News

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NEWS 10/30/23 8:04am

Elon community reacts to Israel-Hamas war

By Madison Powers

Shaher Sayed, Palestinian imam of the Burlington Masjid, said it is hard to watch the outbreak of fighting in Israel and Gaza after a yearslong conflict. On Oct. 7, Hamas — a Palestinian militant group — attacked the southern border of Israel, resulting in a declaration of war by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Since then, 1,400 people in Israel and over 8,000 people in Gaza have died as of Oct. 29. Sayed has been imam and board president of the Burlington Masjid — the only mosque in Alamance County — since 2000 and moved to the U.S. nearly 40 years ago.

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NEWS 10/26/23 12:01pm

Garden studio class hosts Pumpkin Festival for Elon community

By Michael Leung

Elon University environmental studies professor Michael Strickland will host an annual Pumpkin Festival at 2:30 PM on Oct 27 at the Elon Community Garden located behind the Hillel house at 401 E. College Ave. The festival is a part of Strickland’s garden studio class, ENS 2200, in which visitors will be able to see the fruits of the students’ labor — as well as participate in activities such as face painting, spikeball and pumpkin carving.

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NEWS 10/26/23 11:18am

Founder of Girls Who Code expresses importance of failure, bravery to Elon University

By Erin Hroncich

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, spoke in McKinnon Hall at Elon University on Oct. 24. She is a lawyer, author, activist and founder and CEO of Moms First — her most recent endeavor that seeks to provide more employment benefits and childcare for mothers. Saujani also said she is an advocate for equal pay between men and women. In her presentation, she said her background with two refugee parents played a pivotal role in her activism. Saujani also said her work has been focused on underserved communities, especially women.

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NEWS 10/25/23 8:42am

Elon University CREDE promotes cultural sensitivity during Halloween

By Monika Jurevicius

Elon’s Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education held its second “Culture is not a Costume” campaign to educate students about culturally appropriated costumes before Halloween. Posters and yard signs with the phrase, “You wear the costume for a night ... I wear the costume for life” were posted around campus starting the second week of October to promote the campaign. Students who are part of minority communities on campus are pictured on the campaign’s signs as they hold pictures of culturally appropriated costumes from cultures.

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NEWS 10/23/23 3:26pm

Elon University faculty struggle to navigate new NC train schedule

By Naomi Washington

It wasn’t until Elon University Human Service Studies professor Monica Burney tried to buy a train ticket over the summer for her usual train route that she discovered her stop no longer existed. Burney enjoyed occasionally riding the train from Durham, where she lives and grew up, to work in Burlington. Burney said she didn’t know anything about the upcoming changes to the schedule. The North Carolina Department of Transportation changed the NC By Train daily schedule in July. NC By Train is the train service operated by the NCDOT, and Amtrak workers staff its trains.

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NEWS 10/22/23 7:56pm

Elon University junior promotes NAMI with rotisserie chicken

By Madison Powers

Elon University President Connie Book won a rotisserie chicken eating contest against junior Jack Zapata and Student Body President senior Britt Mobley on Oct. 20 in the Moseley student center. Having started Sept. 22, Zapata is eating a whole rotisserie chicken every day for 40 days to raise funds and awareness for the National Alliance on Mental Illness — a grassroots mental health organization that provides education, advocacy and support for people with mental illnesses. On his 28th day of eating a rotisserie chicken, Zapata said he teamed up with Book and Mobley to expand his reach and achieve his goal of raising $100,000 for NAMI.

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NEWS 10/21/23 5:36pm

Toasty Kettlyst Beer Garden opens in downtown Elon

By Alex Nettles

The Toasty Kettlyst Beer Garden introduced an outdoor beer garden on North Holt Avenue. The outdoor drinking spot is an expansion of the Toasty Kettlyst Beer Company in Gibsonville. Sitting behind the College Street Taphouse, the addition expands the town of Elon’s social district, which launched in April. The bar opened its space Oct. 12, and is open Thursday through Sunday. Outdoor lights are strung over picnic tables and craft beer is served from a kiosk on a small patch of green.

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NEWS 10/19/23 9:13pm

Contextualizing the Conflict: Elon University students, faculty discuss Israel-Hamas conflict

By Cece Ebora

Elon University hosted Contextualizing the Conflict: Conversations About the Middle East — a collection of roundtable discussions about the Israel-Hamas conflict — on Oct. 18. The event, organized by the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society, the International and Global Studies Program and the Department of Political Science and Policy Studies allowed students to hear from other students and faculty experts. In response to the conflict, Elon President Connie Book said it is vital for the Elon community to participate in civic discussion.

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NEWS 10/19/23 8:13pm

Elon University community honors sophomore with memorial

By Abigail Hobbs and Madison Powers

Friends and family of rising sophomore Jason Titunik, who died over the summer in a car crash, recognized his life Oct. 19 by sharing memories and planting a tree in his honor. Over 75 members of the Elon community gathered outside of Hook, Brannock and Barney residence halls — where Titunik lived his freshman year — to express condolences and support. The Rev. Kristin Boswell and Ira Titunik, Jason’s father, as well as friends and roommates described Jason’s personality and memory before planting a tree outside of HBB.  

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NEWS 10/18/23 11:11am

Permanent plaza in downtown Elon expected by early December

By Miles Hayford

A permanent plaza has been under construction since Aug. 3 in downtown Elon, and will be complete by early December. The plaza, which will cost roughly $450,000, will be located on West College Avenue and North Williamson Avenue. According to town of Elon downtown development director Jill Weston, the purpose of the plaza is to create a gathering place for events such as a dining space, a place for live music and somewhere to hold holiday events.

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NEWS 10/17/23 7:57am

Community continues to mourn, honor loss of Elon University sophomore

By Ryan Kupperman

Jason Titunik, a 19-year-old rising Elon sophomore from Sarasota, Florida, was killed in a car crash July 6. A funeral service was held for Titunik in New Jersey over the summer, but the Elon community will be hosting a memorial at 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 19 in the grassy area just north of the Hook, Brannock and Barney residence halls — where Titunik lived his freshman year. According to an email sent by Vice President for student life Jon Dooley, the event will feature an opportunity for the community to share memories of Titunik, as well as plant a memorial tree in his remembrance.

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NEWS 10/16/23 9:50pm

Elon University Jewish fraternity hosts walk of solidarity for Israel

By Madison Powers

Alpha Epsilon Pi said prayers and hosted a walk of solidarity around Elon University’s campus for the state of Israel on Oct. 16. The fraternity, joined by university community members, prayed for peace and walked around campus to make a stand against terror and violence, according to sophomore and AEPi member Benji Stern. The walk comes a little over a week after Hamas, a militant group, attacked the Israeli southern border on the night of Oct. 7. As of Oct. 16, 2,670 Palestinians have died and over 1,400 Israelis have died, according to the Associated Press. 

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NEWS 10/16/23 2:32pm

All ABSS students discharged from hospital following bus crash

By Ryan Kupperman

Alamance-Burlington School System Public Information Officer Les Atkins announced Oct. 16 that the last of seven students were discharged from UNC Chapel Hill Hospital following a school bus crash. According to a report from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, 18 students were aboard the bus on the way to B. Everett Jordan Elementary School the morning of Oct. 12. State Highway Patrol responded to reports of a crash on Highway 87 near Judge Sharpe Road in Alamance County. According to the report, the bus driver was charged with failure to maintain lane control.

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NEWS 10/13/23 1:26pm

‘Anti-Woke is Anti-Black’ : Elon University students, panelists explore state of Blackness

By Cece Ebora

Sandra Reid, a lecturer in human service studies at Elon University, said the fight for civil rights and racial equality will never end until actual reform is made. On Oct. 3, Elon University's African & African American Studies program hosted an educational discussion through a State of Blackness Panel. Reid said the main purpose of the panel discussion was to explore the importance of what it means to be Black today. Wendy Scott, the associate dean of special projects and professor of law at Elon, criticized this summer’s Supreme Court decision in which colleges and universities can no longer consider race in their admissions process.

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NEWS 10/12/23 2:22pm

Burnout trend poses challenges for Elon University’s school of education

By Alex Nettles

Following concerns about the Alamance-Burlington School System mold problems and high rates of teachers quitting their jobs, senior education major Ally Shibata said she has doubts about entering the field of teaching due to burnout. Shibata teaches part-time at Central Park School for Children in Durham. She said she often feels flustered as a student teacher, and balancing an education along with a college social life she feels is already difficult. K-12 workers showed the highest rates of burnout of all professions in the U.S., according to a 2022 Gallup Survey.

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NEWS 10/11/23 8:33am

NC Jelly Donuts temporarily closes because of malfunctioning equipment

By Michael Leung

According to the automatic voice messaging system of NC Jelly Donuts, the fryer at the 3260 S. Church St. Burlington location started to malfunction — causing the business to temporarily close. The new fryer will be arriving on Oct. 16 and the store is scheduled to reopen Oct. 17. Owen Crider, an Elon University sophomore, said he was more than disheartened when he heard NC Jelly Donuts is temporarily closed, which has been the case since Oct. 3.

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NEWS 10/10/23 10:22pm

Elon University Admissions impress visiting families

By Michael Leung

Elon has an undergraduate enrollment of around 6,000 students — a 13% increase from the 5200 undergraduate students it had roughly a decade ago in 2012. According to the Registrar's report, Elon sees an increase of roughly 100 students each year. Therefore, as Elon’s student body grows in size, new dorms such as the one being built in East neighborhood are being constructed in order to accommodate new incoming students. This growth can be accredited to how Elon is portrayed to potential students, according to Greg Zaiser, Vice President for Enrollment.

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NEWS 10/10/23 8:14am

Numen Lumen celebrates 10 years at Elon University

By Isabella DeJong

Numen Lumen Pavilion — a multifaith sacred space in the heart of Elon University — is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Numen Lumen was established in 2013 and houses the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society. The center fosters a space for discussion of religion, explores shared aspects of common humanity and promotes values of multifaith collaboration. Rev. Kirsten Boswell said she praises Elon’s Numen Lumen for the community it has built.

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NEWS 10/9/23 9:54pm

Elon University students, faculty gather to support Jewish community

By Abigail Hobbs

At the Israel Solidarity Gathering on Phi Beta Commons on Oct. 9, students and faculty came together to support those affected by the Israel-Hamas war. On Oct. 7, the Hamas militant group attacked the southern border of Israel — killing and abducting local residents. The Israeli government declared a war on Hamas on Oct. 8, which has led to bombings and mass casualties of nearly 1,600 as of 4 p.m. Oct. 9, according to the Associated Press. The gathering, hosted by Elon Hillel and Chabad, included praying, singing Oseh Shalom — a Jewish prayer for peace —, offering resources to students and providing options of where to donate.

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NEWS 10/6/23 8:31am

Film community at Elon University examines WGA deal

By Alexa Citrin

The WGA reached a tentative agreement after months of negotiations with studio executives. The deal came on Sept. 24, over four months after the strike began May 2. This agreement comes after negotiations restarted, bringing an end to the strike that has paused production and project development. Kai Swanson, a cinema and television arts professor, said for many in the industry, the strike has halted any development and changed the way they feel about the future of their careers. 

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