The Student Government’s new Web site will include opinion forums and regularly updated content when it is completed in time for the beginning of Welcome Week.
The new system will make it easier to get news, events and pictures on the site. SG directors will be able to add content themselves, instead of filing an update request with the webmaster, according to Ben Murray, the SG’s director of information technology.

A new virus protection system is being implemented to prevent infected computers from logging onto AU’s network, EagleNet, and to remind users to regularly update their virus protection software. The introduction of the software is a response to high rates of infection among computers on the AU network, which have mostly affected students.

Updated 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9
The SG released a statement Friday saying it “eagerly awaits the findings of this investigation” by the Board of Trustees into President Benjamin Ladner’s alleged use of university money to fund European vacations, a personal French chef, presents for his children and other personal expenses.

“The Student Government wholeheartedly supports the Board of Trustees investigation into this matter and will cooperate in any way possible,” according to today’s announcement.

Seven laptop computers have been stolen from residence halls this summer, prompting Public Safety to discuss security with new students and present a proposal to the university that would make an anti-theft tracking system available for purchase at the campus bookstore.

As the Katzen Arts Center nears completion, AU prepares to tackle other major campus projects, including a new School of International Service building and the School of Communication’s move from Mary Graydon Center to the McKinley building.

While Katzen will open this fall, the SIS building is still only a concept.

Students in a new School of Communication class covered the impact a new baseball stadium will have on Southeast D.C. through an array of techniques, from a documentary to public service announcements.

The goal of the class, Communication and Social Change, was to explore the effect of the proposed $585 million stadium on all residents using a variety of media, according to the course’s professor, Charlene Gilbert.

AU will discontinue Ruckus, a music and movie downloading program offered last spring, after a survey of 398 students conducted in April revealed many didn’t support the service during its free trial period. The university is still considering several other legal file sharing programs with input from students, including the Residence Hall Association, which announced on Sunday it will recommend Napster.

Bender Library’s new coffee kiosk will be finished by the beginning of July, according to Diana Vogelsong, associate university librarian at AU.

The Mud Box, given its quirky moniker by a student who won a naming contest last spring, is one of many projects the library has been working on for the next academic year.