News

News

Founders' Ball becomes evening of firsts

By Meg Fowler | February 23

From an impromptu student beat-boxing performance to an unconventional organizational team and large number of attendants, this year's Founders' Day Ball, "An American Affair," set new precedents while following time-honored traditions of the annual event.

---

News

AU honors Peace Corps week

By Nicole Glass | February 23

AU is celebrating Peace Corps Week from Monday through March 2 to celebrate the establishment of the Peace Corps 49 years ago as well as the 10-year anniversary of the Masters International Program at AU, including a visit from the Acting Director of the Peace Corps in the middle of the week.

---

News

AU notifies residents of on-campus TB case

By Tony Romm | February 23

An AU student hospitalized last week for pulmonary tuberculosis is recovering quickly, and no such similar cases on campus have been reported, according to Student Health Center Director Dan Bruey. Although Bruey's office and the D.C. Department of Health have since contacted and tested all at-risk students and staff members, the university could not provide more specifics - including how the student contracted the disease, how many AU community members came in contact with the disease and which areas of campus he or she may have inhabited.

---

News

FIRE prez criticizes AU policy

By Justin Van Der Horn | February 23

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranks AU as a "red light institution" for administrative censorship, FIRE President and AU alumnus Greg Lukianoff said during a Kennedy Political Union and Students for Liberty event Thursday night. FIRE ranks universities on a red, yellow and green light scale based on threats to free academic thought found in university policies, according to FIRE's Web site.

---

News

Campus brief

February 23

College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kay Mussell will take the post of interim senior vice provost and dean of academic affairs in June, despite her earlier announcement in October that she would be beginning a sabbatical after the close of the academic year, according to a Feb.

---

News

National brief

February 23

A Pennsylvania library has been closed for almost two weeks due to the smell from a skunk that may have gotten inside the library, the Associated Press reported. Officials closed the Allensville branch of the Mifflin County library on Feb. 10 after the smell spread throughout the building.

---

News

Metro brief

February 23

The last car of a six-car Metrorail train derailed at the Mount Vernon Square station Thursday evening, The Washington Post reported. No injuries were reported as a result of the derailment, which occurred around 6:30 p.m. on a section of the yellow line that is shared with the green line, the Post reported.

---

News

Political clubs discuss health care, stimulus

By Jordyn Phelps | February 23

The College Republicans and Democrats exchanged words mostly along party lines on Wednesday night in a debate about the $787 billion stimulus package and President Obama's proposed heath care plan. "Republicanism is about you and I," said David Lindgren, a freshman in the School of International Service and one of the debaters for the College Republicans.

---

News

Financial aid pilot program comes to end

By William F Zeman | February 23

AU will not be affected by the U.S. Department of Education's plan to end a pilot program which allowed schools to experiment with waiving federal financial aid regulations. The Experimental Sites Initiative was launched in 1995 by Former Education Secretary Richard Riley.

---

News

Metro calendar

February 23

Monday, Feb. 23 Fly Girls of WWII 8 a.m.-5 p.m. WHERE: Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia side of Memorial Bridge METRO: Arlington Cemetery (blue line) INFO: Visit the Women in Military service Memorial and discover the contributions of female WWII Air Force Service Pilots.

---

News

AU dorm lobbies may be monitored

By Tamar Hallerman | February 23

Housing and Dining Programs Executive Director Chris Moody said he is "toying with the idea" of installing cameras in the lobbies of AU's residence halls to increase security in the dorms. "I'm looking at cameras pointing away from the desk at the doors as a possibility," he said.

---

News

International brief

February 23

A hippopotamus that weighs nearly 1,800 pounds has moved into a sewage treatment facility in Cape Town, South Africa, officials told the Associated Press Thursday. The four-year-old hippo, named Zorro because of a zigzag scar on his back, found his way into the facility after a portion of the surrounding fence was stolen, the AP reported.

---

News

International brief

February 19

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, the transit authority in Stockholm, Sweden, has demanded an arts university pay more than $10,000 after a student allegedly painted graffiti in a train and smashed a window, the BBC reported. Magnugs Nugstafsson submitted a video of the vandalism, titled "Territorial Pissing" as his art thesis at the University College of Arts, Craft and Design, according to the BBC.

---

News

Privacy laws changed

By Lindsey Anderson | February 19

Recent changes in the Family Rights and Privacy Act clarify what information a college can disclose and under what circumstances, according to AU Dean of Students Robert Hradsky. The new regulations were announced by the Department of Education in December after more than a year of debate regarding the act, known as FERPA, and the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

---

News

Campus brief

February 19

AU Provost Scott Bass signed a five-year agreement with the National Archives, AU announced in a press release this week. The agreement will allow for collaborative work between teachers, students and the Archives. AU faculty will be able to work with members of the archive staff on projects; they will also be able to consult archive staff with questions.

---

News

National brief

February 19

A Bellevue, Wash., man turned the tables on two burglars who had broken into his house by driving off in their getaway van Feb. 10, The Seattle Times reported. Patrick Rosario said he was at home because he had recently been laid off from his job at Washington Mutual.

---

News

AU looks for new Napster

By Marisa Kendall | February 19

With funding issues shutting down many online music services, the AU administration has had no luck in finding a provider that could replace Napster as students' source of free music. Ruckus Network closed down on Feb. 6, ending its service that provided free and legal music to students at more than 200 colleges, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

---