Tag: community covenant

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Campus News

Revisions to Covenant Proposed

Photo by: Anthony Burdo

New revisions to the Houghton College Community Covenant may soon be in  effect.  This is due to a push the last two semesters to adjust certain sections of the covenant according to Vice President of Student Life, Robert Pool.

The section in question currently reads: “We believe that Scripture clearly prohibits certain acts, including drinking alcohol to excess, stealing, speaking or writing profanely or slanderously, acting dishonestly, cheating, engaging in occult practice, and engaging in sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage (including premarital sex, adultery and homosexual behavior).”  

According to Philip Maenza ‘17, President of the LGBTQ student group, this is not a new issue.  “We’ve been trying for years- since my freshman year; I’m a senior now- to get it changed, to have it clarified,” he explained.  He described the LGBTQ community’s attempts to add the issue onto the agenda for change (revisions).  “I got involved with petitions and professors and different people and former alumni to word it and got into a really nice place. Unfortunately they [the Student Life Council] just weren’t on the same page as we were.”

According to Pool, change to the community covenant would begin with concerned students convincing the Student Government Association (SGA) that the matter is a real issue which affects students and requires redress.  The SGA would then discuss and decide whether or not to pass the issue along to the Student Life Council.  Pool explained that as Chair of the Council he works to create “the agenda and make sure that whatever advice or feedback I’m getting from the Student Life Council is appropriately woven into the policies we create or revise, and in this case it’s the community covenant.”  He recalled there was a petition for revisions circulating, but that it was lost before it could be of true use.  “But we realized this was an issue,” Pool reflected. “So we began discussing how to clarify the wording.”

Maenza said he and other members of the LGBTQ community, however, are concerned as to what that new wording may be.  He said he was displeased that the revisions could further restrict student relationships and is concerned that they will have a negative effect on students.  “They can’t quantify feelings,” explained Maenza, “so the covenant can’t say you can’t have gay feelings for each other but they are saying there can’t be a relationship.  That just opens one up to a lot more gossip and backbiting.”

Micah Cronin ‘17, a member of the LGBTQ student group, also expressed concern about the new wording. “I think Houghton should consider whether restricting certain dating relationships is in line with federal Title IX regulations,” he said. “If not, that could open the college up to costly lawsuits.”

Pool did not make clear what the new wording in the covenant could be, only that it would make the rules on the issue of LGBTQ behavior more clear.  Pool explained the proposed changes have not yet been put to an official vote.  Voting could not take place until February at the earliest, although likely later.  However, he did express hope that the change will be in effect for the next fall semester.

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Opinions

Residence Hall Rules are an Insult to Integrity

Houghton College prides itself on being different from other schools. What makes Houghton unique is the school’s concentrated effort to help guide students into leading a holier way of life.

resA result of that effort is reflected in the college’s rules regarding the dormitories. Residence halls are not co-ed, and there is a four-hour window in the evening for those of the opposite gender to visit. During those visiting hours, doors are required to stay open, so that everybody can see what is going on inside the room. Open hours are not held on Mondays or Thursdays.

Now, there is one other place in the world that I have been to that has a similar policy regarding visitors. Granted, this is going to be an extreme analogy, but hear me out.

A psych ward.

To clarify for those who are reading this (and are now pretty worried about where this is going), I have never been admitted to one. I have visited one however, and have experienced what it’s like for the people inside. Imagine a place where you are checked in on by nurses, the doors always have to be open so that you can be watched, and visiting hours are limited for friends and family who want to see you. Now replace nurses with RA’s. How much different are the rules of the dormitories here at Houghton as compared to those of a psyche ward in a hospital?

“I understand what open hours are meant to do,” said Josh Bailey, a junior who now lives in the townhouses. “However, I also feel that they limit our freedom as mature college students, and restrict the opportunities that we have to grow up.”

What are the positives of the current open hour policy? It gives the residents of a hall a break from the opposite sex. There’s a level of privacy that can be experienced when open hours are not in session. I suppose the obvious answer is that we’re less likely to have sex, although based on the culture that has been established here, I don’t think that’s too much of a concern anyway.

Then again, isn’t it a little frustrating to be babysat? Isn’t the open door requirement kind of a slap in the face of our beliefs and character? Isn’t the four-hour window a little too restricting?

Houghton College prides itself on being different from other colleges. A different kind of student is attracted by this place; those who wish to live according to the values of Christianity. Shouldn’t we be given the opportunity to show that we can be trusted to hang out in a dorm at noon on a Monday?

Ashton Oakley, a junior who used to live in Lambein, suggests that open hours should be extended so that the only restricted times would be somewhere along the lines of 12:00pm-9am. This would allow us to still have a safeguard for the evening hours, but also allows us a greater level of freedom that people outside of Houghton take for granted.

In reality, since our classes take up most of the morning and the afternoon anyway, we wouldn’t take full advantage of the expanded open hours. However, it would be nice to allow students to feel as though they have more freedom than a mental patient.

 

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Opinions

Woes of the Privileged Dependent

As dependents we like to complain. Or rather, as the privileged we like to complain, because it really is a question of privilege. It is a privilege to be dependent on someone financially, and even if you are an independent financially, as a student you are currently depending on this institution for food, lodging, and education.

But we love to complain. Throughout my time at Houghton and even more so it seems since I graduated, all I hear from current students is how awful this place is. Sodexo is taking over everything. The rules are too constricting and frankly ridiculous. Res Life is on a constant witch hunt. The dorms are nasty. The education is minimalistic. Finally, my personal favorite, “Houghton shelters us and does not prepare us for the real world.” The list of complaints goes on, but you get my point.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to complain as well. But every once in a while you need to stop, sit back, and consider what you are complaining about. Because more often than not we sound pathetic, and the grounds for complaints are nothing more than juvenile trivialities.

Let me put things into perspective. According to Forbes, Houghton College is currently ranked in the top 4% of colleges nationwide. Our Investment Center just recently broke $300K. Our Media program has had students go to Antarctica, and produce documentaries for the Gates Foundation. 83% of applicants from Houghton have been accepted into medical school (the national average is 43% according to the Association of American Medical Colleges). We may be small, but the quality of academics is undeniable.

During my last weekend on campus I went up to the cafeteria to eat lunch. I had to struggle choosing between numerous delicious-looking options. No institutional food will ever compare to your mother’s cooking, but have you eaten at other colleges? We get quality food, tons of variety, and all you can eat. Last but not least, Sodexo accommodates dietary restrictions like few other institutions. I would also like to praise the new management of Java 101. Flex dollars can be used to purchase coffee, and it is now open all day Sunday!

Our student guide requires students to not drink, use illegal substances, or act promiscuously. Now go find another Faith-based institution that promotes those. In fact, go find an actively Christian institution that is more liberal on those issues at all.

When it comes to Res Life, I have sat in on disciplinary hearings while serving as an RA, and I was shocked. Not because of the strictness, but because of the understanding and caring on behalf of the staff. The case I was in had to do with drugs, which under the student guide is a one-strike offense. The evidence was compelling; the confession was there. The student should have been expelled. But instead, the staff asked how the student was, what was the reasons for this, how could we help. I was asked to be his mentor.

Dorms are dorms. Hundreds of people have used the room you are in. Of course it’s not a five-star hotel in Monaco. But next time you feel compelled to whine, go spend a night in a state school dorm that has been sullied by thousands of drunken, puking, fornicating residents, and then see how you feel.

Lastly, do you really need to drink, smoke, and have sex, or even be surrounded by such things, in order to prepare yourself for the “real world”?  Let me give you a glimpse of the real world: most people work 8-5 jobs with an hour lunch break, after which they go home and watch TV. On occasion they enjoy happy hour at the local bar. Far fewer may hook up for some quick sex. But mostly this is just a television fantasy. According to the CDC, while two out of three American adults drink, the average amount consumed is 4 drinks per week. 19% of Americans smoke and only half of Americans purport to have sex once a week. So you really aren’t falling behind the rest of the population with the amount of alcohol, tobacco and sex of which you are deprived.

Houghton is not perfect. There are things that could stand improvement, but by and large it is a truly quality institution. Remember that there are so many issues in the world, i.e. world hunger, child prostitution, homelessness, domestic violence, and gender inequality. And explain to me why your life is particularly miserable at Houghton.