Page 8 • Thursday, November 6, 2003 NEWS The Pendulum University guides important, yet imperfect admissions tool Matt Belanger / Photographer University guide Sarah Deixick starts a tour in Moseley Center Wednesday afternoon. Tour guides are often asked by prospective students and parents to discuss issues such as Greek life and alcohol use during their tours. Matt Belanger Asst. News Editor Just as Elon’s No. 2 ranking on Princeton Review’s list of beautiful campuses draws so many prospective students, Elon’s tour guides play a role in marketing the univer sity. Recently, concern has been raised among students regarding the accuracy of infonnation delivered by tour guides to prospective students. “I definitely think the way tour guides present infonnation is sugar-coated,” said sophomore Keisaundra Henderson. “I think it’s ail accurate, but they don’t necessarily show the negative aspects of what they are saying.” This is not the first time that concern has been raised over the extent that the Office of Admissions controls prospective stu dents’ image of the university. Controversy was sparked on Elon’s cam pus when the Nov. 6, 1989 edition of The Pendulum was removed from its stands by Admissions before an open-house weekend because of drug-related coverage on the front page. However, a number of students and faculty did not agree with the office’s censorship of infonnation. The office’s actions were later deemed inappropriate and the same infonnation was allowed to be re printed and distributed to the campus com munity the following week. However, a number of students have pointed to factual inconsistencies in some tour guides’ presentations, blaming them for creating an inaccurate image of the uni versity. Many students on campus feel that the role of alcohol and involvement in Greek life on campus is downplayed during lours. Dean of Admissions Susan Klopman said that Admissions has a number of pro grams in place, including extensive training and feedback systems, to help keep all of the guides on the same page. “So, do you hear crazy things? Yes you do, because we only have so much control. We do everything we can with feedback and training to make sure prospective students get an accurate picture of Elon,” she said. “But if we wanted this to be perfect, we wouldn’t have student tour guides.” Klopman said that student guides offer an invaluable perspective to students taking the tours. However, she said tour guides are expected to memorize an incredible amount of information about every aspect of the university and often that makes it hard to keep things consistent. Klopman said keep ing everyone in Admissions informed who may be questioned about any situations on campus helps to prevent uncomfortable sit uations from arising during the tour process. “We really trust our student guides,” she said. “Sometimes our .students are placed into very difficult situations and they need to have the information they need to handle it effectively.” Klopman explained that some tour guides may choose to avoid bringing up sensitive topics during tours to avoid being placed into uncomfortable situations. This raises concern because it may omit some information about the university that is cru cial for prospective students to get an accu rate picture of Elon. “You know, sometimes to let sleeping dogs lie is a good idea,” Klopman said. Still, university guide Kate LaVanger said she tells parents and students on tours that Elon is not a dry campus, but still fol lows the North Carolina state laws for alco hol consumption. “We don’t lie about it. We say that Elon is a wet campus,” LaVanger said. For training on how to handle questions about alcohol, Director of Substance Education Resa Walch gives periodic pre sentations to the tour guides about Elon’s stance on drinking. Throughout the year, tour guides receive additional training and updated information from a variety of sources, including updates to the university guide training manual. Tour guides also have a fact book that states how the guides should handle tough questions. “In tour guide training we bring up dif ferent issues and discuss them as a group and talk about how to truthfully answer them but not give an inaccurate portrayal,” said Nan Perkins, vice president for institu tional advancement. According to Elon statistics, 98 percent of the current freshman class visited Elon’s campus at some point before enrolling. Kelly Herndon, who coordinates prospec tive student’s visits to campus, said that tour guides are one of the most important aspects involved in selling the school to prospective students. Nevertheless, Perkins, explained the importance of giving prospective students an accurate portrayal of the school. “The last thing they want to do in Admissions is mislead students,” she said. “If you tell them things that are not true, once they get here you are going to have a number of unhappy students.” Contact Matt Belanger at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247. Changes in effect for game day and homecoming weekend parking policies The following parking lots must be vacated by 8 a.m. Saturday: Jordan Center #1 (SWV tags may remain), Harper Center, Moseley Center, McMlchae! Science Center and McMichael Lot #2 Students may move their vehicles anytime after 5 p.m. on Friday to the following locations; Danleley Center, Elon East, Railroad Tracks, Whitley Staff Lot, Elon Elementary and Ivlooney Staff lot Individuals using the library need to use visitor’s parking only. The remaining spaces in Moseley Center, McMichael Science Center and Greek Courts parling will be used for homecoming events. Students are advised that if they have visitors on campus they must also move their cars to one of the approved lots. j

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view