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Ice bucket challenge raises awareness, mixed emotions page 5 Four study abroad programs canceled page 3 Elon senior becomes comedian after Elon in LA ^ page 6 The Pendulum Elon, North Carolina • Wednesday August 27, 2014 • Volume 41 Edition 16 www.elonpendulum.com ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ unites Elon Led by brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha, Elon University students rose hands in solidarity against the shooting of Michael Brown in early August. JANE SEIDEL i Photo Editor Dunn sistant News Editor 'Nearly three weeks after unarmed Fer guson, Missouri, teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by police on August 9, the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” movement has arfived at Elon University, in the form of more than 100 people posing for an aware ness-raising photo on Phi Beta Kappa Commons Tuesday during the first College Coffee of the new school year. brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fra ternity (APA) brought the movement to Elon’s campus, beginning at College Coffee on August 26. Alpha Phi Alpha President Justin Pierce spoke about the issue and stu dents, faculty and staff posed for a group picture with their hands in the air. “Michael Brown, an 18-year-old male who had recently graduated from high school was planning on attending his first day of college two days after his death. To Elon’s class of 2018 — Michael Brown could have been your classmate,” Pierce , a senior, said. Freshman Kara Pollock participated and drew parallels between the shooting and other inequalities in society. “It’s such a social injustice, and the shooting really exemplifies that even though we’ve come so far in our society, there are still so many injustices we face today,” Pol lock said. When Michael Brown was shot by po lice, he allegedly called out “don’t shoot” while holding his hands in the air. This event triggered a mass of protests and riots in Ferguson, Missouri, where Brown was shot, and raised questions about the state of racial equality and police brutality in the nation. In Ferguson, violent riots have broken out, in addition to peaceful protests, causing tensions to simmer in other urbarf commu nities elsewhere throughout the country, leading to a spiU-over effect in less popu lated areas, such as Tuesday’s demonstration at Elon. People all across the nation were inspired to start movements, prayers and discussions about the events still taking place in Fergu son, including at Elon University, Senior Lahaun Nunnery also participat ed in the photo and said his outrage was less See FERGUSONpage2 Faculty takes on Ice Bucket Challenge Kaitlin Dunn Assistant News Editor Almost two-dozen Elon Universi ty students, faculty and staff members joined in the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Aug. 24, by dump ing buckets of water on their heads in front of Koury Business Center. Dining Services will be donating money to the cause for each person who participated. Aramark Resident District Manag er Pulkitt Vigg spearheaded the event. Coming into his new position several weeks ago, Vigg thought this would be a good way for dining services to interact with students. “I'thinkthis is the beginning'of the evolution of dining,” Vigg said. “We had lots of fun and engagement.” The challenge is simple. Post a video of yourself being doused with ice water and nominate a few friends to partake, or donate SI00 to the ALS Association. Many participants have done both. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, “is a progressive neurodegenera- tive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord,” according to alsa.org. Individuals with ALS eventu ally lose all motor functions, including muscle movement and speech. Approx imately 5,600 people are diagnosed with ALS each year. Vigg challenged University of North Carolina-Wilmington as well as the rest of the Elon faculty and staff for the ice bucket challenge. “It was awesome, much better than I was expecting,” Vigg said. “I’m so grateful See ICE page 3 Cross Country brings in new coach, keeps cuiture running Kate Murphy Senior Reporter The philosophy of new Elon Uni versity cross country coach Nick Polk is deep, but simple. “A culture of confidence: knowing and believing in your training so that when you get to your starting line, you know exactly what you need to do,” he said. Polk was hired the same day the ath letes’ reported back to campus for pre season. Just days before preseason training was scheduled to begin, the Elon cross country team lost head coach Christine Engel when she left for a head coach ing job at Duke University. The runners were left not knowing if they would have a coach when they returned to campus. “We were all shocked,” said sopho more Kimberly Johansen. “It was like, ‘what are we supposed to do now?’ It made us think more about how we go about things and our program values. We see that and pass that down to our fresh men. That dynamic and culture doesn’t change.” Heading into preseason, the team didn’t know what was to come or who would fill in that gap, but the team cap tains knew they had to step up and ad dress the team. “We went from knowing what to ex pect all the time to not even knowing if we had a coach and we had to think, ‘how are we going to approach this season?” said junior captain Elyse Bierut. “We were going to carry on with a positive attitude no matter how much unknown was there.” The team recognized this was a great opportunity for Engel, but hearing the news didn’t come without some concern. “It was really unexpected knowing her all these years, and I was really sad dened by the news,” said senior Luis Vargas. “After the announcement it was definitely hard to gather our thoughts. I was nervous coming in, but Elon always looks after us.” The process to hire a new coach moved quickly, and just a week after En gel’s official resignation, Elon hired Polk. “The potential on the roster is very high. The incoming guys and girls on pa per should take the program to the next level,” Polk said. “And this was a chance for me to become a head coach, so I wanted to take on that challenge as well.” As a three-time All-American runner and national champion at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan and assistant cross country and track and field coach at Grand Valley State for the last three seasons, Polk has experi ence. He was also a competitive runner for ZAP Fitness, a professional running team in North Carolina. Polk said running at an advanced lev el and the experience of competing for a national championship has prepared him for the opportunity. “It’s being able to coach developmen tal runners and top-tier runners at the same time,” Polk said. With any new coach, a new style of coaching is inevitable. See POLK page 8
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