FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contacts:
Lyndi Borne Kristin Rawls
Concerned AU Students Concerned AU Students
[email protected] [email protected]
American University Community Organizing to Oppose Ladner
October 10, 2005

Washington, DC: Between 9:30 and 11:00 am, concerned students, faculty members, and staff will converge on the main quadrant of the American University campus in order to demand that beleaguered President Ben Ladner be fired without severance pay. The day of speakers, rallies, and demonstrations will take place during scheduled meetings of the American University Board of Trustees.

Organizers with Concerned American University Students, an ad hoc umbrella group which is demanding more transparent governance for American University, plan to meet the Trustees with a list of demands for the meeting. According to organizer Kristin Rawls, the students will demand “that at least two students are allowed to be present during the meetings; that the Trustees provide transparency prior to the meeting, particularly as to whether or not they plan to vote on Ben Ladner’s ermination and his severance package; and that the Trustees promise a full debriefing of the day’s meetings to the AU community at the end of the day.”

The event’s organizers hope to send a strong message of “zero tolerance” for alleged corruption and misspending on the part of Ben Ladner. Organizer Lyndi Borne explains that “Monday’s meeting represents a critical juncture for democracy and transparency at American University. We are adamant that at least two student observers must be allowed into Monday’s meeting, and we will not back down until our voices are heard.”