Mental Health | 7
Opinion | 8
Religion | 8
Lifestyle | 9
Building confidence step by step
Girl dinner: Another toxic lie for diet culture
Grappling with Ellen G. White: A story of surrender
The art of collecting memories
September 20, 2023 Collegedale, Tennessee
Southern Accent
Vol. 79 Issue 3
The student voice since 1926
Student Development halts cultural COVID-19 on night dancing, club leaders unhappy campus reflects nationwide
spike in cases Emma Boughman Reporter
According to Negrón, the decision for this year’s change came from the Student Development office; there were no external or internal pressures. “This is coming only from the Student Development office,” Negrón said, “not Dr. Shaw, not donors and not board members.”
The number of Southern Adventist University students testing positive for COVID-19 this semester reflects the recent increased spread of the virus happening nationwide. According to a CNBC article published on Sept. 6, COVID19-related hospitalizations and deaths were declining this year until the summer. “New hospitalizations have jumped about 16% in the U.S. over the past week continuing an upward trend that began in late July, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the article stated. Candace Wing, director of the University Health Center, said the clinic saw about twenty-two COVID-19 cases within the first three weeks of this school year. That number does not include students who have tested positive independently and reported that status. Two students who recently had COVID-19 shared their experience with the Accent. Sophomore Marc Briggs said he was tested at the UHC and received test results within 15-18 minutes. Mia Sakata, sophomore history major, also tested at the UHC and received results within ten minutes. “[The UHC staff] offered everything from Gatorade to NyQuil to acetaminophen … they were really generous,” Sakata said. Once students have tested positive, they are to isolate themselves for five days in their place of residence or at home if they live close enough, Wing said. Isolation starts when symptoms begin. Five days after isolation
See DANCING on page 2
See COVID-19 on page 3
Students' cars fill up nearly every parking space in Southern Village. Sunday, September 3, 2022. (Photo by Adam De Lisser)
Leonardo Laroque and others perform an encore of their pre-show dance to "Love and Loyalty" by Wale at last year's BCU Night. Saturday, February 25, 2023. (Photo by Adam De Lisser)
Lesieli Savelio News Editor Southern Adventist University cultural clubs, such as Black Christian Union (BCU), Latin American Club (LAC) and Asian Club, will not be allowed to feature dances this year at their annual cultural nights, according to Dennis Negrón, vice president for Student Development. Negrón said in an interview with the Accent that he feels these events have moved away from being cultural nights and have begun focusing too heavily on dance. As a result, events and dances in recent years began to look similar to one another, in his opinion. Negrón made the decision to prohibit
dancing this year because he wants to see more creativity like he has in the past. “It is not a ban,” Negrón said. “[We’re] taking a year off; it’s more like a pause.” Student Development informed cultural club leaders, which includes the club presidents and sponsors, about the modification in April. Ethan Dee, senior health science major and president of Asian Club, said he first heard rumors of a dance ban early last school year. “It wasn't until the end of the year, when Dennis Negrón gathered us and confirmed the news, that I realized there would be no dancing allowed at any of the upcoming cultural nights.” Dee said.
According to Negrón, this is not the first time the university has taken a break from featuring dance during cultural nights. For a couple years during Gordon Bietz’s presidency, cultural club leaders decided to hit pause on dancing, according to Laurie Stankavich, associate professor of English and Asian Club sponsor. “I remember there was a very good spirit — a spirit of unity, of being on the same team, and wanting to work together to make the cultural nights as equal and as fair as possible on this parameter,” Stankavich said. In 2016, Dave Smith became the president of Southern, and students asked for a change. “The student leaders [of the cultural clubs] came to me and
asked, ‘What are the chances that we could bring cultural dancing back?’” Negrón said. “So, after talking with the president, cultural dancing came back, in moderation.”
"It is not a ban. [We're] taking a year off; it's more like a pause.”
New four-year engineering program University alters parking restrictions attracts more students to Southern Celeste Lee Staff Writer At Southern Village orientation, students were informed that parking lot restrictions have increased this semester, and only commuting students can now park in campus buildings' main parking lots. Students that live in Southern Village Proper or Upper Stateside are issued housing apartments parking passes, meaning they must walk, take Southern’s new shuttle service or, based on Campus Safety’s parking map located on the university’s website, park in lots located at WSMC, Campus Safety, the Virginia apartments, Thatcher Hall and Talge Hall to go to classes. Lots designated as “per area usage” on the map, which include lots by the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists, Fleming Plaza and College Press, are not intended to accommodate long-term parking, Janell Hullquist, director of Marketing and University Relations said. Parking in those vicinities is tied to the function of nearby facilities, so students should not park there to attend classes or hold their cars there for extended periods of time.
Although Spalding Cove was recently incorporated into Southern Village, residents there are issued commuter parking passes. Some students have expressed concerns about the parking situation on campus this school year. “I was very worried about it because I live near the back of Village Proper, and all of my classes are in Brock Hall, so that is quite literally a half an hour's walk,” said Olivia Fisher, senior international development studies major. To accommodate, the university added new parking spots to campus over the summer, according to Shawn Haas, associate director of Campus Safety. It expanded the WSMC parking lot by adding a new gravel section. Parking regulations also recently changed to make some parking around Talge Hall and along all of Cafeteria Drive available to Thatcher Hall and Southern Village residents. Haas told the Accent he was concerned that Thatcher Hall parking would become overcrowded this school year based on how full the lots were last school year, as the demand for parking has grown even further with this semester’s increase in enrollment. See PARKING on page 2
Emma Boughman Reporter Southern Adventist University introduced its new School of Engineering and Physics this fall. The school, housed in Lynn Wood Hall, now offers a bachelor’s degree in engineering on top of an associate’s degree. Due to the change, the school’s engineering student enrollment increased from 21 in the fall of
2022 to 44 this fall, according to Bob Young, senior vice president for Academic Administration. In total, there are 55 engineering and physics students at Southern. Young wrote about the new program in an email to the Accent. “The university has been developing plans to launch an engineering program since an academic program portfolio review by Gray Associates in 2019 revealed engi-
neering at the bachelor’s level as a high demand area of study the university should develop to round out its academic program portfolio," Young wrote. Tyson Hall, the new dean of the school, commented further on the enrollment in an email to the Accent. “The engineering enrollment this year has surpassed our See ENGINEERING on page 2
The new School of Engineering and Physics has many classrooms in Lynn Wood Hall. Wednesday, September 13, 2023. (Photo by Mila Bales)