Elon first-year airlifted to UNC Hospitals after falling from tree
(12/08/14 6:02pm)
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Elon University recently received two estate gifts totaling more than $1.3 million.
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Dozens of demonstrators standing in solidarity with those in Ferguson, Missouri punctuated the holiday cheer of Luminaries at Elon University with the sharp sound of silence Monday evening. Those at the heart of the night’s events said they were brought together in the wake of the lack of an indictment from the police shooting of unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.
Elon University has not banned the use of the word freshman, and there is no policy dictating that the school uses the term “first-year” in place of “freshman,” according to Dan Anderson, vice president of University Communications.
When walking around campus, Elon University instructional technologist Michael Vaughn often notices one student or another engaged in an intimate relationship. With a cellphone. Such common cases have caused Vaughn to question the role of the phone and the endless world of distraction such devices bring — Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, to name a popular few. He’s concerned, to say the least. During each New Student Orientation weekend, Vaughn gives a “Connected at Elon” presentation to explain the evolution and impact of social media. This year, he challenged his audience to spend more time communicating with people in person. Today, Vaughn notices that his words may have not changed the majority of students’ behavior. “I think that you would get a lot more ... walking around campus with a group of people than with a digital group,” Vaughn said. “The challenge will come in finding a balance with where technology fits into your life, because it can easily overtake quality social experiences that you can have in the real world.” An introvert at heart, Vaughn understands the difficulties that come with face-to-face conversations. But he said the effort to improve interpersonal skills is well worth the burden. Vaughn supports the cautious use of technology, but thinks discretion is important, too — especially when it comes to social media. While he continues to use popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, Vaughn is constantly exploring what other under-the-radar networks have to offer. One that has peaked his interest is Flipboard, an app where users can create customizable magazines. His biggest reluctance to use such networks comes from a healthy fear of privacy. According to Vaughn, the lack of privacy on some of these social networks presents a problem. “Most Facebook privacy settings default to friends of friends, and that network is enormous,” Vaughn said. “If you have the average number of Facebook friends, which is around 230 or 240, and each of them has 230-240 Facebook friends, your network could easily be 60,000 or more that you’re sharing information without realizing it.” For Facebook users who have no plans to leave the network soon, Vaughn recommended making one’s profile as public as possible. But if that is the case, posts should only present positive stories and photos that include the user working with a volunteer organization or participating in sports. Vaughn said it’s important to operate under the assumption that everything is going to be made public, anyway, so locking down profiles with privacy settings isn’t the best solution. Although Vaughn recognizes that the lack of privacy on Facebook is problematic, he wants all users, regardless of share settings, to utilize social media with caution by avoiding publishing explicit content. Unlike Facebook, some social networks, like Twitter, limit the amount of text that can be posted. Companies and individuals utilizing this media platform must be able to condense their ideas to highlight the key points. “On a site like Twitter, you have to be very effective at using your words,” Vaughn said. “Some people do that by shortening the words or by using acronyms, but other people take time to deliberate and think ‘How do I get this across?’” Some Elon students have temporarily abandoned social networking sites altogether. First-year Tyler Hess, for one, was required to complete a weeklong challenge for Ethical Practice, taught by Amy Glaser, adjunct instructor of philosophy. His challenge was to abandon social media for a week. Although it was difficult for him to break out of the habit of checking sites like Facebook and Twitter while walking to and from classes, he admits that it became easier to do so over time. “It’s not necessarily hard to give up social media,” Hess said. “I don’t really use social media like other people do. I’ll feel for my phone and read something else instead.” Other students couldn’t go one day without their digital device of choice. “Every morning, I usually check [social media] and then before I go to bed,” said first-year Marissa Baum. “If I find myself waiting for a class or waiting for my food, I usually fill it with checking social media.” Although social media is often viewed as a gratifying tool for instant communication, Vaughn maintained that it is damaging interpersonal skills and meaningful interactions. “We need to make time for face-to-face interactions too without phones, without social networks and without laptops,” he said.
Most college student knows the struggle of wanting to hang out with friends but having little free time during the week. Associate Professors of Communications, Naeemah Clark, Rich Landesberg and Anthony Hatcher feel the same way. As a way to spend time with each other, the three decided to start a talk show on WSOE, Elon’s student-run radio station called “Three Professors With Class.” “With our busy schedules, we never see each other during the week,” Hatcher said. “This was a fun way that we could guarantee seeing each other.” Originally the trio planned to do a television show but then shifted their focus to radio. During the show, each host thinks of a question or topic, such as childhood memories, and the others respond accordingly. They also discuss current events such as last week’s midterm election, or whatever they feel like talking about. The tone of their show is informal, and they banter back and forth with one another. The conversation flows naturally among the three of them, so naturally, in fact, that they often finish one another’s sentences. “It’s just fun,” Clark said. “We really get to know one another better through it. And any students listening can get to know their professors better.” Hatcher said he enjoys being able to interact with students through the radio station because it’s different than the way he interacts with students in class. Landesberg said he feels that by doing this show, students will get a new insight into professors’ lives. “Students have stereotypes of professors and what they enjoy, and I think that this humanizes us and gives us the ability to talk about things we normally wouldn’t discuss in class,” Landesberg said. While they hope that many students tune in, Landesberg said getting a huge audience is not their main focus. “This is for us. We work with a lot of students and a lot of organizations, but this is for our souls,” he said. Landesberg, who spent the majority of his career in radio prior to teaching, is enjoying getting back into the swing of things. “Radio is my first love,” Landesberg said. “And being able to share it with my two good friends is wonderful.” Clark and Hatcher, neither of whom are broadcast professionals, are enjoying getting a chance to learn about radio. “I always tell my students to go to WSOE if they want to get started in student media,” Clark said. “And now it’s time that I started practicing what I’ve been preaching.” Hatcher said he is using the radio show as a professional development tool. “When I listen to the tape, I can hear if I slur my words or hesitate,” Hatcher said. “Listening to myself helps make me a better professional.” For more informaition visit www.wsoeelon.com/
Jana Lynn Patterson, associate vice president for student life and dean of student health and wellness, upheld Elon University’s suspension of Sigma Pi Epsilon-Theta for hazing after reviewing a formal appeal submitted by the fraternity and meeting with representatives from the group on Monday.
Energy prices are increasing in densely populated areas across the country. With these increases, some communities are looking towards cheap, renewable energy options such as wind energy — more specifically, offshore wind turbines.
An edit has been made to note that any changes to the suspension are pending a formal appeal, which Sigma Pi submitted Wednesday. The outcome will be determined by Jana Lynn Patterson, associate vice president for student life.
Elon University prides itself on being a leading school when it comes to religious inclusivity. But at a recent panel discussion, students and faculty were asked whether Elon could do more to support community members with no religious views. The event was put on by the Spiritual and Religious Life Committee, who posed the following question to those gathered: How can we as a campus better include and support atheists, agnostics and those who indicate “none” for religious preference? “It’s like asking, ‘What kind of a barber does a bald person need?’” said Tom Arcaro, professor of sociology at Elon, who is not religious. “That’s the nut we’re trying to crack.” Junior Jensen Roll disagreed with this assessment. “All students need to have access to similar resources, and creating communities where people feel safe is part of that,” Roll said. Senior Mary Rouse said, as someone who does not hold religious views, parts of life at Elon can be off-putting. “Every time there’s a prayer or invocation at an event, I feel excluded because a big assumption is being made about how the people there identify,” Rouse said. “Even if it was non-religious, what do they add that’s so important they need to exist?” Rouse pointed to the large number of staff other religious groups have on campus, but said she and other classmates of hers who share her views aren’t necessarily looking to join in with other faith-based Elon organizations. “We see it not so much that we want to be included, but we don’t want to be excluded,” she added. While student groups like the Student Secular Society exist at Elon to try to create a community for the non-religious — though no members of the group attended the meeting — the committee chair, Diane Ford, said faculty and staff, not students, requested this topic be examined. Lost in translation Those who attended the meeting were given sheets asking questions about Elon’s inclusivity for non-religious and secular individuals, like how is Elon already successful in this area and how can Elon improve. “We could be more purposeful in our inclusion,” said Johanna Janssen, director of clinical education for Elon’s physical therapy department. “When I think of discussing religious and secular issues, I think of the Truitt Center. But it’s all titled ‘inter-faith’ or ‘multi-faith’ and that’s exclusionary.” Multiple panel members talked about how words like “multi-faith” and “spirituality,” while meant to include atheists and others of a similar worldview at Elon, end up turning people away. “Nurturing spirit can be a can of worms, but we can do that through belonging to a community,” said Jane Welford, professor of performing arts. “It doesn’t have to have an ethereal quality.” Diana Abrahams, multi-faith and intern coordinator at the Truitt Center, said faith in particular is a word people have trouble with. “Other organizations have used terms besides faith that are school-specific, like ‘worldview,’” Abrahams said. “A lot of our issues are language issues.” Avoiding exclusion Martin Fowler, lecturer of philosophy, said the goal of promoting inclusivity for secular and non-religious members of the Elon family should be to provide the same things religion can bring — a sense of community and respect — without things like ritual, ceremony or faith. “It’s not impossible, but we need to find a way to bring it across campus,” Fowler said. And this requires a lot of thinking and ingenuity, as Brian Pennington, director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society and professor of religious studies, pointed out. “There are ways in which you can define words like spirituality in non-theistic ways, but that doesn’t mean the word doesn’t hold certain connotations,” he said. Arcaro said there are still parts of Elon’s secular community, like the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, that make him feel excluded because of their theistic messages. “It’s off-putting and alienating and to be saying something that doesn’t fit with what I know feels hypocritical,” he said. However, when discussing the elimination of parts of Elon’s community like invocations at major events, Arcaro said these could take away something from religious people on campus. “We have a wonderful community of strong believers and anything we do to make them feel uncomfortable is absolutely the wrong approach,” he said. Ultimately, some discomfort arises from these conversations over religious and secular life not happening, as many meeting members said. “I think there’s a little fear in the classroom by teachers and students and that could be opened up a little more,” Welford said. Going forward, the Spiritual and Religious Life Committee will look at the discussion at the meeting and the voice of the community to see how non-religious people want to be included and focus on finding solutions that make everyone in the situation happy.
It was a good night for North Carolina Republicans. North Carolina Speaker of the House Thom Tillis came out on top in one of the nation’s closest Senate races two and a half hours after Republican Mark Walker earned a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Walker, who celebrated at Life Community church just outside Greensboro, represented District 06, which includes Alamance County. The North Carolina Senate race has been considered one of the most important in the country, with party control for U.S. Senate hanging in the balance. Either candidate’s victory would have tipped the balance of party control in Washington, D.C. “The Democrats have proven that they are incompetent for regulating business,” said Jeffrey Berlin, a Charlotte resident. “Tillis has shown that with his reform of the tax code that he has helped business climate.” Hundreds of North Carolinians came out to support Hagan, who also rallied in Greensboro, each with their own reason for casting their votes for her. Sara Thompson, a first grade teacher at Easton Elementary School in Winston-Salem, said she appreciated Hagan’s support for education. “I work so hard because I have 19 kids that deserve me working so hard, but we don’t get the support or the supplies we need from the government,” she said. “I think that her focus is on education.” The race for the North Carolina Senate seat was among the closest and most expensive in the U.S, with more than $100 million spent between the two campaigns. Two-thirds of that money was spent by outside groups. When voters arrived at polls on Tuesday, there was no clear indication of who had the majority. The latest Elon University Poll had Hagan leading Tillis by a margin of just 4 percent. Hagan maintained a slight lead over Tillis throughout the campaign, despite a late surge by the Republican candidate. Supporters of Tillis who came out to the election party at the Omni Hotel in Charlotte were optimistic at the beginning of the night. “Hagan’s tough,” said Justin Stewart, a Charlotte resident who was at the hotel. “I believe in the voters, and if we’re still in charge, we’ll do alright.” Others were convinced Tillis’ experience as North Carolina’s Speaker of the House would serve the state well. “To me it all comes down to record,” said John Stewart, Chairman of the 9th district for North Carolina GOP. “In four years, Tillis has passed tort reform, corporate tax reforms, corporate tax code. Hagan, in the past six years, all she has done is be the deciding vote on Obamacare.” Both candidates received support from more seasoned politicians. Bill and Hillary Clinton endorsed Hagan, while Tillis received support from John McCain and Lindsey Graham as well as an endorsement from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Throughout the race, Hagan portrayed herself as a moderate candidate, though she received continued support from President Barack Obama. This resonated with some North Carolinians, like Jill Kazura, a former state employee. “Hagan is moderate, and she’s willing to listen to all sides,” Kazura said. “That’s something we haven’t seen in a while. This stalemate in Washington has got to stop.” The Tillis campaign capitalized on Hagan’s alignment with Obama on 96 percent of the issues including the Affordable Care Act, as something that would negatively impact the state. Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh hovered at about 4 percent of the vote throughout the evening. Other races Walker and Fjeld faced off to replace former U.S. representative Howard Coble, who recently retired after 30 years in office. Walker led the race early on and maintained his advantage right up until polls closed about 8:15 p.m. With 16 percent precincts accounted for, Walker was declared winner with 59 percent of the vote shortly after the polls closed. Voters came from across the state to celebrate with the candidates they supported. John Trymosky, a Rockingham County resident, drove 20 miles to support Walker and to work in the polls Tuesday. “His ideas to make changes in Washington were very positive,” Trymosky said. “He’s going to be a terrific congressman.” Republican Renee Ellmers won the seat for the 2nd Congressional District over Democratic candidate Clay Aiken. She took 59 percent of the votes over Aiken’s 41 percent. There were a couple of victories for Democrats as G.K. Butterfield won the 1st Congressional District, which encompasses most of northeastern North Carolina, over Republican Arthur Rich. Democrat David Price also beat out Republican candidate Paul Wright for the 4th Congressional District, which includes Orange, Durham and Wake County. Additoinal reporting by Hali Tauxe-Stewart, staff photographer.
At quick glance, you might mistake her for a student; two years ago officer Hannah DeAngelo was one.
With midterm elections slated for Tuesday in North Carolina, the latest Elon University Poll shows incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., ahead of her Republican challenger, Speaker Thom Tillis. But the lead is a slim one.
As election season swings into season around Elon University, a visitor from the opposite coast chose an apt time speak to students about the growing political divide in the United States.
The daring tradition of wading in all four of Elon University’s fountains without being caught has left trails of wet footprints for years.
Racism in America isn’t dead — it’s only taken on a different guise, two visiting speakers said at a recent talk at Elon University.
While most students may not notice them on a normal day, Elon University has hundreds of security cameras across campus. And for an Elon senior, the number of cameras has grown more than 50 percent since they first came to campus three years ago.
Cheating and plagiarism sit at the top of honor code concerns at Elon University and at most schools. But as the technology around teaching and the professional world change, the need to reassess the climate of unethical behavior arises. “It’s one of the things that’s so basic, we forget to talk about it,” said George Padgett, associate professor of communications. One of the main changes to classrooms in the past few years has been the popularization of online courses. In an environment where a professor and a student cannot see one another, professors have different takes on whether this makes cheating more or less likely. “I’m not concerned that they’re looking things up,” said Megan Isaac, associate professor of English and chair of the department. “The assignments are open-book already.” Isaac said in the online courses she’s taught, the assignments are mainly essays or other written compositions. When it comes to students buying essays or having someone else write those works, Isaac said an online course “very marginally magnifies” concerns. “The same red flags I look for in a face-to-face classroom carry over to papers in an online class,” she said. Other professors are more concerned. Art Cassill, professor of accounting and Wesley R. Elingburg Professor in the Spencer and Martha Love School of Business, said an online class “absolutely” increases his concerns when it comes to cheating. “You’re more sensitive to it. You don’t have that control that you’d have in a live classroom,” Cassill said. “You’d be naive to think it’s not a possibility.” Cassill said a student cheating in a classroom can be observed and confronted more directly than in an online environment where students are in different time zones. “My perception of cheating online is less than when I started, but I try to think the best of our students,” he said. “But the reality is, if I give an exam, I don’t know if that student is the one actually taking it or if that student has his or her book open at the computer. You do what you can do.” Isaac said the idea of someone else taking a class for a student is one thing she is cautious about because she cannot tell who the person on the other end of the computer is, but added this still wasn’t an especially large concern for her. “When it comes to idea that someone’s girlfriend or boyfriend will take an online course for a student, I don’t think that’s how our population acts,” Isaac said. Whether in a face-to-face classroom or in an online class, students have varying feelings. Sophomore Alec Horter said most of the actions violating Elon’s Honor Code that he’s seen are students working on homework together, but said the idea of classmates cheating on tests bothers him. “If I studied for three hours for a test and I saw [cheating], I’d be mad,” Horter said. Other students, like first-year Nicole Connor, have a different take. “I wouldn’t care and I wouldn’t say anything,” Connor said. “It’s not affecting me.” Another area where cheating, and plagiarism specifically, is a concern is in communications. Recently, CNN host Fareed Zakaria was spotlighted after two anonymous journalists operating a media criticism blog called “Our Bad Media” brought charges of plagiarism against him, which were later picked up by outlets like Politico and Esquire. Zakaria is still with CNN and Network President Jeff Zucker said to Politico reporters that he “continues to have complete confidence” in Zakaria. Padgett, who teaches Media Law and Ethics, said the accusations by anonymous journalists @crushingbort and @blippoblappo show clear evidence of plagiarism and CNN is “doing everyone a disservice” by not addressing it. He hopes communications classes at Elon bring it up. “It’s a teaching point,” he said. “In this digital age, it’s so easy to copy and paste. It’s easy to plagiarize.” The public accusation of a prominent journalist of unethical behavior who was allowed to keep his job can send a bad message to aspiring reporters and writers. Padgett said it’s important for teachers to bring up Zakaria as an example of what not to do. “If there were a 25-year-old kid, he’d have been gone long ago,” he said. “But this is one of CNN’s biggest guys.” While adding that Zakaria should have known better, Padgett said plagiarism, especially in the digital age, can be a gray area. Students and journalists need to follow an absolute rule of attributing quotes or sources, even in a tweet. “It’s the safest way forward,” he said. Cassill’s techniques to limit the ability of online students to cheat involves crafting assignments to make unethical action more difficult and repeatedly reminding students about Elon’s honor code. He tells students in person before the class starts, in various follow-ups, in the syllabus and before tests that they are still Elon students even if they’re not in a physical classroom. “It sounds simple, but I think it’s important to remind people of their integrity and their obligations,” he said. Cassill said he designs his tests to have time limits and tries to design questions that require more writing and may mix up the types of questions asked. “It’s a lot more work for the faculty, but you’re getting the design that you want,” he said. “All the things that are advantages of online for students present challenges for faculty. If you’re doing this the right way, it’s hard.” Isaac takes a similar approach in her writing assignments as she would in a traditional classroom, putting “scaffolding” in place to ensure that students are doing the work themselves. “I can require an outline initially one week, then a first paragraph, and so on,” she said. “If you’re buying a paper, that’s more work than someone on the other end is typically willing to put in.” Now that he’s been teaching online courses, Cassill said he is a supporter of them and thinks they’re here to stay. “We have a population of students here who do really well and excel online and have good self-discipline,” he said. “I wasn’t sure that would be the case.”
After working with IMLeagues last year to switch from a paper format to a new online system for students to register for intramurals, Campus Recreation initially saw a slight decrease in the number of participants. But after a year of educating students about the streamlined process, participation has rebounded. IMLeagues is a website used by schools across the country to organize their intramural programs. Elon began using it last year. “This year so far we’ve seen an increase in teams,” said Campus Rec assistant director Brandon MacCallum. “We educated all 120 Campus Rec employees and told them to please tell their friends [about IMLeagues].” In order to create or join a team, a student must go to IMLeagues.com, create an account and click the register button. After filling out a registration form to create a team, the student will select a time preference, invite players to join and submit a $20 forfeit fee to the Campus Rec front desk. To join a team, students simply select a sport, find a team and click the join button next to the selected team. After that, an email will be sent to the team captain to approve the request. Senior and Campus Rec official Ben Koffel said he is excited about how the registration process has evolved over the course of his time at Elon University. “At first, it was kind of a struggle [getting people to register through IMLeagues] because people were used to the paper format,” Koffel said. “I think now that we have the online format, it’s a lot easier for people to access their schedule and statistics.” By registering through IMLeagues, team captains and players are able to easily see schedules, rosters, statistics and standings. To increase the number of teams participating in intramurals, Campus Rec introduced a new sport this year: team handball. Team handball will be offered over Winter Term and have a similar structure to the Olympic sport. “[The sport is] a cross between basketball, soccer and hockey, and is played indoors,” MacCallum said. “Our officials were the ones who wanted to try it out.” In addition to starting an additional sport, Campus Rec wants to ensure that inclusivity is a top priority. According to Koffel, gender separation is an issue. In the fitness center, for example, guys tend to work out downstairs while the girls exercise upstairs. One student that embraced inclusion was junior Eline Roillet, a co-ed flag football participant. Although her team failed to get a victory, they had fun and proved that sports are for all genders. “Your gender shouldn’t define how you do in sports,” Roillet said. “Sports is not about being the best in the world — it’s about being the best you can be.”