Democratic presidential candidate and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy has attracted a large youth following that helped him win the Iowa caucuses and other contests, actor Kal Penn said during an event Friday night at the Washington College of Law.

Penn, known for his roles in the film “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” and the television show “House,” encouraged young people to vote during the event.

AU is looking to improve its dining services through Eagle Eyes, a new Auxiliary Services program that will allow students, staff and faculty to evaluate food vendors and receive some reimbursement for the meal, according to Auxiliary Services Director JoDe Norris.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to tackle rising tuition costs and increase inaccessibility for low-income students at colleges and universities around the U.S., including at AU, according to a press release from the House Education and Labor Committee.

While a University of California, Los Angeles survey indicates students nationwide say academic reputation and financial aid affect the colleges they choose, students who choose to attend AU indicate they have other priorities in mind.

The UCLA survey’s results were released last month from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey, a survey conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute.

Facebook unnecessarily grants third-party application developers access to users’ information, according to a study conducted by University of Virginia student researcher Adrienne Felt.

Felt looked at the social networking site’s 150 most popular applications, which allow users to share photos, play games and engage in time-wasting activities.

Student Government President Joe Vidulich toasted AU President Neil Kerwin and the university’s 115th anniversary at the combined Inauguration Celebration and Founders’ Day Ball Friday at the Italian Embassy.

Approximately 1,250 people attended the sold-out event on the embassy’s first floor.

The AU community must work now to pass on an even stronger university to future generations, AU President Neil Kerwin said during a speech at his inauguration ceremony Friday in Bender Arena.

“[AU] will always command the best that I have to give, and I will ask the same from each of you,” he said.

The Undergraduate Senate passed a bill to allow students to use Blackboard to monitor their EagleBuck$ accounts and discussed extending hours at the Student Health Center at its meeting Sunday.

The Electronic Access Guarantee to Legitimate Expenses Act asks Housing and Dining Programs to upgrade the Blackboard system to allow students to monitor their EagleBuck$ expenses, said Jason Cunningham, the class of 2009 senator who wrote and presented the bill.

Officials in northern India conducting medical research will purchase 1,300 gallons of cow urine to study its curative properties, according to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

The bovine by-product is an important component of Ayurveda, an ancient system of medicine in southern Asia.

The Writer’s Guild of America has reached a preliminary deal with the television networks and movie producers that could finally end the 14-week writer’s strike, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.

The Guild’s 10,000 members still need to ratify the pact, but writers can expect to be at their desks again as early as Wednesday once votes are counted, according to the Times.

The top remaining presidential candidates are making a final push for voter support before this Tuesday’s Potomac primaries.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama gave speeches last weekend at the Virginia Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Richmond, while Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov.

The 2011 Class Council is trying to get the freshman class more involved on campus by creating groups to assist each of the council’s officers, according to 2011 Class Secretary Cait Chew.

“We want to get more of the freshman involved in class council and give the freshman class a bigger presence in different events around campus,” Chew said.

Accurate and comprehensive sexual education could help stop the AIDS epidemic in the black community in the United States and abroad, Women’s Initiative HIV/AIDS Task Force Director Melodi Sampson said at a panel discussion Thursday.

Women’s Initiative held the panel and an open forum in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

Monday, Feb. 11 Dance performance - Kenichi Ebina 6 p.m. WHERE: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, intersection of New Hampshire Avenue, Virginia Avenue and Rock Creek Parkway N.W. METRO: Foggy Bottom/GWU (orange and blue lines) INFO: Kenichi Ebina, a multiple-style dancer, will perform as part of the “JAPAN! Culture + Hyperculture” festival.