The Gettysburgian - February 27, 2020

FR E E

The

Volume CXXII, Issue No. 4 · February 27, 2020

Serving Gettysburg College since 1897

PAG E 4

‘We need more professors’ Why some departments say they don’t have enough faculty members to meet student demand

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Entering the New Decade in Full Color

BY LAUREN HAND, MAGAZINE EDITOR As February slowly makes way for March, it’s safe to say that most of us, in spite of our best intentions, have long since abandoned our New Year’s resolutions. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of time to aim high for the new decade. Here at The Gettysburgian, we are curious about the aspirations of our community, both individually and collectively, for the next ten years.

For this issue, we reached out to students, faculty, administrators, and coaches to ask what about their hopes for the decade, and we were delighted with the wide range of responses we received. The goals they shared with us include taking home championships, earning degrees, and spending more time with friends and family. Members of our community aim to prioritize making connections, acting with courage, and promoting kindness. Someone in particular is hoping to take some time off his half marathon (see page 16)!

If we come even halfway to fulfilling the goals that have been articulated in this issue, I have no doubt we’ll be making great strides towards a world that is more equitable, more just, and, yes, kind.

And what does The Gettysburgian hope to achieve in the new decade?

For this issue, we set out on what we imagine must be The Gettysburgian’s largest data collection project yet. We followed up on the status of support staff wages, an issue we first examined in the inaugural edition of this magazine back in September. We analyzed retention data on our sports teams, looked into food insecurity on campus, and connected with students currently studying abroad in Egypt and Nepal.

In 2019, this magazine went from concept to hard copy. A year ago, we never would have expected to be printing our fourth issue.

In 2020, we hope that this magazine serves as a vehicle for stories that shed light on the varied experiences of our campus community. We’ll keep crunching the numbers and burning the midnight oil, always with the intention of identifying patterns, and rooted in a dedication to the truth. We’ll keep corresponding with Gettysburgians both around the globe and down the street to widen our perspective. We’ll share opinions that start conversations, and above all, we hope you’ll be a part of them.

In these pages, we hope you’ll find the sort of stories that matter to you in 2020 and beyond.

Cheers,

Lauren Hand ‘20 Magazine Editor The Gettysburgian

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

Disparities in Enrollment

Why do some classes have 35 students while others have five? We investigate and examine the implications for the college as a whole

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The college is examining staff wages, but now health benefits as well are under the microscope as employees weigh the cost of working here

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Returning from Abroad

20 Sports Retention Rates

Staff Wages and Benefits

Fewer than half of football players stay on the team for all four years, but, for other teams, that rate is well above 60%; we examine why

22 Spotlight on CIMS

Aspirations for the 2020s

What’s it like to return to Gettysburg after a semester abroad immersed in a completely different academic environment? Natalie Orga ‘21 explains

We asked more than a dozen campus figures about their aspirations as we launch into a new decade; here is what they told us

Cinema and Media Studies majors produce capstone projects that often involve filming their own productions; we speak to two of them

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23 Staff Editorial

Food Insecurity

An organization focused on fighting hunger has found a new audience ...

Gettysburg College students; we look into the new Burg Bowls program

Postcards from Abroad

Abby Hauer ‘21 writes about her unexpected time abroad in Nepal, while Maci Mark ‘21 discusses being immersed in Egypt’s history

With the merit of a liberal arts education under the microscope, our editorial board makes the case for studying the liberal arts in 2020

HalfPgAd_FEB_85x55 2/6/20 11:26 AM Page 1

Coming Attractions The Irish Comedy Tour

Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México de Silvia Lozano

Friday, March 6 — 7:30 pm The Irish Comedy Tour takes the party atmosphere of a Dublin pub and combines it with a boisterous band of bawdy comedians and Celtic musicians, and maybe even a leprechaun or two.

Comedians Derek Richards, Mike McCarthy, Damon Leibert, and Derrick Keane will have you Dublin’ over with laughter just in time for St. Paddy’s Day! $42 / $37 / $32

Thursday, March 19 7:30 pm Mexico’s most prestigious folkloric dance company presents a colorful evening of traditional music and dance with sophisticated costumes and powerful and accomplished dancers. Take a journey into diverse Mexican cultures — past and present! $54 / $44 / $34

Great Art On Screen Mondays, 2 pm and 7 pm Tickets: $18 Experience the lives and works of great art masters, filmed on location and featuring insights from art experts and historians.

Frida: Viva la Vida Monday, April 20

Leonardo 500

Monday, May 11

Hermitage: The Power of Art Monday, June 1

Tickets available at www.gettysburgmajestic.org • 717.337.8200 • 25 Carlisle St., Gettysburg THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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Gettysburgian Investigation Finds Broad Disparities in Department Course Enrollment

BY BENJAMIN PONTZ

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ettysburg College advertises an average class size of 17. But, depending on what subject a student majors in, they may rarely—if ever—see such a class size. An Environmental Studies course, for example, is five times as likely as an English course to have an enrollment above the college average. An Organization & Management

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Studies course is twice as likely as a Theatre Arts course to have an enrollment above that benchmark of 17. The average enrollment for a course in Biology is over 27, while the average for a course in the Sunderman Conservatory of Music is below 14.

While specialized equipment, the nature of foreign language instruction, and the necessity

to offer capstone courses even in departments with small numbers of majors can require certain classes to have smaller enrollments, broad disparities still exist between disciplines and divisions of the academic program in terms of the size of course enrollments and the number of students faculty members are expected to advise.

The Gettysburgian compiled a dataset containing an entry for each of the more than 4,200 full-credit lecture sections offered at Gettysburg College over the past four years. That data shows that, on average, courses in the natural sciences (a division that includes psychology, computer science, and mathematics) have the largest enrollments, followed by social sciences and interdisciplinary programs, and finally the arts and humanities, which have the lowest course enrollments. All told, 12 subject areas have average class sizes above 20, while, at the other end of the spectrum, 11 subject areas have average class sizes below 12. In other words, to a large extent, the size of your classes will depend on what you choose to study.

EXPLORE THE FULL DATASET:

GETTYSBURGIAN.COM/ ENROLLMENT To Professor of Political Science Bruce Larson, the department chair, that disparity is a problem.

(Photo Allyson Frantz/The Gettysburgian)

“We make a promise to these students who come to liberal arts school because they want small classes,” he said. “And when we don’t [deliver] this reputation gets around and we can be damaged by it.”

Some classes are expected to have fairly high enrollments.

Astronomy 102, for example, which many students take to fulfill their lab science requirement, has an enrollment cap of 40, a benchmark that is fairly standard across introductory courses in the natural sciences.

Biology Department Chair J. Matthew Kittelberger said that high enrollments in the sciences are not necessarily a

problem because students still receive individualized attention in labs.

techniques to ensure that even the larger classes have the feel of a Gettysburg course.

“[M]uch of the in depth education occurs in small lab settings,” he said.

Beyond the 100-level, course caps tend to decrease, but they can vary dramatically by department from as low as seven or eight in some 300 and 400-level seminars (and 200-level art studio classes) to as high as 36 in natural science courses, many of which are broken into smaller subsections through labs.

In other disciplines, however, department chairs do worry about large introductory courses.

Dr. Amy Evrard, who chairs the anthropology department, in which the average class size for an introductory course is 28.2, said that she worries about first-years not having accessible, full-time faculty members with whom to build relationships.

“Where the burden comes for us is in the teaching and making sure we can offer enough 100-level courses to meet student interest,” Evrard said. “We end up having to rely on adjuncts, which we think is problematic.”

She added, “Data shows that adjuncts are not as available and invested as full-time faculty, meaning that students are being shortchanged.”

On average, faculty members who do not have tenure and are not on a tenure track teach courses that are 12 percent larger than their tenured and tenure-track peers. In total, 37 percent of Gettysburg courses are taught by adjunct, visiting, or other non-tenured, nontenure track professors, and those courses are primarily at the introductory level, and tend to have the largest enrollments.

Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies Salma Monani said that she and her colleagues do worry about the student experience in these types of classes, noting that the size “just limits the things you can do,” such as taking field trips. She said that she and her colleagues try to use active learning pedagogical

HOW WE REPORTED THIS STORY:

GETTYSBURGIAN.COM/ ENROLLMENT-HOW In some departments, though, classes are consistently overenrolled relative to their caps. During the fouryear period analyzed, nine departments had more than one quarter of their classes over capacity.

“Course caps are set to provide students with the individual attention they deserve, but in Economics we simply cannot offer the courses students need to graduate without going over the caps,” Professor and Chair of Economics John Cadigan said of his department, where 35 percent of classes are overenrolled.

Professor of Cinema and Media Studies James Udden said that, in his program, which began offering a major in 2015, overenrolling classes is a necessity due to lack of staff capacity.

“This is partially because I still teach so many of these courses myself, and I always go over the cap. But most of my colleagues who are all housed in other departments, but who offer courses vital to this major, generally do the same because I encourage that since we can THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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only offer so many courses overall,” he said. “We have to do this because the demand far exceeds the staffing.”

He added that the situation has improved slightly with the addition of two new professors to the Interdisciplinary Studies program, which contributes courses to the Cinema and Media Studies major, but that more faculty members are needed to prevent such consistent high enrollments in the program’s classes and to help him sustain a program in which he is currently the only full-time faculty member.

“I still love my job despite the strains,” he noted.

Vice Provost and Dean of Arts and Humanities Jack Ryan said that faculty members have an expectation that “the playing field is even” with respect to course enrollments and could have a legitimate complaint about unequal workloads when, in some departments, faculty members’ total enrollment across two to three sections might still fall below

the total number of students in a single section elsewhere.

He qualified that statement by noting that upper-level foreign language classes require individualized attention speaking and writing in the target language and that English courses—particularly those that meet the first-year writing requirement—have heavy workloads grading papers, which could justify small class sizes. (Ryan previously served as Chair of the English Department and continues to teach English courses each year.)

“We have to do this because the demand far exceeds the staffing.”

-James Udden, Cinema & Media Studies Foreign language classes do have the smallest average enrollments, ranging from 4.7 in Greek to 14.4 in Spanish.

English’s average class size is

14.8.

Associate Professor and Chair of Art and Art History Felicia Else defended low average enrollment in art studio classes, noting that safety concerns and space constraints require the course caps to be as low as eight, as they are for sculpture and ceramics classes.

Assistant Professor of Art Austin Stiegemeier added that teaching studio art classes requires unique preparation, individualized student attention, and cleaning and organizing spaces beyond what other faculty members do.

“The educational experience you can provide to each student may drastically be reduced by adding just a few more students to our studio arts courses,” he said. “You really have to keep this in mind when you consider comparing studio courses to other classes on campus that may be based on lecture or dissemination of information through oral and visual presentations and where students might be taking notes

PERCENTAGE OF COURSES ABOVE ENROLLMENT CAP FALL 2016-SPRING 2020

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AVERAGE CLASS SIZE BY DEPARTMENT, FALL 2016-SPRING 2020 (MINIMUM 20 COURSES)

and participating in certain activities, but certainly aren’t building and creating physical objects during each class meeting.”

Larson, the political science chair, says that teaching both his department’s research methods course and capstone seminar require significant work from faculty members because each student is doing original research.

“Any kind of research effort like that is very intense and they are the hardest courses to teach,” Larson said. “We have had capstones with 22 people instead of 16 … it’s a pretty meaningful difference when there are five or six extra students in each capstone.”

The intense demands of

supervising student research are not unique to political science. Monani noted that the Environmental Studies department had to open a second section of its capstone to accommodate student demand and that faculty members rotate who teaches it because of its demanding nature.

As Cadigan, the former chair of the Faculty Finance Committee, observed, though, expanding one department would lead to cuts in another since the college resource base is, for now, relatively fixed.

Since 2009, the overall size of the college full-time faculty has remained stable, meaning that new tenure-track faculty lines in one department come from

reallocating a vacated position in another. That means that some departments must make increasing use of visiting or part-time faculty members.

“There is some pressure on us to find good adjuncts,” Monani said of the Environmental Studies department, whose seven full-time faculty members, teaching five courses a year, would have to teach an average of 93 students in each class section to meet student demand without adjunct support.

But adjunct and visiting faculty do not advise students, which can put more pressure on a department’s full-time faculty members to serve as advisors.

In political science, which currently has two visiting THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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How we collected, coded, and cleaned the data for this story The college would not give us this data, so we gathered it ourselves, one class at a time, through the college’s online PeopleSoft platform. Eight staffers collectively spent more than 70 hours compiling, coding, and cleaning a dataset with more than 4,200 entries, one for each class section run since the fall of 2016.

Along the way, we made the following coding decisions: 1. Include only full-credit “traditional” sections of courses. In other words, labs, music ensembles and lessons, and independent studies were omitted (following the Common Data Set protocol).

2. Skip courses whose enrollment caps were greater than 16 and had two or fewer enrolled students, presuming they were canceled.

3. Treat cross-listed courses as two (or more) individual classes so they can be included in each department’s analysis.

More information on how we reported this story is available online: gettysburgian.com/enrollment-how SUBJECT AREA ABBREVIATIONS AFS = AFR ICANA STUDIES

HIST = HISTORY

ANTH = ANTHROPOLOGY

HS = HEA LTH SCIENCES

AR B = ARABIC

IA = INTER NATIONA L AFFAIRS

ARTH = ART HISTORY ARTS = ART STUDIO

IDS = INTER DISCIPLINARY STUDIES

AS = ASIAN STUDIES

ITA L = ITA LIAN STUDIES

AST = ASTRONOMY

JPN = JAPANESE

BIO = BIOLOGY BUS = BUSINESS

LAS = LATIN A MER ICAN STUDIES

CHEM = CHEMISTRY

LAT = LATIN

CHN = CHINESE

LAW = LAW

CIMS = CINEM A & MEDIA STUDIES

M ATH = M ATHEM ATICS

CLA = CLASSICS

OMS = ORGANIZATION AND M ANAGEMENT STUDIES

CS = COMPUTER SCIENCE CWES = CIVIL WAR ERA STUDIES ECON = ECONOMICS EDUC = EDUCATION ENG = ENGLISH ES = ENVIRONMENTA L STUDIES

MUS_CLAS = MUSIC

PHIL = PHILOSOPHY PHY = PHYSICS POL = POLITICA L SCIENCE PORT = PORTUGESE PP = PUBLIC POLICY PSYCH = PSYCHOLOGY R EL = R ELIGIOUS STUDIES

FR EN = FR ENCH

SOC = SOCIOLOGY

FYS = FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS

SPAN = SPANISH

GER = GER M AN STUDIES

THA = THEATR E ARTS

GR K = GR EEK

WGS = WOMEN, GENDER & SEXUA LITY STUDIES

GS = GLOBA LIZATION STUDIES

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faculty members and a firstyear assistant professor filling three of the department’s 11 faculty positions and not serving as advisors, advising loads have increased significantly. Over the past ten years, the average number of advisees went from 28 to 40, Larson said.

Associate Professor of Political Science Roy Dawes said, “I have 40 advisees and unfortunately, cannot give them the time that advisors in other departments can give their advisees.”

Larson was more direct.

“We need more faculty members,” he said.

On the other hand, one department, Italian Studies, has more tenured faculty members than majors (two faculty members, one major).

Unequal advising responsibilities are not a new phenomenon. At a spring 2017 faculty meeting, Associate Professor of Health Sciences Josef Brandauer said that he had written 70 letters of recommendation that spring on behalf of his advisees. But with no expansion positions on the horizon, departments are likely going to have to continue with what they have.

Ultimately, classes of 35-40 students are not that large relative to other colleges, Professor of Philosophy Steve Gimbel said, noting that he taught at nine other institutions before coming to Gettysburg, sometimes having classes of more than 100 students. At a liberal arts college that prizes small class sizes, though, 35 “can feel large,” he said.

“A student can hide in the back row of a classroom with 35 students in a way that one cannot in a seminar of 8 to 12,” Gimbel added, noting

that he works to make his larger classes feel smaller by, for example, meeting with students one-on-one to discuss their papers, which he allows them to rewrite an unlimited number of times.

“We need more faculty members.”

-Bruce Larson, Political Science

“On my end, it means more work. For that system to be effective, I have to turn papers around quickly and often read one student’s paper multiple times. I have to be very flexible with office hours that are not official office hours,” he said. “With a larger class, that can add up. But, it makes a difference in their academic experience and is worth it.”

Ryan said that the disparities in departmental enrollments merit a “thorough review” to make sure that resources are allocated appropriately.

Overall, he thinks that 18 to 20 is probably the ideal course size, but getting there in every department—whether through adding more class sections taught by part-time faculty or by awarding new slots for fulltime positions—will be tricky.

“There’s only one pile of money.”

Gettysburgian staffers Garrett Adams, Nicole DeJacimo, Phoebe Doscher, Lauren Hand, Carter Hanson, Gauri Mangala, and Katie Oglesby contributed to data collection for this story. Nicole DeJacimo contributed reporting.

F E AT U R E S

Back to the Bubble: Thoughts on Returning to Gettysburg’s Academic Environment

BY NATALIE ORGA

C

oming home from England has been a lot like slipping into an old favourite sweater, only to realize that it’s a bit itchy, and perhaps a little too tight.

I missed Gettysburg while I was away — the support of old friends, the comfort of Servo, even the aggression of the squirrels. I gained a new appreciation for the devotion and enthusiasm of my professors, the opportunities I received through my job at the library, and the kindness of my mentors and employers.

But the imperfections of Gettysburg College as an institution seem to have crystallized in my absence.

I feel as though I am just noticing the culture of anxiety and academic competition among the students and I don’t know how I missed it before.

(Photo provided )

At Gettysburg College, academic anxiety is part of the landscape as much as the scattered adirondack chairs and manicured grass. The sheer quantity of work to be done is a constant parasite, eating away at us. Students languish in the library and mingle by exchanging their to-do lists for the day, comparing their heavy workloads and minimal hours of sleep with no small degree of competition.

In England, I was anxious about my academics, but for a very different reason: we were hardly asked to do anything.

With an almost complete lack of homework and non-

mandatory attendance, I found myself in an alien academic landscape. I was one of the only students to attend and participate in my classes, and my instinctive urge to go to the library and study was inexplicable to my British friends. They were bewildered by my stress and confusion, but I couldn’t help it — it all felt too easy, too laid-back. There must be a catch, I thought. I found myself doing crazy things like socializing, writing creatively for the joy of it, exploring my surroundings and traveling on the weekends.

Despite this newfound freedom, I missed Gettysburg dearly — the wonderful professors, my fantastic friends, the quality of the classes. I loved England, but I couldn’t wait to return.

Back at Gettysburg, the familiar weight of my workload slammed me full-force: five classes and two jobs, plus plenty of extracurriculars and internship applications. And my schedule isn’t uncommonly heavy compared to those of my peers. I slipped back into my state of constant stress with almost frightening ease, and it felt normal. But after going abroad, I’ve realized that it’s not.

Students are completely immersed in what we call the “Gettysburg bubble” — a sense of academic myopia, a complete focus on our Gettysburg College lives and an inability to disentangle

ourselves from our work, look around at the outside world, and breathe. I’d heard of this “bubble” before going abroad, but now that I’ve returned, I see it everywhere, glistening and omnipresent.

I’m certainly not saying Gettysburg College should convert itself to Lancaster University. Class attendance should be mandatory, and homework is important for getting through curriculums in a given amount of time.

An emphasis on academic achievement isn’t a bad thing by any means. But watching my friends — and myself — prioritize our academics over our physical and mental wellbeing each and every day is more painful to me now than ever before.

It doesn’t have to be like this — I know that now. There are ways to encourage students to strive academically without placing achievement above wellbeing. There are ways for professors and administrations to incorporate empathy and adjust their expectations of their students. A little more human understanding within the academic culture of Gettysburg could really go a long way. Who knows? It might even be able to burst that “Gettysburg bubble.”

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Campus Kitchen Addresses Food Insecurity with Burg Bowls

BY NICOLE DEJACIMO

S

ince 2007, Gettysburg College’s Campus Kitchen has worked to provide nutritious meals to families in the greater Gettysburg community by packaging leftovers from Servo and fresh produce from the Painted Turtle Farm. But only this year have they turned to another population that studies show may be struggling with food insecurity: college students.

This semester, Campus Kitchen initiated a new program called Burg Bowls to help fight food insecurity on campus. Burg Bowls aims to address food insecurity among students by providing free, fully anonymous

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meals available for pickup at the Office of Multicultural Engagement and the International Student Center each Thursday. However, volunteers say that it is not a fix-all and food insecurity has yet to be fully addressed at Gettysburg.

“Just with our experience, there’s food insecurity on campus.”

-Erin Schroeder ‘20

“There are studies on food insecurity on campuses, just not Gettysburg specific,” said

Erin Schroeder ‘20, a member of Campus Kitchen and an organizer of Burg Bowls, to discuss food insecurity and the purpose of Burg Bowls on campus.

Food security is often only considered at its extremes, but it is not always as visible as needing food stamps or having to go to a soup kitchen every day.

According to guidelines from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are four levels of food security: high, marginal, low and very low food security. If someone experiences the highest level of food security, it means they

have no limitations on their access to food with proper nutrition. Those facing the lowest levels of food security have “multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.”

What often goes unnoticed is a form of food insecurity characterized by “reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake.”

Student planning to replace proper meals with cheap ramen noodles or fast food may save money, but the lack of nutrients puts their physical and mental health at risk, food insecurity studies by FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition public health educator Dr. Maya E. Maroto show. These types of behaviors could be more widely accepted or not recognized as food insecurity because for many, they are viewed as typical of the college demographic. College students are known to choose the cheaper package of ramen, which can cost less than a quarter a serving at Walmart, over a healthier but more costly

premade salad that can cost around $7.00 from the Bullet Hole.

According to Maroto, “Food insecure students were more likely than food-secure students to report a lower GPA (2.0–2.49) versus a higher GPA (3.5–4.0).”

While it may not look like food insecure students are eating less, their intake of essential nutrients could decrease. For this reason, it is difficult to determine how many students actually experience food insecurity.

“There is a stigma about food insecurity, and it is not addressed enough on our campus.”

-Schroeder

When scholarships, grants, and student loans are not enough, a quick way to reduce the bill is to reduce or eliminate the meal plan. While first years enter on the U.S.A Meal Plan, which includes unlimited meals from Servo, Upper-class students

living on campus can reduce their meal plan from the Traditional 12 Meal Plan to the Apartment 7 Meal Plan in order to save $2,480 a year.

Some studies suggest that up to half of college students in America face some sort of food insecurity. While no systematic study of Gettysburg College students has confirmed prevalence to that degree, that 20 students have already signed up to receive Burg Bowls weekly suggests that food insecurity is present at the college.

“Just with our experience, there’s food insecurity on campus,” Schroeder said.

Students can sign up to receive meals through the online form.

The Burg Bowls program, while an important first step, is only a part of the solution, Schroeder added, arguing that more awareness of the issue is crucial.

“There is a stigma about food insecurity,” she said, “and it is not addressed enough on our campus.”

SEMESTERLY PRICE OF EACH MEAL PLAN

(Photo Allyson Frantz/The Gettysburgian)

$3,120

$3,120 $2,610

$1,370

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Low Wages, Insurance Changes Cause Concern Among Employees

BY PHOEBE DOSCHER

F

orty-five percent of Gettysburg College support staff earn less than $15 an hour, a 2017 survey found. That same year, an analysis by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers found that the living wage for a family of four with two wage earners and two children in Adams County was $15.53 per hour.

Employees have long viewed the College’s benefits package, which includes tuition benefits for dependents, as at least providing a reasonable tradeoff, if not outweighting low wages entirely. But, with those benefits now under the microscope as the college looks to contain costs, concern about employee compensation has grown more acute.

“The fact that he gets paid what he does … and now ours and our children’s health is being compromised to save the college money is appalling.”

-Employee’s Spouse In Sep. 2019, President Bob Iuliano convened a subcommittee of the Benefits Advisory Committee (BAC) to gather data about employee compensation relative to the

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local market. Specifically, he charged the sub-committee to: - Find reliable total compensation data (wage and benefits) provided to the lowest paid support staff, focusing on the most populated job classifications - Compare Gettysburg’s pay and total compensation to the local markets from which support staff are hired most often - Collect information about the area’s cost of living - Compare support staff compensation practices to that of administrative personnel to examine whether they maintain consistent philosophies Four months later, that subcommittee began meeting biweekly to compile wage data,

and it is expected to report its findings to Iuliano at the end of the semester.

But just as action that could potentially lead to an adjustment of employee wages has gotten underway, employees encountered another financial obstacle this fall when the college announced a change in health plan options. The college eliminated a popular plan that had a $500 deductible.

This year, the college offered two plans, one with a $1,000 deductible and another with a $2,000 deductible plus a health savings account (HSA).

In the future, though, only the high-deductible plan will be available.

That change is creating financial strains for college employees.

The wife of a support staff member that has worked for the college for 10 years and makes $16/hour said that, in the short term, her family would probably be better off financially if her husband were to seek other employment.

(The Gettysburgian granted her anonymity to speak freely about her family’s financial situation without fear of it negatively affecting her husband’s employment status.)

The family of four has experienced a significant increase in out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions and regular check-ups due to the change in insurance plan. Although the college made a $2,500 contribution to the family’s health savings account (a contribution that will decrease to $1,500 next year), the family’s deductible went from $1,000 to $4,000.

(Photo Allyson Frantz/The Gettysburgian)

The only reason her husband continues to work for the college, she said, is the hope that their two children – both under the age of five – might someday be able to take advantage of the tuition benefits offered to employees’ dependents.

“We do not have confidence in anything changing at this point,” she said. “Since changing the insurance, there has not been discussion regarding salary. The morale is low and if we didn’t have two children under the age of 5 that will be going to college someday, my husband would be looking elsewhere for employment.”

She feels that the college is not reciprocating the commitment her husband made by building his career in Gettysburg.

“It is frustrating just because my husband made the decision to stay somewhere and make a career somewhere thinking long-term for his children to have college tuition paid for. He stayed there and he works hard,” she said. “The fact that he gets paid what he does … and now ours and our children’s health is being compromised to save the college money is appalling.”

This support staff member’s experience is not unique.

Support Staff Council Chair and Academic Administrative Assistant in Theatre Arts Carol Coon said that frustration about the healthcare changes

BAC subcommittee charged with gathering information about support staff compensation: Jen Lucas, Co-Director of Human Resources Matthew Price, Senior Director of Budget Planning Darrien Davenport, Executive Director of the Office of Multicultural Engagement and Assistant Vice President of College Life Rose Taylor, Housekeeping Building Coordinator Becky Best, Academic Administrative Assistant in Spanish Sharon Birch, Senior Instructional Designer/Technologist in Sociology Jesse Mains, Budget and Faculty Employment, Data Coordinator Kristi Waybright, Academic Administrative Assistant in Physics

is widespread.

“Even though the college is trying to ease the change by providing a contribution to their HSA, these types of changes always have the largest impact on the lowest paid employees,” she said.

“With increased out of pocket costs, some will need to decide between paying bills or taking care of a health issue.”

“With increased out of pocket costs, some will need to decide between paying bills or taking care of a health issue.”

-Carol Coon

The issue of employee compensation and benefits in general has caught the attention of faculty members including Professor of Economics and Chair of Public Policy Char Weise, who conducted the 2017 survey of support staff employees, and Professor of English Christopher Fee, who believes this issue has been problematic for some time.

“I have always felt like the hourly staff work very hard, often are extremely supportive of the mission of the college in general, and the students in particular, and it’s a trouble on my mind that they’re not compensated as they should be,” Fee said.

Throughout the semester, the sub-committee is expected to compile the relevant facts.

It has not been charged with making corresponding recommendations, though, suggesting that no immediate changes are on the horizon.

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F E AT U R E S

Aspirations for the New Decade COMPILED BY EMILY DALGLEISH

We invited members of the campus community to share their aspirations for the coming decade, whether they be personal, academic, professional, national, or global. Here is what they shared:

Matt Salton ‘20

Environmental Studies and Political Science Double Major I hope that in this decade we, as a nation and as a world, put partisanship aside and address the climate crisis as it ought to be addressed. We have an ever shrinking window of time to seriously address the matter.

It requires innovation in the realm of technology, but more than that, it requires the innovation of political courage.

Dr. Abdulkareem Said Ramadan

Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies (Arabic) I will keep living healthy and enjoying life more. I’m looking for ways to transfer my teaching Arabic expertise to a textbook. Also, I want to “make MEIS and Arabic classes great again!”

Nicole DeJacimo ‘22

Political Science and English Double Major For the upcoming decade, I want to replace the world’s apathy with sonder: the realization that everyone lives a life as complex as one’s own. The world becomes more complex each year with new technology, subcultures, and generations, so each year there is more to learn. When we take the time to understand one another, our arguments can become conversations, our judgments turn to questions, and we work towards a world with more respect for everyone.

Dr. Daniel Terlizzi

Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science Now that I am well into my sixth decade, I feel privileged to contemplate and share aspirations for the next. Reflecting back to a time when Jimi Hendrix was learning to tune his guitar, the transistor was the new technology and the Beatles were still together, I recall reading William Golding’s Lord of the Flies as an assignment in English class. In this amazing novel about boys isolated accidentally on an island, social order disintegrated and the bully Ralph had rallied his followers to remove the last adherents to civilization and reason, Piggy and Jack. As the mob was descending on Piggy and Jack, Piggy remarks, “We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?” As tidy as an equation, Golding summarized our fundamental challenge. Over the next decade, we should aspire to think beyond common perceptions of adulthood and toward something I will call meta-adulthood which involves more empathy, less tribalism and a focus on commonality vs. difference.

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Patrick McKenna ‘20

Political Science and Public Policy Double Major As 2020 begins it is difficult to conceptualize the idea that I will be a graduating senior from Gettysburg College. For the first time in my life I will be embarking on a journey where ‘more years of education’ is not my next step. I am excited, prepared, and confident for this future after my four years here. One of the most impactful organizations I have been a part of is the Student Senate at Gettysburg, which I hope continues to expand over the next decade to ensure that it represents every student at the College. I hope to see that student advocacy and activism more and more within the Senate to empower students to help continue to transform Gettysburg for the better moving deeper into the 21st century.

B.J. Dunne

Head Men’s Basketball Coach As a new decade has begun, I could not be more excited to be where my feet are and be the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Gettysburg College. I have been so inspired by the college’s commitment to adapt and navigate to the ever-changing Liberal Arts landscape. It is my hope and vision to build a men’s basketball program of the same unparalleled quality. It is our plan this decade to build the Gettysburg College Men’s Basketball into the model program for: Developing people. Developing leaders. Developing players. Developing teams. Cutting down the nets. We hope to inspire the community with our selfless play and actions on and off the court and make a difference in Gettysburg and beyond.

Dr. Jeanne Arnold

(Photos Allyson Frantz and Kat Mangione/The Gettysburgian)

Chief Diversity Officer

My aspiration for the College over the next decade is that it will evolve to become a model for how liberal arts colleges can create truly inclusive campus communities. This model will include a sustainable infrastructure of staffing and resources to attract and retain students, faculty, and staff from increasingly diverse backgrounds. The College’s distinctive approach to diversity and inclusion work will position it as a source of subject matter experts in disrupting the status quo of bias and racism to achieve genuine culture change.

Dr. Josef Brandauer

Associate Professor of Health Sciences, Director of the Johnson Center for Teaching & Learning Every once in a while somebody asks me about my Teaching Philosophy, and I always respond with some variation of “Be kind.” As a scientist, I like defining things, and “kind” to me means respecting, supporting, believing, listening to, and appreciating those around me. Science has also taught me to be curious and open to change, so being kind also means learning from those around me and being able to shift my perspective. As I think about the upcoming decade, “Be kind” seems as good a goal as any.

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Liza Barr ‘20

Organization and Management Studies Major, Education Studies Minor In the short-term, my goal is to win a third national championship on Gettysburg College’s women’s lacrosse team and graduate with a job I am excited about. A few years into the decade, I hope to be a successful woman in the business world and enjoying my 20s. At the end of the decade, it is crazy to think I could be married or having kids! If this is the case, I hope to raise my children in a world that is safer and less polarized than it is today. I look forward to what 2020 holds, and I aim to make the most out of it!

Bob Iuliano

President of Gettysburg College It is hard to believe the third decade of the 2000s has begun, especially for those of us who feel that the new millennium started just yesterday!

I enter the decade with a renewed sense of optimism, heavily influenced by my time here. There are certainly challenges ahead for the country and world, but my hope is borne from what I’ve seen in the students on this campus. A sense of idealism shaped by a healthy dose of pragmatism, together with an instinct to get involved. My goal, then, for the years to come, is to do all I can to help create the best environment on campus so that students graduate equipped with the knowledge and skills to do that work. Oh, and to improve my time in the half-marathon!

Dr. Caroline Hartzell Professor of Political Science

My aspirations for the next decade center on the theme of connecting.

As a teacher, I want to do more to help students connect the concepts, theory, and data we cover in classes to the human realities that lie at the base of what we study. I am endeavoring to do the same in my research as well by seeking to understand how peace agreements affect ordinary citizens. Finally, as someone who lives in one community but works in another, I’m giving more thought to how I can connect with others at the level of the community. Developing all of these connections is likely to take time, but the beginning of a new decade seems as good a time as any to make these efforts “official” on my part.

Lily Zhou ‘23

Music Education Major, Peace and Justice Studies Minor In this new decade, I aspire to work for and support the things and people I actually care about. Throughout my life, I always felt pressured to impress others and had (and still have) a hard time saying no to things, even if I had no interest in it. I have been learning that the only way I can live a healthy life is to be able to try new things and meet new people but not to be afraid to leave the ones that don’t help me grow. Through this mindset, I am hoping to develop in my personal relationships, faith, academic endeavors in music education, and overall lifestyle.

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Dr. Anne Douds

Assistant Professor of Public Policy I hope that we can work across the campus and the community to promote kindness and courage. Push one another to do the right thing even when it is hard. I hope that my home and my office will continue to be safe havens for my friends, my family, and my students. And at a more pedestrian level, I hope to replant my garden and finish our book, Bold Women of the Eisenhower Era, on deadline!

Daniel Jones ‘22

Religious Studies and Public Policy Double Major, Peace and Justice Studies and Middle East and Islamic Studies Double Minor I aspire for a campus and world that strives for diversity and inclusivity in all senses of the words. For a global community that understands it is broken, and that it will continue to be broken until it learns to fully live and to thrive On difference; On diversity.

A global community that learns to appreciate the beauty that lies within the intersectionality of social categorizations that we so often rely upon in order to define who a person really is.

I aspire for a college, and for a world, brave enough to begin to push the curtain; brave enough to dare to headline the radical change that is truly needed today; brave enough to Love. [sic]

Ziv Carmi ‘23

(Photos Allyson Frantz and Kat Mangione/The Gettysburgian)

History Major, Civil War Era Studies and Public History Double Minor My biggest aspiration for the next decade is to get a graduate degree (probably a Ph.D.) and continue on my path of becoming a museum curator. Ten years from now I hope to be at a presidential library, making new and unique exhibits that are able to communicate the story of our history and leaders in an effective and entertaining way. Every guest I see, whenever I volunteer at the Reagan Library, is always so happy with their experience at the museum, and I would love to see people enjoying their visit at my museum just as much. No matter what the next ten years will bring into my life, my ultimate dream is that I will be able to, in one way or another, whether it be through curation, interpretation, or academia, educate people on our history—both the good and the bad— and make them better people for it since they won’t repeat the mistakes that we and prior generations have made.

Britney Brunache ‘22

Theatre Arts and Psychology Double Major My goals for this decade are to not only graduate with two Bachelor of Arts degrees, but I would also like to get my master’s in Theatre Arts. I want to gain as much work experience in the many theaters in my hometown so by the end of the decade I can open a non-profit performing arts studio for students in Philadelphia. I hope my decade is full of love, creativity, and success.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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F E AT U R E S

POSTCARDS FROM ABROAD LEARNING WHAT OLD REALLY MEANS

BY MACI MARK I love old things. Anything that is from a different time and place, I just love it! That’s why I chose to study abroad in Cairo, Egypt. In just the two weeks that I have been here, I have been absolutely blown away by it.

I am from Los Angeles, California, so when I went to Gettysburg I thought that everything there was old; it had been built in the 1830s! That was over 150 years old! Los Angeles was built starting in the 1900s, so it’s all very new. When thinking about an old place, I like to think about how many people lived there or how many people passed through.

Being in Cairo is incredible because the “old” here is thousands of years old. One of the most remarkable places that I have been to is the Khan el Khalili marketplace. This is remarkable because it is inside the old fortress that used to make up the city of Cairo. The inside of this marketplace is bustling with vendors, visitors, and tourists. The streets are small and winding, and we were warned that if we got lost that even Google maps would not be able to help us. This market place is absolutely stunning. One of the streets within the marketplace is lined with mosques, first built by the Sultan Hassan and then mosques built by his son. They are done in absolutely stunning Islamic medieval art. When you step inside of them, you feel how sacred a place it is and how it is the resting place of an important man.

There is something sacred about these places, how a no longer active mosque is upheld for its beauty and legacy. Places like the Khan el Khalili marketplace and the Mosque of Sultan Hassan feel like they will be here forever.

Many places around Cairo feel that way and it is magical to be able to share in it. I plan to explore every one of them and feel incredibly privileged to be able to do so.

Pictured: Walking down the street in Khan el Khalili (top right); Mosque in Khan el Khalili (bottom left)

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DISCOVERING NEPAL

(Photos Provided)

BY ABBY HAUER

When my anticipated semester in Shanghai was suspended due to the coronavirus, I chose the Development, Gender, and Social Change in the Himalaya SIT program in Nepal with hardly any preconceived notions about the country. I reached out to Gettysburg College students who had participated in a tenday homestay in Kathmandu this January, and I got in touch with a Gettysburg College professor whose primary research focuses on Nepal. I became both excited and nervous to spend 15 weeks in Nepal: I was excited to try momos and to see the Himalayan Mountains, and I was nervous about pollution, limited clean and hot water, and traffic on a scale beyond that of Baltimore or New York City.

Now, after living in Nepal for one week, I can say that I am beyond glad that I am spending the next 14 weeks in this country.

There are three main reasons why I am loving this program. First is my homestay family.

Mero aamaa is extremely sweet, caring, and very energetic for her age. Mero daai is the big brother I never had—his fluency in English allows me to have conversations about the similarities and differences between American and Nepali culture, and his desire for me to learn the Nepali language helps me build confidence. Mero didi, who is living with her mother-in-law while her husband works in New York, shares her thoughts about Nepali culture and teaches me how to cook and clean Nepali style. While I was worried about missing my family back in America, my homestay family has put such fears to rest and made Nepal feel like home.

Second are the friends I have made so far. My “girl gang” has interesting discussions, ranging from our views on taking pictures by the cremation site at Pashupati Temple to spending time walking around Sukedhara or Naxal. We talk about our lives at home, what we hope to do for an independent study project or internship, and our future career goals. Overall, we come together around our shared interest in learning the ins and outs of Nepali culture, and we understand that gaining such an understanding requires continuous practice of our Nepali language skills. We push each other to comprehend the language so we can truly appreciate Nepal.

Finally, the Nepali people. From walking down the streets of Dhulikhel and receiving smiles and greetings of “namaste” from the locals, to bargaining with taxi drivers and shop owners, I feel very welcome as an American student who desires to assimilate into Nepali culture as much as I can. As strangers help correct my Nepali when I attempt to hail a taxi or buy a dozen “keraaharu” in the market on my way home from class, I can’t help but feel that the Nepali people have welcomed my presence and sincerely appreciate my attempts to become a member of their community for the time I am here.

My mom raised me to believe that the Lord works in mysterious ways and that he has a plan, whether it makes sense to us or not. In all honesty, I questioned the Lord’s plan when my semester in China was cancelled. I had envisioned myself trekking to the Great Wall of China, riding the bullet train to my internship, and gazing upon Mount Everest in Tibet. However, China was not my fate, or Bhagya. Nepal was. I still have the opportunity to see Mount Everest, and I can trek to Annapurna and make friends while riding a crowded bus from Sukedhara to Naxal. I can develop a home away from home, meet lifelong friends, and become a member of a welcoming community halfway across the world. Overall, while I initially believed that China was my Bhagya, I am now beyond appreciative that it was Nepal after all.

Pictured: Pashupati Hindu Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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SPORTS

Pictured: The 2016 Gettysburg College Football Team, with 32 first years, 13 of whom would play for four years

Retention Rates Vary Among Varsity Teams at Gettsyburg College

BY GARRETT GLAESER

W

hile seven in ten student-athletes who join the women’s lacrosse team at the outset of their college careers are still on the team by the time their senior year rolls around, less than half of football players stay on the team through their senior season.

Executive Director of Athletics Michael Mattia would not comment on any team’s specific

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“[Connecting with athletes] is certainly part of the criteria that I will be looking for in any head coach search that may take place in the future,” he said, noting that it was a criterion in the hiring of both new football coach Maurice Banks and new swimming coach Greg Brown.

players.

“It starts with explaining what everyone’s role is and being direct about that role. Showing guys how they fit will dictate the team’s success,” Banks replied, noting that he has to help players understand that even they do not see playing time during a game, they are valuable assets that contribute to the team’s success.

Why do athletes leave?

Retention is a particularly acute issue for the football team, which has not retained more than half of its players in the last decade and whose retention rate is 11 points behind the next-lowest team.

Division III athletes may leave the team for a myriad of reasons that would require a near case by case analysis to comprehensively understand, but interviews and quantitative analysis suggest that attrition is most common between the first and second years.

At his opening press conference, The Gettysburgian asked Banks what he might do to retain

Aidan Kennedy ‘21, a member of the men’s tennis team his freshman year, decided to

(Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)

According to an analysis of eight Gettysburg College teams (men’s and women’s basketball, football, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball) over a ten-year span from 2010 to 2020, 52 percent of student-athletes who start playing a sport their first year stay on the team through their senior year.

Women’s sports have a higher retention rate than men’s (58 percent vs. 50 percent).

retention rate, but he said that retaining athletes is crucial to the success of the athletic program and that coaches need to connect to their players and build a positive team culture.

leave the team after one season.

Kennedy, who said he was just beyond the realm of athletes that played in matches, commented that he felt the time commitment was not worth it in the end.

“I liked all the guys, and I had a fun time playing, but by the time I had gone to class and practice throughout the day, it felt like it was eight o’clock and I hadn’t been able to get any of my work done,” said Kennedy.

As academic rigor and, in many cases, time spent with a Greek organization mount, players also frequently leave between their sophomore and junior seasons as well.

“That passion they once had for a particular sport is redirected to something else,” Mattia suggested.

For Laura Winters ‘21, former member of the Women’s Lacrosse team, that explanation rings true.

“Lacrosse just became too much of a time commitment and I found that I couldn’t keep up with my leadership roles in other areas of my life on campus,” said Winters.

She continued to say though that her coach, Carol Cantele, was incredibly understanding of her decision.

Attrition between one’s junior and senior years is rare.

One burgeoning concern that could affect athletes of any class year and contribute to attrition is mental health, a topic to which Mattia says the Athletic Department has paid more attention in recent years.

“I expect [coaches] to be able to recognize when someone needs to be directed to a professional for mental health reasons and help get the student-athletes to the proper resources,” Mattia said.

Though there is no formal

wellness department in concert with the athletic training staff, student initiative this academic year has created more wellness opportunities, most notably a student wellness fair on Feb. 20.

The event is designed to introduce students to campus resources and provide a healthy avenue for students and student athletes to talk and learn more about how they can stay in better physical and mental shape.

Whether the school and athletic department continues to further the need for addressing student athlete mental health remains to be seen, but if Mattia’s words reveal anything, it is that mental health has a direct correlation to our student athletes’ performance and drive to keep competing.

Prioritizing that may lead to better retention rates, better studentathlete experiences, and better results.

PERCENTAGE OF ATHLETES RETAINED FOR ALL FOUR YEARS, 2016-2020

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A&E

CIMS SENIOR SPOTLIGHTS Elisabeth Welch

BY ALICIA METHOD

“It’s scary to think about going to the real world, but I think I’m ready for it,” senior Cinema & Media Studies major, Elisabeth Welch, who has a second Spanish major and a Theatre Arts minor, said.

Her initial interest in these fields began with the theatre. Film became her primary interest, however, when she realized her desire to pursue something that she could “do anywhere.”

Welch chose a Spanish major because she has “always

wanted to be bilingual.” She noted that her father urged her to declare a Spanish major due to its practicality.

Her family also had influence in her decision to go to Gettysburg. “My family is a very big proponent of the small liberal arts college,” Welch said.

While Welch has yet to begin her senior capstone projects, she has formulated her ideas.

For her film capstone, she is planning to create a short film on living in Humor House.

The short will be written in the style of a reality TV show like “The Bachelor” or “Total Drama Island”. For her Spanish capstone, she would like to write about the stereotypes and representation of Latin American women in Hollywood.

This semester, Welch will be performing in both “Sense and

Sensibility” and “Macbeth”.

Eventually, she hopes to be a producer, although she recognizes that “things like this are very susceptible to change.” She is also thinking about attending law school someday. Welch will return to her home in North New Jersey upon graduation, in close proximity to New York City, where her aspirations lie.

Looking back on her time at Gettysburg, Welch says, “I’ve made a very successful career for myself on campus, pursuing what I want to do.” While the future can be intimidating, she has no doubt she’ll find work. She is grateful for her time working at the Center for Career Engagement stating that her mentors and colleagues have been extremely supportive of what she does.

Nicole Farese

BY JENNIFER CLOGG

Nicole Farese, a senior Cinema and Media Studies Major with Minors in Writing and Sociology came to Gettysburg College with a desire to do something in the world of communications, but wasn’t exactly sure how to make that happen at Gettysburg, considering that at the moment the college does not offer a communications major.

“At first I tried to do an individualized major by combining OMS and some

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CIMS classes,” Farese said, but it ended up not exactly being what she was looking for. Shortly after coming to Gettysburg her first year, she discovered the CIMS Major, which at the time was fairly new.

“I realized it didn’t make sense because I could just be a CIMS Major and take more writing classes focused on what I wanted to do, but I was nervous because it was such a new major with really only one professor teaching it. It’s ended up being a great experience!”

“You wouldn’t think that sociology classes would apply much to what I wanted to do, but they really did!” Farese said.

With respect to her senior capstone, Farese explained, “I studied in Florence where I met some of my extended family,

and I’m super super Italian, so my idea is to interview my Italian-American grandma who just turned 90.” Farese plans to create her final CIMS assignment based around said interview and her experience with Italian culture. She will to use historical documents about other Italian-Americans as well as her own family to create a documentary on how many Italians immigrated to the United States.

“We think that ItalianAmericans are so Italian, while Italians think Italian-Americans are so American,” Farese said.

Once she graduates from Gettysburg this spring, Farese hopes to work for a CBS program, such as The Late Show, or attend graduate school.

OPINIONS

Editorial: The Case for a Liberal Arts Education in 2020

BY THE GETTYSBURGIAN EDITORIAL BOARD

W

e all have friends who intended to major in economics but are now studying biology and women, gender, and sexuality studies, or who intended to study English but have switched to public policy with a Spanish minor, or who had no idea what they wanted to study, but discovered a new passion. The freedom in a liberal arts education allows students to explore their interests before choosing a major and allows for continued academic exploration after choosing a major.

However, with a declining population of college-age students, fewer students are attending small liberal arts schools, leading to underenrollment, budget constraints, and even five small liberal arts schools closing in 2019. In light of this, as we receive our liberal arts education, it is important to understand why these schools are valuable to their students and our country.

Often, we hear the argument that a liberal arts education is superfluous and does not adequately prepare students for jobs in a way that a large university would, as students take courses outside of their intended career path. Yet the job market is changing rapidly with technology and automation, which makes studying a multitude of subjects valuable. A wellrounded education can allow us to adapt quickly to new fields and use interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. The unique hands-on experience at small schools can be key for employers looking to hire well-prepared students.

A Georgetown study found that the forty-year median returns

on investment for liberal arts colleges and for engineering and technology schools are nearly the same.

Yet the value of a liberal arts education for students extends far beyond its economic worth in finding and succeeding in a career.

Learning across disciplines allows students to develop as thoughtful citizens, make connections across classes, practice creative thinking skills, and critically evaluate the social problems we face. At our Painted Turtle Farm, for example, students combine knowledge of environmentally sustainable food and social and political conditions to address local food insecurity.

...students learn how to participate effectively in a democracy and take a stance.

Students attending a small school also learn how to participate in their community by voicing their opinions and working for lasting change. In the past few years at Gettysburg, students have advocated for better living conditions after finding mold in Hanson, planned and attended walkouts and protests for gun safety reform and for climate action, organized a massive getout-the-vote effort, and pushed for more environmentally sustainable practices at Servo and the Bullet Hole. Through those experiences, students learn how to participate effectively in a democracy and take a stance.

When society puts increasing pressure on us to choose a career

path early and devote our time to that one focus, it becomes all the more valuable that places exist where students can learn for the sake of personal growth, learn for the joy of learning, and learn for the public good. Liberal arts colleges counter the idea that education is simply job training, but rather a process to create thoughtful, community-focused citizens motivated to develop meaningful careers.

So while we are here, remember the value in taking stellar astronomy as an anthropology major or contemporary moral issues as a computer science major. Share your educational experience with younger friends and family members searching for a college, and encourage them to consider the liberal arts.

Take the class that you have always wanted to take, even if it is completely unrelated to your major. Remember that the privilege of attending a school like this comes with the responsibility of contributing positively to our society.

We want our doctors to think about the sociological conditions in which they practice; we want our historians to understand economic influences; we want our policymakers to base legislation on scientific findings; we want our musicians to use politics in their art. When we all choose how to vote, where we live, how we spend money, and how we treat each other daily, we will be better doing so with a breadth of knowledge rather than knowledge of one subject alone. In that way, liberal arts schools are key to the health of our society and democracy.

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The Gettysburgian Staff: Benjamin Pontz, Editor-in-Chief Gauri Mangala, Managing Editor Lauren Hand, Magazine Editor Phoebe Doscher, News Editor Katie Oglesby, Assistant News Editor Nicole DeJacimo, Investigations Editor Cameron D’Amica, Co-Features Editor Katherine Scott, Co-Features Editor Britney Brunache, A&E Editor Emily Dalgleish, Opinions Editor Garrett Glaeser, Sports Editor Allyson Frantz, Director of Photography Dr. Scott Boddery, Advisor

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Interested in joining us?

Contact mangga01@gettysburg.edu for more information.