THE PENDULUM
Volume 29, Issue 1
August 22, 2003
if it matters to you, it matters to The Pendulum.
www.elon.edu/pendulum
Academic standards,
diversity increase
witli fresiiman ciass
Matt Belanger
Assistant News Editor
Dean of Admissions Susan
Klopman only needed one word
to describe this year’s freshmen:
diverse.
More than 10 percent of the
students in this year’s incoming
class are minorities. From places
as distant as Nigeria and
Botswana, the 1,220 students hail
from 35 different states and 11
foreign countries. Additionally,
the incoming class, on average,
has a GPA of 3.5 and an SAT
score of 1160. Fifty-seven percent
graduated in the top quarter of
their high school classes.
The admissions office received
7,052 applications for admission,
which is an 8 percent increase
over last year. Klopman said this
is a sign of Elon’s growing popu
larity.
“Eion is becoming more selec
tive,” she said. “This is not some
thing we are making up in the cor
ner office.”
Klopman explained that as the
university receives more applica
tions but keeps the incoming class
size the same, the university’s
yield, or the percentage of stu
dents who accept the school’s
offer of admission, moves up.
This year, the goal was to keep the
incoming class around 1,200 stu
dents. As a result, Elon’s yield
rate increased to 38.8 percent, up
from 37 percent last year.
“It really is the students them
selves who are driving up the
selectivity of the school,”
Klopman said.
However, this year's increase
in minority students marks an
achievement for admissions.
Because Elon does not have a pre
set quota for the ethnicity of
incoming students, admissions
has been working for years to
increase the number of minority
students enrolled at Elon. This
year, the percentage of African-
See CLASS p. 9
Matt Belanger / Photographer
Orientation staff gears up for freshmen
Orientation leaders Stephanie Sparlo, Shelby Peterson and Ashley Holmes put blindfolds on
before one of the staff’s many team-building and training activities. For details, see page 9.
For a quick reference guide to this weekend’s orientation schedule, see page 16.
State schools feel economic crunch
Steve Earley
News Editor
Private schools such as Elon
may have an advantage over their
public university rivals in weath
ering the nation’s economic
storm, as not being at the mercy
of the state legislature allows
decision making to be more flexi
ble, said Gerald Whittington, vice
president of business, finance and
technology.
North Carolina was forced to
balance this year’s budget amidst
a state-wide $2 billion shortfall.
As a result, public services such
as the states universities face
budget cuts.
The 16-campus University of
North Carolina System has expe
rienced $438 million in budget
reductions over the past three
years, said Jeff Davies, vice pres
ident for finance and chief finan
cial officer for the state system.
Individual institutions such as
North Carolina A&T State
University, where 80 percent the
operating budget is state appropri
ated, in turn are forced to make
cuts of their own as a result of the
budget problems.
Ava Brown, assistant vice
chairperson for budget and plan
ning at North Carolina A&T,
echoed the approach of schools
See UNIVERSITIES p. 7
UNO common reader fuels
arguments of liberal bias
Lindsay Porter
Managing Editor
Some schools have all the fun.
For the second consecutive
academic year, the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
faces criticism from opponents of
their freshman reading selection,
“Nickel and Dimed: On (Not)
Getting By in America” by
Barbara Ehrenreich. The book
explores American poverty and
welfare through Ehrenreich’s
struggles as she tries to support
herself with minimum wage jobs.
Several North Carolina legisla
tors have accused UNC-CH of
maintaining a liberal bias by
selecting “Nickel and Dimed.”
See COMMON p. 7
'13-| • Nine student standouts raise the bar for a talented "l^"i ^ • Seagraves, Phoenix look fonward to opening 2003
• and accomplished incoming freshman class /* campaign in the Southern Conference