Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / March 24, 1994, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials March 24,1994 2 Viewpoint Mo, Larry and Curly go to Washington Elon College has just wasted over a quarter of a million dollars on buying out a family business that has served the conununity for over 22 years. It seems Elon did this because Wilburn’s Tire & Auto Center was an eye sore to the school’s looks. Ask Elon students why they chose Elon and a majority of them will say, “because it looked pretty” or “it looked like a college.” That is Elon’s hook. It draws students in because it is a beautiful campus. Elon does a great job of getting students here. But wliat good does it do for Elon to convince students to attend on looks if that is all the college can offer. Is tuition being spent in the right place? What about education? Why should student’s money go towards tearing down an auto repair center, when it should be going toward higher education? A quarter of a million was spent just to buy the auto center and another quarter was used to honor the family with a scholarship; but how much money will be spent to actually tear down the building, plant grass and flowers and maintain the property every week? Landscaping is constantly planting flowers during the winter months only to have (hem die due to frozing rain. Not every college is perfect and has everything it needs but does Elon really need to enhance its beauty any further? The college should have spent that half a million dollars on upgrading the computer labs or updating the materials in the library. What other useless things does Elon plan to squander away student’s tuition on; tearing up a parking lot to plant grass, converting security to police or moving Tel-Com into the old security office. Are students getting the quality of education that they are paying for or is their tuition bemg spent on giving Elon a face lift? Erick Gill, Editor ThePendulum Serving the Elon College Coraraunity Editor Advertising Erick Gill Beaumont Marlin Managing Editor Reporters Rob Mancuso Heather Anderson Mary Kelli Bridges Graphics Editor Tiffany Edmondson Amy Logerwell Jeannine Erdmer A & E Editor Sports Reporters Lori Haley Tony Carrick John Pionlek Sports Editor Bob Grimmie Angie Riley Jeff Dunlop Opinion Editor A & E Reporters Scott Miller Rick Caliber Ingrid Quinn Plioto Editor Marco Ormaetxea Ofncc Manager Heather Baldwin Piiotograpiiers Stacy Mogol Cartoonists Kendal Rasnake Adviser Brian Corrado Joey Senat The Pendulum, founded in 1974, is published by Elon students. The Pendulum welcomes your opinions «ith letters limited to 300 words. Letters must be signed with a phone number for verification. Deadline for submission is noon Monday. Single copies of The Pendulum are free. If extra copies are needed, they can be purchased at The Pendulum ofTice. Office: 102 Lebanon Ave., Elon College, N.C, 27244. 584-2331. Sunday night, I watched the debate amongst the three leaders who are going to lead Elon into a brighter future. Larry Williams, Floyd Barrett and Charlie Smith were all on Elon College Television debating the issues and talking about what was going to make Elon a better place. Why am I worried? Because, without exception, they proved why they are incapable of leading. In their one attempt during the question and answer period to come up with a course of action on a burning local issue, they failed miserably. Everyone has been concerned about the advent of police officers with service weapons on campus. The candidates were asked how they felt about the issue. All three of them stated that they were essentially opposed to the notion of guns on campus. A follow up question came over the phone. A female voice asked the candidates what they were going to do about stopping the administration from arming the campus security. The candidates waxed eloquently about how they would encourage dialogue between themselves and school officials. Charlie Smith went on to say that he would encourage every student who was concerned about this issue to write letters to every college official. There is only one problem with those answers. It has already happened. Two weeks ago, Gerald Scott Miller Whittington stood up before tlie town aldermen of Elon College and said that the new college police department will not have guns. In fact, that story ran on the front page of The Pendulum on March 3, 1994 under the headline, “Proposed Campus Police Will Not Carry Guns Under Revised Plan.” Now, the fact that not one of the three candidates knew that the issue was already moot, shows you how in touch they are with the issues that affect the student body. No excuse, it was on the front page of the school newspaper. This was especially ironic considering that Charlie Smith was criticizing The Pendulum for not providing timely news. We publish on a weekly basis. Once in a while, something happens on a Wednesday or Thursday after we have gone to press that makes the story impossible to cover until the next week. The no-guns-on campus story had been old news for two weeks. What excuse, except ignorance, do the candidates have to plead? The way that they talked about the guns on campus issue was not evocative of leadership. They talked about it like spineless politicians trying to get a vote. Before I could get on the phone and ask them a question, the televised portion of the show ended. I ask the president-elect the question now, whoever he might be. When a young women is raped and killed next year during your administration, and the chances are that her life could have been saved by a armed college police officer, what will you tell her mother at her funeral? How, as a represent ative of the school, are you going to make us look? I’ll answer the second question for you, pretty stupid. A real leader would be aware of all of the facts, (Obviously, none of the candidates were) and would not have responded to the mass hysteria with a knee jerk reaction like Vice President Whittington. Promise has turned to despair. If these three gentleman are the best that there is to offer, the hope of a new year and all that it has to offer is gone, before it has even started. The three candidates that the SGA has limited themselves lo could not lead the school out of a paper bag. When the performance of the president elect is measured next year, the history of his administration will be another sad tale of a potential tidal wave of change gone awry. By the time tliat you all read this, the election will be over. Let us pray. Marc Gentile Elon administration addicted to grass If all goes according to plan, by 1996 the entirety of Elon College’s campus will be either a partially constructed billion dollar building, or a grass field. At first glance these grass areas look nice, but after careful scrutiny, amid rumors of spray painted grass, one notices that this grass is not for practical purposes but rather for aesthetic means. No romantic picnics ever take place on these fields, nor do any exciting croquet matches. The grass just sits. I was going to increase the fortitude of this essay with an outcry on the loss of moraUty on the part of Elon, but Elon has long been the bastion of moral terpitude we all know and love. “What about the students?" 1 might have cried. But the pit of depression I would have fallen into was erased when I realized that once at Elon, I have satisfied the administration. The ' b^utification is solely for the incoming freshmen. The sad thing is that this latest move, the grassing of the existing parking lot as well as the destruction of Wilburn’s, is right in line with Elon’s master plan. Beauty before practicality. What practicality am I talking about? Perhaps the fact that there will be pretty new fields all around before the apple drops on 1995, but the new library extension we have been scream ing about will not be finished by the time our children learn to read. What the powers that be hdve failed to realize is that there is only so much space Elon College can occupy. Hemmed in on the south side by the railroad and the east and west by developed areas, Elon is limited to expanding northward. The problem that arises in northward growth is that the farther Elon progresses, the farther these things will be from the true nucleus of the school. In effect, Elon is painting itself into a comer. Another problem spurred by this grassing and the subsequent lengthening of the campus is the mid-winter walk from up-campus to the northlands. As it is now, the parking lot is being moved down Power Line Road, making the walk to class that much farther. The upside is that the walk will be lined with kind grass. And if we walk on the grass, at least they can’t shoot us.
Elon University Student Newspaper
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March 24, 1994, edition 1
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