November 8, 2011

American University ’s student voice since 1925

November 8, 2011 Volume 86 – Issue 10

THEEAGLEONLINE.COM

FIELD HOCKEY DR. HORRIBLE BRINGS SING-ALONG LOSES LEAGUE TITLE PAGE 24 TO LIFE PAGE 14

ZONING COMMISSION CONCERNED WITH CAMPUS PLAN PAGE 4

VETERANS’

VOICES AU VETERANS SHARE THEIR STORIES PAGES 4-6

@THEEAGLEONLINE

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

IN THIS ISSUE

FROM THE TWITTERSPHERE @emilyhope_r, Nov. 3

3 NEWS 3 RANTS, 4 VETERANS, 7 STUDENT GOVERNMENT, 8 CAMPUS PLAN 14 SCENE 14 DR. HORRIBLE, 18 MOVIE REVIEWS, 19 DC CHILLIN’ 22 PUZZLES CROSSWORD & SUDOKU 23 OPINION 23 STAFF EDITORIAL, 23 MORIZIO, 24 BELL & SHAPIRO 28 SPORTS 25 MEN’S SOCCER, 28 FIELD HOCKEY & VOLLEYBALL 8

@AmericanU Pretty excited to take chemistry of cooking next semester! @AnthsGilms, Nov. 3

Has anyone else noticed that the restrooms in #TDR have the strongest paper towels on campus? Why is that @AmericanU

THIS WEEK

@egg_ray, Nov. 4

NOV. 8 — JOB SEARCH CRASH COURSE

5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. / Butler Boardroom / Practice your networking skills and learn about a variety of career related topics from recruiters, alumni and AU Career Center Advisors. / Contact: Jessica Beasley at beasley@ american.edu

NOV. 9 – DANCE CHOREOLAB 2011: DANCE DANCE EVOLUTION

8 p.m.-9:30 p.m. / Greenberg Theater / Come enjoy an evening of dance works in progress choreographed

by AU students. A panel of local dance professionals will follow the performance. Tickets are $5. / Contact: Greenberg Theater Box Office at auarts@american.edu

NOV. 10 – EMPOWER CONGO JUSTICE AND STORYTELLING EVENT

7 p.m.-9 p.m. / East Quad Building Room 17 / Join Empower Congo as they listen to stories of the victims of the conflict in eastern Congo and hear about different justice initiatives. / Contact: Carly Oboth at atempowercongo@gmail.com

@John_Wall working out at @AmericanU. Nothing like watching a pro athlete work out to make you feel terrible about yourself.

NOV. 11 – AMERICAN UNIVERSITY SYMPHONIC BAND: A TRIBUTE

8 p.m.-10 p.m. / Abramson Family Recital Hall / The AU Symphonic Band will play music that pays tribute to American heroes in honor of Veterans Day. Tickets are $10 regular admission and $5 for the AU community and seniors. / Contact: Katzen Arts Center Box Office at auarts@american.edu

@gregsaperstein, Nov. 3

Spotted at @AmericanU: Girl in MGC walks out of elevator at 8pm, says “eww it ’s dark out ”. No shit, what the hell else do you expect at 8pm?

NOV. 12 – DO YOUR SERVICE DAY

5:30 a.m.-7 p.m. / Come join Alpha Phi Omega for its annual day of service. This is a D.C.-wide event including service projects from around the city and on AU’s campus. / Contact: Kate Greubel at serviceday@ auapo.net

NOV. 14 – ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSISTANTSHIPS INFO SESSION

4:30 p.m. -5:30 p.m. / McKinley 155 Conference Room / Learn about non-Fulbright opportunities to teach English abroad, hosted by the Office of Merit Awards.

All majors are welcome. / Contact: Office of Merit Awards at meritawards@american.edu

K

CORRECTIONS

Correction: “AU, Hillel differ on calculations of Jewish student population,” published Nov. 1, misnamed the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment as the Office of Institutional Research and Development. The article also previously stated that OIRA received information about students’ religions from cards given out by the Kay Spiritual Life Center at orientation. The information is actually collected from freshmen during floor meetings through the Higher Education Research Institute Freshmen Census. The article also said Rothemich is a junior in CAS. She is a senior in SOC. Correction: The review of “Batman: Arkham City” was inaccurately headlined “Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

Clarification: The staff editorial “Occupied with student debt” used the 2009 Project on Student Debt numbers to determine that an average AU student would have about $41,000 in debt. The Project on Student Debt has more recent numbers of which The Eagle was not aware. According to the organization’s 2010 numbers, the average student debt at AU is $36,206, a number provided by AU’s Financial Aid Office.

E

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All submissions become the property of The Eagle. Unsigned letters will not be published. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length and clarity. Letters and columns may be published in print or online. Letters and columns are the opinion of the writer and not the newspaper.

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The Eagle has a commitment to accuracy and clarity and will print corrections or clarifications. To report a mistake, call the editor in chief at (202) 8851402 or email editor@theeagleonline.com.

EDITOR IN CHIEF Lindsey Anderson MANAGING EDITOR FOR WEB Sean Meehan MANAGING EDITOR FOR NEWS Julia Ryan MANAGING EDITOR FOR THE SCENE Yohana Desta DESIGN EDITOR Chris Droukas DESIGN ASSISTANTS Allie Powell Jessica Luczywo PHOTO EDITOR Rachel Devor STUDENT LIFE EDITOR Zach C. Cohen ADMINISTRATION + LOCAL NEWS EDITOR Paige Jones NEWS ASSISTANTS Leigh Giangreco Rebecca Zisser

SPORTS EDITOR Tyler Tomea SPORTS ASSISTANT Ben Lasky EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Joe Wenner ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Hoai-Tran Bui MUSIC EDITOR Maeve McDermott BLOG EDITOR Abby Fennewald MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Diana Bowen ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR Cara Bernard BUSINESS MANAGER Michael Slater SALES DIRECTOR Alexander Robinson ACCOUNT MANAGER Kelsey Beck

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News 3

theEAGLE

#@%!

EAGLE RANTS

Eagle Rants were published online every day this week.

Here are the best of each day’s Rants.

I can’t remember that last time I ate a dinner that wasn’t frozen and then microwaved. #probablyonmywaytocancer Again with the same question: How did the Eagle Rants editor become the Eagle rants editor?

[Editor’s note: By slaying dragons, rescuing princes

and just being an overall BAMF.] What is the Eagle Rants policy on cussing? Do you delete the whole Rant if it has a cuss word in it? Or do you just delete the bad word or replace it with symbols?

[Editor’s note: Depends.

Typically, we delete the cuss word or substitute them for things like “crap” or “screw.”

If the entire Rant is profane or if it doesn’t make sense without the profanity, sometimes we put symbols and

sometimes we delete it.]

Why are there crisis hotlines for rape but no crisis hotlines for any of the painful stuff I am going through in my life? Sometimes I get jealous of rape victims.

I NEED SOME WORDS OF AFFIRMATION! [Editor’s note: YES.] Dear Lois Lane, I’m not very good at guessing games — just at leaping tall buildings. If you want to

talk to me, just go for it. I’m really not intimidating.

-Clark Kent in Understanding Media AU’s Production of “The Who’s Tommy” was excellent. You were supposed to be offended. You know why?

Because sexual assault is offensive, and millions of children live with it as a reality worldwide. Any attempt to sugar coat that reality would be dishonest to the message at the core of the show.

Help Greater Washington Area Nonprofits Raise Millions in 24 hours GIVE TO THE MAX DAY: GREATER WASHINGTON November 9, 2011

Community Partners

Dear Multicultural Affairs, How does one request to be unsubscribed from your email list without appearing racist?

Sincerely, I’m White

gAyU drag show is an embarrassment to the GLBT movement. Being flamboyant to incite attention has caused many problems for the GLBT community from the general public. Let’s not portray GLBT in such a stereotypical manner. While many of you believe that being as loud and proud as can be is helping, it has a series of undesired repercussions that teenage GLBT must face in high schools across the country.

While lounging asleep in my bed at 4 a.m., an unidentified intruder entered my room and proceeded to urinate on my beautiful Leonard carpet. At least you aimed for the shoebox.

Does anyone else notice the supreme irony that the Pepsi Girl goes to an allCoke school?

That wonderful feeling when you finally send an email that you’ve been meaning to write for weeks.

DONATE www.give2max.org Media Sponsors

My boyfriend from GW told me if he had met me after the WONK campaign started he wouldn’t have dated me. WONK sucks.

@multicultural affairs email recipient: Congratulations, most ignorant Rant yet. You don’t have to be of “color” to be multicultural … culture and skin color aren’t necessarily related.

But I guess you haven’t realized that yet.

BE A PART OF SOMETHING GREATER

Organizers and Sponsors

Yes, we ARE the one percent and proud of it.

Love, centennial occupants

Social Impact Partner

Buh-bye midterms …

OH CRAP, MY THESIS IS STILL WAITING FOR ME. Tim McBride, stop having your friends post Eagle Rants about you! You’re too good for that.

Two very good reasons I should get a dog by finals: 1) I can take breaks from

studying to play with it and make me feel better.

2) It will eat my neighbor’s tiny, interminably yapping dog so that the latter no longer interrupts my studying.

I wish I went to Hogwarts because everyone graduates school at age 17 and enters the workforce on an even educational footing. None of this “get a master’s and end up working at McDonald’s” crap.

To whom it may concern, 1. My cat is awesome.

2. End of List •I love it when I come up with mastermind plans to outsmart those who have wronged me. I feel such a rush right now. Too bad I have to wait until tomorrow to enact my plan. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. So I graduated from my small private high school three years ago, and I just found out today that my graduating class has had a Facebook group this whole time to keep in touch with one another. I was the only one not invited to the group.

FML. Whatever though, I fit in much better with the other awesome nerdy people at AU. Dear girl working at the ice cream place by my apartment: I admire you for staying all alone, in the cold and rain, in a sketcky area and when clearly no one but me is buying ice cream.

I have been trying to find the link for ranting for over a week, and now that I FINALLY have, I just want to leave hundreds of Rants ranting that I couldn’t rant before.

The Eagle empowered my by responding to my email about the lack of a ranting box. Now I know for sure I can make a difference in the world!

[Editor’s note: To infinity and beyond!]

SUBMIT YOUR RANTS AT THEEAGLEONLINE.COM.

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

AU student veterans share experiences abroad, on campus

By ZACH C. COHEN Eagle Staff Writer

Alex Andrew used to spend his days monitoring the movements of the Taliban in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army from 2004 to 2011.

Cedric Johnson guarded embassies around the world with the Marines.

John Kamin served two tours in combat units in Iraq.

Then, the veterans came to AU to complete their undergraduate education, transitioning to civilian life from military service abroad.

“I don’t think it’s for everybody,” said Ron Mattson, a senior in the School of International Service who worked in interrogation and intelligence in Iraq with the Army in 2006 and 2008. “I don’t ever plan on going back. But it definitely helped me to grow up. It got me a lot of experience that will hopefully give me a big boost in my job search this spring.”

Many of the veterans said they gained skills that they were able to use in class.

After Johnson, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, served as a Marine in various embassies overseas starting in 2005, he was able to bring his unique perspective to his Cross-Cultural Communications class.

However, some veterans had trouble readjusting to school life following their return to academia, particularly when it came to student-professor relations.

“I’m still learning that it’s OK to talk to your professors,” Johnson said. “So that’s been a big adjustment, because in the military, if you have a problem, you sort of deal with it.”

Though all of the veterans had only high praise for their time in the military, their transition back in civilian life had difficulties of its own.

“When you get out and you realize nobody really has your back anymore and nobody there’s really depend-

ing on you, that can lead to sort of an aimlessness,” said Kamin, the president of AU Vets who was part of the Army’s 2007 surge in Iraq.

Sometimes, the experiences veterans share make it hard to interact with students. Many vets on campus are only happy if they’re busy, said Michael Nguyen, a junior in Kogod who did two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps.

“That’s the thing about military folk: they’re not happy until they’re complaining,” Nguyen said. “They might complain but realistically, if they wanted to chill, they would chill. But they don’t.

They always look for more stuff to do.”

Andrew, a senior in SIS, is a full-time student, works full time at Fort Meade and is raising a 13-month-old son.

When Andrew first left the Army, he was simultaneously looking for a job and helping to move his wife and newborn child into a new condominium.

“It was kind of a lot going on at the same time,” Andrew said. “I don’t know, usually in times like that, times of adversity you just, kind of, focus and get through it and kind of seem to excel.”

The relevant immaturity of veterans’ civilian peers, who are often much younger than their veteran classmates, can be a difficult transition for some veterans to overcome.

“The 18-year-olds I’m used to dealing with [in the military] immediately respond to me as a figure of authority, as a sergeant, so having kids [AU students] run around and not treat me that way is kind of a shock,” Mattson said.

Even veterans’ experiences in college are different from their younger peers, especially when it comes to workload.

Nguyen did not initially sympathize with students’ complaints about workload. To him, college was something to be appreciated merely for the great education and simple amenities

DIANA BOWEN / THE EAGLE

provided, such as air conditioning and running water.

“That was the transition, to finally say, ‘Look, you didn’t go the same road I did, but, you know what, you’re just as good as I am,’” Nguyen said.

The veterans often noticed little differences in their lives compared to the lives of their civilian peers, including the way people get around campus.

“Just walking to and from classes around campus, students tend to just kind of meander, whereas you’ll kind of see vets, like, making their way through pretty quickly,” Mattson said.

Some veterans ran into apathetic or negative attitudes about the military.

“It can border on disrespect, and sometimes you want to check them with your fist,” Nguyen said.

But Kamin said he is fine fielding the rare questions from students that challenge his role in controversial wars. He’s more disappointed when he meets students who don’t seem to care about veterans’ concerns.

“Even those bad questions, to me, at least that shows that you’ve spent some time thinking about this, that this is an issue that you’re involved in,” Kamin said.

Most of the time, veterans

DIANA BOWEN / THE EAGLE

VETERANS ’ VOICES (ABOVE) Ron Mattson, left, and Michael Nguyen, right, sat down in The Eagle office to share their stories. They and other veterans expressed satisfaction with their time as students at AU. To hear more from these veterans, check The Eagle’s website this week for our Veterans Day video story.

say students are genuinely curious about their time in the military and respect them for that service.

“Everyone is universally supportive,” Andrew said.

No matter outsiders’ perspectives, the veterans share a common bond, connected by similar experiences.

“You really don’t really find anyone else to be a true peer unless they’re a fellow veteran,” Nguyen said. zcohen@theeagleonline. com

VETERANS DAY EVENTS Tuesday, November 8 – Military 101: Debunking the Myths, Breaking Stereotypes 5-6:30 p.m. / MGC 247 / Have your questions about the military and student vet experiences answered.

Tuesday, November 8, Wednesday, November 9, and Friday, November 11 – Donation Drive 11 a.m.-2 p.m. / Quad / Donate items on the Quad for care packages to soldiers and buy a $1 yellow ribbon pin.

Thursday, November 10 – “RESTREPO” 5:30 p.m. -7 p.m. / Tavern / Catch the screening of “RESTREPO,” a critically-acclaimed documentary about a platoon in Afghanistan.

Friday, November 11 – Flag Raising 10:10 a.m. and 5:40 p.m. / Quad / Witness the flag raising and lowering and make sure to check out the display in front of Kay Spiritual Center showing those who have served in the military.

Friday, November 11 – Veterans Day D.C. Ceremonies (All day) / See wreath laying ceremonies at Arlington National Ceremony, the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, the World War 2 Memorial, Navy Memorial and Air Force Memorial. Veterans will also tell their stories about their experiences at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

Friday, November 11 – Veterans Day Reception 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. / Battelle Atrium / Honor those that have served in the military, especially those AU students and faculty.

For more information about AU’s veteran events, email vets@american.edu.

News 5

theEAGLE

AU Central to hire veterans’ affairs staff member

By PAIGE JONES Eagle Staff Writer

ANA SANTOS / THE EAGLE

ROTC members reflect on daily training, future military service

By REBECCA ZISSER Eagle Staff Writer

Before most AU students have even begun pressing snooze on their alarms, participants in AU’s Reserve Officer Training Corps are up and training for their future jobs in the United States Military.

“On a typical day, I will wake up at 5:30 a.m. so that I can be ready to participate in physical training that, after our stretching usually begins around 6:30 a.m.,” Rowland Coleman, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said in an e-mail.

The training varies from day to day, but usually consists of some running, upper body and abdomen workouts, and possibly marching with their rucksacks.

“After an hour of this, we all get breakfast together in TDR,” said Coleman.

Their participation in ROTC is not only limited to morning training sessions.

The ROTC members all must enroll in a threehour Military Science class, which they take at Georgetown University once a week. Sometimes they have to attend trainings at night as well.

“ROTC is more a part of my life then regular classes are, it defiantly takes more time then class or homework,” said Peter Prunty, a junior in the School of Public Affairs.

Many ROTC members said the extra work is worth it since they have wanted to be part of the military since they were young.

“My mom used to always tell me stories of knights and dragons and cops and robbers,” said Mitch Rosenstein, a sophomore in SPA. “Images of good and evil have always captivated me.

I always wanted to be the good guy.”

“I couldn’t think of a more honorable position than leading what I consider to be the greatest men and

women this world has ever known,” he said.

Coleman said he realized his desire to join the military long before he came to AU. He joined ROTC because he wants to give back and protect others.

“I’ve always been very fortunate, and I believe in the saying: ‘to whom much is given, much is asked,’” he said.

Coleman said he has always felt a sense of duty to his country since his dad is a police officer.

Although many of the ROTC members said their decision to join ROTC was not made at the same time as their decision to come to AU, they were influenced by our country’s current state of war.

“The fact that the United States is currently at war was a huge determinant in my decision to join ROTC because I believe our country faces a very challenging and complex security threat,” Coleman said. “The men and women fighting overseas have been doing so for quite some time, and as a fellow citizen I feel it is my duty to do what I can to help them.”

Prunty also said the war further motivated him to join ROTC.

ATTENTION! AU’s ROTC members follow a strict daily training schedule and take a Military Science class at Georgetown University once a week. The ROTC members said they are glad they are now able to use AU’s facilities for training.

Despite tension between the ROTC and AU in the past, current ROTC participants expressed no qualms about their relationship with the University.

Prior to the spring 2011 semester, ROTC cadets were not allowed to use AU fitness facilities for training or use AUTO vans for transportation purposes, The Eagle previously reported.

When the policy was repealed in December 2010, AU ROTC students were granted greater access to AU facilities.

“I’m happy ROTC is finally gaining some footing as an equally respected organization along side all the other organizations AU allows to belong,” Prunty said. rzisser@theeagleonline.com

AU Central will be creating a new staff position to handle veterans’ affairs and AU’s growing student veteran population.

Office of Campus Life Vice President Gail Hanson said the University is still unsure when this position will be officially created and when the hiring process will begin.

“We’re a couple conversations short of how this is going to work,” Hanson said. “I can’t put a specific timeline on it, but it will be soon.”

Hanson said AU is helping veterans access their benefits, such as federal tuition funding from the GI Bill, and cope with school through the resources currently available.

“Veteran students have particular needs, and right now they need an expert,” she said.

AU has seen an increase in student veteran enrollment in recent years. Over 204 self-identified veterans are currently enrolled at AU and receive federal Veterans Affairs tuition benefits, according AU Central Associate Director Valerie Verra.

In 2010, 165 self-identified veterans attended AU, up from 119 student veterans in 2009.

“The number [of veterans] is growing and with that kind of capacity, we need someone full-time,” Hanson said.

Liaison network aids vets AU offers help to veterans through a liaison network, which is co-chaired by Verra and Associate Dean of Students Michelle Espinosa.

AU chose to establish a liaison network rather than a physical Veterans’ Resource Center because they felt this best addressed their needs, Hanson said.

“We thought it would be most appropriate,” she said.

AU and Student Government considered creating a physical Veterans’ Resource Center in 2009, The Eagle

previously reported.

“We wanted to create a one-stop resource place for veterans,” Hanson said.

“Otherwise it would be taking away from other services.

Veterans work within this network to address issues with each AU department directly, according to Hanson.

Verra currently acts as the point person for finances and benefits assistance for veterans, in addition to her other duties. Espinosa addresses veterans’ medical and mental health.

The network offers a variety of academic, financial and other services from different AU faculty and staff in different departments, according to AU’s website.

Director of Disability Services Joanne Benica, Staff Clinician Charrise Hipol and Academic Counselor Jack Ramsay are some of the faculty and staff in the network.

The AU website provides additional information and links for veterans to better access federal veterans services, such as “A Guide to Choosing the Right GI Bill.”

Vets expect little from AU AU Vets President John Kamin said veterans do not expect much help from the University because the veterans understand the University’s small amount of existing resources for veterans.

“Instead of telling the school what we need, we decided to just go ahead and do it,” he said, referring to the veterans’ decision to get what they need without going through the University.

Kamin said he believes the University does not seem to emphasis the presence of veterans on campus.

“However, the school presently commits little towards pursuing this goal — we do not have a resource center, a full-time staff position responsible for veterans or even a remote presence at student life,” he said in an VETERANS, PAGE 9 ≥

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

AU alums share stories of wartime service

By LEIGH GIANGRECO Eagle Staff Writer

Veteran. The word conjures up images of loyal soldiers, wounded heroes or traumatized souls. One imagines that because these men and women served in uniform, that they also share a uniform story.

Matthew Halbe: Iraq, Army, SIS ’11 Matthew Halbe, a 2011 alumnus who served in Iraq, acknowledged the importance of Veterans Day but also pointed out the stereotypes of veterans.

“We’re not like all these helpless victims and the same time, we’re not all

these selfless heroes who bleed red, white and blue,” Halbe said. “We’re just people that have these unique experiences.”

Halbe served twice in Iraq, the first time in 2005 and again in 2007 when he was stop-lossed.

His experience in Iraq is not unique one, but is an often-untold story. Halbe was a cryptological linguist, primarily writing reports at the base. He said he didn’t face many threats while on duty, but he witnessed the occasional mortar attack and saw a woman killed in a mortar attack while he was on the base.

“I didn’t have harrowing experiences,” Halbe said. “I

had experiences where I was nervous or afraid. I didn’t experience death up close or my friends dying; I didn’t have to kill anybody.”

During his second deployment he applied to AU, even visiting the campus for preview day during a two-week break. For Halbe, college was literally a world away from the base.

“It was a really weird feeling knowing that I was there in this sort of opulent environment and I would have to go back, that was a very odd feeling,” Halbe said.

Once at AU, Halbe said he felt freed from much of the Army’s restrictions, such as its early morning physical training. Still, adjusting to the non-veteran community presented its difficulties.

“When I was in the Army, I developed a lot of negative habits like smoking, cursing,

being very, very negative,” Halbe said. “A lot of kids at AU through no fault of their own are very idealistic of the world, and the Army kills a lot of that.”

While Halbe developed his core friendships with other veterans at AU, he said he did make civilian friends too. He also met his wife at AU. Adam L’Episcipo: Iraq, Army, SIS ’10 At the height of the surge in Iraq and at the end of his teen years, Adam L’Episcipo went to Iraq in 2006 as an infantryman where he performed night raids. Though he didn’t study philosophy in college, he said he went to Iraq for philosophical reasons.

“I felt that, in order to PROFILES, PAGE 13 ≥

DIANA BOWEN / THE EAGLE

OUT OF WAR, INTO THE CLASSROOM Kogod Professor Mike Carberry has served in Vietnam, worked at advertising agencies and taught at Georgetown University.

AU professor recounts Vietnam War service

By ZACH C. COHEN Eagle Staff Writer

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Professor Mike Carberry only pulled his gun once while in Vietnam, but he never used it.

When Carberry served as a Marine platoon commander, he only carried a .45 pistol in a shoulder holster.

“It was very much the culture of Marine officers back in the ’60s and the ’50s, is you lead; you don’t carry a weapon,” Carberry said. “You’re not there to shoot anybody.

You’re there to lead.”

Even if he “wasn’t in danger until he was in danger,” Carberry didn’t want his parents to worry, so he typically downplayed how much he was in involved in the war.

They found out the truth when the New York Daily Post did a feature story on him. A reporter showed up to their house asking for a picture of Carberry, and his cover was blown.

Carberry said he was happy to be in the military. He still proudly mentions his father’s involvement in World War I and his son’s current position as a captain in the Marines with a twinkle in his eye.

When Carberry finished his three years of volunteer service as an enlisted soldier, he focused on his studies at Columbia University. He and the other veterans kept a low profile and avoided conflict

with the anti-war activities that called U.S. soldiers “baby killers.”

“We used to say, ‘What are they going to do? Send us back to Vietnam?’” Carberry said.

But the stigma attached to Vietnam War veterans didn’t stop Carberry from eventually getting a job working in the advertising business in New York City, a lá “Mad Men.” He managed advertising teams for Gatorade, Lipton Tea, Alka-Seltzer and other popular consumer products.

Carberry stayed in the reserves for 33 years, serving as the commanding officer of a unit in D.C. and the chief of staff to another in Georgia.

He retired as a colonel.

He now teaches advertising in the Kogod School of Business. But in today’s new, changing digital media, Carberry gets as excited about learning about the material as he does teaching it.

“It’s a challenge for folks like me to teach digital to young students who grew up on digital who know it far better than I,” Carberry said.

He said his time in the military play a role in the way he teaches, as it gave him confidence and leadership skills that he uses to this day.

“I love teaching because it keeps me current,” Carberry said. “It keeps me alive.” zcohen@theeagleonline.com

News 7

theEAGLE

Senate passes “TAMPON Resolution”

By ZOE CRAIN

Eagle Staff Writer The Student Government Undergraduate Senate passed a resolution at its Nov. 6 meeting asking for additional trash cans in all campus bathrooms to supplement the existing paper towel compost containers.

In an effort to increase adherence to environmentally friendly compost containers in bathrooms, the Sen-

ate passed the “Resolution to Advocate to be More Proactive on Neatness… in Bathrooms,” commonly known by its acronym, “The TAMPON Resolution.”

The goal of the resolution, said Sponsor Class of 2014 Senator Abigail Finn, is to provide a receptacle for people to place non-compost -friendly items, such as feminine hygiene products, floss or tissues, so as to prevent mixing non-compostable

SG works to improve image through outreach

By HEATHER MONGILIO Eagle Staff Writer

The Undergraduate Senate is attempting to improve its image with the creation of a committee to find ways to improve “constituent relations,” according to the bill that created the committee Nov. 6.

“There’s been a lot of talk, including within the Senate, about whether we’re doing enough to relate to the University community, through transparency and communications,” Class of 2014 Senator Franky Irwin said.

“I really want to make sure that students know we are upholding our commitments to them and this Senate.”

The Senate needs such a bill because they believe that students hold a negative image of the Senate, Senator-AtLarge Joe Wisniewski said.

Many view the Senate as unwelcoming, Wisniewski said.

“A lot of people either hate the Senate or don’t know we exist,” he said.

The Senate is also working toward being more open and transparent this year in order to combat the negative perception some students have about the Student Government.

“This year’s Senate seems to stressing the need for a more open government,” Freshman Senator Patrick Kelly said.

Some senators, including Wisniewski, believe the Senate’s formal dress code contributes to this negative pub-

lic opinion because it makes them seem overly formal.

Class of 2014 Senator Rob Battaglia disagrees.

“I think, by having professional attire on, it just sets the tone for how the meetings and how the body should be run,” Battaglia said. “We need to take ourselves seriously because we have a very serious job.”

The SG has other measures in place to improve its public image.

The Undergraduate Senate regularly tables outside on the Quad and in MGC to reach out to the student body.

The Senate’s website also features agendas, minutes and the legislation from Senate sessions for the student body to see.

“The website is definitely important because we need to have that tool so people can reach out to us,” Battaglia said.

The senators are also required to hold office hours in order to meet with their constituents. Class of 2012 Senator Bart Thompson sponsored a bill at the Oct. 23 meeting requiring senators to keep their doors open while holding office hours to encourage more students to visit and discuss issues on campus.

Although the Senate passed the bill, the senators spent a few minutes arguing about the cost of a doorstop.

“Everything wrong in the Senate can be focused in on that debate,” Wisniewski

items in the compost containers.

There was some dissent within the Senate, as expressed by Class of 2014 Senator Rob Battaglia, over whether these trash cans were actually necessary when there are trash cans in all residence hall lounges and laundry rooms.

“There’s a trash can in the lounge, and there’s one in the laundry room … Can’t you just walk outside two feet and use one of those?” Battaglia said.

Streetcar to Georgetown?

The Senate and the surrounding business district. said.

The Senate runs on parliamentary procedure, a set of rules that govern debate using “motions” and “points” to determine who speaks and whether a measure will be considered.

“If you are so focused on parliamentary procedure and the legislation process, then you end up weakening the body,” Wisniewski said.

Other senators disagree.

“We have parliamentary procedure to keep order in the Senate,” Battaglia said.

Some senators also believe the last Senate has inherited negative public perceptions from older Senate classes.

Senate Speaker Brett Atanasio said today’s Undergraduate Senate is still trying to overcome the negative image brought on by these earlier Senate classes.

In 2009, the Undergraduate Senate brought impeachment charges against former Comptroller Matt Handverger for negligence and failure to complete his weekly time commitment to the SG, The Eagle previously reported.

The charges were dropped, but Handverger resigned from his position the following week.

“There was a lot of conflict in the Student Government as a whole, but that all played out in the Senate, so it really hurt out public image really badly,” Atanasio said. “And I think we haven’t been able to recover from that, we are, but we haven’t fully recovered from our image taking that kind of hit.”

Staff writer Zoe Crain contributed to this report. news@theeagleonline.com

Before WMATA can even begin construction, local government must approve the plan through a series of legislative acts.

D.C. lobbyist Tom Quinn, who has worked closely with Senator-at-Large Joe Wisniewski to generate University support, is spearheading That process is still in its early stages, and an operational system is still at least five years in the future, according to Wisniewski, the sponsor of the SG Senate bill.

Passing the resolution only shows that the AU student body would support such a system.

“This is a very small step in

a long process,” Wisniewski said. “It is certainly not something anyone here would see before graduation.”

SG president to meet with Board of Trustees In preparation for his upcoming meeting with the Board of Trustees, Student Government President Tim McBride said in the Senate meeting that he wants to increase transparency of endowment funds, a major source of income for the University.

McBride also said he hopes to create initiatives, with the support of the Board of Trustees, to invest funds into

Students create AU branch of Occupy D.C.

By RYAN MIGEED

Eagle Contributing Writer From Wall Street to Washington, the Occupy Movement has spread across the country – and has now come to AU. Over 28 students gathered Nov. 3 in the Davenport Lounge to plan ways to bring the Occupy movement to campus and encourage AU involvement in the movement off campus.

Students sat in a circle around Cody Steele, a senior in the School of International Service, as he gave a brief history of the movement.

Then he opened the floor for discussion on how to implement “Occupy” on campus.

“Occupy AU is not acting on behalf of Occupy D.C.,” Steele said. “We want to create a larger student presence and raise awareness.”

Steele and his fellow Occupy AU organizers spread news of the information meeting via Facebook and word of mouth.

“Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement inspired by the populist uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt,” Steele said at the meeting, quoting the movement’s website.

Occupy protests have spread to 100 cities in the United States and 1,584 cities across the globe since the movement began Sept. 17, according to the movement’s website.

At the AU meeting, Steele played an audio recording

of the Occupy Wall Street protestors’ official grievances against corporations, including corporations’ perceived refusal to negotiate with workers, their outsourcing of labor to foreign markets and their alleged practice of “blocking” the use of alternative energy sources.

The AU students also listened to Occupy Wall Street protestors’ grievances against banks, including fallout from the mortgage crisis.

The growing student loan debt in the United States was perhaps the biggest grievance students discussed at the Nov. 3 meeting.

Steele said his tuition as a freshman was $32,816 and now is $37,554. He feels AU did not give justification for such a tuition rise.

Occupy AU is not related to the A New AU campaign, which has been regularly petitioning AU to change its budget and other policies.

A New AU campaign organizers are interested in Occupy AU and have been helping spread the word, Steele said. However, the two are not officially allied in specific initiatives.

“There hasn’t been much discussion about working together, but I can see that happening in the future,” he said.

When Steele opened the floor for discussion at the meeting, students gave advice to each other on how best to get involved in the global Occupy movement.

One student urged everyone to get their information

community development banks. Using the resources of these institutions increases AU’s ties with the community and is more fiscally responsible for fund management, he said.

Confidentiality Rights In his report before the Senate, McBride also announced that Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator Daniel Rapapport and Women’s Resource Director Courtney Brooks now have confidentiality rights. news@theeagleonline.com

about the movement from sources other than major media outlets such as CNN. Many people in the group said they want to get as many students, faculty and staff as possible involved in Occupy AU. Some students stressed the protestors’ need to step out of their comfort zones and sacrifice their time for the movement.

Occupy AU will be holding its first General Assembly meeting Nov. 9 on the Quad at 3:30 p.m.

The group’s goal for the meeting is to build consensus on the best ways to affect change and to brainstorm how to connect to other general assemblies in Occupy camps across the world. The event organizers also hope to engage AU students, professors and staff that may be interested in the Occupy movement.

“It’s not about forming a new political system,” said Rachel Mandelbaum, a junior in SIS. “It’s about making economic equality achievable.”

Steele said students from many D.C. schools have come together to support the Occupy movement in McPherson Square. But he believes it is “understandable that more students haven’t gotten involved yet,” he said.

“We have such intense blinders on as college students, because we’re so busy,” he said.

When asked what he hopes what Occupy AU will achieve as a group, Steele replied, “[I hope] more students realize their potential and power as individuals.” news@theeagleonline.com

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

D.C. Zoning Commission raises concerns about AU Campus Plan

By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer

Members of the D.C. Zoning Commission expressed concern that “more work needs to be done” on the AU Campus Plan at the seventh hearing on the plan Nov. 4.

The comments came after AU presented its rebuttal, replying to neighbors’ assertions that aspects of the plan, such as East Campus and moving the Washington College of Law to Tenley Campus, would negatively impact traffic and the quality of life in the neighborhoods near AU. “The overall picture that I’m getting of the plan as it stands right now is: a lot of what you’ve done is very sensible, but it seems like there’s still some room for improvement,” Zoning Commissioner Peter May said to AU representatives, including Chief of Staff David Taylor, AU’s legal consul Paul Tummonds from Goulstan & Storrs’ real estate group and other AU representatives and consultants.

Commission concerned with AU’s communication The commissioners expressed concerns that AU is not effectively communicating with neighborhood groups that oppose the plan.

Commission Chairman Anthony Hood asked Taylor why the commission is hearing from the neighbors that AU is not being responsive.

“Here’s the thing, why do I hear so much of that if, it’s common now to hear some, but we’ve heard a lot of that, a lot of ‘American’s not listening, American University’s not listening,’” Hood said. “It was an abundance of it; it was louder than usual.

I think, something’s wrong, I just don’t know what it is, I haven’t figured it out yet, but something’s wrong.”

However, Hood said he remembered the hearings 10 years ago on the Katzen Arts Center, which also faced opposition from the community at the time. During the recent hearings, though,

neighbors have included Katzen among the things they like best about the University.

“There was some opposition, and I heard tonight how great the Katzen Center was, so, you know, those are the kind of outcomes that we want to achieve,” Hood said.

Commissioner May suggested that the divide might come from how the University is speaking to people and showing photos that appear deceptive.

May mentioned Penny Pegano, AU’s director of community and local government relations, saying she was going to “correct” previous testimony during her section of AU’s rebuttal.

He also said some of AU’s diagrams, models and photos of what East Campus will look like may be seen as deceptive. The projections often show an unrealistic thickness of trees or are taken from a flattering angle, May said.

“It creates this impression that things look better than they really are,” he said.

Tummonds, Taylor and other AU representatives said the University has revised its plans in response to neighbors’ comments, including the “buffer” area between the proposed East Campus buildings and Westover Place townhomes.

“We have done many things to address the concerns that have been raised to us, we haven’t necessarily done them in the exact fashion that people have wanted,” Tummonds said.

Commissioner questions AU’s use of retail space Zoning Commission ViceChairman Konrad Schlater said he was “grappling with” how AU uses commercial and retail space.

AU owns several properties that are zoned for commercial use, such as the space near Chef Geoff ’s on New Mexico Avenue. Many AU offices, including Human Resources, are in that space.

Throughout the hearings, neighbors have said AU is taking over commercial ar-

eas, mentioning the departure of the gourmet grocery story Balducci’s from AUowned space.

While Schlater acknowledged that it is outside the commission’s purview to suggest how AU handles its commercially zoned property, he said that, to be a good neighbor, AU needs to make an effort to bring retail into commercial property and not employ it for administrative uses.

“It does seem to me that, if you own property that could be used for retail in the commercial zone, and you turn that into administrative offices, that AU is not utilizing all of its potential resources to fill that retail need for the campus,” Schlater said.

“There’s not a lot of commercially-zoned area at the ground level in this neighborhood and, when it gets used for University admin uses, you’re taking away an amenity for the neighborhood,” he continued. “And then, on the other hand, you’re saying, I want to go into a residentially-zoned area and provide 20,000 square feet of retail [on East Campus]. It doesn’t really add up.”

AU responds to concerns The University presented its rebuttal at the hearing, replying to opposition groups’ concerns, questions and statements regarding the plan.

Representatives illustrated how the University worked with neighbors to mitigate aspects of the plan that they saw as objectionable. Such measures included: Q reducing the number of proposed bleacher seats at Reeves Field from 2,000 to 250, Q providing breakdowns of student populations and off-campus parking enforcement Q and providing specifics on the trees that will be planted in the landscape buffer behind East Campus.

The University also hired a company to conduct a noise study to determine the impact of noise from East Campus buildings on Westover Place residents.

The academic “buffer” buildings that will be closest to Westover will act as sound buffers, according to the study.

Sound from normal activi-

Courtesy of AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

NOISE WAVES The diagram above illustrates the level of noise from East Campus that residents in the Westover Place homes will hear from their third floors. The small circular areas are the loudest. ties will not be above the level of background noise, said Kevin Miller of Miller, Beam & Paganelli, the acoustics and vibration company that conducted the study. The worse case scenario (loud party music from multiple sources) would be about 51-58 decibels and could be managed by AU. “My professional opinion is that it [East Campus dorms] will not create an objectionable condition” for the neighbors, Miller said.

D.C. councilmember does not support Campus Plan D.C. Councilmember AtLarge Michael Brown read his letter of concern regarding the Campus Plan at the hearing.

In the letter, Brown says the Campus Plan is “not a realistic plan,” raising many of the concerns the commissioners raised later in the meeting.

Key points in Brown’s letter included: Q “The 2011 AU Plan calls for unprecedented growth adding nearly 1 million [gross square feet] of new buildings.”

Q “AU has chosen a path to meet these two objectives [the construction of new student housing and a new law school] that prove

objectionable to neighbors when other options are available that would be less objectionable or not objectionable at all.”

Q “AU has been expanding its footprint into the neighborhood over the last ten years by purchasing additional commercial space for university uses that falls outside the purview of the Zoning Commission and the campus plan process.”

Q “The amount of the growth proposed by AU suggests the extraordinary nature of this plan and its potential for long-lasting and permanent negative impacts on residents.”

After reading the letter, Brown said the Campus Plan may need to be redrawn.

“This plan may need to be scrapped, and sit down again with folks again so we can figure out what to do to have a better path and a much more positive path,” Brown said.

Opponents suggest Southeast satellite campus, raise safety concerns Over 20 people who oppose the Campus Plan spoke to the commission about their concerns during the first half of meeting.

Some speakers called AU a bully, saying the University has not listened to the community’s concerns.

Many residents said AU should consider a satellite campus for the law school rather than moving it to Tenley.

Shirley Buttrick, of 2828

Wisconsin Avenue, suggested moving the law school to Southeast D.C., saying that Southeast would welcome the development and investment that would come with the school and its students.

One female Westover Place resident said she was worried about the physical safety of students, who, according to her, do not pay attention to their surroundings and ignore stoplights.

Another Westover resident, Maria Cress, said students are “out of touch with their own safety,” that they are “carefree” and cross the street without looking in either direction.

Other residents requested at least a 120-foot buffer between proposed East Campus buildings and Westover Place townhomes. They also requested that the buffer area be secured and off-limits to students. “[The buffer will be a] haven for parties and mischief,” Westover resident Gail Donovan said, stating that the area will be a space for students to congregate.

Groups opposed to the plan questioned AU on its rebuttal at the zoning hearing Nov. 7.

The Zoning Commission will release its decision within 30 days of the final hearing.

Visit american.edu/finance/fas/2011-CampusPlan.cfm for more information on the plan. landerson@theeagleonline. com

News 9

theEAGLE

Heritage Foundation expert calls for students to find financial fixes

By REBECCA ZISSER Eagle Staff Writer

Just as one might wake up with a hangover after New Year’s, the government wakes up with a hangover at the beginning of a new fiscal year, said Heritage Foundation economic expert Alison Fraser.

Comparing the fiscal year to New Year’s Day, Fraser spoke about the current

state of the economy at an AU College Republicans event Nov. 1 “Our hangover for the federal government is our debt,” she said.

Fraser spoke to an audience of around 15 students in the University Club. Her organization, the Heritage Foundation, conducts conservative public policy research.

Fraser also discussed specific economic problems

Pronto lets students order food by text

By SOMMER BRUGAL

Eagle Contributing Writer Pronto’s new program, Zingle, now offers students the option to text in their order to the food venue in Mary Graydon Center.

After students text in their order, a machine receives the text and prints it the text on a receipt. The order is ready for pick up in 10 minutes.

Zingle, the company that manages the program, made its debut this summer at the Bon Appétit regional meeting. It underwent a trial run at other Bon Appétit locations during the fall before it was implemented at AU. Michelle Mooney, general manager for Bon Appétit, reported that Bon Appétit saw the feature as a new and improved way for students to order a meal.

Efforts to execute the new feature revolve around time efficiency. Students will ≤ VETERANS, PAGE 5 email.

But Kamin said veterans understand that their issues, such as accessing government benefits and transitioning into civilian life, are unique to both the University and the student body.

“We can’t expect them to be aware of these issues,” he said.

Kamin said AU Veterans plan to make students, faculty and staff more aware of their presence by holding

no longer have to wait for their Pronto meals. Instead, their sandwich will be ready upon their arrival to Pronto, where they will pay for their meal.

“We are sensitive to our customers’ time and want to make their experience at Pronto as time efficient as possible,” described Mooney. “We thought it was a great idea and decided to implement it [at AU].”

Students react positively to program Few students have participated in Zingle thus far.

Paula Lopez, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, said Zingle is convenient and ideal, especially when time is limited between her class and work schedule.

“It was great,” Lopez said.

“I texted in my order, and it was ready when I arrived.”

Isbella Diaz, a sophomore in the School of Internaevents.

AU Vets will hold a veteran reception Nov. 11 for Veterans’ Day. They will also hold a conference in January to demonstrate to faculty how to better educate veteran students.

Veterans also spoke in College Writing classes earlier this fall for their summer reading book “The Good Soldier,” The Eagle previously reported.

AU Veterans want to be more active in the AU community and to offer advice

facing the United States and potential solutions to these problems.

“We are seeing a dramatic increase in the size and scope of our debt,” she said.

America’s debt will only get worse with the direction the United States is headed in now, she said.

“Our lesson learned, if any, from the EU’s experiences is that we are just a couple of years behind having to deal with the same issues,” she tional Service, also said the program is helpful.

“It was efficient, convenient and definitely lived up to the 10 minute promise,” stated Diaz. “The fact that I can just text in my order, run to Pronto and pick it up is very good, if not an essential thing for me.”

The future of Zingle Bon Appétit wants Zingle to have a positive effect on the AU community.

“We hope students and faculty will embrace the new program and see it as an effective way to get lunch,” Mooney said.

The introduction of Zingle at Pronto is a pilot program.

If successful, Bon Appétit may branch the concept to other food venues on campus. There are currently no plans for expansion.

Menus and order code flyers are available for students to pick up at the Pronto location. To place an order, text (202) 375-5499. news@theeagleonline.com

to those on campus interested in the military, according to Kamin.

“We were also trying to tell the school we have stuff to give,” he said. pjones@theeagleonline.com

said.

After explaining the issues, Fraser talked about solutions that the Heritage Foundation has supported in the past.

“I would do it all on the spending side without raising taxes,” she said. “Rather than taxing the rich, I would rather take away their benefits,” referring to Social Security and Medicare.

Taxes make economic growth more difficult, she said.

“We’ve got to do this in a way that makes everyone’s future brighter,” Fraser said.

Fraser encouraged the stu-

dents in attendance to talk to their parents and grandparents about these issues over Thanksgiving.

She challenged students to ask them, “What are you going to do to help me?”

“A lot of these solutions are going to rely on us having a conversation,” she said.

The solutions Fraser proposed seemed to resonate with many of the students at the event.

“I really think she made a lot of sense,” said Ella Davis, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs. “She had some really good ideas for the economy in the long

term.”

Charles Merrick, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, had a different opinion.

“I generally liked the speech,” Merrick said. “I didn’t necessarily agree with things, but they made their points well.”

Merrick said he was invited to the event by some of his Republican friends and attended because of his interest in economics.

“It’s important to be open to other opinions,” he said. rzisser@theeagleonline.com

AU drops in PETA’s national rankings of “most vegan-friendly” colleges

By KENDALL BREITMAN Eagle Contributing Writer

AU was ranked as one of the top 16 vegan-friendly colleges in PETA’s nationwide competition last week.

Last year AU finished second in the competition, close behind Northwestern University. In 2008, AU won the title of most veganfriendly campus in the nation.

“We are not sure why the decrease in rankings happened,” Bon Appétit Management Company Director Michelle Mooney said.

“We continue to listen to the students, read the comment cards, and meet with students to meet their expectations.”

Some students said they were shocked by the results as well because they enjoy the quality and quantity of vegan options at AU. “AU has a lot of veganfriendly options around campus that I don’t see why we were eliminated so early,” College of Arts and Sciences junior Morgan Wheaton said. “Despite the competition, I think there is still something to say for the amount of options AU gives.”

PETA will decide the most vegan-friendly school by whoever wins the bracket.

The organization did not give specific rankings for each school since the competition has not finished.

AU was defeated in the second round in the “Small

Schools” bracket. Bennington College, Brandeis University, Brown University, University of Rochester all moved on to the next round of the bracket.

Brown University, Brandeis University, Northwestern University and Georgetown University are still competing for the title of “most vegan-friendly school.” The winner will be announced on Nov. 21.

In their 2010 report, PETA referred to AU as “one of our top schools over the past several years” and described AU as “representing ‘the District’ proudly with vegan options worthy of national praise.”

PETA2, a branch of PETA that focuses on college students, sponsored this year’s competition.

It takes four factors into consideration when rating each school: Q Number of votes received Q Quality and variety of vegan food Q School’s enthusiasm in promoting their options Q Student feedback AU’s on-campus veganfriendly options AU hosts many veganfriendly options on campus in TDR, Tavern and Boxed Lunch such as grains, tempeh, seitan, legumes and tofu.

TDR’s dessert station offers vegan desserts and ice cream.

Other vegan-friendly vendors on campus include: Q Pronto

Einstein Bagels Mega Bytes Q Eagle’s Nest AU has increased its selections of vegan-friendly food based on student demand.

Mooney feels there were not any changes made to AU’s food venues that would have negatively impact the voting in the PETA competition.

“We feel we have increased the offerings this year per the student requests,” Mooney said.

She said students seem to have become more conscientious about sustainable food practices as more vegan options have been added on campus in the past six years. As more students request vegan friendly food, Bon Appétit makes efforts to prepare and serve this food, she said.

“I was surprised when we didn’t with the competition,” School of Public Affairs sophomore Meredith Allen said. “Hopefully the competition will help AU work hard to improve our vegetarian and vegan options on campus for the next competition.”

Q Q

news@theeagleonline.com

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

Q&A: CNN Correspondent John King talks politics

By LOIS NAM

Eagle Staff Writer John King, CNN’s chief national correspondent and anchor of “John King USA,” will be speaking at AU Nov. 9.

The event is sponsored by the Kennedy Political Union and will be held in Ward 2 at 8:45 p.m.

King is known for pioneering the use of interactive technology on his show, such as the “multi-touch” board, and for his in-depth coverage of the last six U.S. presidential elections.

The Eagle and ATV sat down with King Oct. 31 at the CNN Washington bureau to talk about the 2012 elections, his show and his advice for students.

Q: What do you think about the GOP field so far? Who has the best chance against Obama?

KING: This is a remarkable race. … Look at the guy at the top right now — Herman Cain. Who knew who Herman Cain was a year ago? There’s a frustration with ‘politics as usual’ so a guy who’s different can emerge as a leader …

You have Mitt Romney, who’s the tortoise. He’s been slow and steady. … He has the money, resources, experience. The race in the Republican Party is: who is the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney? . ..If Romney can win two of the three [first primaries], or all three, it could be over. But if not, someone will emerge as the conservative challenger to Romney.

Q: You’re associated with pioneering technology at CNN, things like the multitouch screen and using Facebook and Twitter on your show. What’s drawn you to that kind of technology, what attracts you to it?

KING: In some ways I’m an old AP guy with a pencil in my pocket and a notebook, and I remember fondly those days. However, that part of the business is either dying or sick. … It’d be the

height of arrogance for anybody in the TV business to say, “You have to watch me to get your information,” because that’s laughable.

You can get your information anytime you want it, almost any way you want it.

With the world of technology changing, we have two choices: change or fail. ... If we don’t engage people in the conversation, we’ll lose them.

Q: You traveled to all 50 states during President Obama’s first year in office.

What did you gather from your travels?

KING: Where you live shapes your views. Go to Nebraska, or Iowa, or Kansas. They think differently.

Not because you’re wrong and they’re right or vice versa. It’s just because they live in a different place. … When you turn on C-SPAN and you see senators screaming … you sit there and you think, “They’re children.

Why can’t they get along?”

Well, sometimes they can’t get along because they represent very different people. … This country is a complicated, 50-state puzzle.

Q: What’s one story you’ve covered that made a lasting impression on you?

KING: I traveled with Vice President [Al] Gore when he went to the [Nelson] Mandela inauguration. And I’ve never been that close to something so remarkably page-turning. There’s three white guys in the whitest military suits you’ll ever see that come out and they hand the keys — essentially hand over control of the military — to Nelson Mandela. It was just stunning. You’re in this grand parliament building where they do the ceremony, and in a park right around the corner, you see the black citizens, the poorest of the poor, with tears of joy streaming down their face. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The flip side of that is I spent a few months in Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the tsunami [of 2004] hit. And

Planned Parenthood staffer criticizes cuts in funding

WILLA HINE / THE EAGLE

By ALISSA SCHELLER

Courtesy of CNN

Eagle Contributing Writer

HAIL TO THE KING CNN’s chief national correspondent, John King, will be speaking at AU on Nov. 9 in Ward 2 at 8:45 p.m. The event is sponsored by KPU. it was numbing how sad it was. The losses, the devastation, people wandering, people who had nothing to begin with — lost. … Meeting people who were holding their babies and the power of water just took them out of their hands and floated them away. ... The tsunami is like a movie in my head. I can never get it out.

LOUNGING AROUND Housing and Dining will renovate and rename Leonard Formal Lounge by January 2012.

Q: What’s your best piece of advice for college students?

KING: Be curious, be passionate and don’t be afraid of your mistakes. You’re going to make so many mistakes.

Life is not defined by falling down; life is defined by how you get up. If you’re afraid of falling down, there’s so much you won’t see and so much you won’t learn because you held yourself back. The only way to learn is to try. The only way to get tough is to get beat up a little bit. Be passionate about what you do and don’t be afraid to change. Everything around you is changing all the time. If you do something and you love it, and you feel like you’re losing it, don’t become bitter about it.

Wrap it up and turn the next page.

By JENNI MUNS

news@theeagleonline.com @theeagleonline will live tweet King’s speech tonight.

Check out The Eagle’s story on the speech online tomorrow.

Housing and Dining to rename Leonard Formal Lounge Eagle Contributing Writer Housing and Dining plans to renovate and rename the Leonard Formal Lounge by January, according to Housing and Dining Director of Residence Life Rick Treter.

After the Childcare Center moved out of Leonard in 2009 to its current location in the Child Development Center behind Centennial Hall, Housing and Dining began thinking about how it could use the lounge, Treter said.

“When asked in surveys what the University could improve on, students in an overwhelming number said they would like to see more social spaces where they can go and just hang out, so we decided this is what the Leonard Formal Lounge should be made into,” Treter said.

In spring 2011, Housing and Dining added a couch and study tables to the lounge. They also painted the lounge, gave it new carpeting and added a flatscreen TV to the wall. But

Treter said he wants to see the space transformed even more.

Although he has a design concept he would like to be implemented, nothing has been approved or paid for yet.

“We’re only in the budget stage at this point,” he said.

Treter said he has been welcoming any student input on what the space should look like since it will solely be for students.

The current design plan for the Leonard lounge includes a small stage that can be used for non-amplified sound performances by University groups and organization, according to Treter.

“I want AU students to be able to perform in this space, whether it be a cappella, musical instruments or spoken words,” Treter said. “This is how it will differ from the Perch and Tavern.”

The space will also include a study room that can be reserved by students. The space will not have a food LEO LOUNGE, PAGE 11 ≥

Women’s health care access will be a key issue in the 2012 election, said Amy Taylor, the political director of Planned Parenthood, at an event hosted by AU College Democrats and Women’s Initiative Nov. 2.

Taylor spoke about the Congress members who have aimed to defund Planned Parenthood and discussed the organization’s goals for the 2012 election cycle.

“We know that it’s a winning issue for women because they actually care about access to health care and they care about their reproductive futures,” she said.

About a third of Planned Parenthood’s budget is covered by federal funds that cover birth control for lowincome women, breast and cervical cancer screenings and testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to the organization’s 2008-2009 annual report. Private donors and health center incomes cover the remainder of its budget.

In 2010, the federal government provided about $75 million in funding to Planned Parenthood, according to the 2010 Financial Report of the U.S. Government. Taylor said the organization’s overall budget was about $1 billion this year.

In February 2011, the organization was caught up in a funding debate, with some anti-abortion members of Congress arguing that Planned Parenthood should be stripped of federal funding because it provides abortion services, according to C-SPAN transcripts of House proceedings.

PARENTHOOD, PAGE 12 ≥

News 11

theEAGLE ≤ LEO LOUNGE, PAGE 10 area similar to the Mudbox, despite several requests from students.

Treter didn’t apply for a license for a food venue in the lounge due to existing contracts with food vendors on campus.

Keesah Ceran, assistant resident director; Austin Perry, residential education coordinator; and Treter held a contest asking students what the lounge should be named.

“We want the name to be consistent with American University themes such as the WONK Campaign or the Eagle mascot,” Treter said.

The name will be announced when the Residence Hall Association, Housing and Dining and the Office of Campus Life approve it, according to Treter.

He is unsure of when this will take place, but says creative name suggestions can still be submitted to Perry at austinp@american.edu.

Once a name has been approved, Perry will no longer take suggestions. news@theeagleonline.com

PHOTO OF THE WEEK SMILE LIKE YOU MEAN IT Panera Bread opened a location in Tenleytown on Nov. 4 at the intersection of Albemarle Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The store was originally slated to open in July, but construction difficulties delayed the store’s opening.

SAVANNA ROVIRA / THE EAGLE

AUSG Jobs Board back online but without fix for phishing

By SAMANTHA GRODY Eagle Contributing Writer

Student Government relaunched its Jobs Board website Sept. 28 after seeing a series of fraudulent posts on the site over the past year.

However, the SG did not fix the website so that fraudulent posts cannot be made and looks to switch to a new website platform to create a new site in December.

The site was shut down for the first two weeks of September due to ongoing problems with phishing, a type of

scam in which a user posts a fake job and takes a student’s money, The Eagle previously reported.

In phishing incidents, students will often inquire about a job posting and pay an “application fee” to their future employer, only to never hear back from the employer who posted the job.

It is hard to count how many students have had their money stolen through phishing because several students did not report the incident to the SG, said SG Secretary Kevin Sutherland.

The Jobs Board began to notice these problems over the summer, Sutherland said.

While the site was shut down in the beginning of September, Sutherland and IT Director Alex Adamczyk worked to take down the fraudulent posts, Sutherland said.

The SG plans to post a document on the top or front of the Jobs Board website warning users of what fraudulent posts looked like and how to report them.

However, Sutherland has been unable to post this

message because he doesn’t know how to edit the site, he said.

Former IT Director Jake Paul coded the site two years ago using a program called Ruby on Rail. Sutherland has not been able to find anyone who is familiar with the program to read the code and access editing privileges.

“The difficulty in modifying the Jobs Board underscores the need to move to a new platform that is easier for us to administer,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland said SG will create a new Jobs Board site on WordPress instead of trying to read the code on the old site.

Moving to a new website platform will enable the SG

to create a new site, which will make it easier for future IT directors and the SG to access editing and management options, Adamczyk and Sutherland said.

They also chose to use WordPress because it is the program used for the SG’s main website, so all SG members would be able to edit the Jobs Board site. This will make it easier for SG members to manage the site and remove phishing ads.

Other new Jobs Board features had to be put on hold as well because the main goal was to get the site back up and running, he said. The new site will feature a “report it” button, which students could press to alert the SG if there is a scam on the site.

Sutherland hopes to launch the new site by December and plans to keep the existing Jobs Board site running until the new site is completed, he said.

Some students said they are relieved to know that the Jobs Board is back, safe to use and will continue to improve.

“I use the Jobs Board frequently for babysitting jobs and it is good to know that the site is back,” said Farah Ashraf, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. news@theeagleonline.com

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

AU adds solar hot water system to roofs

By KATIE FIEGENBAUM Eagle Contributing Writer

AU will house the largest solar hot water system on the East Coast by the end of this week.

The Office of Sustainability will install 2,150 solar photovoltaic panels and 134 racks of thermal energy panels on the roofs of Mary Graydon Center and Letts, Anderson and Centennial Halls.

The solar hot water system will provide 70 to 80 percent of the hot water for the South Side residence halls and MGC, according to Joshua Kaplan, Office of Sustainability outreach specialist. It will also supply 15 to 20 percent of MGC’s energy, or enough to power the Tavern.

“This installation is a key step in our plan for carbonneutrality,” Office of Sustainability Director Chris O’Brien said. “We want to help localize renewable energy production as much as possible,” AU’s installation of solar and energy panels will help the University become carbon-neutral by 2020. The University has been buying carbon offsets and renewable energy credits since 2010, according to Kaplan.

The solar hot water system is 75 to 85 percent efficient in converting the sun’s energy into heat for water. Solar panels are only 11 to 12 percent efficient in converting this energy, though technology is improving, O’Brien said.

AU has already installed solar panels on various other buildings to provide energy.

With the addition of the solar hot water system, AU has run out of buildings to house solar panels and/or thermal energy racks due to roof space and quality constraints, according to Kaplan.

The solar panels are plugged into the energy grid for the buildings. The thermal energy panels plug directly into the domestic hot water systems, according to Facilities Management staff member Ray Leary. They will help provide all hot water used in MGC and South Side for sinks and showers, except TDR dishwashers.

The dishwashers require higher-temperature water than the solar-heated water attains, according to Leary.

“This has no effect on the quality of the water or energy provided, we’re just changing the source,” Kaplan said.

O’Brien: Universities should lead the way in sustainability A similar, yet smaller, solar hot water system was installed at George Washington University last spring.

Kaplan is proud that AU can be recognized as having the biggest solar hot water system on the East Coast, but he is glad other schools are taking steps toward a greater end goal.

“When it comes to new technology, we’re always looking for ways to distinguish ourselves, which is great, but from a sustainability standpoint it’s good for others to have it as well,” he said.

O’Brien said he believes it’s necessary for universities to

PLANNING FOR CHANGE Amy Taylor, the political director of Planned Parenthood, spoke at AU Nov. 2.

KAITLIN BROWN / THE EAGLE

lead the way in eco-friendly technology.

“It’s important to show that higher education is leading and serving as a model of green technology,” O’Brien said. “If the best and the brightest people, what a University has, can’t lead on climate change, there is a big problem.”

Eco-Sense President and College of Arts and Sciences senior Scott Berman said he’s happy about the solar hot water system installation, though he hopes more people learn about the system in the future.

Financing for the project The project was financed through purchasing power agreements with Washington Gas and Electric and Skyline Innovations.

The systems are installed and maintained at no cost to the University for their contract’s duration, 20 years

with the option for renewal, according to Kaplan.

AU pays a fixed percentage of the energy savings to the provider, around 60 to 70 percent, according to Lee. Using this plan, AU instantly saves money from the installation instead of having to wait for a return on the investment, overcoming the traditional barrier to using such technology.

Skyline Innovations, a D.C.-based company, finances these installations through revenue from installations’ solar credits, which they own during the contract, and tax incentives, in addition to AU’s payments.

Numbers on AU’s total energy savings with the installation of solar energy panels are not yet available, according to Leary. news@theeagleonline.com

HERE COMES THE SUN AU will install solar and thermal energy panels on the roofs of Mary Graydon Center and Letts, Anderson and Centennial Halls this week.

DIANA ALVARENGA / THE EAGLE

≤ PARENTHOOD, PAGE 10 Federal money cannot be used for abortions under the Hyde Amendment, a provision attached to annual appropriations bills that cover health care funding, and federal funding to Planned Parenthood goes toward health services other than abortion, according to the organization’s website.

Although a last-minute budget deal in the Senate ensured the organization still received federal funds, Taylor said she expects antiabortion politicians will go after Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights in 2012.

Elected officials have introduced bills that aim to restrict Planned Parenthood’s funding, and go after not only abortion services but also other services, including health screenings and contraceptives, Taylor said.

“What we are really facing this year is an unprecedented attack,” she said. “We have people who have worked at Planned Parenthood for over 40 years who’ve never seen anything like this.”

Chris Litchfield, the president of AU Democrats and a junior in the School of Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences, said his group wanted to bring Planned Parenthood to campus because abortion is a politically charged issue.

“After all the attacks on Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights in general, we wanted to bring Planned Parenthood to campus to tell their side of the story and kind of tell some of the horror stories they’ve experienced,” Litchfield said.

It is also an issue Litchfield thinks college students care

about.

“They see it from a public health view or even personal experiences, they see the importance of having this family planning, free service to help low-income and college students,” he said.

Planned Parenthood’s 2012 political goals include reelecting President Barack Obama and senators that support reproductive rights, Taylor said.

“If you’re going to vote against basic women’s healthcare, we’re going to take you out,” she said.

“We’re going to be a political organization and engage our six million supporters and you’re going to be answerable to us.”

Planned Parenthood is preparing to face anti-abortion state ballot initiatives, notably Mississippi’s “Personhood” amendment, which is on the ballot this November. If passed, the bill would change the definition of personhood in the state legislature to be defined as beginning at conception, Taylor said.

“The more that we can talk about these extreme attacks on women, unprecedented in this generation, the better off we’re going to be,” she said.

Litchfield said he hoped the event would inspire students to get involved off campus, even if it is against AU policy for clubs, including AU Democrats, to directly engage in political work.

“We hope people learn a little bit and feel engaged,” Taylor said. “It’s great to see speakers. But at the end of the day, I hope people walk away from this event thinking how can I get involved, how can I do more, how can we keeping fighting to protect these basic health concerns that we have.”

AU Students for Life, AU Students for Choice and AU College Republicans did not respond to requests for comment before press time. news@theeagleonline.com

News 13

theEAGLE

Panera Bread opens store in Tenleytown

By LAWRENCE KUBLI and PAIGE JONES

Eagle Contributing Writer and Eagle Staff Writer Panera Bread opened a store in Tenleytown Nov. 4 after months of construction and some delays.

Restaurant spokespeople had previously said Panera would be open for business in July, The Eagle previously reported.

Panera Bread Marketing Manager April Mock said delays in the store opening were beyond the management’s control.

The bakery-café will have SAY CHEESE! Students enjoy their favorite sandwiches at the new Panera Bread store in Tenleytown.

SAVANNA ROVIRA / THE EAGLE

≤ PROFILES, PAGE 6 progress in any field, I was yearning for something that would light my fire,” L’Episcipo said. “I wanted to see war from the ground level. War is one of the most extreme experiences you can have. I felt that those experiences really define a person.”

L’Episcipo’s service certainly left an indelible impact on him, but not one that has ever impaired him.

When asked if he lost fellow soldiers, he responded yes, followed by a sigh and pause.

“At first you don’t think or process that,” he said. “Anyone who loses anyone they care about, it’s unfortunate that it happened but we all have to continue to live. But these guys will always be with me.”

L’Episcipo said he never suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder upon returning from war, despite losing a few of his compatriots.

“I think it’s hard to label things, especially PTSD,” he said. “I think where it can range from stress in general from 10 to 110 percent.

I would say, there’s always things that color your life, but I wouldn’t say that any of those things were a hindrance.”

PTSD is just one of the stereotypes that plague veterans, according to L’Episcipo.

“I kinda believe that just labeling someone a veteran is a stereotype in itself. It has turned into something that all vets are in need,” he said.

“A lot of people are radically different and respond in different ways.”

To L’Episcipo, the term veteran doesn’t entail suffering or victory, but simply service.

“At least what it means is that you serve your nation, your country. You should keep that self sacrifice as a benchmark for your life.”

Matthew Harrison: Vietnam, Army, Kogod ’71 Matthew Harrison, a retired employee of Sun Trust Bank, came to the Kogod School of Business in 1971 to get his Master’s degree after serving in Vietnam.

At 21, he was commissioned out of West Point and sent to serve as an infantryman. Harrison fought in the Tet Offensive, a major turning point in the war.

In 1971, AU was a liberal college campus, but most students didn’t ostracize Harrison for his service. Instead, they welcomed him and even sympathized with him.

“Occasionally someone would say something, but

even if they began saying it they would almost apologize,” Harrison said.

In one rare instance, one student was shocked by Harrison’s participation in the war. “‘Oh my god, you were over there doing THAT?’ Like she was ready to puke,” Harrison said. “But she came off. That was one

to in other environments,” Harrison said.

For Harrison, one stereotype of the Vietnam War was true — He lost many of his fellow soldiers and friends.

Though he and L’Episcipo are generations apart, their reactions to their fallen brothers were eerily similar.

“Oh yes. Many. Too many,” Harrison said, after a long

“To see it and then realize your own mortality and the possibility of it taking place on a daily basis put a strain on your system.”

— Matthew Harrison, Vietnam, Army, Kogod '71

casual conversation, but no one ever stood up and denounced [me] in the classroom.”

Amid the chaos of the Vietnam War, Harrison fared well, with the exception of one operation in the Ashau Valley. His troop got cut off and they couldn’t return to the helicopters immediately because of their vulnerable position.

“We prevailed and were able to survive but it wasn’t as much as a controlled environment as we were used

pause, of the number of soldiers he knew who died.

“It was traumatic. That’s about the only thing I could say,” he said. “To see it and then realize your own mortality and the possibility of it taking place on a daily basis put a strain on your system.”

But unlike L’Episcipo, Harrison said he probably suffered from PTSD after returning from service.

“You were still trying to digest your own feelings and, while people weren’t openly hostile, they couldn’t sym-

pathize with you because they didn’t know what you were going through,” Harrison said.

His primary circle of friends was also veterans.

They hung out together as an informal support group and often drank together.

“I think most of us were kind of wrapped up in ourselves,” he said. “Everybody suffered a little post traumatic stress syndrome from one degree or another.”

Stanley J. Grogran: Korea, Air Force, SOC ’49 Stanley J. Grogan received his bachelor’s degree from the School of Communication in 1949 and went to war soon afterward. He returned to AU in 1954 and earned his master’s from SOC in 1955.

Today, Grogan works as a consultant and travels to India once a year. Though he is no longer active in the military, his experience in national security has made him an expert in the antiterrorist movement.

Grogan performed 20 night missions and patrols in his all weather fighter squadron in Korea. He has also contributed a story of these combat missions to the books “The Forgotten” and “Voices of the Korean War.” “I was in Korea for twice as

Wi-Fi access in addition to its “comfortable, homey” atmosphere, Mock said.

Alex Boughton, a freshman in the Washington Mentorship Program, said he has long anticipated Panera Bread’s opening.

“Panera … it’s been a long time coming,” he said. “I can’t wait.”

Salman Dossani, a senior studying abroad, said he is excited for his first visit to Panera Bread.

“We only have a certain number of good restaurants in Tenleytown … this one seems healthy and fresh,” Dossani said.

Panera’s is open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. news@theeagleonline.com long as I should have been,” Grogan said. “There was a lack of personnel to fill the slot. We had to do double duty. We were understaffed in every way, but we were still able to defeat the Chinese.”

Grogan returned to AU with many other veterans from both World War II and the Korean War, who were able to afford college because of the G.I. Bill.

“At that time, we didn’t have any radicals to speak of,” Grogan said of AU’s campus after the Korean War. “We got along just dandy.”

However, Grogan did receive a strange welcome from his mother. After returning home, he came to the door, proudly dressed in his uniform.

“My mother said ‘Stanley, you smell funny,’” Grogan said.

He quickly realized that, after an eastern diet of mostly fish, his uniform had acquired the smell.

“We had a completely different diet,” Grogan said. “I hadn’t eaten meat in years.

Because it was a different lifestyle, we had to acclimate to the locals.” lgiangreco@theeagleonline. com

theSCENE

November 8, 2011

14

SILVER SCREEN

WILLA HINE / THE EAGLE

Courtesy of NEW LINE PRODUCTIONS

A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS 3D

GRADE: A- — 90 MINUTES

By KENDALL BREITMAN Eagle Contributing Writer

Christmas is a time for friends and family to come together and celebrate. Now, throw in a scorched Christmas tree, Neil Patrick Harris and some “Winter Wonderweed” and you’ve got this year’s most anticipated 3D spectacular, “A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas.”

Throughout the Harold and Kumar movies, the duo has taken fans from White Castle to Guantanamo Bay, and now they’re back to Harold’s front doorstep.

But when a surprise gift is delivered, leading Harold’s father-in-law’s prized Christmas tree to burst into flames, another epic adventure of herbal proportions takes place, and this time not even Santa is safe.

“After the first movie people expected another road picture, so we decided make

the second movie a political satire,” said John Cho, who plays Harold, in an interview with the Eagle. “For our third movie, we decided to take a left turn and do the more subversive thing, which was to take on something more traditional and make a Harold and Kumar picture out of a very traditional American genre.”

Although the genre may be traditional, this movie’s take on Christmas is anything but boring.

The movie starts with Harold and Kumar at ends with one another, as Harold has long since moved out of Kumar’s apartment and the duo lost contact with each other, leaving fans worried about the fate of the two infamous friends.

But this does not last long.

In a race against the clock to fix the Christmas that Harold and Kumar have single-handedly destroyed, the

two find themselves fighting off a notorious gang, performing in a Christmas musical, accidentally shooting Santa and rehashing their friendship along the way.

“It can be seen as a funny warning towards college students,” Cho said. “When we first started doing these movies our fan base was in college, so now a lot of our fans are out in the world with jobs. For this movie, it was fun to see where both of the characters went and how friends can take such different paths in life.”

But the best part of the adventure? Experiencing it in 3D. “If you’re going to go see the third movie, presumably you’ve liked the first two and the characters,” said Kal Penn, who plays Kumar. “But this time, seeing it in 3D makes you feel like you’re inside the movie as opposed to just watching

it as an audience member.

You get to really experience the emotional arch that the characters go through.”

The movie will balance out the romantic comedies and family dramas that are sure to hit the box office each Christmas. “A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas” will be sure to add a laugh to the Christmas lineup.

“Really the point is, for me, to make an event out of going to see our movie,” Cho said. “Harold and Kumar has always been a DVD phenomenon, this is a great excuse to go with your friends to a theater and make an event out of it and I think it is all the more fun that way.” thescene@theeagleonline. com

DOCTOR GET YOUR GUN AU Players performed a stage adaptation of the viral web short “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” on Nov. 3, 5 and 6 to a full crowd at Kreeger Building.

AU Players present ‘horrible’ new show

By MEGHAN BOUSQUET Eagle Contributing Writer

Dr. Horrible is a musically gifted supervillain on his way to greatness — or at least, that’s what he wants to think. The sad truth is that he is a wannabe villain who has a crush on the laundry girl next door.

And on Nov. 5, AU Players performed the famed online musical, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” to a packed audience in the Kreeger Building.

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” was originally aired as an online-only miniseries in 2008. It is a tragicomedy written by Joss Whedon (creator of “Buffy”) that follows Dr. Horrible’s (Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother”) blog on his quest to become a member

of the Evil League of Evil.

In the original web short, Dr. Horrible is trying to become a supervillain while simultaneously hoping to romantically pursue his laundry buddy, Penny, (Felicia Day, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). Along the way his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion, “Castle”), gets in the way of both goals.

AU Players’ adaptation of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” had few, if any, alterations to the original dialogue.

Their version was much more simplistic in its set and props, but that certainly did not take away from the fun.

The audience likely recognized that some of the props even came from around AU, including bowls from TDR and recycling bins that served as tables.

DR. HORRIBLE, PAGE 15 ≥

theEAGLE ≤ DR. HORRIBLE, PAGE 14 The chorus of supporting actors each wore jeans, sneakers, different colored T-shirts and even served as props.

AU Players provided the audience with lyrics for all of the songs. The audience members who did not know the songs by heart were looking down at the paper frequently if they wanted to sing, resulting in them missing out on the performances.

The performance had a projector that served as part

of the set itself, but it may have been beneficial to also use it to show the lyrics, keeping the crowd’s eyes on the stage.

Even so, most of the audience did not seem to mind, since many were jovially singing along and joining in the Dr. Horrible fun.

At times there were members of the audience who were singing loudly or making comments over the actors’ performances. They were a distraction to the show, but the actors never broke character. They often even paused when someone

was making a loud comment so the audience would not miss the line.

The actors were adaptive so that the audience did not lose a moment of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” due to disruptive participants.

Will Putnam, who played Dr. Horrible, had Neil Patrick Harris’ shoes to fill.

Putnam easily managed the balance between anarchist nemesis and love-struck boy.

Similarly, Carter Lowe fulfilled Nathan Fillion’s handsome and cocky persona, Captain Hammer.

Scene 15

Penny (Samantha Oakes) and Moist (Eric Tengi) also delivered excellent performances in their respective roles. Oakes has a beautiful singing voice that suits her innocent character. Tengi was a successful supporting character to Putnam’s Dr. Horrible and managed not to get buried under the main roles. thescene@theeagleonline. com

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MISS REPRESENTATION GRADE: A+ — 90 MINUTES

BY GIULIA HJORT

Eagle Contributing Writer If a group of 15-year-old girls were asked how they perceived themselves, their response might be something along the lines of “I hate my body; I’m nothing like the women in the magazine ads or the perfect, skinny celebrities on TV.” These girls would not be alone.

In the United States, 78 percent of girls hate their bodies by age 15, as stated in “Miss Representation,” Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary revealing the skewed perception of beauty in 21st century media.

The film was aired Nov. 3 for a group of eager American University students collectively sharing awe-inspiring moments throughout the compelling film.

According to the starstudded cast, including notable celebrities such as Jane Fonda, Geena Davis and Katie Couric, media shapes our lives and perceptions in terms of what beauty entitles.

But exactly how far reaching is this damage?

Interspersed throughout the documentary were interviews with high school students. As one of the students, Ariella, pointed out, “There is no appreciation for women intellectuals. It’s all about the body, not about the brain.”

Throughout the film, images of Jessica Simpson at the car wash in her bikini and a flock of damsels in distress — once again, you guessed it, in bikinis — running towards a man wearing Axe body spray, were juxtaposed with images of the few but distinguished women leaders, such as Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton.

By casting the images of scantily clad, objectified women versus powerful, macho men through the advertisements and television clips presented in the film, the viewer is able to grasp an understanding of the pressures adolescents currently face.

Boys grow up with the notion that, if a woman doesn’t have C-cup boobs,

a round booty and a waist thin enough to fit your arms around twice, she just won’t cut it. In this day and age, being strong and smart simply is not enough.

Instead, women are measured against impossible standards. The images shown in the documentary also depicted the stereotypes in the television and movie industry: women are either scripted as the ditzy airheads seeking love, the aggressive bosses or the “fighting fuck toys” in action movies, as stated by Caroline Heldman, a politics professor at Occidental College in Calif.

Unfortunately, these images and convictions of women as sexual beings who should be judged solely on their physical appearance are all around us, and will not be suppressed unless more women disregard the stereotypes and instead focus on excelling intellectually.

A panel discussion followed the powerful film, which succeeded in evoking strong emotions toward the corruption of the media industry and common misperceptions of women.

Mariah Craven, director of communications and marketing for The Women’s Foundation, which provides resources for economically vulnerable women and girls, and Youngmin Yi, research and program assistant at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a leading think tank focusing on addressing women’s issues, spoke about the media industry from communication and factoriented perspectives.

Craven brought up an interesting point about advertisement images during the discussion — in particular Julia Robert’s recent Lancôme ad where her face appeared flawlessly airbrushed — in which advertising companies should have to label their images as Photoshopped or digitally altered, as to not further add to the unattainable “perfect image” that our society has welcomed with open arms. thescene@theeagleonline. com

theEAGLE

November 8, 2011

SILVER SCREEN

Courtesy of TOWER HEIST

TOWER HEIST C — 104 MINUTES

By EAN MARSHALL

Eagle Contributing Writer Originally intended as “Ocean’s Eleven” with an all-black cast, then changed

into a standard heist comedy once actor Ben Stiller got involved, “Tower Heist” has seen its share of controversy.

When Universal announced that it would be

available for on-demand viewing only three weeks after being released in theaters, some cinema chains such as Cinemark and Emagine Theaters boycotted

the movie for exhibition.

While Universal backed down under pressure, this movie is certainly not cause for controversy as it is a generic heist comedy directed by a generic director Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour” series, “X3: The Last Stand”).

Josh Kovacs (Stiller) is the building manager at the

Courtesy of THE DOUBLE

THE DOUBLE B — 98 MINUTES

By JANE MORICE

Eagle Contributing Writer The pairing of the widely respected actor Richard Gere (“Nights in Rodanthe,” “Pretty Woman”) and the former “That 70s Show” star

Topher Grace (“Spider-Man 3,” “Mona Lisa Smile”) may seem strange, yet the actors’ relationship in their new film “The Double” develops into the central idea of the plot, capturing the audience’s attention.

The film begins with a fictitious senator, Ben Gordon, found murdered in the same trademark fashion of a believed-dead Russian assassin nicknamed Cassius.

An expert on the topic and the man assigned to bring

Cassius down in the 1980s, Gere’s character Paul Shepherdson, a former CIA operative, is partnered with a new FBI field agent, Ben Geary (Grace), whose obsession with Cassius and his methods is thought helpful to the investigation into Cassius’s whereabouts in the United States.

In the beginning of the film, Shepherdson and

Tower, a fancy Columbus Circle apartment complex owned by billionaire Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda, essentially doing a Bernie Madoff impression).

When the FBI indicts Shaw in a Ponzi scheme, Kovacs learns that Shaw swiped the pension plans of all the complex’s employees, including Kovacs himself.

Determined to get back the $20 million that Shaw has hidden in his safe, Kovacs assembles some of the employees, as well as a thief from his neighborhood, Slide (Eddie Murphy), to break in and steal the money.

With big name actors like Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Gabourey Sidibe teaming up alongside Stiller, it might be expected that they could rise above the generic script and be funny.

Unfortunately, their roles fit into boring, unappealing archetypes: the anxious concierge (Affleck), the Yale-educated investor forced to live on the streets (Broderick) and the Jamai-

can lockpick, complete with an accent (Sidibe.)

The film surprisingly feels mean-spirited, and the one time it tries to inject heart by having Kovacs help Lester, the Tower’s retired doorman (Stephen Henderson, “Law and Order”), it falls flat on its face.

If there’s any small triumph on the film’s part, it is the return of Murphy into the type of comedic role that he was famous for in “Coming to America” and the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, instead of the family-friendly dreck like “Meet Dave” or tasteless pieces such as “Norbit.” As a professional thief, Murphy’s banter and dialogue between him and Stiller is snappy and hilarious.

Yet even Murphy can’t save this bore of a film as the actual heist itself is surprisingly boring and predictable in execution. “Tower Heist” is an average film, even with Murphy possibly making a comeback.

Geary have a strained relationship, and Shepherdson doubts Geary because of his youth and lack of experience.

However, Geary’s expertise in the subject of Cassius brings him to a conclusion about Cassius’s location that comes as a greatly surprising plot twist for the audience.

“The Double” was a decent movie that had a fair amount of action and suspense. However, the dialogues between all of the characters, including another veteran actor, Martin Sheen (“Apocalypse Now,” “The West Wing”), who plays Highland, Shepherdson’s boss, were strained and poorly delivered. None of the actors in the film seemed to have much passion for what they were saying or doing.

Nevertheless, the plot and its twists redeemed this movie. The film delves into Shepherdson’s past, giving vital information into his actions throughout the film.

The manner in which the

storyline is played out in its setting, Washington, D.C., makes much sense and keeps the movie flowing. The twists are shocking, yet a few of them did not do much to alter the movie as it was; they simply added to the complexity of the characters.

Overall, “The Double” was a movie stereotypical of its genre with an intriguing plot.

However, the disappointing acting performances of all of the major actors in this film were enough for the movie to be considered a bit less highly than it would have been if the actors lived up to their potentials.

thescene@theeagleonline. com

thescene@theeagleonline. com

theEAGLE

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

Courtesy of MOZART’S SISTER

MOZART’S SISTER

BATTLEFIELD 3

GRADE: A — 120 MINUTES

By OLUSEYI SEGUN

Eagle Contributing Writer What makes a parent encourage the ambitions of one child and stifle that of another? In the case of Marie Anna Nannerl Mozart, it was simply her gender.

In the French language film, “Mozart’s Sister,” Nannerl (Marie Féret) is the older sister of the famous composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (David Moreau).

Wolfgang’s senior by five years, Nannerl is forced to live in the shadow of her brother and accompany him on his rise to musical stardom.

René Féret directed the film, creating a vivacious costume drama that questions who is the true genius of the Mozart family.

It also marks Marie Féret’s third film with the director, who is her father. She does a wonderful job illustrating the woes of Nannerl as she realizes that her talent will never overshadow the fact that she is a woman.

The film opens with a scene in which Nannerl is playing the violin. Initially, she is recognized as the musical genius of the Mozart family. But, as her little brother Wolfgang grows up, her father, played by Marc Barbé, starts to put all his focus on Wolfgang because playing the violin is unfit for a woman — but that does not stop

Nannerl from holding on to her dream.

In the summer of 1760, Léopold Mozart decides to take his family on a tour of the European royal courts in order to flaunt Wolfgang’s talent. Nannerl is to play the piano accompaniment for Wolfgang’s pieces, but it is hard to hide her talent.

She has the voice of an angel, an impeccable ability to play the piano and an equally moving disposition for the violin. But regardless of what she does, the star of the show will be Wolfgang.

The audience first notices Nannerl’s talent when the Mozart family visits the daughters of Louis XV at an abbey.

The daughters of Louis XV are smitten with her charm and inclination towards music. Nannerl becomes closely acquainted with Princess Louise (Lisa Féret), with whom she shares her desire to pursue music. But Nannerl must go as her family moves on to another tour location.

At the family’s next destination, Versailles, Nannerl’s talent is really put on display when Wolfgang plays for the French court.

The court is taken aback by Wolfgang’s talent, but Nannerl catches the eye of the Dauphin of France (Clovis Fouin). Just like his younger sister, Louise, the Dauphin is drawn to Nannerl due to

Courtesy of BATTLEFIELD

GRADE: B her musical abilities and he commissions works of music from her.

It is during the Mozart family’s time at Versailles that Nannerl’s angst comes out.

She tries desperately to pursue her musical gifts, but it constantly deterred by her father who employs the help of her mother to teach her how to be a woman. She goes as far as dressing up like a man and attending composition classes to help her write the notes she tells her father that she hears in her head.

Beautifully illustrated, the film shows the difficulties of the true genius of the Mozart family. A treat for music lovers, the film is now out in limited release at Landmark E Street Cinema. thescene@theeagleonline. com

By MIKE CONTE

Eagle Contributing Writer The “Battlefield” series has been a powerful force in multiplayer first-person shooters for years thanks to a focus on massive maps with tons of players and a sandbox of powerful vehicles. The latest entry, “Battlefield 3” takes the same epic gameplay and adds a new coat of paint.

Like its predecessors, “Battlefield 3” is a militarythemed, class-based FPS with a focus on objective gametypes.

Two teams fight over territories spread around the maps, or one team attacks while the other defends.

Since games can hold up to 64 players, teams are further divided into squads to facilitate coordination.

There are ground vehicles like Humvees, tanks and armored troop transports, as well as aerial vehicles like helicopters and jets. The more powerful vehicles are more difficult to drive but well worth the effort.

The incredible visuals add a stunning amount of immersion to the multiplayer experience.

Whether you’re fighting an uphill battle in the wilderness, weaving in and out of crumbling buildings on an oil refinery or inching through the city streets of Paris, “Battlefield 3” stuns

with detailed environments.

Buildings take damage and collapse realistically, forcing players to alter their strategy after waves of destruction.

The class system has been simplified so that players choose from just four.

There’s the standard XP system that lets you unlock new weapons, accessories and perks, but unlike “Call of Duty,” you level up each class separately. This creates an incentive for players to become specialists without completely discouraging changing roles based on battlefield conditions.

The single-player campaign isn’t the main draw for “Battlefield 3,” ; though it’s quite atmospheric, it’s a very linear corridor-crawl that feels more like an interactive movie than a game. This is an instance where “Battlefield 3” clearly aims to be a better “Call of Duty,” but can’t nail the massive sandbox encounters that define the campaign of its rival.

“Battlefield 3” is out for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, with the biggest difference being that the console versions are capped at 24 players online, while the PC game features up to 64-player matches and superior graphics (if you’ve got a competent graphics card).

But there’s one glaring flaw on the PC. Rather than just launching the game and finding a server to play on,

the game makes you launch the game from the “Origin” online store, which is a mandatory install, and then all games, single-player or multiplayer, are found through the somewhat broken, browser-based “Battlelog” service. It’s a poorly designed mess of systems that makes just finding a game to play take forever.

The marketing hype has positioned “Battlefield 3” as the modern military shooter that will unseat the “Call of Duty” series, but as expected, it depends on what kind of game you really want.

If you’re after that indescribably perfect feel of the weapons and lightning-fast pacing, “Battlefield 3” falls short with wide-open maps that provide little cover and plenty of downtime moving between objectives.

But the lack of structure is a compromise for the sheer freedom “Battlefield 3” provides.

If you want the thrill of being part of a coordinated assault on massive maps with a selection of vehicles, where teams dig in and fight for inches of territory, the flaws of the visually stunning “Battlefield 3” are easy to look past. thescene@theeagleonline. com

Scene 19

theEAGLE

D.C. CHILLIN’

BASIC RULES TO FLAT TRACK DERBY • Games (“bouts”) are divided into two 30-minute periods made up of dozens of plays (“jams”). The clock never stops unless there is a timeout. The winner is the team with the most points by the end.

• The three positions are jammers (one player from each team wearing a starred helmet cover), blockers (skaters from each team who help their own jammers and block the opposing team’s jammers) and pivots (special blockers who control the pack and serve as the last line of defense) • To start a jam, each team sends out four skaters who form a pack trying to stop the opposing team’s jammer from passing them. If the team can stop the opposing team’s jammer from passing them a second time, the opposing team grabs points for every player that its jammer passes.

• Players cannot punch or use their elbows to knock a player down, nor can they trip another player. However, these derby girls can deliver a nasty hip check or shoulder blow that can send a player into the stands.

D.C. ISN’T EXACTLY RENOWNED FOR ITS ATHLETICS SCENE, BUT ONE UP-ANDCOMING SPORT IS GAINING MOMENTUM: ROLLER DERBY Roller derby is a sport reminiscent of the 1970s that maybe even your parents remember watching, akin to today’s WWE in terms of cheesy team names and spectacular, albeit staged, stunts.

However, in the early 2000s, starting in Austin, Texas, teams sprouted up across the country. By 2006, the D.C. Rollergirls was formed.

The D.C. Rollergirls league is made up of four teams: the Cherry Bomb Bombshells, the D.C. Demon Cats, the Majority Whips and Scare Force One. These teams play each other throughout the season, while the most skilled members form the D.C. All Stars, a competitive travel team.

Games, or “bouts,” run until May with the next match on Dec. 10. Even if the next game is your first to see or your tenth, D.C. Roller Girls promises a rough-and-tumble good time for just $12.

Courtesy of ALL STARS / DAVID SACKS

Courtesy of SCARE FORCE ONE / HARRIS NGUYEN

Courtesy of CHERRY BLOSSOM BOMBSHELLS / ERIKA NIZBORSKI

TIPS FOR ROLLER DERBY NEWBIES: • Get there early: This sport draws in more than 2,500 fans every game, with lines wrapping around the venue. If you can’t get there early, buy your tickets beforehand to cut past the line. If you come early, the announcers go over the basic rules for any newbies in the stands.

• Grab a “suicide seat”: No, you won’t die grabbing one of these seats, but the ones lining the rink will definitely provide a close-up thrill. Watch out for your cameras (and your face).

• Socialize: The most interesting people come out to these matches: hipsters, families, Capitol Hill yuppies, and everyone in between. They bring costumes, skates and amazing fan spirit. Talk about how awesome the homemade marshmallows that they sell there taste or abut your favorite player name puns (mine is a tie between Hoova Dayum and Ovary Action).

Courtesy of D.C. DEMON CATS / SHAMUS FATZINGER

For more information or changes in game schedules, be sure to check out www.dcrollergirls.com BY CHELSEA CLAYS

EAGLE COLUMNIST

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

Stay sane, banish stress

GOOD EATS

OLIVIA STITILIS — VITAMIN O

Courtesy of KKTRYJ / FLICKR

Remembering Thanksgiving eats amid Christmastime hoopla

By KELLY HOLLIDAY Eagle Columnist

There is so much I love about autumn.

I love the smell of woodburning fireplaces, the fact that I don’t have to wear blush because the constant wind chill leaves my cheeks flushed for hours, chunky sweaters and that every dinner includes roasted vegetables.

But what I love most about fall is my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving.

Halloween is beast, but Thanksgiving encompasses everything that a holiday should be: time with family, football and above all, delicious food. Some will say that Christmas has all of that too, but with the added bonus of gift giving and receiving.

I totally agree. But I’m starting to get really irritated with Christmas.

Last week, not 24 hours after trick-or-treaters shed their costumes and fell

asleep with bellies full of sugar, Starbucks introduced its annual winter holiday disposable cup.

You know what I’m talking about: the red cup that holds your morning caramel macchiato, adorned with snowmen, carolers and woodland creatures wearing knitted scarves.

Last Tuesday, I swear I saw that red cup everywhere.

And it made me angry, because I kept thinking, “Whatever happened to Thanksgiving?”

Don’t get me wrong; the Starbucks winter holiday cups have been known to give my heart a flutter — I do love a good gingerbread latte — but I only allow it to happen after I’ve had a tryptophan-induced coma.

In fact, I have a very strict holiday regimen, which includes, but is not limited to, the following: candy corn cannot be consumed until Oct. 1; no listening to Christmas music until the morning of Black Friday

and holiday decoration displays in Target must be shielded from the eyes until first week of December.

I love holiday cheer as much as the next person, but I am a firm believer in letting each holiday have its moment in the spotlight.

Yet my parents haven’t even bought the turkey and already the holiday cheer is being shoved, literally, down my throat!

Take the grocery store, for example.

Two weeks ago, I freaked out on my parents for buying the worst combo bag of Halloween candy ever.

When they asked why, I told them that Almond Joys, Rolos and Heath bars were a great way to make sure that the kids in our neighborhood don’t ring our doorbell next year. So off to the grocery store I went, on a mission for some Starburst, Snickers and the old standby, M&M’s.

And what did I find instead? Candy canes.

That’s right; pumpkins hadn’t even been carved and yet here were Christmas sweets on display, directly in front of the automatic doors.

I was tempted to demand an explanation from a nearby teenaged cashier, but I resisted the urge. I probably wouldn’t be allowed back in Safeway if I had.

The ultimate question lying in this long-winded rant of mine is what’s the deal?

What is so wrong with wanting to celebrate one holiday at a time?

I understand that Thanksgiving will always be overshadowed by the three major winter holidays. I get it.

No amount of my whining will change anything. I just find it ironic that the food industry continues to step on Thanksgiving’s toes, when in fact Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that revolve around food.

Oh well. I suppose I’ll just have to avoid Starbucks until finals roll around. Goodness knows the only company I’ll have time for then will be the woodland creatures on my coffee cup. kholliday@theeagleonline. com

I don’t believe any college students who say they are not stressed. College practically breeds stress.

Not only do your professors conveniently schedule all your midterms for the same week, but you’re supposed to balance internships, work, a social life and, on occasion, sleep.

Though it’s true that college students have some of the highest levels of energy, metabolism and sense of invincibility, this doesn’t make us super humans.

Stress is also not some new phenomenon for college students. We know the signs, the causes and how you are supposed to manage it. But let’s be honest: when I am stressed and can’t even find the time to sleep more than four hours, fitting in that five mile run that is supposed to calm me down is likely to stress me out more.

And sure, I know green tea will make me more “zen,” but when it’s 3 a.m. and I still need to start my eightpage paper due the next day (true story), a triple shot Americano is going to beat out any type of tea any day.

Thankfully, here are five distress relieving trips that really work, can be done anywhere and anytime (3 a.m. in the library, I’m looking at you) and won’t make you more stressed out in the process.

1. STRETCH.

When we feel stressed, our body goes into fightor-flight mode, causing our muscles to become more tense and tight. Stretching helps relieve pressure and kick-starts better circulation, which has a proven relaxing effect. Plus, even though it might not seem like it, stretching is technically a form of exercise and thus leads to the release of stress-reducing endorphins.

2. TAKE A HOT SHOWER.

OK, so this can’t technically be done in the library at 3 a.m., but if you are in the library that late, you are definitely going to need a shower soon. The heat from your shower allows your external skin temperature to rise, in-

creasing your thyroid and reducing stress. The strong water pressure is also a great way to relieve tight neck and shoulder muscles.

3. LISTEN TO MUSIC.

And it doesn’t have to be soft music; music in general has significant stress relief abilities. Listening to your favorite songs relaxes you, boosts your mood and bonus points if you sing along, as that is said to increase the body’s production of the mood elevating hormone, serotonin. Also noteworthy is that the rhythm of songs is cited to have an underlying calming effect.

4. MAKE TIME FOR FRIENDS.

Even though this might seem counterintuitive when you have midterms and that whole “finding a job” problem to deal with, hanging out with your friends, even in short bursts, has incredible benefits. Spending time with friends combats loneliness, creates a sense of connection and self-worth and is a no-brainer mood booster. Even if you can’t see friends in person, just taking a break for a quick phone call or Gchat is a solid stress reducer.

5. SCHEDULE TIME TO WORRY.

If you are really worried about something, studies have shown that the best way not to let it stress you out more than necessary is to pick out a time each day to worry about it and then vow to not think about it for the rest of the day. “By compartmentalizing worry — setting aside a specific half-hour period each day to think about worries and consider solutions, and also deliberately avoiding thinking about those issues the rest of the day — people can ultimately help reduce those worries, research has shown,” according to an MSNBC article. Perhaps easier said than done, but definitely worth a try. thescene@theeagleonline. com

theEAGLE

AUDIOPHILE SURFER BLOOD TAROT CLASSICS EP

Scene 21

Looking for new music? DJs at student-run radio station, WVAU, share their thoughts on a range of recent releases.

Just like their 2010 debut, “Astro Coast,” Surfer Blood excel in making the type of music Rivers Cuomo used to write when he was still a competent songwriter. Their guitar-driven, 1990s indie-rock style has never sounded better than it does on these four tracks, as the band removes the heavy reverb of their first album and replaces it with some very sweet melodies.

“I’m Not Ready” follows the lead of its harmonizing surf-guitars, while “Miranda” is perhaps the catchiest song the band has ever written. The second half of the EP mixes up the formula, however, as the harmonica breaks in “Voyager Reprise” and laments of closing track “Drinking Problem” combine to form two of the band’s saddest songs.

If the band’s next full-length can match the pop-smarts and songwriting strengths of this EP, Surfer Blood could break through to the next level.

Recommended if you like: “Blue Album,” Weezer, Built To Spill

— CAMERON MEINDL

PHANTOGRAM NIGHTLIFE EP

After a few years of touring, Phantogram are following up their excellent “Eyelid Movies” with this six song EP. These songs make sense, considering the first album — stylistically, they largely follow its low-key, guitar-infused trip hop vibe.

The interplay between the gorgeous vocals of Sarah Barthel and the raw Josh Carter songs continues to frame the band’s personality. This disjointedness also frames the music on this EP. The band jumps from the upbeat, U2-tinged “16 Years” to the Kanye West-esque sampleslicing beat of “Don’t Move” to the beauty of “Turning Into Stone” to the paranoid futurefear of “Make A Fist” to the existentialism of “Nightlife” to the psychotic “A Dark Tunnel.”

That’s the EP. It’s a lot for six songs, and a little jumpy, but they are great songs, and hopefully a longer album is following soon.

RIYL: Frou Frou/Imogen Heap, The xx, Miike Snow Recommended Tracks: 2, 3, 5

— JESSE PALLER

THE BEETS

LET THE POISON OUT

First off, this is sadly not The Beets who made songs like “Killer Tofu” and “I Need More Allowance,” childhood favorites on Nickelodeon’s “Doug.” Once you get over that disappointment, however, you’ll come to appreciate that this version of The Beets is a minimalistic garage rock group whose third effort is over before you realize it.

These 13 tracks clock in at less than 30 minutes, but a longer running time would just bring the album down, as there are barely any departures from the group’s signature lo-fi sound throughout the record. Instead, listeners are sure to enjoy the DIY, almost backwards quality of these recordings before it wears thin.

While it’s certainly not breaking any ground, “Let The Poison Out” is a perfectly enjoyable way to spend 27 minutes of your day. Luckily, it’s not trying to be anything more than that.

RIYL: Woods, Violent Femmes

— CAMERON MEINDL

WAVVES

LIFE SUX

At the forefront of the current pop-punk revival is the ever-controversial Nathan Williams of Wavves. The band’s third release in two years shows Williams at a creative crossroads.

Without the fuzzy production of his first LP or the novelty of having that element removed, as seen on 2010’s “King of the Beach,” where does a pop punk band go without ‘selling out’ “American Idiot”-style or fading into un-creative obscurity?

On “Life Sux,” Williams attempts to hold on to his relevance without compromising his ‘punk’ identity to some success.

“Life Sux” is still a barrage of distorted power chords and hazy reverb, which underscores Williams’s infamous nasally vocals. But unlike previous releases, beneath Williams’s trademark cheekiness are genuinely catchy hooks, un-obscured by poor production.

The resulting record is less obnoxious, less ‘aggressive’ and much more in line with his current MTV-approved image. Much like a couple of bratty San Diego skate-punks who ruled the world a decade ago with three-chord songs and snotty-nosed humor, Williams hints on “Life Sux” that he may be ready to be taken a little more seriously.

RIYL: Male Bonding, late Jay Reatard, early Blink-182

— MAXWELL TANI

KURT VILE

SO OUTTA REACH EP

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to predict that Kurt Vile’s latest release, an EP composed of outtakes from his 2011 album “Smoke Ring For My Halo,” would be a drop off in quality.

Luckily, these songs uphold the high standard set by that excellent album while making an argument that nobody has had a better year artistically than Vile.

Some might criticize these songs as interchangeable, but the intricate finger-picking patterns and Vile’s airy voice make the material too interesting to dismiss. Meanwhile, Vile’s backing band, The Violators continue to make perfect contributions, particularly on “Laughing Stock” and “Life’s A Beach.” These five songs (and a Bruce Springsteen cover for kicks!) prove that Kurt Vile is truly a songwriting force to be reckoned with.

RIYL: Neil Young, The War on Drugs, Tom Petty

— CAMERON MEINDL

SYDNEY GORE / THE EAGLE

SECOND COMING After playing a set full of hits, Panic! at the Disco treated fans to a handful of covers, like Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks.”

Foxy Shazam and Patrick Stump opened.

Panic! at the Disco treat fans to decked out Halloween show

BY SYDNEY GORE

Eagle Contributing Writer Trick-or-treat. Panic! at the Disco was a spooktacular show for all this Halloween.

On Oct. 31, 9:30 club was the place to be as the Las Vegas-based band put on a frighteningly fantastic performance.

Panic! at the Disco’s division in 2009 caused a panic in itself, when guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left the band to form the Young Veins.

But, frontman Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith reassured all that the Panic! could persevere.

A few months ago, Panic! released their third album “Vices & Virtues.” This fall, they set off on a full U.S. Tour.

Seeing as to how it was Halloween, 9:30 club held a costume contest where the winner received two free tickets to any show at the venue for the month of November.

Opening for Panic! was Foxy Shazam, a six-piece band from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Named after a high school term meaning “cool shoes,” Foxy Shazam’s last self-titled album was released in 2010, and their next album is expected for release in early 2012.

Nally wore glittery black attire with a fake baby attached to his stomach, which he threw into the crowd later.

Horn player, Alex Nauth boogied in zebra print stretchy pants and a red jacket.

The other band members, including drummer Aaron McVeigh and keyboardist Sky White, started off with masks on their faces that ended up falling off.

Foxy Shazam embodied old school rock at its finest with a tang of filth. They really got down and dirty in their song “I Like It” with the lyrics “that’s the biggest black ass I’ve ever seen / PANIC, PAGE 22≥

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

SYDNEY GORE / THE EAGLE

PRAISE HIM Alt-rockers Panic! at the Disco played a festive show at 9:30 club on Halloween night. The group’s lead singer Brendon Urie dressed up as Jesus Christ. ≤PANIC, PAGE 21

And I like it / I like it / a lot.”

To end their 30-minute set with a bang, Nally asked the crowd for cigarettes and a lighter, smoked five cigarettes at once and then ate them all. The other band members practically, if not completely. destroyed their instruments by smashing them repeatedly on the stage.

Following Foxy Shazam was Patrick Stump. Formerly the lead singer of the Illinois based band Fall Out Boy, Stump went solo after the group’s hiatus in 2009 and subsequent break-up in 2011.

Since then, he’s released a six-song EP called “Truant Wave” in February and a complete solo album this month, titled “Soul Punk.”

Stump dressed up in a bloody-red suit accessorized with glowing red devil ears, making him resemble Adrian from the movie “Little Nicky.” He used “Ghost Busters” as an intro into

“Spotlight.”

Stump’s new sound, which he dubs “soul punk” and “smart pop,” is a blend of electronic, soul and pop.

Every one of his songs had people dancing.

Though it’s nowhere near the sound of Fall Out Boy, Stump doesn’t stray too far from his pop-punk roots.

He was also quite versatile, playing guitar, drums and a miniature trumpet.

He closed his set with “This City,” his new single that features Lupe Fiasco.

When Panic! At the Disco was summoned onto the stage, it was like the Second Coming. The stage was set up like a church for sinners and Urie was Jesus. (No joke, he actually decked himself out in a Jesus Christ costume.)

One of the guitarists dressed as Hit Girl from the movie “Kickass” and Smith was Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell’s hilarious character in “Anchorman.”

Panic! opened with “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My

Mind),” followed by “But It’s Better If You Do,” “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” and “Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off.” After slowing it down a bit with “Camisado,” the band played “Hurricane,” stirring every fan in the audience to sing at the top of their lungs.

Panic!’s live show was less theatrical than in their earlier days, but still entertained the crowd with their jokes and tricks.

Their set also featured a few covers, including Foster The People’s hot single “Pumped Up Kicks.”

Urie acted like he was in church, calling the audience “brothers and sisters of the congregation” and asking them to bow their heads and pray together. He was quite the character, doing a backwards flip off of Smith’s drum set, shimmying and shaking and getting in his band members’ faces.

Urie hopped on the piano for “Nine in the Afternoon” after playing “Always” acoustically on the guitar.

He sneakily changed “That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)” when he switched the line “I never said I’d leave this city” to “I never said I’d leave the D.C.,” pleasing all.

Throughout their set, fans crowd surfed and attempted to mosh.

Panic! then treated their fans to a cover of “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas.

To get everyone back in the mood, they sensually performed Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” “I want to get you naked, D.C., and give you a naked bear hug,” Urie said. “I’m going to take you to church and make love to you.”

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Held, as a protest 7 Beggar’s request 11 T-shirt sizes, for short 14 Bow user 15 Homebuyer’s request 16 “Bali __” 17 “Great” Russian emperor 18 Missing someone special 20 Modern recording device 22 “Now, listen to me ...”

23 Start of a fictional sea shanty 27 Flair 28 “Was __ forward?”

29 Have on 30 Enjoys the shallows 31 Duke U.’s conference 32 Jib or spinnaker 33 Flab 34 ’80s-’90s ABC drama 40 Time workers, briefly 41 Topsoil 42 Not worth a __ 43 Doorposts 46 Male swine 47 Poetic black 48 Layer between the sclera and retina 49 Quick nap 51 Interrupt 53 Adam’s second 54 Competitive look 56 Black Sea port 60 Before, in an ode 61 Country south of Iran 62 Discrimination based on years 63 Damascus is its cap.

64 Divisions in 65Across 65 Where one hears the starts of 18-, 23-, 34-, 49- and 54-Across DOWN 1 Oozy tree output 2 Italian trio 3 Performance

4 Inner city area 5 Weird 6 Garage entrances 7 More than most 8 Not so tight 9 Expert 10 Bygone knife 11 Protection against spears 12 Gordon of “Oklahoma!”

(1955) 13 Notes similarities (to) 19 Blade cover 21 “__ the loneliest number”: old song lyric 23 Italian automaker 24 Skin irritation 25 Centers of attention 26 Unpleasant smell 30 Measure of power 32 Conventions, for short 33 Interisland transport 35 Dealer’s incentive 36 Sporty Mazda 37 Literary ID 38 Barnes & Noble e-book reader

49 Oil holder 50 Golfer’s lofted iron 52 Sci-fi subjects 55 One-point Scrabble letters 57 It can be carnal or cardinal 58 Govt. assistance program 59 Trans __: certain Pontiacs

39 Six-shooters 43 Court figures 44 Zoo section 45 German physician from whose name a spellbinding word evolved 46 Black-spotted feline 47 Brennan of “Private Benjamin”

Level:

thescene@theeagleonline. com

1

2

3

4

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk

11/8/11

© 2011 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

OPINION

November 8, 2011

STAFF EDITORIAL

EXTREME MAKEOVER: SG EDITION Does AU Student Government effectively represent the student body?

It’s a simple question, and one that often receives a less than ideal answer.

All too often, mentioning the SG in conversation lead to groans and eye-rolls.

After an article detailing SG cooperation with Safe Space training was featured on the front page of The Eagle, we’re told via Eagle Rant to “stop pretending that what they [Student Government representatives] do actually matters.”

It shouldn’t be this way.

An organization dedicated to “the needs and collective voice of over 6,000 undergraduates” should inspire sentiments of admiration from the students they represent, not apathy and disdain.

Recognizing this serious image problem, the SG Senate is attempting to significantly improve their public appeal.

The Eagle applauds this move, because frankly, it is a much needed one.

It is likely that many SG senators have aspirations for elected office beyond AU. And that’s an expected, even a welcome part of our school’s political activism.

Yet this has led to an imitation of politicians that is just a little too accurate.

Recent debates have made it seem like the senators relish the minutiae of procedure over concrete accomplishments.

For example, in an effort to foster a welcoming environment for senators’ office hours, senators pushed a bill that would require office doors to be left open. But this bill was nearly squandered by

The near-obsession with procedure and process has perpetuated SG’s reputation as an out-oftouch and inaccessible behemoth.

Both A New AU and Occupy AU are symptoms of our SG straying from the path of effective student advocacy.

These separate organizations have been formed as a response

Both A New AU and Occupy AU are symptoms of our SG straying from the path of effective student advocacy. an extended debate about the cost of the required doorstops.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Doorstops.

Even the fact that the senators felt they needed to legislate the state of their office doors is absurd. It is this type of mundane activity that causes students to lose interest in student government in any form.

to the AU administration’s perceived lack of transparency. Isn’t this the very type of advocacy the SG is meant to perform? The fact that students felt the need to go outside of the very organization formed to represent their interests truly depicts the SG’s need for improvement.

Significant outreach is needed to revamp student perception of

The finality of last words FRANCESCA MORIZIO | SPEAK MY LANGUAGE Steve Job’s sister recently revealed his final words to be “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”

This sentiment caused a stir as everyone attempted to read into his final six syllables.

What was he experiencing? What does one see in those floating moments behind life and death? Is the light at the end of the tunnel deserving of such strong language?

Perhaps Steve Jobs, being the incredible showman he was, was well aware of the media frenzy that would follow his death. He knew his death would be monitored as the iPad 2 launch was a few months prior, and he wanted to leave the world guessing.

I, somehow, have a hard time be-

the SG. We’ve been told that a number of SG senators hold office hours on the Quad in an attempt to truly mingle with their constituents. This is a great start, but efforts like these must be publicized.

Another simple improvement would be if newly elected senators wrote regular emails to their con-

lieving that.

The recently published transcript of his eulogy given by his sister Mona Simpson illuminates the man behind the acid washed jeans, black mock turtlenecks and his habit of pulling technology out of mailing envelopes.

Though he built up a company whose stock is about as successful as one can be, Steve Jobs tried to stay grounded. Despite his astronomical fame, the words of his sister portray him deeper than the man who graced the cover of TIME eight times.

But back to the “Oh wow.”

Why do we care? Why are we so interested in final words?

Final words are distinctly dif-

ferent from what graces someone epitaph. Unless our will is explicit, usually someone else writes those final words that the world remembers you by, inscribed on grey marble until that too crumbles. Final words come from directly the deceased persons themselves.

The afterlife, death, the mortality of human existence. Humans are obsessed with death, whether we like it or not. But words offer an escape from the finality of the end.

Beauty will fail, your hair will thin but words live on forever.

Shakespeare knew words could live longer than he ever could. The Bard has been dead for almost 400 years but most high school graduates will have read something he

stituents, introducing themselves and sharing their accomplishments and goals.

If the majority of AU students can’t name their class senators, an introductory email alone would be a vast improvement.

Some may say that the student body has little right to complain about the state of the SG. After all, the SG senators and executive penned. He’s part of our collective memory.

Just look at Sonnet 18. The final couple reads “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this and this gives life to thee.”

It could be read as beauty always being present in the youth, but upon a close reading we realize that these final two lines are about the poem itself.

As long as men can see the print or someone is able to recite the poem, the sonnet is alive and well.

Words are what give humans immortality; our novels live forever in the Library of Congress and our blog posts will forever haunt the intern on servers hidden away in dark basements.

Final words are that last part of a person we can hold on to, that last part of themselves that they created.

Words we speak aren’t some projection someone else puts on another individual. Anything we

23 were elected, not appointed.

But, when less than 30 percent of students turn up to vote — as was the case in the Spring 2011 election — AU students hardly seem invested in the process. Should the SG be expected to be responsive to an apathetic electorate?

Essentially, yes.

We at The Eagle believe this apathy would easily be fixed if the outreach strategies specified above were utilized. Once AU students begin to view the SG as an accessible and open group, the disinterest that has clouded SG activities may clear up.

In an act of impressive perception, the SG Senate passed a bill forming a committee to address student engagement as this very editorial was being written.

Yet the idea of establishing a committee — as opposed to forming concrete action — certainly doesn’t bode well for those of us waiting to see the Senate venture beyond procedure.

We encourage the Senate to convert this new focus on SG’s lackluster image into concrete action.

Acceptance is only the first step to recovery. ≠ E Send all responses and reactions to edpage@theeagleonline.com.

say is incredibly personal and our words are as much a part of us as anything else we create.

“Think different,” Apple’s trademark slogan, is just as important to us as our iPods. But the finality of Jobs’ last six words is what will stay with us.

We lost an amazing innovator last month, a man who truly changed the way we talk about technology and integrate it into our lives.

His legacy is a great one, but he left us with a new view on the end of our lives: “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”

Francesca Morizio is a double major in CAS and Kogod. Please send comments and responses to: edpage@theeagleonline.com

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

“A New AU:” a worthy rallying cry for student engagement DOUGLAS BELL | WRITER OF OUR DISCONTENTS As Occupy Wall Street enters its eighth week, the country is taking notice.

The movement is growing as a different kind of protest against the government’s policies and the actions of Wall Street bankers who have exacerbated the disparity of wealth in this country.

It is presumably in this spirit that a similar protest, which has labeled itself “A New AU,” sprouted last month with a rally on the Quad, demanding that AU’s administration become more transparent and responsive to the needs and concerns of students.

Regrettably, I didn’t learn of this campaign until reading an article and op-ed about it in the Oct. 25 issue of The Eagle.

But something else from that issue struck me even more: a letter to the editor from a sophomore explaining how she was being forced to transfer out of AU due to her financial aid being cut by $15,000.

“I feel betrayed by this University, which claims to put its students first,” she

wrote.

And she is not alone.

Even as the cost of attending AU continues to increase year after year, I know dozens of students – myself included – who have suffered cuts to their financial aid, forcing themselves and their families to make up the difference with everincreasing amounts of debt.

Personally, I have many nights where I go to sleep worrying about the possibility that I too will have to drop out from AU if the cost of attendance becomes even more prohibitive.

Yet also, in that same issue, was a story about the new WONK video advertisement, which cost the university $35,000 to produce. It’s part of a $1 million budget allocated to the WONK campaign for this fiscal year.

How can AU possibly justify spending that much on such an unpopular marketing campaign when so many students are in need of greater aid?

One million dollars would be enough to fully fund 37

more Presidential Scholarships of $27,000 each, to say nothing of how many smaller grants could be funded with that money.

That is but the tip of the iceberg of examples where students need a seat at the table, which is why I fully support the “A New AU” movement and what it seeks to accomplish.

But as much as the campaign reflects a lack of accountability by the administration, it also reflects a lack of action by the Student Government.

The SG is supposed to be the voice of AU students to the administration.

Instead, we have an SG focused more on promoting its own programming and wading through its own internal policies and procedures than directly connecting and engaging with the students it represents.

Much like how Occupy Wall Street grew as a response to the inability of politicians to stand up to the corporations, A New AU is a reflection of the ineffectiveness of the Student Govern-

TRENDING TOPICS Thank you to all the Veterans on campus for your service. Your sacrifices and dedication are commendable.

Who doesn’t love an extra hour of sleep?

No one, that’s who.

Oh man. The Redskins really are terrible.

DateMyCampus.com is coming to AU! Now all those lonely Eagle Ranters can finally find each other. Don’t forget to invite The Eagle staff to the wedding!

Who likes an hour less of sun? No one, that’s who.

Did the SG Senate really debate whether or not female restrooms need receptacles for … erm, lady products?

To the male senator who questioned whether these were necessary: I hope your mother doesn’t find out about this.

ment in standing up to the administration on behalf of the students who need them to do so.

I have long said that AU cannot truly be the coun-

try’s most politically active university until we start caring what happens here on our own campus.

I am encouraged by the emergence of the “A New AU” movement, and I would like nothing better than to see it grow into our own Occupy WONK Street, as it were.

Now is the time when we, as AU students, need to

stand up for our rights and our voice.

Let’s remind our University administration and our Student Government that they work for us, and that they ought to start listening.

Douglas Bell is a junior in SOC. Please send comments and responses to: edpage@theeagleonline. com

Six-packs no match for social norms CONOR SHAPIRO | SMARTER THAN I LOOK Women are attracted to washboard abs. They just are, practically all of them.

I could include some disclaimer that I’m referring mostly to straight women and that I can’t say ‘all’ about anything (suppose I just did), but let’s be real. To claim the eye candy that is Brad Pitt’s “Fight Club” body is not something women salivate over is like denying you picked up the paper only for the Rants (and me, of course).

I shared this thought matter-of-factly a couple weeks ago at our Men of Strength Meeting.

I didn’t anticipate a controversy, but I might as well have stated, “Murdering puppies can be fun, but only when done in moderation.”

Immediately, I was put on defense, swatting away criticisms from my friends in the group. Feminists ain’t no monolith I tell ya.

Many of our discussions focus on the manipulating process of socialization, through which we learn and acquire our norms and values from outside sources.

For better or worse, we’re constantly encountering signals that betray our inner instincts. Whether we succumb to them or not, we should always be aware they’re lurking.

Not only do I believe women fawn over six-pack abs, I don’t think they individually can control it. It’s innate, and only countered through the manipulating process of socialization.

For example, take military training. Most recruits who join the forces aren’t bloodlusting sadists. In fact, studies like the one by S.L.A.

Marshall have demonstrated that, historically, many soldiers never fired their weapon directly at an enemy.

Not until recruits are inundated with rigorous training, normalized violence and an emphasis on “shoot first-ask questions later” have troops been able to overcome their aversion to taking another’s life.

Think about it this way, if people were so innately violent and killing others was natural, why go through the indoctrinating process of training men and women to be killers?

The only way commanders can get their troops to comport with their abhorrent expectations is by countering human nature through socialization.

The power of socialization is grand, and I don’t contest its efficacy. In fact, my larger point was not about women liking six-packs. It was that, increasingly, women are starting to claim (startlingly) they don’t like abs, as a result of this incredible power of socialization.

Take a cursory glance at popular sit-coms and you’ll find plenty of shows with an out-of-shape husband or boyfriend. With few exceptions, the women remain svelte and sexy. Shows like “The King of Queens,” “Family Guy” “According to Jim,” stuff with Jason Segal, etc.

Initially, I thought this was awful for men. Why do men have to be portrayed as overweight knuckleheads, constantly outdone by thinner and wittier wives?

But the more I think about it, the more I find it exonerates rather than confines

men.

The men who write these shows are a clever bunch.

They’re enabling men (probably not unlike themselves), who otherwise have no shot with a stunning female, to have the best of both worlds.

They get to remain pudgy and disheveled and still hit the aesthetical jackpot.

Their heftiness is depicted as endearing. Watch these lovable lugs long enough and they’ll wear you down and you’ll see past the rolls and lethargy. A little beer gut is cute, right ladies?

Stop nodding. Cut it out.

You’re missing the point.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I think this pop culture is used as a ploy to render this inequity between the sexes trite.

A deliberate byproduct of these shows is that women accept men for their flaws, while women remain flawless. This is all cloaked in the “laudable virtue” that women are not as shallow as men, but the end result sounds like Ka-ching! for the average out-of-shape bloke.

And somehow, it’s working! I’m astonished by how many of my (girl) friends remark that a fit body is unimportant. I know their male crushes don’t feel the same. And it’s a tad dubious they inherently do either.

I’d call that a double standard, one that some women are gullibly embracing.

Women can seek a man with a great body and mind; they’re not mutually exclusive. Women shouldn’t settle for this restrictive, complacent narrative.

My innate nature senses it’s bull.

Sports 25

theEAGLE Courtesy of AUEAGLES.COM

Courtesy of AUEAGLES.COM

Men’s soccer clinches PL regular season title despite loss

By SAMANTHA RAPHELSON

Eagle Staff Writer The AU men’s soccer team clinched the Patriot League regular season title for the fourth time in program history despite falling 1-0 in its regular season finale at Holy Cross Nov. 5.

The Eagles’ (7-11-1, 5-2 PL) 15 points in Patriot League play were just enough to take the crown.

Colgate University finished second with 14 points.

The game’s lone goal came in the 61st minute when Holy Cross (2-13-2, 1-6 PL) senior captain Jordan Michael connected with Tommy Uttaro. Michael set up the pass on the right side to Uttaro, whose diving header beat AU goalkeeper Matt Makowski. It was Uttaro’s third goal of the season and Michael’s second assist.

AU struggled to get a shot off in the first half, only recording three to the Crusaders’ eight. The tables turned in the second half however, as AU picked up play with

eight shots while Holy Cross tried to protect its one-goal lead.

The Eagles would outshoot the Crusaders on the afternoon by an 11-10 margin, but six of Holy Cross’ 10 shots were on goal while Colin Seigfreid registered the only shot on net for the Eagles.

AU drew eight corner kicks but was unable to convert those opportunities into the equalizer.

Michael Thompson made one save for Holy Cross in goal, while Makowski registered five for the Eagles while playing 86 minutes.

Entering the game, the Eagles needed at least a draw to secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. After their loss, they no longer controlled their own destiny.

If Colgate defeated Navy in its season finale, it would earn the top seed in the tournament. But the game between Colgate and Navy ended in a scoreless draw, which meant AU finished in first place and Reeves Field will serve as host for the Pa-

OFFENSIVE OUTAGE Colin Seigfreid recorded AU’s lone shot on goal in the Eagles 1-0 loss to Holy Cross. Despite the setback, AU finished atop the Patriot League and will host the upcoming tournament. triot League Championship.

The last time the Eagles had the opportunity to compete in the playoffs at home was 2005.

The Eagles will open tournament play when they host fourth-seeded Navy Nov. 11 in the first of two Friday semifinals.

In the other semifinal, second-seeded Colgate will square off against the thirdslotted Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The final is set for Nov. 13 at 1 p.m.

AU’s only other conference loss this season came at the hands of the Midshipmen, when two early goals pushed Navy past the Eagles 2-1.

The Eagles will be looking to get over the hump this year after falling in the last two PL Tournament finals.

Bucknell University defeated the Eagles in the championship match during the last two seasons, as the Bison prevailed 2-0 in 2010 and 1-0 in 2009. sports@theeagleonline.com

Ong, Breen impress in swim and dive meet

By TYLER TOMEA Eagle Staff Writer

The AU men’s swimming and diving team finished 1-2 and the women’s squad finished 0-3 at a quad meet in Annapolis, Md., Nov. 5.

The men’s side defeated Lafayette College 187-113 while losing to both Bucknell University (227-67) and the Navy Midshipmen (18987). The women’s team lost all three matches, falling to Bucknell (226-71), Lafayette (160-130) and Navy (179100).

Ong, Ballance top finishers for men For the men’s team, Ming Ong led the way by recording three top-five finishes on the day. The junior placed fourth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:18.13, while finishing fifth in both the 100 breaststroke (1:08.46) and 200 breast (2:34.17).

Ong has continued his strong season after posting victories in both the 100 breast and 200 breast at a tri-meet involving George Washington University and Catholic University last month.

Bobby Ballance earned

a pair of top-five finishes, as the sophomore finished fourth in the 200 backstroke (2:17.07) and fifth in the 100 back (1:01.44). Ballance is coming off a freshman year in which he was named men’s swimming and diving’s co-rookie of the year.

Another notable performance for the Eagles came from Khristian Vega, who finished fifth in the one-meter diving event after posting a score of 124.40.

Navy finished the quad meet at 3-0, with Bucknell going 2-1 and Lafayette ending the day winless at 0-3.

Breen, Parker bright spots for women’s team Leah Breen emerged victorious in the 50 freestyle, as her time of 28.01 beat out Bucknell’s Emily Wright, who finished second at 28.06. Breen posted another strong showing in the 100 free, coming in second when she clocked in at 1:01.35.

Melissa Parker won the three-meter diving event for the Eagles, as her score of 256.90 beat out Bucknell’s Kati Hetherington’s score of 229.30. Parker also managed a top-five finish in the one-meter diving event with a fourth place score of

FIRST PLACE FINISH Leah Breen took home the title in the 50 freestyle in last week’s quad meet at Navy.

Breen’s time of 28.01 beat out Bucknell’s Emily Wright, who finished with a time of 28.06.

223.95.

During last month’s trimeet against Catholic and George Washington, Parker registered two dives in the three-meter and one-meter competition that placed her fourth on AU’s all-time list in the events.

Additional notables from the women’s squad included Miriam Crispo and Elinor Shetter. Crispo picked up a fourth-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:37.82), while Shetter’s time of 1:10.23 put her in fifth place in the 100 fly.

The top-two finishers on the women’s side were also Navy at 3-0 and Bucknell at 2-1. Lafayette was able to pick up its only victory over the Eagles.

The Eagles will participate next in the George Mason Invitational, which begins Nov. 17 in Fairfax, Va. Last year, the men’s team finished seventh out of nine teams while the women’s team finished eighth out of nine. ttomea@theeagleonline. com

November 8, 2011

theEAGLE

How the Nats should approach offseason BEN LASKY | SIDELINE SCHOLAR The 2011 season marked a step in the right direction for the Washington Nationals. Young players like Danny Espinosa, Drew Storen, Wilson Ramos and Jordan Zimmermann gave Nationals fans a glimpse of what the team can be in the future. With the offseason now upon us, here are some

improvements the Nationals can make to develop the team for 2012 and beyond.

Don’t sign a center fielder to a multi-year deal By now, it’s clear to Nationals fans that the team’s main priority is to sign a center fielder that can also serve as the team’s leadoff man. The

only center fielder on the list of free agents that fits the bill is 32-year-old Coco Crisp, and even he has his flaws.

Yes, he can steal bases, as he had 49 steals for the Oakland Athletics in 2011. But the leadoff guy’s job is to get on base, and Crisp’s on-base percentage in 2011 was a below league average .314. His

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career on-base percentage is just about league average at .330.

It’s possible that his onbase rebounds to his career average in 2012, but Crisp may be starting to decline.

There’s a chance that the .314 on-base was just a sign of things to come. However, seeing as the Nationals had Rick Ankiel leading off towards the end of 2011, I think they’ll take .314.

Instead, though, the Nationals should wait another year to get their guy. Next year, both B.J. Upton and

CONSULTING

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Matt Kemp are set to become free agents. Kemp could sign an extension and never hit the open market, but Upton almost definitely will.

When he hits free agency, Upton will be 28. That means that, unlike with Crisp, whomever signs Upton will be paying for his peak years. For his career, Upton gets on base and slugs at a higher clip than Crisp as well.

In an ideal scenario, the Nationals would sign Crisp to a one-year deal and go after the younger and better center fielder next year.

Sign Jonathan Broxton The Nationals had one of the best eighth and ninth inning bullpen tandems in baseball last year with Tyler Clippard and Storen, but the middle relief left something to be desired.

From a pure stuff standpoint, there are few who can compete with Henry Rodriguez, who hit 99 mph on the gun routinely in 2011. However, a lack of consistency and control problems led to a 3.56 ERA. Not terrible, but far from great.

Reliever Todd Coffey, who had a similar 3.62 ERA in 2011, is a free agent and may not be back with Washington next season. If that’s the case, Nationals fans will miss him. Listed at 6-foot4 and “240� pounds, Coffey sprinted to the pitcher’s mound with regularity as

the scoreboard kept record of his time.

Now, back to Broxton.

Three seasons ago, Broxton was arguably the best reliever in baseball before things started going downhill in mid-2010.

Things got even worse for Broxton in 2011, as he went down with an elbow injury in May and was shut down for the year.

So why would the Nationals want him? Unlike other relievers on the market, Broxton would not cost the Nationals a draft pick if they were to sign him.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding Broxton’s elbow, teams are being scared away. This brings the possibility of signing him to a low-risk, incentive-laden deal that could bring huge returns.

If the Nationals could somehow sign him and he returns to his 2009 form, they could easily have the best bullpen in baseball in 2012.

There are plenty of other moves I would talk about if I had the time, such as not signing either of the highprofile free agent first basemen, one overweight and the other soon to decline.

As we learned last offseason, you never know what kind of moves general manager Mike Rizzo will make. One of these times, he’ll get one right. blasky@theeagleonline.com

Please join the AU Consulting Club in celebrating our kick-off fall networking event! Hosted by Iron Horse Taproom, come meet current American University students, alumni of American University, as well as current DC professionals.

Wristbands will be handed out at the door, please identify yourself as being with ““AU Consulting.”�

For more information or questions please contact us at auconsultingClub@gmail.com

CHECK OUT MIDWEEK SPORTS UPDATES

ONLINE AT THEEAGLEONLINE.COM/SPORTS

Sports 27

theEAGLE ≤ FIELD HOCKEY, PAGE 28

on the board nine minutes into the second half on a shot from the top of the circle that cut the Bucknell lead in half.

Then with less than 10 minutes to play, Anspach beat Bucknell goalkeeper Erica Perrine to tie the game at two and seemingly swing the momentum firmly onto the AU side.

TOURNAMENT TROUBLE Jenn Bradley and the AU field hockey team suffered a 3-2 upset to Bucknell in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament Nov. 4. This marks the first time since 2002 that the Eagles have not won the tournament.

Courtesy of AUEAGLES.COM

NFL awards at the season’s midpoint TYLER TOMEA | FROM THE STANDS Passing the midway point of the NFL regular season can only mean two things: Depression is now moments away from setting in, and it’s time to hand out some NFL midseason awards.

The Norv Turner Award for “Wait a Second, He’s Still a Head Coach?”

After Miami blew a 15-point lead at home to the Denver Broncos, Tony Sparano’s career seemed to be over with the Dolphins.

But two weeks later, he’s still on the Miami sideline.

The only reason why I can see the Dolphins keeping Sparano around is because he gives the team the best chance at finishing with the league’s worst record and allowing them to draft Andrew Luck.

And really, at this point, that’s the best option. With Indianapolis playing like it is, the Dolphins can’t afford to fool around. They need to give themselves the best chance at losing each and every week, which is what Sparano provides them.

The Houston Texans Award for “Team that Frustrates its Fanbase the Most” Even though Wade Phillips is no longer looking confused on the sidelines, the up-and-down nature of the Dallas Cowboys has contin-

ued in 2011.

The Cowboys continue losing games they should win, winning games they should lose and alternating primetime games in which they look like a competent NFL team.

And has a non-head coach ever gotten more publicity for doing as little as Rob Ryan? Despite his defense giving up 21.9 points per game, his weekly declarations to the media have managed to get him shown five times per broadcast.

The Jose Bautista Award for “Where Was This At The Start of Your Career?”

The conversation would usually go as follows among 49ers fans when it came to Alex Smith: A profanitylaced tirade about their quarterback, followed by them lamenting the fact that they could have had Aaron Rodgers instead.

But through eight games this season, Smith has thrown 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions. This has caused the words “Alex Smith” and “dependable NFL quarterback” to appear in the same sentence for what is believed to be the first time in history.

The second half of the season will show if Smith can keep this up, or if he will revert back to his old turno-

ver-prone ways.

The Isiah Thomas Award for “Well, That Trade Made No Sense At All” Following the injury to Jason Campbell, the Raiders completed a trade that sent shockwaves of confusion throughout the league. I know you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Oakland completed a puzzling deal?

That’s so strange!” But it’s true.

Oakland sent a first-round pick and a conditional second-round selection to Cincinnati in exchange for Carson Palmer, a quarterback who has the capability to provide the opposing team with offense at any time due to his penchant for throwing interceptions that get returned for touchdowns.

The Raiders’ front office is thinking to win now, but this team wasn’t a legitimate contender with Campbell and isn’t with Palmer.

Even if they wanted to make the deal, how was Oakland forced to give up that much to the Bengals?

Cincinnati had no leverage in the negotiations after Palmer opted to retire rather than play for them, so anything the Bengals were getting in return for Palmer was a bonus. ttomea@theeagleonline.com

“It felt good to get the equalizer, but that’s only the halfway point at that juncture,” Jennings said.

The Bison had taken a two-goal advantage into halftime, but now found themselves with the game slipping away on the road.

But Bucknell maintained its composure and refused to wilt at a time when it seemed inevitable that the Eagles would complete their comeback.

Murphy’s game-winner came off assists from Mallory Smith and Marci Richard and put the Bison up 3-2 with 3:10 left to play. The Eagles couldn’t convert on a penalty corner in the game’s waning seconds, and Bucknell was able to complete the upset and claim its first ever

win at Jacobs Field.

Perrine made eight saves in goal, while Stephanie Burry posted three for the Eagles.

AU held an advantage in both shots (22-10) and penalty corners (9-7) for the game. ttomea@theeagleonline. com

November 8, 2011

UPCOMING GAMES Home

NOV. 9

No games scheduled

SPORTS NOV. 10

No games scheduled

Game

NOV. 11

Men’s

soccer vs. Navy at 11 a.m. (Patriot League Tournament semifinals) Volleyball vs. Lehigh at 7 p.m.

Women’s basketball @ George Mason at 5 p.m.

Men’s basketball @ Richmond at 7:30 p.m.

NOV. 12

Volleyball

vs. Lafayette at 2 p.m.

Cross-Country NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional @ University of Maryland Eastern Shore at 10 a.m.

Wrestling Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Invitational @ Brockport (All Day)

Field hockey upset in PL semis

HYUNJIN PARK / THE EAGLE

By TYLER TOMEA Eagle Staff Writer

Volleyball continues strong conference play

By ERIC SALTZMAN Eagle Staff Writer

The AU volleyball team maintained its lead atop the Patriot League with home victories over the Holy Cross Crusaders Nov. 4 and the Army Black Knights Nov. 5.

Eagles easily knock off Crusaders The Eagles (19-10, 11-1 PL) rolled past the Crusaders (8-21, 4-8 PL) in straight sets, winning by scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-6.

The two teams were tied at five early in the opening set before AU took control.

The Eagles then won 12 of the next 18 points to lead 17-11, forcing Holy Cross to take a timeout. With AU leading 21-16 later in the game, the Eagles scored four straight points, capped by a

Rebecca Heath kill, for the set clincher.

The second set saw three lead changes early on, but the Eagles pulled away again as the game progressed. AU led by as much as 10 points, before another Heath kill gave the Eagles the comfortable 25-17 victory.

AU dominated the third set, as the Eagles hit a gamehigh .812 while holding Holy Cross to a -.217 hitting percentage.

Sara Rishell led the Eagles with 13 kills, while Monika Smidova recorded a teamhigh 20 assists. Defensively, Rishell added three solo blocks while Morgan Hendrix had two blocks to go along with five block assists.

“We have a lot of good hitters that can put the ball away,” Rishell said. “We spread the offense around.”

AU defeats second-place Black Knights With first place in the conference on the line, the Eagles closed out the weekend by defeating Army 25-18, 25-20, 23-25 and 25-18.

The first and second sets were very similar, as the teams exchanged scores early on before the Eagles extended their leads late to gain a 2-0 advantage.

After back-and-forth action to begin the third set, the Eagles took a 12-10 lead and looked to close out Army (20-7, 10-2 PL) in straight sets. The teams then battled down the stretch and, with the game tied at 23, an Army kill followed by Heath’s attack error gave the Black Knights the set.

The Eagles regained control of the match in the fourth set by jumping out to a 12-4 lead. Army cut the AU advantage to 16-13, before the Eagles outscored the Black Knights 9-5 down the stretch for the victory.

“We started the game off strong,” AU Head Coach

WINNING WEEKEND The AU volleyball team extended its winning streak to six games this weekend after defeating Holy Cross and Army. Juliana Crum posted a combined 21 kills on the weekend.

Barry Goldberg said. “As they were inching back, we needed to stay strong and we were physical by the net.”

Juliana Crum posted double figures in kills (13) and digs (15), while Rishell had a game-high 15 kills. Alexandra Hammer paced the offense with 23 assists.

The Eagles will finish the regular season next weekend when the team hosts Lehigh University Nov. 11 and Lafayette College Nov. 12.

AU can earn the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament with a win in one of their final two games. sports@theeagleonline.com

Bucknell University denied the AU field hockey team’s quest for a ninth straight Patriot League Tournament Championship, as the fourth-seeded Bison defeated the top-seeded Eagles 3-2 in the PL semifinals Nov. 4 at Jacobs Field.

Leigh Hillman scored twice in the first half and Maggie Murphy pushed across the game-winning goal for the Bison (8-12, 3-2 PL), with just over three minutes remaining. Jenn Bradley and Jaclyn Anspach helped the Eagles (9-8, 4-1 PL) erase a 2-0 halftime deficit with two scores in the second frame.

“Pure disappointment,” AU Head Coach Steve Jennings said. “We worked really hard, and we sort of weren’t able to get over the hump.”

The victory sent the Bison to their first Patriot League Championship game since 2008, but they couldn’t pull off a second straight upset and lost 3-1 to Lafayette College.

Meanwhile, the loss marks a bitter end to the season for AU. The Eagles began the season nationally ranked at No. 10 and were looking to continue their dominance atop the PL. “Each year is its own year,” Jennings said. “I think it’s been an incredible legacy that the program has been able to accomplish.”

The Bison led the game for the majority of the contest courtesy of two first-half

28 NOV. 13

Women’s

at 2 p.m.

basketball vs. James Madison

PATRIOT LEAGUE STANDINGS MEN’S SOCCER American 5-2 PL, 7-11-1

Colgate 4-1-2 PL, 10-4-5 Lehigh 4-2-1 PL, 8-4-5 Navy 3-2-2 PL, 7-7-4 Lafayette 3-2-2 PL, 9-5-4 Army 2-4-1 PL, 7-10-1 Bucknell 2-5 PL, 7-9-2 Holy Cross 1-6 PL, 2-13-2

WOMEN’S SOCCER Patriot League Tournament semifinals:

No. 4 Army defeated No. 1 Colgate, 2-0.

No. 3 Navy defeated No. 2 Lafayette, 3-2 Patriot League Tournament finals: No. 4 Army defeated No. 3 Navy, 2-0.

VOLLEYBALL American 11-1 PL, 19-10

Army 10-2 PL, 20-7 Lehigh 9-3 PL, 18-8 Colgate 8-4 PL, 12-15 Holy Cross 4-8 PL, 8-21 Bucknell 3-9 PL, 6-15 Lafayette 2-10 PL, 9-16 Navy 1-11 PL, 6-21

FIELD HOCKEY Patriot League Tournament semifinals: No. 4 Bucknell defeated No. 1 American, 3-2 No. 2 Lafayette defeated No. 3 Lehigh, 8-0 Patriot League Tournament finals: No. 2 Lafayette defeated No. 4 Bucknell, 3-1

goals from Hillman that came in a span of five minutes.

Hillman tallied the afternoon’s first score with 12 minutes remaining in the first half, as her rebound at the right post off a penalty corner found the back of the cage. Five minutes later, the sophomore forward netted her second goal to put Bucknell up 2-0.

The Bison held the 2-0 lead for the remainder of the first stanza, entering halftime 35 minutes away from ending the Eagles’ reign atop the conference. But AU wouldn’t go quietly.

Jenn Bradley put the Eagles FIELD HOCKEY, PAGE 27≥