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Festival draws reading enthusiasts to National Mall

By Arielle Burlett | October 2

Tents featuring best-selling authors, poets and illustrators lined the National Mall Saturday for the annual National Book Festival. The event, organized by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, celebrates the importance of reading and creativity by providing the public an opportunity to meet some of their favorite authors, according to a press release about the event.

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Metro brief: Developers announced for waterfront revamp

By Kyra Smerkanich | October 2

District officials chose developers Thursday to transform the waterfront area from the 12th Street Bridge to Fort McNair into a vibrant area full of housing, restaurants and nightclubs, according to The Washington Post. The developers, PN Hoffman and Struever Bros.

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Changes allow full access to networks

By Kaylor Garcia | October 2

Just as the buzz from Facebook's new News Feed feature seemed to be dying down, site creator Mark Zuckerberg added a new twist for the site's users. After a week of posts and polls, Facebook opened its regional networks, where people would no longer need to be a part of an authenticated network to view profiles of users.

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'Dorm diet' advice from visiting writer

By Emily Blanck | October 2

The college student author of "The Dorm Room Diet," a guide to healthy college eating and exercising, spoke about her book at a Thursday night book signing in the SIS Lounge. Daphne Oz, a junior at Princeton University, said she has struggled with weight all her life.

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Homeland Security cuts will not affect AU

By Allie Feras | October 2

Research and education cuts in the Department of Homeland Security's budget for the 2007 fiscal year will not affect AU scholarships or financial aid, said Violetta Ettle, associate provost for the administration. The department's budget, which Congress passed Friday, will cut $12 million from the department's Office of University Programs, which, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, would be a 20 percent loss from the office's 2006 budget.

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AU community unsure of young voters' impact

By Tracy Kania | October 2

The youth vote may have a greater impact on this year's midterm elections than in past years, according to a recent report by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, but some members of the AU community have reservations about the findings.

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Campus brief: Delta Tau Delta works to improve D.C. school

By Brian Kalish | October 2

On Sept. 17, 25 brothers of AU's Delta Tau Delta fraternity worked on the school grounds of Amidon Elementary School in Southwest D.C. to "make it a more pleasant place to learn," according to a press release. The grounds improvement is part of an on-going project with Amidon Elementary through the Adopt-A-School Program, a national organization Delta Tau Delta has partnered with for their philanthropy work.

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Midterm forum predicts Republican seat losses

By Stephen Tringali | October 2

Republicans are likely to give up seats in both the House and Senate this election, but the change should not surprise anyone despite the image painted by the press, said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute, at a Table Talk Forum Tuesday.

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Speakers look at future of Cuba after Castro

By Bill Debaun | October 2

Few things can be said for certain about Cuba's future after President Fidel Castro dies, according to a panel at a discussion Tuesday examining the future of Cuba after Castro's death. Fidel Castro, who took control of Cuba in 1959 and has since had complete control of the country, was hospitalized in August with internal bleeding.

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Facebook forum warns students of site dangers

By Jess Reamy | October 2

Students should change their Facebook privacy settings to prevent university officials from viewing their personal information and pictures on the site, said Nick Johnson, director of the Student Advocacy Center, at a forum Thursday to educate students about the risks of a public Facebook profile.

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UNH students petition for removal of controversial prof

By Rebecca Kern | October 2

Students at the University of New Hampshire are petitioning for the removal of a professor for stating his views of the government's involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks in the classroom, but some AU professors and student leaders say different ideas are essential to student development.

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Library begins penny drive

By Alexa Antonuk | October 2

A coin drive for Bender Library kicked off yesterday with the goal of raising $10,000 from campus groups and students to improve the library's offerings, said Peter Brusoe, chair of the Student Working Group of the Friends of the American University Library.

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AU female enrollment up

By Erik Jacobsen and Peggy Wu | October 2

Female enrollment in colleges is up nationwide, including at AU, which has affected dorm life, classroom dynamics and the campus dating scene, according to students. According to the College Board's Web site, in 2005, AU's female to male ratio was 64 percent to 36 percent, with a freshmen class of 1,223 students and an overall total of 5,788 undergraduate students.

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Spring Valley property scheduled for clean-up

By Kyra Smerkanich | September 28

The Army Corps of Engineers plans to pause cleanup of Lot 18 to focus on investigating an AU-owned house site for munitions, said David Taylor, chief of staff to Interim President Neil Kerwin, noting that there are no current plans for demolition of the property.

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National brief: New vaccine may eliminate ear, sinus infections

By Kyra Smerkanich | September 28

U.S. researchers announced they will conduct clinical trials on a vaccine that officials hope will wipe out cases of childhood ear infections and some cases of adult bronchitis, according to CNN. The vaccine, Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae or NTHi, is unique because it does not aim to prevent serious illness, but it attempts to cut down on ear infections, which are considered a nuisance rather than a serious health threat to children, CNN reported.

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Students protest military policy toward gays

By Alyssa Geisler | September 28

Two women, including an AU graduate student, led a group of protesters Tuesday to challenge the government's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy at the Armed Forces Recruitment Center and held a sit-in in the center's lobby after discovering it was closed. Mandy Craig, a second-year graduate student in the School of Public Affairs and University of Maryland sophomore Alexandra Douglas-Barrera led a group of students from D.

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IFC wants two fraternities out

By Samantha Tyrka | September 28

The Inter-Fraternity Council, Office of Greek Life and Office of the Dean of Students have taken measures to disband Epsilon Iota, an unrecognized and unsupervised AU "fraternity" that describes itself as "the bad-ass" alternative. University officials believe that Epsilon Iota poses significant threats to the campus community because it does not follow any sort of bylaws and engages in questionable behavior such as hazing and excessive drinking, according to Danny Kelley, coordinator of Greek life.

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