A H A R D I N G U N I V E R S I T Y S T U D E N T P U B L I C AT I O N
@HUStudentPubs Facebook: Harding University Student Publications
NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A NEWS . 2A OPINIONS . 3&4A OPINIONS . . . . . . . . .3&4A SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . 1&2B . . . .1B SPORTS COMMUNITY . . . . . . . . . . 2B 3B FEATURES FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . 3B LIFESTYLE LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . .4B 4B
THE
Oct. 14, 2022 Vol. 98, No. 05
Online at TheLink.Harding.edu
Searcy, Ark., 72149
Photo by MACY COX
Students line up in the Benson Auditorium lobby to swipe into chapel for the first time on Oct. 4. The new swipe-in system allowed for a more efficient use of resources in the Office of Student Life.
University executes new check-in procedures for chapel GABRIEL HUFF head copy editor Logan Light, assistant dean for Campus Life and Chapel Programs, announced the implementation of a new swipe-in system for students on Monday, Oct. 3, during chapel service in Benson Auditorium, indicating that the system would serve as the new way for students to check into chapel. The changes were applied the next day. Associate Dean of Students Kara Abston explained that card readers are now stationed at each entrance to the auditorium along with a chapel checker to operate each one with a tablet. Students are required to use their student IDs to swipe in and then walk to their assigned seat. Abston said those whose seats are situated on the Benson floor are free to swipe through any entrance, though they are encouraged to use the entrances that correspond to their section to prevent an overflow of students at one entryway and allow them to become familiar with a chapel checker. Those who sit in the balcony are supposed to use the lobby stairway entrances. The system offers the University the opportunity to conduct chapel in a new way, which includes holding breakout chapels — an alternative chapel that will give students the option to choose between smaller chapel programs. “It is really going to be wonderful when we do breakout chapels,” Abston said. “And
we have that opportunity to use those tablets elsewhere on campus. So it’s just gonna open up a lot of possibilities.” Abston said the process of looking for a new check-in procedure began when University President Mike Williams and Executive Vice President Jean-Noel Thompson asked the Office of Student Life to create a new way of monitoring chapel attendance. One reason why the subject emerged was because Student Life was using an old camera system and the dimmer lighting being used this semester made checking attendance difficult for staff. According to Public Safety director Craig Russell, the Benson cameras were first installed to check chapel attendance in 2007. Student Life initially contemplated utilizing a system that would allow students to tap their cards on a card reader, but such a system would have required hardwiring and additional construction to the Benson walls, Abston said. So they searched for other avenues and visited other private schools to observe how they recorded chapel attendance, including Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, where Williams served as president before coming to Harding. Student Life soon opted to employ the swiping system, a program that Harding’s information technology staff developed, Abston said. The new system is uploading attendance records to Pipeline in a shorter amount of time.
“So students can see their absence within two hours where they used to not see it all day,” Abston said. With the new change came new job opportunities as Student Life needed students to help man the card readers. Abston said there are currently about 15 student workers. “Matter of fact, we have a lot that have reached out asking for that position,” Abston said. “So I think it will be in demand.” Senior Karrisa Neal said she has enjoyed her new job thus far. “I may be the black sheep of the bunch, but I love it because I get to be one of the first people that everyone sees — if they’re coming through my door — on the way to chapel,” Neal said. “I think my spiritual gift is encouragement, so I really love getting to greet everyone in the morning.” Students with scratched IDs may need to replace their cards at the Public Safety office, but Abston said those charges are covered by the University if the cards work properly everywhere else outside of chapel. After attending chapel the Wednesday following the announcement, junior Zane Edwards said he feels it should not be his responsibility to swipe for attendance. “I think if Harding wants to take attendance in chapel, they need to make a system where we just have to show up,” Edwards said. “And I think if the photo system was too time consuming, then they need to figure out a better way to do that. But I don’t like
having to scan in, and I don’t want to tap in. I don’t want to do anything but sit in my seat at 9 a.m.” On the same day, senior Ashley Rehmel said she had mixed feelings about the new system. “When I first heard about it in chapel on Monday, I was a little apprehensive because it’s new and new things typically tend to not work for the first several weeks that they’re in use,” Rehmel said. “And it kind of seemed like it might have held up the lines, but it went OK today. … I’m tentatively optimistic, and it is nice that it will make it easier on the people who don’t have to go in and count heads now.” On Oct. 3, Light also revealed that students will continue to have assigned seating. Weeks prior to this announcement, Student Life gave students the opportunity to electronically vote on whether to keep their assigned seats, eliminate assigned seating altogether or establish a combination of both. Out of 1,612 students who voted, 21.84% advocated for a combination, 29.53% endorsed eradicating assigned seating and 48.64% voted to retain the status quo. Senior James Phillips said he did not mind the results nor the new card reader system. “The scanning system is fine,” Phillips said. “I think it would make more sense in conjunction with unassigned seating, but I like my assigned seat, so I like that it’s kept that way.
Relay for Life event to happen tonight SOPHIE ROSSITTO news editor Students f rom different clubs and organizations have come together to organize Harding’s annual Relay for Life fundraiser, which is scheduled to kick off this evening on the Front Lawn with food, live music and activities to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Senior Kaitlyn Rigsby, who has served as a Relay for Life co-director for the past two years, said the event will start at 5 p.m. with a dinner on the lawn for those who have survived or are battling cancer. “That’s just a way of honoring them and remembering that our focus is for people like them, and their kids and sisters and husbands and wives,” Rigsby said. The fundraiser will last until 5 a.m. tomorrow and will feature the theme of creating a world with more birthday parties
for those who have cancer, according to the HU Relay for Life Instagram page. Rigsby said her favorite part of the event is the silent lap at 8 p.m. when people can line up and turn on tea lights inside luminaria bags, each one commemorating an individual affected by cancer. After that, participants will make one lap around the Front Lawn in silence. Junior Elizabeth Thornhill, who is on both the fundraising and logistics committees for Relay for Life, said she hopes the silent lap will help participants gain a greater understanding of the impact cancer can have on people’s lives. “I think it just kind of helps tie in with the story of ‘Tell the story’ of the [Student Association’s] committee, of just learning about the people around us and things that they may have gone through that we just don’t know,” Thornhill said. Rigsby said she and her co-director,
senior Mason Adams, have worked with service directors for each social club and organization that will be running a booth at the event. Rigsby said women’s social club Jo Go Ju is bringing back their “pie a professor” booth, while women’s club Pi Theta Phi service directors, sophomores Camdyn Joice and Alli Wood, said they are teaming up with men’s social club Gamma Sigma Phi to bake and sell homemade pies. Relay for Life will also feature live music, Rigsby said, including performances by Belles and Beaux, Rivers West and local singer Silas Carpenter. Rigsby said she and Adams began planning the fundraiser this past summer. She said Harding’s Relay for Life committee has grown from five people last year to 20 people who have helped hang flyers, spread information by word of mouth and tell those in their communities about the fundraiser. Sophomore Layne Medler, who signed
up for the survivor dinner, said she was diagnosed with kidney cancer when she was 2 years old. Although she was too young to remember the chemotherapy treatments she received, Medler said she recalled going to medical checkups growing up. Medler said she went to the dinner last year and enjoyed being with a community of cancer survivors on campus, so she was excited to see students come together for this year’s event. “I’ve grown up with Relay for Life events,” Medler said. “That’s just been a part of everything and my experiences, so I just really look forward to it and the impact it makes on everyone’s lives that’s been affected by cancer.”
Graphic by COOPER TURMAN