In the fall of 2009, George Mason University was classified as a commuter campus. Now, four years later in the fall of 2012, much at Mason has changed. The university has seen a monumental change in its identity. New administrative buildings and residential halls have grown up from empty spaces. Former parking lots and buildings have been gutted and reinvented completely. Although it has been a somewhat cumbersome process, the campus has entered a new phase in its life--that of a residential campus beginning to forge its own unique identity.