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AU in the News

Showcasing AU programs, professors, students and alumni in the news
Week of April 5 - 11

Shame as a Tax Cheat Deterrent
Following the recent Eliot Spitzer sex scandal, it has become evident that if public shame can deter public officials from engaging in illegal acts, it can also be used to curb tax evasion, writes American University law professor Dennis J. Ventry Jr. in a column with Rutgers professor Jay A. Soled for USA Today. “Shaming deters tax evasion by expressing society's condemnation of cheating, and by displaying the cheater's bad acts for all to see,” they wrote. “People undoubtedly comply with laws for various reasons, but fear of detection provides the strongest compliance incentive.” (4/10/08)

Is it Selfish to Retire Early?
If more Americans waited longer to retire, the national debt would show a significant growth, wrote Andrew Yarrow, a professor at American University, in his column for the Baltimore Sun. “For everyone's good, Americans should at least be able to work as long as their shorter-lived, poorer grandparents did,” he wrote “By doing so, they would be unselfishly helping preserve and strengthen our nation's future by alleviating - rather than worsening - our national debt and making hands-on contributions to our children and communities.” (4/7/08)

Yearbooks Becoming History Instead of Preserving it
With more students going digital and saving their memories on social Web sites, the idea of purchasing a college yearbook is slowly turning into a thing of the past, reports the Washington Times. "Because photos are online, people don't seem as panicked to get the yearbook and have that memory in front of them," said American University senior Halley Ofner, editor-in-chief of the Talon yearbook. Ofner says that Talon staff hopes to sell 300 copies, almost half the amount sold her freshman year. (4/9/08)

Don’t Blame NAFTA
With the nation’s growing economic problems, many have criticized the purpose of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), claiming it has resulted in less income for the country, The Washington Post reports. “NAFTA has become this piata that everybody has put their frustrations into,” said Robert A. Pastor, director of the Center for North American Studies at American University. “NAFTA is not the issue. That debate is finished. What the [presidential] candidates should be debating now is the future of North America. That requires them to look forward, not backwards to NAFTA.” (4/9/08)

Saving Image for the Olympics
In light of recently publicized protests and more global outcry over human rights violations against Tibet, China is scrambling to preserve its image by turning to public relations fims before the Summer Olympics in August, Agence France-Presse reports. The challenge of PR firms, according to Gemma Puglisi, a crisis communications expert at American University, is to carry out its mission in little time for a client that may not agree with their decisions. “A savvy China knows what’s at stake with the Olympic Games,” she said, including potential earnings and huge publicity. (4/10/08)

Is King’s Vision Still a Reality
Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and with the presidential campaign in motion, the drive of black voters is still lagging, bringing up the question of whether Dr. King’s fight has been embraced by the masses, the News-Journal reports. However, Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University, says that there is a possibility for new records to be set with Barack Obama in the lead against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. “It's not registration that counts, it's motivation,” he said. (4/4/08)

AU in the News Archives