Category: Campus

President of the college, Shirley Mullen, will teach a cross disciplinary humanities class next semester. According to Mullen, her course will fulfill a Humanities 101 requirement, which seeks to foster “critical thinking, character, creativity, communication and citizenship or community building.”  

With the recent changes to the integrative studies (IS) requirements the introduction of a few new courses to make fulfilling the requirements easier on students, according to Provost Jack Connell. These include new, low credit science courses and three general humanities courses, Connell disclosed at a Student Government (SGA) meeting earlier this month.

Overall, Mullen said she believes the new IS requirements will help Houghton realize its mission statement of academic rigor while making the school welcoming to transfer students.

Professor of English and Director of IS requirements, Susan Bruxvoort- Lipscomb, said, “[Mullen is] absolutely the best qualified person in the college to teach [Humanities 101] because she has two PhDs.  She has a PhD in history and in philosophy.  Those are two of the disciplines [covered in the course], so she was excited about teaching this course.”

 Mullen said she hoped “students would come away from the class with a larger understanding of what it means to be human, both in the sense of being made in the Image of God, and in the sense of being part of a centuries-long global conversation about the meaning and purpose of our lives.”  

The course is intended to fulfill general education requirements for first year or transfer students, but can be taken as an elective by upper-level students, Connell said.  Mullen stated, “Whatever one decides to major in or work at, a Christian liberal arts education should prepare one to be more fully human, as God intended us to be, in that major or in that occupation.  A class in the humanities also helps one to identify those human traits that transcend culture, gender, economic status, etc.  and how that ‘humanness’ can then be enriched by an understanding of the rich diversity that exists within the human community.”

Lipscomb said Mullen was approached about teaching the course partly because “there has been some retirements in the history department and the college has decided to delay for one year hiring in history.”  She continued, “There was an opportunity.  We needed someone to teach this course and we thought of her as someone who was a great teacher in Westmont and has had a great career in teaching and super qualified to do this.  We approached her and asked her is she’d be interested.”

Included already in the course offerings for fall of 2017 are also new science courses that are more conducive to fulfilling general education requirements.  Lipscomb described them as “two hour courses” with the accompanying lab  “built into the time so you don’t have to go to a separate lab time.”  According to the 2017-2018 course  catalog, there will be the options of Science as a Human Endeavor: Cosmology and Science and Society: Nuclear Age taught by professors of physics Kurt Aikens and Mark Yuly.

Last week an anonymous donor  committed $2.4 million toward the equestrian center facilities, according to a statement released by President of the college, Shirley Mullen.  “Given the importance of this program for Houghton, both in recruitment and in regional connections, this is a welcome gift,” she stated.   

According to equestrian program director and  professor, Joanne Young, the funds will be put toward a new indoor arena. The current arena, she said, “Is booked so fully that it is extremely difficult to find an hour when it would be available for boarders to ride their own horses, for CHA certified current students to book riding lessons to teach, or for professors to school horses to keep their training level tuned and elevated.  Having a second, larger arena will solve that scheduling problem.”

Equestrian student, Savannah Harms ‘17, concurred. “The new ring is really exciting because it will give the equestrians extra space for riding, which means more students will be able to spend more time riding and developing their skills.” The Equestrian program is growing, she said, so the donation is coming “just in time.”

Young said the arena will be 100 feet wide and 245 feet long, with an attached barn that will be 30 feet by 245 feet. This will be much larger than the current 60 foot by 145 foot arena. “The size of the new arena will allow full size competition jumping courses to be set, with a warm-up jump area at one end or a full 20m x 60m dressage competition arena.  This will make it possible to prepare students and horses more accurately to train, compete and coach clients,” she stated.

She continued, “With the new indoor arena, we will be able to schedule conferences and clinics without having to worry about how to manage to rearrange regular classes.  So we will be able to schedule more events to expand our current students’ equestrian education (which is already ranked nationally as top-notch) that will also draw in more outside spectators, auditors and participants.”

Included in the plans for the arena are solar panels and the possibly of geothermal heat for both the existing and new arenas, said Young. “That would give us a green footprint on the environment,” she said.

Aside from a new arena, the equestrian center will also add new spectator seating, and student storage areas, Young said. “Currently, there are no such storage spaces. So non-equestrians living near equestrians in the dorms get ‘treated’ to traces of horse-barn odor, even when equestrian students keep their boots and riding pants in plastic tote bins or bags,” she noted.

Larissa Strappello ‘08, instructor and Equestrian Center Facilities Manager, said, “The new facility will allow us to expand our services to the local Western New York equine community.  Through this expansion it will allow our equine students more networking opportunities and give them that much more real life work experience.  We are very excited that the Lord is finally bringing the dream of a new indoor arena to life!”

Mullen noted the project will not incur short or long term debt. “Additionally, the project will include endowment funds to contribute to the long-term sustainability of the entire Equestrian Center.   Funds will be committed as they are received.   It is our goal to have the project completed prior to the 2018 academic year,” she said.

Vice President for Advancement and External Relations Karl Sisson said, “This is a transformational moment” for the program. “We are highly optimistic that we will receive more donors [following the initial gift], and we already have.”

Courtney Walters ‘17 and Philip Maenza ‘17 will be giving their faith journeys next week, focusing on their understandings of faith and sexual orientation. Both students identify as gay as well as Christian. Their talks will take place in the Center for the Arts (CFA) recital hall Tuesday, March 28, at 7 p.m.

Psychology professor and former counseling center director Michael Lastoria cooperated with Maenza and Walters to plan the event. According to Maenza, Lastoria “wanted to have the campus be able to hear a different side of the LGBT Christian narrative. Both Courtney and I have been wanting to share our stories in a public capacity. So it just kind of worked out.”

“I’ve always wanted to give my faith journey at Houghton,” Walters said, and noted she was told she would not be allowed to do so in a chapel service. She continued, “So if this the platform that I have to do it, then I’ll do it. And I couldn’t have picked a better person to do it with than Phil.”  

“Only one narrative of LGBT Christians is told at Houghton and advocated,” Maenza continued, and “we are hoping for nothing more than to share our stories of faith, love and friendship while navigating a same-sex sexual orientation” and Christian faith. Walters concurred and stated, “I think that it’s important for Houghton, especially since it’s a conservative Wesleyan institution, for them to see that just because I identify as gay, doesn’t mean that I am any less of a Christian than other people.”

Maenza and Walters both agreed their time at Houghton has hindered, but also helped, their growth as Christians. Maenza noted, “It hasn’t been easy. People are constantly questioning the genuineness of my faith and/or sexual orientation. People I don’t even know somehow think it is their right to judge or overstep bounds with inappropriate questions. [This] made for a lot of self loathing and self doubt and loneliness.” However, Maenza feels this pressure “really made [him] focus on God and God alone and [he] learned to not always put [his] faith in the church, which are humans, which make mistakes and misinterpret Scriptures.”

Walters stated, “I think Houghton has helped me because I’ve had to come to my view kind of on my own…I believe it in my core, and I know that it’s not influenced by the community around me but it’s part of who I am. I also think that it’s opened me up to discourse on other topics- I talk to people about race a lot more, and different socioeconomic classes. [My sexual orientation] has pushed me to talk about other minority groups’ topics as well.”

Walters did note a lack of support on campus as “difficult.” She stated, “Just because we have a disagreement on this one theological topic, does not mean that I am different than them…. I think that if they can see that I still love God and grow, then they’ll understand, ‘hey, homosexuals aren’t evil’.”  

Walters also said it is challenging to be unsure of “safe people” to talk to about her faith and sexuality. “It’s hard to know which professors I can go to and talk about this. I wish that was a little different….[I wish Houghton showed us] some professors we can talk to.”

Colleen Shannon ‘17, who also is a gay Christian, said she shared similar struggles. “The most challenging aspect was navigating this challenging aspect of my life without support,” she said. “In my junior year, I had to strip down my faith to bare bones, all I knew was that I believed that God existed. All these voices around me were telling me that I was wrong, that I was evil….As I sort of rebuilt my faith with voices that told me it was okay to be gay and Christian.” She cited new struggles she has faced this year. She continued,“Going into my senior year, the challenge was finding a place of belonging….the place that Houghton is can’t welcome us on equal terms, and they’ve been working really hard, but ultimately it comes down to your perspective where, if you think that my lifestyle omits me from the kingdom of God, then how can you love me the same?”

The duo’s faith journey’s precede a four person panel discussion on LGBT students at Houghton on the following Saturday night as part of the Student Government Association coffeehouse series. Along with Maenza and Walters, Lily Brunner ‘17 and Micah Cronin ‘17 will participate in the panel.

 

Provost and Dean of the faculty, Jack Connell, addressed the student body at Monday’s Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, regarding concerns and questions surrounding Kevin Jackson’s sudden dismissal. Jackson was placed on administrative leave which went into effect the Friday before February Break. He will be officially terminated at the end of the semester.

Friesen stated SGA hopes to serve as a “bridge” to foster “communication between the administration and the student body.” Students were then invited to direct questions to SGA President Joanna Friesen ‘17, who then moderated them to Connell.

Connell noted while the specifics of the situation surrounding Jackson’s firing are confidential, “We were aware of the disruption” Jackson’s termination would cause. However, Connell stated, “we felt the decision needed to be made” regardless. “I’m not surprised to be standing here with you all today,” he said.

“The dynamic of this situation is that a lot of people are saying a lot of things, a lot of which is wildly untrue,” Connell said. He asked participants in the session to avoid asking questions with the purpose of trying to “get at what really happened,” as the college is unable to legally divulge that information.

Tahsha Keith ‘17 asked Connell, “How did you know?” about the potential fallout from the decision to fire Jackson. “What did you look into to understand what the effects would be? How did you approach that? As someone who has experienced a lot of fallout from this, it’s hard for me to understand that specific aspect.”

“We didn’t have a lot of time here,” Connell responded. “But we tried to anticipate” concerns “as best as possible”.

“We didn’t have months to prepare a contingency plan for every scenario,” he stated.

Genesis Allen ‘19, a music industry student, asked Connell to describe the process for firing a professor. Connell stated the process varies and depends on the situation, but noted that except in “egregious” cases, there is a “discovery phase” in which “concerns are investigated.” Connell said these concerns are “communicated with the professor” in question, and “after other efforts toward resolution have failed,” the professor may be terminated.

In regard to terminating a professor mid-semester, Connell said it is within Houghton’s right as an employer to do so because New York State is an “at will state.” This means an employer can terminate an employee at any time, for any reason, without cause or notice. An employee also has the same right to resign without cause or notice. There is “no legal recourse” for an employee dismissed under this law, according to Connell. There are exceptions in the case of tenured professors, though Connell said this was “not relevant in this particular case.”

Liv Dobmeier ‘19 noted that while a recent Star article quoted Connell saying the college does not believe Jackson engaged in any sexual misconduct, this assurance was not included in a campus wide email Connell sent late last week. “That made the rumors that may or may not be happening even stronger, because you did not fully address it,” she said.

“I was trying as much as possible to keep the memo general…it wasn’t my intention in that to get into the specifics of the situation,” Connell said. “That quote was in response to a direct question that I was asked, and I felt that it was appropriate to say in the context in which it was asked. I’m not here to say there was some grand strategic reason that wasn’t in the memo, I was just trying to keep the memo a little bit more general.”

Ben Rucquoi ‘20 asked if a statute of limitations on the confidentiality of the situation, and if eventually students would know why Jackson was fired. Connell said, “I’m not a lawyer so I don’t know the answer to that question. I’m not aware of one, there could be one, although I’m not aware of a situation in which after a certain amount of time [confidentiality was lifted]. This is a question in which Dale Wright, the Director of Human Resources, would be helpful.”

Allen asked a question which she said she thought “would be a good final question” for those who attended the meeting in support of the former professor. “After seeing all of the pain and the hurt and the destruction to our department and the money lost, and all of the things which all of us students have had to recoup from after this decision was made, going a month in the past, would you make the same decision? Or wait till the end of the semester?”

“I don’t know that I have a lot more to say [about that]”, Connell said. “We were aware of the fact that a mid semester change like this would be highly disruptive and upsetting, and felt that it was the appropriate decision to make anyway. The facts of the situation haven’t changed.”

 

Professor David Kinman, Chair of the World Languages and Literature Department, will be retiring this year.  He began teaching at Houghton nine years ago for the fall semester of 2008.  Currently, Professor Kinman teaches Spanish courses as well as Foreign Language Methods.

Before coming to Houghton, Professor Kinman taught as a high school teacher in Pennsylvania covering the subjects of Spanish, French, and Latin.  During his time as a high school teacher, he coached Girls’ Varsity Track.  He also served as a professor at a different college, Clarion University in Pennsylvania, for eleven years teaching Spanish, French, and Foreign Language Methods.  When speaking on what initially brought him to Houghton, he said “After 35 years teaching in a public high school in Pennsylvania, I had a desire to finish my career where I could blatantly live my faith in the classroom. God provided this opportunity at Houghton.”

Professor of world languages and literature,  Eva Meilaender, explained how in his time at Houghton he has taught several Spanish courses and worked to revive student interest in taking Spanish courses.  Throughout her time working with him, she found Professor Kinman “was always available to the students and listened to their needs and problems.  He was very encouraging and helpful.”  In his role as Chair of the World Languages and Literature Department, she noted “He was a very caring chair of the department and took a personal interest in his colleagues.”

Professor Kinman said of his teaching experience “I have been blessed to experience what I would call highlights every day. My students are my highlights…getting to know them and sharing a small slice of our lives together is a gift from God.”  However, he does look forward to spending his retirement with his wife and three grandsons.  He also hopes to reconnect with his church’s ministry in a way that was difficult while he was a weekend commuter.

The college website stated  his goals for his time at Houghton  “are to serve students by encouraging them to seek a growing passion for languages and for Jesus.”  In living out his own passion for both, he works to “teach Spanish with the idea that we can value others who speak that language.”  As corroborated by his coworker , Meilaender, he sees importance in students from all majors considering courses in Spanish.  He emphasized to students “the value of majoring in Spanish or Spanish Education, or minoring or concentrating in Spanish within the framework of a Christian world view.”  Professor Kinman stated, “I have desired for my Spanish students to be able to value and validate the speakers of that language. I pray that I have effectively taught them how to do that.”

During his time at Houghton, Professor Kinman worked outside his department in his position as a Track and Field assistant coach.  In this capacity he has lent his experience as a coach for a high school team and helped guide students towards greater success.  His profile on the Houghton Highlanders website reported,  “Dave Kinman has been working with the Highlander jumpers and hurdlers since the 2014-2015 season.  While at Houghton, ‘Coach K’ has guided Zdravko Bogdanoski to an outdoor school record in the men’s high jump.”

This coming week students will have the opportunity to attend a faculty lecture by Kinman.  On Monday, March 13 in the dining hall at 4:30 Professor Kinman will be presenting his Valedictory Lecture, a retrospective on his time in teaching.

Houghton’s sole music industry professor Kevin Jackson has been placed on administrative leave, effective last Friday. According to Provost  Jack Connell, Jackson’s employment “will be terminated” at the end of the academic year.  “Practically speaking, he has no further duties or responsibilities at the College,” Connell said.

Jackson joined the Greatbatch School of Music faculty in 2007, and was “instrumental” in bringing the industry standard Pro Tools certification program to the music school in 2009, according to the  faculty bio on the Houghton College website.

His termination took place on Friday, February 24. Tahsha Keith ‘17, Jackson’s former tech assistant, said she and other music industry students were faced with “utter confusion” when they heard of his mandatory leave. For most students in the program, Friday morning was the first they’d heard of any issue between Jackson and his superiors, Keith said.

Keith believes that Jackson was wrongly terminated. She said she was made aware of  apparent issues between Jackson and his superiors before his dismissal, and said she offered to be a character witness on his behalf. “I asked Dean Connell to let me know if a meeting would be helpful,” Keith said. Keith said neither she nor the other two students were invited to speak to college administrators.

A petition to President Mullen and the administration of Houghton College began circulating on social media, and as of Tuesday, March 7, had garnered 263 signatures from students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni.

The petition stated: “We, students and alumni of Houghton College, parents, and many others, have signed this petition in full disagreement with the actions taken against Professor Kevin Jackson on Friday, February 24th…We students, alumni, parents, and many others, understand that legally we are not informed of the details of the situation.  However, we are also aware that Professor Jackson’s current students’ voices were not heard, which we believe could have helped prevent his termination.”

According to Connell, a meeting took place on Monday between six students and himself, President Mullen, Vice President of Student Life Rob Pool, and Dean and Director of the Greatbatch School of Music Armenio Suzano. “The petition was presented to President Mullen” at the end of the meeting, he said.

“The decision is final,” Connell said. “I appreciate the opportunity to know what people are thinking. I am always grateful for communication. It doesn’t mean we are able to change the decision because of it, but it’s helpful communication.”

Students continued to protest Jackson’s termination. A sit-in took place on Tuesday, beginning at 7 a.m. on the steps of the Luckey Building.

A fifth-year senior music industry student Matt Grim ‘16 participated in the protest. “Jackson was the only professor in the music industry department. We were given no reason as to his termination,” he said. “We have no answers. We feel like our voices are not being heard. We are out here protesting looking for answers. We feel he was wrongfully terminated.”

Grim said his goal in the protest was to, “make sure this incident isn’t swept under the rug, that it’s made known to the campus that we are not okay with what’s happened, that we are not okay with not having answers.”

Fellow protester Hendrik de Smit ‘19, also a music industry student said “We want transparency and we want them to be held accountable for what they’ve done.” He continued, “There’s a very heavy attitude at this school that we just have to trust the administration and lay down, roll over, and be happy with what they do. I really couldn’t care less, because this is bulls–t.”

“I simply want to encourage students to be cautious about assuming that they know the reasons for this decision,” said Connell. “I do understand the frustration of losing a professor in the middle of a semester, but I hope students know that the administration would never make a difficult decision like this without compelling reasons.  We are of course not able to share what those reasons are, but I think the student frustration about this situation would dissipate if students understood the full story.”

“There seems to be a lot of misinformation, rumor, and speculation among students as to why this particular decision was made,” Connell continued. He noted that the college “do[es] not believe there was any sexual misconduct by Professor Jackson.”

Jackson said, “While I am not in any kind of agreement with the administration’s decision, I understand the complexity of the situation. My heart goes out to the music industry students who have been deeply impacted by this. My thoughts and prayers are with them. My hope is that during this difficult time, the student body will unite and support their fellow brothers and sisters within the school of music- praying for them, reaching out to them and being the Church and people Christ would have us be. I am praying for God’s leading and direction for the students, and Houghton College, during this time.” He stated he cannot comment further as he is in consultation with legal counsel. Jackson’s wife Carrolin Jackson said she and her husband care “first and foremost” for the students affected by Jackson’s termination.

“I’m set up to graduate,” Keith said. “But for [underclassmen] it’s not the easiest to transfer out of Houghton. How is this going to affect them?”

Student Government representative Sergio Mata ‘19 also attended Monday’s meeting between students and administrators. According to Mata, two adjunct professors are sharing the responsibilities Jackson previously held. Connell said, “Our expectation is that everything will continue with minimal interruption. The college remains fully committed to this academic program, and so we will begin a search shortly for a person to fill this role long-term.”

As for Keith, she said, “This whole situation will taint my degree. I can’t proudly say I received my degree from this place.”