Arrelious Benn is a physical freak of nature.

The former U. Illinois receiver measured 6-foot-2, 218 pounds and ran a 4.36 40-yard dash at Illinois’ Pro Day and previously benched 225 pounds 20 times at the NFL Draft combine.

Those attributes, along with his well-above-average hands, have him as a probable to late first to early second-round draft prospect.

If Benn isn’t taken on Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft, it won’t be because of those numbers. It will probably be because of these numbers — two and 490.

Those are the number of touchdowns and receiving yards Benn totaled during his junior year. Benn ranked 210th in receiving yards in FBS during the 2009 season.

“I’m not worried about that,” Benn said. “Numbers are numbers. It’s all about winning. I play this sport to win.”

His career started off with promise. In only his fifth collegiate game, which came against Penn State, he wowed fans with a kickoff return for a touchdown and totaled 84 receiving yards and a touchdown. That season ended with a Rose Bowl berth, and Benn was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

He then totaled 1,091 yards during his sophomore campaign and was named First Team All-Big Ten.

But his final year in orange and blue was one of disappointment, both team-wise and individually. The Illini finished 3-9 and Benn couldn’t duplicate his previous two seasons, as Mike Schultz replaced Mike Locksley at offensive coordinator.

Still, Benn is getting looks from almost every team and still wows them with his physical attributes. He’s rated the 36th overall prospect by Scouts Inc.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Benn said of being so close to his goal. “I haven’t accomplished all the things I want to yet.”

His brother, Illini defensive back Trulon Henry, also spoke of Benn’s mental capabilities, which should come in handy during an NFL camp.

“He’s smart,” Henry said after Benn’s declaration that he’d enter the draft in December. “He’s mature. If five different important people in his life say five different things to him, he’ll put them all in his head and he’ll come out with the right decision.”

Even though Benn’s career at Illinois didn’t go as planned and his draft stock may not quite align with his physical attributes, the former Illini receiver’s life will change, and he’ll have a chance to make an impact on the next level.

“It’s surreal; we can’t believe any of this is actually happening,” girlfriend and former Illini basketball player Chelsea Gordon said. “We’ve talked about it for such a long time, and we’re just happy.”

Plastic is in practically everything, from shoes to shampoo bottles. One man, filmmaker Ian Connacher, set out to answer the question: Do we have a healthy relationship with plastic, or is it an addiction?

Connacher held an open discussion with students and featured his award-winning documentary, “Addicted to Plastic,” as part of Live Green Earth Week at U. Illinois on Tuesday.

150 billion tons of plastic are produced in the U.S. each year, less than 5 percent of which gets recycled, he said.

“I’ve had scientists tell me that there’s enough plastic on this planet that we never need to make another piece,” Connacher said.

There are seven types of plastic, and not all are accepted at recycling facilities. The rest ends up in landfills, leaks into the ground and enters water systems, potentially causing health problems.

Plastic in the ocean is another major problem, he said.

Connacher said he traveled to the North Pacific Central Gyre, where the ocean’s atmospheric pressure creates a toilet bowl effect, causing an accumulation of trash. His team of scientists took a sample of the water and found a 10:1 ratio of plastic to plankton.

Nurdles, plastic pellets which make up 10 percent of ocean plastic, are often mistaken as fish eggs and consumed by marine life, he said. Through bioaccumulation, toxicity increases as it moves up the food chain, reaching humans.

However, Connacher said he found some promising developments on his journey, including a starch-based plastic alternative that releases no toxic substances and degrades upon contact with water.

The documentary is not meant to condemn plastic consumers or producers, he said, but to make us reconsider how plastic is used.

“There’s an infinite amount of good things about plastic,” he said. “So why not stick to plastics that are going to be around for a long time instead of disposable plastics.”

Nancy Holm, research coordinator at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, said she thinks our culture is dependant on disposable goods because they are convenient.

“People don’t think about environmental cost so much as the inherent cost of the product,” Holm said. “A plastic water bottle is pretty cheap, but in the long run, the energy used to produce it and recycle it, or it degrading in a landfill is a cost in itself.”

Making little changes, such as using an aluminum water bottle, can make a big difference, said Meghan Angley, member of Students for Environmental Concerns.

“We have to think about where everything ends up and the long ranging consequences,” she said.

Oft-mentioned sentiments from experts in higher education and high school guidance counselors say that as long as students work hard and do their best, it won’t matter whether they choose a public university or a private one. After all, the amount of work students put in at either school should be proportional to the grade they receive. But a study released last month indicates otherwise.

According to the study published in the Teachers College Record, a comparison of 80 four-year colleges and universities showed that over the past 50 years, the rate of grade inflation has gone up, with private universities surpassing public universities in the trend. George Washington U. was one of the universities studied. Looking at contemporary grading data from 160 schools, private colleges had a grade point average of 3.3 while public schools had a GPA of 3.0.

This is not an indication that students at private universities are smarter than those at public ones. According to the study, students were equally qualified based on SAT scores and other factors.

A large factor in GPAs is the rate of grade inflation, and private universities are the bigger offenders, the study found. The findings are especially interesting, seeing as the common perception is that private universities have a more rigorous curriculum than public ones. One would expect GPAs to be lower at these schools. And while this may not seem like the worst phenomenon to GW students, the study highlights the possible negative effects of grade inflation and the need for schools across the country to level out the playing field.

For example, grade inflation at any school gives students a false sense of security. When we get to graduate school, law school or our first jobs and realize we aren’t the A students we were back in college, part of the blame falls on inflated GPAs.

Institutions of higher education have a responsibility to their students to curb grade inflation, but any effort to simply reexamine grading policies will require all schools to make the same effort. While some schools, such as Princeton U., have attempted to lead the charge, others still continue to round up. In early April, Loyola Law School of Los Angeles reportedly announced a plan to increase grades by a third. According to a dean’s memo published by the website Above the Law, “what previously was a B- would be a B, what previously was a B would be a B+, and so forth.” This collective action problem presents a need for higher education to implement ways that would level out grades for everyone.

Seeing as grade inflation has been on the rise over the past 50 years, any effort to reduce it would need to be both national and even coerced. If colleges and universities are penalized for grade inflation with such consequences as losing accreditation or falling in national rankings, there would be an incentive to stop inflating grades. A national range of average GPAs, calculated based on grading data from schools across the country, could act as the gauge for possible indicators of grade inflation. If a university’s average GPA falls too drastically outside of that range, that school’s grading practices should be investigated. If results of an investigation show that grades have been inflated, the school should face the aforementioned consequences and end the detrimental practice. Otherwise, the rising trend will continue for years to come. Hopefully at that point it won’t be too late to gauge the difference between a “real” A and an inflated one.

Additionally, if administrators used averages to track the way professors have graded in both current and previous jobs, they could then focus on hiring only the professors who do not inflate grades. This speaks to the sources of grade inflation, and would reduce the number of professors who are too willing to hand out good grades to those who don’t deserve them.

We as students at a private university may have an apparent advantage now, but it may hurt us later. Unfortunately, unless there is an incentive to stop or a penalty for grade inflation, a harmful trend will continue to rise. Higher education as a whole must act accordingly. In the mean time, we will need to be cognizant of the fact that in the post-graduation race, our unfair advantage means that grads from public universities may have a slightly better grasp of what work actually deserves an A.

Lyndsey Wajert is a George Washington U. sophomore.

A business executive for one of the United States’ largest construction companies and an award-winning pianist will join first lady Michelle Obama in receiving honorary degrees this spring during George Washington U.’s Commencement Weekend, a University spokeswoman said Wednesday.

A. James Clark, an entrepreneur and trustee emeritus, will receive a Doctor of Engineering at the University Commencement Ceremony on the National Mall May 16. Clark serves as chairman of the board and CEO of Clark Enterprises, Inc. The company owns Clark Construction Group, which has constructed several buildings on campus, including South Hall, Ivory Tower and 2000 Pennsylvania Ave., among others. The company is currently working on Square 54 and office space projects at GW.

Renowned pianist and composer Dave Brubeck will be presented with a Doctor of Music. This will not be Brubeck’s first time at GW, as in 2001 he was awarded the GW President’s Medal – the University’s highest honor – and GW hosted the Brubeck Jazz Festival in April 2008.

Both Clark and Brubeck will speak at Commencement as well, and Obama will be the keynote speaker.

University President Steven Knapp said he believes each of the recipients will inspire graduates.

“All three of these distinguished individuals exemplify the University’s ideals of achievement, leadership and service,” Knapp said in a news release.

The University also announced that Lisa St. Clair Harvey, associate professor of media and public affairs, is scheduled to speak during one of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences celebrations at the Smith Center May 15. Stephen Lubkemann, associate professor of anthropology and international affairs, will speak at the second CCAS graduation ceremony later that afternoon.

Anoma Sugandhie Hapangama, a graduating student from the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, will speak to fellow students at the Smith Center May 15. Seniors Kate Mirzozoda and Jacey Bennis will address fellow graduates from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Phyllis Borzi, assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, will speak to graduates of the School of Public Health and Health Services, and Dr. Peter Hotez, chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at GW and distinguished research professor, will speak to graduates of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Michelle Moore, a federal environmental executive, will speak to graduates of the College of Professional Studies, and Mary Schapiro, chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will speak to graduates of the law school.

Graduates in the Elliott School of International Affairs graduate and undergraduate programs will hear Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of state for the Office of Verification, Compliance and Implementation.

Marcia Bullard, retiring president and chief executive of USA Weekend magazine, will speak to graduate students in the School of Business. Ric Duques, alumnus, former chairman of First Data Corporation and benefactor of Ric and Dawn Duques Hall, will speak to undergraduates in GW School of Business.

Graduates in the School of Engineering and Applied Science will hear Dr. H. Vincent Poor, Welling professor at GW, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke at George Washington U. Tuesday afternoon, announcing a repeal of a Bush-era policy that allowed universities to rely on student surveys to prove they were meeting the gender equality law known as Title IX.

The announcement, which also featured remarks from Senior Adviser to the President Valerie Jarrett and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, restricts the ways in which schools can show compliance with Title IX. Schools must now show the amount of female athletes is proportional to the amount of women on campus, or show a history of continually adding women’s sports teams.

Previously, schools had a third option: Survey the student body to prove the institution had met the athletic interest of women on campus. While schools can still survey students, that can no longer be their only method of proof.

Because GW shows its compliance through the proportion-based option, the policy change does not directly affect the University, University President Steven Knapp said.

At the hour-long event, attended by about 350 people, Biden spoke of how important sports are to the women in his life and how athletics build confidence and character.

“Making Title IX as strong as it possibly can be is the right thing to do,” Biden said. “We’re going to make sure that this is flexible, that the absolute best effort that could be possibly made is being made to make sure women in college are given the opportunity that they deserve.”

At GW, where females comprise about 56 percent of the student body, there are 12 women’s sports teams and 10 men’s sports teams. About 51 percent of athletic scholarships are awarded to female athletes, according to a fact sheet released by the University.

Bonnie Morris, a GW women’s studies professor and expert on Title IX, called the policy change fantastic, and said the survey was an attempt to avoid the other options.

“Sending the survey as an e-mail… you might get a very low return and the assumption might be, okay, no women are interested,” Morris said. “So the problem is first, the technology assumes people are going to respond, but also men don’t get that survey, and men are assumed to be interested. Women have to prove that they’re worthy of equality.”

Biden referenced the coinciding of the announcement with Equal Pay Day – a day to bring attention to pay gaps between men and women – and said today should also be “Equal Play Day.”

“We gotta make sure all the women and girls know about their potential by being able to test that potential,” Biden said.

The U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey team, along with GW and D.C.-area athletes, schoolgirls and Girl Scouts joined Biden on stage. Before the ceremony, local female athletes played basketball and volleyball and practiced cheers on the court of the Smith Center.

Duncan said Title IX is one of the greatest civil rights success stories.

“This reaffirmation of long standing policy will help to bolster Title IX and insure that educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance do not discriminate on the basis of sex,” Duncan said. “I can think of no other institution, apart from the military, that does as much to shape our future leaders as intercollegiate athletics.”

Bruce Manley spends his days standing behind a counter at a U.S. Bank branch counting money and helping customers as a teller.

When he gets off work, he trades in his professional attire and dress shoes for basketball shorts and sneakers. He’s played almost every day since he was about 5 years old.

Manley, 26, who lives in Parker, Colo., frequently travels to the U. Central Florida area to film his trick shots.

Most UCF students would be able to recognize the Waterford Lakes and Jefferson Village courts in a few of his videos on YouTube.

“I don’t know what it is, but I just have a natural ability for trick shots,” said Manley,  whose basketball trick shot videos have more than 1 million views.

Many viewers think Manley’s videos are fake or edited.

“Bruce was always so much better on the court than anybody else because he always spent more time on the court than anybody else,” said Thomas Litteer, Manley’s promoter, video editor and childhood best friend. “That’s what it all boils down to.”

Litteer helps promote Manley’s trick shot abilities so Manley can make a name for himself in the basketball world.

Manley flies to Orlando so that Litteer and his camera crew, which are based in Orlando, can film Manley’s trick shots.

“A lot of people count out Bruce when they see him on the court,” Litteer said. “But then after they see him play, they think he should be a [Harlem] Globetrotter.”

After injuring his shoulder while playing baseball when he was young, Manley found new ways to get creative on the basketball court.

“It wasn’t some catastrophic injury or anything, but it was just enough discomfort that [my shoulder] popped every time I tried throwing or shooting overhand,” Manley said.

Manley started to improvise shots to prevent any further injury to his damaged shoulder.

When he started to improvise, he discovered his hidden talent.

“When I was playing basketball and when I had to make a far pass, I started to throw it behind-the-back because for some reason, it wouldn’t put any strain on my shoulder,” Manley said. “Then I started to practice shooting like that.”

He has caught the attention of many eyes on the Internet thanks to his famous behind-the-back shot.

Shaquille O’Neal challenged him to a game of HORSE, Ashton Kutcher gave him a shout-out on Twitter and he recently won a $1,500 Spalding iHoop in a contest sponsored  by NBA player Gilbert Arenas called “iDrop Jaws.”

“I’ve been in a few contests before where I knew I had the best entry but I got screwed over,” Manley said. “It was great winning because Arenas picked me, but I’m going to sell the hoop because I need the money.”

Manley has decided that his new goal is to set a record for the world’s longest behind-the-back shot. There hasn’t been a record officially established, but Manley has already contacted Guinness World Records and plans to attempt a full-court shot.

“It would be pretty cool to say that I have a world record,” Manley said. “I just want to prove to everyone out there that what I do is real.”

He hopes to attempt the record sometime later this year, and surprise his millions of viewers on YouTube, just like he has been surprising people on the basketball court his entire life.

“It’s pretty fun, surprising people,” Manley said.

When it comes to pickup lines, I’ve got a winner.

“This one time in college, I auditioned for Playboy.” What’s so great about it is it’s truly and completely out of character. I’m a self-proclaimed nerd. I named my cat after a Harry Potter character. No one, including me, would ever expect me to do such a thing as audition to pose naked in a nationally acclaimed magazine.

Yet, somehow, there I was, standing in front of a photographer with no clothes on.

But let’s go back to the beginning.

One does not simply wake up and decide one morning, “I think I’ll audition for Playboy today.” It all started when I began covering the Playboy Campus Representative program. During an interview about the program, I was told that the magazine would be doing a “Girls of the Pac 10” issue and would be visiting in the spring to hold auditions.

I immediately called dibs on the story.

All I wanted to do was cover the story, but then one of my editors got it into her head that I should do the audition and write a column as well.

I laughed at her.

Then, I thought about it some more and decided it actually sounded like a lot of fun. I had already been on a weight-loss journey, why not add self-discovery to the mix?

So I signed myself up.

Then I began the pre-Playboy audition process. This includes hiring a personal trainer to work on toning up, tanning to emphasize my unique mix of a racial background, and, of course, waxing.

It was not cheap, but when I showed up at the audition, I was feeling pretty good about myself.

I’m not going to lie, I was nervous as all get-out, but I was confident in how I looked, and that led to more confidence in how I felt.

So when the photographer, who was nicer than nice and also really cute, told me to take it off, I did.

The auditions were tons of fun. The Playboy people and the other girls were all really nice, and we got to jump on a bed. I haven’t jumped on a bed since I was a kid!

The auditions consisted of a personal photo shoot, ranging from in my undies down to completely naked. And, of course, the jumping on the bed shoot.

A fellow Evergreener and I did the shoot together for moral support. So not only did I strip down in front of the photographer, I also got naked in front of a girl that I have to see and work with. And I did it with no hesitation.

Then we jumped on a bed. Together. Naked. And had a blast doing it.

All in all, I’m glad that I did it. I would absolutely love to be picked, but even if I’m not, I can at least say that I had the confidence to show up and try. And that’s good enough for me.

Exercise is touted as an integral part of fitness, health and maintaining a trim physique, but what if it also could benefit the brain? Recent research suggests that physical activity could be an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 5.3 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and it is now the seventh leading cause of death. No cure for Alzheimer’s exists right now. Regular exercise, however, has been shown to improve cognitive performance in older adults, and researchers say regular exercise is better than supplements and prescription drugs in treating the advance of Alzheimer’s.

Researchers from U. Washington conducted a six-month clinical trial with 33 participants, 17 of whom were women. All showed early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and were between the ages of 55 and 85.

The experiment participants underwent a six-month intensive aerobic training program, spending 45 minutes to an hour four times each week on a stationary bicycle or treadmill. At the end of the six months, the participants saw improvement in mental agility, while the control group showed no improvement. Researchers are planning further studies to conduct larger and longer duration trials, following volunteers for years instead of months, for more conclusive data as to whether exercise can prevent full-blown cases of Alzheimer’s.

Exactly how Alzheimer’s affects memory is not understood fully, but researchers theorize that protein fragments, known as amyloid plaques, begin to cluster in the brain, causing larger, more tangled strands of other proteins to appear, which lead to symptoms of dementia often associated with Alzheimer’s.

But how does exercise stop this from occurring? Researchers Allison Bonner and Sandra O’Brien Cousins of U. Alberta say exercise increases activity in the cortex of the brain, boosts the immune system and may “moderate the arteriosclerotic disease process of the brain,” Bonner and Cousins said in a 1996 paper published in Activities, Adaptation & Aging.

Other similar studies have been conducted, where researchers have measured the health benefits of resistance training for women between the ages of 65 and 75 who are most at risk for developing Alzheimer’s. In one study, after one year of training, women who had completed the training showed better scores on mental acuity and conflict resolution tests than those who didn’t, according to an article, “Regular Exercise and Resistance Training Are Good for the Brain,” published on alzinfo.org.

Jeffrey Kaye, director of Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Oregon Health and Science University, told The Oregonian, “The challenge now is to understand, at a scientific level, what elements of activity really do enhance brain function, and what level, what dose of activity is needed.”

U. Virginia student Haley Carpenter has a family with a history of Alzheimer’s disease, which can be passed down from generation to generation.

“It’s been hard watching a family member struggle with dementia and the progression of Alzheimer’s,” she said.

But Carpenter said she remains optimistic that progress is being made in Alzheimer’s research, especially after learning about the benefits of exercise in her Contemporary Health Issues class.

“I already try to remain as active and healthy as possible and am glad to see my grandparents have incorporated daily activities such as biking and doing some weight training,” she said. “I do think adding more weight-bearing exercises like walking and running — if possible — could be beneficial as well.”