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(08/22/14 1:29pm)
Under the guidance of a recently hired manager, Aramark has added new options in an effort to learn from last year’s mistakes — undercooked chicken, a moldy ice bin and a litany of other health code violations.
Pulkit Vigg, Aramark’s new resident district manager for Elon University, has been thinking big since he left a position at Mississippi State University and joined Elon last spring. Already, he’s announced the rollout of Argo Tea products in a new location in the new Global Commons, expanded hours at Qdoba Mexican Grill, planned round table-style eating at Acorn, added options to Green World (at Colonnades Dining Hall) and revamped the Varsity menu.
Qdoba will now be open from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, with a new 5-10 p.m. slot on Sunday nights. Vigg called weekend hours for Qdoba the “most-requested change.”
Varsity’s menu will have fewer restrictions on what constitutes a meal swipe. (Students in past years were limited to a half-dozen options with one swipe.)
In addition, Late Night McEwen is moving to a new home: downstairs in Varsity. A similar menu will be served, and the popular student fixture will remain accessible with an All Access swipe. The move is for the “safety of students and staff,” Vigg said, who added that the armchair area in front of the projector will be closed off during late night hours — which will remain the same: open until 3 a.m. Thursday-Saturday nights.
Junior Allie Kornaki who has a 300-block plan this year said she is not a fan of this particular switch.
“It just sounds weird to me,” Kornaki said. “I don’t think that it will be the same.”
Student feedback, Vigg said, is crucial to his goal of “getting as many students as humanly possible” on and content with the meal plan. Heather Krieger, Aramark’s marketing coordinator for Elon, declined to comment on the number of students with active meal plans, calling such figures proprietary information.
One suggestion Kornaki has for Aramark is to bring back breakfast at McEwen the closest dining hall to Historic Neighborhood residents. Last year, McEwen stopped serving breakfast when Lakeside Dinning Hall began serving it instead.
Twelve-thousand meals are served by Aramark each day at Elon. Growing that number requires regaining lost student trust, Vigg said, given campus concerns last year about not only the quality, but also of the safety of Aramark’s food.
Aramark’s food handling policies have not changed since last year; employees are still required to undergo first-week training and earn an Aramark “food handler certificate” before serving in any of Elon’s eateries. Mishaps, like last year’s widely-publicized incidents like poor sanitation codes, will not be tolerated, according to Vigg.
He promised to “show complete due diligence in earning the trust of students back” and establish a zero-tolerance policy for violators of food safety precautions.
But the food itself is just a starting point for Vigg, who said his No. 1 goal is to raise excitement by expanding food programming and “not just serve food, but serve food and service.”
Unwilling to give much away, Vigg hinted at more, better-executed, theme nights at dining halls — the likes of past Thanksgiving dinners and Cajun nights at Colonnades.
Neighborhood-by-neighborhood dining is the blueprint for Aramark now, with the goal of having students eat close to where they live. An added bonus, Vigg said, would be tying the meal plan into the campus’s intellectual climate, by fostering “conversation spaces” and slowing down the “assembly line” that can be often thought of as college dining.
After arriving at Elon, Vigg took a tour of local town eateries such as Pandora’s Pies and others in the surrounding Burlington area.
“I went to local restaurants and said, ‘These guys are going to be full. Why can’t we be full?’” Vigg said. “Our goal is to give [students] everything on campus that they can get off.”
The ambition comes at a time when colleges nationwide, Elon included, are more expensive than ever before. The total cost of an Elon education rose this year 3.69 percent to $41,914. Of that, the cost of a meal plan varies, but the All Access Basic plan — which all underclassmen living in dormitories, Danieley flats and the Loy Center are required, at a minimum, to purchase — runs students $5,436.00 for the year.
Students are not expected to shoulder much in terms of increased costs from added perks and eateries, according to Michael Bellefeuil, Aramark’s director of operations at Elon Universituy.
“We need help to renew faith and really bring options here to the next level,” Bellefeuil said.
There has been progress — a dining advisory committee was created by Bellefeuil and Vigg last spring, and they hope to expand by recruiting students to meet with Aramark to discuss what’s working and what isn’t, what students are still asking for and what the campus — dining manager is doing well.
But Vigg knows there’s still a ways to go to mesh what Elon dining is with what it could be.
“It’s not easy,” he said. “It’ll take a paradigm shift on campus to make it better. We’re taking baby steps and moving toward that goal.”
(08/22/14 1:23pm)
A movement to advance the intellectual climate is reflected in Elon University’s latest construction projects.
The Global Village was born out of the Residential Campus Initiative, a plan to integrate the academic and residential experience at Elon, and is ready to house students and faculty.
In Fall 2013, two of the residence halls in The Global Village were complete. This year, all three are ready to go. The completed area can house up to 595 people and is prepared to take on several live-in faculty members.
Within the Global Village, all students will have access to the Great Hall, a communal space equipped with meeting rooms and study areas, as well as a dining facility called Argo Tea.
“We created student hang-out space for collaborations so students can run into each other and can continue conversations they started in the classroom,” said Brad Moore, university architect and director of planning, design and construction management.
Changes made to Belk Library create a more welcoming, group work-friendly area, Moore said.
“The library, we’re just trying to open that space up to encourage people to use it whether it’s individually or in a group,” Moore said.
By moving the information desk away from the center of the first floor, students will be invited to move farther inside the library, he said. He also noted that the computers are clustered together in pods to facilitate collaboration and discussion.
Elsewhere on campus, Moseley’s second floor was reformatted to reflect a more inclusive campus with a brand-new Multicultural Center.
In addition to the communal space, the floor now also houses Asian, African-American and Hispanic and Latino resource rooms, along with a Gender and LGBTQIA Center. The second-floor Student Government Association received a reboot as well.
“We want this to be a welcoming space,” said Randy Williams, special assistant to president and dean of multicultural affairs.
Williams said he plans to reach out to other organizations on campus and invite them to hold events in the Multicultural Center. The resource rooms present an opportunity for people of different ethnicities and backgrounds to come together and learn about other identities, he said.
“When I look now and see the changes that have occurred, I think it will facilitate a setting that allows for great programs,” Williams said. “I’d love to see us have the spaces and programs and personnel where students can flourish. This space will facilitate that.”
Also new to Elon is Scott Studio, a performing arts facility on West Haggard Avenue, next to Arts West. The white stucco building contains a black box theater and six performance practice rooms. The studio also has a rehearsal space designed to match the dimensions of McCrary Theatre, where performances are generally held at Elon.
Fred Rubeck, the performing arts department chair, said the additional space is much needed.
“It will help us more accurately prepare all of the productions that move into McCrary for performance,” Rubeck said. “This new building will really be a game-changer for us.”
(08/22/14 1:16pm)
An overhaul of general studies courses at Elon University has resulted in a new Core Corriculum, which will take effect this fall.
According to Jeffrey Coker, director of the Core Curriculum, the changes are mostly just in the name, but there are also some changes to the General Studies — GST -— seminar courses.
The new Core Curriculum offices in the Global Neighborhood will hopefully forge the way for interaction and integration, Coke said. He, plus 11 faculty members from different departments, will work in adjacent offices in order to promote interdisciplinary learning on campus.
The most obvious change for students is the title change for GST classes. Courses that previously had a GST prefix will instead have a COR prefix. For example, the Global Experience class required for first years will be COR 110 instead of GST 110. However, seminars and study aboard classes will retain the GST prefix for the 2014-2015 school year to prevent confusion for upperclassmen.
“With the titling change, students will instantly know what we’re talking about, the one core experience that everybody shares,” Coker said. “The term ‘general studies’ was more ambiguous.”
Elon’s title for freshman curriculum changed from “first-year core” to “first-year experiences” to prevent confusion.
Perhaps the most impactful change is in the structuring of upper-level GST courses, which are mandatory for all students.
Starting this semester, most courses will require a capstone project at the end of the course that is meant to bring together what students have learned in their experiences at Elon. Not all courses have added this component, but starting in the spring, they will be required to have it.
Junior Shelby Lewis, who is taking the upper-level GST “Prison Nation,” said a capstone project is a good idea.
“The idea in theory since it helps us to continue to keep up with what we’ve learned in different areas,” Lewis said. “If it is executed right, it’ll force you to think critially and retain all the information better than just a final exam.”
A more subtle change is the switch from “foreign languages” to “world languages.” This parallels the name change that came last year to the Department of World Languages and Cultures, formally the Department of Foreign Languages.
“Foreign language is traditional, but it has a negative connotation,” Coker said. “English is just one of the world languages, and this feels more of a how a global campus would talk about languages.”
After this year 200-level GST courses will be split into study abroad — STA — courses and interdisciplinary study —IDS — courses. The courses will formally switch names in the summer of 2015.
Coker said there were a variety of reasons for the changes this year, the primary one being the push to give students a more interdisciplinary experience at Elon.
“We are committed to providing the best education we can for students, and part of what drives that is going through a constant cycle of change and evaluation,” Coker said. “We want to try to get students more involved in different departments and making meaningful connections between majors.”
While the push to make students’ experiences more interdisciplinary has been slowly coming over the past few years, Coker said that it has blown up recently.
The Core Curriculum is designed to give students a shared experience no matter what they are studying.COR 110, a part of the first-year experience is set up so every section has the same themes and goals for students, no matter the professor.
“Faculty have different ways of getting across the message, but the point is the same in every class,” Coker said.
Later, taking their upper level COR class, go through the same thing they experienced in their first year. Each upper-level class is different, but they are all designed to get the same message of interdisciplinary learning across to students. As a way to connect the courses, the required capstone project gives students a chance to reflect on how their Elon experiences are all tied together.
(08/22/14 1:00pm)
As Matt Cesari walks onto campus as an Elon University student for the first time on Friday, he will be a part of history. Keeping with previous years, Elon will welcome its largest class size in history, with 1,496 students expected to move in.
For Cesari, the diversity of programs was the most appealing factor about Elon.
“If you have a passion, Elon has a way you can show, develop and share that passion,” he said. “It’s awesome to go to a school that can be bragged about for its academia as well as its artistic side.”
The number of incoming students is a reflection of the applicant pool. The school received a record high of 10,442 applicants.
While applicants and incoming students have risen, the demographics of the Class of 2018 are similar to previous years, including the lower number of in-state students.
North Carolina still makes up about 16 percent of the incoming class, the largest of the 44 states represented. For Cesari, a graduate of Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, this isn’t a bad thing.
“I didn’t want my college experience to be seeing the same old people from high school, just in a different setting,” he said. “I wanted to see some new faces and get a really unique experience. “
Greg Zaiser, vice president of admissions and financial planning, said this could be because of state legislation. Historically, state residents going to Elon received a small grant based on state residency alone. In 2012, N.C. legislation removed the grant to create a new program restricted to students with financial aidfrom the state.
“I’m thrilled we’ve been able to hold our own in the state without North Carolinians,” Zaiser said. “I’d like it to remain our top state, but we’re out and about more.”
Incoming students who identify as ethnically diverse compose 17 percent of the freshman class. That number has remained the same three of the past four years. But diversity overall has increased when factoring in socioeconomics.
“The percentage of students who are eligible for federal funds shows we are really investing in socioeconomic diversity,” he said. “I’m pleased with the fact that Elon is more accessible for students who might not be able to attend.”
Twelve percent of the Class of 2018, the highest amount in the school’s history, will receive the Pell Grant, a federal grant dependent on financial need, schools costs and full-time student status.
Other changes occurred in international students. This year, Elon will welcome 98 new international students – five fewer from last year - from 18 countries, not including the United States.
Male-to-female association has remained similar to previous years, with females making up 61 percent of the incoming class, mirroring the national trend of liberal arts schools receiving more female applicants.
No matter the demographics, Zaiser has noticed a continuous rise in quality from incoming students.
“Admissions looks at where else these students apply – Wake Forest, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bucknell University, University of Richmond – are selective schools,” Zaiser said. “This speaks very well of Elon and the students we enrolled in.”
(07/07/14 5:26pm)
Elon University Junior Devon Bartholf of West Grove, PA was seriously injured in a single car accident near campus July 6.
Town of Elon Police report that Bartholf 's car struck a utility pole around 3 p.m. before her car stopped in the Elon Post Office parking lot. The utility pole was knocked into the street by the impact.
EMS and Fire and Rescue services arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.
She was transported to Alamance Regional Medical Center and then taken to University of North Carolina Hospital where she remains in the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit as of Monday afternoon.
There were no passengers in the car and no other injuries were reported.
Elon Police are still investigating the cause of the accident.
(05/24/14 8:40pm)
Brand ambassadorships have become a hot position for Millennials. Ambassador programs have their perks: free merchandise, company connections, resume building and the bragging rights of saying you work at a particular company. However, these are merely the surface benefits one may gain before embarking on the journey of a campus representative.
(05/24/14 5:05pm)
Crowded into the historic space where 123 graduating classes previously received their diplomas, Elon University faculty, staff, family and friends welcomed a new crop of graduates into the world beyond Elon.
(05/22/14 2:03pm)
The primary factor considered when selecting commencement speakers at Elon University is the candidate’s connection to the graduating class. The selection of Mary Carillo, the 2014 headliner, is no exception. Carillo is the mother of a Class of 2014 graduating senior.
Apart from her affiliation with the Class of 2014, Carillo stood out to the Student Government Association (SGA) because of her prolific career as a tennis player and as a sports analyst and commentator. Carillo played tennis professionally from 1977-1980 and won the mixed doubles championship at the French Open in 1977. She has covered 12 Olympic games and currently works as a sports analyst for CBS, NBC and the Tennis Channel. She is a correspondent for HBO Sports on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” Sports Illustrated named her “Best Sports Analyst of the Decade” in 2000.
Connor O’Donnell, president of the Class of 2014, said Carillo’s notable resume of accomplishments solidified her as a candidate.
“We really were impressed with her coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics,” O’Donnell said. “We thought that would translate to a great graduation speaker.”
The selection process for commencement speakers began in September, when the SGA senior class officers met with the provost and other university administrators to establish a list of possible speakers.
The SGA officers returned several months later, having narrowed the list down to their top three or four preferences. Each possible option was in some way affiliated with Elon.
“We always like to have that connection to the graduation speaker,” O’Donell said. “The thing that we like is that the speaker has a certain tie to Elon, so when they give their speech, it gives them a more personal touch or connection.”
Also, by reserving speakers with a personal relationship to the graduating class for commencement, the SGA and administration are more ambitious when choosing convocation speakers.
“[The commencement speakers] only speak about five to seven minutes,” Clark said. “We would rather bring big name speakers for convocation.”
According to Jeff Clark, executive director of cultural and special programs, this emphasis on connection to the Elon community is rare at university commencements, but it’s something to be cherished.
“We are all Elon on that day,” Clark said. “We try to frame it as a family event.”
(05/18/14 7:20pm)
Going to College Coffee
What other school lists “take the free food we give you” as a bucket list item? Take advantage of what you have now because outside these walls, free coffee and doughnuts are so rare, they’re an omen of an early death. And yes, it’s “doughnuts,” not “donuts,” you troglodytes.
College Coffee is the one thing that gets students not to dread 8 a.m. classes. It is like the Poincare conjecture solution, but for university morale. Student organizations come to you instead of the other way around so you can be a front-row audience member to the passion and expression of your peers. It can make you feel productive by proxy. Make sure you go to College Coffee with your friends so you can share a laugh and some food and then awkwardly walk away when the conversation dies down.
Going into fountains
Considered an Elon “rite of passage,” while the uninitiated could easily dismiss this as hooliganry, there is a lot of planning that goes into finding the perfect fountain to wade around in. First you need to pick your fountain. Boney Fountain is easily accessible, but it also looks like a grave. Chandler Fountain has the impact, but it’s surrounded by lots of sharp metal teeth, both inside and out, like a goblin fortress. That leaves the heavily trafficked Fonville Fountain so you can get the attention you crave from passersby and anyone who looks at the Alamance webcam.
Then you need to pick the right time to go in the fountain. Go too late in the year, and you’ll come out dripping with pollen like Swamp Thing. Go too early, and the water will cool you down to kidney-harvesting temperature. You also need to decide whether you’ll go into the fountain late at night when the Phantom is on the prowl or do what no Elon student has ever risked and wake up early. Whatever your decision, you will succeed in getting covered in dirty water. It’s worth every $1,000 fine.
Stealing a brick
Wow, a lot of these bucket list items involve causing problems for campus staff. This tradition says a number of things about Elon students. It could mean that students want to keep a piece of Elon with them, and instead of showing appreciation through their degree or full-size acorn back tattoo, they decided to get a dirty brick. It could also be an expression of Berlinesque rage mixed with a hatred for anyone who rides a bike around campus.
Or, the most likely theory, is another step in the very popular hobby of brick collecting. There’s frogged, perforated, face, mortar and the ever-popular “solid” brick. Rumor has it campus legend “Stubbs” has his hand on an oversize modular brick from behind Maynard Hall.
Running the Turkey Trot
From the first day of an Elon student’s sophomore year, the goal for the rest of the college career is getting rid of the Freshman 15. A lot of people will try to take the shortcut of joining Elon’s secret brawling society, but if you go one round with Stubbs, you won’t even have the chance to get a sweat started. So running the Turkey Trot is your better bet. The easiest part of the event is getting the canned goods for charity because we all have a big sock stuffed with cans within arm’s reach of our bed.
The true challenge is mentally pacing yourself during the 5K because no one really knows how far five kilometers is. Is that like five miles? Is it the distance from Koury to McEwen? How many 5Ks would I run to get from here to the moon?
And when you finish the Turkey Trot, waving to the children in their extravagant playgrounds you pass by, you are rewarded with the most difficult meal to eat — an unsqueezed orange slice — and the pride that comes before realizing you now need to walk all the way back to your apartment.
Studying Abroad
If you work best on a deadline, this step on your Elon bucket list might be a bit tricky if you’re graduating now. But, the rest of you still have time to travel the planet with Elon’s study abroad program. In fact, the one downside is that Elon does not offer study abroad to other planets. I can’t think of an Elon student who wouldn’t want to study sociology on Mars or state government in the Betelgeuse star system.
Studying abroad is like exercising the back muscle you didn’t know you have when practicing your tsuki. Seeing things from an international perspective helps inform opinions and creates a better understanding that will make you a better employee and a better person. Traveling will also blow up your Instagram account and get those likes rolling in.
(05/18/14 7:08pm)
12,000 chairs, 190 workers, one Elon University graduation.
When more than 1,000 Elon seniors in the Class of 2014 graduate Under the Oaks on the morning of Saturday, May 24, hundreds of hours of work will have already gone into preparing for them to receive their diplomas.
Nearly 200 Physical Plant employees — both full-time and part-time — will play an active role in everything from hanging flower baskets to placing chairs with “military precision” under the shade of the oak trees according to Robert Buchholz, director of the physical plant.
“As exams are finishing up, we’re getting in and making sure everything looks bright and shiny for parents coming in and alumni to go through places that they have gone through before,” he said.
It was especially important for the groundskeepers to tend to Elon’s flowers and lawns after the past unusually harsh North Carolina winter paid its toll not only in canceled classes, but also in damages to the campus’ carefully-tended plants.
“It’s tough when there’s a rough winter,” Buchholz said. “It means the grass and everything else doesn’t start growing right away.”
Members of the Physical Plant’s grounds-crew began spreading grass seed and working on irrigation systems in March, before winter was really over.
To accommodate the friends, family members and other well-wishers of the Class of 2014, Physical Plant places more than 1,000 chairs for commencement. Workers began setting up on Reading Day, which was Wednesday, May 14, to ensure the chairs are ready for the ceremony Saturday.
At the same time, regular Physical Plant operations — checking trash cans and bathrooms during the day and cleaning high-traffic areas — remain underway with a three-shift system that covers all 24 hours in a day.
It’s important to maintain day-to-day chores, Buchholz said, because the university doesn’t have much of a break after commencement before summer students move in, as well as some of those studying for the North Carolina Bar Exam or their MBA certification through the university.
Immediately following commencement, Physical Plant employees will move in and begin breaking down many of the chairs set out to provide a smaller venue for the Elon University School of Law’s own graduation ceremony later that same day.
In the parking lot outside Whitley, limited, reserved parking is available for handicapped persons attending commencement. In addition, Physical Plant employees will be operating a shuttle system of bus and golf cart cycles to accomdate visitors who park farther from the area Under the Oaks.
Those seeking accommodations can contact the Physical Plant at any time before Saturday, though the spaces available are limited, and the reserved parking spaces tend to fill up fast.
(05/18/14 6:53pm)
In the animal kingdom, a “watering hole” is the main source of water in a given area. It’s where animals of any species come to physically soak up a necessary resource of life. For those who watched Animal Planet specials growing up, the watering hole was also where territorial displays between those species would take place—it’s the one place that encourages interaction. If Elon University had a watering hole, it would be the gym.
(05/08/14 9:43pm)
One in four college women will experience rape or attempted rape before they graduate, according to Elon University Student Health and Wellness. Elon takes extensive measures to both lower this statistic within the Elon community and help victims of sexual abuse recover.
The Elon Student Health and Wellness program defines the foundation of sexual violence prevention through three main pillars: violence support, consent education and bystander intervention.
All programs sponsored by the Elon Student Health and Wellness sponsors are based on these three concepts.
“The first thing that we offer to everyone is workshops on consent, healthy relationships and being an active bystander,” said Becca Patterson, coordinator for health promotion.
Students are initially engaged in activities that start a dialogue about health topics during new student orientation. Orientation Leaders facilitate conversation and prepare new students to handle situations that may involve sexual assault.
Resident Assistants, Orientation Leaders, Greek house captains and all common leaders undergo training on how to react to situations of sexual assault and how to help victims.
“Peer educators are the best way to communicate with students about topics that impact them,” Patterson said.
Organizations like SPARKS (Students Promoting Awareness, Responsibility, Knowledge and Success), Alpha Chi Omega and EFFECT (Elon Feminists For Equality, Change, and Transformation) sponsor a variety of events each semester that spread awareness about sexual violence throughout campus.
Take Back the Night, the Consent is Sexy campaign, the Clothesline Project and the Walk Against Victim Blaming are just a few of Elon’s more well-known events.
Student Health Services seeks to speak directly to students and teach them prevention measures through workshops offered by SPARKS for organizations and classes.
According to research by clinical psychologist David Lisak, 5-7 percent of males on a college campus commit sexual assault. Of that percentage, two-thirds are repeat offenders and have a minimum of eight victims on average.
“The majority of people who are perpetrating sexual violence do so intentionally,” Patterson said.
According to Elon Health and Wellness, awareness is the best way to stop this cycle. Bystanders must learn to be active and not stand by as sexual assault proliferates.
Health Services also provides survivor support for victims of sexual abuse.
“Ultimately, the student has to decide what feels comfortable for them,” Patterson said. “Survivors can receive confidential support to hear about their options and can go to counseling.”
SAFEline, a 24/7 hotline, is available for students to call anonymously, at (336) 278-3333, for resources and aid related to sexual abuse.
Despite the extensive measures that the Health and Wellness program takes to teach students about sexual assault prevention and survivor support, some students feel they aren’t aware of what Elon is doing around campus.
“I think students should be made more aware of any measures taken to prevent sexual abuse,” sophomore Emma Thayer said. “Without being informed, no one can utilize the safety precautions.”
Students are aware that their first resource in an abusive crisis is Campus Security or Elon University Police, but they may be unaware of how to pursue further assistance.
“There are Campus Security and Elon Police around campus, and I know the blue light system and response times are very quick,” Thayer said. “Campus Security can be utilized for rides home late at night from other locations on campus.”
Health Services currently partners with campus organizations to reach out to students. They try to connect more directly through Twitter, SPARKS and EFFECT.
“Getting people to attend events is something we struggle with,” Patterson said. “We are reaching out to student organizations specifically to bring us in for workshops.”
Elon’s health promotion programs seek to guide students to change their attitudes and perceptions of sexual abuse, although students like Thayer feel programs could still do more.
“One student being aware of sexual abuse prevention isn’t the same as the entire student body being made aware,” she said.
Patterson said even small changes to student’s perceptions on things like language can grow to have a larger impact on campus.
“If we can interrupt the little things, then we will feel more confident with intervening on the bigger things,” she said.
(05/08/14 7:59pm)
For Jessica Mahon, getting a master’s degree went hand in hand with becoming a teacher. But Mahon is from New York, where a master’s degree is required for public school teachers to become fully certified. Now, in her sixth year at Newland Elementary School in Burlington, her master’s degree is considered extraneous.
(05/08/14 7:47pm)
There’s a new bar coming to downtown Elon, albeit with a much different flair than West End Terrace or Taphouse.
(05/08/14 1:39am)
"I thought he was stopping and I went ahead into the crosswalk, and he kept going and he just hit me," said freshman Caroline Patterson.
(05/06/14 2:33pm)
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD9TEvJK3UQ&h=315&w=560]
(05/06/14 12:03am)
One in four college women will experience rape or attempted rape before they graduate, according to Elon University Student Health and Wellness. Elon takes extensive measures to both lower this statistic within the Elon community and help victims of sexual abuse recover.
The Elon Student Health and Wellness program defines the foundation of sexual violence prevention through three main pillars: violence support, consent education and bystander intervention.
All programs sponsored by the Elon Student Health and Wellness sponsors are based on these three concepts.
“The first thing that we offer to everyone is workshops on consent, healthy relationships and being an active bystander,” said Becca Patterson, coordinator for health promotion.
Students are initially engaged in activities that start a dialogue about health topics during new student orientation. Orientation Leaders facilitate conversation and prepare new students to handle situations which may involve sexual assault.
Resident Assistants, Orientation Leaders, Greek house captains and all common leaders undergo training on how to react to situations of sexual assault and how to help victims.
“Peer educators are the best way to communicate with students about topics that impact them,” Patterson said.
Organizations like SPARKS (Students Promoting Awareness, Responsibility, Knowledge and Success), Alpha Chi Omega and EFFECT (Elon Feminists For Equality, Change, and Transformation) sponsor a variety of events each semester that spread awareness about sexual violence throughout campus.
Take Back the Night, the Consent is Sexy campaign, the Clothesline Project and the Walk Against Victim Blaming are just a few of Elon’s more well-known events.
Student Health Services seeks to speak directly to students and teach them prevention measures through workshops offered by SPARKS for organizations and classes.
According to research by clinical psychologist David Lisak, 5-7 percent of males on a college campus commit sexual assault. Of that percentage, two-thirds are repeat offenders and have a minimum of eight victims on average.
“The majority of people who are perpetrating sexual violence do so intentionally,” Patterson said.
According to Elon Health and Wellness, awareness is the best way to stop this cycle. Bystanders must learn to be active and not stand by as sexual assault proliferates.
Health Services also provides survivor support for victims of sexual abuse.
“Ultimately, the student has to decide what feels comfortable for them,” Patterson said. “Survivors can receive confidential support to hear about their options and can go to counseling.”
SAFEline, a 24/7 hotline, is available for students to call anonymously, at 336-278-3333, for resources and aid related to sexual abuse.
Despite the extensive measures that the Health and Wellness program takes to teach students about sexual assault prevention and survivor support, many students feel they aren’t aware of what Elon is doing around campus.
“I think students should be made more aware of any measures taken to prevent sexual abuse,” said sophomore Emma Thayer. “Without being informed, no one can utilize the safety precautions.”
Students are aware that their first resource in an abusive crisis is Campus Security or Elon Police, but they may be unaware of how to pursue further assistance.
“There are Campus Security and Elon Police around campus, and I know the blue light system and response times are very quick,” Thayer said. “Campus Security can be utilized for rides home late at night from other locations on campus.”
“Getting people to attend events is something we struggle with,” Patterson said. “We are reaching out to student organizations specifically to bring us in for workshops.”
Health Services currently partners with campus organizations to try to reach out to students. They try to connect more directly through Twitter, SPARKS and EFFECT.
“Culture change happens through the little things,” Patterson said. “It is important to give people real skills that they can use and show them how things like our language can influence culture.”
Elon’s health promotion programs seek to guide students to change their attitudes and perceptions of sexual abuse, although students like Thayer feel programs could still go farther.
“One student being aware of sexual abuse prevention isn’t the same as the entire student body being made aware,” she said.
Patterson said even small changes to student’s perceptions on things like language can grow to have a larger impact on campus.
“If we can interrupt the little things, then we will feel more confident with intervening on the bigger things,” she said.
(05/05/14 10:53pm)
With primaries for the Senate and House this week, the April 2014 Elon University Poll shows North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis maintaining his lead for the Republican Senate nomination with more than 60 percent of respondents now recognizing his name.
(05/02/14 1:07am)
Three Elon University football players were injured in a fight which occurred just hours after Elon’s spring game last weekend. Early in the morning of Sunday, April 27, senior quarterback Mike Quinn, senior linebacker Jonathan Spain and junior defensive back Hatchel Linens sustained injuries from an altercation at 203 W. College Ave. in Elon.
(05/01/14 12:57am)
A new student political organization is aiming to join the likes of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) and the Elon College Democrats next fall.
Democracy Matters, a national nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that seeks to “get big money out of politics and people back in” is in talks with Elon University to establish a chapter.
The organization’s National Field Director, Anita Kinney, said it’s important not only to educate young people about politics, but to mobilize them and harness their energy also.
“We strive to tell college students that there is always something you can do,” Kinney said. “You can raise awareness, not just money. You can take your congresspeople to task for what they should be doing.”
A group of a half-dozen students are working with the Student Union Board (SUB) to get initial approval for the new organization. From there, they plan to work with Jana Lynn Patterson, assistant vice president for student life, to finalize details before presenting to SUB’s Student Life Committee, which grants the final approval for student organizations on campus.
Freshman Kelsea Johnson, who has been involved in the planning stages of the hopeful Elon organization, said students are generally aware of political issues, but not necessarily comfortable with taking political action.
Johnson said the campus dialogue could use direction and a bit of organization.
“At Elon, you see a lot of people interested in and talking about the issues,” Johnson said. “But this is not only to spark the conversation, but to encourage serious action.”
Though Democracy Matters doesn’t endorse specific candidates or party positions, it has aligned itself firmly against the landmark election Supreme Court Case, Citizens United v. The Federal Exchange Commission (FEC), which found that money is the same as speech in a 2010 decision.
In the minds of many, the ruling rendered people the same as corporations, which Kinney said can lead to “explicit corruption.”
“We want to get private money out of politics via campaign finance reform, and that issue relates to every single other issue that we deal with,” she said.
More recently, in McCutcheon v. FEC, the Supreme Court ruled April 2 that aggregate limits on individual campaign contributions are a violation of free speech.
“This lends itself to explicit corruption,” Kinney said. “This is not the type of corruption that they can regulate, which inherently means some precedent is OK.”
Kinney said Democracy Matters would like to see a bill passed on the national level that incorporates “some adequate level” of public funding for congressional and presidential elections.
Kinney went on to say that restructuring voting laws may require a change in elected officials nationwide, which can be brought about by educating young people about the issues that matter.
In the meantime, Democracy Matters sponsors student internships for both high school and college students, where interns spend their time engaging with the public and government officials in an effort to spur campaign finance change.
In talking to interested Elon students who may get involved with the organization, Kinney said she was impressed by the level of discourse and knowledge students displayed about politics.
“Their experience and knowledge about local politics and engagement on that community level were very sophisticated in their understanding of how the community interacts with Elon and why that matters,” she said.
