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Opinions

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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Letter to the Editor Opinions

Covid, Community, and a False Sense of Spirituality

By Haylee Conrad

On March 13, 2020, Houghton College sent out an email that marked the change for the rest of our lives. Now at the start of year three, we would think things would be different; the pandemic would be over, we wouldn’t need to wear masks anymore, but look at where we are.

When that email was first sent out to campus, I was down in North Carolina at a three-day-long Women’s Holiness Conference. I was there with Dr. Derck, Dr. KLP, Katie Allen, and Olivia Flint. The night we received the news that we would be sent home when we made it back to campus didn’t feel real. It turned out to be the night I would feel closest to God in a really long time. I was in the same room with over 500 other women, each who loved God and each who wanted to show God’s light in the world through ministry. The band had gotten special permission from Kari Jobe to play her new song, at the time, “The Blessing,” which was so new, it hadn’t even been released on Youtube yet. I know that song is well overplayed by now, but it has become my absolute favorite worship song. That’s because when I heard it for the first time, the women in that room were singing it. It was real, it was true, and it was genuinely filled with love for one another and for God. That is what true Christian worship is: gathering together to worship God and to love those around you.

In September, we started gathering in chapel twice a week, each week, shoulder to shoulder as if Covid wasn’t still running rampant all over the globe. This semester, we were told that streaming chapel was no longer being offered and online classes are slowly becoming less accessible. Houghton College is forcing a reality of normalcy in a world where normal is no longer an option. There are thousands of people dying on a daily basis. There are hospitals so full, people who need medical attention for heart attacks and strokes can’t be seen. There are schools where all their classes are being taught by subs because every teacher has Covid. Yet we’re expected to go back to normal just because it’s Houghton College and we’re a “community”?

I am, according to medical professionals, in the “high-risk” category. I know many other people on campus who also fit into that category. The new expectations on campus make us uncomfortable and make us feel unsafe. I get anxious about getting food from the dining hall to take it back to my room and eat. Imagine how I feel having to sit in a building with poor ventilation, surrounded by people I don’t talk to on a regular basis, to listen to speakers who seem not to recognize the reality of this deadly virus. As a member of Houghton’s so-called “community,” I do not feel safe or cared for. As a member of this so-called “community,” I wish the situation surrounding Covid was taken more seriously. 

As Christians, we are called by God to love those around us. Right now, in the situation we’re in, loving your neighbor means pulling your mask up above your nose. It means giving the people who aren’t comfortable being in chapel the permission to watch it synchronously or asynchronously from a different location. It means being gentle with those who don’t feel safe in a world that is putting their health at risk. Yet Houghton doesn’t seem to think the same thing. Instead, they are putting the mental health and physical well-being of their students at risk just to maintain a false sense of spirituality on campus.

Houghton College wants its Christian campus to go back to “normal,” but how far will they go and at what cost? ★

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News

Though COVID-19 Cases Surge Nearby, Most Students don’t fear a Campus Outbreak

Article written by Megan Brown (‘23).

October 9th marked the halfway point of Houghton College’s fall semester and served as a reminder that, while active cases on campus remain at zero, the hamlet of Houghton does not fare as well. With 46 new cases of COVID-19 at the Houghton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center as of last Thursday, a case on the college’s campus seems inevitable because of the recent increase.

Even with this grim forecast, few students interviewed expressed additional stress because of the uptick in cases. A couple students even admitted they had not thought about the rise in cases surrounding our campus after the initial email about it from Marc Smithers. Sophomore Psychology major Mackenzie Milne views this as a wake up call, saying “it’s hitting close to home. It is suddenly becoming more of a reality.” 

One worry does unite the students interviewed: the residents and staff at the facility. Communication major Courtney Johson commented, “I think it’s very troubling…because I know a lot of other nursing centers where one person gets it and then a lot of people do. So I am very worried for them.” As the CDC has stated, COVID-19 can be more dangerous when risk factors, such as underlying medical conditions or older age, are involved. Students’ concern lies more with the residents residing at the rehab and nursing facility than with a threat to their safety here on campus. 

For those worried about the threat of COVID-19 coming to campus, Marc Smithers advises that students should not spiral into panic. The absence of students on campus contracting the virus so far this semester shows the dedication of many students’ adherence to the Big Three, which consists of masking, social distancing, and cleanliness. The increase of cases in Allegany County should instead renew the students’ commitment to following COVID-19 guidelines. With a higher concentration of local cases, the chances of a case occurring on campus rises. As Smithers says, “we cannot slip into worry, but we also cannot slip into complacency.”

While students may believe COVID-19 would not dare enter into the creekstone-clad asylum after the success Houghton College has had this semester, Smithers continues to stand by his stance that the campus will soon see an active case “not due to our campus community not practicing safe habits but more so because the virus is just too prevalent in our area.” Precautions to the virus’ spread are in place not because they eliminate the chance of contracting COVID-19 but because they decrease transmission. With a higher volume of cases locally, the chances of a student or faculty member contracting the virus increases, too.

Because of this possibility, the campus needs reminders of safety precautions because it is easy to become relaxed in Houghton’s “new normal.” However, of the students interviewed, only two professors discussed the local rise in cases with their classes: Professors Susan and Benjamin Lipscomb. Both professors reminded students of the proximity of the Houghton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to the college and, like Marc Smithers, urged students to double down on following COVID-19 protocol.

What are your thoughts and feelings on the surge in COVID-19 cases at the nearby nursing home in Houghton? Worried about the residents? Worried about the safety of those on campus? Not very concerned? Comment below or get in touch with us via InstagramTwitter, or email (star@houghton.edu)!

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Opinions

LGBTQ Christians: Why We Need To Do Better

Like any good Christ-centered community, Houghton College loves to talk about unity. We latch onto the idea of coming together as a body of believers to learn, grow, serve, and worship. Discussions about injustice fascinate us because we know that the church has a duty to step up and speak out against the divisions in this world. This love for unity seems to spread across every area of our lives and to every topic that can possibly be discussed. Well, every topic except for one. For some reason, when it comes to anything relating to the LGBTQ+ community, we seem to exchange our fascination with unity for an obsession with dissent.

Photo by: Nate Moore
Photo by: Nate Moore

On the surface, it seems like Houghton has done an excellent job of trying to maintain unity. Dean Jordan’s chapel talks and special discussions are always presented with tact and respect. SGA has also been doing a great job of facilitating discussion about the language of the Community Covenant that talks about same-sex relationships. If you have been here for a few years, you have probably seen a number of chapel speakers talking about what it looks like to be gay and Christian.

However, I’m not talking about the surface. God isn’t very concerned with the surface and neither am I. I am concerned with dinner table talks in the dining hall. I am concerned about the uneasiness that many students have about talking to someone who is gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender. I want to shed light on the fact that students wish, and sometimes even pray for the LGBTQ+ community to leave Houghton College. It seems to me that if you even say the word “gay,” there is a Houghton student somewhere cringing in agony.

I have never seen more Houghton students instantly filled with anger about a topic than I have with this one. Why is that? Why does it anger us so much to think there are students with a different theological position than what is popular? Why does it bother us to think some people disagree? Are we afraid the Bible is being misinterpreted and that we are accepting lies, or are we actually just being swept away by our own biases? We cannot escape the fact that the church has a history of demonizing the LGBTQ+ community. I see it every time a Christian brother or sister says we should not think less of someone because of their race, gender, or economic status, but conveniently disregards sexual orientation. We all know that racism is bad. We all know that sexism is terrible. However, I question how many of us realize that homophobia is not actually something that is rooted in Christ.

joemquoteIf your belief in the sinfulness of homosexuality thwarts your ability to love a gay person, you may need to reconsider your motives. Hold true to your beliefs, but for the sake of the unity of the church in a time of turmoil, please do not let the Christian acceptance of homophobia get in the way of your Christ-like compassion. You have Christian brothers and sisters who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Shouting at them and questioning why they would even want to attend Houghton College has done and will continue to do nothing to strengthen the church. We are one student body. We are one Houghton community. We are one body of Christ. You cannot pick and choose members of that family. We one-hundred percent need to do better. The next time you are about to slander your LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters in Christ, ask yourself when the last time you asked to pray for them was. Ask yourself whether or not you even have a gay friend. Disagree and debate, but for the beauty of the Earth, do not use your differences as an opportunity to inflict pain.

I am not saying you should change your theological stance and affirm same-sex relationships. I, myself, am conservative on the topic of sexuality and I hold firm to that stance. What I am saying, though, is that we cannot look at sexual orientation as an opportunity to disrespect and disregard the LGBTQ+ community on campus or around the world. We need to do better in the area of loving our gay and lesbian neighbors. We need to try harder to walk beside our bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters. The Bible never says that if you disagree with a Christian brother or sister, you should isolate yourselves immediately. We need to be loving to the LGBTQ+ community, both inside and outside the Houghton bubble. Can that be uncomfortable if you believe that their sexual desires are sinful? Yes. Does Jesus care whether or not we are comfortable? Probably not.

Joe is a junior communication major with minors in business and Bible.

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Opinions

A Tale of Two Zip Codes

Tonight, along Houghton’s Genesee river banks, I cast my fishing line and hear the ghost of Charles Dickens howling – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  Downstream there was a sense of the best of times. The affluent citizens of the Pittsford area kept warm in their gas-fueled homes after tending to their white-collared professional careers and driving their new BMWs through the streets of one of the most successful elite super zip towns of America.   Upstream the working class folks of Belfast were heated by the glow of a wood stove, modestly getting by driving in a late model Chevy pickup coming from their blue-collared job in one of the poorest counties in the state.  

JosephGilligan_RGBMy fictional scenario dramatizes the national economic debate called income inequality. Yet, as a whole, the two Genesee Valley towns offer a glimpse into the true root of the cause of income inequality between the new elite class and the lower middle class.  While many carelessly characterize Pittsford as greedy, selfish, and very secular, the irony is most affluent towns are following traditional American values more so than their working class counterparts.   While we have always had rich people in the US, it appears that cultural norms that once glued us together have created a chasm between the classes. In the 1950s, there weren’t super rich towns. The rich and poor lived together, worshipped together, and sent their children to the same school. Today, the rich live in super zips, also known as the zip codes with the highest per capita income and college graduations in the country; yet, the glue (i.e. education, marriage, religiosity, and community involvement) holding income classes together is coming apart.  

We know a college degree creates higher earning potential.  In Pittsford, over 70% of the population has a college degree, with a median household income north of $130,000.  In Belfast, just 12% of its citizens have a college degree and have a household median income of $40,000.  Colleges provide proficiency in a specific majors and create networking opportunities with fellow students and alumni alike to secure future jobs. Local companies recruit students who will transition quickly at their firm.  In the Genesee Valley, engineering firms recruit from Rochester Institute of Technology, hospitals will recruit nurses from St. John Fisher College and NGOs recruit at Houghton.    

Marriage is the cornerstone of our culture and creates stronger economic and social power for children.  Single family homes accounts for a third of the reason why income inequality has grown since 1979.  In Belfast, the divorce rate is nearly twice that of Pittsford.  We  have recently seen the rise of assortative mating by couples subconsciously using college degrees to screen marriage prospects such as many Ivy league alums marry other Ivy league alums.  Such clustering of educated married couples into Pittsford creates a brain drain from lower middle class towns. 

Community volunteerism helps develop what social scientist Robert Putnam calls “social capital”.  A community with high social capital is more likely to have members that volunteer in their youth sports leagues and their fire departments.  It will also be place where neighbors help a family that loses their house to a fire or an unemployed father trying to find a job.  These communities tend to have lower crime rates, better health, great public schools, and better economic growth rates.  Pittsford boosts one of the top high schools in the nation and list over 30 community events including parades, festivals, concerts, dances, and outdoor movies.  Belfast only lists five. 

Finally, there is religion.  Church organizations create nearly half of the charity and half of the volunteerism in this country.  According to psychology professor David Myers of Hope College, people that are religious tend to create a happy community and a happy community tends to be contagious.  Living in Pittsford you are 65% percent more likely to belong and attend a church than Belfast.   

In the 1960s President Johnson declared a war on poverty. More than fifty years and 22 trillion dollars later, we have not changed the poverty rate. The war was lost because many of the programs crushed our traditional values and failed to calculate human nature. Today’s war on inequality will double down on these misguided policies and expect a different result. My contention with Pittsford and the super zips isn’t their success or affluence; rather, “they don’t preach what they practice” notes Charles Murray, a social scientist 

Let us pass policy to increase equitable education through tax vouchers for private and charter schools, strengthen marriage by eliminating the marriage tax penalty, and restore good paying blue collar jobs by eliminating unnecessary regulation on construction, fracking, lumber mills, fishers, farmers and coal miners.
As I throw my fishing line into the Genesee River for the last time tonight, I think of the preaching of Jesus who said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

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Opinions

Operation Christmas Child

It has been hard to avoid the sight of Operation Christmas Child boxes around campus the last few weeks. In years past, I have been the one filling them with dollar store toothbrushes, coloring books, school supplies, dolls, socks, etc. This was a project undertaken by countless years of youth groups as well as within my own family.

This year I haven’t.

Sarah SlaterI was considering why I had become so uncomfortable with the images of smiling children with their shoeboxes of toys, and I think I realized why. This semester, for my senior seminar, I’ve been studying a myriad of nonprofit organizations and the different ways they give back. My concern about Operation Christmas Child is simply this: that it tries to do a lot of things, and it doesn’t do any of them particularly well.

What are you trying to achieve with your shoebox of gifts? If you are trying to have a personal connection with a person on the other side of the world, sponsor a child or find a pen-pal. For the past few years I have been writing to a Kenyan middle-schooler through Empowering Lives International. Her name is Gloria, and she wants to be a professor at a university. I have no doubt in her capability to do so. But the reason I know she can achieve her ambitions is because we have a (limited) relationship. I have written to her and received responses over time. The recipient of your shoebox, on the other hand, is unknown to you, and you are equally anonymous to her.

The level of monitoring appropriate to various types of programs is frequently debated in the international development community. One approach is known as outcome-based aid, which according to the definition used by the World Bank attempts to tie disbursement of aid to specific results achieved by the recipient of the aid. This approach to development has received some pushback due to the intangible, long-term character of many interventions.

It is even more difficult to hold mission-based programs to standards because of the non-coercive element that should be inherent in preaching the gospel. It should never be a condition that someone need to become a Christian in order to participate in a program. On the other hand, how can we know if a given program is doing anything? One standard to look at is the impact a given program will have over the long term. Over the years, it has become apparent that giving out free things tends to have a net negative effect, destroying the ability of local entrepreneurs and farmers to make a living.

Of course Christians run mission hospitals, schools, feeding centers, water access programs and many other sorts of projects around the world. But there is a clear difference between showing the love of Christ through sacrificial service, and giving people things in exchange for listening to the gospel. The one is in the tradition of the disciples; the other is in the tradition of American consumerism.

Mediocrity is not something we accept readily in most aspects of our lives. When it comes to international development and Christian mission, though, it sometimes seems like good intentions are good enough. But to paraphrase blogger Jamie Wright, good intentions do not relieve us of our responsibility to engage carefully with the world. Part of responsible engagement is taking the time to think through what you are supporting. If it were your sister in need, would you prefer her to receive a single box of gifts at Christmas? Or would you wish instead for school sponsorship and medical care, or the love of a pastor or missionary in her own community?

It’s amazing that you feel called to participate in the spread of the good news. The last thing I would ever want to do is discourage that impulse. And if Operation Christmas Child is something you’ve thought through and truly believe in, I can’t find fault with that.

What I can do, though, is encourage you to carefully consider what you are doing when you fill that box with a washcloth, a ball, soap, crayons. And think if there is a different way you could achieve your goal of encouraging school attendance, good hygiene, a happy childhood, or the spread of the gospel.

Operation Christmas Child is not the worst thing a person could do to show love at Christmas. But I would argue that it is far from the best.

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News

Houghton Students attend Faith and International Development Conference

Between February 6 and February 8, a group of 22 Houghton students attended Calvin College’s Faith and International Development Conference (FIDC) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

According to Ndunge Kiiti, intercultural studies, Houghton students have been consistently attending this conference since 2006, though “we’ve missed maybe one (or maybe even two) years.” However while intercultural studies and political science faculty typically organize the trip to Calvin, this year the organization of the trip was mainly due to student initiatives from Sarah Slater and Hanna Kahler, juniors.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAKahler was most interested in attending this conference because of the influence her older sister who attended a few years prior and found the conference to be “wonderful.” To Kahler, “it was always something on my bucket list.”

However, because of budgetary problems, it appeared at the beginning of this year that the trip to Calvin might not run after all. According to Slater, “usually there’s several thousand dollars in the budget in the intercultural studies department to do a conference trip but there wasn’t that money allocated this year” which prompted Slater and Kahler to take charge.

Slater and Kahler were mostly in charge of raising funds across many organization on campus, which included the SGA, the Intercultural Studies department, and GCF, in order to help assist the costs of transportation. Said Slater, many of the challenges revolved around funding and “keeping sane” during the two and a half week period that she and Kahler were given to organize the trip.

The group representing Houghton at Calvin was the largest at the conference at 22 students. Compared with years past, there were also more diversity of Houghton’s majors represented. Said Slater, “I’m pleased that we had more majors than usual. Usually it is just upper-level intercultural and political science majors, but this year we also had students from business, art, psychology, and physical therapy. We had a lot of student diversity.” Slater was particularly pleased because, “Part of the nature of international development is that you’re trying to include everyone so I feel like a conference about international development should reflect that.”

The focus of the conference revolved around the idea of “cultivating community” and, according to the conference handbook, to answer the questions, “Who is cultivating community? How? Who belongs where? Why? What does community look like?” by looking at these questions through the light of “Christ’s work on the cross.”

The keynote speaker at the conference was Brian Fikkert, a professor of economics and community development and author of “When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… And Yourself.” Fikkert spoke about his work involving microfinancing in developing countries and also, in keeping with the theme of the conference, his core belief that human beings were made for relationships with God and each other.

Other speakers at the conference included: Rob and Tara Cahill, directors of Community Cloud Forest Conservation; Dr. Minus Hiruy of Hope University College in Ethiopia; and Tarek Abuata, Palestine Coordinator for the Christian Peacemakers Team.

For Kahler, “it was pretty cool to meet these professors that were foundational in their field and had written these books…. Overall, it was nice to get a feel for the development organizations that are out there.”

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Opinions

Rethinking the Houghton Community

Community. You can get your token laugh-of-familiar-amusement out of the way now. I’m not writing about community because it’s a long established Houghton tradition; I’m writing about it because I’ve been thinking about it, and my conclusion is that there’s more to be said about community than we who are so familiar with the term might imagine. This has been on my mind because a few weeks ago, one of my seminars ended with an enthusiastic discussion about the nature of a Christian liberal arts college: is this kind of thing a community? My preference is to answer “yes,” though with a caveat: a Christian liberal arts college can, and should, be a community. Whether or not it actually is – that’s a different question. So, what do I have in mind, when I use the word community?

communityOur lives involve all sorts of projects, things we’re pursuing and working on. Lots of our projects are shared with other people. Sports teams share the project and pursuit of athleticism; musical ensembles share the project and pursuit of producing quality music. At minimum, this common pursuit, or common end, unifies individuals into a cohesive group. But, better than merely finding common ground in some pursuit or end is to care about the team or group for its own sake. This doesn’t happen easily, or immediately, but it certainly does happen. After playing together for a while, the team ceases to care only about winning, and the team members start to care about their shared pursuit of winning. Once the team members start to love the team for its own sake, the care spills over and is extended to individual members of the team. At this point, I think, community enters the picture. When a collection of people start to care about their shared project for its own sake, their care extends to the other members of the group, and the group becomes concerned for each one of its members, over and beyond that member’s ability to contribute to the group. For instance, the choir expresses community when it mourns a death in the family of one of its members (which is, strictly speaking, not relevant to singing well together). The mourning becomes relevant if the choir is a community that cares deeply about each of its individual members.

Now, I’m assuming Houghton’s primary project is education, or more specifically, Christian liberal arts education. That’s what we’re pursuing, and unless you take an entirely mercenary approach to your education, the shared pursuit of education is unifying: it makes us a group, a team. At least, then, Houghton is a shared project. But is it a community?

It’s worth pausing before answering that. I don’t think community is to be taken lightly, since community involves the accepting of other people’s well-being over your own. To be in community is to ally yourself with others in a fundamental way. Thus, community is not about warm-fuzzies, or team spirit. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with these things, and they’re helpful in establishing an especially well-functioning community. Yet, to equate community with emotional attachment to a group of people is to reduce community into something too ethereal. A community is a substantive thing, the kind of thing that can and hopefully will exist even when team spirit and warm-fuzzies have faded away.

This is, of course, a tall order. This demands something from us, something more than wearing purple or gold and faithfully attending SPOT. It’s also a rather complex goal: the good of Houghton as a community is linked to your individual good, if you’re part of the community, but neither is your good reduced to what’s good for the community, since the community is also adopting your good as relevant to its own. Given this complexity, it might be a little naïve or optimistic for me to argue that Houghton is a community. Nonetheless, I do think that Houghton can be a community. It may be difficult for such a large group of people to be a community, but it’s not impossible. For us to be a community, individual members would have to express concern for the good of other individuals, the institution would have to make the well-being of its individual members a priority, and individual members would have to care about the institution for its own sake. Hard to achieve, but not impossible. Moreover, I’ll take this “can be a community” a step farther: given Houghton’s Christian commitments, Houghton should be a community. So, don’t just claim community in virtue of your emotional attachment to the school. Make community happen, through your attitudes and behaviors towards the institution and the individual members of the institution.

 

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News

Seven Professors Receive Tenure

Professor Susan Bruxvoort Lipscomb
Professor Susan Bruxvoort Lipscomb

This year, professors Jillian Sokso, Marlene Collins-Blair, Susan Bruxvoort Lipscomb, Ndunge Kiiti, Kristin Camenga, Brandon Hoffman, and David Huth reached tenured status.

The track to tenure begins in a professor’s second year of teaching, when they undergo a review within their department. Then, four years into their appointment, they undergo an intermediate review. Six years into their teaching, the professor is reviewed a final time by the chair of their department and a faculty member. Finally, in the seventh year, the professor is reviewed once more and also undergoes a hearing. In the spring, the Board of Tenure makes a final decision.

“Tenure itself something that is, ultimately, good for the institution because it ensures faculty stability and protects the freedom of scholars to pursue their disciplines”, said Professor Bruxvoort Lipscomb, English, of the process. Tenure can also be a stressful process, Bruxvoort Lipscomb points out. “The process itself, however, produces a lot of anxiety because the stakes are so high–professors who are not granted tenure must leave the institution.”

Professor Sokso, Art
Professor Sokso, Art

 

The tenure process helped Professor Sokso, Art, gain some insight into her work. She said, “Preparing for the reviews and hearing helped me to gain some clear insights about my teaching and research practices, and I feel that I am a better instructor and scholar because of that reflective process, paired with some intentional goal setting for the future.”

All of the tenured professors are great contributors to the communities within their academic disciplines. Sokso recently illustrated one of the criterions for tenure, “integration of faith and teaching/research” in a recent collaboration with Women of Hope International in Sierra Leone. She taught disabled women how to make paper from indigenous plant fibers. She said of the trip, “I saw that opportunity as an authentic extension of both my studio and teaching practices, an example of my commitment to care for God’s creation, and the chance to simply love people who have been abused and disadvantaged their entire lives.”

Professor Camenga, Mathematics, had the chance to attend the Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Diego, California in January with a few of her students after they spent the summer participating in National Science Foundation-funded research. This conference is the premier national mathematics meeting and she said she gets “the greatest joy from the accomplishments of my students.” She said that she celebrates “the unique path that God is taking each of my students and hope that I had a small part in that.”

 

Professor Camenga, Mathematics
Professor Camenga, Mathematics

“With higher education in such a turbulent state right now, I think that many professors feel grateful just to have a job.  And it’s really a great job–one in which we get to pursue intellectual and artistic development and be involved in shaping the minds and vocations of students,” said Bruxvoort Lipscomb.

Achieving tenure is an honor, and all of the professors recognize this fact. Sokso said, “I’m very happy to be among the many established colleagues who have chosen to give of their time, talents and lives to this community.” Bruxvoort Lipscomb said, “I know that I’m grateful for my job at Houghton.  And I’m grateful that it’s more secure now because I successfully completed the tenure process.” Camenga echoed the sentiments of her colleagues saying, “I am honored to have been awarded tenure and promotion and look forward to continuing to serve the Houghton community.”