News

News

Local politics gives students more access

By Lauren Gardner | March 30

Students can help affect change in politics by becoming more active in the local governments of their schools, said professors and campaigning politicians Jamin Raskin and Mary Cheh at a lecture at George Washington University Monday. Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at AU's Washington College of Law, is running in the Democratic primary in September for Maryland State Senate against 20-year incumbent Ida Ruben, Raskin said.

---

News

Campus brief: AU radio station to partner with traffic website

By Kate Oczypok | March 30

WAMU 88.5 FM has partnered with Traffic.com to make listeners' commutes a little less stressful, according to The American Weekly. The service uses a state-of-the-art network of road sensors, fire and police radios, mobile vehicle road reporters, airborne traffic monitors, and more than 300 cameras across the D.

---

News

Student forced to leave GWU

By Rebecca Kern | March 27

Former George Washington University student Jordan Nott recently filed a lawsuit against GWU and eight university administrators, claiming that the school violated federal law protecting Americans with disabilities, according to The Washington Post. The Post reported that at 2 a.

---

News

Metro calendar

By Kelly Kerr | March 27

Now through March 31 Chocolate Decadence 7-10 p.m. Friday The Ritz-Carlton 1150 22nd St. NW 202-974-5566 Metro: Foggy Bottom-GWU (Blue and Orange lines) Tickets: $30 The Ritz-Carlton fills its entire Lobby Lounge with an entire buffet dedicated to chocolate desserts.

---

News

Sociology of the Family class holds panel on adoption experiences

By Kate Oczypok | March 27

Professor Andrea Brenner's Sociology of the Family class held a panel on adoption Friday that allowed members of the AU community to share their experiences about growing up adopted. Brenner organizes various panels throughout the year involving many different aspects of the changing American family.

---

News

Committee considers college testing

By Megan Slack and Mary Specht | March 27

As statistics show disturbing trends in college completion rates and poor performance by graduates on basic college-level skills tests, the U.S. Department of Education is looking for a way to measure how well universities are teaching their students. A federal committee commissioned by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is studying the use of standardized testing in colleges and universities to evaluate and compare how much students are learning at schools across the country.

---

News

Campus brief: Spring SG election candidates announced

By Cait Douglas | March 27

Candidates for the spring Student Government elections have officially announced their intention to run for office and have started campaigning across campus. Three candidates accepted nominations to run for SG President, Undergraduate Senator Rob Boisseau, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, President of the College Democrats Ashley Mushnick, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, as well as SG Secretary Joe Vidulich, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs.

---

News

Students give back on Alternate Breaks

By Tiffany Heimbuch-Maybee | March 27

Many students chose to use their Spring Break to volunteer in another area of the country or world through the Community Service Center's Alternative Break. Students had the opportunity to travel to Central Appalachia in Radford, Virginia, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United States-Mexican border this year.

---

News

Metro briefs

March 27

Class to collect popcorn for foster students On Thursday, March 30, members of Andrea Brenner's Sociology of the Family class will be collecting 2,500 packs of microwavable popcorn that will be placed in care packages with other items and shipped to foster children who are in college on scholarships.

---

News

National briefs

By Ryan Grannan-Doll | March 27

U.S. destroyer hits oil tanker near Iraqi coast The U.S.S McCampbell, a U.S. Navy destroyer, collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Iraq on Sunday, injuring four people, USA TODAY reported. No oil spilled into the ocean, but both ships sustained minor damage although they remained seaworthy.

---

News

Companies may check profiles

By KATE SULLIVAN and Rachelle Douillard-Proulx | March 27

Although American University students who attended the job fair last week may dislike the idea of potential employers checking their Facebook profiles for information on their background, there are currently no laws in place to prevent employers from doing so.

---

News

Employers flock to job and internship fair

By Kyra Smerkanich | March 27

Hundreds of potential employers and staffing agencies lined the walls of Bender Arena while students wandered around with resumes and business cards in hand as part of the Career Center's biannual Job and Internship Fair last Thursday. "Employers are really starting to recognize that they need to get on the bandwagon," said Career Center Executive Director Katherine Stahl, referring to the high employment rates for college graduates.

---

News

New fraternity hosts eating race

By Kate Oczypok and Kyra Smerkanich | March 27

The new fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon sponsored a "Wing Bowl" Sunday afternoon on the Quad. Students were encouraged to sign up in teams to see who could eat the most chicken wings. Challenges included wings covered in wasabi sauce. The Delta Gamma sorority came in first place over The Eagle team winning a trophy and a $50 gift certificate to Wingos in Georgetown.

---

News

Festival celebrates journalism on film

By Rachelle Douillard-Proulx | March 27

As part of the School of Communication's Reel Journalism Film Festival, SOC professor Bill Gentile offered a sneak preview of his documentary, "Dateline Afghanistan: Reporting the Forgotten War" on Saturday night. Shown at American University's Greenberg Theater, the 60-minute film chronicles the month Gentile spent in Afghanistan following fellow reporters and photographers, as well as an embedded assignment with U.

---

News

Activist promotes democracy in Burma

By Kendra Garstka | March 27

Human rights activist and former political prisoner Bo Kyi spoke to about 200 people last Tuesday night about his personal contributions to the campaign for democracy in Burma. Without democracy we cannot speak out, Kyi said. If you practice basic human rights you are in prison.

---

News

E-mail changes academic relations

By Laraine Weschler | March 27

E-mail has changed the nature of student/teacher relationships, allowing for more interaction with professors outside the classroom while encouraging informal and impersonal contact, according to many AU professors. Katherine Gillespie, a literature professor at AU, said a lot of students who don't speak in class e-mail Gillespie their thoughts on course material.

---

News

SAT scoring errors affect AU applicants

By Brian Kalish | March 27

More than 4,000 incoming freshman at universities across the country received lower scores on their SATs than deserved because of grading problems, according to the College Board. Approximately 100 applicants to AU were affected, said Sharon Alston, director of admissions.

---