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THE PENDULUM
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 Volume 44, Edition 11 Elon, North Carolina
AFTER THE With Elon spared from Hurricane Florence’s onslaught, the campus turns its attention toward those affected and preparing for the next emergency
ALEX HAGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
F
ANTON L. DELGADO | Elon News Network | @antonldelgado
OR ALL OF THE preparation and worry, the anticipation for Hurricane Florence left more of a mark than its landfall did at Elon University. The once Category 4 hurricane devastated coastal Carolina, causing more than 30 deaths and an estimated $17 billion to $22 billion worth of damages. But the deadly storm took a path mostly staying south of Alamance County before hooking around western North Carolina and heading northeast. Florence dumped a total of 5 inches of rain onto campus, according to a
gauge outside of Truitt Hall on Elon’s South Campus. Three inches of that rain fell between 4 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday. The effects of the rain were so muted that the Elon Fire Department didn’t respond to a single storm-related emergency call. Yet despite being spared the brunt of the storm, Elon’s emergency response plans were put to the test, and in the coming weeks and months, so will the university’s commitment to supporting those hit hardest by the storm.
NEWS • PAGE 3
See FLORENCE | pg. 4
Freshman attempts to adjust to campus despite Florence
CORY WELLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Freshman Catherine Stallsmith (left) moves back into her Global B residence hall on Sunday, Sept. 16 with her mom and twin sister days after she left campus in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. Stallsmith went home to Oxford, North Carolina, spending her time with her friends and catching up on homework.
NEWS • PAGE 6
Taking care of Elon before, during and after Florence
SPORTS • PAGE 7
Elon athletics schedule severly impacted by Florence
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Wednesday September 19, 2018
extras
| top photos |
Rain finally arrives on Elon’s mostly deserted campus. A dripping bench sits untouched in front of Alumni Gym as a puddle forms directly in front of it on Sunday, Sept. 16.
ALEX HAGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A fallen mailbox lays unattended on East College Avenue as rain clouds form above the campus on Monday, Sept. 17.
CORY WELLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The first Elon student to arrive back on campus, sophomore Chris Luciani, exits an Elon-sponsored airport shuttle on Sunday, Sept. 16. The university organized shuttles for returning students through Tuesday. A puddle in Young Commons reflects Alamance Building moments after rain over Elon stops on Monday, Sept. 17.
CORY WELLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ANTON L. DELGADO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Nick Collora, a Burlington resident, fishes for bass in Lake Verona on Friday, Sept. 14. As he was fishing, Collora received a phone call from his girlfriend telling him to “Get the hell out of there.” Collora replied, “This is the best time to fish. It’s not so hot, there are no people around and it’s just a hurricane.”
ALEX HAGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
NEWS
Wednesday Septemeber 19, 2018
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WEATHERING ANOTHER STORM A Wilmington resident adjusts to campus life as the condition of her home remains unknown
Emmanuel Morgan
Executive Director | @_EmmanuelMorgan
Lilly Santiago’s two most valuable possessions are her journal and her Italian music box. The journal is with her — it sits on her nightstand next to her twin-sized bed at Elon University. But she doesn’t know about her music box. She left it at her house during freshman move-in day nearly a month ago. And this week, her house may have been the worst place to keep anything. For most of her life, Santiago has lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, the town battered by the full wrath of Hurricane Florence. Now a tropical depression, Florence killed at least 32 people in the Carolinas. The storm dumped more than 30 inches of rain, flooding Wilmington highways so severely that the city is now essentially cut off from the rest of the state. Santiago says she’ll be at peace if she never sees the music box again. It’s just a material possession compared to the lives lost and the destruction her city endured the past few days. She’s also been through worse. Her journey to Elon was a storm in itself, and the effect Florence left so early in her college career isn’t comparable to the adversity she’s already faced. Now, she’s using the hurricane as another way to test herself. “It’s kind of ingrained in me to just pick up, move on and do something better,” Santiago said. “The things that make me the most upset are things that I have no control over that are on a world scale. But when I came to terms with the fact that there are terrible things happening all the time, things that happen to me don’t seem that bad because I’m like, ‘I’ll get over it.’”
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Santiago, 17, wrote in her orange journal nearly every night from second to fourth grade. One of her favorite entries is from Christmas Eve in 2007, when she addressed a love letter to her mother and grandmother in pink ink. Santiago grew up in a religious household. Her mother is Jewish, and her father is Catholic, but that did not guarantee her a stable childhood. Santiago’s parents divorced when she was 4 years old. Her mother, Joyce, raised her alone and often struggled with money as a single mother. “It was hard,” Joyce said. “It was hard because you have to balance work, the financial strains and keeping your child protected at the same time.” Those trials forced the Santiagos to move houses four times. Additionally, Wilmington’s population is only 6 percent Hispanic, according
PHOTOS BY ANTON L. DELGADO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Above: Santiago holds her diary that she has had since her childhood. The diary is one of her prized possessions, many of which are still in her home in Wilmington. The condition of which remains unknown, Sunday Sept. 16. Bottom: Santiago stands outside of Virginia Residence Hall, where she braved Florence at Elon, Sunday, Sept. 16.
to Census data, so Lilly, who identifies as Puerto Rican, said she wrestled with finding her identity. To cope, she constantly read, hoping to pave her own narrative. “It never felt like I was living my life,” Lilly said. “I felt like I was looking at my life. I think part of that was that I didn’t have control. I was a kid, so if you don’t have control over things, you kind of detach – or at least that’s my reaction.” Throughout middle school and high school, she found her groove. She discovered her creative outlet through music and theater at John T. Hoggard High School. She ingrained herself in the Jewish community. But, Lilly said the most important thing was being around people and having deep, vulnerable conversations. “She was always ahead of her time mentally, I thought, and she had to grow into that as she got older,” Joyce said. “She appreciates what she has and the people in her life very deeply. She doesn’t take that for granted.” During the college search, Lilly initially considered only attending a public, in-state school. But she discovered Elon’s Odyssey Program, the university’s most selective and lucrative scholarship. One single scholarship costs $500,000 to endow, and that doesn’t even include additional grants. The application calls for high school seniors to be first-generation college students and who have experienced some sort of hardships in their lives. Lilly applied and was selected from over 500 applicants to
become one of 38 Odyssey Scholars in the class of 2022. “I was really taken back because it was really cool,” Joyce said. “It was such a wonderful opportunity, considering our situation. She worked so hard and had so many challenges.” But more challenges were quickly approaching.
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As soon as Jon Dooley, vice president for Student Life, sent the email,
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IT NEVER FELT LIKE I WAS LIVING MY LIFE. I FELT LIKE I WAS LOOKING AT MY LIFE. I THINK PART OF THAT WAS THAT I DIDN’T HAVE CONTROL. LILLY SANTIAGO FRESHMAN
Lilly said her decision was already made. The campus-wide note on Sept. 11 “strongly encouraged” students to leave, a safety precaution as Florence, then a Category 4 hurricane, barreled toward Elon. Forecasts called for 7 to 10 inches of rain, causing heavy concerns for power outages. Determined to keep its students safe,
the university closed all operations Sept. 13-14. With Wilmington directly in the storm’s path, Lilly’s main concern was her parents. Soon, she learned Joyce evacuated to Raleigh while her father fled to Tampa. Lilly said leaving Elon was never really in question. “I kind of felt like it was a test of courage,” Lilly said. “I felt like I’m at Elon now; I’m at a point where you can’t avoid handling big things in your life forever. Whether it’s a storm or it’s something else, this is a new stage, so I have to handle what comes to me. I felt excited to test myself.” Other students and their families thought differently, and thousands of them left campus. With their home in the danger zone, Lilly and Joyce knew it’d be much safer for her to stay. But seeing so many students with the ability to leave further emphasized her socioeconomic status. “A lot of kids here have extra money they can spend, and they can go off to California on a whim” Lilly said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, you know, I don’t have that type of money laying around.’ But I was like, ‘OK, this is what I’m dealt with,’ but I wasn’t particularly upset about it. It gave me an opportunity to get closer to the people on my residence hall floor.”
*****
Lilly said she used the time off during the storm to study. But her mind also drifted back home and her childhood. Lilly said she’d be OK if she lost her music box because she’s lost it
before. When Lilly was younger, her house was robbed, and her box was among the valuables taken. Her father promised to buy her another one, which he did. This time, though, the outcome is uncertain. Elon was spared, seeing relatively small rain as the storm shifted paths, but Wilmington suffered. As of Tuesday, neither Joyce nor Lilly knows when they plan to return home and see Florence’s toll. Downed power lines and flooded roads make it difficult to travel there or contact loved ones. Their house could still be standing, or Florence could have destroyed it and swept the music box into the murky waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Lilly is prepared for either outcome — she was prepared even before the storm. Joyce has been trying to sell their Wilmington home and move to Raleigh for months. Her father, a marine merchant, travels frequently, sometimes being gone for months at a time. Elon is the most stable home she’s had in years. While Wilmington will always be a part of her, she’s not afraid to let it go. “When I left for college, they also told me to take everything I want because I may not be coming back,” Lilly said. “I just had to prepare myself. ‘You’re not going back to Wilmington the same way. It’s never going to be the place that you grew up.’” “I detached myself earlier, and that’s not something that everyone did.” University-wide, the hurricane presented a distraction, especially to freshman. Because of Florence, Dooley said the university may have to think of new ways to cater to those students. “They’re only three weeks into their first year on campus, and this was a major disruption,” Dooley said. “We know that it is going to take a little while to get back into the groove of things, and it’s going to give us a unique challenge.” Lilly says she will attack that challenge, which is what she’s always done. She wants to continue her campus involvement. She’s considering joining an a capella group and also wants to participate in open mic nights at The Oak House. Because she doesn’t have a car, Lilly says the only way she’ll return to Wilmington is by joining a charitable cause. That way, she’ll be able to lend a hand to those who suffered more than she did. And maybe, she’ll find her music box. “I’ve always been given more privilege than some of the people that are struggling somewhere else,” Lilly said. “This happened to Wilmington. It could’ve been worse. But you have to realize you have a personal obligation to help people.”
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NEWS
Wednesday september 19, 2018
A CAMPUS SPARED FLORENCE | from cover ‘Strongly encouraged’ to leave Acting on the information available on Sept. 11, a group of senior administrators canceled Thursday and Friday classes. Later that day in an email to the student body, the Office of Student Life “strongly encouraged” those able to leave campus. By the time Florence reached Elon, there were only an estimated 1,400 students on campus. In order to house the students that stayed on campus and in preparation for the coming storm, the university activated its Emergency Operations Center for the fourth time in the last decade. The purpose of this center was to create a command structure that would allow the university to address pressing issues efficiently. The EOC mirrors a framework provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At the top of that framework is the emergency manager, who for Elon during the week of Florence was Bob Shea, associate vice president for Business, Finance and Technology. “From my vantage point, it was a win-win. We didn’t have the really negative impact that other folks did in North Carolina, and we got to exercise our emergency action capability in a low-risk environment,” Shea said. For Elon, an exercise was all Florence ended up being. According to Shea, due to the university’s prudent planning, the EOC did not have to face any major challenges. The only unplanned event was the breaking of a water heater in Clohan Hall, which resulted in the serving of breakfast and lunch on paper plates. “That’s really the only negative thing that happened and that wasn’t a hurricane effect, that was just obsolescence of equipment,” Shea said. Elon’s planning for the coming hurricane began
on Monday, Sept. 10. By Wednesday the EOC was coordinating with offices such as Physical Plant, Campus Police, Residence Life and Dining to ensure that staff members were on campus throughout the storm. All of the expenses for storm preparations were covered by the university’s Contingency Operations Budget, which according to the Office of Business, Finance & Technology is estimated to be $2.5 million, roughly one percent to two percent of the school’s expense budget. One of the main expenses the university will be covering is the overtime pay for all the individuals who worked throughout the days the campus was closed. This is estimated to cost the university $100,000. The second main expense was the renting of a back-up generator costing roughly $2,000 a week for Clohan Hall, which was the only dining hall open on campus. But for Shea, communicating with the community proved to be more difficult than paying these bills. “It is really hard to understand how people are going to receive your message,” Shea said. According to Shea, the university has received both positive and negative comments regarding their communication throughout the week. Chet Deshmukh, parent of freshman Nihar Deshmukh, believes the university did a “fantastic job” communicating with parents and making sure students on campus were cared for. However, next time the campus is in a similar situation, Chet hopes the university will set up a separate
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IT WAS A WIN-WIN. WE DIDN’T HAVE THE REALLY NEGATIVE IMPACT THAT OTHER FOLKS DID IN NORTH CAROLINA, AND WE GOT TO EXERCISE OUR EMERGENCY ACTION CAPABILITY IN A LOW-RISK ENVIRONMENT. BOB SHEA ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR BUSINESS, FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY
blog post to address parent’s questions. “It would have been easier if there was a blog where parents could post and communicate with Elon directly,” Chet said. “Not allowing parents to necessarily post and make it a chat, but making it a blog where questions can be asked rather than going to parent-to-parent, which sometimes can cause more fear.” As a resident of Burlington, Chet tried to do his part in helping the Elon community by going online and posting on “Elon’s Parent to Parent Page.” Chet’s posts on the nearly 2,000-member Facebook page mostly concerned Florence updates on the Elon area, which he hopes calmed the fear of some parents. A WEEK IN REVIEW Sept. 11: The Office of Student Life announces the closing of the university on Thursday and Friday. Sept. 14: The announcement of the university’s reopening and the continued cancellation of Monday classes. Sept. 17: The reopening of all university offices. Sept. 18: Classes resume.
Battering Academics Alongside the rest of the campus, professors also had to prepare to alter their syllabi after the storm canceled three days worth of classes – a decision that was made by administrators at the highest levels of the university. The cancellation of classes was announced by Jon Dooley, vice president for Student Life. He was one of the administrators involved in making the decision. “Whenever possible we like to continue the academic progress at the institution. The time students spend in class is incredibly important to this university,” Dooley said. “But we need to make sure we do that in a way that is safe for all of the members of our community. We’re constantly balancing that desire to keep academic progress TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT
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requests for assistance made by Elon faculty members from Sept. 12 to Sept. 17.
with the safety of our community.” While classes may not have been meeting physically, professors were advised by the Steven House, provost and executive vice president, to use the services provided by Teaching and Learning Technologies to continue the “teaching and learning process as best possible.” “We are trying to make sure we are successful in delivering learning outcomes,” House said. “That may require face-to-face interaction, but there are others ways to do that and each faculty member is responsible for that.” Members of the TLT worked with the Office of the Provost to make sure that instructors on campus were well aware of the technology that the university provided. On the days campus was closed, staff members at the TLT made sure to be available if faculty members needed assistance. But as whole, they didn’t. According to Scott Hildebrand, assistant director of Teaching and Learning Technologies, it was a quiet weekend. “We have been preparing faculty and informing them about all of these resources for a long time and we didn’t see this storm have a huge impact on their ability to use the technology,” Hildebrand said. “Which actually speaks highly about all the faculty and how well versed they are in the utilization of our tools.” TLT support for faculty is organized through the Technology Service Desk, which received 17 requests for assistance from Sept. 12 to Sept. 17. With 433 full-time faculty at Elon, the service desk saw this as success. “From all appearances, the
PREPARATION COSTS
Flights to home, the coast and nowhere For the 118 students with permanent residences in mandatory evacuation zones, it may be weeks before they fully recover. But the majority of Elon’s student body have residence in cities and states unaffected by the storm. In order to avoid Florence, senior Colton Cadarette flew to his home in Manchester, New Hampshire – a trip he had not expected to make. While walking into a meeting, Cadarette only had time to read the first section of Dooley’s email on Tuesday, announcing the cancellation of class. It was a few minutes into the meeting when his
STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
~$100K
118
in overtime wages for staff members that worked on campus throughout the storm.
students with permanent residences in mandatory evacuation zones.
~1,400
~$2K
for the week-long renting of a backup generator for Clohan Hall.
instructors and students utilizing our learning technologies were able to successfully continue their work during the break from classes,” said Matt Howell, assistant director of Campus Technology Support. Associate professor of Religious Studies Geoffrey Claussen is one of the faculty members that took advantage of these tools. The celebration of Rosh Hashana and impact of Florence canceled his Jewish Traditions class for the entirety of last week. In an effort to continue reaching his academic goals for the class, Claussen recorded a video lecture on Kaltura and had students participate in an online discussion on Moodle. “I’m very careful to ensure that students can participate in the online discussion on their own time and at their own pace, which for some students may be well after they return to campus,” Claussen said. While currently the Office of the Provost has confirmed there are no plans to reschedule the three days of missed class, that may become a possibility if more classes are canceled due to unexpected weather conditions. House could not confirm how many classes would need to be missed for this course of action to be taken.
ANTON L. DELGADO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
James Moore, a gardener with Physical Plant, picks up the largest fallen branches knocked down from the trees by Florence’s winds on Monday, Sept. 17.
students remained on campus throughout the storm.
NEWS
Wednesday september 19, 2018
5
phone started to buzz. “My mom read the whole email and said she would rather if I left,” Cadarette said. “I had the airline points and that’s why I decided to come back home for a week.” The cost for the surprise 800-mile trip to New Hampshire, would have cost Cadarette around $400, but all of that was paid through points. The only expense out of Cadarette’s pocket was the $11 tax that come with rewards travel, a cost he was happy to pay for a week at home. Originally, Cadarette had booked to return to campus on Sunday, but after receiving the news of canceled classes on Monday, he decided to ANTON L. DELGADO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER extend his stay. Southwest Airlines waived that fee due Susan Tripp, a horticulturist with Physical Plant, loads fallen branches into a cart outside of Long Building on Monday, Sept. 17. to Florence. Traveling hundreds of staying at Elon. miles and rebooking tickets is “We decided to stay open Helping hands STUDENT OUTREACH FROM THE COAST ELON EMERGENCY RESPONSE something international stu- to give people somewhere to dent and sophomore Irisgzel go if they lose power,” said Even though her home Cheong also had to do during Justin Brawley, MaGerks in Villanova, Pennsylvania, her week off. manager. “We’ve got plen- wasn’t affect by Florence at This was Cheong’s first ty of space, good food, great all, sophomore Emily Klevan miles separated Elon calls were received by hurricane, but Florence’s drinks, somewhere to come.” saw her days off from class of T-shirt profits is what Klevan hopes to raise for University and the worst the Elon Fire Department wasn’t the only storm they They weren’t alone: Pan- as a chance to do more than The Foundation For The Florence had to offer. regarding Florence were worried about. dora’s Pies, The Root Track- just homework. Carolinas. emergencies. As residents of the city of side, Tangent Eat+Bar, As a campus manager for Shenzhen in southeastern Skid’s Restaurant of Elon Fresh Prints, Klevan created a China, Cheong’s parents were and Subway also kept their new T-shirt design that would also focused on preparing for doors open. be used as a fundraising tool Super Typhoon Mangkhut. While these restaurants for the victims of Florence. This natural disaster was were anticipated less patron“I want people to see it and equivalent to a Category 5 ship, the Elon Fire Depart- want to help,” Klevan said. hurricane and was a 550- ment certainly did not. “I wanted a shirt that would mile wide storm, roughly 140 Fire Chief Alva Size- make people happy, make miles wider than Florence. more took the forecasts to people from the Carolinas “If they were proud and make going to be dealing people not from with the typhoon the Carolinas see in Southeast Asia, how great the two they didn’t want states really are.” to be freaking Klevan’s goal WE DECIDED TO STAY OPEN TO GIVE out about me at is to raise at least the same time,” $1,000 for the PEOPLE SOMEWHERE TO GO IF THEY Cheong said. “At Foundation For LOSE POWER. the end of the day The Carolinas, a it was expensive, local nonprofit but to them it was aiding post-FlorJUSTIN BRAWLEY a necessity because ence rebuilding MANAGER OF MAGERKS PUB & GRILL of my safety.” efforts. She hopes Other students Elon’s aid to those were never too affected by the concerned that Elon, about heart and was preparing his hurricane goes far beyond her 200 miles from the coast, was crew to be busy all week- T-shirts. going to be hit hard by Flor- end, but the Elon Fire De“I know we had a Spring ence. Sophomore Eric Polite partment received zero calls Break service trip last year that CORY WELLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER stayed on campus and took regarding Florence related helped the victims of Hurrithe time off to “do all the incidents. cane Harvey in Houston, and Physical Plant takes preventative measures to protect the control vault for the Wallace L. Chandler Fountain from things your average Elon stu“I was not expecting a I really hope we have anoth- rain water on Saturday, Sept. 15. dent doesn’t get to do.” quiet weekend at all. I was er to help with this disaster,” In his New Trollinger expecting to be hammered,” Klevan said. apartment, Polite spent his Sizemore said. “I thought we Staff members in the Kertime sleeping in, watching would need to have everyone nodle Center for Service classic movies, catching up ready to go, but that wasn’t Learning and Community on Netflix shows, listening the case.” Engagement have already to new Spotify albums and The EFD might not have met to discuss outreach opreading for pleasure. been directly involved with portunities for those affected the taking care of citizens by Florence. Taking on Florence during Florence, but that “We are checking with our may change soon. Size- local community partners While Florence’s clouds more expects to be have and then we will be checking loomed over Elon, local to send firefighters to help with campus colleagues in the restaurant owners refused the other departments in eastern part of the state to see to close, adopting the man- eastern Carolina. when they will be able to retra, ‘If there’s power, there’s “This is going to be an on- ceive volunteers,” said Mary food.’ going event and we will do Morrison, director of the Florence was MaGerks whatever we can to assist peo- Kernodle Center. “We want to COURTESY OF EMILY KLEVAN Pub & Grill’s first hurricane ple in need,” Sizemore said. make sure our community is The T-shirt print Klevan and the design team of Fresh Prints created for Hurricane Florence relief sales. It features on campus. It kept regular This is just one way Elon helping and we will keep the illustrations of famous landmarks in both North Carolina and South Carolina, such as the Outer Banks, Biltmore hours throughout the storm, is aiding those more affected university informed about Estate, Myrtle Beach boardwalk and Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, among others. All proceeds from T-shirt sales will be donated to the Foundation For The Carolinas. providing refuge for those by Florence. opportunities that arise.”
$1,000 ~200
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NEWS
Wednesday september 19, 2018
CHEAT SHEET
6
EACH WEEK THE PENDULUM DEBRIEFS COMPLEX EVENTS BY INTERVIEWING RELEVANT EXPERTS
Physical Plant on the front lines of campus cleanup Tom Flood, director of Physical Plant, reflects on natural disaster preparation and recovery Alex Hager
Elon News Network | @awhager
When forecasts started showing a “catastrophic” storm with Alamance County right in its path, Elon Physical Plant was tasked with battening down the hatches. The department, broadly in charge of the school’s infrastructure and facilities, took on the challenge of preparing campus for the worst. Tom Flood, director of Physical Plant, was at the helm this past Tom Flood week as steps were taken to ensure safety for students and buildings in the face of Florence’s predicted wind and rain. Q: What informs your decisions when it comes to emergency preparedness? A: We go off the incidences that we’ve had in the past and what we can project as the future. We’re keeping note of what is being decided with students. Are they staying on campus? How many may we have to shelter, what is our response to electrical outage? Preparedness for things like emergency generators and sandbagging is based on our level of experience. One of the most significant was in August of this year when we had some torrential rain storms come through. In one afternoon, we lost power to a major portion of campus at a time when we had six inches of rain in a two-hour period. So, when they were forecasting seven to 10 inches over seven days for the hurricane, I had a comparison saying, ‘Well that’s a lot of rain, and if it comes all at once, we’re going to have some problems.’ Q: What did you learn from that August flooding? What kind of tweaks did you make? A: The first thing we did the next day is look at those buildings and say, what can we do to fix this? Where did the water get in? How can we stop that? How can we make our facilities more resilient? So, we undertook more than a dozen projects in the last month to improve those situations. We have a couple more we’re still going to do. They’re a little larger, so we weren’t able to get them completed in the last 30 days, but they are still on the docket to be completed this fall. Adding some storm drainage at Carolina and adding some storm drainage by Global B, there’ll be some construction activity for that. Q: Is preparing for a hurricane similar to preparing for a snowstorm or an ice storm? A: Ice storms are very similar in that your risk is the same risk, it’s power outages. We could have a tree fall virtually any day of the year. A wind, a rainstorm, you never know. It’s somewhat random. We have arborists that work in the trees every day to minimize risk. We remove anything that we can see is weak … Power outages are the thing that we can’t control because we don’t control the distribution system and we are a little bit at the mercy of Duke Energy to keep our power on. Q: When you need all hands on deck to keep things running during a storm, how do you make sure all of your
ALEX HAGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Physical Plant workers pick up downed branches in Lambert Academic Village on Friday, Sept. 14.
employees can travel to campus safely? A: All of our physical plant staff are emergency personnel, which means as part of their job description duties when they’re hired, they know that they need to be here in any emergency response. That’s just part of our job. It’s part of who we are. We are running basically a small city and people depend on us for our service. We always say if you have a risk, don’t go on the road. If you have family to take care of, take care of them. We’re not going to supersede that and put you in a difficult position. We will allow people to stay. Often, we’ll find people asleep in the break room. I had a new employee one time who was so concerned about getting here for a snow storm, we discovered him asleep in his car in a sleeping bag. So, we said, ‘For goodness sakes, come inside.’ We usually set up some space in some facility as a bunk house if we need to. If they’re worried about getting here or getting home, we take care of them, we feed them. Q: How much did it cost to make all of the preparations?
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A: The cost for the preparation was actually fairly minor because most of it was able to be done during the workday and the week. We brought in one backup generator so we would have the ability to keep Clohan Hall running for food services. That was probably the only single major expense that we had, and that was only a couple thousand dollars. We did run some hurricane response teams over part of the weekend, so we had multitrades, specialty skilled here 24 hours a day until we finally pulled them Saturday evening. Q: How many jokes have you gotten about your name this week? A: This summer we had a series of torrential rainstorms all summer long, and yeah, I’ve gotten several this year about ‘I wish you’d change your name so it would stop raining.’
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Wednesday, september 19, 2018 | page 7
SPORTS
DELAY OF GAME Florence causes postponements and cancellations across fall schedule
CORY WELLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jack Haley
Sports Director | @jackhaley17
With Tropical Depression Florence leaving its mark on North Carolina and surrounding states, Elon University has had to make alternative plans for almost everything – including athletics. Cross country, football, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball have all had a game, match or event rescheduled because of the storm, resulting in nine total postponed events. Cross country had their Winthrop/Adidas Invitational rescheduled to be run on Oct. 5 instead of the original Sept. 15 date. Men’s soccer was able to reschedule their match against the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, originally scheduled for Sept. 15 to be played Sept. 18. Additionally, Elon’s match against Appalachian State will now be contested on the road on Oct. 17. Volleyball missing four games in a row may have been a blessing in disguise. Entering the conference portion of their schedule with a winning 8-2 record should give the Phoenix some confidence heading into the most important four-game stretch of their season. The first two games of Elon’s Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) schedule may also be in jeopardy. Elon is scheduled to go on the road and face off with the College of Charleston on Sept. 21 and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington on Sept. 23, both of which were in Florence’s path. However, Daniel Wyar, assistant athletic director for marketing and communications, said the games are “going to be played as scheduled, as of now.” For volleyball, if roads and infrastructure are safe and Elon is able to travel to the two affected areas, the CAA may still intervene and reschedule the matches. This depends on when Elon’s two opponents would be able to return to their respective campuses and courts. The Phoenix did add a match against UNC at Chapel Hill on Sept. 18. UNC suffered similar cancellations to Elon, having their matches against North Dakota State University and Duke University both crossed off their schedule. Women’s soccer’s match against Davidson College, which was scheduled for Sept. 14, was canceled. Head coach Neil Payne emphasized that though players are going to leave campus, that doesn’t mean it is a break from their season.
VOLLEYBALL
football
SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE
SEPT. 12 @ DUKE CANCELED SEPT. 14 KANSAS CANCELED SEPT. 15 HIGH POINT CANCELED SEPT. 15 UNC GREENSBORO CANCELED SEPT. 18 UNC CHAPEL HILL ADDED
SEPT. 15 @ WILLIAM & MARY POSTPONED
cross country SCHEDULE
men’s soccer
SEPT. 15 WINTHROP/ADIDAS INVITATIONAL POSTPONED
SCHEDULE
women’s soccer
SEPT. 15 @ UNC GREENSBORO POSTPONED TO SEPT. 18 SEPT. 19 @ APPALACHIAN STATE POSTPONED TO OCT. 17
SCHEDULE
“Some players will be leaving campus, of course, so you put the ownership on them to make sure they are doing work on their own,” Payne said. But the most important postponement may be the football game against the College of William & Mary. On Sept. 11, Elon football announced via Twitter their matchup with the Tribe would be postponed. The stormy conditions forecasted for Virginia at the time made the matchup doubtful. The reason this is so important is because of the short schedule football plays. Volleyball missing four games is unfortunate, but it will not have a big enough impact in their season for the CAA to intervene. Director of Athletics Dave Blank said in a statement, “The first concern is the safety of all of those involved.” Blank also added that he recognizes athletes on campus are “students first,” saying the university will provide accomodations for the athletes just as they do for the rest of the students. So, now what? The simple answer would be to have the teams meet on a common bye week – but no common bye week exists. The week of Oct. 27 is the Phoenix’s bye week while the bye week of William & Mary is on the week of Nov. 3.
SEPT. 14 DAVIDSON CANCELED The cancellation is too close to the kickoff for either team to attempt to reschedule the game on a neutral field. Even if time allowed, finding a viable option doesn’t seem likely, as any possibility would likely be more dangerous for both schools. This conundrum is magnified even further by the fact it is an in-conference game for football. Canceling even one game can severely impact the entire outcome of the
Rhodes Stadium received intermittent showers of rain throughout the week that Elon was affected by Florence, Sunday, Sept. 16.
Football Championship Subdivision Playoff picture. Elon and William & Mary having one less game, and one less conference game, than the rest of the CAA will cause an imbalance in the standings. Further, since a common bye week is not present, then both teams will either lose a game played or will have to play an extra game somewhere in their busy schedules to make up for lost time. Second-year head coach Curt Cignetti is not wasting the time they aren’t playing. “We’re going to treat this like an off-week,” Cignetti said. “School is technically shut down Thursday and Friday, ... but Monday we’ll be right back at it full-speed.” In an official statement about the postponement of the game, the CAA said, “The two schools will work closely with the CAA and make every effort to reschedule the competition,” before noting that “no makeup date has been identified.” Though this is an inconvenience for athletics, it is important to remember many student athletes’ lives will be altered by this storm. Student athletes from across North and South Carolina may have to face realities of homes destroyed and families displaced. For some, the field will quickly become an escape from a world that was turned upside down.