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College Expects Tuition Increase

The cost of attending Houghton next year is set to increase by three percent, bringing the total to approximately $36,660. According to David Smith, vice president of finance, the decision to raise tuition is a “board/trustee level decision” and what the trustees recommended was a three percent increase of room, board, and tuition. Data obtained from past Houghton College catalogs reveals that tuition has increased approximately 46% since the 2000-2001 school year.

moolahHowever, it is not only Houghton making these changes—colleges across the nation are raising tuition. According to President Mullen, data compiled by Dale Wright, Houghton’s chief business officer, reveals that out of a group of seventy-five Christian colleges and universities, “only five have a lower tuition increase over the last three years… Our three-year change in the cost of attendance has been between 8-9% and the average was 13.8%.” Smith commented on the increase in comparison to similar Christian schools, saying  that “although we’ve gone up, more than I would like, we’ve certainly gone up a lot less than our competition.”

There are multiple reasons behind the tuition increase. According to President Mullen, the main reason is that “the basic costs of doing operations in a college go up every year,” such as increases in utilities costs, increases in healthcare costs, increases in local taxes, and “Sodexo costs [also] go up every year.” Another reason for the tuition increase is “step increases for faculty… so that means that every year, even if you have the exact same number of faculty, you have slight increase in everyone’s salary.” Another factor leading to the decision to increase tuition is the New York state-mandated minimum wage increase. Smith stated that the college does hire a lot of students as workers and their labor costs alone are a “non-trivial expense.”

A final, slightly less well known cost Houghton has invested in over the last several years is putting more money from the operations into “improving the physical plant,” Mullen said. “We have beautiful buildings, but many of them are older. And it’s only fairly recently that we’ve tried to have an institutional facilities renewal policy.” Referred to in higher education as deferred maintenance, Mullen gave the example of Gillette Hall, which had a water main break earlier this semester, as being an example of a concern. Deferred maintenance is “not something that any individual student is going to see a drastic change in. But it’s the kind of thing we have to do,” Mullen said. Smith also described deferred maintenance as “something we’re really having to focus on.”

The alternative to tuition increases is cutting costs, which Houghton has experienced quite a bit of over the past few years. Smith stated that the two largest costs on Houghton’s budget are the college’s commitment to four-year financial aid for students, followed by the salaries of faculty. Mullen stated that the challenge to cutting costs as a strategy for lowering costs is that “every cost we cut hurts students in some way… I would say we’re still going to be trying to look at that, because that’s the other way”. Mullen also offered the suggestion that it might be “interesting to have students weigh in on that at some point… our dominant perspective on any of our conversations is not to hurt student experience; but when you have administrators thinking this way, it may not be the same as what students would say”.

At a time when our enrollment is a concern to all on campus—faculty, students, and staff alike—will the tuition increase have an effect on incoming students? Houghton’s recent joining of the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) will probably keep that from happening. Smith described the LRAP as a kind of insurance program, featuring a sliding scale of reimbursement from the foundation to future Houghton graduates who are working in the United States, ranging from full reimbursement of loans for those making less than $20,000, and decreasing gradually until the cut-off point at $38,000. Smith described it as a “safety net to help you have the debt not be a burden on you.”

Throughout the interview, Mullen emphasized that “I wish we didn’t have to raise the tuition every year because I know that it falls most heavily on returning students… we’re not casual about this.” Smith similarly emphasized that all of the business decisions at the college are made with the good of students as the first and primary concern.

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Russian Educators to Visit Campus

During the week of March 10 through 14, Houghton College will be hosting six English teachers newly arrived from the city of Perm, Russia. The arrival of this group of Russian guests continues a practice of over 12 years in which Houghton has welcomed visiting professionals from Perm.

Perm_RussiaThe teachers have been familiar with Houghton, and friends with many of the faculty and staff, for many years due to the efforts of the Perm Mission Network (PMN). Susan Hice, former director of Student Academic Services (now known as CASA), along with numerous other Houghton constituents, have traveled to Perm every summer for more than twenty years. According to Daniel Moore, coordinator of audio-visual services and PMN group member, these groups have built an extensive network of friends in the process of ministering to orphanages, schools, businesses, prisons, churches, universities, and summer camps.

It is during the PMN’s summer ministry that the invitees to this program are selected for an educational exposure in American, and specifically Christian, higher learning institutions. The group of six this year, said Moore, “are very excited to see America and curious to interact with students….  They plan to visit a few classes and are eager to observe how American higher education compares with their system. They hope to collect a few ideas that may be useful to them when they return.”

Moore added, “The fact that they are investing their own money to pay for travel, taking time away from employment, enduring the rigors of bureaucracy, and leaving the security of their family, is testament to their curiosity and excitement.”

Another visit to Russia with the PMN is being planned for this coming June. Students interested in participating in this group ministry should contact Daniel Moore at daniel.moore@houghton.edu.

 

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China: A Falling Star

Despite its reputation as an economic powerhouse, Chinese economic and government data show inconsistencies in exports, colossal corporate and local debt, an imminent collapse in its shadow financial sector, and the Chinese government’s misunderstanding of the Chinese citizens’ desire to purchase gold.

Courtesy of online.barrons.com
Courtesy of online.barrons.com

Last month, according to Chinese government figures, total exports grew a whopping 10.6% compared to analysts’ moderate forecast of just 2% as reported by the Wall Street Journal.  How can analysts underestimate by 8.6% when they are normally off by only a fraction of a percent? Many Chinese experts such as Shao Xiaoyi warn that “the figures may be inflated by fake trade transactions, where traders forge deals to sneak cash into the country past capital controls.”   At the same time of the reported tremendous growth, Chinese manufacturer’s reported “overall orders and new export orders fell, while inventory [of unsold goods] rose” according to JP Morgan economist Haibin Zhu. The Purchasing Managers’ Index of Chinese economic activity is also below 50 points, which signals a contraction in the economy. Additionally, international corporations have been forecasting little to no growth in China. Two consumer goods companies—Nestle SA and Pernod Ricard SA—said their sales last year were hurt by a continuing slowdown in China’s consumer demand, which dropped as much as 18%.

More disturbing news is the rise in China’s corporate debt to $12.1 trillion. Standard and Poor’s estimates that China’s corporate debt will exceed the US’s corporate debt this year, making China’s corporate debt the largest in the world. As a result, according to Shen Hong from the Wall Street Journal, “Borrowing costs for Chinese companies are raising strongly, a shift that could herald weaker corporate profits, slower economic growth and even the first defaults by indebted corporations on the mainland.”

In the public sector Chinese local government debt has risen 67% to $3 trillion. According to Robert Samuelson, “local debt now equals about 33 percent of China’s economy up from 10 percent in 2008 and almost nothing in 1997.” Most of the local debt is from financing new infrastructure such as roads and bridges and from building new cities notoriously known as “ghost cities” constructed of commercial buildings that sit empty and uninhabited apartments. Tao Wang of UBS (a Swiss global financial services company) believes “dependence on this investment spending poses a dilemma for China.” If localities cut spending, the economy would be severely weakened. If localities keep spending at the same rate, localities could face default.

Problems in China’s financial sector stem from a practice known as “shadow banking.”  Shadow bankers, operating without regulation, borrow from regulated banks to lend at higher interest rates to businesses and local governments. According to Time Magazine’s Michael Schuman, “An expansion of risky and complicated financial practices in the world’s second-largest economy has the potential to explode into a major economic crisis.” Now these shadow banks are in trouble and are being bailed out.  Aaron Back of the Wall Street Journal predicts that these shadow bankers will cause a domino effect and that “more distressed trust situations are inevitable and will test Beijing’s resolve.”

This month China became the biggest buyer of gold. Chinese officials believe this demonstrates the strength of Chinese wealth in the private sector. Gold, however, is often used as a hedge against inflation or a slowdown in the economy. As economist Kimberly Amadeo notes, “investors flock to gold when they are protecting their investments from either a crisis or inflation.”  According to Laura Clarke of the Wall Street Journal, “Fears about the slowing Chinese economy, a potential property bubble and fragile financial system have spurred buying, especially as retail gold buyers in China have few other appealing options.”

The Chinese government should heed the warnings of an old Chinese proverb, “To tell only half the truth is to give life to a new lie.” China must stop giving the world half truths if it wants to become a real world economic superpower. If it fails to follow ancient wisdom, it too will be doomed to the same fate as the Soviets.

 

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Shades of Black Exhibition Defaced

The “Shades of Black” exhibition located in the Campus Center basement was found with unapproved alterations early Monday morning. The number “50,” the word “light,” and paper chains were added to the display.The exhibition title then read: “50 Shades of Light Black” with handmade paper chains hanging above the title. The new title allegedly made reference to the erotic romance novel, Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James.

Screen Shot 2014-03-01 at 12.06.30 PMThe exhibition, which began at the beginning of February and was scheduled to be taken down at the end of the month, was sponsored by the Black Heritage Club (BHC) and Student Programs office. The purpose of the series, originally conceived by Niala Pressley, a BHC member, was to the share the stories, inspirations, uniqueness, and diversity among black students at Houghton, according to Abena Griffin, senior and BHC member, and Greg Bish, director of student programs. It displayed portraits of black students and a paragraph-long biography about each one.

The idea behind the series came from comments being made about black students. Griffin said, “I heard ‘all black people look alike, we’re the same.’” Bish said the members were looking to exemplify diversity among black students, both domestic and international. He also said any student who self-identifies as black was invited to participate.

The modifications to the wall happened sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning, when they were discovered. Yinka Araromi, senior and BHC communications director, was the first to make the vandalism widely known. He posted an image of the alterations on Facebook with the single hashtag “nowords.” He tagged several friends who were involved in the project. Griffin found out about the alterations through text and Facebook messages, along with the image posted by Araromi, before visiting the exhibition herself. The alterations were taken down shortly after their discovery.

Araromi said that although the chains were allegedly a reference to E. L. James’ book, many students, including himself and Griffin, connected the chains to slavery. He also said that putting racism aside, it was about the “…disrespect of defacing that display, which was meant to be about sharing stories and inspirations.”

Bish said there was a “breadth of student response” which varied from feelings that it was a prank to a hate crime. Katrina Sawyer, BHC president and junior, said “…even if this was a joke that had nothing to do with race, how can you think this was okay?” A similar question was also asked by other students on campus, she said. Griffin said one of her first responses to seeing the alterations was, “When I saw ‘light,’ I saw that replacing black.”

The person responsible for the vandalism, a 2013 Houghton graduate, confessed and publicly apologized Monday evening for what was done to the display. The student was on campus visiting for the weekend and he met with Pool and talked to several students on campus. He also called Sawyer to apologize. The perpetrator then left Houghton campus late Monday night. According to Pool, after a discussion with campus Safety and Security director, Ray Parlett, they decided it was neither in his or the college’s “best interest” for him to stay.

Late Monday morning through the evening, upset students met with various student life administrators, including Bish, vice president of student life Robert Pool, Dean Michael Jordan, and dean of students Dennis Stack. Bish organized and attended a dinner in the south end dining hall Monday night for students involved with the project to come talk about the incident face-to-face. Approximately 30 students attended. The president’s staff, who met Tuesday morning at a previously scheduled meeting, also discussed the incident, the college’s response so far, and intents to move forward, according to Pool.

After the incident, students on Monday afternoon began posting sticky notes on the wall around the portraits. The act was started by Leah Sweeney and Caitlin Aloi, according to Griffin and Araromi. Each note had positive and encouraging words to specific students pictured in the display or for all black students on campus. Griffin also said that students stayed close to the display, ensuring that no more vandalism would occur nor that the sticky notes would be removed.

There have previously been minor incidents involving the “Shades of Black” project. Griffin said the picture of Daniel Thompson, a resident of Shenawana Hall and featured student, was removed from the exhibition, moved to the hallway of his floor in Shen, and defaced with writing and drawings. Another copy was then printed to replace the stolen one. Earlier in the life of the exhibition, Bish said an unknown person wrote in pencil “50 Shades of Black.” Shortly after, another student erased it.

The college administration decided to address the issue in front of the student body in chapel on Wednesday morning. Pool opened chapel by speaking to the campus about the incident. Dean Jordan then talked about the issue in his chapel message. He emphasized the importance of listening and dialogue, saying that a collective response must be to continue to talk about this issue as individuals and as a community.

The Diversity Task Force, a preexisting committee chaired by Stack, focuses on campus diversity and related issues. The committee includes students with various backgrounds, including Sawyer. It began last year and generated a “campus climate survey” last spring. The members have done a series of focus groups concerning underrepresented groups on campus, including African American and black students earlier this semester, as Pool explained. Members ask what life is like on campus for these groups and ask for their stories.

Griffin said that the conversation which has begun as a result has been quite encouraging. She said many students feel this is not just a black issue, as they also felt disgust and hurt by it and for black students on campus. Bish has committed that his office will work on at least two events before the end of this semester that will “encourage a healthy dialogue about race and respect.” Griffin said we need to do a better job of explaining what Black History Month is about. She said it must start amongst faculty and in classrooms; it can not be from black students alone. Pool voiced his hopes that the student voice is prominent concerning this issue and said that “this is a community wide concern, but it’s only going to change when we individually act.”

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HOPE Office Launched for Student Volunteers

After a half semester of planning, an official HOPE office has been opened in the campus center basement for student assistance. According to Hanna Kahler and Jina Libby, juniors both involved in the formation of the office, HOPE aims to both track student volunteer service and connect students with new volunteer opportunities in the area.

Greg Bish, director of student programs, maintains that the initiation of a HOPE office is a continuation of a strong tradition of service at the college. “There have been variations of the HOPE office through the years. The HOPE office as we’re currently experiencing it started just this year. If you look at service, service goes all the way back to Willard J. Houghton,” he said.

Courtesy of voiceseducation.org
Courtesy of voiceseducation.org

One of the current projects of the HOPE office has been the use of “Impact Cards” to quantify student involvement in the community as volunteers. Said Bish, “It’s an effort to do some data-gathering and not just anecdotally say our students do service. We do know they do service, but we’re just trying to find a way to collect information about what they’re doing.” The cards, which work in a way similar to timecards, may be filled out on a weekly basis and may include hours from multiple volunteer projects.

Initial response to Impact Cards has been slow. “[The cards have] been trickling in,” said Bish. “I wouldn’t say there’s been a huge overflow yet. We’ve not gotten hundreds back by any means, but we’re in the early stages.” Kahler added that the office has recorded about 46 ½ volunteer hours from students via Impact Cards. “To me, that is satisfactory. Not as amazing as I would want, but it’s satisfactory,” added Libby. She explained that while the recorded hours may be low, the depth of student volunteering is notably higher. “If you take the JET program alone, there are approximately 20 students going down every Saturday, and that’s six hours a Saturday, eight Saturdays. We’re talking over 700 hours,” she explained.

Impact Cards, while a measure of student volunteering for the college, also aim to be a motivator for current volunteers and those interested in volunteering. “On an individual level, we’re trying to encourage volunteer service in the community, so when people get to 25 hours, we want to … recognize that somehow,” explained Kahler.

Also part of the office’s work is connecting students with potential volunteer opportunities. Through connections with the Southern Tier Regional Volunteer Center, a database that lists opportunities between Jamestown and Binghamton, the office is able to search a pool of current needs for volunteers in the Southern Tier area and pass them on to students with specific volunteer interests.

Locally, the office has worked on establishing volunteer connections with Wellspring Ministries in Belfast, NY; Absolut Care, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Houghton, NY; and the Powerhouse Youth Center in Fillmore, NY. One of Kahler’s and Libby’s current tasks is to publicize a project over spring break which would call for student volunteers for Wellspring Ministries. Another task is to involve student-run clubs and honor societies in leading activities for youth at the Powerhouse center. Explained Bish, “We would ask different clubs and organizations to sign up … and do something related to [their] club. If it’s the French Club, they could be making crepes. If it’s Sigma Zeta, they could be doing a science experiment. Basically, [we’re] trying to get clubs and organizations, or RAs and floors, to … take one day and go volunteer at the after-school program and provide some kind of activity…”

As for long-term projects, Kahler hopes to better integrate volunteer service with classroom instruction. “We’re also doing a faculty survey to see how much service learning there is in the classrooms. It’s something recently developed, so it’s not going to be sent out for a while,” she said. Both she and Libby stressed the importance of service at Houghton. “Looking at it from a Christian perspective, it’s one of our callings, as a Christian, to serve,” said Libby.

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National Sacred Honor Choir Prepares for Upcoming Tour

The majority of music majors were out of town for pre-tour concerts in Buffalo and Syracuse this weekend, leaving the music buildings dark and empty. “A musician learns with each performance that which cannot be taught in rehearsal,” says Dr. Brandon Johnson, director of choral activities and recent recipient of the Horne-Blanchard chair here at Houghton. These performances before the “real” tour serve as a check-up for the choir to see what work still needs to be done.

This year the College Choir will be touring from the 27th of February to the 9th of March through the mid-Atlantic states, performing in states along the east coast from NY to Virginia, ending with the concert in Carnegie Hall.

College_Choir“It is part of our mission to share the Good News with people,” said Dr. Johnson. “It is not enough for us to create beautiful music; we also need to share it.”

Most of the performances on tour are in churches with a few concert halls dotting the schedule. Every year the choir receives multiple letters from attendees telling of how the music touched them. “On an educational side,” said Johnson, “we learn the beautiful nuances of the repertoire that can only be achieved through the heightened awareness of performance.” Before each concert, the choir gathers and discusses any new meanings revealed in pieces by the audience’s response or the way certain voices blended to give emphasis to a different word or phrase, lending a new perspective to music the choir has been working on for months.

The flagship performance for this tour is of course the concert in Carnegie Hall. “It’s huge for our visibility as a school,” said 2nd year graduate student Christopher Olsen, choir manager. “Houghton faculty have performed in the small-halls in Carnegie before, but this may be the first time the Houghton name has been in the main hall.”

The College Choir will be joined at Carnegie Hall by members of the Men’s and Women’s Choir, singers from Roberts Wesleyan, a chamber choir from Liberty University, in addition to choirs from several Christian high schools for the performance, together making up the National Sacred Honor Choir. The ensemble, comprising well over 200 people, will rehearse for four days in at Hawthorne Gospel church in northern New Jersey, spending nights at a nearby Salvation Army camp.

Graduate student Kelly Vankirk, coordinator of the National Sacred Honor Choir, spoke with me about her involvement. “It is extremely busy, but it’s a huge honor to be singing such great, spiritually rich music in prestigious hall. We are bringing together Christian choirs from all over the northeast, some from even farther away. One of the goals of our time together is to help the younger singers, and ourselves, to see the context of faith and music together.”

Because of the Carnegie concert, several music professors other than Dr. Johnson will be traveling with the choir and will be giving masters’ classes for groups of advanced high school students before several concerts.This type of teaching serves to advertise for the college’s programs and has been done to a limited extent on past tours, but never to the extent reached this year with Professors Davies, Hijleh, Hutchings, and Newbrough all traveling with the choir.

 

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Opening and Closing Olympic Controversies

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will be closing Sunday night at 20:14 Sochi local time. Though they are almost finished there was a lot of controversy surrounding the Games; including the expensive cost, the construction leading up to the Games, and the Russian laws banning “homosexual propaganda.”

Courtesy of populous.com
Courtesy of populous.com

With the estimated price tag of $51 billion, the Sochi Winter Olympics have been the most expensive Game of all time. The previous Winter Games, 2010 Vancouver, cost only $1.7 billion. According to USA Today, the United States’ own 2002 Games, hosted in Salt Lake City, cost less than $3 billion. Sochi even passes the previous budget record, held by China’s 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics which, according to Pravada News, cost $44 billion.

The high price tag was supposed to be a show of Russian power but also, many believe, a result of corruption. In an article by Fox News, Boris Nemstove, a Russian politician, estimates that two-thirds of the $51 billion was lost to corruption. In the same article, anti-corruption activist, Alexei Navalny, claims that over 10 of the Olympic buildings costed double what they should have. A 25-mile road and railway combination that connected the coast to the ski resort came with the price of $9.4 billion dollars according to Fox News. Costing $200 million per kilometer. Some speculate these investments will not pay off and Russia will face economic crisis in the near future.

Despite the large amounts of money being spent, delayed and poor construction also affected the Sochi Winter Olympics and lead to the world wide hashtag of “Sochi Problems.” Issues varied from dangerously unfinished hallways to urine-colored water coming out of faucets. Right before the Olympics began, it even inspired a Buzzfeed article titled “Photographic Proof That Sochi Is A Godforsaken Hellscape Right Now,” which included images of grass being painted green, pavement still being laid, and poorly-placed wires and fire hoses. Perhaps the most popular image circulation was the one of two toilets next to each other without a divider.

Besides the criticism surrounding spending and construction, Russia has also received grief for its “anti-LGBT laws.” These laws which do not criminalize being gay, do detain and fine anyone promoting  “nontraditional relationships.” The New York Times reports a transgender woman and former member of the Italian parliament was arrested on Sunday for holding a sign in the Olympic Park that read “Gay is OK” in Russian.

Much of the issues come not only from the government and this law, but also vigilante groups, who lure and harass gay people with the Russian government turning a blind eye. BBC showed footage of gay men being shaved, forced to drink urine, and publicly humiliated in other ways. Videos of this humiliation were then posted online. The vigilantes claim that they are targeting pedophiles, not gay people.

Putin and other Russian politicians who support the anti-propaganda law say that it is not intended to discriminate against gay people, but aims to protect children. Supporters also say it is protecting traditional relationships and promoting Russian values, instead of western liberalism. The law was quite popular in the Duma, according to Al Jazeera, it passed with a 436-to-0 vote and passed through the Russian law system without issue.

Despite these large controversies Sochi faced, the Olympics will be closing Sunday with so far no large political hiccups have affected the Olympic events. During his speech at the Game’s opening ceremonies, International Olympic Committee President, Thomas Bach, urged countries to leave politics out of the Olympics. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” Athletes have honored this and the podiums have remained protest free. The focus remains on the Games.

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Athletes Compete in Track and Field Championships

This weekend, Houghton’s indoor track and field team will be traveling to Bourbonnais, Illinois for the 2014 National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) Indoor Track and Field Championship.  Interestingly, Olivet Nazarene University, which is hosting the event, is also fielding a purple and gold team.

After a nine-hour journey, Houghton’s athletes will prepare for a multitude of events including four short distance sprinting events and one hurdle event; 3 long distance races; triple, high, and long jump, and other field events such as the shot put and relays.  Two rigorous and lengthy events round out the meet: the women’s pentathlon (60 meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, and 800 meter sprints) and the men’s heptathlon (60 meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 meter hurdles, pole vault, & 1000 meter sprints).

trackfield_savannah_doviakSo far this season Houghton’s athletes have been competing well in their events.  Freshman Marshall Brady, once a local high school athlete, set a new school record in a meet this past Saturday in Ithaca.  Scoring 4141 points after his final event, Brady finished tenth out of twenty-three against a field of athletes from St. John Fisher, Cortland, Cornell, and other regional universities.  The week before, Brady was named as NCCAA Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Week.  Another freshman, Joanna Friesen, a native of Pennsylvania, nearly broke the school record with her pentathlon score of 2279 points in five events.  Friesen placed twelfth out of fifteen in her field.  Junior Andrea Melhorn also shattered an old school record in the hammer throw with a score that landed her in thirteenth place in her event.  These athletes will lead the charge for Houghton in their events in Illinois.

Travelling along with the athletes and trainers will be the meet’s Vice Chair Matt Dougherty, a Houghton graduate of the class of 2001, who was named men’s track coach in 2010.  Coach Dougherty provided solid endorsements for the swath of athletes Houghton will be bringing to the event.  “As always, we are looking to improve every chance we get to compete and we look to see how competitive we can be in the team rankings.  The men are fairly low this year with injuries to some key upperclassmen and some athletes who are just lacking their fitness from a year ago.  The women are a good mix of new and experienced athletes. Hopefully our seniors can help our first year runners adapt well to the national championships.”

Houghton’s men’s and women’s track and field team also performed at the Empire 8 Championships in Ithaca at the beginning of February.  While Ithaca ended up sweeping both the men’s and women’s overall titles, Houghton’s athletes successfully finished in the top five in a multitude of events. Friesen placed in the 800 meter sprint, the distance medley relay (DMR), and the 4×400 meter relay, while Figueroa placed in the triple jump and 60 meter sprint events.  Another female athlete, senior Leah Williams assisted in the DMR and ranked highly in the women’s mile race.  For the men, a fifth position in the DMR as well as strong performances by Brady in the long, triple, and high jumps rounded out Houghton’s first round of indoor championship events.

Houghton’s gradual integration into the NCCAA allows for continued involvement in NCCAA championship meets as well as NCAA events.  As a Christian organization, the NCCAA asks hosting universities to develop a service aspect of the event to parallel the athletic events.  This year’s project, sponsored by voluntary donations from participating colleges, is a partnership with an organization called Living Alternatives, a pro-life clinic and assistance program that seeks “to promote life-affirming options 
and provide practical assistance, while sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed and to minister restoration to those who have been wounded by the trauma of abortion.”

Houghton’s track and field athletes head into this weekend’s championship events with great determination.  Coach Dougherty, when asked about pre-event jitters, commented, “I wouldn’t say we are nervous. It’s an excited anticipation to test ourselves to find out where we are.  This year’s national championship is as competitive as it has ever been and, as one of the smallest schools competing and the only NCAA DIII competing this year, we try and make our presence known as best we can.”

 

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New Associate’s Degree Program in Buffalo

Houghton’s educational involvement in the city of Buffalo has had a long and storied past, with new endeavors just about to get started.

For several years, the college has run the City Semester program, headed by Cameron Airhart, professor of history. The City Semester, one of Houghton’s ongoing off-campus programs, is intended to take Houghton students into western New York’s main city to explore, according to the web page, “living in community on the West Side of Buffalo, reading and thinking intensely about urban life and culture with others who are reading and thinking about the same things.”

Courtesy of http://springflingcny.wordpress.com/
Courtesy of http://springflingcny.wordpress.com/-

Soon, however, Houghton will be expanding even more into the city with Houghton Buffalo, an associate’s degree program set to launch in Fall 2014. According to Dr. Mark Hijleh, the idea for Houghton Buffalo was first conceived in April of 2012. Soon, Dr. Hijleh explains, it was determined “that there were good reasons to launch a program to serve students in the Buffalo area that need and want a Christian liberal arts alternative to community college and other options, but would not be likely to consider Houghton’s residential campus for the first two years of study.”

In October of 2013, Dr. Scott McClelland was hired as Dean of Extension Studies and has joined with with Dr. Hijleh to launch the program. Added McClelland, enrollment coordinator Aimee White has also been an integral part of the project.

According to the Houghton College website, Houghton Buffalo will offer students the opportunity to take courses in traditional subjects, including history, literature, communications, and mathematics. In addition, McClelland explained that Houghton Buffalo will also offer courses such as, “Life in the City”… [which] will enhance local students’ knowledge of their area and the challenges (and great opportunities) of urban life.” The credits earned at Houghton Buffalo will be transferrable to many 4-year institutions, including at the Houghton College campus itself.

In Buffalo, classes will be taught at First Presbyterian Church, near Kleinhan’s Music Hall.  In describing the learning environment, McClelland said that the church has two classrooms, one of which doubles as a library, another room which is divided into a computer lab and student lounge, as well as an office, and a sanctuary. McClelland also noted that the area where First Presbyterian Church is located is safe, which should be reassuring to prospective suburban students wary of colleges located in the city.

When asked what excites him most about the program, Dr. Hijleh explains, “This new initiative marks an historic opportunity for houghton to bring its distinctive brand of excellence in christian higher education to a new group of students in Buffalo. thus, it allows us to extend our mission beyond the houghton residential campus in ways we have not been able to do previously.”

When asked if there was anything specific he wanted students to know about Houghton Buffalo, Dr. McClelland said, “As in any urban environment, there will likely be a greater diversity in our student demographics than normally available in our residential context. We hope both urban and suburban students, who otherwise could not consider our residential option, will come together and be as ‘iron sharpening iron’ in [Houghton Buffalo]. In our more globalized world, this dimension, I believe, is crucial to a well-rounded education.”

 

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Houghton Staff Graduate from Leadership Allegany

Nineteen students recently graduated from the Leadership Allegany program on February 7th, marking its fourth graduation of students. The program, co-founded by Pamela Witter in 2009 and backed by the Alfred Higher Education Group, the Allegany County Area Foundation, and Houghton College among other organizations, is “a 10-month training program for adult professionals … [with the] criteria that they either live, work or have a vested interest in Allegany county,” as Witter described.

According to Witter, the program was “based on the social change model for leadership development, which is a program UCLA came up with in the ‘90s.” Instruction focuses on individual strengths, then progresses to group dynamics and finally civil engagement. The intensive design of the program won Leadership Allegany an award from the national education advocacy group known as the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). In addition, any graduate of the program who later enrolls at Houghton College may receive six college credits for its completion.

This group of graduates was the program’s largest yet, with two yielding from Houghton College: assistant visit office coordinator Mary Jo Cronk and associate director of academic records James Hutter. As part of the program, both took surveys at the beginning of the program to determine their leadership strengths and were then sorted into groups which worked on projects together. One of the projects was the organization of an “industry day” in which a certain organization or function in Allegany was highlighted through presentations and tours given by involved professionals. Various industry days included visits to the legislative chambers in Belmont, a local prison, working traditional and organic farms at Alfred State, and an alternative learning school in Cuba. Classes would typically meet one half-day per month for an industry day, which would be supplemented by another half-day of classroom learning per month.

In addition to industry day projects, each group must also complete service projects which contribute to the betterment of Allegany County. For her project, Cronk set up a fundraiser with another organization by organizing a fly-in breakfast at the Wellsville Airport. The project both brought attention to the small, local airport and donated proceeds to the Palliative Care program at Cuba Memorial Hospital. Hutter’s group chose to work with Gil’s Hills Ministries east of Wellsville, NY, an organization aimed at helping local youth. The group painted well-worn areas on the property and repaired the playground as well.

Overall, both Cronk and Hutter had positive things to say about the program and its impact on their work. “Our office has also used the strengths-based training, and so it has helped me to understand a little bit about what drives people and how to best encourage them in what they’re doing and come alongside [them] and work as a team, said Cronk. “The biggest lesson for me, probably, and the hardest one for me to carry out, is the fact that conflict can be useful,” she added.

According to Hutter, “[the program] help[ed] me in dealing with other people. Actually, that’s life. In life you deal with very different people. On this campus there are very different people, very different perspectives. How do you deal with that? How do you deal with conflict? How do you meet objectives?” He added, “It’s actually very practical training, and I’d recommend it for anyone at any level.”