Jana Lynn Patterson, dean of students, gave members of Elon University’s Student Government Association an update on the student flu vaccination rate at a business meeting on Nov. 18. Patterson said that 539 students have not yet submitted their vaccines through their student portal. Any remaining students not in compliance by Nov. 22 — over break — will have their Phoenix Cards turned off.
Patterson also said that as of this past Monday, there have been two confirmed cases of the flu, with both cases coming from unvaccinated students. This is an increase from this time last year, when there was only one case on campus.
Elon University Chief of Police Joe LeMire also gave a presentation during the meeting explaining the new E-Alert system, which will still include email and text alerts, but also alerts through a new app called Rave Guardian. The app will be launched in early 2022 and will automatically enroll all Elon University students, with an option to opt-out.
The app will include a call directory for numbers such as campus police, town of Elon police and 24-hour counseling. Students can also add numbers they feel are important to their own directory as well.
Additionally, there also is a virtual safewalk included in the app where students can share their location and start a timer — for approximately how long their walk home should take — with anyone they chose. Students walking will need to stop the timer once they reach their location. Once the timer ends, whoever they shared their location with will be alerted, and a minute later, the police will be alerted as well.
There is also a content section on the app, including Title IX information and parking information, all of which can currently be found on Elon’s website. Students can also use the app’s chat feature to talk directly to campus safety and police, receiving quicker responses from dispatchers. This chat can be anonymous if students choose, as well.
Closer to February, when this system is expected to be launched, there will be more information regarding how to use this including videos and demos on this app, according to LeMire.
The registration process for next year will also be different for all Elon students. After a successful pilot program this registration period, the new registration system will now include both a graduation plan and degree audit on one site. This will allow students to no longer have to make Excel spreadsheets with graduation plans, and will make checking required courses and prerequisites easier.
Justine Nienow, senior assistant registrar for technology and curriculum, talked about many other benefits to this new program, such as the new site not timing out frequently, which causes students to have to log in multiple times and is a problem with OnTrack, the current registration system.
This new process will also help students while registering by populating a weekly calendar with the classes they select to ensure students registering for classes are not signing up for classes at conflicting times.
Another change Nienow explained is that now students will get an email once their adviser approves their registration and previous versions of students’ graduation plans will be saved on their account for both the adviser and student to see.
In response to a question from Class of 2024 President Britt Mobley asking how sure the registrar’s office is that this process will work as smoothly as it sounds, Nienow said that during the pilot program this was very successful.
“We ran this actually at the same time that everyone else was registering in the old system, and besides one student who thought they had an adviser's approval and they didn’t, we heard nothing else as far as problems,” Nienow said.
With 360 freshmen and five faculty members in the pilot program, it has been seen as a success overall, according to Nienow. A survey was sent out to all students who went through this process and 50 students have filled it out so far, with 100% of students saying they enjoyed this registration process.
In preparation for the beginning of this new program, starting in January, there will be information sent out on how to use the new website, all advisers will be trained and closer to registration there will be twice a week drop in training sessions.