THE PENDULUM
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 // PAGE 3
REVAMPING
THE RETREAT
Student Government
Association Executive
Vice President Evan
Davis planned the retreat
this year, which included
an Eion-only senate trip
Friday to Celebration
Station in Greensboro.
“It was strictly for our
senate to bond, have
team building activities
and just for us to be a little
more comfortable with
each other,” Davis said.
While SGA’s annual
retreat is normally
budgeted for $4,500,
SGA President Justin
Peterson said his
organization is scaling
back their spending
since many other student
organizations on campus
are being forced to cut
theirs.
The second part of
the retreat included the
seminar, which has not
happened in previous
years. In total, the entire
two-part retreat cost
about $2,000, Peterson
said.
“I would definitely
encourage future
executives to continue
along with this initiative,"
Davis said. “If we’re
persistent with it, I think
the seminar will grow
each year.”
SGA hosts state seminar, works
on plans to refresh organization
Andie Diemer
Editor-in-Chief
On Saturday afternoon,
Elon s Student Government
Association held a Student
Government State Seminar to
connect, network and share
ideas with other student
government associations from
neighboring colleges around
the state to learn more about
how each can improve their
programs.
The seminar, which SGA
President Justin Peterson
said was a pilot, attracted
representatives from Catawba
College, High Point University,
North Carolina A&T State
University and Peace College, as
well as all of Elon’s SGA senate.
Students spent most of
the daylong session in Koury
Business Center getting to
know each other, hearing
from each school about their
program, attending leadership
workshops and having a general
discussion.
Communications professor
Tom Nelson, and Director
of the Multicultural Center
Leon Williams served as the
two keynote speakers for
the seminar, touching on
the importance of giving as
much back to community
as was given to the socially
privileged group of individuals
in attendance. They also
emphasized students need to
show responsibility and use
their power for good instead
of individual gain.
Each school gave a short
presentation on the culture of
its school and structure of its
governing program.
Peterson said his group
took back many ideas from the
session that could impact the
future of SGA, including how its
funding is structured, an SGA
symbol and installing a judicial
branch to ensure checks and
balances.
“It’s amazing to see how
these other schools run their
organizations,” Peterson said.
“They’re so different and yet
so similar from our university,
and we ended up learning a lot
just from the presentations.”
Peterson said the idea of
a judicial branch has been
previously tossed around, and
it would ensure organizations
are spending their money
responsibly and make sure
any appointments he makes as
president are legitimate.
Walking away from the
conference helped him reaffirm
some of SGA’s previous ideas.
“1 think right now we have
a very narrow perspective on
how SGA is supposed to work,
because 90 percent of the
people have not been exposed
to other universities’ student
government associations,” he
said. “We think what we do is the
only way, (but by) only reading
through other SGA’s bylaws and
constitutions on the Internet,
we had our eyes opened."
Mary Kathryn Willis, the
student body president at Peace
College in Raleigh, N.C., said at
a small college her organization
is always striving to get the
word out about who they are
and what they represent.
“It was also great to meet and
hear from campuses that were
similar in size and structure,”
Willis said. “If you constantly
immerse yourself with larger
universities, you will eventually
get overwhelmed.”
Willis said the seminar
allowed her to network with
neighboring schools and
was an innovative way to let
students’ voices be heard. Her
team also left with ideas about
programming, advertising and
meeting structure.
Peterson said every public
and private school that could
be contacted in the state was
invited and that a lot of interest
was generated, but many were
not able to attend because of
funding or transportation
issues.
He said he is still in contact
with several institutions and is
continuing to learn more about
other student government
associations across North
Carolina to make Elon’s
stronger.
“We do realize what has
happened to this organization
over the past few years has been
bad, withnochecks and balances
and litt le involvement,” Peterson
said. “One of the significant
points (of the seminar) is that it
symbolizes our recognition for
our need to change."
Peterson said each school
that attended expressed
interest in making the seminar
an annual activity, and after
the formal portion was over,
some of the visiting schools’
representatives toured Elon’s
campus and SGA office.
“I loved that we could
bounce around ideas and
have a chance to hear from
everyone," Willis said. “I
would definitely recommend
this seminar again in the
future. We talked the whole
way back to Raleigh about how
motivated we were and how
we were planning to use the
information we took away.”
FIND APPLICATION
INFORMATION ON
THE ISABELLA
CANNON
CENTRE FOR
INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES WEB SITE
EXTENDED BRIEFS:
Student participation still
needed for 2010 Winter Term
trips to Hawaii, Guatemala
Trip leaders for the
GST 258 Hawaii: Nation
or State are in danger
of not being able to
embark on their Winter
Term journey because
of lack of enrollment.
Led by Jeffrey Pugh,
professor of religious -
studies, and LD Russell,
lecturer of religious studies, the trip is an exploration
of the history, culture and political situation of the
Hawaiian islands. This will be the eleventh year it
has been offered.
“It’s just an amazing experience,” Pugh said. “The
first year I did this class, 1 had no idea what to expect
■ ■■ but every year I meet someone there who educates
me about the realities Hawaiians face.”
Pugh and Russell hope to provide students with
many opportunities to grasp the complexity of
Hawaiian life.
“The situation in Hawaii now is actually very
interesting because of a piece of legislation called
the Akaka Bill that is before Congress right now,"
Pugh said. “The response to the bill is entirely mixed.
Some see it as the best or worst thing to happen to
the Native Hawaiian people in a long time.”
The fate of Pugh and Russell’s trip relies on
additional students enrolling in the course. The
course satisfies the general studies experiential
learning requirement and partially fulfills the
advanced studies credit in civilization and society.
Guatemala: Culture and Service is led by Aaron
reeks, assistant professor of sociology. The trip serves
as an opportunity to learn about the Gautemalan
culture, while assisting with the construction of a
healthcare facility.
, Students will have the opportunity to observe
fie healthcare of indigenous Mayan families with an
emphasis on pediatric care, engage in home visits
"'ith indigenous Mayan families and visit two women
co-ops and coffee plant Finca Vista Hermosa.
Students can do something that will not only
c ange their life,” Peeks said, “but it will change that
awemalan community forever."
The course satisfies the general studies
experiential learning requirement, counts toward
and gender studies minor and partially
Ills the advanced studies credit in civilization
and society.
Currently, both trips do not have a large enough
group to run the course.
Sj ® deadline to apply for either trip is Sept. 21.
sitp' online on the Isabella Cannon Centre Web
or at the office in
Pranab Das
Physics Professor
Professor’s book
examines overlap
between science
and religion
Elon physics professor
Pranab Das has edited a
book that includes essays on
various approaches to science
and religion called “Global
Perspectives on Science and
Spirituality.”
The book, with topics
ranging from Daoism to Eastern
orthodoxy, gives better insight
into non-Western approaches
to the overlap of science and
religion and can be used as a
textbook for both subject areas. Das said.
The diverse essays touch on topics such as
mathematical physics, robotics, biosemiotics and
new schools of theoretical biology, embryonic stem
cells and cognitive science.
The text includes submissions by researchers
from more than 10 countries, most of whom are
held in high regard by some of the globe’s best
research institutions.
They each bring their own perspectives to the
table regarding science and spirituality dialogue
and also take multicultural perspectives into
account.
“We feel very strongly that this long, challenging
project was successful at raising the quality of
scholarship, introducing fresh perspectives from
non-Western sources and massively increasing the
level of dialogue between science and the religious/
spiritual traditions of the countries where we
worked,” Das said in a statement.
Das is the principal investigator for the Global
Perspectives on Science and Spirituality program,
which are two different projects that support the
work of the top scholars, research organizations and
institutions in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe
in an effort to support leading thinkers worldwide
and bring new perspectives on the issue.
These are topics that are normally dominated by
Western scholarship. Das said.
“My projects were among the very first major
efforts to internationalize this dialogue," Das
said. “The highly competitive process winnowed
down an applicant pool of more than 150 teams in
over a dozen countries to seven final groups who
conducted major research projects, undertook
large-scale activities like conferences and public
events, and have helped shape public awareness
through media outreach, debates, dialogue and
teacher training.”
Biannual book
sale in Burlington
continues to benefit
students, volunteers
BOOKS from PAGE 1
Libraries since its creation in 1985.
“We used to have the (book sale) in the
mall, Roberts said. “We only had a month to
set up all the books, sell the books and then
clean. It is great we can have the sale here.”
Roberts said the money raised from the
sale will go to different programs in the
library and The Friends of the Library have
committed $50,000 to go toward the new Elon
Library, set to be complete in 2011.
“(The money raised from the book sale) is
important because it enhances things that
the tax dollars can’t do,” Gant said. “We are
like the icing on the cake. We partner with
other organizations who are interested in
literacy."
While the book sale happens twice a year,
every fall and spring, few Elon students may
be aware of the long-standing book sale
tradition.
Cobbs said there are many textbooks
for $3.00 and a range of reference, history,
classical and poetry books students would
find useful. She also suggested that students
majoring in education could find a variety
of children’s books “perfect for starting a
personal classroom library."
Ashley Lewis, a junior and creative writing
major, was one of the few Elon students who
was at the book sale opening day.
“I’m from Alamance County so I have been
coming for years,” Lewis said. “I’m an avid
reader and you can get some really good finds.
Plus 1 read they are giving money to the Elon
library so that is a really good cause."
The book sale is entirely staffed by
volunteers. Jan Antoniewicz said this was his
way of giving back.
“All children know now are TV and video
games,” Antoniewicz said. “Kids need to pick
up a book and use their imaginations.”
The book sale will be going on until
Sunday, Sept. 20. From Wednesday through
Friday doors will be open from noon to 7
p.m. On Saturday doors will be open from
9 a.m. through 4 p.m. and on Sunday from
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Those looking to go to the
sale should use the Davis Street entrance. For
more information contact the May Memorial
Library at 336-229-3588.