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(04/18/20 8:31pm)
A digital platform launched by Mercer University during the COVID-19 pandemic is bridging the divide between the Mercer community and the administration. Last month, the Office of Marketing Communications in collaboration with students and faculty formed Mercer’s newest online resource: “The Den.”
“The Den is a celebration of all things Mercer and what makes our University and students like you so unique and important,” said Mercer’s Director of Digital Communications Matthew Smith in an email to The Cluster. “Our one-stop resource center is filled with news, information and advice that you need for your day and your life.”
According to The Den’s about page, the site’s content includes “how-to tips, details on events, important announcements and the latest and greatest things coming out of our University.”
Smith said The Den “was developed through collaboration across the University. The development and ongoing management of the site is led by the Office of Marketing Communications.”
COVID-19 “accelerated the launch of The Den,” Smith said, and is being used as a “platform to inform and encourage Mercerians during these unprecedented times.”
He said that The Den is a resource for students, faculty, staff and alumni across all of Mercer’s campuses.
To help students during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Den is providing several resources to students, such as:
Virtual “Bear Hug” videos which consist of a message of encouragement made by fellow Mercerians
“Daily Bear Burn,” which offers workout advice
Stories of how Mercerians are contributing during the COVID-19 pandemic
And tips for students and faculty as they adjust to digital learning
The Den is now live at den.mercer.edu.
(09/26/19 5:54pm)
This semester, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors returned to find that the engineering building’s Provisions on Demand (POD) was gone. On the other side of campus, Which Wich’s meal swipe display no longer included salads.
In an email to The Cluster, General Manager of Campus Food Janet Walker said the meal exchange problems at Which Wich were a result of failed communication.
“This is not correct,” Walker said. “We will do a better job communicating it through our employees and enhanced signage. Which Wich still offers salads as a part of the meal exchange program.”
As for the missing POD in the engineering building, Walker said that campus food provider Aramark made the call to close it.
“In order to keep our focus on service excellence, we streamlined the amount of PODs that we have on campus,” she said. “We utilized statistical data to choose which PODs were best serving the Mercer community and focused on enhancing service and offerings at those locations.”
Walker also said that students can expect a variety of new changes to on-campus dining. These changes include new management, a new “flavor bar” at the Fresh Food Company and a revamped Instagram presence on @MercerDining.
(09/10/19 6:16pm)
Musicians and groups evolve. Bob Dylan controversially transitioned from a guitar-plucking folk artist to a rock-and-roller, Elton John from gritty piano-bluesman to bubble-gum pop singer and Beyonce from R&B princess to flaming Hip-Hop diva. The 1975, a British pop-rock group, are embracing the process of evolution differently: by unleashing a burst of political consciousness.
The group’s latest singles, “The 1975” and “People,” released in preparation for their upcoming album “Notes On a Conditional Form,” represent a jolt from the light-hearted, poppy tone of their 2012 debut single “The City.” In fact, it’s almost different in every way; “The City” is captured by mundane lyrics and a lifeless, autotuned voice, while both “The 1975” and “People” have sound both clear and guttural, which cuts straight to the heart.
For example, “The 1975” single isn’t what we’d conventionally call music; there’s no instruments playing, no beat and no rhythm. Instead, it seems like spoken-word piece that blasts humanity for not taking action on climate change. While the single is controversial due to its nod to hard-left politics, its style is radically inventive in form, if not content. With this single, they rebel against the dominant practices of the day — namely what they see as unfettered capitalism — while also toppling the traditional concept of what a “song” is. Protest music has been popular since the '60s, from Woody Guthrie’s rag on fascists, to Bob Dylan’s predictions of nuclear apocalypse. But they were songs. They were composed with instruments, a tone and a rhythm. With “The 1975,” the group rejects conventions and reinvents the genre of protest music to include plain-spoken alarmism. While they’re not selling anything original — human beings have a tendency to fear the natural changes of our earth — they’re changing the rules of the game. That, at least, deserves applause.
“People” is a little clearer — but not by very much. Whereas “The 1975” is very cerebral, “People” channels the inner primality of humanity with its brash, pointed lyrics and its screamo sound. “People” sets political dialogue alight with references to apathy and economic turmoil, among others. The first few lines of the song, “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” once more provide an alarmist flavor; this is like no other problem, and we must face it quickly. The 1975 seems to confine their criticisms to a particular, unidentified monolith, by unflatteringly referencing topics in contemporary American politics.
In an interview with New Musical Express , lead vocalist Matthew “Matty” Healy explained that he wrote “People” when his tour bus was in Alabama and his group was “advised to leave quickly due to Alabama being an Open Carry state.” Other events that inspired the song’s creation was their stop in Texas, where Healy said he saw “a collection of knives for incels” and various salacious images which served to socially degrade women.
Thus, it is evident that The 1975’s evolution was sparked by an ingredient in all of our hearts: discontentment. It’s easy to sing about teenage heartache normally, but we’re in fundamentally abnormal times; The 1975 gets this. And as a result, their message is resonating. Both “People” and “The 1975” received critical acclaim, with “People” reaching #54 on the UK charts while “The 1975” was awarded Song of the Week by online magazine Consequence Of Sound.
Whether you agree or disagree, The 1975 is poised to make their mark on the country’s political conversation. That’ll have us all taking notes of some form — on the streets, in the classroom, on internet discussion boards or even right here at The Cluster.
(03/14/19 10:06pm)
Claudia May delivered the keynote address for the first installment of Mercer University’s fifth-annual Beloved Community Symposium Feb. 26. May is a professor at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she teaches reconciliation studies.
The Beloved Community Symposium is an annual event founded by pastor John Marson Dunaway in 2005 as a way to help religious communities demonstrate unity and collaboration in issues involving race and denomination.
During May’s speech, she spoke about the struggle of Caribbean peoples in England due to colonialism and different social customs. She described multiple instances of racial discrimination that Caribbeans experienced in the United Kingdom.
“The one thing the government brochures and pictures and newsreels and pamphlets selling the virtues of England did not tell these Caribbean subjects,” May said, “was that when they arrived and tried to secure a place to live, they were met with rental signs that would say, ‘no Irish, no dogs and no n-words.’”
She also talked about how Caribbeans in the U.K. persevered during these times.
“In the midst of it all, these Caribbean subjects, these black people of the African diaspora, found ways to experience communal expressions of black joy and agency that emphasized that a colonized people do not have to experience a colonized mindset,” May said.
She talked about the concept of “hush harbors,” which she explained as places of safety and joy for victims of slavery and struggling communities that allowed them to feel.
May read multiple poems, one of them being “My Name Is Not Those People” by Julia Dinsmore. One of the main points she emphasized was that someone’s physical condition does not have to be their spiritual condition.
“As Julia K. Dinsmore, my friend, says, we are not our poverty, we are not our homelessness, we are not our incarcerations, we are not our legal status. We are people experiencing the tragedy (of) how wealth and resources are designed to flow unequally,” May said. “Even when you deal with impoverishment, that does not mean your spirit has to be impoverished.”
(02/28/19 7:44pm)
The way we find love is changing, especially for my generation. Once upon a time, courting a prospective lover by eye-contact, love letters or (gasp) conversation was preferable. Now we swipe left or right concerning one thing above all else: image.
According to Lendedu, 72 percent of millennials use Tinder with an estimated 1.6 billion swipes per day. In the LGBT+ community, using the dating, excuse me, hookup app “Grindr” is a normal part of being on the spectrum. The prevalence of these apps compromises two key ingredients for a healthy relationship; reliability and meaning.
Beyond that, they have crippling effects on self-esteem and, by extension, your perceived value. Dating apps are therefore destructive and unhealthy and should be abandoned in favor of personable ways to connect.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), users of the popular dating app “Tinder,” men and women alike, have reported low self-esteem after using the app. More broadly, “addiction-like” tendencies to technology, which is what dating apps promote, also increase rates of depression and low self-esteem.
Why is this? I suspect this trend exists because of one thing: the standardization of a certain type of look.
As a gay man, I have direct experience with this phenomenon. Once upon a time, I went on the popular app “Grindr,” which is a geo-location app that allows you to see prospective partners in your immediate area. Unlike Tinder, you do not have to swipe or “match” to talk to them.
Everything is open season. Unlike some of my peers, I did not have very much success with this app. Multiple people that I spoke to would block me, tell me they weren’t into “blacks” or “chocolate,” or the most ominous one of all: “you just aren’t my type.”
Sometimes, even people I knew in real life would block me on these apps and forsake a friendship, all because I didn’t check their vain box. For the longest time, I thought something was wrong with me, and these comments only strengthened that mindset.
But body dysmorphia is a trope of being gay. According to the APA, a fifth of gay men avoid sex because they have a negative self-image of their physique. The same study says 45 percent are dissatisfied with their “masculinity,” with muscle tone and other features traditionally associated with masculinity being a concern.
After reviewing these facts, I knew that it wasn’t me who had the issue; it was those who reduced me to my lack of muscles, arbitrary manly attributes or other things absolutely out of my control.
Dating apps only enhance these issues, taking them from the real world where they can be more easily dealt with, to making us victims of anonymity, ghosting and the deterioration of our self-worth. Embrace your individuality and move past these apps, you’ll feel much better.
Meaning and authenticity also go to die in dating apps. Does it not mean more to lock eyes with someone, muster up the courage to interact with them and see how things develop? This basic human encounter is impossible on dating apps, where genuine interest is replaced with a screen and a still image.
This is only compounded by the amount of options available on the apps as well. With hundreds of people populating these apps in any given area, if someone doesn’t want to talk to you, they can stop responding and move onto the next person. This is called “ghosting.”
On these apps, you’re viewed as a part of a whole mass of people, not the whole yourself. Not only that, but the lack of social consequence prompts people to send lewd messages without getting to know you. These places are not conducive to love and meaning; just gratification and empty desire.
There are plenty of counters to all of this. You may say “I met the love of my life on these apps.” Good for you, but your individual experience doesn’t account for thousands of instances of ghosting, depression and meaninglessness brought about by these apps.
Another counter is that they are the most efficient way to meet. This is nonsense. The world is a place of infinite possibilities with seven billion (and rising) people on it. Even in a secluded area, interaction creates connections, and that can lead to something.
A final counter is that they’re a tool and “they are what you make it.” But they are interactive and involve other living, breathing humans. You cannot effectively control the actions of other people, especially in an environment where you can’t even look at them.
Overall, dating apps are places of frustration, broken connections and missed possibilities. The good news? Reality still exists, and you are in it. Wink at that crush you see, pursue someone (respectfully, please) you’re interested in and build your life on a foundation of self-love instead of vying for the love of others.
(02/13/19 12:57am)
Everyone wants to fit in. I know I did at one point in time. This natural human urge may explain why Greek life is a vibrant part of hundreds of campuses across America. This desire exposes itself especially when we enter new environments.
During the first few weeks of my freshman year, I witnessed many of my peers rush for fraternities and sororities. These organizations, which constitute Greek life, claim to foster brotherhood, give back to the community in the form of philanthropy and help with networking.
In other words, it’s an attractive option for people in a new and intimidating environment, but the comfort Greek life provides is temporary. Greek life directly threatens individuality and is therefore not worth pursuing.
Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Being true to oneself is what makes you an individual. Greek life disrupts that phenomenon and reduces their members to parts of a whole, not the whole themselves.
The outcome of the pledging process, which typically includes reducing pledges to workers stuck in a non-reciprocal relationship, is supposedly fraternal companionship. This is known as brotherhood or sisterhood.
Yet, there’s nothing authentic about it. It is built upon mere competition; developing a genuine connection and bonding with one another is secondary. They aren’t brothers or sisters; they’re mercenaries.
The problem with Greek life extends beyond principle; it’s also systematic and mental. In Greek life, some people become so consumed with the organization that they take this to its logical extreme; covering for acts of misconduct often known as “hazing.”
For instance, Tim Piazza, a 19-year old engineering student at Penn State, was the victim of this mindset. Piazza, who was made to chug beer by fraternity brothers during a hazing experiment, died after his first night of pledging.
He fell down the stairs multiple times and, despite one brother saying something, the majority of the fraternity refused to get him medical attention until the next morning. Not only that, but they deleted the basement footage to cover up this tragedy.
These people weren’t just negligent or terrible people, they put the interests of the fraternity above their own interests because that is precisely what Greek life requires. They lost themselves and, consequently, Piazza due to their dedication.
This isn’t to say that mere loyalty or dedication is deadly, but to be consumed by anything - even loyalty - is to forsake judgment and run into trouble. By creating an artificial bond between people based on their group affiliation, Greek life does just that.
The money aspect of Greek life is just as concerning. The common argument of “paying for friends” only touches the surface; you don’t know if these people are compatible with you in the first place.
Not a single investor (perhaps Bernie Madoff) would invest in a stock that belonged to an unknown company; why do the same with four crucial years of your college experience? Only confusion and mystery comes with the price tag.
A common argument advanced in favor of Greek life is the connections it gives you. But this myth is nothing more than a byproduct of the industrial mindset. While I think the industrial revolution was a phenomenal occurrence, it has encouraged a fast-food mentality; to take the most expedient route, not always the best one.
It defeats the purpose of hard work if you do not gain a position through your merits, but through the alignment of Greek symbols on your resume. Network yourself, build contacts personally; it’s much more rewarding than it being handed to you.
Your individuality is on the chopping block when you participate in Greek life. I accept that many people do join fraternities and seem fulfilled, happy and meet friends for “life.” But those are people who are fine with being a part of something “greater” than themselves; essentially sacrificing their individual self-interest for that of a group.
If you’re not interested in Greek life, I encourage you to look into several other clubs Mercer has to offer; The Tea and Coffee Societea, the numerous political organizations on campus, or something completely different.
Whatever you do, pursue your life instead of Greek life. Your future will be better off for it.
(01/30/19 10:27pm)
Four people were elected to serve on the Student Government Association (SGA) in a special election Jan. 24 and 25. Senior Nigel D’Souza and Juniors Sarai Mapp, Caylen Johnson and Peri Staples will hold senatorial seats for the spring 2019 semester.
The special election was held after the departure of Senior Sen. Kristen Duncan and Junior Sens. Grant Denton, Chase Peplin and Vikram Lokasandrum.
Public Relations and Elections Chair Genesis Cooper said the former senators left for “personal reasons.”
Incoming Senior Sen. D’Souza said he ran for one of the open seats because he is interested in “helping every student get involved in campus life, helping the student body engage in service opportunities and (finding) fun ways to increase communication amongst students.”
Caylen Johnson, one of the newly elected juniors, said she will focus on communication and campus safety this semester.
She said she has “a lot of experience with one-on-one roles at Mercer” such as tutoring, serving as a Resident Assistant and holding a position as volunteer coordinator for national health pre-professional society Alpha Epsilon Delta.
“I was initially motivated to run for SGA Junior Senator in the spring of my sophomore year, because I believed that as a member of SGA, I would be able to effect positive change in our Mercer community,” she said.
She said she has engaged in several projects, including “developing relationships with various stakeholders on campus and learning more about the pressing issues in the lives of students.”
These issues include safety, so Johnson said she plans to “(work) with Mercer Police in an effort to improve the effectiveness of our campus-wide security systems.”
In regards to administrative transparency, she said she wants to “serve as a liaison so that SGA can work with staff to cultivate effective communication for housing and maintenance status updates.”
Peri Staples, junior senator, did not respond to The Cluster’s requests for comment.
Junior Sen. Sarai Mapp said she plans to focus on making Mercer a welcoming place for all students.
“In high school, I helped start and was elected by my class to serve on SGA all four years,” she said. “Here at Mercer, we the students should have a voice, and after running my freshman year and not getting elected, I kind of gave up hope in running again.”
She said that the special election this year felt like a second chance.
“I would love to have a hand in fostering an aura of comfortability for all students,” she said. “I think bringing this idea from paper to reality would drastically change the environment of Mercer in a positive way.”
Mapp said that not having a traditional full year to serve on SGA will make the position harder, but will allow her to help prepare for change in the future.
“I consider Mercer students, especially the Junior class, to be my family, and to me, the well-being of my family always comes first,” Mapp said.
(01/30/19 10:13pm)
The area surrounding the former Mail and Document Services room in the Connell Student Center (CSC) is being converted into a more convenient home for ACCESS and Accommodations and the new Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Dean of Student Affairs Doug Pearson said ACCESS and Accommodations, which helps support students with disabilities in all aspects of university life from academics to housing, will occupy the main space.
“It will provide our students with disabilities with better and more accessible space,” he said.
The Cluster reported in 2018 that many students with disabilities struggled to navigate Mercer’s campus. Some said that even the office providing accommodations was inaccessible.
“I know that ACCESS is on the third floor in a building where the elevator works about half the time,” Jessica Smith, a student with an ankle injury, said.
Now, students with disabilities will face fewer obstacles to obtain accommodations.
Pearson said the area in the renovated space closer to Which Wich will host the new Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which he said will raise awareness about “multiculturalism, equity, inclusion and identity” on campus.
The office will also serve as a “resource area for information on all sorts of diversity issues.”
The former post office has been unused since the student mailboxes were moved to the University Center in summer 2018. Construction is expected to completed near the end of the spring semester.
(09/12/18 3:06am)
When conservative commentator Ben Shapiro arrived at U.C. Berkeley on Sept. 14, 2017 he was greeted by a crowd of ravenous protestors, many of whom pledged allegiance to the left-leaning organization of Anti-Fascists (ANTIFA).
According to the New York Times, $600,000 in security was spent on that event alone with nine arrests taking place. The same thing happened to political commentator Ann Coulter when she went to speak at UC Berkeley.
Similarly, a few years prior, when disgraced alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos did an event at Depaul University, he was met by an angry mob that seized the stage during a Q&A session hosted by the College Republicans.
These two events are a variation of a larger illness that has struck Western society and college campuses in particular; an unwillingness to entertain opposing views. With a refusal to listen comes an inability to grow. If the scientist never considered hypotheses other than his own, would he be able to recognize the flaws in his experiment?
Growing is two-fold; it is both advantageous and detrimental to you. It is advantageous because it allows you to go beyond your current situation and take hold of new ones. That can lead to new opportunities, skills and other things that help progress us as individuals.
The detriment? It can shatter your preconceptions of the world and lead to cognitive dissonance. Thinking is a very difficult endeavor, one we typically shy away from in favor of expediency and simplicity.
In an industrialized society such as ours, where we have machines, apps and other gizmos that make our life much easier, things that require a significant amount of effort, mental or otherwise, become secondary.
That is the affliction that many who shut down repulsive views suffer from; the world, in their mind, is meant to operate in a particular way and any detraction from that is a threat.
But is it really? Sure, there may be some unsavory worldviews out there, many of which I detest. An example of which is the idea of ‘race realism,’ which contends that certain races are genetically superior to others.
That perspective is detestable in my mind and the minds of many others - but would I truly grow if I didn’t take time to learn why people think this? Would it really distort my values or my worldview to see an idea contrary to my own?
Unless you are so feeble-minded and weak-willed that you’d buckle under the pressure of having your views questioned, challenges to your ideas should be embraced. You and your worldview will be better for it.
In the pursuit of truth, struggle becomes critical. Just as the scientist should embrace different experiments to obtain the answer to what he’s trying to test, we should do the same to unearth the truth.
We will never be able to do that if we alienate certain perspectives from the conversation. The “truth” will become but an empty platitude to satisfy illusion of it being chased, and our dialogue will center around canned talking points and demagoguery.
Regardless of your perspective, it is my hope that you, as a human being, will join me in the quest for truth. It is my dream that you, as an existing soul, will entertain perspectives you find reprehensible and refine those you find agreeable. It is my hope that you, as a college student, will not contribute to the climate of speech oppression that consumes western society. If we keep these things in mind, we will all grow together.