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The Pendulum
Thursday, September 12, 1985
Volume XII, No. 2
)th straight
snrollment
ecord set
By Frank Isley
News Editor
Despite stricter admissions
andards on entering freshmen
id transfer students, Elon’s
jrollment has risen, once again,
ir the ninth consecutive year.
Registrar Marie Albertson said
is year’s enrollment hit an all
Tie high of 2,929, an increase of
/er 100 students more than last
jar’s final total of 2,794.
However, Albertson said the
«ater number of students enroll-
1 did not cause a bigger hassle
1 Registration and Drop-Add
ays.
Instead, quite the op|x>site was
ue.
‘“Registration Day and Drop-
dd Day went smoothly,” the
'gistrar said. “The only negative
ing I could associate with the
“ocess was the heat. There
eren’t even any mechanical pro
ems with the computers.”
Albertson attributed the ease
id success of registration to the
■eater number of students who
ere preregistered and completed
eir registration by mail and en-
)urages a greater number of
udents to do the same.
Of the total number of students,
785 completed their registration
I mail and approximately 1,100
udents completed their registra-
3n in the gym on Sept. 3.
Ithough the college’s enrollment
once again over the previous
ar’s enrollment, the increase
IS not necessarily been at-
buted to the number of incom-
g freshmen and transfer
idents.
See EnroUnient, page 2
A Peasant of El Salvador
Another Vietnam?
Teach-in to examine Central American conflicts
By Seth B. Pomeroy
Staff Writer
Beginning with next Monday’s presentation of A
Peasant of El Salvador (see preview article on page
7), Elon College will sponsor a three-day Teach-In
on troubled Central America.
The program includes a range of speakers which
coordinator Richard McBride, the college chaplain,
believes will familiarize the community with the
culture, problems and subtleties of the region.
The opening-night play will give students and
faculty an opportunity to understand the region
through the viewpoint of an El Salvadoran farmer.
Tuesday’s lineup features five speakers, beginn
ing with a 9:30 chapel talk by Rev. Ann Rogers-
Witte of Raleigh, who recently visited the region.
Later that day, William Schofield of the U.S. State
Department and author Reed Brody, noted for his
recent book Latin America: The Freedom to Write,
will discuss U.S.-backed “freedom fighters” or
Contras in Nicaragua as part of American foreign
policy in the region.
W^nesday will be another full day of speakers,
who will discuss such topics as agrarian reform,
economics of the region, and the church’s role in
the various conflicts.
McBride said that the college embarked on such
an in-depth examination of the region because of
what he sees as potential parallels between the
United States’ initial involvement in Vietnam and
this country’s presence in Nicaragua, El Salvador
and the rest of the region today.
He added, “We must help our government make
the right choices about our role in Central
America.” He said he became particularly in
terested in the region when he began hearing discre
pant reports about conflicts there from the State
Department and Christian missionaries who work
there.
“I didn’t even know the geography of the region
before that,” McBride said. “I turned away from
what I was hearing for too long.”
Asked whether the speakers would present all
sides of the explosive issues in El Salvador and
Nicaragua, McBride said, “It (the Teach-In) will
challenge more than defend the U. S. government.
We can’t allow the government to do our thinking
for us about Central America.”
The chaplain said he hopes the program will ac
complish several goals here. One is to increase
students’ respect of the cultures of Central America.
Another is to investigate whether U. S. policy there
is correct. A third is “to bring us to be greater par
ticipants in our government’s decision-making pro
cess when it debates the various moral and ethical
questions of the region,” McBride said.
Elon starts season
with two wins
p.10
Child
abuse
growing
problem
By Loukia Louka
Emphasis Editor
The Elon College community is
still reeling from the news that the
college’s director of security last
week received life in prison for
having sexually abused two
children and for having been
engaged in a pornographic movie
operation involving children.
The swiftness with which it all
happened was shocking enough.
Edward Allan Nowell, 36, was ar
rested last Tbesdi^ night, entered
a guilty plea on Friday and was
sentenced the same day. During
the weekend Nowell also unsuc
cessfully tried to commit suicide.
To many people, it was also
shocking that Nowell received the
life sentence from Alamance
County Superior Court Judge
Robert L. Farmer. The severity of
the sentence underscored the
growing national concern over
child abuse and child por
nography in recent years.
“Until about 20 years ago, sex
ual abuse within the &mily wasn’t
a legal matter,” said Dr. Thomas
Arcaro, assistant professor of
sociology at Elon and an authority
on deviance. “Children were con
sidered their parents’ property—
their business—but now we as a
society are defining many kinds of
mistreatment as abuse.”
Arcaro also pointed out that
children are abused in upper as
See Child Abuse, page U
Job search
How to approach it
p.12