News

Metro brief: Georgetown guards want higher pay

Campus security guards petitioned Friday at Georgetown University, joining with campus groups and a major union in an effort to raise wages and benefits for the guards. The new demand for increased wages comes after Georgetown's decision last March to raise all contracted workers' salaries and benefits to at least $13 an hour by July from the former minimum compensation of $11.

AU raises money for AIDS walk

Twenty AU students raised over $1,300 to participate in the Whitman-Walker Clinic's 19th Annual D.C. AIDS Walk Saturday, a $600 increase from last year. The students were joined by nearly 3,000 other walkers along the five-kilometer route, which started and ended in Freedom Plaza.

Police blotter

Monday Sept. 26 A fire alarm was activated in the financial aid building at 12:43 a.m. Public Safety canvassed the area, and the D.C. Fire Department was called in. Smoke was detected, but there did not appear to be any flames. The cause was determined to be electrical in nature, and related to electrical work being done inside the building.

Campus brief: Panelists debate U.S. drug policies

Panelists debated U.S. drug policy and its development Friday in the SIS lounge at a forum presented by the International Development Program Student Association. Panelists included Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and Dr.

Fall break travel more expensive this year

The airline, train and automobile industries have been hit hard by rising costs in the aftermath of September's hurricanes, leaving AU students in search of alternative transportation for traveling over fall break, which begins later this week. Northwest and Delta are the most recent airline victims of the spiking cost of travel; both announced their bankruptcy last month.

National briefs

New Orleans police superintendent retires The police superintendent of New Orleans announced his retirement Tuesday in the aftermath of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Eddie Compass chose to retire after several hundred of his officers deserted the force during the hurricane and two officers committed suicide.

'No faith' in Ladner, board tells students

Dozens of students rallying for President Benjamin Ladner's resignation surrounded both doors of the room where members of the board of trustees were meeting yesterday, about 20 were invited in to discuss Ladner's poor spending discretion and the board's lack of oversight and transparency.

Lichtman officially announces U.S. Senate run

American University history professor Allan Lichtman officially announced yesterday he is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Paul Sarbannes (D-Md.) in 2006. Amid a crowd of middle school and college students, AU professors, and Bethesda residents at North Bethesda Middle School, Lichtman pledged to fight and be an advocate for ordinary Maryland residents and for the country at large if elected.

AU promotes student safety

Following the case of the missing Virginia Commonwealth University freshman, AU Public Safety warns that students should be aware of threats both on and off-campus to protect themselves. "Make sure someone, a roommate or another classmate, is aware of one's whereabouts at all times," said Capt.

Five AU schools vote no confidence in Ladner

The following are the statements released by the respective faculties from the Kogod School of Business, the School of Communication, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of International Service and the Washington College of Law.

President Ladner's 1997 contract

Metro brief: Student shot after high school sports game

Students at three Montgomery County high schools are struggling to piece their lives back together after last week's football game that left a 15-year-old girl dead. "It's terrible," said Evan Levine, 18, a senior at James Hubert Blake High School, where Kanisha Neal was stabbed Friday night.

Faculty Senate unanimously calls for Ladner's resignation

Posted Sept. 29 at 5:39 p.m. The Faculty Senate voted unanimously this afternoon to call for President Benjamin Ladner's resignation or removal, and to examine the university's governance structure. "Benjamin Ladner no longer has the moral authority to lead this university," said senator Philip Jacoby, a business professor who presented the motion to ask the president to step down.

Police blotter

Thursday, Sept. 23 A fire alarm was activated in Anderson Hall. After finding no signs of fire, Public Safety determined malicious intent to be the cause of the alarm. Students were observed with open alcohol containers in a car in the Centennial garage. The students were reprimanded, the alcohol was confiscated and a report was filed.

Hundreds rally to protest Ladner

A student-run rally calling for suspended AU President Benjamin Ladner's resignation yesterday ended with students storming a Board of Trustees meeting in Butler Pavilion. Students staged a sit-in blocking all exits to the meeting, which was being held in the Butler Board Room on the sixth floor of Mary Graydon Center.

Library of Congress interns work with pieces of history

Emily Hurst was puzzled when Library of Congress staff interviewing her for a summer internship in Washington, D.C. asked if she would mind wearing a mask and apron, or lifting 40 lbs boxes. "We're going to be in the basement somewhere?" she remembers asking.

Cuba added to AU Abroad list

A new AU Abroad program will provide students the chance to spend a semester in Cuba, a change to the eight-year-old summer program. Since 1997, AU has offered a summer session in Cuba, but because of a May 2004 change in U.S. regulation, universities are no longer allowed to run any program in Cuba shorter than a full semester.