Mental Health | 5 Reducing your stress through mindful breathing
January, 25, 2023 Collegedale, Tennessee
Opinion | 6
Religion | 6
Postmodern Adventists: Maximizing the present
Scared of God: How to reconcile the Creator’s power with His love
Lifestyle | 7 Canoeing in Wekiwa: A lesson on relationships
Southern Accent The student voice since 1926
How does Southern use your money? A quick glance at the university’s budget
Vol. 78 Issue 13
Curfew hours and leave approvals change for Village
Elsie Pak Collegedale News Editor
government relief funding with students during the pandemic. “A lot of what you got to see during COVID and our response to it was because we knew that we had been blessed essentially for the seven years and that it was for such a time as this,” Frood said. Frood emphasized that most of Southern’s operating expenses benefit people through four expense categories: salaries, benefits, non-student wages and student wages. Last fiscal year, those four expenses together equaled $45.7 million, very close to 60% of the university’s total operating expenses. Frood continued to address specific fees students pay and what they look like on the budget. Parking citation fees go into a general, departmental budget and not Campus Safety’s budget.
Recently the curfew hours for Southern Village residents changed from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, according to an email sent by Administrative Dean Lisa Patterson to Southern Village residents and their deans. The email also stated what has not changed, including the time that mixed company needs to be out of the apartments and the times room check occurs. Friday curfew will also remain the same, and residents at Southern Village are still expected to sign in after 11 p.m. if they return to their apartments after room check has commenced. Another change mentioned in the email is the leave approval process. According to the email sent out by Patterson, all leaves for Southern Village will now automatically be approved, but the guidelines for approved leave locations and age of host stay the same. “Even though your leave is automatically approved,” stated the email to Southern Village students, “it is your responsibility to make sure it still falls within
See BUDGET on page 2
See EXTENDED CURFEW on page 3
Percentage of dollars Southern spent on each expense in the 2022 fiscal year. (Graphic by: Anton Kannenberg )
Amanda Blake Managing Editor Southern Adventist University received $35.2 million in net tuition and fees and $13.4 million in room and board in the 2022 fiscal year. But where does that money go? In an interview with the Accent, Doug Frood, vice president for Financial Administration, explained how Southern uses students’ money. First, he said money included in a high-level university budget such as Southern’s is fungible, meaning it’s all part of the same pot. It’s impossible to create a line from revenue drawn from specific student expenses to specific operating expenses. Additionally, student expenses are not the university’s only source of revenue. “One of the big things students should grasp is your tuition and
room and board, especially directly, do not pay the entire cost of this institution,” Frood said. “Fortunately, we have a church that’s supporting us; we have other things going on that help fill in the gap. Otherwise, tuition would be a lot more expensive.” For example, in 2022’s fiscal year, beginning June 1, 2021, and ending May 30, federal grants contributed $8.2 million and church appropriations $7 million to the university’s total revenue. “The church appropriations, the Southern Union’s support of us, for a lot of students, they wouldn’t even grasp that. It’s 7 million bucks — that’s a lot,” Frood said. “ … This group of states has made a commitment … to help defray the cost of this institution, hopefully making it more affordable for those who are coming.” At the end of the fiscal year, the university barely broke even, with
total revenue from current operations equaling $77.2 million and total operating expenses equaling $77.1 million, according to Frood. At the end of 2021’s fiscal year, the university had a nice gain, with total revenue from current operations equaling $72.4 million and total operating expenses equaling $71.3 million. “People may wonder, ‘Well, what do you have to make a gain for?’” Frood said. “Well, stuff goes wrong. Fortunately, we’ve had positive years. This year, we’ll probably be a little bit in the hole. So, those years will make up for the fact that this year may be a little negative. All companies, for-profit or not forprofit, have to make a little bit of, quote-on-quote, ‘bottom-line profit’ in order to cover things that come up that you don’t see coming.” This bottom-line profit is what allowed the university to share a significant amount of COVID-19
Adventist Colleges Abroad visits Southern's Campus Génesis Ventura
Reporter Amanda Blake Managing Editor The director of Adventist Colleges Abroad (ACA) and four program coordinators, representing schools from France, Italy, Spain and Lebanon, visited Southern Adventist University last week. Southern was the group’s first stop on a promotional tour to several Adventist universities in the United States. On Thursday, the directors promoted their schools to students and parents in Lynn Wood Chapel. Sandra Esteves, director of ACA, began the event by explaining the benefits of studying abroad and how students can initiate the application process. She emphasized the value of being bilingual in the United States but also listed benefits like developing power skills, immersing oneself in another culture, deepening one’s spiritual life and meeting the love of one’s life. “ACA is better than eHarmony,” Esteves said to a laughing audience. “ACA has existed for over 60 years, and I can assure you that many happy couples have been made.” She added that studying abroad through ACA is not financially stressful. “When you go abroad, we don’t want finances to be a source of stress,” Esteves said. “ … [Studying through ACA] is even cheaper than if you were to spend a year here [at Southern].” Juan Antonio López, ACA program coordinator for Escuela Superior de Español de Sagunto in Spain, explained that due to the euro decreasing in value and U.S. currency increasing in value,
studying through ACA is cheaper than ever. The most expensive ACA year session is in Italy and will cost $17,735, according to ACA’s 20232024 student magazine. The cheapest is in Spain and will cost $15,850. The group’s next stop is Oakwood University, as can be seen on ACA’s website. The promotional tour circles the country and ends on March 6 at Washington Adventist University in Maryland. Some Southern students who have studied through ACA spoke with the Accent about their experiences. Lizbeth Rodriguez-Diep, junior public relations major, attended the ACA school in Italy for a summer session. “I really loved it,” Rodriguez-Diep said. “I loved eating fresh Italian food every day and seeing beautiful sights. I really enjoyed our Italian classes and getting to know students from other parts of the world. It was a really rich experience.” Lesieli Savelio, junior public relations major, is currently studying in Argentina. “ACA has been an amazing experience. I have been able to learn so much, meet wonderful people, practice Spanish, and travel and see new places,” Savelio said. “I am so glad I took this year to try a new experience and go out of my comfort zone. I would recommend it to any student, truly.” Meg Ermer, senior computer science and Spanish major, spent a year in Spain.
“Studying abroad was the best decision I’ve made. The opportunity to learn a new language while being immersed in a different culture pushed me to grow in ways I never had before,” Ermer wrote via text to the Accent. “I would definitely encourage everyone to consider going abroad — college is short, and now is the best time to travel [and] experience life in a new culture.”
Antonietta Riviello, Italy’s ACA program director, enlists the help of an ACA Italy alum to promote her school and country. Thursday, January 19, 2023. (Photo by: Amanda Blake)
ACA directors present to students in Lynn Wood Chapel. Thursday, January 19, 2023. (Photo by: Ronnell Cabacungan)