Elon, N.C.—A cold, windy Dec. 3 evening did not deter students and other Elon community members from enjoying an annual Elon University tradition: the lighting of thousands of lights on the university’s Scott Plaza and Young Commons.

The annual Holiday Celebration and lighting ceremony included visits from Santa and Mrs. Clause, as well as train rides, which faced some delay after the small train experienced malfunctions. The celebration also gave students the chance to take a break from their end of the semester work and enjoy a little celebration, which freshman Ian Rosen believes helps students.

“It was a great way to lift everybody’s spirits just before finals week,” he said.

Those who did brave the cold also had the chance to sip on hot chocolate or cider to help add warmth to the experience of the lights and candles.

“It looked very nice. Though really, the candles are what make it,” said senior Al Brown, who has attended the event for three years.

Elon’s Jewish student organization, Hillel, also participated by singing a traditional a song and attempted to light a Menorah, but strong winds made the effort almost impossible.

Live music provided by a small band and choir who provided traditional carols to help build the holiday spirits of the crowd entertained the crowd that gathered. But not all were able to enjoy the live music because of the size of the crowd and their loudness. Brown said he could not hear much of the music.

One of the carolers practices before providing holiday songs for the event.

“All I could tell is that someone was singing. I couldn’t tell you what song they were trying to sing,” he added.

The celebration culminated with the thousands of lights being illuminated to the tune of “Deck the Halls,” and mingling of students with each other and Santa Clause, in hopes to build a common spirit in the Elon community.

“It was also a great example of how the school is attempting to bring everybody together,” said Rosen.

The player shoots the free throw and makes it. Yet, the response from the fans that night in Alumni Gym, mainly the cheerleaders, dance team and pep band, sounds more like what could be found at a golf match not a basketball game.

Most men’s basketball games at Elon are like this. You have the cheerleaders and dance team, as well as the pep band, which can be rather vocal towards players and even fans themselves. Then, you have enough fans to fill about one or two sections of the bleachers spread out the entire gym. Of course, big games against top teams like Davidson always fill the gym, but that only happens once a season.

The lack of spirit for sports at Elon is rather disappointing and often adds to my wish that I went to a bigger school with a bigger athletics program. I have been to Duke and watched part of its game. Even though I pull for Carolina over Duke, I could still feel the excitement from the stands, as the students were excited about the game and cheering on their team and fun of being in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Come to Alumni Gym for a home game and you will feel like it is a high school game or even just a place to kill time, not a place of excitement. There have been many times I am most excited when the game finally ends.

The same occurs during football games. At Elon, game day is more game, not day. You show up at kick-off, and you leave during the fourth quarter, if not during the third. Now compare that to Appalachian State or BCS schools; you have much more fans that add to the game atmosphere. The App State fans were even louder than the Elon fans at this year’s game. And I was standing right in front of the Elon fans photographing the game when I judged that.

It loudness of the Elon crowd made it sound like Elon was visiting Rhoads Stadium, not that it was Elon’s home field. By the end of the game, even though Elon was losing, the crowd still could not manage to out cheer the App State fans, which managed to chant “overrated” several times with no response from the Elon “faithful.”

I think the problem somewhat begins with Athletics. Mainly, there are no sports traditions at Elon. The football team does not do a walk for the fans, there are no pep rallies and there is nothing for students to get involved with or excited about. Mostly, students get excited for the party later that night.

The connection with the teams and excitement around the games help build spirit. For basketball, many schools make the official start of when basketball teams can practice a big event having introductions and other activities to help build excitement and support for the upcoming season.

At Elon, we get emails and more emails about coming to games. Emails do not build spirit; they build sizes of trash folders.

Now, President Lambert, in a letter to parents, claims athletics are the key to Elon’s future. This maybe true for potential athletes to come to the school, but what great athlete would want to come to a school that has little student support when he or she could go to a school with a better fan base?

Elon has traditions. Now, it is time for athletics to start its own traditions. Nothing builds spirit like a sense of involvement and excitement around a sport.

But here, the sense of involvement is more of talking with your neighbor in the stands than being involved in the game.

ELON, N.C.—On a misty, foggy Wednesday, few people walk around the Elon University campus. Those that are, do so huddled inside jackets and under umbrellas rushing off to their destination with solemn expressions plastered on their faces.

The change from sunny weather to 51 degrees and drizzle, with more rain in the forecast, caused many students to experience a change in their moods.

“I don’t see many smiles in this kind of weather,” said Octagon cashier Laura Faith, “if you do, you’re forcing it out of them.”

Faith also said that she has observed that the weather helps to bring student moods down more.

Junior Alex Kunkel agreed that the weather affects her mood.

“[I] defiantly never want to go to classes when it’s rainy and cold out,” she said.

But, not everyone was upset by the rainy weather.

Sophomore Heather Babb was one such person since it was nice the past few days and gave her the opportunity to enjoy the puddles.

“The weather doesn’t really make me that upset,” she said, “because I get to splash in puddles.”

The forecast of rain later in the week also means Babb could continue her fun.

“More puddle splashing. Definitely always a good thing,” she said.

In front of most of the involved student photographers at Elon, photographer David Labelle gave a humorous presentation about photography and its techniques, as well as his views on what photojournalists should do with their photos.

LaBelle told the audience many simple concepts that most probably already knew. But he did so with a tone of humor that would help keep the audience’s attention and interest, even the during the most basic of ideas.

“It’s important that you are versatile and prepare for the unexpected,” he started with, to ensure that photographers are always ready to get their shot.

He continued on to discuss what he thought were the most important parts of photography: timing, light and composition.

LaBelle challenged the audience throughout each of his topics.

“You are the composer of you picture and you decide what elements it contains,” he said.

He also challenged the conventional rules of photography, such as the rule of thirds, by saying that there are no rules in photography, just guidelines.

LaBelle also talked about the importance of timing, which, according to Labelle, is so important, “you wouldn’t be here” without it.

LaBelle added that a person should find the most interesting light and that “every photograph has a star and if it doesn’t, then it’s going to be very boring.” He gave tips and considerations for dealing with light, such as that when the light is from behind, it reveals shape, quality, direction, intensity and time of day.

Once LaBelle had finished his photography techniques, he began to challenge students with a life lesson in the section he called “Bridges and Angels.”

Here, LaBelle told of how he wanted to do more than just take good-looking pictures. He wanted to use his photography to help make changes, which is the reason why he turned down a job offer to travel the world taking sports photography when he was 20 years old.

“I needed to take more than pretty pictures,” he said. “I needed to tell

stories that helped people.”

LaBelle provided examples of people he photographed that were homeless or struggling and who, after the pictures were seen, received aid that helped them receive homes or other items they need. LaBelle said he hopes his photojournalism will serve as a bridge between people’s needs and hope, something he challenged the audience to do.

“What will you do with the powerful gifts that you are given?” he ended.

Listen to Labelle talk about why he got started in journalism:

DURHAM, NC—The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers defeated the Elon University Phoenix 69-49 on Nov. 17 during the East Region consolation game for the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off.

The game was held at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Duke University’s campus. The Phoenix is now 1-2 for the season, while the Chanticleers improved to 2-1.

Junior Scott Grable takes a shot from the line during the Nov. 17 game against Coastal Carolina. Photo By Corey Groom

The Chanticleers hit 53.8 percent from the field, the highest percentage of the year, and scored 44 points from the paint.

Forward Joseph Harris led the scoring with 23 points and was 11-17 for shooting. Harris also rebounded 15 times. The Chanticleers led with rebounds as well, leading the Phoenix 45-26.

Sophomores Josh Bonney and Drew Spalding had the most points for the Phoenix, with 11 points each. Spalding ended the night with 5-9 for shots from the floor.

But, the Phoenix were held to 28.3 percent shooting percentage and made three of 18 three-point shots. This low shooting success by Elon allowed Coastal to reach a 29-point lead at

Sophomore Josh Bonney passes the ball during the Nov. 17 game against Coastal Carolina. Photo by Corey Groom

6:00 in the second half.

Coastal will play at home against Voorhees on Nov. 21.

Elon will return to Alumni Gym for the home opener on Friday to face Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham, which is 0-1 overall.

(published in the Nov. 4, 2009, edition of the Pendulum)

The increased use of bicycles on college campuses, including Elon, has resulted in a rising number of thefts on campuses.  For many students, their bikes are a crucial form of transportation.  A new Web site, KarmaArmy.com, as well as efforts by Campus Security, are working to help reduce the thefts of bicycles.

KarmaArmy.com was created by Senan Gorman to recover stolen recreational equipment, both on college campuses and in communities around the country.

The site was launched in late August 2009, but has done little in terms of marketing, according to the company’s marketing director, Howard Brodwin, who is based on the west coast. The company decided to have a soft launch to work out bugs in the site before making a major push.

The Farmington, Conn.-based company held an event to sign up college students in the Boston area, which was a success, according to Brodwin.  He estimates that the Web site currently has about 500 users.

“Since we haven’t done any marketing to get the word out, we’re happy to see some interest,” said Brodwin.

Brodwin said the company started by targeting college students in part by the amount of bikes that are on college campuses, and because many students rely on their bike to get to classes and other activities.

“If that bike gets stolen,” said Brodwin, “that is a huge, huge problem.”

At Elon, four bikes have been stolen this academic year, according to Dan Ingle, a public investigator for the Elon Campus Police. In years past, there has been a slight increase in how many bikes were stolen, possibly reflecting the increased bike use on campus.

Fourteen bikes were reported stolen in 2007-2008, and 20 were reported during the 2008-2009 school year. Ingle said he did not have records of how many skateboards were stolen

Ingle added that in most cases, the bikes were not stolen to be sold, but to simply get from one place to another on campus.

KarmaAlert.com allows participants in biking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking and other action sports to create a profile listing important information about their property.

On the site, members can create a free profile to register all of the pertinent information for their gear – serial numbers, descriptions, photos and location. If the item is stolen, the member can send out a Karma Alert, which notifies users in the same geographical area of what was stolen, where it was last seen and identifying features. This alert helps to create a virtual search party for the stolen gear, as well as a virtual community watch.

“Everything on here is free,” said Brodwin, “there is no charge to create a profile, no charge to send out a Karma Alert and there are no plans to charge for the services.”

Brodwin hopes the decision to offer the service free-of-charge will help attract a large number of users, especially college students.

Elon senior John McGreevy, who had his homemade skateboard stolen near Linder Hall on Oct. 24, liked the idea of the services.

“From the accounts of such disgustingly self-centered acts as theft from your fellow classmates, our campus is in obvious need of more community and camaraderie,” he said.

The company is also working to establish networks with law enforcement agencies and campus securities to directly feed information to them in the event a member sends out a Karma Alert. Having this link could help increase response time. But, this is one of the issues the company is working on and hopes to have available soon.

Ingle agreed that the identifying features such as size, color and the serial number are important to record, as well as resister. While not required, Ingle recommended that students who bring bicycles to campus register them with Campus Security.

“[Registering] gives us the opportunity to have documentation on the bike,” said Ingle.

Ingle’s main recommendation for students who wish to prevent bike theft is to register the bike with Campus Security and lock up the bike.

Brodwin reflected this and said prevention is one of the purposes of the site, which offers several user-posted videos on how to properly lock up a bike and about the different locks available to bikers.

“We want to help with recovery, but more important is prevention,” said Brodwin.

The company is planning to make a further marketing push once they have fixed several bugs on the site. Brodwin said the company hopes to create more communities, which will present relevant thefts to the geographic areas, as well as increase users.

“The goal is to have it be a nation-wide site,” said Brodwin.

McGreevy reflected the sentiment of Gorman when his bike was stolen: anger and feeling of wanting to do something, such as forming a community to prevent others.

“In many ways, I am embarrassed to go to school with people who would steal from one another in order to get minimal personal gain from the expense of another person, he said.”

Elon, N.C.—Erin Mahn, 25, returned to Elon for the Homecoming events like most alumni. But, she also took time to visit classes in the School of Communications to speak with journalism students about what she has learned in the profession and offer her advice.

Mahn, from Salisbury, Md., graduated in 2007. After graduation, she moved to New York City, where she spent the summer with friends and looking for jobs.

“I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” said Mahn, who said she was well prepared for the work force because of Elon.

She wanted to find a job that would challenge her, not involve sitting at the obituary desk and then working up, said Mahn.

She found this job at The Daily Banner in Cambridge, Md.

“[I] started covering town hall,” said Mahn.

Mahn recently left the paper in search of a new opportunity, but she said she gained valuable knowledge and experience about journalism. In her speech to the Reporting for Public Good class, Mahn offered seven items of what she has learned from her two years at the paper.

1)    “Treat everyone with respect.”

2)    ”Check your ego at the door.”

3)    “People will not like you.”

4)    “People will tell you when you made a mistake.”

5)    “Ask people how to spell their name. Twice.”

6)    “Don’t be afraid to ask questions till you understand.”

7)    “Have fun.”

Mahn also told the students that in order to succeed in journalism, you have to

have a good background and training. Mahn shared her own experiences, such as her first time attending a government meeting, and suggested that the students attend events like these meetings before graduation.

Mahn suggestions helped to give a real world perspective on the work that is being done by the students, as well as to encourage them to work hard in their studies.

“It’s all up to you,” said Mahn.

However, the beginning half of the report seemed to me more of a defense of the newspaper industry and why newspapers still mattered then an explanation of why newspaper journalism is declining because of the Internet. For me, I am not strongly for newspapers mainly because I really do not read them; I use the Internet. I think that if newspapers were no longer printed, the reporters would still have jobs and their work would just be online.

The report does provide examples of small, online organizations that have been successful, and it gives some of the successes, which shows the report is not completely against the smaller news organizations and what they do for journalism. I think is good because many articles I have read and seen have been from professional journalists being critical about bloggers and smaller organizations are not true journalism and hurt the business. I disagree and think it helps. Plus, I become a bit alienated and upset about it as the professional is showing a bit of an attitude and arrogance, something journalism does not need in order to remain in a conversation with the public.

I do also not agree with the request that the government should help fund journalism. This is because I do not think the government should bail everything out, and I feel that the press would become an outlet for the government because they are supporting the press. I do agree with the requests that smaller, independent journalists be used to continue journalism.

A search committee has announced the three finalists for two new positions within the Elon Provost’s office: Connie Book, Eric Hall and Tim Peeples. This is a result from an internal search for applicants.

The positions that have been created are the associate provost for academic affairs and the associate provost for faculty affairs. Book, the associate dean of the School of Communications, is the only finalist for the position of associate provost for academic affairs.

Book will still be interviewed for the position and must successfully complete the interview to receive the appointment.

Two finalists for the position of associate provost for faculty affairs are: Eric Hall, an associate professor of exercise science, and Tim Peeples, an associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The increasing size of the University and workload of the associate provost has caused the creation of a second associate provost position. An increased desire to focus on student and faculty scholarship and research has also influenced the need for these positions. The current associate provost position will need to be filled as well and is receiving a title change.

“As the school grows, more and more things have to be done. And there comes a point at which you have to say: ok, now we need another person to help do these [tasks],” said Dr. Nancy Midgette, the associate provost.

After nine years in her role, Midgette, a historian, is returning to teaching next year.

“That’s why we’re searching for two. If I were staying in this job, we would just be searching for one,” said Midgette.

The process began during this past summer when Provost Steven House contacted Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler to chair the search committee. With the help of the Academic Council, House and Vandermaas-Peeler formed the search committee.

“The committee is carefully comprised of people in different departments, different schools, in different roles with varying responsibilities at the university,” said Vandermaas-Peeler.

Once the committee had been determined, the Provost’s office announced the positions and accepted applications. The three finalists were then announced. The search committee, provost and a group representing academic and student affairs will interview the three candidates. These interviews will be held later this month.

This is the first time this process of internal hiring has been used at Elon, said Book, who likes that the process is “very open.”

“I’m honored to have been selected as a finalist and look forward to the good conversations that promise to be part of the interview process that is to follow,” said Peeples about being selected as a finalist for associate provost of faculty affairs.

Hall reflected the sentiment saying, “I am very happy to be a finalist and look forward to the process and the opportunity.”

Book also is pleased about being named a finalist, and hopes to be able to make a “large contribution” the university if appointed.

According to Vandermaas-Peeler, some of what the search committee will look for during the interviews includes finding the goals and impact the finalist wish to have on the university community, as well job qualifications. Since the interviews have not taken place, Vandermass-Peeler could not reveal much more about the interviews.

An announcement of the two appointments is expected by the end of the semester, according to Midgette.

The process for finding the two new associate provosts began 18 months ago with the findings of the Presidential Task Force on Scholarship. This task force recommended more investment in faculty scholarship, according to Midgette. The call for applications document says the position of faculty affairs, and the position’s duties, was shaped by these findings.

“The new position of associate provost of faculty affairs has been created, in part, in response to a scholarship task force that was charged with ways to highlight and support faculty scholarship,” said Vandermaas-Peeler.

The main duties of the associate provost for faculty affairs would focus on assisting the faculty with their needs and scholarship. This includes helping the faculty members find sources of funding for research, implement scholarship initiatives and assist with faculty development. This position would also oversee the Lumen Prize, Honors Program, undergraduate research, the Institutional Review Board and the National Fellowships director.

“It’s somebody who can coordinate and be responsible for these different programs that are all revolving around, in some way, on-going research on campus,” said Vandermaas-Peeler.

The associate provost for academic affairs would assume most of Midgette’s current duties. These would be overseeing the academic support services, curriculum and curriculum changes, General Studies and ensuring there are course schedules are sufficient. The other duties that Midgette carries out now that relate to the faculty would be given to the associate provost for faculty affairs.

Dividing the workload between these two positions will help allow the office-holder to focus on work that helps improve Elon’s academics. This will be done by supporting faculty research and scholarships, and academics by supporting the academic services of Elon. This focus is designed to reduce the workload to ensure the associate provost does not get overwhelmed with an increasing workload.

“If you try to spread yourself out too much,” said Midgette, “you don’t do a good job at anything. That’s just not the way we want to do things around here.”

The story also makes good use of sources. One of the main angles of the story is the involvement of the AAA in attempts to ban texting while driving, as well AAA studies on cell phone use. Hasley uses a quote from an AAA spokesman for the second graph, which helps the flow of the story to the third graph.

“W have an epidemic of distracted driving out there,” said Lon Anderson, the spokesman. This is an example of the strong quote that Halsey used.

This graph discusses upcoming events that will address the issue of texting and cell phone use while driving in Virginia. Hasley also mentioned how the U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is hosting a seminar on distracted driving. The story then flows to the more scientific facts about distracted drivers, citing the AAA studies.

Evidence of interviews exists in this story with the information about the studies and data about crashes. Not that many quotes were in this story, but the story was supported by the figures from the different traffic studies.

The story does contain good direct quotes that do help to add to the story. I like the last quote, specifically the part the mentions the man driving with his hands on the top of the wheel, but still using both hands to type on his Blackberry. Not only does this quote demonstrate how cell phones can distract drivers, but it also demonstrates the flow of information that occurred while Hasley was researching this story.

Hasley also uses simple words that help keep the story easy to read and add to the light tone of the story. There are some mistakes that I noticed, such as the missing driving in “will host a two-day seminar on distracted beginning.” I wonder if it was possibly a typo or it was lost in the transfer to the web. Many news articles I have read have had some sort of typo or error (such as one I read today that said “Lost” was on CBS), so I am not too worried about this making it a bad article.

The article also takes the local angle and only discusses the instances that occur in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland and on the Beltway. I think this helps keep the story localized for the readers. They will know where these events occur, such as the reference to I-495, and will be more likely to care about the AAA studies and the new laws that will come into play in the next few weeks. Readers would be less likely to care about a study that occurred in a community that was some distance away. Using local information not only covers local news, but it makes the news personal and allows the readers to connect with the story.

Overall, the story is somewhat simple, but I think the purpose of the article requires it to be simple. The article is designed to inform a wide range of readers about the problems of texting and cell phone use while driving. The article also provides more in-depth information with the study data for those who want to have more evidence about the dangers of distracted driving. This range is one reason why I think the article is good, as well as providing the useful information and light tone of a serious topic.