Volume 75 Issue 19

Page 1

News | 2

Opinion | 3

Religion| 3

Lifestyle | 4

Social Work Club donates to foster care

The importance of local journalism

The key to true happiness

How to stay fit while being stuck at home

April 2, 2020 Collegedale, Tennessee

Southern Accent

Vol. 75 Issue 19 Online Edition

The student voice since 1926

Governor Bill Lee issues "safer-at-home" order, Hamilton County up to 51 cases, 3 deaths

More than 1,000 sign petition for pass/fail option

Tierra Hayes Managing Editor

On Tuesday, March 31, in less than 24 hours, over 900 individuals signed an online petition requesting to change Southern’s grading system for the Winter 2020 semester. If approved by university administrators, the adjustment would give students the option to be graded on a pass/fail scale rather than the regular letter-grade system. By Wednesday evening, the petition had accumulated over 1,050 signatures. According to senior international development studies major Tiago Ferreira, who created the petition on Tuesday at 2 a.m, Administration has seen the request and has agreed to meet on Monday with Ferreira

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued a “safer-at-home” order for the state that started on Tuesday, March 31, and will last for at least two weeks. This will effectively close all nonessential businesses and urge residents to stay at home as much as possible. The order differs from a “shelter-in-place” order that some states have issued, like neighboring Georgia, which mandates, rather than asks, citizens to remain home except to run necessary errands to places such as grocery stores or to seek medical attention. Tennessee’s new measures come after President Donald Trump extended the national social distancing protocols until at least April 30. Local officials in Collegedale are following the state in their closures and their requests to residents, detailed in a statement released by city spokeswoman Bridgett Raper. The city will also continue its state of emergency. According to its health department’s website, Hamilton County, as of April 1, has 51 confirmed cases of COVID19. The first of the month also saw the county’s first reported pediatric death according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, bringing the toll to three deaths of county residents. So far, 788 test results have been returned, including 737 negative results. In the entire state of Tennessee, the state’s Department of Health website reflects that as of April 1, 2,683 people have tested positive for COVID-19, and there have been 24 statewide deaths. According to reports in the Times Free Press, local testing resources have been expanded to include drive-thru test centers and local lab processing done at the Baylor School.

Students have mixed reactions on proposed grading scale adjustment Joel Guerra & Taylor Dean News Editor Copy Editor

and junior psychology major Luis Moreno, who was already separately creating a proposal with the same motive. Senior Vice President of Academic Administration Bob Young confirmed that the Academic Leadership Team is currently reviewing what it would mean to provide this option. He also shared several concerns that would need to be addressed if such a policy was implemented and said professors have been asked to be accommodating. “My office has urged the faculty to be flexible and understanding with students,” Young said. “I hope that students will also be understanding and flexible with their professors as we navigate this situation together.”

See PASS/FAIL on page 2

Screenshot of the change.org petition for Pass/Fail option

Campus Ministries continues vespers online: 'Not even COVID-19 can stop us' Paola Mora Zepeda Editor-in-chief

Kerry Allen and Holly Gadd preparing medical supplies for donation to local hospitals. Photo courtesy of Ryan Pierce

School of Nursing donates much needed protective gear to local hospitals Paola Mora Zepeda Editor-in-chief The School of Nursing has donated over 900 pieces of protective equipment from its personal supplies to CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga and AdventHealth Gordon in Calhoun, Georgia. The equipment included

School of Religion further develops online graduate classes

surgical masks, N95 Masks, gowns and gloves, worth more than $700. The School of Nursing uses such gears for its skill labs. With classes transitioning online, the department wanted to find a way to put them to use. The supplies will be repurchased at the department’s expense. According to School of Nurs-

ing Dean Holly Gadd, members of the department heard of the shortage of protective supplies in local hospitals from news outlets, health officials and Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). “COVID-19 is a communicable disease, spread by droplets and by contact with contami-

See NURSING on page 2

Campus Ministries will be hosting a series of online vespers, which will be streamed on southern.edu/streaming, in response to students returning home and classes moving online. The program will also be available on Southern’s Facebook and Instagram pages and will remain online for subsequent viewing by students in different time zones. The first worship took place last Friday, March 20, and included an online discussion led by Ministry Coordinator and Admissions Counselor Ryan Becker. It also featured a sermon by See VESPERS on page 2

McKee Foods announces $500 million expansion Corporation plans to move forward despite COVID-19 outbreak

Paola Mora Zepeda Editor-in-chief

The School of Religion is located in Hackman Hall. Photo by Paola Mora Zepeda

Megan Yoshioka Lead Reporter The School of Religion is expanding its online graduate course catalog over the next two to three years, according to Religion Graduate Program Coordinator Alan Parker. This semester, the department offered its first online graduate course called Studies in the Psalms. In the 2020 fall semester, it will offer two new online courses: God and Human Suffering and Studies in Revelation. “Every semester, we are going to be adding two classes,” Parker said. “Within two or three years, we will be offering

six classes in a semester. That’s the goal we’re moving towards, but we’re pacing ourselves by just doing two a semester.” According to Parker, graduate courses were only offered as two-week summer intensives prior to this semester. Because of this schedule, MA Religion students traditionally took six years to complete their degree. If this online expansion succeeds, MA Religion students could potentially finish their degree in two school years and three summers. “Our goal is to create an affordable, convenient, substantive option for those who See RELIGION on page 2

McKee Foods officials announced on March 10 plans to make major investments to their Collegedale operations, including $500 million in capital projects. Some of the projects include an expansion of the Apison Plant to include new production lines, as well as other investments in some of their other Collegedale facilities. In addition, the company is devoted to creating 450 new jobs over the next 15 years and 125 jobs during the first seven of those years. “There certainly could be student work opportunities down the line,” said the company’s spokesman Mike Gloekler. “Not to mention, the overall growth of McKee Foods is important for our entire community.” According to an article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, this investment planned by McKee is the biggest business

Mckee Foods operations on Apison Pike. Photo by Paola Mora Zepeda

expansion announced in the Chattanooga area since 2019 when Volkswagen announced a $800 million extension of its operations. The expansion is expected to be completed in phases, the first phase commencing this summer. According to Gloekler, currently no delays are expected due to the COVID19 outbreak. “There has been no discussion about delays,” Gloekler said. “Construction as an industry has not yet been limited by the government, so we

will assume we are full-speed ahead.” McKee Foods broke ground on the Apison Plant in April 1996 and began production in May 1997. This investment would be the fourth major expansion the company has gone through. “McKee Foods is very pleased that we are able to bring more jobs and more bakery capacity to our Hamilton County operations,” said Mike McKee, McKee Foods Corporation president and CEO. “Our family business is blessed to have such deep roots in southeast Tennessee.”


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