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Within the past year, Elon Academy has helped its 20 high school seniors receive more than $2.58 million in scholarships to schools in the US, mostly in the North Carolina area.
With the Supreme Court deciding on the Affordable Care Act’s future in the coming weeks, the majority of registered voters in North Carolina said Congress should modify the act instead of abolish it, according to an Elon University Poll released Monday.
Just because most students aren't busy on campus this summer, doesn't mean construction and additions comes to a halt, as well.
For many people, the word "play" might incite visions of sports, video games or board games.
While many recent Elon University alumni flocked to major U.S. cities like New York, Washington D.C. and Boston after graduation, Laura Sturdivant '15 and Alexander Ward '14 received the Princeton in Asia fellowships, which will take them Yangor, Myanmar and Manila, Philippines, respectively.
The class of 2015 gathered Under the Oaks Saturday morning to celebrate their time at Elon together. Political analyst Charlie Cook gave the commencement address and spoke to graduates about facing adversity in life. In following tradition, the nearly 1,300 students received both degrees and oak tree saplings. Photos by Jane Seidel, photo editor.
UPDATE: Sept. 2, 2016
ORIGINAL STORY: Starbucks announced for downtown Elon, controversy brews
After being accepted to Elon University, many students get wrapped up in celebration and don’t consider why there were accepted. What many don’t know is that they can, under a provision of the Family Educational Right and Privacy Act (FERPA), gain access to their own admissions records. These records can offer clues to the thinking behind a potentially murky process. Students across the country realized they could request access to their admissions materials in January when The Fountain Hopper, an anonymous newsletter published by a group of Stanford University students, explained some of the difficulties with getting access to admissions records. Only people enrolled at Stanford could see their records, so rejected applicants could not find out why they were turned down. As a freshman fresh out of the admissions experience and interested to see what exactly about me stood out among the stacks of Elon applications, I asked about my own records. The response came quickly and painlessly, just one day later. Other freshmen who want to investigate their application materials can follow the same steps I did: Step One: Putting in the request The first step to viewing admissions files is emailing the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the university registrar. In the email, plainly request access to any documents held by the office in your name. The response email — which according to FERPA must come within the next 45 days — will invite you to go to the registrar’s office to schedule a time to look at your admissions information from one of the office computers. Step Two: Viewing the records The information you will be able to see will depend on your class year. The older students get, the more information they can obtain — that is, files can get added as a student gets progresses through college. While the admissions materials, including the application, are available to freshmen, the academic record grows over the course of a student’s college career, expanding the number of documents a student can access. For example, the overall academic record files store pass/fails and withdrawals, which acculumate through the years. Although there weren’t as many files I could see as an upperclassman, I still found value from looking at my records. Admissions evaluators don’t comment directly on applications. According to Rodney Parks, the university registrar, counselors stopped keeping any written records more than a decade ago, so students can only view their electronic record, including their application, letters of recommendation and high school transcript. With a lack of comments, the most revealing information becomes the sections of applications materials that admissions officials highlighted. These sections might include information about deadline selection, age at high school grauation, race, leadership positions held, activities you might continue in college, and sections of personal essays. Step Three: Recognizing limitations FERPA goes into effect once a student officially begins classes. As a result, notes that disappear before the first day of classes won’t make their way into student-accessible records, according to Parks. Since the request is only available to students once they arrive to Elon, rejected applicants aren’t guaranteed access to their admissions records. Also, the process for some students might be lengthier than mine. Because Elon has a finite amount of staff members in the registrar’s office and few computers with student access to admissions records, getting access could take a bit of time.
By the end of May, the 9,900 photovoltaic panels that now occupy 10 acres of Loy Farm will officially be generating power into a grid that connects to the railroad tracks by Williamson Avenue. The project, which broke ground in early March, is estimated to produce 4,500 megawatts of electricity annually–enough to power 415 homes–according to Robert Buchholz, Elon University’s associate vice president for facilities management and director of Physical Plant. “There’s two ways we look at it,” Buchholz said. “There is a percentage of what Elon uses for the whole year, and that’s 10 percent. During the day, that’s 40 percent of the energy that we use. Students use a lot.” Buchholz said the amount of energy produced depends on sun and clouds–power will be generated during the 12-hour window of sunlight. The panels cost about $3 million and will have about a 20-year payback. This compares to the $5 million Buchholz was told it would cost about seven years ago. The project was developed by Suntuity and funded by Loy Farm Solar LLC, who are leasing the property from the university for the next 20 years. As an incentive to pay for expensive projects like the solar panels, they are given 65 percent subsidies by the state and federal government. In other words, for every dollar paid, 65 cents are given in tax credits. Elon is not directly benefiting from electricity produced by the panels yet but receives money for renting out the farm and hopes to obtain the solar farm in the near future. “It takes about seven years to get the best benefits out of the project,” Buchholz said. “It means that the investors who put up the money would all have their tax benefits out of it and hopefully we can buy the farm.” Students will have the opportunity to study the equipment and economic model of the operation as well as the legal side. “I’ve been with this project from the very beginning,” Buchholz said. “The purpose was to be used in the academic side so questions and answers could be made from the business, law and environmental studies programs.” Students think the potential of the project will outweigh any drawbacks in time and costs. “Overall it will be good down the line,” said sophomore Samantha McCabe, an Eco-Rep. “But it’s still in an early stage and will take a few years before they power buildings and such.” Not all are convinced the panels will be as beneficial as they are made out to be. Professor of Health and Human Performance Michael Calhoun proposed the use of solar panels at a long range planning committee more than 20 years ago. But he doesn’t believe they are as cost-effective or environmentally friendly as he originally thought technology would be by now. “In order to construct a solar farm it is not cost effective unless you get subsides, in this case taxpayers dollars,” Calhoun said. “I personally don’t want to spend my tax dollars on something that’s not cost-effective.” In addition to being costly, Calhoun points out the energy and fossil fuels it took to make the steel structure, copper wiring and panels as well as the transportation and labor involved. Calhoun said it’s doubtful the photovoltaic panels will ever return to the grid what it took to make and pay for it. He does agree the panels fit with Elon’s mission to be a sustainable model. “It’s nice,” Calhoun said. “It makes a great statement. It looks very sustainable, but I’m resonable sure it won’t do what it’s intended to do.” Calhoun suggests for Elon to be green, cost effective and efficient, a graduate nuclear physicist program should be started and a nuclear energy producing, micro-reactor should be installed. Calhoun believes the university could sell the energy back to grid and pay for the costs of the reactor and program. He also said it’s impossible to make nuclear weapons from it and the university has room to hold it. “Let’s be the university that has the courage to be cutting edge,” Calhoun said. “We could be a model for the rest of the world.” Although it is not known how much energy and fossil fuels were used to produce the solar panels, Buchholz still believes Suntuity chose the most cost-effective panels. He also sees this as an opportunity for students to investigate the efficiency and costs of solar panels as their own research.
As Elon University’s dining program winds down its first year under Aramark’s first new manager in 22 years, the staff continues to look to diversify options, such as planned additions of Starbucks and Einstein Bagels slated to open next fall. A focus on theme dinners and special events had differentiated Aramark’s resident district manager Pulkitt Vigg — who started at Elon in July 2014 — time at Aramark from his predecessor’s. “Our first and foremost goal is to try and find out what the student population wants,” said Vigg. who holds degrees in hotel management and hospitality management. “It starts with the students and ends with the students. It’s all about them.” Sophomore Taylor DeFord feels as though Starbucks and Einstein Bro’s will be great additions to the campus. She also hopes that new chains continue appearing. Although Vigg can’t say exactly what chains will be arriving within the next few years, he wants to assure students that they will be premium level. “We want students to have a unique dining experience instead of the same generic brands they’re used to seeing,” Vigg said. Keeping close ties with Elon’s focus on study abroad and international experiences, Vigg has begun to restructure Aramark’s focus to look outside of North Carolina for culinary inspiration. “We’re connecting with the university’s mission of globalizing Elon,” Vigg said. “If you try something here, when you go abroad you aren’t afraid to try it there. It helps you be the generation of tomorrow by diversifying yourselves.” “Bollywood Night,” which took place in Lakeside Dining Hall in early April, was a crowd-pleasing example, with 98 percent of students who responded to an Aramark survey saying they were “exceptionally pleased” with the event. Indian food was coupled with traditional music and belly dancers to set the dinner apart — what Vigg likes to call a “monotony breaker” for students. Before Vigg took over, students were critical of such monotony across campus dining. “The person before me was here for 22 years and had done a great job with the program,” Vigg said. “The team was just looking for a new, different kind of leadership.” DeFord hopes Vigg’s new perspective will bring even more changes to the dining program in her time at Elon. “Within the past two years, there haven’t been any changes, and I’ve grown tired of the options,” DeFord said. To Vigg, clarity matters— he says he can’t act on vague student complaints. He’s in search of specifics. “We want to make it as personalized as possible,” Vigg said. “When people say, ‘We want more variety,’ it tells me nothing. If you tell me exactly what you want, I’ll do my best to make it happen.” Putting it in perspective, students who have come to Elon from elsewhere have a more favorable outlook. “Elon’s dining experience for me has been far beyond what my previous school had to offer me,” said freshman Ryan McGarvey, who transferred to Elon from the University of South Carolina. “The food is good and I can have as much as I want.” Vigg’s job does come with challenges — he said he wants to take care of everyone, regardless of their needs. “I want a person with a gluten allergy to be able to sit with his friend who’s a vegan and a friend who doesn’t fit either of those lifestyles,” Vigg said. “A goal of mine is to make sure all three of them can come together and eat at the same place.” Although DeFord agrees that Elon has made strong attempts to diversify food options, she wishes Elon would come up with more healthy options because she’s tired of eating Freshii everyday. Additions such as Green World last year are a start, but Vigg knows there is a long way to go. Vigg plans on even more improvement within the next few years because he said he wants Elon’s dining to walk hand-in-hand with the rest of the school. “I want our chefs — and everyone here, for that matter — to be proud of what we do,” Vigg said. Vigg’s long-term goal is to make Elon’s dining program the best in the country. “I want to be the No. 1 dining program in the United States,” Vigg said. “When people talk about Elon, I want them to first talk about the academics, and then for them to bring up that Elon’s dining is in the top 10 in the country.”
Brick by brick, members of the Elon First Baptist Church collected 68 years of memories on a Saturday morning. The original Elon First Baptist Church building on Trollinger Avenue was demolished April 18. The demolition company left a bucket of bricks at the site for anyone who wanted one as a keepsake. The building had not been in use since 1990, when the church moved to its new location on Lynn Street, but thoughts of past Sunday mornings were still there for a few members. “I went by that morning to see the church and there was this old gentleman just collecting all these bricks from the site,” said Tracy Kennedy, Elon First Baptist’s business administrator. “The construction guys were helping him out, and I asked them, ‘How long has he been out there?’ They said all day.” After the move to Lynn Street, Elon First Baptist tried to register the original church as a historical site. Talks with the North Carolina Historic Commission fell through because the costs of renovating the church were too much. “It was just going to be too expensive to try and do a big project like that,” said Lawrence E. Slade, Elon First Baptist Church’s chairman of the deacon board. “So we decided to have it demolished. The church was becoming an eyesore for the city.” There was limited turnout at the demolition. Kennedy said the current church members were either too old to collect bricks from the site or too young to have any attachment to the church. “There were about three or four people collecting things from the site when I went,” she said. “I don’t want to say no one cared about it, but I haven’t heard a complaint from anyone about it being torn down. The ones that wanted to be there got what they wanted.” Slade grew up in the original church. When he collected his bricks, he was thinking about the future instead of the past. “I got about 25 bricks,” he said. “That’s all I needed. And one day I’ll pass them on to my daughter. She was about six years old when we moved into the new church, so she doesn’t remember much about that old one.” Elon First Baptist Church was founded by John McMullen in 1922, building the original church on his land with the help of Slade’s grandfather. It was the first African-American church built in the town of Elon. The church was untreated and unkempt for years. Original plans to tear down the church began about seven years ago, but they stalled until the church’s transition to its new pastor, Rev. Eddie Spencer, in 2011. “Our old pastor wasn’t quite as hands-on as our new pastor is,” Kennedy said. “He doesn’t like to sit around. He wants to see things happen. Our old pastor wasn’t quite that way about things, so nothing happened to the original church for a while.” The demolition process sped up with Spencer in the fold and the increasing danger of the old church. Kennedy said they were afraid of the collapsing structure hurting community members. Elon students occasionally went inside the church to hang out and explore. The condition of the building made it likely that someone would eventually get hurt, according to Kennedy. “When we looked at the church, it was dilapidated and the roof was compromised,” said Sean Tencer, Elon’s town planner. “It was a liability waiting to happen for anyone that went in there. The church had been in this state for a long time.” The church also wasn’t practical for accommodation purposes. No heating, ventilation or air conditioning made it difficult to hold any events inside it. Elon First Baptist occasionally held services outside of it after the move, but that was the only activity, according to Slade. The Town of Elon signed off on the demolition permit, and Elon First Baptist went to D.H. Griffin, based in Greensboro, to set up the site’s deconstruction. “D.H. Griffin did a good job,” Slade said. “They cleaned up the site well and added fresh grass, so it looks like nothing has ever been down there.” The building is gone, with only the cemetery next to it as a sign of what it once was. Elon First Baptist is now entrenched in its current location for the foreseeable future, but the old church had a big role in the community, according to church member Mary McManus. “It was like a little hut,” McManus, an Elon First Baptist member her entire life, said. “But we had a lot of memories there. It made us into a family.”
Dozens of students transfer to Elon University each year, but there’s no certainty they’ll finish their college career here. Elon’s first-year student retention rate increased this academic year to 91 percent from 90 percent over the last four years. Slightly fewer students are transferring or dropping out within their first year. Elon’s registrar office is unable to pinpoint the number of students who’ve left Elon prior to completing their degree. “This is a tough one to capture because we don’t know all the students that transfer out,” said Rodney Parks, university registrar. “Only within the last year did we start collecting electronic data of students who fill out the university withdrawal form that officially notifies us of their intent not to return to Elon.” College students transfer for a number of reasons: changing majors, moving on from a community college to a four-year college or university, taking a gap semester, or because their school wasn’t a good fit. The Elon registrar’s office is planning to explore new strategies in the coming months to collect data on students who leave Elon. By tracking these students and their reasons for leaving, Elon will be able to guide policy and resources for ensuring success for students in the future, Parks said. Collin Campagne, a first-year Elon student who made the decision to transfer to the University of Vermont beginning in fall 2015, decided to apply for transfer within his first few weeks at Elon. “I knew what I was looking for and wanted in my college experience, and Elon wasn’t it,” he said. Campagne applied to Elon last year through the gap semester program while deferring his regular admission to spring 2015. During that time, he also applied for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course—a gap semester program that teaches wilderness and leadership skills in the Rocky Mountains. A self-described nature-lover and born explorer, Campagne ended up choosing the NOLS program instead of Elon’s gap semester program and arrived at Elon Feb. 1 to begin his spring semester. Soon after the novelty of starting college wore off, he found himself struggling to find his place on campus, he said. “I love my classes and professors, but I found myself drifting further away from the students,” Campagne said. “I am not preppy. I don’t own a single thing from Vineyard Vines. I despise Greek Life. I don’t drink, and I don’t do drugs.” Eventually, though, Campagne began to make friends through Elon Outdoors and the Sierra Club, groups on campus dedicated to the advancement of outdoor ethics, leadership skills and nature exploration. But Campagne noticed a common thread among his new group of friends that eventually facilitated his decision to transfer out of Elon. “Something [that] seems to be very resonant with the members [of these groups] is the desire to leave Elon, the displeasure toward other Elon students and how there were not enough opportunities to get outdoors,” he said. Campagne is happy with his decision to return to his home state of Vermont where the surrounding college town is more suited to his outdoor lifestyle. “The outing club there is also huge, and the nonconformist, eccentric culture is one that I identify with more than the preppy, upper-middle class culture here,” he said. Campagne said he’s grateful to the NOLS program for changing the way he sees the world and making it easier to realize that Elon wasn’t right for him. Allyson Enos, another student who began at Elon in February, chose to study at a community college in the fall after being deferred to the spring 2015 semester. Enos was one of about 20 total spring admits, said Kevin Napp, associate director of admissions and director of transfer and special admissions. Napp said Elon has a program in place in which incoming and current transfer students are paired with spring admits to ease the transition. “The mentors reach out via email a few weeks before classes begin to answer any questions, and we encourage them all to meet their mentee in person,” said Napp. “We try to facilitate a meeting with a meal and activity. Last spring, we did a dinner and basketball game.” Enos discovered soon after arriving, though, like Campagne, that despite Elon’s efforts to assimilate transfer students, Elon wasn’t what she’d expected. “It’s a very small school, and there is too much focus on Greek Life for my liking,” Enos said.
Tony’s Pubs-N-Subs began vying for a piece of Elon’s shifting bar scene, forcing its competitors have move away from the nightlife, preferring to set themselves apart in a different fashion.
Far from the heart of Elon University lies Loy Farm, an environmental center and recently added solar farm. Its lush acres of food and farming systems are home to long-term ecological research, greenhouses and the Design Build Studio for Responsible Architecture, to name a few of its features. Senior Allison Hren spends almost 20 hours a week making sure everything goes smoothly. Michael Strickland, lecturer in English and environmental studies, teaches “Garden Studio” classes in which students will spend a few hours over the course of the semester pulling weeds, tending plants and learning about what goes into the food they eat. Hren works both as garden manager and a teaching assistant for the gardening classes. “It’s a hard job,” she said. “It is the real world. It’s demanding. But it’s very rewarding.” As garden manager, Hren serves as the liaison between students, Strickland and Lecturer in Environmental Studies Steve Moore to delegate tasks that need to be done at Loy Farm and the Community Garden, which is on E. College Avenue. She also coordinates what plants need to be bought, decides where they will be planted over the next year, orders and plants seeds and performs general maintenance and upkeep. Hren is in charge of Elon’s two major gardening events — the Pumpkin Festival in the fall and the Strawberry Festival in the spring. This year’s Strawberry Festival will be from 2:30-5:30 p.m. May 8 in the Community Garden and will feature free food, live music, face painting and a plant sale. Hren devotes her time and energy to all aspects of the farm. She works in the garden, runs errands and organizes schedules. In her role as a teaching assistant, she also helps teach gardening students about the garden and the farm. “I see the way that gardening connects people together and connects people with the earth,” Hren said. “Connecting students to food is very important. The average American does not see how much work goes into the meal you see on your plate.” Providing for the greater community The farm and garden are not certified organic because of the lengthy and expensive certification process, but they are run as though they were. Neither uses pesticides and everything is hand-weeded, so workers know exactly what goes into it. The food produced goes to Mill Point Catering, Elon Campus Kitchen and Allied Churches. Eventually, Loy Farm and Community Garden products will be distributed to more than 80 locations. “It’s nice to know where the food is going,” Hren said. “The goal every day is to do everything as efficiently as possible.” According to Hren, the end goal for the farm is to provide food to a majority of the dining halls — but is a long way away. The farm would have to expand to encompass at least five greenhouses and would require a full-time staff. Without this staff, Hren does a majority of the work at the garden and farm. This semester, to keep up with the responsibilities of garden manager while balancing a retail job, she is taking only one class. “You can’t just pick up and leave without someone to take care of it,” Hren said. “It could mean you could lose an entire crop. Farming is not super forgiving — timing is absolutely everything.” Working year-round Production at the farm doesn’t stop in the summer. The garden manager will stay at Elon to continue to tend the garden, either alone or with a Campus Kitchen intern. Though Moore stays near campus for the summer, he is often busy with his own lectures, research and family, so most of the responsibility falls on the garden manager. “Summers are the most productive time for the garden,” Hren said. “There’s tomatoes and squash and corn and sunflowers, and there’s such a large time period to harvest. Ironically, the school year is structured to have time off in the summer so that people could go home and harvest with their families.” During the summer, the garden manager will also work closely with students from Elon Academy, provide food for Campus Kitchen and hold workdays for Thrive, a sustainability-focused one-week experience for incoming freshmen. Despite the intense labor and time commitment, Hren believes the job is worth it. “I learn every day,” she said. “There’s never a day that goes by where I don’t learn something new. Like solving an insect problem or figuring out the percentage of phosphorous that needs to be in the soil. I never leave thinking, ‘That was a waste of my time.’ I’m not going to leave this year thinking, ‘That was a waste of time.’” Passing the torch There is no application process to become garden manager — it is a chosen position. Each year, by the middle of the spring semester, Moore, Strickland and the current manager select a student with enough passion to take on the demands of the job. Hren was a clear choice this time around. She has been involved in the garden and farm since her sophomore year. She has continued to take the gardening course as well as interning and working with friends who were previous garden managers. Starting this summer, the position will be passed down to junior Alyssa Adler, who has been involved with the garden since her sophomore year and has also interned for the garden. “I was awestruck by [Hren] and how knowledgeable she was and automatically knew that that was what I wanted to be someday,” Adler said. “Now that I’ve spent the past year working in the garden and putting in countless hours of hard work, I’m excited and ready to take my turn in making the garden and farm the best it can be.” So far, Adler has shadowed Hren and taken part in the planning processes and procedures. In the next few weeks, Hren will be working closely with Adler to give hands-on training on how to properly run the garden and farm. There is a manual that Adler can refer to, but Hren said a majority of the knowledge on how to run the garden and farm comes from experiences and challenges managers run into while on the job. “Allison and the previous garden managers have done such an amazing job over the years that I know with their guidance and wisdom, the garden and farm will continue to flourish in the oncoming years,” Adler said. Though there haven’t been any difficulties yet, Adler can already see how much time and energy the job requires and is preparing for the challenges ahead. She is confident she will receive the proper guidance and believes the rewards will outweigh the difficulties. “I think one of the most rewarding feelings is when you witness someone coming to the garden for the first time and being mesmerized by it,” Adler said. “There’s such a beauty to gardening, and I cherish and welcome any time I can help someone get to the point of satisfaction with their hard work.” Like Adler’s appreciation for the garden, Hren said both Moore and Strickland encourage all students to take advantage of the garden and farm, even if they are not enrolled in the course, as an opportunity to volunteer and get in touch with nature. Sometimes, Hren added, students will simply read or relax in the garden because of the peaceful atmosphere. “The garden is such a unique place,” Hren said. “It’s my favorite place. It connects people with each other and with nature like no other. There’s something special about working in the earth among each other.”
Though Elon University’s environmental initiatives have earned it praise from a number of its stakeholders, its rapid expansion has encroached on some of its sustainability objectives and challenged it to find ways to reduce emissions as the campus expands and enrollment rises. Between 2008 — the baseline year for carbon emission measurements — and 2014, Elon added about 670,000 square feet and about 850 students to its campus. It succeeded in shrinking certain aspects of its carbon footprint during that seven-year period, but its growth has outpaced its overall rate of emissions reductions and highlighted the conflict that can sometimes exist between sustainable development and building aesthetics. During the measurement period, Elon’s carbon emissions increased by more than 10 percent, according to the school’s most recent greenhouse gas inventory. The university is not on track to reduce net carbon emissions by 5 percent this year, an interim goal set five years ago in the university’s Climate Action Plan. “In terms of sustainability, a challenge today and in the future is changing behaviors,” Elaine Durr, director of sustainability, said in an email. “Another sustainability challenge in terms of resources — personnel, time, financial — is staying current on the most effective and efficient technologies that will help reduce emissions.” Between 2008 and 2014, emissions per student decreased by 4.6 percent, and emissions per 1,000 square feet of building space decreased by 18 percent. But building energy usage increased slightly between 2013 and 2014, when the school added 185,145 square feet to its campus. “I think it’s just catching up with us that we added more square footage than people coming in, and now we’ve hired more faculty and staff here and they all use all kinds of energy,” said Robert Buchholz, associate vice president for facilities management and director of Physical Plant. Despite the 4.6 percent reduction during the measurement period, energy usage per student has been growing steadily since 2011, in part because the university has built more on-campus housing, Buchholz said. “If you’re bringing students back in to live on campus, then you’re going to see an increase in the amount of electricity used,” he said. Elon’s commitment to the environment developed in earnest in 2006-2007 academic year, when it developed a sustainability master plan that set an overarching goal to achieve carbon neutrality within 30 years and recommended a long list of other green initiatives. “It is truly fabulous,” said Robert Charest, an associate professor of environmental studies at Elon who teaches sustainable design and architecture. “To have a department devoted to sustainability is truly remarkable at a small university, and it really feels like a priority.” Since 2008, Elon has made strides in achieving a number of the goals outlined in the plan. It has expanded its recycling and composting programs and installed a geothermal system for five residential buildings and solar thermal water heating systems for five buildings on campus. The university has also created more opportunities for faculty, staff and students to learn about and teach sustainable practices through classes and programs. And it is now working with New Jersey-based Suntuity to build a 15-acre expanse of solar panels near Loy Farm, where many of Elon’s sustainable agriculture and design classes are taught. “The nice thing about having Loy Farm here is that we’ve managed to get the university’s blessing to bring together two of the most challenging phenomena for the world, which are agriculture and food production and land use for building structures,” Charest said. In February, Elon shared its most recent sustainability data with the Princeton Review and the Sierra Club, organizations that factor eco-friendliness into their university rankings. In the fall of 2015, the university plans to share the information with the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a program of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education that rates universities based on self-reported data related to environmental, social and economic components of sustainability. When Elon last submitted a STARS report in February 2014, the university earned a Silver rating. It scored relatively highly in the “Education & Research” and “Planning, Administration & Engagement” categories. But it earned less than 50 percent of the points available in the building, climate and energy subsets of the “Operations” category, which took into account how much the institution had reduced its emissions and building energy usage from a 2005 baseline, as well the LEED certifications it had obtained for new and existing buildings. The LEED certification system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, scores buildings on site sustainability, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. A building may achieve certified, silver, gold or platinum ratings depending on the number of points it earns, and the cost of certification depends on the size of the project. According to the most recent data from February 2015, the university added more than 34,500 square feet of LEED Gold certified space since the publication of the 2014 STARS report. But certification does not necessarily take into account the many variables that could affect a structure’s sustainability during and after its construction, Charest said. “There has to be framework, and LEED is a good framework, but I think that it’s a system that is based way too much on honor,” Charest said. “The commissioning agency that oversees it doesn’t have a really strong presence, as least it’s not required by LEED standards.” More than half of the university’s LEED-eligible space has achieved certification, but the certified areas constitute only about 500,000 of 2,590,000 square feet of total building space on campus. Because the university has not pursued LEED certification for existing buildings, it earned less than three of the seven points available in the STARS buildings operation and maintenance category. Buchholz said the money it would cost to certify existing buildings might be better spent on other sustainability projects. He is working to develop a system that can track the use of electricity, water and gas throughout campus, as well as a dashboard that would allow him to manage the amounts from a central location. “I hope to spend money on that, and not on LEED certification (for existing buildings),” Buchholz said. “It’s a matter of what you think. There are things you can do now in the STARS report, and things you can target later on and hopefully pick up more and more points.” Buchholz said he hopes the university will include the system, which could be developed and installed for less than $700,000, in its next budget and fund it over a three-year period. “Everyone wants to be able to meter things, so the prices of the meters are coming down and the prices of the systems are coming down,” he said. “Stuff like that will help us do better and get our energy usage down.” Despite the fact that most of Elon’s new buildings are LEED certified, Charest said he thinks the university might have missed an opportunity to teach students about sustainable architecture when it decided to model many of them on existing campus buildings with brick veneer and fiberglass columns. “We still have to stop building buildings that are built in 2015 but look like they’re built in 1887,” he said. “Buildings, in one way or another, should be edifying tools part of the learning environment, especially at a college, and that just doesn’t happen here. The impression we’re left with is on this kind of homogenous campus, if you fly through really quickly, is that all of the buildings look like they were built at the inception of the university, but that is really fake.” And some of the newer designs, though constructed in adherence with LEED standards, have aesthetic components that decrease their overall energy efficiency. The high ceilings in the great hall in the new Global Commons building make it more difficult to heat efficiently, Buchholz said. “There are things you can do, but still, you’re heating space that nobody is using,” he said. “Ceiling fans can push the heat back down, but you’re not going to get it down to the energy per square foot (of a smaller room).”
Plans by Elon University to bring a Starbucks to campus next fall have been met with fierce grassroots opposition, saying the corporate coffee giant will disrupt local business and impede the growing artisan vibe of downtown Elon.
Cordell Wesley Forrest, a 19-year old freshman and member of the football team, was charged Monday with first-degree felony burglary.
Though it’s by far the most effective form of birth control, young adult females have for years been reluctant to embrace implanted methods – but that looks to be changing fast, according to a recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) report. An IUD is a small contraceptive device that is inserted into the uterus. Within the past 10 years, statistics show that IUDs are quickly becoming the most popular form of long-acting, reversible birth control. “We encourage teenage girls to use long-acting forms of contraceptive,” said Ginette Archinal, physician and medical director of Student Health. “It’s more effective because there’s no chance for human error.” Crystal Stanley, Nursing Department Manager at Westside ObGyn in Elon, agrees. “Long-acting, reversible contraception is great,” Stanley said. “It’s a really effective form of pregnancy prevention, especially IUD use.” Sophomore Jessica Geralis has wanted an IUD for years. “IUDs are much more effective and more convenient than the pill,” Geralis said. Although IUDs have recently become more popular, their popularity makes up only a slice of the ever-growing birth control market for women. According to the CDC, in 2015, only 7.1 percent of women using contraceptives chose IUDs. It’s a jump from the 2005 rate where only .04 percent of women used IUDs, but they still can’t compete with the pill, used by 17 percent of women. Despite the fact that IUDs are the most effective form of birth control with a 99 percent success rate in preventing pregnancy, historical controversy over IUD use causes skepticism in many women. According to Archinal, IUDs don’t have history on their side— older models were known to cause infection. And that perception hasn’t necessarily faded. “In the mid-1970s, when IUDs were becoming popular, they were made with a microfilament that attracted bacteria, leading to endometrial infection,” Archinal said. “That’s when IUDs got a bad rap.” The FDA approved the first progesterone containing IUD, Mirena, in 2000. “Mirena is slightly smaller than the copper IUD,” Archinal said. “At that point in time, everyone was aware that IUDs don’t, in fact, cause pelvic infections. Because of this, IUDs have become much more accessible.” To build off Mirena’s success over the years, in 2013 a new and improved IUD, Skyla, was released on the market with the highest pregnancy prevention rate and smaller dimensions, making it easier to use for women. “Because Skyla is much smaller, the female body won’t reject the implant,” Archinal said. “I truly believe we will see an even bigger increase in IUDs with Skyla.” “I would love to switch to an IUD,” said freshman Erica Freund. “I forget to take my pills often. It would just take the worry out of things.” A big step was taken with the release of Mirena. Many insurance companies will pay for most of an IUD, and some can even be put in free of any fees. “I really think insurance companies covering IUDs will be an incentive for girls to get one,” Geralis said. “If my insurance paid for it, I would get one tomorrow.” Like most any other medication, there are downsides to IUD use. Though concerns over side effects may dissuade some would-be IUD users, Archinal said bad experiences tend to be the exception, not the rule. “The negatives to IUDs are pretty basic,” Archinal said. “Some bodies just do not react well to having a foreign object inserted into the uterus. Some people will experience cramping and irritation.” In addition, many women won’t have regular cycles. “Although some see it as a drawback, a lot of women see that as a positive aspect of progesterone IUDs,” Stanley said. Archinal wants to remind girls that with taking the pills comes the possibility of human error. “Girls need to remember that if you take antibiotics, vomit, or have diarrhea, for example, your pill may not be effectively absorbed,” Archinal said. For females lost in a sea of options, the Health Center can provide some direction via an appointment, Archinal said. For those who might not be comfortable paying a visit to the health center, Westside ObGyn also specializes in assisting women while selecting a form of contraception, without much in the way of a cast. Archinal believes that IUDs are the future of contraceptives. Though they may be slow to catch on, the benefits are clear to the doctor who has seen thousands of Elon University patients during her time here. “They truly are a medical breakthrough,” she said.