THE PENDULUM
PAGE 4 II WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
NEWS
Inspiring interaction, encouraging education
Elon’s Multicultural
expansion plan, new
Laura Smith
News Editor
On Monday, Elon University
released its expansion plan for the
implementation of new programs
within the Multicultural Center.
Elon’s Multicuhural Center
creates educational programs based
on diversity and culture, including
programs for black students. Latino
students, Asian American students and
more. Originally, it began in 1992 as a
center for African-American students.
The focus of the new plan is on
retention, multicultural education and
academic success, according to Leon
Williams, director of the program.
Williams came to Elon in October
2008 and has been working on the plan
ever since.
“The question on the table as 1
entered into Elon was: How do we
broaden multicultural services?" he
said. “What do you do when you’re good
and you're nationally-recognized? My
idea of it is we have to go wider and
dig deeper.”
Plans for the expansion began
in 2008 with a charge from several
African-American students to clarify
the center’s mission and devlelop more
programs, according to Jeff Stein,
associate Dean of Students.
A committee for the search for the
new director, co-chaired by Associate
Chaplain and Director of Religious
Life Phil Smith and English professor
Prudence Layne, was then developed to
implement the plan.
Stein was a committee member and
helped chair the search for Williams.
“This is about the future of the
iniversity in terms of preparing
students for global citizenship,” Stein
>aid. “This is about the growth the
Center releases
programs expected
university will experience in turn.”
Williams said he hopes to
incorporate more students of a
multicultural background within the
programs, as well as recognize the role
of white students within the center.
“Every student should come in
contact with one another, learn from
one another, share their experiences
with one another,” Williams said.
To do this, Williams and his
colleagues have implemented several
programs for the next three to five
years.
One of these is the Difficult
Dialogues series in which students,
faculty and staff, along with those
from historically black colleges and
predominately white schools, will meet
to discuss multicultural issues that
plague society today.
The first Difficult Dialogue will take
place Oct. 8. It is called “Comparing
Experiences” and will incorporate 18
to 20 schools within an hour of Elon,
according to Kelsey Glover, president
of Elon’s multicultural student
organization. Diversity Emerging
Education Program.
Another program will be a
multicultural conference.
“We want Elon ... to make that claim
that we are the number one resource in
the south for multicultural education,”
Williams said. “Students from all over
the region can come here and learn in
depth about multicultural education.”
Within the university, Williams said
he is hoping to strengthen diversity
training in orientation so new students
will feel comfortable knowing about
different backgrounds as well as
where their resources are located.
This is being encouraged through an
interactive media tool called Deep
Impact, which is a DVD created by
COLLEGES WITH CASES’
'A
VIRGINIA
Radford University
1 confirmed case
University of Richmond
68 report^ signs, not confirmed cases
University of Virginia
21 confirmed cases
GEORGIA
Emory University
cases confirmed, number unavailable
University of Georgia
300 suspected cases
Macon State College
1 confirmed case
ALABAMA
Stillman College
15 or 16 Hu cases, not confinned
swine flu
University of North Alabama
24 confirmed cases
Troy University
1 swine flu-related death
KENTUCKY
Western Kentucky University
1 unconfirmed case
NEW YORK
Cornell University
1 swine flu-related death
MARYLAND
UM College Park
172 flu cases, not confirmed swine flu
NORTH CAROLINA
Wake Forest University
80 confirmed swine flu cases
Davidson College
23 flu cases likely to be swine flu
Elon University
1 confirmed case
SOUTH CAROLINA
Coker College
1 confirmed case
Clemson University
20 confirmed cases
use
7 confinrted cases
A
S.
f ipwt OF >
301
• TOTALS ON MAP
INCLUDE BOTH
CONRRMED AND
UNCONFIRMED
CASES, TOTALS AS
OF PRESS TIME.
OTHER STATISTICS
FROM AMERICAN
COLLEGIATE
HEALTH
ASSOCIATION:
73 percent of colleges
report swine flu cases
602 new cases in N.C.
Every student should come in contact with
one another, learn from one another, share
their experiences with one another.
m
Oxu®
Leon Williams
Director of the
Multicultural Center
the communications department and
is comprised of student performers,
which will be shown in Elon 101
classes. It includes six vignettes that
cover class, race, disabilities, religion,
gender and sexual orientation.
Externally, Williams is hoping to
expand community service projects
such as the Martin Luther King
program, where students clean up
a local church, and to partner with
Centro La Comunidad to support Latino
students in local high schools.
He said he also hopes to one day have
an exhibit at Elon displaying artifacts
and slave narratives, as well as bring
in more multicultural performing arts
shows, such as the Alvin Ailey dance
company.
In addition, the plan will cater to
the LGBT community, creating training
for safe zones to help facilitate the
discussion when a student is struggling
to come out. Williams has also written
a grant to host an LGBT advocacy
conference soon.
Glover couldn’t be more excited
about the implementations.
“This year we really want people to
face the issues they don’t want to talk
about ... not in an adversarial way but
in the world we live in,” she said. “You
have to be comfortable in talking about
these issues.”
In addition to these new programs,
DEEP will continue to hold DEEP
Days, which will include diversity-
-Leon Williams
Director of the Multicultural Center
aimed education programs. It will
also continue its annual events, such
as Thanksgiving with a Twist, where
students celebrate Thanksgiving from
a different perspective, and the Tunnel
of Oppression. The organization is also
beginning a branding logo for students
to recognize this year.
“We want to reach outside the bubble
and really inform and educate people
in the community that might not have
had any outside experiences,” Glover
said. “1 feel like Elon is really behind
this drive, wanting to make this a more
diverse campus. Elon has diversity, you
just have to look for it."
Williams is looking forward to what
the plan will bring to Elon as well.
“1 think this will put us in a different
place in the market for recruiting and
attracting students,” he said. “I think
they’ll be very attracted to Elon as being
not only a place with physical ethnicity
(and) race diversity, but a multicultural
experience as well.”
He also said he believes these
programs will help students in the
future.
“Students will be prepared and
equipped with the knowledge to go out
in the market and compete very well
with an advanced cultural competence
level of understanding,” Williams said.
“We shift from becoming members of
the discussion to leading the discussion,
and that’s a great opportunity for Elon
students.”
HlNl flu cases prevalent in
many Southeast colleges
CAROUNE MATTHEWS | Graphic
Rachel Cieri
Features Editor
According to the American
Collegiate Health Association’s national
survey, Elon is not the only college
in the Southeast on alert with cases
of the HlNl flu virus. The weekly
survey, which collects data on student
cases from 236 institutions, reported
that cases of flu-like illness in college
students in the Southeast are more than
four times more prevalent than in other
areas of the country.
The Southeast reported a total of
3,339 cases since the project’s inception
in January, while neighboring regions
are reporting numbers that haven’t yet
reached 1,000. The southeastern region
surveyed includes institutions from
North Carolina to Florida and reaches
as far west as Tennessee and Alabama.
Similarly, the U.S. Influenza-like
Illness Surveillance Network reports
a more than 5 percent increase in
outpatient flu cases in the Southeast.
North Carolina is one of 11 states
currently reporting widespread
influenza activity, according to
the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. The ACHA also reported 73
percent of institutions surveyed have
had instances of the HlNl virus.
Several colleges in South Carolina
have reported varying numbers of
HlNl flu cases, including 120 cases
at Clemson University, seven at the
University of South Carolina and two at
The College of Charleston.
The University of Georgia is
experiencing one of the largest
outbreaks in the region, with more
than 300 confirmed or suspected
flu outbreaks. Nearby, Georgia Tech
reported more than 200 students with
ilu-like symptoms.
Health officials noted that campuses
with higher numbers of flu cases tend
to be those that held fraternity and
sorority recruitment before classes
began.
So far, only two college students
are known to have died from HlNl
complications. Both David Skorton of
Cornell University and Andrew Salter of
Troy University had underlying medical
complications that contributed to their
deaths.
Some colleges, like Emory University,
have confined large numbers of
flu victims to a single dorm as a
containment measure. Similar to Elons
containment plans, these students are
confined to their rooms, do not attend
class and receive free meals inside the
dorm.
Davidson College has employe
a similar strategy, designating wo
“break rooms” — one for males and one
for females — for flu victims.
ELON’S FLU PLAN UPDATE
Infected students will be asked to le^
campus by pri'vate car or stay confined
to their rooms.
Roommates of infected students may
voluntarily relocate and stay with a friend
until the infected student is well.
Temporary housing may be arranged
for roommates of infected students wit
immune-compromising conditions in
the event they cannot find a friend to
stay with.
The university is developing phone triage
strategies to help ill students determine
whether they should self-isolate.
Ill students who cannot identify a friei^
to assist with their care will be assignee
a volunteer “flu buddy."
ill students will receive daily phone
contact from Health Services during
isolation period.