Mental Health | 5 Embrace belonging: Your relationship with loneliness
October 5, 2022 Collegedale, Tennessee
Opinion | 6
Religion | 6
Letter to the editor: A response to the Sexual Integrity Policy
Look up from your feet and take notice of God's path
Lifestyle | 7 'Just a Fairytale' and other contributions
Southern Accent
Vol. 78 Issue 5
The student voice since 1926
LATIN AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
A 500-home subdivision could soon replace Stay Safe Hidden Hills, community fights to keep it rural Initiative approved Alana Crosby Editor-in-Chief
adjunct professor who teaches Southern’s horsemanship class, wrote in an email to the Accent that she and her husband started Hidden Hills in 2004 on a farm owned by her extended family, a place that has been her home since 1988. “I’ve experienced all the emotional gamut associated with a major loss. It’s been an emotional roller coaster ride,” Hills wrote, expressing her reaction to Empire’s proposal. “I think it’s a shame to
As part of a Student Association (SA) Senate Stay Safe Initiative, taking place Oct. 24 to 28, $2,000 worth of pepper spray will be handed out in front of Thatcher Hall, according to Htet Myint, SA executive vice president. In addition, Campus Safety will be present with a dummy for students to practice proper procedure when using pepper spray as a defense tactic. “We not only want to give people pepper spray, but we also want to teach them how to use it, because that's a very important thing,” Myint said. “And so, I had a meeting with Campus Safety directors and the associate director, and they were totally on board.” According to Aron Mariano, SA Parliamentarian, the Stay Safe Initiative was started last year in response to the stalking and sexual assault cases on campus. Myint said that after the incidents last year, he wanted to be proactive about starting the initiative sooner rather than later. “This year, we kind of upped the ante and made it so that it can reach a wider, much
See HIDDEN HILLS on page 2
See SAFE INITIATIVE on page 3
$250,000 will benefit from the relief plan. Pell Grant recipients will be eligible to receive up to $20,000 in debt relief, while those who did not have Pell Grants will be eligible for up to $10,000. In addition to that, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF) will be offering borrowers who work for the military, nonprofit organizations, tribal communities and local governments to be forgiven after making 120 qualifying monthly payments. However, borrowers must apply by Oct. 31 to apply for relief pay. According to Federal Student Aid, the third part of the plan will aim to “make the student loan system more manageable for current and future borrowers.” This part of the policy will introduce a new repayment plan that will cut monthly pay-
ments in half for undergraduate loans, allow borrowers to gain debt forgiveness after 10 years, cover borrowers’ monthly interest and raise the amount of what is considered discretionary income, which ensures that those who are 225% under the federal poverty line will not be required to make monthly payments. Amelia Davidson, sophomore psychobiology major, said of Biden in an email to the Accent, “I can’t believe he’s actually doing it, I sort of thought it was going to turn into a situation where he said he was going to, but never follow through. It sounds like it’s going to be really helpful for a lot of people.” Those who would like to apply can go to the U.S. Department of Education’s subscription page from now until Dec. 31, 2023.
Hidden Hills Farm and Saddle Club, location of Southern Adventist University’s horsemanship class, could be developed into a subdivision with more than 500 single-family homes. Monday October 3, 2022 (Photos by: Adam De Lisser)
Amanda Blake Managing Editor The land housing Hidden Hills Farm and Saddle Club, location of Southern Adventist University’s horsemanship class, could be developed into a subdivision with more than 500 single-family homes by EAH Acquisitions, LLC, an Atlanta affiliate of Empire Communities. Numerous Collegedale residents oppose the plan, including some Southern employees. However, the Collegedale Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve on first reading two
requests associated with the plans. The commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of rezoning parts of Edgmon Road from Agricultural (AG) to Low Density Single-Family (R-1L) and allowing the application of a Planned Unit Development overlay, subject to conditions. They are scheduled to make the final decision Oct. 17 during a second reading of the ordinances, which will include time for public comment. “As part of the agenda, we will
New access road open Alana Crosby Editor-in-Chief Corbett Cole, office manager for Campus Safety, sent an email on Sept. 26 informing students and employees that an access road had recently been created by Southern Adventist University along Iles Gym and through the Collegedale church parking lot. The road opened on Oct. 3, according to the email. Cole wrote that an additional way to reduce traffic on campus is to have Southern Village residents “exit from the South end of Southern Village and onto University Drive” keeping more vehicles off of College Drive East as a result. “According to estimates, there will be approximately 150 additional vehicles on University Drive between 7:45 a.m. and 8 a.m.,” wrote Cole. “Having the two-way traffic route through Iles Drive and the upper church parking lot will hopefully ease congestion and create a smoother flow of traffic.” Cole added that the additional traffic may be a result of the Apison Pike project. In an email to the Accent, he
Plan for access road.
(Photo courtesy of: Campus Safety)
wrote that there have been about a dozen meetings regarding the road closure with multiple involved entities, including Southern Administration, Collegedale Police Department, Collegedale church and Collegedale Academy. Expenses related to the road include, but are not limited to, signage and striping, according to Cole. These expenses were paid for by Southern, he added. The mass email announcing the access road also requested that drivers do not turn left while exiting the Collegedale church and turning onto College East Drive. “This is imperative since the [Tennessee Department of Transportation] Apison Pike road improvement will be closing College Drive East by the railroad tracks from Oct. 10 to Nov. 6,” Cole wrote. According to TDOT’s website, the Apison Pike road construction is part of a larger project to “reconstruct and widen Apison Pike from Interstate 75 to East Brainerd Road.” The website also states the project will reconstruct and realign about 3.4 miles, and the roadway will be widened from two to five lanes.
have a public hearing where individuals will have an opportunity to speak either for or against and ask questions regarding it,” said Mayor Katie Lamb in an interview with the Accent. “After the presentation and public hearing, we will go back into our commission, and the commissioners will discuss it and have a final vote on it.” Hidden Hills is a family-run farmstead located at 5900 Edgmon Road, about three miles from Southern’s campus. Tara Hills, an
Students to get debt relief Kathy Zelidon Reporter On Aug. 24, President Biden announced during a White House Press conference his administration’s plan to tackle student debt. Collaboration between the presidential branch and the U.S. Department of Education has led to a three-part program called the Biden-Harris Administration’s Student Debt Relief, which aims to end and/or relieve Americans of their student debt. That same day, the White House published an official statement explaining the reasoning behind the administration’s decision to help borrowers. “During the campaign, [President Biden] promised to provide student debt relief,” the statement read. “Today, the Biden Administration is following through on that promise and providing families breathing room as they prepare to start repaying loans after the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.” The White House’s statement also explained that the plan is meant to help Americans transition back into regular monthly payments. The first part of the relief program is currently taking place. Student loan payments have been paused since March 13, 2020, and the Biden Administration extended the payment suspension until January of 2023. The second part of the plan will be provided by the U.S. Department of Education as it grants debt relief to borrowers. According to Federal Student Aid, only individuals who earn less than $125,000 or households that make less than
Student debt relief aims to end and/or relieve Americans of their student debt. (Photo by: Karolina Grabowska)