the Eagle Weekend Edition
Tuition to increase by 3 percent pg. 2
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NEWS
theEAGLE MARCH 6, 2015 theEAGLE January 30, 2014
Rally on quad kicks off fight against increased tuition By Jordan-Marie Smith “This University has, over many Sophia Wirth said she recognizes The Board of Trustees approved Sine said. a 3 percent tuition increase for The University Budget years, has built financial reserves that tuition increases are necessary, fiscal year 2016 and a 3.5 percent Committee advocated for a 3.5 to 4 and a balance sheet that has some but worries about current and increase the year after at its biennial percent increase in tuition, but the real strength,” Sine said. “And we’re incoming students who will have to discussion of the budget on March Board was able to lower the increase fortunate, in an era when colleges shoulder the burden. “Any increase increases an 6. for the first year of the cycle by are finding it impossible to keep The tuition increase for next using money from the University’s operating, that we have that strength already significant burden on students, in terms of cost of year is a slight rise compared to the financial reserves, according to Sine. to call on.” “We used our rainy day fund on attendance and, like, paying to go to previous 2.95 percent increase that Unspent revenue from previous affected the 2014-2015 school year. years, as well as profits from a sunny day. — Jeffrey Sine, chair of school here,” Wirth said. “There’s a lot of strains and investments and returns, make up Board of Trustees Click Here for Student Government President stresses on the budget of any AU’s financial reserves. the Rest Of the Story university, and at the same time there’s a lot of demands,” Board of Trustees Chair Jeffrey Sine said. C on s i d e r at i on s from the University Budget Committee, comprised of faculty, students and staff, were taken into account before the Board of Trustees From left to right: Jack Cassell, Provost Scott Bass, Chair of the Board of Trustees Jeff Sine, Chief Financial Officer, Vice President and Treasurer Doug Kudravetz met Friday morning, and Vice President of Student Life Gail Hanson answer student media questions during an interview on the new budget. Photo: Courtesy of ATV
Rally on quad kicks off fight against increased tuition Members of student activist groups Fossil Free AU and Education Not Debt rallied on the quad on March 2 with other students in protest of a potential raise in tuition that the Board of Trustees will vote on March 6. The coalitions ended the rally with a march to President Neil Kerwin’s office to present a banner signed by indebted students. The event kicked off a week of activities aimed at placing pressure on the Board of Trustees. “I am here because I am angry,” Clare Verbeten, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, said into a megaphone. “I’m angry about the
financial burdens AU has placed on my family. I am angry about the stress they’ve caused us. I’m angry about the lack of empathy they have shown, not only for me, but for too many of my friends and colleagues at this school.” The direct-action student coalition Education Not Debt began last semester in response to a vote on increases in tuition happening this Friday. Around 100 students gathered on the quad, where students shared their stories about crippling debt from college loans. Rebekah Frank, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is not a member of either student
group that made up a majority of the crowd, but came to campus two hours earlier than usual to be a part of the protest. “I am out here partially because I am a first-generation college student,” Frank said, as protesters chanted around her. “And every time I go home there’s a conversation of like, ‘how are we going to afford next year?’” Anna Sutton, a third-year student in the Global Scholars program, is a veteran organizer from Fossil Free AU. Sutton spoke to the crowd about her struggles to find the money to pay for her last year of education. “I am fed up with a system that’s
supposed to support me, making me feel like I am irresponsible for trying to rise above the financial limitations of my childhood.” Sutton said. “I am not a loan.” At the end of the rally, the protesters presented a banner with handwritten messages about student debt to Meg Clemmer, the assistant to the office of the President, who represented Kerwin since he was not in his office. By Sam Bermas-Dawes Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
3
SCENE
theEAGLEJanuary MARCH 6,30, 2015 theEAGLE 2014
Sticky Fingers Bakery puts a modern spin on classic sweets By Lauren Staehle
If there is one thing Washington, D.C. doesn’t need, it’s another cupcake shop. You can currently walk down M Street in Georgetown and find approximately six different versions of a red velvet cupcake. Depending on whether you want to stand in line at Georgetown
Cupcake, cozy up with the students at Baked & Wired or pretend you are on the west coast at Sprinkles, each shop makes it clear that cupcakes are here for a while. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
AU staff member lands moment in the Super Bowl By Jean Vozella
When Christina Floriza appeared in a commercial for the NBC4 Washington news station on Jan. 15, she had no idea that it would be airing on TV before the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show only a few weeks later. “It was intense, but I had no idea it was because of that,” Floriza said. “I thought that maybe this was just the high energy type of production that they do.” Floriza, who received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in philosophy from AU, currently works in the AU Library creating educational technology pieces to supplement classes as the Technology Coordinator for the Division of Research, Teaching, and Learning. She returned to acting just a few years ago when she started studying at the Washington Improv Theater. From there, Floriza started to take more serious acting classes while also searching for work. Ever since
she was a child, she has participated in some form of performing art, she said, and now acts part-time. There has been an increase in the availability of acting roles in the D.C. area over the past several years. The popularity of shows like “House of Cards” and “Veep” has opened up many acting opportunities in Washington D.C. In fact, Floriza has appeared in background roles on both shows. “There wasn’t that big of that kind of a performing arts presence for film and television until relatively recently,” Floriza said. She acted in her first commercial last April for a Maryland car dealership. Floriza said she met numerous casting directors and learned the ropes of production over the years, landing her the chance to audition for the NBC ad, her first speaking role. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
FREDDY RODRIGUEZ/THE EAGLE
OPINION
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theEAGLE January 30,6,2015 2014 theEAGLE MARCH
Staff Editorial:
Tuition is an important, complex issue that deserves more nuanced discussion
Instead of taking the tempting This is a rewrite of a previous Staff Editorial on the topic bait by going after SG on this isof tuition that has since been removed from our website sue, we needed to focus on how decisions, made by the Unifor factual inaccuracies. We wanted to rewrite this article these versity Budget Committee, Presibecause we have a lot of thoughts on the tuition process, dent Neil Kerwin and the Board of and instead we wrote an article on the politics of the situa- Trustees, affect students. Many of us tion and turned it into a misguided personal attack. Every- have known people who have had leave AU because they could no one at this school pays tuition, and we feel that we need to to longer afford rising tuition. AU has speak out on this important topic. a reputation as a school so expensive that only well-off students can attend, and raising the tuition only Tuition is a hotly contested is- rises higher than they can pay. further limits the socioeconomic sue at AU. It is also a complex and In our last staff editorial on this diversity of the student body. nuanced topic, with no clear right topic, we naively focused our critiJust because we acknowledge and wrong answer. Inflation is in- cisms of the process that determines these facts, it does not mean that evitable, but students’ incomes do the new budget on Student Governanyone involved in the budgeting not always rise with inflation. The ment Comptroller Abby Dunn, who process is a bad person or has any school is investing heavily in new in reality is trying to represent the intention of harming students. On construction, but some students students’ wishes as a member of the the contrary, it is likely that everywill not be able take advantage of University Budget Committee. one is not only trying to keep costs those opportunities if their tuition
Letter from the editor:
down as much as possible, but is also attempting to ensure that we will continue to enjoy great new facilities and programs. This issue is not one that can be unraveled overnight and certainly not by the Eagle staff. We understand that SG is doing everything in its power to represent the students. By joining the Education Not Debt Coalition, SG showed that its members are passionate about keeping tuition as low as possible, while also being realistic by proposing a 2.7 percent increase (which would be the lowest increase in the last decade). Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
We made a mistake
The Eagle staff apologizes for the publication of a factually inaccurate staff editorial By Heather Mongilio I made a mistake, and I want to apologize for it. If you clicked on this page previously, you saw The Eagle’s staff editorial about tuition and Student Government. I have retracted this editorial due to factual inaccuracies. The Eagle staff does not take retraction lightly. It means that we have failed the first tenet of the Society of Professional Journalist’s Code of Ethics. We did not seek truth and report it. Student Government Comptroller Abby Dunn does not sit on the Board of Trustees, as we said in the previous editorial. The only student
member is Joe Ste.Marie, and he is non-voting. Dunn sits on the University Budget Committee. In the staff editorial, the staff also criticized Dunn and SG for not advocating for what the students want without providing evidence that this was the case. The Eagle staff could not say if Dunn advocated a tuition freeze to the committee, because we did not sit in on those discussions. Retracting the article is the first step in correcting our mistake, but it does not absolve us of guilt, nor does it earn back your trust as readers. As The Eagle’s editor, I want to
personally apologize for publishing an editorial that was not fully grounded in fact. I also want to apologize to Dunn for criticizing her performance on the University Budget Committee without supporting our arguments with facts. Most importantly, I want to apologize to you, our readers, for breaking your trust in The Eagle. When you read the paper, in print or online, you expect to read articles that contain the truth. When you read staff editorials and opinion-editorials, you seek to find opinions that are backed up with facts. By publishing this particular staff editorial,
I placed that trust in jeopardy. I hold the staff to high standards, and we are constantly working to make sure what we publish is factually accurate. The staff editorial is The Eagle staff ’s only opportunity to express opinions about the topics we report on. As the editor, I failed when I allowed this piece to be published, and there was no excuse for it to be put on the site. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
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SPORTS
theEAGLE January 30, 2014 theEAGLE MAR. 4, 2015
Men’s Basketball loses final game of regular season in heartbreaker By Austin Sternlicht
The Patriot League Tournament is a wondrous time of the year, where regular season records are left at the door and the only thing that matters is the game being played right now. In a tense battle of willpower and determination, the No. 6 seeded AU Eagles upset No. 3 seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks, 68-62. After ending the Mountain Hawks’ season, the Eagles will continue on their voyage to defend their Patriot League championship, March 8, by way of Hamilton, New York, to face off against No. 2 seed Colgate Raiders. In a game where the importance of every possession is magnified, the Eagles veteran core proved calm under pressure. Junior guard Jesse Reed, delivering one of his best performances of the season, led all scorers with 24 points, snatched five rebounds and nabbed a season high three steals. Junior guard, playing center, Marko Vasic recorded his first career double-double, finishing the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Click Here for the Rest Of the Story
SAT MAR 07 W LACROSSE at Boston U. 1 P.M.
SUN MAR 08 M BASKETBALL TBA TBA Patriot League Semifinals
BRYAN PARK/THE EAGLE Game shot of junior guard Jesse Reed from Feb. 28 game against Bucknell
Women’s Basketball earn PL award trifecta The Patriot League women’s basketball regular season champions have another trophy to add to the case, or rather three. The Eagles claimed three of four major Patriot League awards on Tuesday Mar. 3. Senior point guard Jen Dumiak earned Patriot League Player of the Year while fellow senior guard Shaquilla Curtis was tapped as Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. Head coach Megan Gebbia, reigning Patriot League Coach of the Year, secured her second consecutive Coach of the Year award. The Eagles also placed
Upcoming Games
three players, Dumiak, Michelle Holmes and Arron Zimmerman on the All-Patriot League team. The All-Patriot League teams and major awards are voted on by the head coaches within the Patriot League and are prohibited from voting for their own team, player, or themselves. Dumiak exceeded expectations this season by being named Player of the Year and being chosen unanimous First-Team All-Patriot League honoree. In the Patriot League women’s basketball preseason poll, Dumiak was voted preseason all-
league, but Army junior guard Kelsey Minato was pegged as preseason Player of the Year. At regular season end, Minato led the league and ranked 10th in the nation with 22.3 points per game, however Dumiak stats prove her to be a more complete player.
By Jennifer Reyes Click Here for the rest of the story