Elon University President Connie Book answered questions from Elon’s Student Government Association about the potential merger with Queens University on Sept. 18.
Book said this idea began at the beginning of this academic year as she was visiting other colleges and universities in the area. Book said she is looking to gauge more questions and feedback about this potential merger from students and staff.
Class of 2029 senator Christopher Guider asked Book about the impact on sports, considering both Elon and Queens have Division I athletics programs. Book said that both universities would ask the National Collegiate Athletic Association to keep their programs separate.
Chris Guider, Class of 2029 Senator, stands and asks a question to President Connie Book on Sept. 18 in Moseley 215.
“We are going to ask the NCAA to allow us to operate two D1 programs,” Book said during the meeting. “The NCAA has in the last three years been much more flexible in this regard as universities merge. Our plan is to ask for permission from the NCAA to continue to be one program.”
Class of 2026 senator Julie Snow asked about what the process would look like for students who want to transfer between the two institutions. Book said that the application process might look different.
“You may not have to apply, but you may have to complete paperwork,” Book answered. “It's more fluid. It's not a question mark where an application would be, but that there's a process for moving from one campus to the other campus.”
Class of 2028 president Jonathan Mushi wondered if there would be any changes in employment across both campuses.
Book said that there are some employees on Elon’s campus that are excited about the possibility of moving to Charlotte if they choose to work on Queens campus. Book said that Queens employees sounded excited after hearing about Elon’s employee benefits.
“We have Elon employees who would like to move to Charlotte, and are excited about the possibility of working and living in Charlotte,” Book said. “And I bet there are Queens employees who are excited. One of the benefits of being an employee of Elon is that your children go to Elon tuition free. And so when I said that Tuesday, at Queens, they were like, ‘yes.' There are benefits, as we work on this merger, that I know people will take advantage of.”
Jocelyn Gomez, Class of 2027 Treasurer, stands and asks a question to President Connie Book on Sept. 18 in Moseley 215.
Class of 2027 senator Kiley Sherlock asked Book about the Boldly Elon strategic plan and where the potential merger with Queens would play into this. Book said that both universities are similar in values and Book said Queens may have a carbon neutral goal, like Elon.
“Queens is very Elon-like,” Book said. “We very much share the same values. We have very similar cultures and that's actually one of the draws to why we find this intent to merge is that we see that together our strengths we're better, stronger together.”
In addition to Book answering questions about the merger with Queens, Elon University class of 2029 senators, president and treasurer were also sworn in at the meeting as SGA elections were finalized Sept. 16.
Madeline Hardy, Will Ellis, Dmitri Putman, Ernesto Arellano-Perez, Christopher Guider and Anna Horstmann were elected as class of 2029 senators. Rena Weissbach was elected as the class of 2029 president in a busy race of seven candidates and Bryceton Thomas was elected treasurer.
Almost 34% of the freshman class voted in the elections with 512 ballots being cast. This is a slight decrease from the 520 ballots cast last year, but last year only saw 30% of the freshman class voting. This lower total of ballots comes amid an 11.6% decrease in enrollment.
Ellis said he is relieved to have been elected after putting hard work into his campaign. Ellis also said in the future he looks forward to connecting with other students on campus while gaining more leadership experience.
“Being able to help the community more, expanding my leadership roles,” Ellis said. “It's about the community, so I guess just helping them out would be what I want to do.”