University announces student survey results, new philosophy of discipline
The University implemented a new “philosophy of discipline” into the Student Handbook, a decision that was announced during chapel Feb. 13 and influenced by the results of a student satisfaction inventory survey that was shared with the student body last semester.
The chapel presentation, which was led by Executive Vice President Jean-Noel Thompson and Assistant Provost Dana Steil, focused on the results of the inventory, including respondent demographics, identified strengths and challenges of the University, and main themes that were found in student comments. The end of the presentation was dedicated to the announcement of the new philosophy of discipline, which reads in part as follows: Out of deep care for the welfare and dignity of our students, all conduct decisions are applied through love, mercy and justice. Harding University believes discipline is both a corrective and a restorative response to conduct violations, requiring careful assessment and a directed response to each student’s unique set of circumstances. In summary, the disciplinary response is designed to achieve the following: a redirection in behavior towards honoring God; an encouragement of personal responsibility and maturity; a protection of the rights and safety of all within the community; and maintenance of a unique environment that supports development, growth and learning, and is aligned with the Christ-centered mission of Harding University.
“We did a little bit of work looking at the student conduct procedures and realized
that there was no basis,” Thompson said in an interview with The Bison. “It went right into policies. There was no sense of ‘Why do we do what we do?’”
Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Zach Neal said that as of the announcement Feb. 13, the new philosophy has been implemented in the Student Life office. He said the ideals of this philosophy have been present within his office, but now that it is in written form in the Student Handbook it gives them more flexibility when it comes to case-by-case disciplinary scenarios.
“I think the culmination of the survey with previous conversations through the years just culminated in the perfect timing for this to be something that needed to be put forth,” Neal said. “The expectations [in the handbook] are still the same, but where you might have seen the word ‘will’ you’ll see the word ‘may,’ and that allows room to build trust. A one-strike, two-strike mentality still draws a line, and wherever you draw the line there would still be a frustration point, whereas this approach is saying, ‘We want to hear where you’re coming from.’”
Senior Chloe Cooper said her reaction to the new philosophy of discipline was a positive one and that after completing the survey last semester, this change was not one she saw coming.
“As someone who is a little critical of some of Harding’s policies, I find this [philosophy] to be more in line with the grace we are extended from Christ when we fall short,” Cooper said. “During my time at Harding, I have seen great change, and I anticipate that
even greater, more positive change will be in Harding’s future as the administration aims to hear students’ frustrations and cultivate a more inclusive community united by Christ.”
Regarding the survey itself, 2,184 or 68% of full-time undergraduate students responded. Steil said the national average for universities who send out surveys of this type is around 20% to 30%, and that Ruffalo Noel Levitz — the company that provided the survey — was impressed with Harding’s high response percentage.
During the chapel presentation, Steil identified 15 strengths and 11 weaknesses that the University considered most important based on the satisfaction score given by students on the survey. Common strengths included topics of academic success and caring faculty and advisors. One weakness that both Steil and Thompson said surprised them was “Most students feel a sense of belonging here.” Thompson said that he felt the way the question on the survey was phrased led many students who do actually feel a “sense of belonging” to answer on behalf of those they felt did not, as based on a student focus group.
“I did not expect that to be as low as it was and to be a red flag challenge,” Thompson said. “[But] it made sense the way the focus group answered.”
Steil also said 1,125 of the 2,184 respondents provided comments on the survey. He shared that common themes were related to chapel, food, parking, social clubs, varied policies and treatment of marginalized populations, while addressing several specific comments anonymously.
“It is extremely important to us for you to know that we have read and reread every one of your comments,” Steil said during chapel. Both Neal and Thompson said other areas of interest are continuing to be revisited by the administration, with Neal citing curfew, housing options and social clubs as a few examples. Thompson said with many of these topics, the administration wants to hear more from the student body before deciding a specific course of action. One issue he said is already being addressed is that of campus safety, after a focus group identified poor lighting as one of the main reasons for feeling unsafe around campus.
“That has expedited our plans to say, ‘Alright, let’s prioritize and see where we can now start to add more lighting,’” Thompson said. “That’s going to happen, and we’re taking action there.”
Thompson said soon students will be given the opportunity to volunteer to participate in focus groups on different areas of interest regarding the survey results. He said before opportunity arises, however, any students with questions about the survey or the new philosophy of discipline can reach out to himself, Steil or Neal via phone or email.
Neal said he hopes for the administration to continue a culture of open communication and dialogue through the end of the semester.
“The student body seems to be responding really well, and so the open dialogue is where we’re at,” Neal said. “As specific policies are analyzed and changes come, one emphasis point is strong communication.”
First Spring King to be crowned tomorrow
The University will crown its first Spring King during halftime of the Bisons basketball game against Henderson State University Feb. 25, aiming to honor men who showcase Harding’s values.
After 20 candidates were nominated for Spring King by different clubs, sports and organizations on campus, the Student Association (SA) invited the student body on Feb. 18 to vote for their favorite candidates. On Feb. 20, the top three finalists were named during chapel. Those finalists are senior Caden Burks from men’s social club TNT, senior Johnny Galloway from men’s social club Omega Phi, and junior Tanner Shumate from men’s social club Chi Sigma Alpha.
SA President Megan Sledge said the idea of Spring King has been thrown around for years, but this year the SA wanted to make it a reality.
“The purpose of having a Spring King is to honor men on campus who represent the values of Harding well,” Sledge said. “We honor women on campus with Homecoming Queen in the fall, so this idea was brought to life with the intent of honoring men in a similar way in the spring semester.”
Sledge said the process of organizing Spring King began about a month ago, as she worked to gather candidates. Assistant professor of communication Tim Hamilton and director of HU16 Mark Prior worked on the behind-the-scenes visuals for the chapel presentation.
Heather Kemper, the director of Alumni and Parent Relations, serves as the coordinator
for the Homecoming Queen process, so when the SA approached her with the idea of a Spring King, she took on a role as an adviser and primarily assisted with the voting process.
“I loved the idea to represent and to honor someone in the spring
semester and have it be part of the end of the basketball season, but then certainly attending chapel on Monday and seeing the response of the student body just solidified that it really was something that the student body
was excited about and got behind,” Kemper said. “I shared with Meg that based on the number of votes for Homecoming Queen in the fall and Spring King in the spring — they were pretty close to equal, so there was definitely student buy-in, and they wanted to see one of their classmates honored in this way.”
Galloway said he found his nomination funny because his club created posters and buttons to begin campaigning for him.
“It’s a big honor and it’s very exciting, and I was not expecting to be one of the three,” Galloway said. “So it was very fun to get that moment in chapel.” Sledge noted she received great feedback and support from students and the Harding administration, adding that she believes Spring King is an important tradition to start on campus.
“I feel that this boosts the Harding community by providing a sense of more recognition for strong qualities of faith, leadership and service that we, as a whole, recognize in individuals on our campus,” Sledge said. “As Christians, it is important in our community to honor those who are striving to be more like Christ in all that they do.”
The Bisons basketball game will begin at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Students visit historic Little Rock Central High School
The Black Student Association (BSA) organized a visit to Little Rock Central High School Saturday, Feb. 18, allowing participants to explore the history of integration during the Civil Rights Era and the impact of these events on opportunities for Black students today.
Junior BSA public relations officer Ashanti Poindexter said the visit to Central High School is a yearly trip open to all students.
“I think it’s really cool that we get to go see something that’s pretty close by but has a lot of historical significance still today,” Poindexter said.
In 1957, a group of Black teenagers, dubbed the “Little Rock Nine” by the media,
began attending classes at the all-White school during one of the first key tests to the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, according to the National Park Service (NPS) website. President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect the students from the threat of White mob violence as the teenagers entered the school Sept. 25.
Poindexter said during the BSA trip, students spent the morning touring both the school and the exhibits at the nearby visitor center, and then they stopped for lunch before going back to campus.
Junior Ta’Mya Jones said her grandparents were alive during the 1950s, which made the story of the Central High School integration feel closer to home as she reflected on it. When the Little Rock Nine began attending the
school, they received verbal insults, physical attacks, threats and hate mail from classmates, according to the NPS website.
“Just to imagine that you’re just trying to go to school and get equal education, and people are throwing acid in your face and hitting you with tennis rackets,” Jones said. “I can’t imagine, like that could’ve been my grandparents.”
Senior Princess Welch attended the trip and said she had also visited the site when she was in high school. Welch said she felt honored to stand on the steps of the building where the Little Rock Nine had fought for the rights of Black students like her.
However, she said visiting the museum was emotionally heavy and gave her a sense of the struggles and discrimination the Little Rock Nine endured in order to get an education.
“They weren’t fighting the law,” Welch said. “They were fighting hate.”
Poindexter said she hoped those who went on the tour were able to look at the events at Central High School from their own perspectives and have a better understanding of why the quality of education for Black students is much better now.
Jones, who is majoring in elementary education, said she is grateful for the Little Rock Nine’s courage. She said if they had not made the decision to go to Central High School, she might not have the opportunity to attend Harding today and teach students from different backgrounds in the future.
“It just makes me think that their bravery really made a difference for me, and I’m here because of what they did and the many people that they inspired,” Jones said.
Students plan to attend upcoming mission trips
A number of students on campus will participate in both abroad and domestic mission campaigns during the upcoming spring break, which begins on March 4.
Students have the opportunity to travel to another country and serve in a variety of ministries, or stay in the U.S. or Searcy area and participate in service projects.
Joy Tittle, director of spring break missions, said they currently have students going on eight different trips, three of which are international trips. Tittle said two of the trips will occur in Mexico, while the other will be in Nicaragua.
“The City of Children is the mission in Ensenada, Mexico; City of Angels is in Cozumel, Mexico; and Mision Para Cristo is in Jinotega, Nicaragua,” Tittle said. “And then we have five domestic trips.”
The domestic trips include missions at Impact Church in Houston; Roots Mission, a Native American reservation in Kayenta, Arizona; and Water’s Edge, a Church of Christ in Laconia, New Hampshire, where students will work at a church plant. The football team is also taking a group of 15 students to Riverhead, New York, to work at the Timothy Hill Ranch. Tittle said there are also groups staying in Searcy to do service projects all over the city.
Kyle Thompson, assistant director of
community connections, discussed what the projects in Searcy will look like.
“This experience is different because we take the students to various organizations in Searcy or White County that are doing good serving their neighbors,” Thompson said. “So we will go visit to understand what they do, how they do it and the effect it has on their neighbors. And then if possible, we will do a little service activity for them if they’re needing some assistance.”
Thompson also shared examples of past projects students had done in Searcy.
“We’ve gone out to New Horizons food pantry, and we’ll work and serve with them all morning, do a tour and then hear their story on why they opened and what they do,” Thompson said. “On Monday nights at College Church is caring and sharing, where they host meals for the community, and so that was our Monday evening meal to work and serve but also get to eat with our neighbors.”
Junior Bible and family ministry major Landon Gardner talked about the opportunity a past spring break mission to Ensenada provided.
“The trip to Ensenada, Mexico, and the City of Children is a wonderful opportunity to bless children from crisis situations and bless them with friends and a sense of familial belonging,” Gardner said.
Test your news knowledge
ACROSS
3. How many Harding faculty members make up the chamber music group 242 strings?
4. Assistant Provost Dana ____ read the results of the student satisfaction survey in chapel last week.
7. Students can join the new ____ club to get tips for riding around campus on four wheels.
9. What is the theme of this year’s Arkansas National History Day?
10. The Lady Bisons basketball team will play their final home game against ____ State this Saturday.
12. The winning team in the novice pickleball tournament was named “The Pickle ____.”
13. John _____ is the name of the protagonist played by TJ Brown in Harding Theatre’s production of “The Crucible.”
DOWN
1. Members of which women’s social club have started offering ballet classes on campus this spring?
2. A group of Harding students have started sporting shirts with this animal on the front every Wednesday.
3. Visiting ASI fellow Dr. Jason Jewell also works as a professor for which Christian university?
5. How many candidates were originally nominated for Spring King from various clubs, sports teams and other organizations on campus?
6. Two of Harding’s spring break mission trips, the City of Children and the City of Angels, will take place in which country?
8. The restaurant chain Whataburger is based in which Texas city?
11. The Little Rock ____ was the nickname for the first group of Black students to attend Central High School in 1957.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the news recently, you may have missed all the talk about UFOs, Russian fighter jets, the release of toxic chemicals in Ohio and green Chinese satellite lasers being shot over Hawaii. On Feb. 12, I was getting ready for a Super Bowl party when I happened to scroll across a headline reposted on someone’s Instagram story that said “U.S. shoots down unidentified cylindrical object over Canada.’’
Though I was skeptical albeit curious, a quick Google search showed countless articles about the U.S. military shooting down multiple “UFOs” in different parts of the country and some over Canadian airspace.
While searching through news articles (making me and my husband late to our party), I came across multiple conspiracy theories about the objects. Some online suspected that they were communist spy vessels, and others said the situation was all fabricated by our own government to distract us from events such as the recent claims surrounding Pfizer’s research integrity, the U.S blowing up the Nordstream Pipeline, the potential reveal of the Epstein client list, and the deadly chemical release disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. Others still confidently said “aliens.”
Aliens, balloons, and Communists — oh my!
I quickly took screenshots of an assortment of news articles and conspiracy tweets and started posting them on my story, asking my followers to answer polls and give their input on the situation. I was surprised by the wide range of opinions, which were anywhere from “demonic forces” to “it’s them darned Communists.” For those who may not know, several days prior to the government shooting down the “UFOs,” President Joe Biden gave the order to shoot down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon over the coast of South Carolina after several days of it soaring over the continental U.S. Considering these events, I remain unsure what to think, but I was concerned about the lack of reaction from my peers. Seems like if the U.S. is sending the military to shoot stuff down it would be a big deal right? Perhaps a pandemic has desensitized us to big news. I read a lot of articles and watched news reports from many different outlets, and what I kept coming back to in the back of my mind was the rabbit hole that is Operation Northwoods. Operation Northwoods was a plan drafted by United States Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962 to push propaganda, stage events and even commit acts of terrorism on the U.S. public and Cuban refugees. Why? To put the blame on Cuba in
order to garner American civilian support for war. The plan was denied by President John F. Kennedy and was later declassified in the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. While several responses to my Instagram stories thought this is exactly what is going on, I do not feel firmly that the Chinese spy balloon and these UFO reports are fabrications of the U.S. government to make its citizens “anti-China” or “anti-Russia” (consider also the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s recent reports of Russian fighter jets being intercepted near Alaska). However, it is not above our government to consider it, nor should we believe everything we read. In January, four-star U.S. Air Force General Miki Minihan stated that his gut told him the United States would fight China in the next two years (the Pentagon spoke against these statements). While the UFOs really may just be harmless, runaway weather balloons like some claim, all of this caused me to realize there is so much about our current world I need to pay attention to, and I think you should too.
MARY KYLE MILLS is a guest writer for The Bison. She can be contacted at mbartlett@harding.edu.
Comedy theory 101
Ever since the creation of humanity, we have searched for what is right and what is wrong. The quest for knowledge on good and evil, light and dark, and correct and incorrect is a long journey we’ve all participated in at one point or another. We come to new discoveries every day and create new boundaries, deeming certain thoughts and phrases insensitive or evil. But what is the most appropriate way to discuss these social laws? While many would say civil discussion, debating or mass media, I think one of the best ways to set social boundaries is through comedy.
Comedy has been around for centuries and has definitely changed over that time, but there has always been an aspect of challenge within it. Back during the time of the ancient Greeks, comedy shows were produced and consumed frequently, mainly showcasing foolishness of leaders and political topics. To this day comedy should serve as a form of “new” political discussion. Comedians often challenge
social norms and mention topics most people are too afraid to discuss. Comedians such as Bo Burnham, Ali Wong, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman and many more have provided thoughts on mental health, political news, stereotypical gender norms and many other topics we, as humans, struggle to openly consider.
I believe comedians and comedy as a whole offer a chance for social boundaries to be challenged and provide a space where anyone can keep an open mind. However, with every good, there is a bad. What happens when comedy goes too far? When do jokes become more than that — more than just silly comments and observations about reality? There are many opportunities for a joke to go too far. As mentioned before, comedy has changed many times over the last few years. Specific topics become too personal for others to openly laugh at. Certain words used could always hurt those you care about, and harmful ideas and motives
Guest Writer Emma HayesWhensomeone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
- Maya AngelouFellow students clap, cheer, gawk and giggle when it’s announced that our biggest, collective concerns are tastier food, more parking, more fair discipline. You’ve got to be joking, right?
I pinch myself; surely, my fellow peers know what’s wrong with this picture. We claim to be Christ-centered, to love God and love others. Our celebrations and silences speak for themselves. We have an absurd number of students who feel they don’t belong — fellow human brothers and sisters that differ in language, sexuality, race, culture, family background, etc. We read of God’s unending embrace, yet there were echoes of boos at the mention of LGBTQ — true story. We sing of God’s joy, but only have the Black man sing when prospective Bisons fill the seats. We encourage God’s inclusivity but only have women on stage when they walk across in dresses at Homecoming. When Harding shows you who they are, believe them the first
Revival and resurrection
Nodoubt many of us have heard about the religious revival at Asbury University, a school quite like ours. Worship continued for 10 days straight, classes were put off, and people from all over the world traveled to participate in this sudden movement of the Spirit. Classes recently resumed, but worship still spread to churches in the community and even other universities.
I tend to be a little cynical of the ultracharismatic corner of the church, particularly because of my own experiences with guilt, emotional repentance and then getting caught in the same rut I was in before. I had some high school friends who got baptized three or four times because of an emotional tug to repentance but no action or discipline to bring them closer to obedience. This results in a thriving worship and prayer life, but any relationship outside of the self and the Spirit is glazed over because this “religious fervor” has not made its implications in the everyday life of the worshiper yet. This is evident with Kanye West’s public proclamation of faith but then failure to realize the love of God means we cannot hate our neighbors. So a healthy skepticism at initial conversion can be helpful, but we ought not let our desire for safety cripple our openness to the movement of the Spirit.
seep into the cracks of jokes directed at people. So where is the line? In my opinion, that’s what comedy is perfect for discovering. Now I’m not saying to openly hurt those closest to you by purposefully crossing those boundaries. Instead, we need to recognize them and respect the changes our society is going through. As the world matures and people grow, so should our senses of humor. The job of comedy is to invoke laughter and create a positive thinking space for someone to reevaluate their priorities, not to breed hatred and pain. Learning to be aware of your surroundings is very important, and things like topic, tone and audience should always play a factor in what you say. So maybe if we have love in our hearts and keep an open mind, we can all learn to take a joke.
ANDREW WILLIAMS is a guest writer for The Bison. He may be contacted at twilliams14@harding.edu.
Here say or heresy
time. There is no room for hatred in the house of God, so are we heretics? Are our bodies not temples? Are we not in the house of God?
The Christian circle is excited about the Asbury Revival. Don’t count me in until “revival” means repenting of our attitude toward our neighbors. We don’t need loud songs and fallen knees. We need repentance. We need waters of life and truth to course through the classrooms and shatter our institution. The only way to truly know God and see the divine is to take up the cross of humility. When the living waters roar, the truth will roll on. And our actions will align with God’s. It will be then and only then that we will hear more about Black church theology, for it’s the Black man who knows oppression, the Black man who sees the cross and hears similar cries from his brother’s body, yet still chooses joy in the resurrection.
I want to hear the truth. We will look up and see women on the stage, taking up space and speaking during the devotional, for it is her who King David assaulted. I want to hear the story of Bathsheba from the woman’s perspective because it was she who ran to the
tomb first, skipping and jumping that his body was no longer there.
With the waters rushing, we will look at the imprisoned, poor, addicted, downtrodden, betraying man, knowing he still dined with the divine. Breaking the bread as Christ’s body was broken by pharisaical oppression before it rose. The river will rush by, and there will be no stopping it. These are the streams that make the unloved feel held and provide belonging. These are the waters that demand salvation for the poor now. This is what the Son uses to wash the feet of all people. You have the opportunity to go down to the river and pray. It begins with the student body choosing to look like Christ’s body. May we have empathy and humility to let the holy waters bubble up. May we call what’s love, love, and what is truth, truth. Until then, don’t count me in. Harding, let down your heresy. You call it love, but I’m just calling it what it is: blasphemy. May it be so.
by Cooper Turman
EMMA HAYES is a guest writer for The Bison. She may be contacted at ehayes1@harding.edu.
As a student body at a Christian university, most of us have experienced that “spiritual high,” or emotional repentance, whether it was at church camp or Winterfest or youth group retreat. For some, those moments were either the beginning or a very strong point in a solid faith that has been growing ever since. On the individual level, we are open to emotional repentance. In fact, it’s hard to imagine repentance at all if there is not emotion or worship involved.
We forget God does not redeem individuals, but communities.
– Malachi Brown, opinions editorAccording to John, Jesus prays that “they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.” In our corner of the church, we often focus on faith as an aspect — or even as it permeates into all other aspects — of the self. We forget God does not redeem individuals, but communities as they reach out into every facet of creation. If we believe the church is real, then we must be open to the notion that God would move within the church and not just individuals.
When we think of the church, not as it is now, but as it ought to be — the bride of Christ, the community of beatitudes, the citizens of heaven — I cannot imagine it being individualistic, where everyone repents on their own and everyone stands in chapel singing loud enough for only themselves to hear. I also cannot imagine that community worshiping fervently in a building, but then cussing out their neighbors, being stingy with their money or polluting the environment.
I suppose I am only saying this: Do not make judgments about its authenticity quite yet. Revivals like this can do wonders for individuals and communities. They offer conviction and hope that we might be pruned to produce better fruit. Revivals in places like Asbury, Stamford or Harding can be the catalyst for resurrection in places like food banks, shelters and churches. Do not think that because the worship is done, God is too; do not count the Holy Spirit out of this yet.
Graphic by Cooper Turman
MALACHI BROWN is the opinions editor for The Bison. He may be contacted at mbrown33@harding.edu.
Ten Thousand Words
Editor-in-Chief Emma Jones
On faith and art
I’vebeen jokingly referring to this semester as my “Bible major semester,” as four of the five classes I’m taking count toward my Leadership and Ministry degree. My favorite out of the four however has been Visual Aesthetics and the Biblical Perspective, which is a really long title for what I just call my “art Bible class.”
Lately we have been discussing the portrayal of God in artwork. How do you imagine God? What adjectives would you use to describe God to someone else? This is something artists have been struggling with for centuries — how to portray God in a way that is beneficial to a viewer without it being idolatrous. When we think of artistic portrayals of God, we typically think of a Sistine Chapel-esque old man with a beard, and there is some benefit to thinking of God as a being who is much older and wiser than us. But it is important to remember that historically, religious art is not trying to portray God as we actually understand God to be (an incomprehensibly divine being without a body) but rather to portray an attribute of God to help viewers potentially gain insight into the nature of God. A unique example that comes to my mind is Verrocchio and da Vinci’s “Baptism of Christ,” which doesn’t even attempt to paint God, but rather shows God’s hands at the top of the painting releasing the Spirit to shine upon Christ. I feel there’s also benefit here in the artists not trying to portray God, but still positioning God at the top of the Triune with hands open in blessing.
Portrayals of Christ offer a different theological perspective however, as we know that Christ had a physical body. Many paintings show him with a halo or golden aura, signifying his divine presence, while also annunciating his humanity through the use of his nudity or emotion. Like Christ proving his presence to Thomas through the wounds he received during the crucifixion, artistic portrayals of Christ are working to prove to us the truth of his physical incarnation while also showing his divine nature (one of my favorite modern portrayals of Christ’s dual natures is in David LaChapelle’s “Jesus is my Homeboy: Last Supper”). I traveled abroad last spring to Harding University in Florence (don’t groan, I’ve held off talking about going abroad all year) and saw an overwhelming amount of religious artwork, but the paintings of Christ that I felt best showed his humanity were those where Mary was breastfeeding him as a baby. What a simple and beautiful way to show that he was born a human with needs like all of us, while appreciating the gift of motherhood (see Modena’s “Madonna col Bambino” for an example).
Iconoclastic movements throughout history have led to different perspectives of religious artwork within the Christian tradition, stemming from interpretations of the second commandment which reads, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Exodus 20:4-5a). In Catholic churches, for example, there is a very common use of works that portray the Triune or the saints, and the veneration of icons is prevalent in Eastern Orthodox traditions. Protestantism broke away from Catholic iconography, which is a leading reason why our Church of Christ buildings are so sparingly decorated compared to our Catholic neighbors’. This Protestant breakaway has also led to much tension between our evangelical church and modern art movements. The question remains though: Is a painting of God idolatrous? I don’t believe so. Art is one way we join the Creator in creating. Believers should view religious artwork as a beautiful teaching tool, which can be appreciated but not idolized.
EMMA JONES is editor-inchief for The Bison. She can be contacted at ejones19@harding.edu.
Women are God-chosen leaders
t was asserted that there is no theological argument to support women participating fully in worship. I will demonstrate the tenants of the biblical argument for women’s roles in support of egalitarianism. There are two main proof texts used to back prohibition of women’s roles in the church: 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14. The modern interpretations are inconsistent with the rest of the New Testament and the actions of the early church. I can demonstrate contextual reasoning for Timothy that pertains to the issues specific to Ephesus. This argument shows that this is not a flatout prohibition of women, which leads many to point out 1 Corinthians. This is where it gets more interesting. Corinthians actually supports the full integration of women in the church. Most of the book relies on a literary refutation device where Paul goes through refuting argued standards. This can be seen after the verse about women’s roles where Paul says, “or did the word of God originate from you men only ... if anyone thinks they are gifted by the spirit.” He is pushing back on the idea of barring women from leadership. This is increasingly evident in how Paul treated women throughout the whole of his writings. We know the other proof text reading is incorrect because Paul doesn’t even follow his own “orders.”
I
(Junia), house church leaders (Chloe and Lydia), prophets and deacons. Phoebe the deacon is a glaring contradiction to previous interpretations. Some incorrectly argue the word should be deaconess to undermine the authoritative role Phoebe had, but what is the difference between a waiter and a waitress? Nevertheless, Phoebe carried the letters and read them aloud to surrounding congregations. Furthermore, she would facilitate discussions with congregants. Proof text reading these passages is also not consistent with the actions of Jesus. Jesus regularly discipled and encouraged women to take on leadership roles within his ministry. Jesus urged Mary and Martha to be discipled by him as their rabbi. In Rabbinic tradition, one only mentored a student so they, in turn, would become a teacher. This trend continues with the woman at the well. The most significant action within Jesus’ ministry involves the female witnesses. Jesus told the women to tell the story of his resurrection. This is the story of the gospel, not just to unbelievers, but to male, believing, following disciples of Jesus. To dismiss this counter-cultural action by Jesus is to maintain our own biases.
Along with texts allowing women to pray and prophesy (prophesy emulates teaching) in worship, in Romans, when Paul commends church leaders, among them are women, including female apostles
Jesus was against the culture that regarded women as less than (which is still evident in our worldwide culture today) and instead demonstrated their agency in his kingdom.
I am more apt to adhere to the actions of Jesus than to the words and interpretations of men. Let’s be reminded that sexism is a sin. It was introduced during the fall of
Pranked
Some years ago, when I was new in town, I had a project to do at home. But it wasn’t a one-person job. So I ordered pizza, invited some friends over and asked a few of them to help me in a back room of the house. The rest of the gang stayed in the living room to watch television. At least that’s what they told me they were doing. Only later did I discover the truth.
My friends knew I kept a tidy place, so they decided to have some fun at my expense. While my back was turned, they did some rearranging. They swapped some of the dust jackets on my books. They put DVDs in different cases. They emptied the salt into the pepper shaker and vice versa. They hid objects in the microwave, the toaster oven and the freezer.They exchanged entire kitchen drawers.
This was the day when I first realized there is not much to do in Searcy.
As a neatness fanatic, I spent the rest of the evening setting things right. I was so thrown by the prank, that I took way too long to restore order. In fact, I’m embarrassed to say that, when I discovered the kitchen drawer switch, I spent half an hour carefully emptying the contents of each drawer so I could transfer them to the proper spot. It never occurred to me simply to take the whole drawer with the flatware out and swap it for the whole drawer with the dish towels.
Ultimately, it was the prank that kept on giving, since I found the last mis-cased DVD almost exactly six months later.
If things ever get dull at a dinner party, just bring up the subject of pranks. Everyone has a story or two, and they tend to be good
ones. My father once TP’d my bedroom — while I was asleep in it. I woke up the next morning, and the whole room was covered in Charmin. It was dangling from the light fixtures, hanging across the windows and draped over every piece of furniture. I could not get out of bed without breaking a strand. I thought it was hilarious, but my mother made dad bag up the toilet paper and use it. It took him three months to finish the bag.
One of my friends was once out of town for a couple of days. When he returned, it was late at night, and he wanted to take a shower before bed. Imagine his surprise to turn on the lights in the bathroom and find a half dozen live lobsters in the tub.
When I was a kid, I loved the practical jokes you could get at the magic shop: whoopee cushions, joy buzzers, fake vomit, peanut brittle cans full of spring snakes. Of course, all of these gags had been around since the 1940s, so I seldom scored with any of them. In fact, I once got in trouble for wasting two slices of bread after I left a fake sandwich on the kitchen table, hoping someone would bite into it and discover the piece of rubber peanut butter I had slipped inside.
After telling some stories of pranks on campus in recent issues of “The Bison,” I heard a few more from alumni. One told me
mankind, and it is rooted in greed, pride and lust. It is quite literally divisive and a stumbling block to many women in their faith. The church needs to be cleansed of this. The fruits of complementarianism have reaped negative consequences. From a long history of devaluation of women, we end up with not only an inhibition of image bearers of Christ and lack of perspective, but also sexual assault within our faith communities, high rates of pornographic use in our male leadership, domestic violence in the home and as a recent study suggests, detrimental chronic effects on the health of our women (see Newswise March 23, 2021, article, “Study Explores How Sexism Within Religious Congregations Shapes Women’s Health,” Authentic Theology Nov. 28, 2019, article, “Church of Christ Practice Harms Girls Long-Term, Suggests 2018 Study,” and Authentic Theology Jan. 30, 2019, article, “(Part 2) Church of Christ Practice Harms Girls Long-Term, Suggests 2018 Study: Negative Reactions”). If we must choose which perspective to take, I would choose the avenue that values creation the way Jesus did, that leads to a stronger faith community, unity, and encourages others instead of silencing those of faith, so they can use their gifts to further the kingdom. Women, yes you can. Why? Because Jesus has called you to.
that song books were routinely swiped and hidden. Some time ago, when Vice President Dan Quayle came to Harding as an American Studies Institute speaker, the Secret Service had to inspect every inch of the Benson Auditorium. During the process, they came to Public Safety and asked, “Did you know there are stacks of songbooks above the ceiling tiles in the ladies’ restroom?” Harding had been looking for those particular books for years.
When Dr. Clifton Ganus was president, he made announcements in chapel each day, and he always picked up the heavy podium and carried it off center stage at the end of the program. Until one day when he went to lift it and could not. It had been bolted to the floor.
The school used to keep goldfish in the Lily Pond. That is, until someone put in a live catfish, who promptly ate his colleagues. The fountain in front of the Benson has been filled with red dye, pink bubble bath and other assorted colorants. No doubt the deans will love me for telling you this.
My mother and I have an ongoing joke. Years ago, she bought this tacky ceramic figurine of a little girl dressed in a flower suit and playing the violin. We keep taking turns hiding it where the other will eventually find it. It’s in my possession at the moment. Stay tuned, mom. There’s not much to do where she lives, either.
MICHAEL CLAXTON is the narrative columnist for The Bison. He can be contacted at mclaxto1@harding.edu.
At The Bison, it is our goal to serve the Harding University student body with integrity, truth and open ears. However, we believe that meeting that goal is a two-way street between our staff and the public it serves. We pledge to keep our eyes and ears open to what our community has to say and hope that, in return, that community will be an interactive audience, sharing its stories with us. We also pledge to do the basics: Report accurate and relevant information, check our facts, and share them in a professional, timely manner. If you have any story ideas, questions, comments or concerns for The Bison staff, please email Emma Jones, the editor-in-chief, at ejones19@harding.edu. “The Bison (USPS 577-660) is published weekly (except vacations, exams and summer sessions), 20 issues per year, by Harding University. Periodicals postage paid at Searcy, Arkansas 72143. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Bison, Harding University 11192, SEARCY, AR 72149-0001.” BYLINE POLICY:
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Searcy, Ark., 72149
Lady Bisons continue to shine
SPENCER AIELLO student writerThe Harding women’s basketball team continues its successful season after winning its 10th straight home game this past week, pushing the team’s overall record to 21-6 and its Great American Conference (GAC) record to 17-3.
The Lady Bisons’ win Saturday, Feb. 18, marked the eighth time Harding has reached a 10-game win streak at home.
The win also marked the seventh time Harding has won 21 games or more in a single season. The last time Harding did this came in the 2018-2019 season, when the Lady Bisons finished 21-9.
With their record of 21-6, Harding ranks second in the GAC, just two games behind Southern Nazarene University, which currently holds a record of 22-4.
Junior Sage Hawley, who is having a historic season averaging 19 points and 10.6 rebounds a game, attributes the team’s success this season to the bond the team shares.
“We spend a lot of time together,” Hawley said. “But we’re really close because of it.”
Hawley shared her thoughts about the impact the crowd and band have during the games this season.
“Having our fans here and people yelling and screaming, and the band is amazing,” Hawley said. “Our cheerleaders are awesome, but that energy helps more than anybody can ever understand.”
The Lady Bisons will take on University of Arkansas at Monticello Feb. 23 on the road and have a home game against Henderson State University back in Searcy for senior night Feb. 25.
Sophomore Rory Geer said the Lady Bisons are preparing for these two games by keeping the mentality they have had all season.
“I don’t think we’ll be changing,” Geer said.
“I think we’ll just go in with more energy and just more excitement.”
Head coach Tim Kirby said he thinks the team is playing well finishing the season and can continue to excel as the conference tournament nears.
“We need to go into the tournament on a positive note,” Kirby said. “I think we’re playing well, but we need to continue to get better.”
As the season approaches its final home game and senior night, Kirby said he’d like to see more support as the season wraps up. “[The] Rhodes-Reaves Field House gets really loud no matter how many fans we have,” Kirby said. “But we would love to see a full house to finish our season.”
Track construction nearly completed, ready to host
SARA HOOK features editor
While construction on Harding’s new track and field stadium remains incomplete, with the stripes now painted, it is complete enough to begin hosting events. Harding’s track and field team will host a junior high meet Feb. 28 and a high school meet March 2, while the team is gearing up for the Harding Invitational March 16-17.
The junior high and high school meets are an opportunity for Harding’s athletes, head track and cross country coach Don Hood said.
“Our athletes are the officials and get to run off the meet, so it’s a learning experience for them and a little bit of a fundraiser for us, but it also gets a lot of Arkansas kids on our campus,” Hood said. “[It’s] a chance to interact with our kids and for us to meet coaches.”
While construction is still going on, Hood said the department of physical resources helped them prepare for the event. Currently, the department is working on pouring concrete and installing fencing, among other projects.
“The biggest complication is it’s outside,” director of physical resources Danny DeRamus said. “If we build a building, once we get a roof on it we can continue working underneath it no matter the weather. Here we are so weather dependent.”
Another project in progress is the installation of speakers. The speakers will be located on the eastern pole lights, blowing west and away from Harding Place, construction manager Ryan Carter said.
“Our emphasis is to really get the track done,” Carter said. “Then we’ll start working on the field events, which are going to be located on the north side of the track.”
Despite all the construction going on, team members are still ready to use the track. Freshman Ashley Gray said she was excited for the whole project to be complete. “Once it’s finished, it’s going to be really, really nice,” Gray said. “I’ve run on it a couple of times, and it’s really soft. It’s a nice surface to run on.”
The whole thing should be complete by the end of April, DeRamus said, as long as pieces like the bleachers arrive on schedule, and when it is done it should make life easier for both the track and football coaches as they won’t have to share a stadium.
“Very few Division II schools have a standalone track facility,” Hood said. “It’s just really exciting to see how this has all played out. The advantages, I think, it’s going to give us in a lot of ways. It’s going to be really good for us.”
22 teams compete in annual pickleball tournament
Harding Recreation hosted its second annual pickleball tournament the weekend of Feb. 17-18 in the Ganus Activities Complex.
Twelve teams signed up for the advanced tournament, and 10 teams signed up for the novice tournament, including sophomores Madison Soper and Aya Giggleman, with the team name “Pickleball Gals.”
“Aya, my teammate, and I spend a lot of time playing pickleball together as a way to find time to see each other,” Soper said. “So, since the tournament was coming up, it seemed like a good way to see her and also have some fun.”
Similar to last year’s tournament, there were two different brackets, one for an advanced category and the other for a novice division. The players started competing on Friday evening and went through Saturday morning. Each of the brackets for the tournament had eight teams of single elimination play.
Senior Gabe Hosticka played in one of the teams, called “A Box of Pickles.”
“This game is a great way to build friendships because it can be played in so many different ways,” Hosticka said. “You can play super fast and competitive, slow and conversational or anywhere in between.”
Junior Emilie Wilkinson was one of the players in this competition who consistently plays pickleball in her free time. Wilkinson shared her past experience with the sport, noting she had participated in a pickleball tournament before.
“Yes, but it wasn’t very legit,” Wilkinson said. “It was my freshman year, and I think it was just like [Pi Theta Phi] girls.”
Of the many teams involved in the competition, only two duos won the pickleball tournament: “The Pickle Blinders” and “2 Cooks 1 Kitchen.” Seniors Mason Rush and Anna Voss were the players on “The Pickle Blinders,” who won the novice division, and sophomore Fin Cummings and junior Samuel Tandy were a part of “2 Cooks 1 Kitchen,” who won the advanced division.
Wilkinson wrapped it up by sharing a final thought about this weekend tournament.
“Eat, sleep, pickleball,” Wilkinson said.
MATTIE POWERS student writer Sophomore guard Rory Geer shoots past an Arkansas Tech player’s block during their game in the Rhodes-Reaves Field House. The Lady Bisons defeated the Bulldogs 68-64 in overtime Feb. 13. Junior Samuel Tandy aims the ball at his opponent during the pickleball tournament hosted by Harding Recreation in the Ganus Activities Complex. Tandy and sophomore Fin Cummings swept the advanced bracket Feb. 18. Construction on the new Harding track continues and is almost complete. The facilities are complete enough to host a junior high track meet Feb. 28. Photo by MACY COX Photo by BALAZS BALASSAHarding hosts Arkansas National History Day event
TIANE DAVIS sports editorThe Region Eight Arkansas National History Day event is being hosted at Harding for the fourth consecutive year this weekend. Nine schools in the region plan to attend the day-long event, which is happening tomorrow, Feb. 25.
Associate professor of history David Adams, who is the region’s coordinator, said the competition has five different categories: exhibits, documentaries, websites, papers and performances. He said National History Day started in 1974 when a history professor thought history was being neglected in schools.
“It started out sort of as a history answer to the science fair,” Adams said. “So it did start out with the exhibits, which were trifolds and have pictures and captions.”
Adams said each year has a different theme, and the theme for this year is “Trailblazer.” He said the students do their projects with that theme in mind, which can have a broad interpretation.
“I think that this is a really fulfilling experience for everybody that gets involved,” Adams said. “You put a lot into it, but you can see that the kids have a lot of fun.”
Adams said they find volunteers every year — usually Harding students — to help run the competition and judge individual events. He said the judges have a good experience because they love encouraging the students and their interests.
“They just feel great doing it,” Adams said. “We have a reputation for having the kindest reputation in the state because most of our judges are Harding students, and they just really know how to treat people and make them feel welcome.”
Adams said he is glad the competition can be held at Harding because it often encourages the younger generation to consider higher education.
“I kind of feel like the more people that we can bring in, the more schools that we can bring into this... it not only puts Harding out there, but it just puts the idea of higher education out there in general,” Adams said.
Arkansas National History Day affiliate coordinator Angela Adams, David’s spouse, said she was hired as the state coordinator this past year. She said she has worked to put excitement into the program.
“I want to continue expanding the program, especially to rural and lower socioeconomic areas of the state,” Angela
Whataburger
EMMA WEBER community editorsaid. “I want History Day to become so well-known in our state that Arkansans are cheering on the Arkansas delegation of students going to D.C. to compete in the national competition like they would cheer on the Razorbacks.”
Angela said she created a startup kit program called “Hello History Day” to make it easier for teachers to get their students involved in National History Day if it is their first year doing it. She said she has visited schools all year to help the state numbers grow to over 1,000 participants.
“Since becoming head, I have gotten more excited with the possibilities,” Angela said.
Melanie Barker, a history teacher at Ahlf Junior High School (AJHS) in Searcy, said this is the first year Ahlf has participated in National History Day in about 10 years. She said having the competition at Harding makes it more convenient for parents and students.
“It makes it much more accessible to our students and their parents,” Barker said. “They are able to drive there easier than if it were held somewhere else.”
Barker said she has high hopes for her students this year, and that they have been excited about their projects and for the competition.
“I would love to see Searcy not only have multiple entries each year in the future, but multiple winning entries on the state and even national level,” Barker said. “I have loved seeing the kids become so involved and engaged with their topics. I believe this has helped them appreciate the practice of learning history through investigation much more. It makes history much more real and alive for them.”
Barker said preparing for the competition has not only been fun for her students but for her, as well.
“I am a competitive person in a way — I guess that makes me a nerd — and I want to see AJHS win in almost everything,” Barker said. “I also love the fact that it is so student-driven — their choice, their research and their work is to be rewarded and applauded.”
Graphic by WAGNER VALDEZcelebrates beginning construction on Searcy location
values Whataburger holds. The new location is set to have an open-concept dining room and double drive-thrus, as stated by a Feb. 9 press release from Whataburger. Faulkner spoke during the ceremony, and
that is significant.” After the speeches, those present signed their names on the concrete to symbolize the beginning of the new venture with Whataburger and the Searcy community.
anywhere,” Moore said. “Just by the name, ‘What a burger’ is what we want you to say when you eat it. Searcy seems like a nice town to be a part of, and I’m excited for that.”
Freshman Kent Cates, who is from Texas, is one member of the student body who is excited for Whataburger to make
“I love Whataburger for its food, but more primarily because of its welcoming environment,” Cates said. “It is such a
Another club skates across campus
A new skate club has made its way onto the campus scene, started by a few students who not only want to have fun skating around but make an impact in the surrounding community.
Eighteen students attended the first meeting of skate club this semester to mark the founding of one of the newest organizations.
Freshman Christian Shaw was one of the lead students that spearheaded the club’s emergence and has worked behind the scenes to go through the necessary steps to get this club up and running.
“I contacted the assistant dean and set up a meeting and emailed the stuff I needed to give him,” Shaw said. “I started a social media
account last semester, and I kind of spread the word through that and then spread the word through word of mouth.”
Freshman Caleb Hartzell is also a member who helped get the club off the ground. Hartzell had very little experience with skating outside of longboarding, but with the help of some of the other members, he has begun to branch out and try a few new tricks.
“When I first met Christian, I longboarded, but he’s been teaching and showing me stuff here and there, and it’s really fun,” Hartzell said.
As with any club, there needs to be support from a faculty or staff member in order to get the request for a club approved. Dr. JD Yingling, professor of kinesiology and aquatics director, answered when called upon by Shaw.
While Yingling was initially unable to be the sponsor due to a school abroad trip last semester, his presence back on campus this semester meant he was willing and able to lend a helping hand.
“Christian is in my wellness class this semester,” Yingling said. “So I saw him, and he said, ‘I still haven’t gotten a sponsor,
would you want to help?’ and I said, ‘I’ll help any way I can.’”
Both Hartzell and Shaw said this club is not just for those who have experience skating. It is for anyone who has an interest.
“You don’t have to be super good at skating or even know how to skate,” Hartzell said. “But if you want to learn how to ride four wheels, we’d be happy to show everybody.”
The plans of the club extend past the skating aspect. The leadership team and the members hope to have an impact on the surrounding community. In the future, Shaw would like to plan community service trips and help those around town.
“I’m hoping to do some community projects eventually,” Shaw said. “So not only would we be building relationships with each other, but we’d also be helping the community.”
Those interested in joining the skate club should be on the lookout for flyers coming soon and can follow the club on Instagram @huniversal_skate.
Music faculty perform as 242 Strings
242 Strings is a group of four Harding faculty — adjunct instructor of strings and director of the quartet Alicia Walls, associate professor of music Scott Carrell, music adjunct instructor Leigh Wing, and music adjunct instructor Micah Donar — who play mostly classical music with stringed instruments, mainly the piano, violin, viola and cello. Their group name comes from the number of strings in each instrument — the piano has 230, the violin four, the viola four and the cello four, making a total of 242 strings.
“It’s just a way to play with some really outstanding colleagues,” Walls said. “You can’t play well if you don’t trust and respect each other, and we have that trust and respect in this group. You depend on each other musically … It’s just a lot of fun.”
The group’s inception dates back to about 2019 when the four professors were looking for more ways to become involved in practicing their craft. The members of 242 Strings will usually bring music to rehearsals and decide as a group the list of songs they want to perform. Walls explained that they will meet once a week either in Little Rock, Arkansas, or here in Searcy to practice but that the majority of the practice happens individually.
The members came together on Feb. 21 to play pieces that were more challenging
and outside of the realm they would normally get the chan ce to play. Some of the pieces performed were movements from Johann Brahms, Johan n Christian Bach and even an arrangement of “ My Favorite Things” by Carrell. 242 Strings would be considered a chamber ensemble and not a band because it is a small number of people and does not include any brass or percussion instruments — depending on how one classifies the piano.
“I think that the education of being able to experience and to see and interact with different kinds of groups and different kinds of artists is invaluable,” Carrell said. “This is the time when [students] start to get a glimpse of what all is out there, with all of the various ensembles that are a part of the department and the additional things. It gives them opportunities right here, where you don’t have to drive anywhere or go anywhere or pay big ticket prices … to bring exposure of the wider world … beyond what our students have seen before.”
“Quartet in G Major W.B 66” by Bach and “Alla Italiana” arranged by Walls were bright and fast-paced pieces, while “Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26” by Brahms was much slower and moodier. The concert drew students, faculty and local community members together to listen to the differing styles and moods of music.
“I really enjoyed the last one — [Carrell’s] own arrangement — that was really neat,” Avery Litten, an Arkansas State UniversityBeebe music student, said. “We don’t have an orchestra, but we could be a conductor for
an orchestra, and I think this is really good experience for us to witness a string quartet or the orchestra that [Harding has] here.”
Q&A with ASI fellow Dr. Jason Jewell
Dr. Jason Jewell is the department chair of humanities and the director of the Center for Great Books and Human Flourishing at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. He is a fellow with the American Studies Institute here on the Harding campus this semester.
Q: My first question is — what is a fellow?
A: A fellow is a generic title that a lot of organizations give to people who don’t work for them full-time but have some kind of association with them. Those are people who will come in occasionally and give a talk or be on hand to do interviews and that sort of thing.
Q: What brings you to campus this semester? What are you doing while you are here?
A: What specifically has brought me to Harding this semester is my parents. They were faculty here for 40 years and retired here. Last fall, my father started undergoing cancer treatments, so I worked things out with the administration here to where I could come up and be on campus. I am still working for Faulkner and teaching remotely, but I wanted to be here so I could help my mother take care of my father while he was going through cancer treatments. Well, unfortunately, dad died in January, so now we had already made all these arrangements to be here this spring, so we decided to follow through on that and just be here to help my mother. I am helping Dr. Duke with some things related to the American Studies Institute. I’m also leading some reading groups for students. … I’ll be
doing eight of those sessions throughout the semester. There are two different groups of students meeting four times each and reading through some books and documents that are relevant to ASI’s mission. I help out with whatever Dr. Duke asks me to help out with — it’s kind of informal.
Q: You attended Harding for your bachelor’s degree? What have you enjoyed about being on Harding’s campus now compared to your experience being here as a student?
A: I graduated from Harding in 1995, and since I moved away from Searcy in 1998, I have not been on campus much until this semester. It has been really nice to see the campus life today and to reconnect with people who I knew when we were students who are now working on campus, people that I had not seen for 25 years or more, so that’s been really nice, and to get familiar again with the campus and see where the new buildings are. It seems like there’s a lot more student-led activity on campus now than there was when I was a student, which is great. There are a handful of professors who are still teaching from when I was a student, so I’ve been able to see some of those folks and reconnect with them. So just being able to see people that I hadn’t seen in many years and then get familiar with campus life again has been a lot of fun.
Q: Is there any message you would like to add for my readers?
A: I would add that Harding has always had a very special place in my heart, of course. I grew up here since my parents were on the faculty, and I did my bachelor’s degree here,
and it’s been a real pleasure to be back here in Searcy for a few months and be able to reconnect. A lot of students say they don’t think they’re going to miss it before they graduate,and then when they go away somewhere else they wind up missing it. I think that’s really true, so enjoy it while you’re here. STACY ROIBAL beat reporter
Harding Theatre performs ‘The Crucible’
Harding Theatre took the stage Thursday night for the first performance of their production of “The Crucible.” There will be three more performances, tonight and tomorrow night, both at 7 p.m., and a matinee Monday, Feb. 27, at 11 a.m.
Arthur Miller’s classic play is a dramatized, partially fictionalized story of the 1692 Salem witch trials, when more than 200 people in Salem, Massachusetts, were accused of practicing witchcraft.
Senior Josie Holman said Miller’s retelling of the Salem witch trials interweaves lessons and warnings about the effects of fear on society.
“This is a show about what happens when fear runs people, when it runs a society and
what happens when that fear is allowed to take over instead of the leadership that’s in place — when leadership fails to control the fear narrative,” Holman said.
Sophomore TJ Brown added that the heavy themes dealt with in this show set it apart from other Harding productions.
“It’s a bit more gritty,” Brown said. “It’s hard. It’s going to be an immersive experience.” Brown plays the role of the protagonist, John Proctor.
“John Proctor is at this point in the show, first and foremost, guilty,” Brown said. “He’s filled with shame for something that he’s done in the past that you’ll learn about if you come see the show. He’s guilty, he’s angry, he’s confused throughout most of the show.”
Holman plays the role of John Proctor’s faithful wife, Elizabeth.
“She has been hurt very deeply by [John] very recently and is trying to learn how to recover their marriage,” Holman said. “But Elizabeth herself is a very hard, sharp woman, and it does not come naturally for her.”
Director Britton Lynn said the themes of Miller’s 1953 play are relevant to society today.
“The English teachers in this country will tell you that Miller wrote this play because it was a commentary on the fear of McCarthyism in the early 1950s,” Lynn said. “But when you read it and look at it with a contemporary eye, it’s not about any kind of specific political movement or anything. It’s actually about how if we allow fear to drive our actions, fear is incredibly destructive and divisive.”
Lynn said one of the main goals of taking this story and the real events it was based
upon to the stage was to capture the genuine fear people felt at the time.
“Back in the Salem witch trials, they were deathly afraid of the supernatural, deathly afraid of the environment outside of their civilized world, because it was still very new, very raw, very dangerous,” Lynn said.
“Trying to capture that fear with this production and then talk about how it influences us was the goal that we had for the show.”
Lynn said audiences should take their seats around the thrust stage in the Ulrey Performing Arts Center this weekend ready to think deeply.
“It’s not a happy show,” Lynn said. “It’s a gritty show. It’s an angry show. It’s a preachy show. “So come ready to think; come ready to be challenged.”
Students start Wolf Shirt Wednesday Delta Gamma Rho begins ballet club
There is a wolf pack of students roaming around campus, sporting wolf shirts every Wednesday. Started by sophomore Sam Taylor at the beginning of the spring semester, the trend is called Wolf Shirt Wednesday, and the pack has continued to grow.
Freshman Ava Boyle said Taylor was the reason she started wearing a wolf shirt every Wednesday.
“One time, Sam was wearing a wolf shirt, so me and one of my friends, Amberlee Ellis, went to Walmart and found wolf shirts, and Sam lost her mind,” Boyle said. “I was like, ‘Why not. Let’s add some spice to Harding’s campus.’”
Boyle said because the group is growing, she hopes to keep participating.
“We’ve all grown closer together, but I mean, it’s only the beginning,” Boyle said. “So it should grow some more, and we can meet more people through it. I participated three or four times, so kinda since the beginning of this semester, and I plan to continue it on Wednesdays. I plan to keep it going. I’m also just a freshman, so I can keep it going for the next four years even and keep it growing.”
Boyle said others ask about the wolf shirts every time they wear them.
“We just see it, and it sparks something between all of us,” Boyle said. “I would say it has a big sense of community and growing together, and hopefully, it will get bigger as the weeks and months go by.”
Freshman Amberlee Ellis said she has connected with some people by participating. She said knowing that Taylor was the person who started it makes it better.
“She’s so awesome, so just like joining her and the fun piece of it,” Ellis said. “I feel like a lot of people will be like, ‘Oh! Wolf shirt,’ or they’re like, ‘Hey, this is awesome,’ so I feel like I have met some people [and had] a conversation with them about it.”
Ellis said the wolf shirts are a great conversation starter with others.
“I would say it does have a sense of community,” Ellis said. “And honestly, around campus, there are people who have asked about it, and I feel like we have a sense of friendship in a way just because it’s like a conversation starter. But then the people I’m doing it with are some of my closest friends.
Go to Walmart and get a wolf shirt.”
Freshman Kate Burton said she participated in Wolf Shirt Wednesday in her youth group back home.
“I already had the wolf shirt, and I kinda miss it too from back home, so it was a nice little something when Sam started to do it,” Burton said.
Burton said the trend gets noticed on campus.
“If there’s like a group of us, people will come up and be like ‘Wolf shirts? Interesting, why are you wearing this?’ We say ‘Wolf Shirt Wednesday,’” Burton said. “People do ask about it.”
A group of students from women’s social club Delta Gamma Rho (DGR) have started a club to teach participants the skills and techniques associated with ballet.
The ballet club has met twice during the spring semester, with each class lasting one hour. Plans for the club started while a group of DGR members were on a hike. Freshman Reed Wilson said the members wanted to join a ballet class but felt there was not an option available in Searcy.
Wilson, who has over 15 years of ballet experience, volunteered to teach the class. After a couple of weeks of planning, Wilson began teaching the class on Feb. 3.
About 40 people attended the first class in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Music and Communication. Wilson said the time flew by when teaching the class for the first time.
“It was really fun to teach,” Wilson said. “It was so rewarding getting to see everybody do so well.”
The one-hour class is structured to accommodate all levels of experience. Members participate in across-the-floor and barre routines while learning different ballet positions.
Wilson said she goes through each routine slowly to serve as building blocks for the class.
Students have expressed their interest in the club since the first class meeting. Junior
Elena Gartrell said it was fun to support Wilson and attend the event with friends.
“It was really fun just to learn from someone that knows so much,” Gartrell said. “It was nice for us to all do it together and learn together, but also see so many girls supporting someone else.”
Gartrell also said the club is a great “community builder” for Harding students and faculty that decide to participate.
Junior Bailey Hammond, who has danced since she was 3 years old, said ballet is a good physical or mental outlet for those who participate. Hammond also said it was great to see everyone encouraging each other during the class.
“I am just really proud of everyone that’s been there,” Hammond said.
Along with classes, the club is planning a possible recital when certain routines and positions are learned.
Wilson said the recital would bring everyone together and give the group a goal to work toward.
The club plans to meet after spring break on Friday, March 17. Wilson said all Harding students and experience levels are welcome to join the class. The class takes place in the Reynolds mirror room in C207.