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(03/31/16 6:33am)
As students scramble to meet with their advisors and figure out what to do with their lives, registration looms ever closer on the calendar. It’s not a new worry. Students at Mercer were stressing about signing up for classes long before MyMercer was a twinkle in anybody’s eye.
The Cluster headlines ranged from “Registration? It’s simple!” in 1949 to “Students Find Hectic Ordeal at Registration” in 1969.
In the 1948 registration process, a student would have to get in several different lines and have approval from numerous advisers before getting into classes.
They would have to do the process all over again if the classes ended up being full by the time a student arrived at the final step.
In a 1948 satirical piece in the The Cluster, managing editor Jack Perry describes a possible, dreadful series of events where a student gets so panicked during the process that he tries to escape, but the angry mob of students attack and kill the student reporter.
Although no one was harmed physically in that registration year, emotional damage was obvious through the words of the writers.
Even as the world moved toward the digital age, students struggled with registering for classes.
In the 1969 spring semester, students registered on the first day of classes which led to long lines and students missing their first and second days of classes, according to an article in The Cluster.
The Cluster included in this issue a letter from a student written to the Office of the Registrar voicing his concerns about computerized registration.
The student said that he felt strongly that a computer could not decide the needs of the students sufficiently.
“Who gets to take what when should be a matter discussed between individual professors and students,” said Cal Gough, Class of 1970. “Nobody likes registration, but the computer may not be the answer.”
Computers and registering systems have since improved, and the long lines outside of the Office of the Registrar have dwindled.
Although the process remains stressful at times, Edward Weintraut, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said, during registration for courses in Spring 2016, that the dean’s office is proactive in taking the measures necessary to ensure students have the credits they need.
Gary Blackburn, chair of the art department, said, also during Spring 2016 class registration, that they have had problems with not having enough seats in classes for the amount of students who want a class.
“Obviously, anytime a student wants to get into a class, and you have to say, ‘No,’ that’s not a good thing,” Blackburn said. “You would like to have enough seats that saying no is the exception to the rule.”
(03/17/16 9:02pm)
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(02/25/16 4:34am)
Half-Swedish, half-Danish Mattias Palm came to Mercer University to become a double bass performance major.
With both parents playing for orchestras, Palm began his training on the double bass at the age of 9.
“I’ve always wanted to be that as well, an orchestra musician,” Palm said.
Palm won a national competition in Sweden when he was 17 years old and made it to the international level of the competition, where he advanced to the semi-finals. He has now played in Carnegie Hall three times.
“What’s so unique about (Carnegie Hall) is that it kind of presents the... high point of classical music in America, and that’s where all of the biggest people have come to play,” Palm said. “The fact that I was a part of that … that’s been really astounding.”
[pullquote speaker="Dr. Christopher Schmitz, music theory & composition professor" photo="" align="right" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]I think he’s a very special student because he’s so bright and he’s so curious.[/pullquote]
Palm said he met professors from Mercer while on tour with the Swedish Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York, and one of the professors showed them around the city.
The professor told Palm that there was a spot in Mercer’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings for him, which led him to come to the university.
Palm is currently a member of the Mercer University Orchestra and the Jazz Ensemble in addition to his private studies. He practices five hours a day, which he says ends up being closer to six or seven hours including preparing the instrument and taking breaks every hour.
Dr. Christopher Schmitz, a music theory and composition professor at Mercer, said Palm is an intelligent and talented student.
“I think he’s a very special student because he’s so bright and he’s so curious,” Schmitz said. “I just really value him as a part of my studio and my classes for the past few years.”
Schmitz said that he has taught Palm in theory classes and composition lessons, and Palm always goes beyond class discussions with more questions.
“He even took a graduate theory class from me as an undergraduate student because we were running out of ways to challenge him in theory,” Schmitz said.
Schmitz said that Palm has a lot of original ideas and tries to push the limits with his work.
“He’s very interested in finding the musicality in a piece he’s performing or finding ways to interpret the piece,” Schmitz said.
Reed Tucker, a junior double bass player and performance major, said that Palm is competitive but in a positive way.
“He’s always ten steps ahead of me, so it just really pushes me to be the best that I can be, and it’s never negative competition,” Tucker said. “He’s always so supportive (and tries) to bring everyone around him up in the most positive way possible.”
Tucker said that Palm is the absolute best at ultimate frisbee, but he is also a thoughtful and considerate friend.
“Sitting down for a conversation with Mattias, you are going to get into a deep philosophical discussion,” Tucker said.
Palm said that the biggest advantage he has received from coming to Mercer is being introduced to a completely different culture.
“Being in a place that’s so culturally different than what I grew up with has been extremely eye opening,” Palm said. “I have become much more patient and accepting of people who think differently of me.”
(02/25/16 4:27am)
Although students were told they would be housed on campus for the fall semester of 2001, Mercer University relocated about 200 students to local hotels for a month due to construction delays with the then new Mercer Hall.
“I was expecting to come back . . . settle in and move into my own room, but I got a letter from Mercer a month before I got back, saying I was going to be put into an inn 6.5 miles from campus,” said Ketan Patel, a student interviewed in The Cluster issue of Aug. 29, 2001.
Male students were assigned to Fairfield Inn and Suites while female students stayed at the Marriot’s Courtyard, according to handouts from a campus improvement program in 2001. Both located on Sheraton Drive in north Macon.
Resident assistants and professional staff stayed with the students, and Mercer Police patrolled the area at night.
Although there was a trolley that drove the students to and from the university, students who had cars also received reserved spots to park, The Cluster reported.
“The shuttle itself is good, and the hotel is not bad,” said Ramone Jeziovosky, who was Patel’s roommate. “But the shuttle leaves every half hour, so if you had 9 a.m. class, you’d have to really leave at 8 a.m. because of the traveling time to campus.”
The students had access to the hotel pool and weight room and were served meals at the hotel’s buffet, The Cluster reported.
Mercer officials said Mercer Hall would be ready in mid-September. Students moved in on September 14 and 15.
The 206-bed facility had basic cable, high speed internet, phone lines, utilities and an elevator.
“I just can’t freakin’ believe this place,” said John Chvatal, varsity basketball player at the time. “It hasn’t even sunk in that I actually live here.”
Although the housing shortage took place over a decade ago, students may already be wondering about the timeline for the new freshman dorm slated for fall 2016.
Jeff Takac, the director of residence life, said in an email that “everything is on schedule,” for the new building for freshmen.
The construction on the new building is scheduled to be completed in July 2016 and should be ready to house students at the beginning of the 2016 fall semester. The co-ed dorm will hold 304 students.
(01/28/16 4:08am)
South Macon is more than what meets the eye.
Mercer University students have joined with the pastor of the Community Church of God to work on an initiative that empowers residents of the Bloomfield neighborhood to make their community their own.
Junior Aaron Scherf and senior Austin Harrison are helping pastor Jason McClendon with a project called the Bloomfield Community Empowerment Center to create more neighborhood involvement in Bloomfield.
Their plan is to create the Bloomfield Preparatory Academy, a charter school that will have a health clinic, psychiatric services, a community garden and a daycare, Harrison said.
“We know what works in community development, so now we’re trying to see what needs to work in Bloomfield,” Scherf said.
Harrison said that they want the charter school to be the hub of community development and that this model has been successful in different places, such as east Atlanta.
“It’s all about finding that anchor where you can just build everything else around,” Harrison said.
Scherf and Harrison began helping McClendon by gathering data about the community to discover its economic struggles.
Harrison said they found that 44 percent of the residents in Bloomfield were living under the poverty line, and the median family household income is around $13,000 per year.
Harrison said that the idea of a charter school originated from the closing of Barden Elementary School.
The closure caused around 400 kids to transfer to Southfield Elementary School, which already had around 850 students.
The charter school will be opened near the old Barden Elementary School, so the children that had to transfer can go to a school closer to their homes, Harrison said.
“The idea of an empowerment center is really helping people help themselves,” Scherf said.
Scherf said that the goal was to allow the neighborhood to take action and decide how they want their neighborhood to be.
The center will allow residents of the neighborhood to access resources closer to home and be connected with other resources in the Macon community, Scherf said.
Harrison said that they will offer workshops to teach empowering skills, such as resume building.
Along with those workshops, Harrison said they will begin a youth midnight basketball team, which is an initiative that was successful in the late ’90s by the Bibb County Sheriffs Department.
The basketball games will be held on Friday and Saturday nights around 10 p.m. to hopefully lower the crime rate in the Bloomfield neighborhood.
Catie Byrd, a freshman Mercer student, is the head of an initiative called Launch Training Camps, a non-profit intended to teach people leadership skills through basketball.
Byrd plans to incorporate this model into the youth basketball league to teach the residents of Bloomfield skills to get actively involved in their neighborhood’s development.
“The idea is to teach them the service and leadership in basketball and then to apply it to what they will be teaching in the other workshops,” Byrd said.
Scherf said that people tend to have a negative viewpoint of south Macon, but he said that they do not see the people of south Macon.
“There’s more to south Macon than just what people think of as south Macon,” Scherf said.
(11/12/15 3:04am)
At the beginning of World War II, former Mercer University President Spright Dowell said Mercer should strive “to do her full-part for the national defense” and “to study a plan for after war conditions and needs.”
According to Victory Media, a career resource for veterans and their families, Mercer has accomplished that goal.
Victory Media recently named Mercer one of its 2016 Military Friendly Schools for the university’s assistance in providing options for military personnel to continue their education, according to a press release.
“Mercer’s designation as a 2016 Military Friendly School® acknowledges university leadership and its strong, steadfast commitment in support of military-connected students, veterans and their families,” said retired Lt. Col. Scott Mahone, assistant director of center operations at Mercer.
Mercer was also the first institution in Georgia to be named a Purple Heart University for these efforts.
Military involvement is not an uncommon term used throughout the years. In fact, Mercer has been involved with military pursuits all the way back to the Civil War
The War between the States
1861: Georgia seceded from the Union. The Georgia Baptist convention endorsed succession and showed the type of support Mercer, its students and its alumni were expected to give to the war effort.
1861-1862: Almost the entire senior class joined the Confederate army.
“Excitement subsequent to the capture of Ft. Sumter affected our students very much: and many of them … left the quiet of college-life for the hardships of camp and the din of war,” said Nathaniel Macon Crawford, former president of Mercer.
1863: Only 12 students were enrolled in Mercer. Nine of the 12 ended up joining the war.
1864: Only 8 students were enrolled due to the war efforts.
1865: The end of the war left Mercer without income, but it kept its doors open and admitted disabled soldiers without charging tuition.
1867: No senior class existed until 1867. Mercer was the only college in Georgia that kept its doors open throughout the Civil War.
The world is at war
August 16, 1918: After the U.S. entered into World War I, Mercer’s trustees “moved and carried that the Government be requested to establish a Students’ Army Training Corps (SATC) at Mercer.”
October 1, 1918: SATC was established at Mercer, and 240 students joined out of the 397 enrolled. All became privates in the Army and had their housing, subsistence, instruction and equipment paid for by the government.
“To those men of Mercer now under colors who have so valiantly and so nobly given their life and service to their country, in defense of liberty and justice and right, and to those Mercer men who may yet give their service to keep ‘Old Glory’ high above reproach,” read the dedication of the Cauldron of 1918, Mercer’s yearbook.
1919: Mercer donated $3,000 to the YMCA for the organization’s work in the United War Work Drive.
The world is at war … again
September 3, 1939: World War II began.
December 8, 1941: The United States became involved in World War II.
1942: Mercer’s summer session became a regular quarter with full curriculum, and by 1944, there were 8-week summer terms.
1942-43: Mercer’s enrollment experienced a 12 percent increase.
One-third of the enrolled 486 students were women, and although athletics were suspended, the school had vigorous physical education programs. A thousand Naval cadets were to be trained at Mercer, and two different training programs were initiated on campus.
October 1942: Eighteen Mercerians were Marines, 46 were in the Army, 21 were in the Air Corps and 27 were in the Navy.
March 14, 1945: A ship was named in honor of Mercer. The USS Mercer Victory was a 10,240-ton cargo ship. Mercer donated $300 to the ship library.
“We trust that she may serve as a moving spirit of Mercer University and a bit of floating campus to Mercer men, and an inspiration to all,” said Dr. Thomas Cornwell, a Mercer alumnus, at the launching of the ship.
August 1, 1945: A Veterans’ Administration Guidance Center was set up on campus.
The ‘50s and on
1951-1962: Nearly 400 students were enrolled in ROTC.
January 27, 1951: The Scabbard and Blade honor society was initiated on campus, which replaced the Mercer Military Club.
December 1952: Fifty-two students who received their commission from the Mercer ROTC were on active duty.
1961-1973: Controversy came to campus with the Vietnam War. The Cluster called for a moratorium to discuss the controversy. Seventy-four percent of liberal arts students said they were opposed to U.S. involvement, but only 26 percent said they would participate in peaceful anti-war demonstrations. Movements on campus included protesting at the ROTC Honors Day, a candlelight procession and a request to lower the flag to half-mast after the Kent State deaths, which was approved by Rufus C. Harris, former president of Mercer
“The university protects the fair and reasonable exercise of dissent by students or faculty,” Harris said. “Those associated with Mercer properly represent a wide variety of points of view, and the university fosters the free expression of these attitudes.”
2015: Mercer receives the distinction by Victory Media of being a 2016 Military Friendly School.
The information in the timeline was provided by a five part series from The Cluster in 1983 titled “During The War Years.”
(11/11/15 5:57pm)
(10/15/15 5:05am)
Mercer University stands tall and proud as a school of honor and respect in the south, but some scandalous news from 1987 begs to differ.
Playboy Magazine ranked Mercer ninth out of the 10 top party schools in the nation in 1987 and had some alleged Mercer students star in their October issue.
Although yearbooks have been searched to find the real names of these individuals, no one has found a match to who these students actually were.
“Most people thought it was a bad joke, a slap by Playboy at Southern Baptists,” said Ruby Fowler, a senior Christianity major and associate editor of the student newspaper, in a 1987 LA Times article. “Anybody who knows anything about Mercer knows it’s far from a party school.”
A student posed naked in one picture for the magazine and the other was a photo of girls having a pillow fight in a makeshift dorm room.
The Playboy article gave critics of Mercer’s president and campus life the chance to speak out about their discontent with Mercer’s tolerance for different religious preferences at a Baptist college.
“This purely involves heresy and immorality on campus,” said Lee Roberts, a prominent Baptist fundamentalist, in a Newsweek Magazine article. “The Baptist faith and message is very clear. … You just don’t find people who believe what Kirby Godsey believes – and claim to be a Christian.”
Godsey, along with his supporters, said in Newsweek that they are Christians, but theological tolerance is allowed on campus.
“They want to indoctrinate,” Godsey said in Newsweek, “instead of educate.”
According to the LA Times article, a vote of 54 to 20 of the executive committee of the state
convention were in favor of expelling any student who participated in posing for Playboy; however, the Godsey administration supposedly decided against it since there is no record of students getting expelled.
(09/25/15 1:48am)
Driving up to the polling station in Dublin, Georgia on a Friday afternoon, the line stretched for a three-hour wait to vote in the 2012 presidential election.
Joey Wozniak, a freshman at Mercer University at the time, decided along with his father that it was not worth the wait.
At this time, Wozniak did not know about early voting, absentee ballots or the voting process in general.
“That is a process issue, and that’s a barrier to voting,” said Wozniak, now a senior at Mercer. “We as students have a lot of those.”
Wozniak, along with other Mercer faculty members and students, are starting an initiative to make it easier and more fun to vote for college students and to develop a better election culture on campus.
The first act to improve voter participation was held on Tuesday, Sept. 22 in the Connell Student Center lobby.
For National Voter Registration day, Wozniak and others set up a table equipped with two computers to sign students up for TurboVote.
TurboVote is a part of Democracy Works, a “nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to the idea that voting should fit the way we live,” according to its website at turbovote.org.
TurboVote is designed for students to easily register to vote, receive absentee ballots, and simplify the voting process.
Students learned about TurboVote in an email sent out on Tuesday and professors in the College of Liberal Arts allowed students to sign up for it in the first five minutes of their classes.
“If we show students the steps to do these things and reduce the difficulty with the process, we hopefully entice more students to vote,” said Carrie Ingoldsby, director of campus life and student involvement, in an email.
The second event will be the annual Civic Engagement Symposium in November. It will be a three hour event with three parts: an election simulation, a workshop and a speaker all to engage students in voter participation.
Wozniak said they will be encouraging students to converse and engage in the conversation instead of sitting back and listening to the speakers.
“It’s going to be a lot of chaos,” Wozniak said. “It’s going to be fun.”
Wozniak said he is very excited about two initiatives.
First, Wozniak, along with faculty and students, are creating a democratic engagement plan to collect ideas about how to create a better election culture on college campuses.
Second, they are brainstorming ways to get other institutions of higher education to encourage voting in the student body.
Instead of thinking of students speaking their mind and gaining power against the institutions, Wozniak said they want institutions to encourage and empower students to voice their opinions, vote and speak up when a wrong is done.
An initiative created by Wozniak and others interested in the project is to create a competition in the Southern Conference for schools to compete in civic and metric participation.
Each institution within the Southern Conference can have a team to compete with other schools.
The teams can be creative in their plans by creating a playbook, naming captains and anything else they can think of to engage students in civic participation, Wozniak said.
Since his generation has just spent 14 years in the education system and is now moving into the workforce, Wozniak said college students have the best perspective in the two major issues in politics: education and jobs.
“One of the founding principles behind higher education in this country was to create an informed citizenship,” said Douglas Pearson, dean of students, in an email. “Therefore, instilling a sense of civic engagement is just as important to Mercer as helping our students to chose a major or career.”
Wozniak said Simeon Cullens, a sophomore senator of the Student government Association, is going to lead the rallying of students and get students who aren’t involved in major campus organizations to participate.
Cullens said he believes it is important to have leaders and specific people involved on campus, but everyone should have a chance to speak up and share their opinions through voting.
“I feel like it’s important for me to be involved in different things, but I can’t do everything on campus, and I can’t represent everyone on campus,” Cullens said.
Cullens said education in how to vote and what people are voting for is the key to getting participation from students, and that is the place he plans to begin to increase student participation.
“We are powerless unless we vote, unless we speak up,” Wozniak said.
(08/28/15 2:12am)
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(08/27/15 7:51pm)
A new student-run organization formed this summer with the intention of giving students an opportunity to help their community.
“We’re basically the Quadworks of service,” said Hannah Vann, the coordinator of community engagement for the Center of Community Engagement.
MerServe is an organization out of the Center for Community Engagement that focuses on student volunteerism in the community of Macon, Vann said.
“The goal of MerServe is to provide a place for students who are really involved and interested in service leadership development to come and build upon that,” Vann said.
MerServe has a student service leadership board of 12 members who are in control of service projects, such as Service Saturdays, Be a Good NeighBEAR, Spring Break for Service and Lights on After School.
“MerServe has created a one stop shop for several different types of service projects that can accommodate the passions of many students,” Brent Lunsford, the executive director of MerServe, said in an email.
More than 350 people signed up for the new organization’s email list at Bear Fair, said Emily Hatchett, the director of development for MerServe.
“Hopefully a lot of those people actually get really involved and see what all there is to do service-wise in Macon,” Hatchett said.
MerServe will be hosting Water Wars Aug. 27 from 5-7 p.m. as its first volunteer event, Vann said.
She said students can, in exchange for donating one can of food to the local food bank, receive three water balloons to battle their friends. The teams, each consisting of five players will have a massive water balloon fight on Cruz Plaza.
“Because we have so many Mercer students who are passionate about getting involved, now they have a place to do that,” Vann said.
To get involved, students can sign up to participate on a committee or sign up to serve as a site leader, who makes sure everyone is safe during an event, Vann said.
“We are really excited about this year since it’s our first year as a board. We’re just looking for any new service opportunities,” Hatchett said.
(08/27/15 7:38pm)
Mercer University’s broadcasting program is turning a new leaf with a television studio and the Mercer Video Productions program (MVP) developing this semester.
“I’m super excited. It’s going to be challenging, but I think I’m ready for the challenge,” said Avery Braxton, a member of the student leader board for MVP.
A television studio should be up and running by the end of fall semester for students to produce studio shows and build content for WMUB — a local television station for Macon and Warner Robins — Michael Fox, coordinator of Mercer Video Productions and video productions, said.
“We believe that we can serve both the Mercer campus and the community,” Fox said.
He said Mercer’s athletics department is building the new MVP program with ESPN in which 20 returning students will produce content for ESPN3 and the Southern Conference (SoCon) Digital Network.
MVP began in April of this year and was launched the week before classes started with a student leadership board of seven students, which will reduce to six students once the spring semester begins.
The board is responsible for producing and directing games and managing their own crews with the oversight of the professional staff, Fox said.
All SoCon Digital Network games will be aired live on WMUB, which will be the first time an athletic event will air live on a local television station.
“It’s a huge resume builder for students. It’s very accessible,” said Fox. “We are not discriminating between majors.”
The returning students will help with the mentoring and training of 20 incoming students, who will also help with MVP, he said.
Emanuela Rendini, a returning student worker, said she is looking forward to mentoring incoming students and working together as a team to produce broadcasts.
Fox said the staff works hard to create relationships with the students while maintaining a professional work area for the students to understand how broadcasting works in real life.
“We strive as a staff, on our side, to be able to accommodate and train those that want to be pushed harder and train those that just want to learn the basics,” Fox said.
He said their goal as a staff is to have a 100 percent employment rate for outgoing students.
ESPN contacts the staff to ask about who the top students are and to keep track of them throughout their college career, Fox said.
Braxton said he and the other returning students will be placed in leadership positions this year and run broadcasts mostly by themselves.
“For them to trust us with that responsibility that just really means a lot to us, and we take it really seriously,” Braxton said
(11/20/14 2:40pm)
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Change the world one Saturday at a time with the Center for Leadership and Volunteerism’s Service Saturdays. The center organizes the events to help the community by allowing students to volunteer.
“I think it’s a good way to get involved with the community and let the community know that you care about them,” said Annalise Estrada, a service scholar at Mercer.
Service Saturdays are held on the fourth Saturday of every month, and students can participate in the project of their choice.
Hannah Vann, the coordinator of community engagement, organizes the events and works with service scholars to coordinate a project in which they can use their talents to benefit others, Andrew Kelley, another Mercer service scholar, said.
The next Service Saturday will be held on Nov. 22, and the projects for that day include playground construction at Ingram Pye Elementary, school beautification with Communities in Schools at Hutchings Academy, Rebuilding Macon and Brave Meadows Therapeutic Riding Center.
Kelley is leading the project at Brave Meadows Therapeutic Riding Center, and he said that they would be painting barns and fences and helping the farm maintain the grounds to make it run more efficiently.
He said that he chose this project because his mother is an occupational therapist, so he was able to see the effect that therapy had on children. He did research on the subject of using horses for therapy and believed that he could use his talents to help the riding center.
“It’s such a blessing to give more than it is to receive… It’s a feeling unlike any other.”
Kelley also said that the center would be willing to give students a free horse ride for volunteering. The rides will be on a separate day than the Service Saturday, but it can be arranged with the owners, Kelley said.
Amanda Clark, a senior and resident assistant at Mercer, brought a new aspect to Service Saturdays, one that concerns the benefits it has for students.
“Not only does it show that Mercer really cares about the Macon community as a whole, it really helps Mercer students build up on their resumes.”
She continued to say that she began participating in Service Saturdays as a freshman, and it created a love for volunteering within her.
“I always advocate for Service Saturdays because it’s just a great way for Mercer students to realize that volunteering not only builds better leaders, but it just really makes you feel good about yourself.”
Estrada participated in a Service Saturday at which she and two other people pulled weeds from a garden and added more soil where it was needed. She said that she enjoyed getting to know the woman whom they were helping and that she would definitely be participating in more Service Saturdays.
Estrada explained that Service Saturdays were not all about work, but “you get to have fun at the same time, and it’s really rewarding to know that you’re making a difference.”
The last Service Saturday for this semester will be held on Nov. 22, but there will be more in the spring semester. They are scheduled for Jan. 24, Feb. 28, March 28 and April 25.
(11/13/14 5:37pm)
President William Underwood kicked off the homecoming activities for the weekend by leading a ceremony to dedicate the rain garden to M. Diane Owens on Thursday, Oct. 30.
“I’m truly honored that this beautiful space will bear my name. It’s a wonderful legacy,” Owens said.
The ceremony began with Underwood presenting Owens’ biography and focusing on the strives that she has made for Mercer.
The contractor, Chris Sheridan, and the landscape architect, Tommy Fuller, presented the work that they did on the garden. They described the environmental impact that the garden provides and how that relates to Owens’ character.
Craig McMann, the university minister and dean of the chapel, closed the ceremony with a prayer asking that the garden be a place of joy and happiness for future generations to enjoy.
McMann spoke about Owens, saying, “She lives and breathes Mercer.”
He also said that Owens is an incredible person who has spent her life completely involved in Mercer and is “part of the Mercer spirit.”
Owens graduated from the College of Liberal Arts in 1977 and the Law School in 1980. She was very involved in athletics and participated in basketball and tennis.
She became the first woman to serve as chair of the Board of Trustees in 2011 and continues to serve today. She also serves as a member and former chair of the Mercer Athletic Foundation board. She is also a member of the President’s Club and the Mercer Law School Board of Visitors.
“Diane Owens is a superb human being, and she absolutely is worthy of this honor,” Senior Vice President of the Atlanta Campus Richard Swindle said.
He added that she has spent so much time and money in the university and that she is committed to supporting Mercer.
“Mercer’s given me a lot more than I’ve given Mercer, and to be honored this way is really… it’s rendered me speechless,” Owens said.
(11/13/14 5:34pm)
A $40 million to $50 million housing project is coming to Mercer University . The complex is planned to be established across the road from the football stadium by the fall 2016.
“It’s not just a housing development. It’s a full on retail, residential, commercial development,” Student Government Association President Joseph Wozniak said.
One of the two blocks in which the construction will take place currently is occupied by a plumbing supply building that closed a few years ago, according to President William Underwood. After the demolition of this building, this block will contain a hotel, restaurant and two food courts.
The second block will occupy a new series of lofts that will hold 300 beds, larger than the three previous lofts combined, Underwood said. A parking deck will also be installed to accommodate the residents.
Jim Daws, a developer from Sierra Development, will assist with student housing of the apartments.
“One of the benefits of it is to… continue creating more attractive vistas into campus and into Macon,” Underwood said.
Underwood desires for the first impression that travelers received of Macon and of Mercer to truly represent the passion of the university and the community.
“I think it’ll create even more energy around the campus,” Underwood added.
Underwood announced a new initiative approved by the Board of Trustees on Friday night at the homecoming pep rally. The initiative is called Aspire, and it plans to raise $400 million to create new buildings on Mercer’s campuses. The initiative has already raised $90 million.
This campaign will fund the new housing complex in addition to an education and research building on the Savannah campus, a pharmacy and education building on the Atlanta campus and a new residence hall, science building and baseball stadium on Macon’s campus.
“Bill Underwood has charted a path for the future that is really going to lead us into being a leading institution in this nation,” Dean of Students Douglas Pearson said after the announcement of the initiative. “It’s going to make us really a national powerhouse as far as institutions go,” he added.
Wozniak said that the housing project answered the concerns about student housing on campus. He explained that students want to be in the “hub of excitement” and enjoy the activities that take place on campus.
“Our student body is increasing, but also our attitude about our school is also increasing,” Wozniak said.
According to Wozniak, SGA surveyed students about their preferences for restaurants to be brought to campus. Top choices were The Brick from Milledgeville, a frozen yogurt shop, Cook-Out, and The Varsity. Cook-Out is planning to move to Macon in the Mercer University Drive area, but no official location has been announced, according to WMAZ,. Although these restaurants were the top choices of the students, no official choice has been made on which restaurants will be established in the new development.
Underwood said that he believes that students will enjoy the new development. The hotel will be similar to the quality of the Hilton Garden Inn, and the restaurants will be equally satisfactory, according to Underwood.
“I think it’ll create even more energy around the campus,” Underwood said.
(10/11/14 7:55pm)
The Great Books lecture held on Sept. 23 covered many interesting topics and left Mercer students curious about the books they read in class. Charlie Thomas, a philosophy and Great Books professor, and Achim Kopp, a foreign language and literature professor, hosted the lecture, titled “The Archaeology of Troy and Homer’s Iliad.”
“The Iliad” of Homer describes a series of events that supposedly happened during the Trojan War. The lecture is designed to help students relate the book to the actual archaeological findings of the real city of Troy. According to Thomas, most people of the modern era believed that books of Homer were based on a myth until recent archaeological studies proved them wrong. She said that some of these studies were conducted only 30 years ago.
“I just think it’s very interesting that this new archaeology is illuminating one of the oldest books we have,” Thomas said.
Kopp said that the reason Thomas and he present this lecture every year is because, “In our courses, we read the text, but we never really talk about the archaeology.”
Both of these professors have led study abroad trips for students, and Kopp has taken students to the actual site of Troy.
“We can’t take everybody with us, but we can try to bring that to the students a little bit through this presentation,” Thomas said when explaining the objective of the lectures.
“I think we both realize how powerful it is to put students on site for them to actually see the material culture and the landscape and just have a sense of place. It really changes the way you read the books,” Thomas said.
These professors said that they are both advocates of the great books program, and that the seminar style classroom helps develop students’ ability to communicate.
Thomas said, “I think that [we’re] really learning in that context how to make ourselves understood, how to listen to each other [and] how to empathize.”
She also said that if the seminar is done correctly, it opens the gates of students’ minds to be able to question and study a text.
Kopp said, ““When I came here to Mercer, this was an incredible, eye opening experience for me, that we can actually explore text by letting the text speak to us rather than reading about them in books.”
The professors said that the lecture has been held for three years and that it has had minor changes every year. “It’s kind of evolving,” Kopp said.
According to Thomas, the professors who teach in the great books program are constantly learning themselves. She said that she believes if she is the only one talking for an entire class the way that lecture style classes are conducted, there is no way for her to hear the thoughts of others.
“I think we are really, really, really fortunate at Mercer to have a curriculum that lets us work together in this way,” Thomas said.
According to Kopp, the next lecture in the series will be held on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Marc Jolley, director of Mercer University press, will be presenting a lecture titled “Jesus as a Hero.” The lecture will be held in the Science and Engineering building in Room 110.
(10/02/14 9:02pm)
Clifton Forbis, Chair of Voice at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and renowned international performer, gave a recital followed by a master class at Mercer’s Townsend School of Music. Forbis is a heldentenor who has been a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Canadian Opera Company and Teatro alla Scala. As a heldentenor, Forbis’ voice is a powerful dramatic instrument that is capable of singing larger German works, including works of Wagner. According to the recital program, Forbis sings “the most demanding tenor repertoire around the world.” His performance at Mercer gave the audience an impressive glimpse of his abilities. The recital included pieces from the title roles of “Samson et Dalila,” “Otello” and “Tristan und Isolde.” Forbis exhibited incredible control over his voice, which was demonstrated by the contrasting repertoire he presented. Following his beautiful performance, Forbis held a Q&A session, engaging the audience and maintaining interest. He was approachable and casual as he answered questions from listeners and made numerous jokes. When asked at what point he realized his voice wasn’t like most voices, Forbis said, “It was always one of those things where you were getting called out in class. You know...'Cliff, you’re talking to loud.’ No, I was just talking.” He went on to mock his own quirky performing habits, including crossing his eyes while singing a high b-flat. “You know, I do...and it’s ever so slight. I’m doing it right now, and you can’t tell…” said Forbis. He continued by explaining the difficulty of correcting habits that would not be noticed in a regular auditorium, but one would clearly see them during a MET Broadcast on a 30-foot movie theater screen.
Forbis was personable to audience members and students alike, and his humor was consistent even through the master class. Six Mercer voice students sang solo pieces for Forbis and received 20 minutes of individual instruction. The students sang beautifully and the amazement was audible throughout the audience as Forbis’ advice resulted in even further improvement.
His methods were fascinating as he made students plug their ears and poke their sternums. “As you start to incorporate the body into the sound, the sound will change. It will not become something that holds. It will become more of what it naturally is,” said Forbis.
He used imagery when conveying his advice, and inspired the singers through examples.
“Don’t sing to the size of the room. Sing to the size of your voice,” he said; advice which was demonstrated by Forbis’ incredible performance the night before.
Forbis used his expertise and talent to help teach students about their own talent and potential, and he made clear the capability of each student he worked with by using a few simple tricks to help them as they performed.
(09/28/14 12:07am)
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On Sept. 20 and 21, the Ocmulgee National Monument hosted its annual Ocmulgee Indian Celebration. According to Lonnie Davis, a cultural resource specialist at the monument, this was the twenty-third celebration, which began in 1990.
According to Davis, President Roosevelt gave an executive order in 1936 to turn the mounds into a national monument. Although it was suggested to have the area made into a national park in 1932, the Great Depression caused the recommendation to be postponed.
Davis also said that an archaeological dig was held at the Ocmulgee National Monument with the excavation of 2.5 million artifacts in 1933. These artifacts show that humans have lived in this area for over 17,000 years. Davis said that he believes that Roosevelt saw the value of preserving a place where “you can actually see a continuous trend of one culture into another culture.”
“In a sense, this particular tract of land that we now know as Ocmulgee National Monument has been utilized by man for everything from living to hunting, to worshipping, to actual combat, so that’s the whole purpose of Ocmulgee National Monument.”
13 federally recognized tribes were represented at the celebration including Muscogee Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Eastern Band Cherokee and Lakotas, according to Davis.
“We have a mixture of all different… federally recognized, groups of American Indians.”
Davis said that several participants have been involved with the celebration for 20 years. The meeting resembles a homecoming for the many tribes due to the sacredness of the land and the history that it bears.
The media represents Native American history in an unrealistic aspect, said Davis, and he enjoys these festivals because of the truth revealed about these ancient peoples’ everyday life. One example that he gave is that the celebration represents a few different types of housing that the Native Americans would have used. He stated that, despite the longstanding stereotype, they did not all live in tepees.
Pamela Saunders, a visitor from Atlanta, expressed her pleasure at attending the event by saying, “It’s a beautiful experience. The dancers are fantastic. There has been some very powerful drumming. You can hear it all the way out to the mounds.”
Freddy Wilnoty, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee who reside in North Carolina, came to the event with some other Nunnehi warriors. These warriors performed two shows for the audience presenting what Wilnoty called social dances. He said that these dances are animal dances that give “honor back to the animals who help us live.”
Wilnoty agreed with Davis concerning the representation the media conveys toward Native Americans.
“There’s a lot of misinterpretation out and about, and so we come here to educate people.”
Wilnoty expressed his desire to strip any stereotypes and help teach people about Cherokee history.
When asked about the special qualities of this particular celebration compared to the ones that have happened in previous years, Davis said, “Everyone is totally unique.”
He expressed how every one of the annual events might seem the same, but he said that every one has special qualities that make it different and unique from previous years.
“There’s nothing really special about them, but they all are special,” said Davis.
(09/13/14 6:27pm)
The Southern Conference is not the only exciting thing that is happening on Mercer’s campus this season. The Mercer Maniacs are also beginning a new division by allowing girls to “paint up” during sporting events.
A new Mercer Maniac, Victoria Rexhausen, said, “I think it adds to the atmosphere, and I feel like now that some girls have gone ahead and done it, then they’re going to have more and more girls asking to paint up in the future.”
Blaze Jeffery, the president of Mercer Maniacs, spoke on behalf of the Maniacs about this issue. In the past, girls were not allowed to paint up during the games because the Maniacs could not find a way to do it with elegance, but Jeffery says they have created a solution. The girls are now allowed to paint up as long as they wear black shorts and a black sports bra.
Alexandra Milam, one of the first girls to paint up with the Maniacs, stated, “You see less than if you went to like the beach or the pool.”
Rexhausen displayed her shock on the matter saying, “I was actually really surprised when I found out that we were some of the first girls to do it because…at my high school everyone painted up.”
Along with this being the first year for girls to paint up, the Maniacs have had a successful season so far with around 300 people attending the first events and about 300 students sign up for the Maniacs in general.
“It’s a good mixture of different kinds of people with all different ages,” Rexhausen explained.
Milam, Rexhausen, and Liz Dreggors, another new addition to the Maniacs, all expressed their delight in attending the games and events and becoming more involved in Mercer’s athletics.
Dreggors conveyed her pleasure by saying, “I’ve really enjoyed tailgating with the Maniacs, and I love their enthusiasm at the football games, and it’s just been a lot of fun.”
The Maniacs hope to give the athletic teams the support they deserve from their fellow classmates by encouraging them through chants and being at every game.
“It’s so much fun to cheer on your football team, and it means so much to them that I think it’s really important that we do so,” Rexhausen said.
President Blaze Jefferey of the Mercer Maniacs said he wants to include everyone who desires to participate.
“We’ve always had girls in the Mercer Maniacs for sure. We definitely want to have more…
Basically, everybody’s a Mercer Maniac already, but we’d like to see more people involved with us on a regular basis.”
(09/10/14 9:46pm)
To kick off their entrance into the Southern Conference, Mercer University hosted the SoCon Fest on the Black Field on Friday, September 5, 2014. The night included food from the Bear’s Den, many tents representing different organizations, and live music provided by the bands sunDollars and The Revivalists.
Many students attended the event to eat at the infamous Bears Den.
Mercer sophomore, Blossom Thao, stated, “The food was really good… I saw a lot of people eating macaroni and cheese and peach cobbler, and they said it was really good too.”
Noah Still, also a Mercer student, commented on all of the organizations that were represented at the event, such as the Georgia Lottery, saying that they were advertising their $1,000 give away and handing out “freebies.”
The music began with a band who originated out of Macon, Georgia called sunDollars. Their band consists of Sean Williams, Jacob Bruner, Steven Coley, and Patrick McAfee. The band started with Jacob and Steven who had played together in many different bands. Jacob worked with Patrick, and when Jacob learned of his enjoyment of music, he asked him to be in a band. Sean came on the scene when he went to Jacob and Patrick’s work to play some instruments with his dad. Since they realized his talent, they asked him to join as well.
When they were asked why they decided to play at the SoCon Fest, McAfee said, “We love community events…We are real pumped to be here and see [Mercer] kind of stepping up a little bit, as far as making their way into the Southern Conference.”
Although this was the last show the band had planned, they are hoping to release an album at the turn of the year.
Bruner said, “We know we haven’t put out as much as we probably should have, being together for as long as we have, so we are ready to just have a massive outpour of music.”
They also gave their website, sundollars.bandcamp.com, if anyone wants to listen to their music.
The Revivalists also played at the celebration. Their band includes David Shaw, Ed Williams, Rob Ingraham, Zack Feinberg, George Gekas, and Andrew Campanelli. The Revivalists originated out of New Orleans when the individual members moved their to go to college or pursue music. Zack found David sitting on a porch playing his guitar and singing while Zack was riding his bike through the neighborhood. He stopped to tell David that he was talented, and a 7 year friendship began.
When asked about where the bands inspiration originates, George, the bass player, answered, “ It’s what we do. It’s who we are. It’s how we exist.”
To add to that, pedal steel guitar player, Ed Williams, said, “We’ve worked this hard to get here because this is all we know how to do. It’s not work to us.”
Although the band was sleep deprived and exhausted from traveling, they presented an amazing show. People were dancing and singing and enjoying the music in front of the stage, and the band seemed to enjoy performing for their fans as well.
As Blossom Thao reminisced on her experience of the evening, she said, “I have to say this was probably my favorite event ever on Mercer campus because I wanted to stay the whole time, and I didn’t want to leave at all.”