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THE Pendulum
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2011 j VOLUME 37, EDITION 28
www.elonpendulum.com
M^’s soccer wins SoCon championship
*
1
Kyle Maher
Reporter
The Elon University men’s soccer
team won its first Southern Conference
tournament title in program history
with a 3-2 victory against UNC
Greensboro Nov. 13 at the Ted Mackorell
Soccer Complex in Boone. With the
tournament win, Elon also clinched an
automatic bid to the NCAA tournament
for the first time in school history.
“1 think (getting to the NCAA
tournament) is massive for our
program,” head coach Darren Powell
said. “It’s a piece that was missing, so
now for the first time in the program’s
history to make the NCAA tournament,
it’s definitely going to get us national
recognition for our program.”
Elon is one of 48 teams in the
tournament field and will play at 7 p.m.
Thursday at Coastal Carolina University
in the first round. The game will be a
rematch against Coastal Carolina, who
beat Elon 2-1 on a neutral field earlier
this season.
The Phoenix, the SoCon tournament’s
No. 6 seed, entered the championship
game against the Spartans full of
confidence after already having upset
two higher seeds in the tournament:
No. 3 Georgia Southern University in
Statesboro, Ga., and No. 2 seed and
No. 16-ranked Furman University on a
neutral field in Boone in the semifinals.
In the championship, the Phoenix
jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two goals
COURTESY OF SOCON PHOTOS
Elon junior forward Jordan Smith scored two goals to lead the Phoenix to its first ever SoCon Tournament championship Nov. 13.
See SOCCER I PAGE 15
Students encouraged to
petition for Pell Grants
Hannah DelaCourt
Senior Reporter
One in 10 students at Elon University
will be Impacted by a recent slash to
the National Pell Grants. In response
to the cuts in student aid, the National
Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities launched an online
petition.
There are currently 517 Elon
undergraduates who receive Pell Grants,
which is why Patrick Murphy, director
of Financial Planning, said this petition
could affect Elon.
“A cut in the Pell Grant would
affect 10 percent of the undergraduate
student body who currently receive
Pell,” he said. “Possible changes in
federal methodology may also tighten
the qualifications for who would
receive Pell Grants and cause a lower
percentage of students to be eligible.”
In previous years, Congress has
begun to reduce the amount allotted
for student aid, especially from the Pell
Grant program.
During the 2009-2010 academic
year. Pell Grants helped more than 8
million undergraduate students. The
average grant amount is $3,646 with
the maximum being $5,550.
According to studentaidalliance.
®rg. in 2011 the Pell Grant program
"ad a $5.7 billion shortfall In order
*0 maintain the maximum amount
awarded in the grant of $5,550. It has
also been projected that for the 2012
year the program could face a shortfall
of $20 billion.
NAICU co-chairs the Student Aid
Alliance, which is coordinating the Save
Student Aid campaign.
The Alliance is composed of
75 supporting organizations that
collectively represent students,
college presidents, faculty, staff and
administrators, alumni and trustees at
almost every college and university in
the United States.
Tony Pals, director of
communications for NAICU, said the
organization is urging Congress not
to balance the budget on the backs of
students.
“Slashing student aid means killing
the dreams of millions of students,” he
said. “Fewer college graduates rneans
a country with a workforce that’s not
equipped to compete in the global
economy. If Congress doesnt protect
and invest in the student aid programs,
it’s gambling with the future of the
nation.”
He also said the threat to cut fundmg
is serious because student aid has been
on the table from the beginning, and
there is no reason to think it will be
removed.
In this way, Murphy said the
potential problem is twofold. Both the
dollar amount of the Pell award and the
number of eligible students could be
reduced. But until Congress makes
Residence Life responds
to censorship of posters
See PETITION I PAGE 4
FOR THE
Caitlin O’Donnell
News Editor
Residence Life at Elon University
has issued a statement of apology and
will re-examine aspects of their policy
following the removal of two posters
from senior Taylor Ferguson’s room
during a tour of Colonnades Oct. 25.
Additional diversity training, with the
help of SPECTRUM and LGBTQ students
will also be incorporated into Residence
Life, according to Elaine Turner,
director of Residence Life.
One poster, displayed in Ferguson's
bathroom, shows two clothed women
kissing. A second poster, near her bed,
shows two shirtless women without any
frontal nudity.
Ferguson, a resident assistant in
the Colonnades neighborhood who
identifies as bisexual, volunteered to
leave her first-floor room open for a
tour by faculty and staff.
Following the removal of the posters
15 minutes before the start of the tour,
Ferguson said she understood that
the staff did not want to make anyone
feel uncomfortable but she was most
concerned with the lack of explanation
from Residence Life staff.
“When I talked to Dawn Morgan
(assistant director of Residence Life
for Colonnades) that morning, I told
her I wasn’t personally offended but 1
do feel it’s hypocritical,” Ferguson said
in a previous interview. “I have my bed
illegally risen and a stolen Elon football
sign hanging and no one said anything
about those two things. I felt as though
the things they had grounds to say
something about, they didn’t.”
Elaine Turner, director of Residence
Life and one of three staff members
directly involved in the removal of the
posters, submitted the statement to The
Pendulum as well as SPECTRUM, Elon’s
queer-straight alliance.
“While the request was intended
to prevent visitors from feeling
uncomfortable with the explicit photos
and content of the posters, we did not
fully consider her right of expression
in her own room,” the statement reads.
“This was a mistake and 1 am sorry that
we put the student in the position of
having to remove the posters.”
No apology or explanation has
been given directly to Ferguson, who
said Turner has yet to respond to her
requests for a meeting.
According to Turner, Residence
Life will make an ongoing effort to
collaborate with Spectrum and is in the
process of having discussions about the
criteria for the removal of posters from
students’ rooms.
“As much as this situation is a good
example of diversity and how Elon can
improve their approaches, this is not
the only occurrence,” Ferguson said.
“1 believe this situation should be used
to continually address diversity in
all of its forms and how we can work
See CENSORSHIP I PAGE 3
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