4
April 22, 1999
Letters
The coffee shop: Not his cup of tea
Service at College Coffee slacks on weekends
To the Editor:
I finally got motivated enough
to get off my butt and give my two
cents about the horrible weekend
service and atmosphere at our fa
vorite downtown coffee shop.
I am talking about College
Coffee from 5 p.m. on Friday
through 8 a.m. Monday morning.
To start off I think Elon and
ARAMARK do a wonderful job
providing meals for the students in
all of the dining facilities on cam
pus.
The coffee shop is a great
place to go during the. week. It is
always clean, the sandwiches are
great and the service is wonderful.
My problem is on the weekends.
Let me describe the typical
scene on a weekend night trying to
get a sandwich. When you walk in
the door, if you get in the door, you
can’t even hear yourself think be
cause the music is blaring.
When you get to the counter
to place your order you are greeted
by a pissed-off student who is tired
of making sandwiches for ungrate
ful students. I understand they are
busy, tired and sick of making sand
wiches, but is that not what they get
paid for!
After you place your order
you go sit down and wait. What you
find is tables that are dirty and sticky,
so you wipe it off the best you can
with a napkin and wait, and wait,
and wait.
Finally you get your sand
wich, which doesn’t resemble what
you ordered. Now that you finish
eating and want to get out of there
because the music is giving you a ,
headache, you go to throw out your
trash only to find the garbage can
overflowing, so now you know why
there was trash on the table when
you got there.
For all the hard working
people at the coffee shop like Mark
and Julia who do a nice job, this
letter is not towards you. This letter
is for ARAMARK to wake up and
hire some decent night help so the
coffee shop can be a pleasant place
to go on the weekend. At least then
I would feel better about paying
$2,550 for the right to be fed by
ARAMARK 15 times a week.
Lastly off the topic, all the
students who give The Pendulum a
hard time for spelling mistakes, or
for not covering world news, give
them a break this is not the New
York Times.
This is a paper published by
students who also have a full class
schedule. If you want a perfect
newspaper you have two choices
one go by the Times or get involved
and write for The Pendulum.
Sincerely,
Cory Wilkinson
A history lesson in the religous
convictions of the 60s
To the Editor:
A column in last week’s Pen
dulum raises issues I’d like to re
spond to: 1960s activism, interven
tion in Kosovo, and the teachings of
Christianity. A central lesson I try
to teach in my classes is that an
swers to many questions are not
simple.
The 1960s, like any other his
torical period, was a complicated
time. It was certainly a time to
question authority which told us,
among other things, that African-
Americans were second-class citi
zens at best, that supporting oppres
sive dictators in the name of anti
communism was good, that women
belonged in the home not in the
workplace and that weapons of mass
destruction were necessary for
peace.
Were there people, over and
under 30, who were selfish, de
structive, motivated by factors other
than religion? Yes, but that’s part of
the complexity.
To say that activists did not
acknowledge God is a simplifica
tion that ignores the parts played by
Martin Luther King (in the Civil
Rights movement as well as the
anti-war movement), the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference,
the Berrigan Brothers (Jesuits),
Norman Morrison (a Quaker) and
Roger LaPorte (a Catholic) who
burned themselves alive in protest
to the Vietnam War, and many
Christian denominations (Quakers,
A. M. E., U. C. C.) v\/ho opposed,
and continue to oppose, authority
based on social injustice.
While everyone in the move
ments against social injustice was
not motivated by religion, many
were deeply religious and acted
because of their religious beliefs.
Christianity teaches opposi
tion to oppression. Our school name
“the Fighting Christians” comes
from the idea that Christians are
able to bring about peace and jus
tice in the world.
Peace, equality and liberation
from oppression are all goals Chris
tians can hardly stand against.
A Christian response to de
velopments in Kosovo is based on
these same principles. Surely the
idea that since we weren ’ t concerned
enough to respond in Rwanda we
cannot now be concerned with
Kosovo is not a worthwhile prin
ciple for making decisions.
This would mean that if we
do wrong once, we could never
again in good conscience do right,
hardly a Christian principle,
John’s teaching that if we
have two coats and someone else
has none, we are to give one of ours
to them is a very hard principle to
live by, but it certainly says very
clearly that we are to help whenever
we can as much as we can.
A fundamental teaching of
Christianity is that we cannot care
enough. Nowhere have I seen a
biblical passage saying, “Okay,
you’ve done enough so just sit back
and take it easy now.”
What I have seen repeatedly
in Christian teaching, though all
too seldom in practice, is the idea
that we are not to be judgmental of
our fellow human beings, we are to
be loving, forgiving and compas
sionate, and that we are to care for
one another.
And that, just as with the fight
against social injustice, this behav
ior is to be unceasing. Anywhere.
Anytime. Period. In my opinion
this is a very worthwhile and simple
answer.
Sincerely,
Jim Brown
Department of History
Elon academics need
speakers like Gould
To the Editor:
I was delighted to read Mark
Richter’s column, “Elon students
should value speakers...” and the
letters from Meg Walewski and
Heather Cornell in last week’s edi
tion because I, too, was distressed
by students’ discourteous behavior
and by Alan Medeiros’ column
“Gould brings naptime to Elon.”
If any college is to provide an
excellent undergraduate education
for its students, it must create op
portunities for them to hear speak
ers like Stephen Jay Gould. In fact,
Elon has done an exceptional job
over the past few years of drawing
eminent speakers to the campus to
broaden students’ horizons and ex
pose them to fresh ideas and expe
riences.
Our goal is not to provide
entertainment but rather to chal
lenge students intellectually.
Gould’s talk was fast-paced, cer
tainly, and complex.
Would we have preferred that
he make it simpler, less challeng
ing? I don’t think so. Medeiros and
I had a conversation on this subject
last week. He maintained that Gould
was too difficult for some Elon stu
dents. I disagree.
I don’t think that you have to
understand everything to get a sense
for what major scientists like Gould
are thinking about at this end of the
20“’ century.
You don’t have to grasp ev
ery idea to appreciate the extraordi
nary range of his thinking. Years
ago, as an old man. Nils Bohr gave
a talk on my campus when I was a
freshman.
I didn’t know a thing about
physics or quantum theory, believe
me, and could only understand a
small fraction of what he had to say.
But I was absolutely stunned by the
fact that anyone could talk about,
math and physical laws and the na
ture of the universe all at the same
time.
It was a transforming experi
ence for me, my first real exposure
to big ideas. And this, I believe, is
what college must do for students,
provide exposure wherever possible
to the best thinkers of our time. I
was pleased at this convocation that
the college so adequately fulfilled
that obligation.
Sincerely,
Julianne Maher
Vice President for
Academic Affairs
Faculty opinion: Value
of The Pendulum
To the Editor:
The mindless trashing of
Stephen Jay Gould and the Spring
Honors Convocation marks a new
low in The Pendulum student jour
nalism and certainly reinforces the
recent complaints about a lack of
professionalism at Elon’s student
newspaper.
Isn’t there a basic responsi
bility to be minimally informed
before expressing a journalistic
opinion about a campus event?
The tone of smug ignorance,
false claims and misinformation
clearly demonstrate that the writer
of the piece (“Gould brings nap
time to Elon”) had not bothered to
read a word of Gould’s writing, to
find out who he was or why he was
invited or even to recognize that,
this is an academic event intended
to honor academic achievement at
an academic institution.
Hence the invitation of a dis
tinguished American scientist and
writer, who presented an interest
ing, lively and eloquent presenta
tion that was much appreciated by
the majority of the audience.
Before publishing such trash
journalism under the guise of opin
ion, the editors of The Pendulum
should have attempted to find some
one who was minimally informed
and responsible.
The Pendulum owes an apol
ogy to every student and faculty
member who has worked to raise
academic standards at Elon College
and to make the annual spring aca
demic convocation the success it
has been.
Publishing pieces such as this
make The Pendulum worse than
irrelevant. It has become an embar
rassment to the entire academic
community.
I firmly believe a retraction
or an apology is in order.
Wasn’t the April Fool’s is
sued last week?
Sincerely,
Andrew J. Angyal
Professor of English