Informing, entertaining
Volume: XXIXISSUE;
inspiring the
DAT E : 10/4 / 0 1
University commu n 11 y si n c e 1974
w w w
e d u / p e n d u 1 u m
Walesa speaks at Fairconvocation Endowment falls over 11
million in two months
Lindsay Porter
Reporter
Former President of Poland
Lech Walesa joined students, fac
ulty, alumni and community mem
bers in alumni gym Tuesday
evening for fall convocation. Using
historical analysis of Poland’s vic
tory over communism and shedding
light on the recent terrorist attacks
on American soil, Walesa delivered
his address titled “Democracy: The
Never-Ending Battle.”
Walesa was the driving force
behind Poland’s Solidarity Labor
Movement, a social revolution that
encouraged workers to organized
free, independent labor unions in
the early 1980s, His motivational
speeches rallied groups of dissatis
fied workers, inspiring negotiations
with Poland’s then-communist gov
ernment, These negotiations even
tually led to legal recognition of the
Solidarity Party in Poland, granting
workers the right to form unions
and strike against employers by
decree of the Gdansk Agreement.
Walesa continued his quest for
democratic rule underground even
after Solidarity was outlawed in
1982. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1983 in recognition
of his fight for freedom. After the
legalization of Solidarity once again
in 1989, Walesa assumed the role
of Poland’s first democratically-
elected president and led the task
of forming a coalition government.
In a humorous manner, Walesa
explained the history of Poland’s
search for democratic fundamentals
and ideas, including its struggle to
overcome susceptibility to outside
influence as a result of geographic
location, “It just so happens that
Poland is located in the heart of
Europe, in the center of it actually;
on the border between two civili
zations; the east and the west,” he
said,
“Russia is on one side and Ger
many on the other. As you know,
those two nations are very social
izing peoples, and they enjoy visit-
Kate Botty
Reporter
Clay Lankford/ Photographer
Former president of Poland Lech Walesa, winner of the 1983
Nobel Peace Prize, delivered the keynote address during Elon
University’s Fall Convocation at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 2 in
Alumni Gymnasium. Walesa’s speech was titled "Democracy:
The Never-Ending Battle. "As president, Walesa set Poland on
the path to becoming a free-market democracy. Through his
unwavering commitment to freedom. President Walesa made
Poland a model of economic and political reform for the rest of
Eastern Europe to follow.
ing one another. They have to cross
Poland on the way, and on one oc
casion they stayed [in Poland] for
127 years. At that time Poland was
erased totally from the world maps
and the maps of Europe and, after
the second World War, we ended up
in the arms of the Soviet Union, It
took us 50 years to get rid of the
Soviet domination.”
Walesa directed portions of his
speech toward the September 11
attacks on the World Trade Center
Towers and the Pentagon, explain
ing how the notion of solidarity
must be implemented to combat ter
rorism, Walesa compared his per
sonal struggle in with Polish com
munism to the struggle catalyzed by
the recent attacks, noting that each,
in their own way, is a struggle
against difficult odds.
Walesa said, “On this terrible
experience the world is facing, we
Walesa
Continued on page 7
Elon’s endowment fund has fol
lowed the national econoniic trend
and has decreased by $11 million
in just more than two months. Since
June, 30, the fund has decreased
from $56 million to $45 million on
Sept. 11, according to Gerald
Whittington, vice president of busi
ness and finance.
Wall Street’s instability has col
lapsed the market value of most
university and collegiate endow
ments across the country. Endow
ments are a key money source col
leges and universities use to balance
budgets and pay for scholarships.
Fund raising has slowed the past
few months, as major stock markets
are looking more bearish.
Some colleges saw endowments
drop as much as 11 percent this
year. “We’ve been on a nine or 10
year upward rise,” Whittington
said. “Everybody on the planet
knew steam would come out of the
economy and the market would re
flect that and drop.”
Whittington said that along with
the instability of Wall Street earn
ings, unemployment rates and in
flation make the market rise and
fall. “Corporate earnings can’t sus
tain to the amount of time we’ve
been in an upward market,” he
added.
Higher-education officials report
that potential money donors want
to see how the markets operate be
fore committing to big gifts.
The value of a college’s endow
ment is affected primarily by the
school’s investment returns. With
endowments valued at $75-million
or less schools rely more heavily on
tuition revenue to pay expenses.
Endowment
Continued on page 6
Local Memorial Service held to
honor fallen heroes of recent attacks
Erin Cunningham
Reporter
A memorial service held Sunday
afternoon in tribute to fallen heroes
honored the victims, firefighters,
police officers and emergency per
sonnel who perished during the
Sept. 11 attacks. The event drew a
large crowd at Williams High
School football stadium.
Firefighters’ jackets, helmets
and equipment littered the stage. An
American flag was prominently dis
played, and during the playing of
the national anthem, the crowd
stood motionless and silent.
Among the many clergy,
firefighters and emergency medical
service workers speaking at the cer
emony was Steve Beckner, a World
Trade Center survivor from
Mebane, NC. Each speaker had an
individual message of inspiration
and hope.
The country must “memorialize
those great people who died,” Rev
erend Max Allman, a Law Enforce
ment Chaplain said. The tragic
day’s events “tear at the heart of
every American,” he said. Allman
told the now familiar tale of
firefighters who rushed into burn
ing buildings. “They climbed the
stairs to death,” he said, “but climb
they did.” He reminded the crowd
that among audience niembers sat
law enforcers, firemen and emer
gency medical technicians, and all
of them are ready to do the same at
a moment’s notice. This statement
became clear when firefighters got
up in groups and left in a hurry as
they responded to calls,
“It was 9-1-1,” Father Briant
Cullinane said, “[There is] an in
adequacy to find a word.,,a sen
tence,” The one word Cullinane
could attribute to the tragedy was
repulsion. Planes filled with inno
cent people were “made human
missiles and thrust upon other in
nocent citizens,” he said. However,
through the rubble and the incred
ible loss, “we discovered who we
are as Americans,” he said.
The hundreds of stories that have
surfaced have become one story, the
story of heroism and rising above
the ashes,” he said.
Memorial
Continued on page 6