Campus Life

CAMPUS LIFE Introducing a new campus group: Delta Lambda Zeta April 2, 2020 Page 9

Park University offers many opportunities for students to join clubs and groups they are interested in.

The opportunity grew in August 2019, when a group of friends decided to create a sorority for women to connect and better help each other.

Jaycee Roe, a sophomore communication studies major, is one of the founders of Park’s Delta Lambda Zeta chapter.

“We basically started with the idea that we wanted a bigger group of women to become friends with,” she said. “We wanted to establish bonds of sisterhood that last a lifetime.”

Delta Lambda Zeta currently has 12 members, but the numbers keep growing. To join, each applicant must meet the requirements which include being a self-identifying woman, having a 2.2 GPA and being enrolled as an undergraduate student.

According to Roe, the sorority was about adapting to the big change of coming to college. The group shares three values: ambition, friendship and inclusivity. “We try to go off of some of Park’s values like inclusivity. That was part of why we started; that we wanted a very inAnnika Ruskievicz Editor

clusive group of women who wanted to make some friends, and that anyone that needed a community could be a part of one.” The group is still in the early stages but tries to have monthly meetings.

PHOTO COURTESY/Jaycee Roe

They had a sisterhood dinner in the fall, a secret sister around Christmas time and are planning on doing a rush week in fall 2020.

“Our biggest thing right now is hitting hard on rush for the fall,” Roe said. “We want to make sure we get as many girls as we can and just focus on incoming freshmen girls who would love to be a part of our community and grow.”

Students seek a gender neutral restroom in Findlay-Wakefield Science Hall

Naida Gonzalez Reporter

Spectrum, a Park University club, has been working with Park Student Government Association and the dean of students to implement gender neutral restrooms in Findlay-Wakefield Science Hall.

During a meeting, members of the club mentioned that there are gender neutral restrooms in almost every building on campus besides Science Hall. According to the proposal submitted to Michelle Myers, Park University’s provost, gender neutral restrooms are an important part of providing safe spaces for transgender and gender nonconforming students.

Some students don’t feel safe or comfortable using a restroom that matches their sex. The plan is for facilities to install locks and new signage, which will be at minimal cost to the student organizations or Student Services.

Alison Overcash, Spectrum Club’s president, reached out to Christian Leonard, PSGA’s president, to inquire about the possibility of transforming one of the gendered restrooms into a non-gendered restroom. In a group meeting with Spectrum leadership, Leonard suggested reaching out to Dean of Students Jayme Uden to further the process.

Overcash and Leonard met at the Science Hall with Uden to pick out the restrooms that will be converted into the neutral restrooms. The biggest concern was choosing a restroom that did not already have a lot of traffic as to not inconvenience students and faculty. The group ended up settling for the second floor, with the basement as a back-up option. Olivia Lauhoff, Spectrum’s secretary, said that her former college had a few gender neutral restrooms, but not nearly as many as Park.

“Having gender neutral bathrooms accessible in every building makes students feel safer and more included,” Lauhoff said. “I think it’s important that people have the option to use these bathrooms if that’s what’s most comfortable.”

According to Overcash, the response from the provost is being awaited.

“We hope to get this advance the process and have the restrooms by the fall 2020,” she said.