Oct. 25,2001
Opinions
Page 3
Having trouble at school? Maybe more sleep is the answer
Taresa LaRock
Editor in Chief
I went to class today on three
hours sleep. I took a shower,
made a huge cup of coffee and
began the trek to McMichael’s
parking lot.
I got to class, sat down and for
an hour and a half, fought sleep.
I didn’t think about verbs or
present tense or how to say hello
formally in a different language,
I thought about what it would take
to stay awake for the rest of the
day. It was horrible, and it is be
coming habit.
I am not the only Elon student
suffering from this sleepless
I M
cycle. I see my friends falling
asleep at their desks, in our of
fice, at work. I hear stories about
those who stay up all night doing
homework or going to the bar,
only to find them exhausted in the
morning, struggling to make it to
LETTERS continued...
Alumnus comments on ^mistakes’
made in Columbus Day column
To the Editor:
As an alumni of Elon College (as
it was then called in 1981) I try to
keep up with university news via
the school’s web site. I wondered
what had happened to the on-line
Pendulum. I’m glad that you’re
back and better than ever from what
I can see.
I have some comments on the ar
ticle entitled “Controversy Sur
rounds Columbus Day and Histori
cal Figure” written by Jessica Vitak
which appeared in the Oct. 11,2001
on-line edition. I thought Ms. Vi
tak did a very good job of showing
both sides of the story.
I do have the following com
ment to make. You must understand
that you cannot judge a person of
the 15 century using our standards
of the 21 century. While it is true
that the native population of the
new world lost out in the clash of
cultures, Columbus did not set out
intending to cause such massive
suffering on the native Americans.
Columbus cannot be equated with
Hitler.
The one goal that Columbus had
from the beginning was to sail west
to reach the east. To force Christian
ity on the native populations of the
new world was, at the time, thought
to be the right thing to do. Such
concepts as human or civil rights
did not exist in the 15 century.
If you look you can find such
duality in any historical figure. For
example, Thomas Jefferson, the
author of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, owned slaves. In fact, it’s
a pretty safe bet that he had off
spring with one of these slaves.
Such were the times in which he
lived. Knowing these facts, the
Fourth of July is still a holiday,
I would offer one criticism of the
article. Ms, Vitak states that the
voyage of discovery was a “fated
journey from Portugal”. Portugal??
What are they teaching as history
at Elon University these days?
Columbus sailed on his first voy
age of discovery from Palos, Spain-
under the sponsorship of Ferdinand
and Isabella, the Catholic Majesties
of Spain,
Not only did Ms. Vitak make this
mistake, but it got by a couple of
editors on it’s way to cyberspace for
all the world to see. But all in all,
the article that was fair to it’s sub
ject matter.
Robert de la Fe’
Class of ‘81
class. Or in many cases, strug
gling to make it to their jobs, vol
unteer positions or activities.
When did we start overcom
mitting ourselves to the point that
our activities took over our lives?
When did we become machines
not worthy of sleep, healthy food,
and rest? When did caffeine and
other stimulants become our life
blood?
There is a concept of mental
health that I think college stu
dents often forget about. We work
during the day, stay up all night,
eat the wrong foods, and neglect
what we know we need the most-
rest.
We compromise what our bod
ies need for that extra half-hour
of test cramming or bar-time. We
sacrifice what we need for what
we think we want.
I’m here to tell you, we are
fooling ourselves. Burnout is a
horrible thing, my friends. And as
my senior year, as many of you
can relate, progresses, I find my
self spread thinner than ever.
So what can we do? How do
we avoid the cycle we have sub
consciously created? How do we
find the balance in our lives that
allow us to be successful in
school, prepare us for the future,
and have fun?
We start by figuring out what
is really important. Is it friends?
Is it graduating with honors? Is it
graduating, period?
Then we figure out what it
takes to keep us functioning like
real people. We realize it is not
coffee, or Vivrin, or any other
drug that we need to survive.
It is going to bed and eating
meals that don’t come in a box or
a can. It is skipping the bar, or the
hour we cram for a test. We never
retained the knowledge, anyway.
We simply justify it because we
feel guilty about waiting so long
to prepare.
Let’s take that guilt and turn it
around. Instead of feeling guilty
about what we aren’t accomplish
ing, let’s feel guilty about why we
aren’t accomplishing it. We need
something more to reach our
goals. We simply need sleep.
Research project
foiled by negligent
faculty, says senior
To the Editor:
I have never written a letter
like this mostly because I have
never been this disgusted. Today
was the straw that broke the
camel’s back,
I was planning to conduct a
controlled drunk driving experi
ment on campus here at Elon.
The senior staff and all the advice
and support from other faculty
have been great. The Human Sub
jects Committee, chaired by As
sociate Professor of Communica
tions Byung Lee, refused to hear
my experiment when it was sub
mitted to them prior to their Sep
tember meeting deadline.
I was assured that this would
not be a problem and that it would
be heard and voted on during their
October meeting to be held on
October 18,
Needless to say I would not be
writing this letter if it had actu
ally occurred as planned. The
Human Subjects Committee de
cided to postpone their October
meeting to until October 25,
This re-rescheduled date
leaves only seven days to coordi
nate the entire program that has
been in the works since school
started. This postponement or
procrastination has cost the Elon
Police and myself a great deal of
wasted time, energy and re
sources as it is now too late to
plan the rest of the details. The
calendar cannot allow for any
other arrangements, thus the ex
periment has been cancelled,
Elon University supports un
dergraduate research, this is an
example of a greater problem.
We as students at Elon are asked,
expected, and required to uphold
the respect of our professors. For
the most part, this is not a trouble
some issue.
However, there are a few that
seem to think it is their duty to
require the highest quality of
work from us yet they neglect
their own deadlines and commit
ments to us as students. I am not
referring to the occasionally can
celled class or the occasional for
getful gesture.
What I am referring to is when
professors fail to report Midterm
grades. What’s the point of print
ing them if they are not going to
serve their purpose of letting stu
dents know their progress? When
it takes a professor six or seven
weeks to grade an exam, why
bother? At that point you have
probably had another exam and
have not been able to correct your
errors form the previous one.
Its not like they don’t know
what is coming up in class. I un
derstand that they are people and
many of them have families and
other commitments, but can
someone explain to me what
makes that excuse valid for them
and not for us?
My point, beyond all of this
rambling is this: If we are
to adhere to the “real world”
deadlines, when are they?
Isn’t this the “real world” or
is this just college?
Erin Reynolds
Senior
Student suggests
we ‘paint the walls’
for inspiration
To the Editor:
I’m only a sophomore here at
Elon, but, along with other people,
I am tired of the plain, white walls
in most of the classroom walls on
campus. We have such beautiful
landscapes outside, but inside there
is no inspiration.
To liven up the walls, I think we
should divide each wall into blocks
of a certain size. Each class could
get a block and design their own
picture or whatever to paint on it.
After a few years, the walls would
be covered and inspiration would
be everywhere.
Casey Phillips
Sophomore