Fall for the Book events started yesterday and will continue all week. Dive deeper into your favorite books wih the authors themselves as they stop by campus. For a detailed look into some of the participating authors, check out this week’s style section.
George Mason University’s Student Newspaper
PG. 6
www.broadsideonline.com
September 20, 2010
Volume 87 Issue 4
Not so bad boys? A day in the life of the police who protect and serve the student body at Mason
Book it to the festival After a dozen years, Fall for the Book is a Mason tradition Matt Snyder News Editor
Photo By Antonieta Rico
George Mason University Police Officers Jorge Feliciano and Emily Ross review some paperwork on top of a patrol car Sunday, Sept. 12 on an adjacent road to campus.
Officer for a night
Antonieta Rico Crime Beat Writer
It’s almost 11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, and the night reveals a small form on the floor, crouched against a wall behind Student Union Building II. “Are you OK?” asks George Mason University Police Officer Jorge Feliciano. A soft voice replies “My arms hurt … ” Minutes before, Feliciano responded to a report of a young couple having an argument by SUB II. The caller said a young woman had fallen to the ground. A young Photo By Antonieta Rico man fitting the description given by the Officer Jorge Feliciano pats down a Fairfax, Va., caller said that the woman had become man who was arrested for use of false iden fiemotional and run off. ca on to avoid prosecu on and driving a car After speaking with Feliciano, the without a driver's license Sunday, Sept. 12 on a woman agrees to come out from behind road near campus. the building. She says that she is fine, that she just needed to be alone. She says her arms hurt when she becomes emotional and denies that she fell, but Feliciano can see smudge marks on her legs. Feliciano said one of the hardest things about being a police officer for him is seeing any type of abuse. However, as a member of the Mason Police Department, the majority of the calls Feliciano responds to are thefts, auto accidents and alcohol-related calls, he Photo By Antonieta Rico said. For the Mason police officers, the Officer Emily Ross gives a field sobriety test to a young woman Sunday, Sept. 12 on Roberts Road. university setting comes with unique chalThe young woman was pulled over a er she ran lenges. Police Officer Emily Ross is slowly losa stop sign on campus. The results of a breathalyzer showed that she had a blood alcohol con- ing patience. It’s after 2 a.m. on Sunday and tent of .09, which is just over the legal limit, Ross she is sitting in her patrol car waiting on a sober ride for the young woman she pulled said. over. Ross saw the woman, who said she was a student at Mason, blow through a stop sign on campus. When she pulled her over, a breathalyzer revealed she had a .09 blood alcohol content, which is just over the legal limit The young woman is crying. Ross wants her off the streets. Ross decides to write her a ticket for the stop sign and let her call two sober drivers to pick her up. The young woman says she will call her Photo By Antonieta Rico parents. “I’m hoping this will have a more posiOfficer Emily Ross checks the informa on on a tive affect on her,” Ross said. As officers at driver license a er she pulled over a young the university, police have the option to use woman who had run a stop sign on campus their own discretion in handling some of Sunday, Sept. 12. the cases they come across. Besides strict enforcement, police can also choose to send them to classes, warn them or refer them to the Dean of Students. Almost 30 minutes later the parents have not shown up. When someone finally drives up, it is two of the woman’s friends. Fed up, Ross tells them to “Just go!” From her patrol car, Ross watches in disbelief as the two sober drivers pull out on the road and proceed to drive away, into the oncomPhoto By Antonieta Rico ing traffic lane. Officer Emily Ross talks with a young woman Ross’s patrol car lights go back on. she pulled over a er she saw her run a stop “People will assume the worst of you,” sign on campus Sunday, Sept. 12. The young said Ross. “They’ll love a firefighter before woman had a blood alcohol content of .09, just they love a cop.” But Ross said that she can over the legal limit, Ross said. make a difference with college students.
She turned down a career opportunity to work at the Alexandria Police Department in order to stay at Mason. “I didn’t want to give up the community,” Ross said, “These kids have more of a chance.” Feliciano said some students assume police are just trying to ruin their college experience, but really, it’s the well-being of the students that the police have in mind. Feliciano has recently been on the lookout for fraternities that shuttle underage freshmen off campus to drink then drop them back to the university. He said that he has found drunk freshmen wandering about campus, and some have even ended up in the emergency room. “We are there just to make sure they are safe,” Feliciano said. Whereas some universities employ security guards to maintain campus security, Mason uses a state-certified and nationally-accredited patrol force. Mason police is a “fully fledged, full service police department,” said George Ginovsky, assistant chief of police. The force is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforce-
ment Agencies and is authorized up to 57 police officers. Police are required to go through a state certified police academy, Ginovsky said. The campus police have full arrest powers at all Mason campuses and also carry firearms. Ginovsky said their jurisdiction extends to the campus and adjacent roads, but in emergencies, police can also make arrests outside of those boundaries. The department also runs a police cadet program. “Police cadets are paid, and I emphasize paid, employees of the police department who are not armed and don’t have arrest powers,” said Ginovsky. “[They] perform various security tasks on campus.” Ginovsky said they are almost always hiring cadets, and he encourages students interested in a law enforcement career to apply. A good relationship with students is “vital,” Ginovsky said. To that end he welcomes any student who would like to learn more about campus police to do a ridealong with the police. A request form for a ride-along is available at the Police and Safety Building in front of the Rappahannock River Deck. Feliciano and Ross also said they think that building a good rapport with students is important. Feliciano said he welcomes students to ask him questions or talk to him. “Stop by,” Feliciano said. “We are there for them.”
The six-day Fall for the Book festival enters full swing this week, with visits from 150 authors on subjects ranging from literature to non-fiction. The ever-growing event will feature authors, skits, dance and storytelling to present literature in a fun, engaging atmosphere. The literary festival that began 12 years ago to advance children’s education has expanded to a week-long event and continues to spread from George Mason University to Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland, and includes major names such as Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School At A Time. “Over the dozen years we’ve done it, we have seen it become a tradition on campus where the faculty and students look forward to it,” said William Miller, director for the festival and Mason’s graduate writing program. The festival is a “double win for faculty and staff,” Miller said. “Some of our events are patterned very specifically for classes, and we match the events to classes wherever possible. … The students bring to the event their inquisitive minds.”
The high-visibility event actually began as an annual literary event in Charlottesville run by Mason’s former rector Randolph Church, who figured a similar festival would take off in Fairfax. He was right. Mason was the original home and remains at the heart of the event, due to having “some of the best facilities for large scale events,” according to Miller. But in recent years, because some participants were not too thrilled with trying to get onto campus, key parts of the program have been established at surrounding venues instead. “It lets them reach out to diverse attendees of all ages,” Miller said. This year, non-Mason events include The Help novelist Kathryn Stockett’s appearance at Reston CenterStage Theater, a standing-room only event that may attract as many as 700 people tomorrow. Many will have to see it broadcast in overflow space. Tickets for that event are required and are limited to two per person. Back on Mason campus, Miller said that Fall for the Book “provides a core of writers that come … that gives them high visibility that says to the students ‘reading and writing are important parts of our culture.’ Even in the time that books are being read on Kindle and whatever devices, it doesn’t change the fact.”
Out of the box Alice in Chains to play at the Patriot Center Patrick Wall Style Editor The 1990s was the era of long hair, flannel and ripped jeans. Bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden sold out stadiums around the world, combining guttural vocals with scorching guitar licks. The time of grunge may have ended in the mid-1990s but for many bands, the rock did not stop. In the case of Alice in Chains, performing Sunday at the Patriot Center, even the saddest story in grunge music could not keep the band down. Alice in Chains rose to national prominence in 1990 with the release of Facelift. The album featured the band’s signature song, “Man in the Box.” Critics and fans were intrigued by the traditional grunge sound infused with the combination of vocalist Layne Staley’s garbled vocals and guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s smoother style. While the band seemed unstoppable following 1992’s
Dirt, things did not stay that way. Staley’s well-documented heroin addiction stalled the band’s recording process and prevented Alice in Chains from touring. A handful of commercially successful albums followed, culminating in the band’s performance on MTV Unplugged. However, their 1996 performance would be the band’s last for nearly a decade. Staley never officially quit the band, but he did not tour and spent the last few years of his life deep in a heroin addiction before his death in 2002. But in 2008, the band headed back to the studio to record a new album, Black Gives Way to Blue, with their new vocalist, former Comes with the Fall frontman William DuVall. Alice in Chains will be performing with former ‘90s alternative rock v e t e r a n s Deftones and Mastodon. Tickets are available through the Patriot Center ticket office or by calling 703573-SEAT.