George Mason alumna Larisa Prinz is the retail unit marketing coordinator for food service provider, Sodexo, which runs the Rathskellar. Photo by Evan Cantwell.
By Buzz McClain
The Rathskeller, one of George Mason University’s first restaurants, underwent a major makeover this summer. Gone are the framed ambiguous T-shirts and dusty pennants. Now the walls are adorned with oversized images reflecting milestones in the school’s history in academics and athletics.
The new interior details of the sports bar/restaurant—affectionately known as “The Rat”—in the basement of SUB I on the Fairfax Campus were designed by George Mason alumna Larisa Prinz, who is the retail unit marketing coordinator for food service provider, Sodexo. In fact, Prinz is a “triple Patriot,” having earned her BA in art and visual technology with a concentration in photography in 2009, a public management certificate in 2014 and an MPA in 2015.
Sodexo staff worked for three months on the project with input from the Mason Alumni Association and Robert Vay, BA American Studies ’92, MA History ’99, the digital collections archivist for the University Libraries. (See the Vay-produced visual history of Mason here.)
“We always talk about Mason’s future,” Prinz said. “There’s nothing else on campus like this that looks at the past. I wanted students and alumni to see it and have a sense of pride.”
And new students will see that Mason does have a history, albeit only back to 1964. As a bonus of sorts, they can admire the evolving fashion trends of college students from the past.
The back wall of the restaurant boasts an oversized timeline, beginning with the 1964 groundbreaking of the Fairfax Campus of George Mason College and ending in 2015 with the renaming of the Science and Technology Campus in Prince William and the naming of the EagleBank Arena.
In between are panels depicting, among other events, Mason’s independence from the University of Virginia in 1972, the opening of the Arlington Campus in 1979, the 1985 women’s soccer national championship and the 2005-06 men’s basketball run to the NCAA Final Four.
Photo mural in the Rathskellar. Photo by Evan Cantwell.
The wall where the line forms near the cash registers is a dynamic montage of more than 100 black-and-white action photos from club sports, athletics and student rallies, surrounding an oversized “starbolt” Mason athletic logo.
Authentic jerseys from Mason’s Athletic Department are also on display along the walls. And the outward facing windows are adorned with oversized panels of former Mason athletes, reflecting a vivid array of sports and athletic accomplishments.
Although the Rat opened in 1975—and was the first and only place on campus where beer is sold—the first dining hall was a basement room called the Ordinary, offering little more than vending machines and a sandwich counter that sold submarines at 10 cents an inch (take that, Subway).
“For now,” said Prinz, “Mason Dining has no plans to remodel other restaurants, although I’d love to put some effort into the Johnson Center food court. Our dining program changes with the evolving needs and demographics of our customers, though, so you never know.”