Month: November 2020

To follow Gov. Gary Herbert’s updated Nov. 23 order requiring higher education students to be tested every two weeks, Dixie State University will begin COVID-19 testing this week.

Josh Thayn, executive director of event services and risk management, said DSU students with at least one in-person class or students who live on campus should participate in the free, non-invasive testing.

Stacy Schmidt, public relations and publications coordinator, said DSU understands the governor’s order requiring that all students need to be tested, and the higher education age group is responding well to positive measures.

Schmidt said, “We are planning to approach [COVID-19 testing] from a positive perspective, helping students see the value in getting these free, non-invasive tests to protect their immediate circles as well as the broader community.”

There will be a testing station in the Kenneth N. Gardner Student Center ballroom, which will be available from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 2, 3, 7 and 8. Students will need to register in advance, and the Booth Wellness Center is finalizing the registration system and will add more information to its website as soon as possible.

Garyn Gulbranson, director of the Booth Wellness Center, said DSU staff members were provided training by the Utah Department of Health to work at the testing stations.

Gulbranson said DSU can conduct 3,920 COVID-19 tests starting this week, and in order to test all eligible students in accordance with the new order of every two weeks for the spring semester, the university needs approximately 17,600 tests per month.

Schmidt said students haven’t demonstrated any resistance to being tested, and the Booth Wellness Center wants to work with every student who has not been tested to address their concerns to best protect their health, as well as the health of their fellow students, faculty and families.

“Our students are very service-oriented, and we are optimistic that they will cooperate with the governor’s mandate given that this is a service to the community,” Schmidt said.

If students do show resistance and are unwilling to get tested, DSU will look to the state for clear-cut guidelines on next steps.

Thayn said DSU is working hard to prepare for next semester, and it will continue to prioritize students and their health while offering them a quality educational experience.

By Elise Bush

Through all of the trials 2020 has presented, the Dixie State University dance department has decided that the show must go on… virtually.

Elizabeth Stich, assistant professor of dance, said there is a wide range of styles from contemporary to modern, jazz to the spoken word. There is even a performance that incorporates aerial dance, tap and contemporary. These choreographers have developed dances as their capstone projects, adding to the ever-growing portfolio of an artist.

The virtual concert will premiere Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. and will be available the entire week of finals. More information can be found on the dance department’s Facebook page and website. There will be updates on where and how to watch the concert.

Working within the limitations of COVID-19 has challenged both the dancers and the choreographers, Stich said.

“We’ve gotten so used to it, like moving with masks, they don’t look strange to me as a part of the costume anymore,” Stich said. “And the way that they had to choreograph without the ability to touch our partner — we couldn’t do any partnering and those kinds of things. I think that the choreographers have done such a great job with it that I don’t really see it as limitations anymore.”

This has become the mindset of the entire department. Mackenzie Newbern, a freshman dance major from Lake Isabella, California, said working within these new guidelines has bettered her as a dancer.

“It personally helped me to push more of my performing skills,” Newbern said.

Ashly Barraclough, a junior dance major from St. George, said: “It really taught us … more about what dance is at its core, which is movement of the body and not just a performing thing. Like, yes, it’s great to be able to just perform for an audience and we always get that rush, you know, during a live performance, but [we’ve] been able to look at it as its purest form, which is just movement in whatever sense of feeling.”

This is a strong reminder to dancers that they don’t have to have an audience to validate their artistic depth and ability.

Choreographer McKelynn Barber, a senior dance major from West Valley City, said: “We all need more dance. We all need to watch more dance … we weren’t able to dance for months, for almost six months. It’s kind of inspiring to see people dance again and be able to be on stage and put anything together right now. This is a huge accomplishment for us.”

Stich said all dance auditions are open to all majors. There will be virtual auditions held for the spring concert on Jan. 11. There will be updates regarding auditions posted to the dance Facebook page.

The Dixie Sun News is transitioning to a solely-online news format due to not having enough funds granted by the Student Fee Allocation Committee and low advertisement revenue to produce a weekly print paper.

“The university cannot bring itself to fund, independently of student fees, the newspaper,” said Stephen Lee, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “The only way for the newspaper to proceed is to cut its costs — and again, the greatest price cost the paper faces is printing.”

According to SFAC’s website, the Dixie Sun News requested a $0.50 increase to add to their existing $0.75 student fee-funded budget. The SFAC reviews student fees every year and determines whether or not to recommend an increase or decrease to the Board of Trustees.

“I actually went to the student fee group and asked for a one-time increase to help get the DSN over a certain hump, and that was not granted,” Lee said.

Attempts to reach members of SFAC for comments were unsuccessful.

Another way the Dixie Sun News adds to its budget is through the advertisement revenue it acquires through printing a weekly newspaper.

DSN adviser Rhiannon Bent, assistant professor of media studies, said when the pandemic began and her staff stopped running the newspaper, ad revenue was shut down completely. She said this was a tremendous loss for DSN, and the future of the newspaper could have been different had the spring semester ended properly.

“Coming into this school year, I knew that it was kind of ‘do-or-die’ with ad revenue and frankly, it hasn’t picked up–really at all,” Bent said. “I mean, we’ve had a couple of ads here and there, but not nearly the kind of ad volume we were bringing in a year ago at this time.”

Bent said she is also concerned with how successful ad revenue will be once DSN transitions online. She said many companies who advertise in the newspaper prefer print ads instead of web ads.

“What people, I think, often forget is while we have the ability to sell ads on our website — and we offer that — clients don’t want it,” Bent said. “Clients want advertisement in the newspaper, so eliminating the newspaper also has potential repercussions for ad revenue moving forward.”

Lee said although it’s sad to see DSN moving on from printing weekly newspapers, journalism is evolving into a more web-based industry and this is a great opportunity for the DSN staff to produce more stories and gain more outreach.

“I think this [transition] is crucial for students who are interested in a career in journalism to understand,” Lee said. “More and more, I think that the eyes that are going to be drawn to the DSN are going to be electronic eyes, and they are going to find [it] on [its] webpage.”

Students are also embracing the transition to a solely-online newspaper.

“I read Dixie Sun News articles all online,” said Faitoto’a Faleao, a senior sports and recreation management major from Lehi. “I feel like most students I know read it that way since it would be easier and faster since we always have our phones nearby or literally in our hands.”

Chelsea Wistisen, a freshman elementary education major from Soda Springs, Idaho, said since she completes most of her classes remotely; having all of the Dixie Sun News content online will allow her to not have to go to campus to get a paper.

“I mean, it’s just so easy to go on the website and read articles instead of having to find a paper on campus,” Wistisen said. “Especially for us students who may be doing mostly online classes or other people who may not want to go to campus and risk getting COVID.”

The Dixie Sun News staff has discussed producing special print editions, but Lee said for this to happen, DSN will need to build up funds from online ad revenue in the future.

Rain or snow, Dixie State University’s 109th commencement ceremony will still happen on Dec. 11 at Greater Zion Stadium.

President Richard “Biff” Williams said when DSU received Gov. Gary Herbert’s mandate, the university reached out to the governor’s office and the Southwest Utah Public Health Department to make sure commencement was still meeting public health guidelines.

“The guidelines didn’t really change anything,” Williams said. “We’ll be able to socially distance, and then being able to use the entire football field to space the graduates really didn’t have an impact on whether or not we can follow the governor’s guidelines.”

Williams said the event will be livestreamed and have extra seating in the Cox Auditorium for those who are at high risk or who want to take extra precautions against COVID-19. He also said the ability to space people in the stands during the recent Utah High School Football State Championships proved that social distancing at commencement is doable, so DSU feels comfortable moving forward with commencement.

“We’re estimating roughly 20-30% of students responded that they’re no longer coming, or that they would prefer virtual, which we can’t do,” said Provost Michael Lacourse, vice president of academic affairs. “We’re in the 350 range on the reconfirmation, but we’re still guessing it’s going to be in the 500 range.”

Megan Church, director of university events and promotions, said the initial number of people who RSVPed by August was 745 total, with 400-500 of those being from fall 2019, spring 2020 and summer 2020.

Stacy Schmidt, public relations and publications coordinator, said, “We have more graduates, and you know, biggest graduating class ever, but that’s the number that we heard from that wanted to be part of it.”

Williams said he expects around 3,000 people to be in the 10,000-seat stands around the stadium.

“We’re working hard on putting all the protocols together,” Williams said. “We’ll have to do things a little bit differently. You’ll see our platform; we usually have 40-50 people up there — we’ll have 18. And usually we have the graduates coming and I’m twisting back and forth handing it, [but] it will be a much slower pace, which [is] good; I usually do it fast so my love handles will work off, but it’s never worked.”

Williams said all faculty are typically required as part of their contract to attend commencement, but that requirement has been lifted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to make sure that we’re not forcing anybody to come,” Williams said. “We want to make sure that we can celebrate and everybody’s happy and wants to support the students.”

Lacourse said the DSU administration is hoping for sunny 50-degree weather, but if there are inclement conditions, students will likely be ushered into the M. Anthony Burns Arena and other attendees will be dispersed in other buildings on campus.

“The only thing that will delay this is rain, and we’ll do a couple two-hour delays; if it’s snowing, we’re having it,” Williams said.

Schmidt said the commencement website and its instructions for attending are currently up to date. According to the website, the Grad Fair is still scheduled for Dec. 9 and 10 at the Alumni House and Grad Night has yet to be determined.

“Grad Fair is going to be limited hours,” Williams said. “Grad Fair will be mostly you come in, you get your gown, you get the information you need, and then you leave, so it’s not going to be as festive as it has before.”

Lacourse said the decision to have commencement in person on Dec. 11 rather than postpone it further is based on what students indicated they wanted, and that’s what’s most important to the DSU administration.

“We want to make sure if it really means something to you that you have that opportunity to walk across the stage and hear your name, and have your parents come and your family come celebrate with you,” Williams said.