We love green energy and sustainability. We really do. However, we’re questioning the wisdom of the Clean Energy Revolving Fund, which is now getting revamped, repackaged and renamed for a second attempt at success. Haven’t heard much on it, aside from the referendum last year for the one-time $10 fee? Yeah, neither have we – and that’s part of the problem.
The first time I heard about the Westboro Baptist Church protesting our campus was circuitously through a friend of a friend. She incorrectly believed the Church was targeting their protest against ROTC because “don’t ask, don’t tell” was repealed weeks before (and, you know gays deserve the right to murder, too).
Well, what a difference a few months makes. After the Democrats lost the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, the common perception in the media was that the Barack Obama’s presidency was in a potentially fatal crisis.
By now, a growing number of students have heard about a new Campus Plan for AU. Essentially, it’s about new buildings and what AU will become over the next 10 years. If you’re a student here today, you may wonder why this is relevant to you. It is, and here’s why.
We, the underpaid and unpaid staffers of The Eagle, understand what it is like to not be compensated for the amount of time and effort we pour into this beloved publication. Aside from the glory of seeing our name in a byline or in the staff box, we get little compensation for our hours logged here. So we can, in a way, empathize with our Student Government officials that are underpaid for the work they do.
On Friday, Jan. 14, AU was a university to be proud of. In the face of a small group with messages of hate and with the media spotlight upon us, we had several options. We could have responded in kind to the Westboro Baptist Church’s statements of hate and hurled invectives across the thin police tape. We could have all come up with somewhere else to be and left them to rant at cars passing by on Massachusetts Ave.
The experience is common. Everyone has their own version. Mine happened a few nights ago eating pizza in Tenleytown. Chowing down with an old friend, we commiserated about the economy and how it looks as grim as a middle seat on a plane between Westboro Baptist Church parishioners. She groaned about ...
What do the reports from the President’s Fiscal Commission and all the competing budget plans teach us? Americans are searching for answers to questions about our future. What will we invest in, how will we strengthen our communities and overcome the host of challenges we face? The recession, heightened economic insecurity, and a changing world have us asking, “What will the period of American economic growth look like?”
To kick off the new spring semester, we have some interesting events on our calendar — Cee Lo Green will be performing in Bender Arena, MLK Service Day and, oh yeah, the Westboro Baptist Church is coming to protest our University. They say in a press release they’re coming to harangue us for being “fag-infested” and “pervert-run.” Shirley Phelps-Roper said they’re coming because they’ll be in the area for other protests and decided to hit us up while they’re around. Whatever motive you choose to believe, they’ll be here this Friday for a whopping 45 minutes on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue with an overwhelming contingency of seven of their members to do their thing. This description alone leaves us cowering in fear of … nothing.
It’s a new year with the same old fear. We remain inundated with rainbow designations (Department of Homeland Security threat warnings), aggressive and invasive security, and predatory corporations ready to devour our tax dollars like starving wolves over their concocted financial schemes and plummeted investments. But thanks to the international emergence of Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks, fear appears to be a double-edged sword.
Welcome back to your place of learning, your circle of friends and your home away from home. American University is a special place.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously once wrote “There are no second acts in American lives.” When Fitzgerald, then a forgotten man on the cusp of death, wrote that back in 1940 it was true. Yet ironically enough, Fitzgerald experienced a huge revival decades later and is now considered one of the great American writers. Therefore, his story serves to exemplify one of the most persuasive and ingrained traits of 21st century America. There are no longer any one-act plays in American lives. Today, every single fleeting celebrity has their 15 minutes of fame extended indefinitely. So we must ask, how did we get here and what does it mean?
The Eagle is proud to announce that Joanne Conelley, a sophomore from Kensington, Md., is the winner of the snowman coloring contest.
Solutions by The State News