Category: Campus

Following a racist hate crime which occurred last month, the college is forming a committee

which will oversee the formation of a diversity center, said Student Government Association (SGA) President Joanna Friesen ‘17. Zina Teague ‘12, Jesse Carter ‘16, Ky’Asia Blanchard ‘20, Jasmine Nova ‘17, Travis Trotman ‘17, Raheel Dhingra ‘19, SGA Executive Cabinet member Sergio Matta ‘19, and Friesen will comprise the committee.

“It has been promised that we are going to have a diversity center in the fall of 2017,” Friesen said. She stated that the details of the center, which will be located in the campus center, will be sorted out by the committee in cooperation with vice president of student life, Rob Pool, and the Residence Life staff.

Friesen said several of the students on the committee as well as others have been in ongoing talks with the office of student life following the incident, including members of the Black Heritage Club. Khadeeja Smith ‘18 stated, “As the President of Black Heritage, I have asked Houghton’s Administration to prioritize finding solutions to various issues that face our diverse students. Currently, as a minority student, I feel as if we rarely talk about racial issues. When we do it is a response to media or a racially charged incident on campus. There is never a proactive approach to solving the issues or a protocol to handle them when they occur.”

It is hoped that the diversity center will address some of the issues brought to light by Smith and others.  “I have suggested to Administration that minority students need a safe haven. A person whose position is to intentionally think about the forward movement of diversity and to create protocols so our minority students are aware of the appropriate actions that will be taken if there is a racial issue,” Smith said. She continued, “Houghton seems to talk about the issue but never put in action. My dream for Houghton in years to come is to be a place where diverse students can thrive and not just survive. A place where Administration prioritizes issues of diversity and inclusion. I would love to see more diversity in faculty, staff and students.”

SGA has changed the Executive Cabinet position of Executive Officer of Nontraditional Students to Executive Officer of Diversity according to Matta.

A diversity task force has been formed by the Office of the President, according to Friesen and Matta. The focus of the task force will include hiring more diverse faculty as well as the formation of the diversity center.

Last weekend, Houghton hosted its final Honors interview weekend for the academic year.  The weekends serve not only as the process of determining which students will be invited to join the Honors programs, but also as a form of advertising to students why they should choose to receive an education from Houghton.

The Houghton College website claims,  “We were one of the first colleges to introduce a serious, developmental curriculum for top incoming students, and our honors opportunities remain among the best anywhere.”  During Honors interview weekends, the school had the opportunity and challenge to prove itself worthy of the statement.

Director of the Honors Programs and Professor of Philosophy, Benjamin Lipscomb explained while other colleges are increasingly offering Honors programs and interview weekends, “Our process is more rigorous and, from what we hear back, it’s more impressive than what other schools do with their honors interview weekends.”  He continued, “We dig a little harder here, press people a little more, and that makes an impression on them.  So I keep hoping we can maintain that edge and I think there are certain reasons to hope that we might.”

Different from other schools is the length of time for which Houghton has been working on this process.  Lipscomb offered, “I am blessed to be the inheritor of a long tradition going back to the mid 90’s of ‘Sure, let’s’.  And there is that Houghton communal spirit; we’re good at this barn raising sort of thing, which it really is. And that enables us to impress our candidates of what we’re able to put on.”  According to Lipscomb, to host an Honors weekend it requires “a ton of work to get these files to faculty to read ahead of time, to give up a whole Saturday.  Two faculty members looking at each candidate that comes in and engage seriously with the material they supplied.  It’s a lot of work and I think if you don’t already have a tradition of faculty working that hard and coming in on their off time, it’s hard to do that.”

One change to this time-honored system, is the recent practice of telling students from the first two weekends of their acceptance as soon as it’s decided, rather than waiting to hear until after decisions are made from all three weekends.  When explaining the reasoning behind the decision,  Lipscomb said, “Students are making their college decisions earlier and earlier.  This is in the Honors pool and outside the Honors pool.  People who would have waited until March or April to make these decisions, because of changes in how financial aid processing works.”  He added, “And if we can give them something particularly appealing to think about before the end of February…there is a definite admissions strategy to telling them early.”  He argued that the physical visit to the campus is “a very appealing part of the pitch to come”.

Anna Schilke ‘19, who will serve as the teaching assistant (TA) for those accepted into next year’s London honors program, recalled her experience  from going  through the honors weekend interviews, “I remember walking in as a prospective to honors weekend, and it was so cool,”Schilke stated.  Even as someone who grew up in the community, she said she found it an impressive display of the college.

She noted “Honors weekend brings together the best of Houghton College, it brings together the faculty and staff, it brings together the student body, it brings together our ability to send students to the world and really make that tangible.”

Residential students of Houghton can now take up to two online classes per semester (not including summer courses), according to  Marlene Collins-Blair, Associate Dean of Distance Education. She  explained that “up to 49% of a main campus degree can be earned online—a maximum of around 60 credits,” due to New York State regulations.

She continued, “Online education is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of higher education. Last year, there were approximately 3.5 million students in the United States working toward their degree online. The projection is that this number will increase to 5 million by 2020.”  The draw to online courses lies in the fact that they are “flexible, convenient, and often cheaper than face-to-face courses,” she said. Online courses also expedite the graduation process, with summer courses available, according to Collins-Blair.  

Resultantly, online courses have reached a new popularity with younger students.  As Collins-Blair explained, online courses were originally popular with non-traditional, adult-aged students; recent research, however, has proven that “the mean age of undergraduate online students decreased from 34 years old in 2012 to 29 in 2016. The mean age of graduate online students decreased from 35 years old in 2012 to 33 in 2016.”

For those hesitant to believe that online courses are not as credible or high-quality, Collins-Blair ensures students that “Houghton College students receive the same quality of instruction regardless of the delivery format, and that the learning outcomes for online courses remain consistent with those of the on-campus counterparts, if they exist.”  According to the Houghton College website, online students can attain Bachelors’s degrees in science or business administration.  Programs include human resource management, integrated marketing and communication, management, leadership development, or psychology.  Students may also attain an Associate’s Degree in Arts.

Director of Admission, Ryan Spear, weighed in and stated, “With every opportunity comes caution. There is something, dare I say ‘magical’ about learning in the classroom setting. Students should consider the ‘opportunity cost’ of swapping an online course for something they could take residentially and consider the pros/cons of what they want out of their educational experience.”  Spear added that, despite the traditional classroom setting, students have a great opportunity to continue their “post-college learning” process, thanks to online classes.

Dean of the College Jack Connell addressed the Student Government Association (SGA) on the state of the college’s academics on Monday. He focused on concerns about faculty positions, the new Integrative Studies (IS) structure, a proposed online Masters of Business Administration program, and upcoming studies on the college’s Mayterm program.

It is “not remotely the case” that there are major cutbacks on the number of faculty at the college, Connell said. The college Board of Trustees has been evaluating “how many faculty [Houghton] need[s],” and it has been settled that based on the college’s current needs, “we can deliver our curriculum with about 71 or 72” full time faculty, Connell stated. Currently, the number of faculty sits at 74, and over the next two years the college plans to reduce the number to 72, according to Connell.

The history department is expected to see significant changes in the near future. The current three history professors are working half-time as they transition to retirement, Connell stated the college plans to replace all three with one professor. Daniel Merriam ‘17 asked Connell if the change will “limit options” for course offerings.

“Not at all,” Connell said. He went on to state that in the “rare” case there are “gaps” in a department, adjunct professors will be hired.

There are currently seven faculty searches in progress in Psychology, Music, and International Development. Ryan Yates has been added to the Data Science department, and Deb Rice will join the Business department, Connell stated.

Connell also informed SGA of upcoming changes to IS requirements, which will be in effect for incoming first-year students in the fall of 2017. Aside from moving to a 3-credit system, the college is “largely redoing” its approach to humanities. The “distribution approach” to IS courses will be discontinued for incoming students in favor of a “cross discipline approach.” Rather than students taking separate courses for English/Literature, History, and Philosophy, the three disciplines will be combined into Humanities 101 (The Ancient and Medieval World) Humanities 102 (The Early Modern World), and Humanities 201 (The Late-Modern World). This will total to 9 credits in the humanities.

Emma Carpenter ‘18 asked if the combination courses will limit the ability of niche courses to “attract enough people to fill seats”.

“I think the answer is ‘no,’” Connell said. “Because it is more flexible- literature, history, and philosophy professors can teach [the humanities courses],” allowing more time for other professors to teach niche courses in a given semester.

There are “trade offs”, he stated, but “our faculty are convinced” this model will “not dilute our ability to teach upper level courses”.

Connell also informed SGA that the faculty approved a proposal put forth by business professor Ken Bates for an online MBA program. The proposal now awaits President Mullen’s approval, after which it will go before New York Department of Education for review.

The current structure of Mayterm is also up for study, Connell said, though “nothing will happen in the short term.” Connell continued, “It is currently a very active conversation” as it has “been a long time” since Mayterm has been evaluated.

SGA President Joanna Friesen ‘17 asked Connell about the college’s plan and process “for hiring more diverse faculty.” “This is a priority,” Connell said, noting that two people of color have been added to the college staff in the last ten months. Connell said the college is currently seeking out ways to increase the number of applicants who are racial and ethnic minorities.

Houghton College has announced that Sodexo did not win a contract renewal to continue providing dining services. Metz Culinary Management will replace Sodexo in a shift that will be begin this spring semester.

“As someone who has worked in the dining hall, I honestly think that sodexo did the best with what they had to work with,” said Rachel Harrington ‘19. “The cooks and workers did not have ill intentions. They weren’t sitting around trying to cook ‘gross food.’”

According to the company’s website, Metz makes the pledge “to be environmental stewards by working closely with clients, sustainability partners and vendors on dining concepts, products and programs that meet your needs while protecting resources for future generations.”

“Environmental Sustainability Commitment” was one of the criteria  used by the task force organized for evaluating bidding companies, as well as “Responsiveness to the College Community,” according to vice president of student life, Rob Pool. Additionally, Metz assures readers on its website, “You’ll discover an abundance of vegetarian, vegan, heart-healthy and lower fat choices due to our commitment to nutrition.”

Liv Dobmeier ‘19, though she felt the change “isn’t a big deal”, also hoped “the new food service offers more healthy options than Sodexo did- that’s a big thing [for me].”

Speaking specifically to their college campus dining services, they make the claim that they will “work with your campus dining team to develop promotions and events that coincide with the school calendar, such as extended hours and fun, high-energy meals during exam weeks.”

Pool explained, “Ultimately, the committee felt that the proposed program from Metz best addressed the expectations and needs of our students and community.”  He also stated, “The contract officially begins June 1, 2017 and it is for five years. The transition will begin as early as next week and ramp up throughout the spring semester.”

The contract with Metz concluded a semester long process “The college entered into a process called ‘request for proposals’ or RFP,” Pool explained. “Basically what this means is companies submit proposals describing how they would deliver a comprehensive dining services program during the five-year contract.”  

“Eight international, national or regionally-based companies were invited to participate.  Three companies submitted formal proposals and gave face to face presentations to a dining services task force,” Pool stated.  From there the decision went to a task force consisting of faculty, staff, administrators, and SGA executive cabinet members.  According to Robert Pool, the task force had the responsibility of considering the proposals made by the eight companies.  They also visited in person three campuses that already used the top choices they were considering.  Finally, they “made a recommendation to the president and the president’s staff. The president’s staff endorsed the committee’s recommendation wholeheartedly.”

At Roberts Wesleyan College, which already has Metz dining services, the different stations are realized as the “Main Plate,” a station for pizza and similar items, a section for made-to-order options, a soups and salad bar, a build-your-own sandwich station, a grill, and dessert choices.

“I know that the new company also works for Roberts Wesleyan,” said Harrington. “Half my family went there. …  Honestly we complain a lot right now but I think we’ll be complaining more in the future. When it comes down to it, it’s always just going to be cafeteria food.”