OPINIONS
12/3/17 4:07pm
EDITORIAL: National sexual assault accusations should shed light on abuse of power
From surprising starts to heart-stopping finishes and even tough losses, this entire season has said, “Why Not Us?” It’s a similar mindset that I have used during my time here at Elon.
Recently, the fear of acts of terror has cast a shadow over the joys of going abroad. In recent years, acts of terror — including domestic terrorism here in the United States committed by Americans and acts of terror internationally committed by larger terror organizations — seemingly occur almost every other week. These tragedies can have great emotional impact on anyone, especially those in close proximity to the situation.
I was first introduced to Elon University’s E-Rides program this fall. The transportation program — offered from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday-Thursdays, and from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Fridays — takes students across campus and to locations within a one-and-a-half mile radius from the Moseley Student Center. It is an extension of the on-campus hospitality program promoted at Elon.
If you had the opportunity to travel back in time and meet your past self from years, months or even weeks ago, would you? If you aired on the more adventurous side and answered yes, I know how to satisfy your appetite for introspection. Sadly, it does not involve the use of a time machine. The solution is rather uncomplicated: journaling.
We all need to do more talking and a lot more listening. Elon University is no stranger to suicide. In the last three years, we’ve lost Trent Stetler and Demitri Allison to suicide. We lost two bright, beautiful and promising young lives, and I cannot help but wonder whether these losses could have been prevented.
The loss of a member of our community is beyond hard for everyone, especially for those of us who knew him. Take however long you need to grieve in whichever way you need to. And please remember — you are not alone.
Before arriving at college, I couldn’t even entertain the thought of reading for pleasure. Throughout my years of schooling, reading was always assigned, and it felt like an absolute chore to learn about seemingly negligible topics--like astrophysics, for example. To add to the agony, I was usually required to craft some variation of a templated, soulless essay about what I learned.
For many students at Elon University, Halloween is an exciting and fun holiday where students can dress up in costumes with their friends. Too often though, students and people across the world take this innocent holiday as an opportunity to use other people's cultures as costumes or otherwise be insensitive — even if they do not mean to. Some costumes may not even seem inappropriate at first, but when looked at critically, clearly have racist, homophobic, transphobic or sexist implications.
Last semester my friend Morgan Bodenarain, executive president of SGA, invited me to the N-Word Forum, an event organized by the Black Student Union. Before she asked me to go, I had seen posters promoting the event around campus and, to be honest, I had no interest in attending. But Bodenarain insisted I attend with her. The second we walked into the room, I noticed that I was in the minority.
So far in college, I’ve learned it is impossible to view U.S. politics from only one perspective. Like the range of students at a liberal arts college, the combinations of viewpoints are endless. Notions of representation and freedoms become jumbled in rhetoric about identity politics in this era of globalization. We grapple daily with our differing interests, occupations and political affiliations. These three, together, are derived from our self-imposed rules and values.
On Oct. 9, Elon University announced its newest President-elect, Constance “Connie” Ledoux Book, who will be the university’s first female president. This announcement came after a closed eight-monthlong search that left many Elon community members wanting more information. Book is undoubtedly very qualified for this job — her experiences in her varying roles at Elon and at her previous institution, The Citadel, show her commitment to and passion for higher education. Many students, faculty and staff members who knew or worked with her during her time here at Elon showed excitement for her return.
Before anyone decides to rant or send me an angry email about how backward I am when it comes to body image, or that I am most definitely sponsored by Weight Watchers and other similar companies, note that the “Freshman Fifteen” is in quotation marks. I am quoting a concept, a trite concept somehow insinuated into the brains of every college female I have met in just the first month on campus. Before graduating high school, the guidance counselors thought it would be a great idea for us girls to write down our biggest fears about higher education. I could not help noting that “weight gain” made that list.
As organizers of Elon’s recent panel discussion on Charlottesville, we write first to express our belief that student journalism and the freedom of student expression are critical to Elon’s commitment to experiential learning and to an informed campus.
Freedom of speech and press are foundational rights that must be protected in order to uphold a democratic society.
Go outside. Whatever it is you do, there’s a way to do it outside. Walking across campus, even on the nicest of days, you’d have no idea that there are over six thousand students at Elon.
Mark your calendars! The Colonnades dining hall recently announced that it will be serving a steak and lobster dinner on Tuesday, September 12.
