Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Oct. 3, 2012, edition 1 / Page 9
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i4 Wednesday, October 3, 2012 ‘page 9 Furthermore, he said the idea that the major ity of members of the Latino community are typ ically illegal immigrants is false. Approximately one-quarter of Hispanic adults are unauthorized immigrants, according to a Pew Research report pubhshed December 2007, and a 2009 report indicated about 4 percent of the nation’s popula tion are unauthorized immigrants. Furthermore, the 2009 report showed 73 percent of children of unauthorized immigrants were born in the country and are U.S. citizens. “We would hke to see the sheriffs depart ment no longer targeting Latino neighborhoods in traffic stops,” Blair said. “We would also like to see the sheriff s department stop targeting Latino drivers, and-we would like to see some outreach to the Latino community.” Impacting residents’views While in the letter to the DOJ, Kitchen al leges Alamance County’s incorporation of the 287(g) jail program inspired Fairness Alamance to assist the DOJ with the investigation, Blair said he is not opposed to local law enforcement’s involvement in immigration law, so long as it is done justly. The 287(g) jail program trains local and state law enforcement under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so lo cal and state officers can identify, process^nd at- times detain those determined immigration of fenders. The county was the second in the state to adopt the program and the eighth in the country, according to Sutton. The -DOJ decided to ^nd the program, which was set to expire in October. “Fairness Alamance is not opposed to local law enforcement being involved in immigration law enforcement under whatever federal pro gram,” Blair said. “Our concern is that it is done legally and in the confines of constitutional pro tection.” Nevertheless, Sutton said the DOJ’s investi gation was in violation of the law. “ “it’s riot the country I’ve been taught about where someone can charge something against you without showing you the evidence,” Sutton said. UntU the DOJ produces factual evidence to demonstrate the ACSO’s violation, Sutton said he is going to continue supporting the sheriff. In the letter to the DOJ, Kitchen wrote no remedial measures are needed and Alamance County wiU not further address the issue until the DOJ demonstrates a facmal basis for the report. The DOJ “is prepared to take prompt, appro priate legal action” if the sheriff s office does not agree to collaboration, according to the statement from the DOJ. § New program opens doors for students struggling with substance use Katherine Blunt News Editor During her first group treatment session for alcohol use, junior Lindsay Glosson cried the whole time. Two alcohol-related LINDSAY GLOSSON transgressions at Elon University resulted in her enrollment in an outpa tient program at Alamance Regional Medical Center, I despite her ada- mant objections. “I was so mad,” she said. “I thought “This is not for me, why am I here?”’ For three nights each week, she sat alongside seven other patients stmg- gling with alcohol and substance use and listened as they shared their sto ries. For the first week, she stayed silent. “I thought, “I don’t fit any of these profiles. I’m just in college,”’ she said. “But the more I listened to these peo ple, the more connected I felt to them, and the more those stigmas just dis solved.” Now, nearly a month after her first session, Glosson is launching a similar program for Elon students called Open Doors. She said the program rvill pro vide a safe space for students to share their experiences with substance use. Glosson partnered with Jordan Perry, coordinator for health promo tion, to design the program. In the sessions, they hope to discuss the pop ular stereotypes of college culture that influence many students’ expectations of college. ‘It’s not just for students who have substance use problems themselves,” Perry said. “On a college campus, vir tually everyone is impacted by sub stance use in some way. It’s something we see in the media all the time, and thaf s not tme for every college student, but it can certainly feel like that. I really do think that any smdent can benefit from this.” Open Doors sessions wiU center on group discussions, anecdotes and personal experiences, much like those of the outreach program, Glosson said. After her first week in the pro gram, Glosson began to open up to the other participants. She was first exposed to the dangers of alcohol in 2005, when two boys from her home town of Barrington, R.L were kUled in a dmnken driving accident. “It was hard because it was in the town, but not as hard as it could have been because I didn’t know the boys,” she said. But two years later, the same fate claimed her fkend’s boyfriend. She was in France when the accident happened, too far away to offer physical comfort to the grieving famUy. “It was a paralyzing feeling,” she said. “It was so surreal.” The next year, two fiiends of hers got in a car to drive home after a party. Both had been drinking, and the driver hit a tree. The passenger died, and the driver lived. If Glosson s father hadn t asked her to come home early that night, she would have been in the car with them. “AU through high school, these were things I was experiencing, and they would hurt, but I didn’t walk away from it feeling changed, she said. “I felt sad, like I was in mourning, but I didn’t feel like I learned anything other than someone died.” When Glosson arrived at Elon, It’s a group of people who aren’t super- against substance use and recognize it’s a part of life, but realize there is a better way to go about it than what we’re doing. -Lindsay Glosson, Open Doors founder her perception of the campus culture matched her preconceived notions of college life at all universities. ‘The atmosphere is you go to class, you drink and you have sex,” she said. ‘That’s the culture in which we’ve been raised and conditioned, and, con sciously or unconsciously, that’s what we associate with the term ‘college.’” For the first time in her life, she began experimenting with alcohol. On Halloween of her freshman year, she put her health in danger. “I decided that would be my ‘go hard’ night,” she said. “I had never celebrated other than dressing up as a kid, and I lined up shot glasses on my desk in my room and knocked them aU back.” But, her shot glasses weren’t stan dard size. Designed to hold jeUo shots, the glasses held 2 ounces instead of 1.5 ounces. After ingesting 16 ounces of hard liquor, she remembers posing for a picture with her fiiends. But she doesn’t remember the flash of the camera. She doesn’t remember heaving violently into the toilet as her concerned fiiends gathered outside the door. She doesn’t remember the resi dent assistant of her dorm entering the room, followed by campus security and a team of paramedics. But she does remember how she felt the next day. “I was so embarrassed,” she said. “I had never felt more disappointed with myself.” She was put on preliminary sus pension and barred for one year from studying abroad or holding a leader ship position on campus. But it didn’t stop her from drink ing. During her sophomore year, her habits worsened. “I began blowing off schoolwork, I wasn’t going to classes, I was black ing out on a weekly basis,” she said. “I kept justifying it under the explanation that I was in college. I thought it was normal.” By second semester that year, her college career was in jeopardy. “I was almost failing two of my majors classes,” she said. “I was pro crastinating and drinking all the time, and I was seeing my fiiends do the same thing. I heard people make com ments about me, but none of my close fiiends expressed much concern.” At the end of that year, a second mn-in with campus security prompted the university to express its concern. When Glosson called her parents to tell them what happened, she could hear the disappointment in their voices. They weren’t mad, but they were exhausted,” she said. “I had been doing so much damage, and I felt so bad.” Glosson spent the summer between her sophomore and junior years reflect ing on her lifestyle choices. “I learned a lot about myself,” she said. “I wasn’t reading pamphlets or doing research, but I sat down and figured out what was going on.” She resolved to change her habits this fall, but the school stiH request ed her enrollment in the outpatient program. Although she is no longer required to participate, she stiU attends sessions by choice. “It’s a group of people who aren’t super-against substance use and rec ognize it’s a part of life, but realize there is a better way to go about it than what we’re doing,” she said. ‘With the knowledge I’ve gained, the desire to be dmnk goes away.” Glosson said she hopes the Open Doors program wiU give Elon stu dents the same oppormnity to learn from others by listening to their sto- In order to maintain an inclusive environment, participants in the pro gram -wiU be asked not to share their last names or affiliations with campus organizations, Glosson said. “Elon’s campus, although it’s a wonderful academic environment, can tend to be very divided,” she said. “Whether it be sports, Greek life or what year you are, there are aU sorts of labels. We have a stigma for every thing.” Glosson and Perry are holding an Open Doors interest meeting 8 p.m. Oct. 9. “Slowly, the word is getting out, and I’ve received an amazing amount of support,” Glosson said. “1 want to give someone an opportunity to feel comfortable and safe and not judged or labeled.”
Elon University Student Newspaper
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