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March 9, 2000 Opinions yiewpoint For men, binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks in a row> and for women as having four or more drinks in a row. At Eion» the definition differs. Binge drinking is defined here as asking which wine goes with the grand slam breakfast, or asking for a hand truck at the ABC store. And last week, three students (heretofore referred to as "‘Kennedy 1,2 and 3’0 went to the hospital to give the $55 donation. Colleges are catching hell for binge drinking* and why not? It’s as if we’ve drawn the chalk outline on common sense. Yeah drinking may be fun, but when you've written “Don’t panic, you’re home ” on your ceiling, there’s something wrong. You’re putting poison in your body for a buzz -- fine. You and your friends have a bet going on who’ll “break the seal” sooner -- that’s cool But when people start referring to you as Boris Yeltsin, you’re way past screwed. Frankly, these students got what they deserved. It’s easy to blame a lack of education, peer pressure, the availability of alcohol, the media or alleged Greek initiation rituals. Why not blame who’s really respon sible? If you don’tknow your limits, put the NyQuil back in the cupboard. If you DO know your limits, don’t put your hand on the stove any longer than necessary. Don’t let people pressure you into drinking more or doing stupid s t you don’t feel comfortable with. People lose much more respect for you if you leave a collage on their shoes and clothes than if you turndown one for the road. Hiis is your body and your reputation. The last thing you want is some barfly remembering you as the *‘Are you gonna^ finish thatT^ guy. Or even worse, the whole bar. I take that back. That whole death thing sucks. Ask Duke students who two weeks ago lost a iiriend. For those of you who didn ’ t get a proper alcohol education, here are some simple tips; (1) Don’t mix colors of alcohols; (2) Don’t drink on an empty stomach; and (3) Don’t *‘shotgun” a drink unless you have a liver the size of Mother Russia. If you feel woozy^ stop boozing and drink water. If you feel pressured, tell people, or walk away^ If watching Leaving Las Vegas makes you thirsty, you have problems. Most'of all, use common sense. Jeff Sanders, Online Director TBM Informing the Elon College Community Editor in Chief Lisa McChristian News Editor Jessica Rivelli Opinions Editor Josh Davis Focus Editor Tammy Tripp A & E Editor Samiha Khanna Sports Eklitor Travis Suber Photo Editor Jennifer McCort Business Manager Chris Rash Office Manager Erica Engle Online Directors Jeff Sanders Adviser Janna Anderson Reporters Reid Albright Melissa Anderson Kate Betty Kellie Brielmaier Patrick Collins Kristen Conn Mandie Danielsky Bill Menken Tom Mullen Annie Reilly Audrey Seagraves Jennifer Shelton Bryan Skeen Erica Stanley Elizabeth Sudduth Mike Trainor Jessica Vitak Photographers Carrie Lancos Emily MacDonnell Meredith Vesely Matt Widerman Columnists Rich Blomquist Ethan Pell Copy Editors Elizabeth Butler The purpose of The Pendulum shall be to inform and entertain the Elon College community. The Pendulum shall be a forum where all members of the college community are able to express their ideas and opinions. Address all correspondence to: The Pendulum 7012 Campus Box Elon College, N.C. 27244. Phone: (336) 584-2331 Fax: (336) 584-2467 E-mail: pendulum @ elon.edu Web page: http ://www.elon.edu/ pendulum Bursting through the Elon Bubble Brian McDonald Ebon C. Freeman ■ Contributing Columnists One of the goals addressed in the mission statement of the Elon College Student Handbook (99-00) states that it is the aim of Elon College to provide its students the opportunity to develop an informed respect of the differences among cultures.” Currently the racial makeup of students at Elon does not repre sent the school’s commitment to this statement. At this time, the of fice of Admissions indicates that 92% of its students are white Ameri cans, Based on this statistic, stu dents may not be afforded an ad equate opportunity to develop an understanding of different cultures through the campus experience. How then can Elon College demonstrate a true commitment to racial diversity on this campus to student, faculty, staff, and prospec tive members of the college com munity? It is impossible to do so if minority and foriegn students con tinue to constitute only 8% of the student population. One way for Elon to display a commitment to diversity is to ensure that the entire campus is more reflective of the racial makeup of society. This in cludes faculty, staff, and students. In addition to this step, Elon can go further by implementing changes in curriculum. One idea is to incorporate a diversity-based curriculum into the Global Studies course all students are required to take. While we ac knowledge that Global Studies pro fessors choose from a wide variety of topics to discuss in their classes, we challenge a// of them to address racial diversity as one of those top ics. Elon 101 is another opportu nity to introduce incoming students to multiculturalism, as a majority of freshman choose to take this course. It is our assumption that these requirements are not currently in place for two reasons. First, neither of our Elon 101 or Global Studies classes discussed these issues at significant length. Second, as co-teachers for Elon 101, we feel that issues about racial diversity are as important as registration and campus involve ment. Rather than being listed as a recommended topic, this dialogue could easily be incorporated as a part of the core curriculum. Final Thoughts: Ebon: “As Elon continues to thrive as an academic institu tion, I feel it is vital that the college reflect each aspect of our world. Providing students with the oppor tunity to interact with people from various cultural gruops can only add to the enrichment of the education we receive at Elon. If we can com pete with other institutions in areas like technology, quality of educa tion, and even athletics, surely we can do better when it comes to issues of diversity. I look forward to a time when faculty, staff, and the student population is more racially diverse. As a senior, I hope to return to Elon College within the next five years and see marked improvement in this area.” Brian: “It is a college’s re sponsibility to its students to pro vide opportunities for academic growth, cultural growth, and per sonal growth. All three types occuring at Elon, as in other institu tions of higher learning, should in clude diversity and other related top ics. Therefore, it is Elon’s responsi bility (including faculty, staff, and administration) to its students to encourage, educate, and allow di versity and racial understanding to occur and to recognize that in not doing so we are encouraging igno rance amongst our campus popula tion. My question to you is: Does this encouraged ignorance, in turn, encourage racism-no matter what the level? You decide.” ' ' ' ' ' , « ’ V ^ fa." Members of the Elon Conimuinty celebrated the warm weather during Fellows weekend by racing boats on Lake Mary Nell. photo by Lisa McChristian
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March 9, 2000, edition 1
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