Michael Karlis

AWOL • 4th March 2019

“College is a Debt Sentence”: AU students protest the Board of Trustees

Following a student protest, the Board of Trustees voted Friday to raise tuition by 3 percent for the 2020-2021 academic year. This raise is less than the originally proposed four percent increase.

The protest during the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday was led by the student group College is a Debt Sentence and its head organizer, senior Mitchell Lenneville. Initially, the group planned the demonstration in response to the proposed price increase for meal plans.

According to Lenneville,

AWOL • 26th February 2019

Student activists hold town hall on tuition increase, AUSG president says tuition increase inevitable

College is a Debt Sentence, the group of American University students who plan on protesting at the Board of Trustees meeting and created the Facebook event “AU Protest: Tuition Increase,” held a town hall meeting to discuss AU’s proposed four percent tuition increase, and college affordability in general, in Kerwin Hall on Monday night.

“Ultimately, we need to attempt to solve this systemic issue where college is becoming much too expensive for anybody to afford,” said Evan Lenneville-Hutchins

AWOL • 13th February 2019

Powell fails to address student concerns about Meal Plan Proposal at RHA Town Hall

Ann Marie Powell, the Director of Dining and Auxiliary Services for AU, faced backlash about the increased pricing of meal plans next semester during a town hall forum hosted by the AU Residence Hall Association in Letts Formal Monday night.

The proposed meal plans have received criticism from some students, most notably due to the minimum meal plan for freshman and sophomores, which costs $2,540 and limits students to only twelve meal swipes per week and 300 Eagle Bucks per semester. Twelve me

AWOL • 5th February 2019

Outrage Against Meal Plan Proposal: Changes to campus meal plans

The university is receiving backlash from students for its 2019-2020 academic year’s meal plan proposal, which requires underclassmen to purchase a $2,540 yearly meal plan.

This new meal plan would prevent sophomores from switching to a cheaper meal plan resulting in a $952 loss in savings.

The new plan, called “Weekly 12 w/ 300 Eagle Bucks” would be the new minimum meal plan available for first and second-year students. It will limit students to 12 meal swipes per week – less than two meals p

AWOL • 11th October 2018

At AU, the “Parkland Students” Talk Gun Laws and Voting

Before the “Parkland Students” went on stage and spoke in front of a sold-out Bender Arena for an event hosted by the Kennedy Political Union, student media had the opportunity to interview them behind closed doors Wednesday evening.

David Hogg, Jaclyn Corin, and Samantha Fuentes, founders of “Never Again MSD,” and survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in February 2018, entered a room in the depths of Bender Arena 25 minutes before they were scheduled to speak. After a few moments

AWOL • 26th April 2018

Protesters remember the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

Hundreds of Turks and Armenians gathered at Sheridan Circle in Northwest Washington on Tuesday to protest for what each side says is “the truth” about the Armenian Genocide. Both sides convinced that the opposing camp are liars, stood in the pouring spring rain holding signs and blasting ethnic music from Bose sound systems. Armenians chanted through megaphones “Turkey supports ISIS,” the Turks turned on sirens to mute the chants from across the road.

The protest, which happened in front of the

AWOL • 2nd January 2018

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

The names of Sarah and Jamie have been changed to ensure confidentiality in this article.

It’s a typical Friday night at American University, and all of South Campus is getting ready for another night of regrets. A freshman from Baltimore, who will be referred to as Sarah, is given the most important task of the night: buying alcohol from Tenley Market Liquor, a store conveniently located diagonally across from the Washington College of Law bus stop. Sarah has used her fake ID before and never

AWOL • 5th October 2017

Lessons Learned at Boston’s Hempfest

“Bong rips are $20, dabs are $10, and edibles are $10,” said a disheveled looking man with a long, white beard as the Grateful Dead plays on vinyl in the background.

This year marked the 28th annual Boston Freedom Rally, affectionately called “hempfest” by some, on Boston Common, a 50-acre park in the middle of the city. The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, the organization that runs hempfest, says on its website that the festival is a “peaceful protest as goers practice civil disobedie

AWOL • 1st October 2017

Enough is Enough: AUSG & Antiracist Research & Policy Center Hold Rally

Student kneeling outside with a fist raised in the air outside of MGC during the rally.

“Enough is enough” chanted a crowd of around 200 people on the steps of the Mary Graydon Center late Friday afternoon, two days after 10 posters of the Confederate flag with cotton attached to them were found by students and university police.

American University Student Government (AUSG) President Taylor Dumpson and other members of student government chanted with the crowd.

The protest called “Enough is