News

News

National brief

March 30

Police in South Beach, Fla., arrested ShowWow spokesman Vince Shlomi last month on charges of felony battery after he allegedly hit a suspected prostitute, United Press International reported Saturday. Shlomi allegedly confessed to hitting Sasha Harris after she bit his tongue while kissing, according to UPI.

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News

International brief

March 30

Millions of homes, businesses and buildings went dark Saturday night during a global initiative to conserve electricity, CNN.com reported. The initiative, called Earth Hour, took place at 8:30 p.m. local time around the world. Participants turned their lights off for one hour to symbolically show support for the movement against global climate change, according to CNN.

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News

Popularity of life skill courses grows

By Carol Cummings | March 30

While some colleges are altering their general education policies, AU's current program effectively serves the interests of its students, said Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs Haig Mardirosian. Students at AU, like at many other colleges, must complete a disciplined general education program in order to graduate.

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News

Survey: Students drink more than study

By Nicole Glass | March 30

A recently released survey found that nearly half of responding college students in the U.S. who consume alcohol spend more time drinking than they do studying. The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators survey of more than 30,000 college freshmen, released March 22, found 49.

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AU may join initiative to pay for vet tuition

By Lindsey Anderson | March 30

AU is monitoring the progress of the new GI bill that will go into effect in August, as well as financial programs aimed at helping veterans attend private universities, according to Financial Aid Director Brian Lee Sang. The GI bill will cover undergraduate tuition and fees at a public college or university in the veteran's home state, according to the U.

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News

BOE: SG/RHA voting problems resolved

By Jimm Phillips and Tamar Hallerman | March 30

Student Government presidential candidate Andrew MacCracken's name did not appear on undergraduate students' online ballots for a period of seven minutes Tuesday morning, while students in some residence halls were initially not able to vote for Residence Hall Association offices.

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News

Metro brief

March 30

Two train derailments near the Bethesda Metrorail station Friday caused a backup on the system's red line over the weekend, according to The Washington Post. The first derailment occurred between the Bethesda and Friendship Heights stations at 4:24 p.m. The train was carrying 84 people, but no injuries were reported.

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News

Group fights Coca-Cola deal

By Julia Ryan | March 30

AU Against Coca-Cola and other student groups have taken social action on campus by trying to stop the university from re-signing Coca-Cola as an on-campus food vendor. They claim Coca-Cola is an unfit vendor for AU because the corporation's numerous human rights violations against its workers. Eight workers at Coca-Cola plants in Colombia have been killed in the past 18 years by paramilitary troops, the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke claims on its Web site. Members of the group said they believe Coca-Cola has been secretly working with these paramilitary troops to stop Coca-Cola workers' efforts to form a union.

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News

Campus brief

March 30

AU will compete in the America's Greenest Campus contest, according to a Student Government Facebook message. The online contest is the "first nationwide contest among colleges to reduce the carbon footprints of their students, faculty, alumni and staff," according to the campaign's Web site.

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News

Metro calendar

March 30

Monday, March 30 "Golden Seams: the Japanese Art of Mending Ceramics" 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. WHERE: Freer Gallery of Art, intersection of Jefferson Drive and 12th Street N.W. METRO: Smithsonian (orange and blue lines) INFO: Thirteen once-broken Asian ceramics were fixed using the Japanese gold lacquer technique and are now on display.

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News

MacCracken elected SG president

By Ethan Klapper | March 30

Andrew MacCracken was elected Student Government president for the 2009-2010 academic year Wednesday night. Alex Prescott was elected vice president, Colin Meiselman was elected secretary and Matthew Handverger was elected comptroller.

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News

Writing program faces expansion

By Marisa Kendall | March 30

Three new creative writing professors will come to AU next semester, which may be the university's first step to expand the College of Arts and Sciences' program. AU currently offers a Master of Fine Arts creative writing degree, but not an undergraduate degree or minor.

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Va. candidate compares self to Obama

By Tamar Hallerman | March 30

Brian Moran, a candidate vying for the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor, emphasized his similarities to the state's last two governors and President Barack Obama in an informal speech in the Mary Graydon Center Wednesday evening. "We need to continue on what we strived to achieve over the last eight years with two consecutive Democratic governors [Mark Warner and Tim Kaine]," Moran said.

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Totenberg analyzes high court

By Howie Perlman | March 30

The U.S. Supreme Court will likely remain conservative throughout President Obama's years in office even if he makes appointments to the court, National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg said at Thursday's Kennedy Political Union event.

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Prof: Hamas ready for peace

By Olivia Stitilis | March 26

The Islamic Palestinian group Hamas is essential within the peace process, School of International Service Professor Robert Pastor said on Tuesday afternoon at AU. AU and Washington College of Law students met with Pastor during the event - "Hamas and the Future of Peace in the Middle East.

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Campus offices earn Eco-Sense approval

By Sam Lindauer | March 26

A division of Eco-Sense is working on eco-certifying offices on campus to ensure that they are environmentally friendly. What makes an office Eco-Certified is an adherence to the criteria presented by Eco-Sense. The criteria followed in the office are designed to make it, and ultimately the entire campus, more environmentally sustainable.

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AU grad student led life of service

By Nicole Glass | March 26

Adeyinka Adesioye, a 2003 graduate from the School of Public Affairs and an SPA master's candidate, died Monday. Adesioye, 27, expected to graduate from SPA this semester. Patrick Ukata, director of the ABTI-American University of Nigeria's (AAUN) D.C. office on AU's campus, said he had no specific details on the cause of Adesioye's death.

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