THE
FALCON FORUM
VOLUME 2, No. 4
Enlightening minds. Broadening perspectives, informing a comirnunify.
ITie Student Newspaper of Saint Augustine s UmFersity j www.tiieMconfbiiiinxoiii
December 2015
Campus food options
to expand in January
Library kiosk, refurbished grili are coming
By Kia Isonn
When students, staff, and faculty re
turn after the holiday break, there will
be more food options: a food kiosk in
the PrezeU R. Robinson Library and a
refurbished griU on the second floor of
the cafeteria.
The kiosk wih be a “grab and go” fa
cility serving coffee, soda, sandwiches,
salads and snacks, said Jane Bass of
ABL Management, who is in charge
of cafeteria food service. It will give the
campus an alternative to outside options,
Ms. Bass said.
“You won’t have to stand in line at
Starbucks or Krispy Kreme or McDon
ald’s,” she said. “You can get it right here
on campus.”.
The new kiosk will be located on the
main floor of the library, and will be
open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., she said.
The refurbished griU will be “faster
and more efficient,” Ms. Bass said. The
fryer will be larger, allowing more space
for workers to cook, and the cash reg
ister will be moved away from the fryer,
giving workers more room. Also, a new
refrigerator will be closer to the fryer.
All of that will allow more food op
tions, Ms. Bass said. “The chicken wdngs
and chicken fingers are coming back!”
she said. The new equipment at the grfll
win include a juice machine, she said,
adding: “Everyone doesn’t like soda.”
FOOD, Page 2
Both the kiosk and the expanded
grill wdU be open when classes begin in
the spring semester, Ms. Bass said.
The changes are part of an overall ef
fort to improve food on campus. Earlier
this year, the cafeteria adopted a new
menu that provided healthier options
such as fish tacos and vegetable casse
roles. “We are moving on up!” Ms. Bass
said.
A US. Army veteran as well as a culi
nary school graduate, Ms. Bass reminds
many of a tough-but-loving grandma.
She takes her job of feeding the cam
pus as a mission. “You have to be tough
serving about 900 students a day,” she
said. “I treat your food the same way I
treat the food that I serve to my two
sons,” she said. “I take food service very
seriously.”
Jane Bass, cafeteria manager
Dormitory troubles
continue for students
Boyer to Falk Crest; now back to Boyer
Cianna Fisher
The disruption in living arrange
ments that has been part of students’
lives this semester is continuing: Stu
dents living in Falk Crest have been
moved to Boyer Hall due to structural
problems in Falk Crest.
The moves feel like deja-vu all over
again to many students who had been
living in Boyer earlier in the semester
before they were moved to Falk Crest
due to low enrollment.
According to Ann Brown, Assistant
Dean of Student Leadership and Cam
pus Life, an engineer inspected Falk
Crest recently and verified that the first
floors of Falk Crest A and B buildings
have structural damage and deteriora
tion. University officials were advised to
move the students living on these floors
immediately to ensure their safety, Ms.
Brown said. AH students, male and fe
male, who were living on these floors
were moved to Boyer Hall, which was
originally an aU male dorm and has
communal bathrooms.
Asked about this disruptive back and
forth, Ms. Brown explained, “We didn’t
know about the structural damage to
the buildings earlier in the semester,
otherwise we would not have placed
students on the first floor.”
When Boyer was shut down earlier
this semester, it was the fourth dorm
that Saint Augustine’s had closed dur
ing the past year and half, joining Lynch,
Baker and Atkinson. School officials at
tribute the closings to safety issues and
declining enrollment.
The affected students were not happy,
especially with the end of the semester
DORMITORIES, Page 2
The Falk Crest A and B dormitories have structural problems on the first floor.
SAD wins national scholarship fifth straight year
By Christian Roberson
Gentel Blair, a senior
majoring in journalism
and mass communica
tion, has won the 2016
Ailes Rising Apprentice
Scholarship from Fox
News. She will receive
a $10,000 educational
scholarship and a two-
month internship at Fox
News in New York City
next summer.
Blair is the fifth Saint
Augustine’s student in
a row selected for this
prestigious scholarship,
which is awarded to two
minority students from
among candidates across
the nation. She follows in
the footsteps of Sakeeda
Freeman (2012), Prin
cess Goodridge (2013),
Naomi Afari (2014)
and Clayshawn Moore
(2015).
Blair credited J. Peder
Zane, an assistant pro
fessor in the Media and
Communications De
partment, for encourag
ing her to apply. “I was
really excited about the
internship but nervous
also,” she said. “It wasn’t
in my original plans
this summer but I trust
in God and he makes
no mistakes in order
ing my steps. I am glad
Student Spotiiaht:
After four years of support,
time to go separate ways
By Jakeina Sutton
Being in college and away from home
and family can be difficult for some stu
dents, especially those who come from
other countries. But few have the kind of
support that the Bramwell sisters have.
CoUiet, Colleen, and Cadine Bramwell
are triplets and have had one another to
rely on to get through their four years at
Saint Augustine’s University.
The seniors from Kingston, Jamaica,
major in biology, history and pohtical
science respectively. Coming to a for
eign country can be difficult, they agreed.
“International students would love for
the school to have more international
support for international students, and
to help them transition into becoming
more responsible for themselves,” Ca
dine said. “It’s not easy to just leave your
family and friends from home one day
and wonder when you might see them
again.”
The Bramwell sisters (left to right): Colliet,
Colleen and Cadine.
It was comforting to have each oth
ers’ company eating in the cafeteria and
during other college activities, but the
biggest benefit of being triplets came
during holidays, the sisters said. Travel
ing back and forth to their homeland
STUDENT, Page 2
I received this amazing
opportunity and I will
make my SAU family
proud this summer.”
Noting that Blair was
one of several strong
candidates from Saint
Augustine’s considered
for the prestigious schol
arship, Mr. Zane said
the Ailes award benefits
far more than the single
winner.
FOX, Page 2
Faculty Spotiiaht:
Gentel Blair
Outside activities help her
inside the classroom as well
By E. Ophelia Johnson
Alissa McElreath deftly keeps pace
as a working mom, assistant professor
of English, and program coordinator at
SAU, but her toughest laps aren’t always
in the classroom or at home; it’s the gru
eling miles she spends on hot asphalt
and along wooded trails as a long dis
tance runner. In a recent interview. Prof.
McElreath shared her thoughts on the
benefits of running.
Q: What inspired you to take up
long-distance running?
A: I spent my 30s having kids, and
tending to their needs when they were
very little, and I wanted to do something
for myself I never thought I would ever
like running. I started the week before
I turned 40, and I didn’t think I could
make it one mile, but I also knew I
needed to do something for myself, and
to get out there and get moving.
Assistant Professor Alissa McElreath
Q: How many half-marathons
have you done?
A: I ve done six half-marathons, a
handful of lOK races, and over a dozen
5k races. I ran my fifth half-marathon
three days before I turned 46!
FACULTY, Page 2