The Eagle

General Information

The Eagle is an award-winning student-run newspaper that publishes a print edition every Monday and Thursday during the academic year, except on days when the University is closed. The Eagle Online, www.TheEagleOnline.com, posts any breaking news between print editions.

Editor in Chief

Jimm Phillips
editor@theeagleonline.com
(202) 885-1402

News

Managing Editor for News
Carolyn Phenicie
editor@theeagleonline.com
(202) 885-1409

Campus News Editor
Jen Calantone
campus@theeagleonline.com

Metro-National News Editor
Rebecca Kern
metro.national@theeagleonline.com

Sports

Managing Editor for Sports
Justin Hall
sports@theeagleonline.com

Opinions

Editorial Page Editor
Charlie Szold
edpage@theeagleonline.com

The Scene

The Scene is The Eagle's arts and entertainment section. The Scene encompasses Music, Arts, and Entertainment, including reviews, interviews and features in those areas.
Managing Editor for The Scene
Kristen Powell
thescene@theeagleonline.com

Music previews and reviews concerts and albums, interviews musicians, and reports on what’s happening in the music industry.
Music Editor: Hilary Crowe
E-mail: Music@TheEagleOnline.com

Entertainment reviews films, interviews stars, writers and directors, reviews video and computer games and television.
Entertainment Editor: Donny Sheldon
E-mail: Entertainment@TheEagleOnline.com

Arts interviews artists, curators, dancers and actors and reviews galleries, theater, performances, museums and books.
Arts Editor: Ruben Luong
E-mail: Arts@TheEagleOnline.com

Ethics

The Eagle adheres to all accepted legal and ethical considerations regarding the First Amendment, including but not limited to libel and invasion of privacy. The Eagle is dedicated to the principles of ethical journalism as described by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. This includes reporting multiple sides to a story, presenting information in an accurate context and avoiding actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

As a student newspaper, The Eagle is also a learning tool, emphasizing the development of professional, managerial and social skills, as well as the practice of producing a quality, semi-weekly newspaper. However, The Eagle has a zero-tolerance policy for contributors who plagiarize or deliberately distort information.

The Eagle’s relationship with AU

The Eagle is fully independent of the School of Communication, other AU media groups, and all student government institutions, including the Student Government and the Graduate Leadership Council. The Eagle is editorially independent of the University in terms of all content, all financial appropriations, and staff and Board of Directors elections and appointments.

SOC journalism professor Danna Walker provides post-production critiques of The Eagle twice a month on The Eagle’s editorial content. SOC professor Bill Gentile also provides post-production criticism and advice on The Eagle’s photojournalism.

The University cannot designate an adviser to The Eagle, but the newspaper may voluntarily consult any University official and/or professional as it sees fit. In addition, the editorial staff may at any time vote to remove or replace the consultant, or to discontinue his or her services.

No one outside The Eagle staff may review the newspaper's content prior to publication.

Complaints, Corrections and Clarifications

The content of the newspaper and all editorial decisions are the ultimate decision and final responsibility of the Editor in Chief. Complaints can be made directly to the Editor in Chief by e-mailing editor@theeagleonline.com or calling x1402. If not resolved satisfactorily, complainants may then go to the personnel committee of the Board of Directors.

The Eagle is committed to promptly printing and thoroughly explaining corrections and clarifications, as well as entering them into the online versions of the articles. To report an error, e-mail the Editor in Chief (above) or Editorial Page Editor (edpage@theeagleonline.com).

Letters to the Editor, Opinion Pieces and Suggestions

The Eagle aims to serve as a forum for discourse and debate for the University community. As such, anyone in the AU community may write a letter to the editor (about 300 words) or opinion piece (about 500-800 words) on any topic to be printed in The Eagle.

Students who submit letters or opinion pieces must include name, year and school (ex: Anne Godlasky, senior, SOC and CAS). Anyone who submits a letter or opinion piece must include their phone numbers and e-mail address, which will not be published.

Letters and opinion pieces represent the views of the author and not The Eagle. The Editorial Page Editor and the Editor in Chief reserve the right to edit columns and letters to the editor for libel, length or style, but not for content. The decision to publish a letter to the editor or opinion piece ultimately falls to the Editor-in-Chief.

All submissions must be original to The Eagle and become the property of The Eagle. Unsigned letters will not be published.

Letters and opinions critical of The Eagle are published.

The deadline for letters and opinion pieces is 7 p.m. on the Thursday before the Monday publication or the Monday before the Thursday publication.

Send letters and opinion pieces to EdPage@TheEagleOnline.com or
Submit Online.

Eagle editors are always anxious to hear from readers about how we can improve, so please feel free to submit suggestions about The Eagle’s publication or operation. If you do not want your comments to be printed or posted, simply specify “NOT FOR PUBLICATION.”

Staff Editorials

The staff editorials and Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down reflect the majority view of The Eagle's Editorial Board, which consists of the Editor in Chief, managing editors for content, representatives from the news desks, and other editors. Each member has an equal vote. The staff editorials represent the opinion of The Eagle, and not of any individual staff member(s).

Navigating the Site

The Eagle Online features all of the content included in the print edition, as well as occasional “web exclusives.” Lead and featured stories can be found on the homepage of The Eagle Online, but additional current stories are also available by clicking on the section links on the left of the page. Also, users can find past stories by clicking the search or archives tool.

Staff Elections

The Eagle Board of Directors elects the Editor-in-Chief and the Business Manager and approves The Eagle's annual budget. The board also addresses problems with and/or proposed amendments to The Eagle Constitution and By-Laws as they arise, as well as any personnel problems or grievances with the newspaper that must go beyond the editor in chief. The Board of Directors meets at least three times each academic year – once in the fall semester, and twice in the spring semester to elect the next Editor-in-Chief and Business Manager and to approve The Eagle’s budget.

The Editor-in-Chief and the Business Manager are elected by a majority vote of the Board each year. The qualifications for each position are a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.3. The Editor-in-Chief must have been an active Eagle staff member in good standing for at least one year prior to the election. The Business Manager must have completed certain accounting classes in the Kogod School of Business, as specified in The Eagle’s Constitution.

Upon election, the Editor-in-Chief appoints managing editors and section editors and the Business Manager recruits finance and advertising staff.

The Board of Directors is comprised of Eagle alumni, SOC undergraduate and graduate students, at-large undergraduate and graduate students and elected Eagle staff members who each have an equal vote. The current Editor-in-Chief and Business Manager, a Student Activities representative and a University Counsel representative also serve on the board but cannot vote.

Awards

The Eagle won five Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 Mark of Excellence Awards for 2007. The Eagle won first place in Breaking News Photography; second place in Breaking News Reporting and Feature Photography; and third place in Editorial Writing and Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper.

In 2005 The Eagle's editorial staff won a Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for excellence in editorial writing with the "Ladner Editorial Series."

In 2004 the Associated Collegiate Press recognized The Eagle as a Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist and The Eagle Online as an Online Pacemaker Finalist in its national competition.

The Eagle also placed second place in the Best of Show competition out of the participants at the annual summer college newspaper workshop in Washington, D.C.

Individual Eagle editors, writers and cartoonists have also won various journalism awards and scholarships for their work on The Eagle.

The Eagle is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press, McClatchy Tribune wire service and U-Wire, which syndicates to a national audience.

Joining The Eagle

Any AU student, including graduate, law and Washington Semseter students are welcome to contribute to The Eagle! Positions are regularly available in reporting, editing, copy editing, photography, graphic design, web management and more.

Former Eagle staff members have gone on to jobs and/or internships at The Washington Post, the Associated Press, USA Today, the City Paper, ESPN and more. It's a great opportunity to hone your skills and get involved with an award-winning student publication.

For details on open positions or assignment meetings, see Announcements. or e-mail Editor@TheEagleOnline.com.

Contact List

Main Office Line: (202) 885-1400
Fax Line: (202) 885-1428

Editor-in-Chief:
Editor@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1402

Managing Editor for News:
News@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1409

Managing Editor for The Scene:
TheScene@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1401

Sports Editor:
Sports@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1404

Editorial & Opinion Editor:
EdPage@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1404

Photography Editor:
Photo@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1401

Production Editor:
Production@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1400

Business Manager:
Business@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 3593

Sales Director:
AdBox@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1414

Finance Manager:
Finance@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 3592

Public Relations Coordinator:
PublicRelations@TheEagleOnline.com, ext. 1410

Mailing Address

The Eagle
252 Mary Graydon Center
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20016

One copy of The Eagle is free per student. For additional copies please contact The Eagle Main Office.

If you need information about advertising in the print editions of The Eagle, please call The Eagle Business Office at (202) 885-1414 ext. 3.