The Eagle December 2017

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SPECIAL EDITION December 4, 2017

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From accommodation to inclusion Students with physical disabilities say they’re overlooked outside the classroom, p.6

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

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INDEX NEWS

3 International students satisfied with campus climate 4 Professor contributes to Nobel Prize-winning research Student runs nonprofit to fight infant mortality 5 Intercultural Greek Collective grows 6 Accessibility lacking for students with physical disabilities

LIFE

Dilpreet Raju

Kimberly Cataudella

STAFF WRITERS Lydia Calitri Ali Almutairi Leanna Faulk Julia Gagnon Meghan Howie Nora Turner

SPORTS 12 Star guard set to take on bigger role for AU basketball 13 Flag football makes up for lack of football program 14 Athletes, coaches guided by mental performance coach

PHOTOGRAPHERS Owain James Rockey Greenberg Jillian O'Donohoe Amanda Malloy Olivia Richter Mahogany Davison

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8 Mural illuminates Tenleytown history 10 SUB hopes to grow annual festival Music majors declining at AU 11 Halal food options limited on campus

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15 Column: Professors and academic freedom Column: Make Plan B more accessible 16 Column: Improving body image at AU Staff Ed: Campus accessibility falls short COVER PHOTO AND EDITING: SAMAD AROUNA /THE EAGLE

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NEWS

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International students report high satisfaction with campus environment

by Matt Holt Staff Writer

International students -- more than any other group of students on campus -believe that the University is committed to creating an environment where everybody feels like they belong, according to results of a campus climate survey released in October.

63 percent of international students responded “almost always” or “most of the time” when asked if “American University is committed to creating a campus community where everyone has a sense of belonging.” Compare that to 34 percent for black students, 52 percent for Hispanic students and 57 percent for white students.

Additionally, 63 percent of international students say their peers are committed to creating a welcoming environment. That’s eight percentage points higher than the average of 55 percent.

“I think first impressions play a really big role,” said Shams El-Adawy, president of the International Student Association. “It plays a big role in how you’re immersed for the first few days and few weeks, and for me it was a positive one, from how I was welcomed from the people who work here in the international office, and the international students who were also coming in with me.”

Sara Bendoraitis, the director of programming, research and advocacy for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, said she was surprised by the high approval numbers from international students on community building.

Although Bendoraitis doesn’t work with international students primarily, she said that their incoming student orientation is very important for them. She said it models freshman orientation, known as Eagle Summit, with some key differences.

“There’s a lot about culture and what it means to be in the United States and how that may be different from their home culture,” Bendoraitis said. “And they do it in a way that I think is a little more in-depth and is very different in the way that we do with domestic students coming into the institution and how they’re oriented.”

This helps international students feel more connected to AU’s message of diversity and inclusion, Bendoraitis said.

“They feel a greater sense of connection in that a conversation about culture and diversity and inclusion is in the forefront for them compared to the general population of students,” she added.

When she arrived in America to start school, El-Adawy said AU made an effort to make her feel welcome and give her a “nice community feeling.” She said her orientation experience gave her a solid foundation for her to fall back on.

“As it went on, there were times where it hasn’t always been [welcoming], but I would also just go back to that feeling and the people who made me feel welcome and it felt fine,” she said. “There are times, and I think this is with anybody, where you feel like it’s not your place. But I think that happens to everyone.”

George Khnouf came to AU from Amman, Jordan. Now a senior in the Kogod School of Business, his first days at AU did not go as expected.

“I had no idea what to do,” Khnouf said. “I wasn’t really given any information about an orientation for international students. I ended up staying in my room and wandering around my floor, because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.”

“But everything worked out,” Khnouf continued. “I ended up meeting all of my best friends that way, just walking around my floor.”

Although Khnouf ’s freshman year did not start positively, he still felt supported by the people who convinced him to come to AU. Evelyn Levinson, AU’s international admissions director, first met Khnouf when she came to his school on a recruit-

ment trip.

“I’ve known her since the tenth grade,” he said. “She checked on me a lot and helped my mom with the college process and all. She was a big help.”

56 percent of international students are “almost always” or “most of the time” likely to reach out to a staff member for help, according to the campus climate survey.

66 percent answered the same when asked about asking faculty members for help.

James Choi, the associate director of immigration and compliance for International Students and Scholar Services (ISSS), said one of the factors that contributes to international students feeling supported by the University is their office’s open-door policy.

“Whenever you need us, come and see us,” Choi told The Eagle by phone. “That’s our office approach.”

Choi said that his office’s orientation introduces international students to campus life and tells them that ISSS is their “home away from home.”

“From that moment, we try to be family, our office, and we tell them we are always supporting them and if they have issues please come talk to us,” Choi said.

Through the office’s Language Exchange Program, ISSS matches international students with domestic students so that international students can practice their English. For example, if a Chinese student wants to practice English, they can be matched with a domestic student who wants to practice Chinese.

“At least once a week they meet on campus, and they can get to know each other, and that they can practice, teach and learn foreign language,” Choi said. “Through that opportunity, with a common goal of learning a foreign language, they can build friendships here on campus and fill the gap between international and domestic students.”

Choi, along with the rest of the staff in the ISSS office, have personal experiences as interKAITLIN CAFFREY/THE EAGLE national students. Choi himself is from South Korea and has lived in multiple countries.

“Something as simple as ordering food over the phone in another country can be very difficult,” Choi said, recalling his time as a student in China. “That’s just a small example of the many things that international students have to adjust to.”

There’s a handful of basic services that ISSS provides for international students.

For example, if an international student leaves the country, ISSS must provide authorization for the student to reenter the U.S. Choi said these mandatory practices give him an opportunity to meet in person with students.

And students also turn to the office when looking for post-graduation work in the U.S. Though she is concerned about post-graduation employment opportunities in the Trump era, Chelsey Yangqiansu Cao, founder and treasurer of the International Student Association, said AU is doing a good job supporting international students figure out their post-college plans.

“The University is doing everything they can to support international students,” Cao said. “But there’s nothing they can do with the current political climate.”

Regular interactions between the office and international students, Choi said, helps to explain why those students feel supported and expressed that in the campus climate survey.

“They’re not home. They’re here in the United States as a foreign student so they need to have some sort of support,” Choi said. “We try to be their best friends. I think that’s the reason.”

Julia Gagnon contributed reporting to this article. mholt@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

Gravitational wave detection: An out-of-this-world discovery

Physics professor contributed to Nobel Prize-winning project

by Lydia Calitri Staff Writer

Gregory Harry hopes to change the way humans perceive the universe with his research on gravitational waves, and his recent research may have done just that.

The AU physics professor’s contributions to the LIGO-Virgo detector collaboration helped Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne win the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics. Harry was honored when he found out the LIGO earned the prestigious award.

“For me it was most satisfying to see the work I had done lead to the detection of gravitational waves,” Harry said. “I was very happy for the Nobel prize winners as they had put so many years into this work.”

Harry’s research builds upon Einstein’s original prediction that gravitational waves existed from his description of gravity. Gravitational waves are waves given off as masses move, similarly to how visible light and other electromagnetic waves behave. Unlike electromagnetic waves, however, gravitational waves are much more difficult to detect.

To study these waves, detectors like the LIGO observatory in Louisiana use laser beams and special glass mirrors to pick up the waves and measure their movement. Harry’s experiments are focused on replicating and improving upon the design of the LIGO mirrors, he said. In the lab, he and his team, including senior Maya Kinley-Hanlon, test different glass samples and optical coatings to figure out how to pick up waves accurately while eliminating as many extraneous variables as possible.

“A big part of the problem is because they’re gravitational waves and have such a small effect, there are all kinds of other things, more mundane things, that

can also move the mirrors,” Harry said.

“The trick with building these detectors is both to try to isolate away those effects and to the extent you can’t do that, to understand all these noise effects that you have to remove them from your data.”

Harry aims to better understand Einstein’s description of gravity and theories of quantum mechanics by studying these gravitational waves. He found that Einstein’s theories explain the LYDIA CALITRI/THE EAGLE way gravity works on a much larger scale while quantum mechanics explains it on a Physics professor Gregory Harry stands beside the gravitational microscopic scale. wave detector in the Don Myers lab.

“Some of the smartest people in the world have spent their whole careers trying to figure out so many things that we didn’t know before.”

In the two years that Maya Kinley-Halon has been how to do that, and haven’t been able to do it,” Harry said. part of the program, she has gained valuable experience “I kind of came to the conclusion that what we needed in the field and a mentor in Harry. Kinley-Hanlon said was more data. It didn’t matter how smart you are or how hard you worked on it, we just didn’t have enough she is thankful to have Harry as her mentor because he information to really understand how to describe both provided many of the connections and tools she needed to help her publish her first article in a scientific journal. gravity and quantum mechanics together.”

“Not a lot of people are able to have such a supportive Lab director Newport, who has worked with Harry on gravitational wave detection for seven years, believes person that helps them so early in their career,” Kinleythat studying gravitational waves could potentially Hanlon said.

As Harry continues to move forward with his change the way humans view the universe. Newport experiments, he hopes that gravitational wave detection said gravitational waves can detect objects in space that have never been seen before, such as black holes. can give people a better understanding of astronomy and Just a few weeks ago in the lab, the gravitational wave Einstein’s methods.

“Being able to see the universe in a different way just detector picked up waves from a neutron star in spiral, gives you a very different perspective on things,” Harry something that was hypothesised to exist by Harry and said. “Up until now, we’ve been completely deaf, but if all Newport but no evidence was found until now.

“This telescope is measuring astronomical sources of a sudden you go from being deaf to hearing, it’s just in a way that no other telescope does,” Newport said. like a whole different world.”

“Gravitational waves are a completely different type of way of probing the universe. We’ve already discovered lcalitri@theeagleonline.com

Student runs nonprofit to reduce infant mortality in Milwaukee

by Charly Slavick Contributing Writer

For some, finding a true passion can take a lifetime.

But for Meena Nutbeam, a junior studying public health, her “aha moment” came during the summer after her junior year of high school.

Nutbeam, who is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, created Stork & Company in the summer of 2014 after seeing an article in the BBC about why Finland’s babies sleep in cardboard boxes.

"I saw that each parent gets a baby box [in Finland], which would be very beneficial for Milwaukee, where we have a lot of infant deaths due to unsafe sleep," Nutbeam said.

Milwaukee, a city of nearly 600,000 people, has a very high infant mortality rate, with 15 infants dying per year as a result of unsafe sleep environments, according to Stork and Company’s website.

“This past year through September, we have already had double the amount of infant deaths,” Nutbeam said.

“It is the highest it’s been since 2007.”

Realizing the severity of this issue, Nutbeam created Stork & Company, a nonprofit that delivers free maternity packages -- called “baby boxes” -- to expectant mothers.

The goal is to improve the living conditions of babies and to decrease the high infant mortality rate in Milwaukee, she said.

The leading cause behind infant mortality is unsafe sleep environments, Nutbeam said. Some of these environments include car seats, which can hinder a baby’s ability to grow properly, and any environment where babies are exposed to blankets, pillows and soft bedding.

“A lot of the time, health workers will tell parents to put their baby in a dresser drawer instead if they don’t have anything else and a ‘baby box’ is safer than that,” Nutbeam said.

Stork & Company’s “baby boxes,” which are manufactured by The Baby Box Company, provide a safe and comfortable alternative for babies to sleep. Nutbeam said each box comes with the cardboard box itself, a fitted mattress, a sample pack of wipes, diapers and a onesie.

The “baby box” makes safe sleep possible for babies with parents that are transient, couchsurfing, do not have enough room in their homes or simply don’t want their baby to sleep in a different room, Nutbeam said.

“I thought this would be such a great tool because of the portability of it,” Nutbeam said. “A lot of people don’t have other places for their baby to sleep.”

Abby Demler, now Associate Director of Community Outreach at Stork & Company, originally got involved after meeting Nutbeam at a Safe Kids Coalition meeting in southeast Wisconsin.

“Both safe sleep education and a safe sleep space are critical in order to significantly reduce the risk of infant mortality,” Demler told The Eagle by email.

Stork & Company’s baby boxes also provide parents with a sample of other needed infant supplies and knowledge, including access to Baby Box University, an online parenting program with education materials and expert advice from people in the field of maternal care.

On average, Stork & Company distributes about 50 boxes per month. It has expanded recently by partnering with more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and healthcare departments in and around Milwaukee in hopes of teaching people more about “baby boxes.”

Although baby boxes have been used in Finland for nearly 80 years, making this the norm for people in the U.S. has been the most challenging part, Nutbeam said.

“When we brought this idea here [to the U.S.], it wasn’t quite the norm, so a big part of it was just pushing the idea that this is a safe space for your baby to sleep,” Nutbeam said.

Not only was Stork & Company tasked with changing common parenting practices, but the company

also faced the challenge of changing how parents are informed about safe sleeping environments. Prior to Stork & Company, nonprofits, health departments and even U.S. hospitals had little awareness of baby boxes, Nutbeam said.

“This is something they haven’t seen either. With the American health care system especially, we aren't very good at adapting ideas from other countries,” Nutbeam said.

To help make this more of the norm, Stork & Company has developed a training service for their partners to help them learn how to address parents’ questions about safe sleep environments.

“It’s a very uncomfortable topic for people to talk about, especially for health care providers,” Nutbeam said. “How do you tailor [baby boxes] to be something parents are willing to do?”

Although there have been many skeptics, Stork & Company’s distribution of baby boxes has received high praise and approval by its users. One particular use of the boxes stands out to Nutbeam.

“We are partnered with an adoption agency and one of the providers told me that one of the mothers was thinking about adoption, but decided to keep her baby because of the infant care items and the baby box,” Nutbeam said.

Demler is proud of the work Stork & Company does and the common goal that all of its volunteers strive to achieve.

“The most rewarding part of working for Stork and Company is simply being involved in supporting families, both directly and indirectly,” Demler said.

Overall, Stork & Company plans to continue to distribute baby boxes to local organizations and wants to focus more on the educational component of their work.

“Without the education, it’s just a box,” Nutbeam said. news@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

‘A greater sense of community’: Inside the Intercultural Greek Collective In the past two years, IGC has grown from six to 70 members

by Anna Donohue Features Editor

When the Intercultural Greek Collective, or IGC, started in 2015, it consisted of only four multicultural organizations: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. The groups counted six total members among their ranks.

Fast forward two years, and IGC is now comprised of eight organizations with about 70 members. The collective’s presence on campus is growing exponentially, and members say that’s a testament to the sense of community it offers as well as its strong leadership.

Aneisha Robinson, a senior in the School of International Service, is the current president of IGC and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., a historically African-American sorority. Robinson is the second president in IGC’s history, succeeding current Student Government President Taylor Dumpson.

“IGC gives a greater sense of community that I wouldn’t feel anywhere else,” Robinson said. “Even though we’re in our own individual organizations, sororities and fraternities, we’re still brothers and sisters of IGC. That’s the greater community that we are attached to.”

How IGC works

students express interest before the fraternity or sorority decides to open a chapter, Robinson said.

There are two organizations within IGC that are currently in the interest group phase of chartering: Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc., a Latino fraternity interest group, and AU², an Asian-focused sorority interest group. Kirsten Jay, a senior in the School of Communication and the president of AU², said interested members “have to come in prepared to make a commitment.”

The name of the interest group, AU², references the University’s initials and the atomic symbol of gold, to remind members to always uphold themselves to the gold standard. The group will go up for a bid in January 2018.

IGC provides ‘safe space’ to members With IGC, Panhellenic, Interfraternity Council and professional Greek organizations available to join, determining which path to pursue can be a difficult decision. Students must choose between either an IGC organization or social organizations in IFC or Panhellenic.

Danielle Vinales, a junior in the School of Public Affairs and president of Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc., said that what makes IGC unique is that it provides a “cultural niche” and sense of

community.

“Every single council provides its own spectacular experience. It’s about finding the one that matches you best,” Vinales said. “And more often than not, the cultural background and history behind it sometimes is more tuned to the people that we tend to intake.”

For Antonio Álvarez-Ramirez, senior and president of the Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc. interest group, IGC organizations provide a “sort of safe space from a cultural point of view” that other Greek groups don’t.

He said Greek organizations outside of IGC are “active participants” in behavior which is offensive toward specific cultures. Álvarez-Ramirez said he experienced this behavior as a member of a professional fraternity.

“Not only do I personally feel more welcomed in a brotherhood of other people of color or Latino men, I feel very much unwelcomed in other organizations which actively perpetrate this type of discrimination that we’re seeing on campus,” Álvarez-Ramirez said.

The sense of community in IGC enables members to support other organizations and pursue interests, Vinales said. She added that members of various IGC organizations attended the Clean DREAM Act rally on Nov. 9 to support a new bill replacing DACA. Many of the organizations champion advocacy, protest, inclusion and diversity, Vinales said.

“When it comes to anything regarding our specific cultures and backgrounds, our organizations, you see us there supporting each other,” Vinales said. “Not just to support you but to make sure that you, specifically, are okay as a person.”

During October’s campus climate data event, where administrators released some results of a campus climate survey taken by students in spring 2017, Jay said there was no survey information included about Asian students. When her friend asked the presenters where that data was, the response was that the research had collected data from Asian students but they had chosen not to display it.

“That’s just a really clear example of how often the Asian population on AU’s campus is left out of the conversation,” Jay said. “I feel like by being a part of IGC ... our voice is able to be a lot louder and we are able to have a lot of support from this community.”

Robinson emphasized how IGC is about giving everyone an equal opportunity to express what they’re passionate about.

“IGC does a good job of allowing everybody’s voices to be heard,” Robinson said. “No one’s issue is less important or more important than anyone else’s. We’re all in this together.” adonohue@theeagleonline.com

As president, Robinson works closely with senior and IGC’s vice president of marketing and programming Bianca Flores to make sure IGC runs cohesively and that every member’s voice is heard.

Flores is a member of the historically Latina group, Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. “We’re established as a collective because we didn’t want a governing body, we didn’t want to make rules, we didn’t want to have a set legacy,” Flores said.

“All the other organizations in IGC are so different, so when running IGC, it’s not just us two at the end of the day, it’s all of us.”

Just as each of the organizations within the IGC community are different from each other, their recruitment processes are different as well.

In the case of her sorority, Robinson said, recruitment is “organization-oriented,” meaning that recruits show interest through going to events and communicating with current members. “It’s very individualized,” she said.

When a multicultural sorority or fraternity is chartered on campus, the Photo courtesy of Intercultural Greek Collective Greek organization must go through Members of intercultural Greek organizations after packaging sandwiches for the homeless. an interest group phase during which

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

For students with physical disabilities, navigating academics and campus life can be challenging

University required to provide accessible programs, not environments

by Brianna Crummy and Nazli Togrul Administration and Local News Editor and Staff Writer

When Ariel Michaelson, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, arrives on campus each morning, she has trouble finding a parking spot. She drives to school because she cannot carry her books in the short walk to campus from her house. If it didn’t jeopardize her attendance grades, she would stay home when she doesn’t feel well, she said.

“I have a class at night. I’m in pain and so exhausted after a long day,” Michaelson said. “But if I can’t get to class, I’ll fail because of attendance.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines disability as “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” During the 2016-2017 academic year, 1,016 students registered a disability through the Academic Support and Access Center, said Erica Gillaspy, assistant director of disability support.

Gillaspy said she could not specify the nature of those disabilities to protect those students’ privacy.

Students with physical disabilities fall under Gillaspy’s purview in addition to other types of disabilities, including learning and psychological disabilities.

Several students with physical disabilities told The Eagle that the University provides adequate accommodations within the classroom.

However, they feel overlooked outside of the classroom. They said communication about campus resources, their peers’ attitudes toward physical disability and inclusion by professors all need improvement.

"It's something that abe-bodied students just aren't aware of," said Rebekah Ginsburg, a junior in the School of International Service who has joint pain. "It would never cross your mind if you don't have to take the elevator."

Academic Support and Access Center can only go so far For students with physical disabilities, ASAC is the primary entry point for accommodations. Students can register there to disclose a disability. The office supports disabled students, anyone seeking academic assistance and student-athletes, Gillaspy said.

ASAC has a legal obligation to offer “reasonable” accommodations for all students that come to their office with documentation of their disability from a doctor, she said. Access looks different for every student, Gillaspy said. Ten full-time, two part-time and two graduate student staff make up the disability support department within ASAC. Sometimes, a student’s request for accommodations cannot be met.

ASAC helps Ginsburg gain physical access to her classrooms because it is difficult for her to climb stairs. She said ASAC has been great about helping her schedule classes in buildings with elevators. However, this takes time and effort, which can be difficult for college students when planning their schedule, she said.

To ensure students are assigned to a classroom they can physically access, the registrar’s office groups students into cohorts based on type of accommodation needed, Gillaspy said. This helps the registrar assign classrooms based on each cohort’s specific needs.

“You are constantly thinking of every piece of the puzzle that needs to be considered,” Gillaspy said.

It becomes complicated when students require multiple accommodations or their accommodations can’t be completely met.

Ginsburg experienced this last semester when she needed her science lab moved from Hurst Hall, which does not have an elevator. There were no other labs available.

“You just kind of have to suck it up,” Ginsburg said.

ASAC does their best to not reject a student’s request, Gillaspy said. If a student brings documentation to their office, ASAC provides them with accommodations.

“We are never just saying ‘no, bye,’ we are saying ‘no, but…’ or ‘no, not right now,’” Gillaspy said.

Zoey Jordan Salsbury, a senior in the School of Communication, has fibromyalgia, an unpredictable condition that causes unplanned muscle JENNIFER CRONEY/THE EAGLE pain. This can make it difficult to request accommodations, like missing a class or getting an extended deadline, in a timely manner.

“It’s harder to get an excused absence in college than it is in high school," Salsbury said. "If you’re in high school, you’re a minor, your parents call and say ‘they’re sick.’” They trust your parents and you get an excused absence and everything’s fine.”

Salsbury said some students are hesitant to seek help from ASAC as they do not want a disability written in their records.

Some students also don’t want to interact with the student staff in the office, even though they don’t have access to student files, Salsbury said.

Gillaspy said undergraduate students work at the desk doing administrative tasks, and some graduate students support staff on tasks like securing testing accommodations. All staff members are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Sometimes, Salsbury said, students’ busy lives prevent them from registering with ASAC or requesting accommodations. The accommodations available at the University may also be different than what a student received in high school, Gillaspy said.

“When you have like 20 things to do when you start the school year, a lot of times, disabilities can fall to the wayside," Salsbury said.

“It's something that able-bodied students just aren't aware of."

-Rebekah Ginsburg, SIS junior

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017 Accessibility needs extend beyond the classroom Outside of needing accommodations inside the classroom, students find maneuvering around campus can also be difficult with a physical disability.

Michaelson drives to campus every day and uses handicap parking because she experiences chronic pain and fatigue on a daily basis. Aside from that, however, there are no additional parking accommodations on campus.

“They [campus planners] just didn’t think about it,” Michaelson said.

According to Section 504 of the ADA, "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States ... shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."

This means that the University must provide accessible programs, not environments. For example, if a student has a class on the second floor of Hurst Hall, which does not have an elevator, the University can move the student’s class to a barrier-free classroom and maintain compliance with the ADA, Gillaspy said.

The University evaluates physical disability using the “functional impact” standard, Gillaspy said.

“We ask, ‘how does this have an impact on what it means to be a student at AU?’” Gillaspy said.

The University also aims to be proactive with accommodations, Gillaspy said. For example, East Campus was built to be fully accessible. However, the University also sometimes adds reactive accommodations, such as the lift outside the stairs to Hurst.

“As I’m growing in the field, I learn that not every student is going to be happy with what we provide,” Gillaspy said.

Accessibility Challenges at AU

Hurst Hall "Even the first floors in some of the buildings have stairs up to them."

-Zoey Jordan Salsbury, senior

Opening a dialogue about disabilities on campus Dr. Derrick Cogburn, director of the University’s Institute on Disability and Public Policy, created the world’s first barrier-free online graduate program in Disability Policy. The program is currently offered in Southeast Asia. The program’s courses are accessible for those with any kind of disability, whether physical, learning or otherwise, he said.

He said the same principles can be applied to all students, not just those at the graduate level.

For example, Cogburn said students have approached him about buildings they find physically inaccessible on campus, including Hurst Hall and the East Quad Building. He said the University must take advantage of technology, which can make accessibility more attainable.

Cogburn pointed out that even the newer buildings, such as the School of International Service, are not completely physically accessible.

“Accessibility is not just about, ‘do you have ramps and doors?’” Cogburn said.

“There’s a lot more to think about in terms of universal design.”

Lily Coltoff, a sophomore in the School of Communication, recognizes the shortcomings of campus buildings, but she also said there is a lack of discussion about people with physical disabilities. Coltoff receives accomodations from ASAC. She would like to see more workshops about disabilities from the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and Student Government. CDI does offer a workshop on disability titled, “Exploring disAbility.”

“When the topic is brought up, everyone is like ‘let’s make Hurst accessible. Let’s make EQB accessible,'" Coltoff said. "No, we already comply by ADA standards. None of our buildings are going to change, so why don’t we focus on attaching no shame or no stigma to having academic accommodations or talk about invisible disabilities, which are a major concern.”

Rachel Abraham, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, has pulmonary hypertension, a rare condition that makes physical activity tough. This makes using stairs and walking long distances on campus difficult.

"I've had more people question why I'm taking lung breaks and I've had people tell me, 'No, I'm pretty sure you're just faking it because you're not blue and you're breathing normally,'" Abraham said.

Support from professors is needed, students say Students with physical disabilities also look for inclusion from professors. Services provided through ASAC can only extend so far, and decisions are sometimes left to the instructor’s discretion.

“I have flexible attendance through ASAC, but some professors won’t accept that,” Michaelson said. “You can have accommodations as long as they don’t change the nature of the class. If attendance is the main component of the class and that’s what we’re graded on, there’s nothing you can do.”

It is important that students voice these concerns to their professors to make their learning space more accessible, Gillaspy said. ASAC looks to provide accommodations as best they can.

“I want them to feel they have the access they need to be successful here,” Gillaspy said.

It is crucial for students to disclose their disabilities as they see fit, she said. Her office can’t force anyone to register their disability, nor would they want to, she said.

They also don’t do much outreach to students who are not registered with ASAC because disability is “such a personal issue,” Gillaspy said.

"My general life advice to anyone, if you're looking for accessibility or not, is take the first step..." Abraham said. "You still need to advocate for yourself if you want to get anything done."

Elise Moore

"In terms of accessibility, the campus has been pretty great. I can take lung breaks and yeah, people are staring at me like 'why is this freshman standing in the middle of the quad?'”

-Rachel Abraham, freshman

Campus

Mahogany Davison

East Quad Building "If I have a professor who has office hours in the second or third floor of EQB, I can't go to those office hours because there is no way for me to get up there."

bcrummy@theeagleonline.com and ntogrul@theeagleonline.com Elise Moore

- Rebekah Ginsburg, junior ALYSSA ROTUNNO/THE EAGLE

New Tenleytown mural makes history come alive on Wisconsin Avenue

by Daniella Ignacio Staff Writer

If you take a walk down Wisconsin Avenue, you might notice something new and exciting: a mural depicting the history of Tenleytown on the side of the oldest building in the neighborhood, Han Cleaners. As the second oldest neighborhood in D.C. and the home to American University, Tenleytown has a storied past which artist Jarrett Ferrier and local couple Stephen Voss and Marlene Kannankeril decided bring to life with art.

This mural contains pictures of a wide variety of Tenleytown’s historical and cultural events, including the Civil War, Metro system, local public schools and even Kermit the Frog. He has a sentimental connection to this mural, Voss said.

“My wife and I walk our kids to school this way every day,” Voss said. “We’ve seen this wall for a long time, it’s been in a not-great shape and we always thought that this would be a great place for a mural.”

While looking into this, he and Kannankeril discovered that the D.C. government awards grants for mural projects like this and decided to get to work. The couple sought the community’s input on the project and distributed in-person and online surveys to ask what mural should include. They received about 175 responses from locals sharing their ideas, Voss said. The overwhelming consensus was that they’d like to see the history of Tenleytown.

Voss and Kannankeril began looking for an artist to pull together all these ideas into a cohesive piece. Then, they encountered Ferrier, an accomplished muralist from Glover Park, just a few neighborhoods over from Tenleytown. It was only natural that Ferrier, who has been creating murals for 20 years in the D.C. area, would be the artist for this project, Voss said.

“He’s a history buff and talented -- he’s the perfect fit for someone really interested in Tenleytown and what’s happened here,” Voss said.

Although he said he initially didn’t think it would be interesting, Ferrier was drawn to the project after doing

research and realizing that it had a lot to offer. Ferrier said his love for murals stems from an 11-month bicycle trip with his wife (then girlfriend). On the trip, they encountered several small towns with historical murals. Ferrier said he was inspired by the wide variety of topics explored in those works of art.

“I thought ‘wow, that’s really cool,’ and I thought maybe that’s something I could do to actually make art,” Ferrier said. “It’s public art -- you’re out here and you’re definitely on display, whether people come by and say they love it, or they like it, or they actually want to talk about some aspect of it.”

These public murals are like building a puzzle, Ferrier said.

“It’s basically a visual problem and you have to solve it,” he said. “You open up this box, there are so many pieces and you don’t know what to do with the pieces, but you have to slowly start. You find a corner and you make that work, you find another area and that one works, and then it slowly starts to come together in the design process.”

One part of the visual problem was brought up by Tenleytown residents. After the first sketch revision, community feedback largely focused on how the public schools in the area should be included, so schools like the Jesse Reno School were added to the sketch.

Throughout the collaboration process, Ferrier said he hit the books and learned more than even Voss and Kannankeril know about Tenleytown. By the end of 2016, they found out that they were awarded a grant by the D.C. Arts and Humanities Commission, and got to work.

The mural’s grand opening was on Oct. 14, and according to Voss, it brought the community together for a day of celebration, including live music, dance performances from local cultural groups and giveaways from businesses in the area, Voss said. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Councilmember Mary Cheh and National Park Service Superintendent Julia Washburn were all in attendance. It was the culmination of about two years of hard work for all.

Carolyn Long, a member of the Tenleytown Historical Society and a Main Street Board Member, has lived in Tenleytown since 1989 and was one of those surveyed. She said she distinctly remembers seeing Ferrier hard at work

painting the mural. She took pictures of the mural’s progress every day.

“I’d walk over there with my camera and he’d be up on his scaffolding, and we would talk,” Long said. “‘How did you do the planning?’ ‘How did you translate it from a little sketch to a great big wall sized mural?’ I’m an artist too, I wouldn’t have any idea how to do that.”

Long also noted that during the process, something about the Jesse Reno School wasn’t quite correct. She believes Ferrier had it as Reno Elementary School and asked him to change it to Jesse Reno School. But Long said she was pleased with the results of the mural.

“It’s got a little bit of everything, telling the history of Tenleytown, and I love it,” she said. “I think it’s beautifully designed, the artist did a great job.”

Artistically, Ferrier said the Civil War portion turned out well, which focused on the battle of Fort Reno, one of the 64 forts built around D.C. during the Civil War to protect the capital. This aspect of the mural is sepia tone, meaning it is painted like a hand-drawn photograph to signify that it happened right when photography was invented. According to Ferrier, it also contrasts with the other colors throughout

the mural, from the more vibrant colors in the Red Line to the black and white of the trolley.

“People really seem to love detail -- the more detail the better,” Ferrier said. “I like the combination of things going on: the different subject matter and different ways to approach it.”

This combination of things going on moves beyond the wall and onto the Internet, with social media and the web playing an integral part of the mural experience. Voss and Kannankeril created a website to flesh out these ideas.

It contains a big picture of the mural; when you click on a certain aspect of it, information about that aspect will pop up. This creates a user-friendly way of providing information about the mural.

Although Voss doesn’t necessarily expect a lot of people to walk by and spend time looking at the mural, he hopes it will give residents a new way of looking at their town.

“I just hope it gives people a moment of reflection, something that’s visually pleasing in the neighborhood, that will enrich their day in some way,” he said. dignacio@theeagleonline.com

For a video interview with the mural's founders and more about its components, go to theeagleonline.com

Photo courtesy of Jarrett Ferrier

Artist Jarrett Ferrier drew this sketch of the Tenleytown mural. With the support of couple Stephen Voss and Marlene Kannankeri, Ferrier brought the sketch to life on the side of the oldest building in the neighborhood, Han Cleaners.

TAAMEEN MOHAMMAD/THE EAGLE

10

Student Union Board to grow AMFest

by Georgia Sampson Staff Writer

A$AP Ferg, GoldLink and Aidy Bryant.

These are all artists brought to campus

by Student Union Board, a division of Student Government. SUB organizes large concerts and smaller gatherings.

Now, they’re preparing for AMFest, their annual festival, and they hope to make the event larger than ever. They hope to do this by bringing a bigger headliner, having vendors at the event and bringing in more local, DMV artists as openers, said Bisah Suh, SUB’s director.

Pitches Be Trippin’, one of the University’s all-female acapella groups, performed at AMFest last year. Michela Rynczak, the manager of Pitches Be Trippin’ and a senior, said that performing was a positive experience. “[Performing] was really fun and

LIFE

there was a good crowd,” Rynczak said.

“It felt like we were a part of something.”

This will be the third year that SUB puts on this festival. Sarah Maghlouth, a junior and a member of Pitches Be Trippin’, performed with Rynczak at AMFest last year.

“There weren’t too many people,” Maghlouth said. “But it was a good crowd for something like this.”

Suh, a junior in the School of Communication, has been working for SUB since the end of her freshman year.

Suh said that as director, she constantly tries to make sure that “there is something for everyone.”

“It’s important to me that AU students aren’t just coming to D.C. and thinking that D.C is just about the Hill or politics, but they’re getting a feel for arts and culture,” Suh said. “Even when we brought A$AP Ferg, all of the openers were local artists. So, with AMFest, we’ve

TAAMEEN MOHAMMAD/THE EAGLE

Dele Amons performs with 94 Forever at AMFest 2016. SUB is currently preparing for this year's spring festival. traditionally had all of the openers be local artists.”

Suh hopes that AMFest can become an event that is noticed all around the city.

“My goal is that for five or 10 years from

now that people are looking at AMFest like they are looking at Georgetown Day or at Yardfest,” Suh said. “This is a D.C. event for AU students.” gsampson@theeagleonline.com

University records show decline in music majors

by Hannah Holtzer Contributing Writer

The number of music majors at the University has decreased by about 64 percent over the last five years, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA). In 2012, 43 students were enrolled as music majors.

In 2017, 15 students are enrolled.

Now, students and faculty in the department are looking to recruit more music majors. The lack of majors this year will ultimately mean change for the recruiting and enrollment process within the music department.

“We’ve enjoyed great prosperity for many years and the fact that our numbers are a little bit down is just part of a cyclical, natural flow,” said Nancy Snider, director of the music program.

Sean Doyle, a music and composition professor, said that he noticed the number of students enrolled is lower than in the past. Doyle began teaching at the University in August 2015.

However, like Snider, Doyle said this is not a crisis. Rather, “it is just that, in this moment, our numbers happen to be lower than when I was first hired.”

Snider said the issue is not specific to the University, but that student enrollment for arts across the country is decreasing as well. She said that lack of targeted recruitment and adjustments to teaching methods may have contributed to the decline.

Students are involved in the department, Snider said, but not as

many are majoring in music. According said, “Generally, we just need more to OIRA records, over the last five communication with students who have years the number of minors within the musical interests as soon as they apply department has fluctuated between as to the University so that we can build a little as three minors in 2015, and as relationship.” many as 13 minors in 2017.

Placing the music department in “Here at AU, we need to do more Katzen Arts Center -- far from the main targeted recruitment internally,” Snider quad -- also creates a division between said. “This means finding students within the music department and the rest of the University who have a passion for campus, Doyle said. music and who “Part of our want to commit responsibility by majoring in as faculty is to it.” be aware of the Snider said fact that this the current problem is not recruitment unique to AU p r o c e s s and to see how involves a other programs student initially like ours are expressing dealing with it interest. Then, and then, if we the department are not doing emails and those things, communicates finding a way to with the do them,” Doyle prospective said. student to set up Nina Larson, an audition and a vocalist and meeting times music major, with the faculty. said she was not SAMAD AROUNA /THE EAGLE The problem is surprised that that not every the department student who expresses interest in the was struggling to recruit new students program is automatically connected with because of the career opportunities the music department, Snider said. associated with music.

“We need every student who has “It is difficult to find success in the an interest in music who fills out the music industry without following along Common App to be sent to us. I don’t the path to grad school, and this prospect feel that that’s happening,” Snider is scary to students who are passionate

enough about music to take it on as a major,” Larson said.

Christian Kahn, an audio tech major, said he did not expect a decline in students because the Katzen Arts Center is a “great facility for the music department” with “an abundance of practice rooms.”

However, Khan also said it may be a university-wide issue instead.

“The way the University is promoted is to be a more political science and research-based university,” Khan said.

“They have a great music program, but they are not as vocal about it.”

But Snider is optimistic, comparing the revamp to “a forest that burns itself so it can make new growth.” The program is exploring adding a master’s program to its offerings, Snider said. This could improve enrollment numbers, Doyle said.

“When we noticed going into this academic year that the numbers were lower than we had hoped for, it was all a matter of everyone getting together and being like, ‘what can we do?’” Doyle said. “I don’t know if it’s all of a sudden we have this morale that’s common, but [the low enrollment rate] has amplified something that already existed.”

Snider stressed that the master’s program is still in its early days of development and it will be explored more in the spring. She said is still unphased by the decline in enrollment.

“We are strong,” Snider said. “We are the little engine that can and we will.” life@theeagleonline.com

11

theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

Muslim students struggle to find halal dining options Petition for more choices has earned over 500 signatures could be met in that period of time.

“That can’t happen overnight,” Powell said. “I can’t tell you you’ll come back spring semester and that [halal food] will be there.”

When Fatima Munshi first arrived at AU, she Senator-at-large Yasaman Hakami went to the Nov. asked other Muslim students what halal food options 15 meeting to show support from Student Government. were available for her. She was told there were only She’s writing a bill to advocate for more halal options two, and their label wasn’t even confirmed. Elevation at AU and show support for Muslim students, Hakami Burger’s meat was debatable and MegaBytes chicken said. was rumored to be halal.

“We are your representatives,” Hakami said. “You’ve It wasn’t until Munshi’s sophomore year when she elected us into office and this is what our job is supposed felt comfortable eating at Elevation Burger after she to be.” saw one in Pennsylvania that advertised having halal Hakami said it is student government’s responsibility meat. to support students when they are asking for action “That gave me the confidence because I only from administration. eat meat if there is a certification that it is halal,” “We’re supposed to show up and show support Munshi, who is co-president of the Muslim Student when [the administration] is not necessarily the most Association, said. “I need that to be certain.” productive listeners when it comes down to students’ Now, MSA is advocating to bring more halal rights and student advocacy,” Hakami said. options to campus. Islam is the sixth most popular For Rehman, bringing halal meat options to AU religion for the class of 2021, The Eagle previously is more than just expanding the dining options for reported.

Muslim students. It also means Yet, Elevation Burger is the educating other students about only restaurant to offer halal Muslim students’ needs. food on campus, Director of “Overall, having halal OneCard and Dining Services meat creates presence and Ann Marie Powell said during an acknowledgement of other MSA meeting on Nov. 15. religious accommodations on Halal is an Islamic term campus,” Rehman said. indicating that meat is prepared Munshi said she will keep according to Muslim law. fighting for more halal options on Muslims can only eat meat that is campus as she believes Muslim considered Zabiha. students deserve more.

Zabiha is the method by “We don’t live in a perfect which Muslims slaughter animals world and this is an opportunity -- with a swift and deep cut to for the Muslim community on the jugular vein -- ensuring that campus to organize and advocate the animal is killed in a way that for the things that we believe our causes minimal suffering. community deserves,” Munshi The name of Allah is also said. recited during the slaughtering, Munshi is inspired by the designating the meat permissible advocacy work being done by -- or halal -- to eat.

Muslim leaders on AU's campus.

Other Muslim students have “You look at the world around a similar experience to Munshi you right now, Islamophobia is at when it comes to a lack of an all-time high and at the same options. time, we have so many great “Since the options are limited, leaders in our community and so I have to resort to vegetable much good work being done to options to make up for the combat Islamophobia," she said. missing protein in my diet,” said Munshi said her advocacy KAITLIN CAFFREY/THE EAGLE freshman Alaa Hammoudeh. efforts have grown significantly Additionally, freshman Students in the Muslim Student Association are calling for AU to offer more halal meat options on since her freshman year.

Samia Warsame said the process campus. “The lack of halal food on campus is detrimental to student life because it really limits “I didn’t realize that AU is of finding halal food can be what we can eat,” said freshman Sarmia Warsame. supposed to be like a home to draining, both physically and me [when I was a freshman] and financially, as she has to take I wasn’t really sure how to make time out of her day to find options off campus that confusing when items are not labeled correctly,” demands either and I wasn’t sure who was going to Akrami said. can be costly.

In order to bring more halal options for Muslim listen,” Munshi said. “So being new, I just didn’t know “I believe that the lack of halal food on campus is students, Rehman recently started an online petition how to do that.” detrimental to student life because it really limits what Advocating for halal food has been a learning we can eat, and we instead have to find halal spots to show support for the initiative. The petition quickly experience, Munshi said. gained traction on social media. off campus which takes up a lot of time, energy and “Your community deserves it and you’re part of this As of Nov. 16, their petition has 567 signatures and money,” Warsame said. community and you should feel like that,” Munshi said. has gained recognition from MSA International and Powell said that beyond Elevation Burger, students "So, ultimately I kind of feel like this is the first year can find halal options in frozen meals from Saffron Zabihah, the world’s largest guide to halal restaurants that I really feel part of AU and I feel like through this and markets.

Road, a halal food brand, offered at the East Campus During a meeting between Powell and MSA on Nov. advocacy I’m more involved.”

POD. 15, Powell said that MSA has “the ball in their court,” Muslim students can also eat from the kosher meaning it is up to them to work with administrators mcarrasco@theeagleonline.com and section in the Terrace Dining Room, Powell said. mfarooqi@theeagleonline.com on what halal options can be brought to campus.

But for students like MSA co-president and junior When a student attending the meeting asked Ammarah Rehman, these options are not enough.

“Although kosher and halal have a lot of similarities about bringing more halal options to campus by next in terms of meat preparation, having halal meat on semester, Powell was unsure if the students’ requests

by Maria Carrasco and Misbah Farooqi Student Life Editor and Student Government Reporter

campus allows an overall inclusive dining experience for Muslims who will not eat kosher meat,” Rehman said.

Hammoudeh agrees, and believes that Muslim students should not have to venture off campus to find halal meat options.

“I know there is kosher meat, which means that the University has started to accommodate other preferences,” Hammoudeh said. “It’s just unrealistic to assume those that want halal food will leave campus every time to get it.”

Another issue that Muslim students often encounter is that the food at TDR isn’t always labeled properly, and food that is labeled as chicken ends up having pork products in them.

“There are often times when a food item looks like it’s chicken, but it turns out to be pork,” freshman Zarah Akrami said.

Akrami said the labeling errors can lead to confusion among students who do not eat certain foods.

“As someone who does not eat pork, it can very

SPORTS

12

ERICA VELTMAN/THE EAGLE

Nelson is one of four returning players to have logged significant minutes from the 2016 team. Nelson ranked third in the nation in minutes per game as a freshman and Brennan expects him to bear an even greater responsibility as a sophomore.

Star point guard returns for highly anticipated sophomore season

by Bradley Darin Staff Writer

Sophomore point guard Sa’eed Nelson had a lot of responsibility as a first-year player last season for the men’s basketball team. Nelson consistently led the team in almost all statistical categories every game, and quickly emerged as a leader.

And as the 2017 season kicks into full gear, Nelson remains one of the few holdovers from an Eagles team that looks much different than the one that took the court 12 months ago. He’s likely to bear even more responsibility as a sophomore.

Nelson ranked highly in the NCAA in many statistical categories last season, including averaging the third most minutes per game (37.5) in the nation. As a true freshman, Nelson started all 30 games at point guard and led the Eagles in scoring with 14.9 points per game.

At the end of the season, Nelson earned a spot on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team for his performance in his first collegiate season. However, the amount of time spent on the court combined with leading the team took a toll on Nelson, he said.

“Freshman year was definitely different from high school. The change of speed of the game is different, practicing longer, and lifting in general. We didn’t do that in high school,” Nelson said. “It was just a rough season, a long season. It was different for my experience and a new type of feel.”

Despite Nelson’s breakout statistical season, AU struggled collectively. The team lost senior center Leon Tolksdorf to a knee injury early in the season, limiting the team’s frontcourt depth. Injuries forced 6-5 senior Charlie Jones to play center for long

ERICA VELTMAN/THE EAGLE

Coach Brennan has high expectations for Nelson and doesn't "view him as a sophomore" because of the experience gained as a freshman, he said.

durations during the season and AU ranked 346th out 351 Division I schools in points scored per game.

Nelson and freshman Mark Gasperini were both bright spots for Brennan, whose team finished with an 8-22 record and ninth out of ten teams in the Patriot League. AU isn’t predicted to do much better this season -- the Patriot League preseason poll, which surveys the conference’s head coaches and sports information directors, predicted that the Eagles will finish ninth again, coming out ahead of last place Lafayette.

Despite the challenges facing the team, Nelson is looking to build and learn from the lessons of his freshman year and help the Eagles achieve more success in the 201718 season.

“This season, we’re more prepared for it,” Nelson said. “We’ve got a lot of new guys, new faces, freshmen on the team. I think they are ready for it [the season]. So I think it will be a good season.”

Nelson, Gasperini, junior forward Matt Cimino and junior guard James Washington are the only returning players who played a significant role in the 2016 season. Delante Jones, Lonnie Rivera, Andrija Matic and Alex Paquin all transferred from the program in the offseason, leaving the Eagles roster bare heading into the summer months.

Brennan’s team will feature seven freshmen and is one of four teams in Division I basketball without a senior on its roster.

Nelson knows, even as a sophomore, that he will be expected to serve as a leader for the younger players on the team. Freshmen Jesse Little, Sam Iorio, Drew Lamont and junior transfer Cheikh Diallo will all be in a similar position to Nelson a season ago and expected to contribute heavily in their first season with the Eagles.

While he acknowledges how unusual it is for a team to have so many young players on the roster, Nelson is excited for what the new faces can offer for the Eagles in the season ahead.

“It was a little different [to have so many new players]. It was still refreshing, with them coming into their freshman year, they’re going through what we went through,” Nelson said. “I’m glad we got this new bunch, they’re really good as a group.”

Based on Nelson’s performance as a freshman, Brennan has a higher set of expectations for his point guard. He is looking for Nelson to serve as a resource for the younger players and lead by example on the court.

“I tell him [Nelson] all the time that I don’t view him as a sophomore. You know, he’s experienced enough, where he should be like an upperclass-type leader,” Brennan said. “He’s been doing a good job with that, helping young guys with the offense and through practice.”

Brennan hopes Nelson can help the new players by offering his knowledge, having gone through similar experiences less than a year ago. This leadership will prove crucial, as the inexperience on the Eagles roster likely means several freshmen will play a meaningful role for the team this season.

“I think they will all contribute at some point, so it’s just a matter of everyone continuing to improve each day,” Brennan said. “You know, they won’t know when their time is coming, but when it comes, I know they will be ready.”

Despite the high expectations for his sophomore season, Nelson said he is ready to get out on the court and do what comes most naturally to him: playing the game he loves.

“I haven’t played since the last game of last season. I just want to get out there and play again and travel again,” Nelson said. “It’s exciting to me to travel and play games in new places.” bdarin@theeagleonline.com

13

theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

Embracing college (flag) football culture Intramural flag football helps fill the void for AU’s lack of tailgate opportunities

by Kimberly Cataudella Assistant Sports Editor

Saturdays at AU aren’t special affairs. The library is only slightly less packed than weekdays, campus coffee shops are buzzing with study groups and the quad is lined with foldable tables. Some students set early alarms for internships or jobs, hoping to get another resume-booster. Saturdays don’t involve the words “football game day” because, well, they can’t.

AU works to churn out congressmen and women, non-profit starters and foreign correspondents, but the athletic portion of the University is not a centerpiece of the campus culture. Sporting events, which already are sparsely attended, are without a staple of the college experience: a football team.

Though the University doesn’t have a team to play on Saturday afternoons as the leaves change from green to brown, students still have the opportunity to play (and watch) football. Intramural flag football, that is.

AU’s intramural flag football league, as well as the sport itself, encourages minimal contact and no tackling, making it appealing to people who may not have experience playing traditional football, said Garret Schmidt, AU’s intramural sports coordinator. And for those students who have played football, there’s really only one key similarity, Schmidt said: the ball.

The league is inclusive to all genders, giving students the opportunity to foster a competitive spirit while practicing a healthy and balanced lifestyle, Schmidt said.

Adam Deakin, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs who played in the flag football league this season, said the sport has a different vibe “than having 100,000 kids pregaming.” But he doesn’t necessarily mind the contrast.

“For me, and for others at American, I feel there was an aspect of wanting sports at school, but football wasn’t too important,” Deakin said.

Not having football at AU has not “really detracted” from Deakin’s college experience because he’s been able to play in the intramural league, he said.

“I think at a lot of football-factory colleges -- big D-I schools -- there’s a larger division between athletes and students than there is here,” Deakin said. “Even the athletes are ‘just students.’ That’s what AU is.”

Joshua DeSouza, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been a referee for intramural sports for six months. He has reffed flag football, volleyball and indoor futsal -- indoor soccer with slightly tweaked rules. DeSouza found flag football to be the most competitive out of the three, he said.

“While we had fewer teams participate than other sports, the community of people who participated in flag was much more diverse in age range and ethnicity and openly passionate about the game,” DeSouza said.

“Some people were merely there for fun and friendship, while others were clearly lifelong football participants looking for a way to stay active and competitive to the best that they could here at American.”

While teams do get competitive during games, friendships and inter-team relationships are created through competition, DeSouza said. And players like Deakin prefer flag football’s diminished intensity.

While AU’s flag football program is -- quite literally -- all fun and games, the winner is determined through a one-day tournament bracket system. During the

Photo Courtesy of Garrett Schmidt

The 2017 intramural flag football champions Delta Tau Delta represented AU at the NIRSA Regional Flag Football Championship in November. regular season, teams are rotated so that each plays against a different one within AU. This year, members of the fraternity Delta Tau Delta made up the team that came out on top. Out of the eight intramural football teams this season, six were fraternity groups -- Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Theta Sigma and Pi Kappa Alpha.

Delta Tau Delta’s intramural championship win gave them the opportunity to represent AU at a national flag football championship at the University of Maryland in late November.

“No one went for the hard tackle or extreme play.

It was all for the sake of fun,” DeSouza said of the season.

“There were not many close games, and the games just became about trying new things, like full-field chucks or one-hand catches. I saw some incredible plays throughout the season.”

Kathleen Duffy, a graduate student pursuing her J.D. and MBA at AU, was captain of the law school team this past intramural season.

Feeling connected to sports throughout her life, Duffy came to D.C. after attending Bucknell University as an undergraduate.

Organizing a flag football team offered Duffy the chance to bring her business class group together, she said.

“I organized IM as a social thing, which became much greater than that because the boys got really into it,” Duffy said. “As a result, the business program is a lot more social, and we do more things together after class or after the game. We were able to bring the interactions during the game into our group project, which made the semesterlong class better for all of us.”

While DeSouza understands that flag football will never be the same as having a football team at AU,

he sees the positive aspects of the intramural program.

“I can see why flag football isn't a bad alternative,” DeSouza said. “You get refs, you get a full field and you get all the materials provided to you. Not only that, but unlike just having a football team, you are the football team at AU.” kcataudella@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

Mental edge Athletes, coaches reap benefits of mental performance coach Brian Levenson

by Vincent Salandro Managing Editor for Sports

One year after coming to AU, mental performance coach Brian Levenson continues to build relationships with student-athletes, contributing to their success as athletes and individuals. Levenson uses open conversations with athletes and coaches to identify and enhance skills relevant to success on the playing field.

A long-time partner of the AU wrestling program and head coach Teague Moore, Levenson was officially hired by the University in the fall of 2016. His availability at AU is not unique, as a growing number of universities -- including the University of Michigan and Oklahoma -- are adding psychology staff to their athletic departments. Several professional teams, including the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Mavericks, have hired full-time mental performance coaches, too.

“The population at AU is a great fit for the work that I do because you combine open-mindedness with competitiveness with the idea of doing things the right way,” Levenson said in an interview with The Eagle last fall. “My practice very much aligns with those concepts.”

In addition to the wrestling program, which has continued to use Levenson’s services since his hiring by the athletic department, the women’s basketball team now incorporates him into their team activities.

The two programs hope the investment will improve performance.

Mental performance in wrestling

SHANNON SCOVEL/THE EAGLE

Redshirt junior Josh Terao’s meetings with Levenson help him forge his own path separate from his brother, alumni and All-American wrestler David Terao. was coming out of high school, Brett was not a nationally ranked wrestler,” Moore said. “Fast forward five years, now he’s a nationally ranked wrestler. That doesn’t happen by chance. Somebody like Brian helps give him perspective and set goals to reassess himself.”

Josh Terao, a 125-pound wrestler, faces an entirely different type of mental hurdle than his teammate Dempsey: the weight of his brother, AU All-American and 2015 graduate David Terao. Levenson helps Terao separate himself from his brother and forge his own path as an AU wrestler.

“Josh feels like he’s in David’s footsteps,” Moore said.

“For Brian, when he’s working with Josh, one of the things we want to make sure Josh understands is that: ‘you’re a totally different athlete, you’re a totally different person.’”

Terao, Dempsey and all of Moore’s wrestlers meet with Levenson regularly, as individuals and through team-scheduled meetings, which helps develop camaraderie, Moore said. He makes a point of having incoming freshmen meet with Levenson to help them adjust to the chaotic life of a student-athlete, he said.

During the years before Levenson came on as a resource for the entire athletic department, Moore

spoke with other AU coaches to make them aware of Levenson’s services. He arrived to a mixed reception.

“There’s some coaches who don’t want their studentathletes working with somebody like that, somebody outside of their coaching staff,” Moore said. “They kind of want to have complete and total autonomy on what their athletes are hearing, what their athletes are seeing, what their athletes are doing.”

Women’s basketball prospers from Levenson Since Levenson joined the athletic department, the women’s basketball team has been one of the programs to use his services the most. The team scheduled several team-building meetings with Levenson before and during the 2016-17 season. Additionally, several athletes on the team, including senior guard Maria Liddane, meet with Levenson on a regular basis.

“Team chemistry has been a big one this year,” Liddane said. “He’s been troubleshooting and working on methods to get our chemistry to be better than it has ever has been. It’s been paying off, and we haven’t even played a game yet.”

Liddane said Levenson focuses on individual areas -like confidence or limitations on the court -- and always offers a unique perspective to troubleshoot problems on an individual level.

“Brian is such an expert in his field that he’s an invaluable resource for all of us,” Liddane said. ”It’s paid off for me as a senior. After having met with him for over a year, I can really tell a difference in how I’m approaching the game.”

Levenson’s approachability and openness are crucial, Liddane said. Meetings with Levenson to focus on athletic performance help relieve the stress of academic work and responsibilities that student-athletes have to balance.

“He’s super outgoing, easy to relate to and very interested in you. He takes a genuine interest in everyone he meets with,” Liddane said. “He’s worked with some of the top athletes in the world and really has helped mental performance for those athletes who have achieved the highest honors in their respective sports.”

But at AU, Levenson offers himself as a personable and approachable resource who can relieve stress for any student-athlete who meets with him.

“Sometimes, we as athletes and coaches, once you get engrossed in your sport, have trouble seeing outside your daily confines,” Moore said.

“He’s going to get the student athlete and/or the coach to thinking from a little bit different perspective.”

Levenson’s partnership with Moore dates back to Moore’s first year with AU in 2011. Moore met Levenson through an alum of the wrestling program, who knew Levenson’s father. The alum put Moore in contact with Levenson, who at that time was working locally in Bethesda, Md. After initially meeting the mental performance coach, Moore said he felt Levenson could be a valuable resource to his wrestlers in an area that receives little attention.

“I feel like in sports today, we do an extremely good job of preparing the physical body for the student-athlete,” Moore said. “We do all these things to physically prepare them, but in sports, a lot of times the biggest obstacles that most athletes have to overcome is in between their own ears.”

Moore said how an athlete is thinking before and during competition can influence their performance as much as their physical preparedness. Levenson talks with athletes to overcome these mental hurdles and train their “mind muscle” to prepare for competition, Moore said.

Moore identified two wrestlers, redshirt senior Brett Dempsey and redshirt junior Josh Terao, as current athletes who have benefited from Levenson’s work. Dempsey, a heavyweight wrestler, made the transition from the 184-pound weight class to the heavyweight class in less than a year. After struggling to a 17-18 record in his first year as a heavyweight, Dempsey began the 201718 season with two victories over nationally ERICA VELTMAN/THE EAGLE ranked opponents in his first two bouts.

Senior Maria Liddane meets with mental performance coach Brian Lev“If you go back five years ago when he enson to build on-court confidence and improve team chemistry

vsalandro@theeagleonline.com

OPINION

15

Rethinking academic freedom

by Nickolaus Mack

Managing Editor for Opinion

In September 2015, the Faculty Senate unanimously approved a resolution on academic freedom. The resolution arrived amid a heated national conversation regarding freedom of speech and guest speakers using college campuses as platforms to promote “alternative,” often oppressive, views to the disapproval of their respective student bodies.

In the resolution, the Faculty Senate linked its conclusion with that of the collective academic community. They minimized dissidence by referring to it as “material that some members of our community may find disturbing” as well as “individual sensitivities” and “personal difficulties.”

It is written as if the contrary concerns raised are only by vocal minorities spellbound by their identity-based politics. The Faculty Senate illogically concluded that the resolution would push students to become “critical thinkers and responsible citizens.” Then and now, I disagree with their conclusion.

An argument for academic freedom -- the idea that everyone should always be able to speak freely -- presumes that all actors are rational and speaking for the purpose of truth. This is ultimately oppressive to the minority because not

everyone speaks for the purpose of truth.

Academic freedom presumes a universal pursuit of truth. I disagree with that presumption.

The universal pursuit of all human beings, even academics, is not guided by truth, but by the limits of their experience.

It is foolish to perpetuate the idea, explicitly or through lack of conversation, that scholars are “autonomous individuals traveling free from experiences of prejudice...through a politically neutral intellectual terrain.” When reinforced by academic freedom, what reason or initiative does an explicitly or implicitly problematic person have to seek the truth regarding their opinions and practices?

Those unaffected by false opinions and problematic pedagogy are naturally inclined not to intervene unless they have personal investment in the matter. This is known as the bystander effect.

Because academic subjects do not all intertwine, the burden of responsibility falls upon those whose subject matter does relate to the assailing opinions and practices. Marginalized communities, often through their identity, become and are those people. Hence, academic freedom is not free at all; it’s a privilege afforded only to those unaffected by the political and cultural realities that we live in today.

There should be an institutional structure -- a cultural competency course -- that impedes these false opinions and problematic practices from entering academia. Such a structure would demonstrate the empiric need for content warnings and cleansing of identity-based bias from course content and pedagogy.

Although occasionally misguided, at least the typical college radical protests this gap in policy manufactured by academic freedom. What response does

the academic have to injustice within academia, such as racially-charged inclass hypotheticals or sexist stereotypes?

What about campus speakers who espouse sexist, homophobic or xenophobic views, coupled with overt displays of racism and anti-Semitism? Too many academics abstain, unaffected by the public assault upon marginalized identity and fearful of imposing on the academic freedom of others. They leave the torch of equity to colleagues and students whose work and lives are inseparable from that identity.

What we find is an institution of higher learning, spellbound by its commodified philosophy, settling into a complacent mud that neither reflects the vibrancy of their student body nor their school’s values. If AU is to be an institution of equity, academics across disciplinary fields must start and in some cases continue “inter-dependizing” their work in empowerment of marginalized communities. Inter-dependizing dictates that the growth of academia depends on the holistic inclusion of marginalized communities in course content and pedagogical practices. This requires more than signing solidarity letters, but also setting and maintaining inclusive classroom environments.

AU cannot be a place where transformative ideas form if it is not a place where they are enacted institutionally. If institutionally AU looks like every other university, that’s a problem. The call for rethinking academic freedom is not one to silence the right body politic, reinforce the archetypical hyper-leftist tendencies of college radicals or impose a culture of conformity.

Rather, it is a rejection of reactive university bureaucracy. It is a wake up call for the gradualist faculty who, unwilling to accept the limits of their identity-based

experience, projected their privileged fears of censorship on students. The unbearable slowness of the University’s administration does not prevent stumbles; it simply makes the tumbles of inadequate policy more dramatic. The documented, empirical realities that marginalized communities faced and continue to face at this university are non-controversial.

We must accept this and act with urgency.

Students have a right not only to demand curricula and faculty that reflects the diversity of our country, but also how curricula is taught. Michael Olivas, the Director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at University of Houston, confirms my point. “Students have a right to expect... thoughtful pedagogical practices,” Olivas said. And students do expect this.

The University is facing a growing demand for proactive agency in its administration. The Faculty Senate can help accomplish this by focusing on socially-conscious policy instead of the abstract notion of academic freedom.

Professors are intellectual role models for students. If they can’t not be held to an appropriate standard of social consciousness, how can we feign outrage when the student body follows suit?

The Faculty Senate would be remiss to not use its platform to create space that uplifts marginalized communities. It would be remiss to not actively cultivate a community according to our values.

But, until that standard is met, your professorial academic freedom stops where our desks begin.

Nickolaus Mack is a junior in the School of International Service and The Eagle’s managing editor for opinion. nmack@theeagleonline.com

It’s time for accessible Plan B on campus

by Steph Black Staff Columnist

Plan B, one brand of emergency contraception, is an integral part of sexual health for college students. Without easy, safe and educated access to emergency contraception, the overall sexual health and wellbeing of students will suffer.

Emergency contraception (EC) is a method of contraception used to prevent pregnancy after sexual intercourse. The sooner after intercourse EC is taken -ideally within 72 hours -- the better. Plan B, one form of EC, is a pill that is made

up of levonorgestrel, a hormone that can actually be found in some birth control pills. The dose in Plan B is much higher, but works in a similar way to traditional birth control.

There are three ways Plan B can work to prevent pregnancy: by stopping the ovary from releasing an egg and therefore leaving nothing for the sperm to fertilize, by preventing the sperm from fertilizing the egg or by preventing the fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus.

Plan B will not work if you are already pregnant and will not induce an abortion if you are already pregnant.

Both EC and medical abortion are both necessary parts of comprehensive health care but with increased access to EC, abortion rates actually decrease. It is cheaper, easier, and more straightforward to take EC than it is to have an abortion.

And, importantly, Plan B is used fairly commonly: one in four women aged 2024 have used some form of EC. While the Student Health Center (SHC) does supply Plan B, there are multiple reasons why having it available

exclusively in the health center is detrimental to the sexual wellness of students. First is the hours of operation.

The health center is only open Monday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Students are most likely more sexually active on weekends, and EC is most effective the sooner one takes it.

Unprotected sex on Friday would mean that a student has to wait until at least Monday morning to access EC. That is, if a student can get an appointment, which can be difficult to make within the 72-hour window when EC is most effective.

Second, though SHC gets a discount on Plan B and can therefore be sold to students for $20, there is still a $20 charge for having an appointment in the first place, doubling the cost of the visit. For EC, the SHC does not take insurance and the entire cost would have to come out of the student’s pocket.

This could lead a student to head to an off-campus location to obtain EC.

Only about two-thirds of all pharmacies will carry Plan B, even though it’s recommended, and only 14 percent will place it on a shelf without it being secured.

Pharmacists can also refuse to sell it based on their own religious beliefs. And for already nervous students, advocating for something as personal as EC to a judgmental stranger is not easy.

The solution is clear: Plan B must be provided on campus in an accessible location to all students. P.O.D. serves this need perfectly. Open until 2 a.m. every day of the week, many students frequent the location often. There already is a decently-sized healthcare section where one can purchase cold medicine and condoms. Having EC stocked and ready alleviates most, if not all, of the burdens listed above and creates a community of safety, wellness and empowerment.

Steph Black is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and a columnist for The Eagle. sblack@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE Dec. 4, 2017

REbeLling against the norm

by Stephanie Mirah Staff Columnist

I recently spoke with Serena Nangia, founder of AU’s chapter of the body positivity group REbeL. She articulated something I never consciously realized before.

“It’s ingrained in our society to talk badly about ourselves,” she said.

It’s such a simple statement, yet I found myself slightly dumbfounded upon hearing it. I know that I am guilty of hating on myself, but I never thought we could be prone to self-hatred. Sometimes, we are our own worst critics. This can cause them to disproportionately talk about why they hate themselves over why they love themselves. With that natural level of negativity infecting our

minds, we often find ourselves placing strict, societal parameters on what is and is not beautiful. Once standards are in place, they are hard to break, but AU has recently made progress toward redefining beauty with the help of REbeL, which is a supportive community for students to talk about body image and eating disorders without having to go immediately to professionals.

Body image, or the way people perceive their appearances, is often forgotten amid other issues due to its deeply personalized and invisible quality.

Life and news both move fast here, and, in all honesty, it is hard to actively care about everything and work at solving all issues at the same time. It is easy to get caught up in the most present problems, yet we cannot forget to continue the conversation on body image because, in the words of Nangia, “it is a continuous journey.”

In an email exchange with the Wellness Center Director, Mickey Irizarry, she said that while they do deal with body image related concerns, they often do not receive requests for it. This is not because our collective understanding of body image at AU is perfect. Rather, it’s because a conversation about self-love is elusive.

Not everyone is comfortable or at the stage of their journey to talk about their personal body image problems or eating disorders with places like the Wellness Center or Counseling Center.

By providing a platform like REbeL, it gives people a choice to start small. It can be reassuring to go to a group like REbeL because it can show people who are currently struggling with body image that they are never alone in the process towards body acceptance.

The conversation can also be avoided because people do not have the necessary language to express and understand their experience with body acceptance. REbeL aims to educate people on body image and related topics which can break stigmas around societal constructs of beauty.

Should a person require professional help, REbeL hopes to provide resources.

On Nov. 4, REbeL hosted a body positive photoshoot in Katzen Arts Center. When someone is not comfortable in their own skin, it can be difficult to take self-portraits and love the product. The purpose of the photoshoot was to provide a comfortable setting for anyone to come and embrace their physical appearances and personalities. When I attended the photoshoot, I could feel the passion of the group. Nangia and the other members

were invested in providing a welcoming atmosphere where anyone could come and be accepted without judgment.

We should not talk badly about ourselves. As students, we have a host of things to be proud of. Without a doubt, our bodies should and can be one of them. With REbeL in its grassroots stage right now, it needs our help to market it on campus. The continuous journey toward body acceptance is a difficult road, but it doesn’t need to be traveled alone. I encourage everyone to consider joining REbeL as one step forward toward cultivating a campus of community, accessibility, and inclusion.

REbeL meets twice a month, alternating between Wednesday and Thursday evening meetings. More information about the organization can be found on Facebook. In the interest of transparency, REbeL is not a confidential organization and members are required to report any concerning statements to the University.

Stephanie Mirah is a freshman in the School of Communications and a columnist for The Eagle. smirah@theeagleonline.com

Staff Editorial: Campus accessibility falls short Access across campus is still limited for those with a physical disability Most students probably do not think about accessibility very often, but for many, it poses a challenge on a daily basis.

Students with physical disabilities interviewed by The Eagle are generally happy with the help that the Academic Support and Access Center (ASAC) provides.

But AU has not done enough to address campus accessibility issues outside of ASAC. Many complain that buildings are not as physically accessible as they should be, or are extremely cumbersome to enter.

Specifically, Hurst Hall and the East Quad Building lack adequate options for students with disabilities. Neither building offers access via ramp or elevator.

Although Hurst is equipped with a lift, it is awkward and inconvenient.

Even going to the bathroom can be a struggle in Hurst Hall, where all bathrooms are located in the basement and are only accessible via the stairs.

For many students who have a physical disability or challenge, this is an extremely difficult obstacle. The Eagle staff implores administrators to listen to students and remedy this issue.

Of course, there are steps students can take to ensure that they will not be inhibited by the campus buildings.

Students have the option of discussing their schedules with ASAC to make sure their classes are in locations they will not have any trouble accessing due to their disability.

Unfortunately, some students who would benefit from these resources are not aware of them. We hope ASAC will find ways to reach these students through community outreach efforts.

The Eagle staff would also like to acknowledge that not all disabilities are physical. Our story focuses on students with physical disabilities, but other types of disabilities -- including mental, emotional and educational -- bring their own set of challenges on campus.

Many students experience these types of disabilities at the same time.

Often, students need time to adjust to what accessibility looks like in college.

They may be used to a more personal accommodation, such as extra time for exams in an empty classroom like they may have experienced in high school.

However, at AU, students may not be afforded the same accomodations.

Technology could very effectively assist students who are audio or visually impaired. Such technologies are essential for the education of those students, and it is incumbent upon the University to accommodate them.

The Eagle also recognizes that students have a role in creating an inclusive community for students with both visible and invisible disabilities.

Students with disabilities are too often on the receiving end of dirty looks or mumbled comments when they take an elevator over the stairs. is unacceptable for anyone who wants to make our campus more inclusive.

There is no reason we should be judging each other’s disabilities. The Eagle encourages students to suspend their judgement, resist jumping to conclusions and to treat their peers with kindness.

Students should lend a hand when they can and make AU a more comfortable and inclusive learning environment.

The University has the potential to be much more accommodating to students with disabilities. While many people may not consciously consider disabilities when they imagine inclusivity, they are just as deserving of our attention as any.

Moving forward, it is on us to make that inclusivity a reality.

-E opinion@theeagleonline.com

SAMAD AROUNA /THE EAGLE