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AU offers swine flu vaccine
EDITORIAL
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SCENE MAD HATTER ‘Wonderland’ takes on new colors in Syfy mini series page 7
SPORTS VICTORY Men’s basketball claims first win over crosstwon rival page 8
PRIVATE IS PUBLIC Sports stars need to know they don’t have private lives page 8
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DECEMBER 3, 2009 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 27
KELLY BARRETT / THE EAGLE
SWINE LINE — Members of the AU community wait for the swine flu vaccine at a clinic run by the Student Health Center on Dec. 1 in the Mary Graydon Center. The Health Center has vaccinated over 2,000 people in its two daylong clinics and plans to hold another clinic on campus within the next two weeks.
By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer An estimated 2,000 AU students, faculty and staff have received the swine flu vaccine at the Student Health Center’s two recent clinics in the Mary Graydon
Center, according to Dan Bruey, Health Center director. The university expects another shipment of the vaccine in the next two weeks, Bruey said. The number of doses AU receives depends on the District’s distribution to other local colleges and universi-
ties, Bruey said. So far, AU has received higher numbers of the vaccine than other D.C. universities, he added. About 1,100 members of the AU community were vaccinated at the first clinic on Nov. 20 and about another 900 people were vacci-
Transfer student finds balance at AU By SARAH PARNASS Eagle Staff Writer Julian-Israel Canizares, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, always dreamt of attending a military academy — that is, until he actually went to one. Canizares spent his freshman year of college at the United States Coast Guard Academy. In addition to schoolwork, Canizares said first-year students were required to participate in military training, athletics and engagement with upper classmen that included memorizing arbitrary pieces of information to be repeated on demand. Canizares was also involved in extra curricular activities like the glee
club. By the middle of the year, Canizares found all his endeavors were catching up with him. “I was having a lot of difficulty juggling academics and military duties,” Canizares said. “I’m much more of a one-track, focus on one thing and really get-it-done [person] than multitasking [oriented].” As Canizares’ grades and athletic performance continued to suffer, an adviser told him that he was in danger of losing his scholarship and his place at the academy. “It came down to ‘you’ve got to make a decision as to whether or not you’re going to stay at the academy,’”
Canizares said. That is when Canizares made the decision to transfer to a new school. In last week’s profile of an upset student who is planning to leave AU, sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences Jack Eichner found the university had not met his needs as a student. Eichner and Canizares are part of a large group of students who rethink their college choice. In 2005, 7.1 percent of freshmen at 4-year colleges planned to transfer to another school, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Like Eichner and Canizares, these students wanted to n
see TRANSFER on page 4
Students 18+ can rent cars for university travel By JULIA RYAN Eagle Staff Writer AU student clubs and organizations will have more travel options besides AUTO vans next semester, when Avis Car Rental expands rental services to 18-year-olds for university-sanctioned travel, according to Student Government President Andy MacCracken. Effective Jan. 1, clubs at AU can rent cars from the Avis Car Rental office at 4400 Connecticut Ave., near the Van Ness Metro stop, for use by their student club or organization. Students can rent any car on the Avis lot, including a 12-passenger vehicle; AUTO vans can currently only hold up to 10 people for insurance reasons, according to MacCracken. MacCracken said that he has been working on the Avis rental car contract over the summer and for most of this semester with the AU administration. Hallie Porter, who is in charge of
contracts and purchasing for AU, negotiated with Avis over the rentals and secured the contract a few days ago. Porter said that AU originally reached out to several car companies about expanding AU’s car rental services, but Avis had the best pricing. “Avis rental car provided us with an agreement that not only approved 18-year-old drivers, but also with aggressive pricing,” Porter said. “Avis rents only by the day, week or month. Hourly rentals will be left to Zip Car and Flex Car.” Rentals will be $36 per day for a compact car or $101 per day for the 12-passenger van. Clubs and organizations will be paying for rental fees out of their own club funds, according to Porter. MacCracken said that this new Avis rental car contract would end the limitations that many clubs and organizations have in regards to where they can travel.
“AUTO sets it so that you can’t travel with their vans out of a 50-mile radius,” MacCracken said. “If you are an AU organization, and you have to go somewhere where AUTO has limitations, this [Avis car rental program] would be a great service.” MacCracken said that use of Avis rental cars will be limited to just clubs and organizations for now, though greek organizations will get access to the car rentals at some point next semester. MacCracken is also working with the Athletics Department to get car rental access for club sports. It remains to be seen whether the lowering of the car rental age to 18 for AU students using Avis cars will affect the SG’s ongoing project to lower the Zipcar rental age to 18, according to MacCracken. He said that there are no new developments on lowering the Zipcar age right now, but the SG will be working on this project next n
see CARS on page 2
nated Dec. 1, Bruey estimated. Additional students, faculty and staff received the vaccine Wednesday afternoon at the Washington College of Law. The line for the first clinic stretched out the door of MGC, down the stairs between MGC and the Battelle-Tompkins Building and across the Main Quad to the steps of Hurst Hall. The clinic opened around 8:30 a.m., earlier than its scheduled 9 a.m. opening. Russell Reichers, a sophomore in the School of International Service, got in line at 8:30 a.m. at the top of the steps next to MGC for the first vaccine clinic. He said he knew a few people who had swine flu and thought he had a moderate chance of getting it himself. But he got the vaccine because his parents wanted him to get it. For the second clinic, there was a small line of people waiting for the 10 a.m. opening. Bruey was a little surprised there was only a short line for the second clinic, but probably “people were not as nervous” about the vaccine, he said. “Either students are too busy or they’ve decided they’re not going to get the vaccine for whatever reason; they don’t feel they’ll get sick, they’re taking their chances, you know, that type of thing,” Bruey said. “Or people might just think, ‘I’m not aware of it, there may be apathy ... I’d rather work on finals or projects or the end of school than to deal with that.’” Some students, like Alexa Desko, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, chose not to get the
swine flu vaccine because of its possible side effects. Desko got the seasonal flu vaccine, and she feels she has already been exposed to swine flu, she said. “I’ve been making sure to take vitamins or taking care of myself so I don’t think that I’m as at risk as other people, so I’ve just been trying to use alternative ways to stay healthy,” she said. Desko said she knows people who have had swine flu who have told her having the disease is “not too bad.” “I’m not that worried about it,” she said. “I think it’s a lot of hype.” Desko said her friends were sick for only a few days. However, Bruey said it is important for people to receive the swine flu vaccine since serious complications, such as pneumonia, can result from the H1N1 virus. So far, no students have reported adverse effects of the vaccine, Bruey said. A few students have reported redness around the shot area, yet that is normal, he said. Mike Rourke, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, is also choosing not to get the vaccine, although he got the seasonal flu vaccine. Rourke said he does not have a pre-existing medical condition so he felt the swine flu vaccine was not necessary. “If [swine flu] is only going to bother me for a couple of days, I’d rather take the chances than get a vaccine I don’t really trust,” he said. You can reach this staff writer landerson@theeagleonline.com.
Pittsburgh mayor looks to tax students Tuition rate determines tax amount By MEG FOWLER Eagle Staff Writer As budgets across the country are strained by the pressure of the economic climate, some cities are starting to think about taxing the student population attending universities located in those cities — a practice which is likely to spread should it pass, according to an expert from the American Council on Education. The mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, is exploring a tax on students dubbed the “Fair Share Tax.” It would add a 1 percent tax onto college tuition. Pittsburgh contains seven colleges and universities with 100,000 students who do not pay to use city services, according to a press release on the mayor’s Web site. The tax would raise $16.2 million in a year for the city, the press release said. “Every day, public safety and public works personnel are providing core services to the thousands of students in our city,” Ravenstahl said in the statement. “Whether it’s a building inspector called out to a rental property, or public works crews picking up students’ garbage, it all adds up to costing city taxpayers.” D.C. has 12 colleges and universities, which thousands of students attend each year, according to the College Board Web site. Should an identical policy be implemented in the district, AU undergraduate students would be obliged to pay $344.56 per year in taxes, based on one percent of this year’s tuition rate at AU, which is $34,456. The AU tuition
rate changes year to year, and it has gone up annually at least since 2003, according to the AU Annual Reports on the university’s Web site. While Ravenstahl does not think it fair for “working people ... to shoulder this burden [of public services] alone,” Jackie Schumacher, a graduate student in the School of International Service, said such a tax would not be fair to college students because studying is not their occupation. “If you’re generating money for the economy it should be taxed, but if you’re not making money [you] shouldn’t be taxed,” Schumacher said. Junior in the College of Arts and Sciences Laura Harris said she does not think such a tax would be a good idea for D.C. because students are not the only people in the city who use its services and resources without being taxed. “There are a lot of people who come to D.C. that don’t live here that use resources all the time,” Harris said. “I just think that’s not fair to students and their parents to have to pay more than they thought they would have to pay here at schools ... AU is already expensive.” Ravenstahl is not the only mayor considering dipping into students’ wallets. In April, the mayor of Providence, R.I., David Cicilline, proposed a fixed tax of $150 per semester for students at schools including Brown University and Providence College, according to an article in USA Today, even though those schools have voluntarily donated to the city government for the past six years. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s office did not return calls to say whether a similar tax is planned for university students in the District. You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.