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Opinion | 6
Religion | 6
Reclaiming meditation
Fear of war: The conflict between Ukraine and Russia
An unlikely blessing from God
February 16, 2022 Collegedale, Tennessee
Lifestyle | 7 Wordle is less about winning and more about the friends
Southern Accent
Vol. 77 Issue 15
The student voice since 1926
Transgender student placed on administrative leave after posting comments on social media Megan Yoshioka Editor-in-Chief
A mask on a counter. Sunday, February 13, 2022. (Photo by: Megan Yoshioka)
Southern suspends indoor mask mandate Megan Yoshioka Editor-in-Chief Southern Adventist University suspended its indoor mask mandate effective February 14 due to a decline in positive COVID-19 cases on campus and in Hamilton County, according to an email sent to the student body by Vice President for Student Development Dennis Negrón on February 11. “Over the last week and a half, Southern has seen a dramatic decrease in positive cases of COVID among both students and employees,” Negrón wrote in the email. “This reality mirrors what is occurring in Hamilton County, where cases, though still high for this part of the country, are also dropping dramatically from where they were just a week ago. As a result, administration is shifting its indoor mask mandate to suspended rather than mandatory.”
As of Monday, February 14, one student was quarantined, and one was isolated. One employee was quarantined, and none were isolated, according to Southern’s Safety Information and Updates webpage. Individuals who still wish to wear a mask are encouraged to do so, according to the email. Professors will also continue to take attendance using QR codes to help with contact tracing. If cases begin to rise again, the email stated, the university will likely reinstate the indoor mask mandate. “Please note that our priority remains the health and safety of campus during this pandemic,” Negrón wrote in the email. “Therefore, if positive cases were to begin to rise at an alarming rate again, the wearing of masks indoors would likely again be mandated for all employees and students.”
Junior religious studies major Ari Bates publicly came out as a transgender woman on her personal Instagram and Facebook accounts on Wednesday, February 2. Eight days later, she was placed on indefinite paid administrative leave from her position as the Engage director for Admissions, Bates said in a recent interview with the Southern Accent. According to the university website, Engage Worship is a ministry that takes “worship and social experiences that are foundational to Southern Adventist University to local church communities throughout the Southern Union.” Bates said her boss, Director of Admissions Ryan Herman, requested to meet with her on Monday, February 7. When they met, Associate Director of Admissions Stahl Comete was also present. During the meeting, Bates said, her coming out on social media was mentioned, but the meeting had an open-ended conclusion. “That meeting was the initial meeting. … It was very rushed,” Bates said. “They weren't sure what they were planning to do. Ryan closed the meeting with telling me that he needed to think, he needed to process and that he would get back with me with an update.” Following that meeting, Bates met with Herman and Jason
MERGE Worship provides diverse, student-focused worship services
Ari Bates. (Photo courtesy of: Ari Bates)
Merryman, vice president for Enrollment Management, on Thursday, February 10, according to Bates. During the meeting, Bates said, her activity on social media was discussed. “Essentially, what was communicated was that my posts on TikTok about the situation were in conflict with my commitment to recruiting for the school,” Bates said. “And that by exposing Southern and by using incriminatory language, I was contradicting my mission as a recruiter and as a front person of Admissions with Engage.” In one of Bates’ TikTok videos discussing her situation with the university, another individual had commented on her post asking if Bates attended Southern. Bates said that comment occurred before she had mentioned Southern by name. According to Bates, the com-
Lizbeth Rodriguez-Diep Staff Writer MERGE Worship is a student-led and student-focused worship service that reflects the various multicultural demographics represented on Southern’s campus. MERGE takes place every Saturday at 11:45 a.m. in Lynn Wood Chapel and is live on YouTube. The worship experience is spearheaded by Pastor Reginald Horton and his wife, LaShawn, who is a nursing professor at Southern. Horton said divine inspiration led to the gospel-style worship service on campus for students that came from an Afrocentric background. After much prayer and the formulation of a diverse leadership team, Horton pitched the idea to Vice President for
Student Development Dennis Negrón. Horton said Negrón’s response was, “This is divine.” After receiving the green light, MERGE occurred once a month, which later turned into two weeks a month and then transitioned into what it is now — every week that school is in session. Horton’s vision for MERGE was always to be student-led and student-focused with the purpose to train students and provide them with opportunities, an aspect of community and a way to experience God. That means speakers, musicians, vocalists, greeters and photographers are all students. Horton said what makes MERGE Worship a unique environment is the gospel style music. The musical goal is, “offering a modern worship style encouraging an authen-
tic and expressive freedom to worship, while highlighting African-American gospel music as the primary musical genre.” According to MERGE Worship’s website, this style of music can be described as spiritual text brought to life through various rhythms that speak about being in communion with God. Michaela Lewin, alumna class of 2020, has supported MERGE Worship from its beginning stages by attending, leading worship and consulting for MERGE Media. “We are on our feet, we clap our hands, we raise our hands,” Lewin said. “[This is] the place where I could worship my Jesus freely and just be me with no judgment.” MERGE Worship is not culSee MERGE on page 2
See BATES on page 3
International Vision Trips for Spring break canceled due to COVID-19 concerns Lucas Bueno Reporter
MERGE Worship vocalists (L-R) Cesiah Hernandez, Joshua Callwood, Triniti Evans and Nathanya Vidal. (Photo by: Elias Zabala)
menter guessed that Bates attended Southern and said that “it made sense” because her father used to work for the university. Bates replied to that comment, “Holy (profanity), then you know exactly how (profanity) up this school is.” Bates mentioned another comment that, according to her, was referred to in her meeting with Herman and Merryman. On Twitter, Bates said she commented, “I hate it here. Nice job SAU,” in response to a friend’s Tweet about a professor using the term “Blacks” in a class. This comment was made before Bates came out as a transgender woman on social media. Bates said Comete had previously approached her about that specific comment, asking Bates to explain the situation.
Two Spring break Vision Trips have been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sonya Reaves, Global Engagement coordinator for the Office of Ministry and Missions at Southern Adventist University. In an interview with the Accent, Reaves explained what happened with this year’s Vision Trips. “Originally at the start of the school year, we had five trips planned: three for Spring break and two for the summer,” she said. The Spring break Vision Trip locations were North Africa, Peru and Alaska, while the summer locations were Hawaii and Peru, Reaves said. She explained that the two international trips for Spring break had to be canceled. Those trips had to be canceled because the U.S. Department of State has labeled Peru and Morocco with safety tier Level Four, according to Reaves. International safety is measured on a four-tier scale, with Level One indicating little to no danger and Level Four indicating high risk. Level Four can be designated for a variety of reasons, including security risk, unrest and terrorism. But in this situation, it was given because of COVID-19, Reaves said. During the Vision Trip training class on January 16, Peru
was at Level Three. But the next week, the country saw a spike in cases, resulting in a Level Four, according to Reaves. “So then, we decided in good stewardship to not purchase tickets with the hope that it would come down because … that’s a big risk that you could lose those tickets as well as it's not fair to students to have a hope,” Reaves said. In January, Morocco was already at Level Four, but they decided not to take a risk by purchasing tickets, Reaves said. “So, unfortunately for these students, we’re not sending them [to Morocco],” Reaves said. “But they have several options. They could join the Alaska trip. … They could just transfer all their funds straight over and join that trip. They could pause; and next year, they can go on a trip. Or, they could join a summer trip, because we will hold their fundraising money … until they can go.” Reaves added that students could also use their fundraised money for a Student Missions trip or an ERC mission trip since those two departments work together along with Vision Trips. Lilly Cheneweth, junior biology major with a biomedical emphasis, was set to go on the Spring break mission trip to Peru, but her plans changed when the trip was canceled. In an interSee VISION on page 2