Author: Johanna Florez

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News

Campus Undergoing Construction

Faith of a Mustard Seed atrium under construction. COURTESY OF LARISSA STRAPELLO RIES

Next year, Houghton students will be able to enjoy several newly renovated facilities around campus.

One project nearing completion is the addition of the Faith of a Mustard Seed Atrium to the Equestrian Center. Construction of this atrium began at the end of January and is expected to be completed in mid-April. Larissa Ries, the equestrian program director, explains that the space will serve as the “first location people go when arriving at the Equestrian Center, [to] check in, register for competitions, gather information or hold meetings,” as well as a comfortable lounge space for students and visitors. The atrium space was anticipated when the Equestrian Center was built in 2018, but the original anonymous donation which funded the construction did not cover the costs for fully furnishing the atrium, according to Ries. Since then, one large donation and a number of smaller gifts funded the completion of the space, which will include a fireplace and TVs for watching indoor equestrian events.

Houghton’s Director of Athletics, Matthew Webb, says that numerous improvements to the athletic facilities are “in the works,” either as quick projects this semester or as renovations this summer. Donors have funded new turf for portions of the baseball and softball fields, new netting and protective tarps, as well as upgraded and reorganized equipment within the press boxes. Additionally, the college received a grant to build the KPAC KidsZone, a playground area near Burke Field. Webb calls the KidsZone “a beautiful addition to our facilities which will have great community impact.”

Paine Science Center will continue to receive upgrades according to the plans that began in the summer of 2019 to use funds raised by Houghton’s IMPACT campaign. Miriam Case, Academic Coordinator for the STEM departments, says, “There was too much to accomplish in one summer so it was planned for two, but with the closure of campus last summer we have stretched it another year.” The most noticeable changes will be completely renovated Anatomy & Physiology and Molecular & Cell biology labs. Remaining funds will help update the labs for General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry.

Shen’s KPAC-side fire escape will be replaced out of the college budget. Between internal and external staircases, the building currently meets fire code requirements, according to Vice President for Finance Dale Wright. However, the “deteriorated” fire escape will be replaced with a covered stairwell similar to that on the Nielsen side of Shen. ★

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Campus News

Dining Services Evolve to Meet Complex Demand

By Johanna Florez (’21)

Changes in dining hall practices and offerings quickly come to the attention of large numbers of students. Many are already aware that the semester’s first three weekends saw three different models of breakfast service; less available is information regarding what went on behind the scenes of this and other recent changes to Houghton’s dining services.

The “Dining Service Regular Hours” distributed via all-campus email on January 21st indicated that the dining hall would not be open until 10:45am on weekends. These were reduced hours compared to the fall semester’s consistent 7-9:30am breakfast slot (which was itself a change from prior years’ continuous grab-and-go dining for students on full access meal plans). The decision to turn weekend breakfasts into a later “brunch” was made in mid-December, according to Metz General Manager Bryon Richards. Multiple departments agreed on the adjustment, including Dining Services, the Office of Student Life, Center for Engagement and Hospitality, and the Office of Finance.

Richards explains that weekend breakfast attendance started being evaluated “about two years ago.” “We… saw a steady decline in participation between each semester,” he says. “We also looked at the trends from other colleges in the region and saw that many had discontinued their weekend breakfast programs and moved to a brunch/dinner pattern on the weekends.” The fall 2020 semester also saw even fewer students than usual coming to breakfast on the weekends: “at most only 80 students” had breakfast in the dining hall on any Saturday or Sunday last semester. With so many students learning remotely, Dining Services anticipated even fewer people eating weekend breakfast. According to Izzy Gritsavage ‘24, who has worked in the dining hall since fall 2020, each hot breakfast requires about six employees and eighteen payroll hours, regardless of how many people come to eat. 

Despite the low average attendance at weekend breakfasts, students voiced concerns via Facebook and email. On Saturday January 30, an email from Marc Smithers informed students that they could request a takeout breakfast on Friday and Saturday afternoons to pick up at dinnertime and eat the following day. Richards later stated, “The decision to offer weekend night before breakfast pickup was always an option that was to be available for those students who still wanted an early breakfast on the weekend due to our changes.”

While no one was able to pick up breakfast that Friday to eat Saturday morning, Sarah Evans ‘22 tried the Sunday morning breakfast out of curiosity. While morning classes and sleeping in on the weekend often keep her from going to the dining hall for breakfast, “I just thought it would be nice to get breakfast and not have to get up early for it,” she says. She found a “sad” packed breakfast of orange juice, a water bottle, a banana, a muffin and a pastry. “I would not have picked the items that they put in there,” she says, also noting that the sign-up process did not ask about food sensitivities.

Smithers’ email promised, “A more formal announcement about this option will be coming out next week.” Two days later, another all-campus email announced the resumption of hot meal service for weekend breakfasts. Richards explains that the responsible departments “realized the timing on the decision to discontinue breakfast service was not the best.”

With in-person dining back open for three meals a day, seven days a week, other new changes are still apparent. The dining hall’s takeout containers were switched from styrofoam to more eco-friendly brown boxes. According to Richards, these are made from “natural molded fiber which is produced from byproducts of crop harvests and produced with a chemical free pulping process.” They are both biodegradable in garbage and recyclable when clean. “As soon as we knew for health and safety reasons we were going to exclusively use single serve products (approximately June 2020) we started the process of identifying more sustainable options,” Richards says. Supply and demand issues delayed access to the brown boxes until this semester.

What are your thoughts and feelings on the changes in the dining hall? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (star@houghton.edu)!

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Campus News

Parade Honors Houghton’s Healthcare Personnel

The volunteer fire department participated in the parade.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Houghton community celebrated its local first responders and healthcare workers. On April 15, 2020, around seventy vehicles lined up to form a parade, whose route passed two healthcare facilities near the college: the Houghton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (HNRC) and Houghton Universal Primary Care (UPC), both located on Luckey Drive.

The event was initiated by Patricia Barber, administrator at HNRC, who contacted the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce about showing appreciation for their employees. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce board, the college’s community engagement director Phyllis Gaerte led the coordination. According to Gaerte, Barber’s request cited employees’ “around the clock” work to protect HNRC residents: “They are a great bunch of staff members and I just want to show them that the community is behind them 100%.” The group of organizations involved in the event included Houghton College, Houghton Academy, 3 Bums Pizza, Houghton Wesleyan Church, and the Houghton Volunteer Fire Department.

The parade included personal vehicles decorated with signs and balloons, as well as emergency vehicles, the Houghton Academy school bus, and a college Highlanders bus. As vehicles lined up behind Houghton Wesleyan Church and the college facilities building next door, Gaerte observed that more people were arriving than initially expected. The final line that proceeded towards the healthcare facilities started at the entrance of Houghton Wesleyan and ended with many cars in the fire hall lot. Two police cars blocked traffic on Route 19 for several minutes so that the procession could safely move forward.

Parade participants got creative with their vehicle decoration.

In addition to the parade, healthcare workers were thanked with free pizzas, wings, and subs delivered by 3 Bums on the same day. 

Gaerte’s invitation to the event, posted publicly on the Houghton Wesleyan Facebook page, advised adherence to social distancing regulations – specifically that all participants should remain in their vehicles at all times. Nonetheless, event attendees expressed appreciation for the opportunity to see friends in person, even if from a distance. (Familiar faces in the parade included Profs. Young, Gaerte, Zoller, and Freytag, women’s soccer coach Nikki Elsaesser, and Pastor Wes Oden, among many other community members.)College physician Dr. David Brubaker works at the UPC health center; he was unable to attend the event due to a class he was teaching, but thanked the college, Houghton Wesleyan, 3 Bums, and the Houghton VFD for “putting on this very thoughtful and encouraging event.” He added, “in the midst of a situation that has caused uncertainty and has required significant adjustments for everyone in the community, I’m thankful for the flexibility and support [UPC staff] have felt as we have navigated changes to our workflow. I’m grateful too for the ways in which people have embraced the efforts to slow the spread of the virus; I think it has made a big difference.” He also expressed gratitude towards members of the local health department, “who have been working tirelessly to care for the people of this county and to support local medical providers.”

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Campus News

Living Through History: Houghton Campus Closes due to COVID-19 Pandemic

The Houghton campus sits empty several weeks from the end of the spring semester. A pandemic viral respiratory illness, coronavirus disease 2019 (also known as 2019 novel coronavirus and abbreviated as COVID-19), has led to school and business closures across the U.S. and travel restrictions around the world.

Houghton students, faculty and staff are aware at this point how changing circumstances and rules have resulted in their seclusion away from the main campus. All instruction, as well as a variety of support services and student engagement opportunities, have moved to online formats. Here is the timeline of key events in New York State and within the Houghton community:

February 1, 2020: Houghton College publishes a Frequently Asked Questions page to address concerns about planned response to the novel coronavirus, of which no cases had been reported in New York State.1

February 27, 2020: First meeting of Houghton’s Emergency Management Team.2

February 28, 2020: The Emergency Management Team emailed faculty to inform them that over February break (February 29 to March 8), they should begin considering how they might transition to online instruction.2

March 1, 2020: First case of COVID-19 in New York City confirmed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.3

March 4, 2020: Nine people who were in contact with one infected Westchester County, NY attorney test positive for the virus.3

March 6, 2020: Cuomo announces that 4,000 people across New York State are in “precautionary quarantine” (healthy people who recently traveled through affected countries), as well as “dozens” in mandatory isolation.3

March 9, 2020: Following Houghton’s February break, students who traveled to countries with a CDC3 rating (at that time, China, Italy, Iran, and South Korea) self-isolated away from main campus residences. The recommended quarantine period was 14 days.4

March 12, 2020: Cuomo bans all gatherings of 500 people or more, and says that facilities below a 500-person seated capacity should reduce occupancy by 50%.3

Houghton’s Emergency Management Team makes the decision to bring home all students studying abroad.2

March 13, 2020: On Friday morning, an email from Dean of Students Marc Smithers is sent with an attached letter from President Shirley Mullen, announcing that Houghton would be moving to online-only instruction starting Monday, March 23. All chapels are cancelled (as gatherings of over 500 people). The plan at this time is to have regularly scheduled classes March 16 through March 18, with students required to move out of college residences by noon on Thursday, March 19. All college-sponsored international travel, including Mayterms, is suspended through at least July 1, 2020.5

March 15, 2020: On Sunday evening, two Houghton students enter self-isolation– one who developed a cough after traveling internationally during February break, and that student’s roommate as a precaution. The ill student was tested for COVID-19.6

March 16, 2020: Early Monday morning, an email from President Mullen announces that all classes are cancelled due to infections in Allegany County and the one ill student being tested.7 Over the following few days, further emails urge students to leave campus as quickly as they can, while residence halls and dining services remain open for students unable to leave earlier than Thursday, March 19.

Cuomo, in coordination with CT and NJ governors Murphy and Lamont, orders restaurants to close except for take-out and delivery, and all gatherings over 50 people banned until further notice.3

March 17, 2020: College housing past March 19 is opened to some students: international students unable to travel to their home countries, students whose homes include people at high risk for coronavirus, and students whose home situations are “disruptive to their flourishing.”8

March 18, 2020: With 3,437 confirmed cases in New York State, Cuomo orders non-essential businesses to have at least 50% of employees work from home.3

March 20, 2020: An email from Marc Smithers and Dale Wright announces that room and board costs for the spring semester will be prorated; the costs of services not received will be credited to the accounts of returning students as discounts on next year’s charges.9

New York State reports 8,300 COVID-19 cases and 53 deaths.3

March 22, 2020: By 8pm on Sunday, all non-essential businesses in New York State are ordered to close.10 Non-essential gatherings “of any size for any reason” are banned.11

In response to these restrictions, Houghton professors move out of their offices to work from home.2

New York State caseload reaches 16,278 (10,764 of these in New York City).3

March 23, 2020: On Monday, all classes resume in fully online formats.

For the time being, approximately ten students remain in college housing and continue receiving food from Metz, under the special provisions described on March 17. (This does not include any students being quarantined due to possible COVID-19 exposure.)2

March 25, 2020: An email from Betsy Sanford announces that New York State restrictions on gatherings over 50 people, lasting into May 2020, will prevent the Houghton College community from gathering in person for commencement and other end-of-year ceremonies. Virtual ceremonies on the previously planned dates are promised to celebrate class of 2020 graduates, the reunion class of 1970, senior student athletes, Hall of Honor athletes, and faculty and staff retirees. In-person celebrations will be rescheduled to other dates.12

March 26, 2020: New York State’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reaches 37,258 (21,393 in New York City).13

All four Houghton students who were being tested for COVID-19 receive negative results.14

  1. All-campus email from Marc Smithers: “Important: Response Plan and Frequently Asked Questions Concerning the Coronavirus.” February 1, 2020, 9:11pm.
  2. Emails from Marc Smithers to the STAR, March 25-27, 2020.
  3. NBCNewYork.com, https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/timeline-tracking-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-tri-state/2313123/ (accessed March 26, 2020).
  4. All-campus email from Marc Smithers: “Important: Ongoing College Response to COVID-19.” March 9, 2020, 8:54am.
  5. All-campus email from Marc Smithers: “Letter from President Mullen Concerning COVID-19 | Student Q&A at 11am and 12pm.” March 13, 2020, 9:10am.
  6. All-campus email from Marc Smithers: “Further Information for Students, Staff, and Faculty Regarding COVID-19.” March 15, 2020, 9:59pm.
  7. All-campus email from Shirley Mullen: “Updated memo to the community.” March 16, 2020, 7:44am.
  8. All-campus email from Shirley Mullen: “Next Steps in our COVID-19 Journey.” March 17, 2020, 7:49am.
  9. All-campus email from Marc Smithers: “Important Information Regarding Pro-Rated Room and Board Credits.” March 20, 2020, 5:16pm.
  10. News12.com, http://www.news12.com/story/41924579/restrictions-on-gatherings-businesses-take-effect-as-ny-cases-surge-past-15000 (accessed March 26, 2020).
  11. NYC Health, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-main.page (accessed March 26, 2020).
  12. All-campus email from Betsy Sanford: “Memo from President Mullen.” March 25, 2020, 10:16am.
  13. New York Magazine, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/new-york-coronavirus-cases-updates.html (accessed March 26, 2020).
  14. All-campus email from Marc Smithers: “Final Update on COVID-19 Test Results.” March 26, 2020, 10:50am.
Categories
Opinions

Journalistic Speculation: Responses to Predictions from 2010

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.

Categories
Campus News

New HC App Revealed

As of this summer, students and faculty can use the new Houghton app to stay up-to-date on campus events and access a variety of resources.

Jared Hobson, a junior majoring in Communication, lead the creation of the app over the summer. Hobson’s initial team – including Elliot Spicer, Mallory Moore, Lauren Couturier, Olivia Flint, and Katharine Meyer (all currently juniors) – conceived the project during VOCA’s Sophomore Leadership conference in February 2018.c. “When we were creating the app we really just wanted it to be a resource for students especially to be able to be more connected on campus,” Hobson says.

The app is available on the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store. Upon downloading it, users may select their role as either “Current Student”, “Faculty & Staff”, or “Visitor”. They are then prompted to create an account using their Houghton email address, set up a profile with basic information, and complete a Welcome Survey indicating their interests. Users may link their Google Calendar and contacts to the app. After completing these sections, users continue to the full contents of the app.

The app organizes information and resources that students are likely to want to pull up quickly. It includes a dashboard of upcoming events in categories users have expressed interest in, a campus map, a separate trails map, building hours, the academic calendar, a faculty and staff directory, and shortcuts to other resources like Moodle and Student Self Service.

The app works using software from Involvio. Involvio’s website allows app administrators to quickly revise the information visible to users, without users needing to update the app to see it. The team now responsible for the maintenance of the app includes Hobson, AC Taylor in Student Life, and Betsy Rutledge in the Admissions Office. Hobson spends several hours each week ensuring that the app remains “something that is always current for students.”

In the first few weeks of the app’s availability, student feedback has been largely positive.

They note the results of the app team’s work to keep information updated. “I do love the app and I like that they keep improving it. It is very helpful to have and I use it regularly,” says Sarah Evans, a first-year student. Hope Barnes, a sophomore, also comments on how “practical and user-friendly” the app is.

Despite the praise, portions of the app have yet to reach the full potential envisioned by its creators. While the app includes the ability to create groups, which can be home to dorm events, team announcements, or club discussions, Barnes says, “The one downside to the app is that I don’t think many people know about it, making the group chat function pretty pointless at the moment.” Becca Loomis, the ARD and current senior who created the Gillette Hall group, also notes the need for a larger user base to take advantage of the groups feature. “The more people who get the app and use it,” she says, “the more useful it will be.” Hobson agrees that this feature is as useful as students make it for themselves. “We especially want clubs to be signing up and creating groups,” he says. As they do, users will be able to easily scroll through a list of all the clubs meeting on campus, fulfilling the app’s major goals of accessibility, awareness, and involvement.

Going forward, the app team hopes to more seamlessly integrate students’ class schedules so that as they view events, the app can automatically warn them of conflicts. In the meantime, Hobson says, “I’m really excited because I’m hoping that it opens people’s eyes to the idea that there is so much to do on campus and there are so many ways to get involved.”