Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / March 4, 1993, edition 1 / Page 3
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u» •iW«i*>W;*^tf>*rt«iri|iji!W»«^u,»-rt»Ji.;.j^n.:»tt^rf«f ■'•jV » >■*;*'*}»»•♦■ 5? >1*5' Op-Ed March 4, 1993 Page 3 Students' rude behavior at cultural events is bad reflection on college To the Editor: At the risk of sounding like the old fogey grandmother that I am, I want to express my concern about the deplorable rudeness of a large number of students at the Arun Gandhi lecture last week. Coming in a couple of minutes late, I found a seat near the back of the balcony. Within ten minutes after Mr. Gandhi began to speak, a steady stream of students began leaving. In most cases, there was ‘ apparently no concern even about distracting others. They climbed Over the back of seats, often bolted noisily to the door, and on the side where the door was closed, they fumbled frantically 'vith the handle as if they were trying to escape a fire. I cannot say whether similar behavior was occurring on the lower level, but having seen it at ®very previous lecture I have attended, I feel safe in assuming ^at it was. I fear that Elon is gaining a ‘‘eputation—both with speakers "'ho have been bewildered by Such discourtesy and with the •^any Elon students who appreciate the opportunity of **earing such internationally ^nown speakers as Mr. Gandhi-- of being a third-rate institution "'here a speaker must either tell Simple-minded jokes every other sentence or be subjected to this appalling humiliation. I know that a large number students leave Elon without ®ver having attended a classical Concert, a first-rate drama, or a ,®cture by a speaker heavily •Hvolved in world affairs, even jl'ough all of these are available •'ere every semester. Later they "'onder why they do not get or •^^tain the kinds of careers they "'^nt. The best positions are not ®|len open to those who say: Gandhi? Who’s he?" or Schumann-'wasn't he the '’^mmer for Pink Royd?" 1 am aware that a large ^•■centage of this behavior is by ^se whose professors required j to attend. They thus stay enough to pick up a J^gram or a handout and ^haps to get the speaker's first ^ "It or two, and then they move ^ to the really important ^^siness of the night-the party third rerun of their favorite LETTERS To The Iklitor sitcom. We as faculty, on the other hand, are faced with the dismal prospect that only our finest and most self-motivated students will attend these events if not pressured. Because such opportunities add immeasurably to the intellectual climate of our classes, and because they provide students with ideas and social awareness beyond what we can make available to them in our three hours a week, we keep hoping the excitement of learning will eventually take hold. We also face the dilemma that poor attendance will often assure that many of these cultural events will not return to our campus, thus losing their benefit for the students who need and appreciate them. I offer no solutions-perhaps there are none. We can only change our own behavior, not that of others. I would hate to see faculty have to stoop to the tactic which I admit shamefacedly I used after the Gandhi lecture: I gave a pop quiz. I'm sure that forty Elon freshmen thus hope that other students' boorish behavior does not continue to Helen H. Mackay Rumors about formal rush unfair To the Editor: Formal rush has come and gone but there are still many rumors and misconceptions flying around about the way Rush was held. First of all, several things about Rush were changed in order to eliminate the ridiculous amount of dirty rush that takes place on our campus. Many people have bashed the system, not fully knowing everything it entailed or why it was being changed. Granted, things did not go 100 percent smoothly, but this docs not mean that things were handled unfairly. In fact, another reason for these changes was to IT SE.BJAS, L1K£ ONLV V^STERDAV., UA ^ '-4 -1 Q BABV 7«€ ffuiPMto A/ewi cater to the rushee, which most people who have been so critical have failed to acknowledge. It is unfortunate that many girls did not receive bids, however this was partiallly their own doing. Far too many girls went through Rush closed- minded, and when it didn’t work out with that one organization, other options were offered and usually declined. Several open •bids were extended, most of which were not accepted. Amanda Harless and all of the rush counselors did everything possible to keep everybody in Rush. And if the girls who participated in Rush didn’t have such tunnel-vision towards certain organizations, then there would have been many more haR)y faces at Bid Circle. Lauren Mazzola Yeaitook needs action, not petitions To the Editor: I've been receiving feedback from Courtenay Houston's interview with me about the yearbook. Some students are unhappy that the Media Board is considering doing away with Phi Psi Cli. petition circulated in favor of keeping the yearbook. That's great, but we need action not signatures. The yearbook is dying because people don't care enough to work on it. Without people doing the writing, the layout and the photography - there can't be a yearbook! Every time someone comes to me and complains about the yearbook folding. I've responded "Go work on the yearbook." So far I haven't had any takers. If anyone really wants a yearbook, and this goes for faculty and staff as well as students, go help them publish it. Chris Fulkerson Media Board member Greeks want more unity, less division To the Editor: I found the commentary in the February 25 edition of The Pendulum to be very critical of the Greek system and one-sided. I am writing this letter as just another viewpoint on many of the things you wrote about. First of all you have written a commentary about all Greeks based on a period shorter than a In fact. I've eyen .seeij, ^ ^ week. Futhennore. tWs p^erjod involved only female Greeks. Panhellenic tries to avoid situations like the ones that happened during the last rush period by providing rush counselors. In life, not all things come out as planned. The Greek system is a way to give students options on their weekends (not just nights) and to engage students actively in their campus and community. We don’t want to be separated from the student population, but your editorial did that for us. What Elon needs is to make a more concerted effort to promote groups that bridge the gap between students, not Greeks and non-Greeks. There are Greek members, I would say, in perhaps every organization on campus. If we were the “cultural elite” that you like everyone to believe, we would not be involved with organizations that have non- Greek members. You have called being in a Greek organization “the end-all- be-all of social activity.” The truth is that most, but not all, Greek organizations are social organizations. We are here to fill that aspect of college life. Habitat is not here to be a social organization nor is the Student Union Board (SUB). While we are called social jSee jGreek, Page 4.
Elon University Student Newspaper
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March 4, 1993, edition 1
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