On January 20, 2010, the STAR staff published observations of current events at Houghton and their predictions for the coming decade. Here we respond to the accuracy of their predictions and offer a few of our own for what 2020-2030 holds in store for Houghton College.
“Sciences – The new science wing will be built, but not before 2015. Hopefully the new wing will give Houghton the kind of reputation that will make it a candidate for conferences and conventions about environmental sustainability and technology in Western New York.”
In 2010, Houghton was fundraising to expand Paine with a new wing near Luckey. More recently Paine was going to be expanded to add a fifth floor. In the past year individual departments have downsized and reorganized within the building, making expansion unnecessary. Instead, the funds raised to support the sciences have been used to renovate and upgrade existing classrooms and labs within the building.
“Conversation Topics – Chapel requirements, drinking, and smoking will continue to be annual sources of conversation. Of the three, the chapel requirement is the least likely to be relaxed (excluding the possibility of moving to a Tuesday-Thursday chapel schedule).”
Houghton has showed no sign of shifting its stance against drinking and smoking or loosening its two-thirds chapel requirement. But as smoking has been alternatively demonized by broader society, then accepted again in the form of vaping, and then attacked once more for its health consequences on teenagers, it’s unlikely that people will push the college to allow tobacco use.
“The Color Green: Environmental and Economic commitments will create tension. Because money is and probably always will be tight, the school will have to be creative about its environmental commitments. Although it won’t become a marketable ‘distinctive’ until the money is there to fund dramatic investments in environmental technology, Houghton will, for the time being, focus on smaller scale environmental sustainability. Look for local food production, the Science Honors program, and partnerships between Recreation & Leisure, Sociology, and the Sciences to provide exciting ideas.”
Sustainability has continued to come more into the spotlight as far as causes Houghton promotes. The past few years have seen small changes such as the installation of energy-efficient lightbulbs, and some more labor-intensive programs such as the planting of the campus garden, which during the fall semester supplied the Campus Center Dining Hall with fresh herbs. The Center for Sustainability has also opened its new office/lounge space on the third floor of Chamberlain, allowing sustainability to become a more visible component of daily life at Houghton.
“First Year Honors Programs Science Honors and EMW will remain the same while London will either be dropped entirely or replaced by another Mayterm-model program. Enough people at Houghton are suspicious of Honors study that attempts to start a new Honors program will face an uphill battle all the way.”
How the tables have turned. This May, the last-ever East Meets West cohort will depart for the Balkans. Meanwhile, the class of 2023’s freshman London Honors cohort is currently studying in England, and recruitment for future cohorts is underway. It remains to be seen whether proposals for new honors programs will be met with significant resistance.
“Foreign languages – All foreign language majors will be completely cut and will move to an entirely minor/concentration based program. However, other languages that are rising in frequency and practicality (Mandarin, Chinese, Arabic) will be added.”
As predicted, Houghton no longer offers foreign language majors. Additionally, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Linguistics programs are being phased out. Spanish, French, and German are offered as minors (and Spanish as a concentration for Inclusive Childhood Education). However, the History and Political Science department is moving towards requiring foreign language experience for its majors.
“With the now-complete implementation of the four-credit system, and the increased time investment this system requires within one’s specific field, students who become unsure of their degree track in their second or third year will be unable to change majors without a significant amount of rescheduling, and possibly extra semesters and tuition costs incurred. One of the negative effects of this will be to create students who are dissatisfied with their majors, unenthusiastic about their departments, and to increase the amount of transfers to other schools.”
In 2010, Houghton had transitioned from mostly 3-credit courses to more 4-credit courses. By the time most current students enrolled, it was stepping back to a largely 3-credit system. Prof. Laurie Dashnau, who has taught at Houghton for 20 years, says that the experiment complicated transfer credits. It allowed professors to dedicate more time and attention to each individual course they taught, but departments found it more difficult to offer enough discrete courses to round out majors. A 3-credit system may not make it an easy matter to change majors as a sophomore or junior, but the current mix of 3-credit classes with some 2- and 4-credit courses (and even a handful of 1-credit seminars) seems to allow adequate flexibility for students to pursue their degree tracks and interests with an appropriate workload.
In the coming decade, Houghton will continue to search for ways to increase community engagement and worldwide connections in an endeavor to bring more investments into its shrinking main campus. It will need to consider the accessibility of the campus to diverse students. The steep hills separating Shen and Roth from the quad are natural obstacles which the college will be asked to creatively overcome. Serious renovations will have to occur in order to install elevators and other physical accommodations to buildings, especially the dorms. Houghton will also have to continue examining its practices surrounding gender identity and sexuality– how to apply housing rules to gender nonconforming students and open hours restrictions to same-sex couples. Even at what will remain a small college, there will be enough diverse students to call for practical solutions to issues that Houghton has not had to account for in most of its history.