For the first time in Elon University’s history, a student is facing a Student Conduct investigation because of a comment published in The Pendulum. While there is no precedent, members of the administration said it should not come as a surprise.

In the Nov. 30 edition of The Pendulum, sophomore Hilary Stevenson was quoted saying she possessed a fake ID and had used it to drink while underage at College Street Tap House. It wasn’t long before she received an email from Jodean Schmiederer, assistant dean of students, telling her to set up a Student Conduct meeting to address the admitted Honor Code violations. Stevenson declined anonymity when interviewed for the article and would not comment on the potential charges.

Smith Jackson, vice president and dean of Student Life, was not involved in the decision to potentially charge Stevenson. But he said he thinks students should anticipate the consequences that accompany attaching their names to such charged statements. Instead, they should more seriously consider remaining anonymous.

“If students are violating policies or laws, I think it’s certainly better for them not to give their names or put themselves in these situations,” Jackson said. “Would the story have had a bigger impact for me as a reader if you said ‘a sophomore with whom we spoke said this?’ That would have been just as informative to me as it would to have used someone’s name.”

While Elon’s student handbook doesn’t specify that students may be charged for comments made public by student media organizations, the Honor Code holds students responsible for every action made between matriculation and graduation, according to Elon administration. Student Conduct follows up on any potential violation of the code, regardless of the means in which the violation was brought to the office’s attention.

Whitney Gregory, director of Student Conduct, said students are liable for comments made on social media websites and in public forums. Even comments about underage drinking made in front of a professor — or fellow student — are fair game for an investigation. The office has fielded numerous tip-offs on Honor Code violations from students, faculty and staff alike, Gregory said.

“Students need to be aware that if they indicate verbally an Honor Code violation, whether that’s on a Facebook page, on Twitter, in a public setting or in a publication, then that is something that we will be responding to if it comes to our attention,” she said.

In the past year, Jackson and President Leo Lambert have been making a visible push for open dialogue and students’ freedom of speech and expression.

With the creation of the Speakers’ Corner last semester and the recent developments of regular open forums between students and staff, the university has presented itself as a nurturer of honest discussion. But charging a student based on a comment printed in a student newspaper could have a highly detrimental effect on students’ future willingness to take responsibility for their comments, according to Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate at the Student Press Law Center.

“If your overall goal as an institution is to reduce illegal drinking or underage drinking or drinking on campus, then you want people to come forward when they have information relevant to how students are acquiring alcohol on campus,” Goldstein said.

Lambert would not comment on the effect Stevenson’s case may have on Elon’s quest for open dialogue.

Rich Landesberg, a communications professor and faculty adviser for Phoenix 14 News, said he doesn’t think the university intended to stifle free speech by investigating Stevenson and he has never felt restricted by the administration. But, like Goldstein, he said the circumstances could deter students from speaking on the record in the future.

“I would be concerned about the chilling effect it might have on people speaking to the press if they fear that anything they might say could be interpreted as a violation of the Honor Code,” Landesberg said.

Like Jackson, Schmiederer also advised students to speak under condition of anonymity. But she was unclear about a potential solution for the chilling effect the sanctions may have on future open discussions about campus issues like underage drinking.

“I think talking about issues and challenges and problems that exist within the student community is an important thing to have a conversation about,” Schmiederer said. “I’m certainly not asking students to come forward and say, ‘I violated the Honor Code in this way.’”

Jackson said the university would not ask The Pendulum to reveal the names of anonymous sources unless a student’s life were in jeopardy. But in the case of students admitting to having engaged in illegal activities, it would be a liability for the university to not interfere judicially.

If the university were to give a student amnesty for admitting an Honor Code-violating activity, such as drinking underage, in a public setting, the university could be held responsible if that student were to later endanger his or herself while engaging in the same activity, Jackson said. At the very least, he said a conversation with the student would be necessary.

Goldstein said he has never heard of a student being punished based on a comment made to student media.

“I think that the only way to really solve the problem big picture is for the university to realize what a lousy, lousy policy it is, to go after people for these things,” he said. “It’s like a no fly list, right? We only catch terrorists who go under their real name. If you’re smart enough to lie about your name, then you’re not going to get caught. There’s an element of that here. Does the university want to stop underage drinking, or do they want to stop people from admitting it?”

Additional reporting by Rebecca Smith.

Graphic by Cate LeSourd.

Revised, re–worked and renamed, the new “Student Perceptions of Teaching” evaluation process is more comprehensive than the forms students used to fill out at the end of the semester.

Following months of planning and consideration on behalf of the Academic Council’s “Task Force on Evaluations of Teaching,” professors now have to seek an additional source of evaluation beyond required student feedback. New forms also allow faculty members to personalize the evaluations with their own course–specific questions.

“We use this, faculty use this, to get better,” said Steven House, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “To get feedback from students on, ‘What am I doing well? What am I not doing well? What do you think should be done? Help me do better.’”

Forms like these have been used in the past as the most important way to evaluate faculty performance, which House said is unfortunate as there are more effective ways to determine success and identify areas of improvement.

Running focus groups with students, asking another faculty member to observe a class or two and simply sitting down to chat with students about the way a course is taught are just a few of the methods House said professors may be seeking additional feedback on their performance.

“It’s primarily about formation, formulative evaluation, of getting better (at teaching),” he said. “Sure, these evaluations or Student Perceptions of Teaching are also used as part of the promotion and tenure process. But they’re really about making better teachers.”

While the old forms asked students for some demographic-type data, including grade in the class, cumulative grade point average and class standing, the new form also asks students how many classes they missed in the semester and how frequently they completed readings and assignments on time.

Junior Alex Helman said she always tries to give thoughtful feedback to her professors because of its importance, but she thinks the addition of these two questions violates students’ confidentiality.

“I would feel uncomfortable answering honestly then,” she said. “If a student writes a horrible evaluation, the professor has enough information to narrow it down.”

One of the triumphs of the form is its ability to capture the level of engaged learning in the classroom, according to Peter Felten, assistant provost and director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

“My sense is one of the things the new form is aiming to do is reflect what Elon values about teaching and learning,” he said. “There’s more emphasis on engaged learning than in the past form.”

Previously, fill-in-the-bubble questions allowed students to rank professors’ adherence to each statement on a scale of one to five, meaning a professor could receive a neutral mark. Now students are given a scale of one to six, including a “not applicable” option, forcing responses to be decisive.

Junior Tyler Sickel said he does not think the old form needed to be drastically altered but he likes the new wording of most of these questions. The phrasing of the short–response questions could have been better changed, he said, because he thinks the new form makes it challenging for students to express displeasure with a course or instructor.

“I wasn’t happy with my teacher and I feel there wasn’t a way to express that adequately,” he said.

House said he doesn’t expect the data collected from the new forms to be radically different from what was previously acquired with the old system, but he does think the information will be richer.

“If someone’s a really, really good teacher, will we suddenly find out that they’re not? No,” he said. “I think we’ll find out that they’re still really, really good.”

A fire late Tuesday night in the Crest Apartments at Elon University has temporarily displaced 24 students living in six apartments in building 2020. The fire started when a student was cooking, according to Jana Lynn Patterson, assistant vice president for Student Life, and was put out quickly by the sprinkler system between 10 and 11 p.m. No injuries have been reported.

The damage has not been fully assessed, Patterson said, and it has not been determined whether it is mostly caused by water or fire. Some of the evacuated students are staying with friends temporarily and others have been relocated to undisclosed locations, she said. Power has been cut to part of the building.

Patterson and other staff members were responding to the situation as of 1 a.m. Wednesday and it is not certain when students will be allowed to return to their apartments.

Thanksgiving is still a few days away and retail stores have already been pushing their holiday season sales for almost a month.

Justin Brown, owner of Mynt in Elon, North Carolina, says her Christmas shopping has never been affected by the economy.

But even with the United States economy ever-present in the news media and on the minds of millions of Americans still pinching their pennies, not everyone is planning to tighten their belts this year when it comes to holiday spending.

Retail sales during the 2011 holiday season are actually expected to rise 2.8 percent this year, according to an estimate by the National Retail Foundation. The increase is much smaller than last year’s of 5.2 percent—twice the 10-year national average—but retailers are far more confident they will be able to overcome consumer caution.

“While businesses remain concerned over the viability of the economic recovery, there is no doubt that the retail industry is in a better position this year to handle consumer uncertainty than it was in 2008 and 2009,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of NRF.

Many consumers in Elon, North Carolina say they are not expecting to spend significantly more or less on presents this year than last year. Justin Brown, owner of a small specialty shop called Mynt, said the economy never affects the amount she spends on holiday shopping.

“I like to buy presents for people and I like to shop,” she said. “I’m almost done with Christmas shopping so you’re talking to someone that really likes to buy people presents. So even if I didn’t have the money to spend necessarily than I did the year before I would still buy the same amount. I think it’s more personality (than economics).”

Even with the economic uncertainty that has plagued the retail industry more than once in the past few years, Brown said Mynt has never seen any significant drop in sales because of the nature of the store, which is a specialty store generally serving shoppers who want to avoid the shopping mall experience.

Elon University sophomore Jessica Gianacakes said she does not plan to cut back this year because she spent almost nothing last holiday season. She has started making presents and giving more sentimental gifts instead of buying things, partly to save money, she said, but has a slightly larger budget this year to buy gifts.

“Being a student in college, I’m really broke as it is,” she said. “But I know my family cut back (last year) on spending because we had to save money. I’ve started making things because they’re more personal, they have more value.”

Gianacakes said she thinks the economy is getting better, but still suffering. This summer, she was unable to find work despite an extensive search for temporary employment.

Freshman JP Steers agreed and said he, too, will be making gifts this year.

“I’m buying less expensive things,” he said.

Burlington resident Josh Ezrine, the owner of West End Station, a bar in the town of Elon, said his spending over the past few years also hasn’t been affected by the economy and he expects to spend the exact same amount this year, as well.

Black Friday sales are not enticing to him, though, in spite of their generally attractive prices.

“I’m not going to wait to the last minute but I’m not going to go out with all those people,” he said. “More power to them.”

Colin Donohue, coordinator of student media and instructor of communications, agreed. He has a set budget in mind each year that he tries not to exceed, and this year’s is no different from last year.

“It’s about the same,” he said. “I never spend a tremendous amount on holiday gifts anyway.”

Even with drop-dead sales just around the corner and Black Friday emails already rolling into inboxes by the dozens, most people did not have a solid idea of what this year’s biggest items will be. Last year, apparel was in the lead with an increase of 11.2 percent in sales, but other consumers guess electronics will be huge sellers this year. Donohue, for one, has his sights set on a brand-new grill.

This week marks International Education Week, an initiative started by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education to promote international awareness. While there is no national theme, Elon University is currently celebrating by hosting almost two dozen events relating to India.

“It’s a public diplomacy initiative,” said Bill Burress, international programs adviser at the Isabella Cannon International Centre. “It’s sort of a soft power initiative building the United States’ reputation around the world and also helping U.S. citizens engage with other cultures and other nations around the world. It’s kind of the idea that by interacting with one another and by people seeing the real kindness and generosity of people in the U.S. and people from other places then we’re more likely to live in a peaceful world.”

The Isabella Cannon International Centre started planning this week’s events more than a year ago and has been working with numerous groups and individuals across campus, including Periclean Scholars and Indian faculty, staff and students.

This week features many cultural events like cooking classes, an Indian dance performance and demonstrationand traditional food being served in Colonnades dining hall. College Coffee was also “hijacked,” according to Burress, and temporarily renamed College Chai to offer students a small taste of Indian culture.

“I think we’re really excited to offer this programming to the campus community,” Burress said. “We hope that students, faculty and staff will at least be able to get out to some stuff and see some of the stuff we’re putting on.”

Elon picks a different country or regional concentration each year, with previous focuses in the Middle East and Mexico. Planning for the week begins more than a year in advance and it has already been decided next year’s theme will be West Africa.

Thursday events:

College Chapel: 9:50 a.m., Whitley Auditorium

Beef Vindaloo lunch: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Colonnades Dining Hall

Yoga and Meditation Seminar, Art of Living Foundation: 4:15 p.m., Belk Pavilion 208

Indian dinner: 4:30 to 9 p.m., McEwen Dining Hall

SUB Presents Devdas: 7 p.m., McEwen Dining Hall
Friday events:

Taste of the World: 12:30 p.m., Hearth Lounge in Moseley Center

Salmon curry dinner: 4 to 9 p.m., Colonnades Dining Hall

A full schedule of events and more details can be found here.

The lesbian, gay, bi, transsexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) crowd and its allies compose one of the most diverse modern social movements, incorporating people of all ages, races, genders, socioeconomic statuses, religions and sexual orientations. But as the debate continues over a constitutional amendment to reinforce a ban on already-illegal same-sex marriage in North Carolina, the LGBTQ movement has come across a fork in its path to equality.

The diversity in the LGBTQ community moves past face value and statistics. Among those who consider themselves part of the movement’s push for equality and greater respect for differences, a divide has formed. Some LGBTQ rights supporters think same-sex marriage rights are an essential spoil of war, and others firmly believe marriage itself is a restrictive institution that has no place in a free society.

And there are those who fall right in the middle.

“It seems to me as an American that I don’t want any laws that support discrimination, against any kind of people,” said Kirstin Ringelberg, coordinator of the LGBTQ office at Elon University. “Whether I support marriage or not, I support marriage equality, because to do otherwise is to support discrimination.”

State support of amendment inconsistent

The Defense of Marriage bill seeks to solidify North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage by amending the state constitution to define marriage between one man and one woman as the only legally recognizable union. The original text of the bill neglected to recognize civil unions and domestic partnerships between even straight couples, which could have been interpreted to enforce an end to partner benefits provided by employers to non-married employees. A revised version of the bill, which was passed by the House and Senate in September, does accommodates civil unions and domestic partnerships and will be on an upcoming general election ballot in May.

North Carolina is the only state in the South lacking a marriage amendment and passed the bill shortly following New York and Rhode Island’s recent legalization of marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples, respectively. Tom Tiemann, an economics professor at Elon University, says the lack of the amendment has been beneficial for the state, as it has presented North Carolina as a progressive and open place.

“Ideas come from people bouncing into each other,” he said. “Firms that do that are pretty sure they’ll find it harder to attract new people if the amendment is passed. North Carolina does better than Virginia or South Carolina because it has changed faster than other parts of the south. There’s a less entrenched political – social structure.”

Gov. Bev Perdue has also spoken out against the bill. Business leaders have said it has job-killing prospects, Purdue said, and she will personally vote against it for that reason, even though she supports the basic principle of marriage remaining between one man and one woman.

“I cannot in good conscience look an unemployed man or woman in the eye and tell them this amendment is more important than finding them a job,” she said in a statement. “In addition, a number of legal experts have argued that this amendment, if passed, could eliminate legal protections for all unmarried couples in our state, regardless of sexual orientation. Right now, my focus, the General Assembly’s focus, and North Carolina’s focus needs to be on creating jobs.”

The state senators supporting the bill, including sponsor Dan Soucek, James Forrester, Rick Gunn and Thom Goolsby, say they are doing the will of the people, but polls have consistently shown there is not an overwhelmingly positive view of the principle behind the Defense of Marriage amendment. The idea was originally proposed several years ago and the Elon Poll, directed by Mileah Kromer, assistant professor of political science at Elon University, has been collecting data about North Carolinians’ views. Overall, public opinion has become less negative in regard to gay rights since 2009, even though still just more than a third of the population supports full marriage rights for same-sex couples. In 2009, exactly half the population was opposed to legislation like the Defense of Marriage amendment, and that number has since grown to 56 percent.

“North Carolina is at this really interesting crossroads being the only state in the South without a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage,” Kromer said. “At the same time, we see states like New York legalizing civil unions. So there’s this really interesting crossroads of who North Carolina wants to be in the U.S.”

North Carolinians' views on same-sex marriage. Information courtesy of the Elon Poll. Graphic by Kassondra Cloos.

Kromer classifies this change as people cooling in their opposition and warming in support of gay rights, likely because of generational changes as younger, college-aged members of the population—who have grown up more tolerant of gay rights and other progressive movements than their grandparents—mature into voting age. Although some of these individuals may not support the amendment, there is no telling whether they can or will rally enough opposition at the polls to prevent it from passing—especially with the Republican primary on the way.

“It’s going to be really up to the interest groups on either side,” Kromer said. “Keep in mind, our numbers look at just citizens in general, we don’t screen by likely voter. So it’s going to be really who cares the most and wants it more. So on one hand, people who are against the same sex marriage ban, if they can take that opinion and turn that public opinion into vote share then it won’t pass. On the other hand, if there are people who are supportive of the constitutional ban, if they can get their people out in numbers and convince them to really care about this issue, then it will pass.

“One thing they have in their favor, of people who are supportive of the amendment, if the republican primary drags and that North Carolina primary matters in deciding who is the republican nominee for president, it will probably increase their likelihood of getting the amendment passed,” she said.

Defending the Defense of Marriage amendment

            Many of the bill’s strongest supporters hail from religiously-tied organizations like the North Carolina Values Coalition. Because of religious ruling on same-sex marriage, many North Carolinians are likely to side with their faith on the issue, according to Lynn Huber, professor of religious studies at Elon University.

“I don’t necessarily see it that way, but I think a lot of people do see it within the realm of religion,” she said. “Particularly people who are supporters of the legislation often see it in terms of religion and I do know though there are many religious communities who understand their religious commitment as requiring them to be in opposition. I think there are going to be some religious groups mobilizing.”

            The North Carolina Values Coalition is a lobbying organization based in Raleigh that has recently been dedicated to ensuring the bill is passed. The organization has published a list of myths and facts about the amendment to counteract opposing claims made by their adversaries at Equality NC, Think Progress and other organizations currently fighting against the bill. While LGBTQ rights proponents have cited loss of business and a brain drain as potential consequences of passing the bill, the North Carolina Values Coalition states this is not true.

“Constitutional protections for marriage will actually help businesses,” according to the website. “The choice to offer same-sex partner benefits can continue to be based on the businesses’ own decision framework, instead of being mandated by government.” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of NC Values, declined to comment on the issue.

Elon University junior Mason Carpenter, currently a North Carolina resident, said he fears legalization of gay marriage is a slippery slope. It could lead to other, more extreme, marriage laws, he said, such as allowing young children to marry adults, and so he has been quietly supporting the amendment since its introduction. Many of his friends at Elon University are pro-gay marriage and have sent him numerous invitations on Facebook to support the fight against the amendment. But Carpenter just deletes the notifications.

“It’s opening the door for a lot of problems down the road,” he said. “And so I agree with the law, because it puts up another barrier from allowing that to happen. I’ve heard a lot of peoples’ views on it that are pro-gay marriage and they say, ‘Well, if they love the other person, why would they not be able to be together? Why would you try to keep them apart?’ But my viewpoint on it in general is that gay marriage is wrong.”

Carpenter said he is a Christian, which is where the roots of his views on same-sex marriage lie. By banning something morally wrong, he thinks the state would be heading in the right direction.

“If it’s good for the state, they’ve got to do it,” he said.

‘Legalized discrimination’ surprises some North Carolinians

Despite mixed claims of the bill’s significance, as no immediate changes regarding marriage law will take effect even if the amendment is passed, many members of the LGBTQ community fear “legalized discrimination” will send the wrong message about North Carolina.

“If it doesn’t pass, then nothing will change,” said Shawn Long, administrative coordinator of Equality NC. “If it does pass, it would be incredibly stigmatizing to North Carolina and the gay community.”

Huber identifies as queer and receives health benefits for herself and her partner from Elon University. Huber said she is disappointed with the state’s actions and hopes the state votes to be inclusive when residents get to the polls in the spring.

“My initial reaction to it was surprise,” she said. “I thought that North Carolina was little bit more progressive than the amendment, and a little more progressive than states that have passed the amendment.”

Elon University held a vigil in September to bring the campus community together in opposition of the bill. More than 100 community members attended, including president Leo Lambert. He said he would fight to maintain domestic partner benefits at the institution regardless of the outcome of the election in May and a since-revised version of the amendment would not force the institution to cease giving them.

“There are other things our legislature should be turning its attention to at the moment and this is not one of them,” he said.

But losing benefits is still a fear for many in the LGBTQ community, including Huber, who said she and her partner would find it very challenging to make up the difference. But even still, she said she doesn’t think claims the amendment would seriously harm businesses are accurately grounded.

She also said she doesn’t understand why now is the right time for the amendment.

“It doesn’t seem like, at least from my perspective, even living in a community that’s relatively conservative, I didn’t notice some sort of groundswell of anti-LGBTQ sentiment,” she said. “It does seem a little strange.”

Here are some essential definitions to keep in mind:

Revenue—the amount of money a business pulls in every year, without accounting for labor, production and other costs.

Profit—the amount of money a business has left after using the revenue to pay outstanding bills.

Markup—the difference between the cost to make a product and the price it is sold for.

EBITDA—Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

GDP—Gross Domestic Product—the total market value of all goods and services produced within a given country during a specific period of time. Does not take into account money earned from international sources, like imports or factories overseas.

GNP—Gross Net Product—the total market value of all goods and services produced the residents of a country within a given time. Takes into account all aspects of residents’ production, including money earned from international sources.

Debt—the amount of money a country, or individual, owes.

Deficit—the gap between how much money a country has and how much a country has to pay. For example, if a country had $10 trillion in costs but $8 trillion in assets, it would have a $2 trillion deficit. Compounded year after year for 10 years, this $2 trillion deficit likely would translate to a $20 trillion debt.

Gross margin = Selling price – cost of goods sold

Gross profit = Gross margin x number of items sold

Net profit = gross margin – overhead

Assets:

Liabilities—obligations requiring payment at some point in time.

Equity—value of a company.

Assets—cash and other resources owned by a company.

Assets = Equity + liabilities

Current ratio: measures the ability of a company to meet its liabilities.

Current ratio = assets / liabilities

Stocks and bonds

Stocks and bonds make the business world go round, so it is vital to understand how they work in order to accurately portray them to readers through business articles. When an investor buys a share of stock in a company, he or she becomes a part owner by contributing cash to the business. The more shares an individual has, the more ownership he or she has. The value of stock goes up and down according to how many people are interested in buying into a company. Innumerable factors play into people’s interest in investing in a company, including the economy, business conditions, natural disasters, government decisions and more.

A mutual fund works differently than a stock in that mutual fund companies sell stock in themselves and use the profits to buy stock in other companies.

Investors typically monitor their stocks using tickers, abbreviated “TKR,” that are typically three-letter symbols to represent a company. Wal-Mart, for example, is WMT.

Everyone is interested in their own personal wealth, which is Ponzi schemes, like Bernie Madoff’s, make the news. A Ponzi scheme is a type of investor fraud that involves a pyramid model in which one individual profits off of countless others by using newer investors’ money to pay small sums to older investors. The scheme only works as long as new people continue to join in the mix, as there constantly needs to be new money to keep everyone from suspecting there is a problem. Madoff stole billions of dollars from wealthy and middle-of-the-road working families alike and continues to make the news as new details about who knew of the scheme rise to the surface.

Bonds, similar to stocks, are essentially loans to the government or other business entities that sell them. Many people have savings bonds, which earn interest over time as the United States government repays sums owed to its investors. There are numerous types of bonds that have varying stipulations on how interest is earned and when the bond can be turned in for face value, which is the amount earned at full maturity. Some bonds have penalties if individuals attempt to cash them too soon.

Bond Cost (interest) = amount x rate x years

A coupon is an interest payment.

Current yield = coupon / price

Taxes

Mill Levy - Taxes to be collected by the government body / assessed valuation of all property in the taxing district

Appraisal value - based on the property type–residential, business, vacant lot, etc.–property characteristics, current market conditions and a visual inspection by trained appraisers

Assessed value = Appraisal value x rate

Tax owed = Tax rate x (assessed value of property / $100)

Measurements

Mile = 5,280 feet

Nautical mile = 6,080 feet

Knot = nautical measure of speed; one knot is equal to one nautical mile per hour. Ten knots is faster than 10 miles per hour.

mph x 1.15 = knots

Distance = rate x time

Rate = distance / time

Time  = distance / rate

Example problems

1. The Home Depot buys 1,000 pre-potted tomato plants at $1.50 to sell at its Providence location for $4 each. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irene barreled through the area and 630 plants were ruined. The store finally sells the remaining 370, many of which are at least partially damaged, at a discounted rate of $3.25 per piece. What would have been the revenue, gross margin and gross profit had the hurricane not ruined the store’s plans? What is the store’s actual loss?

Cost: $1,500

Anticipated gross margin: $4 – $1.50 = $2.50

Anticipated revenue: $4 x 1,000 = $4,000

Anticipated gross profit: $2.50 x 1,000 = $2,500

Actual revenue: 370 x $3.25 = $1,202.50

Actual gross profit: $1.75 x 370 = $647.50

2. If you paid $725 for a $1,200 bond with a coupon of 5 percent, what would your current yield be?

(5 x 1,200) / 725 = 8.28%

3. Your family lives in Boston and wants to move to the South to save money on property tax. If your potential new house has an assessed value of $194,658 and property tax is 8.7 percent, how much tax will you owe after the first year?

8.7 (194,658 / 100) = $16,935.25

4. Jessica recently bought a jet ski that advertises a top speed of 32 knots per hour. She’s only familiar with the standard land measurement of miles per hour–how fast is her new jet ski in mph?

32  x 1.15 = 36.8 mph

Consent is sexy. The head nod, the squeeze of the hand, the wink. According to Elon University policy, these simple signs can’t be interpreted as effective consent in the absence of a verbal, active “yes.” But the charges assigned — or not assigned — to students accused of nonconsensual sexual acts don’t always reflect what is mandated by university policy.

Leigh-Anne Royster, director of Student Development, Elizabeth Nelson, coordinator of violence prevention, and Whitney Gregory, director of Student Conduct, encourage students to discuss sex more freely to protect themselves. Photo courtesy of The Pendulum.

On Elon’s Sexual and Relationship Violence Awareness and Response website, effective consent is defined as an active, verbal, uncoerced “yes” in the absence of substances such as alcohol and is required at each stage of sexual advancement.

Effective consent is clearly stated in the student handbook as a necessity for students to proceed physically in accordance with the Honor Code. But according to Whitney Gregory, director of Student Conduct, students don’t always find it practical to pursue a verbal agreement to engage in sexual activity, and so verbal consent is not always the standard by which the outcome of cases is determined.

“If somebody is fingering someone and then it moves to oral sex and then it moves to intercourse, there may not be a ‘Can I finger you?’ ‘Can I go down on you?’ ‘Can I put my penis in your vagina?’” she said. “I don’t know of many students who have that conversation. Sure, it’d be great, ideally, but there’s other ways, like body language, to gauge consent.”

As director of Student Conduct, Gregory hears the cases of sexual assault that are reported to the university and said she has heard as many as five in one year, few in comparison to the number of cases that go unreported. Each case is so wildly different that she cannot provide a generic or average example for how fault is determined or charges assigned, but the university hearing system relies on the preponderance of evidence.

If personal accounts, witness statements and any other evidence shows it is more likely than not a student has perpetrated a nonconsensual act, he or she is held responsible. Both parties have the opportunity to appeal, such as if the charges are dropped or perceived to be too harsh.

As circumstances vary from case to case, Gregory said witnesses and every other ounce of available information is taken into consideration during the hearing process and there is no standard outcome or set of charges for types of violations. The consumption of alcohol, appearance of drunkenness or lack thereof, physical cues and whether consent was verbalized are just a few of the factors Gregory investigates.

“In my first meeting with the student, I’m going to talk with them and understand things and clarify things and help them understand that there’s cases where they never said ‘yes,’ but everything else indicated consent,” Gregory said. “But there are also cases where a student may have said ‘yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,’ but they were blacked out and they were clearly intoxicated and that’s where I would say, even if you verbally said ‘yes,’ there were witnesses indicating you were slurring, you were stumbling. That’s not consent.”

Elizabeth Nelson, coordinator for violence prevention, said she has also found that students who go to her with their accounts of sexual violence or misconduct are not always practicing effective consent according to the university’s definition. But the goal is for everyone to seek consent and affirm his or her own choices so they can better enjoy and understand their decisions to engage in sexual acts with others, she said.

“How consent plays out for individuals is not always going to be reflective of policy,” Nelson said. “Policy is the way it should be happening, just like the other policies in place are the ways things should be happening. No one here lives in the fantasy world that everyone lives by policy, but that is the goal. The goal actually is to be giving clear and sober yeses.”

But even in the absence of these ‘yeses,’ even when the university has information that effective consent by its own definition was not given, cases of nonconsensual sex have gone uncharged, according to Leigh-Anne Royster, director of Student Development.

Royster, former coordinator for personal health programs and community well-being, has heard countless students’ accounts of sexual violence and assault and said she believes and practices that effective consent cannot be given in the absence of a verbal “yes,” even if body language and lack of a verbal “no” indicate otherwise.
Royster said she has seen the university fail to consistently uphold this standard during her time at Elon.

“The Student Conduct process is not the same as a criminal justice process,” she said. “I don’t want to say they are the same thing, but as with any process like that where you’re finding fault or guilt or finding any responsibility, you need to weigh the evidence on either side. I think that where I may view something as, ‘Well, that person did not give effective consent,’ I haven’t always seen that result in the person who perpetrated that act being found responsible for nonconsensual sexual acts.” 

The discrepancies between Elon’s enforced interpretations of what constitutes adequate consent for sexual progression reflects a broad, socially stigmatized misunderstanding of the importance of just talking about sex, Royster said. Many other faculty and staff members would probably be surprised by the definition of effective consent, she said, and likely don’t practice it in their own relationships. But she is firm in her beliefs, and said she also doesn’t think effective consent can be given between two individuals having met each other for the first time at a party — a potential stage-setter for regretted sex.

Even though most students likely don’t ask before engaging physically with one another, and not every nonconsensual act is violent, actively seeking approval from one’s partner can be an empowering way to prevent regretted sex and unknowingly being a perpetrator, according to Royster, Gregory and Nelson. Most reported cases are not simple incidents of students changing their minds about who they went to bed with the night before, but it’s possible to lead an active, healthy and nonmonogamous sex life by taking the time to proactively make decisions about what one wants, Nelson said.

“It’s a real misperception to think all these people are having sex and deciding the next day they didn’t want to,” she said. “That’s inaccurate. Statistically, it’s less than 2 percent. But what is happening, and I think this is important, is that lots of people are having sex they’re not sure they want to be having and they don’t feel good about it afterwards. And that, to me, is the power of consent.”

Gregory said there are sometimes cases in which a lack of evidence prevents her from charging a student accused of being responsible for perpetrating a nonconsensual sexual act, but she never wants to undermine a student’s path to recovery by assigning blame to a potential victim.

“No matter what’s decided for a Student Conduct process or a criminal process, if someone feels hurt, taken advantage of, victimized, it’s never healthy to say, ‘Well, you’re wrong,’ from an advocate’s standpoint,” she said. “From the Student Conduct standpoint, I’m never going to say you’re wrong. I may say I don’t have information to support a violation of our policy, but not that you’re wrong.”

In the six years since the School of Communications at Elon University was first granted full accreditation, a lot has changed. The TV studios were upgraded to high definition and the iPad was invented and subsequently given to each faculty and staff member in the school. A graduate program was implemented and diversity increased substantially, among numerous other areas of growth.

The School of Communications at Elon University received full recommendation to be reaccredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Photo courtesy of The Pendulum.

A team from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, ACEJMC, returned to campus in mid-October to reevaluate the school by talking to faculty, students and senior staff members like President Leo Lambert. Before departing campus, the team presented a 45-page report detailing recommendations for reaccreditation, which is expected to become official when the council votes in April.

“They literally said there are no weaknesses in the program,” said Provost Steven House. “We were very proud and happy with this. It’s a wonderful group and I expect that over the next six years they’ll continue to do outstanding things, the faculty and the students.”

The committee did mention challenges, including continuing to keep up with and stay ahead of technological developments, a program quickly expanding beyond capacity of its building, McEwen, and lack of sufficient funding for scholarships and research.

Currently, only a handful of the Communications Fellows selected each year receive $3,500 scholarships while programs in other schools provide much larger grants. These areas will be addressed in upcoming months, as preliminary plans to build a new facility begin to evolve, House said.

Overall, the exit interview was positive.

“We did expect that it would go this well and even with the expectation, you never really know until the team comes and goes,” said Kenn Gaither, associate dean of the School of Communications. “So even though we fully expected it to be this glowing, there is a sense of relief when they have left and they’ve left their report with us and they’ve left their approval. I think we’re especially proud with what we’re able to do since we were accredited.”

When ACEJMC first accredited the School of Communications, numerous weaknesses were listed in the recommendation report. Communication with alumni, lack of diversity and the school’s relationship with The Pendulum were among the weaknesses, which have been addressed according to this year’s report.

“Sometimes there are intangibles that no formal report can really capture, and I think the growth across the school has really been spectacular,” Gaither said. “When I say growth, it’s not just about numbers, but all this student media. Six years ago, we didn’t have Live Oak and now we have a student-run, full-service marketing agency. For any communications student, there’s a program and or student media experience to support their experience. That’s a big one.”

About one-third of the current faculty has been hired within the past six years, Gaither said, and the Elon in Los Angeles and Elon in New York City programs were also established relatively recently.

“If there’s something really important to take from this, it’s that the administration and the school aren’t being reaccredited,” Gaither said. “It’s the students and faculty. It has to do with the entire School of Communications. We all play a part in getting reaccredited.”

Ever wonder why stores push gift cards during the holiday season? It’s not because they genuinely want everyone to choose his or her own perfect present. I was once told by a manager it’s because Christmas, despite the chaos of Black Friday, BOGO sales and mad rushes for last-minute stocking stuffers, isn’t really as profitable as you might think. Revenue may be high leading up to Dec. 25, but the day after Christmas brings in millions of dollars in returns and exchanges.

Holiday decorations like these wreaths have already taken over the seasonal section At the Alamance Crossing Target. Photo courtesy of The Pendulum.

For almost three years, I worked at a chain clothing store where the impending holidays meant tired feet, staying hours past closing to clean up the mess left by impatient customers rifling carelessly through painstakingly folded shirts and cheesy training sessions on how to sell, sell, sell. I was hired for the holiday season before Halloween and was revolted by Christmas music long before Thanksgiving.

It seems like festive songs and the ads for holiday cheer are pushed up earlier and earlier each year, so much so that Reese’s Christmas trees now directly compete with Reese’s Halloween pumpkins. There are certainly more pressing issues than feeling forced to stress about holiday shopping for a few months rather than just a few weeks, but it’s concerning to see how reliant our holiday happiness has become on the commercialization of Christmas.

The purpose surrounding a once family-oriented religious holiday has transformed into a universal American tradition for the sake of selling more stuff. Increasingly, we see commercials targeted at eliminating the “stress” the holidays cause. Satirical songs like “The 12 Pains of Christmas” score laughs because the inconveniences associated with months of preparation to orchestrate a single day hit close to home for almost everyone.

Trees and ornaments are already available for purchase and snowflakes dangle from the ceiling throughout Target. Photo courtesy of The Pendulum.

By extending the season to drive revenues higher, we make the holidays a sad reflection of our consumer-driven societal values rather than a happy, once-a-year occasion to take time to appreciate what we already have, not what’s waiting in disguise inside colorfully wrapped packages. We also draw a clear and unavoidable distinction between the haves — those who can afford to buy presents and decorations and take time off from work to spend with family or travel — and the have-nots — those who are forced to work even harder during the holidays to make up for those who don’t have to.

Even family celebrations become a chore as hosts and hostesses are expected to impress the relatives with days’ worth of cooking, meaning many families spend their holiday cleaning and stressing in preparation for others, including the infamous run-ins with “the in-laws.”

Pushing up the holidays is fun for kids who get to spend more time adding to their lists of desired presents, but for the rest of us it puts a monetary value on what should be an intangible sense of community that can’t be bought for any amount. And as quickly as the holidays sneak in, they’re fast to dart out with close-out prices and shopping malls swamped with sale shoppers getting a head start on next year’s decorations.

One year, I worked at the mall from 9 p.m. Dec. 23 to 8 a.m. Christmas Eve. In about 12 hours, the whole season’s work of hanging Christmas lights and posters of teens wearing winter white with smiles of holiday cheer was banished to the stockroom to make way for new arrivals. And guess what we started preparing for then? Spring.