Every fall, first-year students load onto charter buses and make the “Pilgrimage to Penfield,” where students go to the site of Mercer’s founding. This year, however, new students will be attending...

Mercer University announced 36 new cases of COVID-19 between the Macon and Atlanta campuses in its weekly testing summary posted Friday.

A Mercer University senior filed a class-action lawsuit against the school on behalf of all students who paid tuition for “in-person, hands-on educational services and experiences” in the spring 2020 semester.

Mercer University began surveillance testing on the Macon campus for undergraduate students on Sept. 1. The university previously began this testing procedure in graduate and professional programs in Macon and Atlanta on Aug. 25. 

Seventeen students and faculty have tested positive for COVID-19 across all campuses, according to Mercer’s weekly testing summary released Friday. The Macon campus makes up 15 of those cases, with 14 students and one faculty member testing positive.

What exactly is mail-in voting, and is it a safe way to cast your vote?

The National Panhellenic Council made the decision to move all organization “bid days” to a virtual format Sept. 9.

According to Director of Campus Life and Student Involvement Carrie Ingoldsby, Campus Life surveyed students and student organization representatives about their experiences at the  virtual Bear Fair. About 130 individuals responded. Of those respondents, about 75% said they experienced some technical difficulties. The Caribbean Student Association was among the roughly 70 student organizations in attendance at Bear Fair 2.0. Member Tamara Barnard manned the organization’s booth for both the virtual and in-person Bear Fair.

Mercer University updated their COVID-19 policies surrounding face masks Aug. 24. While Mercer first put into place a mask requirement during its second summer session, the policy was expanded in mid-August after fall classes began. The original policy, sent out in July, did not specify what kind of masks were acceptable or how users would be required to wear them. The updated policy now specifies that all individuals on-campus are required to wear masks that cover their nose, mouth and chin. 

Approximately 400 Mercer students, faculty and staff marched through campus Sept. 4 protesting racism and police brutality in Mercer’s first Equal Justice March and Vigil. Afterwards, over 100 demonstrators gathered in Willingham Hall for a rally and vigil where protest organizers read the names of Black people killed in high-profile instances of police brutality and racism in efforts to raise greater awareness of racism in America.

Mercer University saw an additional 47 positive coronavirus cases during the week of Aug. 28 to Sept. 3.

Mercer University quietly changed its COVID-19 protocols in a document posted to its coronavirus page Tuesday. The document is an updated version of one that was released in June. The updates reduce the amount of time a student who tests positive for COVID-19 must be fever-free before ending their self-isolation and removes a previous suggestion that a student test negative twice before ending self-isolation.