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(04/28/15 2:33pm)
They gathered, remembered, honored and relayed.
More than 900 people — including students, faculty and community members — walked, fundraised and walked some more Friday as Elon University’s Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) chapter hosted its third annual Relay for Life.
The event, built on fundraising efforts that started with TriathELON in October, raised $70,098.33 at the 6 a.m. conclusion Saturday.
This year’s Relay for Life raised almost 40 percent more than last year’s $50,078.23 total.
There was an increase in attendance, too. Last year, the event drew around 800 people total. This year, 860 participants were registered before Friday and 100 more trickled in throughout the evening.
More than $7,000 of the money raised this year came not just from donations and events, but also fundraisers that evening.
Five food trucks — a new addition — were present for no charge and each donated part of their profit, which totaled $600 to Relay for Life, according to Sam Murray, director of operations.
Fundraisers hosted by individual teams, including Alpha Omicron Pi’s “Smash a Car,” Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Saturday morning breakfast and the chance for participants to rent and hold puppies, comprised $7,000 of the money raised for The American Cancer Society.
Money was not the only thing donated—hair was also given.
Seventeen people cut their hair Friday for Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which requires donated hair to be at least eight inches long.
Sophomore Hannah Lanzillotta, a volunteer who cut her hair, is familiar with donating hair — she’s done it three times.
“Donating my hair is such a big deal to me because it’s one more part of me that I can give back,” Lanzillotta said. “I try to give as many of my blessings back as possible, like money, time. I’m in the global bone marrow and plasma donation registry, and hair. These are all things that I’m very fortunate to have even though I usually take them for granted.”
Four hours into Relay for Life Friday evening, the large lights surrounding Francis Center Field flickered off and participants, with glow sticks in hand, inched their way to the perimeter of the track for the Luminary Ceremony, a central part of not just Elon’s event but also others throughout the country.
Luminary bags were sold leading up to the event for donors to write on to honor a loved one affected by cancer.
Slowly, glow sticks lit up as a reader called different people surrounding the track who have been affected by cancer: survivors, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, grandchildren, friends.
Sophomore marketing and social media committee member Jessie Brown lit her glow stick in honor of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when Brown was five, and for other close family members and friends who have been touched by cancer.
She first became involved with Relay for Life six years ago when she was a freshman in high school.
“I saw what an amazing organization the American Cancer Society is that I couldn’t help but continue my involvement in any way possible,” Brown said. “Relay for Life has shown me how strong our Elon community is and how we can come together to end something that touches and impacts so many of us.”
(04/28/15 3:14am)
Trails of mud surfaced across campus and throughout residence halls following Festivus Sunday aftenoon, causing damages and Physical Plant cleanup crews in the days to come.
Festivus, an annual student-run event started by students more than a decade ago is separate from the university and brought students together off campus in the Sheridan Apartments.
Robert Buchholz, director of physical plant, said damages from Festivus included muddy handprints on a column in Colonnades D, a sink clogged with mud in Danieley C, mud on a carpet in Danieley N and mud markings near Lindner Hall, the Global Neighborhood and seven Mill Point buildings.
He said he does not know the estimated cost in damages.
One thing was missing on campus from recent years: hoses outside of residence halls, provided by the university.
SGA President Avery Steadman announced during the April 23 SGA Senate meeting that Elon University would not be providing hoses outside campus residences for Festivus because of concerns over the growing size of the event.
In years past hoses were provided outside of residence halls so students could clean themselves and rid their clothes and shoes of the mud.
This year, MarQuita Barker, associate director of residence life for operations and information management, said residents will incur fines for any damages in the residence halls.
“Students tracking mud are charged for cleaning and damage,” she said. “If no one takes ownership, we have community charges.”
Barker said in an email that Residence Life did not provide hoses for a long time but did in the past two to three years.
“Festivus is not a university sponsored or supported event, so we did not offer hoses as an effort to not enable students,” Barker said. “Individual staff members did not have the option to provide hoses.”
According to Buchholz, he and his staff, under direction from Student Life, did not provide hoses this year.
“It would have helped if the event coordinators had more hoses and resources for people to clean themselves at the event instead of students dragging mud across campus,” Buchholz said.
James Perry, Town of Elon assistant police chief, said his department had eight to ten officers present at the event, which is typical.
He said the event led to the injuries of two female students, one with a mild head injury and the other sick from a previous illness. He said their current condition was not known.
(04/24/15 10:10pm)
Fifteen sophomores received news Thursday morning that they were recipients of Elon University's Lumen Prize, a $15,000 award given to help students attain their "ambitious and serious intellectual goals."
(04/24/15 2:59pm)
At Thursday night’s SGA Senate meeting, another incident of racial bias came to light, which occurred Wednesday night, according to Jana Lynn Patterson, associate vice president for student life. Calling it a non-violent, but nonetheless “traumatic” situation, she added that more information is expected to be released.
(04/23/15 12:00pm)
Sophomore Alexa Lowey relays for a cure, change and community. But most importantly to her, she relays for a friend.
In 2007, Lowey’s best friend of six years Esther Earl — who was later the inspiration for John Green’s novel “The Fault in Our Stars” — was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Lowey then became immersed in a life of supporting, caregiving and fighting for her best friend until Earl lost her battle in 2010.
Five years later, Lowey continues to be involved in cancer fundraising and support efforts and serves as treasurer on the executive board for Elon’s Relay for Life chapter.
“To me, Relay is all about support,” Lowey said. “We all have people, and stories for why we relay, but when we relay as a whole it’s a way to say, ‘Hey, you are not alone in this fight.’”
Lowey will be present Friday, April 24 as Elon’s Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) hosts Relay for Life for the third year in a row.
Laura Castro, Relay for Life 2015 director, said the event will feature new changes in an effort to improve the event.
To make the layout appear more cohesive, Castro said that this year, tents will be set up in the center of the Francis Center fields, instead of on the edge of the track.
“Last year, people who wanted to be in tents and campsites felt excluded from the field,” Castro said. “Hopefully, this year people will feel more involved in all of the activities, whether they are walking or not.”
To save money this year, the organization got permission to allow Relay for Life participants to use the bathrooms in the Francis Center, saving the organization approximately $1,000 to use for expenses other than port-a-potties.
In addition to logistical changes, Castro said this year’s event is taking on the theme “Hope Around the World” and adding new events throughout the 12 hours, like food trucks Friday evening and a breakfast by Elon fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon Saturday morning.
Five food trucks are scheduled to remain until midnight and are each participating in a profit share with Relay for Life, with varied percentages going back to the event.
The event — scheduled to begin 6 p.m. Friday, April 24 — will continue throughout the night and conclude the following morning at 6 a.m. Saturday, April 25.
“Cancer never sleeps, so for the night we’re not going to, either,” Castro said.
This year, in addition to community members and an estimated 800 students, faculty and staff will be participating.
Jaimie Biermann, assistant director of residence life in Danieley Center, created ‘Fac and Staff Bridging the Gap,’ a group of seven faculty and staff members who are scheduled to participate in the event alongside Elon students.
No matter the age of participants or their relation to Elon, Castro said the goal of Relay for Life is to raise money and awareness for cancer research and advances in conjunction with the American Cancer Society.
Relay for Life is a national event that started in 1985 when Dr. Gordon Klatt spent 24 hours walking the University of Puget Sound’s track to raise awareness and money. Klatt walked more than 83 miles and raised $27,000.
A year later, the first Relay for Life was hosted and 19 teams participated and raised $33,000.
In the past two decades Relay for Life has raised almost $5 billion in events hosted across the country.
This is the third year Elon has hosted a Relay for Life event. At the first Relay in April 26, 2013 about 400 people participated and beat the event’s goal of $10,000 with a final total of $30,420.
Last year, more than 800 students participated, raising a total of $50,073.28.
As of publication, 755 participants in 45 different teams have registered and raised a total of $45,809.35, which moves the organization closer to its 2015 goal of raising $75,000.
Castro said registration does not close, though, and people can register at the event.
“We just want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to participate,” Castro said. “This event is able to bring students together from across campus for one common goal: raising money to fight cancer.”
Castro said people can register with a team of as few as six people.
“People can register with friends or an organization leading up to the event or at the event,” she said. “We have a good variety of fraternities, sororities, clubs and halls registered.”
Klatt’s mission has inspired people around the country, including Elon students who participate in Relay because they understand the great amount of people who are touched by cancer.
“Being ivolved with CAC has made me realize how many people on this campus have been affected by cancer in some way,” said Rebecca Venetianer, director of marketing. “And I think it is important for everyone to realize that as well.”
(04/22/15 7:14pm)
Elon University School of Law announced Wednesday they will offer a dual-degree program with Vermont School of Law beginning fall 2015.
(04/16/15 2:17pm)
In recent weeks, political figures from both sides of the aisle have come forward and announced their campaigns to run for president in the 2016 elections.
Clinton runs for second time
Stating what was expected for months and confirming the beliefs of pundits everywhere, Hillary Clinton announced Sunday she will seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.
Clinton posted a video announcement to her campaign website Sunday. John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, said there will be a formal kickoff event next month.
In 2008, Clinton ran for president and became the first woman to win a presidential primary contest. She pulled out of the campaign in June 2008 and pushed support for now-President Barack Obama. During Obama’s first term, she served as Secretary of State.
Her announcement doesn’t come as a shock. Since running in 2008, she’s given a number of hints at another campaign.
Sophomore Rachel Echevarria wasn’t surprised about Clinton’s announcement but doesn’t think she will win.
“I don’t think people are going to vote for her because she’s a woman,” Echevarria said. “I don’t think America’s going to do it yet.”
According to Jason Husser, assistant professor of political science and assistant director of the Elon University Poll, Clinton’s long history in the public eye as a first lady and then Secretary of State gives her an advantage no candidate has had before.
“You’d have to probably go back to Dwight Eisenhower to find a more well-known presidential candidate,” Husser said. “You could argue that Al Gore or George H.W. Bush were better-known or similarly-known, but really you’d probably have to go to Eisenhower.”
Husser added that Clinton’s popularity will give her an advantage unlike any candidate has had in the past.
“In some ways, she is the best-known presidential candidate ever,” he said. “We’re going to have some unexpected things because of that.”
As of publication, there were no other Democrats who had announced their campaign to run for president in 2016.
Husser said Clinton is essentially a lock for the Democratic nomination.
“Unless something fairly cataclysmic happens, she’s probably going to get the nomination,” Husser said. “At this point, there would be very few circumstances I think that would lead her to not get the nomination. One would be some kind of scandal we’re not aware of right now. That said, it’s pretty unlikely.”
Clinton’s been in the public eye since her time as the first lady during her husband’s terms from 1992-2000.
Sophomore Katie Condon isn’t sure about whether Clinton will win, but said her prominence is a big asset.
“The fact that she’s known so well will help in name recognition,” Condon said. “It can work in her favor or against her. People know her better. People know her past.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) predicted Clinton will win, saying she would “be one of the best-prepared leaders to preside in the Oval Office.”
Husser said since Clinton is so well-known, there wasn’t much to say when she formally announced.
“Historically, there’s never been a presidential candidate whose record has been sifted through as much as Hillary’s,” Husser said. “It’s almost like this has been a foregone conclusion for months now.”
Husser said while earning the Democratic nomination will be manageable, winning the election will be much tougher. Currently, Husser said, Jeb Bush is the favorite for the Republican nomination.
“If you look at economic voting models, you can usually predict a presidential election, even at this point, within a few points based on economic performance of the party,” Husser said. “Right now, we’re in a slow recovery still. The economy’s not terrible, but it’s not great. It’s really anyone’s shot. Whoever’s got the Republican nomination has just as good of a chance as Hillary does.”
Republicans make run for White House
Within the last month, a trio of Republican senators — Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida — announced their 2016 presidential runs.
Cruz first announced his run for president on Twitter at midnight March 23 and then verbalized it during a speech at Liberty University that morning.
“I believe in you,” Cruz said in his speech. “I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America, and that is why today I am announcing that I’m running for president of the United States.”
The second Republican put his name in the ring for the party’s nomination April 7 when Paul announced during his campaign launch in Louisville, Kentucky, that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for president.
The 2010 elected senator and former opthamologist operates on a platform that the Republican party needs to broaden its appeal to a more diverse group of voters.
Rubio was the most recent Republican to announce his run for the White House.
During an April 13 speech in Miami, Rubio, 43 — the youngest candidate in the race thus far — based himself on taking the Republican party into the future as a next-generation and forward-looking leader.
“It’s really anybody’s shot,” Husser said. “Whoever gets the Republican nomination has just as good of a shot as Hillary does. Because Hillary is not going to face a really tough nomination process, she won’t be as well vetted and as practiced as she would if she had faced like a 2008 challenge.”
(04/16/15 3:15am)
Senior Daniela Nava has been thinking about food trucks since sophomore year.
(04/08/15 10:54pm)
On any given day, junior Shahad Haswa can be found speaking with student groups, faculty or administrators on Islam, a faith she and just 1.7 percent of Elon University students practice.
According to the Elon Factbook, 10 students identified as Muslims for the 2014-2015 year, but Haswa is only aware of five students who are practicing and involved Muslims.
Elon students and administrators are working to address this difference in an effort towards improving diversity on campus.
As an executive intern to the office of the president, senior Carley Gaynes worked to advance the presence of Muslim students on campus.
Gaynes said she thinks an increase in support and resources would help grow the population.
“I think that there are a number of reasons why the Muslim student population isn’t as well represented as others, but largely, I think that it boils down to a need for support,” Gaynes said in an email. “In order for a community to thrive and succeed on their own, they must first receive the necessary support and resources from their surrounding community, and that is our job, as Elon students, faculty, staff, and community members who all proclaim our love, appreciation, and desire for diversity on campus.”
Filling the gap
Since arriving on campus her freshman year, Haswa has acted as an ambassador for the religion that is significantly underrepresented in comparison to Catholicism — more than 1,600 identifying students — and Judaism, a religion that has almost 400 identifying students.
“It’s not like I need a Muslim right next to me,” she said. “But we need to be able to recruit more people from the Muslim faith to represent on campus. It seems like every other faith is very much represented, very well funded and supported. But how can you have one of the biggest religions on Earth not represented? And that’s the gap we’re trying to fill.”
The junior marketing and entrepreneurship double major was born and raised in Amman, Jordan, with Islam in her blood.
After she had already looked at universities in the United Kingdom and Canada, a college counselor brought Elon’s liberal arts education to her attention.
The recipient of Elon’s King Hussein scholarship — an Elon scholarship given to Jordanian students — Haswa took the leap and chose Elon not only for the academics and opportunities but because of the opportunity to experience a different country.
“If I stayed home, I wouldn’t experience the abroad aspect of college,” she said.
She did not take into account the university’s religious life and culture, though.
“I know there are huge Muslim communities across the United States, but for me, I don’t need the community for me to practice,” she said. “If I believe what I believe and I have it with me, then that’s enough. My faith is just with me, wherever I go.”
Haswa said she was curious, though, to see what Muslim-based clubs, organizations and communities Elon had to offer.
But when Haswa got to Elon, she was surprised by the great disparity in Muslim representation compared to other religions.
“I don’t like to be critical, but the thought was more like, ‘OK, now what can we do about it?’” she said.
As a freshman, Haswa surrounded herself with a community of 10-15 older Muslim students who started the Muslim Student Association (MSA).
Haswa got involved with Elon’s MSA chapter by joining its executive board, to increase the group’s awareness and presence on campus.
When the majority of the MSA’s executive group and involved members graduated at the end of Haswa’s sophomore year, she said she was left with only a small handful of involved students who were practicing Islam.
“I first got to Elon and we had a little Muslim community, but by the end of my sophomore year they were gone,” Haswa said. “It was me, two other girls and one guy. They try to count the Muslim community on campus, including faculty and staff, but it’s almost nonexistent.”
Today, Haswa is the president of MSA and acts as a Muslim student representative to the Elon community.
“I’ve started representing Elon’s Muslim community,” Haswa said. “If someone needs a Muslim to talk, interview or recite verses from the Quran, I will. There are some students who don’t care, but for the ones who do, I’ll be the anchor.”
With a small Muslim population on campus, many Elon students are not aware of tenants of Islam. So when they do encounter people of the Muslim faith, they bring a laundry list of questions.
Some students attribute others’ inquisitive nature to the lack of Islamic presence on campus.
Sophomore Soad Ibrahim, a Muslim student from Kuwait, said she sometimes receives simple and even ignorant questions regarding her faith.
“It’s not students’ fault because they don’t know,” she said. “They just ask questions because they don’t know, but Elon can’t do anything about it because the population isn’t here.”
Resources available at Elon
As a part of Gaynes’ executive intern project to advance the presence of Muslims on campus, she created a website for Muslim Life at Elon, which is now live through the Truitt Center Website.
“One of the major issues that I (and others) noticed was that there was no one place that information on Muslim life at Elon could be accessed by the Elon community, or by prospective students.”
The Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life provides prayer rugs and prayer rooms in the Numen Lumen pavilion for daily prayer.
Elon does not have a mosque. The closest mosque is the Pakistan Islamic Foundation in Gibsonville, minutes away. But the Truitt Center does hold events throughout the year to support the community.
Every year, the Truitt Center hosts an event that honors the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, a feast holiday that celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. Elon’s event incorporates food from different countries and cultures, as well as students who share their Eid al-Adha stories.
Looking to the future
Many students feel that a larger Muslim presence on campus is a necessary step in strengthening Elon’s commitment to diversity.
Sophomore Ben Lutz, who is concentrating in the Middle East with his International Studies major, said he hopes to see more diversity on Elon’s campus.
“I would like Elon to have more Muslim students to add to the richness of Elon’s community, as well as have better balanced discussions about current issues with all sides better reporesented,” Lutz said.
While support is needed to make the religious group’s presence on campus grow, Haswa understands that it will not happen overnight.
“Because we don’t get the attention and support we need, it’s hard for us to grow,” she said. “So right now, we’re just trying to stabilize it and be there whenever we can.”
Haswa believes breaking the stigma and stereotypes associated with Islam is a step in the right direction.
“When we talk about Islam we have to make sure we’re not just associating it with the Middle East,” Haswa said. “There are Muslims in Africa, Asia, Raleigh. They’re everywhere. It’s not like they’re just not attracting one ethnicity or country. It’s a whole nation.”
(04/03/15 1:52am)
Two Elon University faculty members were granted Fulbright awards — one of the highest honors in academia that comes with grants and living stipends — to explore religious practices in India and neighborhood revitalization practices in the United Kingdom.
The awardees, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Amy Allocco and Adjunct Assistant of Political Science and Policy Studies Professor Patrick Harman, plan to use the opportunity to live abroad and further their existing studies in their respective interests.
This July, Allocco is set to travel to India, where she will remain for up to one year to observe and interview Hindu families who conduct complex ceremonies in an effort to communicate with dead family members. Intended to call the deceased back into the mortal world to safeguard those they left behind, Allocco hopes to explain the practice to a Western audience through both recording rituals and interviewing participants.
Harman intends to embark for the United Kingdom in January 2016 to work alongside social scientists at Durham University to identify neighborhood-rebuilding projects deemed most effective by politicians, nonprofits and members of the communities represented.
"I hope to gain an understanding of what strategies and policies are effective for community revitalization and for which sets of stakeholders (community organizations vs. policymakers)," Harman said in an email. "Ideally, I would gain some insight into how these differing strategies and policies can be aligned in a revitalization effort."
Administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, along with the U.S. State Department, the Fulbright Scholar Program each year sends about 800 U.S. faculty and professionals to more than 150 countries to lecture, research or participate in seminars, according to the program website.
(04/02/15 12:05pm)
Friday, April 10, hundreds of Elon University students will take part in an “out of this world” experience of standing, dancing and celebrating “For the Kids” (FTK) at Elonthon 2015: To Infinity and Beyond FTK.
As of Tuesday, March 31, 1,073 students signed up for Elon.
Elonthon PR Chair Tegan Oglesby said that
A popular event for Greek organizations to participate in — all nine PHC sororities and six out of the seven IFC fraternities are signed up — Elonthon executive members made it a goal this year to diversify the groups who participate in the event.
“Every year, Exec makes it our mission to reach out to as many campus organizations as possible and personally invite them to make a team for Elonthon,” said Elonthon Director Kaylyn Weller. “Teams don’t have to be just campus organizations. We encourage friend groups, hall mates, and sports teams to sign up together as well. This is an event for every student on this campus to be involved in, so our dancer recruitment reflects that.”
Oglesby agreed and said she thinks Elonthon has the potential to widen its reach of organizations on campus.
“It’s a goal of ours to get a wider variety of organizations involved in Elonthon,” she said. “Elonthon is a great event for teams and organizations to partake in. It’s something for them to rally around.”
Elonthon views the large presence of Greek Life as a natural move to expand their typical philanthropy work.
“In an event that’s about fundraising, Greek organizations have so many people that they’re naturally going to donate and participate,” said Elonthon director of marketing Conor Janda.
A central part of Elonthon is raising money for young patients going through treatment at Duke Children’s Hospital.
Last year, $176,216.94 was raised at Elonthon, a significant drop from the $212,728.20 raised in 2013.
While money is important, Janda also measured success through the spirit of the event.
“Last year, even though the total went down, there was more spirit,” he said. “To me, keeping the spirit and morale high is one of most important things.”
Weller said Elonthon does not have a specific fundraising goal because every dollar raised goes toward helping children at Duke Children’s Hospital. Raising any amount of money is the ultimate goal.
“However, since this is a fundraising event for such a worthy cause, we want to push further and raise more money every year for the kids,” she said. “These kids are going through some unimaginable things, and if they can persevere, all of us can easily make a personal fundraising goal and meet that goal.”
Since first participating in Elonthon in 2011, Weller has seen Elonthon — established in 2003 — become a larger presence on campus.
“More of the student population recognizes Elonthon and genuinely understand what it means to dance ‘For the Kids,’” she said. “I think that is the biggest and most positive change of them all: participating in Elonthon FTK is slowly becoming a part of the Elon culture.”
For many, Elonthon will be a period of honoring the children going through treatment.
“Some people don’t understand why we do 24 hours,” Oglesby said. “It shows our respect to them. They [Children going through treatment] go through so much and really appreciate that we stand for them.”
(04/01/15 11:01pm)
NBA legend Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team. Physicist Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was 4 and didn’t read until he was 7. Elon University’s newest Student Body President Avery Steadman ran for class historian in high school but was defeated.
“I was extremely devastated that I didn’t get it,” Steadman said. “I never thought I would get the courage to do it again. It’s really putting yourself out there to have different opinions.”
Her fortune changed when she stepped foot onto campus in 2012 to begin her freshman year.
On a whim two weeks into her first year at Elon, Steadman decided to run for a position on SGA. With the help of friends and roommates, she knocked on random Danieley apartment doors to collect the 200 signatures needed to run for freshman class treasurer.
“I have grown to love SGA and found that the organization has an ability to reach all students and change Elon for the better,” she said. “I am so excited to see what this year has in store for me, the Senate and Elon.”
Steadman changed her student government streak and won the September 2012 election.
“Her decision to run freshman year was spontaneous, and it’s pretty amazing to see how far it has taken her,” said close friend and junior Jenna Hall. “Avery’s passion for SGA is inspiring and it is clear that she found her niche at Elon.”
The 21-year-old junior advanced with a polished look, confident smile and firm handshake from freshman class treasurer to sophomore class treasurer before being elected executive treasurer in 2014, the first female in that position in 22 years since Megan Maxfield in 1994.
As executive treasurer, Steadman oversaw a budget of more than $650,000 and took the initiative to refund the budget hearing process.
One of the more tedious tasks Steadman performed was making the executive treasurer’s manual more organized and clearly laid out.
“I think there will be a lot more transparency between student government and the student body,” she said. “I made the process for reimbursements a lot easier. It’s now one sheet.”
When it came time for the most recent elections, Steadman considered running for executive treasurer again — the thought of president didn’t really cross her mind until discussing it with a friend.
“A friend asked me what I would regret more: running for executive treasurer again or not running for president,” she said. “I then had my answer. I knew I would always wonder and had to give it a shot.”
Officially inaugurated as student body president March 12, Steadman is currently wrapping up her duties as treasurer and will hold her first meeting as president Thursday, April 2.
Through her work with SGA, Steadman has made an impression on her peers.
“I have known Avery from the first week of classes her first year here at Elon,” said former executive president Joe Incorvia. “Avery is very competent and hardworking and I have seen her really grow during her time on SGA. She is interested in helping others and really makes an effort to do her best to make sure students achieve what they hope to.”
Life outside SGA
The avid Harry Potter fan, who keeps a special 8-disc set of the films in her apartment, ready to watch for when she magically has free time, grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and spent her summers sailing in the waters of Lake Erie.
Her true passion, though, wasn’t on the waters but in ice skating rinks.
She had only been walking on her own for a little more than a year when her parents laced her up in skates and into the world of figure skating.
“Ice skating was my life for 16 years,” Steadman said. “I had dreams of becoming a professional skater, but once I turned 12, I realized that wasn’t going to happen.”
When her dreams of becoming a figure skater were dispelled, she saw herself as was a teacher. But after doing an internship her senior year of high school shadowing teachers and working with children, Steadman realized it was not the career for her and went back to the drawing board.
She said she unknowingly fell into accounting and finance after entering Elon. She’s never looked back.
Looking into the future
Thinking ahead to the future, Steadman hopes to lead the SGA senate and the student body in a way that fosters cooperation, communication and passion.
“With the senate I hope that, as a leader, I can listen to them and they can listen to me,” she said. “I try to make people feel excited for what they’re doing instead of making it feel like a chore.”
While her remaining time at Elon is solidified with her position as SGA executive president and involvement with Campus Recreation and Alpha Xi Delta, Steadman is open to what lies after the maroon robes in May 2016.
“I think I would have never, ever planned for this, so while I’m going to work hard to get whatever internship and job I think will fit for me, my guess is what I think is going to fit is going to change so I’m just going to go forward and see what happens,” she said.
(03/21/15 7:58pm)
Elon University, in conjunction with the national office of Pi Kappa Phi, closed the Epsilon Alpha chapter of Pi Kappa Phi March 17 until January 2017, according to an email to The Pendulum from Smith Jackson, dean of students.
(03/17/15 1:17pm)
UPDATED: Wednesday, 12:43 p.m.
(03/14/15 8:53pm)
UPDATED 4:30 p.m., Sunday March 15
(03/11/15 3:38am)
UPDATED MARCH 12, 2015
(03/06/15 11:20pm)
All new member activities in Elon University’s Kappa Sigma, Lambda-Lambda chapter have been suspended, according to an email from Smith Jackson, vice president for student life.
(03/04/15 11:30pm)
In honor of the art history department’s 10-year anniversary, discussions on transhistories of the visual echoed through the halls of Elon University’s Koury Business Center during a two-day symposium.
Between, Among, and Across: Transhistories of the Visual was the theme of the two-day on-campus conference Friday and Saturday.
Approximately 50 Elon students, faculty and staff members as well as visiting guests attended the event, which featured 17 lecturers and presentations.
Alumni of the department and nationally accredited and acclaimed scholars gathered to share their research and opinions.
Erin Day ’11 presented Friday on the topic of “The Corporeal and the Contemporaneous: Screen Dance and the Matter of Media.” She said she was pleased to see how the art history program made strides and hosted a symposium.
“A conference is so essential to discussion,” Day said. “It’s how scholarship happens.”
Melissa Spencer ’09 said it’s great Elon is doing something as big as a two-day symposium.
“It’s good to see people from outside of Elon [come and speak],” Spencer said. “Having an art history speaker is another key perspective for students and scholars.”
Dr. Jill H. Casid, professor of visual studies in the Department of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented the keynote address, “Art History on the Hyphen,” Friday evening.
Her presentation was based on the idea that the history of art is positioned on an altering and transitive hyphen.
Casid demonstrated how re-versings of a Roman imperial text’s metamorphic scenes across a range of media work relate to the transformative properties of hyphenation.
“I think it was fruitful to see [Casid] talk,” Day said. “It had a good overarching statement about the discourse of art theories.”
Kirstin Ringelberg, Elon professor of art history who co-organized the event, said the speech was a great example of a challenging art history talk.
“The ideas were complex and far from easy and within the talk was a challenge to art historians to rethink the way we do what we do — to be more directly engaged with the interconnections between and across our normal ‘tidy little boxes’ of categorization and method,” Ringelberg said.
Casid received her B.A. with honors from Princeton, her M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London and her Ph.D. at Harvard. She went on to serve as the first director of the Center for Visual Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her academic background impressed many of the event’s attendees.
“Dr. Casid is one of the early developers of the study of visual culture in our country — she’s a major international figure in that regard — so it was also exciting to have someone on our campus with that stature supporting our curriculum’s and discipline’s self-critical questioning,” Ringelberg said.
An art history minor was formally introduced to Elon in the 2004-2005 academic catalog. In 2007, an art history independent major graduated, and the first official art history degree was received in 2008.
In the past 10 years, the department has graduated 40 majors and more than 60 minors.
The department has also dramatically changed the curriculum from teaching primarily Western-focused surveys to teaching almost exclusively discussion-based classes and seminars that look at more than just one continent.
Ringelberg said she sees the student involvement in the program as a key to success.
“We also really enjoy our program — we love our students, we all get along really well and we think art history is both complex and exciting — so we have a good energy that I think students really do respond to,” she said.
Ringelberg added that a demand to grow will not decrease the rigor of the department’s coursework.
“We refuse to lower our standards in terms of the quality of our classes and undergraduate research projects to make ourselves more popular, however, and we know that means we might not always satisfy the drive for greater numbers,” she said. “That’s a chance we’re willing to take, but we’re of course also looking at ways to grow.”
(03/04/15 5:42pm)
A recently formed Elon University cultural organization called Israel Dialogue, Education and Advocacy (IDEA) brought two Israeli reservist soldiers to campus Friday through the national non-profit organization Stand With Us.
(02/26/15 7:00pm)
The 2015 Housing Selection process, which begins Feb. 25 and continues until March 11, will direct students to certain neighborhoods by class, unless they apply for a Living and Learning Community (LLC).
According to MarQuita Barker, associate director of residence life for operations and information management, sophomores can expect to find their future homes in Danieley flats and apartments. Some sophomores will be in the Global Neighborhoods, Colonnades and the Loy Center, and a few will be in the Oaks.
Barker said a majority of juniors can expect to be in The Oaks and some will be in the Station at Mill Point. Seniors can prepare to be mainly in the Station with a few in the Oaks.
“We really want students to focus on the experience in each neighborhood,” Barker said. “It’s really about who you live with and your experiences and not so much about the actual building.”
The division of classes by neighborhood comes after recent years of freshmen being scattered across resident halls from Danieley to Historic Neighborhood.
Now, Residence Life look to be more purposeful with where students live and when they live there.
Freshmen are placed in Historic to be near the center of campus, allow them the opportunity to take part in link courses through the Global Neighborhood and form connections with live-in faculty, Barker said.
She added that the Danieley flats and apartments suit sophomores well because it is not the traditional hall of Historic, but it’s also not quite the apartments juniors and seniors occupy in the Station.
“We try to be intentional of students’ on campus experiences,” Barker said. “We try to do our housing based on those needs.”
With more than 20 communities, LLCs are another way students can remain in on-campus housing. According to Barker, even though deadlines for LLCs have passed, it’s not too late to inquire about open spots.
Junior Michael Nedvin has lived in an LLC for the past three years and plans on continuing to live in one for his senior year.
“I didn’t want to worry about housing off-campus so applying for an LLC was a good option,” Nedvin said.
Another benefit of living in an LLC is that there are many opportunities for older students and even faculty members to form bonds and mentorships with each other.
It’s something supporters say can be hard to come by elsewhere, in other living situations on campus.
“LLCs are nice because it’s good to have older students to go to when you have questions about different Elon-related things,” said junior Jacquelyn Lanphear.
LLC RAs also see the benefits of having freshmen and older students live together.
“I personally feel that the mix of first-year students with sophomores is incredibly beneficial, especially for the first-year students,” said communications LLC RA Riley Billman. “These students can more easily find student mentors than those who live on an all first-year hall.”
Billman said she has heard from her residents that the housing selection process can sometimes be confusing, but she appreciates that Elon rewards students who have been academically successful by using students’ GPA to partially determine housing selection.
“I’ve also heard from other schools that [their] housing process is much more convoluted and difficult,” she said. “I appreciate Elon’s system compared to these other schools.”
Looking ahead. Barker said the goal is to be able to house as many people on campus as possible.
“We’ve made strides to provide enough beds,” she said. “We would love to see 75 percent of students living on campus within the next five years.”