Bursting the bubble: The blog of The Mirror

AMS: It's Not What You Think It Is

2008-05-15T13:24:00.005-04:00

AMS: It's not what you think it is
By Brittaney Ross
Staff Writer

Editor's Note: Due to errors in the editing process, the following article did not appear in the print version of this issue of The Mirror. It is reprinted below in full.

The students of Erskine college may not be a cornucopia of the world's nationalities, but the Association of Multicultural Students (AMS) aims to enlighten all Erskine students, regardless of racial/ethnic background, gender or nationality, of the significance and contributions that minorities and women worldwide have made and continue to make to society. AMS does this through service projects and student-initiated programs throughout the year.

As the school year draws to a close, a new cabinet of dedicated students was sworn in to continue the AMS mission into the 2008-2009 school year. Senior April Clayton has been a member of AMS since her freshman year and has dutifully served as the organization's president during the 2007-2008 school term. Reflecting on her early days as a member, she says she joined AMS because she wanted to be actively involved with a cultural awareness organization that "recognized and respected the presence of minorities on campus."

During her tenure as president, AMS has sponsored activities such as a candlelight vigil honoring Black History Month, a Hispanic Heritage Month fiesta, and a culinary tour of Asia and the Pacific Islands. She believes that both Erskine College and the students have benefited from the positivity and uplifting presence that AMS brings to campus--this shows that Erskine is taking steps to recognize and appreciate the contributions of minorities on campus and globally. All students benefit intellectually from learning about cultures that differ from their own. As president of AMS, she faced many challenges. One especially difficult challenge was a lull in membership that was partly due to the former title of the organization: Association of Minority Students. Understandably, some students felt unwelcome and were hesitant to join because of the seemingly exclusionistic title.

Upon hearing this news, Clayton immediately set forth plans to change the title and the constitution to better reflect one of the foremost goals of the organization--to include and value all students irrespective of ethnic background. Enrollment slightly improved thereafter, but even today she is aware that some students still feel as if they can not join because they may not be 'multicultural'. Overall she says she has "really enjoyed working with the other dedicated members of AMS" and is proud of the
accomplishments of this progressive organization, but she still wants to get the word out to any Erskine student who may still feel slighted that "AMS is not just a black club--we celebrate all of God's peoples."

Newly sworn in president Junior Jordan Lewis is enthusiastic about and willing to tackle the negative perceptions of AMS. Like Clayton, she will "reach out to those who feel as if they do not belong. All students will benefit from learning about different cultures" and develop a more diverse perspective about the world's peoples. Lewis forsees attendance and active participation of all Erskine students as one of the main obstacles to growth as she presides over AMS. With the continued dedication of new and existing members, Lewis is certain that she and the organization can and will overcome. "I would like for every Erskine student to attend at least one meeting. I'm certain that they will be changed for the better."

The new cabinet is as follows: Vice President Si'Ara Washington; Treasurer Becky Rose; Secretary Chanel Baldwin; Parliamentarian Ashley Rhett and Melanie Coleman, Shawn Glover and Kate McDonald will serve as Ambassadors.

AMS meetings are held every Monday night at 9:30 pm in the Hangar.

Comment from Greg Haselden on the status of the Hans Engler home

2008-04-30T16:45:00.004-04:00

I spoke this afternoon with Erskine Vice-President for Finance and Operations Greg Haselden concerning rumors circulating that long-time Erskine Professor Dr. Hans Engler and his wife were going to be asked to leave their house (which they rent from Erskine) by the end of May. Mr. Haselden gave the following comment to The Mirror:

I don't know where [the rumor] came from.

The Englers have not been asked to leave - now, in May, or at any other time.

They have a rental agreement, and have not been asked to leave.

We have no intentions to do anything with the house, aside from doing renovations. Aramark did an assessment to determine what work needs to be done, but we haven't asked [the Englers] to leave.

'The Great Divide' of American Foreign Policy

2008-04-06T23:34:00.003-04:00

Dr. Andrew Bacevich is a professor of history and international relations at Brown University. Bacevich is one of the most articulate anti-war conservatives working in the academy today (see his masterful book, The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War). In a recent article written for the independent Roman Catholic journal Commonweal entitled The Great Divide: The Crisis of U.S. Military Policy, Bacevich argues that American foreign policy needs to reverse course by rejecting the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war and returning to the just war tradition; adopting a policy of containment vis a via Islamic jihadism; and re-establish a citizen-soldier tradition to counteract militarism. Not applicable to your life as an Erskine student? Think again - the massive federal debt our generation is already enslaved to will only become worse if our government continues its current military policies.

According to Bacevich, the "post-Vietnam" era of U.S. military policy has been defined by three main themes. First, we have the "Great Divorce" between civilians and the military inaugurated by Nixon's ending the draft in the wake of the turbulent failures of Vietnam. This lead, writes Bacevich, to "a new professional military with an ethos that emphasized the differences between soldiers and civilians. Out of differences came distance: after Vietnam, members of the officer corps saw themselves as standing apart from (or perhaps even above) the rest of society. More than a few members of the public endorsed that view." In other words, here we have the seeds of American militarism.

Second, Bacevich discusses what he calls the "Great Reconstitution." Begun by Reagan, the military received new funding, an upgrade in technology with the goal of total superiority, and renewed praise as a means to resolve conflicts.

Third, we have the age of "Great Expectations." This era, inaugurated by President George H.W. Bush, would culminate in our present troubles in Iraq:

During the 1990s, the first two narrative threads combined to produce a third. This was the theme of “Great Expectations,” which found members of the political elite looking for new ways to tap the potential of this technologically sophisticated, highly professional military. Armed force accrued positive connotations: hitherto employed to wreak mayhem, it now became an instrument for fixing things. One result was the discovery of new missions like peacemaking, peacekeeping, and “humanitarian intervention.” Another result was to remove any lingering reluctance about employing military force abroad.

During his single term as president, George H. W. Bush made substantial headway in dismantling the inhibitions implied by the Vietnam Syndrome. Bill Clinton completed the task: during his eight years in the Oval Office, armed intervention became so frequent that it almost ceased to be newsworthy. Yet George W. Bush did most to promote the theme of Great Expectations. After 9/11, the forty-third president committed the United States to a policy of preventive war, the so-called Bush Doctrine. As part of his “Freedom Agenda,” he also vowed to use American power to liberate the greater Middle East, end tyranny, and vanquish evil from the face of the earth.

Tacitly affirming the Great Divorce, Bush committed the nation to these breathtaking goals without calling on Americans themselves to play a role or make any sacrifices. Bush intended to remake the world without mobilizing the country. The people would remain spectators.

Responsibility for implementing the Freedom Agenda, therefore, fell almost entirely on the shoulders of the all-volunteer force. As commander-in-chief, Bush did not even press Congress to expand the size of the force. Apparently, he assumed that the Great Reconstitution had made the standing army unstoppable. Even as he embarked on an open-ended global war, the president did not question that assumption.

This proved to be a serious miscalculation, as events in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown. The indisputable lesson of those two wars is this: The United States lacks sufficient military power to achieve the objectives outlined in Bush’s Freedom Agenda. Means and ends are wildly out of whack. We have too much war and too few warriors. No amount of technology can close that gap.

To put it another way: the Great Expectations of the 1990s are exhausting the military created by the Great Reconstitution of the 1980s. Meanwhile, abiding by the Great Divorce of the 1970s, the American people content themselves with cheering from the sidelines.

(Emphasis mine.)

These are serious problems. But understanding how we got to the point we are at is the first step in beginning to solve them. While Obama represents the largest potential for change, sadly the foreign policy consensus roughly represented by Clinton, McCain, and Obama does not seem willing to break with the aggressive, interventionist foreign policy represented by Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. (Can you see Hillary or McCain adopting a policy of containment? I think not.) Write to your senators and representatives, send them articles by writers like Bacevich, and tell them you want a more just, humane, and constitutional foreign policy.

Interesting...

2008-03-14T00:25:00.001-04:00

From CNN.com: Arctic adventures on Norwegian archipelago. The downside: lots and lots of polar bears:

One disconcerting thing about sightseeing on these frozen Arctic islands at the edge of the polar ice pack: the biggest tourist attractions might be returning your stare. And to them, you're a potential meal.

There are an estimated 4,000-5,000 polar bears on or around Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago as far north as you can fly on a commercial flight. At about 78 degrees north latitude, it is less than 620 miles from the North Pole.

Maggie Peeler resigns as women's basketball coach

2008-03-03T22:53:00.003-05:00

From the Index-Journal:

“The time and energy that it takes to rebuild, I don’t have any more, with three children and the fact that the losses effect their lives and I bring it home,” Peeler said. “Hopefully with a new regime coming in they can turn it around.”

(Matt Anderson, Erskine women’s mentor resigns)

Forum on the February issue

2008-03-01T22:35:00.002-05:00

Please share your feedback and responses to the February issue of The Erskine Mirror in the comments section below. Thanks!

re: more on the dead horse

2008-02-21T22:57:00.005-05:00

Jay,

I appreciated your post. I think there is the potential for the current language concerning "learning and biblical truth" to be unpacked in a dichotomous direction, though I do not think a dichotomous reading necessarily follows from the mission statement itself. The key will be how we unpack that phrase in the strategic planning process and any subsequent documents clarifying the mission statement.

I think the following explanatory statement (found under "Our Commitments") following the mission statement proper clarifies that "biblical truth" means "biblical revelation" and that the goal of integration is the formation of "a Christian worldview":

At Erskine the integration of learning and biblical truth is an ongoing process of seeking to discern and develop the integral relationships between reason and revelation. In this process human learning informs the development of a Christian worldview, and biblical revelation informs the content and practice of human learning. Within this framework, faculty and students are free to engage in a genuine pursuit of truth and understanding and to strive to develop the highest and best use of their abilities. (Erskine College Mission Statement, "Our Commitments")

Granted, I know many people find the phrase "Christian worldview" concerning, but if we define a worldview as "the comprehensive framework of one's basic beliefs about things" [1] then there are two key points that need to be noted.

First, everyone has a worldview - the question is what it will be the formative influences on it. Second, the development of a Christian worldview (that is, a worldview shaped by the core confessions of the Christian Faith and by the teaching of Scripture) is simply part of the discipleship process for Christians whereby we fulfill the command of Scripture to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2). We seek to have our thinking transformed so that we see everything through the new eyes of God's revelation in Scripture, particularly the story of redemption that centers on Christ. This does not necessitate theological imperialism; but it does mean that as Christians we are called to think theologically -- to think about how the core confessions of the Christian faith shape and ought to shape our thinking about everything.

Again, at a Christian college this ought to be put in the context of encouraging people to think and to act faithfully as Christians (knowing just as well that we often debate how this is to be unpacked, within certain parameters), and to present the opportunity for non-believers to engage with a Christian perspective in an academic context.

Given how much unfortunate confusion there has been concerning these terms, I hope further clarity will come out of the strategic planning process. There's a long tradition of reflection informing this mission statement, and its pivotal that we engage that strive to engage that tradition as an institution and as a community. Having an open conversation and dialogue about these matters will be crucial in moving Erskine past the divisions of the past, and into the future.

[1] Albert Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1985). Wolters' book is one of the clearest introductory books on this topic. As Jay noted, the late 20th century emphasis in evangelical and Reformed circles grew (at least at the popular level) out of the work of Francis Schaeffer. To begin exploring Schaeffer's work, I'd recommend the following website, in addition to the website of the L'Abri fellowship.

Forum: What would you like to see in The Erskine Mirror?

2008-02-21T22:24:00.003-05:00

Today's forum questions are: Are there particular Erskine-related events, issues, organizations, or people that you would like The Erskine Mirror to cover that it hasn't so far this year? As far as opinion articles go, are there issues you would like to see us write about (or maybe you would like to write about yourself) that it haven't covered? Place your suggestions in the comments section below. Thanks!

Two blog posts

2008-02-21T21:53:00.004-05:00

I have two blog posts up that some may find interesting: one on Christ-centeredness in Christian higher education, and another on encouraging Erskine to engage with other Christian traditions as part of our quest to move beyond old battles and our present state of inertia. Dialogue is welcome!

Anderson 61, Erskine 59

2008-02-20T22:26:00.008-05:00

The Erskine men's basketball team had a heartbreaking 61-59 loss at home to Anderson tonight. Trailing by 20 in the early minutes of the second half, the Flying Fleet fought back to tie the score at 59-59 after three free throws by Brandon Wright with 12.5 seconds left. But Anderson's Nayte Russell hit a floater in the lane with 3 seconds left to give Anderson the final margin. The game ended after an attempted Erskine in-bounds pass coming off of a timeout was deflected to mid-court.

TJ Taylor scored 28 of Erskine's 43 second half points, for 35 overall. The telling stats: Anderson outrebounded Erskine 46-28, and the Fleet shot 7/30 from 3 pt range.

All Erskinites should be proud of the heart and perseverance their team showed tonight. And kudos to the many Erskine students who came to the game and cheered loudly for their team. It was exciting to be in the student section tonight!

The Fleet's last games are:

2/23, Away vs. St. Andrews
2/26, Home vs. Queens (7.30 PM)
2/29, Home vs. Lees-McRae (7.30 PM)

P.S.: At halftime of the men's basketball game, it was announced that Erskine won the "Blood Bowl" competition against Anderson, with the most donors coming from the class of 2010. The Society of Physics Students and the Dead Philosophers Society had the most participants by student organization. Great job, Erskine!

Oklahoma! comes to Greenwood

2008-02-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

By Vanessa Hazlett
Arts and Culture Editor

Oklahoma!, the first musical play written by the famous Rogers and Hammerstein duo, will be performed at the local Greenwood Community Theater in February. Two Erskine sophomores, Adam Sanders and Taylor Rhodes, decided to go beyond Due West to participate in the community production. Sanders plays the supporting role of a cowboy, Will Parker, who returns to his small hometown bedazzled and souvenir-laden from a trip to the relatively modern Kansas City. Rhodes is part of the singing and dancing ensemble. Oklahoma! features a couple of young cowboys who win the hearts of their sweethearts in the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the century. This endearing tale has been nominated for almost ten Tony Awards in the last fifty years. The show features many Broadway classic songs such as, “Oklahoma!” “Kansas City,” “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’,” and “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top.”

Rhodes has been performing at the Greenwood Community Theater since she was six years old. She says of the show, “Oklahoma! is a very exciting show, full of dancing and singing. The conflict between the farmers and the cowboys ensues, while two love stories add romance and humor to the mix. Anyone would love it!”

Oklahoma! is Sander’s first performance at Greenwood Theater. Thrilled to be such in a large role, Sanders says of his experience, “You've got people of all ages from six to sixty! It's been an awesome way to meet people outside of Erskine. I hope all who come will have a good time and laugh a little! That's what this show does, it makes you smile! It's one of those classic, cheesy and hokey musicals that's got great music and dancing and a fun plot. YEE HAW!”

The play opens Friday, February 15th and runs for seven more night and matinee performances. Tickets are $13 for students with I.D., $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $10 for children under twelve. The Greenville Community Theater is located at 110 Main Street, Greenwood. Tickets can be purchased through Sanders and Rhodes or by calling the box office at 864-229-5704. For more information, visit the City of Greenwood website: http://ci.greenwood.sc.us/.

The clique life of an Erskine student

2008-02-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

The scene is Moffat, you are eating with a friend before one of the rushes come in. Once Moffat starts filling, some of your friends come over, but you are not greeted as warmly as you expect: "why aren't you at a bigger table to accommodate us? Why are you sitting in a way that doesn't let (name) sit by (name)?" As they walk off to get their food, you glance at your friend who shares the same troubled look as you. Upon the group's return any meaningful conversation you were having with your friend instantly devolves into superficial conversation and whining about trivial concerns.

Does this sound too familiar? I'll admit, this is a common occurrence for me. But why all this unnecessary drama caused by what seems like not realizing a few people were the center of the universe? I think the answer is so ingrained in all of us that we are many times blind to it--Erskine is a viciously complacent place. Think of all the trouble you would cause if you did something outside of the status quo; I mean omygosh what if you were a nerd and sat at the baseball table, and what if you were a soccer player and sat among one of the societies? The world would never be the same.

Eskine's little world wouldn't be the same if we all didn't feel so confined by cliques and the drama of our complacency. So, next time a friend of yours pitches a fit over something not being the way it always is, or next time you stand in moffat looking at your usual group and table full and are stuck standing because there are so many other open seats, but alas, they are beside people you don't talk to 5 times a day already, next time this happens do something. Tell your friend to grow up, sit by somebody you don't know as well, don't give in to the clique nature of Erskine.

More on the dead horse

2008-02-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

The paper has had a lot to say about the mission statement, so rather than give it another, I'll post my thoughts on the blog.

For reference, this is the Erskine mission statement:

The mission of Erskine College is to equip students to flourish by providing an excellent liberal arts education in a Christ-centered environment where learning and biblical truth are integrated to develop the whole person.

I'll be making comments regarding both form and content. Content is more important (so that's where my focus will lie), but if people are to get an impression about Erskine from a single sentence, its form should also be impeccable. Also, as a liberal arts college, a poorly-written mission statement would be ironic at best.

As a whole, it looks fairly good, but for something this important, minor errors, ambiguities, and false connotations should be fixed. If we're going to be represented by one sentence, it needs to be a really, really good sentence.

Form:

*"The mission of EC is" is unnecessary. The label already says "mission statement;" there's no need for repetition. Also, in any case where an action verb strengthens a statement, one should use it rather than "is." I propose "Erskine College strives. . . " as a stronger beginning.

*Similarly, "where learning and biblical truth are integrated" would work better as an active, such as "which integrates learning and biblical truth."

Content:

*"Flourish" seems like a catch-all. Do we want people to interpret in their own way? Or do we want a more precise word? I'm honestly not sure.

*It bothers me that "Christ-centered" describes the environment and not the education. Both education and environment should be Christ-centered, but I would expect people to pull the Christian worldview out of the education before the environment. Also, to some degree, the state of the environment should follow from the state of the education. I'd rather see the phrase "excellent, Christ-centered liberal arts education."

*The phrase "learning and biblical truth" suggests a dichotomy. I'm not sure whether "biblical truth" is meant to mean "God's truth" or meant as a euphemism for Scripture, but any sort of dichotomy between The Bible and learning bothers me. Taken in the former sense, there should be no reason to have learning and God's truth, because all learning about any sort of truth (and I hope we favor truth over falsehood) is about God's truth; learning is a subset of learning God's truth. If "biblical truth" merely means "Scripture," the sense of dichotomy lessens somewhat; however, saying "learning and Scripture" still conveys the idea that learning and Scripture are unrelated. Would something like "learning to think with a Christian worldview" sound too Schaefferian for Erskine? Probably. But the sense of separation between the two still needs to disappear.

-Jay Brantner

"Puerto Rican Poll Power"

2008-02-06T19:50:00.000-05:00

US News and World Report's Michael Barone: "...Puerto Rico is likely to have more leverage in Democratic National Convention votes than any single state, no matter how large."

Super Tuesday results

2008-02-06T01:06:00.000-05:00

Check out the state-by-state results from CNN.com here.

My initial thoughts on the results: important wins for Clinton and McCain in California, an impressive performance across regional lines by Obama, and a scrappy performance by Huckabee, who won 5 states tonight after a media cycle that paid him scant attention after South Carolina.

A comeback by Berlusconi

2008-02-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Time magazine is reporting that Italian opposition leader, media magnate, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is leading the polls for Italy's national elections which are scheduled for April. Speaking of Italy, The New York Times had a good article in December on the present malaise in Italy that's worth a read.

They're fired up, and ready to go, in Alaska

2008-02-05T02:10:00.000-05:00

From NBC affiliate KTUU in Alaska: "Alaska is having what some are calling a rare moment of political relevancy."

The two change candidates

2008-02-05T01:04:00.001-05:00

I would submit that there are really only two candidates left in the presidential primary race who offer a meaningful and radical break from the status quo. One man has a real chance to be both his party's nominee and the next president, while the other does not have a chance to be either. I speak (respectively), of course, of Sen. Barack Obama (D) and Rep. Ron Paul (R).

The candidacies of both men raise interesting long-term questions. Can Obama's hopeful, positive, and prudential vision of left-liberalism break the polarities of American politics and build a new policy consensus, akin to the breakthroughs of FDR and Kennedy/LBJ? And will the 'Ron Paul revolution' develop into a growing movement that challenges from within mainstream conservatism's acceptance of a welfare-warfare State while also reaching out to antiwar moderates and liberals?

For an articulate endorsement of Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, see Andrew Sullivan's article for the December 2007 Atlantic Monthly on the Obama candidacy. For briefer but also articulate endorsements of Ron Paul for the Republican nomination, see this blog post by Sullivan in addition to The American Conservative's endorsement.

"Doves for McCain"

2008-02-04T16:17:00.000-05:00

Matt Welch, an editor for the libertarian-leaning Reason magazine, has an interesting opinion article for the LA Times on how antiwar moderates are breaking for Sen. John McCain. The irony, of course, is that McCain has a more interventionist foreign policy than President Bush does. (And that's saying something!)

That trend raises a question to my mind: why hasn't there been a strong, mainstream antiwar movement in the United States? Much of the Democrats' successes in the 2006 congressional election were due to their opposition to the President's handling of the war (and to the war itself). Have they delivered? Why not, given the popular support they had? And why have conservatives, who once articulated a foreign policy of prudence that eschewed "nation-building" and led to caution concerning American intervention overseas (see the following articles on the late Sen. Robert Taft here and here), tended to try to silence their lone antiwar candidate?

Any thoughts out there about this?

Resources for keeping up with Super Tuesday

2008-02-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is "Super Tuesday," a key day in the presidential primary process as voters in 24 states will go to the polls or to caucus. For a helpful map showing which states will be participating, see CNN.com's coverage here. Erskine's McCain Library also has some helpful links to major media coverage of Super Tuesday as well as to the websites of the remaining Democratic and Republican candidates. RealClearPolitics.com also has many links to editorials and news articles, as well as to polling data from the Super Tuesday states.

Heading into the delegate-heavy Super Tuesday contests, the delegate standings in both parties are as follows:

Democrats (2,025 needed to win):
1. Sen. Hillary Clinton, 232
2. Sen. Barack Obama, 158
3. John Edwards (out of the race), 26

Republicans (1,191 needed to win):
1. Sen. John McCain, 97
2. Mitt Romney, 92
3. Mike Huckabee, 29
4. Rep. Ron Paul, 6

Romney wins Maine GOP Caucus

2008-02-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

CNN.com is reporting that Mitt Romney won this weekend's caucus in Maine. According to The Washington Post, the breakdown in votes was as follows:

Mitt Romney 2,362 52%
John McCain 958 21%
Ron Paul 851 19%
Mike Huckabee 268 6%

Recognizing the limits of American power

2008-02-03T19:32:00.001-05:00

Yea and amen to Fred Kaplan:

It's no longer morning in America, but it's not quite twilight either. The next president's big challenge will be to revive America's influence and stature while facing up to the limits of its power in a newly fractured world. And one of the bigger political challenges of that task will be to acknowledge, openly, that our power does have limits.

(Fred Kaplan, "Downsizing our dominance," Los Angeles Times)

France's foreign policy

2008-02-02T23:33:00.001-05:00

I know, I know. Many of you may think they don't really have much of one. But there are signs that the French foreign policy malaise is ending due to the influence of Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy. Check out this fascinating profile of Kouchner and his 'diplomacy in motion' from the New York Times Magazine here.

Obama wins SC

2008-01-27T02:21:00.001-05:00

The powerful victory speech here.

Davos Summit

2008-01-25T15:53:00.000-05:00

The ~~G8 Summit~~ World Economic Forum is meeting in Davos, Switzerland. For news coverage on the summit, you can view CNN.com's coverage here. The World Economic Forum has a YouTube page here.