January/February 2001

Building Naming Policy Expanded By Jeremy Lasich At its November meeting, the Board of Visitors (BOV) expanded its policy on naming facilities to include schools, colleges, institutes, centers, parts of buildings, and portions of the grounds. The policy previously covered only individual buildings. According to the policy, "buildings, schools, colleges, and degree-granting institutes may be named in recognition of any honoree, donor, or donor-designate who, in the judgment of the [BOV], has made a notable contribution to the university. . . . However, no building, school, college, institute, center, portion of a building, or a portion of the grounds or feature thereof, shall be named for an individual or entity solely because of a monetary gift or perceived unusual service to the university.…" The policy stipulates that ordinarily a building can be named in recognition of a donor only if the gift received amounts to a minimum of 20 percent of the total construction cost of a new building and its contents, or 20 percent of the current replacement cost of an existing building and its contents. Under the policy, the university president in consultation with the president of the George Mason University Foundation recommends to the BOV the amount of the gift for naming a school, college, or degree-granting institute. The amount for naming a nondegree-granting institute, a center that is not a building, a portion of a building, or a portion of the grounds is determined by the university president in consultation with the foundation president. Funds donated to name a new building can be used to offset construction or content cost, and/or to create an endowment to augment state appropriations to upgrade, renovate, or maintain the building. To name an existing building, 25 percent of the funds donated are to be used to create an endowment to upgrade, renovate, or maintain the building, with the balance used for any institutional purpose. These determinations are made in consultation with the donor. The policy also contains provisions for term naming rights.