we’ve been able to accomplish from the previous semesters. If you have any story ideas, suggestions or comments for the paper in general or are hoping to be a part of the team in any capacity, send us an email over at masonfourthestate@gmail.com.

This week you can read more about how a Mason student wrote a bill that was picked up by a Virginia legislator, Taco Bamba’s new University Mall location, opinions on the new delivery robots and catch up on what happened with Mason sports teams over the break.

On another note, the media industry lost about 1,000 jobs across the U.S. when companies like BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Gannett announced they would be reducing their staff sizes. Working in media isn’t typically an easy or stable job and my heart goes out to all the those that were laid off this past week.

Hope you all have had a good start to your semester so far and that all goes well!

Sincerely,

Basma Humadi

Managing Editor