AWOL Issue 30: Spring 2022

FALSE ALARM AWOL SPRING 22

IN THIS ISSUE:

“OUR SOULS ARE THERE”

PROTESTORS FROM DC COMMUNITY RALLY AROUND UKRAINIAN NEIGHBORS TO SHOW SUPPORT AND RAISE POLITICAL AWARENESS

WHAT GOES UP... STUDENTS DISCUSS THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH MALFUNCTIONING ELEVATORS ON CAMPUS

MISSPENDING IN DC GOVERNMENT DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE ALLEGEDLY BEEN MISSPENDING MONEY INTENDED FOR AT-RISK STUDENTS FOR YEARS. COVID-19 COULD HAVE MADE IT WORSE

STAFF

EDITOR–IN–CHIEF

Katherine Long

MANAGING EDITOR

Audrey Hill

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Sierra Cougot

STAFF EDITORS

Jessica Bates

Kathryn Gilroy

PODCAST DIRECTOR

Bonnibelle Bishop

LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER

Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Readers,

We celebrate a new milestone for AWOL this semester, as this work marks the 30th issue of our magazine. Despite the challenges that these past few years have presented us and the changes we have faced, our mission has remained the same. We at AWOL continuously strive to shed light on those who are less often heard, providing subversive and irrepressible stories to the AU community and beyond.

Many members of our current team began their time at AU online, and our return to in-person classes and staff meetings has allowed us to cultivate a new sense of community. This community was coupled with unwavering enthusiasm and drive, as is reflected in the work presented in this issue.

Continuing our emphasis on investigative reporting, AWOL took a deep dive into the campus community in-person and the surrounding Washington, D.C. area. Kathryn Gilroy, Audrey Hill and Helena Milburn looked into the fluctuating reliability of campus elevators. In a story about D.C. Public Schools, Audrey Hill spoke with a school budget analyst on claims of misspending in the DCPS budget. Neil Franklin and Grace Hagerman wrote their first story for AWOL this semester on fire alarms in the freshman residence halls, featured as our cover story for this edition. These stories are not only a way for the AU community to engage with what’s happening around us, but it is a celebration of the hard work and dedication of our staff.

As recent worldwide and local events have shaped our way of life, what we at AWOL have hoped to represent is the way that students, faculty, staff and the local community make their voices heard. Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao covered multiple protests, documenting photos of pro-Ukraine protests at the Russian embassy and the White House. We want readers to see all aspects of our community, which is one that exists both on and off campus.

Reporting on campus involves an array of priorities, from providing our readers with unheard stories to succeeding in our day-to-day classes and beyond. This balance is a difficult one, and one that is unique to student journalists. We take great pride in being able to do the work we can while also having the space to engage in other aspects of our life. Participating in this organization is a commitment, not only a commitment to the other AWOL members but to our readers as well.

I want to personally thank our staff and our readers for keeping AWOL alive and contributing to a productive and ever-changing AU environment. We hope that our work inspires you as you have inspired us.

Sincerely,

Katherine Long

CONTENTS CONTENTS

FALSE ALARM

FREQUENT FIRE ALARMS SPARK CONCERNS AMONG DORM RESIDENTS

Neal Franklin and Grace Hagerman

“OUR SOULS ARE THERE”

PROTESTERS SHOW SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE

Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao and Helena Milburn

WHAT GOES UP... SUBHEADING

Kathryn Gilroy, Audrey Hill and Helena Milburn

MISSPENDING IN D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PANDEMIC PUTS STRAIN ON ALREADY CONTROVERSIAL BUDGET

Audrey Hill

ON CAMPUS ACTIVISM PHOTO ESSAY

Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao

THE HUM

Bonnie Bishop, Helena Milburn, Audrey Hill, Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao, Grace Hagerman, Neal Franklin, Matt Romano and Toby Ruttenberg

LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS:

RIPPED FROM THE WALL THE HUM

FALSE ALARM

FALSE ALARM FALSE ALARM

FREQUENT FIRE ALARMS SPARK CONCERNS AMONG DORM RESIDENTS

Freshman students question whether to evacuate after alarms throughout the semester, stretching the patience of residents

Written by Neal Franklin and Grace Hagerman

Most people accept that in their first year of college they will experience a fire alarm here and there, especially since many young students are getting their first taste of independence. The first time a resident drags their feet down the stairwell at 3 a.m., with their sleep deprived neighbors next to them, will be memorable. What isn’t so endearing, is when it happens again, and again, and again. Many residents have decided that evacuating isn’t worth it.

Freshmen have had to evacuate Anderson, Letts and Centennial Halls due to frequent fire alarms throughout the year, leading to mistrust in the evacuation system and frustration among residents.

Each time a fire alarm is triggered, 770 people have to evacuate all three residence halls. More people live in this complex than any other dorm on American University’s campus.

The university requires that all residents leave the building as soon as possible when the fire alarm sounds.

“Failure to evacuate a building during an emergency is considered a violation of University Policy,” said Elizabeth Deal, assistant vice president for Community and Internal Communication.

The majority of responding residents follow this policy. Out of 86 people, 54.7% said they never stay in the dorm when a fire alarm rings. Obeying the code of conduct does not come without frustration though.

Freshman Anderson Hall resident

Juliana Abelow leaves her dorm every time, but not because she thinks there is an active fire.

“My reasoning is that I’m a goody two shoes. And the idea of staying when I know I’m supposed to not stay is very scary,” she said.

Abelow said that her frustrations are rooted in the fact that residents pay a lot to live on campus and the amount of fire alarms do not reflect that amount. When asked if she thinks all the fire alarms are necessary, Abelow said that they aren’t.

“No. I am really angry. I feel like as someone who pays $15,000 a year for housing, we should not be disrupted like this,” she said.

A freshman student living in Anderson Hall pays $10,500 for housing in a traditional double occupancy room and $5,306 for a mandatory meal plan.

Daniel Frias, a Letts Hall resident, explained that the fire alarms have impacted his performance in school.

“I believe it’s happened twice now that we’ve had two fire alarms in one night. On both those mornings I slept through my 8 a.m. because I was too tired to wake up to my alarm,” Frias said.

However, not everyone complies with the student code.

AWOL talked to a freshman resident living in Centennial Hall that does not leave when the fire alarm goes off. Because this is a violation of university policy they are not identified for this story.

When asked what they think is happening when an alarm goes off the resident said that they just think “that there’s another malfunction or

Photos by Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao

someone didn’t take the lint out of the dryer or the laundry room. I never think it’s a fire.”

“The only time I’ll leave is honestly if I’m already outside and can’t go back in, but if it’s at like, three in the morning? I stay. I’m not gonna leave,” they said.

The resident said that they would be more likely to take fire alarms seriously and evacuate if there were fewer fire alarms.

AWOL sent a poll to the class of 2025 GroupMe where 92% of 87 responding residents said that the fire alarms were excessive.

AU, like many other universities, does not keep a running record of the alarms. However, freshman student Elliot Parrish has been keeping a tally since the start of fall semester. On March 13, his tally was at 43 alarms.

“My process is this: I am part of a large group chat that posts the ‘all clear’ in real time after a drill is done. Using their RA-supplied alerts, even if I am not present in Anderson Hall during a drill, I will know about it and add it to my tally,” Parrish said.

Frequent fire alarms also put pressure on Resident Assistants.

“I found out that I was going to be in Anderson and I was like, oh my god, I have to deal with the fire alarms

RAs have the responsibility of communicating with residents when they return to the dorms after an alarm.

“I just feel like everyone is relying on the RA’s to communicate that to them. And sometimes, whenever the fire alarms drag on for a long time, it just gets really frustrating,” the RA said.

The former RA also said that the amount of alarms this year was fairly regular. When asked about how many fire alarms they experienced their freshman year they said that they didn’t remember the amount.

“I just remember towards rush season there was so many fire alarms every night,” they said.

These incidents are not unique to AU’s campus, and many other universities have dealt with frequent fire alarms.

The Hattiesburg American reported on four school campuses in Mississippi: William Carey University and Pearl River Community College experienced about 0.5 alarms per week, the University of Southern Mississippi experienced about 0.75 alarms per week in 2016 and Jones County Junior College experienced about 0.5-0.33 alarms per week. This is presumably for all dormitories on campus.

The Crimson, a student publication at Harvard University, also reported on fire alarms in the Holden Green housing complex and found that there were about 0.75 alarms per week. University officials cited smoke alarms as being too close to heating vents.

Alarms in the southside dorms outpace all of these other universities, averaging around 1.5 alarms per week

based on the tally provided by Parrish.

The university is looking to address some of the concerns surrounding fire alarms, said Deal.

A team led by the University VP and CFO are “working on a fire system assessment” said Deal, which includes “a review of the fire code to determine improvements in the fire suppression and fire/smoke/heat/detection operating system with the goal of reducing the impact and frequency.”

Frequent fire alarms and updates have caused students to point to a variety of different reasons for the incidents.

According to the poll sent to the 2025 GroupMe, residents assume that there is either a malfunction, a laundry mishap, cooking problems or an intentional pulling. Almost no respondents said that they assumed there was an actual fire.

After each fire alarm goes off, an email is sent to residents by Angie Natoli, a community director for Anderson Hall, explaining what caused the alarm to sound. She has identified in these emails that the most prominent cause of an alarm sounding is burning food that is left unattended by residents.

When asked for a comment, Natoli referred us to Elizabeth Deal.

From Jan. 27 to Feb. 20, one cause of the fire alarms that Natoli identified stood out. Three of the alarms that month were caused by intentional pulls.

The university lists fire threats that involved an actual fire. Three fire alarms were listed by the university in the 2022 fire log.

Only one of these alarms was in a first-year residence hall. The fire occurred on Jan. 19 in Centennial Hall and was listed as being caused by a laundry malfunction.

While many students who took the poll said they leave when a fire alarm sounds, there are still students who decide to stay despite university policy. Abelow was asked if she thinks students who don’t leave for the fire alarms should face consequences.

“I think AU should be held accountable for this dangerous situation they’ve created,” Abelow said.

Since the cause of many fire alarms is something other than a fire, many residents are unsure about what would happen if a real fire occurred.

Out of 87 residents, 58 residents said that they “maybe” feel safe or do not feel safe at all in their dorm.

Grace Hagerman (she/her) is a freshman studying journalism and political science

Neal Franklin (he/him) is a freshman studying foreign language and communication media

Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao (he/him) is a freshman studying journalism

“OUR SOULS ARE THERE”

DC COMMUNITY RALLIES AROUND UKRAINIAN NEIGHBORS TO SHOW SUPPORT AND RAISE POLITICAL AWARENESS

Photos by Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao

Written by Helena Milburn

Protests erupted in Washington, D.C. after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Protesters gathered in front of the Russian embassy and the White House. Blue and yellow Ukrainian flags billowing in the wind blanketed the protests. There were also flags showing solidarity from other Eastern European countries and those that have faced Russian aggression like Belarus and Georgia. The protests varied in turnout, from less than 100 people at one protest to almost 5,000 at the White House,

according to one of the organizers, Yaro Hetman. Some protesters were born in Ukraine or have family who are still there. Other protesters had no personal connections but felt compelled to protest against the invasion. While the specific actions protesters wanted to see from the Biden administration differed, the majority wanted general U.S. government support of Ukraine. Protesters also felt it was important to demonstrate the American public’s support of Ukraine.

Hetman moved to the U.S. from Ukraine when he was 9-years-old and said he still knows family and friends who are there. Hetman had been organizing protests in front of the White House since the beginning of January, and watched the number of attendees rise from less than 50 to thousands. But Hetman said that it isn’t about him, or even the protests in D.C., he saidit is about the support that Ukraine is getting globally.

“As difficult as it sometimes may be for some people to stand for eight hours in the cold and have our messages heard by President Biden, it is 1/100th of the difficulty that we see our brethren in Ukraine standing up to every day, with no water, no electricity, and no food in some places, but the will to fight and to resist to the last dying breath. So for me, this is easy. This is so easy in comparison, and we will be here every single day until President Biden takes action as the leader of the free world,” Hetman said.

Igor, a protestor at the Feb. 27 rally, was born in Ukraine and has family living there. He said he was watching videos online of where missile strikes were happening to guide his family away from violence. He said his family drove for 30 hours to get to safety. Igor and the woman he was protesting with, Anastasia, had a sign with a QR code that when scanned, leads people to non-profits that are providing medical supplies and food to civilians in Ukraine.

“Our souls are there like, my native city was being bombed yesterday. My mom saw missile strikes from her windows… It’s impossible to explain the feelings. I want to be there with them to protect the family.

But I also understand that we can do something here if we talk to, you know, to the US president, to congressmen, to senators, right, to anybody who can influence and who can help Ukraine,” Igor said.

Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao (he/him) is a freshman studying journalism

Helena Milburn (she/her) is a sophomore studying political science and journalism

STUDENTS DISCUSS THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH MALFUNCTIONING ELEVATORS ON CAMPUS

As elevators are necessary to provide access to students with disabilities, many individuals raise concerns about the safety of AU elevators

Written by Kathryn Gilroy, Audrey Hill and Helena Milburn

Helena Milburn is on the executive board of the Disabled Student Union with Katherine Greenstein and was not involved with the writing or reporting of that section of the article.

Freshman Shelby Brown was riding the Letts Hall elevator in December when it suddenly dropped from the fifth floor to the third.

“I was trying my best not to cry because it was scary,” Brown said.

the fifth floor to the terrace level. Kitariev said while the administration might have more to deal with now, she feels the university cares less now than they did three years ago.

“It feels like they’re putting, like, student safety on the backseat,”

Kitariev said.

Brown’s experience is not unique. Over the past few years, several students have reported being dropped in the Letts Hall elevator, along with other elevator problems across campus.

In 2019, Abbie Kitariev was also dropped in a Letts Hall elevator from

The history of problems with the Letts Hall elevators stretch as far back as 2010. An Eagle article from April 21 that year describes outages in the Letts Hall south elevators.

Vincent Harkins is the assistant vice president of facilities and construction at American University. Facilities Management oversees elevator operations along with

Art by Teddy Gabrielli

shuttles, utilities and other services.

When asked about student testimonies of the elevator falling, Harkins said that he did not want to speculate since he was not there. However, Harkins said he doesn’t believe someone would be in an elevator that freefalls two stories and walk out uncathed.

He said that facilities management had not gotten reports of people being dropped in elevators other than once when public safety staff interviewed students who reported being dropped to the front desk of their building.

“Did it drop two floors freefall? Well, all I can tell you is I have no idea, but I don’t think anybody would be walking out of that,” Harkins said.

The federal Fair Housing Act mandates that it is illegal to discriminate against those with disabilities for a “covered housing provider”or those who are “in the provision of services or facilities in connection with such dwelling.” Because of this, housing providers must conduct routine maintenance and repairs.

Per D.C. regulations, all elevators on campus are inspected twice a year, Harkins said. Facilities Management has a master plan which lists every part in each elevator, how long they have been in use and if any parts are wearing quicker than expected to determine when they need to be replaced. The university has a contract with Warfield & Sanford, a local elevator services company, to do inspections and repairs.

Harkins said they will also replace parts due to emergency but in the 11 years he has worked at AU he has never seen an elevator shut down for that reason.

Katherine Greenstein, president of the Disabled Student Union, describes how elevators not working puts disabled students at risk.

“Elevators are access tools,”

said Greenstein. “We use them for accessibility. They are in buildings because they help people access things. Not everyone can take the stairs.”

Greenstein describes an event where they were in the McDowell Hall Lobby with their friend and both elevators were out for maintenance.

“She is an ambulatory wheelchair user. We were staring at the nonworking elevators,” Greenstein said.

Another student offered to carry their friend’s wheelchair up the stairs to the third floor, while Greenstein

supported their friend up the stairs.

“The core of the situation is that it should never have come down to me and my friend relying on a complete stranger to carry her mobility aid upstairs and me helping her get upstairs to her room,” Greenstein said.

Greenstein, like Elligton, helped draft the legislation to fix all elevators on campus along with door open buttons.

“It took them an entire semester to fix the McDowell elevator,” said Greenstein. “How did it take them a semester to fix one elevator in a residence hall, where students are constantly needing elevators because there are multiple disabled students. I know members in my organization who need that elevator, who were not able to access it because it was not being maintained, despite constant requests for maintenance.”

you can’t because, like, it’s so difficult to, like, get a repairman to come fix an elevator,” Bias said.

In Centennial Hall, freshman Maya Becker was having problems with the elevators when she returned to campus for the spring semester. Becker, who had a sprained ankle at the time, said the elevator would often not go to her floor. Although she was supposed to be letting her ankle rest, Becker said she ended up frequently walking the five flights of stairs to her dorm.

“Personally, it’s really painful, and stressful,”

she said.

These issues were present at the time of Becker’s interview on Feb. 3 but she said they were resolved by mid-

February.

Harkins said that both McDowell Hall elevators were replaced in the past year. According to Harkins, one of the elevators was taken offline to renovate it and replace parts of the elevator. He said this was sent

in a memo through 2Fix to the community, including students, staff, faculty and housing.

Freshman and Letts Hall president

Luke Bias said he had a similar incident to Brown and Kitariev in the Letts Hall south elevator. On Jan. 18, the elevator dropped him from the third to first floor before eventually bringing him up to the fourth floor. The elevator was rattling and making loud noises.

Bias said he wants the people who elected him president to feel safe and heard.

“It’s just hard because like, you want to act on like what you ran on, and

Both Becker and Brown said they wished university administrators would acknowledge the problem and apologize.

However, Luke Bias said that students know about what is happening on campus before administrators do so an email apology at this point would be too late. Bias said an open line of communication between the hall president, Housing and Residence Life, the Residence Hall Association and the university would be helpful in resolving issues.

While Facilities Management has some knowledge of public social media posts about issues with elevators, the only way they can solve problems with the elevators is if students contact 2Fix, Harkins said.

“If you have issues, call 2Fix. That’s the only way we know about it, we can’t read people’s minds,” Harkins said.

While most reported problems

with elevators have been in dorm buildings, students have also had negative experiences in an elevator in the Mary Graydon Center.

Sophomore Stevie Early has gotten stuck in an MGC elevator twice. Once on Oct. 20 with four to five members of the American University improv team and again about two weeks later with one other student. Both times Early was stuck while trying to get from the third to first floor.

Early said that she was stuck with the improv team for between five and ten minutes. She said she pushed the emergency button but was able to get the elevator moving again by selecting the button for the terrace level. This tactic is also what got the elevator moving the second time she was stuck.

Another sophomore, Parthav Easwar, said he and the Bhangra team were stuck in the MGC elevator for ten minutes. Senior Samie Pye said when she was in the MGC elevator it dropped her from the third to the ground floor.

One student trying to combat this

issue is freshman and AU Student Government senator Taraji Elligton. Elligton lives in Anderson Hall and described similar problems to the ones in Centennial Hall.

Elligton said that because of these issues most people have elected to take the stairs. He reports that these problems were resolved about a month and a half after they began.

“Initially, I was very annoyed … I’m able to walk up the stairs without any, like, trouble. But then I realized there’s also a lot of people who have trouble walking up the stairs and, and different things like that in different aspects,” Elligton said.

Elligton and Senator at Large Ryan Hale wrote a non-binding resolution that asks the university to fix broken elevators and addresses other accessibility issues on campus like fixing broken automatic door buttons. The resolution passed unanimously on Feb. 20.

Elligton said he predicts the university might implement some of the smaller changes in the resolution like making sure automatic door buttons and elevators are up to date,

but he does not expect them to make large changes.

Abbie Kitariev emphasized this when explaining why she wants to see a response from the university, since AU students live on-campus for nine months out of the year.

“Yeah, I wish that the university would take more initiative. Because we do pay to be here and we live here.

Like it’s our home we want it to be a safe space for us.”

Kitariev said.

Audrey Hill (she/her) is a sophomore studying CLEG and journalism

Helena Milburn (she/her) is a sophomore studying political science and journalism

Kathryn Gilroy (she/her) is a sophomore studying broadcast journalism and legal studies

Teddy Gabrielli (he/him) is a sophomore studying graphic and visual communication design

MISSPENDING IN

DC GOVERNMENT

DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE ALLEGEDLY BEEN MISSPENDING MONEY INTENDED FOR AT-RISK STUDENTS FOR YEARS.

The pandemic has left DCPS with greater financial and staffing needs, putting strain on an already flawed and controversial budget allocation process

Written by Audrey Hill

DC GOVERNMENT

Washington, D.C. public schools continue to illegally misspend millions of dollars in funding intended for the District’s most vulnerable students, according to an independent evaluation of the DCPS budget by Financial Analyst Mary Levy.

The funding, which was first allocated by the D.C. Council in 2014, is supposed to provide added support to students considered to be at risk of academic failure. This includes students who are homeless, qualify for welfare or food stamps or are more than a year behind in school.

Levy, who was formerly a consultant for the D.C. school system, said that the idea was for the money to provide funds for after-school programs and services like attendance counselors and mental health professionals. They don’t have to solely benefit at-risk children, she said, but they do need to be in the interests of those children.

The key, Levy said, is that these funds are supposed to “supplement, not supplant” a school’s base budget – a favorite phrase of those familiar with the DCPS budget process. Misspending that money, she said, is illegal.

“The problem is that some schools hardly have to use any of their at-risk money to buy basic services,” Levy said, “whereas others have to use a lot of their at-risk money for basic services.”

Experts say that the impact of this falls disproportionately on the leastresourced schools.

“Unfortunately that means the schools serving more students considered at-risk are more likely to see their funds misused,” said Erin Roth, director of education

Art by Sierra Cougot

research at the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor who co-wrote a 2019 report on the issue.

“You just can’t really misspend [the funds] in wealthy schools because you don’t have them,” Roth said.

Roth and Levy said that a significant amount of the at-risk funds were used to maintain current staff or for expenses like extended-day or extended school year programs. At the time of her report, Roth said those programs were one of the top three uses of at-risk funds.

Mental health was another area where funds were misallocated – and one that was particularly harmful not to fund properly, Roth said.

The report found that DCPS misused nearly all of the at-risk funds budgeted for social workers and psychologists in high schools, and “dramatically underfunded high school social-emotional support positions.”

Schools in the most need of counselors, according to the report, ended up getting the fewest.

students in school-year 2017-18, 94 percent of which were considered at-risk. To meet the mental health needs of its students, DCPS’s internal formula said Anacostia needed 7.9 social workers and 3.4 psychologists (11.3 FTEs in total), but the Central Office provided funding for only 4.0 social workers and 2.0 psychologists (6.0 FTEs in total) including 1.7 psychologists paid for using atrisk funds. Deal Middle School, located in Ward 3, was projected to enroll 1,532 students in school year 2017-18, 8 percent of whom were considered at-risk. According to the CSM formula, Deal needed 1.8 social workers and 1.5 psychologists (3.3 FTEs in total), but Central Office provided funding for 3.0 social workers and 2.0 psychologists (5.0 FTEs combined) without the use of at-risk funds. Despite substantially higher need for mental health support services, Anacostia High received fewer base funds for social workers and psychologists than Deal.

On average, schools who had populations that were more than 80% at-risk had base funding to cover around 60% of the cost of their social workers and school psychologists.

“Anacostia High School, located in Ward 8, was projected to enroll 426

The rest was largely paid for by at-risk funds that were supposed to go toward additional mental health services, not the minimum mental health staffing requirements determined by DCPS.

Even when at-risk funding was used, those schools were often still below

their required staffing. According to the report, in 2018 DCPS’s internal formula said Anacostia High School, whose student body was almost entirely made up of at-risk students, needed 7.9 social workers and 3.4 psychologists. The Central Office provided funding for only 4.0 social workers and 2.0 psychologists, including 1.7 psychologists paid for using at-risk funds.

Politicians and advocates in D.C. argue that as schools emerge from the pandemic, it is critical to bolster these lacking mental health resources.

“Right now, when young people are facing more trauma than they have in decades, what we need is a focus on mental health and restorative justice in schools,” Councilmember and mayoral candidate Robert White said.

Lauren Grimes is a political science professor who founded the Community Enrichment Project, a community organization that works with students from underserved communities. She said that mental health services are critical to the young people she works with.

“The students,” she said, “really really need help – them and their families.”

Grimes said that part of the problem is that it’s a staffing issue and that there simply aren’t enough mental health professionals in the building.

“Social workers, they have these huge caseloads,” Grimes said, “and they’re not always able to reach the students the way they want to.”

Although the budget is a big problem, Grimes also said that she is noticing a disconnect between what mental health services do exist and the services students feel are available to them.

Ultimately, the school system needed to be more equitable in its resource allocation, Grimes said.

“It shouldn’t matter where the students are going to school in the district,” she said. “They should be able to have all of the same types of resources available to them.”

Grimes, Roth and Levy all cited mayoral control of education as a major area of concern.

“The mayor appoints everybody who’s in charge of an education agency and the chancellor only answers to her,” Levy said. “So he doesn’t have to care about these criticisms.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has repeatedly insisted that her office’s control over public education in the district has been a good thing, in past years citing increased enrollment as an endorsement of public support. Bowser’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

At a March 23 mayoral forum on education, which Bowser did not attend, both candidates present said they supported increasing at-risk funding and heavily emphasized the need to end mayoral control of education.

At the forum, White pointed to the disconnect between increased funding and stagnant test scores as an indication of the failures of mayoral control.

“Our students are doing no better now than we were 15 years ago despite spending $2 billion a year for education,” he said. “So, something is broken.”

“What has happened with test scores is that the economically disadvantaged students have had some improvement, but not nearly as much as the others,” Levy said. “In other words, the achievement gap between low income and other students is widening.”

“The at-risk money was supposed to prevent that. It was supposed to

For the 2022 fiscal year, the mayor’s proposed budget for public education was $2.2 billion.

Levy said these effects are particularly pronounced when you compare the scores of at-risk kids to their peers, though she admitted that standardized tests were an imperfect measure of achievement.

give these at-risk kids a leg up, to come from behind,” Levy said. “And not only have they not come from behind, but they’re falling farther.”

Although Levy admits that test scores are imperfect metrics of student achievement, she said that gap was what the funding was intended to address.

Mayoral candidates Andre Davis (D) and Councilmember Robert White (D) speak at a March Cardozo High School. A place was set for current Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) who did not attend.

Levy has been testifying about the misuse of at-risk funds at DC Council budget hearings for years. And every year, she said “the council committee report says DCPS should not do this.”

But Levy said DCPS does it anyway.

“I think the council doesn’t know what to do about it,” Levy said.

a March 23 Education Forum at not attend.

To make matters worse, Levy says the financial futures of many DC public schools look dire. In a testimony before the D.C. Council on March 2, Levy said that 76 of the 116 schools she looked at did not have enough money in their budgets to even maintain what staff and resources they did have.

Still more shocking, Levy said, was

that for the first time in 40 years, DCPS has provided no accounting of the federal money it received. Except for some local money, the D.C. Council and the public couldn’t know where millions of dollars in federal funds was going.

Among other things, Levy said the lack of accounting will make it all the more difficult to track when funds are being misused.

“You don’t really know where the money is going, you don’t have a truly valid analysis,” Levy said, “unless you know where all of it is going.”

Sierra Cougot (she/her) is a senior studying journalism and international relations

Photo by Audrey Hill

Audrey Hill (she/her) is a sophomore student studying CLEG and journalism

A Photo Essay by Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao

A History of Displacement and Exclusion in the

Episode 7: Advice from Professors

Produced by Bonnie Bishop, Helena Milburn, Audrey Hill, Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao, Grace Hagerman, Neal Franklin, Matt Romano and Toby Ruttenberg

Art by Sierra Cougot and LIllie Bertrand

Welcome to the Hum, a storytelling podcast dedicated to bringing untold stories to your ears.

For our seventh episode, we bring you stories from a new pool of sources: American University Professors.

With the constant stress of navigating college, picking a career and creating a work-life balance, we sought out those in our community who would give students the best advice.

Jeffery Middents:

Jeffrey Middents is an associate professor in the College of Arts and Science, teaching literature and film. Middents focuses on Latin American narratives in his classes. He is the first person to write in English about Peruvian cinema. He talked about both frustrations and discoveries he had in college related to his majors, career plans and identity as a Latino. When asked about how he dealt with his frustrations in college his answer was “I didn’t.”

Gautham Rao:

Gautham Rao is an associate professor of history in the College of Art, focusing on American and legal history. He has taught graduates and undergraduates such

topics as the West Wing TV show and Ardentian political thought. He discusses the ways professors can support students by X. Rao encourages students to be open about what they are dealing with; whether that’s student debt, burn out, or just a rough day.

Lara Schwartz:

Lara Schwartz is a professor in the School of Public Affairs who teaches classes in the Department of Government. Outside of teaching, she is also the director of the Project on Civil Discourse. She coauthored How To College: What to Know Before You Go (and When You’re There), a book that guides students through their transition from high school to college. She advises that as you begin your career, you should have three professional mentors: someone who is five years ahead of you, someone who is at the height of their career, and someone who is slowing down in their career.

If you think that you have a story worth telling, please share it with us at awolpodcast@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, The Hum Podcast Team

Dear readers and listeners,

This semester began with a challenging start, as we were unable to meet in person for the first month of the semester. However, upon our return to in-person classes, we were still excited to record our newest episode. I am so honored to work with my team. Over half of our members are freshmen, and I could not be more proud of how much they have accomplished this semester. My team has taught me that the future of AWOL is bright, and I cannot wait to see what the next semester holds. Thank you for taking the time to listen to a project that we each worked hard on. We hope that you enjoy the latest episode and continue to follow our work in the future.

All the Best, AWOL Podcast Director

Bonnie Bishop (she/her) is a junior studying journalism and justice and law

Helena Milburn (she/her) is a sophomore studying political science and journalism

Audrey Hill (she/her) is a sophomore student studying CLEG and journalism

Matheus Kogi Fugita Abrahao (he/him) is a freshman studying journalism

Grace Hagerman (she/her) is a freshman studying journalism and political science

Neal Franklin (he/him) is a freshman studying foreign language and communication media

Matt Romano (he/him) is a freshman studying communications

Toby Ruttenberg (he/him) is a freshman studying justice & law

Sierra Cougot (she/her) is a senior studying journalism and international relations

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AWOL aims to continue pushing both ourselves and American University to be more critical of issues that deserve to be understood with nuance; to work subversively when dismantling barriers that suppress certain voices; to love irrepressibly when it comes to serving our community. We ignite campus discussions on social, cultural and political issues. We want to make our campus more inquiring, egalitarian and socially engaged.

Our stories have an angle, which is different from having an agenda. Our reporting is impartial and fair, but our analysis is critical and argumentative.

We were independently founded by American University students in 2008. While we are still student-run, today we are housed under AU’s Student Media Board. AWOL is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Generation Progress Voices Network. This publication has won awards at the National College Media Convention, and its writers have won awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the College Media Association.

General Email: awolau@gmail.com

Podcasting Directors: awolpodcast@gmail.com

ON CAMPUS ACTIVISM

MATHEUS KOGI FUGITA ABRAHAO