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The Pendulum
Was WFMY's coverage of Elon fair?
Continued from p. I
ALE and Elon Police had increased their
numbers that night in a combined effort.
“When we join efforts with another
department in the past, like the Elon Police
Department, there’s more resources to put
together,” Yates said.
However, after WFMY aired their stoiy
about the incident, many students felt that
the portrayal was not an accurate depiction
of Elon.
“They just focused on one person and
didn’t focus on everyone else there who was
behaving themselves,” freshman Elizabeth
Rymer said.
“It not only embarrassed the school, it
embarrassed specific people,” sophomore
Cameron Scarixjurough said. “I think doing
a drinking story on Elon students is appropri
ate if,TOU put it in the right context.”
Comh^ts on WFMY’s Web site were
varied, and a gijoup on Facebook was creat
ed by Elon students to protest WFMY’s
story. ^
Other students, however^ saw the story
differently.
“At first I had real issues with it 1
they were focusing on Elon,” freshman
Facts About Drinking
1,700 college students age
18-24 die each year from
alcohol-related causes.
31 percent of college students
meet the criteria for diagnosis
of alcohol abuse.
Nationally, college students
drink an average of 6.1 drinks
per week.
Elon students drink an aver
age of 11.5 drinks per week.
Statistics courtesy of collegedrinking-
preventlon.gov and the Elon Poll
Hunter Gross said. “But it’s not saying ‘don’t
drink’ - it’s talking about excessive drinking.”
Greek Life and Judicial Affairs also had
their say.
“I didn’t have much of a reaction except
that could have been anywhere, anytime, any
town,” said Jay Anhom, director of greek life.
Anhom supported the sorority involved in
this situation, saying he believed they reacted
appropriately.
“The organizations involved handled them
completely the way they should have,” he
said. “There was a guest list, there were wrist
bands, there were sober monitors. They fol
lowed everything that we needed to see on
our end.”
Scott Nelson, Dean of Judicial Affairs had
a similar reaction.
“You’ve got to get people to watch your
TV, and how do you do that? It is by shock
value and showing the worst and then
talking about the best,” he said.
As for the school’s actions against Ware,
Nelson couldn’t comment. But he did say that
the school isn’t out to expel students.
“You know, students, young people make
mistakes, we make mistakes too. But that
doesn’t mean you automatically turn around
and suspend everybody.”
Information contributed in part by
Phoenix 14News.
Contact Randy Gyllenhaal at
pendulum@elon.edu or at 278-7247
Photo courtesy of WFMY
Invisible Children bus stops at Elon Wednesday
Jessica Frizen
Reporter
Invisible Children representatives will
stop by Elon on their tour across the United
States to show their documentary of the
struggle in Northern Uganda at 7 p.m. on
March 12 in the Koury Business Center’s
LaRose Digital Theater.
Today is the last day for students to
donate money as a part of Invisible
Children’s Try-Peace week. Invisible
Children members will be collecting $3
donations and selling T-shirts from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. to raise money for Invisible Children’s
Schools for Schools campaign.
The campaign worics to build schools to
educate the children of Uganda, and help
them “take responsibility for their future and
the future of their country,” according to the
Schools For Schools Web site. Money raised
through the program is concentrated on five
major areas of reform for the children of
Uganda, including water, teachers, books, a
building and technology.
There are currently 246 schools - 5,172
students - raising money to build schools for
the children of Uganda.
“Basically this is our generation’s
Rwanda,” Meyers said. “We can vote now;
we can do something about it now. It’s our
time to start taking responsibility for the
humanitarian crises that are going on.”
Meyer created the E16hlivision of
Invisible Children in January afterj)articipat-
ing in an event called Global Night Commute
in her hometown of Indianapolis. About 400- ,
people showed up with sleeping bag in tow,
ready to spend the night outside in the rain.
Overall, 80,000 people from around the
U.S. gathered in countless cities that day to
show the government there was a wide con-
cem for the circumstances in Uganda A day
later. Congress passed the Northern Uganda
Crisis Respond Act.
“Anyone knows they don’t get passed in
one day at congress - that’s unheard of,”
Meyer said. “For all the people who say that
college students never vote and we never
make a difference; this is a way we can defi
nitely show we can affect change.”
Meyer said Elon’s Invisible Children
organization is planning to do more on cam
pus to continue to raise awareness, including
fundraising ideas such as a bake sale, dodge-
ball tournament, benefits concert and selling
Invisible Children merchandise.
Information about the nonprofit Invisible
Children program appears on television pro
grams such as Oprah, CNN, Channel One
and National Geographies channel. The
movement that began with three Californian
college students is coming to Elon’s campus
in the form of a tour bus and a DVD.
“Right now there are over 1,000 people
dying each week, because basically the gov
ernment has completely abandoned them,”
Graphic courtesy of lnvlslblechildren.com
“Rough Cut, ” the Invisible Children DVD,
documents the creation of the organizjation.
said freshman Katie Meyer, president of
Elon’s Invisible Children organization. “They
don’t have water, they don’t have a place to
live, and they can’t get food.”
After a 20-year civil war in Northem
Uganda, 90 percent of its residents were
forced to evacuate their homes and move into
Internally Displaced People camps. The rebel
group kidnaps children f^om ages 5 to 15 and
trains them to become part of their army, the
Lord’s Resistance Army. According to Ae
Invisible Children Web site, 90 percent of the
rebel army are children.
Each night these children commute to a
larger city away from their families to escape
being kidnapped by the rebels and hide in
places such as hospital basements.
“I would say in a basement that is proba
bly the size of one of our house basements,
where you can have 30 people comfortably,
here are probably about 300 to 400 kids
sleepiqg on the floor there - just literally
stacked next^ each other,” Meyer explained.
Invisible Children has three campaigns to
help these youth, who ^ a generation know
nothing but war and killing.
The DVD, “Rough Cut,” will explain why
those college students started the organiza
tion, what the rebels have done to train the
children, what we can do, what the global
night commute accomplished and more. After
the screening, the Invisible Children staff will
sell some of their merchandise and answer
questions.
Meyer said the biggest problem with the
situation is the government and people of the
United States don’t know there’s a problem.
“It’s been deemed the worse humanitari
an crisis, because no one knows about it,”
she said.
Contact Jessica Frizen atpendulum@elon.edu
or at 278-7247