the EAGLE
Welcome Back
NEWS
2
theEAGLE JANUARY 2014 theEAGLE AUGUST30, 28,2014
Get to know Neil Kerwin
By Kate Magill
“But God knows, none of us expected to see what we saw, and we were stunned when we did.”
L
ooking around President Neil Kerwin’s office, it is clear that he is proud of the University he has called home for more than 40 years. The room is filled with historic University artifacts, including the federal proclamation deeming AU a university. Kerwin’s pride in his school becomes even more apparent when he talks about AU, and why he chose to attend in the first place. “I always felt from the moment I got here that it was a place where serious work was being done, and I wanted to be a part of it,” he said.
Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
SUZANNE GABER| THE EAGLE
How to get around Washington D.C.
CHERISE WOO THE EAGLE
ALEJANDRO ALVAREZ| THE EAGLE
By Kate Magill
Living in Washington, D.C. offers students an endless list of exciting things to do. For anyone new to the district, learning how to navigate around the city is essential. Whether it’s using the district’s vast metrorail system or calling for
an Uber, students always have a way to and from campus. Here are the most widely used modes of transportation for AU students to get around the city. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
Plouffe and Cutter to speak at AU By Kate Magill
The Kennedy Political Union will host David Plouffe and Stephanie Cutter for its first speaker event of the year on Sept. 8. Plouffe served as President Barack Obama’s campaign manager during the 2008 elections and served as a senior advisor to the president until 2013, according to an Aug. 21 KPU press release. Plouffe recently became the senior vice president for Policy and Strategy for the ride share company Uber. Cutter notably served as the deputy campaign manager for Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and served as the chairman of the Board for the President’s Inaugural Committee, according to the press release. Cutter has also worked on staff for President Bill Clinton, the Kerry-Edward campaign, Sen. Harry Reid and Sen. Edward Kennedy. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story Courtesy of Obama for America
3
SCENE
theEAGLE AUGUST30, 28,2014 theEAGLE JANUARY 2014
Karmin and JoJo kick off Welcome Week in high spirits
By Zack Ewell
ZACK EWELL| THE EAGLE
A long centipede-shaped line waited outside of Bender Arena on Aug. 23 as AU students of all ages waited in anticipation for the Student Union Board’s first concert of the school year. At the end of the night, it seemed that few in the audience were dissatisfied with the performances of SUB’s three Welcome Week acts: disc jockeys Mekanikal and R&D; opener JoJo; and main attraction Karmin.
Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
Behind the scenes of AU Library's elevated online presence By Ana Srikanth
T
his summer, students, faculty and other university Twitter accounts have seen an increase in retweets, favorites and mentions from the AU Library’s Twitter account. With a fresh voice and greater interactivity with its nearly 2,000 followers the library has opened up its channels so that it’s talking with students rather than at them. The efforts go back to last winter, when the library underwent an internal reorganization. According to University Librarian Nancy Davenport, this initiative was intended to help the staff make better use of their time and unify their efforts. While the reorganization affected a number of different operations, social media was a large factor. Previously, posts were generated by different departments, each promoting their own goals, without much Click Here for the Rest Of the Story coordination or concern for timing.
“Our goal is to be approachable and interesting and to feel like a resource that [students, faculty and staff] can depend on if they need it,”
SCENE
4
5
theEAGLE 2014 theEAGLEJANUARY AUGUST30, 28,2014
reasons D.C. is the coolest
D.C. was recently named the coolest city in America by Forbes, beating New York City and Los Angeles. Here are a few reasons why that title was well-deserved. 1. Amazing coffee shops Yes, Seattle is known for Starbucks, but D.C. is known for original, crafty and atmospheric coffee shops in nearly every neighborhood. Georgetown favorite Baked & Wired has been around since 2001 and has cupcakes to boot. The Chinatown Coffee Company has been known as a haunt for NPR staff and an AU alum even founded the Adams Morgan hotspot Tryst. 2. Incredible ethnic fare D.C. attracts a melting pot of ethnicities every year and with it an endless offering of different authentic cuisines. Above and beyond than the famous Ben’s Chili Bowl, the 202 touts a variety of Japanese, Korean, Indian, Ethiopian, Eritrean and other restaurants that will keep your taste buds cultured. The above picture is from Chinatown’s Daikaya ramen shop. Always packed with a 30-45 minute wait, it’s just one example of the delicious surprises the District has hidden between alleys and side streets. 3. Concerts aplenty D.C. is always on the list of tour locations for your favorite bands, both Top 40 and obscure. Acts like Slowdive, Iggy Azalea and Danny Brown have made their way to the District in venues like 9:30 Club, U Street Music Hall, Tropicalia and the Black Cat. These venues and others
city in America also showcase comedy troupes like Upright Citizens Brigade, a famed troupe where comedy greats like Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler got their start. Keep an eye on the constantly updated calendars or else tickets might sell out quickly. 4. Free world-class art From the National Portrait Gallery to the Hirshhorn Museum, D.C. is rich with free art galleries. Afternoons after class can be spent walking the Portrait Gallery’s halls and marveling at the alwaysevocative pieces. Along more avantgarde lines, the Hirshhorn Gallery hosts work by provocative artists like Yoko Ono and Ai Weiwei and always welcomes the strange. Art is also a huge part of the more unassuming galleries in the Capitol building and the Library of Congress. It may sound boring, but it is anything but commonplace. 5. Small city, big town D.C. is about 10 miles wide, which means it is packed with great things to see on every street and in every neighborhood. It also means that the city is small enough to cover in a day and a half. Experiencing so many unique neighborhoods in one day is what makes D.C. special. Many people think about the Hill when they think of D.C., but every neighborhood from Cleveland Park to Anacostia has its own vibe that makes each new place different from that last. Visiting these spots on foot is a priceless (completely free) adventure that keeps the city fresh.
By Jordan-Marie Smith
The M&M Report: “Breaking Bad,”reviewed
Is the show as good as people say? Which seasons, episodes, performances and moments stand out? Did the finale give Walter White what he had coming to him? Lieberman and Mitchell answer these questions and more. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
"Hunger Games" trilogy required reading in new fall course By Matthew Allard History professor Stef Woods is bringing pop culture to American studies with her fall course “American Cultural History: ‘Hunger Games’: Class, Politics, Marketing.” Between the trilogy’s pages, students will discover how various plots relate to modern American society as well as the factors that went into turning the novels into a profitable franchise.
“In class, we’ll analyze how the series impacted the publishing industry and what aspiring writers can learn from Collins’ journey.” Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
OPINION
5
theEAGLE 2014 theEAGLEJANUARY AUGUST30, 28,2014
Staff Editorial:
Still a long way to go on matters of campus sexual assault
It’s been nearly five months since an anonymous source leaked emails between members of the unofficial fraternity Epsilon Iota. In the time that has passed since these emails were released, AU has made significant and extensive changes to its sexual assault policies. Many students felt the leaked correspondences were indicative of a larger presence of rape culture on campus. The emails contained not only crass, offensive language, but also extended discussions of plans to sexually assault young women who attended the group’s parties. They created a rightful uproar on campus and a call for stricter regulation of Greek life, as well as more intensive education on rape culture for the AU community. In response to students’ complaints, the
administration opened a position for another sexual assault prevention coordinator and victim advocate in addition to Daniel Rappaport, thoroughly investigated every claim made in the documents, added a new program to the Welcome Week curriculum called Stand Up AU and kept the entire AU community updated through emails from Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson. The Eagle feels that each of these emails has done a
that the contents of the emails would not go unpunished. But change does not stop with policy. It is up to students, particularly upperclassmen, to take the next steps. We must educate all students at AU about the specifics of consent and safe sex. We need to teach our peers how to gain the confidence to stop a sexual assault from occurring, whether it is in a bar or a dorm. Because most assaults take place off campus, the
parties where these attacks occur. As a student body, we need to begin to focus on changing the behavior of older students who have already been ingrained with the sexual assault culture sometimes present on campus. Now that some of these harmful attitudes have been addressed on paper, we have to bring this change into action. Without a campuswide conversation about the importance of consent and bystander intervention,
“But change does not stop with policy.” tremendous job of informing students, parents and faculty of the administration’s work over the summer to ensure
administration is limited by its any progress made over the jurisdiction. This leaves a huge summer will be wasted. -E gap in responsibility that falls on the students that attend the
theEAGLE Come find out more about The Eagle, the award-winning, student-run newspaper at American University.
WHEN: WHERE: SEPT. 6, 2014 MARY GRAYDON CENTER 1 P.M. - 3 P.M. 200
Discover more about the different sections and maybe find your place at the paper.