SUMMER LOVIN’ As finals end, take a look at six summer albums to check out in the next few warm weeks. SCENE page 7
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NEWS LIGHTER WALLETS AU tuition to climb 5 percent next year page 2
APRIL 26, 2010 VOLUME 84 ISSUE 50 n
Oren: peace in Israel still possible Visit from Israeli ambassador stirs student protest By JULIA RYAN
EDITORIAL
GO OUTSIDE, KIDS Michael Stubel explores ways we can rediscover the wonders of exercise page 5
SPORTS LACROSSE DENIED With season on the line, women’s lax falls to Holy Cross Crusaders
Eagle Staff Writer Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said Israel is committed to peace talks and a two-state solution with Palestine during a speech Thursday in the Katzen Arts Center. The speech was disrupted five times, as small groups of protesters stood up, turned around, displayed handwritten signs to the audience, then left the Abramson Family Recital Hall. Oren did not directly address the protesters until the third incident, at which point he said to the protesters exiting the Hall, “I wish you would stay and ask questions.” The speech Oren discussed the relationship between the United States and Israel, the possibility of peace agreements between Israel and Palestine and the logistics of a two-state solution. He argued that the United States and Israel have always had a very close relationship, pointing out that America was the first nation to recognize Israel in 1948 under President Harry Truman. On the issue of the land disputes between Jews and Palestinians in Israel, Oren said Jews want to be able to live in their homeland, but they are also more
PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
CLASH — AU students gather outside of Katzen Arts Center on Thursday afternoon to protest Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren’s visit to AU. During Oren’s speech, groups of students stood up and walked out. Oren ignored them at first but said “I wish you would stay and ask questions,” after the third group left. than willing to work out an agreement with Palestinians living in the same territory. “[The nation of ] Israel recognizes that this land is shared by another group of people,” Oren said. “We are willing to negoti-
ate with the Palestinians so that one day we may live side by side in peace.” However, Oren noted that this peace treaty must also come with the promise of secure borders for both nations and formal recogni-
BRONCOS BAFFLE Denver moves up in first round to select quarterback Tim Tebow
By ALLIE MOONEY Eagle Staff Writer
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SCENE ‘BEST IN SHOW’
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TODAY’S WEATHER
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PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
PIE TIME — Quinn Pregliasco, next year’s director of Women’s Initiative, pies Class of 2010 Senator Steve Dalton during this past week’s Spring Fling events. All proceeds of the pie-throwing benefitted the Clean Energy Revolving Fund.
TUESDAY HI 65° n LO 44°
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the EAGLE 252 Mary Graydon Center 4400 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 Newsroom: 202-885-1402 Advertising: 202-885-1414, x3 Fax: 202-885-1428 E-mail: editor@theeagleonline.com Classifieds: adbox@theeagleonline.com
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Josh Levitt, a newcomer to the Student Government, was appointed director of the Kennedy Political Union in a vote of 14-53 during Sunday’s Senate meeting. The process of appointing Levitt caused an extended debate in the Senate. Vice President Maia Tagami said in an interview that some controversy arose after an application from the current deputy director of KPU, Greg Martin, was turned in to Student Activities six days after the application deadline. The applications for director of KPU were accepted until
April 8 at 5 p.m. Tagami received Martin’s application at 9 p.m. on April 15 after she and her fellow executives had already conducted interviews with the two ontime applicants. “I went to Student Activities to see the status of the application [and] if it could be accepted or not,” Tagami said. “Later that week Andrew Toczydlowski [program adviser of Student Activities] said because the applicant didn’t give any sort of indication [that] his application would be late, I was only to consider the two applicants that had turned it in on time.” The panel of SG executives decided to recommend Levitt
Spring Fling Week an SG fundraising success Metro considers By ANNA SCALAMOGNA Eagle Staff Writer
Chance of showers and thunderstorms
“Israel is committed to the two-state formula,” he said. “Borders will have to be drawn [for Israel and Palestine], and not everyone is going to like it. It will be painful, but we’re committed
Undergrad Senate appoints Levitt as director of KPU
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Comedian Jennifer Coolidge brings her ditzy comedy to Arlington, Va.
tion of both states as sovereign nations. Oren expanded on this during the question-and-answer portion of the event when asked if Israel was really committed to achieving peace.
The Student Government held a week of on-campus activities called “Spring Fling,” using the funds previously allocated to the canceled Founders’ Day Ball. AU students and the environment both benefited from the week’s events. Money raised by the Spring Gala Saturday night and from throwing plates of whipped cream at SG leaders on the quad Thursday were donated to the Clean Energy Revolving Fund. Students who attended the Spring Gala spent the night dancing and enjoyed a midnight brunch in the University Club. The event was moved from its original location outside on the quad to the University Club in Mary Graydon Center due to rain. Despite problems arising from
weather and conflicts with greek formals, Drew Veysey, the director for environmental policy of SG, said that everyone who came to the Spring Formal had a great time. Approximately 100 people attended the Spring Gala, according to Director of Events Jenny Kim. Pre-sale tickets were sold for $5, and tickets at the door were sold for $8. Kim said she has not yet determined the total amount of money raised during Spring Fling week. The SG was able to purchase door prizes full of environmentally-friendly products because of extra funds from the Founders’ Day Ball. Biodegradable plates and silverware were also used at the event, said EcoSense President Jennifer Jones. The SG is required to spend the money from the Founders’ Day Ball by the end of this school year so that current seniors can
enjoy the results of their student activity fees, according to Veysey. SG President Nate Bronstein estimates that of the $40,000 from the Founders’ Day Ball, $35,000 was spent on Spring Fling week. The SG spent approximately $17,000 on the Gala, including the disc jockey, food, desserts and the gift bags for all participants, according to Kim. Bronstein said the idea for the Spring Gala came to him after the success of the Winter Gala. The SG was able to spend more money on the Spring Gala because they could use Founders’ Day funds instead of relying on sponsors. Proceeds from other events such as whipped cream “pie-ing” were also donated to CERF. Students had the chance to throw a plate of whipped cream at class of 2010 Senator Steve Dalton and n
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closing doors early in new budget
By STEFANIE DAZIO Eagle Staff Writer Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s latest proposal to close the agency’s budget gap includes ending weekend service at 2 a.m. instead of 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, according to spokesperson Lisa Farbstein. Service adjustments like this to Metrorail and Metrobus are expected to account for $8 million — 4 percent — of the budget gap reduction. Metro’s Interim General Manager Richard Sarles also proposed fare and parking fee increases, bus and rail service adjustments, capital fund reallocations, departmental reductions, layoffs and increased contributions
from local jurisdictions to close the $189 million budget gap for fiscal year 2011, according to a statement from Metro. Fare adjustments account for $87.9 million of the budget. Changes to parking, bicycle locker and other fees are expected to bring in $13.8 million more in revenue, according to the statement. The Board of Directors is scheduled to meet Thursday, but there is no way to predict if they will pass these changes, Farbstein said. In January, the Board voted to increase Metro fares by 10 cents through June 30 in order to generate $9.6 million to help close the agency’s $40 million budget gap. n
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the EAGLE
APRIL 26, 2010
news 2
SG now requires senators to hold office hours with new bill Senators must be available one hour per week
The bill also states that senators who represent classes and schools must attend at least one of their respective class or school council meetings per month.
Undergraduate senators will be required to hold office hours next semester, according to a new Senate bill passed on March 28. Holding office hours was a suggestion in the past, but this new bill will make senator office hours mandatory for the sixth undergraduate senate elected in October, according to Speaker of the Undergraduate Senate Eric Reath. “It will [be] a step to make sure we hear the complaints of students,” Reath said. The bill, written by Class of 2013 Senator Brett Atanasio, states that senators must hold one office hour of their choosing between 8:30 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. on any day Monday through Friday. Atanasio explained the bill will allow senators’ constituents to meet them. “A lot of people don’t know
who their senators are,” Atanasio said. The senators must hold their office hours in the Senate office in Mary Graydon Center, according to the bill. A schedule of office hours will be posted online. Reath added that because Student Activities offices will be moving to the old School of International Service building next year, the Student Government might get more space in MGC. There are currently 25 senators in the fifth undergraduate senate and one senator awaiting nomination. There can be a maximum of 30 senators in the Senate at any one time, including five senators from each class, four senatorsat-large, two senators from the College of Arts and Sciences and one senator from SIS, the School of Public Affairs and the School of Communication, according to Reath. If an undergraduate senator fails to meet the office hour requirement, they will be assigned a one-half absence, which will count towards the maximum permissible absences according to the bill. Senators are allowed a maximum of four absences from Senate meetings.
MON 26
TUES 27
WED 28
A Celebration of Mathematics 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Bentley Lounge, Gray Hall INFO: The Department of Mathematics and Statistics presents this year’s Frank Cox Jones and Hanna Sandler Scholarship award winners. CONTACT: For more information, contact Linda Greene at 202-8853137 or .
Author Event: Footnotes in Gaza 2:10 p.m. WHERE: Battelle Atrium INFO: Joe Sacco, Guggenheim award-winning cartoonist-reporter and author of “Palestine” and “Safe Gorazde,” will discuss his latest book, “Footnotes in Gaza.” CONTACT: For more information, contact Michael Wenthe at 202885-2683 or wenthe@american.edu.
THURS 29
FRI 30
SAT 1
Sell Your Books Back 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. WHERE: Letts-Anderson Quad INFO: Sell your textbooks back to the campus bookstore. CONTACT: For more information, contact Kristi Cole at 202-885-6313 or kcole@american.edu.
Visions Award Ceremony 7:30 - 10 p.m. WHERE: Wechsler Theater, MGC 315 INFO: This awards ceremony will celebrate the best work in documentary, fiction, digital/new media production, screenwriting and photography. CONTACT: For more information, contact Brigid Maher at (202) 8852664 or bmaher@american.edu.
STUDY! WHERE: Anderson Honors Lounge - This lounge on the third floor of Anderson provides comfortable couches, an abundance of outlets and a quiet setting. Battelle Atrium - A large open space with tables and chairs, this comfortable area is great for group projects! MGC 3 Classrooms - After classes end for the day, this area provides quiet, empty classrooms — perfect for studying! Mudbox - This coffee lounge in the basement of the library is ideal for studying with others. Amphitheater - For those warm summer nights, the amphitheater is a great place to finish reading that book! The Eagle wishes everyone good luck on exams!
said he can’t conclusively say how this will affect the AU shuttle service, which usually stops running with the Metro. Worku said he believes it will end with the Metro schedule, unless there is a great need for shuttle service during that extra hour. In the past, changes to Metro service hours have been followed by changes to shuttle services as well, Worku said. One student said the Metro service changes to weekend hours will be an inconvenience to her weekend plans. Nikia Wilkins, a junior in the
Kogod School of Business, said this would cause her to come back earlier because of the cost of a cab. However, sophomore in the School of Public Affairs Graham Brookie said he normally takes a cab home at that hour anyway because it is easier. Although the change is inconvenient, it won’t make a huge impact on him, he said.
By ANNA SCALAMOGNA Eagle Staff Writer
PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
DIGGING FOR ANSWERS — Speakers at the educational panel included, from right, Steven Hirsh, the senior Spring Valley project manager at the Environmental Protection Agency, Beth Resnick, the director of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins University and Dr. William Hirzy, the chair of the AU Chemistry Department.
AU senior hosts panel on Spring Valley dig
Capstone looks at possible health issues By CHRISTOPHER COTTRELL
arsenic-contaminated soil at and around AU, a 2007 public health study conducted by the Bloomberg School of Health at the Johns Hopkins University and potential health effects of the dig for AU students. Panelists included representatives from the Spring Valley community, area Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, Johns
Eagle Staff Writer Students and local residents learned at a panel discussion Wednesday evening about the history of the AU Experimental Station and where the Army Corps of Engineers’ dig for World War I-era munitions is headed in the future. The discussion, titled “The Toxins beneath American University,” aimed to inform the AU community and Spring Valley residents about the future of remediation efforts and potential health issues, according to Michael Ginsberg, a senior in the School of International Service who is doing his capstone project on the issue and organized the panel. Some topics addressed were
Some topics addressed were arsenic-contaminated soil and possible health effects. Hopkins, the AU Chemistry Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. No one from the Army Corps or the AU administration was present
at the meeting, and the future of the dig was not addressed, except to say that the Army Corps’ operations are scheduled to begin winding down in the next two years because no more funding is set to be allocated to the project after fiscal year 2012. David Taylor, President Neil Kerwin’s chief of staff, said he chose not to attend because his schedule did not leave that evening available for him, and that his absence was not representative of the administration’s stance on the issue. Taylor also noted that the event was a project by one student, not a forum requested by student leadership or a campus organization. “Aside from Michael’s own research project, there did not seem to be an outcry for this,” Taylor said in an e-mail. “The Board of Trustees Chairman and President Kerwin held a campus forum/open microphone event on April 12, and not one question arose about Army Corps activity.” You can reach this staff writer at ccottrell@theeagleonline.com.
Tuition set to jump 5 percent next year By SYLVIA CARIGNAN Eagle Staff Writer Undergraduate tuition, housing and meal plan costs for the school year starting in the fall of 2010 will be higher than they were this year, according to AU’s 2010-2011 budget report. Tuition costs for a full-time undergraduate student are $17,228 for the 2009-2010 academic year, but that price will increase by five percent to $18,090 for the 2010-2011 academic year. The price of on-campus housing will increase by 4.5 percent. The price of tuition usually changes every year to reflect AU’s growing budget costs and upward nationwide trends in tuition levels. Most private universities in the United States raised their undergraduate tuition for the 2009-2010 school year by 3 to 6 percent, according to a College Board report. Tuition is calculated every two years as part of AU’s budget and is approved by the Board of Trustees, according to Executive Director of Budget and Payroll Nana An. The calculation takes many factors into consideration, including the Private University Index reported by College Board, which measures inflation and its effect on college tuition rates across the nation. AU also considers student needs, financial aid and institutional priorities, she said. When determining the cost of tuition, AU increases rates “very modestly,” An said. AU’s tuition and mandatory fees are still “well below the mid-point of our market competitors,” despite the recent rise in price, she said. “It’s not just a cost increase from the student perspective. By the time you graduate, your degree will be worth more than when you enrolled,” An said. The 5 percent hike for undergraduates amounts to about $1,700 per year in additional tuition costs, according to AU’s 2010-2011 Budget Report.
Tuition rates for summer classes have increased as well, from $973 last year to $1,022 per credit hour this year for an undergraduate student, according to the budget report. The price of online summer courses has not recently changed and will still be
“By the time you graduate, your degree will be worth more than when you enrolled.” – Nana An
$800 next year. Tuition for graduate students pursuing an MBA will only increase by 3 percent. Increasing Costs of Room and Board Housing and meal plan rates will also increase next year. Oncampus housing for all students — singles, doubles and triples on the main campus, including Nebraska and Centennial Hall — will cost 4.5 percent more, moving the price of a double to $4,315 per semester, according to AU’s 2010-2011 Budget Report. A double occupancy room on main campus currently costs about $4,129 per semester. Meal plans will increase in price by 4 percent. For a student currently on the 150 Block Plan, which costs $2,150 per semester, the same plan will cost about $90 more. “The cost of maintaining residence hall facilities increases annually due to inflation,” said Executive Director of Housing and Dining Chris Moody. Costs for housing and meal plans are determined similarly to tuition and are set every two
Chocolate Fest 9 p.m. WHERE: The Tavern INFO: The Tavern will feature a chocolate extravaganza with chocolate candies, games, prizes and more. CONTACT: For more information, e-mail universitycenterevents@ gmail.com.
years, according to Moody. For the 2008-2009 academic year, AU raised residence hall room rates by a greater percentage than the George Washington University and Georgetown University, but AU still consistently has lower housing costs than the two local universities. How tuition money is used Tuition, room and board make up 95 percent of American University’s revenue. Out of AU’s total revenue, which is about $450 million, almost 50 percent pays for salaries and compensation for faculty and staff. The rest goes to financial aid, new technology and services on campus, according to AU’s Budget Report. GWU spends 53 percent of its budget on salaries, according to their 2010 Operating and Capital Budget. Georgetown University, which depends on gifts and endowments for half its revenue, also spends about 50 percent of its budget on salaries, as listed in its 2009-2012 Financial Plan. The rest of AU’s revenue comes from investments, gifts and public radio station WAMU’s earnings. Unlike most universities, AU does not depend on gifts to survive financially. Although tuition may increase yearly at universities across the nation, students rarely pay the full sticker price. A recent study from the National Association of College and University Business Officers found that, on average, undergraduate students are paying 58 percent of full tuition costs at private universities nationwide. At AU, the average financial aid package accounts for 29 percent of the full costs, according to An. Although that package varies from student to student, the average AU undergraduate pays 71 percent of the full cost of tuition, she said. You can reach this staff writer at scarignan@theeagleonline.com.
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Other proposed fare changes include raising peak-hour rail fares from $1.65 to $1.90. A 10cent surcharge would be added to fares during peak morning and evening periods, according to the press release. These changes will not affect the proposed AU student discount because it would be subsidized through a private entity and not Metro’s budget, Student Government President Andy MacCracken said in an e-mail. Alef Worku, the manager of transportation and maintenance,
Metrobus fare adjustments: • Increase the boarding charge to $1.50 for SmarTrip users and $1.60 for people paying in cash. Up from $1.25 for each. • Increase the fare for express buses to $3.65. • Increase the fares to Dulles International Airport (route 5A) and Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (route B30) to $6 per trip. • Reduce the bus-to-bus transfer period from three hours to two hours. Metrorail fare adjustments: • Increase the “max-peak” period fare to $5. • Implement “peak-of-thepeak” pricing, an additional 10
cents on fares from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. • Reduce the rail-to-bus transfer period from three hours to two hours. Metrorail service adjustments: • End weekend service at 2 a.m. instead of 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. • Reduce service on the day after Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year’s. • Run Red Line trains every three minutes between Grosvenor and Silver Spring, and every six minutes between Silver Spring and Glenmont and Between Grosvenor and Shady Grove between 6 and 6:30 a.m. on weekends. • Change the frequency of
“We want to facilitate more communication from outside and within [the SG].” – Brett Atanasio Class of 2013 Senator
Reath says this bill is part of the Senate’s goal to reach out more to students and listen to their concerns. “We want to facilitate more communication from outside and within [the Student Government],” Atanasio said. You can reach this staff writer at ascalamogna@theeagleonline.com.
You can reach this staff writer at sdazio@theeagleonline.com.
trains from six to eight minutes apart between 6 and 6:30 a.m., equaling one-trip reduction each way. Metrobus service adjustments: • Reduce service on Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, the day after Thanksgiving, and weekdays between Christmas and New Year’s. • Reduce late night weekend coverage to match the proposed Metrorail adjustment to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Information from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
the EAGLE
APRIL 26, 2010
news 3
New study says college campus violence on the rise Reported ‘targeted violence’ cases at colleges total 272 By MITCH ELLMAUER and STEFANIE DAZIO Eagle Staff Writers
PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
BRIDGING BORDERS — Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren spoke Thursday about relations between the United States and Israel and about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Katzen Arts Center Thursday. n
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to making this work.” In response to a later question, Oren also said that Israel would have to demilitarize Palestine for the foreseeable future to “ensure stability and give us time to work things out.” The protest Michael Dranove, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, was one of the main organizers of the protest against Oren’s speech. Dranove said he and other students were speaking out against the Israeli military occupation of Palestine and against Oren himself for some of his past statements. In October 2009, Oren wrote a controversial op-ed for the New Republic in which he rebuked the findings of the United Nations’ Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, or the “Goldstone Report.” Oren took offense to Justice Richard Goldstone’s suggestion in the report that Israel may be guilty of war crimes. “The Goldstone Report goes further than Ahmadinejad and the Holocaust deniers by stripping the Jews not only of the ability and the need but of the right to defend themselves,” Oren said in the op-ed. Dranove and other protesters, including students from Howard University and Georgetown University, gathered in a crowd
outside of Katzen before Oren’s speech. The protesters chanted “This is what democracy looks like!” and “Free Palestine!” as they took turns addressing the crowd on a megaphone and holding up signs with slogans such as, “Occupation: wrong for Israel, wrong for Palestine.” After Oren’s speech, the protesters started up again outside of Katzen with a much larger crowd than the pre-speech protest. A group of about 20 students banged on makeshift drums and waved a Palestinian flag chanting, “This apartheid bullshit’s gotta go!” and “Hey Obama, you will see, Palestine will be free!” A group of about ten pro-Israel protesters set up a counterprotest against the pro-Palestinian protesters. Two students held up an Israeli flag while two other students held up a flag with the Star of David and an inscription in Hebrew. The group sang and chanted in Hebrew as the proPalestinian protesters continued their chants. Numerous Public Safety officers were on the scene for both the pre- and post-speech protests, but they did not intervene at any point of the protests. Reactions Rachel Silvert, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she was glad that Oren didn’t take an aggressive
stance against Palestine in his speech. “There were many opportunities for him to draw lines and be obstinate, but he didn’t [take those opportunities],” she said. Silvert said the protesters who interrupted the speech could have found a better way to voice their opinions. “If this is the way they’re going to present their voice, no one will hear it,” she said. “Stay and ask questions, don’t just hold up signs.” Ayal Chen Zion, the president of AU Students for Israel, was overall pleased with Oren’s speech but was disappointed by the protesters’ interruptions. However, he said he would not permanently rule out working with pro-Palestinian groups in the wake of this protest. “They are entitled to their opinions and to their right to protest,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that they felt the best way [to voice their opinions] was to protest, but we would be willing to work with them in the future.” The event was co-sponsored by the Center for Israel Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, School of International Service, School of Public Affairs, AU Hillel and AU Students for Israel. You can reach this staff writer at jryan@theeagleonline.com.
Violent attacks at college campuses have risen dramatically in the past 20 years, according to a study released last week. The FBI, Secret Service and U.S Department of Education released the study, called “Campus Attacks,” on the third anniversary of the Virginia Tech Massacre. It is the first comprehensive look into “targeted violence” on college campuses. The study examined all reported incidents of “targeted violence” since 1900 and found that 60 percent of the 272 cases of college violence have occurred in the last 20 years. About 30 percent of the total number of reported cases occurred between 2000 and 2008, the study said. The study’s authors attributed the increase in violence to a rise in both college enrollment and media coverage of attacks. The majority of cases involved current male undergraduate stu-
dents around 25 years old, while 33.9 percent of incidents involved people in intimate relationships. Fully 27.7 percent of cases between 1900 and 2008 were in residence buildings. About 25 percent were in administrative or academic buildings, according to the study. At AU, there have been only four reported assaults and one “intimidation offense” on campus in the past three years, according to the Department of Public Safety’s Annual Security Report. Firearms were used in over half of the total reported attacks, according to the study. Across all 272 incidents, 281 people died and 247 were injured. In the event of an “active shooter” on AU’s campus, the Metropolitan Police Department, assisted by Public Safety officers, would be responsible for resolving the situation, according to AU’s Emergency Preparedness Plan. AU has reinforced its emergency preparedness and violence prevention programs to prevent a Virginia Tech-style attack from occurring on campus, according to the 2009 Annual Security Report. AU’s Emergency Management Plan details plans for handling a number of campus emergencies including on-campus shooters, bomb and anthrax threats, riots and gen-
eral “violent and criminal behavior.” A Violence Prevention Team is tasked with identifying students or faculty at AU who exhibit threatening or disruptive behaviors on campus. The team was created last year and is composed of representatives from the Office of Student Life, Human Resources, Housing and Dining Programs and Public Safety, according to Dean of Students Rob Hradsky. However, the study found that warning signs are only observed and reported one-third of the time. “I can only think of one case [involving a student] in the past year that the team has reviewed,” Hradsky said. The Counseling Center and the Violence Prevention Team try to identify people who need help because they could be on a “path to violence,” according to Director of AU’s Counseling Center Wanda Collins. College often introduces new stresses into students’ lives and sometimes people have difficulty coping with them, Collins said. The Department of Public Safety could not be reached for comment. You can reach these staff writers at news@theeagleonline.com.
Say goodbye to those who are leaving The Eagle this year... Andrew Tomlinson Sylvia Carignan Joe Wenner Olivia Stitilis Kelsey Dickey Nicole Glass Katrina Casino
And thank you to the graduating seniors... Jen Calantone Chris Cottrell Kristen Boghosian Kristen Powell Ali Goldstein
Want to take photos for
theEAGLE the EAGLE?? contact: photos@theeagleonline.com
the EAGLE
APRIL 26, 2010
news 4
WCL and Kogod place in higher ed. rankings By SARAH PARNASS Eagle Staff Writer In recently released rankings, the Washington College of Law tied with the University of Maryland for 48th best law school, and two of Kogod School of Business’ graduate programs made the list of the 15 best graduate programs as ranked by business students. U.S. News and World Report included WCL and UMD in the assessments posted April 15. The list of best business graduate programs came from The Princeton Review. Professors from both schools said AU’s presence in the rankings attracts more students to the university, but questions remain about the rankings’ accuracy. WCL’s standing Both WCL and UMD’s School of Law received a score of 55 out of 100, based on data collected during the 2009-2010 academic year. This data included measures of selectivity, admitted students’ scores from the Law School Admission Test, undergraduate GPA, opinions from peer institutions, graduates’ success in finding jobs and the rate of students who pass the Bar Exam. For individual programs, WCL ranked second for clinical law, eighth for international law and seventh for its part-time law program. In each of those categories, nearby Georgetown University ranked higher than WCL, taking first place in parttime and clinical law and third in international law. UMD ranked fifth for its parttime program — two spots ahead of WCL. WCL Chair of the Admissions Committee Andrew Popper said WCL’s part-time law program has historically been an important part of legal education both at AU and in the Washington area. WCL’s part-time program has had high-quality students and faculty for generations, and peo-
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Veysey. Students paid $2 for one plate or $5 for 3 plates. Kim estimates that approximately 50 pies were thrown. “I think I’ve finally stopped smelling like whipped cream after about six showers,” Veysey said. The CERF fund needs $100,000 to go into effect, according to Jones. Jones is unsure of how much of this money has
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for appointment to the position. Levitt then went before the Committee of Rules and Privileges, where he was approved, and was then presented for consideration to the entire Senate. Levitt was deemed qualified for the position largely due to his experience as director of speakers for the College Democrats. The club notably brought Ted Sorensen, speechwriter for John F. Kennedy, and Senator Arlen Specter, D-Pa., to campus this year. Current KPU Director Will Hubbard expressed concern for Levitt’s lack of training and experience with KPU directly, such as volunteering for events during the year. “Are you willing to put thousands of dollars of funds into the hands of someone who has had no training in KPU?” Hubbard
ple in the legal profession realize that about the school, Popper said. “I think we are fortunate, we are blessed with wonderful students and effective faculty, and hopefully the [U.S. News and World Report] ratings reflect that,” Popper said. The rankings for part-time programs were determined based on similar criteria as the overall law school rankings but with fewer categories. Kogod’s rankings The Princeton Review’s Student Opinion Honors Lists recognized Kogod’s Global Management and Accounting graduate programs. The results were based on an 80-question survey administered to 19,000 current students at business schools. This was the second time the International Business program was on this list, according to
“We are blessed with wonderful students and effective faculty, and hopefully the rankings reflect that.” – Andrew Popper WCL Chair of Admissions Committee
Professor and Chair of the International Business Department Frank DuBois. DuBois said Kogod’s location in D.C. played a critical role in attracting talented students and faculty with an interest in international business. “Everybody has good finance, everybody has good management, marketing, but global business or international business is sort of a specialization that not a lot of schools can necessar-
ily do because of their location,” Dubois said. “Here we can do it pretty easily because we’re in Washington, D.C., which [one] could argue [is] one of the capitals of world capitalism.” U.S. News and World Report did not rank all programs this year. In 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked AU 14th for best Public Affairs graduate programs. In the same year, the publication ranked AU’s Public Management Administration program as number six, two spots behind Harvard University. Also in 2008, guidance counselors across the country ranked AU as 58th best national university, giving it a score of 4.1 out of 5, according to U.S. News and World Report. The ranking system The validity of the methods of college ranking systems came under question last August, The Eagle previously reported. The peer institutions’ evaluations make up 25 percent of the U.S. News and World Report ranking, according to its Web site. An August article in the online journal Inside Higher Ed looked into problems with that component of the ranking system, saying it had “haphazard responses and apathetic respondents.” “Sometimes in life you experience processes that are arbitrary and subjective and unfair, but nonetheless, they are real and they can have an effect,” Popper said. “I would put [the] U.S. News [rankings] in that category. It is an arbitrary, subjective and perennially unfair system. It is nonetheless quite real.” You can reach this staff writer at sparnass@theeagleonline.com.
already been raised. CERF money can then be used to invest in environmentally friendly projects such as wind turbines, steam turbines or solar panels. The money the university saves by using these technologies is then put back into the fund. Jones estimated that this week’s events raised over $500 for CERF. Other events during the week including free ice cream on Mon-
day, laser tag on the quad on Tuesday and free Georgetown Cupcakes and Roebek’s in the Tavern on Wednesday. There was also a carnival on Friday afternoon that featured inflatables, a barbecue and games.
asked the Senate. However, Tagami said she thought Levitt’s past experience made him “unquestionably qualified.” “He has a certain sense of duty that he carries for any of his responsibilities and [he has] undoubtedly showed us he was going to be dedicated to the office of KPU,” Tagami said. Other senators vouched for Levitt’s motivation, including Class of 2012 Senator Seth Rosenstein. “He is one of the finest gentlemen I’ve had the privilege to know,” Rosenstein said. “He’s an extremely hard worker, and when he sets his mind to something, he will get it done. While some [of the] concerns might be valid, I don’t think they are hurdles that can’t be overcome.” Levitt plans to embrace quality over quantity in choosing speak-
ers for next year by bringing in the people AU students want to see. “I’d love to go big, in general,” Levitt said. “I’d like to do events that would make the campus community proud.” Levitt also plans to reach out to the campus community to determine exactly whom students want to see on campus. Levitt said AU can look forward to some big KPU events next year that will be relevant and exciting. “I offer the idea that this campus community deserves to hear the best speakers possible that will not only give them a universal perspective but bring a large amount of energy to the campus,” Levitt said.
You can reach this staff writer at ascalamogna@theeagleonline.com.
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HEADS OF STATE — SG President Nate Bronstein “roasts” now former President Andy MacCracken during a Student Government transition ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Class of 2010 Senator Steve Dalton also roasted various SG members. The transition welcomed next year’s SG executives into their newly appointed roles.
Q&A: SG president reflects on past year By MEG FOWLER Eagle Staff Writer Meg Fowler: As the year comes to a close, and you step down from your position as Student Government president what were your greatest successes? Andy MacCracken: The most exciting projects that have been successful this year include the AU SmarTrip-ID pilot program. That represents a big step forward with our partnership with Metro and hopefully will bring us closer to a more practical proposal for a Metro discount. The second is the Clean Energy Revolving Fund. It’s actually remarkable that we were able to, in the span of four or five months, get it moved through in a way that the fund has actually been created and we have an account number, and we have the support of the Office of Development, and it’s been incorporated into the university’s Carbon Neutrality plan. MF: What do you look back on as things you wish you could have done better or could have improved this year? AM: I think the culture within the organization has been a source of frustration both for myself and for students, in general. I think the best illustration of that is probably [Alex Prescott’s] suspension. Instead of along the way trying to motivate and inspire better activity ... [the Senate] was spending time writing legislation for more ways to punish us within the organization. It’s the
wrong attitude, I think. I wish I had been able to redirect that in some way. MF: What is your favorite memory from this past year as SG President? AM: A moment that stands out in my mind was the first time I discussed the Clean Energy Revolving Fund with the Board of Trustees at the report that I give to them. That spurred a fiveminute discussion about the importance of sustainability at American University. It’s a very small thing, but at that point I was young in my presidency, and it was exciting. It was empowering to hear the top decision makers for the university, and this excites them. I think at that point I realized what a success CERF would ultimately become and where it could go. MF: You still have a year left at AU. Why did you choose not to run for re-election, and what do you plan to do with your remaining time? AM: It was a really tough decision not to run again ... Ultimately, when I sat down and thought about it, I am happy with what I have been able to accomplish this year. I’m sure there’s a lot more I could have done in a second year, especially given the momentum of recent progress we’ve seen, starting new initiatives. But looking forward, there are a lot of things I haven’t done yet. I’ll be starting my master’s next year through the five-year combined program ... I’ll be here for a while ... I think there are other
ways for me to contribute without being in the presidency. MF: How are you going to stay involved with advocating for the student body? AM: By trying to figure out more specific projects I want to take on. The fire’s still burning in me. I’m not going to walk away entirely from advocating for students. I just won’t be as president. I’ve asked Nate [Bronstein] if he would let me keep working on [general education] reforms. I’m doing an independent study right now with the provost on education policy, so it’s a really interesting way of tying it in practically. I’m reading about the historical context of general education at the great universities, so being able to sit in on the meetings where we’re trying to really refresh the program, so it’s exciting. I’m only going to be as involved as Nate wants me to be. At this point I’m just another student who wants to help. MF: How has the transition gone with Nate Bronstein? AM: Our transition has been going pretty smoothly ... He is very much ready for those experiences already, and the best tools that I can give him are knowledge. You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
AU receives $52.6 million in donations, adds scholarships New funds to improve campus By NICOLE GLASS Eagle Staff Writer AU raised $7.6 million above its AnewAU campaign goal for endowments, allowing the university to increase the number of scholarship awards for the incoming freshmen class. The AnewAU campaign has raised more than $52.6 million in endowment funds for scholarship support since October 2003 — exceeding the goal to raise $45 million. This increase in endowments allowed AU to give out 77 new scholarships, which generated more than $5.2 million in scholarship awards, President Neil Kerwin said in his spring update memo. AU’s finances increased during the recession, and the university is accepting a greater number of freshmen for this fall. AU had 16,949 applicants for the fall semester — the highest number in the school’s history. Of these, 43 percent were accepted. About 400 early decision students were accepted this year, an increase from last year’s 300, said Kristen Schlicker, associate director of Admissions, in an e-mail. Dr. Thomas Minar, vice president of Development and Alumni Relations, said AU’s success dur-
ing the recession has increased its financial support from donors. “We are in many ways among the strongest in higher education in America right now in terms of how we’re weathering the economic downturn,” he said. “And it’s just a great moment.” AU raised more than $15,725,000 in fiscal year 2009, according to a report by the Council for Aid to Education. Out of D.C. schools Georgetown University and the George Washington University raised more, earning about $181,180,000 and $84,645,000 respectively. Minar credits AU’s financial success to the excellence of the institution, he said. “We’re on a high as an institution, achieving great things,” Minar said. “... Our donors and our external constituents see how well we’re doing and they want to be a part of that. People want to be a part of a success.” AU is using these money to construct more buildings and pay faculty and staff. “[The funds] are going everywhere,” Minar said. “You see the impact in scholarship aid. You see the impact in the programs. You see faculty who are paid from endowed funds. You see physical improvements, like the [School of International Service] building and the Katzen Arts Center. You see an incredibly wide range of support for the university, as well as general budget support that helps the university keep the doors open.” You can reach this staff writer at nglass@theeagleonline.com.
Class of 2014 Profile Fall applicants: 16,949 Acceptance rate: 43% Class of 2014 Early Decision acceptances: 400 Class of 2013 Early Decision acceptances: 300 Average high school GPA: 3.87 Average SAT score: 1300/1600 Average ACT score: 30 Male to female ratio: 39% male, 61% female Students receiving merit scholarships: 19% Minimum merit scholarship: $6,000 Information according to Kristen Schlicker, Associate Director of Admissions
EDITORIAL
APRIL 26, 2010
LINDA BARNHART n Editorial Page Editor edpage@theeagleonline.com
CHARLIE SZOLD n Editor in Chief editor@theeagleonline.com
Lessons in freedom hard to teach VIEWS FROM THE OUTSIDE ADAM KISSEL Individual rights are too important to let partisanship cloud our judgment. Strangely, this is a hard lesson to teach on our nation’s college campuses. While the Supreme Court considers whether belief-based student organizations deserve equal rights on campus, two more universities have been facing this very issue. Georgetown University is facing it over a pro-choice group, the University of Arizona over a pro-life group. At Arizona, Students for Life’s application for official recognition was initially denied because the group requires that its members share beliefs “that life is sacred and that the intentional killing of human beings through abortion, euthanasia, and murder, and that all forms of eugenics are morally reprehensible.” Yet, a public university bound by the First Amendment may not deny the basic right to freedom of association, and the university quickly reversed its decision. Universities don’t like to be shown up as hypocritical when it comes to freedom of speech or freedom of association. The shoe is on the other foot at Georgetown University, which has prevented a pro-choice group from receiving fair treatment on campus. Georgetown is a private university not bound by the First Amendment, but it is bound, morally and contractually, by its own promises. Georgetown entices students by telling them, “A university is many things but central to its being is discourse, discussion, debate: the untrammeled expression of ideas and information.” Georgetown adds that “Catholic and Jesuit tradition, far from limiting or compromising the ideal of free discourse, requires that we live up to that ideal.” Georgetown is failing to do so. Just ask H*yas for Choice Vice President Erica Slates. She says that her group has about 100 active members with a mailing list of 1,000. They want to be allowed to be an official student organization and get that asterisk out of their name. Georgetown has been saying no. According to Georgetown’s Vice President for Student Affairs Todd A. Olson, “As a Catholic and Jesuit uni-
versity, our policies must reflect our identity and our values,” but H*yas for Choice promotes ideas “inconsistent with Roman Catholic moral tradition” and must remain off of the list. At Georgetown, College Democrats is on the list. Students for Justice in Palestine is, too, and of course, so is Right to Life. Not H*yas for Choice. What about the great Catholic and Jesuit moral tradition of permitting untrammeled expression, as Georgetown promised? Besides, the Muslim Students Association and the Jewish Students Association are on the list. Someone should ask Olson how these groups — in both their expression and their conduct — square with the university’s Catholic and Jesuit identity. According to Georgetown’s Director of Student Programs, Erika L. Cohen-Derr, “Our goals and yours are the same: to provide high quality programs that reflect Georgetown’s diverse community.” Nevertheless, H*yas for Choice is apparently too far beyond the pale to deserve any official university support. So much for reflecting the actual diversity of views at Georgetown. Wouldn’t a great university want to give students even greater protection to “think the unthinkable, mention the unmentionable,” as Yale University promises, than even the First Amendment offers citizens at large? Why should a university restrict rather than expand the right to free speech? H*yas for Choice isn’t even asking for such a noble educational environment as that. It just wants equal treatment under Georgetown’s actual policies. However you feel about abortion, if you think free speech principles and promises mean anything substantial, you should be protecting the equal rights of pro-life students at Arizona and pro-choice students at Georgetown. How can one group expect equal treatment if it refuses to advocate equal treatment for all, despite fundamental disagreements? This is a good question for Georgetown and all citizens to take to heart. Adam Kissel is Director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in Philadelphia.
Revisiting the exercise of youth GIVE ME LIBERTY
MICHAEL STUBEL Bang! — the shutting screen door was once a familiar sound of America’s summers. Children would venture out from under the watchful eye of their parents and spend the day on the streets, playgrounds and parks that surrounded their homes. There was stickball in the vacant corner lot and hopscotch on the blacktop. As the years passed, however, the streets and open spaces grew quiet, their former visitors few and far between. The harmless age of Nickelodeon had given way to an excessive saturation dominated by SpongeBob and PlayStation and online fantasy worlds. Gym class became a corny relic of the past for teenagers obsessing over Advanced Placement tests and college planning. Adults worked longer hours at jobs further from home and have little time for the outside air. Yet rediscovering the wonders of physical activity will do more to lower long-term medical costs and improve the lives of millions of Americans than would any health care plan. Along the way to our epidemic of inactivity, exercise has become an ugly word that everyone avoids. It’s the mysterious vegetable your aunt makes for a holiday dinner. No one wants to touch it. Studies show that approximately 60 percent of American adults don’t get the recommended amount of physical activity. More shocking is that more than 25 percent of adults are not active at all. Our nation’s youngsters are overweight at an earlier age and the risk of diabetes is spreading into their ranks. These troubling patterns will only add to the growing number of visits to the doctor’s office and the emergency room. Inciting an exercise revolution begins by reminding people of the endless benefits of physical activity. Regular exercise builds healthy bones, muscles and joints. It can prevent or improve common illnesses through a stronger immune system. On a separate level, exercise also has mental rewards, including reducing anxiety
and boosting self-esteem. Many hear of the suggested 30minutes-per-day exercise guideline and snicker. There’s simply not enough time, they insist. Admittedly, the strains associated with school, work and family no doubt restrict one’s options for exercise. But, then again, 30 minutes is the equivalent of most nightly television shows. It’s shorter than the average dinner time or the time it takes to read the newspaper. Go for a walk on your lunch break. Take the stairs to your office, instead of the elevator. On pleasant days, leave early and bike to school or work. A gym membership is not required to be active and stay fit. For whatever reason, working out is now linked to elaborate exercise machines and expensive running gear. Erasing the perception that physical activity entails a grueling routine suited for a marathon runner is essential. There are plenty of free and fun alternatives that have nothing to do with achieving the body type of models on the latest magazine covers. No matter its flaws, the health care legislation does succeed in at least one regard: its emphasis on reinvesting in public recreation. Grants for walking paths and jungle gyms can’t be counted among the ridiculous earmarks that ooze from Washington these days. A spokeswoman for the late Senator from Massachusetts Edward Kennedy, the father of the health care bill, wisely asserted that, “...these are not public works grants; they are community transformation grants.” State and local governments across the country must do more to expand access to bike paths, green spaces, playgrounds, after-school programs and youth sports leagues. In an era of commercialization and multitasking lifestyles, I urge people to remember the glorious spirit of childhood in the sun — the scenic jog, the catch with your dad, a walk in the park with the family dog — anything that gets you up, out and on your feet. Michael Stubel is a junior in the School of Public Affairs and the School of Communication and a moderate Republican columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
Metro’s ‘party foul’
Courtesy of MCT CAMPUS
With Metro reconsidering its weekend hours as part of its budget proposal, AU students will need to take a stand or find a taxi stand to get home Friday and Saturday nights. Based on proposed changes to Metro service, night owls and party animals may need to start rethinking their plans for Friday and Saturday night excursions. Among the proposals in Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s 2011 budget is the reduction of weekend night service, with the termination of bus and rail service by 2 a.m., instead of the current 3 a.m. Although this move stands to save Metro $8 million and reduce its budget gap by 4 percent, it creates a whole host of other issues that makes us want to cry “party foul.” Many AU students rely on the Metro’s late weekend service to get back to their homes inexpensively. With the proposed cuts, students would be forced to either head home earlier or fork over money for expensive cab fares. While the latter option may not pose a
problem to those preferring the convenience of a cab, the former has those of us who like to stay out past 1 a.m. annoyed. If you’re a fan of late night CVS trips, you might also be out of luck. Students heading back to campus late at night would be at a greater disadvantage as AU shuttle service, which traditionally ends at the same time as the Metro closes, would most likely also shut down an hour earlier. Aside from any inconvenience should you desire ice cream after the Eagle’s Nest closes at 2 a.m., the lack of shuttle service presents a danger to those walking back to campus from Tenleytown late at night. With the departure of Metroriding students at an earlier hour, bars stand to lose valuable business. Finding alternative modes of transportation could also pose safety hazards to student ventur-
ing out. Wandering around downtown late at night looking for a cab isn’t always the safest activity, and those wanting to avoid cabs altogether by driving present the risk of increasing drunken driving incidents. Metro has shown lately that they want to work with students to increase use within our demographic, and yet they want to reduce service during key weekend travel time. In general, it seems there are more calls for fare increase rather than reduced service. We would personally rather suck it up and pay a bit more to use the Metro or Metrobus than spend a half an hour flagging down a cab at 2:30 a.m. on a Friday night. We realize that as just a student newspaper, what we alone have to say about the reduction in service isn’t going to sway the Metro’s Board of Directors. However, they
will listen to the collegiate demographic, should we choose to speak up. If you don’t want to leave the bar an hour earlier than you’re used to now, Metro has several venues for voicing your concerns. Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council meetings are open to the public, or for those of you unable to make it downtown to Metro headquarters, you can always submit a Customer Comment Form available on their Web site. If, like us, you aren’t a fan of cutting your night short, speak up and ask Metro to keep its doors open until 3 a.m.
Students can contact Metro by going online to www.theeagleonline.com/wmata
Football games lead to serious crises KALEIDOSCOPE
PARVEZ KHAN For the first time in 24 years, Algeria will play for the FIFA World Cup title in June. Its road in getting there, however, shall remain one of the most uproarious yet sobering international affairs tales to date. In order to qualify, Algeria needed to contend last year with its longtime rival and nearby neighbor, Egypt. To put it simply, when these two countries meet on the football (soccer) field, they make Ohio State and Michigan look tame. The first qualifying match was set in the middle of November in Cairo, and Egypt shut out Algeria 2-0. This left both teams tied for first place
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in FIFA’s C Group, demanding another qualifying match be played — in a neutral country. Well, before that could happen, the festivities began. Sure, you might expect violence resulting and a few people getting injured, throngs in the streets, some rioting, maybe even looting. Even in 21st century that’s what we civilized human beings seem to enjoy without fail. And all that happened, right on schedule. But then in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria, the situation reached a new level of incivility. Egyptian-owned businesses were slapped with a higher tax rate, and some were torched. This was in response to allegations of mistreatment of Algerians in Cairo. Indeed, Algerian fans recounted how one fanatic died from injuries suffered at the hands of Egyptian hooligans; another had his spine broken, and the team itself was stoned by Egyptian fans while traveling in Cairo. Even worse, the Egyptian governleast three elected staff members. All members of the Editorial Board have the same weight during Editorial Board meetings each Sunday and Wednesday. Letters and guest columns are the opinion of the writer. • The Eagle has a commitment to accuracy and clarity and will print any corrections or clarifications. To report a mistake, call the Editor in Chief at (202) 885-1402 or e-mail Editor@TheEagleOnline.com. • The Eagle is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press, which syndicates to a national audience, and McClatchy-Tribune wire service. • One copy of The Eagle is free per student. For additional copies please contact The Eagle in 252 Mary Graydon Center.
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ment played two-face, issuing pleas for calm and restraint before and after the matches, but then communicating with its (football, not political) rival with harsh words. Cairo summoned its ambassador in Algiers after the initial wave of violence for a consultation, then slapped Algiers with litigation seeking compensation for the private businesses vandalized there. The ambassador wouldn’t return for months — fickle politics at its worst. There was some football yet to be played, alas. Neutral Sudan was chosen for the deciding match a few days later. 15,000 policemen were dispatched, schools and businesses closed early. Algerians struck first, stoning Egypt’s team bus in retaliation for Cairo. After Algeria won, 1-0, and secured itself a spot in the 2010 World Cup, “someone” destroyed the buses reserved to transport Egypt’s fans to Omdurman Airport. Egyptian news media then widely and quickly circulated a video of several hundred riot-
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ous Algerian fans brandishing knives. This had indeed occurred, but several years earlier, and during an intra-Algerian match. So, what is the moral of the story? Our shortsightedness of whatever greater goal we have ascribed for ourselves cannot come at the expense of our humanity. You and I are evolved humans, but ask yourself, “When was the last time I worked contrary to my nature and my goals? Did I hurt anyone in the process?” It is disgusting that humans — especially our leaders — can’t even be civil when it comes to a game. It is more disappointing if we find this same behavior in ourselves. Parvez Khan is a graduate student in the School of Public Affairs and the religion and international affairs columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@ theeagleonline.com.
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6
SPORTS
APRIL 26, 2010
SAM LINDAUER n Sports Editor sports@theeagleonline.com
Time for Caps’ stars to shine when it counts CAPITAL SPOTLIGHT
ANDREW TOMLINSON
PHILLIP OCHS / FILE PHOTO
STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION— An AU lacrosse player attempts to navigate through the defense in a game from earlier this season against Davidson College. The team fell to the College of the Holy Cross on Saturday in their quest for a Patriot League tournament berth. They finished the season with a record of 6-10.
Lax loses shot at postseason By MIKE DEFABO Eagle Staff Writer The AU lacrosse team’s season came to a sudden end on Saturday with a 16-11 loss in a do-ordie game at the College of the Holy Cross. With a win, the Eagles would have advanced to the Patriot League tournament and proved that they have bounced back from a three-win season a year ago. But the Eagles fell short against the Crusaders. AU’s Paige Lin paced the team with a career best five points with four goals and an assist. Emily Stankiewicz added three goals of her own for the Eagles and Amanda Makoid netted two in the team’s final game.
Holy Cross came out strong and jumped to an early 6-1 lead with 17:51 remaining in the first half. Lin cut the lead with a goal off of a free position shot at 17:10 to make the score 6-2. The Crusaders netted another before the Eagles fought back with three straight goals by Stankiewicz, Makoid and Lin to close the gap to 7-5. However, that was as close as the Eagles would get to victory. The Crusaders scored five of the next seven goals to close out the first half, including a goal with just one second remaining in the half, to take a 12-7 lead. The two AU goals came from Makoid and Eliza Morgan. “They came out hard on us, and I don’t think we expected
that,” sophomore midfielder Bernadette Maher said. “We were struggling all game to come back.” Holy Cross expanded their lead in the second half, scoring the first two goals out of the intermission to stretch their lead to 14-7 with 17:31 remaining. AU scored the next four goals thanks to two goals off the stick of Stankiewicz and one each from both Lin and Chiara Speziale to close the score to within four, 1511 with 5:05 remaining. Despite three shots on goal, the Eagles were shutout for the remainder of the game. “We took a lot of shots at the end of the game but had a hard time putting the ball away,” Maher said.
Holy Cross’s Katie Gardner scored the game’s final goal with 1:07 remaining, bringing the final tally to 16-11 in favor of Holy Cross. The Eagles finished the season 6-10 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League. Their league record ties them with Holy Cross on the season, but the head-to-head loss prevents the Eagles from advancing to the Patriot League tournament. “Even though [the season] didn’t turn out the best,” sophomore defender Emma Larkin said, “this was everyone’s favorite team to be a part of.” You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
The Washington Capitals shouldn’t get comfortable with their 3-2 series lead. Last year the Caps came from behind to make it out of the first round, so they should know more than anyone that anything can happen. Heading into Friday night’s Game 5 at home, the Caps looked like they thought they had everything locked up. The team had rebounded from a dreadful Game 1 and a less than stellar Game 2 and looked as if they may close out the eight seeded Montreal Canadiens in front of their hometown fans. Too bad no one told the Canadiens that was supposed to happen. Montreal began to ruin the Caps’ storybook Game 5 less than two minutes into the game, when they scored their first of two first period goals. The rude awakening was a sign that this series could be long from over. After last year’s first round debacle, the Caps should have known to come out and play better than that Friday night. Washington found themselves down 31 in their round one series against the New York Rangers last season and they came back to win. Since they came back themselves, it is surprising that they may overlook a team doing the same to them. One thing that is clear is that they are going to have to play a lot better if they don’t want that 3-1 series lead to evaporate. Friday night was a best hits parade of what Washington has been unable to do during this series. The power play has only converted once in five games, secondary star Alexander Semin has yet to score a goal. In fact, he has only recorded
one point — an assist in the team’s 6-3 Game 4 victory. Not only has the power play and Semin been off, but Norris Trophy candidate Mike Green has yet to score a goal in the series. He has two assists and hasn’t had his penetrating shot. This is not the first time Green failed to show up in the playoffs either. Last season he disappeared during the Pittsburgh Penguins series in Round 2, but that was blamed on an injury. He doesn’t have that excuse to fall back on this time around. The top players other than Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Semyon Varlamov have not been effective. Tomas Fleischmann hasn’t scored when he has had the opportunity, Jeff Shultz, the regular season plus minus leader, is minus one and Brooks Laich only has two points, both of which came in one game. Three guys cannot carry the whole team. If Washington hopes to get anywhere in the playoffs, then players like Fleischmann, Laich and Shultz must contributed positively. At this point, just winning is not good enough for Washington. They must get everything back on track because there is no telling what the series may hold. Semin, Green, Fleishmann and Laich are all due for big games. All is not lost for Washington this playoff season. They are up in the series 3-2, but they must be mindful that they cannot take anything for granted. Another bad game tonight and suddenly the series tied up at three games apiece. Putting Montreal away convincingly can show the NHL that they did deserve the No. 1 overall seed and that they can succeed in the playoffs. If they don’t put Montreal away and end up losing the series, then they will begin to hold the title of perennial playoff chokers. You can reach this writer at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com.
Fate of Broncos’ front office intertwined with Tebow’s performance McDaniels and Xanders face criticism By TOM SCHAD Eagle Staff Writer The Denver Broncos went into Thursday’s NFL Draft with many needs after going 8-8 last season. They were looking for a talented wide receiver to replace disgruntled superstar Brandon Marshall. Another possibility was a middle linebacker or safety to be the next defensive leader after Brian Dawkins retires. Or maybe, just maybe, they would draft a center because they didn’t have one on the roster. Instead they traded up to pick University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, a man hailed as the savior by some and criticized as a giant crybaby by others. In all of my years as an NFL fan, it was one of — if not the — most illogical and ridiculous picks I’ve ever
seen. No one can deny that Tebow was a tremendous college player. As a three-time Heisman Trophy finalist and two-time National Champion, Tebow is obviously one of the greatest players to ever put on a college jersey. But as we’ve seen time and time again, success in college does not always translate to success in the NFL (see nonames Robert Gallery, Courtney Brown and Curtis Enis). Worse yet, quarterbacks are always more likely to turn out busts than position players. Do Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith ring a bell? In Tebow’s defense, analysts constantly praise him for being a “winner.” But honestly, what does that mean? Obviously he played a major role on Florida’s two championship teams, but everyone forgets that it was the team that won those championships, not Tebow himself. When drafting NFL prospects, you don’t want a “winner” or an “athlete,” because any college player could be described as such. Scouts should rely on empirical talent, not vague characteristics. But supporters insist that
Tebow has something special. That may prove to be true, but as men whose jobs depend on making successful draft picks, Broncos General Manager Brian Xanders and Head Coach Josh McDaniels should’ve used a more logical process. Tebow has some
Tebow now has the weight of McDaniels, Xanders and all of Broncos Nation on his shoulders... major red flags that would turn any levelheaded person off, and it’s very surprising that Xanders and McDaniels would put their jobs in danger so rashly. At the top of Tebow’s list of problems is his throwing motion,
which most scouts and analysts agree is fundamentally flawed. Fixing the motion could take months, if not years, of development. Moreover, Tebow scored way below average on the highlytouted Wonderlic Test, a series of fifty pressurized questions that supposedly test the football IQs of prospective quarterbacks. While new Rams field general Sam Bradford scored well above the league average with a 36, Tebow’s score fell a disappointing 6.5 points below par. All of Tebow’s individual problems aside, he is still a terrible pick for the Broncos based simply on their needs. They traded away a second, third and fourth round pick to get a third-string quarterback who will likely not see the field for another two or three years. The Rocky Mountains are already echoing with cries for McDaniels to be fired after the team’s two best players, Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, were traded away in the past 15 months. Trying to replace those two with the likes of Tebow and Demaryius “Not Dez Bryant” Thomas
Track excels at 116th Penn Relays By TOM SCHAD Eagle Staff Writer The AU track team returned to Philadelphia and ran in the Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track competition in the United States. And once again the team returned to campus with pride after a successful outing. In the 116th running of the relays, AU won its section and placed ninth overall in the college men’s distance medley relay with a time of 9:54.93. The time was good enough for ninth place overall, a mere .02 showing — seconds behind eighth place Louisiana State University. Junior Colin Eustis also competed at the meet, finishing 17th in the 5000 meter championship. The team of Jeff Brannigan, Matt Farrow, Connor Sullivan and
Craig Brown beat out the University of Maryland, as well as Patriot League rivals Bucknell University and the U.S. Military Academy, en
AU won its section and placed ninth overall in the college men’s distance medley relay route to their ninth place finish. Brannigan got the Eagles off to a quick start and finished the 1200 meter leg in just over three min-
utes before passing the baton to Farrow. The freshman grabbed the baton in fourth place and managed to gain ground on the field with a 48.3 lap. When it was time to hand off for the 800 meter leg, AU was right in the mix. Junior Sullivan, a New York native, received Farrow’s exchange and pushed the Eagles to the front of the pack with a stellar time of 1:53:35. This left it up to Brown to protect their B section lead in the final mile. The sophomore strategically watched a few competitors pass him until the final lap, when he surged ahead and captured the victory. The team finished nearly three seconds ahead of the second place B section team and only two seconds behind the hometown team from the University of Pennsylvania.
Eustis also had a great showing in the college men’s 5000 meter championship. After recording the ninth-fastest time in AU history two weeks ago, the junior from Delhi, New York finished with a time of 14:22.65. Despite finishing in the middle of the field, Eustis was only .11 away from his personal best that he set earlier in the season. With the Penn Relays in the books, the track and field program will now turn its attention to the Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The meet will take place on the final weekend in April at Bucknell’s Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
certainly did not make fans any happier — especially when there is still not a center listed on the roster. The Broncos better make the most of their remaining draft picks and start praying that Tebow and Thomas pan out. Otherwise, McDaniels could be next in line on the list of Bill Belichick protégés to flop. For football fans, the Tebow pick certainly spiced up the first round of the NFL draft and cre-
ated buzz around the Broncos. But supporters are anything but pleased. Tebow now has the weight of McDaniels, Xanders and all of Broncos Nation on his shoulders. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s up to the test. You can reach this writer, a lifelong Bronco’s fan, at sports@ theeagleonline.com.
APRIL 26, 2010
THE EAGLE'S ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SECTION
Stifler’s mom goes from cameos to comedy By AMRITA KHALID Eagle Contributing Writer If you haven’t seen Jennifer Coolidge in a film or television show, you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so. As Coolidge gleefully gushes about climbing the ladder to a B-list movie career during her standup comedy show at the Arlington Cinema ‘N’ Drafthouse, you realize that she’s been responsible for sending you into fits of uncontrollable laughter since you snuck a peek at “American Pie” in elementary school. She was the weird manicurist in “Legally Blonde,” the airhead gold digger in “Best in Show” and, of course, Stifler’s mom. She built an amazingly successful career by going for the roles that most girls in the Hollywood wouldn’t be caught dead doing; the weird best friend, the ditzy waitress, the kooky mom. And recently, she rocked the Drafthouse in a campy but irreverent comedy act that detailed her ridiculous ride to the Hollywood B-list. “Ever since ‘American Pie,’ ev-
DANA EDELSON / NBC
SQUARE ROOT — The early summer looks to offer a number of very promising releases from established names like Eminem, The National and The Roots (above). These albums promise to expand upon previous releases and please fans.
Summer albums offer ‘Recovery’ from rush BY MICHAEL W. RICHARDSON Eagle Staff Writer As the school year comes to an end, we at The Eagle are retiring our spring playlists and looking forward to the new music that summer brings. Here are just a few of the albums to watch for over the next few weeks. Broken Social Scene — Forgiveness Rock Record Though they might be best known for launching the career of the much more popular Feist, Broken Social Scene has been conducting sprawling art rock for about a decade. It’s a bit unfair to call them a band — they are considered a “collective,” with a rotating list of musicians that number anywhere from six to 19 people — and because of this setup, it can be hard to predict what each new album will sound like. From the dreamy minimalism of “Bee Hives” to the bombastic instrumentation of their 2005 self-titled album, the aesthetic changes as much as the artists themselves. Expect surprises when “Forgiveness Rock Record” is released May 4. The New Pornographers — Together Who would have thought
20 years ago that our Canadian neighbors to the north would be producing some of the most daring, progressive rock music of the day? Although they are often grouped in with compatriots Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers have enjoyed more mainstream
[Berninger’s voice is] deep, soulful and sad, the result of ... deeply felt emotions shared over drinks... success than the former and a more prolific streak than the latter. “Challengers,” released in 2007, contained charming pieces of upbeat tracks laced with a somber lyricism, most notably on tracks like “Myriad Harbour.” “Together” will also be released May 4. The National — High Violet GQ magazine recently described The National as “Joy Division fronted by Leonard
Cohen,” which is both eerily accurate and indicative of why the band’s sound is so successful. Rooted in the post-punk revival of the naughts (think Interpol and The Strokes), The National’s debut album “Boxer” was an album painstaking in its instrumental balance. And yet, it is undoubtedly Matt Berninger’s voice that is the band’s most prominent feature — deep, soulful and sad, not the result of singing classes but of deeply felt emotions shared over drinks and cigarettes with friends. “High Violet” will be released May 11.
tables with waitresses edging through roughly congregated groups of friends to deliver a pitcher of beer or plate of wings. Since the seating is more informal and unassigned, most people end up squeezing in at a table with perfect strangers. A beer and a few jokes later, you have a table of new best friends. This is the perfect atmosphere to see Coolidge, who becomes everyone’s weird best friend during the show. She’s a trainwreck, but a lovely, trash-talking trainwreck that lives a life you can’t understand and can’t help laughing at. Coolidge’s comic persona is cartoonish, and she acts too dumb to be real, but something about her high, Midwestern housewife tone, how she awkwardly stalks around in high heels and tight dresses and her miles of blonde hair make it work — and to hysterical effect. You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
Big knife, good hands key to cooking delicious meals CHEF’S SECRETS
compile some of my most important tips. Master your knife
WILL KOPER
The Roots — How I Got Over It might be hard to justify why another Roots’ release is worth buying. The hip-hop group has been together for 23 years, and it is easy to be skeptical of their ability to reinvent themselves after so long. But their career thus far has been full of surprises, and it’s undeniable that the band has been on the cutting edge of hiphop for their whole existence. Consider their new album, a political piece focused on the relief felt after the Bush administration left office and the Obama one arrived. It may feel a year too late, but the group is bringing on big figures from the underground n
ery horny 16- to 18-year-old guy thinks I will sleep with them ... which is great, because I totally will. Any young, single guys out there?” Coolidge spiritedly shrieked, as crickets could be heard from the audience. “Oh, come on!” she lamented endearingly, as the audience tried to hold back laughter. There is something about Coolidge that is magnetic and very rare for this time; she comes from an era of vulgar, rubenesque film actresses who astound audiences with graceful profanity and dirty, ditzy wit — think Marilyn Monroe mixed with Kathleen Turner. She plays stupid only to point out the flaws in our logic and the stupidity in American life. “You know, playing Stifler’s mom will get you one-night stands, but what it won’t get you is the kind of guy you want to marry,” Coolidge said. “When a girl says ‘I love you,’ guys hear ‘I have explosive diarrhea,’ and by girls, I mean me.” If you haven’t been to the Drafthouse, imagine a huge hall filled with armchairs and tiny
Year-end tips for aspiring campus cooks This will most likely be my last column for The Eagle. I’ve given you all plenty of recipes over the past few months — everything from pasta to stir fry — and a few tips on how to mix it up and create your own dishes. But I wanted to use this last bit of column space to review some the techniques I’ve covered and
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Proficiency with a knife can make the difference between throwing together a quick, healthful weeknight meal or saying the hell with it and ordering a pizza. Get a good knife and keep it sharp. If you don’t have an eight-inch chef ’s knife already, GET ONE! Use a claw grip: Hold whatever you’re cutting in place with the tips of your fingers and keep your knuckles perpendicular to the cutting board. Use your knuckles as a guide for your knife and then walk your fingers back as you chop. Don’t forget to tuck in your thumb. Square off: It’s a lot easier to cut round food if it has a flat edge. Either cut it in half or cut one side off so it doesn’t roll around on the cutting board.
Keep the tip of the knife on the board — Imagine your knife as a giant paper cutter. Rather than chop up and down, what you really want to do is rock back and forth. Set your burner on “high” The one mistake that all beginner cooks make is not waiting for the pan to get hot. Make sure you use plenty of heat when you sauté, sear or roast. Listen for the sizzle: That’s the sound of water evaporating and sugars caramelizing. If your food is not sizzling, then it’s probably just soaking up oil and turning wet and mushy. Also, when you’re sautéing, try not to over stir. For most beginners (and some more seasoned cooks), the instinct is to stir constantly, but every time you stir something you’re moving the food away from the heat. Imagine what would happen if you n
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Holofcener’s ‘Please Give’ offers female look into consumerist greed identity and explores the new, grim territories of death and guilt. Set in modern-day Manhattan, the film follows the privileged Kate (played by the ever-dependable and fantastic Catherine Keener), who has quite a bit on her plate. She is in the thick of a minor existential crisis that leads her to question the ethics behind her trendy furniture store business that purchases pieces from people who have recently
‘Please Give’ sporadically suffocates its characters through its incredibly muted tone.
PIOTR REDLINSKI / SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
GIVE ‘TIL IT HURTS — Nicole Holofcener’s new film showcases the director’s remarkable ability to accurately reflect the female perspective, a gift that peers Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron can’t seem to match. “Please Give” examines the listless nature of middle age without sensationalizing, giving the film a muted vision of identity.
By DONNY T. SHELDON Eagle Staff Writer PLEASE GIVE
B+
Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron are too often cited as the only fe-
male directors making films about contemporary women’s issues. Both directors are consistently successful at the box office, yet their films celebrate wildly varying degrees of success. Although her films typically fly under the Meyers-Ephron radar, it is director Nicole Holofcener who is authoring better movies about women and tackling more sophisti-
cated themes. With her latest film, “Please Give,” Holofcener does not waste any time and lays her cards on the table in the first shot. She bravely hurdles the audience into an extended, close-up opening credit sequence of breasts undergoing mammograms. The breasts are portrayed unapologetically, differ in age, color, size and
shape and present a very clear sense of honesty from the get-go. Honesty has always been Holofcener’s strong suit in films, as displayed in her luminous, engaging character studies “Lovely and Amazing” and “Friends with Money.” With “Please Give,” Holofcener returns to a few of her favorite themes, including motherhood, self-esteem and
lost a relative. After Kate’s teenage daughter asks for $200 for a pair of designer jeans, she starts to detect the stranglehold that materialism and consumerism has on her family, inspiring her to dive head first into a sea of volunteer and philanthropic endeavors to rid her of guilt. Kate finds solace in the confidence of her bitter, aging neighbor’s granddaughter Rebecca (in a lovely, understated turn from Rebecca Hall) who works at the mammogram office in the opening sequence. Rebecca has an equal share on her mind, with her grandmother dying and her sister Mary (played by a very crisply tanned Amanda Peet) showing no
interest. Rebecca and Kate meander through their lives, grappling with their respective guilt, pent-up longings and incriminating secrets, and it’s not a particularly easy thing to watch. Holofcener has a very keen eye for observation, detecting slight, nuanced emotions in very unique ways. Her films do not unfold in particularly structured, plot-point driven schematics but rather through a series of interactions (mostly of the argumental variety), between characters with contrasting perspectives and world views. Undoubtedly the bleakest, most depressing of Holofcener’s films thus far, “Please Give” sporadically suffocates its characters through its incredibly muted tone. Although Keener and Hall layer their performances with warmth, honesty and wisdom, some of the other performers, namely Oliver Platt (who plays Keener’s husband) and Sarah Steele (who plays their daughter), are incredibly one-dimensional and simply not realized enough to believe — a hindrance for a film that values honesty so highly. It is the film’s fearless gusto to analyze some of the least glamorous elements of identity that renders it so charming. The feelings the story arouse chart across a vast scale of emotion, leaping from sentimentality and melancholy to terror and remorse. Intelligent and brave, “Please Give” serves as testament to Holofcener’s talent and wisdom, blowing Meyers and Ephron out of the water. You can reach this staff writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
the EAGLE
APRIL 26, 2010
the scene 8
Owl City show displays lack of experience By MAGGIE HOLLANDER Eagle Staff Writer It was not too long ago that Adam Young, better known as Owl City, was just a guy making music in his parents’ basement late at night. His performance at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall last Thursday did nothing but exemplify this fact and proved that his past is all too recent.
Courtesy of BOWDON MEDIA
AN EDUCATION — In his new documentary, filmmaker Bob Bowdon explores the public school system of New Jersey, which holds a reputation as the best-educated state in the United States. However, Bowdon’s visuals are amateur at best, and his information is misguided and hypocritical.
Documentary fails to educate By DONNY T. SHELDON Eagle Staff Writer THE CARTEL
D+
Whoever gave news reporterturned-director Bob Bowdon a camera and a tutorial in iMovie should be punished. His patronizing, ethically bankrupt documentary “The Cartel” serves as a train wreck of an example for aspiring documentarians to use as a complete antithesis for the type of work they should be making. Bowdon has certainly bit off more than he can chew. For his debut documentary, Bowdon tackles the crisis of America’s failing public school system with the aesthetic delivery of a PowerPoint presentation and the abrasive tone of a local television news report. The film weaves a convoluted web of narra-
tive that fuses interviews, bizarre graphics and B-roll in a haphazard, messy manner, then completely undermines both its sense of sophistication as well as its bipartisanship — two vital components of a successful documentary. Bowdon studies student dropout rates, reading and mathematical proficiency levels, and the intricacies of public school board staff through only the state of New Jersey. The Garden State has always been regarded as a beacon of American public school education, as it allots the most amount of money on a per-pupil ratio from the state government. “The Cartel” explores how this money is really spent, which seems to be anywhere but inside the classroom itself. Bowdon highlights the stronghold teacher unions insecure on public school budget spending and spotlights mob and fraudulent connections between the unions and
school boards. If presented clearly, this could have been a bold point, yet Bowdon’s brass tactics render his realizations behind state government and union corruption with the confidence of a conspiracy theory. This tone makes the exposé rather underwhelming considering Bowdon’s filmmaking methods do not seek to unveil anything, but rather sell a point. Bowdon seems to think that the evidence he’s unveiled from New Jersey’s public school system somehow solves the crisis of the American public school system, suggesting that the answer to the problem is fixable: more charter schools. Fixing America’s ailing public schools is a deeply complex process that does not have a singular diagnosis. He does not even step one foot in the direction of analyzing the institutionalized racism laden within the education system — guess he did not have a snazzy animation se-
quence for that. His “charter schools as the answer” assertion suggests the idea of mending the public school system is nothing but a lost cause, which seems to be quite a copout and happens to be in direct disagreement with his introductory “the state should serve wholesome education” thesis. The biggest problem with “The Cartel,” apart from the aforementioned issues with ethics, structure and tone, to name a few, is its scope. Although Bowdon tries to take on the American educational system at large, his analysis is exclusively confined to the state lines of New Jersey. There are ample cold, hard facts here, but “The Cartel” is, simply put, everything an exposé documentary shouldn’t be: disorganized, tedious, unconvincing, hypocritical and one-sided. You can reach this staff writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
It was a night that did not disappoint true fans, but did not entertain anyone else. In an approximately hour long set, Young played under 20 songs and did little else. A soldout venue filled with pre-teens and their parents, young couples on dates and diehard fans, Owl City had a captive audience and wasted it. Everything about this show screamed mediocre the minute Owl City took the stage. From the childish light show to the overused synthesizer, there was nothing that this show had that a 12-year-old fan couldn’t get listening to the CD in the comfort of his or her own room. The main problem was Young as a performer. The guy couldn’t stand still; he was in constant motion, whether that meant flapping his arms in an attempt to fly like an owl or simply twitching around the stage. It appeared that the Owl City front man was doing what he thought he should be doing, rather than what comes
naturally. This left him looking somewhat like a drug addict jonesing for his next fix. Young’s only real interaction with the audience was when he attempted a lame D.C. joke. “I put the president on the guest list,” Young said. “So if he’s here … ‘sup?” His inability to fill a room with his presence left the audience unsure of what to do, leaving most people simply standing listlessly watching as Owl City performed. Even the solo artist’s big hit, “Fireflies,” failed to engage a large portion of the attendees. Despite the overall failure of the concert, there were entertaining moments. When Young picked up the acoustic guitar, his music was given more life and personality than when it is weighed down with layers of computer-generated noise. His band, which featured six performers, was also a highlight, especially the two young women on string instruments. All in all, it was a night that did not disappoint true fans, but did not entertain anyone else. Opening act LIGHTS did succeed in wooing the crowd, filling the theater with her voice (which sounds far less little girlish live than it does on her record). With her epic, side-swooped hair, she commanded the troops, fist pumping as she ordered the crowd to “pretend it’s a school assembly” and stand. Paper Route also took the stage before Owl City, but proved to be nothing special. Their lack of stage presence fit in perfectly with the headlining act. You can reach this staff writer at mhollander@theeagleonline. com.
Characters reveal inner weaknesses in Gaitskill’s ‘Don’t Cry’ Short stories explore raw personalities By EMILY LAGG Eagle Contributing Writer Mary Gaitskill’s new short story collection, “Don’t Cry,” is an eccentric novel that covers many things, among them Ethiopian babies, one-night stands, widows, soldiers and 43-year-old red-headed virgins. With little prologue, she is able to plumb the emotional depths of these and other idiosyncratically imagined characters, microscopically examining the bloody pulp of their thoughts and feelings — horrors, indignities, uncomfortable wants
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rap community to collaborate, including Young Chris, ChestnuTT and Beanie Sigel. The album will be released June 8. Eminem — Recovery At the beginning of the last decade, Eminem was the biggest name in rap, thanks in no small part to his undeniable skill and creative lyrics. Fans who waited for his new album were underwhelmed by 2009’s “Relapse,” in which the wordsmith defaulted to nonsensical tirades and received mixed reviews for it. Though it picked up a Grammy for “Best Rap Album,” Eminem decided that it wasn’t up to snuff. So, earlier this year he threw out the idea of “Relapse 2” and decided to record “Recovery,” which just might prove a comeback album. It hits stores June 21. M.I.A. — TBA After taking a break from touring to form her own record label, Sri Lankan native M.I.A. will release her third record this summer. Buoyed by the incredible success of “Paper Planes” from 2007’s “Kala,” M.I.A was put in an strange position — despite the odds, her hyper-political brand of eclectic art-pop achieved mainstream success. For her third album, she turned to her own record label for collaborators, meaning that this album may blend even more disparate sounds into a coherent whole when it is released June 29. You can reach this staff writer at mrichardson@theeagleonline. com.
and all. Though these are certainly raw and bruise-inducing stories, at their core they are about our persistent drive as people to connect, love and know others and ourselves. Gaitskill first emerged as a powerful literary player in 1988 when her first collection of short stories, “Bad Behavior,” was published. The collection was lauded for its daring depiction of female characters embroiled in situations involving prostitution, sado-masochism and addiction, a combination of scenarios Gaitskill has admitted to experiencing firsthand. One of the short stories within “Bad Behavior” is “Secretary,” which was adapted into a major motion picture in 2002 starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as the submissive title character. Though it brought her an immense amount
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were trying to roast something, but you opened the oven door every five minutes. So stir it once to distribute the oil and then let it sit for at least two minutes before stirring it again. Walk away from it if you’re easily tempted — I usually try to wash a few dishes in between stirs. Season, taste, adjust Salt and pepper should go in pretty much everything you cook. Properly seasoned food shouldn’t taste salty, but it shouldn’t taste flat either. Taste constantly and be prepared to add a little more if necessary. By the same token, start to train your taste buds for other flavors. Learn to recognize when a dish needs a little wine or lemon juice for bright acidity or maybe some garlic for an earthy punch. Remember, you eat food. You know what it tastes like. Harness your taste memory to bring nuance to your cooking.
of publicity, Gaitskill was critical of the film, claiming it was whitewashed in deference to idyllic Hollywood romantic tropes. Gaitskill published her second book, a novel titled “Two Girls, Fat and Thin,” in 1991. Her third was a short story collection, “Because They Wanted To,” in 1997. The collection won Gaitskill a PEN/Faulkner award nomination and established her reputation as a formidable and deeply powerful writer. Eight years later, she published “Veronica,” a tale of two women in love, one of which is afflicted with AIDS. The novel became a National Book Award nominee. Now, after 10 years, Gaitskill proves herself again as an American fiction powerhouse with “Don’t Cry.” The stories are searing and are of a biting and unique power that precisely depict the range and spectrum of
helps though: If you’re doing a steak with mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans, you probably want to start with the potatoes, sear the steak when the water for the potatoes starts boiling, and then do the green beans while the steak rests. Just remember that nothing ever takes the time that it’s supposed to, and it will take some practice to properly multitask, but you’ll get it in time. In one restaurant I worked in, the cooks would ring a bell when food was ready. After a while, my sense of timing became so fine-tuned that
ugly desires and motivations that populate and animate our unspoken thoughts. “Don’t Cry” starts strong with “College Town 1980,” which chronicles Dolores, an “overweight twenty-nine-year-old in stretch pants and a scarf that hides her debased head. Dolores is mentally ill and unable to have orgasms, not even by herself, sitting in a college town with nothing to do but run around the phys ed building.” These are the characters Gaitskill favors — scarred and fractured, yet in whom we can see the less admirable parts of ourselves. Gaitskill renders all of the unspoken and ungraceful cogs of Dolores’ inner thoughts (“Dolores tried to think about how one of them was ugly and the other stupid. It didn’t help”), giving us a powerfully unblinking and affecting psychological
most times I would appear in the kitchen just as the cook was getting ready to ring the bell. The more you cook, the more your subconscious will start to pick up cues about what needs to happen and when — whether it’s the pot of pasta that needs to be drained or a boiling stew that needs to be reduced to a simmer. Learning to listen to your instincts will be the key to your success. Food for Thought Don’t be afraid to try new
portrait of floundering self-sufficiency. Gaitskill undresses the conscious of Dolores and all of her characters with elegant syntactical precision in prose that is sharp and emotionally potent. The effect here — and in the collection’s other stories — is an emotionally potent brand of voyeurism. Gaitskill holds our eyes open to depths where we negotiate uncomfortable truces within our everyday lives — loneliness, loss and love. In “Mirrorball,” she crafts this theme into an eerily evocative metaphor. A “darkhaired elfin girl” has a one-night stand with a musician she meets at a bar. During the exchange, he manages to take a part of “her soul.” The story charts the girl’s emotional trauma as she negotiates and digests the strangeness of the loss. In the hands of a lesser writer, going out on a metaphori-
cal limb like this might result in disaster or camp, but Gaitskill’s cool, penetrating and precise prose instead makes for a story that is achingly poignant, simultaneously redemptive and sad. “Everybody knows about dark and lonely places,” the musician from “Mirrorball” posits. This is a universal truth of which Gaitskill is aware. The stories in “Don’t Cry” collectively work to illuminate and explore those dark and lonely places through searing and unashamed honesty. The results — painful, messy and inconvenient — do leave scars, Gaitskill suggests, but they are also necessary and inseparable parts of ourselves that are capable of conquering pain.
things. The one thing that I’ve most enjoyed about this column is that it forces me to expand my own culinary horizons. I know how easy it is to get stuck in a rut of cooking a few good dishes and rotating through them week after week. I would advise everyone who likes to cook to find a new ingredient that they haven’t used before. Read recipes and find something that looks interesting. Read a few recipes for the same dish and use them as a starting point for your own experimentation.
Cooking is a process of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Most of them will result in lessons learned and things to remember for next time, like a little less garlic or a little more salt. Every dish has room for improvement. Try to learn from your successes and failures alike. Best of luck to all of you, and thanks for reading. Bon appétit.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
You can reach this columnist at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
Timing is everything This is probably one of the hardest parts of cooking to master. Making a simple meal with a starch, meat and vegetable and getting all three of them to the table hot at the same time is much harder than it sounds. Having a plan of attack
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Travel memoir provides juicy recipes for life SHAILYN TAVELLA Eagle Contributing Writer Food critic and traveler Moira Hodgson’s memoir, “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time,” reads like one of her food critiques. Simple, crisp descriptions of food frame the experience of a particular restaurant. Hodgson writes like she is whispering a secret in your ear about the flavors and flaws of a restaurant experience. Unlike her critiques, however, Hodgson’s novel does not have a gripping plot. The simplicity of her descriptions allows the reader to experience her life quite vividly, and like her critiques, these experiences are enhanced by mouth-watering descriptions of food. Hodgson’s novel is well-written and clear. It is definitely worthwhile to pick up if you are a fan of the culinary arts, travel or just need an escape. After you read this book, food transforms, and it becomes a challenge to be inventive. “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” is not as sexy or intriguing as Gael Greene’s novel “Insatiable,” nor is it as inspiring and entertaining as Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling novel “Eat, Pray, Love,” but Moira Hodgson’s novel is thoughtfully written and planned. As if performing her own psychoanalysis, Hodgson connects parts of her childhood experiences to explain events in her adult life. From her first experience with eating snails to her adventures in Mexico, Hodgson shows a great deal of adventurous curiosity. This curiosity stems from her obsession with Oscar Wilde, whose portrait she even painted in art class. Wilde’s words and pursuits and interpretations of beauty are inspirations that are carried with her throughout her travels into adult life. Hodgson traveled and moved extensively throughout her life. People and experiences moved in and out of her life like flavors of a meal pass over taste buds. Hodgson showed incredible strength when coping with these losses. In an interview with The Eagle, she shared what she learned from moving so much. “I hated leaving places,” Hodgson said. “It seemed that no sooner had
I learned a new language and made new friends, I had to pull up stakes and start all over again. But it made me less shy about making friends quickly. I also learned to accept people with different backgrounds and traditions from mine.” Though Hodgson is a friendly and bold woman, her book is not as sparkling with personality and experience. While the book’s plot is not really engaging, it inspires the reader by showing Hodgson’s passion and dependence on food. It is this connection with food that is particularly moving. Food was her solace through the hard times and transitions in her life, as exemplified when she writes, “Food for sympathy. Food for love. Food for keeping death at bay.” It would seem from the novel that Hodgson eats just about anything; she has eaten pig’s heart, jellied goose liver froth and even pigeons. She is as open-minded with food as she is with her travels. Her life is filled with movement and transitions. Hodgson has seen so many things and tasted so many different types of food it makes the plot move forward rapidly. It is easy to travel with Hodgson when she ventures to Mexico or Morocco because these experiences are brief. “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” is a scrapbook of Moira Hodgson’s life containing anecdotes, pictures, recipes and minute memories. While this style of writing makes it seem like there is no cohesive plot, it allows the reader to put the book down and then come back later to experience the flavors of Vietnam or Paris. Hodgson confessed to The Eagle that she coped with moving through the process of becoming “a bit of a pack-rat, keeping scrapbooks filled with mementos as a way of holding on to the places I’d been and the people I’d met.” She uses this strategy in her novel, reflecting on how these experiences made her the person she grew up to be. The next time you are in the dining hall, try being adventurous like Hodgson and be bold by experimenting with flavors — it can’t be worse than boiled sheep eyes. You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
CARIN BAER / MCT CAMPUS
EN VOGUE— After the much-anticipated return of “Glee,” fans everywhere tuned on their televisions to watch the Madonna episode, featuring music solely from the Queen of Pop. Classic songs such as “Vogue” and “Like a Virgin” were performed with a twist from the New Directions singers. Because of the success of this episode, artists like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears are slated to allow their music to be used for full episodes of “Glee.”
‘Glee’ answers fans’ ‘prayers’ TV show gets royal ratings from pop queen By KELLY HOLLIDAY Eagle Staff Writer The television sensation “Glee” premiered its five-months-in-themaking Madonna-centric episode last Tuesday to high expectations, and didn’t fail to deliver. Gleeks were treated to some of the best “Glee” performances all season, including a female-empowered rendition of “Express Yourself ” (during which Quinn’s baby bump mysteriously disappeared), and the convergence of Kurt (Chris Colfer), Mercedes (Amber Riley) and the Cheerios singing “4 Minutes.” Sue Sylvester’s (Jane Lynch) nearly shot-forshot remake of the “Vogue” music video was perhaps the most brilliant and hilarious three-anda-half minutes of the entire episode. There was a major plot development when Finn (Cory Monteith), Rachel (Lea Michele) and Emma (Jayma Mays) separately performed a sexy rendition of
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“Like a Virgin.” (We also witnessed one of Brittany’s (Heather Morris) best quotes in the history of “Glee”: “When I pulled my hamstring, I went to a misogynist.”) The addition of rival singer Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff ) to McKinley’s own glee club, New Directions, was an interesting twist, and made for some great tension between Finn and Rachel. Finn and Rachel’s mash-up of “Borderline” and “Open Your Heart” was also great. Those two are really at their best when they sing and dance down the hallways of William McKinley High School. The guy’s rendition of “What it Feels Like for a Girl” could have been longer, but it was nice to see them finally realize how rudely they’d been treating the girls the entire episode. In true “Glee” fashion, the group came together for the final minutes for a stunning version of “Like a Prayer,” featuring a full-blown gospel choir. Over 13 million people watched the “Madge-ical” episode, making it the night’s highest-rated scripted series in the 18-to-49 demographic, according to the Hollywood Reporter. On top of it all, “The Power of Madonna” album is set to be the number one album this week and songs like “Like a
Prayer” and “Like a Virgin” are dominating the iTunes charts. With the not-so-unexpected success of the episode, rumor has it that series creator Ryan Murphy is in talks with the Material Girl for a second all-Madonna episode next season. Entertainment Weekly’s Ausiello Files re-
‘Glee’ is becoming the go-to place for pop princesses to feature their music. ports that Fox is toying with the idea of having “Glee” fans choose the next six Madonna songs to be performed. Later on this season, the “Glee” stars will tackle songs from the current reigning Queen of Pop, Lady Gaga, in the season finale. Recently leaked pictures from the set show Kurt and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) donning some of Lady Gaga’s craziest get-ups (including the bubble dress she wore
during her “Fame Ball” tour), and Murphy has said the episode will feature an acoustic version of “Poker Face,” to be performed by Rachel and Vocal Adrenaline’s coach Shelby (Idina Menzel). The episode, set to air June 8, will also feature a “Bad Romance” cover by the girls of New Directions. With the overwhelming success of the Madonna episode and the hotly anticipated Lady Gaga numbers, “Glee” is becoming the go-to place for pop princesses to feature their music. A recent tweet from Britney Spears’ manager Adam Leber sent fans into frenzy a few days ago, asking, “Do you guys want to see a Britney Spears episode of GLEE?” “Um, YES!” cried Gleeks everywhere. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy said he is considering doing an all-Britney episode for next season. “I’m interested in the Britney Spears idea,” Murphy told the magazine. “I’ve always loved her. I’m entertaining it. I think young kids would like that.” Murphy said he would also like to do similar episode tributes to Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel and even Courtney Love. You can reach this staff writer at kholliday@theeagleonline.com.
the EAGLE
APRIL 26, 2010
the scene 10
Albums score ‘pretty’ ‘perfect’ It’s incredibly jarring to hear something that feels so out of place yet sounds so pure in its delivery, even when it is quite clear that musicality isn’t something the band strives for. For younger audiences, the album is more a tribute. Give this band a listen if you want something boldly fresh from a musical genre of yesteryear. — S.C. Future Automatic The Perfects FU Records
A
FUTURE AUTOMATIC
Sounds like: An electronic Duran Duran Baltimore’s own The Perfects recently released an infectiously good sophomore album. The band blends indie-rock flair with digitized sounds of synthesizers and vocoders. While this may cause purists to cry foul, it’s something you really have to listen to firsthand and appreciate in order to make a proper judgment. If the familiar pop and electronica beats lure you in, the surprising musical complexity will make you a devoted listener. Founder and frontman Ric Peters started the band in 2005 with the help of producers Nic Hard (The Bravery) and Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails). There’s a veritable blurring of genres in their latest production; the songs are light and danceable yet hardedged and expressive — songs you can appreciate in more than one setting. The album is a toetapper, and “Come Down” and “End of Us” highlight the seamless fusion of impeccable vocals and electronica. “Darling Angel” and “When I Cared” have gothrock underpinnings while “The Hidden” plays straight into indierock — no doubt influences from the aforementioned producers. Each of these songs are capable in their own right, and Peters truly is a master of musical versatility. The album was leaked online earlier in the year. Instead of fighting or bringing about litigation, the band decided to run with it by making it a free download release — an admirably bold move for a band with such a humble following. There really is no reason not to give it a listen as songs are catchy yet structurally intact, truly worthy of the amalgam of its influences. — STEPHAN CHO
Descending Shadows Pierced Arrows Vice Records DESCENDING SHADOWS
B+
Sounds like: Lo-fi Iggy Pop Pierced Arrows is a living anachronism in their hometown of Portland, Ore. The three-member band can be seen as more of an off-shoot of the defunct Dead Moon, keeping alive the garage punk sounds and hair metal style of the ‘80s. As such, perhaps this is a band that can only be appreciated during live performances, as the album’s value is lost on today’s generation of sugary poprock. Lead singer Fred Cole and bassist Toody Cole reprise their roles from Dead Moon along with drummer Kelly Halliburton. These old-timers are able to invoke classic rock ‘n’ roll panache, evident in songs like “This is the Day” and “Paranoia.” Cole’s shrieks and grunts are reminiscent of early AC/DC, only bolstered by the minimalistic rhythm and the erratic pacing in each song. Toody lends her vocals during grungeladen songs like “Paranoia” and “This Time Around.” The album feels more like a rough cut — the band doesn’t try to win you over with its hot-blooded anthems, but rather with its sentimentality. Understanding the band’s roots will make you appreciate this production all the more. In their old age, these are the final dregs of their storied career.
Making Up A Changing Mind Pretty Lights Pretty Lights Music MAKING UP A CHANGING MIND
A
Sounds like: A jazzy Thievery Corporation Derek Vincent Smith makes up
the bulk of the electronic-funk project, Pretty Lights, famous for holding a consistently dedicated following and sampling from a number of genres. His latest EP, “Making up a Changing Mind,” is a six-track collaboration produced in the early months of this year. It fuses oldschool hip-hop with electronic and dubstep, making the distinct genres seem mutually compatible. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece. Trying to listen to the introductory tracks “Still Rockin’” and “I Can See It In Your Face” without instantly putting them on repeat is a challenge. These songs feature hip-hop beats laid over the disoriented trappings of upbeat electronic music — an interesting blend that is sure to have you hooked from the onset. The album then shifts gears, as if to offset these tracks; the following “Understand Me Now” and “Future Blind” are more electronic than hip-hop. The change is smooth, and with this odd yet charming composition, it is no hyperbole to say that this album perfects its execution and wastes not a single beat or sample. Smith’s contribution to the rave scene in Colorado has already helped to secure his place in the underground music industry. His new album only proves to scads of devoted listeners that Pretty Lights is here to stay, and for good reason. — S.C.
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