College Presidents Unite To Lower Drinking Age. WHAT?!?

College Presidents From Across The Country Want This To Be Legal!

Yes it is true, while Kerwin has not signed on to this movement, boatloads of college presidents have. The movement, headed by a group called the Amethyst Initiative, claims the drinking age should be lowered in an effort to stop underage binge drinking. Although Mothers Against Drunk Driving yell to differ, the group has been getting tons of press including a great profile from the AP.

Amethryst in their offical statement says, “Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students… By choosing to use fake IDs, students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law.”

Amethryst boasts the signatures of around 100 college presidents including Duke, Dartmouth, Ohio State, and Tufts. As welcome week starts perhaps Kerwin will sign onto the movement along with his compatriots from Duke, Dartmouth, and Colgate, our dear Patriot League pal. Whatever stops those embarassing Sibley transports might be a good idea right?

American University Is The Winner!

American University has reclaimed its status as the most politically active school in the nation according to the Princeton Review. Beating out George Washington was no small feat but thanks to the fact that AU is way less snobby than our downtown counterparts victory in this heated election year seemed to be a given. Georgetown came in tenth, attributing their loss to other interests.

Events such as Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama helped AU take back its political crown.

Another category American placed in was “Great College Towns.” The Princeton Review apparently decided which parts of D.C. were the coolest to attend a college in. GW was ranked higher than AU and AU was ranked higher than GTown. So Foggy Bottom is better than Tenley but Tenley somehow is better than Georgetown. Although this makes no sense, the Eagle Blog recommends not arguing over it with GW kids or else they might challenge our one championship this year, not counting the Patriot league basketball championships we walked away with.

It’s Hot! How Hot Is It District of Columbia?

Dont touch the hydrants!

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts so far this summer. There will be a new editor for the Eagle Blog coming soon so stay tuned for that announcement. In the mean time this blog will continue to inform you of events and news coming from AU and DC. The news these days: IT’S HOT, REALLY REALLY HOT. Yes the district has been hit by a lovely heat wave. How bad is the heat wave? According to The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) and the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services the district is experiencing low water pressure in some parts “due to unauthorized opening of fire hydrants by residents seeking relief from the heat.” So basically, it is that hot.

This classic way to diminish summer heat has led over twenty water hydrants to be sprung open in the past three days. While WASA reports that the open hydrants were mostly in the southeastern part of the city, the urge to pop open a hydrant seems to be universal. “I want to run around in our district’s clean water when it is over a hundred degrees, so that urge has been nonstop for days now,” said sophomore Steve Rosenberg. For those less criminally inclined, here is one suggestion on how to cool down.

Photo from Flickr user Bukutgirl.

New Newseum Is Newstasic (Lame Title But True Story)

If you are looking for a fun, rewarding way to spend an afternoon check out the new Newseum museum. Located on Pennslyvania Avenue near the Capitol, the Newseum is one of the few museums you have to pay admission but also where it is worth paying. The Newseum is a 250,000-square-foot museum of news, chronicling its history going back centuries.

Upon arriving at the Newseum, one is greeted with a wall of that day’s front-pages from across the country which instantly captures your attention as you search for your own local paper. The Newseum touches upon movements and points that those who study and practice Journalism hark on constantly. One exhibit featured a tri-colored map of the globe displaying which nations had what degree of a free press. Interestingly almost every country in South America, including Brazil, was in the middle on free press. A computer display next to the exhibit had features on every country with background and explanations of why they were their respective shade of free. Another exhibit was a memorial to fallen journalists. A haunting observation taken away from that exhibit was that they had left a very large amount of space open for more pictures of dead journalists to come.

The museum’s fourteen galleries feature all types of displays and multimedia features from a interactive section with games that test your knowledge of the first amendment to a room that literally has the Berlin Wall in it. The Berlin Wall display has a four or five section chunk of Berlin Wall as well as guard tower from the wall. The exhibit will send chills down your spine as you literally are standing beside an item of such great history. Another interesting exhibit was the September 11th exhibit which featured a full wall of the front-pages of newspapers from around the globe showing their covers on September 12th. It is interesting to see what papers said and how they used images on their covers; interestingly the New York Post had a mention to war in its headline, where is your head at Rupert Murdoch???

Photo from Flickr User  WRC

Finally Finals!

Yes it has landed. Finals are here and then summer, glorious summer. For those looking to celebrate may the Eagle Blog recommend a new game called Public Safety Jumping. The game basically is chase our new Public Safety Scooters and try to hop on the back and do so without P-Safe noticing until you have landed on their safety tricycles. In other news good luck to everyone with their work and the Eagle Blog will be back in full force soon.

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

This job is available. Take it. It is awesome. If interested email me from the link on the About page.

Take On Me - Be The Next Eagle Blogger

While this blog has been a joy to run this semester, the time has come for me to announce my retirement and open the ring for all those interested to apply about taking over. As found on the Standards page, this blog exists to complement and supplement The Eagle, the printed semiweekly independent newspaper of American University. Like the paper, The Eagle Blog subscribes to certain ideas about journalistic integrity: The Eagle strives to report with thoroughness, accuracy and impartiality the news that affects the American University community and other areas of interest by maintaining a consistent, relevant, quality flow of news.

The Eagle Blog works to cover issues going on at American and in DC in a way that relates to the campus here at American. The Eagle Blog also has the unique position of being separate from the Eagle on a day to day basis. While subscribing to the same high standards as the Eagle, the Eagle Blog works separate from the Eagle staff with minimal interaction between one another. This allows the Eagle Blog to be its own voice to AU and therefore gives the campus one more outlet of information to better themselves.

If that is not too hefty of an idea for those interested, also realize that this is a great job that allows for a lot of fun to be had. The job encourages you to become better acquainted with the AU community and explore our fine city in a new light. Also linking to funny stuff is always rewarding.

All those interested feel free to contact me through the About page with a little bio, any past experience blogging, and/or any past experience writing.

Photo courtest of Flickr user cameosteph.

There Is A Hole In The Ground…And Arsenic All Around All Around

American University students walk on campus feeling safe and sound because they all know Public Safety has their backs. But who has Public Safety’s back? No one apparently. As the Eagle reported earlier this week, the Army Corps of Engineers is going to restart digging behind Public Safety to deal with metal in the ground. The area has been known to have very high levels of arsenic in the past. The Army Corps digging has been going on for fifteen years now and is set to continue for another three years at least. This near two hundred million dollar digging session seems to be getting nowhere fast. Hopefully these next few years will wrap it up and we can all stop worrying about a World War One style attack hitting campus with just one wrong swing of a shovel. In other news enjoy this video which adds a certain something to the title of this piece.

Thanks to Flickr user ♫ mare ♫ for the photo.

The Eagle Owns The Eagle Blog… SURVEY

***While the Eagle Blog trys to keep with just being a blog based around the Eagle but seperate from the Eagle, sometimes the Eagle Blog must admit it is owned by the Eagle. With that said, Tony Romm, the Eagle’s Editorial Page Editor has the following for y’all***

You’re an AU student, or perhaps you’re soon to be, so you probably know something about debt. More than likely, you’ve also worked with the Financial Aid office, maybe even to little effect.

For my final project in Writing in Convergent Media (in conjunction with The Eagle), I’m organizing a crowdsourcing investigation of student financial literacy at AU. Basically, I’m asking students to answer 23 questions about their experience with the Fin Aid office, their knowledge of debt and loans, and their concern for their financial future. The survey takes about 5 mins to complete, and anything you provide will be kept both anonymous and confidential. In addition, I’m looking for students who are brave and willing enough to share their personal financial aid stories for publications. The more information you can provide, the better, so I thank you for any help in advance.

Of course, if you have any questions, or if you’d prefer to skip the survey and just tell me your story, feel free to email me at edpage@theeagleonline.com. The article itself should be in print by late April.

Once again, thanks for any help!

Tony Romm
Editorial Page Editor, The Eagle

Photo Courtesy of Flickr user Aihibed.

President Kerwin To Resign, Eagle Blog Exclusive

President Cornelius Kerwin is set to announce tomorrow, April 1st, that he will step down as President of American University. Sources tell theeagleblog.com that President Kerwin is admitting to having squandered school funds to live a lifestyle similar to that of former school president Ben Ladner.
“This is another sad chapter in school history,” said one Board of Trustees member who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of their position. “President Kerwin has done so much for the school; sadly we just have yet to find a treasurer who can keep our school’s leaders in check, no pun intended. In all seriousness we have a major crisis awaiting us after Cornelius steps down.”

President Kerwin took over the helm of American University following the forced resignation of then president Ben Ladner who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on inappropriate expenditures including vacations at luxury hotels around the world. The disclosure of Ladner’s lifestyle led to student protests calling for his resignation and change. President Kerwin after serving as the interim president for over a year was deemed as the change AU needed to stay headed on a positive course. Sadly sources tell the Eagle Blog that after officially becoming American’s President, Kerwin quickly began abusing his powers and heading down the same path as Ladner.

While Kerwin has been just as effective, if not more so, in increasing the school’s endowment, all the schmoozing with the rich and powerful apparently led to a desire to live like the rich and powerful. Among the items bought using school funds were a house nicer than former president Ladner’s, a car with a much bigger engine than President Ladner’s, and two years of season tickets to all of Georgetown University’s Men’s Basketball home games, which cost much more than American University’s Men’s Basketball season tickets.

After a weekend of attempts, the Eagle Blog was able to reach President Kerwin for comment. “I am sorry for my actions,” said a solemn Kerwin.

“I do not know how I will even begin to apologize to this community for my actions or the actions of the Eagle Blog for writing such a cruel April Fools Day story; these actions are unfortunate and someone will take this all as legitimate. That is the real shame here I believe. With that said I have no further comment until my press conference Tuesday, April 1st. If you will excuse me I am off to drive my improperly paid for Mercedes one last time. GO EAGLES!”