News - The Eagle

News

Metro brief

September 18

Smithsonian officials awarded the National Zoo its five-year accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums on Monday, following almost five years of renovations to the park, according to ABC News. Accreditation, tabled in 2003 due to a lack of funding and maintenance issues, was reestablished in 2004, ABC News reported.

News

Congressman helps celebrate KPU's 40th anniv.

By Howie Perlman | September 18

Students celebrated the Kennedy Political Union's 40th anniversary on campus Tuesday, while an alumnus celebrated his alma mater's political speakers bureau in the halls of Congress. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Mass., who was KPU's director during the 1980-1981 academic year, honored AU on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday, declaring that KPU is an organization that is actively committed to "the expansion of political awareness and engagement.

News

National brief

September 18

Wall Street suffered its worse loss since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Monday after three major U.S. financial institutions got into trouble. This week, brokers will try to hold on to investors as the Federal Reserves helps some corporation, like American International Group, to stay afloat.

COUCH POTATO - Many students take advantage of the new lounge on the first floor of Leonard Hall, which Housing and Dining redecorate this summer. Crate and Barrel donated $5,000-worth of furniture for the renovation.

News

Leonard lounge revamped

By Katie Litvin | September 18

Housing and Dining Programs finished redecorating the first floor lounge of Leonard Hall in late August after Crate and Barrel donated $5,000 worth of furniture for the lounge. The chain of furniture stores approached the university and offered to redecorate an on-campus kitchen or lounge, according to Julie Eller, resident director of Leonard Hall.

News

Campus brief

September 15

Robert D. Hradsky will become the new assistant vice president of Campus Life and dean of students, AU announced in an e-mail to the campus Thursday. Hradsky will take over the position from Faith Leonard after she retired this past summer, according to Gail Hanson, vice president of Campus Life.

News

Student voting sparks debate

By Kaitlin Scanlan | September 15

The debate about where students are able to register to vote continues to confuse many nationwide, despite a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that no state, county or district can restrict a student from registering there if they can claim residency. At AU, many students are already registered in their home states and plan to send in absentee ballots or will go home to vote on Nov.

News

Teen suicides decrease

By Michael Byc | September 15

AU continues to be an outlier on the low end of national teen suicide statistics, as no reported suicides have occurred on the campus in the last four years. The most recent data on suicides for 10- to 19-year-olds shows there were 4.5 suicides per 100,000 people according to statistics published by the Journal of the American Medical Association from 2005, the most recent year of recorded suicide rates.

News

FOX 5 broadcasts AU class

By Olivia Stitilis | September 15

The course "Presidential Campaign 2008: Inside the War Room and Newsroom" has formed a unique collaboration with D.C. FOX station WTTG's "FOX 5 News," according to School of Communication professor Lenny Steinhorn. In addition to dedicating an entire page of their Web site to Steinhorn's class - including student biographies, blogs and position papers - the network broadcasts in-class discussions on a weekly basis, according to the course syllabus.

News

Programs, costs affect AU students' college choice

By Lindsey Anderson | September 15

Some students say cost played a large role in their decision to attend AU, in accordance with a recently released survey by Sallie Mae where 38 percent of students said they eliminated colleges based on cost after looking at financial aid packages. The 2007 Higher Education Research Institute Freshman Survey reported that about 26 percent of AU freshmen said cost "was a very important reason for choosing their college," according to Karen Froslid Jones, the director of AU's Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

News

Metro brief

September 15

President Bush dedicated a memorial Thursday to the 184 individuals killed in the attack on the Pentagon on the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As of Thursday, 2,557 days have passed without an attack on American soil, Bush said at the ceremony.

News

International brief

September 15

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has recovered enough from his mid-August stroke to brush his own teeth, a Chinese government official told Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper. The official told the Associated Press that Kim, 66, is able to walk with assistance and does not have trouble speaking.

SAFETY FIRST - A laptop sits unattended in Bender Library near a sign that warns patrons of recent laptop thefts. Students have reported four laptops as stolen from the library between Monday and Thursday last week.

News

Four laptops stolen

By Jen Calantone | September 15

One or more unidentified individuals are responsible for stealing four laptops from students studying in Bender Library between last Monday and Thursday. The perpetrator stole two laptops Monday, one Wednesday and one Thursday. In each instance, the students only left their laptops unattended for a short period of time, according to University Librarian Bill Mayer.

BOOK SMART - "Our Machinery" is a novel that features a machine that recycles human bodies into energy. Author Tha's Miller, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, says she got the book's idea from a "Trivial Pursuit" question.

News

CAS senior authors book

By Carla Neuhaus | September 15

Tha's Miller, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, has just published her first book and has already begun work on her second. She said she told her parents when she was four years old that she knew she would be a writer. It has been her passion ever since.

News

National brief

September 15

A Deltona, Fla., dad chased his daughter's naked boyfriend from her room with a lead pipe Thursday morning, the Daytona Beach News-Journal Online reported. The father, 45, told authorities he didn't know his daughter had a boyfriend let alone that he had been sneaking into the house for more than a year, the News-Journal reported.

News

Metro calendar

September 15

Monday, Sept. 15 Food - Paella Festival Kickoff 11 a.m.-noon WHERE: Taberna del Alabardero restaurant, 1776 I St. N.W. METRO: Farragut West (blue and orange lines) INFO: This Spanish restaurant will begin its annual Paella Festival with chef Dani Arrana's cooking demonstration, which will include complimentary paella samples.

News

University promotes self-defense

By Julie Munro | September 15

As colleges across the country work to implement increased personal defense and emergency response training for staff and students, AU has maintained a consistent and comprehensive public safety program, said Lt. Rima Sifri, AU Public Safety's crime prevention coordinator.

News

Most European colleges still tuition-free

By Carla Neuhaus | September 15

While U.S. students' college tuition continues to rise, many European countries continue to fund their universities and are experimenting with low tuitions. A 2008 study by the CESifo Group, a European research group, shows that many public universities in Europe do not charge their students any tuition fees at all.