Letters-page 2
Greek Week-page 4
Democracy-page 5
Closed stacks-page 2
Pool prizes-page 5
‘Up With People”-page 5
Volume V Number 23
Trouble-shooter
Elon CoDege, North Carolina
April 12, 1979
Quality enhanced
by King White
A full-time position was
created this year to study the
reasons why some students do
not go on to complete their
education at Elon College,
and to determine solutions to
this problem. As coordinator
of student development, Ms,
Lela Faye Rich is currently
seeking' ways to reduce the
number of students who
“drop out” from this college
by finding their reasons for
withdrawing.
“Across the country
around 55 to 60 per cent of
the students who enter col
leges and universities leave
before they have earned a de
gree,” says Ms. Rich. “At
Elon, 50 to 55 per cent of the
students who are admitted
eventually drop out for one
reason or another. Some
transfer to other institutions,
but a large number leave due
to a lack of interest or
motivation, or because of
academic deficiencies. This
figure may sound unusually
large, but it really is not
uncommon for students to
drop out of school,” she
says.
To reduce drop-outs
Ms. Rich’s responsibility is
to determine the reasons why
students leave Elon College
and to determine ways to
reduce the dropout rate. She
regularly confers with stu
dents who are planning to
withdraw, as well as those
who choose to remain in
college.
“Many students leave Elon
simply because they are hav
ing academic difficulties, or
they transfer to another in
stitution they feel will offer
them something else,” she
explains. “I have found that
many students who drop out
for academic reasons do so
because they lack the neces
sary motivation to do well.
Most are not involved in any
extra-curricular activities such
as the newspaper, student
government, intramurals, fra
ternities and sororities, and
the like, and have little con
tact with the college except in
the classroom. My job is to
find ways to motivate these
students by suggesting pro
grams or services which will
enable them to work at their
full potential.”
Ms. Rich believes that the
quality of learning can be
enhanced if the dropout rate
for the freshman and sopho
more classes can be reduced.
“If we can increase the num
ber of students who remain at
Elon for the full four years,
more courses of upper-level
study can be offered,” she
says. “With a large freshman
class, many classes have to be
geared to that level. If the
size of the sophomore
through senior classes can be
increased, the academic at
mosphere can be improved
and more upper-level courses
c£m be offered.”
737 freshmen
The size difference in the
number of students enrolled
at Elon this spring illustrates
the disproportionate number
of freshmen to upperclass
men. According to the Regis
trar’s office, the freshman
class has 737 students cur
rently enrolled, compared to
498 in the sophomore class,
346 in the junior class, and
451 in the senior class.
“Elon College is a good
small college and has the po
tential for being even better,”
says says. “An important way
to upgrade this ihstitution’s
standards is to reduce the
student dropout rate.”
Ms. Rich relies on student
input to arrive at her con
clusions and welcomes any
ideas that students can offer.
Her office is in Alamance
102; she can be reached by
phone at Ext. 477.
These sorority girls discuss their battle plan for the boat race di^ring Greek Week.
Frats to face formal hearings
The six fraternity chapters
here at Elon, four national
and two local, will undergo
grand charter review proce
dures. A board, consisting of
Dean W.G. Long, Dr. J.
Francis, Prof. Janice Council,
SGA President Robin Moser,
and ex-president of Pi Kappa
Phi Tim Dallas will inves
tigate the life and role of each
chapter.
The investigation will in
clude, among other things, a
look at leadership develop
ment programs: college and
surrounding community serv
ice; academic and scholarship
promotion; management of
finances; pledge training pro
grams; membership policy;
college at Elon College.
hazing and proper mainten
ance of housing.
“The whole idea here is to
try to establish a better fra
ternity life. I consider the
potential of the fraternity
system to be very high; it is
important for all of us to take
every possible step to
strengthen the total pro
gram,” said Dean W.G.
Long.
Beginning in late April,
formal hearings will be held
LRC to host
study session
During a recent series of
discussions with students, it
was discovered that many
students do not think they
have developed textbook
studying skills to their maxi
mum.
In response to this finding,
Betty Maness of the Learning
Resources Center staff will
conduct a session on “Ef
fective Textbook Studying”
on Tuesday, April 17, at 3:30
p.m. in the LRC classroom,
Mooney 105.
The “SQ3R” method of
study will be the basis for this
session which will include
practice of certain aspects of
the method. This method of
study has been in use 20
years; it s continued use and
effectiveness is due to its
reliance on the psychological
factors which help people
learn.
All interested students are
invited to attend.
with each fraternity and with
in a few days of the con
clusion of the final hearing on
May 2, one of the following
actions will be taken: Con
tinued full recognition of the
fraternity; placement of the
^temity on probation; re
moval of the fraternity s
housing privileges; suspension
of the fraternity’s charter; or
revocation of the fraternity s
charter.
The goal of the Grand
CharterReview Board is to get
the fraternities to work to
gether and with the surround
ing community and the col
lege in a positive way.
Library sells
excess books
The library and the Cam
pus Shop are having a com
bined book fair and sundries
sale on April 17.
Charles Lowry, head li
brarian, has said that num
erous books in all subject
fields and paperback fiction
will be available at bargain
basement prices. These are
titles which the library already
had copies of or which are
not suitable to the collection.
Buck Bayliff of the Cam
pus Shop will offer college
textbooks at $2 an armload,
knick-knacks, odd and ends,
and other things at large dis
counts. The sale will be held
on the patio of the Long
Student Center from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 17.