Tag: news

Categories
Campus News

Homecoming Looking “Virtually” the Same Despite Pandemic Restrictions

Article written by Hannah Fraser (‘23).

Legacies are built over time. The Houghton legacy continues to grow as students, alumni, and faculty create changes and celebrate victories. This year’s Homecoming weekend gives another opportunity for Houghton to gather and connect. The Houghton Homecoming weekend is an opportunity for alumni and current students to build a legacy and celebrate the direction of our movement as a community. 

This year, despite the given circumstances of COVID-19 restrictions, Homecoming maintains the same goal. Phyllis Gaerte, the Director of Alumni and Community Engagement, said that even though the delivery and platforms are different, the goal is still “to bring together the Houghton College community – alumni, students, families, and friends – to celebrate our rich heritage, discover what is new and current, and to envision the future together.”

The main difference between this year and former years is the virtual aspect. The decision to move to a fully virtual Homecoming weekend was made early in the summer after the guidelines for reopening came from New York State and the Houghton PREP team. Most events will not be in person, but the schedule remains similar. “We will have the Greatbatch School of Music Concert, our Homecoming Legacy Chapel that features our annual alumni awards, class reunions that will be held via Zoom, an art exhibition, equestrian open house, the Highlander 5K, and more,” said Gaerte. She encouraged students to go to the Houghton website where links to the programs will be posted. 

 Programs like “Hands on Houghton” and the Legacy Chapel display aspects of the community outside the student body. “Hands on Houghton” is a way for Houghton to showcase their academic departments, and these virtual activities include art, ornithology, and outdoor recreation. 

Students’ reactions to this year’s schedule display the optimism and hopefulness of the student body, as well as some caution about the virtual aspect. Mallory Horn (‘23) said, “I think it’s awesome to see how even in the midst of such a unique season, Houghton has still found so many ways for the community to safely celebrate Homecoming and to connect with one another. I’m most looking forward to the homecoming concert!” 

Timothy Lund (‘23) responded, “I have never been to Homecoming before but the thought of doing it virtually seems a bit bizarre. I think given the COVID situation, a virtual Homecoming is the only way to go about things without creating a health risk… but still it’s going to be quite odd, to say the least.” 

Purple and Gold Week leads to Homecoming weekend, and the week’s events also look different because of the current guidelines. Like Homecoming, the events are mostly virtual, and CAB has planned ways to engage students wherever they are. AC Taylor, the Director of Student Engagement, said “The ultimate goal of Purple & Gold Week is to help foster school spirit and a sense of belonging for students at Houghton.” He said that the goal is the same this year, but it needs to play out differently. Links are posted for virtual events throughout the week. 

One of the events that presented the greatest challenge to translate into a world with COVID-19 restrictions was the Homecoming dance. CAB is hosting a Houghton Photo Stroll instead, which AC Taylor said allows for us to “maintain the dressing up with friends and making memories aspect of the dance while addressing student health and safety concerns of crowd size, social distancing, and time constraints.” 

To finish off the week, SPOT will be hosted virtually on Saturday at 10:00 PM. SPOT is a long-standing Houghton College talent show that features any Houghton student. The hosts for this year, Jakob and Ingrid Knudsen, decided on the theme “Masquerade” before the pandemic, and Ingrid said, “When the pandemic came our idea seemed even more applicable and we just kept going with it!”

Ever since he was a first-year student, Jakob wanted to host SPOT. “SPOT was something that felt quintessentially Houghton,” he said, “Students working together to show off their awesome talents and/or goofy sides,” he said. When his sister came to Houghton, they decided they wanted to host together. 

Challenges due to COVID-19 restrictions meant that Jakob and Ingrid had to get creative with advertising, so they used Instagram as a way to let people know SPOT is still happening and to promote student involvement. They were afraid that because of COVID-19 they wouldn’t receive many submissions, but according to Jakob, “Houghton has more than exceeded our expectations,” and they’re excited about the submissions students and faculty have submitted. 

Students can’t gather in the chapel for SPOT like before, but Ingrid encourages watching while it’s streaming on YouTube with roommates or other friends in a socially distanced way. “It is happening, and we want you there!” She said, “This is going to be the most unique SPOT, at least we think, in Houghton’s history! You will always remember the show that happened amidst the pandemic in 2020, and this will be the only one!” 

The goals of all these events include celebrating Houghton’s community and uniting the student body and the faculty. While the format of these programs will look different, students can still participate in meaningful ways.

What are your thoughts on Homecoming, Purple & Gold Week, and SPOT this year? Excited? Not as interested? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (editor@houghtonstar.com)!

Categories
News

New Ortlip Gallery Exhibit Reunites Alumni to Share their Experience

Article by Elise Koelbl, with contributions from Josiah Wiedenheft

The Ortlip Gallery has had many interesting and unique creations from artists displayed in its hall before. This new exhibit is no exception. The Art Alumni Show: RECOLLECTIVE is an exhibit being shown from September 4th to October 3rd. This exhibit was organized by Houghton College graduate Joshua Duttweiler (‘15). 

RECOLLECTIVE is an exhibit built on experiencing familiar places with new perspectives. The artists involved are all Houghton graduates. Each one of them has some of their most recent art on display. Many of the artists have different talents and practices put into their work, ranging from photography to quilting, to painting and much more. These artists are breathing new life into the Ortlip Gallery as artists from over the years return to the campus that helped them develop such abilities. 

Joshua Duttweiler found himself inspired when he came to visit campus last spring, saying that it was his first in almost four years since graduating. When he arrived on campus to speak at the Fine Arts Seminar he was surprised when he realized that many current students had so much they wanted to learn from an experienced artist such as himself. 

“I was pleasantly surprised how much can happen in five years and how eager the students were to hear. It was this task of preparing a lecture about my journey that made me curious about where my fellow alumni were in theirs,” he says. It was moments such as this that made Duttweiler wonder if sharing knowledge and wisdom from beyond college experience would be beneficial to current students.

It was from this idea that RECOLLECTIVE was born. “I reached out to a variety of recent alumni artists that I knew had a current art/design practice,” explained Duttweiler, “I wanted to show a range of media as well as ideas about what life after Houghton can be.” He highlights that there isn’t really one overall message other than that “each of us takes our own path and we all have a lot to learn from each other.”

The artists that have their works on display are as listed: Merritt Becknell (‘15), Amy Coon (‘14), Joshua Duttweiler (‘15), Alex Hood (‘15), Natalie Moffitt (‘14), Hannah Jennings Murphy (‘13), Brady Robinson (‘15), Lindsey Seddon (‘13), and Laurissa Widrick (‘15). Each of these individuals provided not only artwork, but also short essays to the college and its students, collected together and available at the gallery. Both the artwork and the essays are also available online at the exhibition’s website www.recollective.site, which forms a “large component of the exhibition” due to the pandemic circumstances, allowing even those absent from campus a form of access.

Joshua Duttweiler had this to add: “This exhibition would not be possible without the support of Professor Alicia Taylor who gratefully allowed me to follow my initial curiosity last spring. Special thanks Professor Ryann Cooley for overseeing the final details and installation. And of course, thanks to the Art Department at Houghton College who have inspired our artistic endeavors past and present.” 

What are your thoughts on the RECOLLECTIVE exhibit? Impressed? Inspired? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (editor@houghtonstar.com)!

Categories
News

Finally an Agreement on Syria?

Hopes are rising as possible breakthroughs are underway in the deadlock gripping world powers concerning the Syrian civil war. This is a result of a possible United Nations resolution calling for international control of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons stockpile currently being considered.

Mideast_Syria-08c3c
Courtesy of www.washingtonpost.com

During talks at the recent G-20 meeting of the top twenty world economic powers, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in an offhand comment that Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad could avoid American airstrikes if his government handed over “every single bit” of its chemical weapons stockpile to the international community. Later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia had taken Kerry’s comments into consideration and would propose a “feasible, clear and concrete plan” that would focus on Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.

After the deaths of over 1,400 civilians in a suburb in the Syrian capital Damascus on August 21, U.S. President Barack Obama threatened limited military strikes against the regime of President Assad as punishment. Obama, however, has mustered little international support as Britain, a close U.S. ally, voted against participating in airstrikes against Assad. French President Francoise Hollande supports military action against Syria, but is reluctant to intervene without greater support from the international community. Domestically, Obama faces an uphill battle in his bid to win congressional support before authorizing military strikes. After 12 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Americans oppose more involvement in another Middle Eastern conflict.

Some countries do support U.S. airstrikes in Syria. Saudi Arabia, a vocal critic of Assad and supplier of weapons to Syrian rebels, implored the Arab League to endorse airstrikes. Turkey, a one-time close ally of Assad but now a supporter of his overthrow, has also called for airstrikes. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin is a staunch opponent of outside intervention in Syria, warning of the serious consequences of what could follow if the U.S. follows through on its threats against Assad.

Syria is a main purchaser of Russian weaponry and is Moscow’s last Cold War-era ally in the Middle East. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and with the power to veto any and all sanctions, Russia has rejected all Western-backed resolutions that condemn Assad’s regime and call for his resignation. Instead, Putin has called for dialogue between the Assad regime and the rebels seeking to overthrow him. Moscow also endorses the creation of a transitional government that includes Assad. Consequently, Washington and Moscow have been at constant odds over creating a unified international response to the Syrian civil war. Plans for peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland between the Syrian government and rebel officials collapsed and for much of the G-20 meeting the U.S. and Russia remained divided, particularly regarding airstrikes.

But with this potential resolution calling for Assad to hand over Syria’s chemical weapons, the permanent members of the Security Council, the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China, seem to be inching closer to an agreement. France is adding on to Russian proposals by calling for a clause that specifically condemns the chemical attacks. Assad, seeking to avoid potential U.S. airstrikes, has accepted the Russian resolution. If Assad fails to comply with the resolution, however, his regime will, again, face the threat of military strikes in consequence.

Since its beginning in March 2011, the civil war in Syria has claimed over 100,000 lives.  Nearly a third of the country’s population has been displaced and millions of Syrians have fled abroad as refugees.

Categories
Opinions

Statement of Purpose

Two main criticisms are usually leveled at the Star: number one, that we are too pro-Houghton and, number two, that we are too anti-Houghton.

The people who normally complain the first seem to view the Star as a branch of Houghton’s public relations department – as if the Star provides a ringing endorsement of the changes, policies, and events that go on at Houghton within the stories that it covers. The point of view of these people is that the Star often paints too rosy a view of the institution while neglecting the very obvious problems that it faces. Meanwhile, the second group often view us similarly to saboteurs – those who will spitefully publish negative pieces about the college either to relieve personal frustration, to start drama, or else to hinder the positive growth of the institution.

It should not be too surprising that both of these criticisms are very much misplaced and often have much more to do with the self-identification of the reader (in either the group that negatively identifies with Houghton or the group that positively identifies with Houghton) than they have to do with the content of the Star itself. When one positively associates with the institution, one is prone to feel that any story that portrays the college in a negative light is an outright condemnation or an attempt to sabotage the college by the newspaper staff. When one negatively associates with the

institution, one will look at multiple positive articles as an indicator that the newspaper is tightly tied to the institution.

With this in mind, let me take this moment to refresh readers on what the Star actually is and what it intends to be.

Our mission statement, printed in every copy of the newspaper, “is to preserve and promote the values of dialogue, transparency, and integrity that have characterized Houghton College since its inception. This will be done by serving as a medium for the expression of student thought and as a quality publication of significant campus news, Houghton area news, and events.”

As outlined in our mission statement, our job as the student news organization on this campus is not

to promote the college. Neither is it denigrate it. Instead, our job is to make sure that the stories we publish are fact-based, accurate, and relevant in coverage of events and news of the college. We have no aims in a larger agenda, either positive or negative, other than to serve as a professional medium for dialogue and the exchange of factual information. Above all, we aim to serve.

I would like to extend invitations to all readers to get involved with the newspaper this year. There are many avenues to do this. If you are a student, the first suggestion would be to become a writer for the Star. If that seems like it would be a good fit for you, please send us an email indicating your

Quote template3

interest at editor@houghtonstar.com. We would also encourage students to help with editing

articles on Tuesday evenings in our office in the campus center basement. This latter opportunity is the easiest way to get involved with the Star and, along with writing articles, is an excellent opportunity to improve editing and writing skills.

The last avenue that is open to the public as a whole (not just students) is writing letters to the editor, and we would strongly encourage you to do so either to help provide insightful information about a given subject or else to correct any error that we make here at the newspaper. Letters to the editor should be 250 words or less and you can send them to the email listed above.

Houghton is undergoing a turbulent season. We at the Star hope to serve the campus well. Here’s to the new year!