The Eagle, AU's student-run newspaper, celebrates its 80th year today as the sole student-life journal at the University. The paper has chronicled students, faculties, the district and the world since its debut in 1925.
The Eagle's archives include everything from the end of World War II to a debate between then-Sen. John Tower (R-Texas) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to dreaded tuition rises. One headline in 1967 announced that tuition is raised $130 per year, quite a difference from the $1,000-plus increase expected in 2005-2006, which The Eagle reported in February.
Also in 1967, the paper reported a sensational story about the school being the victim of a $500,000 forgery scheme when a man used counterfeit checks in the name of then-Vice President William Nicholls and transferred the cash to a Swiss bank account.
More than a decade ago, The Eagle reported on the school's newest president - Benjamin Ladner - appointed in 1994 after a string of other presidents resigned, starting in 1990 with Richard Brezenden.
In January 2001, the paper reported that trace amounts of arsenic were found on the intramural field and around the Child Development Center. The finding led to the Army Corps of Engineers to embark on a process to root out harmful elements of chemical testing conducted on campus at the end of the World War I.
In upcoming issues, The Eagle will chronicle the history of the paper and its place as the University's journal of record.
