AWOL

AWOL AU's progressive rabblerousers. Our publication comes out twice a year. Interests include investigat

AWOL magazine aims to continue pushing both ourselves and American University to be more critical of issues that deserve to be understood with nuance; to work subversively when dismantling barriers that suppress certain voices, and to love irrepressibly when it comes to serving our community. We ignite campus discussions on social, cultural and political issues. We want to make our campus more inq

uiring, egalitarian and socially engaged. Our stories have an angle, which is different from having an agenda. Our reporting is impartial and fair, but our analysis is critical and argumentative. We were independently founded by American University students in 2008. While we are still student-run, today we are housed under AU’s Student Media board. AWOL is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Generation Progress Voices Network. This publication has won awards at the National College Media Convention, and its writers have won awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the College Media Association.

Many students across Washington have experienced heightened tensions as a result of politics being increasingly present ...
12/03/2025

Many students across Washington have experienced heightened tensions as a result of politics being increasingly present in social media. Some say this has made them feel unsafe in their day-to-day lives and has created divisions between their peers.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Sage Collis
🎨: Demitra Moutoudis

On the evening of Nov. 12, 2024, 40 students stood in the Katzen Arts Center rotunda, listening to two juniors in the Sc...
03/03/2025

On the evening of Nov. 12, 2024, 40 students stood in the Katzen Arts Center rotunda, listening to two juniors in the School of Education read an email the then-SOE Dean Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy sent that morning.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Ben Ackman and Ava Ramsdale
📸: Ben Ackman

Vibrant memorials honoring  the victims of the Jan. 29 plane crash over the Potomac River have been established in downt...
14/02/2025

Vibrant memorials honoring  the victims of the Jan. 29 plane crash over the Potomac River have been established in downtown Washington.

Link to photo essay in bio.

🖊️: Beverly Freidenrich
📸: Natalie Monga

On Tuesday, protestors gathered outside the U.S. Treasury Department on 15th Street Northwest to protest Elon Musk’s inf...
11/02/2025

On Tuesday, protestors gathered outside the U.S. Treasury Department on 15th Street Northwest to protest Elon Musk’s influence over the government agency.

Link to photo essay in bio.

📸: Ben Ackman, Benjamin Austin, and Daisy Bateman

Thousands rallied on Jan. 18 at the People’s March in Washington to advocate for women’s rights ahead of President Donal...
07/02/2025

Thousands rallied on Jan. 18 at the People’s March in Washington to advocate for women’s rights ahead of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Link to photo essay in bio.

📸: Benjamin Austin, Conny Galvez, and Natalie Monga

Crowds lined the streets of the district’s Chinatown on Sunday for the annual Lunar New Year Parade, a vibrant celebrati...
05/02/2025

Crowds lined the streets of the district’s Chinatown on Sunday for the annual Lunar New Year Parade, a vibrant celebration marking the arrival of the Year of the Dragon.

Link to photo essay in bio.

📸: Daisy Bateman and Jacob Saucier

Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in downtown Washington on Monday for President Donald Trump’s second inauguration...
22/01/2025

Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in downtown Washington on Monday for President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Link to photo essay in bio.

📸: Ben Ackman and Ben Austin

In the early afternoon on Nov. 9, 2024, protestors gathered at Washington’s Columbus Circle as the bass of a distant go-...
15/01/2025

In the early afternoon on Nov. 9, 2024, protestors gathered at Washington’s Columbus Circle as the bass of a distant go-go band thumped through Union Station. They took photos with their signs by the Columbus Fountain as a group of neon vest-clad organizers waited to direct them toward the music down Massachusetts Avenue.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Will Sytsma and Ben Ackman
📸: Ben Ackman

Applications for AWOL are open! Apply now through the link in our bio.
08/01/2025

Applications for AWOL are open! Apply now through the link in our bio.

For some AU students, the small, isolated nature of these parks can make it difficult to adjust to the cityscape. Others...
20/12/2024

For some AU students, the small, isolated nature of these parks can make it difficult to adjust to the cityscape. Others, meanwhile, have found ways to bring nature to their urban life by appreciating the nature around them, exploring national parks and fostering their own green space at AU.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Stevie Rosenfeld
📸: Emma Pierce

The Red Line connects to 27 stations and four universities, including American University. While the inside of many of t...
13/12/2024

The Red Line connects to 27 stations and four universities, including American University. While the inside of many of these stations looks similar, the outside of each station has its own, unique atmosphere.

Link to photo essay in bio.

🖊️ + 📸: Claire Gover

Julia Ford is the Manager of The Davenport Coffee Lounge, a student-run coffee shop at the School of International Servi...
13/12/2024

Julia Ford is the Manager of The Davenport Coffee Lounge, a student-run coffee shop at the School of International Service. A low-income student and first generation college student, she hopes to see The Dav become a community for students to come together and find a sense of community.

Link to profile in bio.

🖊️: Stella Camerlengo
📸: Sophie Simmons

Correction: A previous version of the article said Ford is a first-generation American. She is a first-generation college student, not a first-generation American.

On Oct. 17, journalist and American University School of Communications alumna Tara Palmeri returned to her alma mater t...
12/12/2024

On Oct. 17, journalist and American University School of Communications alumna Tara Palmeri returned to her alma mater to share insights from her career covering politics, offering advice on navigating the challenges of political reporting and building credibility in the industry.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️ + 📸: Stella Camerlengo

American University’s College of Arts & Sciences announced a fund for researching generative artificial intelligence ove...
06/12/2024

American University’s College of Arts & Sciences announced a fund for researching generative artificial intelligence over the summer, but the AU community knows little else about it.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Ben Ackman
🎨: Demitra Moutoudis

Stephen Hammond frequently walks the grounds of Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. Hammond, whose ancestors we...
05/12/2024

Stephen Hammond frequently walks the grounds of Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. Hammond, whose ancestors were enslaved at Arlington House in the 1800s, according to the National Park Service, has been advocating for re-designation of the memorial since 2020. He wants it to better represent all of those who lived at the historic site.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Grace Hagerman and Marisa Àlvarez
📸: Ben Ackman

People came to Sycamore & Oak and danced to music from the Hip-Hop, Soul, Go-Go fusion band FutureBandDC and Cuban-style...
05/12/2024

People came to Sycamore & Oak and danced to music from the Hip-Hop, Soul, Go-Go fusion band FutureBandDC and Cuban-style artists La Reyna y La Real and MACHIRAN. This event was the closing ceremony celebrating the end of Walking Town D.C.’s 25th year. Walking Town is hosted annually by EventsDC and gives tours across Washington’s eight wards to celebrate the unique history of each ward. This year, Walking Town had 64 tours in English, Spanish and French lasting from Sept. 14-22.

Link to photo essay in bio.

🖊️: Emma Pierce and Michelle Miramontes
📸: Michelle Miramontes

Lawrence McCarthy arrived home on June 17, not knowing he had just left his last shift at American University’s Child De...
04/12/2024

Lawrence McCarthy arrived home on June 17, not knowing he had just left his last shift at American University’s Child Development Center. McCarthy said he had been working at the center for 35 years; 33 years as a full-time teacher, and the following two years part-time a few mornings a week. But that ended when AU shut down the center.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Kyle Galvin
📸: Toby Wieland

American University rolled out a new four-day orientation style this fall that took place from Aug. 20-24, prompting cri...
04/12/2024

American University rolled out a new four-day orientation style this fall that took place from Aug. 20-24, prompting criticism from some first-year students and orientation leaders.

Link to article in bio.

🖊️: Sydnee Patak and Layla Younis

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AWOL magazine aims to continue pushing both ourselves and American University to be more critical of issues that deserve to be understood with nuance; to work subversively when dismantling barriers that suppress certain voices, and to love irrepressibly when it comes to serving our community. We ignite campus discussions on social, cultural and political issues. We want to make our campus more inquiring, egalitarian and socially engaged. Our stories have an angle, which is different from having an agenda. Our reporting is impartial and fair, but our analysis is critical and argumentative. We were independently founded by American University students in 2008. While we are still student-run, today we are housed under AU’s Student Media board. AWOL is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Generation Progress Voices Network. This publication has won awards at the National College Media Convention, and its writers have won awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the College Media Association.