University of Virginia Library

George Mason Grows

In a secluded grove of trees a few miles
from the urban sprawl of Northern Virginia
is the 150-acre campus of George
Mason College.

Born a junior college branch of the University
in Charlottesville, it has grown
enough in one decade to become a four-year
liberal arts college and is on its way
to being Northern Virginia's first university.

George Mason opened in 1957 as an
outgrowth of the University's extension
center. Its first classes for 17 students were
held in an old elementary school building.

Although its administration is still responsible
to President Shannon and the University's
Board of Visitors, the college is
now houses in four red-brick buildings in
Fairfax, with two more structures under way.

Until last year, George Mason had been
developing under a master plan that envisioned
a two-year community college with
a projected enrollment of 2,500.

In 1966, however, the General Assembly
authorized its expansion into a four-year
college, with permission to develop graduate
programs that would someday make it a
regional university. President Shannon released
a six-year master plan for George
Mason that calls for an enrollment between
5,000 and 6,000 in the early 1970's. A
long-range prediction, according to the
Washington Post, is for 12,500 students in
1985.

The rapid expansion of George Mason
College is significant for its parent institution
in several ways.

Only 25 miles from the heart of
Washington. George Mason is in one of the
fastest growing areas of the country, certainly
the fastest growing part of Virginia.
At present, only one large public institution—
the University of Maryland in College Park—
serves this area. Those Virginia residents
wanting to attend a state-supported school
of high quality have been coming to
Charlottesville. With the development of
George Mason as a first-rate school, a
considerable part of the admissions pressure
on the University will be lightened. This
is good news for those of us who wish
to see the University population remain as
small as possible.

With more Northern Virginians attending
George Mason, and with the economic and
political power of Northern Virginia soaring,
it will be very much to the advantage of
the University to retain its close ties to
the school in Fairfax. Graduates of George
Mason interested in law and medicine particularly
will appreciate the close ties with
the University, with its eminent departments
in those two fields.

Although the day will eventually come
when the direct ties between the parent and
its offspring will be cut, we should never
forget that George Mason owes as much
to Mr. Jefferson and his intellectual tradition
as does this University. To continue
the familial analogy if Mr. Jefferson is
the father of the University, he is the grandfather
of the school in Fairfax.

We congratulate George Mason College
and its Chancellor Lorin Thompson on
the school's tenth birthday this year and
hope it continues to grow in the Jeffersonian
spirit. We particularly hope that the
Honor System modeled on the University's
will prove as useful and vigorous there as it
has here.