The Clarion | Issue 07 | May 2022 by The Clarion

Which major is the easiest?

Meet Bethel’s new Title IX Coordinator: Cara Horstman

the

A place for authenticity

May 2022

SPECIAL ISSUE

Softball coach Penny Foore interacts with one of her players. | Photo by Mild Du

BEHIND THE COVER The theme of "labels" was proposed by graphic designer Gretta Nathe in December 2021. Model: Kaitlyn Guggenberger. | Photo by Bryson Rosell

CONTENT WARNING This issue contains themes of sexual assault, sexual harassment and suicide. They have been noted with an asterisk " * " as a caution for sensitive readers. To the individuals who shared with us their difficult experiences, thank you for your courage, time and honesty.

Table of Contents Raspberry Monday art exhibition led students to reflect on and challenge societal ideals.

A place for authenticity 10. Adjunct Professor of Business

Angela Pascarella returns to the institution that stirred her passions, giving students a new perspective.

‘Between two worlds’ 14. Bethel alum Adam Evers creates

a virtual space of community connection for Christian members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Which major is the easiest? 20. The answer to college’s mostdebated question.

*Sexual assault and harassment cases underreported on campus 22. A lack of comfort in coming forward with sexual assault and harassment cases leads to decreased information and statistical evidence.

Meet Bethel’s new Title IX Coordinator: Cara Horstman 26. Relationally focused and faithdriven, Cara Horstman joins the Bethel community.

24 hours at Bethel 28. Highlights from ENW120 Digital

Opinion

44. Review: “The Postmodern Poet” 48. Chistianity® 50. Does God want Bethel to win? 52. Thus sayeth the Lord 54. *Asymptote

News Studio’s 24-hour search for on-campus action.

*More than taping ankles 30. Athletic trainers at Bethel discuss the joys and challenges of caring for student athletes in ways beyond just the physical realm.

Go Figure! 34. The latest noteworthy stats of

the Royals’ spring sports teams.

A long way to go 36. For Bethel softball, the 50th

Benchwarmers 40. Being a backup is hard, but

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Tradition made new 06. Bethel University’s 49th annual

anniversary of Title IX legislation is a cause for celebration and a reminder of the constant need for growth in women’s athletics.

maybe that’s not a bad thing.

from the editor

Editor-in-Chief rachel-blood@bethel.edu

Last introductions

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Every time I have to introduce myself, there’s this moment of hesitation and mild panic. It’s not because I’m that introverted, though I did spend this weekend watching eleven consecutive episodes of “Jane the Virgin.” It’s because there are too many ways to explain my place in the world, and I can never decide which one is the most relevant. “Hi, I’m Rachel. I’m…” A sophomore English major, but who cares? Soraya’s roommate, because everybody knows Soraya? Or do you want to know my star sign? I hope not. Astrology is stupid. My Enneagram? My Hogwarts house? All of these descriptors are accurate, but I don’t think any of them are enough. American courts make witnesses swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I don’t think these labels tell the whole truth. One word cannot encompass all the intricacies of the whole of something, so why do we give them so much weight? Labels feel so conclusive, but I’ve never been a fan of conclusions. The last episode of a sitcom, the epilogue of a trilogy, the concluding sentence of the classic Bethel exegesis paper. I can never seem to wrap things up in a way that does justice to the time, the experience, the effort I gave, because relegating a significant period of time to a few words feels … wrong.

As this year comes to an end and I edit my final issue of the Clarion, none of the words I’m reaching for seem quite right. This year, the Clarion covered growth and loss, joy and sorrow, celebration and controversy. This issue, seeking not to endorse labels but to reject them, addresses the conflicts between groupings imposed by society: Christian and LGBTQ+. Violent and faithful. Loser and winner. But it also celebrates the dedication of athletic trainers and the victories of athletes, artists and alumni in rejecting attempts to categorize their lives. Our team has worked to tell the stories of the Bethel community in a way that is real and raw and beautiful, and I could not be more proud. It has been an honor to watch this publication and its contributors grow, and a privilege to grow myself. I have nothing but admiration and thankfulness for our staff, our freelancers, our adviser and most of all our sources, for allowing us to tell their stories in the best way we know how. I do not think the Clarion and all the wonderful people who are a part of it can be defined by a single word. I do not think you can be defined by a single word. With that in mind, I encourage you to approach these stories seeking every side, all perspectives. Each one is so much more than words. 

Corrections In Issue 6 of The Clarion, Fig. 2 of the story Mandates in the MIAC incorrectly showed Bethel having an indoor mask mandate from 5/14/21 to 3/3/22. Bethel only required masks in classroom environments during that time frame.

Check out the Yolk

The Staff Editor-in-Chief Rachel Blood

News Reporter Molly Wilson

Staff Designer Davis McElmurry

Managing Editor Soraya Keiser

Lifestyle Editor Makenzi Johnson

Staff Photographer Mild Du

Copy Editor Morgan Day

Lifestyle Reporter Hannah Hunhoff

Staff Photographer Toby Ryberg

Art Director Bryson Rosell

Sports Editor Emily Rossing

News Editor Sarah Bakeman

Sports Reporter Kaden Lamb

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Have a response to a story in this issue? Email Editor-in-Chief Rachel Blood at rachel-blood@bethel.edu with questions, thoughts or concerns or drop by the Clarion newsroom during community time Tuesdays and Thursdays to speak with a Clarion staff member.

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THE BETHEL UNIVERSITY CLARION

Tradition made new Bethel University’s 49th annual Raspberry Monday art exhibition led students to reflect on and challenge societal ideals. By Sarah Bakeman | Design by Essie Shull

Since its first showing in 1973, Bethel’s annual student art exhibition Raspberry Monday has kept many traditions consistent. For one, the juried showcase remains open to all current Bethel students, allowing them to enter paintings, sculpture, digital media, photography and more for judging. The Johnson Gallery, where this year’s art was held from March 28 to April 13, has always been the home base for the student exhibition. And the event’s eccentric title remains a nod to Don and Florence Johnson, the couple who donated money for the first Raspberry Monday Scholarship Award after surviving a car accident. When they crashed, the Johnsons had been on their way back from picking raspberries. After the impact, they were relieved to realize the red substance covering Don was berries and not blood, making the event’s title recognition of God’s protection. In its 49th year, Raspberry Monday has seen changes that challenge its tradition. After COVID-19, students continue to submit their work virtually. This year's juror, Alison Hiltner, judged student work through digital photos instead of walking the gallery floor. Gallery Director and Professor of Art Michelle Westmark Wingard believes judging will stay this way for the foreseeable future. “Jurors are able to look at the work and really consider it for longer than a three-hour judging window,” Wingard said. “I think it’s kind of a nice thing.” This year’s show saw 135 submissions from 35 students. In the midst of choosing between art pieces, Hiltner, for the first time in the show’s history, listed four honorable mentions as opposed to the usual one. Among these submissions, many students sought to reject traditions handed down to them by society.

Gissele Olivares Senior art major Gissele Olivares’ pottery was displayed in the Johnson Gallery with unglazed burn marks from the kiln freckling the surface. One of the pieces, “Unbroken,” was based around the post-mastectomy body of a woman with breast cancer, playing with the idea of loving the body even when it betrays. Her other pottery piece, “Acceptance,” is modeled after her own body. Both of these pieces had the same imperfect, brown and freckled finish. “Acceptance” was originally drawn with wings wrapping around it in the planning sketches. Although the wings did not make it onto the final product, Olivares does not consider it a failure. She believes it is glorious even without. “A lot of the art history classes you take are Renaissance art, so it’s all of these women that… are meant to be perfect,” Olivares said. “I wanted to create real bodies, something that I could see myself in.” “Unbroken” won the Purchase Award, meaning the piece was added to Bethel University’s permanent collection. This was an honor that surprised Olivares, as she worried her pieces would upset the primary scope of Bethel’s audience. However, she has been met with overwhelming praise. Even in the classroom, peers thank her for the representation in her art. “I’m proud to say that we’re slowly breaking the stigma here at Bethel,” Olivares said. “Just because it’s naked doesn’t mean it’s pornography.” Olivares also entered a painted piece into the exhibition. “Always With Me” depicts Olivares as a child, sucking on a popsicle at her 2nd birthday party. Another image is displayed below it: a painting of herself the day she began the piece in November 2021. The piece was started after a mix of life events: friends getting married, constant college assignments and a November car accident. Olivares felt like life was leaving her behind. She then realized that being an adult does not mean leaving behind the less mature parts of oneself, but taking moments to slow down and embrace them. “No matter how old you get, you’re still gonna be that 5-year-old,” Olivares said. “It’s always gonna be part of you.” Despite being her first attempt at a painted portrait, Olivares’ piece won one of the Juror’s Honorable Mention awards.

Middle: Gissele Olivares flips through her sketchbook, pointing out preliminary drawings for her sculpture “Acceptance.” The sculpture is based on her own body, though it was originally supposed to have wings. Bottom: "Always With Me" by Olivares was the recipient of a Juror's Honorable Mention award.

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Top: "Unbroken" was bestowed the Purchase Award, placing it in the Art Department's permanent collection.

Eleanor Carlson Senior art major Eleanor Carlson finds inspiration in the less-noticed parts of nature. Pebbles at her feet while she waded at a beach in Santa Barbara. Soon-to-be crumbled leaves on the sidewalk in autumn. Blue-tinted shadows cast on the snow. Carlson was the winner of the Raspberry Monday award alongside senior graphic design major Bryson Rosell. Her piece “Pebbles,” based around the colorful rocks during her January California trip, was the award winner. The piece was a part of Carlson’s ongoing series, titled “Of looking and looking.” All of the pieces within the series are close-up looks at small portions of nature that are often overlooked in day-to-day life. “It’s not about the place,” Carlson said. “It’s about looking and choosing to observe and delight in the small things.”

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Top Left: "Pebbles" by Carlson was the recipient of this year's Raspberry Monday award. Bottom Left: Eleanor Carlson shows off her artwork from her “Of looking and looking” series in the painting studio. The series was inspired by small pieces of nature that Carlson found beautiful. Right: "Good Girl" by Hannah Hobus was awarded the Juror's Recognition Award.

Hannah Hobus

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Junior graphic design major Hannah Hobus turned her brother’s discarded car radio into award-winning art. A virtual juror’s talk held April 12 allowed students the platform to ask Hiltner questions. During this session, she explained her decision to select Hobus’ piece for this year’s Juror’s Recognition Award. “I think [her] art was speaking in a way that was very sophisticated,” Hiltner said. “[Her] work stayed with me. When something haunts me, it’s a standout piece.” After seeing her brother’s discarded radio, Hobus found herself empathizing with it in strange ways. The thought of its volume dial being rotated for the listening convenience of the driver made her reflect on her own experiences of being silenced throughout her life. “As women, we’re trained to sometimes be quiet and just go along with things, otherwise we’re being dramatic or too sensitive,” Hobus said. “The piece is up to interpretation, but I hope that those viewing could really sit on that idea.” When the thought of the varying volume of a radio came to mind, the phrase “good girl” accompanied it. Hobus associates the phrase with belittlement, discrimination and silencing. She then wrote the words across a name tag and stuck it to the front of the old car radio. When Hiltner saw the piece, she felt that Hobus’ work highlighted her personal experience alongside a relatable, universal feeling. That’s the feeling that “haunted” her. That’s why it was chosen for the Juror’s Recognition Award. “There’s so many amazing works,” Hobus said. “I feel honored and blessed.” 

A place for authenticity Adjunct Professor of Business Angela Pascarella returns to the institution that stirred her passions, giving students a new perspective. By Hannah Hunhoff | Design by Spencer Vang

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Angela Pascarella sat through a Bethel University nursing orientation program in 2011 as a freshman with dreams of pursuing a career as a nurse midwife. New realizations transpired when she learned about the program’s high rigor and the possibility of a number of students being cut from the program during her sophomore year. For the first time in Pascarella’s life, she heard a voice telling her that she “wasn’t good enough for this.” This led to an “identity phase” in which she switched her major from psychology to elementary education. Pascarella conducted a greater self-analysis of her personality and “who God called her to be'' in her Introduction to Creative Arts class. She recalls taking the StrengthsFinder assessment alongside some nursing majors in her class cohort and found that while they ranked high on the empathy and service scale, her results displayed that she was an “achiever and a natural leader.” Pascarella soon found another common thread amid her skills and trail of majors: a passion for “human centeredness and connection.” These revelations, along with a heart for people and business, prompted her to major in business with an emphasis in human resources and led her to the door of Associate Professor of Business Joyce LeMay’s office, who affirmed Pascarella’s decision. “Bethel fostered a really awesome environment for me to be myself and not be ashamed of struggling,” Pascarella said. “It provided an open space, whether it would be in class or other outlets, to just be my authentic self.” Her natural leadership tendencies were significantly shaped during her childhood in Winneconne, Wisconsin, where she grew up as an only child. When Pascarella was around three years old in 1996, her father – a successful entrepreneur, leader and businessman – passed away from a heart attack. In the next five years of her childhood, Pascarella said that she went through a season of hardship. This led Pascarella to grow in responsibility and maturity.

“I had to step into a lot of different roles and it took away from me being able to be a child. It also gave me a great sense of perspective that I am capable of a lot of different things beyond what I could have ever imagined,” Pascarella said. “In the midst of that, the Lord has just been so gracious.” Pascarella recognizes that these years of hardship were the pathway that eventually led her to a relationship with Jesus. Soon after, Pascarella and her mom moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 2003 and attended Plymouth Congregational Church. During their first church visit, the youth pastor approached Pascarella and invited her to attend the youth group program. Every Wednesday and Sunday, Pascarella attended youth group, where she fostered a strong foundation of both faith and leadership. “I got to practice my leadership skills by being a youth leader in high school and make amazing friendships and come to know the Lord really personally,” Pascarella said. “I had no shame in publicly declaring God's goodness in my life.” Pascarella often gets Facebook memories notifications about posts from over a decade ago, which she said serves as a sweet reminder that God’s word never fails and is “living and breathing in the situations [she is] in right now.” Pascarella’s four years at Bethel strengthened her faith through seeking mentorship from former pastor Laurel Bunker, pursuing therapy and attending chapel services. In the business department she ignited her passion for human resources in business classes and through relationships with a number of business professors. “Through our discussions, it was evident that she was a great match with the human resource management emphasis because she values people and understands the commitment of engaging with employees so that God will bring out the best of each person in the workplace,” LeMay said. When Pascarella was a senior in 2015, she told former

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Adjunct Professor of Business Angela Pascarella teaches Business Problem Solving to 22 Bethel students in RC315 April 25. She starts off the class by giving a class outline, preparing students to break into groups to complete a critical thinking exercise. “I think that Professor Pascarella fosters a very honest and transparent classroom,” junior Mariah Boumeester said. “Because of this, we are able to engage in difficult conversations as well as simply enjoy each other’s company.” | Photo by Addie Stern

Pascarella’s advice for students on how to be your authentic self

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"Eliminate things or people in your life that do not align with who God is calling you to be. Set boundaries!"

"Find mentors, counselors and accountability to help you along the way."

"Fear is a lie, not from the Lord, and a big waste of time. Make time to discover freedom in Jesus."

Angela Pascarella poses for a professional headshot in 2019. | Submitted Photo by Will DeGraw

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economics professor Tim Essenburg about her dream of returning to Bethel one day. “I said, Tim, in 10 years, I'm gonna be an adjunct professor here,” Pascarella said. “When I am an adjunct professor, you owe me a big bouquet of roses.” Before graduating from Bethel, Pascarella stood outside the Nelson residence on a “beautiful spring day” and received a call from Baker Tilly Virchow Krause with a job offer for a Human Capital Services Senior Consultant role. This role was her official entrance into the human resources industry, giving her the opportunity to configure new HR technology on the computer for clients and travel internationally to London. While Pascarella loved gathering and presenting information to executives, she eventually felt burnt out from the 12-hour workdays and desired to go in another direction. Pascarella put in her four-week notice, sold all her belongings and moved to London in 2017 to pursue a one-year MBA from Richmond, The American International University in London with a focus on mental health in the workplace. Apart from her studies, Pascarella's time in London was “a year of just

truthfully drawing close to the Lord, getting plugged into Christian community and figuring out what [she] was supposed to be doing in this life.” Pascarella rented a small flat with large windows overlooking Kensington, unfurnished aside from a twin-sized bed and a beach towel on the floor. “I would just lay on my back [on the beach towel] with my hands open and I would just pray,'' Pascarella said. “I would just ask the Spirit to come and just heal me, reveal himself to me and guide me… I would do that for hours.” In figuring out her next career jump after receiving her MBA, Pascarella looked to the network she had created from the BethelBiz mentorship program – a program that offers students one-on-one relationships with Bethel alumni— and sought career advice from BethelBiz mentor John Beacham. With Beacham’s wisdom and guidance, Pascarella made her return to the consulting world at Optum in August 2017. Six months later, she transitioned to a Customer Experience Consultant role at UnitedHealth Group, where she remained for nearly two and a half years.

In the summer of 2021, Pascarella pivoted to a consultant role at Slalom focused on organizational effectiveness, working on developing operating models for employee efficiency. In the spring of 2022, one of Pascarella’s dreams came true when she was invited to return to Bethel as an adjunct professor in the business department to teach business problem solving. When she announced the news on LinkedIn, she received a kind note from Essenburg about the roses. Pascarella said that it has “been the greatest honor of my life to be able to teach [at Bethel] this semester.” Every Monday at 6 p.m. Pascarella walks into RC315 with a business presentation prepared for 22 students. “Students here at Bethel have an amazing capacity to learn and have great abilities… I see it every day,” Pascarella said. “I'm blown away by their capacity to critically think… by their capacity to be compassionate and to pursue the things that they feel like God is placing on their hearts.” Pascarella’s class starts off with a critical thinking activity, but students have been engaged in a number of learning experiences:

tough ethical and moral decisions,” freshman Elly Tyberg said. “She does an amazing job of telling us that when this happens we need to go back to what we believe to be true and ethical.” As a businesswoman in consulting, Pascarella brings a new perspective to students in the same place where she fostered her passion for human connection and could be her authentic self. She hopes to be an avenue to help students find what the Lord is calling them to do. 

Below: Adjunct Professor of Business Angela Pascarella keeps her students up to date on the latest assignments that need to be completed in RC315 April 25. “I think what makes this class truly unique is that Prof. Pascarella is currently working a full time job in HR. She helps take the normal content of Business Problem Solving and applies it to current issues going on in business right now,” freshman Elly Tyberg said. “As a business major, this helps me become more engaged in the content of the class.” | Photo by Addie Stern

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doing Harvard Business Review activities, discussing business ethics topics, talking about their class book and breaking off into math lab groups. “Something that Professor Pascarella has taught us and encouraged us to do is to never allow a job, person, company to make you feel as though you are less than,” junior Mariah Boumeester said. “If the company does not see you for the asset you are, I can guarantee that there is someplace else that will.” Pascarella describes her classroom environment as one that is fun and safe, a place where students speak up. “The greatest lesson I have learned from Professor Pascarella is to stay true to your own values. In class, Professor Pascarella highlights that there will be times when going into business that we are forced to make

Evers smiles with his boyfriend, who he met through the believr app. | Photo submitted by Adam Evers

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By Rachel Blood and Makenzi Johnson | Design by Bryson Rosell

dam Evers hated himself. Growing up as a conservative Christian, Evers says he was was taught that being gay is a sin, that homosexuality equated to going to hell. Adam Evers hated himself for being a gay Christian. Being a Christian was in his DNA. His identity, morals and beliefs were rooted in conservative Christianity, and choosing to attend a Christian university was a priority because he knew it would make his mom happy. He also wanted a good business program. Bethel checked all the boxes. Moving through life as a gay Christian, Evers says he rejected himself before accepting himself, left faith before returning to it and eventually co-founded an app – believr – for the community he hadn’t known existed all his life. That journey was not simple. For Evers and his family, middle school was difficult physically and emotionally. Between finding a benign tumor in his hip, struggling with suicidal ideations and more, faith seemed to be the only consistency. There was no room for homosexuality in conservative Christian theology. “You have two identities warring with each other,” Evers said. “Too gay for the Christians, too Christian for the gays.”

The idea for believr struck Evers at the 2018 annual Queer Christian Fellowship Conference, an event held in Denver, Colorado intended to foster community between LGBTQ+ Christians. Evers realized the effort it took to get all of those people in one spot only once a year seemed futile when taking into account the technological opportunities for connection. A reported 4.1 million LGBTQ+ adults in the United States identify as Christian [see graphic]. He wanted to find a way to accomplish the same thing the QCF

conference did, but from anywhere in the nation at any time. “Fine,” Evers said, turning to Brandon Flanery, the friend he attended the conference with. “I’ll do it myself.” Evers and Flanery, who had known each other since high school, founded believr in 2018. In an introductory blog post, Flanery wrote, “We felt the need for this type of platform for years … It’s been hard to navigate jumping between two worlds we don’t quite fit in completely, especially two worlds known for having animosity and hurt with the other.” “There’s no hate like Christian love,” Evers said. Believr is not solely meant for finding romantic relationships. It’s a “community app,” and while users have the option to seek out romantic partners, the app also features open discussion forums for various topics and opportunities to establish platonic relationships.

At Bethel, Evers says he leaned into the conservative Christian movement, joining Campus Outreach and by extension the Southern Baptist Church. He kept his sexuality a secret. “I thought I was going to die alone,” Evers said. “I thought that if anybody found out my secret, I’d be kicked out of Bethel.” According to Bethel’s Covenant for Life Together, “homosexual behavior” is included in “character qualities and actions that should not be present in the lives of believers.” The Covenant also says, “We believe that sexual intercourse and other forms of intensely interpersonal sexual activity are reserved for monogamous, heterosexual marriage.” Pastor Matt Runion said Bethel maintains a “historical interpretation of scripture on sexuality” while he also aims to pastor the community in a way that is inclusive and loving. “Bethel holds expectations around sexuality that are the same for every member of the covenant community at Bethel,” he said. “The covenant includes us all – LGBTQ+ students included.” On its website, Bethel’s Counseling Services lists sexuality – just after “anger” and before “homesickness” – as one of many issues

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Bethel alum Adam Evers creates a virtual space of community connection for Christian members of the LGBTQ+ community.

etween two wor

‘Between two worlds’

believr has made 260,000 plus connections between LGBTQ+ Christian users. According to a 2020 study from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute: 5.3 million LGBTQ+ adults are religious. 1.5 million Protestant 1.3 million Roman Catholic 1.3 million report belonging to another Christian religion 425,000 identify with another non-Christian religion 131,000 Jewish 107,000 Mormon 106,000 Muslim

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that can be confidentially discussed in sessions. “Any issues related to sexuality, including LGBTQ+ and Christianity, can be discussed … with the same limits to confidentiality as for other presenting issues,” Director of Counseling Services Miriam Hill said. Students seeking theologically-based counseling are encouraged to do so through the Office of Christian Formation and Church Relations.

During his time at Bethel, Evers was involved with conservative movements and groups on campus that preached that gays were an “abomination.” He lived in a Nelson Hall suite with five other men, some of the only people at Bethel who knew his secret: that he “struggled with same-sex attraction.” Evers heard what he calls “tropes” of gay men being pedophiles and sexual abusers as a result of presumed sexual trauma spread by the student body during his time at Bethel. The fear and implicit hatred of homosexuality that came out of his experiences eventually drove him to do something he still regrets. Evers says he exposed a peer’s sexuality to the Bethel administration. “I think I did that, candidly, out of fear, living in my own shame and my own self-hatred. I hated everything LGBTQ+,” Evers said. Several years later, that student reached out to Evers and called him out, pointing out the hypocrisy of Evers’ status as CEO of an LGBTQ+ Christian company and his actions as a college student. Evers apologized, though he knew sorry didn’t cut it. “It’s probably one of my deepest regrets, outing [them] to the administration,” Evers said. He said the student was punished. The Bethel Student Handbook reads, “Sexual relationships outside of marriage are a violation of biblical standards, the Bethel Covenant, and student standards of conduct. Students involved in these behaviors are subject to being placed on behavioral probation and may be assigned additional sanctions.” The student philosophy of discipline in the same handbook reads, “…the Office of Student Life seeks to implement a disciplinary process that meets the student as an individual, examines motivations, repentance, teachability, and the student’s needs, and then determines an appropriate outcome for any offense based on the preponderance of evidence. Careful attention is given not only to the act in question

but to the student in terms of predicament, response, intent, as well as influence upon the rest of the student body.” “In any conduct and care situation, we seek to be redemptive and restorative in ways that are helpful to the individual and beneficial to the community,” Associate Dean for Student Engagement Nate Gustafson said. “We recognize that conduct and care conversations are a critical opportunity to engage students holistically. We desire to be a place where all Bethel students can thrive in community and be reminded of God’s great love and care for them.”

After years of grappling with his sexual identity, Evers rejected Christianity. A year and a half before he came out as gay at age 28, he decided Christianity didn’t have a place for him. He says he never felt affirmed. He had tried to “get rid of the gay,” and it hadn’t worked. “We're all supposed to be in the family of God … and you were going to take a very specific verse in the Bible [and] be like, ‘You can't do this because you're gay.’ Do you eat sausage? Do you eat shellfish? Do women talk in your church? Oh, okay. So literally, it's just that verse that matters.” For a period of his life, Evers denounced the faith. But he felt himself drawn back. He wanted a relationship with God. He didn’t want to stay away. Two years after moving to California in 2016, Evers found acceptance at Oak Life Church, a non-denominational church in Oakland, California. “If you have been rejected by the church as a person of color, a woman, as an LGBT person, as a non-Christian or for any other reason, we're sorry for the way you were treated,” Oak Life’s welcoming video says. “We believe that God loves you and we would be honored by your presence. … We want marginalized people to be welcomed here. … We don’t claim to know the truth fully, but we aim to follow Jesus and we seek to grow together.” Evers said hearing this felt like a long-awaited hug from Christianity. “It looks like the picture of heaven,” Evers said. “All tribes, nations and tongues.”

Bethel graduate Dr. Joshua Reno, who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community and serves as a lecturer at the University

of Minnesota in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures, teaches classes covering the New Testament and other non-canonical literature. Reno points out that same-sex relations have been taking place “as long as humans have existed,” although the identification of individuals practicing homosexuality as a group distinct from others was not recognized until much later, as the term “homosexual” first appeared in the English language in the late 1800s. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 NIV reads, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.” Reno invites his students to consider the intention of Paul’s teachings in 1 Thessalonians. “In Paul's mind, there's a very clear hierarchy of sexualities. There are people who are celibate and don't have sex, and they're the best people … and then there are those that do marry and he says, ‘They are good, but not the best,’” Reno said. “He wishes everyone was celibate. I try to get people thinking about that.”

Evers and believr Head of Outreach Lupe Castillon-Mendoza launched the app from Evers’ apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2021. | Photo submitted by Adam Evers

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In his work, Runion focuses on “a high calling toward holiness and actively becoming part of God’s redemptive work in the world. No one does that perfectly – certainly not me – but hope remains.” “In my ministry, I am called to remind people of their belovedness so that they can fully experience the hope found in Jesus,” Runion said. “Bethel is a particular Christian community with particular lifestyle expectations of our fellow covenant community members. … At the same time, we are beautifully diverse in our perspectives. Learning to love across differences in this covenant community is incredibly challenging – especially on matters like LGBTQ+.” Evers wants the world to know that his relationship with God and his fundamental Christian beliefs are the same as all other Christians. “We're not any different than you. We believe just like you do. And we hurt just like you do,” he said. “Christians say that all the time … Jesus would hang out with the sinners and the prostitutes – stuff like that. If you actually think that we're that bad, and you want to be like Jesus, [you] should just hang out with us.” Evers wants LGBTQ+ Christians to know they’re not alone. The believr app is his solution. 

Follow the QR code to learn how to purchase a copy of Textura, a student-made magazine.

An international storytelling project

OPINION

This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Clarion, its staff or the institution. If you would like to submit a response or an opinion piece of your own, please contact Editor-in-Chief Rachel Blood at rachel-blood@bethel.edu.

Which major is the easiest? The answer to college’s most-debated question. By Maya Spinler | Design by Davis McElmurry

Responses have been edited for brevity and grammatical clarity. The responses published are subjective and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Clarion.

Exams, papers, projects, presentations — the struggle of academia is relentless. No matter the major, it takes a lot of work to walk out with a four-year degree. Nonetheless, it is a staple of college culture to compare majors and workloads, and Bethel is no exception. The hot-topic question to be answered is, “Which major is the easiest?” To explore this proposition, posters with a QR code that linked to a survey were placed all around campus to give Bethel a chance to anonymously voice their opinions. The responses from 23 different majors were nothing less than interesting, as well as dogmatic.

Business

The clear winner with 34.3% of the votes is the notoriously labeled “easy” major, business. When asked why, Bethel students said: “The material is not challenging and business majors rarely do homework.” “Everyone I know in business is an idiot. No one in business is challenging any major ideologies, or capitalism.” “It’s the go-to for athletes and they have full-time jobs with their sport, so they need to take a major they can handle easily.” “It’s basically high school-level math, and business majors don’t even have big papers or projects like communications majors and such. They also seem to have the most free time.” Business majors are aware of the reputation of their major. Among STEM students, it is not uncommon to overhear a threat to switch over to business as a last resort. However, business majors are quick to argue that this is simply naivety.

“Business has a lot of variety. You have to be good at math for finance and good with people for management,” one business major said. Freshman business major Ben Wheeldreyer added, “I feel like business is unique compared to other majors. The economy, stocks, financial stuff, it’s not something you normally learn in school. It’s much more practical.”

Communications With 22.9% of the votes, communications was voted the second easiest major. However, there were no specific comments about why.

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Junior communications major Grace Pust, unsurprised by the results, explained, “Most people have no idea what communications is. There is a demand for people in communications. Business majors are the ones that usually say our major is the easiest because we don’t have to ‘work with numbers.’ We still have to perform statistical analysis like they do, just not the same kind. Just because we are not memorizing all the bones in the body does not mean our major isn’t hard.” Senior Carissa Falkenberg echoed these thoughts, saying, “Sure, the business bros can sit and crunch their numbers all day long, but have they sat down and critically analyzed what’s happening in their dysfunctioning team? Communication majors, in my opinion, are simply the humanitarian caretakers of the business world. It’s a lot of work, but we support people with our big brains and hearts.”

Elementary Education Elementary education takes bronze with 14.3% of the votes. “The workload is less and the assignments for elementary education are low-level compared to engineering classes.” “Elementary education is literally just coming up with activities. The content isn’t hard either.” “I have elementary education roommates and I have never seen them do homework.” Senior elementary education major and student teacher Emily Olson responded, “Elementary education might be the easiest major content-wise, but the amount of time that elementary education requires each semester should definitely take it out of the top easiest major list ... Depending on the semester, we are required to be in the classroom between 12 to 16 hours each week teaching prepared lessons, on top of taking 15 to 18 credits of classes. And then when you are student teaching, you are teaching school from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days a week for the whole semester.”

Olson, after submitting her reaction to the Clarion, asked for comments from a group chat of student teachers. Each sent in their own response for why elementary education does not deserve to be in the top three. “Children randomly start projectile vomiting,” one student teacher said. Another wrote, “Just send them the link to Minnesota state standards”.

Art Taking fourth place with 11.4% of votes, with the simplest and most subjective responses, is art. “Just look at Picasso’s work. It’s not hard at all. I could be an art major and pass with a 4.0 without even trying.” Other responses simply were, “Dude, it’s art,” and, “It’s art.” “[It’s] hard to say because everyone thinks differently,” one art student responded. “Personally, art comes super easy to me, but I have talked to people who have said art is almost impossible to them.” Junior art major Josh Vana, the man responsible for the massive dragon that spent the majority of the semester watching over students in the library, was quick to rebut. “Other coursework has an answer. Art is personalized to have no answer ... You can’t – pardon my French – B.S. an assignment if you need a physical object and have to put in hours to create it," he said. Three out of four of the majors listed above, art being the exception, are listed in Bethel’s top five most popular majors – the other two being psychology and nursing. Nursing and psychology were two majors that made it into the “other” category in Clarion survey results. Further honorable mentions in the “other” category were leadership studies, philosophy, journalism, graphic design and music. While the temporary surmise is that business is the easiest major, the question will always remain an inconclusive one, especially as new areas of study are added. 

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Business Communications Elementary Ed Art Other

Sexual assault and harassment cases underreported on campus *Caution for readers: This story contains themes of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

A lack of comfort in coming forward with sexual assault and harassment cases leads to decreased information and statistical evidence.

By Morgan Day and Soraya Keiser | Design by Bryson Rosell

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Hannah Disbrow sat in her boyfriend’s dorm, knee bouncing as she waited for the Zoom meeting to load. Her boyfriend, Kaden Lamb, sat off to the side as she prepared to advocate for herself. The key she normally left in the unlocked door of her Arden Village suite stayed with her. Because for the first time since coming to Bethel, she didn’t feel safe. Since taking Intro to Bible in spring 2021, a man she met in class has been stalking her. He first got her email and phone number after asking her to record a lecture he missed. “I guess I didn’t think anything of it,” Disbrow said. From then on, he wouldn't leave her alone. Disbrow is one of a small number of students who reported a case of sexual assault or harassment this year. That number is always smaller than the number of students who on anonymous surveys claim to have experienced sexual violence. Bethel’s attempts to update how they interact with Title IX legislation have been paused due to COVID-19, but a new Title IX Coordinator has been

hired. Cara Horstman started the position part-time in April. “It’s really important to me that [the victim] doesn’t get lost in the legal, logistical things,” Horstman said. “Title IX is so person-focused. I want to know students as students, not just as victims of a traumatic event.” ____ Disbrow got a result. And she needed one, because her stalker would text her, call her and come up to her in public places like the Wellness Center, even though she tried to ignore him. He would ask her to invite him over to her suite and also invite her to come to his house. Even though she asked him to leave her alone, he did not listen. In fall 2021 Disbrow noticed him talking to other girls in the Wellness Center and in classes. After witnessing the interactions, she would go up to them and ask, “Hey, was that guy bothering you?” The answer was always yes. “I was more worried that he was continuing with this activity and … I didn't want somebody else to be put in my position and then get hurt or something worse,” Disbrow said. She decided to seek assistance from former Associate Dean of Residential Life Gus Tiffer Dec. 1. Tiffer redirected Disbrow to Ryan Gunderson, who was serving as the Title IX Coordinator in an interim capacity at the time. Gunderson and Disbrow scheduled a Zoom meeting for Dec. 3. Vice President of Student Experience Miranda Powers also sat in on the

meeting with Disbrow, Lamb and Gunderson. “It was nice to have a female advocate there, as I was presenting vulnerable information,” Disbrow said. After the meeting, Disbrow decided to file a no-contact order. The order states that her harasser is prohibited from being present on Bethel’s campus without prior approval by the Title IX Coordinator, and he and Disbrow must be at least 25 feet away from each other at all times. The two of them are not allowed to interact in any capacity, whether it be in person, over social media or through other people. Disbrow is not alone in her experience. According to the 2021 Annual Security Report, a document Bethel must produce because of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), two students reported cases of sexual assault on Bethel’s campus in 2018 and five reported cases classified as violating the Violence Against Women Act. In 2019, there were another two reported cases of sexual assault and two additional VAWA cases on campus. The report lists one sexual assault case and one VAWA case reported on campus in 2020. Numbers for the 2021 school year are not available in the report. But these numbers are not a fully accurate depiction of assault and harassment at Bethel. According to the Sexual Assault Items in the annual Campus Life Survey, seven students indicated that since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, someone affiliated with the Bethel community sexually assault-

Sexual Assault Items from Campus Life Survey Academic Year

# of cases*

# reported

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17§

N/A

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

*Sexual assault or attempted assault § No survey was issued for the 2016-17 academic year This story utilizes information from the Sexual Assault Items of the Campus Life Survey, available upon request from the Office of Institutional Data and Research.

What can you do? The process of reporting sexual assault or harassment cases 1. Tell someone as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours. 2. Choose to involve or not involve law enforcement. 3. Notify Title IX Coordinator Cara Horstman or submit an online anonymous report. 4. Within 10 working days of a formal complaint, an investigation will begin. 5. Receive the opportunity to select a support person who will be present throughout the investigation process. 6. You have the right to seek orders for protection, no contact orders or restraining orders. 7. The conclusion of the investigation should happen within 30 working days and will be communicated to both the complainant and the alleged offender in writing.

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8. If either party believes that the results of the investigation are unfair, they may submit a written appeal to President Ross Allen within 10 calendar days.

ed them or attempted to. Of these seven students, five were women and two were men. Only one of these students indicated that they used formal procedures to report the assault or attempted assault. The results for the 2019-2020 school year are similar. Nine students indicated that someone affiliated with the Bethel community sexually assaulted them or attempted to. Of the nine students, none used formal procedures to report the assault. This causes a discrepancy in the results between the Campus Life Survey and Annual Security Report, a conflict credited to these victims choosing not to come forward. According to the survey, victims cited the following reasons for not reporting: shame and embarrassment, worry about getting the perpetrator in trouble, not thinking their case was serious enough, busyness and not believing Bethel would do anything about the report. One such instance from the 2019-2020 school year was an assault. A recent Bethel alum was raped by another student off-campus during a university-sponsored trip while they were both still enrolled at Bethel. Though this case was between two Bethel students, the victim did not report her case. “Because it was [off-campus], I assumed it didn’t count,” the victim said in an interview with The Clarion. The Clarion does not run the names of victims without their consent unless they agree to be named. However, reporters verified her story through multiple sources.

the group’s initial work led to the implementation of signage for further information in bathrooms, updating the university website and making recommendations regarding having trained faculty and staff advocates who are available to students in the processes of working with Title IX. “Our further plans included the formation of an event that would be attended by all students, but this was not an actionable item during COVID,” Powers said. “It would be likely for a new Title IX coordinator to engage in this work once they are hired.” Horstman, the new coordinator, began part-time April 18 and will fully assume the position, replacing Interim Coordinator Ryan Gunderson, May 16. For resources on how to report see the infographic (left) or refer to the Sexual Midconduct and Sexual Harassment Policy on Bethel’s website.  The Clarion has done ongoing reporting on this issue because it affects all students and is difficult for the Bethel community to discuss. For this story, The Clarion referenced Bethel’s 2021 Annual Security Report, Campus Life Survey: Sexual Assault Items, one on-the-record and one anonymous interview with student victims, one original no-contact order from a Bethel case, one email interview with the Interim Title IX Coordinator and Compliance Officer, one email interview with the Vice President of Student Experience and one Zoom interview with the new Title IX Coordinator and Compliance Officer.

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The victim wishes she had been aware of the resources Title IX provides when she was a student at Bethel. For example, Title IX provides students with access to counseling, including paying for services outside of Bethel Counseling Services. “I didn’t know that was a thing, and that’s very frustrating for me,” she said. “I just paid a bill for therapy—I had no idea Bethel would have covered that while I was a student.” Had she known about the services provided sooner, she said she would have reported their case and sought help from within the Bethel community. In addition to paying for counseling services, the Title IX Coordinator “will meet with the complainant and respondent separately to discuss any supportive measures that are needed or may be desirable,” according to the 2021 Annual Security Report. The survey also reported lower ratings for the following items: the usefulness of the sexual assault training, understanding of Bethel’s formal procedures to address complaints of sexual assault and confidence that Bethel administers the formal procedures to address complaints of sexual assault fairly. In 2019, Faculty Senate established a working group to examine how Bethel educates students about sexual assault and sexual harassment. They have not met this school year, according to task force member and philosophy professor Sara Shady. Originally, the group examined the process for filing complaints with Title IX and reviewing guidelines. Powers, a member of the task force, said

Meet Bethel’s new Title IX Coordinator: Cara Horstman Relationally focused and faithdriven, Cara Horstman joins the Bethel community. By Morgan Day and Molly Wilson | Design by Bryson Rosell

ara Horstman officially began her role as Title IX Coordinator in a part-time capacity April 18. She will fully transition into the role May 16. Until then, she is completing her fourth year as a resident director at Crown College and taking Title IX training courses. She is ready to begin her new role at Bethel and excited to connect with students. Q: What did you do before accepting the Title IX Coordinator position? A: I am currently serving as a resident director at Crown College, which is just a few miles away from Bethel in the suburbs, and I started doing that right after I graduated from college in 2018. In college, I was an RA for a couple years, and I really loved being able to pour into the women on my floor and work with students and plan events and just build community within my college. After college, God was like, “I'm going to close every other door that's even a possibility so that you can only go through the one door that I want you to be in.” And that's what led me to be an RD. I've been at Crown for four years now, and I've loved every moment of it.

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Q: What is your go-to coffee order? A: I walk up to our coffee cart ladies at Crown and they say ‘the usual?’ and I say ‘yes.’ It’s just a black coffee with toasted marshmallow and toffee nut flavoring in it and a little bit of half and half. And I drink that every morning. It's my favorite thing. Q: What brought you to Bethel? A: As much as I loved ministering in that way, I was ready to move on from RD life. It is a draining ministry at times, and with COVID-19 it grew more difficult and I just knew it was definitely time for me to move on to the next step. I felt God calling me to

Bethel. I always said I knew I was going to be done with being an RD when God made it obvious because God made it obvious that I was supposed to be an RD in the first place. And He did this year. So I did a lot of reflecting and trying to figure out what it was that God wanted me to do next. I love higher education. I love college students. I would love to stay in this field. This job keeps me in the higher education field without being as student-focused, which is something I needed a break from. Instead I get to do something that's outside my comfort zone and also something that I'm passionate about and still has face-to-face interaction with college students. Q: What is the last thing you did before the pandemic? A: The last thing I did before the world shut down was go to California to visit one of my friends from college and got her engaged. Her fiance reached out and was like, “Here's the plan, I need your help.” And we got her to the place and got to be there when he proposed to her. Q: What is your family like? A: I'm the oldest of three. I have two younger brothers. One of my brothers is an accountant in Denver, Colorado. Boring job, but he loves it. We need accountants in the world. I just could never do that. My other brother just turned 16 on Easter. He's awesome. He’s had a physical disability from birth and is in a wheelchair. He plays wheelchair basketball and sled hockey. It's just been really cool to see my parents get my community in northwest Iowa really involved in adaptive sports. It’s something that my family's really passionate about. It has been really cool to see these kids who have the same passions as everybody else be able to do some of those things that they've never been able to do before, and be introduced to different sports that they didn't even know were possible for them to do. Q: What is your vocational “end goal?” A: End goal would be to be in higher education in some form, something in student

Q: What are your favorite forms of entertainment? A: I'm definitely a podcast person. I like TV shows. I'll stick to the sitcoms over a long movie, so “New Girl” and “Friends.” I'm not an “Office” person. I really like “Parks and Rec.” I'm a true-crime podcaster. There's a podcast called “Ologies” which is just this girl who talks about the most random things with different -ologists. One time, it was a sleep doctor and the next one's about snails. And then the next one is on bees. And then there's one on volcanoes. It's just this crazy modge podge and I love it, because I just love information. So those are my go-tos for sciency podcasts, because I was a biology major in college. “This Podcast Will Kill You” is a good one. And “Flash Forward” is a little bit of a sciency one too. Q: What do you wish more people knew about Title IX? A: No two situations are the same whether they feel very similar or not. Each situation is handled differently because of just the nature of the situation. It is a step-by-step process that we go through, but it's not as step-by-step as I think most people assume. We have to do certain things because it is federal law, but Title IX is so person-focused, and I think that can get lost a lot in logistical things. It's scary, no matter what, to report anything, to file any sort of complaint. And there's trauma and mental health that come alongside it. Something that I've learned in my training is that you don't have to do it alone. Every person that files a complaint has the ability to take a support person to go through the process with them. I never really knew that before. It’s important to know that it's not something you have to do by yourself. 

Resources provided by Title IX from Bethel University Annual Security Report 2021

• Referring the student or employee to appropriate resources for developing a safety plan • Seeking medical attention or counseling • Seeking legal assistance • Providing alternative housing, academic or workplace arrangements • Providing safety escorts to and from campus • Modifying workplace or academic schedules or responsibilities • Assisting with a leave of absence from work or school • Screening phone calls • Transferring harassing calls to Safety and Security • Removing the employee’s or student’s name from all directories

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life, whether that's a VP of Student Life, a dean position, Student Care or something like that. I'd love to continue to work with students. I love to get to see them.

24 hours at Bethel

Photo by Makenzi Johnson

Photo by Ella Roberts

Photo by Caden Christiansen

Photo by Makenzi Johnson

Photo by Soraya Keiser

Highlights from ENW120 Digital News Studio’s 24-hour search for on-campus action.

Photo by Makenzi Johnson

12 AM Sophomore psychology major Kaylee Fenner spends every Tuesday and Thursday night in the Robertson Center Gym for a game of intramural volleyball. Her team, ironically named “We Suck at Volleyball,” played at 11:15 p.m. and scrimmaged past midnight. “Normally I have a strict bedtime of 10:25 p.m. and currently it’s 12:07 a.m. I’m dying,” Fenner said with a laugh. “But I do it for volleyball because I love it.”

1 AM Sophomore biology major Emma Nelson sits in a chair in her dimly lit living room at 1:11 a.m. shifting through printed notes and articles so she can write an Introduction to Bible paper due that morning — her other five roommates have gone to bed already. Nelson stays up doing homework until 2 or 3 a.m. every night. On a good day, she gets five hours of sleep.

3 AM Senior English education major Morgan Day finishes up work for her internship at Beaver’s Pond Press in the 3900 Grill at 3:44 a.m. She’s ending her 22nd birthday — filled with a trip to the Como Conservatory, receiving five bouquets of flowers and a plush bunny and avoiding homework — with yet another all-nighter.

9 AM Senior media production major Josh Sanchelli meets with two of his friends for a study session in the 3900 Grill. They eat a pre-lunch snack, drink coffee and discuss their classes. Sanchelli, frustrated with an assignment, smacks his textbook on the table and points out his irritation to his friends.

10 AM Junior communications major Grace Pust sits at the front desk in the Department of Communications Studies. As the receptionist, her job consists of completing Teaching Assistant work for professors and doing bizarre tasks. “I had to clean out a closet once and it had so much weird stuff in it – Christmas decorations, tri-fold posters and hundreds of little trophies,” Pust said. “I had to contact the art department to collect the trophies. I think they melted them down or something.”

1 PM Senior organizational communications major Gina Miller enjoys a quick meal in the Monson Dining Center. Most days Miller gets stir fry, but she always gets a fortune cookie. Her fortune for the day reads: Be adventurous and try a new look. “Does that mean I should cut my hair?” Miller asked. “I was thinking about it.”

3 PM Athletic trainer Alyssa Tiedens grinds her elbow into fifth-year softball player Jamie Axelberg’s left glute. This is Tiedens’ third patient of the day. Axelberg suffers from chronically tight hips, so her treatment involves trigger point release over the glute muscle, which helps loosen everything up.

Photo by Anna Pearson

6 PM Junior art major Josh Vana smoothes the edges of a clay bowl, letting the material slip between his fingers as the pottery wheel spins. He stretches the material upward to see how tall he can make it, but the top rim eventually disconnects from the body. “It’s okay,” Vana said. “Like I said, it’s only for fun.” Photo by Sarah Bakeman

7 PM Junior business major Andrew Bland stood in the chip aisle of Target, carefully deciding which variety of Doritos would attract the most freshmen residents before moving down an aisle to grab a party-sized pack of Oreos. Bland, an RA in Getsch Hall, runs Shack Wednesday nights. “I’m gonna miss being on an RA team like I am currently,” Bland said. “That’s been really fruitful… but I’m not gonna miss my room.” Photo by Sarah Bakeman

8 PM Senior media production student Kale Cox records a voiceover in the podcast booth as part of a media assignment. The media production department hosts a variety of industry-leading tools for audio and video work. “I’m trying to get this done quickly before my next class,” Cox said as he finished up his script and headed into the booth to record.

Photo by Matt Eng

10 PM Late-night Royal Grounds employee Elayna Kawlewski draws the metallic silver shutters to indicate the closing time of RG. She starts her closing tasks by changing out the garbage cans and preparing bins for the next morning’s rush. For most people, the “graveyard” shift is a drag, but for Kawlewski, living off the nighttime vibes via friends, co-workers and leftover pastries is enough to make the job fun. Photo by Jett Hutton-Lau

11 PM Student Facilities Management Manager Christian Hamre vacuums the green carpeted halls in front of the Monson Dining Center and 3900 Grill. Half an hour to midnight, Hamre appreciates the quiet and calming environment the job provides. “It’s kind of nice to be in the low points of the building,” Hamre said. “Just to be around the buildings when they aren’t busy.”  Photo by Jett Hutton-Lau

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More than taping ankles *Caution for readers: This story contains a mention of attempted suicide.

Athletic trainers at Bethel discuss the joys and challenges of caring for student athletes in ways beyond just the physical realm. By Emily Rossing | Design by Davis McElmurry

though the national trends in burnout among athletic trainers would suggest this, it looks like Bethel’s trainers are an exception, with very low turnover rates. The field of athletic training conjures up many familiar images to most who’ve been around sports: taping ankles, administering rehab exercises and giving emergency care should an athlete require it during competition. But according to Hinnenkamp, this is only half of her job. The other half, and more important half to her, is building relationships with the athletes. “If my athletes don’t leave my care knowing that they're loved and that they matter, then I didn’t succeed as an athletic trainer,” Hinnenkamp said. While most trainers share these sentiments, it’s typically not enough to run on. One comprehensive analysis done by the job site Zippia found that 58% of athletic trainers did not hold their current position for more than two years before looking elsewhere for employment. Turnover is a critical issue in the athletic training world, as the long hours, average pay and high stress cause many to feel burnt out. And yet, Bethel’s trainers all seem to defy this. Though exact data is hard to pin down, Director of Athletic Training at Bethel Justin Byers feels that athletic trainers at Bethel seem to stay longer than other institutions.

Junior soccer player Jacob Redden talks with athletic trainer Annie Hinnenkamp in the training room on a Wednesday morning. Redden, who recently had surgery, is working with Hinnenkamp to heal the injury before soccer season in the fall. “She’s great,” Redden said. “She always says treat the patient, not the injury.” | Photo by Toby Ryberg

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nnie Hinnenkamp laid on her pillow, wide awake. Her eyes still stung from the lack of sleep. How many days has it been now? Three, maybe four? They’ve been blurring together. 80-some-odd hours ago, she got a call from one of her athletes telling her he had just attempted sucide. He wasn’t sure why calling his athletic trainer felt like the right thing to do, but it did. After that night, he didn’t return her calls for four days. Finally, the phone rang with his name appearing on the caller ID. “I just needed some time away,” he told Hinnenkamp. She gets it, she really does. She’s a little angry, sure, because he didn’t let her know he was OK. But more than anything, she’s overwhelmed with relief. Hinnenkamp, who treats men’s soccer and men’s hockey athletes at Bethel, didn’t imagine talking someone off the ledge when she decided to become an athletic trainer. She also didn’t imagine falling in love with teaching only to have it pulled from underneath her. She certainly didn’t imagine doubling her hours at work due to a major pandemic. And yet, these are all the realities of the athletic trainers at Bethel. Despite having five trainers on staff, the second-most in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the issues that trainers deal with behind the scenes contribute to rapid burnout. And

Athletic trainer Annie Hinnenkamp smiles as she works in the training room on a Wednesday morning. | Photo by Toby Ryberg

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To him, there is an obvious reason for this: trainers are appreciated at Bethel. Byers has been treating athletes at Bethel for the past 18 years. Prior to Bethel, he worked in professional sports, where he says he was used to being underappreciated. Though he feels his job is essential to a team’s success, it often goes unnoticed in the larger sports world. Byers says the situation at Bethel is unique in that the athletes are much kinder and more understanding than any he’s encountered before. According to him, it’s the reason why the turnover rate at Bethel is so low. “It’s very rare that I ever feel underappreciated at a place like this,” Byers said. One reason that both Byers and Hinnenkamp loved the job before 2020 was because they got to teach their trade to wide-eyed, bushy-tailed students who were just as passionate as they were about caring for athletes. Bethel instituted a “3+2” program in 2017, and it looked promising despite low enrollment in the initial years. The program allowed students to receive their Bachelor’s of Science as well as their Master’s in Athletic Training in five years instead of six, and it was the only program of its kind in the Twin Cities. But when it came to making budget cuts in spring 2020, the athletic training program was one of the first to go. After only a few years of running, the 3+2 AT program was cut, and the students within the program were forced to find other options.

“Our contracts ended up changing…so I wasn’t allowed to teach anymore, which was frustrating,” Hinnenkamp said. “I loved teaching.” The contracts, which originally described job duties as being split between caring for athletes and teaching within the program, were rewritten so training was now the fulltime focus. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, as soon after, COVID-19 flipped their jobs upside down again. In order for athletics to happen in the past year, trainers became the main people who monitored any kind of sickness on all teams, particularly COVID-19. This meant quarantining athletes, asking for close contacts and prohibiting participation due to NCAA required “return-to-play” protocols. “COVID was hands down the hardest,” Hinnenkamp said. “It added a layer of frustration because now the athletic trainer became the bad guy.” Though trainers hate telling players they can’t play due to injury or sickness, both Hinnenkamp and Byers acknowledge that it’s a necessary part of the job and ultimately in the best interest of the athlete and team as a whole. COVID-19 exacerbated this with outbreaks coursing through winter sports this past season. This meant that trainers not only had to “act as the villian” by prohibiting play, but it also added a few hours onto their already long days. Hinnenkamp says during

hockey season, it was common for her to work 17-hour days. She admits that this did cause her to feel burnt out at times. Without having any time for herself to decompress, it was tough to keep going. And yet, she was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As of April 13, the NCAA greatly loosened COVID-19 related protocols, including ending mandatory testing for unvaccinated athletes. This, combined with winter seasons coming to a close, was the break Hinnenkamp needed. “Burnout comes from working long hours,” Hinnenkamp said. “My burnout doesn’t change that I still love what I do.” In the training room, it’s an hour before practices start. The room houses eight examination tables but is filled with many more people than that. Hinnenkamp works on a men’s hockey player while Byers laughs with a football player who is rocking on a foam roller. Other trainers scatter around the training room getting their athletes ready for practice. There is a vibrant chatter in the air as athletes from different sports catch up while preparing their bodies to train. In that room, bodies are cared for and camaraderie is built. “I fully believe I have the best job in the world,” Hinnenkamp said. 

Ratio of Trainers to Athletes in the MIAC* Augsburg

1 trainer for every 83 athletes

St. Mary's

1 : 102

Macalester

1 : 104.25

Hamline

1 : 129.25

St. Scholastica

1 : 130

Bethel

1 : 131.6

Gustavus

1 : 154.4

Carleton St. Olaf St. Catherine

1 : 162.67 1 : 200.33 1 : 215

Concordia

1 : 319 33

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* Accurate date for the number of student athletes could not be obtained for Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict.

Go Figur Go Figure Go Figure Notable stats in Bethel’s spring sports.

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By Kaden Lamb | Design by Davis McElmurry

Women’s Track

The number of seconds in which freshman sprinter Sarah Stellmach ran the fastest 100m dash in the MIAC this year at the Holst Invitational April 23.

55.55

Men’s Track

The number of meters in which junior thrower Gabe Irons broke his own record in the discus throw at the Holst Invitational. That throw put Irons on top of the national leaderboards and was more than 10m farther than the second best in the MIAC.

1.71

Baseball

The second best Earned-Run Average in the MIAC held by freshman pitcher Max Sutter. He has helped the team to an overall record of 25-7, putting Bethel in first place in the MIAC.

483

Softball

The number of career strikeouts of junior pitcher Kayla Simacek, who leads the MIAC in both strikeouts and ERA. Much thanks to Simacek, Bethel's team ERA is second in the nation at 1.06. Bethel holds the top spot in the conference and was placed 11th in the national ranking.

75.9

Women's Golf

The average score of junior golfer Anna Tollefson, tied for first in the MIAC.

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re e

12.03

A long way to go For Bethel softball, the 50th anniversary of Title IX legislation is a cause for celebration and a reminder of the constant need for growth in women’s athletics. By Caden Christiansen and Soraya Keiser | Design by Essie Shull

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Coach Penny Foore at Ona Orth Ath. Complex looking onto her players against College of St. Scholastica. | Photo by Mild Du.

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ethel University softball coach Penny Foore stands just outside the dugout where shadow meets sun. With sunglasses on and her hair pulled back, Foore means business. From the side of the diamond she gives advice to her player-at-bat or makes quick comments to her husband and assistant coach Roman Foore in the dugout. The Royals are playing in a makeup game against Hamline University in mid-April and quickly score three runs just in the first inning. Six innings later the Royals defeat Hamline 6-4. But it’s not just an ordinary win for the top-ranked team in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Foore has just coached her 150th career win and her team is also ranked 11th in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. However, the success of her team is not her only mission. – Growing up in small-town Iowa, Foore and her family lived and breathed softball. She played. Her dad umpired. Her mom coached. “She pressed really hard even when we were young, like, women can do math. Women can do sports,” Foore said. Foore had the support of her parents and Title IX legislation, which works for gender equity, in her athletic endeavors, but this has not been the case for everyone. Foore’s mom played basketball and softball in college. Her teams were never prioritized, and sometimes they would have to practice at 2 a.m. because that was the only time their team was allowed in the gym. Foore’s mom graduated in May 1972. Title IX became law June 23, 1972, only one month later. Title IX is a part of the Education Amendments of 1972 that protects people from discrimination based on sex while participating in education programs and activities that receive financial assistance from the federal government. It applies to athletic programs by requiring schools to provide equal opportunities for men and women in sports. Title IX has helped women introduce new sports to their schools, increase financial assistance through athletic scholarships and receive more funding for equipment, travel and other expenses. Numbers and funding do not have to be equal between men’s and women’s teams, but athletic departments must strive to be fair based on participation numbers, student body demographics and revenue streams. Looking at how far women’s athletics have come since her

2021-2022 Season highlights Bethel women's teams:

women head coaches for Bethel's sports teams

Women's basketball:

Volleyball:

men head coaches for Bethel's sports teams

• 19-8 overall, 17-5 in the MIAC • Made it to MIAC playoff semifinals

• 23-7 overall record, 10-1 in the MIAC • Finished regular season tied for the MIAC championship • Earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament

Softball: • Currently 26-3, 15-1 in the MIAC • Currently ranked #11 in the nation

Track and field: • Won first MIAC championship at Carleton

Golf: • Three first place finishes so far this year

MIAC Schools Head Coach Average Salaries

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Head Coach Penny Foore at Ona Orth Ath. Complex against College of St. Scholastica speaking to the next batter. | Photo by Mild Du.

“It is my heart and my passion to see women’s sports continue to rise, and not in spite of men’s sports but in addition to men’s sports.” Penny Foore, Bethel softball coach

sary of the Title IX legislation being passed. As the Royals softball team continues to embark on an already historic season, the April 23 double header serves as another reminder of the immense progress women have made in sports and the continued growth that needs to happen to ensure equity. “It is my heart and my passion to see women’s sports continue to rise,” Foore said. “And not in spite of men’s sports but in addition to men’s sports.”  The statistics listed above are accurate as of April 28.

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mom’s collegiate career often makes Foore emotional, and she wants “to just continue to champion that cause and empower young women as much as we can.” Foore believes there is still a long way to go before true equality is achieved. Foore is one of two women's head coaches out of the 18 head coaches – for nine men’s sports and nine women’s sports – that make up Bethel athletics. Volleyball coach and Assistant Athletic Director Gretchen Hunt is the other. However, Foore feels like her position as a woman is still different because she is not an administrator like Hunt. “I'm kind of on an island a little bit,” Foore said. However, Foore says she has never felt like she has been treated differently because of her gender. “It’d be great to have more female coaches on staff and it's kind of where we are at right now. It’s something we think about, and try to, as opportunities arise, lean into that,” Athletic Director Greg Peterson said. “Me being male, I can’t envision being in their shoes.” According to data submitted annually by Peterson on behalf of Bethel athletics to the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis, women’s head coaches make on average $12,000 less than men’s head coaches. These averages do not take into account the size of the team, time the coach has been at Bethel or the revenue teams bring in. Foore and Roman coach professional softball in the summer in order to make a living. This second job also provides them with the chance to recruit for Bethel softball without using funds allocated for recruitment in their budget. So far during their individual 2021-2022 seasons, Beth-

el women’s sports teams have had successes, including volleyball tying for the regular season MIAC championship and earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, basketball finishing 17-5 in MIAC play, track and field winning its first MIAC championship and softball currently ranking nationally in the top 25. “There is some really cool stuff going on, and I believe wholeheartedly that we are supposed to be good; excellence is biblical,” Peterson said. As Bethel athletics continue to compete at a high level both within the MIAC conference and on a national level, Peterson believes there are still ways the university can provide a more fair and equitable experience for all of its student athletes. Peterson appreciates having voices like Foore and Hunt to give him different perspectives into changes that need to be made to ensure equity for all student athletes. “I think we do some things well, and I think we have some areas to grow in,” Peterson said. “The biggest thing for me is having a group of people around me, like Penny and Gretchen, that have a perspective that I don’t have. We’re working to get every sport as good as they can be.” Foore’s Royals faced off in a doubleheader against The College of St. Scholastica at Ona Orth Athletic Complex April 23. The Royals swept the games 12-2 and 6-1, improving their winning streak to 21 games. The Royals had more to celebrate than their own success. Golden party decorations spun in the wind, hanging off the unusually packed bleachers. There was an energy among the Royals as the team honored the 50th anniver-

OPINION

Benchwarmers Benchwarmers Benchwarmers Benchwarmers Benchwarmers

Being a backup is hard, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. By Kaden Lamb | Design by Josiah Ahlquist

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Aside from the blissful moment when your bat glides through the zone and cracks the ball with the juiciest part of the barrel, the best part of hitting a home run is rounding third base and seeing all of us pouring out of the dugout. Jumping up and down and waiting for your cleat to touch home plate. We’ll crowd all around you, shouting and slapping your helmet as if you had just taken down Goliath himself. We’ll be there after you’re knocked to the hardwood under the basket. We’ll shove the player who fouled you and say “try that again, see what happens.” When you reach out your hands, we’ll help you up and remind you to sink the free-throws with a pat on the butt. After you make the free-throws and are running back on defense, we’ll coordinate a celebration on the bench that looks like we’re all rowing a boat with our water bottles. When your final penalty kick bounces off the crossbar and the weight of defeat sinks

into your chest, when you fall on your knees on the cold grass and feel more alone than ever before, we’ll be there to comfort you. We’ll put our arms around your shoulders and tell you how proud of you we are. We’ll let you sob into our jersey at the close of the season and we’ll tell your parents how much we loved playing with you. When your breath is stolen by icy Gatorade pouring over your head in a post-championship interview, we’ll be running away with the empty orange bucket. We’re the benchwarmers. The scout players. The bums. We exist. And we'd do anything to be in your place. I’m a backup. In fact, I’m a backup to a backup. And last year, I was that backup’s backup’s backup. It’s like that brain trick when you say the same word over and over until it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Sometimes I wish it was that easy to make backup not mean anything to me, but truthfully, it stings. You could say I was somewhat of a stud in high school. I soared through my classes, playing three varsity sports and earning a handful of accolades through the various clubs I was involved in. I had been set up well for success in my community and life

“

Matt Teigland Student Athlete

was still introducing myself to some of my teammates in the spring of that school year. When they asked who I was, the best I could give was, “I wear a black practice jersey. Number 18.” I wasn’t nobody, but I had a hard time

believing I was anybody yet. Senior Matt Teigland was in my shoes four years ago. In high school, he played well against some of the nations’ top recruits and thought he could hang with them. But when recruiting season came around, his mailbox remained void of any scholarship offers from bigger schools. Bethel had been in contact with him through his junior and senior years, and he ended up choosing to go to his father’s alma mater to play football for the Royals. Here, he had the same rude awakening many of us have experienced. “I had that moment of realization that I’m not as good as I thought… just about every day in practice [during the fall] of my freshman year,” Teigland said. In that freshman year, Teigland struggled with his identity leaning heavily on being an athlete. His self-esteem was in the dumps because he didn’t have much personal worth if he wasn’t getting any time in the games. In that period of identity crisis, Teigland built some of his best friendships with his teammates on the football team. Still, the tearing pain of being a benchwarmer was not easily mended. “The hard part is not feeling connected to the guys at the top of the depth chart,” he

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I had that moment of realization that I’m not as good as I thought… just about every day in practice [during the fall] of my freshman year.

“

was pretty easy. I had a well-known reputation to uphold, and I was comfortable in that identity. It was a classic “big fish, small pond” type of scenario. Bethel actually didn’t show much interest in me as a quarterback, so I ended up recruiting myself to the team. I sent in my highlight reel and got a text from coach Chad Richards saying that I could play. His next message said “I am looking at depth charts for this fall. What position do you feel is best for you?” That should have been my first clue that things would not be the same at Bethel as they were in Plainview, Minnesota, where there are more cows than there are people. I arrived on campus to find that the team had seven quarterbacks, four of which were in my freshman class. Out of the seven, I can’t even confidently say that I was number six on the depth chart. These dudes were bigger, faster, more experienced and just flatout better at football than I was. The biggest struggle was restructuring my identity in this new community. Back home, I could always just say, “You know, I’m Mr. Lamb’s son. The head football coach, I’m his oldest.” On my new team, my own coaches called me Kaleb on more than one occasion. I

Submitted Photo

Photo by Mild Du

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said. “Getting wrapped up in… the hierarchical status can rob you of feeling like a meaningful part of the team.” Over his four years as a Bethel football player, Teigland’s view of himself has shifted. Aside from garbage minutes at the end of blowout games, he saw the field as a special teams player in his senior season, sprinting down the field on kickoffs. At the end of the season, he decided to come back for a fifth year because he loves being on the team, despite not playing much. “I have two different identities when it comes to sports. One is being a competitor and the other is being a teammate… [In col-

lege] I’ve grown a lot more in my teammate side to balance it out,” Teigland said. Now, Teigland actually appreciates being a benchwarmer. He likes to call himself and the other backups “scrubs,” and points out that being a benchwarmer actually makes it easier to be a humble teammate than being a starter. “Sports aren’t about trophies or minutes, [they’re] about building your character,” he said. “Being a scrub… is a blessing in disguise sometimes.” I’m still pretty new to this whole benchwarmer thing, but I’m figuring it out the same way Teigland did. In my whole col-

legiate career, I may never step foot between the hashes on a Saturday afternoon. I might not ever get to hear my name announced over the booming speakers. You better believe I’ll be doing everything I can to crack the starting lineup, but I’m learning that there’s more to myself than making highlight plays. If I’m stuck being a benchwarmer, it’ll be okay. Not everyone gets to perform miracles. After all, somebody has to carry the clipboard on game day.

132 students are varsity athletes

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361

Only 132 of those athletes play in 75% of games

OPINION This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Clarion, its staff or the institution. If you would like to submit a response or an opinion piece of your own, please contact Editorin-Chief Rachel Blood at rachel-blood@bethel.edu.

Book Review:

“The Postmodern Poet” Reflections on faith and heartbreak. By Rachel Blood | Design by Davis McElmurry

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ostmodernity has murdered art, and nobody says it better than 2017 Bethel graduate Josiah Callaghan. Callaghan, who earned a degree in biblical and theological studies from Bethel and a Masters of Arts in Bible from Luther College in 2020, beautifully integrates Christian concepts, classic literature and well-articulated emotional turmoil in his first book, “The Postmodern Poet: Himeros & Anteros.” The anthology is divided into seven parts: Lilac, Violet, Lilith, Venus, Lily, Vapor and Lúthien. When read thematically from start to finish, the various parts meld together to create a journey I think many can relate to in one way or another. Beginning as a boy full of innocence and trust in the world, of humanity and of love, “The Postmodern Poet” flows from youth to maturity in a series of ups and downs, repeated heartbreak, intense emotion and theological reflection. “Lilac” opens with the viewpoint that love is pure and a gift and eventually transitions to the concept that postmodern Western society has murdered not only art, but “truth, beauty, innocence and the divine spark.” Callaghan encourages readers to embrace the nuances of emotion and to really love, because nothing truly worthwhile comes without risk. This exploration of love and faith

and their mutual exclusiveness is perhaps what will make the work so appealing to people in various stages of growth. In “Lilac,” Callaghan nods to Tennyson with a slight play on his famous line: “‘Tis better to have lived and lost, than never to have lived at all.” After a declaration that “if love is dead, so is God” in “Vapor,” the collection ends in a triumphant declaration of hope which left my heart full: “Love never dies!” In sophisticated language but relatable themes, Callaghan tells of a boy clinging to optimism and hope for a perhaps shattered and most certainly disenchanted world. Feeling himself breaking in the liminal space between a dying age and a new, more cynical one, Callaghan comes to terms with his natural inclination to feel intensely. Everything from the fall of Romanticism to classic heartbreak is represented in this raw and vulnerable collection. “The Postmodern Poet,” filled with references to known authors from all over the world, Greek mythology and the intricacies of many languages, illustrates the sacredness of words, or even of silence, which Callaghan says we must relearn. “The Postmodern Poet” will be published this summer by Good Soil Press. 

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Guess my major Answers are found on the bottom of the next page.

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Read the full story online

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O L L E H

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: A I AM

Christianity® By Trevor Rankin | Illustration by Aimee Kuiper

fortable assigning to ourselves and others who fit the Christian brand. The brand connected to the label “Christian” usually includes a certain way of talking, acting and looking, which more often than not confuses our own assumptions for Christianity. Much of what we mark as “Christian” are more reflections of our own culture than they are expressions of the heart of Christianity. The downfall of many of the leaders at the helm of a marketed Christianity show that community with Christ cannot be represented in a brand. The wave of exposure at Hillsong is just the latest example of the corruption that lies below the surface of a Christianity that has been reduced to a commodity. A Christianity true to Jesus can never be a brand because it is not marketable, profitable or popular. The way of Jesus can never be encapsulated in a brand because it does not create an in-group versus an out-group. When Christianity becomes a brand, all of a sudden those who fit the mold are accepted and those who don’t are excluded, but Jesus welcomes everyone. Over and over again in the gospels, Jesus welcomes the outsider. Jesus welcomes the people we reject. Christianity can never be limited to the brands we create out of it. Put simply, commodification always distorts Christianity. The call of Jesus transcends the neat ways we try to package the Christian life and challenges us to live radically for God. The radical call of Jesus is most clearly depicted through the cross. As the central symbol of Christianity, the cross reveals both God and the Christian life to us. You can’t brand that without doing Jesus a disservice. The depth and challenge of the cross, that is, the revelation of who God is and what the Christian life is all about, could never appropriately be reduced to a brand. As we look to live lives faithful to Jesus, the unvarnished cross of Christ leads us. 

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Most labels today go hand in hand with a brand. If you think of a label like Target, images of a bullseye, a white dog and the color red come to mind. Even names are often connected to branding. For example, Tom Brady is more than just a person. Tom Brady, also known as TB12, is a brand characterized by competition and a winning culture captured in the moment of raising a Lombardi Trophy. TB12 is a brand complete with a logo, merchandise, a book and a color scheme. The slogan of TB12, “sustaining peak performance,” coined in the subtitle of The TB12 Method points customers toward success in the sports world and beyond. Other labels from every corner of our culture – like Nike, Democrat, Kanye West and Bethel – all have brands associated with them. If you can name it, you can probably brand it. Brands are designed to market people, products and ideas. Brands are a collage of aesthetics that attempt to embody and represent a characteristic. When I wear a Nike t-shirt, I am doing more than wearing a nice-looking shirt. I am also representing and marking myself as a participant in the spirit of Nike to “just do it.” Brands are marketable because not only does the purchaser buy the product, they also buy a share in the spirit, reputation or character of the product. Because only those who have bought into a brand can be included in it, brands naturally must have boundaries. A brand defines who is in and who is outside of the brand. When I wear a Bethel hoodie, I am associated with Bethel University as opposed to Northwestern. I am marked as on Team Bethel by virtue of sporting its gear. Brands are necessary, useful parts of our culture, but when branding tries to encapsulate labels with as much depth as “Christian” or “Jesus Christ,” issues inevitably bubble over. The label of “Christian” is one we are com-

Answers from previous page: (A) Ellie Sammon: English and Political Science (B) Carter Nelson: Communication Studies and Media Production (C) Hannah Smason: Theatre Arts and English (D) David Aamot: Accounting and Finance & Economics and Finance (E) Cadie Logston: Vocal Performance (F) Jessie Schmidt: Bachelor of Fine Arts

OPINION

Does God want Bethel to win? By Emily Rossing | Design by Spencer Vang

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Please, don’t challenge me to a game of spikeball. It’s not that I don’t like it. In fact, I love it. I love it so much I’m scared of what you’ll think of me afterward. I get mean in spikeball. I’ll call you names and taunt you and get really, really mad when you start to beat me. I’ll bloody up my knees and rip my leggings, but it’s all worth it to me if I win. I love winning. At the risk of sounding cocky, I’ll say that this is part of what makes me a good volleyball player. I have an inner drive (maybe compulsion?) to do the best I can, especially when it involves winners and losers. I’m even more motivated when I have a team whose success is somewhat dependent on my performance. I love the adrenaline rush. There’s nothing better than beating Hamline in volleyball after a five-set struggle that ends with a regular season conference title. Sometimes I wonder where Jesus is in that. For so long, I’ve married the words “Christian” and “athlete” in my mind. To say I’m a Christian athlete is something I wear with pride. Sacrifice, hard-work, drive – these are all qualities I like to think Jesus had. But the cockiness, the pride, the arguing with refs… is that something He had, too? Maybe it’s inevitable. It’s almost as if these things are embedded into the very nature of sport. I mean, do I really care about the success of my team if I don't argue a call that’s clearly wrong? So naturally, I am going to get a little bit heated. I think that’s understandable for anyone who loves sport and puts countless hours into it. But I think the rub for me is how much I sense Bethel athletes and coaches alike act like we are on such moral high ground because of “how hard we sacrifice for each other,” when in fact, we are just acting like any other student athlete would. In this way, I don’t really know who a Christian athlete is, or at least, how she’s different from a non-Christian athlete. In preparation for this piece, I talked to a few athletes and coaches about this idea. Track and Field Coach Andrew Rock said giving an opponent anything less than his best would be insulting to the opponent. I guess that’s true. I certainly would be offended if someone I were playing against went easy on me.

Men’s Basketball Coach Zach Filzen teaches his team to live by the phrase “excellence is worship,” arguing that not fully leaning into the gifts and abilities God has gifted them is insulting to the Lord. Conversely, using them to achieve at a high level is glorifying to the Lord. Maybe that’s true too, but it’s a dangerous idea for me. Once I’m on that stage of achieving at a high level, it’s virtually impossible for me to not claim some of the glory for myself. What does it look like to actually turn it over for the glory of the Lord, in a way that’s different from other student athletes? At the same time, what does it mean if I do everything I can, and still lose? It’s something I haven’t figured out in my three years at Bethel, and I don’t expect to figure out in my final year either. But I think it’s important that we think about it as athletes who trash talk across the line of scrimmage and also represent Jesus. Jesus, who wasn’t born into any kind of status that we strive for (including a stud athlete), but as a humble baby in a manger. Though he was King of Kings and could have definitely dunked on anyone if he wanted to, he never acted like it. He spent his entire life denying himself the spotlight and uplifting those around him instead, even those who persecuted him. When I say I play for Christ, I hope this is what others see. 

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Thus sayeth OPINION

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52 This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Clarion, its staff or the institution. If you would like to submit a response or an opinion piece of your own, please contact Editor-in-Chief Rachel Blood at rachel-blood@bethel.edu.

h the Lord Writing and Illustration by Bryson Rosell

God, then it alters the way we engage problematic texts entirely, leaving room for us to question the Bible. Woah now! This sounds like heresy, right? Not necessarily. According to Rohr, “Good scriptural interpretation does demand some initial surrender…however, we must also be encouraged to ask why, how and what, with our trained intellect.” This is not foreign to monotheistic religions, and in fact, happened in the Talmud. According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, the law requiring the stoning of disobedient children was declared too harsh by Rabbinic Judaism. This reversal of the Old Testament law was rooted in the understanding of the heresy of “accepting the authority of the written word while rejecting oral tradition.” I want to be clear. The real problem is not necessarily the way we interpret the Bible today, but instead the lack of consideration given to the dark corners of the book. We are so desensitized to Biblical violence we forget someone died, someone was maimed. The laws requiring harsh punishment for minuscule offenses become metaphors for God’s desire for perfection and our inability to meet those standards. The stories of Israelites wiping out entire civilizations are the fulfillment of God’s promise to the Hebrew people for a land of their own. There is little to no conversation surrounding these passages and what they mean or how we are to understand them today. We can’t sweep them under the rug. We must either reconcile these atrocities with the image of God as loving and just or reinterpret them as not being the will of God at all. There are only these two options: either God's people have distorted God's word, or God might very well command you to stone your child at any moment for any reason. There can be no in-between. Neither option is easy to swallow, but either way there remains the necessary task for each Christian to enter into this nebulous space of uncertainty for themselves. I’m no biblical scholar. In fact, my only claim to authority on this matter is as a missional ministries drop-out and an arm-chair theologian, but sometimes the congregation and lay-people of the church have a better understanding of the will of God than the academics and scholars. So, when was the last time you really read the Bible? 

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When was the last time you read the Bible? Like, all the way through, no skipping (no matter how boring Leviticus may be). Remember that time an Israelite woman ate her child? What about the time God told the priest to burn his daughter at the stake? Well, it’s all in there. Somewhere along the line, glossing over inconvenient passages became standard practice in Biblical interpretation. The most problematic part by far is that a vast majority of these actions we believe to be God-approved. The common thread is something called Holy Amnesia, a term describing the act of stripping humanity from violent passages and replacing the victims with our personal struggles or metaphors all while maintaining their historical or biblical legitimacy. I was taught to see my final exams or ambiguous personal struggles as the Goliath to my David, but I forgot that Goliath dies in that story. When was the last time the Church preached about Leviticus 21:9; a command in which the daughter of a priest must be burned at the stake if she is caught in prostitution? What does that say about God? My pastor might tell me it shows God’s desire for purity and the high standards God has set. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 tells us about the killing of a son because of his drinking and eating habits. Do either of these stories sound like the Jesus of the Gospels? The traditional response is that these commands are for a specific time and place, that these people were special. But in reality, we place blanket statements and our eyes glaze over, rarely taking the time to let this fact sink in: if we believe the Bible to be historically accurate, then these are real people who really died. Is it OK to stone someone to death for alcoholism? Should we burn prostitutes at the stake? No. We are called to extend grace to everyone by none other than Jesus. Depending on your view of sin, you might say that all sin is equal in God’s eyes. So why the double standard? We by default label these stories as God-breathed, but what does that do to our image of God? My theory is that the answer lies with how we understand the Bible, and not in the character of God. Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest known for his writing on Christian spirituality, writes about reading the Bible through the eyes of Jesus. When we understand Jesus to be the perfect revelation of

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OPINION

Asymptote

*Caution for readers: This story contains themes of sexual assault. By Alaina Sandau | Illustration by Aimee Kuiper

lay there, silently counting the popcorn on the ceiling of his apartment. I didn’t know how to tie the strands of an unhappy ending. In my paralysis, the threads feverishly tried to tie what had happened into something I could hold. It was like I was drowning overwater, or like I was invisible but everyone was staring at me, or like time didn’t stop but it was supposed to. Except that getting raped wasn’t like anything, and for once in my life I didn’t have the words. I just had the math. I was nearing an asymptote with a value of zero. I was so tiny with my arms wrapped around my knees. I felt my body shrink with every exit on the highway as he drove me home, but I just couldn’t seem to disappear into nothingness, even though it would make everything easier. After that, I became like a character from a math equation. My behavior was erratic – Why was I baking 16 mini donuts and giving six to him one week after it happened? Why was I crying 13 tears at the doctor’s office but still failing to speak over the lump in my throat to ask for one tissue? Why do I feel like one girl divided by two? I haven’t solved these equations yet. I’m trying. Though, as I go, I remember that math is a particularly despicable but curious subject in that it requests answers but not conclusions, which is why Tamara now has 47 pomegranates and a future unwritten, and I was perhaps mistaken in labeling my current chapter of hurt an ending. This pain nears an asymptote of zero. I know this, and I feel it, too. It gets smaller every day. This is indisputable, this is fact; this is forever. My threads find their way free, ready to be spun again. As I watch the tiny quotient stretching out over the days of my life and reaching out toward eternity, I know that I am, too. 

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Throughout my elementary, middle and high school education, I spent my time either in the English classroom or dreaming of it. I loved reading, and even more so writing, pulling from the sprawling narrative threads of my mind and tying conflicts to learning experiences, wry quips and happy endings. I did not hold such warm sentiments for my math classes, however. I felt they allowed no room for deeper meaning or happy endings – really, any conclusions at all. There is hardly meaning to be found in the assigned equations, and when there is, it makes no sense. Why is Tamara buying 86 pomegranates and giving 39 to her son? How does it end? Now there are two quite literally very seedy individuals living lives out there who have yet to be respectably concluded, doing God knows what. By the time I got to calculus, math demanded this suspension of belief as well as mastery of its most important concept: limits. Limits come into play when one has everything around a number except the value itself – what an equation is approaching but will never, ever touch: The asymptote. To me, this baseline concept was the infuriating pinnacle illustration of a subject that refuses coherent conclusion. Basically, it was wack. I never took a higher math class and forgot everything I regurgitated onto that final Scantron in the spring of 2018. I took up a major in psychology with a minor in teaching English to speakers of other languages, because I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was a thread spinner, a story keeper, a happy-ender. Maybe that’s why I didn’t cry when it happened. The threads of a story I wasn’t ready to let go of yet twisted around a chest that would otherwise heave, binding legs that would otherwise run and snaking around fingers that would otherwise weave sense, but couldn’t. I

MORE THAN A SINGLE STORY A podcast created by Bethel University senior Alice Hong to affirm, listen to and engage in the diverse experience of students, faculty and staff on campus. This series serves to be a safe platform to hold and honor the experiences of others with compassion and kindness. Available on the Clarion podcast network.

The Clarion | Issue 07 | May 2022

Articles inside

Asymptote

Does God want Bethel to win?

Chistianity®

Thus sayeth the Lord

Review: “The Postmodern Poet”

Bethel alum Adam Evers creates a virtual space of community connection for Christian members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Adjunct Professor of Business Angela Pascarella returns to

hours at Bethel

Being a backup is hard, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Highlights from ENW120 Digital News Studio’s 24-hour search for on-campus action.

Relationally focused and faith driven, Cara Horstman joins the Bethel community.

The answer to college’s most debated question.

Bethel University’s 49th annual Raspberry Monday art exhibition