AY 2020-21, Issue VI | October 10, 2020
Yamiche Alcindor joins journalism professor Jane Hall for a virtual discussion. 
Nina Heller/ The Eagle
This is the latest edition of our newsletter covering our work from Oct. 3 to Oct 9. To read any of these stories and more, check out our website or our coronavirus website, which covers news related to the pandemic. 

By: Isabel Wolff
COVID-19 Update:

  • As of Oct. 5, there are now 25 COVID-19 cases reported by the University for the fall semester. This is up three cases from last week's reporting.

The Eagle Explains: Engaging with the AU community
By: Fariha Rahman, Community Engagement Editor

My name is Fariha Rahman and I am the community engagement editor for the news team. This is my second semester in the position and my third at The Eagle. The community engagement editor role was created last fall to recognize a gap in The Eagle’s coverage of student identities on campus. As a newspaper, we recognized a lack of inclusion in our reporting and wanted to create a foundation for future change. Thus, this position was born. 

My job on The Eagle is to cultivate relationships with excluded or under-covered students and groups on campus and help increase their representation within our coverage. This can look like reporting on a new cultural club, attending an event or covering a protest with a student group. I am one of the few women of color on The Eagle staff, and I know that I need to take that opportunity to help change the culture of traditionally white male driven news media. I pitch story ideas to our various staff writers and edit them, while making sure each story has a diverse selection of voices. Community Engagement is not a specific section. It is a value that lives within Features, Campus Life, Administration and Local News. Although my position lies within the news division, we have to strive to include our whole AU community in all of The Eagle’s coverage, whether that means creating new positions or amping up our recruitment efforts.

I joined The Eagle because I recognized a unique culture at AU. Our collective student body is made up of leaders, activists and artists who are always doing great things, and I wanted to write about them. Upon becoming a staff writer, I recognized the opportunity I had to help cultivate a better culture in The Eagle’s reporting. I do not represent every identity or community at AU, but I can try to make The Eagle a safer space for writers of various identities to join us with their own experiences. There is not a lot of representation of women of color in news media, and The Eagle is not an exception. This is just one step in making The Eagle a news organization that fully represents the student body at AU.

News:

  • In an email sent to the AU community on Monday, President Sylvia Burwell announced that the University will not hold classes on Election Day (Nov. 3). The November general presidential election will now be a University holiday.  

  • A D.C. District Court judge moved forward elements of a case on Sept. 18 involving a student who sued the University in 2019 over the handling of a Title IX investigation, alleging gender discrimination and a breach of contract claim. 

  • As Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Oct. 12 confirmation hearing draws near, AU students voice a variety of reactions following President Donald Trump’s nomination of Barrett to the Supreme Court, who would replace late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, if confirmed by the Senate. 

  • AUSG released the results of their Fall 2020 Student Survey Report, which found students had strong feelings about AUPD, mental health support and COVID-19 precautions for when we return to campus.

  • PBS NewsHour's White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor spoke about being a civil rights journalist covering President Trump and how young journalists can stay engaged at an event moderated by SOC professor Jane Hall. The webinar was co-sponsored by the Kennedy Political Union, SOC and The Blackprint.

  • Award-winning activist Bettina Love spoke at a joint virtual School of International Service and Antiracist Research and Policy Center event on Sept. 24, in a conversation that focused on education, race and Black joy. 

Life:

  • Singers in AU Department of Performing Arts ensembles and student-run a cappella groups like Dime A Dozen face distinct challenges due to COVID-19. They’ve adapted to the times with the help of technology this semester.
 
  • Emily Walsh shares six creative recipes for all coffee drinkers and coffee machines. “These recipes were picked for their simplicity and versatility, meant to inspire a new coffee drink when your average cup of joe just won't cut it.”

Sports:

  • The Eagle’s sports podcast, renamed “Angle On The Eagles,” features Junior men’s soccer player Ben Severe in the latest episode. He talked to Zeke Cohen about his transition to AU from Villanova University and his hopes for the next season. 

  • Next up in the countdown of AU’s best sports moments of the decade are numbers four and three: The 2010 field hockey team’s “last dance” led by an All-American, and wrestler David Terao’s fourth-place finish in the 2016 NCAA tournament.

Opinion:

  • Our latest Staff Editorial: “This lawsuit calls into question what the University’s practices are regarding these situations, and what policy may harm Black students and other students of color. In particular, it calls into question the role of police, and what the procedures for students in mental health crises actually are.”

  • Bobbie Armstrong of The Seagle wrote about the VP Debate Fly, saying: "The short lifespan of the average fly, coupled with the fact that the poor slob was probably swatted to death by a Fox News intern pretty much seals the deal that the fly didn’t even survive long enough to witness itself going viral on Twitter." Rest in peace, Debate Fly.