On Monday Sept. 29, Provost and Executive Vice President Steven House spoke to a group of campus organization leaders about the past and future of Elon University. He mentioned the tension between Elon’s growing size and its “heart and soul” of a smart, liberal arts college.
These contradictory identities are seen in the construction on campus as we get larger and intellectual climate initiatives to create more spaces which we can come together as a community. According to House, it is important for us to recognize that tension as we go into this academic year.
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s important to recognize it instead of trying to ignore it. Elon is full of it, and ignoring it doesn’t do anything to make it go away.
As a university our community is subject to so many of the same problems as the rest of the nation, and then some that are uniquely our own.
We have extensions of the racial, socio-economic, and religious tensions that are facing our country.
The “Elon Ratio” of feeling like there are far more women on campus than men is also one we face, and House Bill 2 further influences how we experience gendered tensions on campus.
These conflicts are very important. If Elon were a perfect university and community, we probably wouldn’t experience it the same way. They are apparent because there is still work to be done.
I love living and learning here at Elon, and I do my best to stay conscious of how special it is to have the opportunity to be here. And one of the best parts about being a part of this community is having the ability to make a difference in it. If you love Elon like me, you have the responsibility to help change our community for the better.
That starts with recognizing where there is still work to be done. For those of you who don’t see that there is room for improvement, look harder. Think about perspectives other than your own.
Instead of pretending Elon’s tensions don’t exist, make an effort to be aware of the them and do your best to get to the source. Maybe the problem doesn’t affect you directly, but you have the skills and opportunities to fix them. As a member of the community, you have a responsibility to help others at Elon.
That doesn’t mean every problem needs to be your priority, but pretending these problems don’t exist is detrimental to our community.
I think that sometimes we forget that our social climate isn’t as idyllic as our campus. But some students don’t have the luxury to pretend they don’t exist. It would be a further disservice to those members of our community to ignore that work still needs to be done.
There is tension, and they shouldn’t have to be alleviating the tension on their own.
Yes, our campus has been growing and will continue to grow, and we will deal with the tensions that form as they come. In the meantime, we can focus on recognizing and addressing the ones that are present now.
No matter our size, we need to keep improving our community.