Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / April 6, 1995, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials Viewpoint April 6, 1995 Education hurt by cash demand The Pendulum is tired of being a media whore. Thai’s right, a media whore. Everyone on campus thinks they can use and abuse the newspa per. The staff has noticed in the past year how quickly students talk bad about The Pendulum, yet when they need information or want some thing covered, where is the first place they run? The Pendulum office, of course. Several students have had the nerve to walk into the office and ask for this week’s sports scores and other news information (before it even gels into Thursday’s paper). When asked why they need them, they say because they are doing a video show for ECTV or for a JC class and they need the information to do their broadcast or news article. Excuse me, that's not the way the real world works. Here at The Pendulum students have to actually attend games, events, press confer ences, services and talk with the sports information director or the director of public information to get the facts. I’m not sure, but the last time I checked, the college did have a director of sports information and a director of public relations. Students who are in JC classes or involved with other media should learn how to do their own reporting and information gathering. Isn’t that what they are here for? Isn’t that what experience is? Going to a newspaper as a source is encouraged, but that should serve only as a lead. It’s not that The Pendulum doesn’t want to share information with the college community. That’s our job. Every Thurday you can pick up a copy of the paper and read it. But don’t expect to be handed information that staff members had to go out and find on their own before it is even in the newspaper. Erick Gill Editor in Chief Off The Record "You know 1 feel so dirty when they start talking cute. I want to tell her that I love her, but the point is probably moot." - Rick Spingfield "Jesse's Girl" THE Pendulum Informing the Elon College Community ICdilor in Chief Enck P Gill Managing Editor Rob Mancuso AssislanI Managing Editor Amy Logcrwell A & E Editor Shannon Prater Sports Editor Apnl Perkins Opinion Editor Scotl Miller Copy Editor Tracey Stork Photo Editor Tonya Huban Advertising Michelle Riley SlafT Reporters Andrea Schmidt Jon Complxll JeffWinck Stacey Word Sports Keporlers Bob Gnminie Jeff Dunlop Colleen Herndon A&E Reporters Chns Adams Enc R Saner Graphic Artists Andrea Schmidi Heather Coffey Adviser Joey Senal The Pendulum, founded in 1974, is published by Elon students. Single copies of The Pendulum are free. If extra copies are needed, they can be purchased at The Pendulum office. Address: Campus Box 2800, Elon College, N.C., 27244. 584-2331. Let’s face it. Most institutions I of higher learning believe that mak- I ing money is cntical. One only need look at the devel- I opment office of any institution to see people hired for the specific purpose of raising money for the school. It’s true, money is critical for the I success of a college or university. It allows for development of new facilities, procurement of the best and brightest faculty around the country and lots and lots of really I pretty shrubs. At limes, the money-making pro- I cess will run in conflict with the educational process. One fine ex ample of this is experiential learn ing at Elon. Tuition costs X number of dol- I lars per hour at Elon. In order for I a student to get academic credit for that experiential learning, he has to I pay half as much cash as normal I tuition. If a student had the opportunity I to do a 12-hour internship, (the maximum amount allowed) it could mean the possibility of adding an other minor or major and graduat ing in four years. A 12-hour internship might in- I elude as academic work a journal of the twelve weeks and a fairly substantial paper. Obviously, it takes some time to establish what grade to give the student. It can’t Scott Miller take more than three or four hours. The school wants to charge you half as much as an entire semester. The work involved for the profes sor is exponentially less than in a normal course, yet the school wants nearly as much money. For a business major, the oppor tunity to do an internship on Wall Street could mean a great job offer after school. Unfortunately, such internships are rarely ever paid. There is a segment of the college that has to work during the summer in order to help their parents with tuition, pay rent on the apartment and defray general expenses. Over a couple of years, one might be able to save up a couple of thousand to pay for expenses in New York or Washington D.C. betwee n the j unior and senior years. As you know, the “Big City” is quite expensive. It is doable to get that unpaid internship and live in the city. However, the likelihood is that many job opportunities have been hurt by the exhorbitant costs involved. Here is an example. Last spnng^ * 1 went into the re-election cam- f paign of Massachusetts Governor William Weld. I had an agreement worked out with them that I would work on the field portion of the campaign. It would have virtually guaran teed me a job somewhere within the Massachusetts state govern ment. Also, it would have made a double major of history and politi cal science. Unfortunately, because of a couple of classes I screwed up sophomore year I have to drop po litical science to a minor. So, without making the intern ship academically worthwhile my parents told me that I needed to work, Elon needs, in this case, to slow down on the emphasis on money making. If this school really wants to be known as a great institution, it will slide towards the academic rather than the monetary emphasis on this issue. Great schools are able to mix business and academics. On this issue, Elon College is clearly in the realm of business too deeply. If Elon lessens the costs of doing in ternships for academic credit, they will reap the benifits of CEOs, con gressmen and other VIPs in the ranks of future alumni. Progress at the expense of the Planet Tracey Stark Guest Columnist With the upcoming 25th anni- I versary celebration of Earth Day later this month, it has struck me as odd that we should celebrate our planet only one day out of the year. Seeing that this is the only home we have, wouldn’t it make more sense I to show ourappreciation every day? The natives of the Americas, I both north and south, have a great respect for their mother, the Earth. The introduction of European man I to this continent has resulted in a continual downward spiral of envi ronmental conditions for the sake I of “progress." Progress? The natives of this I hemisphere would disagree: They were all but wiped out by the dis eases that the white man brought [with him. The ones who survived Ithe diseases were summarily I rounded up and either killed, en- I slaved or introduced to alcohol, I which was as good as enslavement. I The white man would have greatly [benefited by learning the ways of Ithe native for a better understand ing of the Earth. The continual destruction of the rainforests for the sake of tem porarily rich grazing land, the deple tion of underground water tables, the decrease in annual fish har vests, the desertification of formerly rich croplands, the staggering growth of landfills, and the con tinuing saga of the ozone layer are a few examples of the “progress" this world has made in the last several centuries. Every year hundreds more spe cies of this planet’s flora and fauna disappear. We make no effort to protect a s[>ecies until it is almost too late. Even this country’s endan gered species laws are insufficient because they deal with solving prob lems, not preventing them. How about saving all species before they are labeled "endangered"? Humans are a perfect case in point. We place such a high value on our lives over that of any other lifeform that we will never be in danger of extinction. Or will we? The annual growth rate of this planet is 95 million people.(Over 250,000 a day.) That’s nearly a billion new mouths every coming decade! The Conference on Population in Cairo, Egypt, last September, estimated the world population in 2050 will be about 10 billion people. Many will argue that the Earth’s capacity is somewhere around 20 billion, and that won’t come for at least 100 years, but I must argue that we will consume ourselves to death long before that. "It won’t happen during our life time." Wanna make a bet? (It de pends on how short a life you are planning on living.) The big picture (the forest, not the trees) is this: We are the genera tion to bear the brunt of the damage done by past generations. We have to come up with the solutions. We have to start treating our “mother” with the resf)ect she deserves. So this year, instead of recy cling a few cans and papers, and brushing your teeth with the water turned off on Earth Day, then re verting back to old habits in a week, make a conscious decision to be a permanent part of the solution and not the problem. Every little bit counts.
Elon University Student Newspaper
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April 6, 1995, edition 1
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