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(03/27/18 4:00pm)
Brycen Higdon, current sophomore and Student Government Association recording secretary, and Ryan May, current junior and wide receiver on the Mercer football team, built their platform on three themes: inclusivity, engagement and innovation.
Inclusivity
They wrote in their platform that they hope to increase awareness of smaller and Mercer-specific organizations by helping them with marketing.
All approved organizations will have access to SGA Public Relations materials, and their platform promises that they will meet with each organization’s representatives on a bi-monthly basis. SGA liaisons will be provided to connect SGA with “predetermined organizations.”
They also plan to facilitate a discussion about reforming general-education requirements, especially concerning pass/fail courses.
Engagement
Higdon said that increasing communication between the student body and SGA would help them advocate for students and accomplish their goals.
“I’ve seen a huge divide between the student body and SGA,” Higdon said. “SGA’s a lobbying firm when it comes to safety, parking, bigger issues like that. The thing about a lobbying firm, if you don’t have people backing you, you don’t have power.”
The Higdon/May ticket plans to move the Senate office into the room currently used for Mail & Document Services in the Connell Student Center to increase accessibility. The platform also says they plan to hold Senate meetings on Cruz Plaza once a month “or spontaneously” and stream each meeting via Facebook Live.
They also plan to continue entertaining the idea of planting SGA members in student organization meetings despite the lack of engagement with that plan this year.
Innovation
This ticket promises to do more to accommodate student-athletes.
They wrote, “We PROMISE that dining hours will change” to suit both the times when athletes are expected to wake up to train and the hours that study areas such as the ARC are open.
They also wrote, “by coordinating with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, we will promote cooperation between our athletic teams and campus student organizations to dramatically increase student-athlete turnout and involvement.”
Other innovation ideas include supporting the Green Coalition, reallocating funds to Academic Affairs to provide rental laptops in Tarver Library, working with students to introduce more vegan and vegetarian options, working with junior James Stair regarding gender neutral housing and funding reparations for the organ in Newton Chapel.
Updates
The Higdon/May platform has been updated since March 24, when some students found that their names had been included in it without consent or prior communication.
Specific student names were removed from the “Innovation” section.
On his own Facebook page, Higdon later apologized for the inclusion of several students’ names.
He wrote, “Our intent was not to assume endorsement, but to show our eagerness and willingness to work with the students and student organizations of Mercer University. In order to do that, we chose to utilize prominent figures, not always Exec members, within organizations; this was to show that we had specific information about each cause that we plan to pursue.”
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Higdon later emphasized further that his team realized that they had made a mistake. He said that he had received “a pretty heated message from a member of Adam’s (Penland) campaign team” who was upset that her name was included in the Higdon/May platform.
He said that after a thirty-minute conversation with this person, the platform was shared in a group message with members of Common Ground, the Mercer gay-straight alliance, urging others to make sure their names had not also been included without consent.
“We had already called everyone that we were worried about, because we had made that a top priority,” Higdon said. “We called them to reconfirm, everyone else was fine. A couple names were taken out because after the post had been made, it scared some people.”
The platform was edited again on March 25 after a student, Johna Wright, identified language that she found offensive.
“Some of the items in this platform are quite offensive and will only perpetuate stereotypes of certain marginalized groups of students on Mercer’s campus,” she wrote in a comment on Higdon’s Facebook post sharing the platform. “We (disabled students) do not have a ‘situation.’ That statement is inferring that all disabled students face identical challenges on campus, which is simply not true.”
Higdon responded, “We do need help understanding the situations of other students, and that’s why focus on having genuine conversations with students.” He wrote that he incorporated Wright’s “advice” into the platform.
Voting
The full Higdon/May platform can be found on a document shared by Higdon.
Voting will take place March 28-29.
(03/16/18 10:35am)
The parking deck previously scheduled to be constructed by the Science and Engineering Building (SEB) will no longer be built due to high costs, but the deck planned for Mercer University Drive next to the new Lofts is still underway.
Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications Larry Brumley said that originally, there were plans to build both decks to combat student concerns about parking in light of campus growth.
“The construction bids on the parking deck that was slated to be built next to the science and engineering building came in twice as high as what had been projected, due in large part to significant increases in the cost of concrete,” said Brumley in an email.
The university still began work on a 320-car parking deck on Mercer University Drive across from the Drake Field House this semester.
The deck is part of the new Lofts at Mercer Landing II project, which will also add 300 additional beds when completed. Brumley said the project will be finished by the start of the fall 2019 semester.
Brumley said that this parking deck is “the only one planned for the near term,” although other locations have been considered for the future.
“As part of long-term planning, other sites around campus have been studied as potential locations for future parking decks, but no definitive plans have been made,” Brumley wrote in a second email.
Last semester, the Student Government Association Campus Safety and Improvement Committee Chair Grant Denton said that the administration planned to construct a 300-car parking deck by Orange Field.
He said that construction was to begin on Jan. 1 of this year and finish by the fall 2018 semester, but this plan was also shelved due to expenses.
Denton said that Physical Plant Director Russell Vullo told him that “the cost was high and other projects were competing for funds.”
Some students feel that the location by the Lofts does not take into consideration the issues they have had with parking as campus has grown.
“There is plenty of parking for the freshmen behind MEP, but it’s on the other side of campus from most upperclassmen dorms or classes,” said Porter Hall resident Nicole Nelson. “Adding another parking garage by the Lofts is just more parking that’s out of the way and inconvenient.”
Freshman Kayla Mamrick said that the location of this parking deck will not address student parking problems.
“I don't understand what admin thinks they'll gain from putting the parking deck across from the field house,” she said. “As far as I can tell, that parking lot is never full on weekdays, but the one by freshman dorms (and SEB) is always full, especially during the day.”
Mamrick said that students will drive their cars from the new Lofts to the already full parking spaces elsewhere on campus.
“There is definitely not enough parking on campus for students,” she said.
In a previous article, the Cluster found that Mercer Police issued 800 more parking decals than there are parking spaces available on campus, which is common for universities because not all students are on-campus at the same time.
Brumley said in his email that Mercer has enough parking to accommodate all students.
“While (SEB) certainly would have provided more convenient parking, the University still has ample parking on and immediately adjacent to campus to handle our current and near-term needs,” Brumley wrote in an email.
(03/03/18 6:16pm)
Mercer University’s Student Health Center (SHC) still provides various women’s health services even though there is no longer an OB-GYN working at the clinic. Most of these services are now performed by Kacie Milholen.
Milholen holds a Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) and is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) and a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-C). This is her second year serving in the SHC.
Milholen said in a written statement that the SHC offers “women’s health exams, which may include a pelvic exam, Pap smear, breast exam, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, pregnancy testing, and contraceptive (birth control) counseling.”
She wrote that most of the gynecological services that she performs on campus involve abnormal vaginal discharge, urinary tract infections, contraceptives, menstruation issues, pregnancy testing and STI screenings. Pregnant students are referred to obstetricians.
“The majority of our female students are in their ‘young adulthood’ years in which healthcare is focused on health maintenance and promotion with an emphasis on gynecological and reproductive health,” Milholen wrote.
Dr. Keisha Callins, M.D. served as part-time OB-GYN and women’s health consultant for the SHC from January to September 2017. Now she works as a clinic assistant professor in the Mercer University School of Medicine’s Department of Community Medicine and as an obstetrician and gynecologist with Community Health Care Systems.
Callins said over the phone that she did not see a large number of patients for women’s health issues because most of the students who went to the clinic while she worked there did so to treat an illness or injury.
She said that she left her official position at the SHC because she is a National Health Service Corps Scholar. She wrote in an email that this is a federal scholarship program providing financial assistance to doctors who practice in rural or underserved communities. Callins said that last year, she found it difficult to balance her commitment to Mercer with her clinical requirement.
Callins now practices in medically underserved areas of Jones and Twiggs Counties, where she said there is no other OB-GYN.
Milholen wrote in her statement that “services have not changed since Dr. Callins is currently not working here as often.”
She said she sees many students for women’s health issues, but believes that “most female students are unaware of the women’s services offered.”
Callins said she wants to emphasize the importance of reproductive and sexual health among college-aged women.
“In order to be effective,” she said, students need balanced “physical, spiritual and emotional health.”
She said that women’s health and experiences are often downplayed or ignored, which, combined with a college lifestyle, can make that balance difficult to achieve.
Callins hopes that more students will take advantage of the women’s services at the clinic. She said that the SHC is convenient because students can use their University insurance plan, and that the on-campus location is useful for all students, especially international students and others without transportation.
(02/22/18 6:30pm)
The decision to host lawyer Jay Sekulow as the 2018 Founders’ Day keynote speaker on Feb. 7 has been controversial not only among current students, but among alumni as well. Many say that the choice has affected their opinion of Mercer.
Those who support Sekulow said that he stands for ideals that align with Mercer’s traditions and values, while the opposition cites his reputation for discriminating against various minority groups.
An online petition to revoke Sekulow’s invitation was allegedly created by a group called Mercer Alumni for Human Dignity and circulated among alumni on social media.
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The petition amassed over 600 signatures and called for Sekulow’s removal based on a “well-documented history of homophobia, racism, nationalism and anti-Muslim bigotry throughout his career.”
Nora Darling is one alumna who signed the petition.
“I was upset when I first learned that Sekulow was chosen to be honored as the speaker at Founder’s Day, and was even more shocked when I saw some students defending the choice,” Darling said in a Facebook message.
She said there is a difference between silencing someone with a controversial opinion and choosing not to have them speak at an important heritage event.
“The fact that many Mercer students couldn’t recognize that Mr. Sekulow has devoted his career to silencing the most marginalized of our society was particularly upsetting,” Darling wrote.
Darling also said while the administration’s choice to invite Sekulow did not surprise her, it did make her less likely to support Mercer.
“I am not less likely to visit campus―the place itself holds significant memories of a transformative time for me―but I won’t endorse [an] institution with my financial support that promotes values like Mr. Sekulow’s by inviting him to be the speaker for such a prominent event,” she wrote.
Alumnus Jordan Price also graduated in 2017 and opposes Sekulow, but he said that the decision to host him as the Founders’ Day speaker will not affect his opinion of Mercer as an institution.
“Even though I disagree with the decision, I wouldn't be in law school at UGA right now without the support, encouragement and education I received there. Mercer will always be my alma mater and my home,” he wrote in a Facebook message.
Price also disagrees with the many students who have blamed the Student Government Association for Sekulow’s invitation. Price was involved with SGA throughout his four years at Mercer, serving one term as a student correspondent for the Heritage Life Committee and two terms as an Executive member.
He commented on a Cluster Facebook post about Freshman Class President Joseph Muldrew’s opinion article to say that SGA does not have much power regarding event speakers.
“The SGA President actually has relatively little involvement in the decision,” Price wrote. “All responsibilities associated with Founders’ Day planning belong to the Heritage Life Committee. They usually come up with a short list of candidates, then collaborate with the Underwood administration on narrowing the options. Ultimately, the administration has the final say on who is invited.”
Another article in this issue of the Cluster explains how the process of a Founders’ Day speaker is chosen.
“The notion in Senator Muldrew’s article that this was a decision President Buckner made herself and bullied SGA into going along with is just plain wrong,” Price said via Facebook Messenger. “Obviously I didn’t witness the decision myself, but while that makes a pretty compelling narrative, that’s just not reflective of how SGA works.”
Although Price said he will continue to support Mercer, some alumni have expressed that Sekulow’s invitation to campus affects their willingness to donate to the school.
Sam Henderson commented directly on Muldrew’s article. He wrote that he loved Mercer and the experiences he had as an undergraduate and fraternity member, but will no longer support Mercer in light of the decision to host Sekulow.
“As a graduate from Mercer in 1998 and a gay man who came out my junior year at Mercer,” Henderson wrote, “rest assured I will never, ever support a Mercer event or support the school in any fashion.”
Henderson could not be reached for further comment.
Director of Annual Giving Andy Carter has been involved with Phonathon, a service through which student workers call alumni to ask for donations, for 10 years.
Carter said in a written statement that the decision to invite Sekulow has affected some alumni responses through Phonathon.
“While we don't keep count of the number of complaints, I can confirm that there have been a handful of concerns expressed from donors over the Founders’ Day speaker, but not any more than we typically get when we host those that might be considered high profile or controversial,” he said in an email.
Among the backlash regarding Sekulow, other alumni have celebrated the choice. Many who support him say that he upholds Mercer’s values, both secular and religious.
Alumna Abigail Hundley commented on Muldrew’s article and referred to Mercer’s mission as an institution of higher learning.
“As a proud and recent alumni [sic], I wish that I had the opportunity to hear from Jay Sekulow,” she wrote in her comment. “The Mercer Mission Statement is ‘to teach, to learn, to create, to discover, to inspire, to empower and to serve.’ There is no reason to believe that there is not much that Mr. Sekulow has to teach Mercerians or that there is nothing inspiring about his efforts in the legal field.”
Kristi Henderson Carden, class of 1994, commented on a University Facebook post that shared a link to a press release announcing Sekulow as this year’s speaker.
Carden, who studied Communications and Sociology at Mercer, emphasized that the school’s Christian heritage is very important to her. She said, in her opinion, Sekulow aligns with these religious values.
“This is excellent news,” she wrote in her comment. “I’m so happy that my alma mater is representing their Christian roots. This man is solid.”
She later referenced a page on the Mercer website explaining that although Mercer is no longer officially affiliated with the Baptist tradition, it “remains committed to an educational environment that embraces the historic Baptist principles of intellectual and religious freedom."
Regarding this statement, Carden said, “I can not see how Mr. Sekulow's career has diverted from Mercer's value statement and am supportive of him being recognized as an esteemed Mercer Alumni [sic], despite his controversial platforms.”
Carden also spoke to Sekulow’s qualifications as a double-Bear and accomplished graduate in her comment. She agreed with Hundley and other alumni that Sekulow represents the kind of post-collegiate success that should be celebrated and that hearing opposing viewpoints is essential to the college experience.
“It is my opinion that differing viewpoints and the ability to represent them is what brings balance to our culture,” she wrote. “Despite the far-reaching vitriol against Mr. Sekulow, there is evidence of his accomplishments and passion to uphold the Constitution as he interprets it through his worldview, and is representative of many Americans. This is part of healthy legal discourse within our government.”
(02/20/18 11:32pm)
The Student Government Association met on Feb. 19 to discuss campus housing for next year’s seniors and further issues regarding senatorial conduct as well as SGA bylaws. SGA also approved two new campus organizations and a special funding request.
During Gallery Reports, Sen. Kaylen Long asked the Residence Life representative about an email that third-year students received which implied to many that there would not be spaces for them to reside on campus next year.
Area Coordinator for Adams-Winship, Garden Apartments and Greek Village Franz Salomon said that the University requires students to live on campus for three years and cannot guarantee housing for those who have completed this requirement.
“There are sometimes opportunities for 4th years to reside on campus, but with larger classes - just an increase in students coming to the university - some space is kind of tight,” he said.
Sen. Long asked whether seniors will be able to live at the Lofts.
"I can't speak for the Lofts," Salomon said. "I don't know what their capacity is, what they can do."
Sen. Clark Myers said that next year's seniors will only be allowed to live in the Lofts if they currently reside there as third-years. However, any rising senior who is an initiated member of a Greek organization can live in their chapter’s on-campus housing next year.
Sophomore Class President Adam Penland asked if the University had considered reducing the three-year housing requirement. Salomon said he had not been involved in any conversations about this issue.
Sen. Penland also asked if there are plans to expand housing on campus to accommodate the growth.
Associate Dean of Students Douglas Pearson said that the administration is considering building a sixth phase of the Lofts and "at some point, we'll probably be looking at upgrading some of the buildings on campus as well."
Freshman Class President Joseph Muldrew motioned to discuss senatorial conduct and made a presentation in response to a discussion on the same topic during the previous SGA meeting.
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The Feb. 12 discussion began in response to Sen. Muldrew’s opinion article in the Cluster about controversial lawyer Jay Sekulow, who spoke at Founders’ Day. In the op-ed, Sen. Muldrew expressed that he felt bullied and intimidated by several members of SGA, including President Olivia Buckner.
“I wholeheartedly forgive Pres. Buckner and Sen. Myers for their bullying,” Sen. Muldrew said in his opening statement. “Under stressful situations, we often unleash the worst in ourselves."
In his speech, he maintained that no SGA laws exist that restrict class presidents' usage of the Listservs in response to criticisms he received last week about using the tool to send his op-ed to the entire freshman class.
"Although many senators prefaced their remarks by purporting support for the freedom of speech, their authoritarian and tyrannical remarks that followed highlight their hypocrisy," he said of last week's discussion, in which it was suggested that a committee be formed to review presidents' messages before allowing them to be sent through the Listserv.
He also responded to remarks made last Senate about his representation of the freshman class.
"By speaking through a digital medium, I represented students’ interests frankly and candidly, as many, if not most, members of the freshman class were against Pres. Buckner’s selection,” he said.
Muldrew also commented on Sen. Myers previous concerns about his behavior and the nature of his op-ed.
"Senator Myers resorted to insulting my integrity while leaving behind all the facts," Sen. Muldrew said. "How would he treat a victim of bullying, sexual abuse, or rape if his friend was the accused. If his treatment of me serves as any indicator, he would blindly defend his friend."
Sen. Muldrew reiterated his opinion that the decision to invite controversial lawyer Jay Sekulow to speak at this year's Founders' Day event was made by Pres. Olivia Buckner alone.
He closed by saying, "Pres. Buckner and Sen. Myers, do not mistakenly interpret my forgiveness as tolerance for your actions. I will never tolerate your intimidation of anyone else in this body or any member of our community. Your hateful disrespect for who I am violates basic human decency. I will oppose your hate at any juncture, as it has no place in our community of respect."
The full speech can be found in the meeting minutes.
Sen. Myers responded to Sen. Muldrew.
“You have gone ad hominem and attacked my character,” he said. “That is unacceptable and unprofessional. You told President Buckner that the article was about Jay Sekulow and his embezzling, not about attacking her and her opinions and beliefs.”
Heritage Life Chair Ashila Jiwani explained to Sen. Muldrew once again how the speaker is chosen.
“Olivia and Oge met with President Underwood, and then they came back to me. Then I sent the list back and it went back and forth,” she said. “We never had a conversation about it, so I never got to explain to you how this works.”
Freshman Senator Genesis Cooper addressed Sen. Muldrew. She said that she did not believe he had spoken to Pres. Buckner about her opinions regarding Sekulow and therefore should not have assumed her stance or expected a particular action from her.
She also expressed frustration about his opinion that the decision was solely Pres. Buckner’s.
"If somebody's continuously telling you that's not how it happened, why do you still believe that it happened like that?" Sen. Cooper said.
Sen. Penland asked for ideas about new legislation regarding senatorial conduct and Founders’ Day.
"I would like to actually bring up some legislation that someone could actually look at,” he said, such as “going to President Underwood about maybe having a vote on who the Founders' Day speaker should be.”
Sen. Penland also suggested drafting legislation regarding the use of the Listserv and said that as a class president, he had not been told exactly what usage was proper or improper.
Sen. Alexandra Kirschbaum, Sen. Moody, and Freshman Senator Ronald Alvarez all spoke about ending the discussion and focusing on student needs.
"Our job on SGA is to advocate for student needs and concerns, to vote on legislation and to serve as a liaison between administration and the student body, and this whole discussion for the past two weeks has been embarrassing, it's ridiculous and it's immature,” Sen. Kirschbaum said.
Aside from senatorial conduct, two new organizations and one special funding request were approved.
Up To Us, a local chapter of a national organization, is a bipartisan effort to educate the community on the national debt and fiscal policy. They have several activities planned including awareness events, budgeting workshops, guest speakers and efforts to advance relevant legislation.
The Mercer Neuroscience Organization was also approved with the mission of providing resources to mentor Neuroscience majors at Mercer and to fundraise and volunteer to connect the community to issues surrounding neurological disorders.
Penland also motioned to approve a special funding request from Delta Sigma Pi, the co-ed business fraternity, to pay for guest speakers.
The fraternity has planned a diversity panel with representatives from Geico's Macon branch, a teacher panel to discuss the new tax bill and a student entrepreneur panel to provide advice for students who aspire to start businesses of their own.
Delta Sigma Pi will also host an agricultural economic lecture, an artificial intelligence lecture and a benefit concert in conjunction with the Mercer Bearitones supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Many senators announced events that will occur in the coming weeks.
The men's basketball game versus Western Carolina will take place in Hawkins Arena Wednesday at 7 p.m. Because it is Men's Senior Night, free Mercer tank tops will be distributed and a $200 gift card will be awarded to the student who makes the most creative poster.
Sen. Myers announced Shine A Light on Slavery Day, a sex-trafficking awareness demonstration which will occur Thursday. Myers said that this initiative is through In It to End It, a coalition of abolitionists, and that Atlanta is the third-biggest hub for sex trafficking. He said that students can participate by wearing a red X on their hand and posting about it on social media.
Zeta Phi Beta will be selling plates of soul food in the Connell Student Center for $7 on Feb. 24 to raise money for the March of Dimes.
The National Pan-Hellenic Conference's "Black to the Future" will take place on Feb. 25. The sororities will show movie clips that demonstrate the struggle of Black people in America's past and future. The event will be open to the public in Stetson 251.
Chi Omega will be hosting a percentage night at Sauced in Mercer Village on Feb. 27 to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
This year’s SGA Social will take place in CSC 2 on Feb 28 at 6 p.m. The event is for any students interested in running for a position in SGA next year and will entail both information for them as well as time for students to ask any questions of current SGA members.
(02/14/18 8:40pm)
The Student Government Association discussed the expectations for senatorial conduct in light of Founders’ Day and Freshman Class President Joseph Muldrew’s recent op-ed in the Cluster.
In the op-ed, Sen. Muldrew expressed his disapproval of the speaker, Jay Sekulow, and of various SGA members’ roles in choosing Sekulow and facilitating the event.
At the meeting, Junior Senator Clark Myers motioned to hold a discussion about senatorial expectations in closed Senate. Sen. Muldrew objected and read from a written statement.
“We should hold an open Senate for Senator Myers’ discussion of senatorial expectations. If our duty is to serve our fellow students and to be accountable for hearing their concerns, then we should not cowardly hide our words from them,” Sen. Muldrew said.
Senators voted on closing the meeting. The motion did not pass, and the Senate remained open.
Sen. Muldrew remained silent for the duration of the discussion
A written presentation from Sen. Myers preceded the discussion.
“The purpose of this discussion is not to degrade, defame or attack any person,” Sen. Myers said. “My purpose is not to ask for any person's resignation or to begin any form of impeachment or removal from office protocol.”
In his statement, Sen. Myers said that “this is not SGA versus one single Senator” and that he expects all Senators to abide by the Mercer Mission Statement and its subpart, the Community of Respect.
He read from the Mission Statement, “‘we affirm and respect the dignity and sacred worth of every person and celebrate both our commonalities and our differences.’”
He also reminded Senators of the oath they took when sworn into office, which states, “I [state your full name] swear to fulfill the duties of the office entrusted to me to the utmost of my ability, to serve purposefully and meaningfully, to speak frankly and candidly in representing student interests, and, in all my endeavors, to reflect honor and merit upon this organization and Mercer University,” according to the SGA Constitution and Bylaws document published Nov. 8, 2016.
Sen. Myers said that Sen. Muldrew’s op-ed violated these codes.
"In his article, there were multiple attacks at different people, degrading them, defaming them, and slandering them, and it reflects poorly on SGA as a whole, not just those that he attacked and defamed and slandered,” Myers said.
Sen. Myers also read from the University’s definition of harassment in the Student Handbook, and said that “harassment” includes defamation “by referring to [someone] as a bully with no context or proof,” allegedly referring to Sen. Muldrew’s description of President Buckner’s “brazen bullying” in his op-ed.
Sen. Myers read one of Sen. Muldrew’s statements to The Cluster where he said that President Buckner “solicit[ed] fellow senators to politely persuade [him] to be silent.”
"This is simply not true. By saying that … you're involving each and every one of us. And quite frankly, I was never solicited, and this reflects poorly on me as a Senator of the SGA and the rest of the SGA,” Sen. Myers said.
Sen. Myers spoke about Sen. Muldrew’s statement in his op-ed that the decision to invite Jay Sekulow “was made unilaterally, behind closed doors in the administration building by Buckner, not during an open Senate session with all stakeholders present.”
Sen. Myers said that President Buckner, Vice President Oge Onuh, Heritage Life Chair Ashila Jiwani, and others on the Executive Board and Heritage Life Committee compile lists of possible candidates for the Founders’ Day speech. The lists are then sent to President Bill Underwood and other administrators who extend invitations to the suggested speakers and report back to SGA which ones reported themselves available.
"The way that it was done and how Founders' Day is always chosen is the exact way that we've always had it … It’s a collaboration, and obviously [some people] will think that we failed in that collaboration. Maybe we did, I don't know. But we tried our best. We did our best with what we had," President Buckner said.
Sen. Myers brought up Sen. Muldrew’s Feb. 6 email to the freshman class and said that Sen. Muldrew abused his power as Class President by “hijacking” the Listserv assigned to him to send his opinion piece to the whole class.
Listserv is an application used to send messages to groups on an email list. After publishing his op-ed, Sen. Muldrew used the Listserv tool to distribute the link to all freshmen with his message about Founder’s Day events.
Only class presidents and members of the SGA executive board have access to class Listservs.
Many Senators agreed with Sen. Myers about Sen. Muldrew’s misuse of the Listserv.
Sophomore Sen. Emily Harvey said she found Sen. Muldrew’s use of the Listserv “disturbing,” especially because the email he sent did not include details about the Founders' Day event.
“As a fellow class president, to see a Listserv like this used in such a way, I understand the temptation of power, but I understand that with great power comes great responsibility," Sen. Michael Smith said,
Listserv is not mentioned in the Nov. 8, 2016 version of the SGA bylaws.
Many members of SGA asked what could be done to avoid inappropriate use of Listserv in the future.
Vice President Onuh said that the executive meeting Thursday, which is open to all members of SGA, will include legislation about what can be in the future to prevent this from happening.
Some members of SGA said that they worried that Sen. Muldrew’s behavior reflected poorly upon the organization as whole.
Other issues that surfaced during the discussion were personal.
Sen. Cooper said that she was “hurt” by Sen. Muldrew’s article.
“I think one word that I just continuously keep hearing besides all the violations of the bylaws is ‘hurt.’ What you said hurt -- not bullied, not anything like that -- but it hurt. It hurt,” she said.
She said that she agreed with Muldrew when he approached her about uniting to oppose Sekulow, but that she did not know "how he was going to slander President Buckner."
Senior members of SGA said that Sen. Muldrew published his op-ed before reaching out to them about his concerns.
Heritage Life Chair Jiwani addressed Sen. Muldrew.
“You said Buckner sits in a room alone and picks the speaker,” she said, “but in reality, that's not how that works, and I feel like you could've come and talked to one of us and we could've explained that to you.”
Vice President Onuh said that she and President Buckner were not aware of Sen. Muldrew’s feelings regarding their administration prior to the article’s release. She said that she would have spoken with Sen. Muldrew had he come to her with his issue.
“It wasn't until right before Senate the night before the article was released that we found out that President Buckner should be a little concerned about the content,” she said. “Buckner reached out to Senator Muldrew, and then we talked to him after Senate.”
Vice President Onuh addressed Sen. Muldrew. “We both would've addressed this issue strongly and would've talked to you if you'd come to us first.”
Aside from the discussion on senatorial conduct, SGA approved a new organization, the Sports Marketing and Analytics Club.
They also approved a Conference & Lodging request for the Mercer International Affairs Organization to send their representative, Ariel Daniels, to a mandatory training session so that their chapter can become affiliated with the United Nations Association of the United States of America.
A Food Funding request was also approved for the Mercer International Affairs Organization to host an event about Mediterranean food and culture.
A Conference & Lodging request was approved for the Mercer spoken word club, Point Blank, to attend a national collegiate poetry slam competition at Temple University in Pennsylvania.
The meeting minutes can be found here.
(02/14/18 3:04pm)
Mercer Seniors Kyle Bligen and Jaz Buckley were recognized for their debate skills at the Mile High Swing competition, an annual tournament for college debate teams nationwide.
The competition was held Jan. 4-7 and was co-hosted by Texas Tech University and the University of Utah.
The Mile High Swing is divided into two tournaments. In the first, Buckley was named top speaker and Bligen third-place speaker, and they advanced to the octofinals as a team.
Buckley, a Political Science and Women’s & Gender Studies double major, became involved with Debate as a senior in high school and continued for all four years at Mercer.
“I never expected top speaker at all,” Buckley said.
During the second tournament, Bligen was named top speaker, and the team advanced to the semifinals.
A Politics, Philosophy and Economics major who has been debating at the national level since high school, Bligen was ranked as top speaker overall in the finals.
“I was and still am humbled due to the distinction,” he wrote in an email.
Buckley said that debate competitions are not organized by division, so schools of all sizes and prestige compete against one another.
“You compete against everybody,” Buckley said. “You can hit novices, novices can hit varsity, varsity and varsity.”
“What these victories prove is that a student from Mercer can compete – and win – against a student from any other college or university in the nation,” said Director of Debate Vasile Stanescu in a Mercer press release.
Buckley and Bligen competed against over 120 undergraduates from 27 institutions across the United States.
“[E]very win solidifies Mercer University as a premier academic institution in the United States,” Bligen wrote. “Whether we beat Harvard, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, or Morehouse, each win highlights the value of a Mercer education.”
Both debaters said that their experience on the team will help them achieve their goals for the future.
“Debate’s definitely taught me a lot about myself,” Buckley said. “I think winning top speaking awards is really validating for me because for most of my life, I didn’t think I had anything to say that mattered.”
After graduation, Buckley plans to attend the University of California- Berkeley School of Law and hopes to become a civil rights attorney.
Bligen plans to expand his brand development firm, Bligen Creative, and his nonprofit organization, the Bligen Family Foundation. He wrote that he will also “assist current U.S. Congressmen in their attempts to craft youth policy, pertaining to filial success.”
“The Mercer Debate Team constitutes a substantial portion of my undergraduate success,” Bligen wrote.
(02/04/18 7:38pm)
The Jan. 29 Student Government Association meeting began with President Olivia Buckner’s report.
She said that executive members of SGA had heard from junior James Stair on his research regarding gender-neutral campus housing and will continue to work with him as he completes his project.
Buckner then welcomed Common Ground, the Mercer University gay-straight alliance, who came to the meeting to discuss the controversial speaker scheduled for this year’s Founders’ Day, Lawyer and Mercer Graduate Jay Sekulow.
“Founders’ Day is about Mercer and the love of Mercer,” she said. “We’re very excited to receive [Sekulow] and we’re going to try and work on student concerns throughout the next several weeks.”
Common Ground representative junior Perry Hicks addressed SGA with a written call to action.
“As members of Common Ground, Mercer’s gay-straight alliance, our duty is to represent the interests of LGBTQ+ students and alumni of Mercer University,” Hicks read.
She acknowledged Sekulow’s accomplishments and distinction as a double-Bear, having received both his Bachelor’s of Arts and Juris Doctor from Mercer, but said that she felt he isolated “members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of other religions.”
“We also reserve the right to non-violent, non-disruptive, symbolic protest as means to express our disagreement of his merit as an accurate representation of the Mercer community,” she said.
According to the call to action, one of the two forms of protest will entail skipping the event to attend the Building the Beloved Community Symposium in Penfield Hall at the same day and time as Sekulow’s speech. The symposium will discuss the role of faith in racial justice.
For the other type of protest, Hicks said that students will “respectfully attend the [Founders’ Day] event” but wear t-shirts, flags or other symbols representing marginalized identities or movements with which they align or support, such as an LGBTQ+ or religious affiliation.
Common Ground hopes to host an event 24 hours before Sekulow’s speech to hand out sexuality flags to students who wish to participate.
The organization emphasized that the protests are meant to be both silent and peaceful. Hicks asked SGA how Common Ground can protect itself from backlash if anyone affiliated with the protest acts disrespectfully towards Sekulow.
Many Senators voiced support for Common Ground, and some, including Sens. Adam Penland, Jabril Edmondson, Grant Denton and Clark Myers, had suggestions including a press release or other disclaimers clearly stating the group’s intentions.
Dean Pearson promised to meet with the organization after the Senate meeting to ensure members’ physical safety.
Several Senators commended Hicks and Common Ground, including freshman Sen. Genesis Cooper.
“Me personally, being a part of [the LGBTQ+] community, I just want to commend you for that,” Cooper said. “I think that one of the biggest things is definitely going out and going to an event that you disagree with.”
She told Perry that she agreed with Common Ground’s forms of protest because “I think it’s really important that you at least go out and hear him, and then you still stand your ground.”
Sen. Joseph Muldrew said he felt the same way.
“I think that’s very brave of y’all to stand up to oppose [Sekulow],” he said. “I’m against him giving his non-political speech because he has shown that he embezzles money from poor Christians.”
Muldrew referred to an article from The Guardian about Jay Sekulow’s charity work and asked those present to read it.
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“I plan to be absent at the Founders’ Day speech, but ask him some hard questions related to his charity embezzlements,” Muldrew said.
Pres. Buckner later said that Sekulow had “informally agreed” to an open forum with students at 1 p.m. after the Founders’ Day event, but it is not yet confirmed.
Student Life and Organizational Affairs Chair Michael Smith moved to recognize three new student organizations: Students Supporting Israel, the Biomedical Engineering Student Association, and the “Mprov” Comedy Club. All were unanimously approved.
Three Conference & Lodging Requests were also approved for Mercer Bearitones to attend a regional competition and for MU Miracle to purchase materials for Bearathon 2018, and the first-ever food funding request was approved for Mercer Masala to serve traditional Indian food to honor an upcoming cultural festival.
Other committee and gallery reports included Dean Pearson’s intention to increase the student activity budget for 2018, Campus Outreach Chair Shruthi Vikraman’s plan to focus on the student body’s concerns over dining services and employees and Fiscal Affairs Chair Penland’s report on the updated SGA budget.
The minutes were shared shortly after the meeting.
(01/26/18 1:53am)
A student-run food pantry will likely be constructed on campus this semester to combat food insecurity among students. The organization, named Feed Mercer, will be brought before Campus Life and the Student Government Association (SGA) for approval by founder Joseph Jackson III.
Food insecurity refers to circumstances where consistent access to adequate food or other essential resources is limited at certain times during the year.
[sidebar title="1/31/2018 Update" align="left" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]
According to Joseph Jackson, the Feed Mercer team has decided that, "due to certain constraints," they will not to move forward with the project or consult the Student Government Association about starting the organization.
[/sidebar]
Jackson hopes that the food pantry will be in a discreet but accessible location on campus where students in need can receive boxes of food, toiletries and other basic necessities that may not be otherwise available to them.
“The goal of it is to be able to serve the day-to-day emergency needs of students on campus,” Jackson said.
Rather than just throwing free food at everybody, he wants Feed Mercer to help “get people through rough periods where maybe their paycheck hasn’t come in.”
Jackson said he was motivated to organize this project after discovering that college students operate an opt-in, volunteer-run food pantry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
A history and psychology double major with a minor in economics, Jackson said he studied relief efforts and resonated with the project on both an academic and personal level.
“I had a couple of experiences where I didn’t necessarily have enough to eat, but I didn’t have the resources to combat that,” Jackson said.
Jackson said his father encouraged him to send out surveys to the Mercer community to gauge interest and need for such a project. He received some “very positive feedback,” which he said included anecdotes from students who had either been personally affected by food insecurity or knew other students who had.
The next step for Feed Mercer is meeting with Campus Life and the SGA to work out finer details.
He hopes the pantry will open in mid-March and provide services to students two days per week. Students who need to utilize these services will communicate with Feed Mercer volunteers ahead of time to discuss what items they need and when they can pick them up.
However, Jackson said he hopes the pantry can provide more than just food.
“A big part of the project for me has been not just food insecurity, but also period insecurity,” Jackson said, adding that he aims to be able to provide sanitary products for women.
Jackson said that most items will likely be purchased with grants from food retailers or donated by students, Resident Assistants, SGA, alumni or anyone else in the Mercer community who can support current students who may be unable to provide for themselves.
One of Jackson’s primary motivations in helping Mercer students who struggle with lack of access to these basic necessities is to perpetuate the university’s community engagement.
Mercer is a growing campus, and Jackson said he believes that providing students with the resources they need to take care of themselves will enable them to then give back to others in line with Mercer’s emphasis on service and outside leadership.
“Mercerians can’t serve the community outside if they are already struggling,” Jackson said. “My father always said that charity has to start at home.”
He said that the setup phase will be the most difficult part of organizing Feed Mercer. Volunteers are needed to work at the pantry distributing boxes and checking the dates on the donated food, and there is currently a need for several executive positions including a volunteer coordinator and a marketing coordinator.
Students who would like to volunteer with Feed Mercer can reach out at feedmercerteam@gmail.com with their availability and area of interest.
One of Jackson’s primary concerns is the longevity of this project and ensuring that this service will continue after he graduates.
“I want to provide the best service that we can to others,” he said.
(12/12/17 2:53pm)
Senior music major Sophie Leveille plans to implement an after-school music education program for refugee children who have been relocated to a community in rural northeast Georgia.
Over the last year, Leveille became very interested in refugees’ rights following her International Affairs courses with Eimad Houry.
“After taking those classes, I started asking more questions about how I could get involved,” she said.
A group of students traveled with Houry to Jubilee Partners, a Christian service community in Comer, Georgia that incorporates a refugee housing and support program as part of their ministry.
Jubilee Partners has hosted more than 3,000 refugees displaced from over 30 countries around the world. The organization provides a school, a playground, English-language classes, childcare, church services, cultural and practical courses and more resources to facilitate refugees’ transitions to the United States.
Currently the President of Mercer’s chapter of Amnesty International, Leveille said that visiting Jubilee Partners was “the most immersive approach to learning about the refugee situation” because it gave her an opportunity to visit real refugees’ living spaces and hear their stories firsthand.
She said that something she learned while visiting is “that a lot of time, the parents don’t have time to actually spend time with their kids.”
Many residents work eight-hour shifts on chicken farms two hours away and rely on public transportation, Leveille said.
Leveille, whose own parents immigrated from Haiti and Mozambique, said she empathized with feeling like the “odd kid out” and struggling to relate to peers. She said that she “found refuge in music” as a child and used it to express herself and connect with others.
Her experience with music as a means of healing helped her realize how providing a similar outlet could benefit refugee youth.
“There are lots of different programs focused on introducing music to kids, especially younger kids,” she said. “[They] help with behavior, help with academic work, help with self-esteem, and just interacting with other kids. It creates a really good communication medium.”
Leveille said she feels that existing refugee resources provide basic necessities, but often neglect emotional needs.
“There’s a lot of focus and emphasis put on rebuilding the material needs that they have, like the food, water, shelter,” she said of refugee communities, “and once that’s met, there’s a whole lot of emotional needs that need to be accounted for, and when those are ignored, I think that’s what really brings harm.”
For example, she said that kids at Jubilee Partners were rarely asked to share their stories or express their emotions, which can lead to behavioral problems and affect their performance in school.
She also noticed a lack of music programs or other activities that directly target refugee students, who she said have unique circumstances and emotions to express that the traditional U.S. student doesn’t.
Her after-school program will rely on student volunteers with backgrounds in music or other related areas who will help expose the children to various instruments and techniques. Leveille hopes to combine American music with the traditional music of the children’s home countries.
“I think it will help to create a bridge between their culture and American culture,” she said. “It’s really hard [for them] to assimilate sometimes.”
Leveille said that she received a minimal, but still disconcerting, amount of backlash about her project from people who oppose the admission of refugees into the United States.
She said that opponents of refugee acceptance should engage empathy.
“[Look] at situations like Hurricane Harvey and things that have happened in the United States where there have been times that people had to leave their homes,” Leveille said. “No one chooses to become stateless. No one chooses to leave the place that they love.”
Currently, Leveille is seeking funding from various sources, including a GoFundMe that has amassed $245 and a benefit concert she organized called Stateless: Unity, Hope, and Dreams of the Future.
The concert, which took place Nov. 8 in Fickling Music Hall, raised a significant sum through donations and a silent auction featuring artwork from students attending Mercer University and Wesleyan College.
Musical performances included jazz, spoken word, solo voice, cello and organ, as well as a chorus comprised of refugees currently residing at Jubilee Partners. Leveille also performed a piano set.
Leveille said she has raised $1500 in total towards her initiative. All funding will support the implementation of her program as well as research into what gaps exist in the refugee recreation programs currently available so that she can tailor her initiative according to the needs she identifies.
“A lot of people don’t know that this is a problem or something that they can feasibly do something about,” Leveille said. “I’m really hopeful.”
(11/27/17 4:50pm)
At the Senate meeting of Nov. 13, the Student Government Association heard from the Center for Career and Professional Development regarding Handshake, went through gallery reports and discussed the problems students faced while trying to register for classes as well as an alleged act of racism on campus.
During Gallery Reports, Vice President and Dean of Students Douglas Pearson spoke about Mercer’s plans regarding race relations in the future. He said that he and a student panel met to discuss implementing “a series of programs on race issues for the spring” and asked SGA for insights from the whiteboard outreaches to help him tailor that program.
Next, he spoke about the “alleged flyer” posted outside the Connell Student Center last week that said, “IT’S OKAY TO BE WHITE.”
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Pearson referenced a statement he provided to The Cluster that said, “It should not be the role of the University to protect students from ideas or opinions that they find controversial or offensive, but rather to model and engage students in thoughtful debate and civil discourse. However, [the flyer] does not appear to have been intended to promote respectful dialogue or discussion.”
“Clearly the University doesn’t condone this,” he told SGA. “We have a proud tradition of embracing diversity.”
He also said he wants “to engage in dialogue with people about what we can do about these types of issues” and said that his door is always open to students who wish to express any concerns.
The whiteboard from that day’s outreach, which asked students whether they had experienced racial discrimination on campus within the last year, was not addressed during open Senate.
Emily Rose Thorne
Pearson then asked those Senators present for feedback about registration. “It’s significantly worse this year, especially since the system changed,” Sen. Adam Penland said. “The fact that MyMercer changed two weeks before registration has been horrible.”
Penland said that, as a Peer Advisor, he had difficulty helping his freshman Orientation Group with registration.
Sen. Michaela Jones said that “[Upperclassmen] waited an hour and a half for theirs to even load.”
Several of her friends and peers had trouble accessing the registration portal and saving their classes.
Other Senators weighed in with advice and identifying issues they faced while registering. Senators Jones and Alexandra Kirschbaum said that when students were able to add classes, sometimes their choices did not save.
Sen. Joseph Muldrew warned against using the quick-add feature, saying that it worked even more slowly.
Sen. Christian Hartley suggested that Mercer invest in larger, more reliable servers for students to utilize during registration, and Sen. Grant Denton emphasized the importance of Peer Advisors and other upperclassmen relaying these messages and offering help to freshman students, who registered Wednesday.
“It’s not working. We’re having to develop tricks as a student body,” said Sen. Michael Smith.
“We’re teaching tricks to freshmen.”
“As an institution, this is unacceptable,” Pearson said. “This is not the way the system should work.”
Next, a guest speaker delivered a presentation to Senate.
Stefanie Swanger from the Center for Career and Professional Development introduced Handshake, a new networking website that aims to give any student at any institution equal opportunity to connect with jobs and internships.
Handshake is replacing Bearlink, and Swanger said that the site has already greatly expanded students’ opportunities.
She said that CCPD created a private account for every Mercer student and encourages everyone to utilize this service.
Afterwards, Fiscal Affairs Chair Penland and Sen. Sam Bruck announced 5 funding requests from different organizations on campus.
SGA unanimously approved a Bear Grant from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for t-shirts, a special funding request to reimburse SNMA-MAPS for a week of events for pre-medicine students and a Conference and Lodging request to reimburse them for registration fees from a conference on improving the organization.
Two requests from Bear It Naturally were tabled for next week due to a lack of a voting quorum presented by Sen. Jones abstaining.
Sen. Kirschbaum delivered the Academic Affairs Committee report and announced that she will meet with Dean Hammond to discuss extending library hours for finals week.
Sen. Hayes Rule announced that the College of Liberal Arts decided against removing the Experiential Learning requirement but does plan to revise it and clarify the details of it to students.
(11/10/17 4:07pm)
Due to registration, the Nov. 6 senate meeting started at 7 instead of the usual meeting time of 6. However, this hour setback didn’t take away from anything on the agenda of the SGA senators.
Chair of Fiscal Affairs Committee sophomore Adam Penland announced that there were four funding requests.
Mercer Mock Trial approached Senate with two conference and lodging requests to reimburse the group for Mock Trial competitions they have traveled to this semester.
Consent to approve the funding request was unanimous among all members aside from Senators Michael Smith and Penland, who abstained as members of Mock Trial.
The third conference and lodging request was from the Society of Women Engineers. The final funding request was from AniMercer who asked for a Bear Grant of $300 to fund t-shirts. Both were unanimously approved.
Academic Affairs Committee Chair Alexandra Kirschbaum gave her report next.
“The new [Godsey] science building is going to have 24-hour study spaces on every single floor,” she said.
The building should be finished in the coming months.
Kirschbaum said that she is also working with Dean of the Library Beth Hammond about extending study hours in Tarver Library during finals week.
Next, Sen. Hayes Rule spoke on behalf of the College of Liberal Arts division of the Academic Affairs Committee. He asked Senators to provide their thoughts on two issues currently plaguing the College of Liberal Arts administration.
The first was the experiential learning general education requirement in the College of Liberal Arts. He said that the college felt that this requirement was not explained well to students and that many found themselves scrambling to fulfill it just before graduation.
“They believe that EXP is important to the Mercer ethos, but that students are going to do it regardless of whether it is a requirement,” Rule said.
Rule said that if the College of Liberal Arts kept the requirement, they would have to find a way for students to quantify or prove their involvement. He also added that the average student already graduates with 2.2 experiential credits, while only 1 is required for graduation.
“A lot of students that are in EXP don’t even realize that they’re doing it at the time,” he said.
Rule asked SGA to come to a consensus to share with the College of Liberal Arts about how they feel regarding keeping or removing the EXP requirement.
Freshman Sen. Joseph Muldrew attended the meeting with CLA on this issue.
“As Mercer students, we are engaged, and it’s already incorporated in the tradition,” he said. “It really makes a lot of sense to just scrap the idea altogether. It’s so convoluted, and it [over]laps, and people are just really confused about what constitutes an EXP learning requirement.”
Senators then discussed that many students don’t know which courses satisfy an EXP requirement due to a lack of communication about it. However, many agreed that emphasizing service-learning is an integral part of Mercer’s mission and reputation.
After discussion, the senate decided to suggest reform to the EXP requirement rather than to support removing it entirely.
Rule then asked SGA for thoughts on the problem non-science majors face when it comes to satisfying their natural world general education requirement.
“There’s not enough lab courses available for [non-science majors] to sign up for,” he said. “A lot of upperclassmen are struggling.”
Sen. Clark Myers asked if there was a shortage of science classes or simply a lack of willingness on students’ part to take more difficult science classes like biology or chemistry.
“As far as this, I am in one of those gen-ed classes right now,” Penland said during discussion. “It’s one of the special ones that they don’t always teach. if i can get in it as a sophomore, then i feel like any junior or senior who hasn’t got in it hasn’t got in it because they haven’t tried.”
Senators Ashila Jiwani and Emily Harvey pointed out that many courses designated for non-science majors are only offered one semester each year, making it difficult for students to fit them into their schedules.
Other Senators expressed concerns about forcing students to take difficult courses such as general chemistry or organic chemistry just to satisfy a general education requirement that they might not even be interested in.
Conversely, Myers said that there is a shortage of science professors as well as lab space, and that many professors are already teaching several courses per semester.
Pres. Olivia Buckner announced that Mercer is “adding staff to the science department” despite being “very hesitant” to do so, which will likely help alleviate these shortages.
The Campus Safety and Improvement Committee report by Chair Grant Denton made Senators aware of the new parking deck coming to campus in the coming year. It is planned to combat students’ parking concerns.
He said it will be constructed by Orange Field and will take up “around 69 spots as they are building it.”
When completed, it will house 308 new parking spots over three to four levels. The parking garage will require Bear Card access.
Some Senators were concerned about the accessibility of this parking location to classes. Denton said that Mercer is a very accessible campus compared to other, larger schools.
“You can walk from any point on campus, including that parking garage, to any other point on campus in ten minutes,” he said. “It may not be the most convenient parking, but we can’t just drop a parking garage on Cruz Plaza.”
Denton announced that the parking deck will break ground on Jan. 1 and hope to finish by next fall semester.
(10/30/17 10:15am)
There were few reports in the Senate meeting on Oct. 30 due to time constraints posed by the first Homecoming event of the week.
National Director of Small Business Day JR McNair, an entrepreneur who works at the Mercer Innovation Center as an advisor, presented to SGA about an event that will occur this spring.
McNair said that Small Business Day aims to help several hundred individuals launch companies. He said that 4300 small businesses and startups have already benefitted from the program.
“Between the ages of 22 and 30, entrepreneurship is at a forty year low,” McNair said. “By 2020, Forbes said that fifty percent of the population will be freelancers and contractors.”
An entrepreneur himself, he said that many young people have leadership skills and business ideas but need guidance when it comes to actually creating their startups.
Small Business Day is scheduled for April 7, 2018 at the Macon Marriott City Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. McNair is recruiting volunteers to facilitate the event.
Academic Affairs Committee Chair Sen. Alexandra Kirschbaum announced “Spiff Up The T,” a library renovation plan reveal that took place in Tarver on Nov. 1 at 1:30.
Refreshments were provided, and the first 300 students to arrive received a free t-shirt.
Student Life and Organizational Affairs Committee Chair Sen. Michael Smith said that the President’s Round Table event previously scheduled for Nov. 9 is now scheduled to take place on Nov. 30 at 5.
(10/27/17 11:54am)
The Macon community was recently invited to participate in a community service project designed and executed by Wesleyan College students through Wesleyan’s Lane Center for Service and Leadership.
The Women With Purpose Festival was held Oct. 21. It highlighted women in the Macon-Bibb area who are trailblazing in music, art, dancing and entrepreneurship.
“We want to empower women,” Assistant Director of the Lane Center Julie Rogers said. “I think it’s important for the community both locally and [throughout] the world to make sure that women are given the right to do these kinds of things and have a fun time doing it.”
Rogers said that musician and current Wesleyan senior SaVana Cameron single-handedly organized the first Women With Purpose event last year. Cameron’s goal was to feature other female musicians in town, whom Rogers said Cameron felt did not receive enough support.
The Lane Center recognized Cameron’s work and helped her implement a larger-scale version of the festival this year.
Alongside female artists, the event featured cultural and educational speakers, women-owned businesses and a variety of local nonprofit organizations that benefit women and children.
The non-profit organizations included Safe Alone Inc, which provides free “Rape Escape & Female Empowerment” self-defense classes to women and girls in the Macon-Bibb area, as well as The Fuller Center.
All proceeds from the event benefitted another Macon organization, the Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia.
Many of the students involved in the Women With Purpose project were Servant Leaders, members of a select group who work with the Lane Center to develop leadership skills by giving back to the community.
International student and Wesleyan Servant Leader Eiei Neing volunteered for the table that showcased the Fuller Center, which she is involved with.
“The mission of the Fuller Center is to help low-income families to build their houses or to repair their houses,” she said.
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She explained that the nonprofit was founded by the same people who created Habitat for Humanity and that the Macon branch is under the jurisdiction of one of her personal mentors, Dianne Fuller.
Dottie Stafford, who works for The Crisis Line & Safe House, worked a table with the goal of “raising awareness” about domestic violence and sexual assault as well as educating attendees about resources available for victims.
She said that the organization’s mission is “to empower people, people who feel like they don’t have a voice. We’re trying to be there and be a voice for them.”
The facility shelters those who have escaped from or been disenfranchised by domestic violence and facilitates a hotline for victims of abuse.
Stafford said that the Macon-Bibb community has been very supportive of the mission, but she believes there is still work to do.
“Every time we get a chance to get out in the community and talk about domestic violence and sexual assault, we take a little bit of that stigma and a little bit of that silence away from this powerful issue,” she said.
Stafford added that the Crisis Line & Safe House also has a presence on Mercer’s campus and will host an event in early November for students to anonymously reveal baggage they may be carrying regarding sexual assault or domestic violence.
Students from the different college campuses in Macon were also a part of the Women With Purpose Festival.
Reylene Kates, a first-year student at Mercer University, helped represent The Mentors Project of Bibb County with the goal of “recruiting new mentors” to match with children in the community.
A former mentee, Kates said that the purpose of the project is to connect K-12 students with an adult who serves as a role model and offers guidance on anything from navigating healthy relationships to applying for college.
She also said that mentors “create events” that help their mentees succeed.
“Last summer, I went to this summer project that helped me write essays for applications and internships,” she said. “It actually helped me create my resume.”
Now, Kates plans to major in biology at Mercer.
Kates’ friend and another previous mentee, Jaylon Williams, said that mentors “talk to girls about anything under the sun that you can think of [regarding] being a female.”
She said that “they feel so much better about themselves” as a result of having their mentors’ assistance and encouragement.
Williams is now a freshman at Middle Georgia State University.
“I made the right decisions, and it’s because of this program,” Williams said.
Both students felt that the initiative’s mission aligned with that of the Women With Purpose Festival because the program helps young people, especially girls, make the best choices about college, careers and relationships.
While community turnout was somewhat low, those who did attend the festival said they found it to be enjoyable.
Scarlett Sheikholeslam-Handel said she attended Women With Purpose to support her daughter, Azurée Sheikholeslam, a local artist and Wesleyan graduate who advertised her art studio.
Azurée Studios “specializ[es] in surrealistic painting and illustration as a means of artistic expression and social communication,” according to the artist’s Facebook page.
Sheikholeslam-Handel said that she “was really impressed with how Wesleyan put [the event] on” and how organizers supported the community’s women.
Rogers and the other volunteers said they hope to encourage more community members to attend future festivals, especially students from colleges other than Wesleyan.
“Women With Purpose is meant for anybody to come and to learn about all sorts of different things that they can do in the community,” Rogers said. “We have a lot of things to offer and we really think that it should be for everyone, not just for Wesleyan.”
(10/26/17 10:54am)
Tarver Library is set to make some renovations to the main floor in the near future.
During the Student Government Association meeting on Oct. 16, Dean of the Library Beth Hammond spoke to the senators about the upcoming renovations in Jack Tarver Library.
She said that all of the furniture on the main floor will be replaced with “actual computer tables and chairs” as well as softer seating, bench seating, banquette seating, and high-top tables.
She also said that approximately 200 students voted on which chairs to use.
All of the shelving on the main floor will be replaced with neutral, wooden shelves.
Hammond said that Tarver administration is currently working with an interior design team that has been involved with other Mercer projects over the years to complete these renovations.
She said that the main goal of the renovation project is to make Tarver "as comfortable as [it] can get" for students. This includes adding as much seating as possible, "because we know how crowded the building is."
Efforts will include adding more power outlets in the library.
“Almost all the furniture will have power connectivity in it,” she said. “We're also going to upgrade the Wi-Fi.”
The senate met this announcement with applause during the meeting.
Hammond estimated that around $32,000 will be spent on increasing connectivity in the Library.
She also said that the first and third floors will not be changed aside from the addition of some whiteboards in the Einstein’s study rooms as well as the opening of four more study rooms on the third floor.
She hopes that this “big-scale pilot project” will also help recruit potential students visiting Mercer’s campus.
These renovations are set to be completed over spring break.
Sophomore Sen. Adam Penland, Chair of Fiscal Affairs Committee, asked about the “possibility of opening the first floor to be a 24-hour study space” with “a permanent gate fixed to the stairwell” for security.
Hammond said that security issues and possible fire code violations make additional 24-hour study space inconceivable for now.
She also said that students don't often utilize existing 24-hour spaces past 2 a.m., so the library administration wanted to address some more pressing issues first. Extending library hours has been considered as an alternative.
She acknowledged that keeping Tarver open later is "the best long-term solution, but we just don't know how we're going to get there."
Extending library hours or installing more 24/7 space, she said, “would be a Phase 2 or Phase 3 [project].”
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(10/25/17 1:13pm)
Pres. Olivia Buckner opened the meeting by addressing Homecoming. SGA members will maintain a presence at all of the events.
All members will also attend a formal presentation by Mercer One in Four alongside Pres. Underwood on Wednesday at seven p.m.
Vice President Oge Onuh gave her report next.
"Last week during exec, we had a very good discussion regarding the race relations topic," she said. “It was a long discussion, but it was needed.”
She said that Senators will begin attending certain campus organizations’ meetings in direct response to suggestions that the student body gave during that day’s Outreach project: a whiteboard posted in the Connell Student Center, just as it was the week prior.
However, this time Senators asked what SGA could do to help alleviate student concerns about race relations.
Campus Outreach Committee Chair Sen. Shruthi Vikraman said that “we had a lot of people actually write” on the whiteboard this time.
“A lot of people are having trouble with communication about race relations, and they are hoping that SGA can foster dialogue [and start to] increase awareness about what’s going on,” she said.
Some student responses included desire to have SGA members attend certain organizations’ meetings.
The Student Life and Organization Affairs Committee will send out a form to all campus organization presidents and see which ones are interested in having SGA representatives attend an upcoming meeting.
SLOA Chair Michael Smith said that the President’s Round Table, an event celebrating all campus organization Presidents, will take place on November 29 from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm and be “[tailored to] the theme of race relations on campus.”
He also spoke to the Outreach expectation for Senators to attend upcoming clubs’ meetings. He said that SLOA will be the middleman between interested organizations and SGA and will send out a form to organization Presidents to ensure that every organization that wants SGA representation can get it while not imposing upon those who do not.
Pres. Buckner said that “we are going to extend the offer to student organizations, and whoever responds to that ‘we love that, we would encourage that,’” is where SGA Senators will go.
She said that SGA will not be sent to “organizations that don’t want us or need us.”
Some Senators were unsure what role they would play when attending meetings. Pres. Buckner suggested adding a question to the survey to ask organizations exactly what they want from SGA members attending their meetings.
“We were elected to be Senators, it’s up to you how well you want to do your job,” said Vice President Onuh. “The students selected you guys.”
During Gallery Reports, the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the National Pan-Hellenic Council announced that all Greek organizations will participate in HarvestFest on Wednesday, Oct. 25, from 3:30 pm - 6:30 pm. It will be open to the public and take place on Greek Row.
Pres. Buckner then gave a report from sex-trafficking prevention group Traffick Jam. “We are participating in many events with them,” she said.
She explained that many people don’t know that Macon sits “on a crossroads regarding highways,” making it a prime location for sex trafficking to occur.
Fiscal Affairs Chair Sen. Adam Penland announced four Conference & Lodging Requests.
Sen. Ashila Jiwani represented the first, the American Mock World Health Organization.
She said it is “an annual conference that is modeled after the World Health Organization Health Assembly. This is the fourth year they have been doing this, this is the fourth year that Mercer has been attending as a group.”
She asked for funding to reimburse the attendees’ hotel rooms and event registration fees, which members’ dues did not completely cover.
The vote to approve their $1,676.93 request was unanimous aside from Sen. Jiwani and Sen. Moody, who abstained.
International Mock Conference Association approached the Senate with two Conference and Lodging Requests. The group plans to attend both the Regional and National Conferences of Model Arab League and requested funding to cover hotel rooms and registration fees.
Club President Catherine Crowe said that Mercer has maintained a presence at the Conference for fourteen to seventeen years.
“We’ve also won every single year, and I think we have a good chance of winning again,” she said.
Requests for funding for both the Regional and National Conferences were approved unanimously.
The final Conference and Lodging Request was for the National Press and Photographers’ Association asking for $985.62 to finish funding the club’s attendance at a seminar. Some hotel and registration fees were already covered by the Center for Collaborative Journalism.
Representative Rose Scoggins said that the club focuses on “different rules and ethics of photojournalism. We look at different photojournalists and the work that they do, and this conference is the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. It’s one of the best photojournalism seminars in the country.”
She also said that attendees will learn from speakers and have a chance to have their own photography critiqued. She added that “President Obama’s former photographer is actually going to be there this year, so we’re going to get to learn from him.”
The vote was again unanimous.
SGA plans to send out surveys to the student body about campus study space and respond to concerns that students mentioned in a previous survey about the Pilgrimage to Penfield event.
(10/23/17 11:37am)
The Oct. 16 senate meeting opened with President Olivia Buckner expressing concerns about sustainability on campus.
She said there are plans in the works for establishing a committee within SGA “focused on researching sustainable development efforts for campus.”
Next came a Gallery Report from Dean of the Library Beth Hammond during which she spoke about the renovations planned for Tarver Library.
She said that Mercer University has received "a very generous gift from a donor that’s going to allow us to refresh the main floor, entrance floor of the Tarver library."
When Hammond finished her presentation, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Douglas Pearson announced that Hammond plans to retire at the end of this year.
Student Life and Organizational Affairs Chair Sen. Michael Smith then made a motion to recognize the Mercer Vegan Club as an official campus organization.
“[The] Vegan Club’s main purpose goes beyond the scope of just food. It's promoting a culture and lifestyle that’s fairly unique and something that isn't represented on this campus,” Smith said.
The club’s efforts will include outreach initiatives, info sessions to share tips about eating vegan on campus, vegan banquets, and animal rights activism.
The vote to recognize the club was unanimous.
Campus Engagement Chair Sen. Shruthi Vikraman spoke about the success of SGA outreach recently, from serving in the Fresh Food Company to the Whiteboard Outreach project about race relations that Senators undertook earlier that day, which she called “successful.”
Monday morning and afternoon, SGA Senators manned a table in the CSC lobby next to a whiteboard that posed the question: “How do you feel about race relations on campus?”
They initiated conversations with students who passed by and challenged them to think more about the issue. Students were then invited to share their thoughts on the whiteboard.
"At first, [SGA] had a very hard time getting people to commit to writing anything on the board,” Sophomore Sen. Emily Harvey said.
She and Sen. Keegan Moody said they decided to add headings for students to tally under: “Good, Okay, Needs Work, and Bad.”
Participation increased under the tally system, but they said that many students were still hesitant to write comments explaining their choices.
“We had a lot of people say that there were a lot of problems with communication in terms of race relations,” Vikraman said.
Freshman Sen. Jadon Murad suggested employing a more "discreet" outlet in the future to empower those who wish to share what might not be a "popular opinion."
Chair of the Contract Services Committee Sen. Chase Peplin asked that further discussion about race relations be done in closed Senate.
He also spoke about the progress on the Mercer Mobile App, which will include a way for the student body to ask questions or provide input directly to SGA. He said that this piece of the application will be “stratif[ied] by committee” to ensure efficiency.
Freshman Sen. Joseph Muldrew then raised questions about adding a 24/7 dining option on campus.
“That’s what students need, because if you’re studying late and you want to get something to eat, you need that option,” he said.
Peplin, whose position includes Dining Services, said that he did not see an “expressed need” for 24/7 dining and brought up concerns about losing money sustaining a dining option for a relatively small number of patrons.
“As far as I know, there’s not a demand,” he said. “People would like it to be open 24/7, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to go.”
Sen. Penland agreed with Sen. Peplin about not needing a 24/7 dining option.
“We do not need a 24/7 option. What we need is something that would stay open from nine p.m. to eight a.m.,” Penland said. “Something that’s not open in the middle of the day when everything else is open, but possibly something that is open during the night.”
After final discussions about logistics and a debrief on the weekend’s Pilgrimage to Penfield event, Sen. Peplin motioned to move into closed Senate to further discuss campus race relations regarding the ideas students left on the board.
There were no objections.
(10/11/17 1:46pm)
Two Mercer students were recognized by the United Nations for their successes within a campus organization.
Seniors Shelsea Chilumuna and Unnati Patel traveled to Washington, D.C. in September to participate in the United Nations’ 2017 Leadership Symposium. The U.N. invited them to attend upon reviewing their application for a grant to help fund programming for their campus organization, GirlUp.
The U.N. not only awarded them the grant but also recognized them for their success in fundraising.
Chilumuna explained that GirlUp is a U.N. organization based on fundraising and advocacy for women’s rights. Worldwide chapters raise money to send back to the U.N. for distribution to programs supporting girls in target countries like Ethiopia, Guatemala, Liberia, Malawi, Uganda and India.
The students co-founded the chapter of the organization at Mercer last year. They had done the same at their high school together and decided to carry it to college.
“We didn’t see anything like GirlUp on campus,” Patel said.
The chapter’s proceeds funded a well in Guatemala last year, “so that [the girls] wouldn’t have to walk as far to get water so that they could go to school,” Chilumuna said.
GirlUp raised the proceeds for the well through various events on campus such as henna nights, penny drives and a banquet.
Although they had only operated for one academic year, Chilumuna and Patel were recognized for their contributions and were asked to give a presentation on effective fundraising at the conference to other GirlUp leaders from around the world.
“We met really powerful women in various industries, and we saw what they were doing, and they taught us a lot of tips and tricks to become a powerful leader and ally for the equal-opportunity cause,” Chilumuna said.
This year, the group hopes to focus on advocacy and emphasize female empowerment now that they said they have gotten such a strong footing.
The club leaders are celebrating the International Day of the Girl—a day meant to raise awareness for women’s rights worldwide—by hosting a different event each day for the week of Oct. 9 through Oct. 13.
They ran a lemonade stand Monday and have arranged a profit share with Margarita’s in Mercer Village for Tuesday. Wednesday they will host a banquet, Thursday a movie night showing “He Named Me Malala,” and Friday a penny drive.
Chilumuna and Patel emphasized that GirlUp is an active, open club always accepting new members to make suggestions and to help plan and carry out events.
For those who cannot commit to full membership but want to support the cause, their Facebook group and Snapchat account (@mugirlup) will keep followers up-to-date on events that they can support.
“We’re very motivated to do big things,” Chilumuna said.
(10/10/17 10:55pm)
During this week’s Senate meeting, SGA members discussed initiatives to engage with the student body and to hear their concerns as they plan for future improvements.
Plans range from improving the Mercer mobile app to administering more intuitive surveys about dining services.
Vice President Oge Onuh announced that SGA will host a Town Hall in the first week of November.
“[It will serve as] a place for students to come, to talk to SGA [and] to ask questions that they have,” she said.
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Sen. Grant Denton reported on an event that the Campus Safety and Improvement Committee will hold in the University Center Oct. 10, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“[The purpose of the meeting] will be taking student concerns on what parts of campus they feel are unsafe [so SGA can implement changes],” he said.
A second meeting on the same topic will take place Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Connell Student Center. The student body is encouraged to attend.
Much of the Senate meeting was devoted to Pilgrimage to Penfield. The soft deadline for registration is Oct. 11, and the event will take place on Oct. 15. It will emphasize Mercer history and include live music, food and games.
Heritage Life chair Ashila Jiwani spoke passionately about the importance of Pilgrimage to Penfield to the Mercer community, especially to freshmen.
She said that registration numbers this year are fantastic, with 525 students currently signed up to attend.
Senator Adam Penland then motioned to approve a Bear Grant request from Mercer’s chapter of the American Chemical Society. American Chemical Society President Zachary DiGiusto and Treasurer Elijah Henderson were there to address the Senate.
“[The organization’s] purpose is to expand the understanding of chemistry and its use to better the earth and everybody’s life, and we requested funding to help us accomplish some of our goals,” DiGiusto said.
The decision to award them the Bear Grant was unanimous among those who voted. Only Sen. Keegan Moody abstained.
In terms of Residence Life, Resident Assistant applications will open on MyMercer starting Oct. 13. Room change requests are also now available to students.
Senator Clark Myers announced that he is working with Traffick Jam, a campus organization dedicated to eradicating sex trafficking in the Macon-Bibb area, to host a silent march through downtown Macon called Walk 4 Freedom.
He said that Macon’s Walk 4 Freedom will be one of 700 worldwide marches organized by Australian sex-trafficking awareness group A21.
“[Sex trafficking is prevalent in Macon, though] a lot of us don’t realize that,” he said.
The march will depart from Tattnall Square Park on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 10:30 a.m.
Traffick Jam is also hosting a profit share with Margarita’s in Mercer Village the evening of Oct. 10.
Next week, SGA said they are planning to hear from Mercer’s Vegan Club and Sports Marketing & Analytics Club. Both will request recognition as official campus organizations.
(10/10/17 10:26pm)
Pre-health students designed a week-long event titled “When We Talk About Sex, Let’s Be Honest” to combat uninformed or negative dialogue about sex on campus for their senior Service Scholars project.
“We think that there really is no harm in talking about [sex],” said Natalie Wharton, a senior on the project.
Wharton and Ansleigh Seaver, Wharton’s partner, both hail from the West Coast, where they said they received a comprehensive sex education.
”When we came here and realized that many of our classmates did not, we were pretty shocked,” Seaver said. “I feel like there are students who nonetheless are having sex, but are going in blind.”
They said the overarching problem isn’t that sex isn’t discussed at all on campus, but that it usually only comes up in terms of Title IX. Wharton and Seaver said they hope that their project will help redirect conversations about sex so that they cover more than when sex goes wrong.
Natalie Wharton
“Students have sex. That’s a fact,” Wharton said. “We would hope to God that most sex is not about sexual assault or rape. Most sex is a positive experience.”
While planning “Sex Week,” they sent out a survey to the Mercer student body asking which sex-related topics their peers were most interested in. They based their programming on those responses.
The first event, “What’s Normal Down There?” will take place on Oct. 16.
Macon OB/GYN Dr. Ken Harper will give a presentation on reproductive and sexual biology to ensure that students have more than the often lackluster high school sex-ed. He will speak about normal physiological responses to sex, sexual dysfunction and STIs.
Seaver and Wharton said that when they approached the Sexual Assault, Hazing and Alcohol Prevention Education organization for collaboration on the project, the sexual assault awareness group proposed hosting a Student Sexuality Panel.
The panel will be hosted on Oct. 17 in the form of question and answer where audience members can text their questions to moderators who will then choose which ones to ask the panel to ensure a respectful, non-invasive environment while still getting students’ questions answered.
The sexual assault awareness group also emphasized recruiting panelists that identify not just as straight but from all across the LGBT spectrum to speak.
“The whole week is going to be very LGBT-inclusive,” Seaver said.
On Wednesday, Atlanta sex therapist Courtney Keter, who produces the podcast “Let’s Talk Sex” and has been featured in Allure Magazine, will discuss how to open up lines of communication between sexual partners to ensure that sex is consensual, positive and satisfying for all involved.
The final event, Thursday’s “Myths and Facts About Male Sexuality” lecture, will be led by Mark Prevette, who specializes in transgender male transition therapy.
To increase interactivity, leaders have planned various games related to each night’s topic for which students may win t-shirts, stickers and other small prizes.
However, Seaver and Wharton said that they want to make sure that the student body doesn’t feel pressured to participate.
“We don’t want this to be in your face,” Seaver said.
They said that another reason for this week is because they want Mercer to be a sex-positive environment where sex is not taboo. They also advocate for increasing contraceptive use on Mercer’s campus.
“I want people to be comfortable with their bodies and their sexualities and not feel shameful,” Wharton said. “I [hope the project will help students to] know that their resources are here, know that their peers are also talking about [sex].”
“I would love it if every single person on this campus felt comfortable saying the words ‘penis’ and ‘vagina,’” Seaver said.