Contact: Bruce Conley, News Information Director
Phone: (605) 274-5526
Fax: (605) 274-4903
e-mail: bruce_conley@augie.edu
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December 8, 2003

Augustana Regents Approve ‘Viking Senior Experience'

SIOUX FALLS - The Augustana College Board of Regents, meeting on campus Saturday and Sunday, approved the Viking Senior Experience which will be launched at the beginning of the 2004-2005 academic year.

Since January 2003, a task force composed of faculty, staff, and students has been designing a residential living experience for senior students. The purpose of this residence life initiative is to create a community living experience enabling Augustana senior students to explore personal, social, spiritual, vocational, as well as practical issues of transition from the college to life beyond.

Students will be afforded the opportunity to challenge and support each other in the process of conducting their Augustana College experience. Tuve Hall will serve as the home for this unique experience.

Among the proposals for the Viking Senior Experience was a revised policy governing the use of alcoholic beverages limited to Tuve Hall. It would afford students of legal drinking age to make responsible decisions regarding their use of alcoholic beverages.

While supportive of the Viking Senior Experience, the Augustana Board of Regents was not ready to change the alcohol policy at this time. The use of alcohol at Augustana College has not been permitted since the institution took up permanent residence in Sioux Falls in 1918.

In other business, the Board introduced a new committee structure. Committees and their chairs are:

• Governance - Jane Zaloudek, Berkeley, Calif.
• Academic Affairs - Carole Bland, Plymouth, Minn.
• Financial Management - Pamela Madsen, Sioux Falls.
• Institutional Resoruces - Lowell Stortz, Edina, Minn.
• Student Affairs - Karen Pfeifer, Worthington, Minn.

Kristin Barnett, who graduated from Augustana in May 2003, began a three-year term as the Young Alumni Regent.