News | 4
Opinion | 6
Religion | 6
Lifestyle | 7
Q&A with SA Candidates
Low income immigrants face challenges
Things to do on a Sabbath afternoon
Living in the digital world
February 6, 2020 Collegedale, Tennessee
Southern Accent
Vol. 75 Issue 13
The student voice since 1926
Southern’s cafeteria experiences labor shortage
Southern comes together for students battling cancer
Ciarah Clark Lead Reporter Southern Adventist University has been experiencing a labor shortage in Food Services for several years, but within the past year, the situation has worsened. There is a lack of student workers particularly in the cafeteria, according to director of Southern’s Food Services department Teddy Kyriakidis. “We like to keep about 100 [workers], and right now we’re around 60,” Kyriakidis said. “Right now our biggest shortage is in the production, which are the cooks and salad prep.” Kyriakidis said the cause of the shortage is due to multiple factors, including a decrease in enrollment. According to Russell Orrison, associate vice president for Retail and Auxiliary Operations, enrollment decreased from 2,968 students in the fall 2017 semester to 2,770 students in the fall 2019 semester. “The largest employer on campus has always been See WORKERS on page 3
Katie Guild Photo courtesy of Mark Guild María José Morán Religion Editor
Southern’s campus has come together to show support to two of its students who are currently battling cancer. In the last couple of months both Katie Guild, sophomore health science major, and Kenneth Bautista, freshman business management major, were diagnosed with cancer. In order to show support,
Student and faculty committees collaborate to make changes to dress Elise Deschamps Staff Writer Senate’s dress code committee and the faculty committee have been making efforts to promote edits and changes to Southern’s dress code found in the Student Handbook. Some of these edits include changes that would level the dress code differences between men and women and remove the policy prohibiting wearing shorts to classes and convocations. These specific changes and edits being made to the dress code are not verified as a school policy. Hannah Moraga, a sophomore pre-physical therapy major and chair of the Senate’s dress code committee, expressed the intentions behind the push for change. “The whole idea of us changing the dress code would be to change a lot of the wording, as much of it was unclear,” Moraga said. “We are really looking for clarification of the rules, and also looking to make the wording less aggressive.” When asked about specific changes in regards to the jewelry fine, Moraga said, “If they want to keep the jewelry rule, we want to understand how much you are fined, why you were fined, and when exactly you are fined.”
Kenneth Bautista Photo courtesy of Kenneth Bautista
students have come together in different ways. During the vespers service last Friday, a special time was dedicated for students to pair up and pray for both students. “[This] shows that Southern is actually a family-oriented school,” said Steven Aris, junior political science major. “If one person is down, others around are going to help. We are all united in prayer, and we can all
come together in prayer. And I witnessed that on Friday.” Guild and Bautista found out about the cancer due to different symptoms, which in both cases included headaches. For Guild, the symptoms and diagnosis happened quickly. After a week full of intense headaches and abnormal swelling on her neck, she was taken to urgent care for testing. From there she was diagnosed with
Primary mediastinal B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma--a large mass above her heart, which restricted her circulation and caused the headaches and the swelling. Bautista, on the other hand, dealt with the headaches for about two months until he got an MRI, which helped diagnose a mass behind his nose. “I was really surprised to be See KATIE & KENNETH on page 2
Nursing NCLEX pass rates continues to be above national average
In the edits, the dress code committee proposes a three-step process, based on offenses, on how the school is going to enforce jewelry guidelines. The first offense would result in an email reminder, the second offense in a verbal reminder and the third offense will be a fine of $5.
The way dress code is handled is very important. If it’s done professionally, I can respect that. But if it is done in almost a demeaning way, it’s misrepresentation of what the school is trying to do with it. Sophomore marketing major Nathalie Levterova emphasizes that a clear way of addressing and enforcing dress code is vital. “The way dress code is handled is very important. If it’s done professionally, I can respect that. But if it is done in almost a demeaning way, it’s misrepresentative of what the school is trying to do with it,” Levterova said. According to accounting Professor Julia Hyde, “There’s not a lot of guidance for administration about dealing with dress code. At the beginning of this school year, faculty were encouraged to enforce
Maddie Chant and Jake Ottati enjoying campus life. Photos by Xander Ordinola See DRESS CODE on page 2
Florida Hospital Hall Photo by Estefania Sanchez
Aubri Dancek Staff Writer According to the School of Nursing, 98 students from Southern’s AS program graduated in 2019. After graduation, the nursing students were required to pass one more test before they could practice as
This is the second consecutive year the department has had a pass rate that is both higher than the state and national average nurses; the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination). Ninety-two percent of the students who graduated in 2019 passed the NCLEX on their first try, which is above the 88 percent national average passing rate, according to ncsbn.org. According to information provided by the nursing department, this is the second consecutive year the department has had a pass rate that is higher than both the state and national average. The Tennessee board of nursing requires an 85 percent pass rate, while other states have a
pass rate that ranges from 80 percent or lower. “There are only two states in the United States that have that high of a level [pass rate]. Tennessee is very proud that they are one of those two states, and they are not going down on their board rates to be like other states,” said Holly Gadd, dean of the School of Nursing. In 2014, the nursing department dipped below the required pass rate, which put them on probation with the Tennessee Board of Nursing. Since then, the department has recovered. They switched to a program called Kaplan that allows students to take practice tests with questions similar to those that will be seen on the NCLEX, along with other strategies to prepare students to take the exam. Even with Tennessee having a high pass rate requirement, students feel they are prepared to take the NCLEX. “The NCLEX is very different from the other tests you take throughout the levels. I think the nursing program has done a good job of incorporating the NCLEX into our program. They have us take practice tests for every big nursing core class we’ve had to take so far,” said Chase Smith, level four nursing
student. Smith plans on taking the NCLEX soon after he graduates in May 2020. Others have already taken the NCLEX and passed on their first try. “The night before I took
We prayed a lot about some of these things, like wisdom. So that’s an important aspect of our success. The credit has to go to students, to the faculty team, and to God. the NCLEX there was a lot of prayers, trusting God that whatever happened would be His will and that all of my hard work over the last three years was about to all be worth it. I was going to be Kimi Mertz RN,” said Kimi Mertz, level six nursing student. “God has really blessed us,” Gadd said. “We prayed a lot about some of these things, like wisdom. So that’s an important aspect of our success. The credit has to go to students, to the faculty team, and to God.”