Volume 75 Issue 21

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Students renew grading scale campaign

Talge Hall Dean Kevin Pride to leave Southern

Life on campus during coronavirus

ACA student recalls abrupt departure

April 16, 2020 Collegedale, Tennessee

Southern Accent

Vol. 75 Issue 21 Online Edition

The student voice since 1926

SEVERE STORM, TORNADO DAMAGE COLLEGEDALE AREA Students, employees and community weather effects of storm amid coronavirus pandemic

Tierra Hayes Managing Editor People rarely know where they are going to be when disaster strikes. For those in the Collegedale area, they -- like the rest of the world -- were in the middle of a pandemic crisis.

When she saw the warning of a spotted tornado and heard the winds begin to pick up, Southern enrollment counselor Kayla Rodriguez hid inside of her tub with her sister.

Senior accounting major Dakota Bemis and his family barely made it to their crawlspace before trees began to snap.

Religion professor Alan Parker and his family ran to shelter in their neighbor’s basement.

Senior education major Albert Diaz and senior marketing major Abigale Choi both found themselves in closets in different parts of town.

And for Choi, even days later, the reality of it all was still hard to believe.

“I’m definitely in shock still,” Choi wrote in a message to the Accent on Instagram. “I’m exhausted, and I think I’m just [so] busy trying to clean and help others that the full reality of what happened hasn’t quite hit yet. Every time I start to think about it, I just feel sick

Every time I start to think about it, I just feel sick to my stomach. People lost their homes and everything in it, and I just can’t wrap my head around it all.

to my stomach. Lives were lost Sunday night. People lost their homes and everything in it, and I just can’t wrap my head around it all.”

Facing the Storm On the night of April 12 and early the next morning, an outbreak of severe weather spread across the South. An EF-3 tornado blew through the Collegedale area, leaving a path of destruction from North Georgia to the East Brainerd-Hamilton Place area, into Ooltewah and dissipated TOP: The tree outside of Hulsey Wellness Center was uprooted by the storm. Photo by Paola Mora Zepeda. in Bradley County according to BOTTOM LEFT:Hundreds of buildings were severely damaged, including many houses. Photo by Abigale Choi. the National Weather Service BOTTOM RIGHT:A damaged car sits outside of Winding Creek Apartments. Photo by Kayla Rodriguez. and Hamilton County.

Up to 60,000 Electric Power Southern’s campus.

While repairs, according to EPB, could Times Free Press and News Board (EPB) customers lost around 38,000 have had power take up until next week Tues- Channel 9, more than 20 people electricity according to their restored as of April 16, there day, April 21. were taken to the hospital and website, including much of are still communities waiting as According to reports by the See STORM on page 3

'I will miss hearing his stories': students react to the news of Dean Kevin Pride's departure Taylor Dean Copy Editor On Tuesday, April 14, Talge Hall Dean Kevin Pride sent out an email to residence hall student workers announcing his departure from Southern. After serving at Southern for 12 years as an associate dean, Pride has accepted an Athletic Director position at Forest Lake Academy (FLA) in Apopka, Florida.

According to Pride, who previously worked at FLA from 1991-2007 and coached the boy’s JV and varsity teams, he had a large role in the start-up of the varsity basketball program in 1998. When asked about his initial feelings towards accepting the posi-

tion, Pride said he is ecstatic about being back in athletics.

Students push for grade-scale adjustment despite rejection Administrators receive more than 100 emails

To make a living in the athletic field has always been a dream of mine.

“To make a living in the athletic field has always been a goal of mine,” Pride said. “I am looking forward to being a part, again, of something I had a role in when it began in 1997-98.”

While he is excited to be returning to his roots, Pride said what he will miss most about being a dean is the students. According to Pride, coming to work and hangSee PRIDE on page 2

Students published a video calling for Southern to adjust the grading scale.

Sceenshot taken by Paola Mora Zepeda

Joel Guerra News Editor

Talge Dean Kevin Pride. Photo courtesy Kevin Pride.

After a proposal that would have given students the option to be graded on a pass/fail scale was rejected by Southern’s academic administration, some students are now campaigning for an adjusted grading scale.

Southern acknowledged student feedback on its Instagram story earlier this week and said it hopes to have an update by Friday afternoon.

The proposed scale adjustment is patterned after one recently implemented at Oakwood University, where 85 and 70 percent are the minimum grades needed to receive As and Bs, respectively. A 50 per-

cent is enough for a C, and the only way students can fail a class is by not attending. Plus and minus distinctions are also eliminated with this scale.

When Oakwood posted on Instagram that it would adopt this scale, dozens of Southern students began sharing the decision on social media and called for Southern to do the same. On Saturday night, advocate and proposer of the pass/ fail campaign, Luis Moreno, turned the buzz into a movement with a video uploaded to his Instagram page (@realluism). In the video, he explained his thoughts on the decision and asked students to email Vice President of Student Development Dennis Negron. Accord-

ing to Moreno, Negron recommended to him that Southern students could respectfully email him sharing their personal struggles with the impacts of COVID-19. The video featured several student-leaders, including current Student Association (SA) President Mark Galvez who shared his struggle keeping up with school on 40-hour workweeks at his new job.

On Sunday morning, Galvez expanded his role in the campaign by posting an “open letter to administration” on his own Instagram (@markgtv). The post reiterated the same elements as Moreno’s video, ultimately also encouraging students to respectfully email Negron. As of See GRADING on page 2

If you would like to be a contributor, contact Paola Mora at paolam@southern.edu

2 | Thursday, April 16, 2020

NEWS

'I couldn't wrap my head around it': ACA student recalls abrupt ending to her Spain year abroad Xavier Quiles Staff Reporter

After COVID-19 led to several travel bans, Adventist Colleges Abroad (ACA) students were in trouble.

Anya Smith, a sophomore pre-nursing major, was studying abroad in Spain when the news broke out.

On March 12 ACA announced that all participating students - some in Taiwan, France, and Austria - had to go back home.

Those that arrived after government restrictions had to endure screening and 14 days of self-quarantine. Smith was no exception.

Smith is from a small California mountain town, and she loves baking and the outdoors.

She wasn’t interested in ACA at first, but after attending a meeting with a friend, she decided to go. Having completed six months of being abroad, Smith had three months left. Then coronavirus broke out in China, hit Italy and finally reached Spain.

“I wasn’t super concerned even then, just because I was like, ‘Well, we’re in Spain. It’s probably not going to affect us,’” Smith said. “And then cases started being reported in Spain, and they were in locations an hour or two away from the

I was scared, not of getting the coronavirus, but scared that I might not be able to leave the country if Spain closed its borders.

I’m going to go on spring break, and then after spring break, I’ll see how the cases are and how bad it is, and then I’ll decide if I need to go home.’”

But she was not able to take her spring break trip. News of the United State’s state of emergency reached Spain Thursday at 3:30 a.m. Smith found out at 5:30 a.m.

“One of my friends came bursting into my room when I

was asleep and she said, ‘Anya, Anya, you have to wake up!’”

Smith said. “And she shook me awake, and she was really emotional. And I thought, ‘Oh no, something bad happened.’

And she said, ‘We have to leave, Trump is closing the borders, we have to get out of here.’”

Smith’s friend already had a plane ticket and left within the next five hours.

“I remember feeling this shock come over me, and I didn’t even believe what she was saying was true. I had just woken up, and it was super startling; I was really shaken up. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it that it was actually real.”

Students were supposed to take finals that day because ACA uses the quarter system, but everyone was buying plane tickets and packing.

“It was so abrupt, saying goodbye to people that fast, under those circumstances;”

Smith said, “it’s just not the same. You don’t get to have your last, ‘Oh, this our last time going out to eat or last time traveling together.’ It’s all snatched away from you.”

During this time, the packed airports were in disarray. Student’s flights were delayed or canceled because of the travel restrictions.

“A lot of people had problems actually getting home and being able to have their tickets stay in effect,” Smith said. “Thankfully, mine all stayed through.”

Smith’s ACA school was in Segunto, Spain; from there she drove to Valencia, took a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, and then flew to San Francisco.

“Going through customs and coming back into the United States, the line was super long because there were so many people coming in,” Smith said.

“I didn’t actually have to go through screening for the virus when I got in the states.

But I know a week or two after I landed, they put screening in place so you had to get checked… I missed that, thankfully!”

Smith left on Friday March 13 and ended the trip with only five hours of sleep over a two-day period.

“But I got home,” Smith said.

“That was the important part.”

a man they can look up to and rely on, and Dean Pride has definitely been that man for the guys in Talge Hall,” Ambroise said. “The thing I’ll miss the most is having someone to look up to on campus.”

While Pride says he will miss his Southern family immensely, he is grateful for the memories he will take with him back to Florida.Visits from students, developing and managing daily worship teams and the support from his Southern family are moments that Pride said he will always cherish as some of his favorite memories.

According to Pride, he is looking forward to the teachable moments when he and the coaches will have the opportunity to incorporate lessons that will apply not only to sports, but to everyday life as well.

Junior chemistry major Allan Sison, who worked as Pride’s student dean, said Pride is a coach at heart and connected a lot of life lessons to sports, which a lot of young men at Talge could relate to. While Sison expressed that Pride will be greatly missed, he believes this new position will fit him well.

“I will miss hearing his stories.

He has so many with great lessons to take from them,” Sison said. “He gets to go home.”

Dean of Students Lisa Hall, says while Pride’s departure is a definite loss, the residence hall staff are happy for him because he is returning to his passion.

According to Hall, there haven't been any considerations for a replacement yet due to the current uncertainties of the coronavirus’s effect on future enrollment.

Anya Smith smiles for a photo during her Spain study abroad trip.

Photo courtesy of Anya Smith.

school, and so I was a little more worried then.”

Then the last week before spring break, at the beginning of March, Italy closed its borders.

Smith said, “I was scared, not of getting the coronavirus, but scared that I might not be able to leave the country if Spain closed its borders. And I figured, during that last week of school while we were there, ‘Ok,

PRIDE continued from page 1 ing out with the students was what he looked forward to most because of the laughs and encouragement that were exchanged.

“Over the years, a handful of students would leave me encouraging notes and Bible texts,” Pride said. “Those notes were great, and I have kept them all.”

In light of Pride’s announcement, many students have expressed sadness about his departure, but are grateful for the memories made and impact that he has had.

According to sophomore

'God did not make us to be alone': Student shares what it's like for those left on campus Kelly Gustrowsky Staff Reporter In the wake of the spread of COVID-19, the vast majority of students vacated housing by March 23; but some students still remain on campus.

According to associate dean of Thatcher Susan Pennington, about four percent of students were allowed to stay, a number composed mainly of international students and those whose programs require too much hands-on experience to be done online.

Othello Thomas, sophomore Automotive Service major, still

Editor-in-Chief Paola Mora Zepeda Managing Editor Tierra Hayes News Editor Joel Guerra Advisor Alva James-Johnson

accounting major Josh Esten, Pride’s “know-where-you-came from, have-pride-in-it, and work hard” mentality is what made him a role model for many students.

“When you get to know him, he becomes like a father figure far from home. That’s what he was for me,” Esten said.

George Ambroise, junior health science major, said that while he is sad to see Pride go, the FLA students are lucky to have him. He also reiterated how Pride has become a father figure away from home for many.

“I think that every guy needs

GRADING continued from page 1

Othello Thomas works on a car. Thomas remains on campus although most students have left. Photo by Paola Mora Zepeda.

attends classes in Ledford Hall. “[Automotive Service] is a hands-on major, and we can’t fix cars remotely,” he said.

All remaining students been relocated to Southern Village to keep them concentrated. Students are not allowed to fill out leaves, and curfew is at 11 p.m.

Due to the small number on campus and coronavirus concerns, all food service locations have been closed except the Village Market, according to Southern’s website. There, the Deli’s hours have been limited and supper is no longer served.

Many compare Southern to a ghost town. With all the restric-

tions from the virus, the students are isolated.

“It’s depressing, honestly,” Thomas said. “God did not make us to be alone and isolating [ourselves] most of the day; and not interacting with people is difficult.”

However, the living restrictions are sometimes better than what the students might face at home.

“I’m glad I can stay,” Thomas said. “Where I live is shut down;and also I get to continue doing what I love here at school.”

The Accent encourages readers to write articles and voice their opinions.

However, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Accent, Southern Adventist University, or the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

For any questions, comments, and article submission information email us at accent@southern.edu

Thursday morning, the video and post had received over 2,500 views and 1,300 likes, respectively.

According to Negron, he responded to 118 emails regarding the situation on Sunday alone. By Monday afternoon, he had received several more but was unable to effectively answer them due to a lack of internet access caused by a tornado that hit the Collegedale area on Sunday night.

Negron said most emails were not in regards to the proposed grading system, but instead expressed disagreement with the pass/fail rejection. A very small minority showed support for the decision. Another small group did not take a side but just informed him that they are praying for administrators.

“Some of the situations described by some students are truly heart-rending,” Negron said.

Moreno said that the emails will serve as proof of student struggles in an upcoming meeting where he and at least two other students will discuss potential solutions with the administration. The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday but has since been postponed due to the tornado damage that has caused classes to be cancelled April 13-17. Additionally, in an April 14 video addressed to the Southern community, President David Smith said he will be meeting with Galvez with

the same topic in mind. According to Galvez, the meeting will take place tomorrow morning, April 17.

In an interview, incoming SA president Sheryl Kambuni who was also in Moreno’s video said she is not supporting the proposal just because of her future position, but as a regular student.

“When I ran, I promised to be a voice for the student body,” Kambuni said. “More than that, the stress that I see students going through is human, and I hurt for and with them.”

Similar to Kambuni, Galvez expressed that he empathizes with students who are struggling under the impacts of coronavirus and spoke on behalf of students who do not have the privilege to focus on school.

“If you have the privilege of having a home, rent paid, food made, utilities paid, insurance secure, reliable WiFi, gas in your car, you, my dear friend, are privileged. I have emails from students that are suffering like you wouldn’t believe,” Galvez said. “Our friends are unemployed. Our own classmates are seeing their parents depressed. We have households that have run out of money and [only] rely on prayer. How can you focus in an environment this tense?

How can you perform at your very best when you cannot find peace and quiet?”

For more related news, visit our website at accent.southern.edu

3 | Thursday, April 16, 2020

NEWS STORM

continued from page 1 at least 12 people died between southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.

These numbers include three from Hamilton County, including a 4-year-old toddler whose story was shared extensively on social and news media platforms as his mother asked for prayers for his recovery.

Making a difficult situation worse

While according to Campus Safety Southern’s campus saw minimal structural damage, the storm caused a campus-wide WiFi and power outage for about two days, except for in Wright Hall and the Village Market, which ran on generators.

Because these outages extended to many faculty members and students in the area and made web services such as eClass unreliable, distance learning instruction was canceled for the following week, from April 13-17.

“This extended cancelation makes an already difficult semester more challenging, with an added loss of a week’s worth of instruction,” wrote David Smith, president, in an email to faculty. “I apologize for this, but there is no other alternative, especially since this new event adds further frustration and stress to our students.”

For students in the area, the storm is another blow to the normalcy of life in college.

On Tuesday, Bemis found himself in the parking lot of Walmart in order to get phone coverage. At the time, his power was still off and the stress of the storm on top of school and coronavirus concerns just seemed to be too much.

“Especially with the storm, it's just it's really stressful thinking about my assignments that I have to do,” he said on Tuesday.

“Because I don't have electricity, I can't charge my computer. I can't go to Starbucks to get WiFi and power. So it's overwhelming because I don't know. I don't know anything and being the person I am I like simple things.

I think it puts me in a very stressful state. So I've been very on edge the past couple days.”

On Monday, Choi decided to share her story and plea for action from the university while sitting in her car at the top of a hill in hopes of finding cell service. She wrote that while she was a good student, her priorities and entire life had been adjusted, something she said many students could relate to.

We're all suffering in one way or another; life as we know it has come to an end.

“We’re all suffering in one way or another; life as we know it has come to an end,” she wrote in her Instagram post. “It seems to be one thing on top of the next and school has quite literally been the last thing on my mind. So I am asking that you please be patient with us. I am asking that you let our voices be heard, that you give us a vote on what is happening to us academically.”

In an email to students, Smith called for professors to make adjustments to class structures and schedules as a week of instruction would be lost and many students were now in even less of a position to fully focus on school. He reiterated this point in a similar email to faculty.

The university administration is also currently looking into further academic accommodations, after over 100 students sent in emails after a proposal

During the storm, a trampoline ended up in the pool in Albert Diaz's backyard. Photo courtesy Albert Diaz.

for the option to have pass/fail grading was declined.

Lending a hand Concern for the spread of the coronavirus still looms, something Rodriguez feels will make the time harder as people aren’t able to comfort others in ways they would have previously.

“You can’t even come together as a community because you’re still worried about getting sick!” she wrote.

But despite the concern, people have still found a way to provide support as the virus becomes secondary in the face of a loss of life and possessions.

For example, the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists is working to organize volunteers to provide assistance to those in need. Those interested in finding ways to help or to request help can visit collegedalechurch.com/tornadorelief. Local government resources can also be found at collegedaletn.gov.

In the early hours after the storm and into the next few days, city officials asked that most citizens stay home because of downed power lines and trees and to give better access to emergency workers who searched to locate those who may be trapped.

Initially, Parker and a group of volunteers ventured out on Monday to help a fellow church member. But when they saw there were others they could assist, they stayed.

One lady tried to turn his group away as she didn’t have any funds to pay them, but was moved to tears when they assured her they were just there to help, free of charge.

“I’ve just been amazed by the kindness of everyone everywhere,” Parker said. “When there is a pressing need in a time of crisis, it seems to bring out the best in the worst of us... and I’ve seen a lot of people coming together.”

Southern students and staff members can also reach out to the school for assistance if needed.

Looking towards the future Now in the aftermath of the storm, Diaz emphasized the importance of reaching out to friends and family members during this time to check on not only physical but the mental wellbeing of those in the area.

“Some people might not have gotten affected directly by getting their house blown away, but mentally this is just one of those things that no one sees coming,” he said. “No one's ready for it.”

Despite all of the uncertainty and destruction, while times are tough, the serving spirit of the local community gives Diaz hope for the future.

Over 150 structures were damaged during the storm, including many houses. Photo by Abigale Choi.

LEFT: Fallen trees decorate the parking lot at Winding Creek Apartments on Ooltewah-Ringold Road. The apartments are owned by Southern Adventist University. Photo by Kayla Rodriguez. RIGHT: Albert Diaz took photos as he drove through heavily damaged areas. Photo by Albert Diaz.

One of more than 150 structures were damaged during the storm. Photo by Abigale Choi.

“This city will bounce back,” Diaz said. “I met people in my neighborhood that jumped to help so quickly with people that had a lot of damages even if

they didn’t know them. The people in this city look out for each other.”

This city will bounce back...The people in this city look out for each other.