BRINGING HOME
THE GOLD
Communications professor wins Emmy for
production worl at 2010 Olympics
» PAGE 2
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PERFORMING ARTS
INDOORS AND OUT
sd Dancers take over Elon’s campus
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The pendulum
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA j WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 201 1 | VOLUME 38, EDITION 22
www.eionpendulum.com
MERISSA BLITZ I Staff Photographer
The introduction of new All-Access meal plans has resulted in Increased traffic in dining halls, while retail locations such as Acorn Coffee Shop, Octagon Cafe and Varsity Sports Grille have seen a decline.
Meal plans get a facelift, but not without side effects
Decrease in customers at retail locations, as students report crowded dining halls
Kate Riley
Ck)py Editor
Elon University student surveys
reported the past meal plan system
was the best in the region, noted for
its variety in food options and dining
locations. Elon’s former meal plan
system was in the top 4 percent in
the country, according to ARAMARK
representatives, but novk', with a new
meal plan system enacted on campus,
the reaction from students and the
consequences for dining locations have
not been as positive.
Unlike the previous plan, which
provided students with the option of
five, 10, 15 or 19 meal combinations per
week, the new basic plan for freshmen
and sophomores is “all-access,” which
provides them with unlimited visits to
the three dining halls on campus. At an
additional cost, they can purchase seven
or 14 combination swipes per week to
be used at Elon's retail locations.
While ARAMARK representatives
insist the change reflects Elon’s
mission, retail locations on campus
have experienced a sharp decline in
weekly customers, while dining halls
have become overcrowded.
Campus Reality
Max Akhlaghi, manager of Acorn
Coffee Shop, has seen firsthand the
effects of the new meal plan system.
“When this semester started, I was
looking at the numbers and 1 was
concerned about it,” Akhlaghi said. But
as time passes, the number of students
seems to be getting higher, and I’m not
too far from where I was last year. ’
Despite Akhlaghi’s claims.
ARAMARK statistics show that the
number of sales at Acorn has decreased
so far this semester compared to
September 2010. Last year, the number
of students who ate at Acorn in a given
week was between 3,500 and 4,000.
For the first week of September, the
number decreased by 436 visits, a trend
that has steadily continued. There were
decreases of 623 and 872 visits in the
second and third weeks, respectively.
These statistics include the number
of students using meal dollars, Phoenix
Cash and other forms of payment, as
well as meal swipes. Some students
do not have combo meal swipes or run
out and may have to use these forms of
payment to purchase a meal.
Akhlaghi said he regularly pays for
students who don't have meal dollars,
food dollars or meal plans.
“I don’t think that students will give
up on Acorn because they ran out of
meal dollars,” he said. “But if they do
come here and they don’t have the mean
of pay for (a meal), I use my card and
pay for them. It’s something that I don’t
want to talk about, but 1 do it on a daily
basis.”
Other retail locations, including 1889
Grill Room, Octagon Cafe and Varsity
Sports Grille, have all had a decrease
in the number of student customers.
1889 has had as much as a 52 percent
decrease in students since this time in
2010, Octagon a 34 percent decrease
and Varsity a 22 percent decrease.
Statistics show more students are
frequenting the dining halls. But not
without a disruption. Colonnades
Dining Hall has seen as 67 percent
increase since the school year began.
See MEAL PLANS I PAGE 3
Elon identifies first-generation students on campus
Kassondra Cloos
News Editor
For the first time in its history,
Elon University identified the number
of first-generation college students
in the incoming freshmen class.
The Class of 2015 has about 89 first-
generation students, defined as
students whose parents did not attend
college, regardless of grandparents’
educational experiences.
First-generation students are an
incredibly diverse dynamic, according
to Lauren Flinn, assistant director of
the Multicultural Center. They come
from wealthy households, as well as
low-income families, may have attended
public or private high school and may
or may not be minority students, she
said.
“A first-generation college student
is diversity, because they are bringing
a different perspective, a totally
different voice to the classroom,” Flinn
said. “They, more often than not, tend
to challenge the status quo — what is
status quo - and that’s really important
for any institution, any democracy in
general, to have those different kinds
of voices because they tend to come
from very different places.
Becky Olive-Taylor, associate dean
of Academic Support, was a first-
generation college student when
she was an undergraduate and has
developed a discussion and support
group for first-generation students
at Elon. The group, called First m the
Family, had its first meeting Thursday,
Sept. 22 and two students attended.
Qjjy^.'faytor is working to increase
awareness about the group so more
students will get involved and a meeting
time has not yet been finalized. _
“I think this is going to evolve, she
said. “I don’t have an agenda, I really
want it to come from the kids. So my
role initially will be to try to get the
word out, and if there's a need, a real
need, the students will come. And
they're right, food always helps.”
Olive-Taylor and Flinn said there are
many challenges for first-generation
students aside from academics. In
Flinn's experience working with first-
generation students at Elon, academics
are hardly an issue. She said she
has seen that their grades are often
noticeably higher than those of their
peers.
Where first-generation students tend
to struggle is with social and cultural
norms typical of a college campus they
may have never experienced, she said.
“When they get to college, research
shows it's not so much that they
struggle academically but more in
the environment here because of
the cultural norms of the unlearned
expectations that are at a college,"
Flinn said. “This weekend is a perfect
example, parent's weekend. When I was
in college, I was like ‘what is this?’ Even
our orientation program is very family-
focused. Parents stay for a good day
and a half.”
Although first-generation college
students are only identified in the
Class of 2015, there are many first-
generation students in other classes as
well. The Odyssey and Watson Scholars
programs are need-based scholarship
programs that were recently expanded
and many of the students in the
programs are also first-generation.
“You might be first-generation or
low income but that’s not what got you
here," Flinn said. “Those things didn’t
get you here. Your own talent and
strength and resilience and hard work,
that’s what got you here."
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