The growing popularity of Tinder on college campuses

Online dating is more popular than ever before but on college campuses the phenomenon has taken a new and interesting turn over the past few years: Tinder. It’s a modern day hot or not list disguised as a dating smart phone app. The app, just 19-months-old, has changed the online dating game for younger generations. The Millennial generation is known for wanting immediate gratification, which is exactly what Tinder strives to provide, with love or lust being the service offered.

How Tinder works

Screenshot from the Tinder app of a random user.

A user is based off these criteria: up to six photos, a short description and whatever shared interests and friends the matched up pair may have on Facebook. Then it’s decision time. Swipe the photo right and you like them. Swipe left and it’s a nope. If two people swipe right for each other then it’s a match and they have the option to message each other.

Naturally, this smart phone app is furthering the hook up culture that is increasing in popularity in young adults all around the country. The targeted audience is men and women between ages 18 and 35, though it is most popular among college age people. But does it serve a legitimate dating service too?

“I wasn’t using it to find someone to have a random hook up with. I was looking for someone who I could actually go on dates with,” Elon junior Victoria Selover said. “I wanted to find someone who would make an effort to spend time with me and make fun plans.”

Many students on Elon University’s campus are tapping into this new dating pool or meeting people at nearby colleges and universities. Some find the process addicting on their smart phones, while some are truly participating to meet new people.

“I don’t find tinder addicting but I find it necessary when you go to school in Elon, North Carolina,” said Elon University senior Powell Mansfield. “There are about 28 gay men here. 17 of them don’t like me and six of them have hooked up with my ex-boyfriend and two of them I’ve hooked up with. So that’s why I go on tinder… I just cant go to a fraternity party and meet a guy or find him at Harris Teeter it’s just not really going to happen. So I use Tinder. “ 

Where Tinder started

Infographic by Jessica Petrocchi

Tinder is based in Los Angeles where founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen (who’s the app engineer) constantly work to improve the app.

They began with simple “party promotion,” meaning they’d throw parties at colleges and as an entrance fee, each guest would have to show that they downloaded Tinder on their phones. It started in houses and clubs and quickly grew to include sorority and fraternity representatives from around California.

How much does Tinder compete with other online dating sites?

While sites like Match.com and eHarmony have a slightly older demographic, Tinder targets mostly college age students, who are around 18 to 24 years old. The whole idea behind the app is to comfort our insecurities about the online dating process. A user can only message another if they both swiped right or “liked” each other. The psychology behind this is that it’s much easier to approach or talk to someone when you know they’ve already indicated they are interested, too.

“It’s a way to kind of judge people without them knowing you and without even knowing you’re doing it,” said Elon senior Emily Lessard. “You just say ‘Oh, you’re cute or oh, you’re not,’ And they never have to know. It’s great.”

With today’s youth culture the way it is, it can be rare to see any two people out on a date, according many women on Elon’s campus. But with Tinder, meeting dates in public places for the first time is the smart thing to do for safety.

“I met this man on Tinder and we just started chatting and really had a lot in common and I thought I liked him,” Elon senior Emily Lessard said, “We met for a few dates. The first time I met him I said ‘Oh my god, thank God.’ He said ‘What?’ And I said ‘I’m just glad you’re not a 60-year-old balding man.’ Because online dating these days.“

A study done last year found that one-third of all couples who get married met online. The number one site for happiest marriages is currently eHarmony.com, but there are options for every type of person from religious (like JDate and Christian Mingle) to ethnicity (Black People Meet) to farmersonly.com. And Tinder is responsible for over 100 marriages in the short time it’s been up.

Why is it so addicting?

Tinder can be an incredible ego boost. If a user stays on it long enough and keeps their photos, description and likes updated, they are pretty much guaranteed to get a few matches. Whether or not they decide to form some kind of relationship with the person is an entirely new step and some people only do it only for the rush of getting matched with a stranger.

“It is a huge ego boost,” Elon sophomore Julie Dennen said. “You get complimented a lot. You get matched a lot. I have a lot of matches and that’s really fun.”

Tinder also has a convenience factor. Users on their smart phones can get on the app anywhere. It’s so easy to swipe left and right and even plugging in a description is simple. It’s all about branding. The millenials love using Twitter on which a user makes a statement in 140 characters. They know how to brand themselves and send a message quickly. On Tinder, in a line or two generally serves the purpose of promoting a person.

“Tinder’s so addicting because its so easy to use,” Elon junior Matthew Lanahan said, “The next person is just a click away. Plus it’s great for procrastination.”

The app is useful not only in that it tells you about other people who are close in proximity but it also helps the user realize things that they are interested in for a potential partner. When a user can swipe so quickly across the screen, it gives them the opportunity to see many, many different kinds of people.

“I probably check Tinder once a week,” Elon junior Victoria Selover admitted. “I find it addicting when I’m on it because you so desperately want to find someone you’re attracted to but in the span of an hour you might only find three people. So you keep playing because you want someone to catch your eye. I’m definitely more interested in what types of guys are swiping right for me, though.”

Overseas popularity of Tinder is Growing

How did Olympians meet this year in the Olympic Village in Sochi? By swiping on Tinder. Since Tinder offers matches based on geographic proximity, the athletes were all Tindering with other Olympic athletes.

The most popular Tinder user from the Olympics was New Zealand snowboarder Rebecca Torr who was reported saying, “Just wanna match with the Jamaican bobsled team.” Multiple athletes, such as U.S. snowboarded Jamie Anderson, have mentioned to media sources that they’ve deleted their accounts to focus their attention on their Olympic performance.

Photo from http://sochiontinder.tumblr.com/page/3

There have been reports and rumors every year that the amount of condoms used in the Olympic Village is obscene every year, but this year the app just made finding an Olympic fling that much easier.

But SoChi is not the only foreign place utilizing the app. Here in the states there are countless profiles with descriptions along the lines of: Studying in America. From Spain and looking for friends.

The battle with #thinspiration: the growing popularity of anorexia on social media

With young women obsessed with the ideal image of a perfect, model body, they’ve been turning to social media sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr to help find weight loss motivation and incentive. This is popularly known as #thinsporation. With national eating disorder and awareness week starting Feb. 23, it’s important to come back to this question of where does someone cross the line between healthy and hurtful?

Instagram image #weightloss

Since April 2012, the pro-anorexia terms #thinspiration and #thinspo were officially banned from Instagram. But determined pro-anorexia enthusiasts have not let that get in their way and have begun using #th1nspo or #thingspogram as new hashtags according to this Huffington Post article.

It’s not a new trend, but it is still apparent in high school and college age women and it’s still growing.

“I think those who have eating disorders probably had multiple small things add up to their decision to stop eating, or whatever habits they may be, instead of just seeing these photos,” Elon University sophomore Emma Sales said. “The difference between seeing models in a magazine and seeing these photos on social media is that magazines are everywhere and models with unrealistic bodies are on the cover. But with social media, you can pick and choose what you want to follow.”

Many of these photos have before and after shots, showing a woman usually of a slightly over average size and then a photo next to the first of her after a period of time looking very thin. With the banning of certain terms along with ideally the good judgment of women being educated on the topic, people are leaning toward the healthier looking after photos rather than shooting for the bones-sticking-out look.

“There have been a few before and after photos on the Instagram accounts I follow, but I have never used a site specifically for that,” Elon University senior Kathryn Ryan said. “I think they are appealing because they show me what can happen with a little hard work, and they inspire me to workout, eat healthy and transform myself.”

Wordcloud made from various #thinspiration searches.

The idea with weight loss motivation and inspiration photos is that they say anyone can do it. But with the millions of body types out there in world, that idea as become misconstrued and over-simplified and there are young women more likely to take up unhealthy lifestyles rather than accept that fact.

Infographic from http://aa400415.wordpress.com/tag/anorexia/

“I don’t doubt that some girls are developing eating disorders due to these sites,” Elon University sophomore Brittany Crimmins said. “Sometimes those pictures make me feel so lousy about myself, but I love food too much to ever take it that far. It made me unfollow a lot of the sites with just before/after pictures and follow more of the sites with the recipes and work out tips.”

Instagram image

There are ways to combat these negative thoughts though. First, by pulling your motivation from healthy sources promoting an appropriate and non-harmful diet. Second, these young women should focus on the message that they send over their own social media sites. Instead of using #thinspiration or #skinny, a more positive #healthylifestyle would give a better understanding of healthy goals.

“I would also add words that inspire you to be the person you want to be, like ‘strong,’ ‘confident,’ ‘bold,’ and ‘daring,’” Seventeen Magazine fitness blogger Jess Weiner said. “Doing this will inspire your soul, thus giving you more inner-strength and confidence.”

“It makes you feel as if you can do anything after seeing them,” Crimmins said. “But it also worries me that many people are looking at these images and doing almost anything to get to the way these skinny girls look.”

Even for social media users that are hopeful to start leading a healthy lifestyle with these photo motivations are not immune to seeing the pro-anorexia movement.

Instagram post

“The only photo I ever saw that disturbed me was of a very thin girl, and it looked like you could almost see the outline of her stomach,” Ryan said, “It definitely didn’t inspire me like the other photos do.”

Luckily, it’s not all negative and there are many fitness accounts with positive idea and inspirations trending on the web.

Gay marriage decision in Virginia and bans in Sochi spark up controversy

Sochi 2014: where expressing beliefs or identity has the power to jeopardize athletes’ olympic dreams. Putin classifies Russia’s laws as promoting family values.

Image of Belle Brockhoff from http://www.pinknews.co.uk

Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff said in an interview with BBC that speaking out against the Russian “anti-gay” laws in Sochi is not worth ruining what she’s trained so hard for.

“Russia is being really strict,” Ian Luther, an Elon student from North Carolina said. “Like don’t ask don’t tell. I think people are picturing [these Olympics] to be a lot like during civil rights. But I think more likely there will be several tiffs and nothing in the long run.”

No Homo Promo Laws

Here in America there are eight states that have gay propaganda bans, which are similar to Sochi’s. Six have “no homo promo” laws and two have laws that prohibit enumeration. These limits, of course, are not as severe as those in Sochi. Visit an interactive map here that WordPress cannot support: http://www.thinglink.com/scene/490991440764076032

Map from Washingtonpost.com

Students and faculty around Elon born in North Carolina all seemed surprised that their home state did not make the list of eight. But in 2012, amendment 1 passed making it unconstitutional to recognize or preform same sex marriages or civil unions in North Carolina so a further ban on top of amendment 1 would not have a large impact.

“I think they’re moving backwards,” said Amy Glazer, an adjunct teacher at Elon University.

Is all this constitutional?

While laws are different in Sochi, are these bans limiting our free speech in the United States unconstitutionally?

“The Supreme Court has consistently found that the governments have a great deal of leeway in regulating their own speech,” said Elon media law professor Jonathan Jones. “A regulation on what can be taught about a specific topic in local school districts may very well pass constitutional muster as a valid restraint on government speech.  beyond these eight states under fire, Virginia is making news in their attempts to get the Supreme Court to decide if states banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.”

Infographic posted on June 3, 2013 on from statesthatallowgarmarriage.com

Jones said that while it’s possible to be constitutional, he believes it’s morally wrong. But a law like what is in place in Russia’s is much different and further reaching. It effects everyone in the country. Jones said a law like Russia’s applying to all citizens would clearly and unequivocally violate the First Amendment here in America.

Judge overturns same sex marriage ban in Virginia

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the same-sex marriage ban in Virginia is unconstitutional. The original constitutional amendment passed in 2006, which respected same-sex marriages that were carried out legally in other states.

The real question though is what effect with this have on other states. According to the New York Times, many legal experts believe that Virginia’s decision along with many other states currently being in the process of deciding where they stand could send the matter to the United States Supreme Court.

“Legalize it all the way,” Elon sophomore Shelby Lewis said. ” I’d jump for joy if it was passed.”

Continuously growing support for same-sex marriage rights in America

From the http://www.washingtonpost.com

According to an article in the Washington Post, support for same-sex marriage throughout the United States has reached a new high. The survey they took shows that 58 percent of Americans now believe that it should be legal for same-sex marriage couples to get married and 36 percent say that it should be illegal.

This highly debated topic has been on the forefront of people’s minds now as change and progress continue to happen. But how much longer?

“I think it’s silly we’re even still talking about it,” Alex Lewis said, an Elon staff member from Virginia said.

#ItsNotOver College Coffee Demonstration Questions Inclusiveness on Elon University’s campus

By Jessica Petrocchi

Honors first year students have a discussion about inclusiveness on campus. Photo by Jessica Petrocchi.

Faggot and whore, two words you wouldn’t expect to see in big, bold letters on flyers posted around campus, caught Elon University’s attention this past week. These signs were meant to spark discussion about Elon’s “inclusive community.”

Students involved in protest on Phi Beta Kappa Commons during College Coffee last Tuesday claim that it’s not over. Demonstrators lead by senior Jasmine Whaley shouted, “Your silence is acceptance.”

“The goal was to get the students attention to talk about what we perceive to be a campus culture that’s largely apathetic when it comes to instances of discrimination,” Whaley said.

Whaley mentioned to two main things that the protestors wanted to accomplish were first to make people aware and that it’s important for us to engage in this type of dialogue

But to be truly over, campus would have to be completely inclusive. Can that goal ever be achieved 100 percent?

“I think Elon is very inclusive for some people and much less inclusive for other people,” Philosophy professor Stephen Bloch-Schulman said, “And I don’t think in a school as large as we are we that you can ever be inclusive to everybody.”

Photo tweeted by @elonpendulum of the signs posted around campus

But both student activists and administrative strive to lead the school further from bias and discrimination on campus.

Why have this demonstation now?

“There was no single event. It was a culmination of a lot of different factors,” Whayley said, “it was mostly fueled by individual experience that we’ve had or that our friends or people close to us have had.”

Was this demonstration the best way to confront Elon’s inclusiveness issue? It wasn’t subtle. Students yelled profanities publicly at college coffee in order to increase awareness off the problem. But the reaction of students ranged from dismissive, to hurt that they weren’t enough of an effort, to intrigued according to Professor Leigh-Ann Royster.

The idea behind the demonstration, start discussion among students, is almost unquestionably a positive one.

“It was positive because these were students who felt so moved to protest,” Associate Dean of the School of Communications Kenn Gaither said, “and it was students who were doing it. It wasn’t top down. It wasn’t the administration coming out saying were gonna build a perfect Elon.”

“It’s not over” protestors took a much more aggressive stance compared to the “Not on our campus” campaign that has been around Elon’s campus for a while now. On Tuesday, May 14, this message was posted as an open letter to all Elon students.

The open letter too students said, “Many of you may think we have bee too aggressive and made people too uncomfortable. We intend to cause discomfort.” Too some extent, discomfort can lead to discussion and curiosity. But too much aggression and discomfort can be off putting to students in the majority who may feel attacked about their lack of action.

“It’s failing if the majority begins to feel like they are excluded,” Professor Gaither said, “It has to be for everybody. Not just minorities.

Elon is trying to move toward becoming a home to more mature and open discussions about campus diversity.

Associate Dean of the School of Communications Kenn Gaither. Photo by Jessica Petrocchi.

“I grew up in the south and that means southern hospitality,” Philosophy professor Martin Fowler said, “You disagree and you don’t really settle anything. You simply say things that are nice to each other and let it go. That’s a part of the old culture and Elon’s maturing to a university culture in which they can be brave enough but also sure enough in themselves to be host to that kind of conversation and disagreement and still be together belonging with others.”

Elon isn’t the only campus dealing with this same issue.

“Most of what happens at Elon is happening at college campuses around the country,” Geither said. He mentioned specifically incidents at University of California San Diego, University of Missouri and Dartmouth.

While that is certainly not an excuse for lacking and inclusive community, it is an important aspect to keep in mind and watch the progress around the country.

“I think like most institutions of our size and history we do some things very well and we continue to face ongoing challenges in terms of deepening our …commitment and understanding of diverse people,” philosophy professor Ann Cahill said.

Review: Elon Tonight spring showcase shows much improvement, great new talent

The cast of Elon Tonight proved to Elon University how hard they’ve worked to stay on this campus during the last few years at their spring showcase May 10. Sponsored by the Student Union Board, the premiere offered free popcorn and beverages to its audience. This semester’s installation of Elon’s only sketch comedy show was funny, creative and well put together.

The members of Elon Tonight seem to have a special connection with each other, something that may have strengthened their comedic endeavors over time.

Their sketches, with few exceptions, kept the audience laughing and wanting to see more. The writers’ creativity and imaginative thinking helped segments move into new plots and scenes fresh from overdone humor in the comedy world. Everyone watching seemed to laugh or gasp when the writers and actors on the screen had intended to evoke amusement.

The review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning freshman Harris Fishman. Fishman, who appeared in the majority of the showcase’s skits, brought a likeable awkwardness to the cast.

Though their time at Elon has not always been easy, the creators of Elon Tonight have clearly put their hearts and souls into keeping it alive throughout the years. This screening made it evident their hard work is paying off.

While Elon may not be considered one of the most diverse campuses in the country, Elon Tonight has a good mix of personalities involved in its show. Since the show is open to actors, writers, directors and behind-the-scenes staff, they pride themselves on giving underclassmen the opportunity to work alongside skilled upperclassmen.

Elon Tonight’s editing style is similar to the vibe of “Saturday Night Live,” but with an Elon spin. The scenes of Elon University at night added an extra edge to the opening credits. Overall, the editing was well done and made for a very enjoyable watching experience.

Elon Tonight has since released the showcase on YouTube.

Math Tools: Chapters 9-12

Chapter 9- Directional Measurements:

Journalists sometimes have too look at or calculate things like time, rate and distance.Directional measurements like this can be very important in a story to clarify facts to readers. If these numbers can be checked and secured with officials, it will make the reported more accurate and give them more credibility. Miles per hour, speech, acceleration, distance, velocity and momentum are some of the things a reporter can calculate to help their article.

Chapter 10- Area Measurements:

There are two ways to explain and examine area. One way is by analogy. Comparing a space to something of equal size that the average person will understand like a football field. This can give readers a great visual sense of an area and its size. But it is not good when exact measurements are important to the story. The second way is by simple, exact measurements. This includes calculating things like perimeter, square feet and area.

Chapter 11- Volume Measurements:

Like area, volume can play an important role in understanding the size of something. In business reporting, volume can help when looking at things like boxes, barrels, tons, etc. Many goods are also based on volume and are sold in quantities based on it. Some things that are looked at in terms of volumes are liquid measurements, rectangular solids, cords (how firewood is measured), and tons.

Chapter 12- The Metric System:

Even though many Americans are not fully familiar with the entire metric system, it is very important when looking at international businesses and measurements. The meter is the basic unit of measurement in this system. Mass is also derived from the meter. The metric unit force is the Newton.One kilogram weighs 9.8 Newtons on Earth (gravity).

The important units to know are mass is measured in grams, length is measured in meters and volume is measures in liters.

Elon hosts the 2012 IBLA winners: World class classical music performers

By Jessica Petrocchi

All the IBLA grand prize winners on stage at Carnegie Hall. Photo submitted by Salvatore Moltisanti.

Elon had the honor of hosting the 2012 IBLA grand prize recipients in Whitley Auditorium last Monday.  Elon University was the second to last stop on the world tour, which ended last Thursday evening.

Dr. Victoria Fisher Faw, a music professor at Elon University, and Dr. Salvatore Moltisanti, IBLA foundation president, presented IBLA’s International Grand Prize Competition Winners in concert.

“We plan for this to be an annual event,” Fischer Faw said. The performers loved the auditorium and the piano and told Fischer Faw it was one of their favorite venues throughout their world tour.

They went straight from Elon to perform at Carnegie Hall.

The performances featured chamber musicians, piano, cello and accordion.

The 2013 IBLA music competition will be held July 9- July 19. The IBLA Foundation, which organizes the competition annually, is in New York City. But the actual event takes place in Ragua-Ibla, Italy, in the Southeastern corner of Sicily.

While Elon is a seemingly random small town to host such amazing talent, the relationship between IBLA and North Carolina goes way back.

“We have cultivated with North Carolina for quite some time and we have an old friend of ours there: Dr. Fisher Faw,” Salvatore Moltisanti, IBLA Foundation president said, “We actually know each other…23 or 24 years ago Dr. Fischer was the winner of a competition in Virginia and the following year I was the winner of the same competition and she was a jury member at the time when I competed. We’ve known each other as pianists since then.”

A photo of Salvatore Moltisanti, founder and president of the IBLA Foundation

Fischer Faw fondly remembers her success in that competition.

“In 1980, I won first place at the international Bartok Kabalevsky competition at Radford University,” Fischer Faw said, “Included in the prize was to come back the next year… I had the honor to judge the finals of next year’s competition with the famous Bartok.”

It was around 1992, that Moltisanti started the IBLA Foundation.

“Here I am, a judge of the competition,” Fischer Faw said, “The winner then was Salvatore Moltisanti…that’s how we met and he invited me then to serve on the jury of IBLA and I did that for several years. Then I didn’t for a long time and last year I did again for the first time in quite a few years. And so I invited the members to come to Elon as part of their tour.“

Moltisanti had no even graduated when the IBLA foundation began to form.

“At the time I was student at the North Carolina School of the Arts,” Moltisanti said, “and when I was a student as part of my school project I started this foundation which is the IBLA foundation.”

So the IBLA Foundation has always had close ties to North Carolina and the surrounding areas.

“There are several sponsors around,” Fischer Faw said, “On this tour they play everything from churches to universities.”

The location of the actual competition event sparked the foundation’s name. IBLA is the name of the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE ancient Baroque quarters of Ragusa – Ibla. Ragusa and Ibla are two sister cities built on two 300 meters hills. Ibla is the ancient city and Ragusa is the more modern one. The Monti Iblei that surrounds the area takes the name from the ancient Ibla. The Mediterranean coastline is very close by.

Photo of the snow cover Ragusa Ibla from the IBLA foundation website.

The IBLA foundation is a volunteer organization. The donations they receive go directly toward careers of the talents musicians who compete.

The winners of the annual event perform around the world. World-class performers came from all over the world including countries in Europe and Asia and the United States.

The IBLA Foundation prize winners that will perform include accordionist Tomasz Ostaszewski, soprano Audrey Ann Southard Rumsey from the United States, pianist Laehyung Woo from South Korea and the piano duo of Yuka Munehisa from Japan and Samuel Fried from Switzerland.

The music ranges from Bach, Verdi, Puccini, Liszt, Chopin, Ginastera, Prokofiev, Bartok, Oskar Merikanto to other classical masters, as well as works written or improvised by the pianist/composers on the program.

According to Moltisanti, there is “classical music and contemporary music. A wide range.”

Pianists, singers, instrumentalists and composers, are all invited to perform in the annual music competition.  Winners are presented the following year in such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Tokyo Opera City Hall and other prestigious venues in Canada, Europe and the United States.

“We gather together, musicians coming from all over the world,” Moltisanti said, “and they play every day and there is a jury panel.”

The IBLA Grand Prize 2013 international jury and advisory board come from all around the world. The panel is mostly made up of music school faculty and directors from places like Italy, Serbia, The Netherlands, South Korea, Poland, Syria and many more.

The competition does have separate age brackets to ensure fair decisions. Competitors ages seven to 23 are split up event between groups A, B, C and D. Anyone 24 and over is considered an adult.

Competitors have a lot of freedom is choosing what music they will perform for the jury.

“This is not a school jury therefore you do not have to show that you know a variety of style or a variety of languages (singers),” their website says, “or that you are in general a good student. You are expected to perform music you feel you perform at its best. The program should represent your musicianship, your taste, your passion, your expertise, your identity in the music world or what you wish to be known for. Very creative programs are encouraged.”

Participants are not notified until the night before as to what time they will perform for the jury.

Winners do not receive any cash awards. They are invited to perform at prestigious locations around the world. The winners are not ranked in the traditional first, second, third, etc. They are divided into top winners and special aware or mention recipients.

Top winners get invited to most events while the special aware or mention recipients may get an invite to the events based on the discretion of the IBLA Foundation board of trustees. Top winners usually are able to travel while performing with all expenses paid.

President Lambert promotes Elon’s music department with The President’s Gala

By Jessica Petrocchi

The President’s Gala took place April 27 in McCrary Theatre. It was hosted by Elon President Leo Lambert. Photo by Caroline Olney, staff photographer.

Elon University president Leo Lambert hosted The President’s Gala last Saturday, April 27. The musical event took place in McCrary Theatre at 7:30 p.m.

The show featured a variety of musical masterpieces. More than 140 students from the Department of Music, faculty, staff and alumni were featured in the performance to raise visibility of the department and their specific programs around campus.

“Almost every music major in the department is performing in some capacity,” said Todd Coleman, associate professor of music at Elon, who is also an award-winning composer, video artist and coordinator of music technology.

Over 140 students performed at The President’s Gala April 27. Photo by Caroline Olney, staff photographer.

President Lambert helped to commission Coleman to compose a finale piece specifically for the gala; the resulting work is titled “In Varietate Concordia,” which translates to “Many and One.”

“I’m conducting [the finale] so there’s an orchestra and choir and rhythm section and all of that,” Coleman said. “Earlier in the program, there’s a mashup of a number of different pop songs, rap, hip hop and an original song by one of our students.”

An excerpt of the finale piece explained the point it is attempting to portray to the audience: “Musica est harmonia, forma, quod communitas. Est virtus, pax, lux quod amor,” which translates to: “Music is harmony, beauty, and community. It is power, peace, light and love.”

The feature piece’s theme was diversity, and the performances were based on that topic. Student diversity was played out in the musical diversity heard throughout the show.

“My composition is intended to reflect musical diversity and harmony while also being a sort of anthem for humanity at the same time,” Coleman said. “Music also mirrors or is symbolic of humanity – or our interactions as brothers and sisters of the world. It can be diverse in colors, textures, melodies, harmonies and rhythms, yet complimentary and unified in the overall effect.”

All of the proceeds from The President’s Gala will help the department purchase musical equipment. Photo by Caroline Olney, staff photographer.

All of the proceeds from The President’s Gala will help the department purchase musical equipment. Photo by Caroline Olney, staff photographer.

Proceeds from the gala went toward the enhancement of musical equipment and expansion of facilities, notably a new music production studio and rehearsal space on South Campus. The impact will be felt well beyond the faculty and students who teach and study in the department.

“There is a real need for new equipment and facilities in music,” said Matthew Buckmaster, chair of the department of music at Elon. “The administration supported this idea to raise awareness of what the Music Department does and why that need is there.  Also, we simply wanted to highlight the diversity of music that goes on every semester in the department, and the high talent level of our fantastic students.”

Math Tools: Chapter 5-8

Chapter 5- Polls and Surveys:

Polls and surveys are a great way to get a glimpse of public opinion on a topic. A reporter must be able to take these huge numbers and all the data and configure it into a way that is suitable to the topic on which they are reporting. And it must be laid out in a way that makes it easier for people to understand. Polls generally are taken on political topics and are used with samples to get an idea about how the public feels.

Formulas for selecting samples:

–       Census: Sampling of everyone in the population

–       Cluster: sampling in one area or region

–       Multistage sampling: selecting a specific geographic area and looking at smaller sub-groups

–       Systematic random sampling: choose a number, 10 for example, take a phone book, for example, and poll every 10^th person

–       Quota sampling: select sample based on known demographic characteristics

–       Probability sampling: putting all potential subjects in a hat and polling/choosing at random

There are some very important terms to know for the polling and surveying process. The margin of error is a number to explain how accurate a poll is. It is expressed in a percentage. The confidence level is a number or percentage explaining how confident the people who took the poll are in the results. Z-scores are the standard scores that show how much a number differs from the mean. And t-scores is critical and is calculated by the z score.

Chapter 6- Business:

Business news usually will contain more math than any other section. Number from large companies can report quarterly financials and various types of earnings. Annual reports of most companies should be available online.

Financial statements are formal documents available to shareholders, regulatory agencies and other stakeholders. They show a profit and loss report and a balance sheet.

Profit and loss documents are very important to companies. There are different methods used throughout different companies to report profit and loss. But the general idea is that businesses calculate profit by subtracting expenses from income.

A company’s balance sheet is a written financial statement of a their assets, liabilities and equity. This important document shows the financial stability of the company.

The ratio analysis is calculations that analysts and business owners use to evaluate a company’s cash situation, profitability, operating efficiency and market value. The trends found can be used to compare different companies. When looking at a company’s ratio, you should also include the industry’s standard ratios.

Ratio types:

–       Current ratio: a liquidity ration that measures the ability of a company to meet its liabilities.

–       Quick ratio: a liquidity ratio that measures the ability of a company to meet its current liabilities with cash on hand.

–       Debt-to-asset ration: similar to current ratio, except it includes all assets and all liabilities. It’s a better indicator of the long-term health of a company than current ratio.

–       Debt-to-equity ratio: Tells you how deeply a company is leveraged by comparing what is owed to what is owned.

–       Return on assets: Return on total assets is a profitability ratio that measures the return on the investment on all assets.

–       Return on equity: A profitability ratio that measures the return on the investment made in equity.

–       Price-earnings ratio: A value ratio that measures the return of the investment based on stock price. 

Chapter 7- Stocks and Bonds:

Stocks and bonds are important ways for a business to raise money. Journalist should be able to understand the basic numbers behind them. Corporations sell stocks to raise cash and people buy them as investments. A stock’s value varies over time. Mutual funds are also an alternative way to invest in stocks. Mutual fund companies sell share of funds, and then use that money to buy stock in other companies.

Bonds are sold by corporations and governments to raise money. Basically, a bond is a loan from an investor to the government of other organization. The bond has a set interest rate and a set maturity date.

Market indexes are used by investment analysts to measure action on exchanges. Stock indexes track prices of certain groups of stocks, allowing investors to better understand overall market conditions without having to individually example a bunch of stock prices.

Chapter 8- Property Taxes:

 Property taxes are the largest single source of income for local government, school districts and other municipal organizations. The property tax rate is determined by taking the totally amount of money the governing body needs and dividing that among the property owners in that taxing district. Property taxes are usually applied to assessed valuations, not to he actual price a home would sell for on the open market. The formula depends on local and state government riles and regulations.

The key issue is reappraisal. The purpose of reappraisal is to update real property values to reflect current market value of all taxable properties within a taxing district. To prevent local governments from playing tax games with the tax rate, in many states state officials regulate the process.

The appraisal value is based on the property’s use, the characteristics, current market conditions and a visual inspection of the property by trained appraisers. The assessed value of a property depends on local policies, which can mean credits and other adjustments.

Privacy in the digital age: Does it exist? Facebook continues to change privacy settings, despite user confusion and objection

Multimedia report by Jessica Petrocchi

Junior Alana Romans attempting to navigate Facebook’s privacy settings.

Bobbi Duncan, a student at the University of Texas, was outed as a lesbian because she was added to a Facebook group without her consent. Natalie Blanchard lost insurance benefits by posting photos of her having fun when she had been diagnosed with depression. A NFL referee, Brian Stropolo, was pulled from the field mid-game due to a picture he posted online wearing New Orleans Saints gear and therefore showing favoritism.

People say that nothing on the Internet is private. When it comes to social media that is especially true.

Since becoming popular, Facebook and more recently Instagram have butted heads with users when it comes to privacy issues. But it seems these privacy problems are consistently getting worse, despite user voting and objection.

Different schools of thought of Facebook’s privacy

When it comes to Facebook privacy management, there are a few main points of view. Some people just simply don’t worry about it. Privacy online is not a big concern to them.

“Only 4% of Facebook users who have taken a break cited privacy concerns as a reason,” Maeve Duggan of the Pew Research Foundation said, “So privacy does not seem to be a major red flag for Facebook users.”

In a 2012 Pew Research study, Mary Madden wrote that when users on social media sites go for a long time without any negative effects, the concerns for more privacy fizzle out. They have no reason to worry, so they don’t.

Another thought process mentioned is called the “privacy-is-dead camp.” These social media networkers just accept that there just may not be such a thing as privacy when it comes to the Internet.

John Sileo, president and CEO of The Sileo Group, subscribes to the side that there is no true online privacy. The Sileo Group specializes in online privacy, social media privacy, digital reputation, cyber data security, identity theft detection and prevention, and business fraud detection and prevention.

John Sileo of The Sileo Group. Submitted media photo.

“There is kind of this fail of privacy,” Sileo said, “No matter what you do, you’re giving information to advertisers and to vendors of Facebook for example and that’s not really privacy.”

But there are some advocates and scholars that do still care, according to Madden. These people understand that companies stand to profit from the vast reach of social networking and making certain information public.

Way back when Facebook first came to be

In 2006, Facebook was increasing in popularity but users could only join in on the fun if they were able to provide a functioning university e-mail address.

“It’s not just for college kids like it once was,” Third year student Kylee Bushway said, “Now Facebook is for professionals too. So it’s even less private than when it was only for kids staying connected online.”

Now anyone of any age, profession or location on the map can get a Facebook account or two or three if they desire. And if they have a smart phone, they can get instagram with the touch of a screen.

“Kids need to be monitored up to a certain age as to what they are doing on the Internet,” Amy Burzotta, an Elon Teaching Fellow said, “It’s so easy to get into anything.”

Burzotta, like many college age students today, got her own Facebook profile her sophomore year of high school.

Government’s defensive attempts against losing online privacy

As in any system of power, the online world has its way of doing checks and balances. That’s where EPIC comes in. EPIC stands for the Electric Privacy Information Center and is a not-for-profit research center focusing on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues. It is the leading consumer advocate before the Federal Trade Commission.

“The government should be doing more to help with this privacy issue that seems to be getting worse with each and every Facebook update,” Wake Forest University student Mark Huffman said, “Privacy is such a scary thing with the Internet and social media the way they are today. These are the kind of issues that I believe the government has the right and responsibility to get more involved in.”

And that is the second form of checks and balances: the FTC. The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States Government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act. It stands for consumer protection and prevention of harmfully “anti-competitive business practices.

With Facebook having bought out Instagram, they are a company constantly under watch.

EPIC’s website reported that in August 2012, Facebook removed the option that allowed users to hide themselves from strangers through Facebook’s search function. A reported 88% of voters opposed changing the privacy policy and voting rights of users. Facebook is currently subject to a settlement with the FTC over privacy violations.

Facebook, is bound by the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, initiated in 2009 by EPIC and other consumer privacy organizations, that prohibits the company from changing privacy settings without the affirmative consent of users or misrepresenting the privacy or security of users’ personal information.”

Constant changes in privacy settings

One of the biggest differences in Facebook how it used to be and what is now on the web has come about through their revised privacy policy. The user name, profile picture, list of friends, fan pages, gender, geographic regions and networks they belong to are all now considered public information.

Facebook’s privacy policy, according to EPIC, does not actually protect their users. It misleads the users into thinking that their information is safe while the site can disclose any of that information to third-party application developers and the public.

“It’s impossibly to figure out how to do the setting the way you want,” third year Elon student Gianna Codella from New Jersey said, “They pretend it’s really easy but it’s not. I still haven’t figured out how to set it they way I want yet.”

With group pages, now friends can add other friends to a group without their consent. Their membership in that group is automatically and immediately published to Facebook’s news feed and made public. This kind of privacy infraction can out someone on any number of things they’d wish to keep quiet.

“I think that at some point people are gonna be fed up with no longer having their privacy via social media,” Sileo said, “and there will be strong enough movement that companies like Facebook…will have to take privacy into account. That will be part of their product offering.”

Getting hired: employers who look into Facebook pages for personal information

It is very common for employers to search applicants’ Facebook, even if they are private.

“I think it’s a privacy violation,” junior Kylee Bushway said, “it’s different if it’s public information. If it’s private, then it’s private for a reason.

But it’s not only young adults hoping to be hired that agree this is a shady practice.

“It is to a degree a violation of privacy,” John Sileo of the Sileo Group said, “If [the user] hasn’t done anything to change their settings then they’re are not taking their responsibilities. But if they have set it up, now there’s an override button that allows corporations or government or media into it that’s not transparent to the end user. And to me that’s wrong.”

Even official organizations like the Elon Student Government Association have to deal with privacy issues in social media.

“This academic year in particular, as you are likely aware,” Elon’s student government Executive Secretary Sarah Dodge said, “we faced a lot more criticism from both the student body and the general public because of the Chick-Fil-A legislation. This situation encouraged discussion among our organization but it did not change our discourse on social media from a privacy perspective. In fact, we live tweeted more and as a result received a lot more feedback than usual. That was a good thing.”

If you haven’t Googled yourself, you should. It’s easy to see what kind of online public reputation you’re putting across to the digital world.

Organizations around campus are known to monitor their members’ Facebook activity in order to avoid embarrassment and trouble with their national headquarters.

There’s still some hope for not losing privacy completely

Facebook is attempting to make an effort to support their users. In December, the social media company worked to rewrite many of the privacy policies to make them easier for the community to understand.

A user now has the option to ask a person who has tagged them in a photo or post to un-tag them. And they have the ability to un-tag multiple photos at one time. 

But many users are still confused by the privacy policies. While there are controls to let a user change a post’s visibility, Facebook timelines will always be publicly visible.

While the Facebook privacy settings are difficult to figure out, “If you can figure it out,” Codella said, “It can be very helpful.”

For public organizations, the lack of privacy is good for their publicity.

“I can’t think of any person who we would not want to see our pages,” Executive Secretary Dodge said, “The more the merrier as far as SGA is concerned, even if they disagree with the actions of the Senate or the Executive Officers.”

Can we fix this problem that seems to keep getting worse?

“Part of it is [Facebook] could spread the settings out,” Sileo said,  “There are settings that are several menu levels deep that you have to truly have read an expert article on it to know how to get to it… probably the smart thing or the privacy sensitive thing would be to put them in all one user interface…they have to go through and make plain English decisions.”

A good example Sileo gives would be “Even though you’re locking down your security if you don’t click this button all of your friends will be able to share this private information. Do you want that to happen? Yes or no?”

“Obviously that’s a pipe dream that’s never going to happen,” Sileo said, “because their business model is based on you giving away as much as possible to earn them model for your use of a social tool.”

What does EPIC suggest as a solution? They say that if Facebook is serious about protecting user privacy, they should allow users to use the one-click opt out for third party applications option.

But there will inevitably be a battler between users of a free service, and the people in that service who are doing seemingly whatever possible to make money off those users. But Facebook has to keep users happy to keep them on board.