Thursday, September 12,1985
Good news eventually
drives out the bad
Bad publicity has been a thorn in Eton’s side in recent months.
In April, 11 Elon College residents were arrested on drug charges.
TTie arrests were widely publicized, probably giving the impression
that drug use is common among Elon students. Then in May, two
Elon students were charged with the beating of a 76-year-old wonian
who lived one block from the campus. Area residents were alarmed
and frightened. And now, Elon faces even more negative publicity
with last week’s arrest and conviction of the campus security direc
tor, Allan Nowell, for sex crimes against minors.
All of this certainly reflects poorly on the college. And how the
public perceives Elon is important to the college’s future. Nothing
can be done about what has already happened, but something must
be done to help restore Elon’s previously good reputation. It won’t
be easy because the bad inevitably outweighs the good in the public’s
memory.
Therefore, exercising responsibility in actions is in order for
students, staff, faculty and administrators. The negative news will
eventually be forgotten, especially if some good news comes to the
forefront in the meantime.
In the last couple of years, the college has become more image
conscious than ever before. Advertising and marketing strategies have
been developed to promote Elon as a place to get a good college educa
tion at reasonable cost.
All those efforts are jeopardized by events such as those of the past
weekend. The college will have to keep plugging away to tell its own
side of the story, often through its own means. It can’t do anything
about the daily news media’s emphasis on the negative and bizarre
(it is interesting that the campaign to improve the qualifications of
new students has not been found newsworthy by any of the area
media). At The Pendulum we try to present all the news, good and
bad, about the college. We’d like to hear from you if you think we
are emphasizing one kind of news over the other.
—By Jane Kidwell
Classrooms are too hot
While administrators have been working in air-conditioned com
fort for the past week of 90-degree weather, students and teachers
have been sweltered in the heat of classrooms with no air condition
ing. The unbearable heat has made it difficult for students to concen
trate and certainly for the faculty to teach.
We invite the administrators and the Board of Trustees to sit through
one 55-minute class. Perhaps if they experience what most students
and teachers are going through, they would be more willing to air-
condition the classrooms, regardless of cost.
Peanuts* by Charles Schultz
‘‘A BANANA PEEL UIEI6H5
1/g THE TOTAL WEI6HT
BANANA
If AN UNPEELEP BANANA
BALANCES A PEELEC?
a^NANA OF THE SAME U)e(6HT
PLUS Vs OF AN OUNCE..."
a
a
Adults should be allowed to drink
A citizen must be at least 18
years of age to join the military,
to vote and in some cases to be
tried as an adult in this country.
But soon one will have to be 21
to drink alcoholic beverages in a
majority of the United States, in
cluding North Carolina, Virginia
and Maryland. Many state
legislatures claim to have been
“blackmailed” into raising the
legal drinking age under pressure
from the Reagan administration,
which has threatened to withhold
federal highway funds from states
that do not increase the drinking
age.While this economic and
political pressure on legislators is
understandable, it is certainly
discriminatory to make it more
difficult for these young people to
get a drink legally.
How can a citizen be expected
to risk his life in war on behalf
of a country which does not even
find him mature enough to drink
alcohol?
How does the government
think it can trust 18-year-olds to
make wise decisions about voting
for major leaders of the nation
when it does not trust them to
make wise decisions about
drinking?
And how can the government
expect a citizen of 18 to handle
himself in adult courts when it
does not believe he or she can
even handle alcohol?
Our country’s leaders are con
structing classifications of
adulthood. How did they arrive at
these age levels? Isn’t being an
adult, being an adult?
What makes the drinking age
more important than the draft ,
age, the voting age and the age of j
legal prosecution as an adult? |
No matter what age officials
decide marks maturity, whether
i^ bf 18 qr ^1^ i( is there that all *
rights and privileges should be
extended.
I
'..HOW MUCH DOES THE
BANANA WEI6H UlTHPEEL^"
The Pendulum Staff
Editor
News Editor
Arts Editor
Emphasis Editor
Sports Editor
Photograpt>ers
Ad Manager
Advisor
Jane Kidwe*!
Frank Isley
Paul Harris
Loukia Looka
Batchelof
Paul Harris
Ann Cralidis
Michele Lashley
Bob Nowelf
Brian E
The Pendulunn welcomes letters, limited to
250 words, from our readers. Longer matenal
may be subnr^itted as option articles. All let
ters submitted must be signed, and a
number giv^n so that the letter’s validity can
be checked. The editor reserves the rigW w
edit for length, (ibel. good taste and accuracy
The deadline for submitting material is 2 P
Monday. Our office is located in 102 WiNi^
son Avenue, phow 584-2331 or 584-246
This paper Is- published by the Com
munications Media Board of Elon CoiieO®
Founded on October 14. 1974. as
dent newspaper serving the Elon CoHw
community. The Pendulum is published ea
Thursday during regular terms except for
examination and holiday periods.
dulum is printed by The Burlington 03*
Times-News-