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Volume XIV, No. 9
Wednesday, October 28, 1987
Elon College, NC
South African Divestment Still An Elon Issue
Should Board Of Trustees Reconsider Elons Position
By Mark Scagnelli
Staff Writer
The Elon Bt)ard «f Trustees are
having Iheir bi-annual meeting
this week to discuss the sch(K>ls
finances and future.
The board is meeting for a
three-day retreat in Wakefield.
Viriginia, to adopt a five-year
business plan for the college.
However, their are no plans tt>
discuss dive.sting Elon from South
African companies.
In a departure from their nor
mal pattern, the board will meet
at airfield, the Southeast 4-H
Eiducational Center in Virginia.
(Xober 27-29.
According to Board Chairman
and North Carolina Secretary of
State Thad Eure, this is the first
time in recent history that the
board will meet out of state.
When asked about South African
apartheid Eure said " I think it is
a terrible situation " however he
had no comment on the biard's
position on divestment.
In the fall of 1985 the schiH)l
faculty called tor full divestment
Irom South African companies.
As a result of this, and limited stu
dent pressure, the topic was rais
ed at the 1985 fall board meeting.
At that meeting, with the sup
port of Chairman Eure, a resolu
tion to divest from and make no
new investments in companies
that do not adhere to the Sullivan
Principles was passed.
The Sullivan Principles arc
codes designed to promote equal
treatment of black workers.
Although the board did not vote
to divest. Eure noted that " We
were among the first schools in
the stale to act on this issue
Recently other area schixtls.
a few letters written to the Pen
dulum. The action the board did
take was probably due' to the
pressure of the faculty than the stu
dent, According to Eure the board
They (students) are un-informed. If they were inform
ed I would hope they would do something about it.”
Dr. Carole Chose
such as U.N.C.-Chapel Hill and
Duke University . have voted for
lull divestment. However, at both
of these sch(X)ls there has been ac
tive student pressure to divest.
Both sch(xil's students have held
protest rallies and built shanty
towns which received liKal T.V.
news coverage.
At Elon there hae been no
demonstrations. In fact the only
student presure in 1985 was trom
has received no new pressure
from faculty or students since
1985,
The main goal of the porposed
five-year plan is to increase the
number ol talented students ac
cording to Administratie A,ssistant
to the President. Nan P, Perkins,
A talented student is defined as
having a SAT score ol KKK) or
higer and a .\0 schix)l grade point
average, Perkins also said that she
lelt the schix>r position on divct-
ment was settled, but she added
that “ This dcK'sn't mean it might
not change in the luture ‘,
Religious Studies teacher Dr,
Carole Chase says the reasOn that
the students do not put more
pressure on the board is that Elon
has a predominantly conservative
upper middle class student bxly.
" They are un-inti>rmed. If they
were informed I would hopethcy
would dt) something about it.
In the meantiiiK' the board will
be planning h»AV to best spend the
sch(X)l's money. Unless the stu
dent raise the question ol divest
ment again, it is unlikely that the
board will consider it. And unless
the situation in S»)uth Alrica
becomes worse, it is unlikely that
students at Elon will get involved.
Proper Lighting in Dorm?
McCarthy; Eugene McCarthy is the author ot Up 'Til Now: A Memoir.
He will be speaking Nwember 5th in the Fine Arts Center tentatively
at 7: .30.
By Kelly Dolan
Staff Writer
It is not uncommon to hear
Elon students complaining about
various campus facilities and the
lack of adequate residence hall
accommodations.
One problem, faced by on-
campus residents is the amount of
lighting in the suite areas.
“1 think the lighting in the suites
is really poor,” said sophomore
Cheryl kern.
“The lack of lighting just makes
it virtually impossible to study in
our dorm rooms,” said junior
Michelle Beckler.
Each dorm room and suite area
contains one lightbulb which con
tains a maximum of 150 watts of
power. Students complain that this
'i^hting insufficiency should be
remedied the college,
“There should be more than
just one small lightbulb to accom
modate the size of the dorm
rooms and living areas,” said
sophomore Traci Wheeler.
Although, the lack of campus
“There really isn’t an
ideal amount of
lighting that pro
vides for a studious
atmosphere.”
--Dr.RiChard
Etheridge
lighting causes a serious dilema
for studious co-eds, it has been
reported by area optometrists that
the dim lighting does not prove to
be a health hazard to students’
eyes.
“There really isn’t an ideal
amount of lighting that provides
for a studious atmosphere.” said
Burlington optometrist Dr.
Richard Etheridge.
Dr. Phillip Bell, A Greensboro
optometrist, said, “Every pair of
eyes are different. And in being
so, they require diversified
amounts of lighting.”
For some students, the lighting
situation does not pose a problem.
“1 don’t think the lighting in the
room, is that bad,” .said junior
Terri McKnight. Other students
believe that although the lighting
may not be satisfactorily provid
ed by the college, there are other
solutions.
"The lighting in the «x)ms isn’t
the brightest,” said freshman
Kathleen O’Rourke, “so 1 just
went out and bought a lamp.”
Eugene McCarthy to visit campus
See page 4
Parents Weekend events scheduled
See page 11