News

News

Power outage darkens AU

By Jen Calantone and Andrew Tomlinson | December 4

A malfunction in a Pepco electrical feeder to several power sources at AU may have caused many students to change their plans Wednesday night and this morning between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., according to a representative from Pepco and an e-mail from the Office of Information Technology sent to the AU community on Wednesday.

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AU students standing up for Darfur, Burma

By Anna Tuman | December 4

AU's chapter of Student Taking Action Now: Darfur, a national student-run anti-genocide group, along with several other AU organizations, will collect money on Thursday as part of the STANDFast fundraiser. "STANDFast is a national fundraising effort to donate money to Civilian Protection Program," said Victoria Bosselman, president of AU's STAND chapter.

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Metro brief

November 24

A group of more than 400 people booed at the Smithsonian Institution governing board's first open meeting in 162 years after an audience member suggested the institutions begin charging admissions, the Associated Press reported. Officials told the AP they are searching for new funding options to combat the $2.

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Number of econ majors rising

By Meg Fowler | November 24

Interest in AU's economics courses has increased this year, conforming with a nationwide increase in the number of students who declare majors and minors in the subject due to the economic downturn, according to professors in the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Economics.

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National brief

November 24

Congress asked Big Three automaker executives from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to provide a "path of visibility" before it can approve the $25 billion emergency federal loan, according to Reuters. Automakers will have until Dec. 2 to provide a detailed survival plan before Congress will return to the discussion, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

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Students debate drinking age

By Austin Green | November 24

Wisconsin, the only state in the United States that does not have a minimum drinking age, is starting to feel pressure from groups in favor of alcohol regulation. AU students have mixed views about state-regulated minimum drinking ages. Minors can drink alcohol in Wisconsin bars and restaurants if an accompanying parent or legal guardian gives consent, according to The New York Times.

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Economy has not affected AU Abroad

By Olivia Stitilis | November 24

The current economic downturn and its repercussions have caused some college students to reconsider studying abroad, though AU Abroad Director Sara E. Dumont said her office has yet to see any major shift in abroad enrollments as a result of the present economy.

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Dance marathon raises money for AIDS research

By Sarah Rudnick | November 24

Organizers of the second-annual Dance Marathon, which ran for 12 hours from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday in the Tavern, raised half of the amount it did last year to fight HIV/AIDS. Cassie Passinault, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and the event's director of dance relations, said participants were asked to try not to sit for the duration of the event.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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