In a weekly series running from now until the election, the Mason Gazette will present the views of expert Mason faculty on various important campaign issues. This week's focus is on immigration policy.

When Fred Bemak and Rita Chi-Ying Chung arrived in Yangon, Burma, on May 1, they had no idea that Cyclone Nargis had shifted in the Bay of Bengal and was now headed directly for the impoverished country.

According to a report published earlier this year by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, a sharp falloff in mathematics achievement in the United States begins when students reach middle school and algebra course work commences.