Category: Campus

From March 16-30 of 2016 a group of 15-18 students will travel to Vienna, one of the Western world’s oldest and most historically influential cities. Dr. Peter Meilaender, who has traveled to Vienna several times and speaks fluent German, stated that he is excited to lead students through the Innenstadt (the oldest and most central part of Vienna which was once occupied by the Roman Empire). He said, “The old part of the city is really very compact, so you could walk across it on foot in under an hour. Around every corner there’s some new, remarkable building…there are churches everywhere.” The compact nature of the central city will provide a good opportunity to see its most crucial landmarks within a relatively constricted amount of time.

The timeframe of the trip will allow students to experience Vienna during one of its most significant festivals: Holy Week, leading up to Easter Sunday. The vast number of Baroque churches will be filled with thousands of people celebrating the Resurrection, which will provide insight into the importance that many European cities still place on these religious holidays. Dr. Meilaender stated, “A high Catholic mass in a great cathedral on a major festival is an experience not to be missed.”

Students will certainly be getting a great deal out of the two credits which the course requires. In addition to staying in one of the West’s most beautiful cities for two weeks, students will be studying the art, history, literature, and architecture which make Vienna so unique. The crux of the course will focus on the period leading up to World War One, which was extremely tumultuous for all of Europe. However, Dr. Meilaender said that out of this culture breakdown arose an “outburst in creativity” which accounts for much of the artistic traditions that came from Vienna during this time. Artists such as Gustav Klimt, most famous for his painting “The Kiss,” lived and worked in the city during the early 1900s, and are upheld as the originators of the modern style of art.

While in Vienna, students will be expected to attend class for three hours in the morning  after which they will be free to roam the city for as long as they like. Vienna has a wide variety of coffee shops, museums, and churches, all of which are world renowned. Navigating the city should not prove too difficult because of its compactness and communicating with the locals should be equally promising as many people speak English. Dr. Meilaender said, “You can just wander around and constantly see amazing things, more than we could possibly fit into two weeks.” Perhaps, then, this Spring’s trip to Vienna will lead to a love for the city which will bring students back again.

Up until the second or last week of the season, all fall sports teams had a chance at post-season in the Empire 8 conference. However, only men’s soccer, seeded third and women’s soccer, seeded fourth, have qualified to compete in the Empire 8 playoffs. Today, the men’s soccer team will play Stevens Institute of Technology at Ithaca and the women’s soccer team plays Stevens at Stevens. Last weekend, Houghton hosted the Empire 8 Championships for cross country where 17 of the 21 Highlanders who competed ran their fastest races. Head Cross Country Coach Patrick Hager said, “They did all they could do. They performed their best and the results take care of themselves.”

Unfortunately, women’s field hockey, women’s volleyball, and women’s tennis didn’t make it to the playoff round,  which cut their successful seasons short. Women’s tennis were 6-7 overall and had started their season undefeated. Field Hockey finished 8-9 overall, better than last year, and were in contention until the last weekend. They needed to win their game against Washington Jefferson College and for Utica College to lose in order to get seeded fourth in their conference. Reflecting on the season, junior Kelsie Ashley said, “We had a really great season” and that “[She’s] excited to see what next year holds.” Volleyball (20-11 overall) lost a couple keys matches against Elmira and Stevens. Although they had the same conference record (5-3) as Elmira and Stevens, they were unable to make it into the playoffs. Senior Captain Hattie Burgher said, “Our team has finished in the top four of the conference for the past three years and this year we beat rivals that haven’t been beat for four or five years.” Burgher said, “Although we aren’t continuing on, I am still extremely proud of what our team has accomplished this year and years past.”

The only team that qualified for the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) championship is men’s and women’s cross country. Houghton will be hosting the national championships in two weeks where both the men’s and women’s team will each have seven runners competing.

The NCCAA has put several new qualifications in place to determine whether a team can make it to the National Christian Tournament for their sport. Previously, a team had to have a .500 record, meaning they had the same number of wins and losses to qualify.  Executive director of athletics, Harold “Skip” Lord, said, “Part of the reason for applying to NCCAA was to have post season opportunities for our teams.”

Essentially, if a team finishes in first place for Empire 8 or makes it to Empire 8 playoffs and wins it, then they qualify for the NCCAA. However, if a team doesn’t satisfy any of these requirements, Houghton decided that they will determine a team’s “national caliber” through other criteria. Some of these criteria include if the team has  a 55% win loss record, if they make it to the finals of the Empire 8 conference tournament, or if the team was in the top 10 final National Christian college pool. If a team has a strong season, but doesn’t qualify for Empire 8 playoffs, they are still able to continue their season if they satisfy two of the three previous guidelines.

This is the second year Houghton has been able to compete in the Empire 8 playoffs. Athletic Director “Skip” Lord said, “This was the best overall start for the year since we made the move to NCAA.” Houghton is in its fourth year of provisional status from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) and is hoping to have full membership in NCAA next year.

This week at Houghton College, New Vision Week, gave students the opportunity to learn explore a call to missions, both abroad and stateside. “The body of Christ as the church is meant to be missional,” junior Elizabeth Chedester said. This was the emphasis of New Vision Week, when Houghton students have the chance to learn about and consider their call to missions, whether it be abroad or at home. The event occurred this year from October 26-30, with a variety of speakers and events to raise awareness of the global church.

This year’s co-coordinators, Bethany Rudolph and Elizabeth Chedester, highlighted the theme “from the cross, through the church, to the world.” It was meant to “reveal the way a personal relationship with Christ can translate into actions with a global impact,” Maria Waterfield, ‘17 explained. “It’s turning something personal into something more tangible, visible.” Rudolph and Chedester echoed this in their emphasis on the call of all Christians to missions. “Missions is not intended only for special people,” Chedester said. “We’re all called to missions.”

The choices for New Vision Week speakers reflect this emphasis. Rudolph and Chedester chose speakers with a variety of backgrounds, Christian and non-Christian, American and non-American. “We want everyone to be able to relate,” Bethany explained. From this touch-point, they hope for students to consider the challenges issued by the speakers as well as the events. “New Vision Week challenges students to consider missions,” said associate professor of intercultural studies and missions, Marcus Dean, noting the variety of ways a Christian can be involved in missions, from going overseas to financial support to prayer support.

Besides the various speakers, New Vision Week featured several events, such as a  documentary, prayer walk, and culture fun night. “We really tried to put something fun or interesting every day,” Waterfield explained. “The goal this year to make it more the forefront of people’s minds.” The events combine to raise awareness for the call to missions and the global church. Rudolph noted the intention of the documentary on persecution “to create more awareness for what it looks like to be a Christian in the world.” Waterfield, who looks forward most to the prayer walk, explains that it will inform participants of situations throughout the world while creating the opportunity for prayer. The week ends with worship night, “a nice way to close off the week,” said Waterfield.

Dean notes that New Vision Week has “a long tradition at Houghton College,” for at least fifty years, although it has changed in name and in structure. As it has continued to grow and change, Dean too emphasizes the universal call for Christians to missions. “We can’t think anymore that the mission field is someplace else- so how do we get involved?” New Vision Week both raises the question and offers information for students to reach their own conclusions.

Rudolph’s hopes for New Vision Week reflect this, “for Houghton to become a place of more global awareness, more intentional living.” This can occur through the week’s goal of “increased awareness of brothers and sisters around the world” in Christ as well as “those who don’t know the gospel yet.” Ultimately, as Maria Waterfield says, New Vision week hopes “to show people that there are ways to be involved no matter where you are, what you’re doing.”

On Tuesday, Houghton College Eco Reps and Sodexo partnered for a “Weigh the Waste” event to raise awareness about food waste.

This week was Sodexo’s Wasteless Week, a week where the company is especially mindful about how to cut down on waste that occurs in the dining hall. This year, food waste was the focus.

To collect data about how much food is wasted during one meal, volunteers from Eco Reps collected the waste from students’ plates before they were sent to the dish-room. The waste was collected in buckets, which were then weighed.

According to an article published by Jean Buzby in the journal ScienceDirect, almost half of all calories produced by animals and less than one-fifth of those produced by crops in the U.S. go to waste. During Tuesday’s dinner, 81.25 pounds of food was wasted. “That weighs as much as a small human,” said Gabrielle Papia ‘19. According to this data, 12.6% of the food that was prepared went to waste.

“I want to thank our Student Sustainability Intern and the Eco Reps for facilitating the Weigh the Waste event. We hope that this event encouraged student awareness and behavior change as they make food choices and select amounts of those items,” said general manager of Sodexo, Kathie Guyler.

Over the second weekend in October, representatives from the 98 member institutions of the National Network for the Lilly Fellows Program (LFP) in Humanities and Arts gathered at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee to attend the program’s twenty-fifth annual National Conference. Among them were Houghton College’s two designated representatives: Linda Mills Woolsey, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, and Stephen Woolsey, professor of English.

While the organization hosts their yearly national conferences at member institutions all over the country, the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and Arts is based in Christ College at Valparaiso University, a Lutheran institution in Valparaiso, Indiana. LFP’s mission statement declares that it “seeks to renew and enhance the connections between Christianity and the academic vocation at church-related colleges and universities.” The organization attempts to achieve this goal through three major initiatives: the National Network, the Postdoctoral Fellows Program, and the Graduate Fellows Program. The Postdoctoral Fellows Program is a two-year residential fellowship specifically at Valparaiso University, while the Graduate Fellows Program supports ten fellows who hold bachelor’s degrees from LFP member institutions over three years as they pursue doctoral work in the humanities and arts. Two past graduate fellows are Houghton alumni: Kyle Vitale (‘09) and Gerard Gentry (’10).

“One of the best things about going to the most recent conference was that I got to see Kyle Vitale and talk to him about his experience,” said Mills Woolsey. “He talked about the Lilly Graduate Fellows program as being a lifeline during such a discouraging time for students in graduate school in the arts and humanities.”

Mills Woolsey, having represented Houghton at conferences off and on since 2001, was elected to a four-year term on the National Network Board for LFP last year. As a board member, she attended discussions and panels at the 2015 conference, but also attended a day-and-a-half-long board meeting. The LFP National Board, which is composed of twelve members, meets twice a year. Meetings are packed with discussions in which they decide what initiatives LFP will fund in the coming year, what themes they will pursue for future conferences, and what prospective institutions they might accept into the network.

Although Houghton maintains memberships in other Christian national organizations, including the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities and the Christian College Consortium, LFP stands out as a Christian network that crosses denominational lines.

“Lilly overlaps with CCCU in that it does include some evangelical colleges, but it’s broader,” said Mills Woolsey of the organization. “You get to interact with faculty from Roman Catholic colleges, Lutheran colleges, United Methodist and Presbyterian colleges, and some of the Baptist colleges. It’s a more varied pool, but it’s amazing how much we share in common.”

The commonalities in these academics’ commitment to their faith and vocation are celebrated at LFP’s annual National Conference. This year’s conference, entitled “Created for Creativity: Music, Culture and Faith,” took place from October 9 through 11. In conjunction with Belmont’s strong music program, the conference focused on the theology of creativity. Participants had the opportunity to network by exploring Nashville together, sharing meals, and attending sessions that featured speakers who specialize in some aspect of the music profession. These speakers included the director of Belmont’s Religion & Arts Program, a music professor and choral director from Auburn University, a record label executive, and an award-winning songwriter and performer.

While each conference has its own unique theme, with past conferences discussing such diverse topics as racial justice and urban issues, music and worship is always an important part of the National Conference. According to Mills Woolsey, Roman Catholic and Protestant members alike share in ecumenical worship services together that are especially meaningful, and inspire a sense of fellowship among its participants.

This fellowship is ultimately what makes LFP special as a National Network, whether members experience it through worship, conversation, or a speaker’s message. Mills Woolsey affirmed this, saying:

“As a speaker, you want to draw your audience into a conversation that discusses what are our shared beliefs, and what are our shared problems and concerns, rather than focusing on the things that divide us.”

In the midst of a challenging time for higher education in the arts and humanities, LFP allows schools like Houghton to continue to grow in their mission, while connecting with other like-minded institutions. Fortunately, Houghton’s strong and lasting connection with LFP has and will continue to benefit the college’s lasting legacy in the liberal arts.

Dorm life at Houghton has changed since last semester. The student body has felt the impact of extended open hours on the weekends, yet an old open-hours standby has seen its last days. 5Bites, a student operation run through Houghton Student Enterprises (HSE), is now officially out of business.

The snack shop, previously located at the front desk of each dorm, sold items such as chips, popcorn, Poptarts, ramen, soda, and other soft drinks. Desk proctors employed by the college  acted as cashiers for 5Bites. Marc Smithers, Assistant Dean of Students, stated, “The ‘desk’ has been an institution at Houghton for the last 15 or 20 years. It wasn’t till a few years after that started that we began selling things at the desk because we realized that we were paying these students to just sit there, when we could also provide another service to the students,” as well as earn money, which originally went toward hall programming. “The desk” at first existed to provide security for the dormitories. Before the swipe card system, dorms were open all day and only locked after 11 P.M., according to Smithers. “With the swipe card system, the dorms were locked all day, and ‘the desk’ began to make less and less sense,” Smithers remarked.

The closing of 5Bites was “strictly budgetary”, Smithers said. 5Bites did not cover the wages of the desk proctors, who were mostly paid through work study hours. Smithers contacted Professor Ken Bates, faculty advisor for HSE, over the summer to inform him the Student Life department would no longer employ desk proctors. Unfortunately for 5Bites, no arrangements could be made to continue selling its products.

When asked if HSE had any plans to resurrect 5Bites, Bates stated “5Bites would love to continue doing stores in residence halls, but without desk proctors, it just isn’t going to happen. If they had to hire students to man the desk, they’d pretty much be losing money.” Bates did note that HSE is beginning to expand its operations to concessions for athletic events at the Kerr-Pegula Field House.

Ashlee Duttweiler ’16 was hired to be the head desk proctor in Gillette Hall. Responding to questions of the rationale behind the suspension of the desk proctor jobs, she confirmed the issue of inadequate funding. “What concerns me the most, is that desk proctors didn’t just sell 5Bites. They also were dorm security. They were the ones signing people in for open hours,” she said. “From what I’ve heard, it’s kind of sketchy, as far as people just coming in and no one really knowing who’s in the building. I feel like there was more control over what was happening when people were at the desk and you had to leave your I.D. [with the desk proctor]. As far as safety goes, I feel like that was just better.”

Student response to the closing of 5Bites, as well as the removal of the desk proctors, as been mixed. Sophomore Bethany Schoonover observed “It’s smart for the college to have taken it [desk proctor employment] away, but that also means that students have fewer jobs.” Schoonover did not feel that the presence of the desk proctors “was stopping anything” nefarious, but rather thought that responsibility fell more onto the RAs of the residence halls.

Fellow sophomore Benjamin Eby concurred. “They [the desk proctors] didn’t really do anything. The rules keep honest people honest. At least people no longer feel patronized.”

While there is disagreement over whether the security the desk proctors may have added was necessary, the current situation will remain as is for at least the rest of the academic year.

TobyMac will perform at Houghton College on Sunday, October 11, along with artists Britt Nicole, Colton Dixon, and Hollyn on his “This Is Not a Test” tour.

TobyMac, a Christian hip-hop artist with two Grammy awards and Billboard Music awards, is known for songs like “City on Our Knees”, “Eye on It”, and “Speak Life.” Accompanying TobyMac is Nicole, a Grammy-nominated Christian pop artist, recognized for her songs “The Lost Get Found”, “All This Time”, and “Ready or Not.” Dove Award-winning Christian rock artist, Dixon, was made famous for his appearance on American Idol and is now known for songs such as “Through All of It”, “Never Gone”, and “You Are.” Also on the tour is Hollyn, an upcoming Christian recording artist who is featured on TobyMac’s most recent album, This Is Not a Test.

The concert will be the first of the 2015-2016 academic year and is the second concert to be held in the Kerr-Pegula Field House. According to Marshall Green, Community and Public Relations Specialist, the concert “will be a sold out show at just over 4,000” with “only a few select tickets left.” Senior Lizzie Yordy said, “I thought it was cool that a big-name artist like TobyMac, and even Colton Dixon were coming to Houghton. It’s good advertising for Houghton in a sense.” Sophomore Connor Barnes stated “Initially I was extremely excited just because he’s my favorite Christian artist and I thought it was really cool that a school as small as ours was able to bring in an artist that big.  After the Tenth Avenue North concert last year, when they asked for recommendations for artists to come the next year, I actually wrote down TobyMac, so I’m pumped that he’s actually able to come this year.”

The concert also falls on the first Highlander Preview Day of the year, which is on Monday, October 12, so prospective high school students who register for the visit day will receive a free ticket to the concert.  According to Betsy Rutledge, Assistant Director of Admission Events and Office Operations, Highlander Preview Day is “what was formerly known as ‘Encounter Day’” where prospective students will attend chapel, participate in a class, and get a first look at the Houghton campus.

Rutledge said “We always have a visit day on Columbus Day because high school students are off school.  When Kingdom Bound Ministries and Houghton were first talking about hosting a large concert the day before Columbus Day, we in the Admission Office got really excited because we knew it would be a good opportunity for prospective students to come to campus, enjoy the concert, meet our current students, stay overnight, and experience a little bit of what Houghton has to offer them.”  The Highlander Preview Day will bring in 220 students and their families, the “largest prospective student visit in Houghton’s history” according to Rutledge.

Prospective students will attend the concert Sunday night and stay overnight with current Houghton students, having their visit day activities on the following day.  Barnes said, “I think that’s good first of all because we can get people to visit but at the same time it’s something new, a new type of concert that students here can go to too, so that’s cool.”

The concert will be held in the Kerr-Pegula Field House on October, 11 at 6 p.m.

“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” This verse from Psalm 1 is what opened the report on Forestry Management. This quote encapsulates what the committee is trying to do in regards to maintaining Christian stewardship of the land surrounding Houghton under their responsibility. The committee, an ad-hoc group made up of sustainability coordinator, Brian Webb; professor of biology, James Wolfe; director of technology services, Don Haingray; and vice president for finance and planning, David Smith, who have put their expertise together in order to protect the environment surrounding the college. The forest is well-used by students and faculty for bonfires, nature walks, and exercise on the many trails. From an outside perspective, one might never know there were any problems with the way the forest is growing.

Essentially, the forest has become overcrowded. The trees are now so tightly packed not enough sunlight is reaching the forest floor, meaning there is very little undergrowth or new trees growing. This is unhealthy for the forest because in ten or twenty years when the older trees die, there will be no young trees growing to take their place.

According to Webb, it has not always been this way. “If you look at pictures of Houghton’s early history you see blank, empty land,” he said. “Because all the trees were cut, and when a forest is that extensively cut, the way things regrow tends to be very artificial. We have an even age forest because they were all planted at the same time. It’s a product of the way humans cut the Houghton forest 100, 150 years ago.” The natural ecology of the forest has been disrupted, and the Forestry Committee is attempting taking the steps to help reduce the damage.

The committee’s focus is primarily on the overall health of the forest. Many of these necessary improvements can be made through a sustainable harvest plan. They developed a plan to thin out some of the trees in order to provide room for new trees to grow, in addition to providing the already existing trees with more space to grow healthily. Selective cutting, when done properly, will benefit the forest significantly, it will allow more light to reach the forest floor and help the smaller, younger trees to be healthy. The college will also benefit by selling the timber they cut down, with the revenue they receive going back into improving the forest environment.

In order to carry out this plan of safe timber removal, the committee has hired a New York State Forester. Already, he has done a detailed assessment of the forest, creating a specific breakdown of the different types of trees growing, which ones are growing well, and which are not, as well as gathering information on invasive species. The forester will mark the trees to be harvested, manage the timber company throughout the process, and ensure the entire logging process creates as minimal a disruption to the environment as possible.

The forester also identified ways to minimize the negative effects of tree removal, including minimizing the erosion caused by loggers, improving wildlife habitats, and dealing with invasive species. They will also avoid disturbing the everyday use of Houghton College property.

Though no date has yet been set for the timber removal to begin, it will take place either in winter or in summer. During winter, the ground will be frozen hard, which minimizes the damage vehicles can do to the forest floor. During summer, however, there will be few students still on campus, and will minimize the disturbance the logging process will make.

“This is a long term plan to care for this part of God’s creation. There is no ‘quick fix’,” said Smith.

Smith also said once the suitable harvest plan is set in motion, it will still take many years for the forest to return to its original healthy ecology. It won’t happen all at once. The plan recommended by the forester will take place over the next fifteen years, the first five years spent as they mark, harvest, and observe the changes to various parts of the forest. They will then spend ten years letting nature take its natural course and carefully observing what further changes may need to be made. It will likely take many generations of careful forest management before the forest is able to “take over on its own, and produce as it should,” as Brian Webb noted.