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News

Hit-and-run driver confesses to police

By Jimm Phillips | April 2

Two AU students injured in a hit-and-run near Tenley Circle continue to recover after the driver of the vehicle involved in the incident identified himself to police. Mohammed Niaz told police during a sworn statement that he had been driving the car at the time of the incident, according to Stephanie Mardell, one of the students injured in the incident and a senior in the School of International Service and the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Metro brief: Metro fare increase derailed

April 2

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager John B. Catoe rejected a Metro fare increase plan, NBC4.com reported Friday. The plan, which the Metro Board of Directors proposed late last year, would have reduced the agency's estimated $116 million budget deficit by raising fares for riders who use the system during rush hour periods, exit at some downtown stations, or use paper fare cards, according to NBC4.

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Speakers explore imprisoned mothers with children

By Kendra Garstka | April 2

When Tonie Rhones left for prison, her daughter was only 15 years old. When she got out 11 years later, Rhones' daughter was 26 and had two children of her own. While serving her sentence, Rhones did not see her daughter once. Now that she is out of jail, Rhones is working on re-establishing their relationship.

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Wellness Center concludes fitness challenge

By Courtney Albon | March 29

Monday marked the completion of the five-week Wellness Center "Get Fit Be Well" Incentive. One hundred and twelve students participated in the program whose goal was to promote health and wellness in AU students "The program was created as an incentive for students to be energized about making changes in the areas of health and wellness.

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Sex assault reporting may violate law

By Brittany Aubin | March 29

AU's handling of sexual assault reporting may be in violation of the Clery Act, a national law regulating campus crime reports, according to JoAnna Smith, the president of Women's Initiative and a junior in the School of Public Affairs. Passed in 1990, the Clery Act requires universities and colleges to publish an annual statement listing the crimes reported that year on campus and in the surrounding areas.

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Metro brief: Webb aide arrested with gun in Senate office building

By Jimm Phillips | March 29

Philip Thompson, executive assistant to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., was arrested Monday after security screeners at the Russell Senate Office Building found a handgun and ammunition in Thompson's briefcase, according to The Washington Post. Thompson appeared in D.

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Clubs debate global warming issues

By Kyra Smerkanich | March 29

The causes of global warming were the topic of debate as the College Democrats and College Republicans squared off on Tuesday night. Republicans contended a natural cycle of cooling and warming periods was the attributable cause, while Democrats said carbon emissions and greenhouse gases were responsible for global warming.

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Class of 2011 connects via Internet

By Joe Arancio | March 29

Courtney Klamar has 29 friends at AU from Virginia, Kansas and Massachusetts even though she has yet to set foot on campus. Klamar, a high school senior from Columbus, Ohio, will be attending AU for the first time in the fall. She met these people through the social networking Web site Facebook, and she is not the only person using this site to find friends.

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Panelists warn against overuse of anonymous sources in stories

By Kaylor Garcia | March 29

Anonymous sources have become "the crack cocaine of journalism," according to Wendell Cochran, associate professor in the School of Communication, who was part of a panel at the "The Investigative Reporting Forum" sponsored by professor Gemma Puglisi's PR Portfolio class.

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National brief: Simpson book rights to be auctioned off on April 17

By Jimm Phillips | March 29

Officials from the Sacramento County, Calif., Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday they will auction off the publication rights to O. J. Simpson's controversial book "If I Did It" on April 17, according to Reuters. A Los Angeles judge ordered Sacramento County to put the book's publication rights up for auction in order to help satisfy $33.

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Campus briefs

By Kyra Smerkanich | March 29

School of Communication professors Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi have been awarded a $600,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to study how educators can teach students to analyze the media without violating copyright laws by showing images and clips, according to an AU press release.

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Campus calendar

By Brian Kalish | March 29

Thursday, March 29 "Elsewhere in Elsinore" Through March 31 8 p.m. Katzen Arts Center, Studio Theatre What are the women of Elsinore Castle doing while Hamlet plots revenge? "Elsewhere in Elsinore," a new verse play by Caleen Sinnette Jennings, explores the motives Ophelia and Gertrude and introduces the audience to other important inhabitants of the castle.

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Two AU nominees win Truman award

By Kyra Smerkanich | March 29

Anna Carpenter, a junior in the School of International Service, and JoAnna Smith, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, have been named Truman Scholars. "President Kerwin called me to tell me that I won," Smith said in an e-mail. "I was extremely excited and didn't actually believe it for the first few minutes.

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GW creates scholarship for D.C. students

By Patricio Chile | March 29

D.C. Public School students are receiving better college opportunities because of help from schools like George Washington University, which recently awarded its Trachtenberg Scholarship to nine D.C public high school seniors, according to The Washington Post.

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AU selects Gill as new athletic director

By Jimm Phillips | March 26

Interim President Neil Kerwin announced Thursday that he chose Keith Gill, senior associate athletics director for administration at the University of Oklahoma, as AU's new director of athletics and recreation. According to an AU press release, Kerwin chose Gill for the position because of his leadership abilities and his commitment to making athletes' academic achievement a priority.

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D.C. literacy below national average, study says

By Emily Blanck | March 26

Thirty-six percent of D.C. residents ages 16 and over are currently functioning at the lowest level of literacy, according to a report released last week by the State Education Agency. The lowest level of literacy is defined by the State Education Agency, as people who "can perform no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills.

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EcoSense to participate in climate change rally

By Rebecca Kern | March 26

EcoSense, AU's student environmental group, is helping to plan and organize an April 14 rally on the National Mall called National Climate Action Day to urge Congress to address global warming issues. Claire Roby, EcoSense president and a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the rally is being planned by Step It Up, a campaign of more than 950 movements nationwide asking Congress to "step it up" by cutting carbon emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, according to its Web site.

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