The voting legistlation deabte, B1
APB hosts ‘Family Feud’ in CUB, C1
Huber Arts Center presents exhibit, D1
Men’s hoops gets two PSAC wins, E1
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Reporting truth. Serving our community.
Volume 65 No. 12
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Spring COVID-19 mask and testing guidlines updated Katie Huston Ship Life Editor
Bailey Cassada/The Slate
Students work and hang out in one of the PAGE Center rooms. As a combination of the Pride Center and the Women’s Center, they will be offering the same services and events.
SU welcomes the Pride and Gender Equity Center Noel Miller
Editor-in-Chief
The Pride Center and the Women’s Center combined into one new organization over winter break called the Pride and Gender Equity Center (PAGE Center). The new center is located on the third floor of the Ceddia Union Building (CUB) in Room 232. Although the two centers are being combined, the individual goals and staff are not being lost, Arielle Catron, the director of the PAGE Center, said. “The Pride Center and The Women’s
Center were already so collaborative on so many things and we have a lot of the same goals. It just made more sense to combine efforts than to possibly repeat each other’s efforts,” Catron said. “The name is more representative of the work that we do,” Catron said. The PAGE Center is focused on becoming more efficient and more accessible to students and while continuing the services provided by both previous centers. To bring the centers together, both of the centers directors worked with Laurie Davis, the dean of students, Barry McLanighan, chief student affairs offi-
cer, and Nicole Santalucia and Jayleen Galarza, SU professors and the co-chairs of the LGBTQ advisory board, according to Catron. “We are very grateful to those folks for making this happen,” she said. However, the joining of the centers has brought some concerns. Students have shared concerns that there would not be a safe place for students who gathered at the Pride center after combining with the Women’s Center, Catron said. Students worried that there would be TERFs (transgender exclusionary radical feminists).
Shippensburg University has updated COVID-19 protocols for the spring 2022 semester. Recent changes include testing for all residential students and stricter mask recommendations. On Jan. 14, the university sent an email to students with the COVID-19 updates. Students living on-campus for the spring semester were required to test negative for the COVID-19 virus before moving into the residence halls. The university provided rapid tests for students upon arrival on Sunday, Jan. 16. Requirements and recommendations for face coverings on-campus have been refined for indoor and outdoor wear. The university recommended using surgical grade masks or higher quality instead of cloth masks. Face coverings are still required to be worn in all buildings on the campus. Face masks are also recommended to be worn outdoors by individuals when not able to socially distance. Additionally, asymp-
tomatic COVID-19 testing in the Ceddia Union Building will be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the spring semester. Symptomatic testing will be available at the Etter Health Center throughout the week but must be scheduled by calling 717477-1458, according to Etter staff. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are susceptible to contract some variants of COVID-19, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More information regarding the omicron variant can be found here on the CDC website. As of Monday, Jan. 24, there have been 92 positive COVID-19 tests, 92 people in isolation and 16 people in quarantine, according to the Raider Respect website. Since Jan. 1, 2022, there have been 213 positive COVID-19 tests, 121 of them from commuter students, 59 from residentail students and 33 from university employees. For more information regarding Shippensburg University COVID-19 guidelines, visit raiderrespect.ship.edu.
See “PAGE,” A2
Student voting season is just around the corner
Carmine Scicchitano/The Slate
Interim President Robert Patterson and Colleen, his wife, visit The Slate office to speak with Ship Life Editor, Katie Huston, about their time so far at Shippensburg University.
Add a new contact: Meet SU’s first family
Katie Huston Ship Life Editor
Students and faculty have had to adapt to many different personalities in Shippensburg University’s administration over the years. This year, Charles and Colleen Patterson have transitioned into the roles of interim president and first lady of Shippensburg University. First-year students may have been caught off guard when Patterson, SU’s interim president, gave his personal phone number out to the audience at Convocation in August. However, after almost two decades in higher education, direct connection seems to be second nature to Patterson.
President Patterson’s top priority has always been the students. He explained that the goal of the administration is to support students and faculty. “We are here for the students; they are not here for us,” Patterson said. “Any way we can serve our students and our faculty to the best of our ability is our focus. If that means giving out my personal cell phone number to the students who feel like they have that need to reach out to the president can do so willingly. [They] have that ability to bring to light some of the challenges that they may have or some of the successes that they have.” An administrator giving out a personal cell phone number was unprecedent-
ed and surprising to many students. Yet, SU’s president uses his cell phone so students can easily access him should the need arise. This line of communication has become normal for the president. “It may be unique to some. I don’t view it as unique, I view it as a really good tool to maintain connectivity,” he said. With access to him, students have reached out in the past during times of personal crisis. Patterson was able to let the student know they were supported and helped them find the right resources they needed in the moment. See “FIRST FAMILY,” A2