TAKE TWO With the rest of the world in their native country, Canadian twins Tegan and Sara play the District. SCENE page 5
American University's independent student voice since 1925
the EAGLE
FEBRUARY 22, 2010 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 36
WWW.THEEAGLEONLINE.COM
SLIP ‘N SLIDE Students face harrowing commutes due to snow and ice page 4
EDITORIAL
SOUND AND FURY Harping on Israel’s apartheid controversy: more harm than good? page 3
SCENE CANS OF POP ART GWU’s new exhibit shows Warhol’s art beyond his famous soup cans page 7
SPORTS RUNNING AWAY Late run leads AU women past Holy Cross at home page 8
OUTMATCHED Ohio State downs women’s lacrosse in their second game page 8
TODAY’S WEATHER
HI 43° LO 35° Rain starting Monday afternoon. TUESDAY HI 45°
n
LO 32°
WEDNESDAY HI 41° n LO 30°
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Phi Sig Kap admits to charges By SARAH RUDNICK Eagle Staff Writer AU fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa received multiple sanctions by the Inter-Fraternity Council Judicial Board after the brothers of PSK admitted to the charges, according to a statement released by the IFC. “Throughout the process, [PSK has] been proactive and cooperative, and the IFC thanks them for that,” the statement reads. “During the hearing, [PSK] admitted to the charges and suggested what they believed to be fair and fitting sanc-
tions.” PSK will have the opportunity to appeal the sanctions for seven business days, according to Adam Tager, public relations chair for the IFC. It is unclear whether PSK will pursue this option. PSK had been charged with distributing a controlled substance during a recruitment event, holding an alternative event during another fraternity’s rush time, breaching social function guidelines and posting unauthorized flyers. A source informed The Eagle of the hearing’s results before the results were supposed to be pub-
lic, prompting the IFC to confirm them in a press release late Sunday. PSK was informed of IFC Judicial Board’s decision late last week. The IFC Judicial Board imposed the following sanctions on the fraternity: one-year social probation (including, but not limited to, social events with other greek organizations); no open or closed recruitment for the fall of 2010, though they may take a pledge class; full chapter participation in AU Campus Beautification Day with an additional five hours per member through AU’s Community Service Office and funding and planning a
professional speaker on responsible drinking for the spring of 2011. PSK will be allowed to have a pledge class this semester. “[The IFC was] trying to keep the judicial information until the process was over,” Tager said. “We regret that the information was released sooner than anticipated, but unfortunately we had no choice in the matter.” The decision will be enforced by the PSK’s local chapter, the IFC, the Office of Greek Life and the PSK national office. “The IFC is here to hold chapters accountable, yet we do not look
forward to doing so,” the statement said. “We look forward to moving past this situation and focusing on all of the positive aspects that greek life has to offer.” Mike Kaufman, the president of PSK, did not respond for comment before press time. Staff writer Charlie Szold contributed to this report. You can reach this staff writer at srudnick@theeagleonline.com.
Corps’ data questioned SG VP, Founders’ Day director defend actions By CHRISTOPHER COTTRELL Eagle Staff Writer
Perchlorate levels in the groundwater in and around AU are decreasing according to the Army Corps of Engineers — a claim that was met with skepticism by some community members who said that existing information is insufficient to draw such conclusions. Spring Valley residents at Tuesday’s Restoration Advisory Board meeting, where the Army Corps made this announcement, were skeptical because the Corps based their findings on readings made more than two years apart and during different seasons of the year. The Environmental Protection Agency has set the safety standard for perchlorate levels in drinking water at 15 parts per billion, according to Todd Beckwith, the Corps’ project manager for the Spring Valley cleanup. Perchlorate is a naturally occurring and man-made anion, which can cause eye and skin irritation, coughing, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, even if exposure is only short-term, according to the EPA. Fourteen samples from four wells in the AU and Spring Valley area exceed the EPA perchlorate advisory level, including one sample from a well near the Kreeger Building with perchlorate levels of 146 ppb as of June 2007 — almost 10 times the EPA standard, according to the Corps. But when the Corps took a reading at that well last November, that number was down to 50. Jeffrey Hanley, an AU alumnus and former Student Government vice president who was at the meeting, attributes this to the fact that the November sampling was conducted in the fall, while the 2007 sampling was from a summer month. “It’d be like if you took data in February and measured snow and next year you took data in July ... and declared that the amount of snow in D.C. is decreasing,” he said. Hanley also called it disingenuous of the Corps to have presented the information the way they did.
By TAMAR HALLERMAN Eagle Staff Writer
PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
GOOD NEWS? — The Army Corps of Engineers announced perchlorate levels had fallen over the last two years. Some residents denounced the findings as based on insufficient evidence.
“It’s not dishonest, and it’s not inaccurate, but you’re not presenting all the facts,” he said. “You’re taking a very narrow approach to what you’re showing people, and that’s not giving anyone a complete picture and it’s not indicative of what’s actually going on.” The groundwater investigation commenced in 2005 when 38 monitoring wells were installed to help determine contaminated areas and where groundwater is flowing, according to the Corps. A number of these wells exist near the Kreeger building, the Child Development Center and 4825 Glenbrook Rd., the site of the Corps’ “Pit
3” investigation next door to the AU President’s residence. Beckwith said claims that the Corps had tried to present a skewed interpretation of the data were taken out of context. “Generally speaking, the wells where we had concentrations of perchlorate above the EPA advisory level — those wells from ‘07 to ‘09 — the concentrations had decreased,” he said. “That’s just a fact of the data.” But Beckwith also said that the Corps’ groundwater investigation is still in the “study phase,” and they are still evaluating the groundwater in n
see WATER on page 2
In a question-and-answer session with the Undergraduate Senate yesterday, Alex Prescott, the Student Government Vice President, defended his and his team’s actions regarding the now-postponed Founders’ Day Ball. “We got everything in when [the Post Office Pavilion] asked for it, and it was circumstances beyond our control,” Prescott said. “The ball was in their court at that point.” The Ball, originally scheduled for last Saturday, was put off due to complications from snowfalls earlier this month, as well as contractual complications, The Eagle previously reported. Prescott said there are no financial ramifications resulting from the postponement aside from a $500 application fee for the Post Office Pavilion, the venue that was supposed to host the Ball. He said that AU might pursue legal action against the Post Office Pavilion to recover the fee since the site “did not hold up their end of the bargain,” Prescott said in his testimony. In a subsequent interview, Prescott said he could not comment on the situation. At press time, The Eagle could not get in touch with Student Activities Programs Adviser Jarrod MacNeil, who has helped oversee the planning of the Ball and is now handling relations with the pavilion. “At this point, it’s escalated to
a level where it has to be our professional office, especially where legal might have to come in,” Prescott said. Rodney Dyer, general manager of the pavilion, said that the planners of the Ball submitted the application and contract later than recommended. “Even without the snowstorm, they were already in a situation where they were extremely low on time,” Dyer previously told The Eagle. “If you don’t [submit the contract early] there is a good chance we won’t get back to you.” MacNeil previously told The Eagle that contract negotiations were on track when Dyer surprised them with an extra step in the process to secure the pavilion. Because of a previous incident at the pavilion where a student was stabbed, all universities must submit an application and a fee before submitting a contract. In the meantime, Prescott and Jacque Martin, the director of the Founders’ Day Ball said they are looking for other venues to hold the Ball and they are looking at a few dates in mid-March and early April. “We’re hoping because we have good relations with some of the people we’ve been working with that it shouldn’t be too difficult and that there shouldn’t be too many obstacles in the planning process,” Prescott said. During his time at the podium, which clocked in at over 30 minutes, Prescott answered extensive questions from senators, some supportive and others n
see FOUNDERS’ on page 4
Incentives offered to students studying abroad in fall By TAMAR HALLERMAN Eagle Staff Writer Many more AU students choose to study abroad in the spring than in the fall semester, according statistics from AU Abroad. This year, 84 more students studied abroad in the spring than in the fall, according to Ethan Merritt, a senior study abroad adviser at AU Abroad. In the 20082009 academic year, the disparity was even higher, with 130 more students choosing to study abroad in the spring. Nevertheless, more students are studying abroad each year, according to the figures. “Although now the trend is that more students are going abroad in the spring than in the fall, it didn’t used to be that way,” Merritt said. “In fact, for a number of years basically it was the exact opposite.” Merritt said he is not completely sure what prompted the shift, but he attributes some of it to what he calls the “election ef-
fect.” “The turning point when that changed was fall ‘08, the election semester and that’s where we saw a fairly significant drop off in the fall numbers and we had a very large spring semester,” he said. “Everyone probably wanted to be here for the Obama election.” The trend continued into this year. Merritt said it is hard to pin down the reason why students seem to prefer the spring semester or whether the trend will last. Nevertheless, this reflects a nation-wide tendency for students to choose the spring to study abroad, according to Merritt. Housing The disparity has serious implications for campus housing during the fall semester. With more students studying abroad in spring, it is difficult to house the extra students during fall semester. To address this, several departments are working together to prompt more students to study abroad in the fall to balance the
AU Abroad enrollment by the numbers
500
Enrolled Students
NEWS
400
300
200
Spring
Fall
2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 SYLVIA CARIGNAN / THE EAGLE
FALL-OUT — Since fall 2008, many more students have chosen to study abroad in the spring over the fall. SOURCE: AU Abroad.
figures. Students who choose to study abroad during fall 2010 will receive priority registration for the spring and guaranteed on-campus housing upon their return if desired, according to AU Abroad’s Web site. Merritt said balancing the figures makes it easier for departments to plan. “It makes [planning] less complicated and I think it makes things run smoother for the university as a whole if there’s more balance between semesters,” Merritt said. Executive Director of Housing and Dining Programs Chris Moody said the number of students who study abroad in a given semester has a profound effect on the amount of on-campus rooms available. “Fall occupancy and spring occupancy are two different scenarios,” he said. Housing and Dining has been tracking housing requests from n
see ABROAD on page 2