News

News

Lower voter turnout in Md., D.C.

By Meg Fowler | November 24

Recent poll data indicates voter turnout in Maryland and D.C. for the 2008 general election was below the expected level in the 2008. Some AU faculty and students blame decreased turnout on the fact that Republican presidential nominee McCain was behind in the polls.

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News

New program to fight negative body images

By Kai McConnell | November 24

Alan Duffy, a health educator in AU's Student Health Center, and the National Pan-Hellenic Association plan to launch an AU version of a national peer-facilitated program that promotes positive body images among women in sororities early next year. The Sorority Body Image Program, which started six years ago at Trinity University in San Antonio, is hailed as the most effective tool in anorexia and bulimia prevention, Duffy said.

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News

Metro calendar

November 24

Monday, Nov. 24 Exhibition - "Herblock's Presidents: Puncturing Pomposity" 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. WHERE: National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, Eighth and F streets N.W. METRO: Gallery Place-Chinatown (red, yellow and green lines) INFO: Former political cartoonist Herbert Block, a.

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News

LASO connects students, Aramark

By Rachel Delevie-Orey | November 24

The Latin and American Student Organization (LASO) recently started a program partnering AU student volunteers with Aramark workers to help them improve their English. Community Learners Advancing Spanish and English (CLASE), an offshoot of LASO, was a result in combining volunteers, participants and orchestration by Aaron Montenegro, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, who put the club together in order to help Aramark workers with speaking English.

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News

SG brief

November 24

The Undergraduate Senate unanimously approved a bill Sunday that would reduce plastic bag consumption on campus. Disposable bags account for 25 percent of landfill garbage, only 2 percent of which are recycled, according to Class of 2012 Senator Amanda Merkwae, one of the bill's sponsors.

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News

Study says students slack

By Rachel Trainer | November 24

Homework completion is not the most important factor in a student's ability to excel in class, according to USA Today. Recent findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement found that while 20 percent of college students do not do their homework, most still receive As, according to USA Today.

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News

Justice Not Jails questions Prop. 5, prison labor laws

By Stephen Gamble | November 24

The AU club Justice Not Jails, organized an event called "Race and Incarceration," on Nov. 12 to discuss how socially progressive, revenue-neutral measures could fail because of the power of the prison industrial complex. On Nov. 4 Californians defeated Proposition 5, a revenue-neutral measure that according to Ballotpedia.

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News

Americans ignorant in civics, study says

By Lindsey Anderson | November 24

Americans are "alarmingly uninformed" when it comes to civics, according to a recent study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which gave Americans, including college graduates and elected officials, a failing grade on United States history and economics.

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Campus brief

November 24

AU President Neil Kerwin and Board of Trustees Chairman Gary Abramson will hold an open forum today on the AU budget process and the strategic plan, according to Today@AU. Kerwin announced Nov. 17 that he planned to submit a draft of the strategic plan and a set of budget development guidelines to the board of trustees during the board's Friday meeting.

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News

SUB director resigns

By Tamar Hallerman | November 24

Student Union Board Director Tré Matthews resigned from his position Nov. 14 in order to focus his attention on his music career, according to a press release from the AU Student Government President's office. However, SG Vice President Andrew Woods and some SUB members said Matthews was told to step down because he was not meeting the requirements of his position.

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Newly updated history museum pleases patrons

By Sarah Rudnick | November 24

AU students can now visit the newly renovated Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, which opened Nov. 21 after being closed for two years. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell read Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to a 200-person crowd on the museum's steps before it opened, according to The Washington Post.

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International brief

November 24

The United Nations General Assembly's Human Rights Committee voted to ban the death penalty for the second consecutive year. The United States, along with Syria, Iran and China, opposed the resolution, the Associated Press reported. Nations supporting the death penalty cited the punishment as an effective deterrent for more serious crimes, while nations in opposition said there remains no concrete evidence of its benefit, the AP reported.

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News

Dorms, apts. for rent on Jan. 20

By Charlie Szold | November 24

Students planning to sublet their apartments or dorms during the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama could face expulsion or eviction from their residences. Across the D.C. area, people are attempting to temporarily lease their apartments and houses to make a quick buck.

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International brief

November 20

Twenty world leaders, representing 85 percent of the global economy and two-thirds of the world's population, gathered in D.C. this weekend to discuss what actions they need to take to combat the economic crisis. At the summit, which ended Saturday, leaders promised new safeguards for financial systems, including regulatory holds on risky investments, according to BBC News.

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News

Course aimed to reduce poverty

By Carrie Cuy | November 20

Last semester, AU introduced its first course dedicated to the study of microfinance from a business perspective. The class, called "Microfinance in Business Development," is taught by Ghiyath Nakshbendi, a Kogod School of Business professor. It gave students the opportunity to delve into a formal study of the microfinance industry.

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News

Bike theft continues

By Justin Van Der Horn | November 20

On average, someone has stolen one bike per month at AU for the last year, according to Public Safety statistics. Between Nov. 11, 2007, and Nov. 11, 2008, 12 bikes were stolen, with higher than average numbers reported in March and October. Lt. Rima Sifri, the crime prevention coordinator for AU Public Safety, said she recommends cyclists lock the frame and front wheel of their bikes with heavy duty chains or U-shaped locks, keep a copy of the receipt and engrave a unique and identifiable marking on the bike.

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Morales urges better U.S. relations

By Clint Rice | November 20

Members of the AU community packed into Ward Circle Building Room 1 Tuesday evening to hear Bolivian President Evo Morales speak about the changes his government made in Bolivia and the need for better relations between Bolivia and the United States. Morales' speech, which was delivered in Spanish but simultaneously translated into English, was his first public address in Washington, D.

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