Category: Opinions

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Metz Misses the Mark… Again

By Anna Catherman

Big Al’s is dead.

The campus center’s basement dining establishment is quiet. Still. Too still.

Metz calls the rebranded ice cream and hamburger shop “Sizzle and Swirl at Big Al’s”. The moniker change is just one of many which have resulted in many students abandoning their once-beloved hangout spot.

The changes to Big Al’s and the dining hall haven’t all been bad. The Poblano’s bar in the dining hall is popular, and the return of hard ice cream is also very welcome. It’s become apparent that Perry’s ice cream is never coming back to the dining hall in its previous all-you-can eat format. Due to pandemic-related production cuts, Perry’s no longer has the capacity to provide Houghton students with unlimited ice cream. The idea of keeping the dining hall open later was also a popular student request. Athletes especially wanted late-night dining options other than greasy hamburgers and fries.

Replacing meal exchange with extended dining hours turned out to be the least beneficial change – and put the final nail in Big Al’s coffin.

Due to the end of meal exchange, the number of students at Big Al’s each night has declined dramatically. Friends would gather to study, play card games, or just talk. Lines used to wrap around the post office during busy times. Now, it’s rare to spot more than a dozen people at Big Al’s. And extended dining hours? It didn’t provide student athletes with the nutritious meals they requested. They’re getting leftovers. Some nights, they have a few options, but many nights they’re forced to choose between either tacos or pizza. 

Oh, and there’s no more free ice cream, not even the soft serve that was present last year, an issue which was heavily protested at the beginning of the academic year.

Dining services are tricky for any college campus, especially one as rural as Houghton.

Students can’t easily get off campus for a healthy meal or for socialization. Houghton thrives when students band together as a community. Cliche, but true. 

With a few changes, Big Al’s could be an important part of that community again. Reviving Big Al’s wouldn’t take as much effort as some might claim. Bringing back meal exchange would be an instant boost. Many students would welcome back the old Sunday-Thursday meal exchange, but a hybrid approach could be a good compromise. Preserving the new extended dining hours while also allowing students to use one or two meal swipes per week at Big Al’s would be the best of both worlds. 

Restoring menu items that students miss and adding new ones could also help. Buffalo chicken sandwiches could make a triumphant comeback. And maybe, just maybe, some healthy options. Salads? Gluten-free buns for hamburgers?

The smallest change to dining services that would bring the university the most goodwill, though, would be returning our soft serve machine to the dining hall, thank you very much. ★

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Phones or Friends

By Hope Willert

It’s common knowledge that many Millennials and Gen Zers are addicted to their phones, and it often seems as though they are glued to them. There is no exception to this at Houghton University. During chapel, one can see students pulling out their phones and laptops to get some homework done or text some friends. While walking around in the dining hall, a group of students can be seen sitting together at a table; however, rather than talking with each other, they all have their heads down and phones out. This is a problem, and it isn’t going to go away unless we confront it.

While the American culture today requires college students to use their phones for many reasons, such as texting, calling, emailing, using social media, listening to music, watching videos, and several other things, one must wonder if these 18-22 year olds are going on their phones more than they really need to be and if the amount of time that they spend on their phones is detrimental to their relationships.

A recent study done at Baylor University found that Baylor students spend an average of eight to ten hours on their phones per day, with 60 percent of the students admitting that they may be addicted to their phones. The study also showed that the majority of this time is spent sending texts and emails, as well as scrolling through social media.

Such a large amount of cell phone use can be very detrimental to relationships, as students spend increasingly more time on their phones and less time interacting with each other in person. While it’s true that cell phones are often used as a distraction for students, whether from stressful relationships or from school, this can be taken too far. James Roberts, one of the main psychologists from this study, explained that cell phone use is a paradox in that it can be “both freeing and enslaving at the same time.” A certain amount of time spent scrolling on phones can be helpful to take one’s mind off of school work, however, it can very easily become an addiction. Roberts explained that “we need to identify the activities that push cell phone use from being a helpful tool to one that undermines our well-being and that of others.”

While there is no solution that will automatically solve this problem, there are several things that college students can do to counteract this issue. First of all, students can check the screen time on their phones to see if they are spending too much time on them. They can also make an effort to make more plans with their friends rather than endlessly scrolling on their phone for hours, as well as decide not to go on their phones as much when they are with others. Ultimately, this issue can only be solved individually. Will you make the effort to make a change in your phone habits? ★

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A Quiet Place to Stay: 24 Hours a Day

By Caleb Kasper

The life of a college student can often be quite busy. Finding time to finish assignments, work through readings, and studying can be challenging for some. As a self-proclaimed “night owl,” I feel like my peak efficiency and focus doesn’t set in until later into the evening. There’s nothing else that I continually fail at doing than getting busy in the morning and early afternoons.

​My typical day generally consists of a few classes in the morning and afternoon. Mixed in with chapel and grabbing lunch, there tends to be little time to sit down and get to work. Like many others on this campus, I’m also a student-athlete, so each weekday, I block out roughly two hours of my day for practices, as well as various other times on weekends and weekdays for competition. As a member of the cross country and track teams, I eat dinner with my team most nights. Given this, by the time eight o‘clock rolls around, I’ve likely just begun figuring out what needs to be done for the next day. If I shower before homework, we’re talking 8:30. With a more demanding schedule as a second-semester junior, I’ve been engaged in a lot more focused work this year. When I need to grind and focus, the environment I am in plays a big role. Without the right environment, I struggle to focus.

​I’d imagine that a good number of people reading this find a quiet environment with little distraction to be key to focusing. I can’t focus in my room because my bed is always calling my name with open arms. Floor lounges in the resident halls can be hit or miss as well. Chamberlain is okay but usually occupied, and I find the Campus Center to be quite distracting. I realize that others like my sister, recent Houghton graduate Zoey Kasper, prefer a more active study space. Hers consisted of the most comfortable bean bag you’ve ever experienced, disco balls, and music. The bean bag alone would tank any of my plans to be productive. If you share similar preferences to me, though, you may find the library to be the perfect spot. Generally very quiet, not often busy, and an abundance of resources and outlets. Outlets are a must since my laptop battery capacity has significantly deteriorated since my freshman year.

​When I choose to go to the library during the week, I roll up around 8-8:30 p.m. I’ve found the library basement to be a preferred spot. Not to be taboo either, but the library’s basement has some of the best bathrooms on campus. When I’m down there I can always get focused and work more efficiently. However, like most things, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. About 1.5-2 hrs into my work session I am kindly reminded to wrap things up because the library is closing in ten minutes. I pack up my belongings and head out, trying to puzzle when I can cram in everything that I didn’t finish. I’ve also been getting to the point where I just don’t go there that much anymore, because it’s not worth packing up all my stuff and heading over there just to pack it all up again soon after I arrive and either head somewhere else or straight to bed. There also aren’t many convenient times for me to go that are available either.

​The library is open Monday through Thursday until 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday until 5 p.m., and is closed Sunday. It was during my Sophomore Year that I decided to make my first personal visit to the Library to do some homework. I remember looking up the hours just to see what they were. I was shocked to see that at 10:11, the library had already been closed for 11 minutes. I always thought that college libraries were open 24/7 so that students always had a quiet space to read or work or get away from their roommate who likes cats too much. Quite honestly, I think the library should be open 24/7, or at least open for students to use later, especially on weekends. Obviously, the library can only be staffed during the day, but couldn’t it be open longer for studying?

​This is especially true during finals season. As somewhat of a procrastinator, the time during and surrounding finals week becomes extremely busy. It’s also a time where I am consistently convinced that it’s time to drop out, yet I keep coming back for more. All of the work that I had put off during the semester comes back to confront me and there is a looming sense that there’s more to get done than time in the day. Not having access to the library while working late can be highly inconvenient and frustrating during finals.

I think the student body could greatly benefit from a review of the library hours and possibly extending them. For all the student-athletes, procrastinators, science majors (praying for you all), night-owls, all-nighters, or whatever reasons you’re up late doing homework, you should have the freedom and accessibility to study in a quiet space whenever you need to. Everyone has late nights. ★

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Loving Our Neighbors

By Skye Chaapel

Mark 12:29-31 (NIV) “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

As a Christian community, I feel we need to ask ourselves this: are we following Christ’s example?  Are we loving our neighbors to the best of our capabilities, as asked of us by Christ?  If you ask people within the Houghton community, I’m sure they’d say yes.  However, while there are some of us who are loving our neighbors, there are others who are not.  They could be saying yes out of the want to look good for themselves or others, denial, or ignorance.  These are questions that I have been truly struggling with for a while.

What if we asked the question: “Do you feel loved on campus?”  What would you expect the answer to be?  One would hope that the answer is a resounding yes, as we are all Christians, called to love.  Unfortunately, I know far too many students who do not feel loved by the Houghton community, myself included.  Those of us who differ from the Wesleyan traditions’ expectations are generally treated as outcasts on campus.  This includes people of a different ethnicity and race, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, and people of different religious backgrounds.

For me, one of the major drawing points to Houghton four years ago was the close-knit community that existed on campus; it was something you could feel, and it almost felt tangible.  After some of the recent events though, I feel like I no longer belong here.  I know students who have received death threats, unwelcome comments, or racial slurs depending on their identity or race.  Houghton University’s President also received unacceptable slurs on his birthday card last year.  As a community, we should be appalled that this is happening and that we have allowed it to continue.  What happened to loving our neighbors?  There is no love that comes from those actions.  The Houghton community is striving to be an ideal Christian community, but many do not feel welcome here.  We can not have a Christian community that is founded on Jesus if there are members of it who are suffering from our actions.

We need to learn to love each other.  We do not always need to agree on things, but that should not stop us from extending God’s grace and love to each other.  Jesus taught us to love and not to judge others.  You do not know what someone else could be struggling with at any moment.  Be kind and be willing to keep an open mind when interacting with others.  As the followers of Christ, we are called to meet people where they are, be with them, and walk with them in their journey. ★

If you or someone you know is the target of hateful behaviors, we encourage you to reach out to the Office of Student Life.

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Intentional God Time

By Marith Anderson

Chapel is truly one of the most important aspects of our lives here at Houghton. Yet I have seen it being treated more like an obstacle or an inconvenience in students’ lives than as a stepping stone for their faith journey. In sharing my perspective, I hope others can see the benefits that truly engaging with chapel can have in our spiritual lives.

When I entered into my final year at Houghton this fall, I made a vow to myself to make the most of my chapel experience. I do not know if there will ever be another time in my life when I have time built into my schedule where the purpose is to stop and think about God in one context or another. As I have grown up over the past few years, I see more and more the importance of not putting God on the back burner. He is not an afterthought, and He should not be treated as such.

I know I have to hold myself accountable for the times when I find myself falling short of this desire to be present. There are many times I can recall when I have been too distracted to engage, and I need to approach this with grace and mercy, always remembering that I genuinely want to take my faith seriously and cherish the opportunities I am given that I may not have after I head into the “real world.”

I will be the first to acknowledge that life is busy! We are in college, and there are projects and papers with deadlines, and chapel is a time period in which you could be doing any number of other things. However, I think that is the point. In a world where we are constantly doing things, we often need a reminder to disconnect from the hectic nature of life and connect with our Creator. 

I believe that spending time with God is even more essential during the times when you feel like you do not have the time. I have been taught that this is why the Sabbath, as a day of rest, is so important. It is for our benefit that we take a day and focus on Him, trusting that He will provide for us and having faith that we will still be okay even if we pause our busy lives for one day. I believe this same principle can be applied to chapel.

I realize that when things are required, they have the potential to feel almost oppressive, as if you are being boxed into something with no choice in the matter. I know that there are many students who feel this way about chapel services. I implore those, who have that opinion, to change the framework surrounding that thought. Instead of chapel being something you “have” to do, perhaps try considering it as something you “get” to do. You get to take time out of your busy day to slow down and praise God with a community of believers. You have the opportunity at least two times a week to listen to His word and apply it to your life. 

You get a chance to show admiration, respect, and support for speakers who make great efforts to travel to Houghton and share their thoughts and their life stories. On the other side of that, you get to listen to the thoughts and feelings of people like Dean Jordan or JL Miller, who have been in Houghton for many years and can empathize and understand what students may be going through. These are both very important perspectives that we are privileged to have. 

Chapel attendance requirements were not made by accident. Chapel services should be taken seriously as time for deep thought and reflection. Whether you agree or disagree with the speakers, intentional engagement with the topic and with the implications that it has is crucial. Listening to others and thinking critically about their claims helps us to better understand the world around us and what our role is in it as the Body of Christ. ★

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Freshman Thoughts: Life at Houghton

By Caleb Welker

Being a freshman here at Houghton has been quite the experience, to say the least.  These past eight weeks have had their fair share of highs and lows, but through all of it, I can say it’s been pretty fun.  When I came here, I found myself almost instantly pulled right into the community.  As a member of the baseball team at Houghton, I didn’t need to wait long to find people who I was going to be spending a lot of time with.  I remember walking up to Lambein Hall and being instantly greeted by Coach Reitnour and an upperclassman baseball player.  Being a student-athlete has already provided me with long days of practicing and class. I didn’t know how difficult it would be to balance my academic, social, and athletic life, but Houghton came to my aid very quickly.

In my first week of classes, I could already tell how much the professors cared. Their instant connection to us as students was evident in their opening lectures. Being at a school where the professors know you and truly want to help you succeed is an amazing thing that not many people get to experience. One of my favorite classes I have taken so far this year is Introduction to Communication Theory. I take this class with Professor Gaerte, who has made an 8 A.M class way more fun than it should be.  Although I dread waking up and dragging myself to the library to sit in class, I’ve always been drawn in quickly by him.  He also is a prime example of how much the professors here care, as he is constantly making conversation with me, whether it be about baseball or just how my day is going. He always seems to make an effort to talk to me.    

Being a member of the baseball team here has provided me with so many opportunities in the last eight weeks alone.  Team events have included meals together every day, trips to the weight room at six in the morning, and late night practices in the freezing cold. We have also participated in events such as sitting together, being very loud at volleyball games and working the Harvest Festival at Houghton Wesleyan Church.  Whatever you want to do, there’s someone there to do it with you.  After four weeks of practice, it felt very odd within the last few weeks not having to block practice out of my day, but I managed to figure some things out to make sure I wasn’t too bored.
With Houghton’s location, there’s not really a lot to do off-campus. First of all, before I got here, I got a job as the Women’s soccer team’s public address announcer and scoreboard operator. Throughout the season, I got to watch the team’s games, announce the goals and substitutions, keep track of the score and time on the board, and struggle to pronounce the names of the opposing teams’ players. I found myself becoming very invested in the success of the team throughout the season, at points having to contain myself after goals, remembering I have a job to do.  The job gave me experience in the field of athletics, and I got paid to watch a sport, so that was pretty cool.

Another connection that I have here at Houghton is through my family.  I don’t know if you have realized reading this yet, but I share a last name with the Opinions Editor of the Star. At first, I told everyone I wasn’t going to Houghton because I didn’t want to be at the same school as my older brother.  Obviously, my opinions changed because, well I’m here, but having a sibling at Houghton has given me another connection.  I was able to say hi to his friends and impress some other Freshmen by knowing upperclassmen.  Plus, it hasn’t been anything like what I thought it would be like, we aren’t right on top of each other. It’s cool to see a family member here as I do miss my family, but we really do have separate lives here, and we can spend time together, but it’s not like we’re home.

Other Freshmen and I have had different experiences. I know that I’ve helped some people by telling them the things I picked up about Houghton before I even came here from my brother, and I know of people whose experiences here have been quite different from mine. Many people here at Houghton have different experiences and can answer the question, “What does Houghton mean to you?” very differently.  I know people who aren’t athletes, who seem to be shocked when I tell them I had to wake up early for practice.  But those same people are there to listen to me, when I’m annoyed with a class, not that that ever happens, or just need somebody to talk to.  And that’s really what makes Houghton beautiful.  Sure we spend a lot of our time with different groups of people, but we truly all come together to make the Houghton family.

All in all, Houghton has already been amazing in the short time that I’ve been here.  The community here has shown me why the people I know who attended loved the school so much.  The small closeness of this campus and the community of students, faculty, and staff really have made my time here special and makes me look forward to the rest of my four years here. ★

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Don’t Check Out of Inconvenient Community

By Isabelle Murch

Let’s get the air cleared: I said it. I said our favorite-and-also-least-favorite Houghton word, the one that we love to hate on, but can never find a suitable replacement for. For better or worse, community has become our defining word, printed on Pres. Mullen t-shirts, made into memes, and always followed by a laugh. 

Community is a harmless word when it’s easy. And it’s great when it benefits us. It’s not hard to invest our time into late-night adventures or deep conversations. It becomes much harder to be a pro-community place when that community is inconvenient to us, interrupting our goals or daily life. 

Some of my favorite stories about Jesus happen when he’s interrupted. In fact, I’m not sure how often Jesus actually gets to where he’s going. Someone always seems to demand his attention. A bleeding woman grabs his cloak. A Roman Centurion begs for his daughter to be healed. A blind man shouts at him from the side of the road. Christ’s ministry revolves around inconvenient people. 

But how often do we let Christ’s example shape how we view those around us? Addressing inconvenience isn’t easy, and the busyness of homework, internal and environmental stress, and our personal preferences often take precedence over investing in our community. We remove ourselves from difficult conversations, avoid people we find annoying, and check out of gatherings that don’t suit our purpose.  

What’s at stake when we don’t put forth effort? If we look to Christ’s example, I’d say a lot. Think of the Gospel of Matthew, when disciples rebuke parents for bringing their children to Jesus. Instead of standing by his closest friends, Jesus says to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Not only does Christ disagree with his friends, he posits that the children, an undervalued population in ancient Judea, will inherit God’s kingdom. This suggests that “the least of these” are not only an acceptable but integral and important part of God’s vision for God’s people. 

Jesus seeks out everyone: groups with radical and uncomfortable ideas, exploiters and oppressors, women, disabled people, oppressed racial groups, legalistic religious leaders, blue-collar workers, doubters and worriers and children. The kingdom of God isn’t homogeneous by any stretch of the imagination, and when we act as if the ones worthy of our love and attention are the ones easiest for us to love, we are missing the point. We need to engage with those we find inconvenient and to realize that many times, we are the inconvenience. 

In our annual All Hall Meeting, Resident Director Raegan Zelaya likes to make the distinction between a “Renting” versus an “Owning” Mentality. When we live in the residence halls, we can act as if our space is not ours, treating it as temporary and of low value. We don’t care, and we don’t need to. As an owner, though, we carry responsibility. We have to deal with leaks and pests. But, our experience is much richer. We get to carry the pride of our work and care and hold authority in the spaces we’re in. In the same way, we can look at our communities through the lens of a renter or owner. We can rent our time at Houghton, staying away from difficult community while missing out on the joys that a full kingdom of God brings, or we could own our inconveniences, raising the stakes but greatly increasing our return on investment. 

How can we practice this? I think all of us can participate in owning our Houghton community. First, we must identify who and what we find “inconvenient.” It might be a person whom we find a little awkward, a group we strongly disagree with, or an experience like chapel or class. Naming and understanding our tendencies can help us identify our biases and learn to combat them. Second, we need to lean in rather than check out. There are plenty of ways we can do this, from being intentional with everyone who crosses our path to putting our phones away during a chapel service. Third, we can work to not only change our behaviors but also our attitudes toward inconvenient people. Interruptions can become opportunities to share Christ’s love, and inconveniences can turn into practices of patience and extending grace to others. 

While community lands like a joke to most of our ears, it’s also our most important task during our time on campus. We can choose to check in and out, like a hotel that’s not ours to keep, or we can invest in a home worth having. ★

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(Un)willing to Listen

By Anna Zimmerman

The word “perfect” can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. A perfect Houghton could involve Perry’s ice cream and the soft serve machine returning to the dining hall (a noble wish). It could mean that classes are shorter or that Houghton would magically have a town around it (one with a movie theater, mall, and more food options). Both are understandable and have my full support. On a deeper note, it could mean that it would be a comfortable and safe place for people to express the things that they’re feeling and thinking.

While Houghton may say that conversations about tough issues are encouraged, I don’t think it’s fair or correct to say that everyone is welcome to ‘come as they are.’ I know of too many people who have come as they are and have been dismissed, harassed, or legitimately threatened because they voiced their opinions with which other people didn’t agree. If someone is willing to be open about something that is deeply personal to them, respect should be given. It can be so difficult to say something that you know will not entirely be understood by the people you’re talking to. If you’re being a listener and someone is telling you something personal, it’s so important to understand and value the position that they’re allowing you to be in. I’m absolutely not saying that you need to change your mind to agree with what someone’s telling you. What I am saying is this: you need to respect and care for your fellow human beings and make it known that you value and want a relationship with them, no matter the differences between you.

In May of 2021, I took a course called Bridging the Gap. This course focused on ‘bridging gaps’ between people from different backgrounds. It consisted of students from Houghton University’s main campus, Houghton’s Buffalo campus, and Ithaca College. There were students who had recently immigrated to the United States, as well as students who were born here. Everyone came to the class with different experiences and backgrounds, which is what I believe made the program so beautiful and impactful. Throughout the May term, we spent time learning how to talk to others about things that were important to us. Equally as important, we learned how to listen to others. In listening to others, we show respect and care. On the other hand, dismissing what someone says (either by ignoring or arguing against it) shows a lack of concern. In order to grow, I think it’s important to be able to listen to others and acknowledge that while what they’re sharing might not be something you agree with, they are fully loved, whether or not their views change or stay completely the same.

I believe that there is something so dangerous about purposefully surrounding yourself only with people who have the exact same beliefs and ideas as you. I did this for too long and would base my opinions of others solely on what I knew about our differences. While I wouldn’t completely cut off relationships with people who I knew had different beliefs than I did, I would hold back a bit and found myself developing expectations as to what I thought each person would (or wouldn’t) contribute to my personal growth. I’ve experienced the most growth when I’ve been willing to be with people who are different from me. When I surrounded myself in an echo chamber of sameness, I missed out on relationships with people who could’ve added so much wisdom and goodness to my life.

Over this past summer, I spent five weeks studying at Au Sable Environmental Institute in Michigan. Going into the program, I had thick walls up and thought that I was 100% correct in the way that I saw the world. I thought I knew what was right and wrong and that anybody who didn’t see things the same way was out of touch. Over that month of living in close proximity with one another (think: summer camp cabins with bunk beds and everyone eating dinner together at the same time every night), something in me changed. As more deep conversations were had in class, I became more willing to think about multiple points of view. After a weekend of camping, a friend and I ended up being together for the three-hour drive back to campus. This was a three-hour drive with someone who I thought I was incompatible with and would never understand. Those three hours were filled with so many important conversations. I opened up about some things I hadn’t even fully realized I was wrestling with. The response I was met with was both gentle and confident and truly made me examine myself and think deeply about things I hadn’t been willing to consider mere weeks ago. 

My time at school in Michigan encouraged even the tough conversations with one another. It truly felt like we could bring all of ourselves to the table. Coming back to Houghton made me realize that it doesn’t feel like the same is possible here. 

If we’re all living together here, why can’t we have as many open and honest conversations? Why can’t we listen to each other? Why do we have to jump to conclusions about people, and why do these conclusions (which are often wrong) impact how we interact with each other? How do we forget the command to love and care for one another as we do for ourselves? How do we let the gaps get so wide that they seem too inconvenient to try to cross? Instead of focusing on what divides us, we should recognize what we have in common and let even our differences bring us closer together. 

A lot of the time, a “perfect” Houghton feels out of reach to me. But, I’m hopeful that if we all start to make continued efforts to not only speak about the uncomfortable things, but to listen to the uncomfortable things, we will be closer to the “perfect” Houghton than we’ve ever been. ★

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Civic Brotherhood

By Cody Johnson

Did you know that the United States’ oldest surviving daily newspaper was founded in Philadelphia? 

The Philadelphia Inquirer has been published every day since September 21, 1784, sometimes under a different name. The Inquirer’s predecessor was even the first newspaper to publish George Washington’s Farewell Address. Our nation is built on news. And it seems appropriate that Americans’ ritual of reading the daily news began in Philadelphia, “the City of Brotherly Love.” 

As a community of Americans, we have obligations. There are civic obligations (obeying the law, paying taxes) and civic responsibilities (voting, community engagement). We do these things because we love our country — and furthermore, because we love each other.

Some people say that love does not discriminate. But we necessarily discriminate between our friends and enemies; friends receive love that enemies do not. That is philia, or filial love. 

Philia demands more than other kinds of love. Agape — the word Christ uses when He says to “love your enemies” — does not discriminate. Philia, on the other hand, describes love between close friends or brothers, like David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel. It makes us feel loved and safe, like people in a perfect city. This was William Penn’s vision for Philadelphia. 

Americans are bound to each other by filial love. To love America is to love Americans and to love them especially. We afford each other rights and privileges because of our shared love and community. 

Loving someone in this way requires knowing them and their needs. You cannot treat your professor to their favorite food without first knowing what their favorite food is. Knowing your professor’s favorite food is a prerequisite if you want to love them filially. Knowledge is an obligation. 

The same obligation extends to the country and people you love. It is impossible to love them fully without first knowing them. 

Last weekend, I attended a conference at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and heard from scholars in foreign policy, technology, and culture. I felt disconnected from those conversations because they were not happening on our campus. Students stare blankly at professors when asked about current events. We do not engage with news on a regular basis, so our conversations remain theoretical and opinionated. 

We joke about the Houghton bubble, and it has its merits, but the Houghton bubble is dangerous to civic engagement. We become so focused on our present community that we disengage from the rest of the world. While you are at Houghton, you are simultaneously in Allegany County, New York, the United States, and the world. Brotherly love extends beyond Houghton and demands that we learn about the world we live in. When was the last time you read a newspaper that wasn’t The Star? 

Staying informed is a commitment; it requires time that we could commit to other interests or relationships. Nonetheless, it is the same commitment we make to our closest friends: to listen to what is happening in their lives and love them better accordingly. Your friend complains about being tired, and you buy them a latte from Java. 

We must make the same commitment to our country — not to buy it coffee, but to learn and respond to its events. Staying informed allows you to engage with the world intelligently. 

Love — even and especially between brothers — does not guarantee agreement. Conversations between well-informed people will be uncomfortable as you learn and grow, but that is part of our civic obligation. 

My daily ritual has been to delete The New York Times’s morning newsletter from my inbox without opening it. This week, I am changing that out of love for America and my fellow Americans. It takes five minutes to read the headlines and learn what is happening in our brothers’ and sisters’ lives in the United States and abroad. Pick up an old-fashioned newspaper and reclaim the media tradition our nation is built on. Follow a specific issue, journalist, or scholar. By engaging with the news, you demonstrate filial love for the people around you. 

With whatever means necessary, it is time for us to step outside the Houghton bubble. ★

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I Couldn’t Agree Less: Debate in the Modern World

By Christian Welker

 I love to debate, sitting down with somebody who truly believes something I disagree with. I have spent hours sitting with friends, family, and even strangers on the internet, debating on all topics, from politics to religion, to what would happen if Time Travel was a reality.

However, it seems that as time passes, a debate has become less about exchanging ideas and more about beating your opponent in a shouting match. The “winners” of these debates are the people with a louder voice or more followers on their social media. This, combined with the echo chambers social media builds, which constantly feed people their opinions and views while blocking out alternative ones, makes it nearly impossible to share your idea without an argument and somebody feeling hurt at the end of the conversation. It seems we have lost the ability to debate.

The added tragedy to this loss is Christianity builds an echo chamber around itself and makes it difficult, if not impossible, to effectively show the light of Christ to the people around us. Nobody is going to believe that God is love if the way they are being told is by a man screaming in their face about sin and evolution.

I believe there are two leading causes of this new idea of debate. First are the social media echo-chambers that I mentioned before. These constantly affirm that your beliefs are correct while connecting other aspects of your life to them and making you see these opinions as your identity. The second is the idea that all debates need to have a loser. We defend our positions vehemently because we are afraid if we do not, the other side will “win the debate,” making our opinion, our view, and our identity wrong and, therefore, inferior.

This view is dangerous for several reasons. It pushes us apart from family, friends, and classmates who may have different opinions than us. We become convinced that those people are bad because they don’t share the same view that we do and we don’t want to associate with who we view as a “bad person.” We break away from them and find more people who agree with us on everything, going deeper into the echo chamber and making it even harder to hold a conversation with someone we view as different than us. In this process, it also becomes more likely that we become more extreme in our beliefs, vilifying those who disagree with us and eventually going so far as to view them as sub-human. These people become “heartless” or “too stupid to get it,” clear dividing lines are drawn, and crossing those lines becomes a traitorous act. 

So what do we do? How can we break ourselves out of our echo chambers and connect with those we’ve begun to see as less than ourselves? Over the summer, while working at a Christian Bookstore, a coworker would always tell me to “Remember their hearts,” to remember that the other side is just as much of a human as you are. They don’t believe what they believe because they are evil or idiotic. They have just as much heart as you do, as much love, compassion, and care for others. Pastor Wes Oden at Houghton Wesleyan Church said during a recent sermon, “When we look at someone, we need to remember, they are a child of God, made in His image.” Being a child of God does not rely on being Republican or Democrat, Pro-Choice or Pro-Life, LGBTQ or Straight. Everyone is a child of God, no matter what. So remembering that is the first step to being able to communicate with the other side.

We also need to break out of our echo chambers and remember that these views don’t encapsulate everything we are. Go to subreddits or Instagram profiles with different opinions than you, talk to someone who disagrees with your beliefs, don’t argue, listen. Everyone has a reason for seeing the world as they do, and if we know why they think that way, their beliefs will likely become less foreign to us. Thoughts also grow and change over time. Therefore, believing that you’d lose yourself if you alter your beliefs or become friends with someone who disagrees does not make much sense. Debates can be used as an opportunity to grow your opinions and views of the world in a calm environment, as long as both parties are willing to discuss it with you with clear heads and level emotions.

Viewing a debate as an exchange of ideas instead of a fight for survival, removing yourself from echo chambers that make it hard to hear alternate opinions, and viewing the person you are talking to as a human being and a child of God instead of a heartless monster are ways that we as people can grow. We will grow our connections between people,  our knowledge on the subject, and our own opinions and beliefs. While getting angry can seem inevitable, we can choose what to do with that anger, whether we lash out at our “opponent” or calm ourselves down to continue the conversation with our friend, family member, or classmate. Debating calmly and kindly will help shape your own mind and opinions and allow you to grow as a person. ★