Volume XXIII, Number 4
Informing the Elon College Community
September 18,1997
2-4
COMICS
15
Unless you're a new
student at £lon tliis year^
you can't help but notice
the many physical changes
that have occurred on
campus during the sum
mer. £ven Lake Mary
Neil got a touch up«
IIIIB
One of the first female
cadets to enter Virginja
MOitary Institute was
suspended from the school
for two semesters for
hitting an upperclassinan,
offictaSs said Sept. 9.
Elon Club spoi^, whidi
have been at Elon for the
past 20 years> is as strong
as ever.
A&E
Chuck and the Amazing
Jonhathan: a Pendulum
exclusive.
JO
SPORTS
Men^s soccer wins first
Division I game against
VML
20
'The power of one'
Plotkin encourages students
to make a difference
Michelle Cater
Managing Editor
“I firmly believe in the power of
one. It’s people who make the dif
ference in science, in conservation,
in academia, in politics,” Mark J.
Plotkin said to a crowd of more
than 1,000 people near the end of
his speech at Elon’s annual Fall
Convocation, held in Alumni Gym
nasium Wednesday morning,
Plotkin is the executive director
of the Ethnobiology and Conserva
tion Team. He was also the Author
of “Tales of a Shaman’s Appren
tice,” this year’s common reading.
Plotkin has spent the last 15 years
in the Amazon rainforest studying
the native medicinal use of plants.
In his speech, Plotkin promoted
cultural and biological diversity and
the importance that other cultures
have on our own.
“If there’s a message I want to
leave you with today, it’s listen to
other cultures. And I’m not just
talking about Indians in the Ama
zon, I’m talking about Indian and
Native American people here at
home,” Plotkin said.
“It is important for all of us,
incumbent for all of us, to recog
nize that we live in the luckiest,
most technologically advanced,
most wonderful civilization ever
seen on the face of the earth. But we
still have things to learn from other
see PLOTKIN, page 12
Elon families go
Greek this weekend
Giselle Pole
A&E Editor
For three days, Elon will travel
back in time to a land where the
gods were revered, food and drink
were abundant, and athletic com
petition was encouraged.
Family Weekend begins Sept.
19, and this year’s theme is “Gre
cian Holiday.”
Pendulum F.Y.T
“This year the faculty and staff
determined a theme that we felt
would be fun to communicate in a
number of ways— through decora
tions, brochures and food,” said
Amanda Harless, director of Greek
Life.
This is Harless’ fourth year
coordinating Family Weekend. In
'94, the theme was Italian; in ‘*95
see WEEKEND, page 6
-
Emily MacDonnell/r/id Pendulum
Money Man: Knight Kiplinger, editor in chief of Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Magazine, spoke to members of the Alamance County Area Chamber of Commerce
and local businesspeople last Friday at a luncheon in McKinnon Hall.
Movie director returns
to Elon this month
How did Freshmen election turnout stack
up to other elections?
1997SGA
1996 US Pr^i
Gmphic by Jon^ampbell Sources: SGA/AP
Jamie Richey
and Andrew Brickey
Pendulum Reporters
Eight months after lecturing
students on the importance of stay
ing in school, film director Spike
Lee returns to Elon. Only this time,
he’s bringing his cameras.
Lee will be at Elon to shoot
several scenes on Sept. 30 and Oct.
I for “He got Game,” a film that
focuses on the challenges confront
ing the youth of today as they
struggle toward adulthood.
The acclaimed director of such
see MOVIE, page 6
SGA fills final seat with former VP
Jeff Wirick
Editor in Chief
The former executive vice
president of the Student Govern
ment Association is back in the
senate.
Matthew Belardi, who lost a
hard-fought battle for executive
president in February to Ashton
Newhall, was voted last Thursday
into the final senior class senator
position.
The position was the last of
eight open senate seats left vacant
during February’s election. The
senate voted Angela Olsen, Ashley
Hayes, Meghan McGlinn, Jennifer
Bates, Kristin Downes, Heather
Coffee and Robin Brame into the
other seven vacant seats during
April meetings.
The final SGA seat had two
other strong candidates.
Stephanie Clark, who had
served three years in SGA, and Jay
Pusey, the president of Kappa
Sigma fraternity, were the other
two candidates the senate had to
consider.
The three made speeches and
endured the five-minute question
and answer session before the sen
ate voted in a secret ballot.
“I miss being on the political
side of (Elon),” Belardi said during
his speech to the senate. “I didn’t
know how much I missed it, until I
wasn’t in it.”
The business administration
major has as much experience as
anyone in Elon’s SGA. He is the
only remaining SGA member who
see SGA, page 6