Elon mailroom functions with caution
Emily Hudson / Photo Editor
Laszio Molnar explains the benefits of an enlarged Eu
ropean Union to students, faculty and staff gathered in Whit
ley Auditorium. Molnar, confirmed as Hungary’s next am
bassador to the United Nations, delivered his speech titled,
“The Importance of the European Union to Central Europe
and Hungary,”on Monday.
Sally Lynch
Reporter
With the recent anthrax scares
around the nation, the Elon Uni
versity mail room has been doing
its share to protect the Elon com
munity.
“We are using common sense
when sorting the mail,” mail ser
vices supervisor, Chuck Sparks
said. “We are slowing down the
sorting process to look at the
pieces of mail. If a letter meets
the criteria of a possible anthrax-
infested letter, we look at it.”
There are gloves and masks
available in the mail room for all
clerks who choose to use them.
There are also four protective
suits on hand in case of an emer
gency. .
“I think that using the common
sense approach with protect us
here at Elon,” Sparks said. “I
hope that there is nothing to
worry about.”
According to the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention,
characteristics of suspicious
packages include: excessive
postage, handwritten or poorly
typed address, incorrect titles,
titles with no name, misspellings
of common words, oily stains,
discolorations or odors, no return
address, protruding wires or alu
minum foil, ticking sounds, ex
cessive weight, lopsided or un
even envelope, visual distrac
tions, marked with restrictive en
dorsements, such as “personal” or
“confidential,” shows a city or
state in the postmark that does not
match the return address, and ex
cessive security material such as
masking tape and sttinj.
The mail room is also under
going physical changes with the
addition of 500 new campus mail
boxes. Currently, all students who
do not have a campus box are
given a temporary box.
To receive their mail, these
students must go to the counter.
Mail
continued on page 6
Julia Butterfly Hill to speak tonight
Lindsay Porter
Reporter
Beginning in 1997, forest activ
ist Julia Butterfly Hill lived in the
canopy of an ancient redwood tree
for 738 days in an effort to draw
attention to the uncertain futures of
ancient forests. Aided by steel
workers and environmentalists.
Hill negotiated with Pacific Lum
ber Company for permanent pro
tection of her tree, Luna, and a
nearly three acre buffer zone sur
rounding it. Elon’s Liberal Arts
Forum will host a presentation by
Hill at 7:30 p.m. tonight Whitley
auditorium. Her speech will be free
and open to the public.
Hill is the author of “The
Legacy of Luna: The Story of a
Tree, A Woman and the Struggle
to Save the Redwoods” and the
founder of the Circle of Life Foun
dation, an environmental issues
promotion foundation established
during her residence in the 1,000-
year-old redwood tree. In conjunc
tion with her organization, Hill
regularly speaks to and shares her
experiences with religious leaders,
students, labor unions, politicians
and members of the public at large.
Speaker
continued on page 6
Kilboume exposes advertising’s strong influences over addiction
Erin Cunningham
Reporter
Jean Kilboume, a widely pub
lished writer and lecturer, spoke to a
capacity crowd in Whitley Audito
rium Oct. 23 in a program entitled,
“Deadly Persuasions: Advertising
and Addiction.”
Kilboume displayed and dis
cussed slides of advertisements the
public is exposed to daily. She said
people often believe that advertising
doesn’t affect their lives even though
the average American is exposed to
approximately 3,000 advertisements
a day. “Ads are everywhere,” she ■
said.
Kilboume showed a slide of an
Absolut vodka ad, which read
“Absolut Nonsense.” Within just one
year of being launched, the famous
Absolut ad campaign increased sales
tremendously. The ads are famous,
but generally say nothing about the
product. “We are buying an image,
and that is basically all they are sell
ing,” she said.
The majority of the slides focused
on alcohol and tobacco, which kill
more people than war each year, ac
cording to Kilboume. She shared her
personal stmggle with a smoking ad
diction, which began when she was
13 years old. She said the tobacco
industry constantly attempts to con
vince children that smoking is cool.
“When you sell a product that kills
people, you have a problem,” she
said. “They are in the business of
making children addicted to ciga
rettes.”
Kilboume offered the example of
Joe Camel, who was as recognizable
to six-year-olds as Mickey Mouse.
This cartoon character was banned
in the United States, in the late 1980s
because it was said to encourage
smoking in young children.
Each year the tobacco industry
spends $8 billion on advertising and
promotion, according to Kilboume.
They contend that the ads have no
effect on the smoking public and they
are merely trying to get people to
switch brands, she said.
However, these companies must
recmit 3,000 new users each day, the
majority under 18, in order to replace
the 1,000 that die and 2,000 that quit.
Virginia Slims cigarettes empha
size the ideal of a slim, beautiful
woman. “Women strive to achieve
the beautiful ideal, but the ideal is un
attainable,” Kilboume said.
In advertisements, women’s bod
ies are constantly tumed into things,
such as a bottle of alcohol, she said.
When one woman is viewed in
an ad, it is not only one woman the
consumer sees.
Kilboume
continued on page 6