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Southern Accent The student voice since 1926
Updated sexual integrity policy published in student handbook
Vol. 78 Issue 1
Southern to launch bachelor's of engineering in fall of '23 Amanda Blake Managing Editor
Kenneth Salmon reading Southern’s online student handbook. Friday, September 2, 2022. (Photo by: Mila Bales)
Alana Crosby Editor-in-Chief This school year’s Southern Adventist University student handbook includes an updated sexual integrity policy with statements on pregnancy and transgender policy guidelines. According to Dennis Negrón, vice president for Student Development, the Committee for Sexual Integrity started the revision process three years ago. The transgender section of the policy states that housing, restrooms, locker rooms, participation in intramural sports, etc., is based on an individual’s biological sex. The policy further states, “The mental and spiritual health of our transgender students is important to us, and counseling and other resources are available from the Student Support Services and the Office of Ministry and Missions.”
According to Negrón, there was a need to add a pregnancy policy to clarify that Southern is a safe place and is willing to support pregnant students in any way possible. “We felt like we needed to pull everything together,” Negrón said. “ And not only just pull it together, but have a forward to that policy that basically states that our policies that you're about to read are based on a biblical understanding of sexuality.” Ingrid Skantz, vice president of Marketing and University Relations, was also on the committee. She commented on the improvements made to the policy. “The current policy adds clarity, detail and rationale with the hope that it will be more helpful for both students and employees,” Skantz said. “The previous policy had some ambiguity and had been under revision for several years in order to ensure
that the changes would be comprehensive and clear.” According to Negrón, one purpose of the writing process was to ensure that the concepts were consistent with biblical truth as well as the official transgender statement of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Students as well as faculty and administration were involved in the discussions precursing the writing of the new policy, according to Negrón. Each section of the policy had a subcommittee of five or six people, including two to three students, Negrón said. Issac Abraham, a senior nursing, pre-med major was part of the group involved in creating the transgender section of the policy. “It was very insightful, and I was able to see multiple perspectives, whatever my belief was about the rules and laws,”
Abraham said. “[We talked] about the sexual integrity policy for the transgender community, and we were able to make some changes and some tweaks to the policies and stuff like that.” Abraham expressed a wish that more voices and opinions could have been involved. “I wish there was a bigger population for the whole committee, but it's so hard to get everyone to come and join a committee,” Abraham said. “I was convinced why the policy works. I have my personal beliefs about it, but I was convinced of why the policy would work at Southern.” Regarding the effect of the new policy on members of the LGBTQ+ community on campus, Negrón commented that there is nothing in the policy that would endanger the students in that community.
On August 2, Southern Adventist University published an article on its website introducing a bachelor’s degree in engineering with concentrations in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. New juniorlevel courses are expected to open for enrollment in Fall 2023, according to Ken Caviness, chair of the physics and engineering department. In an email to the Accent, Caviness wrote that Southern has offered engineering courses since 1978, but it has never offered anything more than an associate degree. This new program will build off of the current A.S. Engineering Studies program and allow students who started in Fall 2021 and 2022 to stay at Southern to complete their bachelor’s. Caviness described it as a fulfillment of a great need. “For over 40 years, we have heard students express the desire to stay at Southern, but sadly, until now, this wasn't possible,” Caviness wrote. “Some students changed majors rather than leaving Southern. Many students felt that at least spending two years at Southern was worth it, despite having to transfer to another institution to finish a B.S. degree.” Caviness added that some students who were interested in Southern chose to attend a different school to avoid transferring later on. Annaliese Haugin, junior engineering major, said the new program changed her plans to See ENGINEERING on page 3
The Garden plans Multi-factor authentication now to open soon with extended to Southern students a more diverse menu Kathy Zelidon Reporter
Since the Winter 2022 semester, The Garden has been slowly opening its doors to Southern’s campus. The Garden started out inside the old student center and will be moving to the old location of KR’s Place on the fourth floor of Wright Hall this October. According to the manager of The Garden, Maggie Pickens, they are still waiting on some kitchen equipment and other details to decide on an opening date. When The Garden officially opens, its hours will be Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The eatery will be offering hot lunch options, sandwiches, wraps, salads and grab-and-go breakfast meals. The menu will be based on a four-week rotational cycle, with each day showcasing a particular national dish. Pickens said in an interview that it is important that the menu “reflects the diversity of Southern’s campus.” To ensure that every student has a seat at the table, The Gar-
den is not only taking national diversity into account but also different diets. Pickens tells the Accent that the meals will cater to all students including vegans and the gluten-intolerant. “We are mostly vegan. Most of the ingredients we use are minimally processed, so that's definitely an area that sets us apart from other eateries on campus,” Pickens said. “We are also gluten-free. … There's always going to be a gluten-free option provided for those that need it. I definitely think there's a larger niche, and it's continuing to grow for people that are needing that type of food.” Pickens said that while she is the chef, The Garden’s creation and maintenance have always been a team effort. According to Pickens, the School of Nursing and Food Services were helpful in the realization of the eatery, while the culinary arts program provided students for the kitchen. When the eatery officially opens, there will be two to three student workers working See THE GARDEN on page 3
Two-factor authentication screen on a mobile phone. (Photo sourced from: Unsplash)
Alana Crosby Editor-in-Chief Starting on June 15, Southern Adventist University students were required to use a Multi-Factor Authentication App (MFA) in order to access Southern accounts. In an email sent to the student body, Derek Sherbondy, associate director of Information Systems, defined MFA as an additional level of security for the protection of student accounts
against security threats. According to Sherbondy, increasing numbers of compromised accounts spurred the decision to add the security measures. “We're trying to do everything we can to protect our accounts and to make sure that we're not compromised by ransomware or something else. And [MFA is] one of the steps,” Sherbondy said. “We were seeing that a lot of our compromised accounts were coming from students or alumni.”
MFA was implemented last year for employees and saw much improvement in compromised accounts, according to Sherbondy. The decision to apply MFA to students was made after taking into consideration the cyber-attacks that other universities and colleges were facing. “We just want to stay ahead of our security to make sure that we're keeping a student's See AUTHENCIATION on page 2