Opinions

Become authors of your own worldview and faith

Oh behalf of the Chaplains — Father Gerry, Rabbi Meir, Chaplain Joel, Muslim Coordinator Shane Atkinson, and myself, Chaplain Jan — I want to welcome you! It is a joy to have the campus teeming again with happy and energetic students. Our presence on campus means that Elon cares about your spiritual self, and your whole self. Our mission, in the Truitt Center, is to provide you resources to explore, consider and deepen your religious or spiritual commitment. We also offer you opportunities to understand and interact with those who follow different paths. And we provide events and moments to support religious and non-religious students to think together and learn from each other.

Validated, valued, and victorious at Elon

As we welcome our LGBTQIA and ally students, faculty, and staff back to campus, we must also take time to reflect upon the national conversations surrounding LGBTQIA events, tragedies, and victories.

It's okay not to bELONg here at first

If your first experience at Elon is one riddled with anxiety and uncertainty like mine, perhaps you don’t bELONg. And that’s okay. The challenge is to find where you do belong. The result may surprise you.

Lessons in humility during times of struggle

Starting college is a fresh start, a clean slate, a blank canvass — but on your first day, you realize that the canvass given to you isn’t blank at all.

HAMZIK: Elon’s student newsroom in transition

The Pendulum and Elon Local News, Elon's leading student news organizations, are merging to create one organization called Elon News Network.

An open letter to Kathleen Parker

"It's unfair, but that was my reality."

Maybe this is the new norm and I have to accept it. Silly me for thinking I was going to inherit a nation that was supposedly “indivisible,” as I robotically recited in the Pledge of Allegiance in grade school.

Peace, love and difficult conversations

The Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life has demonstrated a commitment to multifaith engagement that has been solidified with the construction of the Numen Lumen Pavilion in 2013.  The building itself is a representation of our mission to provide a “safe place for spiritual growth, worldview exploration (religious and secular), and interfaith engagement.” However, our work has been met with criticism on many levels.  Instead of using my breath (or in this case, my keyboard) to try and shout why our work is great and why people should listen, I would like to use this piece constructively to express how we can improve our words and actions. One of the main themes emerging in criticisms of interfaith work is that the crowd that we engage gets lumped together in a giant conglomerate of peace, love and neoliberalism.

Summer blockbuster or bust?

With the highly anticipated release of Captain America: Civil War at the end of this week, the summer blockbuster season is well underway.

Elon's future must not overshadow the present

It is no secret that Elon is continually advancing its facilities and resources. Noise from construction projects has become almost as expected and understood as the whistling sound of the train passing by. 

Take some time to practice gratitude

Over the past twenty years, social scientists have found that religious beliefs and practices are linked to mental health and functioning. In a study called “Religion and mental health,” Behere et.

Studying abroad is worth the risk

Ever since its first trip to England in 1969, Elon’s study abroad program has steadily risen in popularity, and is today considered an essential cornerstone in the Elon identity.

Embrace these final days at Elon

Over my years of chaplaincy I've noticed a trend among seniors. I think it sharing my observations will help you to place yourself in these strenuous days. In the spring of the senior year, and every now and then in the late fall, when you hoped you'd have your best times of all, things tend to fall apart.

Be willing to relax during summer vacation

To college students, it seems that summer is a bit of a paradox. It is labelled as a “vacation,” a time for students to take an extended break from the busy student life cycle.

My skin color does not determine my race

I am from Ecuador, but my race is not Latina or Hispanic When I decided to come study in the United States I knew that my Ecuadorian culture and the American culture where different.

Cancelled concerts, missed opportunities

As students living in North Carolina, I’m sure you’ve heard all about House Bill 2. (If you haven't yet, do a quick Google before reading this.) One of the ways you’ve probably heard more about it in the news is the fact that many musicians are cancelling their shows in opposition of the discriminatory law. Musical groups and entertainers such as Ringo Starr, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, Cirque du Soleil, Boston, Blue Man Group and most recently, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, have canceled their performances in North Carolina to boycott the law. Seeing this headline really makes me feel conflicted.

Corporate interests undermine new dietary guidelines

Today in America, politics run practically every aspect of our lives. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are no exception.

A connection to home doesn't mean we are disconnected

Societal views can be black and white, and a world without gray is a world without balance – a world without acceptance.

Another column about media portrayal of sexual assault

A few months ago, I published a column criticizing the overwhelming willingness of the media and society in general to sweep charges of rape and sexual assault under the rug for well-respected males in a feeble attempt to maintain their shiny images.

In CAA, more opportunities for institutional, athletic growth

Elon University’s move to the Colonial Athletic Association, announced May 2013 but not official until July 2014, was met with considerable financial weight and legitimate concerns with regard to travel and level of competition. But about two years in, fresh off the first CAA Championships that Elon hosted, it’s clear that the move was the right move for not just the athletic department, but the institution as a whole. Elon’s Jimmy Powell Tennis Center hosted the CAA Tennis Championships last weekend, with both the Phoenix men and women falling in tight semifinal matches.