SCORSESE SCORES The revered director has earned a reputation of excellence that rubs off on his casts. SCENE page 5
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NEWS JOINING UP More students opt to join Peace Corps after college. AU a top feeder school. page 4
Contract issues, snow delay Ball By CHARLIE SZOLD Eagle Staff Writer
EDITORIAL
CONGRESS AND YOU According to Alex Priest, Congress’ communication skills need a stimulus
Contract negotiations between the Student Government and the Post Office Pavilion were on-track and the Founders’ Day Ball would have occurred on time, had D.C. not been hit by two record snowfalls last week, according to SG Vice President Alex Prescott. Director of the Founders’ Day Ball Jacque Martin, who is responsible for planning the event, said that she could not say for certain whether the Ball would have occurred on time, but believes that both she and Prescott had done everything possible to ensure the Ball’s occurrence. Friday, Feb. 5 was the final deadline to lock up the Post Of-
fice Pavilion as the site of the Ball. When the snowstorm shut down the federal government as well as AU, the deadline was missed. “When it snowed, the pavilion closed,” Martin said. “Management offices closed with the federal government; Student Activities offices closed when the school closed. We had to wait till the next Friday to decide officially to postpone it.” The Ball will be rescheduled, though the exact date is still to be determined. Nirvana Habash, an undergraduate senator with previous experience in event planning for the SG, said she supports both Prescott’s and Martin’s explanation. “It wasn’t anything they lied about,” she said. “It was, hon-
estly, the snowstorm. Moreover the [pavilion] did not respond to them as often as they tried to talk to them.” Planning events is a longer, more difficult process than many understand, Martin said. She said she has been working with the Post Office Pavilion since last semester to determine the details of the contract. Martin submitted the contract to the venue in mid-January. “We were told two weeks tops for this review process,” she said. “Our timeline was what we thought was good for what we were doing.” Furthermore, many catering halls will not sign contracts far in advance because their prices or policies may change in that time. n
see FOUNDERS’ on page 7
AARON BERKOVICH / THE EAGLE
DECISION TIME — Luke Earls (left) and Jonas Varnum (right), both members of Delta Tau Delta, exit the Inter-Fraternity Council Judicial Committee hearing for Phi Sigma Kappa. The fate of PSK was determined during the meeting, but results will not be released until later this week.
Phi Sig Kap fate decided, not yet public
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SCENE DC9 NIGHTLIFE A gem of the U Street corridor lets bands get up close and personal page 5
By SARAH RUDNICK Eagle Staff Writer
SPORTS EVOLUTION AU highlights women in sports with special event at Phil Bender page 8
ENDING THE SLIDE Wrestling ends three game slide with victory over Old Dominion page 8
TODAY’S WEATHER
HI 41° LO 26° Partly sunny with a moderate wind FRIDAY HI 42° n LO 26°
SATURDAY HI 43° n LO 26°
the EAGLE 252 Mary Graydon Center 4400 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 Newsroom: 202-885-1402 Advertising: 202-885-1414, x3 Fax: 202-885-1428 E-mail: editor@theeagleonline.com Classifieds: adbox@theeagleonline.com
FEBRUARY 18, 2010 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 35
PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
‘WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR’ — For the first time in four years, a Student Government president defeated AU President Neil Kerwin in the annual basketball shootout. “I’m devastated,” Kerwin said. MacCracken defeated Kerwin by making seven baskets in 60 seconds. Kerwin only scored six.
SG prez dunks Kerwin By MEG FOWLER Eagle Staff Writer In the fifth annual “Shootout: Battle of the Presidents,” Student Government President Andy MacCracken became the first SG President to beat AU President Cornelius Kerwin. During halftime of the AU’s home game against the Army Black Knights Wednesday night, MacCracken made seven shots in 60 seconds, barely holding out against Kerwin’s six baskets. “I’m devastated,” Kerwin said. “Andy really picked up in the middle [of the shoot-out]. I actually made my last four shots, and Andy at that point
wasn’t making any.” Kerwin said that if he had had five more seconds, the outcome would have been different. “Next year, [the contest] is going to be 65 seconds,” Kerwin said. The win was exciting but intimidating for MacCracken, he said. “I didn’t know how good he is ... He’s really good, and of course he’s never lost, so it was a little stressful,” MacCracken said. MacCracken also worried about the tens of thousands of dollars he asked Kerwin to donate to the recently approved SG Clean Energy Revolving Fund.
“I don’t know how that’s going to turn out now,” he said. Despite the nerves, MacCracken said it felt good to win. “This one’s for the students. We finally brought it back,” MacCracken said. But Kerwin is ready to play again next year, he said. “We’re going to keep doing it every year,” Kerwin said. “Until they elect a member of the basketball team as Student Government president.” You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
The Inter-Fraternity Council’s Judicial Committee deliberated over AU fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa’s pending charges Wednesday night but their decision is yet to be released to the public. PSK was informed of the decision shortly after the hearing, according to Adam Tager, IFC public relations chair. Upon inquiry, the IFC members on the committee would not comment on the issue. Coordinator of Greek Life Curtis Burrill said he thought it would be unethical to release the hearing’s results to The Eagle before the fraternity. The PSK brothers who testified were cooperative throughout the hearing, IFC President Seth Gilroy said. The IFC released the following statement to The Eagle: “[T]he Judicial Board has reached a decision in the matter of the charges brought against Phi Sigma Kappa,” it said. “At this time,
Phi Sigma Kappa is being notified. The specifics regarding the situation are not being released yet, pending notification to the Brothers of Phi Sigma Kappa and all those directly effected [sic]... As soon as the Phi Sigma Kappa is notified, the IFC will make the decision public.” The hearing was delayed by approximately two weeks due to D.C.’s recent historical snowstorms. PSK was charged with distributing alcohol during a recruitment event, holding an alternative event during another fraternity’s rush time, holding and distributing alcohol at a recruitment event not recognized by the university, breaching social function guidelines, posting unauthorized flyers and for conduct “unbecoming a fraternal organization,” The Eagle previously reported. If convicted, PSK had the potential to lose its pledge class. Check online for developments. You can reach this staff writer at srudnick@theeagleonline.com.
EagleBucks fraud occurs, not very common By STEFANIE DAZIO Eagle Staff Writer Out of the more than one million EagleBucks transactions that occur in a year, Housing and Dining Programs typically receives 10 to 20 reports of merchant misuse, according to Executive Director Chris Moody. There have been seven merchantrelated incidents reported to Housing and Dining since August, and three cases of student-to-student fraud in the past two years, Moody said. However, one particular incident occurred Tuesday at the Domino’s on Wisconsin Avenue that is not included in these numbers. The store accidentally charged $60 to a student who never actually ordered any food when someone else had fraudulently used another EagleBucks account, according to Domino’s Manager Ray Amit. The deliveryman forgot to ask for the AU ID, he said. “It’s our fault; we take the blame,” Amit said. This is the second incident in the past six months, since Amit be-
came the manager. Assistant Manager Steve Henry said he believes the drivers rarely check for identification. “I’m pretty sure most of the times, they don’t,” he said. Most merchant incidents occur because of human error, Moody said. Most problems include duplicate charges, where two swipes are registered as payment rather than just one and delayed transactions, which occur when the Internet connection is offline. Any merchants who are found to violate the Merchant Service Agreement, a private contract between individual merchants and AU, receive a letter of warning or have the agreement terminated, Moody said. Undercover test purchases are also made to ensure that a merchant is complying with the agreement. Student-to-student fraud, however, carries Student Conduct as well as legal implications, according to Moody. Two of the three incidents in the past two years were related to a room-
mate or friend stealing the AU ID card from another student and using it to make fraudulent charges, Moody said. Class of 2012 Senator Seth Rosenstein is sponsoring a Student Government bill to reduce such fraudulent activity with EagleBucks accounts, after his own account was similarly compromised last semester. “There’s been a problem on campus — it doesn’t affect many students, but it does affect some - where students’ EagleBucks accounts are being used to call in takeout orders for delivery to campus and their accounts are being used to fund the orders,” he said. “And often times, students have no idea that their accounts are being used until it’s too late.” Rosenstein’s account was charged with $147 worth of purchases to Domino’s and Satay Club. Housing and Dining eventually refunded all of the fraudulently used EagleBucks. The bill unanimously passed the Committee of Campus Life and Programming, of which Rosenstein is chairman, went to the Undergraduate Senate and was sent back to committee
for changes, according to Rosenstein. The bill currently requires delivery-people to confirm the student’s ID number upon arrival, something Moody said is already in place. According to the Merchant Service Agreement, the “merchant will verify by visual inspection that the person in possession of the EagleBucks Card is the person pictured in the photo on that photo ID card prior to accepting an EagleBucks Card payment for the delivery of goods and services.” Rosenstein said this rarely occurs to him. “I know for sure that very few times when I order for delivery do they ever check my ID,” he said. “I can think of once in the past year.” The bill also requires restaurants to keep records of the telephone number and residence location for each EagleBucks order for 90 days, as “a way to backtrack every order and figure out where the fraud is coming from,” Rosenstein said. The Merchant Service Agreement already requires merchants to keep
payment slips for no less than 365 days from the transaction date. The payment slip contains the AU ID number and transaction cost, Moody said. “Each merchant’s ordering system is different, so we would have to work with each merchant individually when their current agreement is reviewed for renewal to determine the feasibility of also keeping the telephone and residence hall for 90 days.” Domino’s keeps the receipt, signature, ID number, telephone number and residence hall for every EagleBucks-funded order forever, Amit said. “You can go back five years and still find out,” he said. The records are never erased. For Tuesday’s alleged theft, Amit said the telephone number is on record. The perpetrator should be easily identified “if his phone number is not a stolen phone.” The last section of the bill requires the creation of a committee of university officials and students n
see EAGLEBUCKS on page 6