Beauty

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SPORTS 4/25/26 8:08pm

Beyond the Athlete conference highlights mental health in sports

By Savannah Hameed

Students and community members gathered in McKinnon Hall for the first-ever Beyond the Athlete Conference. Leaders in sport spoke about the challenges that Black or African American and allied community members, identifying as women, face during and after their athletic career.

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SPORTS 4/25/26 12:25pm

Rising defensive mind joins Elon football coaching staff

By Riley Hale

Elon has hired experienced defensive coach Jalen Hairston to lead its secondary. Hairston comes to Elon after many years of success in Division II football. He joins the Phoenix coaching staff after spending the past two seasons as the defensive backs coach for the University of Maine. While there, he also served as the safeties coach and defensive passing game coordinator for the Black Bears. Before he was a coach, Hairston played three seasons with the University of Charleston from 2015-2018.

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NEWS 4/24/26 4:42pm

Former Elon University student arrested for sexual exploitation charge

By Elon News Network

A Burlington man, who previously attended Elon University, was arrested April 21 and charged with four counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Nikolaos Alexander Fotiou, 18, was taken to the Alamance County Detention Center and is being held there under no bond, as of April 24. According to a Burlington Police Department press release, the Invictus Task Force aided with the investigation. 

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NEWS 4/24/26 3:25pm

Meet Elon University’s 2026 Lumen Prize winners

By Miles Hayford

Fifteen students have been selected to receive $20,000 to support their mentored research and projects for the next two years as a part of the Lumen Prize. The 2026 Lumen Scholar winners will work closely with their mentors on their projects during their junior and senior years.

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OPINIONS 4/24/26 11:06am

OPINION: Is AI making us smarter — or just better at looking smart?

By Tom Arcaro

When students use generative artificial intelligence to write papers, many professors worry: Are we watching the death of critical thinking? It’s a fair question. But it’s also not a new one.

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LIFESTYLE 4/23/26 11:05pm

Celebration, education meet at Elon’s Earth Fest, Party For the Planet

By Kathan Gandhi

Students packed the Global Neighborhood concourse for sushi, sliders and a chance to pet Pearl — a cow that has quietly become a staple of Elon University’s Earth Week. The Office of Sustainability and Elon Dining partnered to host two annual events, Party for the Planet and Earth Fest, bringing students together to celebrate nature while highlighting campus sustainability initiatives.

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LIFESTYLE 4/23/26 7:46pm

‘First Daughter Suite’ creates historical fantasia for audiences

By Megan Walsh

From one scene to the next everyday arguments bleed into turning a first lady into a duck and killing someone with a doll. Audiences will explore the inner lives of the first ladies and daughters of United States presidents in Elon University’s production of “First Daughter Suite.” The musical, written by Michael John Lachuisa, will be performed in Roberts Studio Theatre from May 1 to 3. 

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NEWS 4/23/26 4:21pm

Elon, Queens University enter next stage of merger

By Miles Hayford

Elon University and the Queens University of Charlotte will soon be entering the next step of the merger, with many Queens employees becoming Elon employees within the next few months.

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SPORTS 4/23/26 12:22pm

Elon University dance team wins 2 national titles

By Abigail Hines

The Elon dance team huddled on stage with linked arms, waiting to hear their placement in Division I pom at the 2026 National Dance Association’s College National Championships. When the announcer proclaimed Elon champions, the dancers burst into cheers, realizing they’d secured Elon’s first pom category win in program history. The next day, they became two-time national champions with a first place finish in Division I hip hop. 

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NEWS 4/23/26 10:20am

Dismissal of Leandro case concerns public school advocates

By Kate Gray

The Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan, a 2021 proposed public school funding plan to ensure North Carolina meets its educational standards as outlined in the state constitution, called for $5.5 billion over eight years. In Alamance County, the plan would have allocated $56.7 million to the Alamance-Burlington School System — a 38% budget increase as of 2022 — and $15.7 million to early education programs by 2028.

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LIFESTYLE 4/22/26 9:51pm

Earth Week Keynote Speaker discusses global weirding

By Emma Luckman

In 2024, Shell, a corporation responsible for roughly 2% of all global emissions, posted a poll on social media asking what the public was willing to do to reduce their carbon footprint. Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, did not let the post slide, she said during her Earth Week keynote at Elon University in McKinnon Hall on April 22.

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LIFESTYLE 4/22/26 3:44pm

Fighting stereotypes: junior finds ways to expand opportunities within stage combat

By Charlotte Pfabe

Elon junior Aubrey Kocsis wants to fight the patriarchy, literally. A Lumen Scholar winner, Kocsis first became familiar with stage combat when she travelled to Oxford, England in high school to attend a Shakespeare Summer Intensive. She learned so much about what she calls the “illusion of violence,” but also left the program feeling discouraged. 

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LIFESTYLE 4/22/26 12:14pm

Teaching Fellow studies alternative teaching methods

By Megan Walsh

After stepping foot in a local elementary school’s garden, Elon senior Grace Rasmussen said that’s when she realized learning could be full of joy, and she knew she wanted to provide that for her future students. Rasmussen, an Elon University Teaching Fellow, is now conducting two national surveys exploring how schools incorporate outdoor and progressive education practices.

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NEWS 4/21/26 5:34pm

Burlington Police sees increase in productivity through AI use

By Charlotte Pfabe

The Burlington Police Department may implement artificial intelligence to help officers write case reports. The department is using a program called Truleo, which BPD Intel Sgt. Misha Braja said the department has already used for almost two years to analyze body-worn camera footage. “Report writing is the bread and butter of law enforcement,” Braja said. “We have to document everything that we do.”

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SPORTS 4/21/26 1:49pm

Elon’s long-time women’s golf head coach retires

By Kathan Gandhi

The Elon University women’s golf head coach Chris Dockrill announced his retirement on April 20 after 27 years with the program.Women’s golf finished in 4th place this year in the Coastal Athletic Association tournament. 

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NEWS 4/21/26 12:53pm

Elon parent, trustee to deliver 2026 commencement address

By Abigail Hines

Patricia Walsh Chadwick has held many roles at Elon University, from being an Elon parent in 2012 to more recently joining the finance and administration committees as a trustee. This spring, she will take on a new role as the 2026 undergraduate commencement speaker.  

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LIFESTYLE 4/20/26 8:37pm

Student research discovers suspected cause of plant disease

By Trista Panagakos

During his freshman year, now-senior Billy Impagliazzo took two classes taught by biology professor Antonio Izzo. When he got to Elon, Impagliazzo said he knew he wanted to take part in research projects. In his sophomore year, Impagliazzo went to Izzo to discuss research opportunities he had in his lab. Izzo said he believed Impagliazzo would conduct research for only a semester, but almost three years later, Impagliazzo has identified the main microbe infecting the blue curls plant and has presented his research on SURF Day. 

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LIFESTYLE 4/20/26 12:37pm

Elon student digs into Burlington’s past after historic hotel demolition

By Elissa Leka

The Rockefeller Integrated Hotel stood on Burlington’s Maple Avenue before being demolished a few weeks ago. Created by McBride “Mack” Thompson, a prominent African American entrepreneur in the Jim Crow South, the hotel was both his home and a place for Black travelers to stay somewhere safe. A single box of papers was recovered from the demolition site by a neighbor. Marshall Sears, a sophomore researching African American entrepreneurship in Petersburg, digitizes documents including those found in the demolition, as a part of his undergraduate research.

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NEWS 4/20/26 8:49am

NC state legislature yet to set state budget

By Trista Panagakos

North Carolina is still the only state without a budget. The current state funding is using budget numbers from 2023, the last time a budget was passed. The state passes a biennial budget which appropriates funds for two years.

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NEWS 4/19/26 8:49pm

NC Republican senators contend for top job after senate leader’s primary loss

By Miles Hayford

With North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger conceding his primary against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, the political structure of North Carolina has been flipped on its head and several Republican senators are putting their names up for consideration to be the next Senate leader. The Senate leader is often seen as the most powerful position in North Carolina state government and Berger has exerted great influence over his 26 years in the senate and his 15 years as the leader of the Republican senate caucus.

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