VOLUME XXVI
ISSUE 13
DATE 1/23/01
Students
prepared
before travel
Courtney Wells
Contributing Reporter
This term, 565 Elon Col
lege students and faculty will
travel abroad for Winter Term.
As many as 90 students and
faculty will spend their entire
spring semester abroad. But
their families want to know, will
they be safe?
“You are more likely to
be killed in your hometown than
studying abroad,” said Bettina
Brown of the International Stud
ies office.
Elon takes numerous pre
cautions to insure the safety of
the students and faculty while
abroad, starting with the educa
tion of those who will be going
abroad. The faculty has an ori
entation of procedures that will
be used on a day-to-day basis as
well as procedures that will be
used in emergency situations.
Students have at least two
orientation meetings before
studying abroad for either Win
ter Term or a semester. During
the orientation sessions students
are given safety guidelines and
handouts such as “The Ritual of
Being a Guest” which details
see TRAVEL, page 7
Student death shocks Elon
Jennifer Guarino
and Taresa LaRock
The Pendulum
Elon junior Megan Tripp died
Sunday, Jan. 14 in Sydney, Austra
lia after falling from a room bal
cony at the Rydges Cronulla Beach
Hotel.
The accident happened
about 10:30 p.m. Australia time.
Tripp, 20, was rushed to St. George
Hospital where she underwent sur
gery. She was pronounced dead at 2
a.m.
According to Vanessa
Allan,media liaison officer with the
News South Wales Police Service,
Tripp“fell from her hotel balcony
on the 9"’ floor and landed on the 2"^*
floor balcony,”
A final report will not be avail
able for v/eeks, pending the closing
of the investigation Allen said po
lice reports are not public record in
Australia, and will not be available
to the media.
“She was taken to the hospi
tal with broken bones and internal
injuries,” Allen said.
Police investigators and a
counselor have been working on
this case and say there are no suspi
cious circumstances. According to
Bill Rich, dean of international and
special programs,“The police have
not found anything suspicious to
suggest anything other than it was
an accident.” Tripp was enrolled in
Sport in the Global Community The
genreal studies class is taught by
Peter Farmer, associate professor
of leisure/sports management, and
Barry Beedle, professor of physical
education.
The afternoon beforeTripp’s
death, students attended an authen
tic Australian barbecue. “Reports
are that Megan and perhaps some
other students took off [after the
barbecue] and went back to the ho
tel,” Rich said.' “Sometime in the
evening they decided to go out. As
some other point they came back to
the hotel, and Megan came back to
her room. A receptionist said there
was a commotion on the 9'*’ floor.
Beedle was called; he found Tripp’s
door locked.”
Rich said Beedle was the first
to enter Tripp’s room. He found it
empty, but the balcony door was
open. He saw something on the
second floor balcony, which ex
tends out further than balconies
above it. He went down to the sec
ond floor to investigate.Beedle
found Tripp there unconscious, but
breathing. The medical authorities
were called. There were no appar
ent witnesses to the accident. Rich
said. -
Farmer was away from the
hotel when the accident happened,
Rich said. He went straight to the
hospital when called.
“The authorities have told us
that she had been drinking,” Dan
w
Anderson, di
rector of col
lege relations,
said Rich said
authorities
have not said
if alcohol
caused the ac
cident. The le
gal drinking
age in Austra
lia is 18.
Elon ad
ministrators
were quick to
respond to the
students’
needs. “In the
end there was
nothing we
could do for
Megan, but
there were
many things that needed to be done
to support the other students and
faculty members,” Anderson said.
All students’ parents were contacted
by a college administrator, although
most students had already called
home. Hospital and police counse
lors on the scene spent many hours
working with the Elon group to
help them deal with their shock and
grief.
Rich also credited the sup
port of Australian travel agent Craig
Douglas, who had arranged the Elon
itinerary. He stayed with students
Courtesy of College Relations
while Farmer and Beedle went to
the hospital. Douglas made the
arrangements for students to switch
hotels. “His role was absolutely
central,” Rich said. “There was a
pretty good support system in
place to help the group deal with it.”
“It’s been hard for everyone,
especially the two faculty mem
bers,” Rich said.
see TRIPP, page 7
Inside
Elon hosts
Presidential
Symposium
page 2
Students
think about
hunger at
Oxfam Banquet
page 3
Sir Walter Mack
celebrates
MLK Jr day
page 4