Freshman brings diverse experience to Elon

Ben Rungsrithong

President Leo Lambert has described the class of 2014 as the most diverse yet. These students have come from across the country and world to further their education. All have overcome their fair share of obstacles and challenges to get where they are today. But one freshman has encountered more challenges through 22 short years than many will face in a lifetime. His newest challenge, four years of college at Elon, lies straight ahead.

Two weeks into a new academic year, and first-year students scramble to get a foothold on life away from home.

Most are a few hours away from where they grew up, although to many first-years, Elon may as well be half a world away.

For 22 year old Toorialey Fazly – Elon is just about as far away from home as he can get.

Afghanistan is a place that most Americans only see on the evening news – but it’s a place Fazly calls home.

Fazly has come to Elon University because he has many of the same hopes and dreams every other first-year does. He’s just had a little head start. Fazly was, for three years, the personal scheduler for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a post he gained by virtue of his English abilities.

He’s here to major in political science, although he says the lessons learned about American culture are just as valuable as those of proper political discourse.

For now though, the most important thing for Fazly is continuing his studies…in the classroom and on campus.

Elon student harassed at Boars Head Market

David Hodges

A sexual predator has harassed another Elon student. Last Tuesday a man wandered into Boars Head sandwich shop and tried to snap a photo with his phone up a female student’s dress. Laura Tucker saw the entire incident unfold.

“Someone came up behind her and I thought he was just getting in line or trying to get one of the menu slips,” Laura said. “But then I saw him pull out his phone and clicked it.”

The man had stuck his phone underneath Laura’s friend’s dress and taken a picture. Laura immediately yelled at the man who then tried to escape by running around the shelves stocked with food. But Laura headed him off at the exit.

“I was like ‘You need to give me your phone right now or I’m calling the police’,” Laura said.

The man then ran past Laura and out of the Colonnades dining hall he was last seen in the McMichael parking lot. Laura was not able to confiscate his phone but she did immediately call Campus Police.

Elon Campus Police have identified a person of interest in the case but no charges have been filed.

Geothermal energy comes to Elon

Julie Morse

Some Elon students are a bit confused about geothermal energy.

Elon’s sustainability coordinator, Elaine Durr, shed some light on the construction at the new dorms.

“It is a system that will provide heating and cooling for colonnades residence halls,” Durr said.

Behind the fence and 440 feet underground are 112 wells that will provide energy to the dorms.

Durr explained the process as an exchange “summer we will be transferring heat to the ground and in the winter we will be utilizing the constant temperature of the earth to help us with heating,” she said.

The underground pipes are constantly filled with a heat intake liquid. In the winter, earth’s heat is circulated through the pipes to heat the residence halls. Come summer, the process is reversed. The heat from the dorm makes it way to the underground pipes where it is stored.

Construction began in late june and finished at the end of the summer. The wells are now underneath piles of dirt, but not for long.

“Eventually all that will be completely covered up by grass and it will become a grass area,” Durr said.

Elon chose to use geothermal energy for environmental and financial reasons.

“Eventually we expect the system to pay for itself but when it does will depend upon the price of natural gas in the future,” Durr said.

If the system is successful, the university hopes to install more geothermal fields around campus.

Seeing Through the Haze

Sophie Nielsen-Kolding

Administration at Elon is cracking down on hazing. With the Org. Fair now over, all organizations will soon be welcoming new members. Dean of Students Smith Jackson and President Leo Lambert are meeting with all of the organization leaders to discuss the guidelines for hazing. These meetings are meant to protect new members and keep organizations out of trouble.

Student Government Association Executive President Taylor Martin was at Thursday’s meeting. “Basically the opening of the meeting was Leo Lambert stating if the two people that had gone to the hospital last year, what if they had died,” he recalled.

The purpose of the meetings is to make sure that that never happens again. At the first of four meetings Smith Jackson went over the university’s guidelines for hazing, because sometimes those lines are unclear.

Justin Hinote President of Twisted Measure was also at the meeting on Thursday. He said, “They’re extremely vague. The NCAA has made guidelines that are about two thousand pages thick. So it’s nothing that you could actually know by hand.”

The rules may be vague, but they apply to everybody.

Smith Jackson said, “They tend to think well maybe a fraternity a sorority or athletic team but there’s national studies that it happens in the performing arts even honor societies, academic clubs.”

Smith Jackson said that there are different degrees of hazing. He said he doesn’t think that extreme hazing occurs very much on Elon’s campus, but that even a few occurrences are too many. Some student’s don’t think it’s a cause for concern.

Kappa Alpha Psi member, Alfonso Ridley said, “Elon specifically is not bad really. Like I’ve heard worse stories from other friends who go to other schools.”

The meetings aren’t just for students – there are also two meetings for coaches and organization advisors.

Elon’s hazing policy is in the student handbook. Everyone under the honor code is obligated to uphold it.

The full handbook can be found on the Elon website at: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/students/handbook/genpol.xhtml

Elon student victim of hit and run

David Hodges

Police say a driver in a black sedan struck the bicycle of Toorialey Fazly, and Elon International student, then sped away after seeing that Fazly was injured. Fazly suffered fractures of the vertebrae and leg but may not require surgery. He will remain at Duke University Medical Center for a few days.

According to Police Chief LaVell Lovette around 7:45 a.m, a student heard a collision and turned to see Fazley being thrown from his bicycle.

A witness says she saw a black female, possibly in her thirties, with short black hair and a white top get out of the car walk over to Fazley and then get back in her car to drive away from the scene. The car, possibly a Nissan, was last seen turning right on S. Williamson Avenue.

The student then waved down a someone to call the police. Fazly was life-lighted to Duke University Medical Center. According to Chief Lovette it appeared he suffered some spinal cord damage.

Police have notified Fazly’s relatives in Afghanistan, where he worked as an aid to President Hamid Karzai.

If you have any information on the incident call the Town of Elon Police at 336-584-1301.