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AU in the News

Showcasing AU programs, professors, students and alumni in the news
Week of January 12 - 18

Courting Young Voters
Though young voters were a major component of Sen. Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa, relying on their support has always been risky. As Curtis Gans, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, told the Chronicle of Higher Education, past presidential candidates who started out with a large number of young supporters, often saw those numbers dwindle as the campaign continued. “Now we have an Obama phenomenon," Mr. Gans said. "But how long it will be sustained is a whole other question.”(1/10/08)

Single Sex vs. Co-Ed
Single-gender classrooms have gained acceptance and prominence in the last decade due to the theory that separating the sexes provides a better learning environment. But as NBC Nightly News discovered, not everyone agrees with the notion. “Our schools are already divided by race and by class, now we want to divide them by gender?” said David Sadker, a professor at American University. “We ought to invest our resources in training teachers in working with curriculum in making our co-ed schools better schools.” (1/15/08)

Picking on the Nation’s Capital
Throughout the campaign season, many presidential candidates have taken aim at Washington, criticized it as dysfunctional, and portrayed themselves as agents of change, reports the Associated Press. However, vilifying the nation’s capital is an old tradition, said Alan J. Lichtman, a political history professor at American University. Lichtman added that the practice “has its failures and its successes.” This article appeared in more than 40 news outlets. (1/12/08)

Economic Recession
With a struggling stock market, and a lack of consumer spending, experts fear that recession is on the horizon for the U.S. economy, WTTG Fox 5 reports. The main problem, said Robert Losey, chairman of the department of finance at American University, is that people are just not spending as much. “For instance, retail sales were just reported as lower,” he said. “The holiday sales were not as good as people hoped. Autos are not doing especially well. You can make a number of other sectors in the economy that are not doing especially well.” (1/15/08)

The Writers’ Strike Effect
The Hollywood writers' strike’s effect on television programming is being felt nationwide. American viewers are forced to sit through television reruns and an increase in reality shows in place of prime time programs. WUSA CBS 9 asked Gemma Puglisi, a communications professor at the American University, what the future holds if the strike continues. “The audiences are going to find other things to do rather than watching television and that's not what you want as an entertainment industry,” said Puglisi. “I think it's brought back reality TV shows in the worst way possible and it's all dumb humor because anybody who writes good humor is on strike.” (1/14/08)

Ral Castro in Charge?
Speculation that Cuban leader Fidel Castro's hold on power could be coming to an end has increased this week after the ailing dictator announced that he was too weak to speak in public and campaign for the country’s election on Sunday. However, the message is also another sign that the leader would be turning the presidency over to his younger brother Ral, American University professor and Cuba expert William LeoGrande told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Everybody's expectation was, he dies, the successors would try to govern and it would be interesting to see if they can manage,” LeoGrande said of Castro’s opportunity to watch his successors in action for an entire year. “Well, turns out he didn't die, he got to watch them manage things and they managed pretty well. There was stability. There were no riots. There was nobody rushing to get on boats or rafts to come to Miami.” (1/17/08)

AU in the News Archives