Informing, entertaining and inspiring tlie Elon University community since 1974
Volume: XXIX ISSUE
DATE; 4/11 / 02 www.elon.edu/pendulum
Sullivan selected as graduation speaker
Jennifer Hildebrand
Reporter
John Sullivan will deliver this
year’s commencement address
May 25. Sullivan will speak in the
place of Mae Jemison, the first
black female NASA astronaut.
Jemison cancelled her appearance
because of a critical illness in her
family.
Sullivan has been the backup
speaker at Elon for two decades,
and while numerous impressive
speakers have addressed the gradu
ating seniors, he has been waiting
patiently for his chance to share his
thoughts with those he has seen
grow throughout their four years on
campus.
“I had always imagined that, if
I was called on, it would be in an
emergency situation - a plane can
celled, a sudden illness,” Sullivan
said. “As it turns out, I have been
asked early enough to have my
name in the program. So this
seems more like the real thing.”
While Sullivan has been wait
ing 20 years to give an address, he
has revised or rewritten his speech
almost every year because of the
changes in the environment and the
student body.
“I have written a series of
speeches over the years, a new one
approximately every two or three
years,” Sullivan said. “If there is a
year that I do not rewrite, then I
always do some revision. I am
changing and students are chang
ing. What is appropriate to say and
what I want to say changes too.”
Sullivan has been a member of
the philosophy department since
1970 and has earned a reputation
as a respected scholar and educa
tor. He has held the Maude Sharpe
Powell Professorship as depart
ment chair since 1985. Sullivan is
also a long-time participant in the
acupuncture techniques sponsored
by the Tai Sophia Institute in Co
lumbia, Md., which is a program
for adults that applies the principles
of Chinese medicine to everyday
life. He co-founded and teaches in
the institute’s School of Philosophy
and Healing in Action.
“Dr. Sullivan is one of the most
distinguished and admired faculty
at Elon,” President Leo Lambert
said. “He was chosen because he
would have something to say and
tell it well.”
Sullivan will become the third
member of the Elon community to
deliver the commencement address
at an important time in the school’s
history. President Emeritus Earl
Danieley delivered the address at
the 100th ceremony in 1990, and
Isabella Walton Cannon reflected
on her life and the life of Elon in
the address of 2000.
“I am honored that a member of
our own faculty will give the gradu
ation address on the first gradua
tion since Elon became a univer
sity,” Sullivan said. “To me, that
seems fitting.”
While he has enjoyed his years
as backup speaker, Sullivan says
that after he delivers his address
this year he will most likely relin
quish his role.
SGA budget hits organizations hard
Stephen Facella
Reporter
Last Friday many campus orga
nization presidents opened their
mailboxes to find some disappoint
ing news. The budget requests
many made to the Student Govern
ment Association were not met, and
in some cases, were cut from the
previous year.
The budget requests for 2002-
2003 set a record for SGA. The
number of organizations and the
amount of money that each orga
nization requested from SGA dras
tically rose.
Last year, SGA supported 78
organizations, which requested a
total of $492,710. This year 86 or
ganizations requested $713,996.
The available funding for next year
is $523,54L If SGA gave every
organization what it requested,
there would be a $190,455 deficit.
As a result, 21 organizations will
receive less funding than they did
this year.
“We told students coming into
budget hearings this is a tight year
and to anticipate cuts,” said Chris
tian Wiggins, former SGA execu
tive treasurer and current president.
The committee struggled to divide
funding. “A student comes to Elon
to live their dreams. How can you
prioritize other groups’ dreams? ”
SGA funding comes from the
student activities fee that under
graduate students pay.
SGA’s budget is based on 3,950
undergraduate students paying a
$60-per-semester fee. SGA distrib
uted these funds among recognized
organizations. SGA leaders antici
pated the rise of student requests
and petitioned the administration
before school began for a three-
phase increase in the student activi
ties fee. The first year, there would
be an increase of $20-$70 per se
mester, followed by two years of
increases at $5 per semester. This
would create $80,000 in additional
funds for SGA to distribute among
various organizations the next year.
The proposed increase was
tabled by the administration and
never brought before the Board of
Trustees for their approval at the
March meeting.
“The proposal didn’t get further
along in this year’s process because
we wanted to see what the overall
request and outlook would be,”
said Smith Jackson, dean of student
life.
See BUDGET
page?
Goodall sends messages of
conservation, hope in speech
Erin Cunningham
News Editor
Jane Goodall, renowned scien
tist and author, offered an emo
tional speech and lessons in glo
bal responsibility April 4 during
Spring Convocation for Honors.
The ceremony, which cel
ebrated the achievement of
President’s List and Dean’s List
students as well as graduating se.-
niors, was endorsed by Goodall’s
message that one person can make
a tremendous difference in the
world.
Goodall greeted the audience
with the sounds of chimpanzees,
the animals she has spent a life
time studying. She has written
more than 20 books based on her
30 years of research.
Goodall’s journey as a re
searcher in Africa* which began
in 1970, was not one she took by
herself. “We can’t go very far by
ourselves,” she said. According to
Goodall, her mother had a pro
found influence on her success
and her life. “Right from the be-
ginning she was there for me,” she
said.
Goodall recalled a time when
she was 4 and wanted to know
how a chicken laid eggs. Under
standing the power of observa
tion, she hid in a pile of straw for
four hours while her mother
thought she was missing.
See GOODALL
page 9
„ , , , Tim Rosner / Photographer
Jane Goodalt speaks about conservation and the impor
tance of global responsibility.
IN THIS ISSUE
Footprints of Africa festival
Southern belle tells
begins Thursday...page 12
all...page 21
Elon film festival this
Baseball team ends 14
week...page 17
game winning
streak...page 28