0 CHEAT SHEET; SENATE CONFIRMATIONS
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Betsy DeVos, Donald Trumps nominee for
Secretary of Education, was confirmed by the
Senate Tuesday after a drawn-out war with
Senate Democrats. Devos, a notable donor
to the Republican party for years, ignited a
firestorm during her initial Senate confirma
tion hearing. She was grilled by Sen. Elizabeth
Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-
VT) — and performed poorly, according to
many experts in the field.
One critique of DeVos was that she and her
family were unfamiliar with the struggles of
the average American, such as Federal Stu
dent Aid programs. A final vote for her will
be held Tuesday afternoon. Senate Republi
cans voted against a filibuster of DeVos, while
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer
said Monday that for the good of the country,
DeVos should not be nominated.
“The American people are speaking in one
loud voice against this nominee. I’ve had peo
ple come up to me and say T voted for Don
ald Trump, but
I want you to
vote against
this nominee,”’
kicking off the
lengthy, final
debate over De
Vos,” Schumer
said.
D e V o s ’ s
nomination is
one of many
that will be
tightly debated
on Capitol Hill
in the coming
week. Attorney
general nomi
nee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-A) and Health and
Human Services pick Tom Price are both
awaiting battles in the full Senate. While he
noted the division of party lines is common,
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING
IN ONE LOUD VOICE AGAINSTTHIS
NOMINEE, I’VE HAD PEOPLE COME UP
TO ME AND SAY “I VOTED FORDDNALD
TRUMP, BUT I WANT YOU TO VOTE
AGAINSTTHIS NOMINEE,”
CHUCK SCHUMER
SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
President Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos pose after he nominated her for Secretary of Education.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-
Ky) said it is only halting the Senate from
progress.
“It seems
this gridlock
and opposition
has far less to
do with the
nominees ac
tually before us
than the man
who nominat
ed them,” Mc
Connell said
Monday. “The
Democratic
leader and his
colleagues are
under a great
deal of pressure
from those on
the left who simply cannot accept the results
of a democratic election. They’re calling for
Democrats to delay and punt and blockade
the serious work of the Senate at any cost.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
Betsy DeVos speaks durnig her confirmation hearing.
SGA town hall meetings continue after 1st semester
Diego Pineda
Photo Editor
@diego pinedal9
When SGA town hall meetings
began in fall 2016, Elon University
Class of 2018 Vice President Mor
gan Bodenarain was hesitant of the
number of students attending and
the overall effectiveness of these
meetings. She knew reaching out
to different parts of campus would
be hard and did not know what to
expect.
But the town halls began to
grow, and Bodenarain has not
ed that they are now overflowing
with students — more coming
from the student body than from
the Senate.
To her, this shows that the stu
dent body cares about the work
SGA does.
“I think that’s awesome because
not only do students get a chance
to hear or see who is on the Senate,
but we get a chance to hear what
students are actually thinking,”
Bodenarain said.
Ihese meetings have opened
dialogue within the student body
and have dealt with topics that af
fect the community such as free
dom of speech. Fraternity and So
rority Life and President Donald
'Frump’s executive order on immi
gration.
“Having this space where you
can come and not just hear your
thoughts being reflected back at
Members of the student body participate In
you, but you can hear what oth
er students are thinking, is really
important,” Bodenarain said. “You
can hear what other students are
thinking that are not in your cir
cle.”
Dean of Student Health and
Wellness and SGA Faculty Advi
sor Jana Lynn Patterson believes
the town hall meetings allow the
student body to engage in dia
logue on different issues in an
environment that might not oth
erwise exist.
“It gives people a chance,” Pat
terson said. “We don’t have oppor
tunities for students to come to
gether to just talk... in a place that
SGA’s town hall Feb. 2
is somewhat safe — even though
we don’t agree with one another
— [and where] people know that
they’re going to be respected and
that they’re gonna be heard.”
Besides the open communi
cation, these meetings have also
allowed the SGA Senate to hear
from students and get their per
spective.
“I want people to come and
see what SGA can do and see how
they can use SGA,” Bodenarain
said. I think that’s so important
because we are representatives and
we wanna do what you guys want.”
From this, students not only
learn about SGA’s role on campus,
LIAM COLLINS | Contributor
but also are able to play an active
role. These town hall meetings
sometimes result in the drafting of
legislation, which the SGA spon
sors. and students in attendance
can provide their input.
As numbers continue to in
crease at these meetings, there is
still room for improvement for the
upcoming semester and the new
Senate,
Patterson said she would like to
see “more diversity of thought,”
“I was more taken back that
there were not a lot of people who
had differing opinions than the
one we did on freedom of speech,”
Patterson said.
Retired music
professor dies
Malvin Newton Artley, a re
tired music professor credited
with shaping Elons string in
struction program, died Feb, 4
at the age of 95, He joined the
Elon University faculty in 1965,
and during his time here, he
founded the Elon College Or
chestra and was its first conduc
tor, He also organized a student
chapter of the National Associa
tion for Music Education before
retiring in 1986, He continued
to teach after his retirement and
was awarded the Elon Medal
lion in 2001,
Lumen scholar
seeks to improve
public health
Justin Morin ’17, an eco
nomics and finance major and
recipient of the Lumen Prize,
began sorting through the med
ical data of more than 60,000
individuals to examine the re
lationship between a person’s
income and health. The $15,000
scholarship Morin
a part of the Lumen Prize
help him with this research as
he tries to discover how an iirdi-
vidual’s economic status could
correlate to the likelihood they
will be hospitalized.
‘ On the Edge of
Apocalypse’
Feb. 9-11
Eleven scholars from the
U.S. and Canada will partici
pate in a symposium Feb. 9-11
to discuss end-of-world theo
ries from different cultures. The
event is the first of the Center
for the Study of Religion, Cul
ture and Society’s “On the
Edge” program, which will host
a bi-annual symposium.
Construction
begins for new
parking lot
Elon University has begun
construction on a new park
ing lot next to the McMichael
Building. The 165 new parking
spaces will be used to accom
modate Love School of Business
expansion plans, according to
Dan Anderson, Vice President
of University Communications.
Construction on Sankey Hail
will eliminate several spaces m
the McMichael lot. The new
parking lot, which will be ac
cessible to faculty, staff and vis
itors, should be complete by the
end of the spring semester.