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September 14, 2022 Collegedale, Tennessee
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Southern Accent The student voice since 1926
Enrollment numbers highest they’ve been since pre-covid
Students rushing out of Hackman Hall during lunchtime. Friday, September 2, 2022. (Photo by: Keishla Galan)
Naomi Linder Staff Writer On Sept. 5, the final student census confirmed that enrollment numbers are the highest they have been since pre-covid. In an interview with the Accent, Vice President of Enrollment Jason Merryman shared the numbers. This semester, Southern has a total undergrad population of 2,571, he said. Additionally, according to Merryman, the university currently has “the third largest freshman class” since opening its doors over 100 years ago Enrollment the previous two years had been steadily under 2,400, he said. From 2019 to 2021, there was a notable decrease in student
population, for which Merryman said there were multiple reasons. “Many students outside of Tennessee decided to stay closer to home to help their families financially, students overseas could not travel and some students and families were not comfortable being part of a residential campus during a pandemic,” he said. Sophomore Sydney Goliath said in an interview with the Accent that there was a “real fear going into [her] first year of college while COVID-19 was still a big deal.” When asked if there were concerns in administration about there being permanent damage done to enrollment numbers due to the pandemic, Merryman stated that administration
was concerned, but the concerns ended up being an eye-opener for Southern’s recruitment office and their methods for reaching out to potential students. Since coming to Southern amid the pandemic, Merryman has made it his mission to “pick our game up into overdrive” when it comes to reaching out to families and students interested in attending. He said that was the best way the university could compensate for lower visitation numbers, as Southern was staying cautious about allowing families and visitors on campus in a time of high COVID-19 risk. He said enrollment has kept that same mentality moving forward and plans to continue this
[communication] for the foreseeable future. Freshman political science major Sandra Gonzalez said the way Southern stayed consistently in contact with her made a huge impact on her choice of where to attend after high school. “I was so impressed by how they kept emailing me back with answers to all of my questions and my parents' concerns,” she said. Merryman said COVID-19 facilitated change and improved Southern’s communication system to prospective families. The university may have struggled with enrollment the past few years, but according to Merryman: This semester, “we bounced way back!”
Vol. 78 Issue 2
Cafeteria staffing shortage
Génesis Ventura Reporter
Food Services locations are the areas most affected by the student worker shortage on campus, according to Food Services Director Teddy Kyriakidis. During a recent interview, Kyriakidis commented on the decline of Food Services workers in the past and how this continues to be an issue. “Many hands make light work,” Kyriakidis said. “Without the extra help, we’ve had to decrease some of our services and cut back on the varieties.” To help mitigate the problem, Kyriakidis said, the Dining Hall has had to increase regular staffing by looking for workers outside of the university. He said Food Services has already contacted Metz Culinary Management, an outside food services company, for help with the worker shortage. “We have reached out to Metz to provide contracted labor and to provide some consulting services to Food Services,” he said. “We have hired one new employee for the cafeteria.” Food Services also has had to get help from additional salaried employees, asking them to volunteer in the cafeteria for a few hours when they are available. “This has been very helpful with weekend prep and getting ready for the following week,” Kyriakidis said. There had been a downward trend in student employment on campus before COVID-19, according to Kyriakidis, “but the pandemic exacerbated the problem. “During COVID, during the
See STAFF SHORTAGE on page 2
Collegedale Police Brothers from Southern win at SkillsUSA national competition Department's round table grants Southern permanent seat Amanda Blake Managing Editor
During a meeting this summer, the Collegedale Police Department's Round Table Advisory Committee granted Southern a permanent seat on its board, according to Dennis Negrón, vice president for Student Development. This occurred after Negrón, who joined the committee near the end of last year, made a motion. “I said to them, ‘We are one of the largest stakeholders for the Collegedale police,’” Negrón stated in an interview. “I said, ‘We, the university, arguably have the largest footprint in Collegedale. So it stands to reason then, that in this sort of meeting, we have a permanent voice.’” The university’s new permanent position means there will always be a Southern representative on the committee, even if Negrón leaves. The committee, “a first of its kind for the agency,” was created by the police department in August 2021, according to a July 25 news release. “The round table has been described as a ‘think tank’ of individuals with a mission to discuss department and com-
munity issues while using an open group-based decision model,” wrote Assistant Chief of Police Jamie Heath in an email to the Accent. Negrón said the board meets on the last Thursday of each month. It currently consists of nine people: one chairperson, five police officers, one city commissioner, one member from Southern’s administration and one community member, according to Heath. “A member from SAU was requested because there had not been a relationship between the university and the police department for many years,” Heath wrote. “The invitation was extended in the hopes that with the school’s new president we could work together to correct that error. President Shaw accepted and appointed Dr. Negrón.” An August 2 news release announced the addition of Kenya Ervin, an employee of a local charity organization, as the third non-law enforcement board member. According to Heath, Mayor Katie Lamb is the current sitting commissioner, See COLLEGEDALE PD on page 2
Allen and Brandon Gustrowsky wearing their medals with Southern's SkillsUSA coach Dakota Cookenmaster. (Courtesy of Dakota Cookenmaster)
Stefanie Green Copy Editor Brothers Brandon and Allen Gustrowsky recently brought home a 1st place award from the national SkillsUSA competition that took place in June in Atlanta, Georgia. Both are computer science majors at Southern — a junior and sophomore, respectively. SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization that the Gustrowskys became involved with through the local chapter that exists on Southern’s campus. According to Dakota Cookenmaster, adjunct professor in the School of Computing and Southern’s SkillsUSA coach, this was the first time Southern’s SkillsUSA chapter had gone to the national competition.
Cookenmaster said Southern first had to compete in a state competition, however. He added that Southern was the only university present at the state competition as SkillsUSA is more oriented toward trade and community colleges. “When they competed, I was just really hoping. We’d put in hundreds of hours of training time at this point,” Cookenmaster said. “I’m just like, ‘I hope one of them places.’” Cookenmaster said Southern took the top two spots at the state competition, with junior computer science majors Simon Sierra and Adrian Morales receiving second place and the Gustrowskys receiving first, enabling the two brothers to move on to the national competition. “The competition was a week
long; it was like a big conference with lots of different competitions,” Allen said. The event began with a day of orientation, where all the contestants were told what the rules were and what to expect, according to Brandon. The next day, he and his brother competed in the web design competition. They started out by interviewing a mock client and getting an idea for the purpose of the website and what the message needed to be. “After that, we went into the wireframing stage, which is like sketching out the site and planning it out visually,” said Brandon. According to the Gustrowskys, there were two distinct roles for the project. Allen took on See SKILLSUSA on page 2