Thursday, Feb. 2 Burton D. Wechsler First Amendment Competition Through 4 Feb. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Washington College of Law. WCL’s Moot Court Honor Society will host its 13th annual competition. Law students from across the country will gather to argue a specially formulated First Amendment problem and showcase their oral advocacy skills before local judges, prominent attorneys, and First Amendment scholars.

Tuesday, Jan. 17 Disorderly conduct was reported off campus and the Metropolitan Police Department was called to the scene. Wednesday, Jan. 18 Harassment by phone was reported at the Sports Center. An unknown suspect was making threatening phone calls. A student was stuck in an elevator in McDowell Hall.

Bono to promote service at D.C. speech Bono, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and lead singer of the group U2 will speak at the Washington Hilton and Towers Friday night about living a more involved life. The speech is part of the 12th annual Nation’s Capital Distinguished Speaker Series held by the American Society of Association Executives & the Center for Association Leadership.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed three lawsuits against the District on Jan. 19 after allegations of false arrests and excessive use of pepper spray towards protesters during last year’s inaugural parade. 

The lawsuits claim that D.C. police violated the rights of peaceful demonstrators by indiscriminately arresting large groups of bystanders and drenching protesters with pepper spray through a chain-link fence.

Kay Spiritual Center was filled with squirming members of the AU community Tuesday, all craning their necks and stretching their arms backwards as they tried to peek at their own shirt labels, checking to see where their clothing was assembled. The exercise was part of the “Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers” speaking tour.

Many AU students and employees said the world must wait and see how Hamas handles its new political power before judging how their rule will affect relations with Israel.

Rachel Victor, co-president of AU Students for Israel, said she noticed the U.S. was more surprised by the outcome of the elections than Israel was.

670 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors responded to AU’s Core survey, which was distributed in February 2005. The purpose of the survey was to raise awareness about alcohol on AU’s campus.

On average, AU students’ rates of usage are slightly higher than national averages.

In order to counter the dangerous drinking habits of freshmen, AU begins letting students and parents know about its dry-campus policies before classes begin. Freshmen orientation programs are now the starting point for alcohol education and its consequences.

A recent study by the American Council of Education found that first-year college students are especially vulnerable to alcohol-related injuries or death, USA Today reported. The study included student deaths from Jan. 1, 2000 up to the present.

Of the 620 deaths of students who attended four-year colleges and universities since that date, one-third of the students who died were in their freshmen year although on average, freshmen only made up 24 percent of undergraduate students at the institutions studied.

President George W. Bush said America must reduce its dependency on foreign oil and continue its presence in the Middle East in his State of the Union Address, which elicited mixed reactions from the AU community. 

“America is addicted to oil,” Bush said on Tuesday.

Declaring “our world is in severe peril today,” Dr. Allan Lichtman, an AU history professor and a candidate for the Democratic party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, spoke to the AU community Wednesday night as part of the Kennedy Political Union’s “Finest Faculty” series.