Elon University - Phi Psi Cli Yearbook (Elon, NC)

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There are times when they ' re a little too protective, one student said. They should let us stumble and pick ourselves up a little more often. That ' s a learning experience too. Young dismisses the complaint saying: Students on any campus, if you asked them, would say they should be given more freedom. They ' d probably even say that in Chapel Hill. That ' s just students. The essence of caring, Elon offi- cials agree, is personal attention. Providing it, though, isn ' t always easy at a college where the stu- dent-teacher ratio hovers on the high side at 20-to-l and where the average annual teaching load is 27 hours. At most colleges, the average is 24 hours and the student-teacher ratio closer to 17 or 18-to-l. The high ratio and heavy teaching load account in large part for the college ' s financial stability, Young said. It is made possible, though, by the college ' s dedication to hiring good teachers. There can be no credibility for an Elon faculty member who is not an effective classroom teacher, Young told the faculty at the opening convocation of the 1985-86 school year. Good teaching has been and will con- tinue to be our most pervasive characteristic. Teaching is the first and foremost consideration in grant- ing promotions and raises, said Chris White, vice-president for academic affairs. A teacher who can ' t teach won ' t last long at Elon. For teachers who want to teach, White said, We ' re about the top of the line. Above Elon and a few schools like us, you get into the research game. That ' s why we ' re so popular with teachers who really want to teach. Like all colleges that emphasize teaching, though, Elon walks a fine line. To be outstanding, its teachers must stay current in their fields. Research is the best way to stay current, but research and a heavy teaching load don ' t mix well. Elon ' s biggest personnel problem is one shared by countless other colleges. It has only three blacks and one American Indian on its faculty, far too few to adequately balance the faculty or act as role models to the students, 9 percent of whom are black. I would say that hiring and

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cliche. Administrators use it. Pro- fessors use it. Students use it. Without exception, it seems, every- one agrees that caring is Elon ' s es- sence and its greatest asset. I if now you ' ve heard it 1,000 times, but absolute caring really is the nature of this entire institu- tion, said Linda Weavil, a busi- ness administration professor. Al- most anything I can say is so up- beat it sounds corny, but it really is the truth. Thanks to caring, Elon ' s stu- dents are, by and large, thrilled with their college experience. Sur- veys of recent graduates show 95 percent would return to Elon if they could relive their college years. Asked what made their time at Elon so fulfilling, 97 percent mention their relationships with their professors. In an unscientific survey of stu- dents encountered on campus, the result was the same. Everyone of them, asked what they liked best about Elon, mentioned personal at- tention from their professors as the primary benefit. But a surplus of care and pro- tection, particularly in relation to their social lives, is also a com- plaint students voice about Elon.

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keeping good minority faculty is our greatest challenge, our most persistent concern, Young said. We ' re not satisfied with our re- cord on that point, but we ' re con- stantly working on it. Ironically, another of Elon ' s problems is its cost. In North Carolina, where public education is such a bargain, parents balk at paying $3,300 a year for tuition. The reaction is almost as extreme in the Northeast, home of increas- ingly more Elon students each year. We ' re so much cheaper than the Northern private schools that parents look aghast at me when I tell them the price, Soliday said. You can see them thinking that if Elon is that cheap, it can ' t be as good as we say. Vice-President Williams said Elon officials have even discussed raising the college ' s costs to better