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HE PENDULUI
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010 | VOLUME 36, EDITION 4
www.elon.edu/pendulum
Elon brings light to
campus crosswalks
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Town of Elon workers put up lighting outside The Pendulum office on Feb. 11. The new lights were installed to create safer conditions
for the crosswalks on campus.
Samantha King
News Editor
along Williamson Avenue and Haggard Avenue on Feb.
4, but after taking light readings, the university decided
that the LED bulbs alone did not provide enough light
Elon University installed temporary lighting at key for the street, Dan Anderson, director of university
crossing locations around campus and will permanently relations, said,
install lighting at nine other locations within the next
New LED bulbs were installed in the street lamps S66 LIGHTS | PAGE 6
Elon’s endowment grows, others drop
Caitiin O'Donnell
Assistant News Editor
In a year when many schools around
the country suffered dramatic dips in
their endowments, Elon University
broke the trend by increasing its
endowment by 1.5 percent.
A survey done by the National
Association of College and
University Business Officers and
the Commonfund Institute showed
higher education institutions in the
United States saw, on average, losses
of 18.7 percent in 2009.
Elon’s endowment is S81.8 million,
according to the survey, up from
S80.6 million in 2008.
According to BusinessWeek,
the year was the worst for college
endowments since the Great
Depression. The study reported UNC
Greensboro’s endowment dropped
17.3 percent to $152 million. Wake
Forest University witnessed a drop
of 22.8 percent, falling from $1.15
billion to $887 million in 2009.
“We did not lose as much as others
did because of some good investment
strategies, and we also added funds
to the endowment because of the
Ever Elon campaign,” said Gerald
Whittington, vice president of
business for Elon. “These two things
made us go up slightly for the year.”
In October 2008, Elon launched
See ENDOWMENT | PAGE 4
Smoking ban
effects set in
across N.C.
Rachel Southmayd
Senior Reporter
The smoking ban in North Carolina
has left businesses in the state coping
with regulation that not all customers
are happy about. The methods of
handling these changes vary across
the state.
The anti-smoking bill was first
filed in the North Carolina legislature
on May 19, 2009, going into effect at
the start of 2010. The law prohibits
smoking in public enclosed areas, such
as state buildings and vehicles, as well
as restaurants and bars.
Greg Salenhe, owner of Sandy’s
Steaks and Subs, said a lot of smoking
customers are not happy with the
new law and are upset that no public
referendums were held before passing
the smoking ban.
“Especially with the cold weather,
some customers are complaining a lot,”
Salenhe said.
But for another local Elon restaurant.
The Fat Frogg, the ban has had a positive
impact.
“We have always been non-smoking,"
general manager Pete Ustach said. “We
have even more people come here now
because they can’t smoke anywhere.”
Sophomore political science major
Brooke Kassner recently quit smoking
and has mixed feelings about the ban.
“I think it’s a good thing for people
who don’t smoke, but for people who
do, it’s rather frustrating,” she said.
As of Feb. 7, the North Carolina
Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch
of the Division of Public Health had
investigated 12 complaints reporting
potential violations of the rules within
the ban.
“I think that having only this
number of complaints out of all the
facilities we have in Alamance County
is terrific. Folks are generally trying to
comply," said Carl Carrol, the director of
environmental health for the .'Alamance
County Health Department.
Carrol said several restaurants
near Elon University have been given
violation notices, including 3 Thirty 3
Sports Bar and the Oasis Lounge.
“They may not have had their ‘No
Smoking’ signs posted, or they may
have had a.shtrays inside the facility, or
we could have observed some smoking
inside the facility, but management was
not telling that person to go outside,”
Carrol said.
Smoking is still allowed indoors in
cigar bars, private clubs and designated
rooms in lodging establishments like
hotels. Exceptions to the law also exist
for tobacco shops and “live production
sets.”
In early January, WCET News in
Wilmington reported on a local hookah
bar, the Juggling Gypsy Cafe, that
believed It had found a “loophole” in
the law. The owners installed a webcam
and began streaming footage from the
restaurant live. By doing this, the entire
restaurant became a “live production
set” and was therefore exempt.
Tom Noble, assistant professor in
the Elon University School of Law, said
See SMOKE | PAGE 6
How Elon compares to other N.C. Schools
School
2008
Change
2009
Bon University
$80.6 million
-hi .5 percent
$81.8 million
High Point University
$43 million
-30.2 percent
$30 million
Duke University
$6.1 billion
-27.5 percent
$4.4 million
Wake Forest University
$1.15 billion
-22.8 percent
$887 million
Guilford College
$68.4 million
-21.5 percent
$53.8 million
Davidson College
$501.6 million
-26.4 percent
$369.4 million
UNC Chapel Hill
$2.4 billion
-19 percent
$1.9 billion
FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON ELON NEWS, VISIT WWW.ELON.EDU/PENDULUM