The Weekend Edition 10-3-14

the EAGLE Weekend Edition

Students take New York p. 2

NEWS

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AU students journey to NYC for People’s Climate March

By Alejandro Alvarez Eagle Staff Writer More than 180 AU students journeyed to New York City on Sept. 21 to participate in one of the largest climate marches in history.

The students marched through midtown Manhattan in the People’s Climate March along with more than 310,000 people, according to an estimate put out by event organizers. The event was timed to coincide with the commencement of the 69th United Nations General Assembly and a special gathering of climate experts and world leaders called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, according to event organizers.

Many AU students traveled to New York hoping the sheer volume of the rally would spur the change they believe the world needs. Climate change, some students said, is an issue that is now more urgent than

ALEJANDRO ALVAREZ/THE EAGLE

By Zoe Morgan Eagle Staff Writer

S AU students line up for the People’s Climate March in New York City on Sept. 21.

ever and a journey several hundred voices heard, especially the younger miles northward wasn’t going to generation.” stop them.

“We’re seeing the effects of global warming more and more, that’sofwhy Photo courtesy Stephen MelkisethiClick Here for the I’m here today,” Zachary an/Flickr Blaifeder, Rest Of the Story a junior in the School of Public Affairs, said. “We need to have our

SG advocates for greater mental health awareness Photo courtesy of Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr

By Alexandra Morrison Eagle Staff Writer The Student Government Undergraduate Senate voted unanimously Sept. 28 to pass a new initiative that advocates for a larger focus on mental health issues and services available to students on campus.

Jasmine Nadim, senator for the Campus At Large, is a sponsor of the resolution, which she said she

Transparency need in AU budget process

hopes will help to inform students about mental health resources on campus.

This resolution allows for us to have more concentration on letting the student body know what mental health resources are available,” Nadim said. “I strongly believe that mental health awareness is vital to a happy and healthy community.”

The counseling center offers a variety of mental health services to students, including consultations, crisis interventions,

“It’s really important that we let people know about the counseling center and let the counseling center know that we’re there for them.”

group counseling and self-help resources, according to the American University Counseling Center’s website. Counseling is confidential and free of charge to all students.

“It’s really important that we let people know about the counseling center and let the counseling center know that we’re there for them,” Nadim said.

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tudents called for greater transparency surrounding AU’s budget process, including financial aid and the endowment, at a town hall hosted by the Student Government on Sept. 29.

“The budget has varying levels of transparency,” SG President Sophia Wirth said. “Parts of it are pretty transparent, other parts are not.”

SG held the town hall to help determine what issues students care about, so SG can be accurate representatives of the University, Wirth said.

The University is in the process of creating the budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. SG works with the AU administration and Board of Trustees to represent and advocate for student interests during the budget process.

The University Budget Committee will create budget formulation criteria, which will be approved by President Neil Kerwin and then submitted to the Board of Trustees at the board’s November meeting. The committee will then develop detailed budget proposals, to be submitted to the Board of Trustees at its March 2015 meeting.

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Bentzen Ball Comedy Festival

By Alexandra Morrison Eagle Staff Writer

The third edition of the Bentzen Ball Comedy Festival, presented by the online magazine and event promoters Brightest Young Things, will be serving up laughs from Oct. 1-5 at seven venues throughout D.C. This year, more than 30 out-of-town comedians and 20 local comedians will perform 11 shows at various venues ranging from the Kennedy Center to the 9:30 Club.

Past Bentzen Ball performers have included “some serious comedy powerhouses,” according to Svetlana Legetic, one of the event’s coordinators. Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman and Ira Glass have all been part of previous festivals. “[The show will be] faster and looser than your traditional stand-up show,” Legetic said.

“Things will be happening in a more dynamic fashion.”

Tig Notaro, an established comedian and the Bentzen Ball’s curator, will kick off the festival on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre. Legetic described Notaro as a “comedian’s comedian” who has a great deal of respect in the comedy community. Expect more of Notaro’s deeply personal comedy in the vein of her 2012 Grammy-nominated album, “Tig Notaro LIVE.”

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The M&M Report:

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“Madam Secretary,” “The Skeleton Twins” and more

his week on The M&M Report, Mark Lieberman and Devin Mitchell discuss the disappointments of CBS’ new drama “Madam Secretary” with Lieberman’s longtime friend Jonathan Connelly. After that, Lieberman and Mitchell praise the new ABC comedy “Blackish,” and Lieberman offers a rare installment of Mark Doesn’t Like

Things. The podcast ends with a review of “The Skeleton Twins,” starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader.

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Timecodes

0:00-9:15 – “Madam Secretary” 9:15 – 17:00 – “Black-ish” 17:00 – 24:20 – Mark Doesn’t Like Things: casting announcements 24:20 – 35:20 – “The Skeleton Twins”

OPINION

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Staff Editorial: AU is constantly trying to establish itself in the D.C. community. We don’t live in a college town revolving around us, we’re not a sports school and we don’t have as much name recognition and endowments as some of our peers. Now, AU’s most recent effort to raise brand awareness for itself, by sponsoring extra metro hours after Nationals games, has been met with heavy criticism from the student body.

There were many valid criticisms for this decision: why is AU trying to market to people who live in D.C. and already know about the school?

AU needs to find better ways to spend marketing money

Why doesn’t AU sponsor something more academic?

But one of the biggest problems students seemed to have was largely a misunderstanding. The money provided to sponsor the extra hours comes from the school’s marketing fund, which is completely separate from things like tuition, renovations and professor’s salaries. The marketing budget only accounts for about 0.8 percent of AU’s total budget or roughly $5 million.

The school clearly needs to clarify these facts to help students fully understand the situation and make

comments and criticisms based on the whole truth.

Still, many problems with AU’s decision still stand. Although AU may be attempting to attract graduate students from the D.C. community through this sponsorship, they really need to focus on more academic- or liberal arts-based pursuits. The school could reach just as wide of an audience while simultaneously staying true to the real nature of the school by using their marketing money to help institutions like D.C. public libraries or Smithsonian museums. Initia-

tives like this convey that AU wants D.C. students to succeed not that we just want baseball fans’ money.

Ultimately, AU students aren’t asking for much. They simply want to see their school represented well with partnerships that emphasize what the school cares most about and for our marketing budget to go towards bringing in smart and energetic students to the school. If AU really wants to make an effort to raise their status in both D.C.-area schools and the national conversation, they need to start listening to the voices of their students. -E

Column: The American Dream is Green. Ish.

By Shelby Ostergaard Eagle Columnist Last April, I wrote a column about why AU needs to divest and why students should support that measure.

This weekend, nearly 150 AU students went to the People’s Climate March in New York, but when it comes to climate change, supporting these big actions isn’t enough.

As a student body, American tends to focus on big, structural changes when it comes to the environment.

We build new green certified dorms, buy up forests in South America to offset our carbon footprint and, hopefully, divest from fossil fuels. All of that is fantastic, but when it comes to climate change, the big changes don’t do enough.

Although AU considers itself to be a green school, the actions of the students don’t always reflect that ethos.

“What I would like to see more of, personally….is to change the culture among students. The University can

spend exuberant amounts of money to make the office more sustainable, but if the culture of the campus is not with that, then it’s kind of just for naught,” sophomore Leo Brody, who works for the Office of Sustainability and is a Green Eagle, said.

I agree. We need to focus on more than divesting. We need to focus on changing our behavior, not just our funds.

What, exactly, is the problem here?

It is hearing students complain heavily when they have to sort their trash. It’s the lack of visible composting bins in TDR. It’s the trash by the Katzen bus stop. It’s the constant carrying of disposable coffee cups.

In most of our classes, at some point, we learn about climate change. And most of the students I’ve spoken with on the issue are for protecting and conserving the environment and trying to halt climate change.

People aren’t making the necessary choices not because they don’t want to, but because the campus culture does not promote it.

Let me give you an example. At Northland College, a tiny school in northern Wisconsin, the school has a free room, where students can take any items they need for no cost. Students can put items they no longer want into bins, which are then sorted by a federal work-study student to weed out the broken and useless. The items that pass inspection are put into the free room, where any student can come and take what they need. Freecycling.

The actual environmental effects of this policy are minimal, at best.

But the effect on campus is huge.

It promotes the idea of sharing, of reusing and recycling. When students at Northland need things, their first thought is to check the free room. When students at AU need something, their first thought is to check Amazon.

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“The University can spend exuberant amounts of money to make the office more sustainable, but if the culture of the campus is not with that, then it’s kind of just for naught.”

SPORTS

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AU and WMATA partner to provide late night service after Nationals games

By Jennifer Reyes Vincent Salandro Eagle Staff Writers AU and Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority announced a partnership that will provide fans attending Washington Nationals postseason games latenight Metrorail service from the Navy Yard-Ballpark Station.

Metro service will be provided as necessary for any games that run later than 10:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays according to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit press release.

The services will extend as late as 1:20 a.m. in the event of a rain delayed game, almost two hours later than normal service. Under the

Metro’s normal schedule, the latest train to depart with connections to other lines leaves Navy Yard at 11:20 p.m. Sunday through Thursdays.

“AU is known for helping people in Washington ‘get to where they want to go’ — and now supports the Nats fans in postseason play,” AU President Neil Kerwin said about the partnership.

Clawed Z Eagle and Nationals mascot Teddy Roosevelt helped break the news by emerging from the Tenleytown Metro stop to a crowd of excited AU Blue Crew members. The two mascots danced and hugged each other to represent the partnership between the Nationals, AU, and Metro.

AU will be putting down $30,000 deposit to keep the Metro running throughout the playoffs if needed, according to Washington City

AU Volleyball notches a 3-0 victory

By Shannon Scovel Eagle Staff Writer For senior middle blocker Kelly McCaddin, her jersey number, ’21,’ held a special meaning in AU’s 3-0 victory over University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Oct. 1.

McCaddin celebrated her 21st birthday with three aces in the nonconference match-up at Bender Arena to help the Eagles clinch their seventh consecutive victory.

Head coach Barry Goldberg emphasized McCaddin’s aggressive play and her ability to click with her teammates as a critical factor in the win, and he anticipates future success as a result of the team’s strong middle play.

“We talked about…getting the middles going,” Goldberg said. “I thought Kelly played pretty well and Erin [Swartz], so when we can get our middles going like that it’s going to free up the outside like it did. We’ll be a good team with that.”

AU (11-4, 2-0) dominated the action immediately in the game by capitalizing on repeated errors from the Hawks offense. The Eagles hit a six-point scoring run in the first set to take an 8-2 lead, and their success discouraged University of Maryland Eastern Shore (8-8, 1-0), who resorted to taking an early time-out to reorganize their play.

McCaddin found her rhythm at the end of the first set, delivering two consecutive kills, and senior outside hitter Kristyna Lindovska finished out the set with a kill of her own to put the Hawks away with a score of 25-14. Monika Smidova also added to the offensive efforts in the first set with three aces, setting the tone for AU’s successful serving throughout the night.

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“AU is known for helping people in Washington ‘get to where they want to go’ — and now supports the Nats fans in postseason play,” Paper. The Metro will give back part of the deposit depending on the number of riders during the extra hour of service.

All of the games except for the National League Division Series game are contingent on the Nationals winning.

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Upcoming Games Saturday, Oct. 4 M SOCCER Holy Cross 1:00 PM W SOCCER at Bucknell 2:00 PM

Sunday, Oct. 5 FIELD HOCKEY at Cornell 12:00 PM