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(11/15/18 12:31am)
Student Body President Adam Penland and Vice President Shruthi Vikraman built their platform with a heavy focus on improving course registration, a process many students last year said was slow, complicated and frustrating.
Penland said in an email to The Cluster before registration began that he expected it to “go just as well if not better” than last semester after IT made updates.
“Shruthi and I have been in contact with the IT department, similar to the way the Buckner/Onuh administration did,” he said. “We let IT know of previous problems with registration and have asked them to work with us to make registration faster.”
Students had mixed reactions towards class registration once it began Nov. 5.
“This year seemed similar to last year,” Daniel Tolbert, a senior production major, said. “A little more classes were available just due to my senior priority, but otherwise unchanged.”
For Emily Robertson, a junior history major, registration went smoothly.
“I thought registration this year went pretty well. I only had one minor issue, but the process itself only took about 15 minutes,” she said.
Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Kirk Bay oversees all student information systems, including online registration. Before the process began this fall, he said things hadn’t changed much since the spring semester.
“Basically all the problems that we had last year went away in March,” he said. “Nothing’s really changed.”
For junior holistic child major Jacquelynn Garcia, this was not the case. She said registration was still frustrating.
“I’m actually trying to register right now. It’s going, to be entirely honest, horribly,” she said.
Garcia said she was unable to add classes, and the process took her over 30 minutes.
“This is not efficient,” she said. “I’ve never met a single person that’s had a simple time with this or didn’t go into a full-blown panic and go through three mock schedules.”
Bay said the registration process is complicated, and the large number of students trying to access the site at once can overwhelm it.
He said 958 undergraduates registered for classes on the Macon campus Nov. 5, the first day of priority registration. That’s about a third of the entire campus population.
“It’s slow, but it’s doing a ton of things,” Bay said.
(11/05/18 3:11pm)
United States President Donald Trump arrived at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport Nov. 4 to pledge support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp.
The president said that Kemp’s opponent, Democratic Minority House Leader Stacey Abrams, would endanger the historically red state with socialist policies and lax immigration laws.
“You put Stacey in there, and Georgia will turn into Venezuela. I don’t think the people of Georgia like that,” he said, apparently referring to the Central American nation’s economic crisis under socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Abrams is running a bid to become the nation’s first African-American woman to serve as governor. She plans to grow Georgia’ alternative-energy industry, expand Medicaid and the HOPE scholarship, implement tighter gun laws, loosen marijuana restrictions and create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Trump warned supporters at the rally that Abrams’ policies would enable “illegal aliens” to bring drugs and crime into their cities.
“She’ll make your schools and neighborhoods unsafe and make your jobs disappear like magic,” he said.
On the other hand, Trump said, Kemp would make good on his platform promises to protect the second amendment, ban sanctuary cities, increase rural hospital tax credit programs, block access to abortion and strengthen state borders.
“I know Brian. This guy doesn’t stop,” he told a crowd decked out in red shirts and caps. “This is what you want. He’s an incredible manager. He’s been successful all the way up the line. He’ll bring it to heights you wouldn’t believe.”
Kemp took to the stage to thank President Trump for his support and to remind attendees to vote in the general election Nov. 6.
Supporters from across the South poured into Macon hours early for the rally, which began at 4 p.m. Cars were lined up over a mile down Terminal Drive from the airport, bearing posters with phrases such as “Women for Trump” and “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”
Mercer University sophomore Nathan Butka said he arrived at noon, an hour before doors even opened. For him, the rally was less about the historic election and more about POTUS.
“Going to see the president up close and personal has always been a dream of mine, and the experience exceeded my expectations,” Butka said. “From the moment President Trump stepped off Air Force 1, you could feel the crowd’s energy and pride.”
(11/03/18 4:19pm)
Hurricane Michael swept through Middle Georgia mid-October, prompting closures across the region. Mercer University announced Tuesday, Oct. 9 that undergraduate classes scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 10 would be rescheduled, but students at the Walter F. George School of Law a mile away were still expected to attend regular classes.
Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida panhandle as a Category 4 storm the afternoon of Oct. 10 and, steadily weakening, headed into Macon early the next day.
“Employees and commuting students who live in areas that are impacted more severely than Macon should use their judgment in getting out on Thursday morning (Oct. 11),” the University said in a Facebook post announcing that the law school would remain open.
Larry Brumley, senior communications director and chief of staff, is part of the group of administrators involved in making decisions on when to cancel classes. Safety is the highest priority, he said, but schools are required to schedule a certain number of face-to-face class hours to maintain accreditation.
“It’s complicated,” Brumley said. “We have to balance the issue of personal safety with the fact that students are paying us to get an education here and we have to deliver on that education.”
Brumley said that because fall break for undergraduates started Thursday, the administration decided to give students Wednesday off so they could travel home safely without weather impacting their travels.
“If fall break hadn’t been scheduled on Thursday (and) Friday, we might have made a different decision,” he said. “Hindsight’s 20/20. We probably could have had classes on Thursday and been fine.”
Mercer posted an update Wednesday night announcing that all Mercer campuses in Macon would be closed, including the law school.
“Once we knew the hurricane had made landfall, we had a better projection of what the conditions were going to be like in Macon,” Brumley said. “An influencing factor was the local government’s call on Wednesday night for people to stay off the roads the next day to allow for cleanup.”
Some law students said the decision came too late for them to plan accordingly.
“Thanks for canceling 10 minutes after this tree took out power lines and the front porch of my neighbor's house,” law student Brandi Holland commented on a university Facebook post. “Too late for us to get out now.”
Holland posted a photo of the fallen tree blocking access to the street.
Other students were disappointed about the delay in canceling law school classes.
“Because a large number of students commute to the law school, it's unfair to them for Mercer to delay its decision on matters of personal safety until mere hours before Macon is impacted by the storm,” student Ezra Gantt said in a Facebook comment.
Brumley said it’s always difficult to make a decision regarding campus closures because not all students and faculty will be affected in the same ways.
“You can’t please everyone with these decisions,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to get these decisions 100 percent right every time.”
(10/19/18 2:48am)
Some students have experienced long wait times and other challenges while trying to access services at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) since one of the counselors left Mercer in August.
Junior Bella Rama said she has been asked to wait weeks for an appointment.
“As someone with major depressive disorder, it is crucial for me to be able to get the help I need in a timely manner,” Rama said. “There have been multiple instances where I have to had to wait multiple weeks to get an appointment.”
Students should be able to access services as often as once per week, according to the CAPS page on Mercer University’s website.
Associate Dean for Student Services Stephen Brown said that CAPS is currently understaffed since a counselor, Brent Meyer, left at the beginning of this school year.
“In late August, a counselor who had worked at CAPS for over seven years announced his decision to focus full-time on his outside business,” Brown said.
Brown said that while Mercer wishes Meyer well, his departure left the CAPS office with some challenges in scheduling appointments for students in an efficient manner.
“As such, there may be some wait time to see a counselor during the busy parts of the semester,” Brown said.
Not all students have been able to find times that work for them. One sophomore who did not want to reveal her name said that she saw Meyer at CAPS regularly last year, but this semester, she has not been able to schedule an appointment with another counselor.
“I tried to make an appointment this year and was left on hold by the receptionist, she’s new this year, for 15 minutes,” she said. “I had to go to class, so I gave up. Since I’ve called back twice and been put on hold for similar amounts of time, so I’ve yet to get an appointment this year.”
She said that she was not offered help in finding a new therapist or creating a new schedule after Meyer left Mercer.
“His patients were never told what to do or how to go about matching with another counselor,” she said. “I figured they would have hired another counselor by now, especially because some people are uncomfortable seeing a certain gender and as of now there are only females in the office.”
CAPS has hired two temporary, part-time therapists while they search for a new full-time replacement for Meyer, according to Brown’s email.
Rama said CAPS has been unable to provide the help she needed in other ways, too.
After being told to wait a week for an appointment during a rough patch last semester, she tried to access mental health resources on the CAPS website.
“There was nothing there except a blank page that stated the website was being ‘updated.’ It still hasn’t been updated, by the way,” she said. “The lack of resources provided and amount of time it takes to get an appointment is extremely disappointing.”
If the situation is an emergency, students are encouraged to tell CAPS when scheduling an appointment, as CAPS will move up appointments to accommodate these situations. CAPS can also refer students to off-campus services.
(10/15/18 10:37pm)
The candidates for state superintendent will debate the future of Georgia’s public schools at the Mercer University School of Medicine auditorium Oct. 16.
Otha Thornton Jr., a Democrat, will challenge incumbent Republican Richard Woods for the superintendent seat in the Nov. 6 election.
Thornton is a military contractor and the first black president of the National Parent-Teacher Association, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He served in Iraq and worked as communications personnel director for the White House.
He opposes the recent push from some leading conservatives to arm teachers with guns, a decision Woods told the AJC should be made at a local level.
Thornton supports increasing funds for public education, while Woods prioritizes school choice and increasing flexibility in standardized testing methods.
In his platform, Woods also rejects federal education regulations and advocates for states to make individual decisions on topics ranging from school lunches to bathroom policies for transgender students.
The two candidates will face off Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
While Mercer is hosting the event, several civic advocacy and education groups in Macon and Atlanta will sponsor it. The Macon chapter of The League of Women Voters is one organization involved in bringing this piece of the democratic process to Mercer.
Voter Service Chair Carolyn Hargrove said the non-partisan organization is bringing the debate to a college campus to motivate young voters.
“Forums and debates are two ways we educate voters about candidates and issues. We also have a long history of voter registration,” she said in an email.
The League is sponsoring the debate not to support a particular candidate, but to educate voters, Hargrove said.
“We strongly encourage Mercer students to attend,” she said.
(10/09/18 2:22am)
Mercer University reported a decline in campus crime during 2017, according to a report released last month. The annual Campus Crime Report, officially called the Annual Crime Awareness & Campus Security Report and Annual Fire Safety Report, was published Sept. 28. The report covers each calendar year from 2015 to 2017.
Universities are required to release such information under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act.
The Campus Crime Report provides statistical data for the number of criminal and hate offenses involving Mercer University students and lists the number of disciplinary proceedings initiated due to infractions involving weapons, drugs and alcohol.
The data below refers to incidents reported on the Macon undergraduate campus.
Sexual crimes
There were seven instances of rape on campus in 2017, which was a decrease from 2016. Ten rapes were reported in 2016 and seven in 2015. All but one occurred in student housing in this time period.
One report of fondling was made in 2017 and one in 2016, down from the five cases in 2015. Almost every instance occurred in on-campus residences.
Robbery and burglary
There were no robberies in 2017, down from the two in 2016 and the singular occurrence in 2015.
However, burglaries were much more common; in 2017, nine crimes were reported, a slight decrease from the 11 in 2016. This rate increased from the five counts in 2015. Six of the burglaries in 2016 and three of the burglaries in 2017 occurred in campus residences.
Motor vehicle theft
There were four occurrences on campus in 2017, down from nine in 2016 but equal to the four in 2015.
Aggravated assault
The report lists one case of aggravated assault on campus in 2017 and one in 2015. Neither occurred in student housing.
Arson
There were five counts of arson in 2016, and two occurred in student residences.
Domestic and dating violence
Domestic violence experienced a downward trend. The report lists one count in 2015 and two the year after, but none in 2017.
However, the number of dating violence offenses has increased each year. There were 10 counts in 2017, six in 2016 and five in 2015.
Domestic violence is defined for the purpose of annual campus crime statistics as “felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse of the victim,” by someone who has a child with the victim, or another situation involving family, according to the report.
Stalking
Stalking rates fluctuated slightly. There were five occurrences in 2017, eight in 2016 and seven in 2015.
Hate offenses/
Hate offenses are crimes motivated by “race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, disability, ethnicity, (or) national origin,” according to the report. There is one hate offense, a count of vandalism in an on-campus residence, listed in 2016.
Arrests
Only one arrest was made on campus. This was a charge for carrying or possessing a weapon in 2017.
An arrest was made off-campus in 2015 for drug abuse.
(10/05/18 6:18pm)
The Student Government Association (SGA) responded to feedback from campus organizations at the Senate meeting Oct. 1.
They discussed the initial results of the new campus outreach program designed by Campus Outreach Committee Chair Hayes Rule, which assigns senators to attend specific student organizations’ meetings and act as a liaison to SGA.
Senator-at-Large Vanessa Alva shared her experience spending time with Mercer’s LGBTQ+ group, Common Ground, as part of the initiative.
“At the end I spent time with some of the officers, and we spoke about ways in which we can improve our communication with them, and they expressed their concern over how SGA has dealt with them in the past,” Alva said. “They’re just excited with this initiative that Senator Rule is doing to better communicate with them and with other (organizations) in general.”
Senators not participating in specific organization outreach will be working on one-on-one outreach, meaning they will approach students on campus to ask them questions individually.
SGA will also work with and assist student groups directly next week during the annual “Bear Grant Senate” Oct. 8.
Fiscal Affairs Committee Chair Vikram Lokasundaram said that 25 organizations will attend to hear the result of their applications for funding through Bear Grants.
Senior Class President Jabril Edmondson said SGA is also planning to issue a short survey to students to gauge reactions to some of the ideas addressed in Senate meetings this year.
These include sleeping pods, electric scooters, power outlets in the Connell Student Center study area and charging stations in the University Center.
(10/02/18 12:52pm)
Mercer University’s Student Government Association (SGA) recognized five new student groups as official campus organizations Sept. 24.
Be The Light
Be The Light is a volunteer tutoring program that has been in operation for about a year. Members help local children with homework in an after-school program in a local church from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday evenings.
Volunteers help with homework during the first hour and assist with serving the dinner provided by the church during the second hour, said Jordan Barnett, the Be The Light representative present at the meeting.
“I think the kids really enjoy it, having the extra help outside of school, especially with a lot of their parents still having to be at work and not being able to put the time into their homework, so I think it’s been very great for them,” Barnett said.
After Dean of Students Doug Pearson advised SGA to avoid approving “redundant” organizations, Junior Sen. Chase Peplin raised concerns that Be The Light’s mission was very similar to those of two existing tutoring programs, Bear Buds and Mercer Mentors.
“We actively try to avoid redundancy,” Peplin said. “I don’t necessarily have a problem with this being passed, but we’re supposed to be avoiding redundancy, just for the sake of efficiency.”
Student Life and Organizational Affairs Committee Chair and Junior Class President Emily Harvey said that Be The Light differs from Bear Buds as the latter has a strong focus on researching literacy rates.
Sophomore Class President Jadon Murad said Mercer Mentors is comprised of male students of color selected by the Student Support Services Office who are sent to Macon schools to work with men and boys.
Both of the existing tutoring initiatives take place in schools during the day, while Be The Light takes place in an after-school setting and is the only one that comes with a food component.
Freshman Sen. Harrison Ivens said that similarities between educational outreach organizations should not matter.
“As far as education goes, redundancy may be an issue, but I don’t think we can reach redundancy in education,” Ivens said. “It’s educating children, it’s service, and that’s really one of the biggest things we support here at Mercer is serving the community.”
The organization was approved unanimously by a voice vote.
The Bear Market
Sen. Harvey introduced The Bear Market.
“It’s not what it sounds like,” she said. “It’s not like Mulberry Market or anything like that. It is a very interesting and what I think is a needed organization on our campus.”
President and Founder Sachin Khurana said The Bear Market will be a quarterly business newsletter covering news in finance, economics and sports business. It will also cover general international news that pertains to these fields.
The Bear Market is not a marketplace for trade but a play on words, Khurana said. In economics, a bear market describes a period of time when stock prices fall and a market begins to spiral downward. Investors face serious losses, encouraging selling.
A member of several business organizations and a former member of SGA’s Fiscal Affairs Committee, Khurana said he is passionate about finance and did not see anything like The Bear Market on Mercer’s campus.
The organization was approved unanimously by a voice vote without discussion.
Gamma Iota Sigma
Gamma Iota Sigma is an international business fraternity for students of insurance, risk management and actuarial sciences, according to its website.
Sen. Harvey said the organization differs significantly from Mercer’s existing business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi, and that students can be a member of both groups.
President Matthew Paschal said the organization fits a specific need and would “complement” the new Risk Management and Insurance track offered for finance majors in the Stetson School of Business and Economics.
The organization was approved unanimously by a voice vote without discussion.
Mercer Pre-Dental Club
Grant Shelton, co-president, said the inspiration for the Mercer Pre-Dental Club came from a lack of resources for Mercer students interested in pursuing dentistry.
“My experience as a pre-dental student was mostly just finding seniors and juniors and sophomores above me that were pre-dental and asking them for help,” Shelton said. “This is basically an organization purely just to make that process easier as well as kind of expose students to dentistry as a whole and encourage collaboration with an orientation towards service.”
Shelton said the organization already has some events planned.
“It’s one of those things that was brought up and I was like, ‘why don’t we already have this?’” Harvey said.
The organization was approved unanimously by a voice vote without discussion.
The Association of Global Health
Sen. Harvey said former Heritage Life Committee Chair Ashila Jiwani began laying the groundwork for this organization last semester, the spring of her senior year, but graduated before the paperwork could go through.
“We really wanted to pick up where Ashila left off last year with the Association of Global Health,” President Lauren Caggiano said. “There’s not anything like this for the (International and Global Studies) department, and particularly for global health majors, and there’s a lot of us now. The major is rapidly growing.”
The Association of Global Health plans to promote awareness of global health disparities in Macon and internationally as well as provide information about the major.
The organization was approved unanimously by a voice vote.
(09/29/18 1:48am)
Mercer University’s freshman class of 2022 follows recent trends in boasting significant growth, impressive diversity statistics and high academic qualifications compared to other regional colleges and universities.
Academics
Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management Kelly Halloway said that this class is not only the largest in Mercer history but the most academically qualified as well.
She said that of the 973 freshmen, the average SAT score was 1288, the average ACT score was 28 and the average Mercer-recalculated GPA stood at 3.92.
“This is something that we’re really excited about with growth. Also, to have that academic rigor and that academic standard upheld is really, really meaningful in higher education,” Halloway said.
About 59 percent of applicants were accepted, and around 27 percent of those enrolled.
Fields of study
Halloway said that, as usual, the highest percentage of students plan to pursue majors in natural and physical science, and most are on a pre-health track. Those pursuing engineering fields come in a close second.
The largest growth area this year was within the business school, Halloway said. A higher percentage of incoming students plan to major in one of the 10 offerings in the Stetson School of Business, making business majors the third most popular among the class of 2022.
Halloway said that new programs and offerings helped spark that interest.
“There are new majors within the business school, so we have the Sports Marketing and Analytics [and] the Entrepreneurship,” Halloway said. “I think that the Innovation Center is really, really getting a lot of buzz, and it’s attracting a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs.”
The fourth-largest subset of students are coming in undecided, she said.
Diversity
Halloway said that compared to Georgia’s large state universities, “our diversity statistics are just incredible. Our class this year is 55 percent white/Caucasian, 45 percent minority population, so we almost have a 50/50 split … African-American is almost 20 percent of our incoming class.”
Over 20 percent of Mercer’s class of 2022 are first-generation college students.
About 2 percent are international students, which Halloway said is an area Mercer hopes to improve upon going forward.
“We are an institution that really embraces a diverse population, and I think that when students come to campus and they see that, they are attracted to that,” she said.
Halloway said that these numbers are consistent with previous years, and while this class boasts impressive quantitative statistics, its members truly shine in more qualitative assessments.
“This class comes in with a significant amount of leadership and service, which really aligns with our mission,” she said. “Yes, we’re proud of the diversity statistics, we’re proud of the academic statistics, but more than anything, we’re proud that we’re recruiting Mercerians.”
Looking ahead
Halloway said that for the upcoming year, Mercer will transition from a rolling admissions policy to an early-action deadline Oct. 15 with a “decision day” beginning Nov. 5.
Previously, students received decisions within a few weeks of submitting their application.
Halloway said this change will allow the admissions office more time to evaluate applications and “to look at them as a group.” Another benefit, she said, is giving students a special moment to look forward to.
She said the school is following through on long-standing plans to stick to continued, but measured, growth.
“Where we ended up was where we expected to be. We do have housing for all of our incoming freshmen,” she said. “We do have housing for everyone. There is parking on campus, there are parking spots on campus -- they just might not be right in front of the building.”
Inspire: Mercer’s Vision for the Decade Ahead is the 10-year strategic plan for Mercer University, written and released by its board of trustees in the spring of 2018.
The section on measured growth reads: “Mercer will continue to increase traditional undergraduate enrollment from 3,253 to 3,750 students because we believe in the educational experience here, and we believe the world needs more Mercerians.”
(09/29/18 12:39am)
A new shopping center is slated to open at 1625 Bass Road next fall with a variety of retail stores under the name “North Macon Plaza.”
Michael Cohn is president of Berkley Development, the Atlanta-based company going in on the project alongside joint venture partner The Sembler Company.
“What I like about the mix of stores is it covers all spectrums of retail, (including) apparel, domestics, arts and crafts and home decor,” Cohn said to The Telegraph. “There is about 30,000-40,000 square feet of local shop space, which we expect to lease to restaurants users and health and wellness users to fully round out our mix.”
So far, the shopping center is expected to contain Marshall’s/Homegoods, Michael’s, Beall’s Outlet, Old Navy, Five Below, Famous Footwear and Lifeway Christian Resources.
A left turn lane will be added on the intersection of Bass Road and Bass Pro Shops near Starcadia Circle, according to 13WMAZ.
The Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission approved the plans for the 166,465-square-foot shopping center in March. It will take up 19 acres between Bass Pro Shops and The Shoppes at River Crossing, according to The Telegraph.
North Macon Plaza will not have any big-box retailers (such as Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and yes -- Target) but instead up to 12 smaller shops.
This is partly because many popular chain stores are downsizing their franchise locations as online shopping becomes more popular and partly because the developers are interested in keeping the plaza flexible.
“Due to the fact that ‘big box’ retailers have significantly downsized their store footprints, there will not be one giant retailer anchoring this center,” Cohn said. “Instead, this center will have modest-sized store footprints that can easily be repurposed as the retailing environment inevitably changes through the years.”
The planning & zoning commission has heard plans for the space, which is owned by Macon’s Fickling & Co, since 2005, but did not approve previous applications.
WMAZ reported that some critics feel another shopping center is a poor use of space and money in the era of digital shopping. Others worry that it will worsen traffic in the busy commercial area along Bass Road.
(09/17/18 4:01am)
The Mercer University Student Government Association (SGA) reconvened Monday and announced summer projects responding to student concerns from last year as well as plans for the upcoming semester.
New changes in place include a 24/7 micro-market in Tarver Library, a Mongolian grill in the Fresh Food Company and more hands-on methods for senators to engage with the student body. In addition, there are plans to bring sleeping pods to campus in the near future.
Former Contract Services Committee Chair and current Campus Outreach Committee member Chase Peplin said that the food-related changes were made over the summer in response to student requests for increased dining hours and vegetarian or vegan food options.
After extensive conversation with Mercer’s primary food provider, Aramark, Peplin said SGA was able to build an extended breakfast bar and a Mongolian Grill, which provides additional meatless alternatives in the Fresh Food Company.
“Probably the biggest concern that Contract Services and SGA, in general,
SGA announces summer projects, plans for the year at first Senate meeting of the semester
got from students was a 24-hour dining option,” Peplin said. “Dining hours are kind of hit-or-miss sometimes depending on the day, so in response to that, we have a 24-hour dining option, Provisions on Demand (POD) Express, in the library.”
He said POD Express is a self-checkout food option near the 24-hour study rooms that accepts Bear Bucks, cash and credit or debit card payments. The micro-market cannot accept dining dollars because it is not a part of the same system as the other POD stores on campus and is not contracted through Aramark.
“It’s not a full-functioning restaurant, but it’s a step in the right direction, and that’s how progress is made,” Peplin said.
Other major changes for the year come from the Campus Outreach Committee.
Committee Chair Hayes Rule said the Action Plan Committee, a subset of Campus Outreach, intends to purchase two sleeping pods to be located in a central area of campus.
“Essentially, this is a place for students to take a nap for 20, 30 minutes, whether it be in between class, or if you’re a commuter student and you don’t want to go back to your house in between classes, or if you’re in the library late at night,” Rule said.
Rule said that former Dean of Tarver Library Beth Hammond approved the idea, but after her retirement at the end of last semester, he must work with Interim Dean Scott Gillies to determine if it is still possible.
If the library is not a viable location for the pods, Rule said the Committee is considering the Connell Student Center but remains open to student suggestions.
“We want to allow students, obviously, to get sleep. We believe that is an important part of your college experience and doing well in college,” Rule said.
Rule also said that SGA’s office hours requirements will look different this year.
Previously, senators were required to spend one hour each week making themselves available to the student body by stationing themselves in the SGA office in the library or at a whiteboard on campus or by approaching students for one-on-one discussions.
The new office hours program will send senators to sit in on other campus organizations’ meetings to serve as a representative and liaison.
Rule said the program is based upon “the concept of going out and being with the students, serving students, and getting to know them on a personal level” as well as “representing them better and showing our faces out on campus.”
He said 45 student organizations have signed up to have a senator attend their meetings.
“We feel like that’s what we as a SGA need to do, and not only do, but do better than we have in the last few years,” he said.”
The expansion of this program stems from previous attempts last year under former Student Life and Organizational Affairs Committee Chair Michael Smith, who reported receiving limited responses from student groups.
Rule said that while he also wants senators to help organizations address the issues they may be facing, he wants to focus on getting them engaged in what the student body is involved in.
“I want you to have a vested interest in them,” Rule told the Senate. “Show these students that you’re interested and that you care about them.”
In addition to announcing these new programs, SGA approved a $1,674 Conference & Lodging request from The Dulcimer, Mercer’s award-winning literary magazine, to attend the National College Media Convention in Kentucky.
The Student Government Association meets Mondays at 6:30 p.m. on the third floor of Connell Student Center. The meetings are open to the public.
(09/15/18 5:06pm)
The Zeta Omega chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and the Eta chapter of Sigma Nu at Mercer University will not be allowed to invite potential new members to join this semester, according to an email Thursday from Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) Advisor James Hulett.
“On behalf of the Office of Campus Life, I need to inform you all that (these) chapters will not be participating in Preference Night or Bid Day this year,” Hulett’s email said. “These chapters are not able to offer bids to students, formally or informally, this semester.”
In a separate email, Hulett said that “one of the chapters in question has recently been found responsible for violating both IFC recruitment guidelines and the student code of conduct.”
Lambda Chi Alpha has also been placed on social probation for the fall semester in addition to losing a pledge class this semester.
“They have the opportunity to take a class in the spring provided they comply with the sanctions set out by the Office of Student Conduct Resolution,” Hulett said.
For a student organization on social probation, “all or a portion of social functions must cease for a designated period of time,” according to the Mercer University Student Handbook.
If an organization violates the Code of Conduct further while on probation, they will face harsher sanctions, suspension or even expulsion.
Hulett said that Sigma Nu will also not be allowed to give bids and “is on interim suspension while an investigation occurs regarding a violation of the student code of conduct.”
Interim suspensions may be imposed “in certain circumstances involving a student or organization’s actions that may affect the safety, health, or general welfare of the student or the university community,” according to the Handbook.
Organizations on interim suspension may not participate in events on campus while the investigation is underway.
“Due to interim suspension, the chapter will not be able to further participate in formal IFC recruitment activities,” Hulett said.
Director of Student Life and Student Involvement Carrie Ingoldsby, who oversees Mercer’s Fraternity and Sorority Programs, declined to comment Wednesday.
(09/02/18 11:55pm)
The interim executive director of Mercer University’s TRIO programs and minority affairs has officially assumed the position. Tracy Artis will now lead the five services that exist under the TRIO umbrella.
TRIO refers to federally-funded services that focus on the retention of and continued assistance for three major groups of students: first-generation and low-income students as well as those with disabilities.
Mercer’s TRIO programs include Opportunity Scholars (OS) and Minority Mentors for undergraduate Macon students through Student Support Services (SSS), two Upward Bound tutoring initiatives for middle Georgia high schoolers and one Educational Opportunity Center for adult students.
“Each of them are focused on increasing enrollment or maintaining enrollment,” Artis said. “However, the focus of our two Student Support Services is to work mainly with Mercer University students who come from underrepresented populations.”
One major change Artis has implemented this year involves the expansion of Opportunity Scholars.
Previously, OS provided first-generation, low-income and disabled first-years a chance to move in a week earlier than the rest of their class. They attend special programming to help them acclimate, such as mock classes and tours of Macon.
OS is now a year-long outreach initiative staffed by previous participants in the program.
“After they transition after the first week, they have the opportunity to become Opportunity Scholars Fellows,” she said. “We’re pairing them up now with what we call our Opportunity Scholars Ambassadors, and they will just check in with them regularly throughout the academic year.”
Sophomore Tommy Truong is a first-generation college student who participated in OS in 2017. This year, he is serving as an OS Ambassador.
Truong said the program helped him get used to a college schedule and find his way around campus before the rush of move-in day, and he wanted to help incoming freshmen ease into college as well. He said the new expansion will help him do that effectively.
“During the week (of OS), we would help the freshmen get accustomed to life at Mercer,” he said. “A lot of questions were answered, a lot of them were nervous.”
Artis also plans to help provide more opportunities to students off the Macon campus. She is establishing a partnership with Penfield College, Mercer University’s primary adult learning center, to offer three free classes per semester for qualifying students to help ease the burden of tuition costs.
“Again, the goal is to look at increasing retention rates here among the students,” she said.
The first-year retention rate for students at Mercer’s Regional Academic Centers who were assisted by TRIO programs was 95 percent for the 2016-2017 year, Artis said.
On the Macon undergraduate campus that same year, the retention rate for students enrolled in SSS programs was 93 percent, and the graduation rate was 89 percent.
The overall first-year retention rate on the Macon campus was 87.6 percent in 2015, and the graduation rate was just 64 percent between 2008 and 2011, according to the university website.
Artis also said that her office plans to bring new expansions to Upward Bound, which provides tutoring and other support to high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds in order to help them complete secondary education and enroll in college.
The summer component of Upward Bound at Mercer University has been reorganized, Artis said, and she is working to start new initiatives for leadership development. She hopes, too, to create a mentoring program through which Mercer undergraduates can help high school seniors navigate the college admissions process.
“I am just passionate about the programs and what the goals are in terms of representing and helping underrepresented students to actually enter and complete college,” she said.
(08/27/18 11:33pm)
The Mercer School of Medicine (MSUM) opened a primary care center in Plains, Georgia, this summer to address the lack of health care services after the closure of the Plains Medical Center in March. The center also provides specialty care, mental health services, gynecological services, x-rays and more.
Students and faculty from Mercer’s medical school, nursing school, college of pharmacy and college of health professions will be involved in providing services, according to Mercer News.
“Mercer Medicine Plains is a fantastic opportunity to meet Mercer University School of Medicine’s mission to serve the underserved in rural Georgia,” Charles Duffey, chief operating officer of Mercer Medicine, said to Mercer News.
The Plains clinic is a test-run for other rural care centers that may be established in the future. The project will also include a research component through MUSM’s Department of Community Medicine, which will conduct a community health assessment on the rural population the clinic will serve.
Wesley Durrance is a Mercer medical student who will spend at least four years practicing medicine in rural communities post-graduation as a stipulation of his scholarship to the medical school.
“The people in rural Georgia suffer from poverty, they suffer from lack of access to health care right now, and they suffer from lack of education, in terms of proper nutrition and medical education,” Durrance said to The Telegraph.
The Telegraph also reported that seven rural hospitals closed in Georgia in 2010, and only two states closed more than Georgia during that year.
When the medical center in Plains closed, former United States President and current Mercer Life Trustee Jimmy Carter reached out to Mercer to suggest establishing a clinic to address the crisis in his hometown.
Just four months later, the clinic opened to the public at 107 Main St. in downtown Plains. Appointments are almost fully booked through October.
“The fundamental premise behind this clinic is that folks in rural Georgia put food on our table. They’re the backbone of our state, and they deserve the same access to quality health care as everyone else in the state of Georgia,” Mercer University President William Underwood said.
“That’s the mission of our medical school, and this clinic in Plains represents part of a broad-ranging initiative by the University to transform access to health care in this state.”
President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter helped lead the grand opening of Mercer Medicine Plains Aug. 22.
“Graduates at Mercer stay in state and practice at about twice the national average, and of those who practice in Georgia, about 80 percent choose to stay in a community that’s either rural or underserved,” President Carter said to Mercer News.
(08/16/18 2:30pm)
Starting this fall, Mercer University will now use the label Fraternity and Sorority Programs (FSP) instead of “Greek life” to refer to its 12 fraternities and 8 sororities. The name change comes during a national push for Greek-letter organizations to adopt more inclusive policies.
These organizations will be encouraged to adopt the term but will not be required to do so, said Director of Campus Life and Student Involvement Carrie Ingoldsby.
Ingoldsby said that while Campus Life will encourage students to use the FSP label, the office is “not placing any sort of formal requirement on chapters” to use the term or penalizing the use of common phrases such as “Go Greek.”
An email sent to fraternity and sorority leadership in July said that Campus Life and Student Affairs made the change for several reasons, the first being that “using the term ‘Greek’ to describe a fraternity or sorority ignores the fact that not all fraternities and sororities are Greek-letter organizations. Examples include Acacia, Fiji and Triangle.”
All three examples are collegiate men’s social fraternities. Acacia is a small fraternity of 28 chapters and chose a Greek word for their name rather than the traditional group of letters.
Fiji is the nickname for Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, which maintains 151 chapters. While it is a Greek-letter organization, they said that they try to avoid reference by letters alone or by the slang term “Fiji” outside of casual speech.
“When our Fraternity is named in campus or interfraternity publications, we prefer the full spelling of Phi Gamma Delta rather than the use of the Greek letters or the nickname Fiji,” their website reads.
Triangle is a fraternity with 29 chapters for male students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.
The name “was chosen to represent the strength of the shape used in design work in the field of civil engineering” and is more representative of the fraternity’s priorities than Greek letters, according to the official Triangle website.
All fraternities and sororities at Mercer University are denoted by Greek letters.
The email also said that membership in fraternities and sororities “does not signal heritage from the country of Greece” and that use of the term “Greek life” contributes to division among campus organizations, referring to the distinction often made between Greek and non-Greek.
In a separate email, Ingoldsby wrote that “most” colleges and universities have made similar changes.
“The Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors (AFA) made the change back in 2007, and asked that all fraternity and sorority advisors make that change so we are about ten years behind that recommendation,” she said.
AFA is an organization of individuals with post-collegiate interest in improving the advisement of fraternities and sororities.
Andrea Starks-Corbin, director of marketing and communications for AFA, said that more general terms are used to promote inclusivity.
“I wasn't able to locate the exact resolution of the change,” Starks-Corbin said. But “we have always tried to change mentions of Greek life to fraternity/sorority life unless it is an official office title (Office of Greek Life at ABC University).”
The AFA style guide mandates that the terms “fraternal” or “fraternity/sorority” be used to refer to these organizations whenever possible. This is to avoid confusion with Greek nationality and to be inclusive of women’s organizations officially labeled fraternities.
“For instance, I am a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority while my co-worker is a member of Chi Omega Fraternity, both of which are women's organizations,” Starks-Corbin said.
Many comparable and regional universities have implemented similar terminology.
Furman University, Wake Forest University, Emory University, Georgia College & State University, Georgia Southern University and more refer to their systems as “Fraternity and Sorority Life.”
Ingoldsby said this name change is not an attempt by the university to lessen support for Greek-letter organizations or to undermine tradition.
“Chapters should also understand they are still identified as Greek letter organizations. There is not an attempt to erase history or tradition among Greek letter organizations. We are simply using more inclusive and up to date terminology,” she said.
(08/16/18 1:07am)
The Macon Film Festival will return downtown this week for its 13th year, this time with Mercer University as its presenting sponsor. The festival features live screenings of independent films, question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers, after parties and celebrity guests.
Students who present a college ID at the festival headquarters will receive a day pass for free.
Macon Film Festival President Julie Wilkerson said that involving college students in the festival is one if the primary goals of the volunteer-run organization.
“We want to develop a relationship with all our college students,” she said.
As Georgia grows as a space for film production, Wilkerson said she hopes local students can learn about opportunities for careers in film and experience the way technology has begun to revolutionize movies.
For example, she said, the festival has been expanding into virtual reality (VR) and Fulldome films, which are usually used for educational purposes, mainly in science and technology. Now, the Macon Film Festival is challenging these uses and highlighting VR’s ability to serve as an art form.
“We are the first mainstream festival to include Fulldome, and we have both documentary and experimental and narrative films,” Wilkerson said. “They can’t do that at Sundance, or South by Southwest, because there’s not a planetarium.”
Fulldome refers to 360-degree real-time projection in covered dome spaces so viewers are fully physically immersed in the film experience.
Wilkerson said industry professionals are coming from all over the world to experience Fulldome film.
“It’s another way that science, that technology and art have come together to create this immersive film experience. And I really think that’s where a lot of art is going, into that interactive, immersive place,” she said.
Attendees can also participate in workshops on the production of VR and Fulldome films. All festival events will take place in Macon’s historic theatres, venues and museums.
Wilkerson said the festival has come a long way since its inception 13 years ago.
At first, the Macon Film Festival was a project of the Cox Capitol Theatre and inhabited just one venue.
“Really, it was a vision to help downtown back in the day when downtown needed help,” she said. “And to also introduce independent film, which really otherwise wasn’t shown.”
Highlighting independent film was important to festival leaders because the art form is often used to shed light on important personal and regional issues or histories, she said, pointing to a new film this year about southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, who have close ties to middle Georgia and to Macon’s Capricorn Studios.
In 2009, when Georgia was just starting to vie for filmmakers to shoot in the state with tax-credit initiatives, the city of Macon established the Macon Film Commission under the Macon Film Festival.
Wilkerson said members wanted the festival to contribute to that effort by inviting industry professionals to attend and see what resources and filmmakers middle Georgia had to offer, which also supports emerging filmmakers and cultivates community interest in film.
“Oftentimes, the filmmaker’s there, so after the screening there’s a question and answer,” Wilkerson said. “You ever been to a movie and you didn’t really have closure at the end? Well, if the filmmaker were there, you could go ‘hey, why did that happen like that?’”
Giving filmmakers a space to receive feedback and connect with their audience helps launch them into later success. Wilkerson said that one filmmaker who presented his work at the festival early on helped produce “The Help” just two years down the line.
She said that the festival has benefited from new technology and increased interest in Georgia as a place to shoot major productions such as “Baby Driver” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”
“Thirteen years later, we now have five venues to screen films, plus we run a headquarters and a media room, and we have these after-parties,” she said. “It’s amazing how much it has grown.”
(08/14/18 6:30pm)
The Macon Bacon played (and won) their first home game
The new collegiate summer baseball team -- which includes Mercer University students Brandon Michie, Ben Brock, Sean McDermott and Alex Crotty -- played their first home game at the sold-out, recently renovated Luther Williams Field in June. They defeated the Lexington County Blowfish 8-4.
The Bacon, who play as part of the Coastal Plain League, also won their inaugural game against the Savannah Bananas 10-6 at Savannah’s Grayson Stadium the week prior.
Their season will wrap up in August.
The Crisis Line & Safe House opened a center for survivors of domestic violence
The Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia (CL&SH) opened a new center in Macon July 11 to house all of their sexual assault and domestic violence services under one roof. The organization will continue to maintain its crisis hotline and provide psychological counseling and emergency shelter for women and children, but will now offer all of these services and more at the new location (915 Hill Park).
The 24/7 center will staff nurses trained with the specific skills required to address situations of abuse, including the ability to perform “forensic exams,” according to The Telegraph. Staff will also provide comprehensive legal advocacy and assistance to survivors in need.
CL&SH will continue to connect male survivors with off-site resources.
Bragg Jam held their 20th music festival downtown
For two decades, the community music festival has taken over downtown Macon the last weekend in July to highlight southern artists across several venues. Bragg Jam includes a kids festival and an open-air arts market supporting over 70 vendors and food trucks alongside the music.
This year was the first that Bragg Jam hosted a full five-venue concert crawl on Friday night.
Headliners included Athens indie-rock group Family and Friends, Nashville country-rock band The Wild Feathers, and country singer-songwriters Canaan Smith and Riley Green. Altogether, Bragg Jam reports featuring more than 80 artists over two days and around 20 stages.
Jittery Joe’s in Mercer Village closed its doors
The beloved coffee shop served its final customers July 29, days after a sudden Facebook post announced plans for a new business to occupy the space a month later.
Mercer alumnus Shane Buerster will renovate the coffee shop to house a brick-and-mortar component to his social entrepreneurship company, Z Beans Coffee, which he started in 2016 after a Mercer on Mission trip to Ecuador.
The Cluster covered Jittery Joe’s closing and Buerster’s vision for Z Beans in an article for the first issue.
Mike Pence visited town to support a gubernatorial candidate
Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Macon to lead a political rally July 21 in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Secretary of State Brian Kemp, days before the runoff election pitting Kemp against his opponent, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle.
Pence landed at the Macon Regional Airport and traveled to the Wilson Convention Center on Coliseum Drive for the rally, during which he delivered a speech endorsing Kemp. About 1,000 people attended, some traveling to Macon from other Georgia cities, according to The Telegraph.
Pence’s visit came shortly after Kemp received a tweeted endorsement from President Donald Trump. Athens-based Kemp defeated Gainesville’s Cagle in the runoff election July 24 and will face Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in November.
So did Jeff Sessions, but some Maconites protested
United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions held a press conference Aug. 9 at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia to address state law enforcement and attorneys on reducing violent crime.
Reducing national crime rates starts at a local level, Sessions said. He announced that Georgia will receive a $100 million grant to fund services that support victims of violent crime.
This money comes from a newly-approved $3.4 billion federal budget designed to help crime victims recover. Sessions said that $3.3 billion of that fund will come from fines paid by criminals, not taxpayers, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
A group of about 30 Macon residents gathered in protest of Sessions’ appearance. Protestors included members of local organization Georgia Women And Those Who Stand With Us, who oppose President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, and LGBTQ+ activists who view Sessions’ emphasis on “religious liberty” as disguised homophobia.
(04/24/18 4:00pm)
Mercer students and Macon community members had varied reactions to the issues that arose during this year’s Bearstock, such as the cancellation of the outdoor portion.
The daytime concert, which is free and open to the public, was previously scheduled for April 7 in Tattnall Square Park from 1 to 6 p.m. It was canceled the day before due to inclement weather forecasts.
Some non-Mercer students were upset that the public portion was canceled.
Facebook user Emily Michelle Byrd left a one-star review on the event Facebook page after the announcement was made.
“You privatize half of the show and then cancel the only thing left for the public to enjoy? Not impressed,” she wrote.
Several people left angry comments on Bearstock’s announcement post.
User Tori Slaughter wrote, “This is kinda ridiculous. First you cut out the best part to the public. And now the publics (sic) concert gets canceled. Wow.”
QuadWorks left a reply comment announcing that they planned to reschedule the event.
“I think we had always thought to reschedule it, we just used the word ‘canceled,’” Mercer Live Committee Chair Sa’Haara Bryant said. “Just in case something happened where we couldn't reschedule it, we didn't want to confuse people.”
Bryant said that the artists scheduled to appear at the event on April 7 were invited back to perform at the rescheduled concert, which took place April 25 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Cruz Plaza during the Student Government Associations’ annual We Are Mercer event.
The new lineup was Kim Meeks from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., speakers from SGA from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Some Kids from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
Bryant addressed other issues that Mercer students and Macon residents expressed about the event, such as the privatization of the After Dark portion and the way artists are selected.
She said that students received a survey in their Mercer emails asking what genres they would like to see at both the day and night portions of Bearstock. The survey included a space for artist suggestions.
However, Bryant also emphasized that the Mercer Live Committee’s budget does not allow for every popular performer.
"We value students’ input, but they are suggestions,” Bryant said. “A lot of the artists that students suggest we can't actually afford because we don't have that much money, so we try to find a happy medium.”
Regarding the privatization of the Bearstock After Dark portion, Bryant said that this was not a QuadWorks decision.
"That one was actually an administrative decision, because on Tattnall, we'd had issues in the past with some safety concerns dealing with Macon community members,” she said.
Director of Campus Life and Student Involvement Carrie Ingoldsby said in an emailed statement that the decision was made to move half of the concert indoors to “preserve the concert feel for Mercer students and their guests” while prioritizing safety.
“The general safety of Mercer students is our number one priority. As the event grew in attendance each year on Tattnall, safety concerns arose even with added security,” Ingoldsby wrote.
A Cluster article from 2017 found that “there were a lot of crimes reported on campus” during the nighttime portion of Bearstock when it was open to the Macon community.
Then-President of QuadWorks Nate Flowers said these crimes included “armed robberies, apartment break-ins, car break-ins and physical assault.”
(04/04/18 1:27pm)
Pubic hair grooming injuries, the KKK, pantyhose sales, affirmative action, left-handed people, the wage gap, cervical dilation, nepotism, third nipples, the Red Fox population, pizza, the niqab, flu viruses, nose jobs and the probability that your pet will die on a plane: these are all topics that Mona Chalabi, data editor for The Guardian U.S., discussed during the Women’s History Month lecture on March 19 in the President’s Dining Room.
Chalabi’s presentation, titled “Taking the ‘Numb’ Out of Numbers,” focused on her work illustrating and animating data in an effective and interesting, yet indisputable, way.
She said that while data is impossible to deny, it is easily manipulated by individuals with specific agendas. She has spent her career using data visualization to make information accessible and impactful so that anyone can question what they see and make their own decisions about the subject.
Chalabi’s work with images comes from her understanding that statistics often go overlooked or fail to have sufficient impact on the reader in a time when there are abundant social problems that demand public attention.
“There’s something about charts that I think means that people don’t necessarily question them,” Chalabi said. “I want people to learn some (skepticism) about charting. The data that’s underneath it that’s very often emphasized, it’s imperfect and humans have made decisions about how to collect it and present it.”
She said while her charts present reliable data, she chooses to include imagery of the subject to elicit emotion in consumers.
“There’s a bit of an activist in me as well as a journalist,” Chalabi said.
Chalabi spoke about the intersection of politics and journalism in regards to journalists facing the same level of distrust as politicians.
Because of the disconnect between the journalists, Chalabi said it is important to show every step of her process in creating her work. Journalists, she said, are meant to be the informants of the people and citizens who need to make political decisions for themselves.
“There needs to be more ways for us to share our process with the audience so that they can understand how we reach our conclusions,” she said.
Chalabi presented sources where she frequently finds data and showed a video she shared on her Instagram story demonstrating her entire process, including each and every step she took in designing and creating a piece.
To Chalabi, increasing transparency also involves receiving and responding to readers’ feedback about her work, especially regarding social justice data and the representation of marginalized groups.
She said some examples include asking her audience what topics they want her to cover or asks them to choose which of several visualizations she has made makes more sense to them.
Chalabi said she was open about “messing up” in her visualizations. She mentioned a time when some of her followers pointed out to her that she wrote “Hindu” instead of “Hindi” on a visualization which represented languages spoken by a specific community.
She said her response was to take down the art and re-publish an updated version of the piece with an explanation to her audience of what happened.
Mercer freshman Zaira Khan, who attended the lecture, said that she has noticed people on every side of an issue miscommunicate data and that Chalabi’s method of presenting facts should be the norm in politics and activism.
“I think the way that she discussed data analysis in relation to issues is the direction that social justice needs to head towards, and fast,” Khan said.
Aside from her work with The Guardian, Chalabi has analyzed data for the International Organization for Migration, Transparency International and the Bank of England.
After moving to the United States, Chalabi wrote for FiveThirtyEight, a site based on poll analysis and politics, and ran a radio show for the American National Public Radio called “The Number of the Week.”
She has written TV shows for the BBC, National Geographic and VICE and helped create “Vagina Monologues,” a video and interactive-based series through The Guardian that provides sexual education, especially through the lens of women and the LGBTQ+ community.
(03/31/18 2:14pm)
This year’s Bearstock will be held on April 7 at Tattnall Square Park from 1 to 6 p.m., said Mercer Live Committee Chair Sa’Haara Bryant.
“Bearstock is Mercer University’s annual day-long music festival. Bearstock is the biggest event put on by QuadWorks, the campus event planning board at (Mercer University),” reads the event Facebook page.
The 2018 lineup will include Kim Meeks, whose website describes her as “a hybrid of rock, soul, jazz and alternative” music; The Burnt Bridges, a heavy rock band; Simeon, a rapper; Some Kids, a rock band from Warner Robins and 95.waves, a neo-funk five-piece band performing original takes on covers, one member of which is a student of the Townsend School of Music here at Mercer.
In between each 45-minute set, local artist Caleb Brown will paint original pieces as the performers transition.
Bearstock is free and open to the public. Food trucks, local vendors and Bearstock merchandise such as t-shirts, hats and stickers will be available.
Community and Mercer-affiliated businesses and organizations can sign up on this vendor form to sell approved items at the festival.
The event also coincides with the annual Make It Mercer! event for high school students who have been accepted to Mercer and their families. These potential new students are allowed and encouraged to attend as well.
Bryant said this year’s performers were chosen either because they performed last year and indicated interest in doing so again or heard of Bearstock another way and asked to get involved.
QuadWorks responds to these requests by asking performers to send in videos of their work. They then use the videos to determine if they are a good fit for Bearstock.
Bryant said that QuadWorks had just as many performers indicate interest as they had space for this year, but if more performers than they could accomodate reached out, they would be more selective.
Bryant also said that QuadWorks is planning more events for Bearstock, although nothing more has been finalized.
“We are still working on family friendly activities to do during the day portion of the show,” she said.
Anywhere between 4000 to 5000 people are expected to attend.
The indoor portion, Bearstock After Dark, is reserved for Mercer students and approved guests only and will take place in Hawkins Arena immediately following the outdoor portion.
When choosing performers for Bearstock After Dark, Bryant said QuadWorks begins by sending surveys to students to choose the genre they want to see. Then, the Mercer Live Committee finds performers of that genre that the budget can afford and sends invitations.
Doors will open at 7:00 p.m.
Bryant said this is the second year that Bearstock has been split into indoor and outdoor portions. The entire event used to be held outdoors, but Bryant said “it was getting kind of dangerous.”
Bearstock After Dark is free for students who present their BearCard, but their guests—who must register on this form by April 7 at 4:00 p.m.—will be charged $5.