The Memorial to the Enslaved People of George Mason, located in Roger Wilkins Plaza, pictured the evening of March 21, 2026. Surrounding a fountain, Penny and James, two formerly enslaved people owned by the namesake of the university, stand. They are represented as two-dimensional cutouts serving Mason. (Nathan Ferraro / Fourth Estate)

How women’s contributions are honored at Mason

BY NATHAN FERRARO, MANAGING EDITOR

George Mason’s cultural prioritization of diversity and representation is ingrained in its mission, administration and student body. However, an examination of the university’s statues reveals those values may not be as present in its art and architecture. 

Mason is “a public, comprehensive, research university established by the Commonwealth of Virginia in the National Capital Region [and] an innovative and inclusive academic community committed to creating a more just, free, and prosperous world,” according to its mission statement.  

Though Mason is an institution that supports diverse art and artists, its Fairfax campus does not always present the same picture of diversity that President Gregory Washington preaches. 

A unique feature of the university is “Art in the Open,” Mason’s open-air collection of curated sculptures. It was an initiative pioneered by Joanne Johnson, the wife of former Mason President George Johnson.  

The art featured on campus is easily accessible and unique, but it is surprisingly lacking the values Mason claims to promote – namely, inclusivity.  

Take, for example, the aptly-named “Woman in Hammock” statue situated next to Horizon Hall, one of the newest academic buildings on campus.  

A statue of a woman reclining in a hammock situated next to Horizon Hall, the newest academic building on campus, pictured March 21. The statue is called “Woman in Hammock.” (Nathan Ferraro / Fourth Estate)

Though there is nothing particularly polarizing about the statue – the woman is depicted with unextraordinary features, and she is not decapitated or otherwise objectified – it is lacking a name and the substantive identity that comes with that.  

When compared to other statues, like that of Confucius situated next to Mason Pond or the forever-famous statue of George Mason IV himself, “Woman in Hammock” seems overwhelmingly trivialized.  

It is notable that no single, concrete space on the Fairfax campus is dedicated to a woman alone.  

For the buildings that do feature a woman’s name, they are always placed second in official documentation and signage and typically dropped from colloquial speech: take Alan and Sally Merten Hall, commonly referred to as “Merten,” or the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building, commonly referred to as “the engineering building” by students and referred to by accompanying signage as the “College of Engineering and Computing.” 

For the few buildings bearing a woman’s name, there are three times as many buildings named after a man or nothing at all: David King Hall, the George Johnson Center, Research Hall and College Hall, for example. 

The Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building sits on Mason’s Fairfax campus, pictured March 21. The building is commonly referred to as “the engineering building” by students. (Nathan Ferraro / Fourth Estate)

What this reflects is not necessarily a direct effort to minimize the presence of women on campus; rather, it reflects Mason’s patriarchal history as a university primarily led by men.  

The university has never had a female president, save for the short tenure of interim president Anne Holton in 2019-2020.  

Holton has no space dedicated to her on campus despite the fact that her father, A. Linwood Holton Jr., does.

Though Mason’s top offices have been historically occupied by men, a number of prominent women have contributed to the university’s success.

Dr. Lorraine Brown, founder of the Women and Gender Studies Program, taught English at Mason for over 40 years. She withstood dismissal attempts after criticizing the administration’s leadership regarding race. 

Dr. Eugenie V. Mielczarek, founder of the Physics and Astronomy Department, worked at Mason for 35 years. She was seen as living proof of Mason’s commitment to hiring women in positions of power.

Vanessa Blair-Lewis, current head coach of the women’s basketball team, has led the Patriots from a season with zero in-conference wins to their first-ever Atlantic 10 regular season title. That’s not mentioning the countless records broken by the Patriots under Blair-Lewis’s leadership. 

Each of these female leaders represent the glaring inconsistency of Mason’s ideological mission with its physical reality. Whether these women’s achievements will be honored by the university in stone is yet to be seen.

Other artworks scattered around campus reflect varying degrees of diversity. Exhibitions featured by the College of Visual and Performing Arts are typically keen to take a far more feminist and inclusive approach than the permanent sculptures and “Art in the Open” around campus.  

A current exhibition in the Art and Design Building, showcasing Mary Bowron’s work called “Silent Witnesses,” advocates for figures that can “see and hear but cannot speak” who are “silenced by fear, violence, and systemic oppression.” While the ceramic heads are not definitively labeled as women, it is reasonable to assume that at least a portion do represent women, while all the heads represent marginalized individuals. 

A statue of George Mason IV by Wendy M. Ross sits at the end of Wilkins Plaza, as pictured October 22, 2025. Since its dedication in 2002, the statue has been the fixation of several student traditions, which often include dressing George in costumes to advertise events and celebrations. (Nathan Ferraro / Fourth Estate)

“We believe we grow wiser and stronger from examining our full truths, no matter how complicated, messy, or discomforting they might be,” an Office of University Branding webpage reads.  

This claim is most enthusiastically supported by the Memorial to the Enslaved People of George Mason, located in Roger Wilkins Plaza. Penny and James, two enslaved people of the namesake of the university, are represented as two-dimensional cutouts.  

If you position yourself on the indicated plates, it appears as if the cutout figures are offering the George Mason statue, which stands further down Wilkins Plaza, tea and dictation services.  

This memorial represents the pinnacle of what George Mason aspires to be — a university dedicated to acknowledging and examining past injustices while moving toward a brighter future. 

The first Black president of the university, Gregory Washington, took the helm directly after Anne Holton’s short tenure. Washington has, to this day, withstood scrutiny from the Trump administration and the Justice Department for his promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion.  

While George Mason is in many ways a testament to the representation and diversity of its students and community, there is an obvious lack of credit toward the women who have contributed to the growth of its students and status.