GREEN SCENE The works of Tom Green, a local artist who mixes images with words, take over Katzen. SCENE page 7
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NEWS SPRING BREAK SAFE
Snow days will not affect academic schedule, provost says page 6
EDITORIAL
PAPER OR PLASTIC? Columnist Ian Hosking joins the protest against the D.C. bag tax page 5
SCENE ONE WORLD ‘We are the World’ remake premieres at the 2010 Winter Olympics page 7
SPORTS SLIDING AWAY AU men’s basketball extends their losing streak to three in a row page 10
HIGH HOPES Team USA may be surprise team in Olympic hockey tournament page 10
TODAY’S WEATHER
HI 36° LO 26° Less than one inch of snow. TUESDAY HI 37° n LO 22°
HI 39° n LO 22°
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VOLUME 84 ISSUE 34 n
Snow collapses MGC canopy By ETHAN KLAPPER Eagle Staff Writer Part of the canopy covering the bridge between Mary Graydon Center, Battelle-Tompkins and Butler Pavilion collapsed during Wednesday’s snowstorm. The largest portion of the structure collapsed, which was closest to the main quad. What was left standing was closest to Butler Pavilion. No one was injured. Student Union Board Director Clay Pencek, who was working the information desk in MGC and was near the canopy when it collapsed, said the structure came down around 11:40 a.m. “I was minding my own business — it was a slow day, and all of a sudden there is this thunderous crash — it shook the whole Mary Graydon Center,” Pencek said. “I had a suspicion that it was a canopy that collapsed. I ran around the corner, checked it out and indeed it was.” Few people were in MGC at the time, but Pencek described the mood amongst those who were as “shock.” Pencek then made sure no one was underneath the debris, he said. His co-worker contacted the Department of Public Safety, and officers were on the scene within minutes, Pencek said. AU contacted the builder of the canopy, and the university is developing plans for a repair or replacement of the structure, University Architect Jerry Gager said in an email Wednesday. “We will be looking into the situation and reviewing the design and construction of the canopy,” Gager wrote. A combination of the weight of the snow and high winds caused the canopy to collapse, said Jorge Abud, AU’s assistant vice president of facilities and administrative services. Most structures on campus are designed to hold about 30 inches of snow on their roofs, Abud said. The canopy “pretty much” col-
NICOLE GLASS / THE EAGLE
UNDER PRESSURE — The recently-built canopy between Mary Graydon Center and the Battelle-Tompkins building collapsed Wednesday under the weight of last week’s two snowstorms. No injuries were reported. lapsed within its structural limitations, Abud said. “We’ll have to investigate more closely once we’ll be able to get access to it,” he said. The canopy is about a year old, opening around this time last year, The Eagle previously reported. Student Government President Andy MacCracken, whose office on the second floor of MGC overlooks the canopy, said the situation con-
cerns him. “It presents a danger,” he said. “They should take a look at any other places that might not be up to par.” Replacement of the canopy will be covered by insurance, Abud said. “Financially, this won’t be a particular issue to deal with,” he said. The bridge will probably reopen within a week, he said. Shortly af-
ter the collapse, chain-link fences blocked access to both sides of the bridge. “As soon as the weather breaks, we can start on that,” he said. As for replacing the canopy, it will take a minimum of “several weeks” to reorder parts, Abud said. AU will look at other designs for the replacement structure, he said. MacCracken said the AU administration should use this as an
opportunity to listen to student input as they design a replacement structure. “I’ve always been a fan of student input,” he said. Staff writer Nicole Glass contributed to this report. You can reach this staff writer at eklapper@theeagleonline.com.
Founders’ Day Ball SG execs earn postponed for now thousands, but By CHARLIE SZOLD and TAMAR HALLERMAN Eagle Staff Writers The Founders’ Day Ball, originally scheduled for Feb. 20, was postponed indefinitely due to complications resulting from last week’s historic snowfall, according to Student Government Vice President Alex Prescott. The SG was in negotiations to have the ball in the Old Post Office Pavilion when last week’s snowstorms forced both the university and the Pavilion to close for nearly all of last week, delay-
ing contractual negotiations. Negotiations were behind schedule due to a past occurrence in the Pavilion during a George Washington University dance, Prescott said. During the dance, a student was stabbed, prompting the venue to insist on more stringent security measures for the Founders’ Day Ball. Furthermore, orders of flowers, food and other merchandise associated with the ball were unable to be delivered on time, according to Prescott. Orders for more merchandise were also unable to be made because
they had to go through Student Activities, which was closed for most of this week, he said. Prescott, who consented only to an e-mail interview for follow-up information, would not comment as to why the SG chose the Pavilion for its venue. Class of 2010 Senator Steve Dalton said he was annoyed that the Senate, along with campus media outlets, found out about the postponement from an SG press release sent Friday. n
see BALL on page 4
Students test AU IDSmarTrip combo card By JULIA RYAN Eagle Staff Writer
WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 15, 2010
A select group of AU students will be testing SmarTrip-compatible AU ID cards in the weeks leading up to spring break to see if the ID cards can be offered to the AU community in the near future. Student Government President Andy MacCracken recruited 12 AU students, including some members of the SG, for the pilot program to test the functionality of these new ID cards. MacCracken said the students chosen for the pilot program are ideal participants because most of them live on campus, frequently use their meal
plans and use the Metro on a regular basis. If the current pilot program is successful, the SG will begin a wider test run program with several hundred students after spring break. The SG does not have a definite date when the SmarTrip-compatible AU ID cards would be available to the wider AU community. MacCracken said he understands that AU students would like to see these cards as soon as possible. “I imagine students would like to see the new cards integrated in the coming academic year, which is what I’d push for if the pilot programs are successful,” he said. He also said he hopes the partici-
pating students will be able to give him feedback about how the cards work in everyday use. “The idea is to find the people who will use the card the most in diverse ways to gauge the functionality of the cards,” MacCracken said. “We want to make sure that the day-to-day logistics of having such a card are well known before the integrated card is offered to a broader AU population.” The idea for SmarTrip-compatible AU ID cards developed over the summer as MacCracken talked to members of the AU administration about the possibility of a Metro discount for students. Penny Pagano, AU’s director of n
see SMARTRIP on page 2
less than before By JULIA RYAN Eagle Staff Writer Clay Pencek is working a fulltime AU job in addition to being a full-time student. As director of the Student Union Board, Pencek is always on call for bookings and concert arrangements as he goes about his day at school. “Constant are the e-mails from agents, middle agents, managers, student groups, advisors and artists,” Pencek said. “On days that we have shows, I could be working for nearly 16 hours in a single day.” Pencek’s workload is not unusual for most Student Government executives. Some of SG’s most prominent members are working around the clock on SG matters — and most are making salaries for their efforts. SG’s highest-ranking members, including the president, vice president, secretary and comptroller, make $3,500 per academic year and $5,000 over the summer, according to the SG’s bylaws. SG executives must work 18 hours a week during the school year and 20 hours a week during the summer, except for three weeks of vacation. The directors of SG’s various departments including the Kennedy Political Union, Student Union Board and Women’s Initiative make $2,500 per academic year and $3,500 over the summer.
These SG directors are required to work 15 hours a week for both the school year and the summer. They are given three weeks of vacation as well. SG President Andy MacCracken said that compensation for SG executives is essential because the executives treat their work very seriously. “The Student Government executives are paid because the positions they hold need to be treated like real jobs,” MacCracken said. “It would be impossible for me to do this and another job. And that simply wouldn’t be fair to the students.” MacCracken and other executives typically earn more than their counterparts in other D.C. schools. Calen Angert, the president of Georgetown University’s Student Association, makes $1,000 per academic year. While he does not get paid for the summer, he is guaranteed free housing if he chooses to stay at Georgetown over the summer to work on student association initiatives. Chris Pierno, the speaker of Catholic University’s Student Association General Assembly, said that he and the other members of the Student Association do not receive a salary. There are no measures pending for the near future to try to give Student Association n
see PAYCHECKS on page 4