Campus

PHOTO GALLERY: Bearstock 2021 features Jesse McCartney

SGA Presidential Debate: A guide to candidates’ responses

Note: SGA Vice Presidential Candidate Natalie Yaeger is employed by The Cluster as the Lead Lifestyle & Opinion Writer. This does not contribute to or impact our coverage of her relating to the race. As the SGA Presidential election approaches, the organization’s debate Wednesday allowed candidates ...

The Cluster’s News and Sports Editors earn university journalism awards

Members of The Cluster staff won departmental and university awards at Mercer University’s annual Honors Convocation Friday, including two journalism honors. News Editor Nadia Pressley was named the Outstanding Senior in Journalism, and Sports Editor Micah Johnston was named the Outstanding Junior ...

SGA Presidential debate features student questions, in-depth discussion

Mercer’s Student Government Association held its 2021 Presidential Debate in the Connell Student Center Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The event featured discussions between presidential candidates Rylan Allen and Ashton Bearden and vice presidential candidates Natalie Yeager and Caleb Mills. Bearden, ...

Mercer student creates Instagram account to feature Black students’ businesses

After realizing the lack of recognition for many Black-owned student businesses on campus, junior Melody Gervin created an Instagram account dedicated to featuring and supporting her classmates. Gervin is the owner of black.owned.mercer, an Instagram account that she began in the summer of 2020 amid ...

Mercer to erect new statue celebrating diversity

Students walking between the Historic Quad and the Connell Student Center within the last few months have probably noticed an empty green space where the recently demolished Computer Science Building once stood. However, the 120-by-60 foot open area will not remain unused for long, because Mercer has ...

Mercer students vaccinated in COVID-19 health efforts

As COVID-19 vaccines roll out around the United States, some students and faculty at Mercer have been offered the opportunity to get vaccinated against the virus. Throughout the Columbus, Macon and Savannah campuses, medical teams have received vaccinations from their regional health districts in Columbus, ...

Activist Rachel Cargle asks Mercer students to consider their roles in upholding white supremacy

Rachel Cargle is not interested in “spoonfeeding” racial justice to her audiences. Instead, she engages in conversation with them and challenges them to think critically about the systems they participate in — systems, she said, that uphold white supremacy. That’s the framework through which ...

Activist to deliver talk on intersectionality for Women’s History Month

Rachel Cargle, a public academic, writer and lecturer, will be delivering a talk on the way race impacts everyday life as the first program of Mercer’s Women’s History Month celebration. The keynote address, “For Your Consideration,” will be hosted by several programs in the community, including ...

Mercer approved for COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Mercer Medicine will begin distributing COVID-19 vaccines in Macon, likely in the next few weeks, according to a campus-wide email from university President Bill Underwood Thursday. The Georgia Department of Public Health approved the university to distribute the vaccine once sufficient doses are available. “Navigating ...

Founder’s Day: Alum Kirk Nooks to share life lessons as 2021 speaker

Each February, the Mercer community is invited to take part in Founder’s Day. This year, “double Bear” and President of Gordon State College Kirk Nooks will deliver an address at the 130th annual celebration of Founder’s Day Feb. 17. Founder’s Day began in 1891 as a way for Mercer students ...

Presidential Scholars Weekend endures with new COVID-19 regulations

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has canceled many popular events at Mercer, the university has still managed to take control of the situation by adapting to safety protocols. One event Mercer was able to continue holding was its annual Presidential Scholars Weekend Jan. 22-23. The event was hosted in ...

CAPS addresses new mental health needs due to COVID-19

About a fifth of students visiting Mercer’s Office of Counseling and Psychological Services have sought counseling specifically because of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on their life, data kept by CAPS shows, underscoring the additional mental health challenges COVID-19 has caused at colleges ...

Lin Wood’s Mercer legacy

In January 2020, Mercer Law School graduate L. Lin Wood spoke to a group of law students as a “Legal Legend.” One year later, he was banned from Twitter after spreading several baseless conspiracy theories and inciting violence. Wood, who received both his bachelor’s and law degrees from Mercer, ...

Mercer University announces 232 cases of COVID-19 since December 30

Mercer University began its weekly publication of COVID-19 testing results for the spring semester Friday. The university announced that between Dec. 30 and Jan. 14, a total of 4,251 students, faculty and staff were tested for the novel coronavirus across Mercer’s campuses. Of those, 232 people tested ...

BREAKING: Mercer freshman passes away in campus dorm

A Mercer University freshman passed away in her dorm room Jan. 7, according to an email from President Bill Underwood sent to students just after 5:00 p.m. “Earlier this afternoon Anna Espy, a promising and cherished Mercer freshman from Rome, Georgia, passed away in her dorm room after suffering ...

Campus worship organizations adjust to pandemic reality 

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected numerous aspects of Mercer’s campus life. Campus religious organizations have had to adjust as well.   At a time when large gatherings must be held carefully, religious groups have had to change the way they hold worship.  One of these groups includes Mercer’s ...

Mercer cancels spring break, plans ahead for new semester amid pandemic

Mercer University canceled its spring break, which was set to take place midway through the spring 2021 semester, according to an email to students from Mercer President Bill Underwood Nov. 3. The move is another part of the university’s plan to manage COVID-19 on campus. “One of the factors enabling ...

Mercer reports 10 new COVID-19 cases

Mercer University announced 10 new cases of COVID-19 across its campuses in its weekly testing summary posted Friday. Of those 10 cases, eight are among students. Five are students on the Macon campus, two are students on the Atlanta campus and one is a student on the Savannah campus. The other two ...

Mercer enrolls 951 new undergrad students amid pandemic

Mercer University enrolled 951 new residential undergraduate students this year, according to a Mercer press release. Inside of that, administrators also reported continued growth in Mercer’s health sciences programming. “We have a really strong enrollment within our health sciences area,” Assistant ...