STAYING PERFECT Women’s soccer wins fourth game out of five with a 2-0 win over rival Holy Cross SPORTS page 8
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the EAGLE WWW.THEEAGLEONLINE.COM
OCTOBER 12, 2009 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 15
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NEWS
A SPECIAL VISIT More pictures and information on the Dalai Lama’s visit page 4
EDITORIAL
DINING DECORUM A few simple rules to make TDR a better place page 3
SCENE ROCK STARS ‘30 Rock’ stars see themselves in their NBC characters page 5
‘MOORE’ TRICKS Documentaries are picking up viewers, but losing purpose page 5
SPORTS SADDLE UP AU equestrian team thrives despite struggles to stay together page 8
TODAY’S WEATHER
HI 62° LO 53° Partly cloudy during the day, chance of showers in the evening TUESDAY HI 71° n LO 47°
WEDNESDAY HI 58° n LO 47°
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HARMONY — The 14th Dalai Lama spoke about religious tolerance and Buddhist traditions in Bender Arena, Oct. 10. The Dalai Lama concluded his visit to D.C. with a teaching at AU after meeting with prominent U.S. government officials, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He was also presented with a human rights award.
Dalai Lama enlightens AU By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer Human suffering and troubles are the result of human ignorance, said the Dalai Lama during his teaching, “Finding Wisdom in the Modern World,” at AU Oct. 10. No human being wants trouble or suffering, he said, but suffering is a human creation. Lust for money and power, jealousy, lies, sexual abuse, murder and theft are all the result of ignorance, he said
“All these [are] negative action[s] due to certain negative emotions,” the Dalai Lama said. “These negative emotions, these destructive emotions, are basically based on ignorance.” The 14th Dalai Lama spoke to a packed Bender Arena at 9:30 a.m. He sat on a large beige armchair and spoke enthusiastically to the full arena. A large cloth banner, called a thangka, stretched from ceiling to floor behind the stage, colorfully depicting the Buddha.
The teaching began in English, with the Dalai Lama using a translator for occasional words. Toward the middle of the speech, the translator played a larger role. “As a human being, the number one commitment is promoting human values in order to be a happier human being, happier family, happier community,” the Dalai Lama said. Religious harmony comes about by accepting all religions, he said. He defined ‘secular’ not as a rejec-
tion of religion, but as respecting all traditions, religions and non-believers. The Dalai Lama said sometimes his Muslim and Christian friends disapprove of the word secular. “Sometimes they suggest to me I should not use the word ‘secularism,’ but I prefer to use it continuously,” he said. Then, he sneezed powerfully. “Sometimes when I give some teaching, perhaps a bit long, there is people being asleep, then this sneeze
is useful in waking them from sleep,” he said. There are two main questions in Buddhism, the Dalai Lama said, what is self, and does that self have a beginning and end? Many non-Buddhist traditions believe in souls, something that will last after this life and is outside this body, he said. But Buddhists do not believe in a soul and a self that is permanent, n
see DALAI LAMA on page 4
Pregnancy centers questioned Alumni pioneer Anti-abortion centers may give false info By ALISSA SCHELLER Eagle Contributing Writer Crisis pregnancy centers, which are usually funded by nonprofit, anti-abortion organization, can give women misleading and untruthful information about pregnancy, contraception and abortions, according to a panel discussion hosted by AU Students for Choice. The panel discussion, “Exposing Fake Clinics,” was held Wednesday, Oct. 7 and consisted of Dr. Laura Meyers from Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, Diana Onken from NARAL Pro-Choice America, Wendy Matheny from the Feminist Majority Foundation and Lisa Brown from the National Abortion Federation. They discussed the issues surrounding crisis pregnancy centers. CPCs usually do not offer comprehensive medical services or options that include abortion services, counseling or referrals. “CPCs use misinformation, fear and shame tactics to coerce and intimidate women out of considering abortion as an option. Many CPCs go further — discouraging the use of contraception, even claiming that condoms are a ‘con’ job,’” according to a Sept. 21 press release from the Feminist Majority Foundation, a non-profit feminist organization. Amanda Pelletier, the national affiliate liaison for AU Students for Choice and the organizer of the panel discussion, said she thinks CPCs are dangerous for women.
“A lot of times they’ll advertise free pregnancy tests, and the person on hand will tell them, ‘Oh, you’re not pregnant,’ and so the woman will leave thinking that she’s not pregnant, and she’ll go on living her life as if she wasn’t pregnant ... that stalls the time in which she can have an abortion, and the procedure does become a little bit more risky.” Care Net, a national network of CPCs, lists two centers near AU on their Web site. The Northwest Center is about two and a half miles from campus and the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center is about six miles from campus. A spokesperson for the Northwest Center said the center offers free pregnancy tests, material assistance and referrals to health, adoption and legal services. The center does not offer any medical services, including ultrasounds. The Northwest Center tabled at the Wellness Fair in September. The Student Health Center does not refer students to the Northwest Center, according to Dan Bruey, director of the Student Health Center. The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center did not respond to phone calls or e-mails from The Eagle. According to its Web site, the center “serves the Gospel of Jesus Christ by providing intervention and abortion alternatives for women and men facing crisis pregnancies.” They also offer free pregnancy tests and confidential counseling, according to their Web site. Katie Koch, the president of AU Students for Life, said in an email that, “the clinics in D.C. (including the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Care Center) do not pretend to be more than they are. They do not offer medical services and would never claim to.” The Northwest Center does not provide any medical services and is not a medical clinic, ac-
cording to a spokesperson for the center. During the panel, speakers discussed issues surrounding CPCs, such as the way the centers advertise, and the practices they engage in to try to prevent women from getting an abortion. Pamphlets given out by CPCs state that abortion leads to an increased risk of breast cancer, depression and suicide, negatively effects future fertility, and leads to other health issues. According to the World Health Organization, induced abortion does not increase the risk of breast cancer. “AU Students for Life works closely with the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Care Center,” Koch said. “At this center, volunteer peer counselors are not allowed to tell a woman that abortion is evil, but they will present her with facts about the procedure that an abortion clinic will not.” A 2006 report by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., “False and Misleading Health Information Provided by Federally Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers,” stated that during an investigation of 23 CPCs that received federal grants, “20 of the 23 centers (87 percent) provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion.” Pregnancy resource centers received approximately $1 million through the Compassion Capital Fund, created in 2002 as a component of the Bush Administration’s faith-based initiative, according to the report. The report also said that CPCs received over $24 million in Community-Based Abstinence Education funds between 2001 and 2005, and at least $6 million from abstinence funding provided to states. You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
job search site By BROOKES MAY Eagle Contributing Writer Two recent AU grads are fighting a monster — monster.com that is. Dave Rodriguez and Dave Simnick both graduated this year from the Kogod School of Business and the School of Public Affairs, respectively, and their new Web site, GrouperEye. com, takes a different approach to job hunting than other résumé-posting sites. The idea that spurred Simnick and Rodriguez to give up their arguably
more stable job offers with established companies in favor of entrepreneurship is a simple one: you are more than your resume. Rodriguez started as an intern with GrouperEye in January, when it was just founder and CEO Ted Williams. “I actually had my interview in the Tavern, right in front of Chick-Fil-A,” Rodriguez, who has since acquired the title of president and co-founder, said. “Then when I graduated, I had n
see GROUPEREYE on page 7
H1N1 vaccines coming to campus By SARAH RUDNICK Eagle Staff Writer The AU Health Center will be receiving its first H1N1 vaccines shortly, according to Director of the Student Health Center Dan Bruey. The District of Columbia acquired 36,000 doses of the vaccine in nasal spray form on Oct. 7, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, the Department also distributed hundreds of thousands of doses throughout the country, according to its Web site. The Health Center does not know when or how much of the vaccine it will receive, Bruey said. However, he said the campus will not be left uninformed when it does arrive. “After we receive the vaccine, the Student Health Center will notify the campus community, through Today@ AU, of our vaccine clinic plans,” Bruey
said in an e-mail. The Health Center agreed to be an H1N1 administration site and will be distributing the vaccine according to its allocation regulations — enabling some individuals to receive the vaccine before others, according to Bruey. The first round of the vaccine will be given to individuals in the “priority groups,” Bruey said. These groups include pregnant women, household contacts and caregivers for children younger than six months of age, health care and emergency medical personnel, all people between six months and 24 years old and people between the ages of 25 to 64 who have health conditions that put them at a higher risk of medical complications from the flu. Kaitlyn Rooney, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, said that n
see VACCINE on page 7