Fighting Racism in Grading: Will Anti-Racist Pedagogy Fix Freshman Writing Classes at AU?
January 15, 2020
This story first appeared in the Fall 2019 print edition of AWOL. Should students be allowed to use different forms of English in their writing? Is Black vernacular English equivalent to the English used in academic discourse? Should professors grade students lower for using non-standard English in ...
Pledging #MeToo: AU Frat Culture During #MeToo
January 15, 2020
This story first appeared in the Fall 2019 print edition of AWOL. Greek life has been a staple of American culture for decades. Starting in 1776 with Phi Beta Kappa, fraternities began as groups of students who would meet at a set location and have intellectual debates about politics, philosophy, and ...
Underpaid and Underrepresented: The AU Adjunct Experience
Teddy Everett, Staff Editor
January 15, 2020
This story first appeared in the Fall 2019 print edition of AWOL. Derek Tokaz would like to put some savings into the 401(k) plan his adjunct benefits include. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make enough money to put anything into it. Adjunct professors at American University make up about 41% of the facult...
AU Swipes
Lana Green, Web Editor
January 15, 2020
This story first appeared in the Fall 2019 print edition of AWOL. American University student Nickolaus Mack received an email on Oct. 22, 2018, asking for the immediate termination of AU Swipes, a program where students with remaining meal swipes donate them to those who can’t afford additional m...
Suspicious Spending in Student Government
Shannon Durazo and Braeden Waddell
December 9, 2019
American University Student Government has an annual budget of over half a million dollars. Every student pays an activity fee of $88.50 to fund clubs, student media and AUSG. Half of these funds go to AUSG’s staff and activities, which include adjacent organizations like the Kennedy Poli...
AU faces more federal investigations into its handling of sexual violence cases than any other university
Katherine Long and Braeden Waddell
December 2, 2019
Each year for the past five years, a new investigation has been opened into American University’s Title IX Office regarding their handling of sexual violence cases. Office of Civil Rights cases are filed after an individual feels that the University failed to handle their case properly and dec...
Ratastrophe D.C.: City rodent complaints reach record high
Braeden Waddell, Multimedia Editor in Chief
November 21, 2019
Rodent complaints in the District have officially surpassed last year’s total for a whopping 6,036 rat reports as of Tuesday evening. Conflicting reports from local media outlet WTOP and the official numbers from the D.C. 311 open database put last year’s total rodent-related service requests somewhere between 5,715 and 6,009. By either metric, it’s cle...
An AU student protested the university’s investment in fossil fuels – she was fined, fired, and prevented from studying abroad
Braeden Waddell, Multimedia Editor in Chief
November 13, 2019
An American University student was fired from her campus job, fined $1,240 and put on year-long disciplinary probation after protesting against the university’s investment in fossil fuels. Anna Elias is a member of Fossil Free AU, a group of student protesters who dispute American University’s ...
National Period Day
Maddie Ceasar, Photo/Video Assistant
November 11, 2019
About the Piece: On October 19th, the first National Period Day was celebrated. Individuals from all over gathered at Capitol Hill demanding an end to period poverty and stigma. Speakers such as founder Nadya Okamoto, demanded for free, clean, and accessible period products in shelters, schools, and pri...
LGBTQ+ Workplace Equality Rally
Maddie Ceasar, Photo/Video Assistant
November 5, 2019
About the Piece: Ralliers gathered outside the Supreme Court on October 8th in support of the three cases that would be heard regarding LGBTQIA+ rights. Three oral arguments, Altitude Expresss Inc. v. Zarda, Bostock v. Clayton County, and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, took place regar...
Climate Change Protest
Ben Black, Maddie Ceasar, and Shane Matheu Ryden
October 30, 2019
About the piece: With the ever-changing climate of Washington, D.C.—both politically and environmentally—people demand change. With more and more legislation that continues to inhibit the protection of the environment from being protected under law, we must stand together and fight for what w...
#HandsOffGianna: AU students protest in solidarity with black student pulled out of her room
Braeden Waddell and Chloe K. Li
October 28, 2019
Black students and allies protested against police treatment of a black female student on campus Monday afternoon. Black organizers led students from Constitution Hall to the Mary Graydon Center and directed them to form a barricade, blocking the entrance of MGC. White allies stood in the front with bla...
