Category: Campus

Monday evening was the official opening for the new Mosaic Multicultural Center, located in the area previously known as “The Hub”.

The story of the Multicultural Center is one of quick action and decision. The idea for the center had been around for some time, but really picked up steam after the Students of Color Leadership Summit, which Houghton students attended in the fall of 2016.  According to student body president Sergio Mata, the center only started to become a reality in the spring of 2017, when President Mullen called together a task force to address various racial issues on campus.  Issues they considered included the hiring diverse faculty, a bias response policy, and a statement of diversity. The center was devised by the task force, and it quickly went from a dream to a reality. “I’m surprised by the quick response of the administration in making this a high priority,” Mata said. “I think we’re moving in the right direction… we are catching up to where other institutions, especially Christian colleges, are.”

Marc Smithers, the Assistant Dean of Students for Residence Life and Programs, said this is what the Center is supposed to be. He explained that when the task force was designing the Mosaic Center, “we looked at what places like Calvin or Alfred State had on their campuses and modeled after that.” In addition to looking at other colleges, the task force collaborated with a lot of people around campus as well. Sergio Mata ‘19, Khadeeja Smith ‘18, and Kristen Sanasith, Coordinator for Tutoring and Testing Services, were all instrumental in the process of making the center happen.

Another person who helped out with making the center a reality is Shaphan Hestick ‘19, the Executive officer of Diversity and Inclusion. In his words, his position is to “act as a bridge between students of color and the administration,” meaning that his perspective was key in the formation of the Mosaic Center. Smithers and Sanasith would come to him with questions about things as seemingly trivial as the title of the center, the furniture choices, and the color scheme. Their goal was to make the Mosaic Center more inclusive, and Hestick was more than happy to give his opinion. “The administration wanted it to be a discipleship center, and have student life be involved in that, but I recommended that wasn’t a good idea,” he says. “I thought that students not involved in spiritual life might feel excluded.”

As far as what is going into the Center, Sanasith was very excited about the prospects. She said she “took into consideration the attributes and characteristics of what defines home for many of our diverse students.” She explained how all of her interior design choices reflect her attempts to make a warm and inviting atmosphere for the students who will be using the center. “I wanted to achieve a balance between relaxation and motivation for these students.” Making this space comfortable for students was Sanasith’s top priority, and she was integral to the design and execution of the center.

Now, the Mosaic Multicultural Center is in its last stages of production, and everyone involved in the project is optimistic about its impact. The purpose of the Center, according to its mission statement, is “to be the campus focal point for deep conversations, international connections and rich learning centered on the diverse experiences of the members of our community.” Hestick is optimistic that the Center will fulfill this function, specifically by providing a space for international students or students of color to be able to come and meet or relax without facing any pressure from outside influences.

“We are hoping the center will be a part of the emotional gratification of students of color on campus,” he said, “where we dignify a space for them to feel like what they’re used to.” From an administrative standpoint, Smithers hopes the Center will be a way for the campus to grow in terms of racial reconciliation. He hopes that through the Mosaic Center, Houghton can incorporate “effective and dynamic programming and education,” which in turn will “bring about greater cultural competency among students, staff, and faculty.”

The newly opened center is indicative of the work Houghton has done in recent years, and the work still left to do. Mata explained when he commented on the name of the center itself: “The name represents what it is – a bunch of us coming together, a mosaic of different pieces coming together to make a larger picture.”

This coming Wednesday to Friday will be Houghton’s annual Faith and Justice Symposium.  The theme this year is “Racial Justice:  Called to Love”.  Brian Webb, Sustainability Coordinator, explained, “We address an important topic that challenges us as Christians to respond to issues of injustice in our society.  Past symposia have addressed immigration and refugees, environmental justice, war and conflict, global poverty, and human trafficking.  By highlighting these critical issues, Houghton is able to bring attention to issues that affect our world in major ways, but are often overlooked in our day to day reality.”

The symposium began in 2011 to encourage discussion around “key issues, opportunities, and challenges”, according to the school website. “Each year the symposium brings leading thinkers from across the country to lecture, dialogue, and explore around a central topic,” said Brian Webb.  “This year’s theme of “Racial Justice: Called to Love” will challenge our community to explore how we might advance racial justice within our campus, our church, and our society.  Students will learn how to approach this complex issue within the context of our Christian faith, while exploring what it looks like to have an authentic Christian response to injustice in the world today.”

A full itinerary of this year’s symposium is available on the school website.  Wednesday will feature primarily guest chapel speaker Mark Charles, with an after chapel lunch and an evening “Talkback” session providing opportunities for discussion.  Sojourner’s magazine said of Charles, who has connections to both Dutch and Navajo heritage, that he “seeks to understand the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and faith in order to help forge a path of healing and reconciliation for the nation. He partners with numerous organizations to assist them in respectfully approaching, including, and working with native communities.”

On Thursday evening, there will be a showing of the film Hidden Figures and time afterwards for discussion.  Friday, the final day of the symposium, will begin at chapel with Micky ScottBey Jones, the Director of Healing Justice at Faith Matters Network and an Associate Fellow for Racial Justice with Evangelicals for Social Action.  “Micky facilitates conferences, trainings and online conversations while exploring a variety of topics including self-care in community, healing justice, intersectionality, faith-rooted activism, revolutionary friendship, race & justice, and theology from the margins. She loves to curate contemplative and dialogic spaces and activities.”  There will be two workshops in the afternoon and a coffeehouse in the evening.  The “Engaging the Arts” coffeehouse will feature an art auction, participatory art, and spoken-word poetry.

“One of the goals of the Faith and Justice Symposium is to keep the idea in front of our community that our faith is not just a mystical encounter with God, nor just a set of ideas to be believed, but that our encounter with God and our beliefs should shape us to be people who seek justice in the world,” commented Dean of the Chapel Michael Jordan.  “ Faith and justice need to be intertwined.”  He went on to say, “Obviously, that question of what justice is and who experiences it and how are very difficult questions, and we deal with them throughout the year in many different ways.  But the Faith and Justice symposium is one way of focusing very specifically on this question.”

The Houghton Promise, a new initiative to communicate Houghton’s standards and ideals, will be coming into effect this year.

The initiative’s five tenets seek to practically apply Houghton’s mission statement: to provide “an academically challenging, Christ-centered education in the liberal arts and sciences to students from diverse traditions and economic backgrounds and equips them to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world.” As Ryan Spear, Houghton’s Director of Admission, explained, “We wanted to package that mission statement into very concise, understandable benefits.”  The five benefits outlined in the promise are affordability, academic quality, authentic spiritual formation, acceleration, and accountability.

The first tenet of the Houghton Promise refers to Affordability.  New to incoming students next year will be the Impact scholarship, which will provide students with $10,000 in scholarships over the course of four years.  “Finances don’t need to be a barrier to come to a place like Houghton,” said Ryan Spear, Director of Admission.  “Students don’t have to choose between cost and quality.  They’re going to get both here.  A lot of people are making short-sighted decisions when they go to college, one of the most important decisions of they’ll make.”  He commented later, “If all you want is an education, frankly, go somewhere else.  You can get that cheaper, but I mean cheaper in every sense of the word.”  He explained that at Houghton “it’s more about preparing the right kind of people and less about handing someone a certificate that’s simply just a permission slip for a job.”

Academic Quality, in addition to indicating a general commitment to excellence, emphasizes hands-on opportunities, such as internships and experiences abroad.  “The academic quality portion of the Houghton Promise reflects the kind of experience that we have always provided our students,” commented Dean Jack Connell.  “We have always made high-impact learning practices like global engagement and student/faculty research a top priority.   So we don’t have to change our academic programming to fulfill the Houghton Promise; that component of the Houghton Promise is simply an effort to communicate more clearly who we already are.”  Spears added, “Something that’s unique about Houghton that not many schools have is really the ability to take your learning and do something with it, so not just sitting in a
lecture hall and filling out a scantron, but actually doing a project,
something substantial”

The next element, Authentic Spiritual Formation, works towards “creating rhythms of faith and life” at Houghton.  “It’s not just more church.  It’s not like we’re going to keep you safe from the devil,” Spears clarified.  “It’s about creating a living, learning community where Christian life is infused in all that we do.”  Contrary to avoiding difficult topics, Spears described Houghton as a place where “we invite dialogue and questions.  We really want students to try all their ideas out while they are here, to really wrestle with them.  Because it’s not keeping you safe for four years and then hopefully transferring you to another safe pocket for the rest of your life.  It’s about preparing you for what’s out there.”

Acceleration emphasizes students’ opportunity to graduate early.  “We already had some pathways for students to complete a degree in an accelerated fashion, what we’re calling three year options,” Spears said.  “We’re moving that front and center.”  He went on to explain that the focus will still be on giving students a complete education, meaning the accelerated program will not fit for all majors.  Spears added, “The point of college is to be prepared for the future, not to graduate fast.”  For programs where there is room to graduate early, however, the opportunity will be offered more clearly to students.

One of the biggest changes the Houghton Promise will introduce falls under the final point, Accountability.  Advertising materials explain that, “If you are not employed in your chosen field or accepted into graduate school when you graduate from Houghton, you can come back for a bonus year without paying any tuition.”  The extra year would offer a year to add new qualifications and become more marketable to employers or graduate schools.  “Houghton cares about its students,” Spear said.  “We care about what happens to you after you graduate.”

When asked for the reason behind the new angle, Spear explained, “We knew we wanted to do something big this year… As different people brought ideas to the table, they started to coalesce into a central package to make sure people knew it’s not just any one thing that makes Houghton special, as anyone who goes here knows.”  While the new Excelsior grant added urgency to the update, a major motivation was to find a statement that fit with what Houghton is.  “For a lot of people, the college decision is not made conceptually,” Spears commented, “It’s often more of the feeling that God’s pulling their heart in one way or that they belong.  So we wanted this program to hit people in a way that would show them ‘Wow, this place is serious about who they are and what they’re prepared to deliver.”

It was a regular Friday night. The campus was abuzz with warm cookie night and live animals. A long-anticipated saxophone artist series featuring the incomparable Otis Murphy was coming to the Houghton stage, and a huge weekend of prospective students and a David Crowder concert was on the horizon. Students were excited, or apprehensive, toward the active weekend that lay ahead. Little did they know that crowded lunch lines were the least of their worries.

“I felt so helpless,” said Joe Miner ‘18, a Resident Assistant in Rothenbuhler Hall. When describing the illness of a resident, Miner said, “He puked all night, and I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t know until the morning.  I could only give suggestions, and I also had to look out for myself.” This was the reality for those on the frontlines of campus during, what students are now whimsically referring to as the “Houghton Plague of 2017.”

It was not the first time that such a widespread illness had attacked Houghton’s student body.

A similar condition—characterized by intense vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, stomach pains, and occasional visions of terror—struck Shenawana particularly hard during the fall of 2015. However, this strain appeared to even more severe. “I stood up (after the Otis Murphy concert) and knew something was very, very wrong,” Derek Chase ‘19 recalled. Although Chase escaped to a friend’s house away from campus, his night went steadily downhill. “I did do quite a bit of travel,” Chase commented in an attempt at optimism. “Straight from the couch to the toilet.” He placed an estimation of his total mileage at the distance from Houghton to Belfast.

With 140 cases confirmed on campus between Friday and Saturday evenings, survivors lived in fear. In fact, campus looked more like an episode of “The Walking Dead” than a bustling liberal arts institution. Signs around campus begged people to wash their hands, and bottles of Germ-X replaced Bibles as wards against evil. “I fled like Israel fled Egypt,” Kylie Gibbs ‘18 said. “I prayed, I felt fear; in fact, I felt the sickness through fear.” Of course, these anecdotes about the magnitude of the situation only give half the story. Most students were wondering : what caused it?

Several rather eclectic theories immediately sprung up as to the plague’s cause. Libby Best ‘20 and Honus Wagner ‘20 wondered whether this was God’s wrath towards Reformation celebration, as no Catholics on campus fell ill. Other students lightheartedly suggested a feminist motive, since men’s residence halls were hit harder than women’s—although Miner argued that men are simply more dramatic about illness and were not necessarily more susceptible.

However, lab results received from the Allegany County Department of Health soon confirmed that 100% of all samples tested came back positive for norovirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, norovirus is passed when infected vomit or feces is accidentally transferred into the mouth. It is the leading cause of foodborne gastrointestinal illness in the United States, causing just over 90,000 emergency room visits each year.

While several students claimed to have become ill after eating undercooked meat, norovirus is most frequently caused when an infected person comes into contact with raw fruits or vegetables. The virus can also be passed on by eating or drinking substances already contaminated by the virus or coming into close contact with an infected person. While the virus is typically resistant to most industrial sanitizers, detergents, and safety protocols, its further spread can be limited through restriction of human contact.

In efforts to restrict the spread of the illness, dining hall staff who present norovirus symptoms have been asked to refrain from appearing at work for 72 hours. An email distributed from Metz Culinary Management to faculty on Monday, Nov. 13 also confirmed that Houghton’s General Manager of Dining Services, Matthew Babbage, had chosen to leave his position “to pursue other interests.” In the interim, Paul Krouse will serve as Metz’s General Manager on the Houghton campus.

Professor Linda Mills-Woolsey will be offering her thoughts on the importance of creative arts in a her valedictory lecture, entitled  “Dangerous Arts: Reading and Imagination in a Post-Literate Era”.  The lecture will take place in room 323 of the library on  November 30 at 04:25 p.m.

“I’ve been in school for 60 years.  I went to first grad and I never looked back.  Surely I learned something in that time,” announced Professor Mills-Woolsey.  “The main challenge of the lecture is to not make it a rant.”  The intention of valedictory lectures, according to Mills-Woolsey, is to reflect back on one’s career or present a piece of SCHOLARSHIP.  She noted that she is not entirely doing either exactly, but rather focusing on the question “Why right now is there both so much dismissal of and suspicion of the more imaginative kinds of intellectual work?”

In her initial proposal for the lecture, she includes also a focus on “the decline of serious reading, the weakening of spiritual commitment, and the distrust of science”.  She precedes her proposal with a quote by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: “Bea says the art of reading is slowly dying, that it is an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we carry inside us… and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.  Every month we receive offers to turn our bookshop into a store selling television, girdles, or rope-soled shoes.” In looking at the impact of a decreased interest in the imaginative arts, particularly reading, she mentioned there may also be connections to how we view truth, faith, and science.

Professor Mills-Woolsey admitted that a heavy focus of her lecture will reflect the focus of her career, literature.  She explained her concerns that some people hold the perspective that they will believe not what they actually think to be correct, but rather what they prefer to think is correct. She commented, “You would think that a society where people are proudly saying ‘Oh, I don’t read fiction’ would be more attuned to truth and yet this is the era of fake news.”

She later explained that finding truth allows us all to work towards “being what God called us to be- how dare we neglect it- on the individual level, but also on the social level.”  When explaining her inspiration for her lecture topic, she referenced a survey from the PEW Research center that found more Americans view higher education with suspicion, even thinking it a danger to society.  She commented there may be reason to believe the weakening of faith and science may parallel the decreased interest in imagination.

“So how do we live the fullest human life?  That’s what I’m most interested in.”  She continued,  “People want education that will lead to money and you don’t have people saying ‘I want the best life I can have.  I think in the age of the robot we need to be thinking about what that best life means.  And what are the skills that, at least for your generation, the robots can’t replace?”  Professor Mills-Woolsey went on to explain that students rob themselves by only focusing on the skills they deem immediately marketable.  There is evidence that not everyone is satisfied only studying bits and pieces; they want to commit themselves to longer works, as well.

“It’s easy to see things in terms of declension, that things are getting worse and worse and worse, and I think it’s much more complicated than that,” commented Mills-Woolsey.  “I think our society is in some intellectual and moral danger, but I think we have the tools to confront that danger if we want to use them.”

Twelve Houghton students will be travelling to Columbus today to compete against collegiate ballroom dancers from across the country in the Ohio Star Ball. While there, they will have the opportunity to watch the professional competition taking place the same weekend – one of the foremost in the country. “I’m ecstatic to be taking eleven students to one of the largest Dancesport competitions in the United States,” said club president Kaitlyn Nikirk ‘18, one of the leaders of the Houghton dance club since its inception last year. “World champions have competed in the professional levels at the Ohio Star Ball, so even just being able to see the pro competition will be an amazing experience for them.”

A swing dancing group, originally called Jive 101, has existed on campus since 2011, but students have only had the opportunity to participate and compete in ballroom dancing this past  year. Kaitlyn Nikirk founded the ballroom team in the fall of 2016, starting out by learning from YouTube and Facetiming with her coach from the University of Buffalo. Club members danced – and won- a number of ribbons at the Cornell Dancesport Classic in fall 2016 and at other competitions near Albany and at Princeton in spring and fall 2017. The Ohio Star Ball will be the largest event the club has attended, and the team the largest that Houghton has sent.

Many of the students started out dancing hesitantly, unsure if it would be something they would enjoy, only to discover a love for it. Adam Barna ‘20 said, “I chose to stick with ballroom because it is an escape from all my stresses from school.”  Other students appreciated the opportunity to try a different activity.  “It has provided me with the challenge to push myself outside my comfort zone to do something new,” commented Abigail Wilkerson ‘21.  She observed also how her balance and posture have improved through dancing and how much she enjoys the social aspect of being part of a dance team. “I stuck with it despite my inner tomboy,” she joked, and added, “I look forward to going to Ohio and demonstrating what I’ve learned.”

Kaitlyn Nikirk also described how she’s observed growth through dance. “When I started dancing last year I couldn’t tell 3/4 music from 4/4, and my arms were just two floppy noodles that didn’t know what to do with themselves.” Now, however, she is the most advanced dancer in the club, and is training a new group of students in more than a dozen styles of dance. “I found something I loved, and was determined to be good at it,” she concluded.

Her story echoes the accounts of several club members who have reported new poise, skill and confidence through dance, in addition to the fun they had in the process. “It’s really mind blowing to me to see how the team continues to grow, and how quickly those with no dancing background dive into the dancing,” Kaitlyn Nikirk said. “If you can walk, you can dance…No one thinks they’re a dancer until they are.”

Houghton College Lyric Theatre is excited to announce that this year’s spring 2018 production will be Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! The classic Tony Award-winning American musical is full of fabulous music, plenty of singing, lively dancing, and a large cast. The musical will be accompanied by the orchestra lead by Prof. Armenio Suzano, and is anticipated to be one of the largest productions ever staged by the Lyric Theatre ensemble.

Many students were confused when an all-campus email announced auditions for Oklahoma! since Fiddler On The Roof had been announced last year as the spring musical for 2018. The change was necessary due to the upcoming national tour of the Fiddler On The Roof production and resulting licensing issues. Lyric Theatre Director Prof. Amanda Cox commented, “Any time there is a national tour of a show, it freezes the rights for anyone else who might want to perform it. As much as we were hoping to do Fiddler, I learned from Music Theatre International that because of the upcoming national tour we wouldn’t be able to.” No schools or amateur productions will have performance rights to Fiddler on the Roof until the national tour has ended.

That being said, Oklahoma! may be a perfect fit for Houghton based on the criteria Professor Cox looked for when selecting the new musical. “It’s a fantastic show!” she said. “What I was looking for was a really bright, colorful, large cast, large ensemble show that would be really lively. I wanted something that had a well-known name that would bring in an audience.” So far, the announcement has done just that. “Even since we’ve announced it, I’ve heard so many people–students and faculty–say ‘Oklahoma!? That’s my favorite musical!’” Cox said. Many people  signed up for auditions, and it looks like it is going to be a large production.

Oklahoma! opened on Broadway in 1943 and was instantly a smash success. Unlike other shows produced in New York during the early years of World War II, Oklahoma! didn’t directly delve into the issues of the war or get involved in the politics that filled every American’s mind at the time. Rather, it presented a charming, classically American, cowboy musical that filled its audience with a nostalgic, patriotic spirit. The show appeals to a wide audience, and has been received since its first production as a heart-warming story. Critics throughout the century celebrated Oklahoma! as one of the most influential American musicals ever created. Theater historian Ethan Mordden praised the musical in one of his books, Broadway Babies: The People Who Made the American Musical, for the way in which it captured the American spirit on the stage: “Oklahoma! was the first American musical with an ethnic sound, words and music entirely in the folk idiom.”

The show revolves around the lives of a group of young people living in the Oklahoma territory in 1906. The characters navigate love, marriage, violence, hard work, and life in the wild west and all the drama that comes with it. The audience is introduced to feisty Aunt Eller and her independent niece, Laurey, who is secretly in love with rugged Curly. Curly loves Laurey, too, but won’t admit it. Meanwhile, farmhand Jud Fry loves Laurey and is ready to do something about it. Will Parker loves the flirtatious Ado Annie, who’s going around with Ali Hakim, who really doesn’t want much to do with her.  Oklahoma! is filled with characters to care about and characters to fear. Audience members should expect both comedy and raw, emotional moments too.

Open auditions were held last week for Houghton students, faculty, and community members, but it’s not too late to join.  Students interested in joining Lyric Theatre on stage and being a part of Oklahoma! can email Professor Cox to get involved.