Hurricane Florence Coverage

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LIFESTYLE 2/18/25 1:34pm

Rising rent prices force Persnickety Books to relocate

By Abigail Hines

Persnickety Books is leaving downtown Burlington and moving into a new location due to an increase in rent cost, according to co-owner of Persnickety Books Ian Baltutis. Persnickety Books will be temporarily closing at the end of this week and plans to reopen by the beginning of March. Baltutis purchased Persnickety Books in 2019 from its former owners. The new store, located at 703 E Davis St., is “comparable” in size to the space they’re in now but has a much different layout. Baltutis said he’s excited to see how Persnickety will change with the new space. 

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SPORTS 2/16/25 6:44pm

Elon falls to Campbell due to poor shooting, rebounding struggles

By Lilly Molina

All eyes are on junior Hannah Dereje as she shoots the ball with mere seconds on the clock. As the buzzer goes off the ball lands in the middle of the net and the crowd goes wild. A 1000-watt smile grows on Dereje’s face as players circle her with cheers. This was the tone Elon set in the first quarter going against Campell on Feb. 16. A team known for its defense, Campbell brought angst to the game, but it underestimated the ability for the Phoenix to bring that same fire.

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LIFESTYLE 2/15/25 2:45pm

Late Night Elon hosts Stuffed with Love event to close out Valentine's Day

By Alannah Klingsporn

Students packed Moseley Center on Feb.14 as Late Night Elon celebrated Valentine's Day with "Stuffed with Love." Briston Witt, a coordinator of Student Involvement who organizes Late Night Elon events, said the event was meant to bring people together for the holiday."As cliche as it sounds, I do think all we need is love. I think when you get back to the core of that, that is what is most important," Witt said. "I just wanted to create a space where students can come and celebrate that."

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LIFESTYLE 2/14/25 5:27pm

Elon University Truitt Center to host Ripple Conference, engage attendees through interfaith work

By Trista Panagakos

Elon University will be hosting the Ripple Conference, an annual interfaith and spirituality conference that includes people from across the country to meet in small breakout groups, hear from a keynote speaker and panel, and work on an art and service project. The conference will be held from Feb. 21 to 23, is the largest interfaith conference in the southeast and this will be its tenth year. This year the theme of the conference is the art of interfaith. This theme will explore the ways art is used by faith and religious communities and how that unifies the different spiritual communities.

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SPORTS 2/13/25 11:33pm

Elon University men’s basketball upset by North Carolina A&T, loses by 1 point

By Lilly Molina

The Elon University men’s basketball team fell to North Carolina A&T 60-59 on Feb. 13. The team left the game hurt with head coach Billy Taylor saying one of the reasons they lost was due to passive play. This is Elon’s third consecutive loss after losing to Charleston in overtime last week. Senior Sam Sherry played under the weather, and sophomore Nick Dorn was not present at the game due to a lower extremity injury. Taylor said they have a lot to figure out and will keep working toward ending the season strong. 

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NEWS 2/13/25 1:07pm

Q&A: Search committee for new dean of students plans to interview candidates in March or April

By Nia Bedard

Jana Lynn Patterson arrived at Elon University in 1986, originally as an assistant professor and the assistant dean of student affairs. Patterson has taken on many roles throughout her career including assistant vice president for Student Life, associate dean of students and dean of student health and wellness. Patterson has worked at Elon University for 39 years and serves as associate vice president for Student Life and dean of students. She announced she will be leaving the role as dean of students at the end of the year and retiring in September 2026, but will oversee the development of HealthEU.

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SPORTS 2/12/25 10:17pm

Williams girls’ basketball shines on Senior Night

By Matt Shiffman

The Williams girls’ basketball team dominated on Senior Night, defeating Cedar Ridge 48-32 thanks to the efforts of their five seniors. The Williams Bulldogs would improve to 14-8, and 6-5 in conference play. The Cedar Ridge Fighting Red Wolves would drop to 7-13 and 3-9 in conference play. Jordyn Taylor, the Bulldogs top scorer in the 2024-25 season, showed out in her final regular season home game. She led her team with 17 points, showcasing her elite touch around the rim with a flurry of layups.

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NEWS 2/12/25 9:40pm

Elon University sees 20 fewer international students, slight change in first-year enrollment

By Charlotte Pfabe

The Office of the Registrar released its spring 2025 report Feb. 12, which showed the enrollment of international students decreased by 20 students compared to last year. In the spring of 2024, there were 162 international students with 142 international students this year, around a 12% decrease. The report also showed a slight drop in total freshmen enrollment between spring 2024 and 2025. Last spring, 1,345 students made up the class of 2027. Both total undergraduate enrollment and total enrollment, including graduate students, increased according to the spring 2025 report. 

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NEWS 2/12/25 7:28pm

Assistant vice president of SPDC leaving Elon University in April

By Trista Panagakos

Assistant vice president for the Student Professional Development Center, Brooke Buffington, will be leaving her position in mid-April to become the associate vice president for career and professional development at Mary Baldwin University in Virginia. Buffington, who started her career at Elon nine years ago as an associate director of career services in the Love School of Business is described by senior vice president for Advancement and External Affairs Jim Piatt as “a great contributor to the Elon community.” Buffington added to the Elon community through her contributions to the Boldly Elon Strategic Plan.

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NEWS 2/12/25 2:36pm

Elon University announces Wes Durham ’88 as 2025 commencement speaker

By Miles Hayford

Wes Durham will give Elon's commencement address in May to the class of 2025. Durham is a play-by-play commentator for ESPN and ACC Network, and he has served as the radio play-by-play voice for the Atlanta Falcons since 2004. He received the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award in the School of Communications. Durham's brother, also an Elon graduate, is the play-by-play announcer for Elon's men's basketball, football and baseball teams. Elon News Network sat down with the class of 2025 commencement speaker before the 2025 graduation ceremony.

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NEWS 2/12/25 11:45am

Immigrants in Alamance County adjust to evolving policies

By Avery Sloan

In the less than 30 days Trump has been in office, Trump has tried to pass an executive order to block citizenship for children in the U.S. born to undocumented immigrants and has significantly increased ICE enforcement. Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson said the sheriff’s department has had a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2007 and has been holding ICE detainees in the county jail since 2012. In 2022, ICE released a press release saying it would no longer use the county’s detention facility for long-term detention, only short periods of custody.

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NEWS 2/11/25 8:44pm

Elon Town Council approves two new downtown sponsorship programs

By Fiona McAllister and Avery Sloan

Elon is launching two new downtown sponsorship programs, one allowing residents or businesses to sponsor an event and the second allowing sponsors to pay an annual fee. Elon Town Council unanimously approved this fundraising program on Feb. 11 at its council meeting. The downtown Elon event sponsorship opportunities have four levels of sponsorship, ranging from a platinum sponsorship costing $3,500, a gold sponsorship costing $2,500, a silver sponsorship costing $1,500 and a bronze sponsorship costing $500. These sponsorship levels will be for individual events, but for a series with multiple occurrences the sponsorship will last for individual occurrence. 

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LIFESTYLE 2/10/25 9:31pm

Elon art exhibition highlights gender identity, representation

By Abigail Hobbs

Melissa Wilkinson introduced her art exhibition “Queens and Monsters” on Feb. 10 at Gallery 406 in Arts West. About 50 spectators watched as Wilkinson described her inspiration for the exhibit, which features celebrities, roller skates and classic ’80s motifs. The exhibition looks at gendered gaze, noting how the surveyors are typically masculine and the surveyed is feminine. Wilkinson said she wanted to change the dichotomy in this work. The exhibition will be displayed in Gallery 406 in Arts West until March 13.

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NEWS 2/10/25 9:04pm

Elon students prepare for housing selection for the 2025-26 academic year

By Nia Bedard

As Elon University Residence Life prepares for housing selection for the 2025-26 academic year, rising juniors and seniors are faced with the decision of whether or not they want to continue to live on-campus. This housing selection, with applications due Feb. 10, comes after the new construction of East Commons and Loy Farm Ecovillage, which added 102 beds for students, according to Elon University, and Residence Life allowing students who live in Crest, Oaks and Danieley Center to renew their leases. Last year, Residence Life announced that students living in those apartments would be unable to renew their leases.

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NEWS 2/10/25 3:40pm

The Alamance County Community Remembrance Coalition honors Black history education

By Anjolina Fantaroni

As Black History Month continues, the Alamance County Community Remembrance Coalition works to acknowledge and educate the community about racial terror. Through historical projects, educational events and vigils, the coalition fosters conversation about race and justice, making sure victims of racial violence in Alamance County are never forgotten. One of the coalition's initiatives is the Equal Justice Initiative’s soil collection project. This project included collecting soil from sites where documented lynchings occurred, honoring the lives of Wyatt Outlaw, William Puryear and John Jeffress. The coalition works closely with the African-American Cultural Arts & History Center to showcase the soil collections.

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LIFESTYLE 2/9/25 2:56pm

Tiny Shelf hosts student performers to celebrate Black History Month

By Monika Jurevicius

Belk Library turned into a stage to celebrate Black musicians with student performers on Feb. 7 at its Tiny Shelf concert series. This was the second event in the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education’s Black History Month calendar, following the Black History Month Kickoff. Four groups were featured during the event, along with the CREDE testing audience members on Grammy Trivia focusing on Black musicians during transitions. The Tiny Shelf concert, inspired by NPR's Tiny Desk series, was hosted by Elon’s campus radio WSOE and the CREDE.

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SPORTS 2/8/25 10:53pm

Elon University softball splits Elon Softball Classic doubleheader, falls short against Ohio St., explodes against NC Central

By Miles Hayford

The Elon University softball team split a doubleheader in the Elon Softball Classic, losing 4-3 to Ohio State University and dominating 13-7 against North Carolina Central. Elon was coming off an 0-2 start to the season after losing to the University of Connecticut and Ohio University in the first two games of the Elon Softball Classic tournament. Elon plays its final game of the Elon Softball Classic at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 at Hunt Softball Park versus UNC Greensboro.

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SPORTS 2/8/25 5:49pm

Elon University women’s tennis handles Belmont Abbey

By Benjamin Berfield

The Elon University women’s tennis team started their doubleheader against Belmont Abbey on a high note, winning 7-0 this Saturday morning. In doubles, Elon withheld multiple comeback attempts by the Crusaders in each of the first two games. Freshman Lisa Kranec and junior Simone Bergeron won the first set, while freshman Heidi Bulger and junior Madison Cordisco battled back to win the second set. Elon’s success in doubles gave every player a winning record in doubles matches for the season. They then took control in singles with a mix of forehands and returns, winning every set 2-0. 

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NEWS 2/8/25 4:05pm

Holocaust survivor visits Elon, tells story of courage and reconnecting with faith

By Abby Gravely

At age 4, Renée Fink’s parents loaded her onto a stranger’s bicycle with no explanation. She was taken to live with a Catholic family in Holland, and she never saw her parents again. To a standing-room-only Turner Theatre crowd on Feb. 6, Fink shared her story as a childhood Holocaust survivor to an audience of Elon students, staff and community members. Her conversation with retired professor of journalism Richard Landesberg marked the latest event in an Elon tradition lasting more than eight years: inviting Holocaust survivors in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

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LIFESTYLE 2/8/25 1:27pm

Local businesses play cupid’s helper for Valentine’s Day shoppers

By Megan Walsh

The bright petals of flowers and the sweet smells of fresh-baked desserts — just two common Valentine’s Day gifts that local businesses in Elon and Burlington are ready to serve up. As Valentine’s Day approaches, both Roxie’s Florist in Burlington and Cakes, etc. by Cindy in Elon are preparing for an increase in orders and purchases. Roxie’s Florist is already taking orders for students who are looking to purchase bouquets, and Cakes, etc. by Cindy will begin putting out Valentine’s treats and selling treat boxes this week.

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