News

News

Students walk for lupus

By Lindsey Anderson | April 20

Paper butterflies floated down Pennsylvania Avenue Saturday as participants in the third annual Walk for Lupus Now held their signs high and moved to the tune of Unk's "Walk it Out." Walkers paraded through the starting line's balloon arch and headed toward the Capitol.

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Alumna talks security

By Howie Perlman | April 20

President Obama's most significant homeland security challenges will involve fighting terrorists on the ground and protecting the United States from criminals who abuse digital technology, said Frances Townsend, an AU alumna who served as former President George W. Bush's homeland security advisor between 2004 and 2007, during a Kennedy Political Union event Wednesday.

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CASJ petitions for Aramark benefits

By Anna Tuman | April 20

AU's Community Action and Social Justice Coalition is petitioning to get fair benefits for Aramark, Bon Appetit and other subcontracted company workers at the university. "This campaign is something that we took upon ourselves after talking to the workers about their conditions," said Geoff Ramsey, a sophomore in the School of International Service and an organizer of CASJ's Solidarity With AU Workers Campaign.

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Students tidy D.C. park

By Clint Rice | April 20

About 35 AU students found everything from Cadillac tires to wheelchairs to mix tapes while cleaning up a creek in Marvin Gaye Park in Northeast D.C. Saturday morning. The cleanup of the creek - Watts Branch - was part of the 15th-annual Anacostia River Cleanup and Earth Day Celebration.

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Undergraduate Senate's closed-door AUTO actions invalidated

By Jimm Phillips | April 20

April 20 | 10:00 p.m. » The Undergraduate Senate will hold a special session at 11 p.m. Wednesday to reconsider a previously-passed AUTO oversight bill, one of several senate actions - including a censure of AUTO Commissioner Zack Schwartz - currently considered invalid because they violated a previous Student Government Judicial Board ruling.

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News briefs

April 20

The Arbor Day Foundation named AU a 2009 Tree Campus USA University, the university announced during the annual Campus Beautification Day Thursday. The status is granted to campuses around the United States that meet five standards to "promote healthy trees and student involvement" developed by the Arbor Day Foundation, according to the organization's Web site.

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SG approves new budget

By Lindsey Anderson | April 20

The Undergraduate Senate approved the AU Student Government's $590,400 budget Sunday for the 2009-2010 academic year, increasing allocations to the Student Union Board, Founders Day and Women's Initiative. The bill raises the SUB budget to $170,750, compared to $165,750 this year.

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AUTO oversight law passed

By Jen Calantone | April 20

The Undergraduate Senate held a five-hour-plus meeting Sunday, several hours of which were closed to anyone except the body's members, to discuss legal matters involving allegations of AUTO van misuse. The senate unanimously passed a bill that would require oversight of the AUTO program, which Student Government President Seth Cutter vetoed.

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AICPA exec holds GM discussion

By Howie Perlman | April 20

The director of federal regulatory affairs for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Ian MacKay, talked with students and faculty Thursday at the Kogod School of Business about how General Motors' annual financial statements can be used to reveal details about the company's economic performance.

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SOC selects commencement speaker

By Tamar Hallerman | April 20

April 21 | 7:20 p.m. » Susan Zirinsky, an AU alumna and executive producer for the CBS news magazine "48 Hours," will be the School of Communication's commencement speaker, according to David Taylor, President Neil Kerwin's chief of staff. Zirinsky graduated cum laude from AU in 1974.

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Campus calendar

April 16

Thursday, April 16 Lecture: "Minorities in the Media" 6-7:30 p.m. WHERE: School of International Service Lounge INFO: College of Arts and Sciences professor Bette Dickerson's Social Advocacy and Change class invites students to learn and discuss how minorities are represented in both film and television.

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Campus brief

April 16

Julie Munro, a junior and environmental studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences, won a 2009 Morris K. Udall Scholarship. Munro is the current president and treasurer of AU's Eco-Sense club and a student representative for environmental issues to the University Council and AU Dining Services Project Team.

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SOC student to be 'Daily Show' intern

By Julia Ryan | April 16

Greg Handelsman was stunned when he found out he would be interning at Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" this summer. "I was taking a nap when I got the call," he said. "So I woke up, checked my voicemail, and saw that someone named Alicia had called.

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National brief

April 16

A burglar in Pelham, N.H., did not get far with stolen goods after breaking into a home Friday, the Associated Press reported. The owner of the home pulled into the house's driveway as the burglar was leaving with the goods, police told the AP. The burglar apologized when the homeowner approached and returned the electronics and jewelry boxes he had been in the process of stealing.

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Frank will speak at SPA graduation

By Tamar Hallerman | April 16

AU's announcement that Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as the speaker for next month's School of Public Affairs commencement in Tuesday's issue of American Today prompted some students to send letters to campus authorities in protest. Members of the Facebook group "AU Students & Alumni Against Barney Frank @ SPA Commencement '09," which at press time had over 100 members, drafted a letter to the AU community that called for the university to consult with students about commencement speakers before making a choice and urged for students, parents and alumni to complain.

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Metro brief

April 16

Missing Howard University sophomore James Duncan III has been located unharmed, according to an April 14 press release posted on the Metropolitan Police Department Web site. Duncan had last been seen Thursday, March 26 in the 2200 block of Sherman Ave. N.

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AU may broaden insurance

By Tony Romm | April 16

Next academic year could mark the first time AU students participating in the university's health insurance program will have access to human papillomavirus (HPV) and transgender health insurance benefits. The new provisions, pending administrative approval, would make AU the first university in the District to cover HPV testing and the Gardasil vaccination for female students and gender identity and hormonal care for its transgender population.

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