Sunset Statement: Transparent GMU Will Now Be Known As UnKoch GMU

With major accomplishments under its belt, the student organization Transparent GMU is sunsetting its work and supporting the launch of a new project: UnKoch GMU

Since 2012, students and faculty at George Mason University have organized to improve the transparency and oversight process of private donations used to support research and programming. In 2017, Transparent GMU sued George Mason University and the GMU Foundation for refusing to disclose donor agreements made to the private foundation. This case went all the way to the VA Supreme Court and, although they lost the lawsuit, Transparent GMU was ultimately able to accomplish the release of some key donor agreements.

In 2018, Transparent GMU saw an internal review of donor agreements implemented at GMU as a result of their organizing alongside faculty. This led to reformed regulations surrounding gift agreements, which were passed by the Faculty Senate and approved by the Board of Visitors. In 2019 and 2020, Transparent GMU worked with Delegate David Bulova, their state representative, to introduce HB1529 and HB510 in the VA General Assembly. These bills, passed in the 2020 session and then signed by Governor Ralph Northam in March and April, support transparency in higher education by ensuring that universities make donor agreements more accessible under the Freedom of Information Act as well as denying anonymity to donors who make gift agreements with academic strings attached.

Throughout the years, Transparent GMU has participated in community networking and coalition-building with activists on and off of campus. They learned the importance of recruitment and relational organizing, escalation planning, and managing conflict and collaboration between different interests with similar goals. They also overcame the obstacles presented by FOIA pay walls, limitations on registered student organizations, the physical barriers of construction on campus, the outbreak of COVID-19, and the common appeasement from the administration without meaningful change. Overall, Transparent GMU learned many valuable lessons and made a lot of progress in raising awareness about undue donor influence at public universities. They have laid the groundwork for generational activism that supports and encourages UnKoch GMU to continue this work. 

UnKoch GMU refuses to allow George Mason University to prioritize corporate profits over the freedoms, interests, or well-being of its students, faculty, and staff. UnKoch GMU aims to remove all Koch-funded research centers on GMU’s campus by utilizing an anti-oppressive analysis, continuing to build relational power on and off campus, and investing in new leadership identification and development. They look forward to seeing what UnKoch will accomplish in its continuation of this movement.