Tag: chapel

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Campus News

Chapel Scanning Changes Once More

Students walking into the chapel 
By Anna Sumner ('25)

You enter the chapel and open the Campus Groups app on your phone. It’s a new scanning method this fall, and it boots you from the app, blocking access to the QR code. You then sign in using the laptop.

Why does Houghton use Campus Groups, anyway?

Sadie Nakamura ’26 said that she “was not as much a fan [of Campus Groups] as ID scanning”—a method used during the 2023-2024 academic school year. Both she and Kaitlyn Avery ’26 expressed annoyance with the long line and being unable to access the QR code.

Dr. Bill Burrichter, Vice President for Student Life, explained that the previous method of scanning student IDs for chapel and Around the Table attendance was becoming unpractical and outdated. ID barcode scanners collected student data, which then had to be manually uploaded by a staff member to mark attendance. Several of these barcode scanning devices broke and needed to be replaced.

Houghton had a choice, explained Dr. Burricher, whether to replace the expensive barcode scanners or switch to an alternate method. Even when using the ID method, attendance was marked on Campus Groups and was already implemented across campus. Also, most students already own mobile phones. It seemed like the obvious choice.

During the first two weeks of using Campus Groups for chapel scanning, Dr. Burricher said there were “some glitches.” The app was not entirely equipped to handle the level of engagement across college campuses. On the Houghton end, upcoming chapels were batch uploaded without being sorted properly, which needed to be manually fixed.

Dr. Burrichter said that the reason students are removed from the app is because of data signal confusion, chapel Wi-Fi and the app itself. Students log into the Hub using their data, and when they enter the foyer, their phones switch over to the Wi-Fi signal from the newly installed routers. The app detects the change and prompts a re-sign in. 

Signing in again is a slow process. The app needs to receive the signal, find the Houghton Hub again and requires password input. Dr. Burrichter explained that the signal is often impacted by the walls and glass between the sanctuary and foyer. They have already placed two routers in the foyer and are planning on more.

“As an institution, we are committed to figuring it out.” Dr. Burricher added that “we are trying to make the best of technology, and technology is challenging for all.” 

In the 2022-2023 school year, HU used a QR code projected onto the wall that students would scan using the Campus Groups app. It was “chaos and mayhem,” Dr. Burrichter said. The method encountered frequent problems.

Rachel Wright, the Director of the Office of Vocation and Calling, is on the team with Jana Newberry (the Director of Student Engagement) to make Campus Groups work for HU. 

“As a Houghton alum and as somebody who’s worked here in a variety of roles, I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody that is not willing to listen to students,” she said.

Rachel Wright is an advocate for Houghton students to the organization, and is in frequent contact with Campus Groups. She described herself as a “buzzing fly.”

She has several tips for students to improve their chapel scanning experience. Firstly, students should reinstall the app, because it doesn’t update automatically. The most recent update was in September. Secondly, she recommended taking a screenshot of the QR Code on Campus Groups. Thirdly, if students receive an error message, they can send an email to her with a screenshot of the error and their phone model. She will report this error to Campus Groups who can then pinpoint the glitches. ★

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Opinions

 Chapel can be Worth Your Time

By Will Allen

Have you ever felt like attending chapel is a chore that you get little out of? Do you find yourself stressed or preoccupied during worship and distracted during the sermon? I sure have, and I have an idea or two about why this is and how we can get more out of chapel.

Ah, junior year, when my first class on MWF was chapel. Oh, the dreams I dreamed of productive mornings… but after evenings (and nights) of intentional procrastination, in which no homework was done, I would wake at nine and languidly spend an hour preparing myself for the day. The stress would hit me at ten as I worked feverishly to complete my many German assignments. And in order to get everything done, I had to study for Frau Meilaender’s dreaded bi-weekly “vocabletest” (if you know, you know) in chapel. 

Cut, Copy, Paste, and that’s most of my junior year. I got the chapel credit, and I passed the tests, but I remained stressed and tired, and I sure can’t tell you what “washing-machine” is in German or many other words for that matter. In short, my time became contaminated, and as a result, I was stressed and learned nothing. And that makes for a pretty hollow college experience. Ideally, I’d want to be not stressed and to have learned a lot, but because I refused to focus on one thing, I got the worst of both worlds. 

By the grace of God, I passed German, and this year, I decided to not do homework in chapel. Instead, I’ve used some chapel skips to finish assignments, and doing so has helped me focus in chapel. I’m glad to say that it’s been a much more fruitful experience, not because I remember the message of every sermon but because putting aside my homework and its accompanying stress has helped me open space in my mind for God. However, to make space for God, I’ve had to do more than let go of external stressors like homework.

I also often struggle to overcome internal stressors affecting my focus. My own doubts, worries, and feelings of inadequacy tempt me to use chapel as a pick-me-up. When I look to chapel to fill me up with comforting emotions, my soul acts like a vacuum that takes everything and judges it as useful only if it makes me feel good. The focus shifts from praising God to comforting myself, thus making the methods I use to do so idols that I worship shadows that bear only the connotation of an open and reverent heart. Even closing my eyes and folding my hands can become an idol when I allow my need to feel the comforting feeling I’ve felt before while worshiping to overshadow and steal my focus away from the real purpose of worship, which is honoring God. 

So what should I do? Should I give up on good feelings? Well, this situation reminds me of something Jesus once said. “If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms” (Luke 17:33 The Message). So the way I see it, if we’re just willing to let go of our desires and focus on the goodness of God, we’ll receive the comfort we were ignoring God to get in the first place. 

Whenever I find myself needlessly criticizing the worship because I don’t like the song or phasing out during the message because I think it’s boring, I just remind myself that chapel is not about me getting my desires gratified. It’s not about us. It’s a chance to encounter Emmanuel – God With Us, if we trust Him enough to let go of our stressors and focus on Him. When we offer God space in our lives, God enters that space and fills it with His presence. And God’s presence assures us that we are loved unconditionally, giving us real rest from the stresses we face. And in turn, this assurance helps me trust God enough to tune back in.

I think this quote from The Message sums it up nicely.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Mathew 11:28-30

Chapel can become an unforced weekly rhythm of rest that reminds us that we are God’s Beloved Children. If we give God a little bit of space and a little bit of focus, we can find in Chapel an emotional security from which we can face the rest of the day. 

So, in summary, if you want to get something out of chapel, put away your phone or homework and focus on God, not on your own needs. You’ll get so much more than you would if you were distracted by your responsibilities or only focusing on whether your experience is satisfying. 

Focusing on God can take some focus. It may be a yolk, but the yolk is light, and the burden is easy. It fits us and refreshes us more than we could ever on our own. Perhaps according to the Community Covenant, chapel is technically a forced rhythm, but we all know that it’s oh-so-easy to hit the “scan and scram”. I think missing chapel isn’t so much a punishable offense as it is a missed opportunity to let God reassure us that He loves us no matter what. And on the flip side, going to chapel does not make us righteous, but it might be a real opportunity to recover our lives as individuals and as a community in Christ. ★

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Campus News

Award Winners of Legacy Chapel

From the left: Tim Deckert, Tim Fuller, The Bruno Family; from bottom left: Dr. Carl Lynch, Jeffery Thompson, The Peck Family - Courtesy of Amy Teta
By Abigail Bates

Six alumni awards and one Faculty Emeritus title were presented at the 2023 Legacy Chapel on Friday, Oct. 6.

The Legacy Chapel, formerly known as Founder’s Day, has the earliest record of an alumnus of the year named in 1965. However, old STAR articles suggest that Houghton has been making awards prior to that time.

The Director of Donor Communications and Editor of the Houghton Magazine, Amanda Zambrano writes, “While the name and some of the periphery traditions have changed [over] the years, the heart to celebrate the work of faithful scholar-servants has been constant for a very long time.”

Nominations for an alumni award can be made by anyone through the Office of Alumni Engagement, the Office of Advancement or the President’s Office. Zambrano writes that these nominees are reviewed before the Alumni Board makes the final decision.

The Alumni of the Year is one of the highest awards Houghton presents, and the recipient of this award is Dr. Carl Lynch, III (‘72). He is a highly respected anesthesiologist and professor emeritus of anesthesiology at University of Virginia Health System. For approximately 20 years, Dr. Lynch has been a volunteer with a medical missions organization called Mision de Esperanza, and he is the creator and primary funder of the endowment for the Shannon Summer Research Institute at Houghton University.

2013 Graduates Rachel (Meier) and Justin Peck received the Young Alumni of the Year award. The couple are the founders of 431 Ministries, which reaches out to marginalized women in Central Tennessee. They have impacted the lives of hundreds of at-risk women and their children, Zambrano emphasizes, by providing safety, educational opportunities and the Gospel.

An Alumni Christian Service nominee is someone who has made a significant impact for the Christian faith through self-sacrifice and service. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson (‘01) is an emergency room doctor in Buffalo, New York, who has also served traveling around the world, primarily to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to instruct local emergency room doctors. He’s also a member of the President’s Advisory Board at Houghton University.

The recipient of the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award is Timothy Fuller (‘79) who has demonstrated exceptional achievement in his profession. He was a long-time Houghton employee who worked in the Office of Admission for over twenty-five years, before he went on to serve as a consultant in Christian higher education until his passing this last summer.

“His contributions both to Houghton and to the field of Christian higher education are truly remarkable; thousands of students found their way to Houghton because of Mr. Fuller,” Zambrano writes.

Timothy Deckert (‘95) is the recipient of the Alumni Appreciation Award. For a decade, he has served on Houghton’s Alumni Advisory Board, where he performed roles ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the board. Deckert also served on the search committee for a new president at the time of President Emerita Shirley Mullen’s retirement in 2021.

The Fearless Award, introduced in 2022 by President Lewis, is awarded to 2015 graduates, Stephanie (Ford) and David Bruno, who, Zambrano writes, have spent the past two years living out their firm believe in the sanctity of life by refusing the pressure to abort their third child when he was found to have trisomy-13 (Downs Syndrome).

President Lewis also bestowed the title of Faculty Emeritus on Professor Terry Paige, who retired last spring. This title can go to any long-serving faculty member who has retired.

“It’s a privilege to be able to share these stories with Houghton students and fellow alumni,” Zambrano—who created the citations read aloud during the Legacy Chapel—writes, “and to be able to cast a vision for what God can do in and through each and every one of us.” ★

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News

Chapel Returning to ID Scanning from QR Codes

By Isabella Bratton

Scanning into Chapel via student IDs returns in the Fall 2023 semester after just a year of QR codes. 

Dean of the Chapel Michael Jordan says that since students are more likely to have their phones rather than their student IDs, the intention—of the original switch—was that QR codes would be more convenient. It also seemed like a natural step due to the advancement in the use of technology at Houghton. 

“Campus Groups is still in development,” Senior Cody Johnson (‘24), President of the Student Body, wrote, “and the chapel team–Dean Jordan and the students who run tech–frequently encountered problems with the QR code.” 

There are ongoing problems with the wifi in the chapel, Johnson continues. Historically, the building hasn’t had wifi to discourage students from working during Chapel, but it needs wifi for the QR code system.

 “Chapel skipping was a fairly minor consideration,” Jordan says. “We thought about it some, but it was not a major motivating part of the decision [to take away QR codes].” 

Jordan explains that although he wishes Chapel skipping didn’t happen, it’s not exactly preventable.

“Chapel skipping doesn’t really make me angry on a personal level,” Jordan states, “though of course I wish it didn’t happen. It’s always been part of places like Houghton with a mandatory chapel, and I don’t like trying to play a game of cat and mouse where we try to ‘catch’ people, so we try not to be overly punitive.” 

Other than the technological reasons, the substantial amount of extra work that resulted in the implementation of QR codes was another reason to get rid of it. Because students were running into so many issues trying to scan in, it created more work than before, trying to fix them and for those who had to respond to emails from students about the malfunctions. ★

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News

“Fellowship of the Bands” to bring rock ‘n roll to Houghton

The Fellowship of the Bands Poseter -- Credit Joey Schunemann
By Anna Catherman

This Friday night in the Chapel, rock bands from around campus will converge for the inaugural “Fellowship of the Bands”. 

Organized by CAB Coffeehouse Director and Junior Demetri Court, “Fellowship of the Bands” is a concert featuring alternating bands playing in an “informal atmosphere”. Many of them are groups that don’t get to play during Coffeehouse or other events on campus. 

According to Court, the event is “not a competition” – it’s about collaborating. “Good times, good atmosphere, good vibes all around,” he said.

“Fellowship of the Bands” will begin at 9 p.m. to allow students to take advantage of the other events on campus that night, including the choir concert, various athletic events,and the “One Day Giving Challenge”.
Junior David Olson is leading one of the groups set to perform, and playing in another. As a singer and guitarist, Olson is excited to play in a unique setting he hasn’t gotten much experience with at Houghton. 

“I’m psyched about the event because it is a unique chance to play a harder style of music that wouldn’t necessarily fit in your average open mike setting,” Olson wrote. “It also gives me an opportunity to play with a drummer and bassist in front of people which will be super fun for me.”Director of Student Engagement Jana Newberry has been involved in the planning of the event, whichis set for one of the busiest days of the semester. The “One Day Giving Challenge” is also taking place Friday, with the “Fellowship of the Bands” being the final activity of the day. Houghton’s largest fundraiser places a large amount of emphasis on student involvement, and the fun events that close the day serve as a reminder that all that’s going on is for the students. There will be a Nugget and Fry Bar in the Reinhold Campus Center beginning at 8:30 p.m., so friends can hang out and grab food before the concert.

Olson encouraged students to come out and support the musicians. 

“Everyone should come because it’s gonna be wicked fun,” Olson says.“The atmosphere is gonna be amazing and you’ll get to see your friends take this opportunity to go out on a limb and act really strange!”

Court did the same. 

“It’s going to be rock ‘n roll and a merry band of people …“[h]ow many times does the chapel play any sort of rock?”★

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Opinions

More God, Less World

By Victoria Arndt

Here at Houghton University, students are required to attend a mandatory chapel service on Mondays and Fridays, with an Around the Table program on Wednesdays which allows students to hear about God’s work in the lives of others. 

Although these chapel times help students have a break between classes and let them give a moment of their time towards God, I’ve found that sometimes I head to chapel with a faint feeling of dread, not because there are many other things I could be doing with that time, but because of what the message will be that day.

Since my freshman year, I quickly came to realize that I wasn’t connecting to the messages I was hearing in chapel. It wasn’t that the messages were bad or held no relevance to us as students, but that they didn’t resonate with me in the way I thought they would. Some messages had little relation to the Bible verses read before it, instead mostly focusing on a current-day issue or concept rather than how the verses tied into the message, while others had good relation between message and verses but felt a little lackluster in terms of spiritual emphasis on God or what the Bible was trying to teach us through the verse. Some messages from guest speakers even felt more than a little preachy on their topics, speaking directly on the topic with no mention of God or the Bible. It was all well and good, but those messages left me feeling confused and most of all dissatisfied, with me questioning how I was to utilize what I’d heard when I felt no emotional connection or calling towards it, especially when it felt like I had just been listening to someone’s soapbox rant for half an hour and had gotten nothing substantial out of it.

More often than not, instead of the speakers’ messages actually affecting me and making me want to listen to what they had to say, their messages started to lose my interest as soon as I heard more about current-day issues rather than the goodness of God. At times it was even frustrating, and it made me start to wonder if the chapel message I was about to hear was going to be about the Bible and God in a way that resonated with my spirit, or if it would just be another sermon on more world issues.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the importance of speaking on current-day issues and how we are supposed to approach them as believers in the Church. Christianity and worldliness go hand in hand, and it’s definitely important to hear about issues that affect us as individuals and as fellow Christians and what we can do to help change them. But when I attend chapel, I want to listen to a message that encourages me to continue my walk with God, not hear about another worldly issue that I personally am not called to change or can change from where I currently stand. I want to hear about how a particular verse can relate to me as a Christian and as a weary college student, not on topics I hear about nonstop on social media. Chapel is supposed to be a time when we can relax and spend a moment with God and hear a small message to encourage us throughout the rest of our day. When that time is filled with topics other than God and the Word, what once was a time of worship and reflection becomes a time of listening to what feels like activism from the pulpit, with messages that have nothing to spiritually or emotionally connect with.

My point here is not to slight any of the chapel speakers or their messages, but just to share the respectful musings of a college student looking for more God and less world in the messages she hears during chapel. My hope is that future chapel messages will have a more spiritually substantial and emotional impact on its listeners going forward, not through simply discussing modern issues and problems, but with an emphasis on the power and hope of God as something to look to even throughout troubling times, so that those who need to hear a certain message on those days can hear a message that encourages their souls. ★

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Opinions

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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Campus News

“Preserving What Chapel Can Do:” The New Interview Format of Chapel

Nuk Kongkaw and Dean Jordan talk with Dr Drew Hart during last Wednesday's chapel steam.

Article by Justice Newell (‘23).

Amongst the numerous changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of in-person chapel services has been significant for returning students at Houghton College. Despite this change, Houghton’s Spiritual Life department has been deliberate with creating chapel services that still engage and challenge students’ beliefs, all while maintaining the policies enacted to keep Houghton’s students healthy. 

Of note, the format typically used for Wednesday chapels is interview-based. During this service, there are generally one or two guest speakers that are interviewed by either Nuk Kongkaw, Director of the Mosaic Center, or the Dean of the Chapel, Michael Jordan. The topic of discussion varies with each speaker, but a common thread binds them all together. 

According to Dean Jordan, that thread relates to the types of issues present in the Christian world beyond the scope of Houghton. These speakers are, as Jordan proposed, “the many other voices asking some of the same questions, sometimes related questions, and then sometimes questions we don’t even know that we should be asking.” 

 In years prior, Houghton had speakers deliver sermons or presentations before an audience of hundreds of students and staff. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person chapel services became mostly impossible. As a result, public worship time on Mondays and Wednesdays have been lost, with Friday’s “worship on the quad” remaining the only public worship time.

Regarding that change, Jordan said, “ I really treasure things taking place within the context of worship. And I never want to lose that ground permanently. But, I’ve kind of made a conscious decision that this [discussion format] won’t really be worship in that way, you know, like Monday and Friday can be worshipful moments in their ways.”

Since the first online chapel service more than a month ago, students have been engaging with the new interview format of chapel to varying degrees. While many students gather to watch the chapel livestream together, or watch from the comfort of their dorm room, students like David Bowers (‘21) chose to become a part of the discussion. On October 14, Bowers, an Intercultural Studies Major on the pre-med track, facilitated an interview with Grace and Sunday Bwanhot, Nigerian missionaries on mission in the United States. He found the experience to be vastly rewarding.

“As I sort of alluded to in the interview,” Bowers said, “often you see missions as, you know, white people going to non-white communities and breaking their culture and telling them about Jesus as they become more like white people. And I think the image of a couple from the Muslim part of Nigeria, working among the Diaspora in Chicago, just basically breaks that stereotype in every way.”

Aligning with Dean Jordan’s goal for the discussions, Bowers believes that the interview format of chapel is critical for broadening the student body’s perspective on Christianity, as well as reaffirming their core beliefs. He remarked, “I’d say that my biggest takeaway was [the Bwanhots’] testimony of just listening to that call, even when, from the outside, it doesn’t make sense. It’s just that active, intentional submission to the will of God for your life.” 

Student engagement with the new format extends past Bowers’ discussion with the Bwanhots. As a particular strength of the format, Ashley Archilla (‘23) cited the live stream’s chat feature. “There’s the comments section,” she explained, “and they sometimes do include questions from it, so it’s interactive in that way.” 

Dean Jordan also voiced his support for the live comment section, as he believes that it is critical for engaging with difficult conversations. Recounting a recent example, Jordan said, “There was a time when there was something a speaker had said that one of the people in the chat had some concerns about, and they put it out there. And then some faculty came alongside and were like, no, no, this is what this person meant. To me, that was really rewarding.”

He continued, “ Like, how often have I sat in chapel and thought, ‘I wish right now that some of my colleagues could help this go down, because I know some people are having a hard time with it?’”

Though students have shown support for the new chapel format, concerns have also been raised. “The disadvantage [of the format,]” Bowers offered, “is that because it’s sort of off the cuff or unscripted on the part of the interviewees, students maybe don’t get as full a picture of the sort of message that the guests would want to communicate, you know, as opposed to if they had time to plan and prepare a message.” 

Similarly, Archilla was quoted as saying, “I preferred when it was just the guest speakers speaking because they’re free to discuss what they want, and it flows more easily. They gave an introduction and they had a PowerPoint presentation that goes along with it, which I think is engaging.” Due to the technological wall between the viewer and the speaker, she said, it is also easy to “zone out. And it’s easy to just not focus on it.”

Though many things about this semester may be deemed a “work in progress,” the unique problems that COVID-19 has presented offer the world a chance to grow and experiment with new things. Reflecting on the nature of the semester, Dean Jordan concluded, “ Like I say, it’s so surreal. And I really like trying to think through how to best preserve what chapel can do, all acknowledging it’s not what it can be.” Someday chapel will return to normal, but of course, until then, a particular phrase will have to make its way from the recording room to students’ computer speakers, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!” 

What are your thoughts on the new format of Chapel? How do you like the Wednesday interviews? Impressed? Find it lacking? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (star@houghton.edu)!

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News

Student Schedule Changes Approved for Next Fall Semester

After several semesters of tentative planning and re-planning, a new schedule was approved for next fall semester. The new schedule, which moves chapel start time from 11:30 am to 11:05 am, is hoped to provide students with more time to eat lunch before afternoon classes. It also sets the earliest class time at 7:55 am instead of 7:45 am and eliminates five-minute breaks between classes, making sure most students have ten minutes to get from one class to another.

Luckey_2Reasons for changing 7:45 start times to 7:55 were complaints about its earliness, while five minute intervals between classes were found to be insufficient for students, especially those walking from one end of campus to the other and those with physical ailments. According to Marge Avery, Director of Academic Records, “There was a proposal to do that to try to squeeze more time slots for classes in and still get things done in the time they thought it could get done in. Enough people said that doesn’t work very well because not all the other classes get out on time.”

The final schedule had to pass through multiple organizations on campus before reaching a general consensus required for final approval. Student government, Academic Council, faculty, Student Life, Sodexo, Dr. Jordan, the admissions office, the dean’s office, and the athletics department all provided input and approved of the final product.

“I know a number of people liked having chapel back at 11:00,” said Avery. “I think that will help. I think this will help with science labs and … one of the main things is that it gives students more time to eat lunch.”

 

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Opinions

L.I.F.E. Club Panel Disappoints

I was horrified when I first received the L.I.F.E. club email stating in big bold letters “Abortion: A Modern Day Holocaust?” that was accompanied by the feet of what appeared to be an infant.  I was horrified not because of my views on abortion, but because of the way the e-mail presented the event. The email claimed to be a panel “discussion” yet the way information was presented did not suggest any “discussion” would occur.  Instead the email suggested that one viewpoint would automatically dominate the event. In addition to my horror, we must realize that even in this small community; there are most likely people who have experienced the effects of abortion to one degree or another. Therefore I do not feel that we should abruptly equate our fellow sisters and brothers to Nazis. Regardless of the impressions I received from the email, I decided to attend, hoping that researched opinions and detailed thought would be respectfully presented.

allysonSadly my hope was, for the most part, in vain–the panel quickly veered in one direction and rarely slowed down to think about other avenues of opinion.  However, though the conversation repeatedly traveled in one direction, I as well as fellow students, were very thankful to have Dean Jordan present. He continually inserted thought-provoking responses that were honest; reminding the students that there are not easily deduced answers when it comes to society’s issue of abortion. However, this was not as true of the other two speakers.

The male guest speaker was a Bible-thumper, who continually repeated kitschy catchy phrases such as, “We have the World View, and then we have the Word View” or “God is Scripture and Scripture is God.” I assure you, Scripture is not cut and dry. Issues dealing with morality are rarely-if ever- black and white. Yes John 1 does say, “In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” but the Bible speaks in metaphor. As one student at the panel pointed out, there are thousands of denominations within the Protestant Church alone: clearly believers do not commonly agree on many issues regarding the hermeneutics of scripture. In relation to this, Dean Jordan again pointed us to the important realization that the Bible never addresses abortion, but instead discusses the value of life as a theme prevalent within the Bible. We should approach abortion as intellectuals who can support opinions within secular communities, not just as believers who speak up in our small, faith-based town.

The female guest speaker reverted to a repeated tactic of statistical references throughout the discussion, and at one point admitted to looking up facts online recently to ensure she would have information to bring to the panel.  Statistics work for initial effect, but we have heard them before and we will hear them again. When bombarded with statistics, one does not often come away with new thoughts to dwell on, but rather one comes away with a jumble of disorienting facts that are hard to process. Also this guest speaker was a Catholic and I, like other students, expected the discussion to at least briefly deal with the differences between Catholic and Protestant viewpoints on contraception, but this was never formally addressed. Instead, references were made to the differing thoughts, but time was not devoted to discussing this rift within the Church.

Lastly, the discussion was not clearly focused from the beginning. I expected the first question to be a starting point that dealt with the definition of when life truly starts. This question was only addressed at the end, when a student asked for individualized definitions from each panelist.

Overall I was disappointed. The issue of abortion is regarded as a very heated discussion both inside the church and within the secular world. Students should experience a discussion that holds differing opinions respectfully presented in a way that stimulates an individual’s thought instead of staunching it. Students who are not encouraged to carefully think about issues will not be ready to confidently present his/her own thoughts when given the chance later in life.

Next time the L.I.F.E Club creates a panel discussion, I suggest they bring in a pro-choice opinion–there are academics in our community who hold this view. I also propose they find more readily equipped panelists to argue each side.  This campus also holds people who have devoted time and energy into Pro-Life viewpoints through continual research from both a Christian perspective and a secular perspective.  Once again, I was extremely glad that Dean Jordan had a voice in this discussion, but I wish the panel had been better prepared and more diverse.