The Eagle October 2017

the EAGLE

SPECIAL October 20, EDITION 2017

Thriving underground The 16-year story of Epsilon Iota, AU's unrecognized fraternity

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theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

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MASTHEAD ASSISTANT EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

Jenny Evans

Courtney Rozen

Chris Whitbeck

FOOD AND FITNESS EDITOR

Georgia Sampson

WEB EDITORS

ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR

Anusheh Khan

Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Jack Stringer

Caroline Rinker

OFF CAMPUS EDITOR

Ksenia Novikova

Anthony Holten

ASSISTANT MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Liz Holmes

Ben Foster

MANAGING EDITOR

Elise Moore

ASSISTANT OFF CAMPUS EDITOR

Abbie Veitch

FOR NEWS

STUDENT LIFE EDITOR

Lara Jakiel

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Haley Samsel

Maria Carrasco

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Owain James

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NEWS FEATURES EDITOR

Dilpreet Raju

Kaitlin Caffrey

LIFE

Anna Donohue

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Rockey Greenberg

Emily Martin

ADMINISTRATION AND LOCAL

Gabe Bichinho

Jillian O'Donohoe

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MANAGING EDITOR

NEWS EDITOR

STAFF WRITERS

McKenna Roper

FOR SPORTS

Brianna Crummy

Kimberly Cataudella

Amanda Malloy

Vincent Salandro

STUDENT GOVERNMENT BEAT REPORTERS

Jonathan Bergman

Olivia Richter

MANAGING EDITORS

Misbah Farooqi

Lydia Calitri

Mahogany Davison

FOR MULTIMEDIA

Laura Romero

Ali Almutairi

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ADVOCACY BEAT REPORTER

Leanna Faulk

Hope Han

Alyssa Rotunno

Nora Turner

Julia Gagnon

Melany Rochester

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

Emaan Khan

Meghan Howie

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Anna Lefkowitz

PRINT DESIGN EDITOR

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SILVER SCREEN BLOG EDITOR

Bradley Darin

Jennifer Croney

INDEX

NEWS

3 Ibram Kendi details plans for new center Students, alumni launch new political group 4 Comparing Burwell and Kerwin 5 Assistant professor pay ranks low 6 Inside Epsilon Iota

LIFE

8 Tenleytown attracts fast-casual restaurants 10 Student record label produces original music 11 Theater program committed to diversity 12 Filmmaker captures national award

13 Track program looks to future with new coach 14 Goalkeepers prove crucial to their teams

SPORTS

OPINION

Daniella Ignacio

15 Column: Jeff Chang’s literary facade Column: Protect international students 16 Column: Student debt hurts women Staff Ed: Misconduct does not end with EI

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor@theeagleonline.com

The Eagle, a student-run newspaper at American University, reports news involving the campus community and surrounding areas. The Eagle strives to be impartial in its reporting and believes firmly in its First Amendment rights.

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NEWS

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Anti-Racist Center director presents vision

by Misbah Farooqi Student Government Beat Reporter

Before someone hung Confederate flags on bulletin boards across American University’s campus in late September, professor Ibram X. Kendi was already on a mission to fight racism.

That same night, Kendi spoke to AU, with University President Sylvia Burwell in attendance, about the future of the new Anti-Racist Policy and Research Center, which he founded this semester.

“It is an honor to stand with you on the right side of history … or should we be kneeling?” Kendi joked, kicking off his talk about the center, set to launch in 2018.

The conception of the Center comes at a crucial time for AU and the United States, Kendi said. Most recently, Kendi himself was affected by the Confederate flag incident. One of Kendi’s students spotted a flag poster outside his classroom in the Battelle-Tompkins building and reported it to Public Safety.

“I had to see the emotional reaction and response of students which, of course, left me heartbroken,” Kendi said during a Sept. 27 town hall.

Resistance to hate motivated Kendi to start the Center and strengthened his faith in combating racism. He said he was not deterred by the May hate crime targeting black women and members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated at AU. “It did not phase me when I understood the context of why it happened,” Kendi said at the town hall.

“Why does this keep happening at AU, among these students, these students of

color? I started to learn about what these students were doing. What these students were doing was causing people to feel threatened. I actually wanted to be at a place at which people feel threatened by what these black students were doing, by what these students of color were doing.”

Kendi said in an interview that AU recruited him to build a world-class research and policy center that will allow the University “to be the principal place in the world engaged in serious, evidencebased policy-oriented projects” that will shape society. Kendi previously taught at the University of Florida and wrote the award-winning book, “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.”

“There is no other anti-racism center on a college campus in the world,” Kendi said during the town hall. “This was the first campus that was willing to engage in

direct anti-racism work. That’s not saying it’s perfect ... but it’s saying something.”

The center will house six teams focused on six different subject areas: education, environment, economy, justice, health and politics. Teams will develop policies in their subject area that would campaign for change. For example, the justice team could create policies that push for gender neutral bathrooms. Kendi hopes to see journalists, policy creators, advocates and others with a variety of skill sets come together to work on the issues at hand.

“These people [will] be able to teach specialized courses that you will be able to take. You will be able to be part of these international and national conversations,” Kendi said during the town hall. “That’s why I came here.”

He also plans to have an AU faculty member lead each team with assistance from graduate and undergraduate student

SAMAD AROUNA/THE EAGLE

Professor Ibram X. Kendi speaks at a rally against hate on Sept. 29.

assistants. In 2018, what Kendi calls “year one” of the center, the six teams will focus on researching and creating policies in the fall, before turning toward advocacy in the spring.

Besides research and policy creation, Kendi also wants to create a digital library with resources on racial inequity.

He hopes to partner with the Kennedy Political Union to start a high-profile debate series on racial issues with experts from both sides of the political spectrum.

He’d like to engage the wider D.C. community with opportunities such as internships for high school students and a racial justice book festival.

Students who attended the presentation, such as sophomores Betty Mfalingundi and Vijittra Puckdee, were inspired by Kendi’s ideas for the Center. They both have high hopes, and believe that it is a necessary step toward combating racism at AU. “I feel like we [at AU] tend to espouse values that we don’t actually practice and anti-racism is one of them,” Mfalingundi said. “I hope the Anti-Racist Center can work to create more unity, and put pressure on faculty and students to not just be not racist, but also anti-racist.”

Puckdee agreed with Mfalingundi, and said Kendi’s presentation resonated with her, especially when Kendi said that the center aims to produce “knowledge for change’s sake.”

“This center will not sit on the sidelines,” Kendi said during his presentation. “It will be a force of change.”

Aneeta Mathur-Ashton contributed to this story. mfarooqi@theeagleonline.com

New political group founded by AU students, alumni hopes to mobilize young progressives Blue Future aims to match college-aged volunteers with progressive campaigns

by Taylor Moore Contributing Writer

Less than a year ago, AU alumnus Nick Guthman canvassed for then-candidate Hillary Clinton with his friends from AU College Democrats. They’ve since launched a progressive political group to empower young people, amplifying their political voices on local and national campaigns by getting them involved with the campaigns directly.

Blue Future equips young people with the skills they need to be effective volunteers, organizers and public servants by matching volunteers with progressive campaigns. The group’s founders, including AU alumna Valeria OjedaAvitia and current students Devontae Torriente, Ben Davis and Morgan Stahr, said they believe young people can create a future that centers on the needs of marginalized communities.

“We’re not doing anything that I think

is particularly profound,” Torriente said.

“To me, it’s common sense that we are tapping into an under-utilized resource at AU and beyond and that’s college people, that’s young people. They’re the ones that politicians and elected officials and people running for office don’t see as a reliable constituency, but I see us as the most viable constituency.”

Torriente, an AU senior and former student government president, is very familiar with the ups and downs of the political game. He serves as the head for the Progressive Leaders Initiative, the development and training program for the group that focuses on preparing young people to both work on and run successful progressive campaigns.

“It feels like politics is sort of this amorphous thing that’s really over our head and we don’t have a grip on what’s going on,” Torriente said. Young people are affected by everything that goes on in the federal government, in state government and local government as

well.”

Guthman, the field coordinator for Americans for Tax Fairness and an AU alum, heads the group’s political team.

After spending much of his college career with AU College Democrats, eventually serving as president of the group, he started thinking about how to organize young people to assist campaigns outside of voting.

“What we’re trying to come up with is a set of non-negotiables we feel embrace pretty much everything across the board of progressive ideals,” Guthman said. In this list he includes candidates being prochoice, anti-racist, believers of climate change and supports of DACA. The group wants to pair young people with campaigns that align with their ideals. Now, they are looking to partner with the campaign of Ralph Northam, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia.

For recruitment, Blue Future uses a tool called Action Network, a comprehensive

online toolset built for progressive groups mobilizing for various capacities to work on campaigns. However, they are also taking a personal approach and reaching out to their personal networks to bring them onto the Blue Future team.

They want to ensure that all members of the core group have a personal investment in progressive politics since they are still building the group from the ground up. They are now focusing on AU students and resources in the short-term.

“But long-term, the plan is definitely to expand beyond D.C. and to make sure that we’re reaching out to college campuses across the country, and also to high schools across the country,” Torriente said.

Guthman and Torriente both said they are passionate about developing a diverse, multi-racial team of young people who are supportive of the mission of the group. news@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

Comparing presidents old and new AU community weighs in on differences, similarities of Presidents Burwell and Kerwin

by Anna Donohue News Features Editor

Just four months into her tenure at AU, University President Sylvia Burwell now has something in common with her predecessor, Neil Kerwin: They’ve both led AU during a racist incident.

Now, students are comparing the two leaders, as Burwell hits the halfway mark of her first semester as president. Members of the AU community highlighted communication, listening, engagement and knowledge of the University’s culture as four key differences between Kerwin and Burwell.

Burwell communicates more directly with students One of the primary contrasts students have noticed between the two presidents is Burwell’s increased communication with the student body. Whether via her Twitter account, which had over 4,000 followers as of the beginning of October, or her fall welcome video, which featured her walking around campus and talking to students and faculty, students said Burwell communicates more directly and often. Her welcome video generated more than 1,300 views on YouTube as of March.

President Kerwin also appeared in videos during his time as president, including AU’s 2015 holiday video.

Valentina Fernández, AU’s student representative on the Board of Trustees, said she hasn’t yet met with Burwell one-on-one, although she’s interacted with her at various events and receptions.

“I think there’s definitely a big shift in the leadership style between Kerwin and Burwell,” Fernández said.

“Her whole sort of motto starting this out is ‘listen, learn, lead.’ So by listening, she’s been doing a lot of campus tours, going into the residence halls, going into all of the Welcome Week events, really just engaging with students and coming to them.”

As to Burwell’s leadership style compared to

Kerwin’s, Fernández said that Burwell is more open to sharing goals and changes as they are developing.

“Not that Kerwin wasn’t [open], but he was more of a behind-the-scenes worker and would release news once the product was finished, and I think Burwell’s more ‘let me update you as things are happening,’” Fernández said. “Which I think is really important because a big part of the disconnect with Kerwin was that students were like, ‘what is Kerwin doing?’”

Burwell’s listening style is ‘outcome focused’ Devontae Torriente, who served as student government president prior to current president Taylor Dumpson, said he worked well with Kerwin. He also noted how they differed on certain issues, such as when a student burned an American flag at a protest against the election of Donald Trump in November 2016.

“I think Kerwin and I had a great working relationship,” Torriente said. “I really enjoyed the time that I worked with him even when we differed on how to approach certain things, like for example the flag burning. He and I had different responses to that.”

Despite his positive working relationship with Kerwin, Torriente noted that Burwell made a strong impression on him as a fresh face for the University.

Torriente said that he was part of the presidential search last year and Burwell was one of the candidates who stood out to him.

“She was one of the candidates I got to interview and I just thought she was absolutely brilliant. I loved how outcome focused she was,” Torriente said. “We would talk about different problems on campus and she would say, ‘Okay so what solution do you have in mind and how are you going to get there?’”

Torriente hopes Burwell will improve inclusion of students of color as president.

“I’m very interested to see what fundamental and structural changes she brings to that because I think what we’re used to in the AU community is a lot of dialogue and a lot of workshops and a lot of town halls, which I think is important to a point,” Torriente said.

“At some point, we have to turn that dialogue into some tangible action, to actually change how the University is functioning from top-down, bottom-up, every level.”

Torriente cited Burwell’s service in the Obama administration as a sign that “she’ll be able to handle a lot of the challenges that are going to be thrown her way.”

Students get more facetime with Burwell

ELISE MOORE/THE EAGLE

Students also took to social media to voice their opinions on Burwell. Natasha Quiñones, a junior studying film, tweeted “Can I just say it’s so refreshing to have a uni president that actually wants to be here?” referencing Burwell’s strong presence both online and on campus.

“She always has a smile on her face, she’s talking to people, she wants to be here, which is just a far cry from last semester especially with Kerwin,” Quiñones said.

“He knew he had to be at an event but he looked like he wanted to leave, you could tell.”

Quiñones said she would see Kerwin on campus and hesitate about approaching him or saying hello.

“Whereas with Sylvia [Burwell], you’ll say “Oh, hi!” and she’ll say “Oh, hi! What’s your name?” Quiñones said. “I respected Kerwin, but it was also like, ‘Ok, we need a president who’s going to stand up against racism

MELANIE MCDANIEL/THE EAGLE

on campus and other social issues.’ We need someone now especially with the political climate. The big hope for me is that this new president embodies this change and is going to move forward.”

Kerwin has a deeper understanding of AU than Burwell While students seem to be thrilled with Kerwin’s successor, there are those in the AU community who have deep respect for Kerwin and were sad to see him go.

Joe Vidulich, the president of the AU Alumni Association, had a close working relationship with Kerwin while he was an undergraduate as student government president in 2007 during Kerwin’s first year as president.

“I can’t be more grateful for all the things he has done to really develop and expand AU’s stellar educational offerings and academic portfolio,” Vidulich said. “Dr. Kerwin had, and still does, a long-standing relationship with the institution. I mean, he was a student, he was faculty, he’s the parent of an alum, he was dean, he was provost. He was the guy who you would always see at the basketball game, sitting on the sideline regardless of if he was president or another member of the School of Public Affairs.”

Some students were extremely frustrated with Kerwin’s response to the racial incident in May, which featured bananas hung on campus. While Vidulich acknowledged that “being more visible could be done in retrospect,” the problem was deeper and more institutionalized than Kerwin, Vidulich said.

“We talked to some people and it was like, ‘Oh my goodness, how did this happen at American University?’,” Vidulich said. “But if you talk to the vast majority of them, particularly those of color, they would say, ‘This has been going on at AU for a long time, and why can’t we deal with the underlying results?’”

People wanted action immediately, Vidulich said, but sometimes that can’t always be done.

“I know that also frustrated Neil [Kerwin], because he wanted to show his commitment to inclusion,” Vidulich said. “Anyone who knows Dr. Kerwin and where his heart is knows he has a commitment to inclusion.”

Still, SG president Dumpson said she sees a “very, very stark difference” between how Kerwin and Burwell acted following racist incidents on campus.

Burwell was in tears on Sept. 27 as she led a town hall addressing the hanging of Confederate flag posters and cotton stalks on campus.

“I’m very thankful for President Burwell’s ability to empathize, to have empathy and show empathy,” Dumpson told The Eagle on Sept. 27. “I believe she strongly cares about the students here at AU, and that was very visible from the first conversation I ever had with her, maybe a week or two after the hate crime happened. She is an amazing listener, very thorough and brilliant. She’s exactly what we need during a time like this.” adonohue@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

AU ranks near bottom for assistant professor pay Professors earn more than national average, but compensation ranks low among peers

by Ellie Hartleb Contributing Writer

American University’s assistant professors earned an average compensation of $104,400 in 2016-17, according to the American Association of University Professors, a nonprofit organization that collects salary data from universities annually. AU’s average compensation for assistant professors ranks 10th out of 12 peer institutions. This is below the average compensation of $123,116 for professors of the same rank among the school’s peers, including D.C. schools like Georgetown University, George Washington University and Catholic University, as well as city universities, such as Fordham University and Boston University.

However, AU ranks above the national average compensation of $91,493 for assistant professors at more than 1,100 schools that reported employment data to AAUP in 2016-17.

Compensation accounts for an individual’s salary as well as other benefits they receive from their employer, such as insurance. Faculty said AU’s salary can make it difficult to raise a family in D.C., but attributed the problem to a product of working as a professor.

“The problem isn’t AU,” said Dylan Craig, a senior professorial lecturer in the School of International Service, who relocated his family from D.C. to Malawi when his wife got an opportunity there for work. He is taking a writing sabbatical from his position at AU. AU’s assistant professors can fall into one of two categories: term faculty or tenure-line faculty. Both are full time positions, but term faculty have one- to five-year-long renewable contracts, said Mary Clark, dean of academic affairs and senior vice provost. There were 156 assistant professors on campus in 201617. Most full-time term professors are professorial lecturers who may advance to senior professional lecturers or Hurst senior professional lecturers. Assistant professors make up a very small portion of the full time term faculty, and they may advance to a term full professor over time.

“AU is rather unique in the number of term faculty that have assistant professor ranks,” said Karen Froslid Jones, assistant provost of institutional research and assessment. “In many other

institutions, they don’t have term faculty.

They are more likely to be under the instructor or lecturer category at other institutions. That impacts the AAUP data, especially the assistant professor category.”

AU’s compensation for assistant professors ranks in the 60th or 70th percentile nationally, said Froslid Jones. But the discrepancies between AU and its peers may be a factor of the fields that are represented on other campuses, Froslid Jones said.

“As you’re looking at comparisons

between other institutions, it probably comes as no surprise to you that salaries vary depending on discipline,” she said. “When one is looking at salaries of faculty members — let’s say you’re comparing it to a place that has an engineering school or a medical school — those differences can really be determined in some ways by what an institution offers.”

AU’s most highly paid professors are generally those in the Kogod School of Business and the Washington College of Law, Clark said.

In a city where residents in need an annual income of $80,723 to live comfortably in the city, according to data collected by GoBankingRates, a financial website, faculty at AU said it can be tough to make ends meet on a professor’s salary.

Craig, who is living in Malawi until 2019, decided to take a writing sabbatical from AU when his wife earned the opportunity to relocate their family from D.C. to Malawi for work. The pair have twins and the financial burden of

childcare in D.C. played a role in their decision to move. But he said he likely would have found himself in the same position at any university due to the typical trajectory of the professorship.

Many professors start their career in higher education as teaching assistants on hourly wages, Craig said. Those who work very hard may advance to become adjunct professors, who earn a few thousand dollars per semester, and those who choose to progress even further count themselves extremely grateful to earn one of a very limited number of full-time teaching positions in higher education,

Barbara Wien, a professorial lecturer in the School of International Service, is working to create a union for full-time professors on campus to address faculty concerns and to unveil more specific information about what professors of all ranks are earning across campus. Earnings data for professors is “very opaque,” she said, and should be more transparent.

“It’s really, really hard to send your kids to college and live in the Washington, D.C. area and buy gas and buy books,” Wien said.

Wien said professors’ salaries are “not commensurate with the cost of living in D.C.” Wien has seen a lot of interest in the formation of a union thus far. She has met with professors at other institutions, including Tufts University, one of AU’s peer institutions in the AAUP data, to discuss the successes and challenges they have had in unionizing their faculties.

The Faculty Senate has also demonstrated interest in improving compensation for AU’s professors. While the senate plays no role in determining a professor’s salary, it can make a recommendation for a new professor’s compensation and can advocate for equity among professors across campus.

“Recently, there has been a greater sensitivity to faculty who have financial challenges,” said Andrea Pearson, chair GRAPHICS BY JENNIFER CRONEY/THE EAGLE of the Faculty Senate. “The University made some positive adjusthe said. ments up to a kind of national average While full time professors who have for a base salary for term faculty. The not yet earned tenure may earn less than problem is that this is an expensive area. someone working a 9-5 job, Craig said They gauged this base salary around this the flexibility of the position makes up national average, which includes places for the gaps in compensation. all over the U.S.” “As a professor, you have an unparalAU has dedicated more than $1.6 leled flexible job,” Craig said, especially million in the past four years to “bringin terms of determining where to live ing up the floor of term faculty salaries,” in relation to campus and creating a Clark said, referring to the base salaries schedule. He commended AU’s willingfor term faculty. ness to work with professors to schedule Still, Clark said the administration most of their classes on just two days of has had no problem recruiting and rethe week, which can ease the need for taining professors for the University. childcare coverage for some.

“We’ve hired quite competitively, in AU provides on-site childcare for who our new faculty are and how we professors with children ages 2-and-ahave been able to do that,” she said. “We half and older, but by that point, families do seek to compete on faculty salaries, so have already spent thousands of dollars it is certainly a strong factor. D.C. is also on other care for their young children, very attractive to them, so we’ve been Craig said. able to compete on that basis also.”

“A concrete way that AU could do better is to have some kind of free or ehartleb@theeagleonline.com subsidized day care on-site for very small children,” Craig said.

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theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

Inside Epsilon Iota The definitive history of AU’s notorious underground fraternity

by Maria Carrasco and Haley Samsel Student Life Editor and Managing Editor for News

When Alpha Tau Omega first forfeited their national charter and restructured under the name of Epsilon Iota, Benjamin Ladner was AU’s president, Katzen Arts Center didn’t exist and the Founder’s Day Ball was held at the Old Post Office Pavilion.

Things have changed since then for the University, and for EI. On Aug. 28, American University expelled 18 members of the now underground fraternity, placing another on disciplinary probation. A group often labeled as violent, Epsilon Iota has now roamed AU’s campus for more than 16 years.

“This group has perpetuated and systematically presented a threat to the safety and well-being of our students,” said Fanta Aw, vice president of campus life, when announcing the students’ expulsion. “This should send a strong message to anyone involved with groups engaged in activities prohibited by the Conduct Code.”

A 16-year history The history of Epsilon Iota’s 16-year reign as AU’s underground fraternity is long -- four times longer than the time most students spend earning their degrees.

As seniors graduate and incoming freshmen take their place, the institutional memory of EI’s history can get muddled or even lost, potentially contributing to the group’s ability to sustain itself for well over a decade.

The group, which was colonized as a chapter of Alpha Tau Omega at AU in 1943, lost its national charter in 2000 and university recognition in February 2001 for consistent hazing and alcohol violations of the student conduct code.

As early as 2003, the University warned students to avoid EI and another unrecognized fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, because the “underground organizations” placed students at physical and emotional risk as well as possible University judicial prosecution, The Eagle reported at the time. Sigma Alpha Mu has since recolonized and is recognized by AU’s Interfraternity Council.

“Some students become involved because they don’t realize the University revoked their recognition,” thenGreek Life coordinator Danny Kelley told The Eagle in July 2003. “It’s becoming more obvious than in the past that [the organizations] are not doing a good job disguising themselves … it will be easier to identify them and take judicial action.”

But Epsilon Iota continued to function, recruiting new members, throwing parties and earning the ire of recognized fraternities on campus. In 2006, the Interfraternity Council, a group of fraternity leaders

that represents the interests of social fraternities at AU, issued a resolution demanding that other members of the Greek community not attend or invite members of the unrecognized groups to Greek functions.

In addition, the Dean of Students office announced that it had hired a former prosecutor and federal judge for recommendations on how to remove the groups from campus. EI members and alumni at the time said that the University’s campaign to warn students against attending their parties had the opposite effect.

“One poster says EI is hazardous to your health,” EI alumnus Hernando Cano told The Eagle in 2006. “The signs actually helped. People come and say [they] saw the signs and wanted to go to [our] parties.”

From 2007 to 2013, Epsilon Iota was rarely mentioned in The Eagle, earning only two mentions in six years.

That all changed in 2014, when three students, including two EI members, allegedly attempted to run another AU student over with a car in the Nebraska Hall parking lot.

After following the student, Alex Louden, as he walked home from school, the three students exited the car and kicked him in the head 20 to 30 times, according to the incident report. The assault gave him a severe concussion, a spinal sprain and temporary unconsciousness during the attack, he said at the time.

“They spat in my face,” Louden told The Eagle in 2014. “They were yelling, ‘We’re gonna kill you, you [anti-gay slur]. You f---ing bitch, you’re dead …We’ll put you in the hospital. We’ll f---ing kill you.’ Just stuff like that, the whole time.”

The alleged assailants -- Milain Fayulu, Anthony Abdelnour and Miguel Lama -- were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department. Fayulu and Abdelnour had previously attempted to recruit Louden to EI, but Louden refused, leading to harassment on multiple occasions, he said.

According to D.C. Superior Court records reviewed

by The Eagle, Fayulu pled guilty to simple assault as part of a plea agreement. In January 2016, he received a suspended sentence of 180 days in prison, a year of supervised probation, and 100 hours of community service and anger management classes. Lama’s case was dismissed after he could not return to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, and information about Abdelnour’s case was not available.

Following the assault, over 70 pages of EI emails were leaked to the AU community, leading AU to investigate “illegal activity and high risk behavior” associated with EI, The Eagle reported.

The email leak, which gained national attention, contained discussions between EI members about sexual assault, crimes, physical violence and drug use. This sparked a change to the student conduct code in which specific language addressed EI and unrecognized groups at AU.

The changes to the conduct code included: • Adding “interpersonal violence including, but not limited to, physical assault, dating violence and domestic violence” • Separating stalking and harassment, categorizing them as two different violations • Amending the definition of stalking to add “or to inflict substantial emotional distress,” to the 2013-2014 Student Conduct Code definition of stalking The EI incident also led to changes in AU’s programming, including its sexual assault awareness training during Eagle Summit. In summer 2016, the University changed its conduct code again to discipline students who “provided assistance to and perpetuating the activities of an unrecognized group engaged in prohibited conduct” -- a direct shot at EI. But going into the fall of 2016, EI was still alive and well, recruiting a new class of freshmen to carry on its legacy.

Expelled EI members share their stories Two students expelled for their involvement with Epsilon Iota, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said the underground group operated much like recognized fraternities at AU. Both were freshmen when they decided to pledge the organization.

One of the students expelled, who will be referred to as John, said he was recruited by the vice president of Epsilon Iota and joined a pledge class of 10 freshmen. He first became interested in the organization in October 2016, officially pledged in January 2017 and was admitted as a member on May 1.

He said the pledging process for the group was essentially “the same as every other fraternity.” John said later that the period was a bit more “intense” and longer than normal fraternities, stating that the pledge process lasted for about four months compared to a typical two to three month time period.

“One of the things that people neglect to see is that every fraternity operates in basically the same matter,” John said. “They’re all just protecting risky behavior.”

Members of the Interfraternity Council did not respond to multiple requests for interviews regarding EI and how its conduct compares to recognized fraternities at AU. In 2014, council members denounced EI as not “in any way associated with fraternity and sorority life” at AU, going on to blame administrator inaction for “an isolated, yet continually existing culture of misogyny and violence.”

John said the hazing process included being forced to drink alcohol excessively, eating “gross things” and doing the “trail of tears” initiation: an exercise in which participants crawl through the woods and have to drink a certain amount of beers and do exercises along the way.

7

theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017 “It was just a group of older people getting their kicks out of giving younger people the boot,” John said.

“What’s troubling to me is that this sort of behavior is not frowned upon as much as it's frowned upon only in sectors that cannot be controlled by the school.”

What drew John to join EI as a freshman was how diverse the organization was compared to other fraternities on campus. John said he saw more international students in EI than the recognized fraternities at AU. “It’s interesting for me to see that American University, a school that really prides itself on inclusiveness, progressiveness and diversity, held some of the more racist and prejudicial people that I’ve met,” John said. “EI seemed to be the only fraternity to which different groups of people were accepted because I noticed that there were no international students at any other fraternity.”

John said that he did not hear about sexual assault allegations against the current members of the organization.

“Seeing for myself, the kind of the people that were currently in it when I joined, those [sexual assault] allegations couldn’t be leveled at them more than the people who were previously in the organization,” John said.

Additionally, John said he believes sexual assault isn’t exclusive to only EI. He said sexual assault happens in recognized fraternities at AU. “Of course [stories of sexual assault by other fraternities] will never be brought to light because American University sees it very fit to protect certain people over others,” John said. “One of the main things is that whatever allegations that were brought against EI were never brought to us as individuals, they were brought against people who were formerly in the organization.”

John said that the members of the freshman pledge class were only part of EI for eight days before being expelled. AU failed to punish the older members and rather “succeeded in getting rid of the pledge class,” he said. AU forced them to “pay for the sins” of people who “actually ran” the fraternity, John claims.

“All they really did was make a group of freshman that got roped into something suffer,” John said. “While the actual people that control and distributed this sort of organization, nothing really happened to them, they were still allowed to keep their diploma.”

John said he disassociated with the group entirely since the expulsions and is no longer friends with EI members.

“I began to see that the same behavior that I had once sought to get rid of is the same behavior that might have been continued had I’ve been friends with these people,” John said.

John said he plans to continue his education elsewhere after this experience.

“For me, it’s a learning experience. I really do hope that universities try to crack down on this sort of behavior, not just within me but fraternities in general,” John said. “You see now that all of them are the same, they all operate the same, act the same and engage in the same behavior and they all protect each other the same.”

John’s experience with EI was very similar to that of another EI member, referred to as Sam. Sam was in the same freshman pledge class as John.

“Ultimately it’s unfair. Kids know me and they know my friends, they know we’re not bad kids and I mean all we have is that we share a community bond,” Sam said. “The fact that it had to go like this is pretty crazy and our side of the story doesn’t really get told at all.”

For Sam, EI was a “haven” of international students and different cultures uniting to create a brotherhood without paying dues to AU. “It’s so ironic because what EI was is what AU wants: a diverse group of people getting together for cooperation,” Sam said. “It’s exactly what it was.”

Sam agreed with John that EI operated and acted like a normal fraternity on campus.

“I thought it was an incredible organization that the world needs more of ... more groups that people from around the world can come together,” Sam said. “Everyone was on the same side, to party, drink beer, smoke weed, whatever. But, it also brought cultures and customs back home.”

But what differentiates Sam from John is Sam’s love for EI and the brotherhood it gave him.

“It broke my heart to see this institution get rid of it where there’s no other school where EI could’ve existed really, like an international fraternity,” Sam said. “It’s very ironic that this school hated this group of people for so long because it’s the press and everything. It really tarnished the reputation.”

“One of the things that people neglect to see is that every fraternity operates in basically the same matter.They’re all just protecting risky behavior.”

-Expelled EI member

AU takes action after April party In a memo sent out on Aug. 28, AU announced it had taken disciplinary action against EI. The University expelled 18 people and put one student on disciplinary probation.

Aw said that the University made it a top priority to discipline members of Epsilon Iota.

“One of the things in particular about EI in general is that this has been on our radar, and it’s something we have been paying attention to because it is critical to us

that we prioritize safety in the learning environment for all of our students,” Aw said. “So when it comes to EI or frankly any group that would engage in the kind of activities that would be described with EI, we pay attention to it.”

Sixty-seven students since 2010 have been charged for being affiliated with EI for various violations of the student code of conduct, Aw said. She said that expulsions weren’t new -- the only difference is that the recent 18 expulsions have been publicized.

According to Public Safety documents reviewed by The Eagle, the expulsions stemmed from an April 15 “beach party” hosted at a residence where several EI members lived. The students publicized the event on Facebook, which helped Public Safety officers identify members and potential conduct violations committed by the members.

The Public Safety report, filed on May 10, found that it was “more probable than not” that the individuals identified in the report violated the University’s policies concerning alcohol, threatening the safety of other people and providing assistance to an “underground group.”

Kelly Alexander, AU’s director of public relations, said in an email to The Eagle that the April 15 party was not logged into AU’s daily crime log because it was “not a record of a crime on campus or incident reported directly to AU Police” and was used to support a conduct investigation, not a crime investigation.

In addition to reports from the party, Aw said administrators also looked at the how the actions of students associated with Epsilon Iota compared to the language in the University’s conduct code.

Aw said her job was to uphold the same standards for every student group, regardless of whether or not they are officially recognized by the University.

“For me in my current role, my job is to hold any group who’d engage in these types of activities [accountable],” Aw said. “Whether it’s underground or not, it is key to ensure that we’re holding any group that is a recognized student organization to these standards.” mcarrasco@theeagleonline.com hsamsel@theeagleonline.com

GRAPHICS BY JENNIFER CRONEY/THE EAGLE

The expansion of Tenleytown continues

by Katya Podkovyroff Lewis Contributing Writer

Step onto Wisconsin Avenue in Tenleytown and you will find the hub of the American University community, with fast-casual restaurants offering delicacies ranging from vegetables to burritos.

The area is set to grow even more with a new Buredo restaurant. The popular sushi chain was originally slated to open its doors in the northwest D.C. neighborhood at the end of summer 2017, but will open at a later date.

Matt Haddad, co-owner of the chain, said that Buredo chose Tenleytown because he felt that AU students would especially appreciate their unique take on sushi.

“It's an alternative to sandwiches and other traditional ‘fast foods,’” Haddad said in an email. “Students want quality and are striving to eat more healthfully without sacrificing flavor. That's exactly what we aim to bring with our burrito-size sushi rolls and salads.”

The Tenleytown area has been expanding rapidly with the increase in fast-casual restaurants, which typically offer the convenience of fast food with the atmosphere of a sit-down restaurant.

For AU students, this is beneficial due to limited food options on campus, and many of the restaurants in Tenleytown accept EagleBucks as a form of payment, including Panera Bread and Burger Tap & Shake.

But what are the contributing factors of these expansions in Tenleytown?

The increase in restaurant chains allows for more chains to enter the area for competition. At first, Tenleytown residents wanted to keep mainstream commercial businesses out of the area. Jonathan Bedner, a commissioner and chair of the Advisory Neighborhood Commision (ANC) for Ward 3E, which includes AU Park, Tenleytown and Friendship Heights, said that the situation has been changing with the ANC’s push for growth.

“Previously, Tenleytown’s commercial area was lagging behind that of its neighbors,” Bender said. “[THis was] due to anti-development groups that formed in opposition to various construction plans for the neighborhood.”

In the past two decades, the area has expanded rapidly.

There are several busy stores near the Metro station, including Whole Foods, Best Buy and

Starbucks. There are also a couple of other restaurants, including Café of India, Le Chat Noir and Pete’s New Haven Pizza, an outpost of the popular Columbia Heights pizzeria.

This is primarily thanks to Tenleytown Main Street, a community-based nonprofit organization that created the program “Tenleytown Vision 2026.” Their mission includes increasing locally-owned and locally-serving businesses, strengthening a community image and expanding entertainment or communal events.

Recent additions in Tenleytown within the last few years include Beefsteak, District Taco, Burger Tap & Shake, Cava and Muncheez. All these restaurants are relatively cheap, fast and casual sit-down places - seemingly the epitome of what college students desire.

Beefsteak If you’re craving fresh veggies but are short on time, check out renowned chef José Andrés’ fast-casual chain. Customers can choose from chef-inspired combinations, or create their own bowls and salads.

Burger Tap & Shake Burger Tap & Shake is considered an AU staple with its creative burgers, salty fries and thick milkshakes. Make sure to try the burger of the month and you can even use your EagleBucks to pay.

District Taco This food truck turned restaurant chain has delicious tacos for cheap. Mix and match three tacos for $8 or try other Tex Mex staples, like nachos or burritos.

Cava

Muncheez

This Mediterranean grill is a favorite of many AU students. Build your own bowl with falafel and tzatziki sauce, or get your hummus fill from the Cava products available in supermarkets, like Whole Foods Market.

Muncheez is the latest restaurant to open in Tenleytown. Like District Taco, the D.C. chain started as a food truck, which is still in operation. It offers traditional Lebanese favorites, like Shawarma and falafel, along with a must-have for college students: flavorful bowls that are easy to eat on the go.

PHOTO OWAIN JAMES/ THE EAGLE GRAPHICS BYBY SAMAD AROUNA/THE EAGLE

LIFE

10

ROCKEY GREENBERG/THE EAGLE

Juniors Skylar Tucker and Jackie Young prepare their second EP, "District 17." The student-run record label plans to release the album by the end of the fall semester.

Second District Records to release new album by end of fall semester

by Sarah Dolezal Contributing Writer

Second District Records, the first student organization running a record label in the DMV-area, plans to release “District 17” on Soundcloud by the end of fall semester, SDR president Skylar Tucker said.

The EP is a follow-up to “District 16,” the student organization’s first album, featuring new and returning local artists ranging from R&B to indie rock and punk rock, Tucker said. Singles from the EP may also be released as teasers of the album’s release date, she said.

Although the D.C. music scene is hidden from mainstream audiences, it’s brimming with more than 40 years of eclectic and original artists, Tucker said.

Tucker, a junior studying business and entertainment in the Kogod School of Business, hopes Second District Records will help DMV residents become more aware of the underrepresented music community in the area.

“People don’t realize that D.C. is a music city,” Tucker said. “Our goal is to highlight DMV artists. They have a specific sound which doesn’t sound like New York - and definitely doesn’t sound like Atlanta.”

That sound, ranging from soul and hip-hop to “dreamy” indie rock and punk rock, is being produced by many of the SDR’s artists, Jackie Young, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, said. Second District Records is a student organization producing music 24/7 out of the University’s Kreeger recording studio, Young said.

Young, one of the directors of editing and mixing, said the EP will have an A/B side, with the A side having the urban sounds the label is slowly becoming known for. On the B side, the EP will have newer artists from the alternative genre, or artists with more of an indie sound. Young said punk, heavy metal or rock falls under alternative music for the student organization.

But while alternative music is new to the label, it’s not a new recording experience for Young.

“A punk band put on a show in the Kay Spiritual Center during my freshman year,” Young said. “I recorded that show. Punk is up and coming right now in D.C. You don’t always see the music that is happening in

D.C., but it’s there.”

Public Relations director and AU junior Samad Arouna said the club wants to expand its sound to appease the community.

“People are tired of hearing one type of music - that’s where alternative falls in,” Arouna said. “Our club is pretty secretive, but we don’t want that anymore. We want a more diverse staff so that’s why we are releasing hip-hop and alternative music.”

Tucker said mastering the music in the recording studio is one part of the record producing process. She also said SDR scouts for talent through word of mouth or by scouring online for potential artists.

Arounda said that balancing a cohesive product is paramount for SDR. “We want our flagship music -- the urban A-side -to correspond with our newer alternative music on our B-side,” he said. “We spend our money on mastering in the studio so that we have a cohesive record.”

But the process for finding new artists, releasing a record and even joining the club takes time, Young said.

“AU students need to go through several technical classes before they can start to edit and master music,” Young said. “And early planning is very important to book space in the studio. Before 30 days of a recording session should be fine, but once it’s getting close to [a session], it’s hard to book space in Kreeger.”

SDR’s staff has a well-rounded group of people from different stages in academia. Arouna said about 30 student staff members help with the entire record producing process, from finding new artists outside of AU’s campus to editing in the studio.

Faculty advisor John Simson, Kogod’s program director for the business and entertainment program, oversees their work and sometimes sends students to them.

“If students reach out to me, I introduce them to the students who are currently running the label,” Simson said. “If an artist reached out to me, I would certainly be open to passing their information along if that is what they wanted.”

Arouna said the directors step away to avoid dictating

to staff members or other directors what to do.

“As department heads we shouldn’t bind ourselves to our own ideas,” Arouna said. “We listen to each other and hear what club members have to say.”

Arouna also said they are working on a social media strategy, but it’s hard to come up with an unanimous plan.

“We’re listening to everything first to see what visuals goes with it. But we may release a few singles first as teasers on social media,” Arouna said. “We already have a Facebook account, but it’s hard to come up with what to do with Instagram because each band has different preferences as to how they want to be promoted, so we need to figure out a way to do that too.”

For right now, SDR is putting out digital music representing the DMV sound, Tucker said. With more funding, that could change.

“We offer artists free studio time and in return we get the learning experience with producing music and managing artists,” she said. “We’ve applied for funding from the University but haven’t received anything. We’re working on it by continuing to apply for more funding.”

Arouna said that while it’s good to have lots of student organizations, it’s “feast or famine” when trying to get funding from the University. Fundraising is used as a way to support mastering their records, the final stage before music is released, he said.

Other financial sources support the SDR efforts.

Young said federal work study students oversee the microphone recordings, such as when rap artists stop by to record.

The directors at SDR, such as Tucker, Young and Arouna, are always looking for ways to expand and improve their label.

“Once we have the money, we want to put out physical music, too, that also expands outside the DMV area,” Tucker said. “That could include go-go music.”

Editor’s note: Samad Arouna is a staff photographer for The Eagle. sdolezal@theeagleonline.com

theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

11

Theatre department reaffirms commitment to diversity through classes and productions production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In The Heights.”

Sultana Qureshi, a freshman in the School of Communication who is taking #BroadwaySoDiverse, said that programs like this are one reason why she chose AU. “All in all, good discussions are happening,” Qureshi said. “It’s only the beginning It’s 1997. Theater professor Caleen Jennings calls student Tru Tranh into her ofand a lot more good conversation will happen.” fice. She just cast him as Richard III in Shakespeare’s “Richard III” and believes he’s Conversations about diversity also occur frequently between the theater faculty, of the most capable actor to play the role. Yet, she’s thinking: how does Tranh feel as which three of the seven full-time professors are black. Jennings said students can grow an Asian-American portraying a villain in Shakespeare’s canon, possibly enforcing a and learn because everyone on the faculty invests. stereotype?

“My white colleagues will come to me, saying ‘are there identity issues here I should “Caleen, are you kidding me?” Jennings recalls Tranh asking. “Are you asking me if be looking at?’” Jennings said. “So, we talk about race and implications of casting, what I want to turn down the role?” does it mean to cast the black man as the villain? We’re confronting those issues all the “No, but I want you to be aware of how this can be viewed and interpreted,” Jentime.” nings replied.

Junior theater major Maya Hodges said she believes that theater professors ensure Jennings and other AU theater faculty say they are committed to teaching, promot- that students of color feel invited in the classroom. ing and creating diversity within the department. However, the department wasn’t “It all starts within the classroom,” Hodges said. “I knew that once I felt comfortable always so focused on diversity. Jennings said she had only three African-American in the classroom, that would allow me to feel confident in auditions and other [Departtheater majors when she first arrived at AU in 1989, and Tranh was her first Asianment of Performing Arts] events.”

American theater major. The faculty often had to go outside the department and seek However, some believe that there is out other students to cast shows with people still more to be done. Junior theater major of color, Jennings said.

Andrew Watring said that although there Karl Kippola, the theater and musical are people at the top of the department who theater program director, said the program’s have made positive actions towards incluprofile rose significantly after the University sion, those actions are not sufficient for what invested in the Greenberg Theater in 2003 students need. and the Katzen Arts Center in 2005. The rise “After the event of racial violence on of the program necessitated an equal rise in campus, the department issued no statement diversity. and did not reach out to students of color “We have a more diverse range of stupersonally, even though our department dents,” Kippola said. “Especially in the last prides itself on the personal relationship half dozen years or so, we have started getbetween professors and students,” Watring ting consistent progression, from having just said. “There have not been systemic, departa few students of color to having a greater ment-wide efforts to demonstrate culturally percentage.” responsive teaching in the classroom. The There are currently about a dozen stuplays we read, discussions we have and matedents of color out of about 90 students in rial we deal with daily rarely connects with HANNAH GOLDBACH/PHOTO COLLECTIVE the program. Kippola said that some reasons all students, especially not students of color.”

Junior Andrew Watring dances in ""No, No, Nanette," the theater why the theater program has become more Another one of Watring’s criticisms was deparment's March 2016 show directed by Karl Kippola. diverse is because more students want to that in the past few years, the department pursue a college degree in theater, and the theater industry has started embracing has not mounted productions dealing with racial or cultural themes, highlighting diversity more. students of color or depicting stories that are relevant to them. Kippola said that the “I think there are a greater number of students who are looking at [the arts] for a program’s students are still predominantly white, limiting the range of plays they can viable future,” Kippola said. “And on some level, commercial professional theater has perform. realized the importance of diversity, not only to employ and tell the story of the artists, Moving forward, Kippola said, the theater and musical theater program has pribut also to attract and reach a greater range of audiences.” oritized creating scholarships and financial assistance for students of color. There are Over the years, the department has developed initiatives to teach students about currently six to ten merit-based scholarships selected by faculty; while students don’t diversity within theater courses. Jennings teaches the AU Scholars section of Theatre: need to be non-white to receive one, the faculty looks for every opportunity to encourPrinciples, Plays, and Performances, in which she has her students explore the parallels age those students through scholarships. between Shakespeare and African-American playwright August Wilson.

In the meantime, student productions look to challenge the norm, like AU Rude “In our classes, we explore the plays that tell people’s stories and that represent difMechanicals’ re-imagined “Hamlet,” featuring students of color playing traditionally ferent cultures, [and] we’re also using our own instruments to embody other people,” white roles, and “Shakespeare Is A White Supremacist,” a devised piece that will examJennings said. “So I think theater, our classes, our season can be a tremendous way for ine racist institutions and constructs of supremacy in Shakespeare’s writing. According this community as a whole to process Charlottesville, as a way to process who we are to Watring, who is the Artistic Director of Rude Mechanicals, these productions connow, who we thought we were, who we are.” tinue work begun last year when Watring was the Outreach Director and encouraged One new effort to teach AU students about diversity in theater is the #Broadwaydiversity in the group’s shows.

SoDiverse class. Originally developed by former musical theater professor Elizabeth “We want to tackle these issues because all people should be tackling these issues,” Gerbi and currently taught by ethnomusicology professor Kendra Salois, this Complex Watring said. “Theatre is our sphere, and we want to use our platform to support unProblems course teaches students how to engage in critical conversations about diverderrepresented voices and speak loud truth to power.” sity in musicals.

Although she may not be able to do the August Wilson play of her dreams before “It’s not only that the arts can promote people thinking more explicitly about she retires in 2020, Jennings is hopeful for the future. She said the cast of this year’s andignity and equity-we’re good at that historically and we’re proud of that-but that every nual freshman showcase, “Overture,” was the most diverse it has ever been. class should and can be able to do that,” Salois said. “It could be math. It could be phys“Things are changing and improving,” she said. “I believe that over time that will ics. It could be computer science. Everyone can work that in some way.” become more of the norm than the exception.”

Salois said that students will watch plays while exploring different aspects of diversity. For example, while studying Latinx representation, students will see a local dignacio@theeagleonline.com

by Daniella Ignacio Staff Writer

12

theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

AU senior wins national film competition Arshum Rouhanian’s movie tells story of teenage musician grappling with deafness

by Cordilia James Staff Writer

In May, an AU Eagle competed against student filmmakers from around the world and won.

Arshum Rouhanian, a senior film and media arts major in the School of Communication, took home first place at the Trinity Film Festival in Hartford, Connecticut, for his short film, “Moonlight Suburbia.”

The award-winning movie tells the story of a teenage musician growing up in the suburbs, pursuing his passion while trying to overcome his impending deafness.

Growing up, Rouhanian said he watched as musicians around him struggled with self-doubt. He grew to appreciate that time in his life, which partially inspired the film.

“No matter what field you’re in, you’re always going to deal with self-doubt,” Rouhanian said. “I was feeling really nostalgic about high school and the suburbs, and I wanted to make that a setting for a film. I kind of put those two inspirations together to make this.”

After submitting a two-minute class documentary to the Trinity Film Festival the year before, Rouhanian decided to enter another film this year. Although the first film didn’t win, he said the experience was so inspiring and enjoyable that he wanted to go back and submit something new.

“I did not expect to win because there were so many amazing films,” Rouhanian said. “I remember the first time I went, I was like, ‘My film sucks.’ And so it’s weird to be back and win.”

The Trinity Film Festival gives undergraduate filmmakers a platform to showcase their work to local audiences and industry professionals. The festival distributes cash prizes to winners, and acts as a gateway to other film opportunities.

“I got an email one day from Trinity Film Festival and they were like, ‘Your film’s going to be on demand on Xfinity starting in the fall’,” Rouhanian said. “I flipped, it was crazy.”

The strenuous writing process for “Moonlight Suburbia” began in December 2015, with filming starting the following summer. Rouhanian spent hours in his room rewriting the 10-page script, often to the point where he considered giving up.

“If there was ever a time I was going to quit filmmaking, it was while I was making this film,” Rouhanian said. “This film is about self-doubt, and that was all I was experiencing throughout the whole thing.”

But his long-time friend Konstantin Mekhontsev convinced him it would be worth it to proceed.

The film came together with Rouhanian as the writer, director, editor and producer, Mekhontsev as cinematographer and high school friends as actors. “Moonlight Suburbia” marks the second film the duo have worked on together, the first being a feature-film titled, “A Day with God.” The film got into one festival but didn’t win any awards. Mekhontsev said it proved to be a learning experience, teaching the duo how to navigate technical issues that made filming “Moonlight Suburbia” a more fluid experience.

Mekhontsev, a junior at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, says it is a privilege to work with Rouhanian.

“He’s definitely more creative in regards to establishing a story and carrying it through,” Mekhontsev said. “I really focus a lot more on visuals. We have to sort of meet halfway, where I can take his ideas as the storyline and … bring that to life through a camera.”

Rouhanian has experience when it comes to working behind the camera, too.

As a sophomore, Rouhanian said he sat in Professor Kim Llerena’s Principles for Photography class, a required course for film and media arts majors that covers visual and technical principles of black and white photography.

In the darkroom course, Llerena encouraged a more detailed approach to creating images at a slower work pace. Llerena said Rouhanian considered himself a filmmaker before even starting the class, and spent extra time in the darkroom developing photos. Rouhanian said the course changed his life as he learned to apply lessons learned in class to filmmaking, including “Midnight Suburbia.”

“Something I learned that I didn’t do before was have patience,” Rouhanian

said. “That class taught me to have patience and do whatever you can to get the best product. Whatever you go through to get that perfect photo won’t be short-term... that photo is forever.”

Llerena remembers Rouhanian as being a great addition to the classroom, as well as one of the “warmest, friendliest and funniest students” she has ever had. “[He] went above and beyond,” Llerena said. “[He] was genuinely interested in the subject matter and getting better at photography and printing. It was that genuine interest that translated into him making strong and personal work.”

Rouhanian also has an interest in music and interned at Capitol Records for three months this past summer. There, he shot behind-the-scenes footage of music videos for popular artists like Lil’ Yachty, Ringo Starr and Halsey. Rouhanian has also collaborated with local artists such as Ace Cosgrove, Uno Hype and Nardo Lilly, shooting live performances and other content.

“A lot of my favorite artists are the ones that make something different with every single album, so I really want every film I make to be completely unrelated to the one I made before,” Rouhanian said. “Overall I really want to explore a whole new theme, a whole new concept, a whole new aesthetic.”

After graduation, he wants to travel, work on more music videos and continue creating another film that he’s passionate about.

“It’s hard to be like, ‘What’s next?’ because there’s a million things I want to do at once,” Rouhanian said. “I don’t know what I want to do first.”

The aspiring filmmaker advises other students that it’s okay to fail.

“If you can get over failure, you can do anything,” Rouhanian said. “Nothing can stop you because you know that you’re just going to get better.” cjames@theeagleonline.com

JILLIAN O'DONOHOE/THE EAGLE

Arshum Rouhanian, a senior in the School of Communication, balances his camera.

Rouhanian won first place in the Trinity Film Festival for his short film.

SPORTS

13

AU ATHLETICS

LEFT: Head coach Sean Graham guides the team at a meet. Graham brings a more hands-on approach and has seen positive results in the team's first meets of the season.

RIGHT: Graham returned to AU for the third time because of the opportunity to build a program his way.

Cross country and track’s new coach aims to steer team toward new chapter Sean Graham returns, replacing coaching veteran Matt Centrowitz Sr.

by Vincent Salandro Managing Editor for Sports

Four months ago, Sean Graham received a phone call from Matt Centrowitz Sr. about the longtime American University coach’s plan to step down from his role at AU. Graham, an assistant coach with Kentucky at the time, didn’t think much of the call in the moment.

Graham and the Kentucky track and field team were busy preparing for the Southeastern Conference and NCAA championship meets. It wasn’t until after Kentucky wrapped up its season that Graham took time to reflect on the coaching vacancy at AU. “A little bit later in the summer when things were slowing down, I was talking to some coaching confidants and colleagues,” Graham said. “They were [saying] ‘you should really consider, that’d be a great fit for you.’ I should probably have seen that immediately, but when you’re in the moment and coaching, you don’t always see everything as clearly as you should.”

Centrowitz Sr. announced on May 19 that he would be stepping down as AU’s cross country and track and field coach after 18 years with the school. Centrowitz Sr. resurrected the AU track and field program in 1999 and has coached over 165 Patriot League individual and relay champions in his tenure.

Graham began advanced talks with AU about the coaching vacancy in late July. The University officially named him the new head coach on August 3.

“It was a dream job, really,” Graham said. “I get to come back to a university I have a connection with, I get to run a program the way I want to run a program and do it at a place that I have a piece of [with me].”

Graham is no stranger to AU Graham’s new coaching position marks his third stint at AU. He first came to the school in 2009 as a graduate student in the Kogod School of Business after an injury ended his professional running career prematurely. Graham rejected his alma mater, William and Mary, in favor of AU. He chose D.C. for a change of scenery, he said.

Although Graham did not come to the school with the intention of coaching, Centrowitz Sr. brought up the idea the spring before Graham arrived at AU in

2009.

“I didn’t know Centrowitz all of that well at that point. The running community is pretty tight. I knew of him, he knew of me,” Graham said. “He gave me a lot of flexibility in terms of working with the athletes.”

Graham completed his graduate degree in 2011 and did not intend to continue coaching. He instead worked as a contractor for the Coast Guard and Homeland Security while volunteering for George Mason’s track and field program on the side. After a year away from AU, Graham received a call from Centrowitz Sr. offering Graham control over the men’s program. Graham led the men’s cross country team for one season before taking the assistant coaching job for the Kentucky track and field program.

“That’s something that I’m forever [grateful]. He took a big risk on me and on his own and gave me the opportunity to coach and that’s how I got to Kentucky,” Graham said. “To have the opportunity to come back to do the same with the full program is really cool. To take what I’ve learned from the last four years and apply it to my own program to continue that legacy and tradition of American cross country and track is really a hell of an opportunity.”

Graham meets his new team

he was announced as head coach and the team began preparations for the cross country season.

“He’s been a coach at AU before, so he’s familiar with the program,” junior Matthew Rainey said. “A lot of older guys that were here when I was coming in had experiences with him before. So he knows all the runs we do, he knows the dumb little names we have for everything, so he fits right into the culture.”

Graham is planning for the future Graham and the team hit the ground running, with the team’s first meet less than three weeks after the team was able to hold official practices. For new coaches, there is an inherent difficulty coming into a new team completely fresh, but Graham said he had a small advantage over normal coaches due to his familiarity with the program.

“One of the hard things for them is the actual transition,” Graham said. “[Having] the mindset that somebody new is coming and one of the things I’ve been preaching since I got here that they’ve done a remarkable job with is just buying in.”

While continuing some of the practices of Centrowitz Sr., Graham has tweaked the amount of practice time per week and added emphasis to supplementary exercises like strides and hurdle work. Graham also implements a more hands-on coaching approach than Centrowitz, working directly with the team.

“Coach Centrowitz, he’s taking a lot of his personal experiences from a different time,” Rainey said. “That definitely has its value but it’s different to talk to someone who’s a little bit younger and grew up in the same time, who has been in the same environment that we’re in right now.”

The initial results, team victories in the first meet of the season and top-ten finishes from numerous athletes, have been positive and indicative of where Graham would like to take the program.

“I want to win the Patriot League consistently in cross country. I want to take us consistently to be contenders if not placers at the NCAAs,” Graham said. “That’s the level of work that we’re going to put in. There has been a lot of success in the past [and] I want to continue it. I think we’re in a great spot right now.”

For the athletes on the cross country and track and field team, the news of Centrowitz Sr.’s resignation came as a surprise. Many of the athletes had returned home for the summer when they received a team email from Centrowitz Sr. sharing the news. Centrowitz Sr. followed up on the emails with calls to athletes, checking on runners individually. Throughout the uncertain summer months, members of the cross country team prepared as they would for any other season and remained in contact with Centrowitz Sr. while the University worked to fill the coaching vacancy.

“We were progressing just as if he were here -- just a different coach, a different style and different setup,” junior Adriana Hooks said. “[Centrowitz] just wanted us to have the goal to be healthy and continue what we would do whether anyone was watching or not or whether we knew who the new coach was going to be.”

The athletes found out Graham would succeed Centrowitz Sr. the same day the news was made public in early August. Graham met the team shortly after vsalandro@theeagleonline.com

14

theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

Inside the net: goalkeepers guard the net, inspire teammates Maura Jacobs returns for another season at AU, Ryleigh Brown and John Mino make their debut this fall

by Kimberly Cataudella Staff Writer

In youth sports, the goalkeeper’s position is often overlooked. The goalie usually sits crisscross in the net, picks dandelions and waves to videotaping parents in the stands, unsure what to do if the ball actually makes it to them.

Once athletes reach their formative years, the goalkeeper role is more crucial for the success of a team. Goalkeepers are the last line of defense for a team, requiring agility, speed, reflexes, leadership and concentration. Maura Jacobs, Ryleigh Brown and John Mino are the starting goalkeepers for AU’s fall sports teams and have all taken different roads that have led them to AU. Maura Jacobs Field hockey junior Maura Jacobs only started playing field hockey in the seventh grade with her sights set on being a field player. After a coach approached Jacobs and her parents following her first tryout, she’s stayed in the circle ever since.

“The coach came up to us and said, ‘Maura’s really aggressive and athletic, she should really try goalkeeper,’” Jacobs said. “I just thought it was really cool that he singled me out from the rest of the bazillion middle school girls that showed up. I had no idea all the pads you had to wear or anything that came with the territory of being a goalkeeper, but I was excited about it. I tried it out and I've never looked back.”

Jacobs captured Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week on Sept. 11, coming a long way from her humble beginnings only eight years ago.

“I remember the first game,” Jacobs said. “When you're in middle school, you wear the school’s pads -- you don't have your own yet -- so I was in this random mix of leftover gear, so nothing fit well. I kicked the ball like a soccer player and I couldn’t run in the gear.”

During her first game as an Eagle, Jennings put Jacobs in the net for the last 10 minutes when someone immediately scored on her. Jennings benched her right after. Yet, she grew to become AU’s primary netminder, playing goalkeeper when the Eagles won their 10th Patriot League championship in 2016.

Jacob vividly remembers one save in the final round of the Patriot League championships against Boston University last season. After a rebound in front of the cage, the ball popped up in the air, and one of BU’s attackers “baseball hit” the ball toward the net, Jacobs said. Somehow, Jacobs got a touch on the ball with her stick to get it out and over the N line.

Jacobs’ family plays a huge role in her collegiate success, she said. Her parents can often be found on the sidelines of both home and away games, as they did for her brother during his time as a college athlete.

“In college, [my brother] played football and was the star of that team from the second he stepped onto the field freshman year,” she said. “The pride I feel for him, I want to make him feel that for me too.”

Of course, goalkeepers don’t save every ball that comes their way, but that’s part of the game.

“As a goalkeeper, the philosophy is you can never really blame yourself for a goal or else you'll dig yourself into a pit and you won't rebound,” Jacobs said. “You need to forget about it, You can have five seconds to be upset and mad about it, but you have to be ready when they take the next shot.”

Field hockey head coach Steve Jennings picked Jacobs to come onto the AU team not only for her skillset, but also for her attitude.

“I think what she brings to the table in terms of her joy and her spirit of teamwork and the energy she puts into the team on and off the field is a critical thing for us,” Jennings said. “I think the core root of who she is as a person was what we were most attracted to, and I think her resilience, her optimism, her ability to assess and keep pushing forward are critical states you have to have.”

AU ATHLETICS

Field hockey goalkeeper Maura Jacobs has established herself as a key member of the field hockey team, earning Patriot League All-Tournament Team honors during the team's league-winning 2016 season.

Ryleigh Brown Ryleigh Brown has been in cleats since she was three years old, and she’s been a soccer goalkeeper since age 13. Brown, a freshman, has only been at AU a short few months, but her time in the net has taught her enough to last her for her next three seasons, she said.

“I know I have to get better with my feet, and our new goalkeeping coach has been helping me with that so much,” Brown said. “I’m most looking forward to improving my game as well as the team’s game this season, and being that person that they can know and trust back in the net.”

Her favorite moments this season have been coming out of the net and rising above attacking players to claim crosses from the opposing team.

Women’s soccer head coach Anabel Hering thinks that Brown has a long way to go when it comes to being vocal on the team, and that Brown is afraid to speak up out of fear that she’ll step on the upperclassmen’s toes. Hering thinks that Brown’s greatest strength is claiming services in the box and her fearlessness.

Both Brown and Hering agree that she needs to improve her training habits to improve her game for herself and for her team. Over of the course of her next three years, Hering is sure that Brown will establish herself as the Eagles’ goalkeeper.

“She is coachable and a quick learner, which makes the training process easier,” Hering said.

John Mino Another new face on the field for the Eagles belongs to sophomore John Mino, the goalkeeper for the men’s soccer team. Mino transferred from Villanova and is in his first year with AU. While he didn’t play in AU’s first game of the season, Mino made his Eagle debut in relief against Georgetown Aug. 25 and has starred as AU’s primary goalkeeper since.

Mino has been playing soccer since he was seven years old, but he was asked to become a goalkeeper because of his height. His high school team didn’t make it to state his junior and senior years, but he said the lessons he learned helped make him a leader on the team and prepared him for college athletics. Mino looks up to New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady, inspired by his work ethic and commitment to his team.

“I'm not the tallest kid or the fastest kid, and I'm certainly not the strongest kid, but the only way kids like that are going to be able to play is to work hard,” Mino said.

Head coach Todd West thinks that Mino plays well off his line and behind the back four, but believes the redshirt freshman has room to improve if wants to establish himself as AU’s number one keeper.

“He does a good job playing through balls and intersecting a lot of balls that get behind the back four,” West said. “He does have to be able to hit a ball better, and a couple of goals this season have come because of his kicking. We’ve been working on this with him, and he’s willing to work on it, so I think we’ll wind up with a good goalkeeper.” kcataudella@theeagleonline.com

OPINION

15

Jeff Chang’s literary facade

by Mark Lu

Staff Columnist

It only took several seconds and a single question from a seedy-looking political science major in a ponytail to expose the central deficiency of Jeff Chang’s “We Gon’ Be Alright,” the book that served as required reading for AU freshmen enrolled in college writing courses this fall. At an event with Chang in September, the student asked about an instance in the introduction that pertained to subprime housing foreclosures, in which Chang presented the foreclosure rates of two racial groups—African-Americans and Latinxs—in relation to that of whites as evidence of systemic racism. He asked why Chang did not include the same statistics for Asian-Americans, an ethnic group that had been mentioned in the sentence prior but not in the one with a thesis. After Chang’s flimsy answer and desperate deflection using the classic “I think the better question is…”, it was clear that the book—and Chang’s narrative— largely relied on the integrity of nitpicked evidence and colorful language.

I’m not here to criticize the substance of Chang’s book or presentation. He makes a thought-provoking point every now and then. I found his chapter on the Ferguson riots to be a profound, if not pretentious, dialogue on culture wars in America. His knowledge of history and

evident dedication to research shines through the lens of America’s race relations. However, the style through which he communicates his ideas clouds his overall point—if it even exists.

As a manifesto against the systematic oppression of minority Americans, “We Gon’ Be Alright” fails to acknowledge the core of why historically disenfranchised ethnic groups suffer today. Chang moves from historical event to historical event as filler with no commentary. He quotes various voices, magazines and newspapers in a colorful way with the intent of criticizing without explicitly doing so, rendering his entire point meaningless and most importantly, devoid of personal insight.

He writes about the narrative of artists and his real life characters with precision and careful observation and yet paints those who may disagree with his position—including both liberals and conservatives—with an extremely broad brush, focusing on the cultural resonance of obscure individuals and artists while making anyone else to be complicit obstructionists.

Chang’s nitpicked statistics, out-ofcontext quotes and citations always seem to fall short of proving any sort of explicit point. Instead, he uses his acquired literary skills to color descriptions of provocative historical events, both famous and banal. He writes with liberal condescension and relies on this technique to convey ideas. He fails to stay on the same path, straying and winding down on detour after detour and never really arriving at a destination. He asks the same question over and over again in different forms, from the first chapter’s “Is it possible to reimagine diversity separated from histories of exclusion?” to the conclusion chapter’s “Can we, given all the pain that we have had inflicted

upon us and that we have inflicted upon others, ever learn to see each other as lovers do, to find our way toward freedom for all?” These questions describe the problem with little to no practicality and offer no pragmatic solution. He is too engrossed in describing the intricacy of the issue to actually arrive at any main idea other than, well, that we’re all going to be alright someday. In response to a question that asked if there was any solution at all, he compared the perfect society to an ever-retreating horizon that can never be reached, which brings up another question: Does Jeff Chang even believe in the very thing he’s calling on his audience to imagine?

Chang’s egregiously melodramatic summary of the Civil Rights Movement before a stadium full of Writing students also brought up another major issue.

After reading his book and sitting through the entirety of his Writer as a Witness presentation and Q&A, it’s clear that he subscribes to the sensationalist rhetoric of far-left Americans who refuse to be equated to any particular group on the political spectrum. It’s not clear why he does so. If he were to write from a leftist perspective, he could make the point that the federal government should take a more active role in promoting the interests of minorities by implementing housing programs or expanding entitlement programs among a score of other pieces of public policy.

If he were to write from a right wing perspective, he could call on oppressed peoples to institute change within their own governments. He could advocate for a negative income tax to bring minorities out of the shadows as an alternative to overblown and complex entitlement programs. Weirdly enough, he sidesteps these options, instead choosing to utilize pretentious diction to sound educated

while ignoring certain data points and leaving out various historical occurrences that deviate from his agenda. He doesn’t offer any tangible solution or even a piece of practical advice.

The other day, I was talking about the book with a colleague of mine, Steve Weiman. He made the point that Chang does what many lazy politicians love doing: deflecting the responsibility of tackling systemic racism to the newer generation of young people.

One of the main points of “We Gon’ Be Alright” is the idea that diversity, in its quest to create the appearance of multiculturalism, has the potential to resegregate individuals. I’d like to point out that Chang’s book has the same effect.

By singling out African-Americans and Latinos and describing their struggle without offering any tangible solution, Chang effectively gives a reason for minorities to bang the war drums without understanding the point of doing so.

By isolating two ethnic groups from the rest of society, he is effectively providing a case for segregation through efforts of multiculturalism—the very phenomenon he seeks to bring to light in “We Gon’ Be Alright.” I would even go as far to say that Chang’s patronizations of AfricanAmerican and Latinx communities is a blatant act of marginalization masquerading as statistical observation.

Race relations, segregation, class warfare and culture wars are some of the most important factors driving the increasing divide in American society today. They deserve detailed analysis and more nuanced discussion, not a onesided narrative—almost as if a deadline and a topic drove the production of the book—that confuses more so than it educates. mlu@theeagleonline.com

Confederate flags hurt international students, too

by Sonikka Loganathan Staff Columnist

In late September, American University fell victim to yet another hate crime when someone hung Confederate flag fliers and cotton stalks in four buildings on campus.

Despite the hatred radiated by those flags, black students are still Americans, and this soil is their home. No one can take that away from them, even if they are mistreated in the U.S. But, I am an international student and this soil is not

my home. If people who were brought here years ago are not welcome here, how can I feel comfortable in this place that is supposed to be my home away from home?

Hate crimes like this and those that have happened in the past, like the bananas hung at AU last May and hateful Yik Yak posts in spring 2015, scare me.

The United States, and universities like AU, like to project an image of safety and security. However, they do little to follow through with those statements. As an international student, these raciallycharged crimes that occur on campus leave me feeling the most isolated. When I see students being attacked for their race under the tagline of “American Southern pride,” I cannot help but feel attacked as well.

These hateful acts have infiltrated my daily life and hurt my mental health. The night after the flags were hung, I was afraid to walk back to my dorm from the library.

In India, bullying and ragging often takes placed based off seniority rather than

race and religion. There, colleges come together more often as a community. This sense of solidarity is apparently lacking at AU. The fact that hate continues to worm its way into this school is deeply concerning to a student that is literally depending on a stamp in her passport and a piece of paper that says “F-1 STUDENT VISA” to stay in this country.

The reality of the situation is that Americans deem me worthy of being in this country and Americans will decide when to send me back. The color of my skin or my specific nationality should not determine whether I’ll be able to stay here. Having to see these crimes like this happen, not in a random town in the Midwest but instead on a college campus in a city as diverse as D.C., makes me feel like I am truly an alien here even more so than comments from people with government positions.

International students are like fish out of water. It is so hard to find people like us because we are so sparsely dispersed across the student body, and there are

so many cultural differences between students from different regions of the world as well. I have to ask a friend or do some research about what a hateful act means. For example, I had to look up what “Huzzah for Dixie,” the words inscribed on the Confederate flag fliers, meant. I shouldn’t have to.

There should be resources on campus that allow me to ask these questions without feeling like I am being insensitive.

There should be a place for me to know that I am protected and I am welcome in this institution and in this country to pursue a higher education. There should be ways to tell students the implications of what has happened and to show them that the school is taking steps forward to increase security and to unite the student body. I chose to come to America because I thought it would be the best place for me to pursue my dreams and get the best education, not to be discriminated against, threatened or left in the dark. sloganathan@theeagleonline.com

16

theEAGLE Oct. 20, 2017

Student debt disproportionately hurts women Student debt isn’t just a millennial challenge, it’s a women’s issue

by Stephanie Black Staff Columnist

Student debt is a women’s issue.

Everyone -- men, women, policymakers, students and universities -- needs to take it seriously.

According to the AAUW's recent report, Deeper in Debt, 44 million borrowers in the U.S. hold about $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loans.

One survey said that “the average Class of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt, up six percent from last year.”

Yet women hold nearly two-thirds of this outstanding student debt (more than $800 billion) and take longer than men to pay it off.

Why are women holding more debt than men? On some level, it makes sense that women would, considering women are 56 percent of all college graduates in the U.S. But though women are the majority of graduates, the amount of student debt they are holding is still disproportionate.

Additionally, adult college women likely have fewer resources at their disposal than adult men. Women are typically paid less, which pushes them to borrow more. On average, women take on initial student loan balances that are 14 percent higher than those of men.

Women also face other financial challenges as they pursue their degrees.

For example, some women need to pay for childcare, pushing up their loan balances. One study found that parents make up about 26 percent of college students, and women account for about 71 percent of those college parents.

Next, by the time women graduate, their loan balances are an average of $1,500 higher than male graduates. Postgrad life also poses unique challenges for women. Women graduates are also statistically more likely to end up in lower paying fields than men and earn

less than their male colleagues in the same job or field. This brings us to the wage gap.

An AAUW report published in 2017 breaks down the wage gap as such: All women make 80 percent of a white man’s dollar. Hispanic women make 54 percent. Black women make 63 percent.

Native women make 58 percent. Asian women make 85 percent. Across all represented races, not one earns the same as her white male counterparts.

This means that women will then take longer to repay their loans. A 2017 Fortune survey found that within four years of graduation men paid off an average of 38 percent of their outstanding debt, while women paid off 31 percent. Women take, on average, two years longer to repay their debt.

Pause. Take a deep breath. Because while this data can seem (and let’s be honest: is) very overwhelming, there are steps that we all can take -- men and women -- to fight this trend.

First, policymakers -- and those who pressure them -- can protect Pell grants and ensure that they work for all students. Receiving financial aid is often a crucial link between how much debt a

student has to take on.

Policymakers must also continue to support repayment approaches that reflect borrowers’ realities. Incomedriven repayment plans are crucial for women to manage their debt since these plans allow struggling borrowers to customize loan repayments to reflect their economic circumstances.

Lastly, we need to address additional costs and barriers students face beyond tuition. Policy makers, universities and students must enact policies that make childcare more affordable for student parents and eliminate the wage gap.

Institutions must also do a better job of providing financial aid guidance and preparing students for their careers.

The complicated ties between student debt and women poses a situation that those in positions of power might prefer to avoid. But, it is of utmost importance that we confront this issue head on. By speaking out and pushing for policy changes, student loan debt can become less of a burden for women. sblack@theeagleonline.com

Staff Editorial: Expelling EI members does not end campus misconduct

The culture of hazing, drinking and misogyny reaches far beyond the underground fraternity Editorial Board Imagine yourself joining a Greek organization. Imagine finding your brothers, your sisters or your closest of friends. Here, you’ve found the type of connection you grew up aching for when you went off to college. For at least one of the 18 students expelled last April, this is exactly what they loved about Epsilon Iota.

Since their 2001 disbandment, EI has existed as an underground fraternity.

They moved off campus, purchased a house in the neighborhood and have operated much the same way as many legitimate fraternities do now. Year after year, they recruit new pledge classes, haze those pledges, throw a lot of parties and gain attention in doing it. For EI, however, they do so behind closed doors.

In 2014, the group scandalized the American University community. Leaked e-mails indicated a culture of drinking, partying and a tolerance for sexual assault. Shortly beforehand, members of the group assaulted a fellow student, ran him over and left him severely injured. Each year, the administration urges incoming freshmen not to trust EI. They warn students about the risks of their parties through constant

e-mails, announcements, seminars and mandatory workshops.

Finally, the University took concrete action against EI members themselves.

The University announced in August it had disciplined 19 students involved in the organization, citing the violation of a recent change to the Conduct Code that banned the presence of unrecognized groups on campus. The school made it known that involvement with the group will no longer be tolerated—an entire 16 years after the fact.

However, even legitimate, recognized and respected fraternities and sororities have long fostered a culture of drinking, partying and hazing. Often, fraternities line up rows of girls, point to the ones they want to take to their parties and caravan them there. Men are often turned away at the door if they arrive without a girl beside them. While The Eagle acknowledges the positive force Greek Life at AU can be for many, these disturbing realities cannot be overlooked.

Ultimately, the only difference is that EI was caught. Misogyny, sexual assault and hazing all hurt the reputation of Greek life at AU. More importantly, they put students at risk. There is currently at least one open Title IX investigation of how the University mishandled a student’s report of sexual assault that involved a Greek organization.

Yet, EI is only one cog in the machine that has pervaded the campus climate. The prevailing issue is not EI, it is not even Greek life at all. The same hinderance to Greek life can be seen in business fraternities, sports teams and even theater. There is a culture of hazing, misogyny and sexual assault at AU that has blistered the community for far too long.

This is not a Greek problem, it’s an American University problem. Epsilon Iota just so happens to have become its poster child. The Eagle staff believes this to be a dangerous oversight, and one that needs to be rectified.

The Eagle understands that it is easy for the administration to make EI the face of its culture of misconduct.

After all, there is a history that precedes them— sexual assault, violence, hazing and mystery. But, their reputation as the University’s bad boys’ club distracts administrators from similar issues at play on the rest of the campus. Students are beaten over the head with messages from the administration that warn them specifically of EI, but little is ever talked about the impropriety that occurs elsewhere.

Until administrators definitively put an end to EI, however, they will continue to absorb the blame. Meanwhile, others will remain unscathed by the

administration, despite engaging in much of the same unethical behavior that their counterparts are disciplined for. The Eagle staff believes this not only to be irresponsible on the part of the University, but also a proliferation of the culture that has developed on its campus.

When one group commits misconduct there are press releases and expulsions, but when a legitimate group commits the same violation it gets settled behind closed doors. The Eagle implores the University to recognize misconduct as misconduct, no matter where it occurs. Students should feel encouraged to report hazing, whether they are in Greek Life or in the locker room.

How the University will address its lingering culture of misconduct remains to be seen. In issues of student physical, sexual and emotional well-being, The Eagle is resolute in their defense. This is an issue that has long been misunderstood by the community at large, but now it is time for the administration to clear the air. This is not a battle against Epsilon Iota, nor is it against Greek life at all—this is, and always has been, a fight to restore the integrity of American University.

-E edpage@theeagleonline.com