gBBMI
THE PENDULUM
Volume 29, Issue 7
October 2, 2003
If it matteis to vou. it matters to The Pendulum.
www.elon.edu/pendulum
Friedman outlines roadmap to Iraq resolution
Ellis Harman
Copy Editor
Thomas Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer
Prize-winning columnist with The New York
Times, addressed Elon University students,
faculty, staff and donors at Fall Convocation
Monday night in Alumni Gym. His speech,
“American Foreign Policy: The Middle East
and the Global Economy,” focused on the sit
uation in Iraq and how the United States
should go about rebuilding the country to pre
vent the spread of terrorism.
Friedman’s visit to Elon was part of the
Baird Pulitzer Prize Lecture Series, which was
endowed in 2001. During his day-long visit to
campus, Friedman, who is The New Yoric
Times’ foreign affairs columnist, also held a
question-and-answer session at ,3 p.m. in
Whitley Auditorium.
At the question-and-answer session
Fieldman fielded many questions about his
book ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree,” which
won the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for
the best nonfiction book on foreign policy and
is being used in several Elon classes, and his
ideas about globalization.
Friedman said that globalization could
result in some nations losing their cultures and
their share of world power. However, he said
he was optimistic that these cultures could use
globalization to their advantage and not be
bullied by more powerful nations.
“Globalization will succeed to the extent
that people can take the tools of globalization
and use them to strengthen their own cul
tures,” he said. “It’s not the big who eat the
small but the quick who eat the slow.”
At Fall Convocation, Friedman, who has a
master’s degree in modem Middle Eastem
studies from Oxford University and has spent
many years covering the Middle East, focused
on the war in Iraq, terrorism and the need to
support the regime change in Iraq.
Friedman said he believed the war in Iraq
started Sept. 11, 2001 with the attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
According to Friedman, the radical Muslims
allegedly responsible for these events are th^
next “totalitarian challenge” facing the world/;.
‘That’s what these guys represent; The
third of the great ‘isms,’ he said. “First there
was Nazism, then there was Communism and
now there is Islamism.”
These “isms” pose a great threat to the
world because, according to Friedman, they
allow those feeling a “poverty of dignity” to
lash out against their perceived oppressors, in
this case the United States and Christianity.
Friedman said this new “ism” became more
threatening after the attacks of SepL 11 moved
terrorism to the forefront of nearly everyone’s
mind.
“The mood, the frenzy, that contributed to
9/11 was like a bubble,” he said. ‘There were
three bubbles of the 1990’s: The NASDAQ
bubble, the Enron and corporate scandal bub
ble and finally the toTOTism bubble. This bubble
See FRIEDMAN p. 9
Photo courtesy of University Relations '
Thomas Ftiedman addressed more than 2,100 studenis, Acuity and community mem
bers in Alumni Gym Monday as part of his visit to Elon. Hisspeech, “AmericanForeign
Policy:The Middle East and the Global Economy," explained his support of tie war.
Poll shows Bush support down
Bethany Boyd
Reporter
Annual town festival starts Friday
North Carolinians aren’t satisfied with
the way President George W. Bush is han
dling the economy or the war in Iraq,
according to the Elon Poll conducted last
week.
The latest poll shows steady decreases
in support for Bush’s policies. Last May,
75 percent of North Carolina residents
approved of his handling of the war in
Iraq. Last week, it was down to 52 percent.
“I don’t like the trends I see with the
public ... our patriotic high from 9/11 and
seeking justice for that is rapidly declin
ing,” said sophomore Luke Wake.
Support was lower for Bush’s handling
of the economy as well. While 48 percent
approved of the job that he was doing
See POLL p. 11
More than 10,000 expected at Eton’s
11th annual Festival of the Oaks
Ashley Feibish
Reporter
The Town of Elon will kick off the 11th
annual Festival of the Oaks 7:30 p.m. Friday
with a hot air balloon illumination. More
than 10,000 people are expected to attend
this year’s festival, which runs from 9 a.m. to
6 p.m. Saturday.
The street festival will be held on
Lebanon Avenue, Williamson Avenue,
College Avenue, Holt Street, the firehouse
fields and in the Whitley and Elon
Community Church parking lots.
The festival will feature more than 100
artists and craftsmen selling handmade items
and two entertainment stages hosted by radio
•Station disc jockeys. Featuring talent from
See FESTIVAL p. 9
• October is National Domestic Violence Awareness ^P-i g\ • “The Laramie Project” is on stage this week; look
• month; check out the special section inside. JL • inside to read about this student-directed play.