The Undergraduate Senate passed two new bills Sunday, one establishing a bike-lending program and another approving the transfer of restricted funds for spring programming. 

The restricted Student Government account holds over $17,000, which was split up between the Kennedy Political Union ($13,500), the Student Union Board ($1,000), the Kogod Undergraduate Business Association ($500) and the Class of 2009 ($1,000).

Monday, Feb. 19

George Washington’s 275th Birthday

9 a.m.-4 p.m.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estates and Gardens, 3200 George Washington Memorial Parkway, Mount Vernon, Va.

The event will be held 16 miles south of Washington, D.C., and eight miles south of Old Town Alexandria at the southern end of the George Washington Memorial Parkway at Mount Vernon Estate.

Supporters of a nonbinding resolution criticizing President Bush’s decision to deploy an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq were not able to get the number of votes needed to advance the Senate version of the measure on Saturday, according to The Associated Press.

The D.C. Department of the Environment found elevated lead levels at five District public schools during its last round of testing, according to The Washington Post.

Officials identified the schools as Bowen, Hearst, Kenilworth and Watkins Elementary Schools and Alice Deal Junior High School, according to The Post.

Class of ‘09, coed service fraternity to host a cappella fundraiser  

The Class of 2009 and service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega will be holding a charity a cappella concert, A’Capalooza, March 3, according to a Class of 2009 press release.

Proceeds from the concert will be donated to a D.

A banner advertising Zipcar can now be seen hanging over the front stairs of the Mary Graydon Center. Reading “We’re in your neighborhood,” the sign has attracted attention for being the only off-campus business advertised on campus that is not directly affiliated with the school or with a student group.

President George W. Bush and his advisers decided against issuing an alert over a terror threat in the days leading up to the 2004 presidential election over concerns that their decision would look politically motivated, according to Adjunct Professor Mark Croatti and AU students who attended a presentation by Homeland Security Adviser Frances Townsend on Thursday.

Students prefer online resources and databases to traditional print sources in libraries, according to an article in Educause Review. This switch to online sources has led libraries to change the services they offer to meet students’ more high-tech needs.

The Harvard Corporation elected Drew Gilpin Faust as the first woman to serve as Harvard University’s president in its 371-year history on Feb. 11.

“This is a great day, and a historic day, for Harvard,” James R. Houghton, the senior member of the Harvard Corporation and chair of the presidential search committee, said in a press release.

The history department of Vermont’s Middlebury College decided to ban students from citing Wikipedia as a primary source in their papers for this spring semester. While AU advises students to take advantage of the library’s resources for papers as alternatives to Wikipedia, many AU students use Wikipedia as a start-off point.

AU’s new electronic package system is up and running successfully, according to Catherine Gannon, guest and public relations coordinator for Housing and Dining.

Gannon described the system as a collaboration between the Office of Information and Technology, Mail Services and Housing and Dining.

The annual AU Student Government Founder’s Day Ball proved a “great success,” as more than 500 students packed into the historic Willard Intercontinental Hotel ballroom Saturday night in downtown D.C., according to Derek Torrey, deputy programmer for the SG and a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs.

One of the largest contributors to students’ financial stresses comes right from the schools’ financial aid offices, Vice President of Media Relations at My Rich Uncle, a student loan company, Karin Pellmann said.

According to Pellmann, the enemy is the preferred lender list.