Washington University in St. Louis (Washington University, Wash. U., or WUSTL) is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington
Late last year, Meyers became one of the first university presidents to sign an open letter, written on behalf of College Presidents for Gun Safety, addressed to the nation’s policy makers urging the timely passage of gun safety legislation. Since its release, the letter and accompanying petition have been signed by more than 350 higher education leaders.
While Meyers was in Washington, D.C. last week for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) National Conference, he attended a press conference with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and had the opportunity to speak to personally, as well as Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the executive committee of the American Association of Universities, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and the United States Student Association. Meyers was one of approximately 100 college and university presidents who attended the press conference as a show of force.
In addition to attending the press conference, Meyers also spent time visiting with congressional representatives and participated in a collaborative meeting with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that is coordinated out of mayor Bloomberg’s office in New York. Meyers agreed to serve as a liaison to the national movement on behalf of leaders from California independent colleges. To this end, he plans to actively work to increase the number of university presidents supporting the gun control legislation nationwide to reach the goal of 1,000 signatories.
Dozens of campus & community advocates gathered Feb. 19 to share ideas and coordinate efforts for alleviating local hunger.April Durr '01, executive director of Healthy Alamance, speaks at the Feb. 19 Hunger Summit at Elon University.
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With chronic hunger harming nearly one out of every five Alamance County residents, campus and community leaders gathered Tuesday evening to discuss collaborative efforts that push back against the problem.
The Hunger Summit at Elon University featured keynote remarks from April Durr ‘01, a former human services major now serving as executive director of Healthy Alamance, a coalition of nonprofits and service agencies whose missions are to promote healthy lifestyle habits and nutrition in the greater Alamance County community.
Durr shared data from the 2011 Alamance Community Assessment with about 70 students, professors, staff members and activists in the university's new Lakeside Meeting Rooms. In the United States, about one in seven people confront hunger challenges every day, defined as the inability to meet sufficient basic dietary needs. “It’s at an individual level that results from food insecurity,” she said.
In Alamance County, 19 percent of the population is “food insecure,” she said.
Also, more than half of students enrolled in the Alamance-Burlington School System are using the free and reduced lunch program, Durr said. She then cited data from a 2011 Elon University Poll that found 64 percent of Alamance County residents knew someone in their family or a close friend who does not have enough money to pay bills.
A significant number of local residents live in a “food desert” where access to healthy food from a grocery store is more than a mile away, and for those without money, snack foods or fast food is the only viable and affordable option. Durr said that such factors make it tough for families to make sound nutritional choices.
“More and more people are becoming aware of healthy foods and are more aware of what they’re putting into their children’s diet,” she said. “If you’re dealing with hunger and you’re trying to think about the health consequences of what you’re able to eat, you can see how that would be stressful for a family.”
Elon University runs several programs through a variety of academic and Student Life offices that address hunger both locally and abroad. Steve Moore, a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Studies who teaches agroecology, shared many of these programs before participants broke into small groups for brainstorming additional ideas.
Steve Moore in the Department of Environmental Studies: "The outcome of eliminating hunger in Alamance County would be a really neat goal."
The existing efforts include:
- Campus Kitchen - Oxfam - Leaders in Collaborative Service (LINCS) - Stop Hunger Now - Powell Community Garden - Loy Farm - Elon Academy - A recently awarded grant to help senior citizens - Ongoing food drop-off at the library - Turkey Trot 5K race to collect canned goods in the fall - A forthcoming Peace Corps partnership with the university to help teach students about sustainable agricultural and development needs
Moore offered other suggestions to examine in the months and years ahead, from mobile farmers markets to considering a new minor at the university in food and hunger studies.
“We are a very small part of the Alamance community,” he said. “It’s important for us to realize the humble part that we play, and hopefully important part, in meeting and helping our fellow citizens and community members. They’re the ones who should really be the main players in directing our activities.
“If we engage with them and share our excitement with the resources we can bring, we can be really useful. The outcome of eliminating hunger in Alamance County would be a really neat goal.”
Elon's Hunger Summit follows in the wake of the Campus Compact Hunger Summit hosted by the university last fall. That forum attracted faculty and students from colleges across North Carolina.
For more information about the Hunger Summit and ideas for moving forward, contact the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement at (336) 278-7250 or elonvols@elon.edu. Moore can be reached at smoore24@elon.edu.
Email Author Your Email * Message * by Eric Townsend, Staff Last Updated - 2/20/2013
Participants in the program will discuss the relationship between leadership, diversity and social justice.
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By Caitlin O’Donnell ’13
Elon University will host this week its annual INTERSECT: Diversity and Leadership Conference, a two-day event coordinated by The Center for Leadership and The Multicultural Center.
Faculty, staff, students and other attendees will engage in dialogue, reflection and training through workshops and keynote speeches exploring the relationship between leadership, diversity and social justice.
Featured presenters this year include Christina Lovelace, a spoken word artist and motivational speaker; Silvia Cristina Bettez, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and activist Zach Wahls. In February 2011, Wahls became an overnight Internet celebrity after testifying before the Iowa House of Representatives about growing up with two moms and his support for same-sex marriage.
Participants will also attend sessions revolving around issues of immigration, non-verbal communication and strengthening an organization’s identity led by Elon students, faculty and staff.
Seniors Lizzy Appleby, Jessica Elizondo and Will Brummett will guide a discussion about participating in civic engagement in the community. Rebecca Bishopric, Elon’s coordinator for violence prevention and response, will lead a session about identity-based discrimination and violence and instruct participants in how to safely intervene in situations of harassment on campus.
The conference was founded from two previously independent organizations, an earlier version of the Diversity Leadership Conference, launched in 2009, and the Leadership Development Institute, created in 1997. Previous keynote speakers include activist and BET personality Jeff Johnson and anti-racism author Tim Wise.
A committee of eight students coordinated this year’s conference. The theme of the event reflects Elon Commitment strategic plan's call for an unprecedented commitment to diversity and global engagement.
Email Author Your Email * Message * by Eric Townsend, Staff Last Updated - 2/19/2013
Late last year, Meyers became one of the first university presidents to sign an open letter, written on behalf of College Presidents for Gun Safety, addressed to the nation’s policy makers urging the timely passage of gun safety legislation. Since its release, the letter and accompanying petition have been signed by more than 350 higher education leaders. 
April Durr '01, executive director of Healthy Alamance, speaks at the Feb. 19 Hunger Summit at Elon University. 
Steve Moore in the Department of Environmental Studies: "The outcome of eliminating hunger in Alamance County would be a really neat goal." 
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