Intellectual Climate
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 • page 7
Eton’s intellectual climate
given some thought to a specific topic. But
when comparing the end results, there’s no
disparity.
“When students come to me, they’re in
terested in research,” Miller said. “On an in
dividual level, I don’t know if I notice that
much of a difference. If you’re in a Fellows
program, you know that others in your class
are going through this process at the same
time, as opposed to a non-FeUow who may
not he going through the same process.”
This overlap. Miller said, serves to enhance
the intellectual climate at Elon because dis
cussion is generated both inside and outside
the Fellows programs. Having soHd intellect,
he argues, stems from the ability to ask ap
propriate questions —' a skdl that research
serves to impart.
“It comes from research,” Miller said.
“People get excited because they put a lot of
work and energy into their research. That’s
the way we engage the community.”
Engagement among students in Fellows
programs and those who are not is a crucial
portion of Elon’s intellectual climate, ac
cording to Honors Program Director Tom
Mould. Fellows students are selected to be
models across campus, hoping they’U lead
the charge toward a robust intellectual cli
mate — not comprise it wholly.
While Fellows programs aim to recruit
stronger students, they comprise but a small
portion of Elon’s intellectual sphere.
There are approximately 800 Fellows to
tal. They make up about 14 percent of Elon’s
student body.
“There’s space for everyone,” Mould said.
“It’s not just the Fellows students who are go
ing to be leaders in the intellectual climate.”
Fellows falling short
But the Fellows programs at Elon have
not supported all recipients equally. Senior
College Fellow Juhe Crothers felt neglected
as a dance major. She benefitted from her
scholarship, she said, but was uninspired by
the other aspects of the Fellows protocol.
In her freshman year, the prospect of
dance research was unfamiliar and intimidat
Julie Crothers, a senior College Fellow and dance major, said some of the requirements for Fellows are not geared toward majors in the arts.
CAROLINE OLNEY I Photo Editor
ing. Academic requirements, like the manda
tory structural analysis, hterature review and
poster session, seemed irrelevant to her field
of study.
“For all the artsy folks, it’s more difficult
to make sense of things you do,” she said.
“They teach you how to ask good research
questions. As a dancer, I didn’t know how it
made any sense at all, and I didn’t have much
help with that for a while.”
The unanswered questions and frustration
Crothers initially experienced were answered
eventually. She said she’s grateful, ultimately,
for the opportunity to complete a large-scale
project independently.
But Crothers admitted she doesn’t con
sider herself a:jtypical Fellow. Opting out of
the College FeMoWs shared housing, Croth
ers aspired tov^rd a more gefieric college ex
perience — ofi'ly interacting with the other
Fellows in her Fellows-dhly classes.
’ ' “I considered dropping right after my
sophomore year,” Crothers said. “For two
whole years I thought it was stupid. But it
was worth it to stay. They were paying me a
httle bit of money, and I didn’t want to lose
that.”
For other students in the Fellows pro
grams, the academic rigor was a tall order,
especially on top of the other requirements.
Former Leadership Fellow Will Stirn placed
an enormous value on his time in the Fellows
program. But, he said, he felt that in a pro
gram that emphasized leadership, academics
were placed on a pedestal. Unable to meet
the 3.0 grade point average benchmark, Stirn
was cut from the program.
According to Stirn, the homogenized na
ture of all the Fellows compromised his ex
perience. Being held to a specific academic
standard was not constructive for Stirn.
“My biggest confusion with the academia
of the program is where they have this stan
dard, even if someone is exceUing in every
other aspect of the program,” he said. “I didn’t
think that standard was fair for Leadership
Fellows because leadership is such a gray
matter issue.”
Knowing that each student has a differ
ent background with leadership and learns
differently, Stirn said leadership education
is a process that requires practice and failure,
unhke math or science, where the answers
consistently rely on formulas and precise cal
culations.
Eager about pursuing a career in outdoor
education, Stirn’s leadership education will
play a defining role in his life after college.
Learning alongside the Leadership Fellows,
he said, could have been instrumental.
“There are some people who do the mini
mum requirements to get by in Fellows,”
Stirn said. “It makes for a weird situation
because some of us were dropped because of
standardized policies but were super involved
in the program.”