The King Is Dead. Long Live King Kerwin.

If anyone saw President Neil Kerwin walking the halls of the Mary Graydon Center today they may have noticed a slight grin on his face. After holding the reins of the school for some time as Interim President, Kerwin will finally get the pomp and circumstance he earned some time ago Friday. A day full of events awaits students, staff, and faculty alike, with the inauguration taking place at 11 a.m. and concluding with the Founder’s Day Ball and Inauguration party taking place at the Italian Embassy Friday night.

Friday’s events and festivities will finally close the ugly chapter that former president Ben Ladner, or rather his wallet, caused AU. Aside from Ladner’s down fall, in many ways this school became a more legitimate top national school during Ladner’s time at AU. During Ladner’s time as President, our endowment skyrocketed up as did applications and test scores of those applying. Hopefully Kerwin can continue the legacy Ladner had left prior to his mishaps; so fair so good though so let us keep our fingers crossed and heads in the books. With any luck President Kerwin can take it from here. Congratulations and party hard Cornelius, you have earned it.

American Drops Big Bucks For Ball Drop

Because American does not have enough students from the New York City area, the university has rented time on the CBS Super Screen in Times Square. The university reports that the ad will be seen by the millions of people who visit Times Square from December 18 until January 1. The ad runs twice an hour, for eighteen hours a day, so if you are living in the New York area and really miss school, hurry on down to Times Square before the ball drops and our ad rental runs out.

For all of us who don’t come from the New York area, the Super Screen ad should come as no surprise. American has especially poor name recognition in the South, Mid-West, Southwest, and the West Coast so logically an ad in Times Square would not help attract students from outside of the New York area to the great American University. In this way American will just continue being a diverse college, with a surplus of students from the Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey area and a handful of students representing the rest of the United States.

HOLY SHIT LASER TAG IN BENDER! (UPDATED)

 Update: Jeff Hanley of the SG said the following on the Jolt.

“The first round will begin at 7 PM. It will be 5 on 5 throughout the night. The event is free, you have to swipe your AU ID at the fitness center to enter the gym. Advice Before Coming: Try to group yourself with a team of 5 or 10 friends, it will help you start playing a lot faster.”

If this really happens, it’ll be the best moment of my life at AU. All I know is that this (facebook link) showed up on my newsfeed and I freaked out big time. So far, no reports on the Daily Jolt or the SG website, but surely there are more details to come. The event says that it’s the Tuesday after thanksgiving break, from 7:30 to 9:00. Have class or work? Might have to call in with sickness—laser sickness.

photo courtesy of flickr user Mike McCallum

Happy Halloweenie!

Leave a comment about your favorite costume you see this weekend of all hallow’s eve. Be safe, and don’t slip in the rain!

Public Safety Blue Light Tests

According to the Student Government website, the SG helped public safety do timed tests for the newly installed blue safety lights. Presumably, the first times are how long it took public safety to respond to a light sending them an emergency signal and then how long it took for the second responding officer to arrive. Remember, these new lights are supposed to be a vast improvement over the old ones. Here are the times:

Nebraska Hall Parking Lot: 7:00:00/7:45:00
Sports Center Garage (Level 7): 3:10:00/3:10:00
Main Quad (Near 9/11 Memorial): 5:47:00
Main Quad (Near Ward Circle Building): 2:00:00
Leonard Hall (Red Phone): 2:27:20
Nebraska Parking Lot: 1:29:35/ 2:16:35

I’m not really sure what the best way to interpret these numbers is, but I know I wouldn’t feel that good if I just moved into Nebraska Hall. And one would assume that the officers in these trials new they were being timed and were really making an effort. God forbid, if you are about to be assaulted or robbed and you use the blue phone, will it really matter who gets there 5-7 minutes later? Maybe. Also, why did it take five minutes to get to Ward but only two minutes to get to the 9-11 memorial? They aren’t exactly a three minute walk apart from each other. An exactly two-minute response time seems suspicious. For such a small campus, this seems like a really important thing to work on.

photo courtesy of flickr user pbo31

AU Fashion Has Its 15 Minutes of Blog

So today, local fashion blog Project Beltway featured the Men of American University today. The post on females is on the way. AU alum Rachel Cothran is featuring the school in a series on DC schools. In describing AU fashion, Cothran writes:

More often than not, AU students choose comfortable, casual clothes. The students dress with a nod to current styles and trends, which trend toward preppy looks, but rarely do students get really adventurous. Clothes are rarely envelope-pushing. Everyone’s focused on other things: school, friends, clubs, internships.

I guess that’s true for the most part. She showed five guys, including Joel Gardner, the now infamous Karl Rove mooner. Cothran isn’t mean to any of the guys, but the comments didn’t hold anything back. Sad AU Grad writes ” This is so sad … you always hold out hope for the women of AU that the boys (used intentionally) will eventually get a clue. Nope – still the same malnourished, emo – looking locker dwellers.”

And DC is certainly not Brooklyn, but there are plenty of great fashion blogs that are worth checking out. There’s at least Pandhead, Brightest Young Things, Eightyeightdc, DC Culture and Fashion, Listopad, Do You Fashion, DC Pleats, and Ballerina Flats. AU students are certainly no stranger to these sites.

photo of The Eagle Arts Co-Editor Mia Steinle courtesy of Panda Head.

AU NYT Essays Cynical of College Experience

So, the New York Times had a College Essay Contest recently. Of course, someone from Yale won. Cool, whatever. However, they have posted all essays, including two from AU! Freshman Abby Wihl wrote this essay about how today’s college experience is different because we are so pressured we can’t express sincere emotions:

So even if I wanted to spend my time getting inebriated, sexed out, high on hallucinogens, arrested at a protest, or in a game of whose philosopher’s ideas can top whose. I just can’t afford it.

And Gareth Smail, who used our former “Most Politically Active” status to say that the college experience isn’t gone, it’s just been redefined:

Though this evolving curriculum may be a loss, our changing needs are not. In high school, I cut my hair into a Mohawk, pierced my own ear, and covered my clothes in political patches. I enthusiastically supported arguments I couldn’t defend, screamed hackneyed slogans at politicians from the street, and experienced much of the freedom kids had to leave home for 40 years ago.

Now, I want a career. Is this to say that I am not still young and passionate? It is true that I have felt pressure to get internships and jumpstart my adult life, but I have also lost all sense of time in intense classroom discussions, sledded in the first snow on stolen cafeteria trays, invested everything into unhealthy relationships. I am still young and this experience has been mine. I could certainly be a different person if it were to disappear.

It’s interesting to see these local perspectives about things we all think about.

The Breastival: Breastivus for the Rest Of Us

Summer nights indeed. Tomorrow is the third annual Women’s Initiative Breastival. According to Director Vanessa Mueller on the SG website, the event is the “annual health and empowerment fair to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness month.” It takes place from noon to 5 on the quad tomorrow. There are all sorts of exciting events planned, including “free food, games, music, a dunk tank and much more.” Sounds about right. And later, Elizabeth Edwards, the outspoken wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, will speak at 8:15 in Bender. Edwards, herself a survivor of breast cancer, is sure to be a dynamic speaker.

As a junior, the Breastival has always been part of my experience here. At a campus so involved and active, especially one with our 65/35 female to male ratio, the Breastival fits in perfectly. Women’s Initiative is coming up big this year with the planned Women’s Resource Center so it’s natural to expect a lot of things from tomorrow. Feel your breasts AU!

Vote or…?

Well, it’s time to vote again on AU. There’s a simple system; it can be done quickly and easily through the online portal we do everything on. But what are we supposed to vote for? That’s not so simple. The system that “governs” us students is a complicated formation of councils and government branches. And because it’s so complicated and rotates so often, we students must vote often. For the council candidates, click here. For the senate candidates, click here.

Voting has been open since this morning and goes until 5 tomorrow. There’s been a lot of back and forth in the Jolt and even The Eagle, but it’s not really clear why you should vote for any them particularly. They’ve all got facebook groups, chalkings on the quad, and ridiculous promises I’m sure.

photo courtesy of magandafille