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Pendulum
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA j WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 201 1 | VOLUME 37, EDITION 5
www.elon.edu/pendulum
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SiATlON
TRACY RAET21 Staff Photographer
Naw Thein, an ARAMARK employee, hands out a slice of pizza at Topio's, one of the many dining options on Elon’s campus. But starting this fall, combos in Octagon will not come with the standard meal plan.
‘Meal swipe’ gets new meaning
ARAMARK changes aflfect students’ eating options on campus
Sam Parker
Senior Reporter
ARAMARK, Elon University's food service
provider, is changing the way students eat with
the introduction of two newly available dining
packages. All Access and Block Meal plans.
The All Access option gives students unlimited
access to all three dining halls on campus, while
the Block meal plan provides a specific number of
visits to dining halls per year.
According to Jeff Gazda, resident district
manager of ARAMARK, throughout the spring
and fall 2010 semesters, Elon’s Dining Services
conducted a market-match process that involved in-
depth customer research to gather feedback from
1,292 campus customers, which is approximately
44 percent of on-campus residents and 17 percent
of the total student population.
“Our research told us that students were looking
for better prices, value and increased flexibility
from their meal plan," Gazda said. “So, our goal
was to develop a customized meal plan solution
that delivers those things.”
Gazda said both the economic recession and The
Elon Commitment’s goal to enhance students’ well
being also served as influences in creating the new
meal plans.
“We want to align ourselves completely with the
direction that Elon is going in,” he said. “And one
thing we realized we needed to do that was retool
meal plans for the next step of the phase.”
According to Gazda, the All Access meal plan
See MEAL PLANS I PAGE 2
Redefining learning: Elon seeks ideas to enhance
education on campus, remain accredited by SACS
Caitlin O’Donnell
News Editor
A committee of Elon
University faculty and staff has
been charged with developing
an innovative way of learning
in preparation for a 2013 visit
from the Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools, the
school’s accrediting body.
With input from other staff
members as well as students,
the idea proposal, also known
as a quality enhancement plan
or QEP will be finalized this
fall and then implemented in
preparation for the SACS visit.
“The QEP is something that
the university will do that
will enhance the learning for
students,” said David Copeland,
professor of communications
and a member of the committee
developing the QEP. “It’s
something that SACS expects
us to spend significant amounts
of money on. It is probably
new to what we’re doing and if
not, will take something we’re
already doing and expand it
beyond anything we’ve thought
of before.”
Since Elon last went through
the reaccreditation process
in 2003, SACS added the new
requirement of the QEP along
with other standards that must
be met. Specific guidelines from
SACS dictate how the QEP must
be developed.
“It assures that your
programs are up to certain
standards, that all the
elements within your school
or university meet criteria,”
Copeland said. “By meeting
criteria and SACS standards,
it shows the government we
meet qualifications and can get
student loans and grants.”
Currently, the four-
person committee is in the
brainstorming phase and
collecting ideas from students,
faculty and staff, said Pam
Kiser, professor of human
service studies and co-chair of
the committee.
“Right now, we’re trying to
get everyone’s attention amidst
everything else that is going
on,” she said. “This is on a very
definite timeline imposed by
our accrediting body, so we need
ideas and we need ideas now.”
Ideas can be submitted
through e-mail to qep@elon.
edu, or dropped into boxes soon
to be placed around campus,
Copeland said.
“They don’t have to be well-
formed,” Kiser said. “That's the
point of brainstorming, you
don’t critique.”
This phase of the process
will continue until the first
week of April. At that time, the
committee will take the ideas
and pull out common themes
that will then be put on a website
for everyone on campus to view.
During the summer, ideas will
be narrowed down and brief
papers prepared describing the
best argument for why each
should be selected as the QEP
for Elon.
“We will ask people who are
really knowledgeable or excited
about them to write short paper
descriptions,” Copeland said.
By late November of this
year, the focus of the QEP will be
finalized. After being narrowed
down to two or three ideas,
senior staff will make the final
See QEP I PAGE 2
MARCH 2011:
Brainstorming
phase
APRIL 2011:
Evaluation of
ideas
SUMMER 2011;
Pitching of final
three ideas
NOVEMBER 2011:
Final idea chosen
SPRING 2013:
SACS team
arrives for
evaluation