Move-in process tweaked

Returning students continued the Mason tradition of helping freshmen move into their fall assignments. This year's process was slightly different. (Jenna Beaver) 
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UPDATED 11:46 a.m. 

This week hundred of returning students and nearly 2,000 freshmen moved into the dormitories at George Mason University.

With the help of student volunteers, paid workers and staff from various Mason departments, Director of Housing and Residence Life Denise Taylor said move-in was “really successful” and as having gone smoothly.

This year the university employed a number of professional movers to help with move-in, but this was not a response to a lack of volunteers, according to Taylor.

“One of the things that is fabulous this year is the amount of volunteers,” Taylor said. On Friday morning alone, 200 students had signed in to help freshmen move into their fall assignments. Another 200 signed in for the afternoon.

The movers were at Mason primarily to help move ice and water around President’s Park and the Dominion Hall, University Commons and Commonwealth Halls (DUCC) area, as the Johnson Center was no longer being used as a station to get refreshments and take a break. In between moving water and ice, some movers did help move students into their rooms in areas that were backed up.

Also new to the move-in process this year was parking in Rappahannock River Deck for students moving into DUCC. This came as a response to safety concerns seen last year.

“We observed safety issues last year,” Taylor said. “[This year] we came up with another plan; students pull into the deck and park in the first or second level , and right at the base there is a volunteer who has a big green bin [for students to use]. Students are then sent to their resident hall.”

The road in front of Rappahannock River Deck was closed to vehicle traffic to eliminate the risk of a student being injured.

According to Taylor, Mason received “tons of kudos from the parents.”
Students also thought freshmen move-in went well.

“I think things went smoother than last year. It [freshmen-move in] seemed organized and efficient,” said Julia-Anne Smith, a sophomore music major and student volunteer helping with move-in around DUCC.

“It seemed like the first day was ‘go go go’ and the second day had a lot of waiting around to do, because there were not as many freshmen,” Smith said. She also attributed the individual carts as having helped speed the process up.

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