The Eagle -- April 26, 2011
20
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The April 26, 2011 issue of The Eagle.
Transcript of The Eagle -- April 26, 2011
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GRADUATION
WONKONE YEAR LATER:
OUR WRAP-UP COVERAGEOF THE CAMPAIGN
(Page 8)
Man, I love Washington DC. Fell in love with it when I visited @AmericanU the other week. The electricity of this Caps game just con rms it
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MISSION! e Eagle, a student-run newspaper at the American University, serves the community by reporting news involving the campus community and surrounding areas. ! e Eagle strives to be impartial in its report-ing and believes " rmly in its First Amendment rights.
IN THIS ISSUE
456
3 POLICE BLOTTER + EAGLE RANTS4 NEWS
‘EXPLOITED WONK’ROTCGENDER GAP
101112
10 SCENESUMMER PLAYBOOKLOOK OF THE WEEKON THE TUBE
171718
17 OPINIONSTAFF EDITORIALLETTER FROM THE GRADUATING EDITORSMARTER THAN I LOOK
192020
20 SPORTSMLBLACROSSESIDELINE SCHOLAR
FROM THE TWITTERSPHERE
@alextessler, April 23
‘You’re going to Australia... and Scotland.. AND you go to @AmericanU.. are you sure you don’t work for the CIA??’ -@BananaRepublic coworker
@lesleysiu, April 22
You know you go to @AmericanU when u go from test-driving an electric car (the Chevy Volt) to supporting the campus plan at a mock-dorm demo
@Dvrbkwrm, April 22
I wish @AmericanU had a twitter acct for the AU shuttle so I could regularly tell them how late it is. #TheNewWMATA
@kelchmee, April 22
@AmericanU sent email asking alumni to volunteer @ phonathon (i.e. beg other alumni for $) using their personal cell phones #embarrassing
@KCartero, April 22
LOOK OUT FOR SUMMER UPDATES AT THEEAGLEONLINE.COM
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT VOICE!
POLICIESAll submissions become the prop-erty of ! e Eagle. Unsigned letters will not be published. ! e Eagle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length and clar-ity. Letters and columns may be published in print or online. Letters and columns are the opinion of the writer and not the newspaper.
! e Eagle has a commit-ment to accuracy and clarity and will print any correc-tions or clari" cations. To report a mistake, call the editor in chief at (202) 885-1402 or e-mail [email protected].
CONTACT USEDITOR IN CHIEF — (202) [email protected]
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EDITORIAL STAFFEDITOR IN CHIEFLindsey AndersonSENIOR EDITOR +MANAGING EDITOR FOR WEBEthan KlapperMANAGING EDITOR FOR NEWSStefanie DazioMANAGING EDITOR FOR THE SCENEYohana DestaDESIGN EDITORChris DroukasASSISTANT DESIGN EDITORKatherine RiddlePHOTO EDITORRachel DevorSTUDENT LIFE EDITORZachary CohenADMINISTRATION + LOCAL NEWS EDITORPaige JonesNEWS ASSISTANTSMarie ZogloLauren LandauKate FroehlichNicole GlassLeigh GiangrecoRachel KarasSPORTS EDITORTyler TomeaSPORTS ASSISTANTSBen Lasky
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORLinda BarnhartARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITORHoai-Tran BuiMUSIC EDITORMaeve McDermottSCENE ASSISTANTSMadeline WolfsonBLOG EDITORAbby FennewaldASSISTANT BLOG EDITORErin GreenawaldMULTIMEDIA EDITORKira KalushASSISTANT WEB EDITORAnna ScalamongaCOPY EDITORSRocio GonzalezMarissa CetinFINANCE MANAGERBobby JonesSALES DIRECTORAlexander RobinsonPUBLIC RELATIONS COORDINATORKasturi PuntambekarAD REPJonathon Gaynes
CORRECTIONS!
In “Senior theater majors produce Metro-themed play for capstone,” Hoai-Nam Bui was credited for the photo. In fact, the photo is courtesy of Katie Burns-Yocum.
In “AU increases sexual health educator position’s duties,” the job was misidenti" ed as sexual health educator. In fact, the position is known as a sexual assault health educator.
FRONT PAGE PHOTO CREDITFlickr.com / User: Spirit-Fire
TRENDING TOPICS
Classes are over!
So now we have fi nals. (Best of luck, everyone!)
News outlets reporting that the job market is improving. Grads, best of luck if you’re not one of the lucky ones with a job offer already. (Those of you who are, snaps.)
Overbooked fl ights.
It’s almost pool and beach season! Still some time left to get bikini-ready, but sooner rather than later we’ll be joining the guidos on the shore.
Bipolar spring weather. Eighty and sunny to 50 and rainy is not acceptable.
This is the last issue of The Eagle this year. We know you’ll
miss us (as we will you).
Congrats to our graduating seniors – we’re clapping
for you.
April 15A resident assistant saw two students climbing up an ex-terior wall of McDowell Hall at 1:20 a.m. One claimed he had thrown the other’s iden-ti! cation up onto an exterior window ledge and was assist-ing the other in retrieving it. When the resident assistant asked for their ID, the stu-dents walked away calling him names. " e resident assistant easily detected the smell of alcoholic beverages on both individuals.
April 16Public Safety received an anonymous complaint of residents making noise and dumping trash onto the complainant’s driveway o# campus at 3:26 p.m. Upon arrival, Public Safety saw a big pile of trash on the com-plainant’s driveway. Metro-politan Police Department o$ cers advised a resident to turn down the noise and re-move the trash. " e resident complied.
April 17At approximately 3:19 a.m., Public Safety observed student #1 stumbling and vomiting north of the Letts/Anderson Quad. Student #2 was assisting student #1. When student #2 let go of student #1’s arm, student #1 fell in some bushes. Student #2 stated she and student #1 had been to a bar near Du-pont Circle from 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Neither student #1 nor student #2 could pro-vide the type or quantity of alcohol consumed by stu-dent #1. DCFD transported student #1, accompanied by student #2, to the hospital.
Reportedly, student #1 was sleeping in her room in Anderson Hall. At approxi-mately 3:35 a.m., she woke up when a shower loofah struck her in the chest. She was not injured. Student #2 (student #1’s roommate) and an unidenti! ed male
(reportedly a guest of stu-dent #2) immediately le% the room. At approximately 2:00 a.m., Public Safety and a resident assistant spoke with student #2. Student #2 identi! ed the male only as a resident student. Report-edly, the roommates have had previous issues.
A Blackberry phone was taken from the Mary Gray-don Center at 8:59 p.m. It had been le% unattended near a cashier box located in the main entrance of the Terrace Dining Room.
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AU is pretty great for people seeking to learn more about foreign countries.
If you’re planning on studying abroad in Bulgaria and want to learn more about the country as a whole,
there’s a club for that.
If you get set up on a blind date and all you know about the person is that they’re from Taiwan and you want to
learn more Taiwanese culture, there’s a club for that.
If your best friend invited you to spend winter break at their brother’s friend’s girlfriend’s cousin’s house in
Lebanon and you want to know what sites you should make sure to check out while you’re there,
there’s even a club for that.
Yup, there’s a club for just about anything. Only at AU.
For more information, contact the AU Club Council at [email protected]
Lifeguards. Positions in Md,VA,DC. FT/PT.
Flexible Schedule. Must be able to swim. Free Training. Competitive pay.
VA: 703-996-1300 ext.128MD/DC: 301-210-4200 ext. 107
Sitters Wanted.$12 or more per hour. Register free for
jobs near campus or home. www.student-sitters.com
Cashiers Wanted FT/PTapply at Uptown Deli
7905 Norfolk Ave.Bethesda, MD 20814
301-961-5787
Washington Family Looking Live-in Nanny Washington family, near American University, looking for a responsible, English speak-
ing candidate with driver’s license to assist with part time childcare and help around the house.
Own car is preferred. Housing plus salary available. References and a track record of responsibility is a must. Candidate must be able to
commit for no less than one year. Quali! ed candidates, please contact: [email protected].
READ MORE POLICE BLOTTER ONLINE
http://eagl.us/dRZHuh
POLICE BLOTTER!
EAGLE RANTS
So you know that moment when the dull, disgustingly-snot infested girl sits across from you in the library? I do. Please — stay in your dorm and away from me. You sound disgusting and make me feel germy.
Dear Kid who actually bought a shirt with the let-ters Gamma Delta Iota. You are a total idiot. I will mem-orize your face and be rude to you every chance I get. Its not that I think you are lame for not being a$ liated ... I think you are lame for BUY-ING letters that a$ liate you with the people who are not a$ liated. You jackass.
Dear People Who Don’t Cover " eir Mouths When " ey Cough or Sneeze,You disgust me. Does it re-ally take that much e# ort to move your hand or arm up near your mouth? (Hint: " e answer to this question is no.) I really don’t want to breathe in your all your nasty so please do the world a favor and COVER. YOUR. FREAKING. MOUTH.
Sincerely,A Continually Grossed Out Student
To the two girls in the downstairs bathroom of the library with whom I awk-wardly passed toilet paper to:I had to sti& e my laughter because it was just so un-comfortable.
Can people please stop creeping on me on likealit-tle and just introduce them-selves!? I swear this genera-tion is so backwards with dating. Just say hi and start a conversation! What’s the worst that can happen?
If one more person asks me “So, um, what do you like wanna do with that Public Communications major?” I might throw something at them. Or drop out. It’s a toss up.
I REALLY LOVE WHO-EVER FORMATS THESE
RANTS. SMALL FONT AND HUGE BLOCK PAR-AGRAPHS ARE HOW I LIKE TO READ MY EA-GLE RANTS![Editor’s Note: You can ad-just the size of your font by hitting ctrl +]
People need to stop being so judgmental. I take the eleva-tor in the library because I have knee problems. I walk normally, but going up more than a & ight of stairs causes me real pain. Not all disabil-ities are visible.
Actually Alex Knepper is a n00b. We want Conor Sha-piro back again.
Why must all the Gen. Ed. classes be cut o# at 16 peo-ple when I know they are just going to open up to 30 or 40 once freshman begin to register in the Summer? AU should start caring more about the students they al-ready have than the ones who are going to be here.
#@%!
READ MORE RANTS ONLINE
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By LEIGH GIANGRECO Eagle Staff Writer
Students across campus are campaigning for Aramark workers to receive greater bene! ts and foster better re-lations with the University.
Aramark’s contract with AU expires on June 30, and students claim workers are frustrated with Aramark and want change.
Among the students’ main
concerns are parking rates, tuition remission and an expansion of the buildings that workers clean.
But the primary goal is to persuade AU to stop sub-contracting workers and employ them directly in-stead.
“Our ultimate objective for them is to be directly em-ployed by the University,” said Melissa Mahfouz, a School of International Serv-ice junior. “Because if one company comes and goes it could be just as bad, or just the same or just as worse. So that’s what we want so they can have all these bene! ts.”
AU has subcontracted with Aramark, a corporation that o" ers food and custodial services, since 2001.
Because the workers are not employed directly through AU, they are unable to receive the same bene! ts as AU faculty and sta" , in-cluding tuition remission.
Students screened a docu-mentary April 19 that gar-nered the “Exploited Wonk” buzz, entitled “Aquí Esta-
mos: Here We Are,” created by second-year graduate student Charlene Shovic.
# e documentary show-cased the relationship among the AU community and Aramark workers, as well as their environment at the University.
Most Aramark workers not eligible for discounted tuition
As employees of Aramark rather than AU, most work-ers and their children are not eligible for discounted or waived tuition at AU.
If employees have worked with the University in cus-todial services since 1983,
they are eligible for tuition remission. # is is a small group of workers, according to Assistant Vice President of Facilities Development and Real Estate Jorge Abud.
Abud added that the Uni-versity doesn’t handle the bene! t of tuition remission, but that the issue would go through the union that the workers belong to, called the Service Employees Interna-tional Union (SEIU).
“# e negotiation of ben-e! ts for the Aramark sta" is part of the union process,” Abud said. “[# e University is] not really in the midst of that, and if some kind of tui-tion assistance is important to the workers in the nego-tiating, certainly we’d have to look at what role the Uni-versity plays in this.”
Some workers, especially those with children, say tui-tion remission is important to them.
“We work here for many years, some people work here for 20 to 25 years and they don’t have nothing and they go with nothing,” said one woman, who has worked at AU for nearly 20 years and has two children, including a 15-year-old looking ahead to college. “It’s very confusing for the future because the money’s not enough to pay now for education.”
EXPLAINING THE ‘EXPLOITED WONK’ CAMPAIGNStudents and staff discuss AU’s relationship with its contracted workers in a panel April 19 in the Kay Spiritual Center basement.CARMEN MASON / THE EAGLE
Students launch ‘Exploited Wonk’ campaign to advocate for Aramark workers
By LAUREN LANDAUEagle Staff Writer
Students in several black student organizations on campus say a Student Activi-ties policy unfairly discrimi-nates against their groups.
# e policy governs late-night, large-scale events, which are de! ned as start-ing or ending a$ er 11 p.m., having more than 250 guests and more than 50 percent non-AU guests in attend-ance.
If those criteria are met, then at least 10 AU students must be available to work the entire event and the or-ganization may need to hire private security if Public Safety and Student Activities deem it necessary.
Caribbean Circle President Dshawna Bernard and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity broth-er Jeremiah Headen said the policy poses unnecessary re-strictions on certain student groups, particularly Na-tional Pan-Hellenic Council organizations, Caribbean Circle and the Black Student Alliance.
# e policy requires 10 AU students to work the event, but notes that organizations may co-sponsor to meet this requirement. None of AU’s NPHC organizations have enough members to host an event on its own because the majority of AU’s NPHC chapters are city-wide and some of the members are from other D.C. area schools.
Although BSA does not have to invite people from o" campus, BSA President Ariel McMillan said her group is very close with black student alliances from other D.C. area schools.
“We’re more of a family be-cause there’s so few of us that we tend to act as one com-munity rather than as indi-vidual schools,” McMillan said. “Of course we’re going
to invite them.” Alpha Kappa Alpha Soror-
ity, Inc.’s Lambda Zeta chap-ter, a single-school chapter, only has six members and therefore fails to meet the policy’s requirements for hosting a late night event.
Under the policy, AKA must co-sponsor with other organizations in order to host a large-scale, late night event.
AU’s NPHC organizations are usually required to have private security when they invite people from o" cam-pus to their late-night, large-scale events.
# e cost of security de-pends on the event length, expected attendance and the company hired for security, said Director of Student Ac-tivities Karen Gerlach.
But the private security is not allowed to touch any participant and cannot break up a ! ght. If this happens, Public Safety must be called, according to Department of Public Safety Capt. Norman Bailey.
Student leaders said pri-vate security generally costs about $600.
Delta Sigma # eta Sorority, Inc. President Tannis Spen-cer said that the cost of hir-ing private security makes hosting events at AU too dif-! cult for AU’s Deltas.
“We have to do more work to at least break even and to make a pro! t is another story,” she said.
# e policy was introduced a$ er a 2009 inauguration party hosted by NPHC member Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., where a ! ght broke out, according to Bai-ley. More people attended the event than expected, including some high school students who got in because IDs were not being checked at the door.
University Center Sen-ior Director Michael El-more said the event sent a clear message that AU had “crossed a threshold.”
A$ er this event, Student Activities codi! ed its policy to ensure security at events when people are being invit-ed from o" campus, accord-ing to Elmore.
However, some students
feel that the policy hurts them more than it helps.
“[# e inauguration event] was an outlier,” Headen said. “# ey’re trying to build a policy around a situa-tion that will never happen again.”
AU NPHC President and Delta Sigma # eta sister Tia Dolet said that since the policy was created, the Nu Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma # eta has held more of its events at Georgetown University because it is eas-ier, less expensive and more pro! table than hosting an event at AU.
“[# e policy is] causing us to move to a di" erent campus and generally feel animosity toward our own school and the people who are supposed to be helping us,” Dolet said.
Delta Sigma # eta makes approximately $1,800 at its Georgetown events, where security costs about $250, according to Dolet, adding that they usually make about $1,100 at AU.
Elmore said that none of the students have spoken directly to him about their concerns with the policy, and he encourages them to do so.
He added that the students who produce these events might not appreciate hav-ing more protocols placed on them, but that AU can’t compromise the safety of its students and patrons.
“If you’re going to do events that invite external commu-nities at that hour and it’s going to be open invitation to anybody who wants to show up, we’re going to put a protocol in place that allows us to manage the function,” Elmore said.
Headen said Phi Beta Sig-ma is looking into alternate venues such as bars and clubs, which he believes will be “easier to deal with.”
“To me it’s sad, because I re-ally liked doing these events on campus because I feel it’s safer for the students and it’s more communal because everyone there is in college,” Headen said.
Black student leaders feel AU event policy is unfair
! see ARAMARK on page 5
Late-night, large-scale policy launched after 2009 event, fi ght
“Our ultimate objective for them is to be directly employed by the University.”
— Melissa Mahfouz
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Aramark workers upset with parking rates
Parking rates have been a prominent issue voiced by Aramark workers dur-ing meetings with students. Parking takes up nearly 6 percent of an Aramark worker’s income, according to students.
Current parking for full-time employees is $120 per month and $1,440 per year, while part-time employees pay $61 a month and $732 a year, according to the AU website. ! ese rates will in-crease a" er May 1.
An Aramark worker can make from $12.81 to $13.81 per hour at the entry level, $14.07 to $15.17 at custo-dian level, $14.42 to $15.52 at the utility level and $14.77 to 15.87 at the lead level, ac-cording to contract infor-mation between Aramark and SEIU obtained by ! e Eagle.
AU wage policy, since Sept. 1, 2009, has required that the base wage be set at $12.
“One of the things we ask is not a parking subsidy, but that parking be proportional to the amount that the Uni-versity pays you,” Amelia Frank-Vitale, a School of In-ternational Service graduate student, said.
But Vince Harkins, assist-ant vice president of Fa-cilities Management, said di# erent rates for workers wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the AU community, who pay full rates.
“Providing a parking sub-sidy is inconsistent with the University’s sustainability initiatives, which discour-ages driving and encourages use of public transporta-tion,” Harkins said.
Parking on campus is only enforced from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Fri-day. Since a parking per-mit is not mandatory, some night-shi" workers can use pay-as-you-go meters for $1.50 an hour or $12 a day, according to Harkins.
Workers’ duties expand
AU will expand Aramark workers’ services to six buildings o# campus.
! e University currently has Aramark workers clean-ing all on-campus proper-ties, including Tenley Cam-pus.
“We found especially that we have more sta# than we
really need for the facilities that they’re cleaning,” Har-kins said. “So we’ve asked Aramark to tell us what it would take for Aramark to start cleaning some of the o# -campus properties that the University owns.”
Among the buildings in-cluded in the expansion are AU-owned o$ ces at 3201 New Mexico Ave., 4200 Wis-consin Ave., 4620 Wisconsin Ave. and 4545 42nd St.
Harkins said Aramark came back to AU with a pro-posal that included cleaning some areas of campus less frequently with new clean-ing technology.
He added that cleaning some areas less frequently wouldn’t decrease the clean-liness of the campus, but workers would focus on the most frequently tra$ cked buildings, such as the Mary Graydon Center and the Ward Circle Building.
“My o$ ce right now, the trash is emptied every day,” Harkins said. “Now I gen-erate about three pieces of paper a day in trash, it really doesn’t need to be emptied every day.”
Workers protested the ex-pansion at a meeting with students and workers, say-ing there was already a lot of work to do.
“! ey’re getting new ma-chines, but no new workers, so they’re just stretching the workers out further and fur-ther,” said Aaron Montene-gro, a % rst-year graduate student studying philosophy and social policy. “We see this with the new [School of International Service] build-ing. ! e same woman who covers the old SIS building has to cover the new SIS building as well.”
Harkins said that one worker would not be cover-ing both SIS buildings.
“! at’s probably grossly incorrect,” he said. “In gen-eral, we allocate one sta# member for every 20,000 square feet or so per build-ing. ! e new SIS building alone is 80,000. [East Quad Building] was about 20,000. Typically, we would use % ve people for those buildings combined, so I % nd it hard to believe that only one is actually assigned there.”
! from ARAMARK on page 4
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EYE-OPENERWEEKEND BRUNCH
By STEFANIE DAZIOEagle Staff Writer
One public relations class set up a model dorm triple in the Tavern and marched around Ward Circle April 22 to mobilize student support for the Campus Plan as part of their % nal projects.
School of Communication Professor Pallavi Kumar’s “Public Relations Case Stud-ies” class, charged with mar-keting the plan to the stu-dent body, asked students to “tweet” their support and sign online letters.
! e Tavern triple — com-plete with beds, desks, alarm clocks and posters — served to remind students that a main focus of the plan is an increase in undergraduate housing, including turn-ing the Nebraska Parking Lot into an East Campus to house 765 students.
“It was more than, ‘here, do a plan for a made-up compa-ny,’” Kumar said of the class using AU as a client. “AU has to mobilize students … who better?”
Emmy Greenberger, an SOC junior in the class, said from a top bunk in the mock triple that she believes the triple visualized the plan for students.
“I think that it’s a great demonstration,” Sonia Gail-lis-Delepine, an SOC junior in the class, said. “For the tuition that you’re paying, it’s important to have your own personal space.”
Jill Gurich, also an SOC junior in the class, said from a desk in the triple that the new D.C. noise ordinance might play a role in neigh-bor relations.
“Noise can be an issue, but at the same time, you have to remember it’s a college cam-pus,” she said.
Carolyn Capern, a senior in the School of Public Af-fairs, said AU should listen to the neighbors, but not at the cost of student life.
AU is a growing institu-tion, she said, and it’s not fair to students to be stuck in cramped quarters.
Public relations class sells Campus Plan
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By PAIGE JONESEagle Staff Writer
AU will install D.C.’s largest solar power system and the largest urban solar hot water system on the East Coast by July, as part of the Universi-ty’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2020.
More than 2,150 solar pho-tovoltaic panels, which di-
rectly convert sunlight into electricity, will provide elec-tricity for the Mary Graydon Center.
An additional 174 solar thermal energy panels will supply hot water for the Letts, Anderson and Cen-tennial residence halls next year, according to an AU press release.
! e system will only pro-vide water for three resi-dence halls, since a project of that size would already be the largest on the East Coast, according to Sustainability Director Chris O’Brien.
Skyline Innovations Inc., a local solar energy company, will provide this solar power system.
“! is is such a huge project,” O’Brien said. “Skyline Inno-vations told us, ‘We’ve never
done something this big.’” ! e solar thermal energy
panels convert sunlight to thermal energy, which is used to heat the tank of wa-ter that provides hot water to AU South side residents.
! e 2,300 solar panels pro-vide enough electricity to avoid releasing 557 tons of carbon per year, according to the press release.
Standard Solar, a local D.C. energy company, will in-stall the 2,300 solar panels on six University buildings: MGC, Katzen Arts Center, Bender Library, Washington College of Law, 3201 New Mexico Ave. and 4200 Wis-consin Ave.
“! is is a big step toward carbon neutrality,” O’Brien said. “With these two projects, we’re maxing out.”
AU held a groundbreaking ceremony for these install-ments on April 20 in cel-ebration of Earth Day.
“Green energy is 100 per-cent present at AU,” Presi-dent Neil Kerwin said. “! is is a tremendous break-through.”
AU currently purchases 100 percent of its electricity from wind-powered sourc-es, according to the press release.
A similar solar power sys-tem provides electricity for the new School of Inter-national Service building, which is a Leadership in Energy and Environmen-tal Design Gold-certi" ed building.
By ALLIE MOONEYEagle Staff Writer
Now that Army ROTC ca-dets can use AU facilities for physical training and AUTO vans to drive to and from Georgetown University, ca-dets say they get more sleep and are generally happier.
University o# cials and Stu-dent Government worked to implement the AU policy change, which passed last November.
“! e [SG committee’s] ini-tiative was important in pro-viding students in ROTC a voice through Student Gov-ernment to ensure that their needs and concerns were heard,” said Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Phyllis Peres.
Having physical training on campus allows cadets
more personal time, includ-ing an extra hour of sleep and time to do coursework.
“We’re a lot happier. I get on average an extra hour of sleep a week just from being able to have physical train-ing at AU,” said Cadet Sgt. Will McGinnis. “Before we were able to do [physical training] at AU, we would usually meet at the South side shuttle stop at 5:50 a.m. Now I’m waking up around 6:10 to do our PT at AU.”
Ciara Stewart, a second year Army ROTC cadet, said she gets an extra half hour of sleep due to the changes.
“It may not seem like a lot, but when you have to get up at " ve in the morning, that extra half hour does help,” she said. “It’s a lot more con-venient because I can just walk to the " eld for physical training.”
Of the changes, granting use of the AUTO vans to ROTC took the most time
to accomplish, according to SG Committee Director Brett Atanasio, a senator for the Class of 2013.
AUTO Commissioner Dave Paddock said Army ROTC was cleared for use of the vans in March.
“Use of the AUTO vans is huge for us,” McGinnis said.
AU ROTC typically uses the vans when many cadets need to get to Georgetown for " eld training exercises, allowing cadets to get to Georgetown quickly at min-imal cost. Previously, older cadets had to make multiple trips in personal vehicles to transport all the cadets, McGinnis said.
Both Stewart and McGin-nis expressed their satis-faction in how the Under-graduate Senate committee on military policy called for
ROTC policy change. “It’s about time that we had
rights on campus, because we are a student group,” Stewart said. “We are stu-dents here and we should be treated just like everybody else.”
! e SG committee will now concentrate on veter-ans, Atanasio said.
“Veterans issues are the next big focus, which we hope to make some progress by next fall,” he said.
! ese issues include hir-ing a full-time veterans af-fairs sta$ er in AU Central. Currently, veterans have a part-time sta$ er at their dis-posal.
Atanasio and Peres also con" rmed e$ orts to provide faculty training so faculty can better understand the is-sues student veterans face .
AU unveils record-breaking campus solar energy plan
ROTC cadets benefi t from AU policy changes
“I get on average an extra hour of sleep a week just from being able to have physical training at AU.”
— Cadet Sgt. WIll McGinnis
!"#$%&'("!"#$!
CASH IN YOUR TEXTBOOKS
AU Campus StoreButler Pavilion
Rented textbooks are due back by May 16, 2011
Visit www.american.bkstr.com for additional buyback hours and locations.
CHECK IN YOUR RENTALS
412SBB11
Gender gap changes classroom environmentBy SAM MARSHALL and MEAGAN SHAMBERGEREagle Contributing Writers
AU’s male/female ratio isn’t only an issue for students looking for a date — many professors at AU see a dif-ference in their classrooms because of the gender gap.
School of Public A! airs professor Linda Mancillas has taught both predomi-nately female and equally distributed classes.
“When you’re teaching classes, if you separate by males and females, I don’t believe they’re getting an equal education,” Mancillas said. “We don’t live our lives separately, at least in the
USA and most of the world. We live our lives very inte-grated and I believe the col-lege classroom is the perfect place to learn to communi-cate with each other.”
Women earned 57 percent of the 1.65 million bach-elor’s degrees awarded in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Katharina Vester, acting director of the American Studies Program and a His-tory Department profes-sor, expressed similar ideas about the bene" ts of mixed-gender classrooms.
“I wonder what will hap-pen when the humanities is female only,” Vester said. “What will this do to the funding and how seriously these disciplines are taken? We should try to balance out all academic disciplines gender-wise to avoid some of these e! ects.”
Both professors say they change the way they teach when there are fewer males
in the room.“If there are few males in
the room, I will o# en bring in by point the male perspec-tive to address their interests and keep them engaged in the subjects,” Mancillas said.
Megan Cutter, a sopho-more in the School of In-ternational Service, said the unequal ratio gives fewer di! ering opinions.
“So academically, if the fe-male perspective is the only one o! ered, it lowers the quality of discussion,” Cut-ter said.
Vester said teaching her " rst all-female course this se-mester “absolutely changed her teaching style.”
“$ ere were certainly a number of references and jokes that I de" nitely wouldn’t have done if a guy had been present,” she said. “$ e discussions in the class were extraordinary. Most people, even the shyest, were talking at one point. $ ere were a number of people
who were more dominant, but they were never domi-nating the entire discus-sion.”
But Vester said the absence of men might not have been a factor in the quality of the class’s discussions.
“I cannot say whether this excellent experience of class discussion can be attrib-uted to a female-only class, I think it was more the ex-traordinary students already held these characteristics,” she said.
Colleen Hannum, a sopho-more in the Kogod School of Business, said the skewed ra-tios have a negative e! ect on the classroom experience.
“It does take away from the discussion a little bit when there aren’t as many voices being heard,” she said. “But I think girls, myself included, are more comfortable speak-ing in front of each other than boys.”
BY THE NUMBERS
In three out of fi ve schools at AU, there are more female than male students. Over all, there are more than 1,000 more fe-male than male undergraduate students.
Source: Offi ce of Institutional Research and Assessment
3,917
458
545
1,184
1,086
585
2,664
550
607
645
576
230
Full-Time Undergraduates
Kogod School of Business
School of Public Affairs
School of International Service
College of Arts and Sciences
School of Communication
Women Men
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By NANCY LAVINEagle Staff Writer
When Keara O’Neill ac-cepted her spot in AU’s Class of 2013, she planned to graduate four years later with her 1,300 fellow class-mates.
Instead, she will be gradu-ating with the Class of 2012, joining the ranks of an in-creasing number of students that graduate early from universities across the na-tion.
O’Neill decided to gradu-ate a year early a! er realiz-ing during winter break that she only had six classes le! to ful" ll the requirements for her justice major.
“I was contemplating add-ing an [international rela-tions] minor because I had already taken three of the classes, but the idea of my parents paying an extra year of tuition just so I could take classes for a minor seemed a bit ridiculous to me,” O’Neill said.
Early graduation has been slowly becoming more pop-ular at AU, with 4.8 percent of students graduating in three years in 2007, a 0.6 percent increase from 2000, according to data compiled by AU’s O# ce of Institu-tional Research and Assess-ment.
$ e number does not take into account students who graduate a semester early.
$ e rise in student loans in recent years, combined with university policies that ac-cept credits from Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs, has caused a national increase in the number of students who graduate early, according to a segment by Minnesota Public Radio.
Many students who choose to graduate early say saving money is their primary mo-tivation.
“I absolutely cannot a% ord to be here to begin with, and I’m going to be in debt for a long time, so I might as well cut another $30,000 o% that debt by graduating early,” said Amanda Merkwae, a School of Public A% airs student who will graduate a year early this May.
Many university academic o# cials have voiced con-cerns with this trend, and some, like Cornell Univer-sity, have adopted policies that make early graduation more di# cult as a result.
“$ e fourth year of college [which is cut when a student graduates early] is a time when students have the best opportunity to connect with tenured faculty, who are im-portant sources of recom-
mendations and mentoring in college,” said Paula War-rick, AU’s director of the Of-" ce of Merit Awards.
Warrick said she strongly encourages all students to stay at AU for the full four years unless they absolutely cannot a% ord to do so.
$ ough many students ac-knowledged that they would be giving up opportunities like studying abroad, intern-ing or taking more electives by graduating early, they ex-plained that saving money is more important.
“I will have " nished all my requirements for my major, so it’s not like I’m cutting anything short, but there will always be electives with-in my major that I would have wanted to take because I want to learn everything I can about my " eld,” said Katrina Deptula, a School of Communication student who will graduate a semes-ter early in December 2012. “I just don’t think it’s worth it to stick around because money is a big priority.”
Sylvia Brooko% , a sopho-more in SOC, has decided not to graduate early for this reason, explaining that the opportunities AU provides have made her hesitant to graduate early.
“Graduating early may cause me to potentially miss out on " nding something new or exciting I enjoy that could be gained through ex-tra classes, internship expe-riences or extracurriculars,” Brooko% said, adding that she believed these experi-
ences were important for entering a competitive job market a! er graduation.
Megan Patterson, who will graduate from the School of International Service in De-cember 2011, said she hoped graduating early might give her an edge in " nding a job.
“Based on what I’ve seen with a few friends who’ve graduated a semester early in the past, I think it’s kind of an advantage because they had a jumpstart on " nding a job,” Patterson said.
$ ough it might not be an advantage to graduate early, it’s not necessarily a disad-vantage either, according to Marie Spaulding, a Career Center adviser for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“If the student has interned to gain experience while at AU, I do not see that gradu-ating early will adversely af-fect the student’s ability to " nd a job,” Spaulding said.
Regardless of the job mar-ket, AU students say that cutting their college expe-rience short does not make them feel any less ready to enter the “real world.”
“I certainly don’t feel old enough or mature enough or even tall enough to graduate, but I don’t think another year would make me feel any more prepared,” Merkwae said. “I’m as pre-pared as I would be and oth-erwise I will just fake it till I make it.”
Early graduation on the rise By STEFANIE DAZIO
Eagle Staff Writer
Seniors will have one last opportunity to love or hate the WONK campaign on graduation day. $ ey can pose for photos with life-sized cartoons of “com-mencement WONKs” in full regalia, eat o% WONK napkins and wear WONK buttons before AU becomes their alma mater.
As the Class of 2011 leaves with WONK marking the end of their college careers, the Class of 2015 is begin-ning with WONK de" ning theirs.
$ e incoming freshman class will be the " rst to see WONK materials through-out their entire admissions and enrollment process, ac-cording to Terry Flannery, AU’s executive director of University Communications and Marketing.
Prospective students are embracing the campaign, many using the word in their application essays, Flannery said.
“Regardless of how you feel about the word, it created a conversation about what is American University’s iden-tity, what are its strengths, what makes it distinctive,” she said.
AU used a spring mar-keting campaign featuring WONK ads across the Dis-trict to target both tourists and prospective students, Flannery said.
Ads papered the Farragut West, Smithsonian and Rea-gan National Airport Metro stations, as well as parts of the airport itself.
“You get the sense when you arrive at the station ... you feel like you’ve arrived at American University,” Flannery said.
A! er this push, the WONK website saw more visitors in four weeks than it did the previous four months com-bined, she said.
During the last " scal year, which is set to end April 30, AU spent $908,000 on the WONK campaign, includ-ing $100,000 for a video component. $ is represents 0.8 percent of AU’s total budget.
WONK adoption not widespread across campus
$ e Student Government, although it remains neutral on the campaign, recently awarded the marketing team its Unity Award for bringing the campus together.
“$ e WONK campaign for the " rst time really tried to de" ne what it meant to be an AU student,” said SG President Nate Bronstein.
But the e% ort hasn’t been accepted by the entire AU community.
$ e Washington College of Law does not use WONK for its marketing materials; instead it employs a “Cham-pion What Matters” cam-paign, adopted in spring 2010, according to WCL Director of Public Relations Franki Fitterer.
$ e School of Communi-cation has only used WONK in part of its advertising, in-cluding for its master’s pro-grams. But the school does not use the campaign to promote its academic and professional conferences or its new Ph.D. program.
“Most of our faculty do not think WONK resonates with those target audiences,” Dean Larry Kirkman wrote in an e-mail.
$ e campus bookstore sells WONK T-shirts, but not the entire array of clothing and other WONK merchandise, including bumper stickers and iPhone cases.
All of the WONK mer-chandise, except T-shirts, is available at www.cafepress.com/AmericanWONKS. $ e University doesn’t re-ceive a pro" t from these online sales, as the items are sold at the same prices they cost to make.
“$ e goal here is to help with adoption and spread-ing the word about the cam-paign, rather than make a pro" t,” Flannery said.
$ e Follett Higher Educa-tion Group, which operates the AU bookstore, has said it will only carry the WONK T-shirts, according to Flan-nery.
“$ ey’re cautious about any kind of new product initiative,” she said.
WONK continues to craft AU identity one year later
BRONSTEIN TO APPOINT COMPTROLLER-DESIGNATE
Student Government President Nate Bronstein, left, addresses the Undergraduate Senate during an April 25 emergency session that granted him the power to appoint a comptroller-designate. Comptroller-elect Taylor Yeates stepped down from the position April 22 before his term began due to personal reasons.
Senator Erica Best, second from left, Chief of Staff Phil Carderella and Senator Emily Yu listen while Bronstein talks to the Senate.RACHEL DEVOR / THE EAGLE
READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE ONLINE.THEEAGLEONLINE.COM
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By KATE FROEHLICHEagle Staff Writer
Michael Ginzberg will take over as the new dean of the Kogod School of Business this summer, coming to AU from his current position as associate provost and dean at Yeshiva University in New York.
He will replace retiring Ko-god Dean Richard Durand, who has headed the school for six years.
Ginzberg said he chose to apply for the position at AU because he saw it as a new challenge as well as a place where he could make a con-tribution.
“It is a great school at a great university in a terri! c location,” Ginzberg said.
He said a main challenge he see revolves around mak-ing Kogod more recognized
by potential students, the organizations that rank schools, faculty and deans at other business schools.
“It is the type of challenge I was looking for,” he said. “It was the position that I want-ed and to have been o" ered the job made me feel great.”
However, Ginzberg added that “[the school] has all the right pieces, sta" , students, faculty, really across the board.”
To recruit those potential students, Ginzberg plans to tell a “compelling story” about what makes Kogod unique.
“We’ll put a fair amount of e" ort and work into com-municating that,” he said.
Ginzberg said his goal is to create a clear image for Kogod, which he potentially envisions as business and government coming togeth-
er in an international arena, although that is subject to a committee of faculty, sta" and students to be estab-lished this summer to better determine the vision.
“# e spot that Kogod has the greatest opportunity to draw on is the assets of the University, of Washington, D.C.,” Ginzberg said.
He said he speculates that is was his experience — with 10 years as a dean between the University of Delaware and Yeshiva — that made him stand out as a candi-date.
“From that experience, there’s a track record of ac-complishment of bringing about change,” Ginzberg said. “I also have a manage-ment style in which I am accessible, fairly easy to get along with and very open.”
He describes himself as the
New Kogod dean ready to take care of business at AU
BACK TO BUSINESSMichael Ginzberg will become the Kogod School of Business’s next dean July 1. Ginzberg is currently the dean of Yeshiva University’s business school.Courtesy of YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
type of leader that hires well, delegates and then stays out of the way of his sta" .
“I don’t believe any one person can or should do everything,” he said. “You bring in people as strong as possible in the areas they’re going to be responsible for and empower them to ac-complish what you want.”
To promote an image of an accessible dean, Ginzberg hopes to work through stu-dent organization leaders to keep his “! nger on the pulse,” as well as convers-ing with as many students as possible, through Kogod events, e-mails and walks around the building.
Ginzberg plans to begin at Kogod June 1, a month be-fore he o$ cially takes o$ ce as dean.
Selection process# e search committee,
chaired by Professor Heather Elms, began the six-month-long process in October, culminating in an evalua-tion of the ! nal candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.
“[Ginzberg] is really com-mitted to continuing Ko-god’s current trajectory in terms of success and adding to the slope of that trajec-tory,” Elms said, citing Ginz-berg’s experience and energy as key positives.
Provost Scott Bass added that Ginzberg has a “rich portfolio” of experience.
“He is a seasoned admin-istrator with a great deal of experience in all aspects of administration,” Bass said. “His work has also been in the international area, and there is a strong internation-al theme in Kogod.”
Students on the search committee ran “Meet the Dean” sessions where stu-dents could speak to candi-dates, according to Elms.
“# e search committee is the group that has spent the most time with any of the candidates,” Elms said. “We’re supportive of all of them and we are very pleased by this choice.”
By RACHEL KARASEagle Staff Writer
A new meal plan option and “Dining Dollars,” a new form of payment at on-cam-pus dining locations, will be o" ered this fall semester.
Housing and Dining Pro-grams and Auxiliary Serv-ices are working with Bon Appétit to ! nalize details of the changes and will release more information later this week, according to Chris Moody, executive director of Housing and Dining.
Housing and Dining Pro-grams is also preparing for the McDowell Hall renova-tion project, set to begin a% er residence halls close in May, according to Moody. Facilities Management will repaint the building and up-date parts of its infrastruc-ture, including its electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. All carpeting, mat-tresses and lounge furniture will be replaced as well.
Moody said the renovation, which is scheduled to end before mid-August, is part of a 10-year cycle of updat-ing residence hall interiors.
McDowell will also be part of the University’s e" ort to provide more study and so-cial spaces for students on campus, such as the Perch-like space set to open in Le-onard Hall this fall.
# e University still plans to organize residence hall & oors by class and will create speci! c spaces for ! rst-year students in Anderson, Letts, Clark and Roper Halls.
Moody said it is too early to know the number of tri-ples that will be assigned in the fall, as Housing and Dining needs to receive all freshmen and transfer hous-ing requests this summer.
Tunnel and New Mexico Avenue tenants
AU is still working to ! nd a new food vendor to occupy McDonald’s space in the tunnel when the lease ex-pires in December, accord-ing to Director of Auxiliary Services Dave Courter.
“We’ve got serious ex-pressions of interest from a number of potential ten-
ants,” Courter said. “We have not proceeded to ne-gotiations yet. We intend to include a number of provi-sions in support of the Uni-versity’s sustainability com-mitment in the agreement, so we’re working on those provisions now.”
# e University will re-quire that the tenant meet the minimum sustainability standards of either the en-vironmental organization Green Seal or the Green Restaurant Association, ac-cording to Courter.
“[AU President Neil Ker-win] made a commitment to sustainability,” Courter said. “We have to make sure that if people are renting space on this campus … we want to make sure they’re doing things that will be helping us to meet these goals.”
Progress is also being made on ! lling the New Mexico Ave. space, formerly occu-pied by the high-end gro-cery store Balducci’s, with new tenants. AU has already signed a lease with Antica Neapolitan Pizzeria, a full-service Italian restaurant, and is now working to se-cure two other businesses to ! ll the rest of the space.
“# e other food tenant has signed a letter of intent and is in lease negotiations,” Courter said. “We can’t re-lease the name until nego-tiations are completed, but I can say it’s a fresh food op-tion with o" erings such as sandwiches, wraps, salads, soup, et cetera.”
Courter said the third ten-ant was to be a yoga studio, but the prospective tenant has withdrawn. AU is now actively looking for another tenant.
# e University anticipates a fall opening for Antica Neapolitan Pizzeria.
Panera Bread updateA Panera Bread restaurant
is planning to open in July at 4501 Wisconsin Ave. NW, according to Panera Market-ing Manager April Mock.
Jonathan Staal contributed to this story.
Housing and Dining changes include new meal plan option, renovations, vendors
!"#!"#$#$%&'()*+,)*-.. .-
Summer PlaybookThe Scene’s
A guide to getting things done in the o! season
By MADELINE WOLFSONEagle Staff Writer
Top 10 things you’re actually going to really do this summer — no seriously, this summer’s di! erent!
Whether you’re a graduating senior about to ful" ll all of the goals in your Hopes and Dreams Journal or a wide-eyed freshman re-turning to your old stomping grounds and high school friends, you’re going to have some extra time this summer. And as we all begin to " ll the black hole le# in the place of AU, we look to better ourselves, enrich our lives and " nally do all of those things that we really just couldn’t make time for during the school year.
We Scenesters have compiled a list of the top eight things to actu-ally do this summer — guys, it’s really going to happen this time.
8. Go on that road trip you guys always plannedAh, the summer road trip, the hallowed pipe dream of America’s
youth. $ e time is ripe for that trip you and your friends always planned, but just never quite organized. Well, this is the summer where you’ll actually all get o! work and save up gas money to journey to Austin, drive up California’s coast or just get out the hell out of Jersey. Don’t forget to take group pictures with every single sign you see.
7. Finish that novelWe’ve all done it. In a moment of over zealous ambition we’ve
picked up a lengthy piece of classic literature and began to slowly plow through only to “take a little break” one third of the way in and shelf the novel inde" nitely. $ is summer, dust o! your “Anna Karenina,” stop shrugging o! “Atlas,” and for God’s sake, just skim the rest of “In" nite Jest.”
6. Go “crapping”!Crapping: an umbrella term for all things thri# . $ is includes, but
is not limited to, garage sales, estate sales, % ea markets, thri# stores, pawn-shops and the holiest of holy grails, church rummage sales. No matter where you go, people will be selling their unwanted crap for next to nothing. Just follow the neon pink arrows. Because you need more crap!
5. Go to that art exhibit that just rolled into townWe know it’s just been really inconvenient to take public trans-
portation all the way into the city to enjoy free art. But you have free time now and if you’ll be in D.C. this summer, you’ll have plen-ty of opportunities to become cultured. Need ideas? $ e National Gallery is housing a delightful Gauguin exhibit through early June, and Project 4 Gallery, located a block down from the U-Street met-ro stop, brings in monthly shows with snazzy, free and frequent wine and cheese events.
4. Hike somethingNature has gotten a little too smug and has been shoving incon-
venient truths down our throats while hitting us with a new dis-aster every other week. So strap on a CamelBak and walk up the highest mound of dirt in sight. It’s time for humans to re-conquer what’s ours.
3. Become really mediocre at that skill you wish you hadBe it guitar playing, knitting, beat boxing, salsa dancing, martial
arts or jogging, 2011 is the year you’ll become slightly better than average at your dream skill.
2. Make a saladEh…who are we kidding?
1. Work$ ere’s no better way to " ll the void le# by schoolwork than with,
that’s right, more work! Bored without your spring internship? $ ey make them for summer too! Give yourself an excuse to fall through on goals one through eight!
8. ROAD TRIP, BABY!
7. FINISH THAT NOVEL
6. GO ‘CRAPPING’
5. GO TO AN ART EXHIBIT 1. WORK
2. MAKE A SALAD
3. ACQUIRE SKILLS
4. HIKE SOMETHING
Courtesy of WARNER BROTHERS
Courtesy of RIA NOVOSTI
Courtesy of FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
Eagle File Photo
ANA SANTOS / THE EAGLE
Courtesy of ACOUSTICGUITARS.COM
Courtesy of FOOD NETWORK
CHRIS DROUKAS / THE EAGLE
As spring weather begins to bloom, bright hues are everywhere in the fashion world. But let’s not lose sight of the classic color: white. ! is fashionista, Kogod sophomore Caryn Wallace, displays white in her ensemble from head-to-toe.
Starting at the top, she wears the infamous V-neck white tee from American Apparel. To add a more feminine and formal feel to her out" t, she adds a glam-orous statement necklace by ABS by Allen Schwatz. And to sprinkle in some simplicity, this fashionista wears high-waisted skinny denim shorts by ADAM. She also wears white wedg-es by Tory Burch. Wedges and platforms, no matter what the color or style, are a must-have in your shoe collection this spring and summer. ! ese wedges are the perfect ending to a per-fect combination. Wallace answered a few questions about her fashion taste and personal inspirations in a style Q&A.
What inspired your outfi t today?
“My out" t was inspired by spring " nally starting and the trend of white for this spring and summer.”
What trend are you most excited to show off this spring and summer?
“I’m most excited to wear white lace this spring. I think nudes and whites have a really clean and fresh look. I also look for-ward to wearing more wedges, which are perfect for the summer and easy to walk in.”
Who are your favorite designers?
“My favorite designers are alice+olivia, Elizabeth and James, bcbgmaxazria and Ralph Lauren for every-day wear. I also like D&G, Dior and Prada for a more
dressed up look. ! e shows I look forward to most each season are Elie Saab and Valentino — they nev-er disappoint.”
What kind of role does fashion play in your life?
“Fashion is one of my main interests, and it plays a very important role in my life. I think it’s a great way to express an individ-ual personality, feeling or mood. I love putting out" ts together to suit di# erent occasions or seasons.”
WARM WEATHER MEANS COOL OUTFITS.LET @THEEAGLEONLINE KNOW WHAT YOU’RE ROCKING.
NICOLE MOUTIS — LOOK OF THE WEEK
Get this look
SHIRT!"#$%&'()!**'$#+
SHORTS !,!-
WEDGES ./$0)12$&3
SUNGLASSES ./")4/$5
http://eagl.us/dRZHuh
Photo:NICOLE MOUTIS / THE EAGLE
WHITEBLACKIS THE NEW
!"#$%&'()&'*++ ,-.!"#$!
PORTLANDIAIf “SNL” was taken over by
hipsters, it would turn into IFC’s clever and hysterical Portland, Ore.-based sketch show, “Portlandia.” ! e show stars current “SNL” castmember Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, gui-tarist for the now-defunct band Sleater-Kinney. ! e show debuted last January and though there have only been six episodes, each is saturated with hilarious but terribly realistic hipster/hippie characters. ! ere’s a young hippie couple that go to extreme lengths to eat or-ganic food, a dumpster-div-ing twosome who literally survive o" the garbage of others and a pair of women who own a bookstore called Women and Women First, specializing only in wom-en’s studies, naturally. Fred Armisen’s intuitive comedic
timing coupled with Brown-stein’s surprisingly apt co-medic ability carry the show, with the low-budget series usually only featuring them in most of the scenes. How-ever, the show has featured a slew of recognizable cameos from Jason Sudeikis, Gus Van Sant and Selma Blair, to Aimee Mann, Colin Meloy of ! e Decemberists and James Mercer of ! e Shins. If you love the show, you’ll have to wait to get your # x of new episodes until January 2012, but until then you can rewatch your favorite clips over and over and learn how to be an appropriate, cliché hipster.
— Yohana Desta
FRINGEAudiences have a love-hate
relationship with science # ction shows. ! ey’re either extremely cheesy B-movie material, or complex sto-
ries with rich mythologies and incredibly well-done characters — “Fringe” is the latter. A show based around an FBI agent who teams up with a mad scientist and his cynical son to solve mys-terious cases that involve “fringe science” such as telepathy, spontaneous hu-man combustion and time travel, “Fringe” has gradu-ated from a potential “X-Files” rip-o" to a great sci-# series in its own right. Be-sides this season’s bold ven-ture into parallel universes, the characters have become an incredibly lovable dys-functional family that draws viewers into a show that’s becoming increasingly doom-and-gloom. Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson are wonderfully gi$ ed actors in the roles of FBI agent Olivia Dunham and consultant Pe-ter Bishop, respectively. But it is John Noble in the dual roles of the adorably quirky mad scientist Walter and his alter-ego, Walternate, who steals the show. Despite the progressively complicated, confusing storyline and the looming threat of the end of the world, “Fringe’s” tal-ented writing and riveting characters have transcended B-movie material to become
one of the best sci-# shows on TV today.
— Hoai-Tran Bui
30 ROCKAt this point, it’s common
knowledge that “30 Rock” is funny as hell. “Community” and “Parks & Recreation” have been hogging the NBC ! ursday night buzz this season, with “! e O% ce” also shaking things up by introducing Will Ferrell as the new Michael Scott. But Tina Fey’s comedic ode to ham-loving, single cat ladies is still the anchor of NBC’s comedy block. ! e show just aired its & ashback-# lled 100th episode, the latest in a strong # $ h season that has also featured a live episode, a pitch-perfect takeo" on a Bravo reality show, boat-loads of guest stars (Matt Damon, Aaron Sorkin, Tom Hanks, Queen Latifah, Will Forte and Susan Sarandon, to name a few) and its fun-niest holiday episode since Ludachristmas. Don’t miss 30 Rock’s remaining two episodes of the season, and make good use of your # -nals procrastination urges by catching up on Liz, Jack and Tracy’s misadventures on Hulu.
— Maeve McDermott
COMMUNITYWith its hodgepodge cast
of characters and pop cul-ture-based humor, NBC’s “Community” may not glamorize student life at community college, but it certainly makes it hilarious. ! e second season takes a more con# dent approach to its humor, as the characters become more fully-formed and endearing. ! e jokes come o" as more organic, as if the actors and actresses themselves are having a hell of a time while playing out their scenarios. ! e cast is becoming seamless, with Donald Glover and Danny Pudi coming into their own, helped by the comedic prowess of older cast mem-bers Chevy Chase and Joel McHale. ! is is especially true when you visit the “Community” page on Hulu and take a peek at some of what happens behind the scenes.
— Stephan Cho
CHILDRENS HOSPITAL
If you have yet to witness the 15-minute show that is “Childrens Hospital,” don’t beat yourself up. ! is hilari-ous parody of hospital dra-
mas created by and starring Rob Corddry (“Daily Show,” “Hot Tub Time Machine”) is tucked into the late-night lineup on Cartoon Net-work’s Adult Swim. ! e show takes place in a hos-pital (the same one used in “Scrubs”) named a$ er Dr. Childrens and lampoons the ever-popular hospital drama genre. In its second season, the show is a fast-paced roll-ercoaster of hilarity where literally anything, no matter how absurd, can happen. It’s as close to a long form im-prov set as TV comes and the show’s complete lack of reality allows for a unique brand of comedy that’s fun-nier than most sitcoms or the ever-popular single-camera shows on TV now. ! e show features an amaz-ing cast of comedians like Megan Mullally, Ken Ma-rino and Rob Huebel, and frequently features guests. ! is over-the-top mini show may not be for everyone, but fearless fans of comedy will undoubtedly appreciate this bold satire.
— Madeline Wolfson
ON THE TUBE
Courtesy of ALI GOLDSTEIN / NBC
From sketch comedies to science fi ction, the Scene staff reviews our favorite television shows of the year:
By ANTOANETA TILEVAEagle Contributing Writer
To an audience bombarded with images of the Islamic world’s troubled relation-ship with Western culture, the Muslim Film Festival in Washington, D.C., paints a picture of diversity of how Islam ! ts and lives within the social fabric of Western settings.
" e festival, organized by the American Islamic Con-gress and Project Nur, runs from April 19 to 27 and presents a diverse group of ! lms all dealing with the same topic in di# erent ru-bics: Muslim identity.
" e 2010 Sundance Film Festival selection “" e Taqwacores,” directed by
Eyad Zahra, depicts the electrifying underground subculture of Muslim punk-rockers in Bu# alo, NY. Based on Michael Mu-hammad Knight’s 2003 cult novel of the same name, the movie does an incredible job of portraying the ulti-mate in-your-face mashing of two counter-mainstream cultural phenomena: being punk and being Muslim in America.
In an interview with " e Eagle, Zahra voiced his con-cerns over the release of the ! lm.
“I was not certain that this ! lm would be ‘Islamically-accepted,’ but there has been no negative response to it,” Zahra said. “It has seen nothing but good.”
If there is any message he expounded on it is that “the Muslim community is wide
and diverse.” Zahra’s direc-tion is superb in showing us that the characters in the movie are not on some contrived faux-rebellion tip against society — if any-thing, they are simply living only as they know how and accepting in a sort of re-signed, almost cynical way that simply being who they are by de! nition makes them subversive. As the pink-mo-hawked guitarist Jehangir (Dominic Rains) puts it, he is the embodiment of a “mismatching of disenfran-chised subcultures.”
In addition to the absolute-ly stunning cinematography, (the movie’s cadence is real-ly unique and true to its ’80s punk-zine aesthetic), the cast of characters is thrilling
to watch. " ere is shy Yusef (Bobby Naderi), an ever-angry, moral-enforcing, straight-edge engineering student named Umar (Nav Mann) and a burqa-wear-ing feminist-of-sorts named Rabeya (Noureen DeWulf), whose attire ba$ es even her roommates. When Jehangir decides to put on a punk show, hosting Muslim punk bands from “Khalifornia,” things get ugly in a punk-sense.
“" e Taqwacores” is also full of clever, funny dialogue such as Jehangir’s descrip-tion of the chastity battle as a “jihad against my nuts.” Ultimately, the theme is that even through the re-bellion and struggle, there is an ever-present thread of faith and spirituality — “Al-lah is too big and too open
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! see FILM on page 16
By STEPHAN CHOEagle Staff Writer
Students picnicking on the quad and cramming into the quiet crevices of the library are the usual signs of sum-mer at ! rst blush here at AU. As we enter the home stretch of our spring semes-ter and breathe a sigh of relief at having survived an-other year, we eagerly ready ourselves for the balmy days ahead. And with a litany of sequels, superhero movies and sci-! adaptations in the coming months, it’s sure to be a memorable blockbuster season. Here are some of the most anticipated ! lms of summer 2011.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART II
J.K. Rowling’s internation-ally beloved fantasy saga is coming to a tearful end with the ! nal installment in the ! lm series, continuing with the noble hero Harry Pot-ter and his battle against the malicious Lord Volde-mort. Whether you’ve been rereading every book since the sixth grade or you’re just getting started on “Sorcer-er’s Stone,” it’s impossible
to ignore the importance of this ! lm, which is sure to be equal parts epic and wistful. In addition to having made icons of Daniel Radcli# e and his retinue of Gry% ndor housemates, the ! lm series has received near favorable acclaim and has grossed bil-lions of dollars. It’s no exag-geration to say that July 15 will be an indelible date in the history of cinema and pop culture.
THE HANGOVER PART II
With its “Memento”-meets-“Bachelor Party” style of comedic storytell-ing, “" e Hangover” was a surprise hit in 2009 and became a fan favorite for young people everywhere. Who could forget the cuta-way gag of Stu (played by Ed Helms) singing passionately about tigers and “crystal meth tweakers,” or the scene where Alan (played by Zach Gali! anakis) and friends get tasered by little kids? " e sequel, which is set to be released on May 26, will fea-ture the gang from the ! rst ! lm as they travel to Bang-kok for Stu’s wedding, only to have their plans go awry yet again.
COWBOYS & ALIENSMany people weren’t sure
what to make of this upcom-ing sci-! Western when they ! rst saw the preview for it in theaters earlier this year. Based on a graphic novel of the same name and starring Daniel Craig as an amnesiac named Jake Lonergan, this ! lm is set in the ! ctional town of Absolution, Arizo-na. Lonergan is treated as a common criminal in Abso-lution until aliens invade the region and the townspeople are forced to band together to ! ght o# the extraterres-trial menace. Sure, the con-cept seems overwrought and cheesy, but with Jon Favreau of “Iron Man” fame at the helm of the project, it’s cer-tain to be a viscerally enjoy-able classic if nothing else. “Cowboys & Aliens” will be released on July 29.
GREEN LANTERNNo other upcoming super-
hero movie seems to com-mand as much clout as this upcoming DC comic book adaptation, a phenomenon possibly attributed to early releases of Ryan Reynolds sporting a tight green span-dex suit. " e ! lm, set to be
released in 3D on June 17, follows Reynolds as Hal Jordan, a U.S. Air Force pi-lot who is inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. as an intergalactic warrior. In typ-ical superhero movie fash-ion, the ! lm will feature Jor-dan doing amazing things while ultimately trying to understand his powers as he tries to defeat the mighty su-pervillain Parallax.
KUNG FU PANDA 2" e original “Kung Fu
Panda” was one of highest-grossing ! lms of all time for DreamWorks Animation and received near universal acclaim by top critics, so a sequel featuring the bum-bling yet ambitious panda Po (voiced by Jack Black) was bound to happen. Slat-ed for a May 26 release, the sequel rejoins Po, now a kung fu master, and his ani-mal friends in the Valley of Peace. " eir new enemy is Lord Shen, a peacock who vows to take over China. With an all-star voice cast consisting of A-listers like Angelina Jolie and Dustin Ho# man, the second ! lm is sure to be just as much a de-light for all ages as the ! rst.
SILVER SCREENDistrict’s Muslim Film Fest highlights Islamic exploration of identity
Courtesy of WARNER BROS.
Summer blockbusters feature aliens, fl ying superheroes, animated pandas
“I was not certain that this fi lm would be ‘Islamically-accepted,’ but there has been no negative response to it.”
— Eyad Zahra, director of ‘The Taqwacores’
By HOAI-TRAN BUIEagle Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. is not known for its breathtaking tourist spots like Paris, nor its cool, hip atmosphere like New York City, but whenev-er the nation’s capital is por-trayed in ! lm, it’s o" en a po-litical ! lm revolving around the trials of a ! ctional presi-dent dealing with ! ctional issues that are umbrella statements on the # aws of our modern society. When it’s not on a ! ctional presi-dent, D.C. ! lms are biopics on real historical events that involve, yes, a U.S. president. But, contrary to popular belief, there are ! lms set in D.C. that have nothing to do with U.S. presidents that the Scene has happily provided for you.
MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
Released in 1939, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washing-ton” is the quintessential D.C. movie from which most modern political ! lms can trace their in# uence. Jimmy Stewart brings his “aw-shucks” Boy Scout de-meanor to D.C., playing ide-alistic, newly appointed Sen. Je$ erson Smith, who arrives to D.C. only to discover the rampant corruption within the political system. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”
is a classic, delivering a great story, interesting characters and # awless performances.
Jean Arthur plays the ster-eotypical ambitious, cynical secretary who is stuck with the naïve Mr. Smith as he tries to battle the system. Of course, she has a change of heart as she witnesses his dedication to his cause and becomes his love interest. Many stereotypes originated in this ! lm, but they are best and most authentic in this original incarnation. % e ! l-ibuster scene rivals no other, and Stewart delivers one of his best performances.
ST. ELMO’S FIREPerhaps it’s not the best of
the Brat Pack movies, but “St. Elmo’s Fire” is certainly one of the most iconic. Not to mention it’s also set in D.C. Starring ‘80s staples such as Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nel-son and Ally Sheedy, “St. Elmo’s Fire” tells the story of a group of Georgetown University grads who strug-gle from post-grad disillu-sionment and general angst. “St. Elmo’s Fire” makes D.C. look considerably cooler and more comparable to one of those “pretty young adults ! nding themselves in the city” ! lms that of-ten take place in New York. % e fact that some of these
characters actually got into Georgetown is question-able, but “St. Elmo’s Fire” is heartwarming and enter-taining enough to be a favo-rable representation of the struggles of young, beautiful people in the heart of our nation’s capital.
THE EXORCISTA staircase in Georgetown
was where a pivotal scene in “% e Exorcist” was ! lmed, and has gained enough of a following to become a minor tourist spot. Loosely based on a true story, “% e Exor-cist” is about an actress who recruits a priest at Georget-own University to perform an exorcism on her 12-year-old daughter. It is one of the most iconic horror ! lms of all time, and even 40 years a" er its release, remains a source of extreme terror to all who watch it.
STATE OF PLAYAn underrated movie
with an all-star cast includ-ing Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben A& eck and Helen Mirren, “State of Play” is a 2009 remake of a BBC mini-series about a journal-ist who discovers a govern-ment conspiracy a" er the murder of a politician’s mis-tress. It’s a riveting movie that features some excellent performances from Russell Crowe (chubbier and a lit-tle more wrinkled than usu-al) and Rachel McAdams (bright and perky as always), as well as an obligatory cameo by Ben’s Chili Bowl. “State of Play” is intriguing, well-made and brilliantly cast. % e fact that this movie
nearly disappeared from the mainstream awareness a" er its release is almost unfor-givable, because it is such an unexpectedly good movie. It successfully blends jour-nalism and politics into an old-fashioned mystery that grabs viewers, making D.C. and government conspira-cies seem ultimately cool.
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
“% ank You for Smoking” is a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek movie by Jason Reitman, the director of such comedic fare as “Juno” and “Up in the Air.” It’s another under-rated and under-seen movie starring Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a cigarette spokes-person who maneuvers his way through politics, big business and child-raising with a comfortable smirk on his face. However, once he gets involved with an ambi-tious reporter (Katie Holm-es), he starts losing his grip on the lies he spins to keep his lifestyle going. “% ank You for Smoking” is a sharp, funny ! lm on the world of controversial big businesses and its spokespeople. % e wry humor never gets old, such as the hilariously-titled “Merchants of Death” that Nick is a part of (the other members include alcohol and guns). % e D.C. set-ting is subtle, almost barely noticeable, but consistently present and an important part of the story.
By MEREDITH MEDOWAYEagle Contributing Writer
% is Earth Day, Disney-nature released the ! lm “African Cats,” centered on a family of lions and a fam-ily of cheetahs on the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
“African Cats” is an excel-lent ! lm that gives a pre-dominately accurate por-trayal of life in the savanna. It follows two mothers: Layla, a lioness, and Sita, a cheetah. Each mother faces unbelievable complications in raising children. It’s more than them just bumping their heads on the co$ ee table — these babies have to deal with hungry hyenas, pride rivalries and dying parents.
Yes, this movie generally doesn’t gloss over the of-ten-heartbreaking aspects
of life in the wild. % e audi-ence (! lled with energetic, animal-loving toddlers) is perfectly silent as everyone waits to see if Sita will ! nd all of her cubs a" er a hyena attack. Viewers cannot help but become invested in the lives of these majestic large cats.
And that’s another achieve-ment for “African Cats.” Di-rectors Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey manage to ! nd a true story behind both cat families. % ere is a de! ned beginning, middle and end with various set-backs and successes along the way. % ey even throw in a bit of humor to lighten the mood a" er some particular-ly harsh scenes of savanna life. And the directors man-age a heartwarming ending despite all of the trials and tribulations. It’s not bright
and sunny — as the wild rarely is — but it lets the audience leave on a happy note. % e movie gives the perfect balance between ex-ceptionally cute cubs snug-gling, and gazelles falling victim to hungry felines.
However, Samuel L. Jack-son, the narrator, sometimes fails to capture the right mood in his storytelling. At some points, he makes the Masai Mara seem like a catty high school with his overly dramatic voice. It seems as though Morgan Freeman probably would have been the better choice (as he al-most always is).
Additionally, some of the animals are unfairly pegged as the bad guys. It’s inevita-ble — one of the pitfalls of having an actual storyline. Every good story has some-one to root for, and someone to hate. % e ! lm seems to follow in “% e Lion King’s” steps as the hyenas are ob-viously meant to make the audience cringe. Viewers cheered for Sita and Mara, but spurned Kali, Fang and the hyenas. % e ! lm doesn’t quite emphasize the “circle of life” part, avoiding the fact that all animals have to live somehow — even if it means hurting a favorite character.
Otherwise, “African Cats” gives a fantastic look into the lives of two wildcat fam-ilies struggling to survive in an environment built to bring them down. Cat lover or not, the ! lm is a must see for the stunning views of African wildlife. % e camera shots are breathtaking and it’s impossible to drag your eyes away from a high-speed cheetah chase.
If you purchase a ticket during the ! lm’s opening week, $0.20 of each ticket will go to the Amboseli Cor-ridor project by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). % e project aims to preserve and protect the Amboseli Corridor, a stretch of land that goes beyond national park borders and is fre-quently used by animals to travel to di$ erent regions of the savanna.
!"#$%&'()&'*++ ,-.!"#$!
AFRICAN CATSA — 89 MINUTES
Five fl icks set in D.C. sans the usual head of state premise
Courtesy of UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
“‘African Cats’ gives a fantastic look into the
lives of two wildcat families struggling
to survive in an environment built to
bring them down.”
!"#!"#$! $%#&#'()
AUDIOPHILESCENE’S PICKS FOR SUMMER’S BEST ALBUMS
BLACK LIPSARABIA MOUNTAIN
http://eagl.us/dRZHuh
CHECK OUT WVAU.ORG TO LISTEN!
By MAEVE McDERMOTTEagle Staff Writer
To get you through these few, hot, culturally barren months, absent of our events calendar or WVAU recommendations, here’s a short list of albums to keep an eye out
for this summer.
BON IVER LIL WAYNE ARCTIC MONKEYS(SELF-TITLED) THA CARTER IV SUCK IT AND SEE
Perhaps the only band on the “(500) Days of Summer” sound-track to be known for throwing up on each other during their live shows, Atlanta’s Black Lips will release their sixth LP, “Ara-bica Mountain,” in early June. ! e garage-punk rockers are known more for their foul on-stage antics than for the quality of their studio recordings and have been touring almost nonstop since 2009. With famed British producer Mark Ronson working on many of the album’s tracks, “Arabia Mountain” may turn out to be the Lips’ best material yet, and won’t just sound like dregs from a band whose members set each other on " re on stage.
In 2007, Justin Vernon retreated to a remote cabin in the woods of Wisconsin to record the indie folk classic “For Emma, Forever Ago.” In the three years since, Vernon’s begun working on the follow-up to “For Emma,” this time in a Wis-consin veterinarian clinic-turned-studio, and he’s kept himself busy. He also released the well-received “Blood Bank EP,” recorded with GAYNGS and formed side project Volcano Choir, and collaborated with Kanye West for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Bon Iver’s self-titled second album comes out on June 21.
Weezy has had a turbulent few years since the 2008 release of his massively successful “! a Carter III.” He was arrested and served eight months in prison for a gun charge. His previous few releases, which included the awful rock dud “Rebirth” and the slightly better post-prison record “I Am Not A Human Being,” didn’t come close to matching “! a Carter III” in sales or critical acclaim. Lil Wayne will seek to replicate his past suc-cess with the release of “! a Carter IV” on June 21, driven by lead sin-gle “6 Foot 7 Foot,” which features a sample from a Jamaican folk song and was produced by Bangladesh, the mind behind “! a Carter III’s” ubiquitous “A Milli.”
Way back in 2006, Arctic Mon-keys were one of indie rock’s " rst Internet buzz bands. A# er re-leasing their smash debut album “Whatever People Say I Am, ! at’s What I’m Not,” Arctic Monkeys rode the wave of Internet hype until they got clobbered by the always-accompanying backlash. Nevertheless, their debut became the highest selling album debut in the U.K., which they followed with two other acclaimed but less successful releases, “Favourite Worst Nightmare” in 2007 and “Humbug” in 2009. ! e tone of the Monkeys’ releases has grown pro-gressively darker, but “Suck It And See” is shaping up to be a return to form for the Monkeys, lighter and more accessible than the murki-ness of “Humbug.”
By YOHANA DESTAEagle Staff Writer
For those of you who plan on extending your stay in D.C. once " nals are over, you’re lucky to be around for a slew of great upcoming concerts. And never fear, the Scene has you covered, compiling a list of some of the most exciting acts to hit the District this summer. For those of you that aren’t staying in D.C., check out these musicians’ tour sched-ules — chances are they might be coming to your hometown as well.
TAME IMPALAFormed in 2007 in Perth,
Australia, Tame Impala are a four-piece rock band
with psychedelic tenden-cies. ! ey released their " rst album, “Innerspeaker,” last May to great reviews with critics raving over their sun-drenched, happy-go-lucky retro guitar licks and spacey vocals. It’s quite " t-ting that they toured last year as the opening act for fellow psychedelia-tinged band, MGMT. If you enjoy rock music dipped in acid with deliriously echoey re-verb, then catch Tame Im-pala when they come to the Black Cat on May 6.
ARCTIC MONKEYS Mostly everyone interested
in alt-rock or Brit pop has heard of Arctic Monkeys. ! e British quartet gained mass appraise with the re-
lease of their debut album, “Whatever People Say I Am, ! at’s What I’m Not,” in 2006. ! eir combination of furiously fast, dance-wor-thy indie rock mixed with lead singer Alex Turner’s sometimes silly, o# en con-versational lyrics made for one of the best albums of the year. Since then, the band has released two more albums, with their third, “Suck It and See,” slated for release on June 6. ! ey’ve deviated from their origi-nal sound — their third al-bum “Humbug” taking on a slightly darker tone, with infectiously haunting melo-dies and brooding lyrics. ! ey’ve since released two new singles from their up-coming album. ! ough it’s not exactly a return to form,
“Brick by Brick” is a pop-heavy melody with a simple, catchy chorus, while “Don’t Sit Down, Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair,” has a grungy feel coupled with silly lyrics. ! e band starts their North American tour at D.C.’s own 9:30 club on May 17.
CULTS! is curiously named New
York-based twosome con-sists of Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion. ! e indie-pop duo have yet to release a debut album, but they’ve already racked up quite a bit of buzz. ! ey signed with Lily Allen’s record label (In the Name Of Records, an o$ shoot of Columbia), performed at Coachella and ruled the Internet with their sugary sweet single, “Go Outside.” Since then, the rest of the songs they’ve released have had the same atmospheric, melody-driv-
en pop, all featuring Follin’s youthful and spaced-out vo-cals. ! eir sound is almost reminiscent of ’60s pop girl groups like the Shangri-Las with less demanding or lighter vocals. ! eir album release will be perfect to start the summer o$ , mak-ing their June 10 show at the Rock and Roll Hotel all the more appropriate.
WIZ KHALIFAChances are you’ve already
heard Wiz Khalifa’s ubiqui-tous singles “Black and Yel-low” and “No Sleep” from his recently released debut album from a major label, “Rolling Papers.” Khalifa released his " rst mixtape back in 2005 and has since released nine more, consist-ently churning out stoner anthems like “Still Blazin’” and “Waken Baken.” Eve-rything came together on his incredibly popular 2010
mixtape, “Kush and Orange Juice,” with Wiz sharing his ingredients for the perfect breakfast to all his fans.
But, sincerely, there is more to the rapper than heavy marijuana references. His album is full of retrospec-tive and thoughtful lyrics from a rapper who’s been in the game for quite awhile — a# er all, ‘khalifa’ means wisdom in Arabic. Singles like “When I’m Gone” and “Fly Solo” only prove Kha-lifa’s depth and writing tal-ent. So if you’re a self-re-specting member of Taylor Gang (Khalifa’s name for his friends and fans) or a neo-phyte to the rapper’s sound, be sure to go to his July 24 show at Merriweather Post Pavilion, where he’ll be headlining a show featuring up-and-coming openers like Mac Miller, Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T. and Big Sean.
D.C.’s must-see summer shows to heat up the local music scene
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PETE’S NEW HAVEN STYLE PIZZAColumbia Heights 202-332-PETE (7383)
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! from FILM on page 13for my Islam to be small and closed.”
Considering the fact that an estimated 65 percent of the world’s Muslim popula-tion is under the age of 30, the ! lms embody a youth-ful, vibrant ethos and o" er a glimpse into a world that
is quite removed from the plucked-from-the-head-lines “angry young Arab man” stereotype — simply put, they show that subver-sive is not equal to “angry mob.” # e protagonists in the ! lms breakdance, play in indie rock bands, paint graf-! ti, throw punk rock shows and, in general, provide
quite refreshing, nuanced and trenchant answers to the question of what it means to be a Muslim.
# e 2009 Cannes Film Fes-tival Special Jury Prize selec-tion “No One Knows About Persian Cats” explores the di$ culties Iranian youth face in trying to produce
and perform rock music. It’s a breathless exposé on a cat-and-mouse game but the movie does not take on a fatalistic, cynical view. If anything, it shows that even under repressive regimes, there is a strong undercur-rent of creativity. Case in point, Iran has metal and indie rock bands, too, and
even Su! musicians who have to record their music underground.
# e D.C. Muslim Film Fest’s selections showcase both the struggles and tri-umphs of being Muslim in a modern context. # e fes-tival highlights the struggle in de! ning one’s identity
with the challenges of dis-crimination and repression while successfully raising thought-provoking discus-sions on Muslim identity.
The D.C. Muslim Film Festival’s selections showcase both the struggles and triumphs of being Muslim in a modern context.
THE WEEKAPRIL 26 — 8 P.M.
WHERE# e Passenger, 1021 7th St. NW
METROMetro Center (Red/Blue/Orange Lines)
COSTFree ($2 suggested)
WHAT’S UP# e Washington Psychotronic Film Soci-ety is a group of ! lm lovers who o" er weekly screenings of obscure, o" -beat ! lms both new and old. Darna is the Wonder Woman of the Philippines, working as an unassuming re-porter by day and ! ghting crime by night.MORE INFOwww.wpfs.org
DARNA – THE RETURN
WHERERed Palace, 1210 H St. NE
METROUnion Station (Red line)
COST$10
WHAT’S UPLAKE is an alt-rock group from Olympia with three releases since their formation in 2005. # ey’re joined by AgesandAges and # e Mean Season.MORE INFOwww.redpalacedc.com
APRIL 27 — 8 P.M. LAKE
APRIL 28 — 7 P.M.WHERE
9:30 club, 815 V St. N.W.METRO
U Street/African-American War Memorial/Cardozo (Green/Yellow Lines)
COST$25
WHAT’S UPAthens-based indie pop group of Montreal are joined by Painted Palms at the 9:30 club.MORE INFOwww.930.com
OF MONTREAL
APRIL 29 — ALL DAYWHERE
Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va.METRO
Rosslyn (Blue/Orange Lines)
COSTFree
WHAT’S UP“Burn to Shine” is an ongoing ! lm series be-tween curator Bob Weston, ! lmmaker Chris-toph Green and drummer Brendan Canty that shows what happens when eight local D.C. bands play in a vacant bungalow that is soon to be demolished.
BURN TO SHINE WASHINGTON D.C.
APRIL 30 — 8 P.M.WHERE
Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NEMETRO
Union Station (Red Line)
COST$15
WHAT’S UPAlternative rock band # e Appleseed Cast are on tour to promote the release of their latest EP, “Middle States.” # ey’re joined by A Great Big Pile of Leaves, Edie Sedgwick and Pianos Become the Teeth.MORE INFOwww.rockandrollhoteldc.com
THE APPLESEED CAST
MAY 1 — 2 P.M.WHERE
Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va.METRO
Rosslyn (Blue/Orange Lines)
COSTFree
WHAT’S UP# e Hamtdaa: Together tour highlight the Buddhist ritual dance of tsam — one of the holiest of ceremonies.MORE INFOwww.artisphere.com
HAMTDAA: TOGETHER
MAY 2 — 8 P.M.WHERE
DC9, 1940 9th St. N.W.METRO
U Street/African-American War Memorial/Cardozo (Green/Yellow Lines)
COST$10
WHAT’S UPVermont-based folk band Chamberlin are joined by Bronze Radio Return at DC9.MORE INFOwww.dcnine.com
CHAMBERLIN
I’ve heard I’m supposed to feel nostalgic about graduat-ing from college. Well, other than a deep and undeni-able longing for a few more swipes into Tenley Café and a few more games of Apples to Apples in Anderson Ter-race, I’m feeling pretty good.
With that in mind, I’d like to o! er my thanks to those who helped me through my time here at AU (in no par-ticular order):
Jen Calantone: " anks for your support, friendship and guidance these last few years. You are the rock that my journalism career will be built o! .
Ethan Klapper: " anks for sticking by us when things were tough. I can’t wait until
you’re really successful and I get to tell people, “I knew him when, and yeah, he is that smart.”
Stef Dazio: " e best news editor and friend I could have asked for. " anks for making me make you deli-cious burritos.
Lindsey Anderson: " anks for taking over. I (and all past editors) feel con# dent knowing that our baby is in good hands.
Meg Fowler, Sarah Parnass, Julia Ryan: " e original newsies! My favorite days were spent huddled with y’all (h/t Meg) in our little newsie corner.
Professor Perri: " anks for being there when I needed you, and thanks for # nding
me a designer! Most of all, thanks for letting me make my own mistakes.
Professor Hall: " anks for helping me through the beginning of my career in journalism. It’s rare to # nd professors that actually care about their students. " anks for actually caring about me.
Professor Crowe: " anks for teaching me how to ac-tually use a comma and for ripping my carefully constructed newspaper to shreds once a week. Finding an honest opinion nowadays ain’t easy.
Andrew Pergam: " anks for all your help with the College Daybreak and thanks for reading my “iPad
manifesto.” I look forward to keeping in touch.
" e Eagle sta! : " ere have been too many of you over the last three years to thank individually. Overall, I’ve never met a group of more dedicated, talented people. You have been my cowork-ers and my friends.
David Taylor: " anks for letting Eagle sta! e-mail and call you at all hours. You’re a superstar in " e Eagle o$ ce. (Don’t tell them that I told you).
Gail Hanson, Fanta Aw, Michael Elmore: " anks for … too many things to count.
Alicia Rodrigues: " anks for being there through thick and thin. I know I didn’t do much to make your life any easier. " anks for never making me feel like I should feel bad about that. You’re the best friend a new EIC could have asked for. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you over the last two years.
Karen Gerlach, Candace Marsh, Andrew Toczyd-lowski: " anks for your help
in getting " e Eagle squared away for another 85 years! I appreciated your support more than I let on.
Toni from ChesPub: I al-ways knew I had a friend to call at the end of a long pro-duction night.
Marc Tomik: " anks for being an honest advocate for " e Eagle. You brightened up Eagle sta! ’s day when-ever you stopped by to say hello. You, sir, are also an Eagle superstar.
Professors David Lublin, Allison Comins-Richmond, Alan Levine, Michael Key-nes, Simon Nicholson, Mat-thew Swibel, Richard Bene-detto: You are all, by far, the best professors I’ve had at AU. When I think back to my best days here, I will think of my time in your classes.
Kristen ‘Wallie’ Walling: Best RA ever. Your whole % oor still misses you!
Camille Lepre and Maralee Csellar: " anks for work-ing with us. Whenever a reporter would get in a jam, we felt con# dent saying “call Camille/Maralee!” So, I sup-
pose apologies are in order too …
My mother, father and brother: I am, absolutely, the luckiest person in the whole world. I’m not going to get all sappy or anything, but without your guidance and support these last four years, I would probably be … back at home. So, Mom, don’t raise your sons so well if you want to keep them home.
Dad, thanks for the pep talks when things went sour. Tom, thanks for letting me yell at you like a maniac a& er that front-page typo last fall. I love you all!
Well, now I’m feeling nos-talgic. More than 700 words of “thanks” and inside jokes don’t exactly make good copy, so, Lindsey, I’m sorry. I’m also sorry if I’ve forgot-ten anyone.
Love,Charlie SzoldGraduating editor in chief, ! e EagleSenior, School of Communication
!"#$#!$!"#$%&'()&'*++ +,
A fi nal note from The Eagle’s graduating editor in chief
CHARLES P. SZOLD — Graduating Editor in Chief
As this academic year winds to a close, it is time to evaluate those who have led our student body through the good times and the bad: the Student Government. " ough not without some drama, we can honestly say that this year’s SG has had its fair share of moments worth applauding, but it can still improve.
SG ExecutivesAs SG President, Nate
Bronstein has amazed us with his immense spirit and dedication to the job, and better yet, with the real changes he’s made this past academic year. Rather than waste time with the Under-graduate Senate, Bronstein
has worked with the Faculty Senate, Board of Trustees and President Neil Kerwin to enact real change for stu-dents, including keeping the drop/add period the same length when the Faculty Senate considered shorten-ing it.
Bronstein has also been seen everywhere on campus, from handing out Monsters to rallying together the stu-dent body when Westboro Baptist Church protesters visited AU. In addition, we at " e Eagle have appreci-ated the access he’s granted us to SG and his acknowl-edgment that we’re working together to reach the stu-dent body; we have greatly appreciated his openness.
Bronstein’s hours, energy and dedication have been unmatched, and we can only hope that President-elect Tim McBride emulates the same level of commitment.
" ough the vice president is o& en less visible role than the president, KPU, SUB and Founders’ Day Ball all fall under the realm of the SG vice president, and Maia Tagami’s o$ ce has pulled o! many of these events with aplomb this year. KPU brought in several great speakers this year, and the return of Founders’ Day Ball was a success. " ough SUB went $11,000 over budget with the Cee Lo Green event, the o$ ce was open and honest throughout the crisis, although steps should have been taken to prevent the blunder in the # rst place. (Hint, hint Vice President-elect Liz Richards). Overall,
kudos to Tagami and her o$ ce for putting on some great events this year.
Comptroller is not the most glamorous or desir-able position, but Ed Le-vandoski did a great job this year keeping his o$ ce open and accessible, as well as functioning. " e AUTO program is in good # nancial shape for next year, and the Bike Lending program is set to expand and continue its path of success. Levandoski has done a good job, espe-cially in comparison to past years, and SG will miss him dearly.
" ough the o$ ce of the secretary hasn’t had any ma-jor issues this year, the sec-retary’s job is all about com-municating the SG image to the student body, and Kent Hiebel’s o$ ce has been lag-ging behind in that regard. " ough his o$ ce put on some great events, outreach and publicity were minimal. How many people heard of the Gay-la that took place about a month ago in SIS? (Answer: Not many.) In ad-dition, regular updates and necessary repairs to the web-site seem to have fallen by
the wayside. Hiebel’s o$ ce could have done better job in keeping the student body informed and updated, and we hope Kevin Sutherland takes note of the lack of stel-lar success as he takes o$ ce next weekend.
Other important SG branchesWe would like to applaud
this year’s Undergraduate Senate for doing its job. " e Senate has made some great progress in bringing ROTC back on campus and hold-ing o$ ce hours. However, the Senate still has much work to be done in terms of diversity, recruitment and creating actual change. We can only hope that next year’s Senate gives us reason to rate them as successful, not just adequate.
" is year’s Judicial Board and Board of Elections mer-it similar comments — we would like to thank them for doing their job properly. " ough the branch usu-ally comes to light during elections or during emer-gencies, its power is great — almost too great — when such occasions arise. While we appreciate some of this
year’s procedural changes for elections (no one was thrown o! the ballot), some of the changes seemed al-most petty and unimpor-tant. (If someone wants to take the time to make such a huge chalking, let it be, come on.) Once again, we only hope that next year’s Judicial Board and BOE im-prove their record so we can regale them for their suc-cess, rather than their ability to just get the job done.
Overall, this year’s SG has been much more e! ective at creating change and getting its job done than in years past, and we would like to commend those involved for restoring student faith in an organization plagued by drama and failure in years past. As we have said, we only have high hopes for next year’s administration, and we implore them to continue the work that was started this year in creating real change and truly help-ing the student body.
A YEAR IN REVIEW
Though not without some trouble, this year’s SG has helped to restore faith in the organization
Student Government evaluations
! is letter is in response to “AU’s Green Initiatives Need to Take Root in Education. Op-Ed” (April 18, 2011).
American University can do more to educate students about sustainability and its e! orts to green the campus. However, authors Katie Alex-ander and Sean Miller — both whom I know and deeply respect — give short shri" to
the deep educational roots of sustainability already present and vibrant throughout the curriculum.
Since 1998, the School of International Service’s Glo-bal Environmental Politics program has been o! ering courses focused speci# cally on sustainability in a global context. $ e College of Arts and Sciences hosts degree pro-grams in both environmental science and environmental studies; and disciplines as var-
ied as sociology, anthropology and religion and philosophy o! er sustainability-focused courses. $ e School of Public A! airs houses the Center for Environmental Policy and provides courses in many aspects of domestic environ-mental a! airs. $ e Center for Environmental Filmmak-ing in the School of Com-munications and a number of courses in SOC focus on
media and sustainability. Ko-god will soon be rolling out a new graduate degree in sus-tainability management, and the Washington College of Law o! ers numerous courses through its Program in In-ternational and Comparative Environmental Law.
In my view, the problem isn’t a lack of sustainability o! erings on campus but an organizational structure to link the many existing ef-forts. A number of sta! and
faculty across the University have been meeting to discuss such linkage, and we hope to advance a meaningful pro-posal soon. $ e proposal will include linkages across both academic and administrative units including campus sus-tainability programs.
Alexander and Miller go further than simply calling for more educational e! orts. $ ey propose a required course in sustainability for all AU students. While I person-ally would like AU students to be literate in sustainability, I’d be uncomfortable with mak-ing this a requirement since there are genuine disagree-ments about what constitutes a sound education in sustain-ability, and, while I see sus-tainability issues as central to our current challenges, I am aware that others may not. As AU increasingly greens the campus and embodies sus-tainability, more students will see the relevance of sustain-ability studies and sign up for all the many amazing courses being o! ered.
Paul WapnerAssociate ProfessorDirector, Global Environmental Politics Program, SIS
!"#!"#$!$%&'()*+,)*-..
The problem isn’t a lack of sustainability offerings, but a structure to link the efforts.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sustainability classes already present, just need more cohesion
Referees and columnists share one thing in com-mon — they’re always pis-sing someone off. At least referees get paid. In all seriousness, I’d do it for free if I had to. (I have to.) Like any columnist, some content makes me cringe after it’s published — I wish I could revise or re-phrase — but there it lies like burnt toast: just have to live with it. And those are the better ones. They say we’re our own worst critics, and trust me, that’s saying something.
Throughout the aca-demic year, I’ve made a concerted effort to focus on campus issues. Writ-ers much better than I are readily available on news-stands across the District, and most people don’t read The Eagle for nation-al/international stories anyhow.
Some of my columns were relatively uncontro-versial, while others elic-ited a backlash that ruffled feathers all the way to the Editor-in-Chief. (Thanks for having my back, Char-
lie.) Folks who composed letters to the editor chal-lenging my opinions, I applaud. Thanks for your effort and engagement in the issue. Surprisingly, I have befriended a few of these people who might have initially believed I breathed fire or snacked on small children. It’s amazing how far a kind human interaction can go in assuaging anger or mis-understandings.
Like most of you, I’m a struggling student, pre-occupied with meetings,
deadlines, projects, papers and internships. It’s been a challenge to compose weekly columns worthy of publication, and it’s one I’ve embraced and taken seriously. I make no claim to hold all the answers nor perfect writing skills. Both are works in progress. I earnestly aim to remain malleable and open to dissenting perspectives. Some of my viewpoints you may interpret as ex-treme, although I don’t force controversy. Nothing that I’ve written I disagree with. As my published Eagle Rant can attest: Be-lieve it or not, this school is too conservative for me. Perhaps I’m not liberal as much as iconoclastic and idealistic.
The unpleasant byprod-ucts all columnists weath-er are the personal assaults and assumptions about our character. It’s the na-
ture of the beast, and I don’t take the attacks to heart. I have and will criti-cize institutions, cultures and opinions, but I refuse to invoke personal attacks. We don’t have to respect each other’s opinions, but we can always respect one another.
This summer I’ll be working for the Depart-ment of Defense. You read right, a pacifist working for the military. I accepted the offer after much delib-eration. I am looking to gain uncharted experience and a broader perspective when criticizing the mili-tary and its appendages. Perhaps those who ques-tion my credibility will note my attempt to not only see both sides, but live both sides.
Ideally, I will return to write for The Eagle next year. This is not a farewell column so much as my
gratitude for your contin-ued readership. My goal has always been to in-form, entertain and chal-lenge. Where I have failed, I hope to improve with more practice. A lot of hard work goes into creat-ing this paper before it hits newsstands (and I thank my editors and those be-hind the scenes working production). While it has much room for improve-ment (more rants, we know), I promise to con-tinue doing my best to provide quality commen-tary you find worthwhile. Thanks for reading The Eagle, have a wonderful summer. Until next year.
Conor Shapiro is a gradu-ate student in the School of International Service and a liberal columnist.
So long, farewell — a columnist’s refl ection on this year
CONOR SHAPIRO — SMARTER THAN I LOOK
I know that look people give me at 3 a.m. in the library: I’m practically dying, trying to hammer out a paper I put o! until the last night, and reach into my bag to pull out an Adderall. Despite the fact that it’s legally prescribed to me, the guy at the next table over looks at me like I’m shooting up heroin.
Why is there all this stigma surrounding Adderall? Yes, there are a lot of people out there who abuse it, take mas-sive quantities as an excuse to procrastinate or just add it to the list of drugs they’re always on anyway. But there are also a lot of people like me, who have serious ADD and can’t get through college without it.
But even I’ve been told that using Adderall is basically like cheating in school. One girl I did a group project with ranted to me that if people with ADD can have it, why can’t everyone, just to level the playing # eld? Apparently, the A I got on my midterm is cheapened because I took academic steroids.
Let me promise you, this is not giving me an unfair
advantage. In fact, ADD is a massive handicap. In high school, my parents and teach-ers gave me every single lecture they could think of on “time management” and “distraction-free workspaces” and “studying e% ciently.” But
even with all of those, I’ll still choose drawing moustaches on the people in my textbook over actually reading them.
But with Adderall, I actu-ally kind of enjoy school. It’s still hard, don’t get me wrong. When I have readings on things like, say, poststructur-alism, I still su! er through them like everyone else. $ e di! erence is that I don’t give
up like I would have other-wise. I’m not any smarter on Adderall, just a functional student.
$ at being said, recreational Adderall use is a disaster wait-ing to happen. Adderall is not a miracle drug. It makes it impossible to sleep or eat like a normal person, and your mouth tastes like you’ve been sucking on a rusty spoon. Plus, it’s pretty addictive — write one paper on Adderall and you’ll never want to go back to just Red Bull again.
Adderall is a Schedule II drug, and what people tend to forget is that those of us with ADD actually have doc-tors and psychiatrists to help us out. We need it. It sucks to admit that, and you should consider yourself lucky if you don’t have to. But for us, Adderall is an essential part of how we’re able to function in school, and there’s no reason to attach all of this stigma to it.
Emi Ru" -Wilkinson is a so-phomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and the winner of ! e Eagle’s Next Great Ranter contest.
Don’t let Adderall abuse cloud judgment of its medical uses
EMI RUFF-WILKINSON — RANTER IN RESIDENCE
Why is there all this stigma
surrounding Adderall?
/%'0'10).2
By SAM LINDAUEREagle Staff Writer
With the NHL and NBA playo! s in full swing, Major League Baseball Commis-sioner Bud Selig has been pushing for a new playo! format for the 2012 season. " e proposed format pro-vides a welcome change to baseball’s current system that has remained the same since Selig added the wild card in 1995.
First, this is a done deal be-cause the owners love it.
" is is also a great idea for the league and not just because owners will get at least two more games worth of revenue. Because there would be an extra spot for teams to compete, more fans will be coming to games that have extra meaning.
Fans should look at this as a positive step because it means more meaningful games and just another spot for your team to eek into the playo! race. " e only people one can imagine having a problem with this are fans of perennial playo! teams.
" e only thing this fan asks, is to make sure it stops here. While there is cer-tainly some great action in the NBA and NHL playo! s, there are too many teams.
So, my message to the MLB is this: Great job adding a playo! spot to make Sep-tember more exciting, but please do not become the NBA.
By SAM RAPHELSONEagle Contributing Writer
" ere has been a lot of
drama taking place out in California during the last week, as MLB Commis-sioner Bud Selig decided to take over the Los Angeles Dodgers, ousting former owner Frank McCourt for putting the team $430 mil-lion in debt. " is is all in the midst of a nasty divorce trial between McCourt and his wife, Jamie, whom was part owner of the franchise until she was # red in 2009.
What is even more unfor-tunate is how the greedy business practices of major league owners can a! ect a baseball club. But this idea of the money-hungry owner is nothing new. " ere have been owners that did great things for baseball that were never fully appreciated. " is is why I chose to dedicate this column to a discussion
of the most controversial major league owners in re-cent history, and I will begin with Mr. McCourt himself.
FRANK MCCOURT, LOS ANGELES DODGERS 2004-2011
It’s truly embarrassing to have your ownership rights stripped away, even when you did not exceed the lev-el of debt the MLB allows, which is debt exceeding 10 times the operating income. However, there were many other factors at play here. " e most entertaining one that comes to mind is when the McCourts hired a Rus-sian physicist to supposedly “channel positive thoughts toward the team,” according to the Los Angeles Times. I guess palm readings in the dugout were commonplace as well. No wonder why Selig took action to protect “the best interests of base-
ball,” as the Dodger players were being hypnotized right before they went up to bat!
But seriously, there are other reasons why the MLB has taken over day-to-day operations of the organiza-tion. Strike three for Selig was when McCourt took out a $30 million personal loan from Fox in order to meet payroll. Maybe the McCourts should not have used team funds for per-sonal expenses during those seven years, or the Dodgers might have had a chance this season.
FRED WILPON, NEW YORK METS 1986-PRESENT
You may not know his name, but unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you have heard this one: Bernie Mado! . " e name itself sounds like someone who is a leader in the ma-# a. And this isn’t far o! , as Mado! engineered the larg-est Ponzi scheme in history." e close friendship be-tween Mado! and Wilpon blinded the Mets owner, who ignored clear signs of
investment fraud as he in-vested with Mado! .
All of this came out just before the Mets opened Citi Field, which put them in even more debt. Wilpon could sell a 25 percent stake in the team just to stay a$ oat # nancially. " is is nothing but a classic example of how the money-hungry attitude of major league owners can get in the way of smart in-vestments.
GEORGE STEINBRENNER, NEW YORK YANKEES 1973-2010
" e # rst thought that pops into most people’s minds when they hear this name is “legend.” He continued the already prominent Yan-kees legacy, leading them to seven World Series cham-pionships and 11 American League pennants. Addition-ally, he is responsible for ac-quiring the main faces of the team, as well as building the new stadium that stands as a memorial to his legacy. But his tenure as “" e Boss” did not come without contro-versy, and not everyone sees him in a positive light.
He was suspended from baseball twice, the # rst for illegal contributions to the Nixon re-election campaign and the second for paying o! gambler Howie Spira to investigate Dave Win# eld. Steinbrenner had constant-ly bullied Win# eld for not producing in the postseason a% er signing him to a huge contract in 1980.
When free agency started in the MLB, Steinbrenner used it to his advantage, always going a% er the best players no matter the cost. " is sort of seems unfair to the other teams in baseball, but when you consider the millions of dollars in shared revenue that teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates receive from the Yankees, things even out. No matter what one’s opinion of Steinbren-ner is, he did revolutionize the business of baseball, for better or for worse.
!"#!"#$! $%&'!()*+
a gutsy performance in Game 4 for Portland. It’s a shame that injuries force everyone to wonder what could have been with Roy, as he was on track to become a perennial All-Star.
On a side note, Kevin McHale has been the color commentator for this series, and I love him as an NBA TV analyst. But I was con-fused when he emphasized throughout the broadcast that Portland needed to make the series 2-1 in Game 3. All this time, I always thought the plan was to lose the # rst three games of a seven-game series.
! Oklahoma City has shown they’re ready to make the jump this postseason af-ter their dismantling of the Nuggets. General manager Sam Presti has built this team brilliantly, and it’s a matter of when, not if, the " under are making a deep run into the playo! s.
! from NBA on page 20 Dodgers takeover adds McCourt to list of game’s controversial owners
TICKETS: dcunited.com/college | 202-587-5000
© 2011 MLS, All Major League Soccer properties used by permission. All rights reserved © 2011 All Photos D.C. United/Ben Keller.
DAVID BECKHAMMidfi elder – Age 35
CHARLIE DAVIESForward – Age 24
IN WITH THE
NEW.
OUT WITHTHEOLD.
D.C. United vs. LA GalaxySat. April 9, 7:30pm – RFK Stadium
COLLEGE NIGHT!D.C. United vs. New York Red BullsThu. April 21, 8:00pm – RFK Stadium$15 tickets in advance! Visit dcunited.com
READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE ONLINE
http://eagl.us/dRZHuh
Addition of playoff spot will add intrigue to MLB season
By SAM LINDAUEREagle Staff Writer
! e AU women’s lacrosse team (9-7, 3-3) ended its regular season in style by walloping the Davidson Wildcats 23-5 on Saturday. ! e victory matched an AU record for goals scored in a game, 23, which it set in its previous game against Lib-erty University.
! e game marked the worst loss of the season for Davidson (5-11, 4-3), as it allowed its most goals this season and lost by its larg-est margin. AU got o" to a scorching start by scoring seven unanswered goals. Also impressive was the fact that the goals were scored by six di" erent Eagles.
A# er Davidson was able to knock in their $ rst goal, AU responded with four more of their own. ! e two teams would alternate scores for
the rest of the half, but AU had already established its dominance with a com-manding 13-4 hal# ime lead.
! e Eagles continued the attack in the second half, as locking up this win would tie their regular-season record of nine wins. Like the $ rst half, AU started o" with a barrage of goals on Davidson’s goalkeeper Jes-sica Melby. ! e second half started with eight straight goals from AU. Sophomore mid$ elder Samantha Mar-shall scored three goals in a row during the run, and she would $ nish the day as the scoring leader with $ ve scores to match all of David-son’s o" ense for the day. ! e $ ve goals for Marshall were a career high.
! e Wildcats were able to stop AU’s goal streak with a late score from Ann Fu-cigna, who tied for the team high with two goals on the
game. ! e Eagles closed out the match with back-to-back goals from junior mid$ elder Bernadette Maher and Mar-shall for the 23-5 victory.
Davidson’s Melby had her hands full with the AU at-tack all day, as she allowed 23 goals and made just eight saves. AU’s junior goalie, Kaska Komosinski, had an easy game in net, giving up just four goals and grabbing one save. Freshman Mia Rosen came in to the game to $ nish out the last six min-utes and allowed Davidson’s $ # h and $ nal goal.
! ree other Eagles were able to notch a hat trick. Sophomore mid$ elder Chi-ara Speziale, sophomore at-tacker Kimberly Collins and Maher all scored three times against Davidson. Senior at-tacker Lisa Schaaf was one of three Eagles to score two goals in the game and led AU with four assists.
With the regular season wrapped up, AU will now play in the Patriot League Tournament.
! e Eagles have clinched the No. 4 seed in the tour-nament and will take on the top-seeded Colgate Uni-versity Raiders. ! e semi$ -nal game will take place on Friday, April 29, with the championship being played on Sunday, May 1.
!"#$%!!"#$%&'()&'*++ '*
Lacrosse caps regular season with dominant win
With the NBA Playo" s now more than a week old, here are some initial reac-tions from the $ rst round matchups:
! ! ere was a better chance of me being struck by lightning, winning the lottery and then being struck by lightning again than there was of Jared Je" ries coming up big at the end of the Knicks’ Game 2 loss. Carmelo Anthony saw the double team coming and did the right thing, passing it to the open man underneath the basket. ! e only problem was that person was Je" ries, and the error gave the Celtics full control of the series.
! ! ere’s bad, there’s really bad and then there’s the of-$ ciating in Game 1 of the Philadelphia-Miami series. ! e Heat shot 24 more free throws than the Sixers, even though Philadelphia attempted more $ eld goals within 10 feet.
I can’t remember a team that relies more on the refs than the Heat. If the o% -cials are calling it tight, why wouldn’t LeBron James and Dwyane Wade continue to take the ball to the basket and put the pressure on the referees to make calls and send them to the line? If the referees allow a lot of con-tact, the Heat turn into a completely di" erent team.
! Credit to Indiana for be-ing competitive this series. But Charles Barkley made a point on “Inside the NBA” that even though the scores are close, there’s a clear dif-ference between a 62-win team and a 37-win team, which was evident in the Pacers’ $ nal possession in Game 3.
And Indiana had to set the record for “most white guys to appear in an NBA playo" game in the 21st century.” What’s more surprising is
that one of those players is Josh McRoberts.
! I can’t emphasize how un-interested I am in the Atlan-ta-Orlando series. It’s partly because every time I think of the Hawks, I think of how they signed Joe Johnson to a six-year, $119 million con-tract. Because you know, that’s the deal you’re sup-posed to give a 29-year-old guard coming o" a terrible postseason where he called out the Atlanta fans.
As for the Magic, despite how dominant Dwight Howard has been this posts-eason, there was a telling sign at the end of Game 3. Down one point, Orlando opted to go with a Hedo Turkoglu three-point at-tempt rather than feed Howard in the post.
! It’s still amazing to me that the awkward relation-ship between O.J. Mayo and Memphis is working. Two months ago, the Grizzlies wanted to send him to In-diana of all places, and now he’s being asked to help win a playo" series.
! is series between San Antonio and Memphis is destined for seven games. In what will be their last title chance together, Tim Dun-can, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will have to get by a hungry Grizzlies team.
! ! e most shocking game of this postseason was New Orleans upsetting Los An-geles in Game 1 at the Sta-ples Center. But did I think the Hornets could ever win the series? Not a chance, es-pecially a# er realizing their No. 2 option is Carl Landry.
! ! e Mavericks continued their postseason tradition of choking in big games, and it was great to see the o# -in-jured Brandon Roy turn in ! see NBA on page 19
Observations after one week of NBA postseason play
TYLER TOMEA — SIDELINE SCHOLAR
Courtesy of AU EAGLES
WILD WINSophomore midfi elder Emily Burton helps the Eagles cradle to victory in an overwhelming win against the Davidson Wildcats. Six different Eagles scored goals, as well as a fi ve goal career high for sophomore midfi elder Samantha Marshall.
