Mason Club opens for faculty and staff

Back in the day, Joe Scimecca recalled, he was part of a group of 15–20 George Mason University faculty members who regularly met for lunch.

But just try to get a table for 20 today at Southside, at Ike’s or any of George Mason’s crowded eateries, the sociology professor said. Not going to happen. That’s one reason Scimecca was so excited about Monday’s opening of the Mason Club, the 150-seat space in the Pilot House of the Hampton Roads housing complex, where faculty and staff can enjoy breakfast and lunch or just hang out with coffee or tea.

Membership is $25 a semester (you can sign up here) with food and beverages available for a fee. So far, 450 people have signed up to be members.

“There’s been a need for this for years,” Scimecca said. “There just was no place for faculty and staff to get together.”

Many had a hand in the yearlong effort to establish the club. But it started with Scimecca; Rutledge Dennis, a fellow sociology professor; and Steven Pearlstein, a Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs and a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post.

They make up the club’s board of directors, which will expand in the future, they said. They also were involved in every aspect of the setup, from food and coffee tastings with club manager Jerrod Moore to deciding on some of the aesthetics.

Also integral, they said, were J. J. Davis, Mason’s senior vice president for administration and finance; Mark Arnold, Sodexo’s retail dining general manager at Mason; and Marc Fournier, Mason’s assistant vice president of business services.

“I don’t know a tenth of the hurdles we got over because Marc took care of everything,” Pearlstein said of Fournier. “There are all these committees that have to approve. I don’t even know what he did because he was great at shielding us from all that and making it happen.”

Pearlstein said the club is set up to be self-sustaining. Membership fees will cover any shortfalls in operating expenses and will finance upgrades to the space. Beer and wine will be available when a liquor license is secured.

“It offers an opportunity for people to step outside their office, even just for a little bit,” said Catherine Wright, associate professor of communication, and a club member. “We get entrenched in our classes and research. Everybody needs the opportunity to take a break. This gives people an opportunity to do it in a place with colleagues.”

That is exactly what Pearlstein wants to hear.

Dennis, he said, “was very keen about getting people from different departments to have serendipitous interactions with each other. Stuff might come out of that. ‘Let’s teach a course together’ or ‘let’s do an interdisciplinary program.’ If you never talk to anybody and never meet anybody, that’s never going to happen.”

“I had this thing when I was chair of my department,” Scimecca said. “I said you should never eat lunch in your office.”

Mason Club details

Hours of operation: Continental breakfast, 7:30-10 a.m.; Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Coffee and tea, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Meal prices (not including tax): Continental breakfast, $7; Club lunch, $10; Premium lunch, $14; Coffee and tea, $1.50.

Payment options: Mason Money through a Mason ID card, or by credit card. Or send a $25 check to Ruby Pizano, including a note indicating your name and G number, payable to Sodexo-Mason Club. Mail to: Mason Dining, Attn: Ruby Pizano, 4400 University Drive, MS 2F8, Fairfax, VA, 22030.