Discussing intellectual topics and tasting different dishes, Academics Anonymous meetings are a way for students, faculty and staff to get together outside of class.

Sigma Tau Delta sponsors AA, which meets at noon on the third Wednesday of every month on the third floor of Hearnes Hall.

Dr. Doris Walters, professor of English, said usually 20-40 people show up for the meetings. Most of the speakers that talk during the meetings are English instructors, but Walters said AA will sometimes have instructors from other departments speak or people from the community.

“We’re always open for new ideas of people who want to speak,” said Susan Courtney, senior English education major and member of Sigma Tau Delta.

Mostly English majors attend AA, but anyone is invited.

“It’s for anyone who wants to come,” Courtney said. “It’s a way of getting all English majors and also other people together.”

Food is served at every meeting.

“We try and tie the food into whatever we talk about,” Courtney said.

An example was when AA had an instructor give a lecture about India and an Indian dish was served. Courtney said AA plans to have hot dogs and other “kid food” at an upcoming meeting when the director of the local Children’s Miracle Network comes to speak.

Walters said it also gives the students a chance to present something to others at AA that they’ve written for publication.

Courtney said works, which have been submitted to the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention, like poetry, have been read at the meetings, too.

If visitors to AA bring their own food, there is no charge to go to an AA meeting. A $2 charge that goes toward Sigma’s annual trip to the international convention is asked of anyone who doesn’t bring his or her own food.

For information on AA meetings call Walters at 625-9644.