Written By Christopher Mercer, Sports Editor. Photo Courtesy of Flickr  The VSU Blazers soundly defeated the Union Bulldogs 100-80 in the first round of the Gulf South Conference championship tournament.   Before this matchup, the Blazers won both regular-season matchups, 102-79 on Jan. 9 and 106-100 on Feb. 22.  This game was complete domination, as the Blazers held the lead ...

Written by Jasmine Hightower, Copyeditor. The City of Valdosta honored the winning team from VSU’s social media class during a city council meeting Feb. 20.  During the fall 2024 semester, students in the social media class taught by Dr. David Nelson worked alongside the Valdosta’s Public Information Office to create a social media campaign to increase public engagement within the ...

Written by Bailey Wilson, Managing Editor. VSU Theatre and Dance have continued to dazzle audiences with their spring dance concerts, and their latest show, “Evolve,” has taken the creativity of the department to new heights– in some moments, literally. The project includes a statewide premiere of a collaborative piece that has been years in the making, as well as VSU’s ...

By James Brown, Winter Dube and Ansley DeCenzo, Spectator Staff Writers  The entire VSU community is being heavily impacted by federal and state directives related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at universities nationwide.  VSU President Richard Carvajal spoke at a recent Faculty Senate meeting regarding how the federal decisions have impacted the university, including many changes to the ...

Story By: Bailey Wilson, Ansley DeCenzo, Arizona Renfroe, Lloy Hudson, Winter Dube, Armoné Gates, James Brown, Jasmine Hightower, SeanTae-A Price  In a small blue house next to the Student Health Center, a student walks through the yellow front door of the ELI Annex. She stops just long enough to sign her name on the sheet on the table in front ...

Written by Ashley Jones, Web Editor. On the evening of Feb. 19, VSU and SGA held a candlelight and floral tribute to celebrate the life of Tanique Thomas, a freshman student who died on Monday, Feb. 17.  Thomas’s mother, friends, fellow SGA members and members of the community joined each other to honor her life and support each other through ...

Written by Jasmine Hightower, Copy Editor. Visiting artist Chico Sierra opened his exhibition, The Good Sun, on Feb.13 at the Dedo Maranville Gallery in the Fine Arts Building.  Originally from El Paso, Texas, Sierra’s artwork consists of the vibrancy of indigenous culture, pop art and his own cultural identity. Most of his artwork includes bright and vibrant colors and line ...

Written by Bailey Wilson, Managing Editor. After two months, there is a definitive timeline on what happened after VSU’s networks were hacked into. In late June of 2024, a zip file containing malware was downloaded onto a computer on campus, which went undetected and inactivated until December. It entered the system through a “business-needed template” and remained invisible until VSU’s ...

Written by Bailey Wilson, Managing Editor. Tanique Thomas, a VSU student and member of SGA, passed away on Feb. 17. The President’s Office released a statement at 5:00 on Feb. 17, providing details on the loss. “Tanique was a freshman from Coral Springs, Florida,” the statement said. “She was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in chemistry, ...

Written by Bailey Wilson, Managing Editor. On Monday around 10:00 a.m., several VSUPD cars, an ambulance and two fire trucks arrived at Hopper Hall for an alleged cardiac arrest.  GBI has arrived on campus to help, though no details are available at this time. According to Fire Lieutenant Shelley Miller, the incident was a cardiac arrest, but no other information ...