Top Story Additional Features Faculty Authors Expertise Bonus Clip
AU Newsmakers 8.26-9.2, 2016
Top Story
Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom
Chair of the Anthropology Department Dan Sayers was featured in Smithsonian Magazine for his work on the maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp. Sayers excavated at the site where possibly thousands of maroons, or self-liberated former slaves, lived in southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. He said, “I'll never forget seeing this place for the first time. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I never dreamed of finding a 20-acre island, and I knew instantly it was livable.” Sayers' work on the Great Dismal Swamp will also be on display at the new National Museum of African American History. (9/1)

Additional Features
You Can Officially Take a Class All About Shondaland at American University
Buzzfeed featured Stef Woods, instructor of American Studies, and her new course “The Shonda Rhimes Experience.” Woods designed the course based on popular shows like Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and Grey's Anatomy to explore gender, sexuality, and social media marketing. (8/30)
Points of Contact
Director of the Creative Writing Program Kyle Dargan's poem Points of Contact was featured in The New York Times Magazine. Dargan's poem is a ghazal or a lyric poem, which originated in the Arabian Peninsula. Dargan wrote, “Name one revolution whose inception was unlike a fist. Factions disparate, then tucked together — coiled like a fist.” (9/1)

Faculty Authors
Rural Americans on Medicare Will Continue to Receive Inadequate Care Unless Congress Acts
Keith Pemrick, professor of public affairs, authored an op-ed for Morning Consult on Medicare for rural Americans. Pemrick wrote, “While Congress talks a big game about helping seniors on Medicare, they have failed to listen to the voices of countless beneficiaries who are at risk of losing access to quality in-home medical equipment and the valuable services that support these lifesaving products.” (8/29)
The Emotional Attachment of National Symbols
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the International Training and Education program, wrote an article for The New York Times on national symbols. Miller-Idriss wrote, “National symbols deserve respect not because they are static representations of unchanging ideals, but because they offer a focal point for diverse societies to express and navigate what it is that unites and represents them.” (9/1)

Expertise
New York Court Expands Definition of Parenthood
Nancy Polikoff, law professor, spoke to The New York Times about the recent ruling expanding the definition of what it means to be a parent. Polikoff said, “To have New York, where there are so many same-sex couples, be an outlier was a problem. But this catches New York up.” (8/30)
Most Young People Don't Vote. Condescending to Them Isn't Helping.
Jennifer Lawless, Director of the Women and Politics Institute, spoke to The Washington Post about young voters and recent ad campaigns aimed at them. Lawless said of the mortifying efforts to attract young voters, “If an ad like that generates more mainstream attention . . . It is putting a conversation about voting in popular culture, and that has its benefits.” Lawless also spoke to The Washington Times about the controversy surrounding Hilary Clinton's top adviser Huma Abedin. (8/30)
Allan Lichtman Explains Why This Election's Outcome Is Difficult to Predict
For Fox News Shepard Smith Reporting, Allan Lichtman spoke about his 13 Keys to the White House and why using his formula, which has successfully predicted decades of elections, is difficult to use this year. Lichtman said that one area of uncertainty is whether or not the sitting president will be able to illustrate to the American people a major foreign policy or military victory. (8/31)
Hogan's Back-To-School Order Means a Time Crunch for Some Md. Districts
Education Professor Jennifer Steele spoke to WTOP about Governor Hogan's executive order mandating that Maryland schools start after Labor Day. Steele said one concern of compressing the school year is that the achievement gaps grows over the summer and most adversely affects disadvantaged students. (8/31)
U.S.-Russian Relations for the 21st Century
Anton Fedyashin, director of the Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History, spoke with NPR-affiliate KPCC Southern California about U.S.- Russia relations. Fedyashin said, “One thing to remember about Vladimir Putin is that when he became Russian President in 2000, he was a westernizer and an integrationist.” (8/29)
John McCain's Primary in Arizona
For CBS News Radio, Communication Professor Leonard Steinhorn spoke about the contested primaries in the House and Senate. On Senator John McCain's primary, Steinhorn said, “John McCain has not been criticizing Donald Trump much because he doesn't want Trump reporters to come out against him in the primary and, additionally, he may need their support in the fall.” (8/29)
Cashing In on Cuba: Why the U.S. Tourism Industry Isn't Waiting for Congress to Lift the Embargo
Center for Latin American and Latino Studies Fellow Fulton Armstrong spoke to Salon about increasing U.S. tourism to Cuba. Armstrong said, “Commercial flights make that travel more irreversible, and they lock in the interests of powerful political voices — the airline industry and others — in favor of travel.” (8/29)
Muslims Fear Backlash If Eid al-Adha Falls on 9/11 This Year
Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, spoke to Independent about Eid al-Adha. Ahmed said of many Muslims' fear about this time, “In this atmosphere one act of violence could trigger another act of violence as there is heightened tension.” (8/29)
Why Rousseff's exit may not usher in the change Brazilians want (+video)
School of International Service Professor Matthew Taylor spoke to The Christian Science Monitor about the impeachment of Brazil's president. Taylor said, “Brazil had the luxury of growing, expanding the social pie without many hard choices. But [the] limits of that expansion are becoming ever clearer.” (8/31)

Bonus Clip
Forced Out of a Home Over a Marijuana Joint
For The Washington Post, The School of Communication's Investigative Reporting Workshop alumni Derek Hawkins and Kate McCormick wrote an article on nuisance abatement, which is landing many District residents out of their homes. The article chronicles residents' stories, saying, “During the past three years, city officials sent out about 450 nuisance-abatement letters to landlords and property owners,



''Online,consumer'' news refers to online news outlets and blogs such as Huffington Post, NY Times
"Online,consumer" news refers to online news outlets and blogs such as Huffington Post, NY Times
Both charts are based on the week's Newsmakers highlights only, not total AU mentions for the week
Both charts are based on the week's Newsmakers highlights only, not total AU mentions for the week

Prepared by University Communications

American University's faculty, staff, students and programs appear in regional, national and international print, online and broadcast media regularly. Each week, AU Newsmakers provides highlights of AU in the news. For prior weeks, go to: http://www.american.edu/media/inthemedia.cfm

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