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THE CAMPUS

April 13, 2016– Volume 110 Issue 24

Spirit squads make history Maleyia Vaughn WEB EDITOR

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Members of the pom and cheer squads hold up three fingers after winning three national titles at the National Dance Alliance and National Cheer Alliance National Championships April 6-10 in Daytona. This is the first year the pom team won a national title for team performance and hip hop, and it’s the cheer team’s third consecutive NCA national title. “The best part is how my teammates and I were able to ban together and come back strong from a loss,” said Karly Judkins, exercise science and cheer senior.

The pom squad made history by bringing home two national titles from the National Dance Alliance National Championship, and the small co-ed cheer squad won its third consecutive National Cheer Alliance national title. The teams competed April 6-10 in Daytona. It is the first year in OCU history that pom won a national title for both team performance and hip hop. The team has five national championship titles. The team posted a final score of 8.992 for team performance and 9.397 for hip hop. “I honestly can’t tell you how awesome it feels in the moment they announce second place and you don’t hear your name,” said Talor Kline, business administration and pom sophomore. “We’re the first team for OCU pom to win both divisions we

competed in, so that’s really cool to build the legacy further than what it is.” The pom squad placed third for team performance and fourth for hip-hop at NDA last year, and placed sixth at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Invitational on March 13 in Davenport, Iowa. “We came into this season after a streak of really tough losses and had the goal of leaving it all on the floor, making our coach proud and representing our school,” said Rachel Ashwood, nursing and pom senior. “The outcome has exceeded our expectations and every struggle we have gone through as a team has made this double win all the more meaningful.” The small co-ed cheer squad went to Daytona to defend its national title. Coaches of the cheer squad changed their routine after placing second at the NAIA

Invitational in March. “We were disappointed with second place, but it also gave us an opportunity to come back and prove that we deserved to be named national champions,” said Karly Judkins, exercise science and cheer senior. “In the three week period between competitions, the cheer team showed more passion and hard work than I have seen in a long time. My teammates and I were hungry for a win and we were ready to earn it.” The team won its third consecutive NCA national title with a final score of 92.33. The spirit squads have won 13 NDA/NCA national titles and three NAIA dance and cheer titles since Brandy Corcoran, former head coach, started the program in 2008.

Officials plan to move forward with interfaith dorm Elina Moon STAFF WRITER

Plans to turn Smith Hall into an interfaith dorm still are in place, and officials hope to move forward with the project within the next year. The Strategic Planning Committee approved the proposal in August for Smith Hall to be renovated and provide interfaith housing. An interfaith dorm would be an intentional space for students from different faith backgrounds to live together and learn about each other’s traditions. Smith Hall has been empty since Fall 2014 when it was closed due to low enrollment. “We’re still in the fundraising portion of the project,” said the Rev. Dr. Charles Neff, vice president for university-church relations. The project will not move forward with actual renovations, according to the plan, until all the funds are in place. The cost of the project is estimated to be a little more than $2 million. The fundraising team is talking to individuals who’ve invested in projects with similar goals and partners in religious communities. There are a couple of pledges from partners, including a sizable lead pledge of about $700,000, said Martin O’Gwynn, vice president of university advancement and external relations. “We’re confident that we’re going to have the support we need with this project,” he said. Once funds are in place, the team can contract for blueprints and structural design work, O’Gwynn said. “There have already been meetings with construction contractors, but there is not a plan for going forward yet,” he said. “The contractors visited the site and had specific recommendations and commended Smith as having a ‘very stable building frame.’ That

The end result is deeper respect and deeper understanding of where your friends are coming from, especially in faith discussions. Rev. Dr. Charles Neff vice president university-church relations

will give us flexibility to make the dorms much more contemporary. We’re anticipating having an architect here this month to get a more definitive idea of what can be done.” There is no set start or completion date for the project. “We hope that after we finish the fundraising work, we can begin renovations fairly soon after that,” Neff said. “Our hope would be to have it occupied as quickly as we can. Given where we are, its unlikely that 2017 will be a completion date, so we’re probably looking at 2018, but that’s just speculation at this point.” O’Gwynn said he anticipates construction to start during the 20162017 academic year and is more optimistic about the completion date. “There’s a possibility it could be occupied in the spring of 2017, but I think it’d be more likely to come online as a student housing facility in the fall of 2017.” The proposal is to create suites to give the residence hall an apartment-style feel. Instead of rooms connecting across the long axis of the building, they would be self-contained in each stairwell. Each suite would have three bedrooms with two students each, three bathrooms

and a shared living space. There are plans to renovate the first floor to create large meeting spaces, one of which to be used as a space for prayer, worship and other interfaith activities. “We want to provide a physical setting that encourages dialogue and encourages students to really learn and grow through discussion,” Neff said. “The end result is deeper respect and deeper understanding of where your friends are coming from, especially in faith discussions.” To live in the interfaith dorm, students likely would have to apply, agree to a covenant and attend training sessions on how to live with people of different traditions, Neff said. One plan for the dorm is that, for each of the suites, students would be paired with someone of their own faith tradition and the suitemates would be people of other faith traditions, in an effort to create interfaith dialogue. Sara Thias, dance universal freshman, said this is a positive change for Smith Hall. “It’s a great idea,” she said. “I feel like the people who’d make the choice to live in an interfaith dorm are already open to that sort of thing, but I think it can still increase knowledge between them.” The interfaith dorm is not just for people of Abrahamic religions, but also recognizes the importance of agnostics and atheists as part of the conversation, Neff said. It’s too early to determine the price of living in the interfaith dorm, Neff said. It should still fall within the price range of Banning, Draper and Harris, but it may be closer to Methodist to help cover renovation costs.

STAR Summit changes to encourage new ideas Miguel Rios EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

There was no Top 10 list created during STAR Summit this year. The summit usually invites student leaders to come together to brainstorm campus issues and discuss them until they pick the Top 10 issues on campus. An exercise called “I Would Like to See…” took its place. Officials passed out notecards where students were to write up to three things they would like to see at OCU on one side. On the other side, they were to write at least one thing they liked about the university. Officials changed the structure because they kept seeing issues from previous years showing up on the list year after year, most of which are difficult to fix. They thought the new exercise would promote different ideas, said Lesley Black, associate dean of students. “We were very hopeful that,

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with this information, we won’t get the same stuff over and over again,” she said. “We’re going to get some fresh ideas and we’re going to get things that students are really thinking of critically.” Amy Ayres, dean of students and vice president for student affairs, discussed with students what they wrote on their notecard. Levi Harrel, assistant director of student development, said they wanted STAR Summit to have the same look, but a new feel this year. He said a theme would help tie everything together, so they picked the theme “Being an Invested Leader.” “It gives us the same idea for the direction of the university: what you all would like, what you would want, what you don’t like,” he said. “We think it’s a more proactive approach, particularly to those issues that might be concerns for students.” Meagan Chew, acting junior, attended STAR Summit last year and she said she likes the changes they made this time. “I love how they did it this

year,” she said. “Last year it seemed like it kind of dragged on and it was just because it was very silent, there wasn’t a lot of talking. This year it was really interactive and I really liked that.” STAR Summit kicked off with keynote speaker Lee Brown, university risk manager and chairman of the diversity taskforce. His speech focused on diversity, not just regarding race, but also family, home life, individual experiences, and personality. Danne Johnson, law professor, originally was slated to be the keynote speaker but scheduling conflicts arose, Harrel said. Brown was chosen to speak because officials wanted the topic to be relevant, Black said. She said Brown led the “Why Black Lives Matter Matters” seminar, which really engaged attendees and showed officials students were interested in the topic. Spencer Gualdoni, music theater junior, said Brown’s speech was eye-opening. “I guess we all have this stereotype of diversity just being

races and things like that,” he said. “There’s so many ways that we are connected that we don’t even know.” LaVetra Ray, assistant director of student activities, also spoke during the Summit. She explained what S.M.A.R.T. goals are and passed out worksheets so students could set goals for their organizations. She said S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time bound. “I thought it was really productive and I think everyone learned a lot about what they want for their organization and the campus as a whole,” said Shelby McCarver, acting freshman who attended STAR Summit. The Summit ended with organization leaders sharing their 2016-17 events on calendars around the room. Harrel said he encourages students to attend next year, even if they’re nervous. He said the event is open to anyone on campus, not just organization leaders. “These events are my passion,”

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Tamara Doherty, psychology senior, and Levi Harrel, assistant director of student development, discuss what they would like to see at OCU during STAR Summit on April 8. This year’s theme was “Being an Invested Leader.”

he said. “I am here because my university officials created events like this, so come on down. It’s a lot of fun. It’s not a stuffy event, it’s student-centered and studentdriven, so come next year.” Harrel said he’s unsure of

when the list of items students would like to see will be released, but it will probably be within a week or two.

Saying good-bye

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Leading women

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