Around the World in 500 Words

On December 1, suspected Islamic radicals killed fourteen Christians attending church in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. While traditionally a peaceful country, religious conflict has been increasing in the last year, according to the New York Times. Many northern parts of the country have been in contention as Islamic insurgency attempts to gain control. 39 mineworkers were killed in an attack on buses earlier this year on November 9.

The attack was decried as “barbaric” on Twitter by Burkina Faso’s President, Roch Marc Christian Kabore who went on to give “deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”

Marine archeologists around the Falkland Islands have recently uncovered the remains of a German cruiser, the SMS Scharnhorst, which was sunk on December 8, 1914, during World War I. German Vice-Admiral Maximillian Graf von Spee and 800 other sailors were killed when the British sunk the ship.

Archeologists have been searching for the wreckage of the German ship for the past five years, according to the BBC. Before being sunk, the ship had been involved in fighting off the coast of Chile during the Battle of Coronel.

“Suddenly she just came out of the gloom with great guns poking in every direction," archeologist Mensun Bound said. "As a Falkland Islander and a marine archaeologist, a discovery of this significance is an unforgettable, poignant moment in my life.”

Four suspects in a high profile, multiple perpetrator rape and murder case were shot dead by police in India on December 6. The week before, the burned body of a missing 27-year-old woman was found under a bridge in Hyderabad. It was while police were attempting to reconstruct the crime scenes in Shadnagar that the conflict broke out. With one suspect attempting to take a weapon from one of the police officers, the investigation turned violent and the four suspects were shot according to an anonymous police witness.

India had experienced large protests against the crime prior to the shooting of the suspects. In response to the shooting, flowers were given to police officers by about 300 people in Shadnagar. They also chanted, “Long live the police,” according to the AP.

Just off the coast of Mauritania, a migrant boat capsized on December 4, leading to the death of 63 people so far. The incident occurred near the city of Nouadhibou where members of the coast guard and other rescue workers are still searching for people.

Of the nearly 150 African migrants who had been on board the boat, eighty-three of them swam to shore. Spain’s Canary Islands was the original destination for the boat which was primarily composed of people from Gambia and several from Senegal. The migrant boat had been running low on supplies around the time of its capsizing.

"Many drowned. The ones who survived swam up to the Mauritanian coast close to the city of Nouadhibou," said Laura Lungarotti of the U.N. to the AP. "The Mauritanian authorities are very efficiently coordinating the response with the agencies currently present.”

One Semester In: The Blink Café or Starbucks?

Over the summer, renovations to the Blink introduced all the benefits of Starbucks, while other menu items were altered or discontinued.

In addition to the plethora of Starbucks drinks came redone tabletops, new furniture, and a fresh coat of paint on everything but the ceiling. Darker tones were incorporated into the design, and more recently, new lights were strung across the ceiling.

Traditional tortillas were substituted for herb tortillas, while combos, pizzas, milkshakes, mozzarella sticks, smoothies, and hummus wraps were cut from the menu.

Mary Cait Thomas ’21, who has worked at the Blink since spring of last year, said she realizes customers may dislike changes to the Blink, as students often expect to purchase certain foods, only to find them discontinued. However, Supervisor Taylor Shirley says much of the food was discontinued because it wasn’t selling.

“The only thing price-wise that has changed is Starbucks,” she said.

“If only one person a night gets mozzarella sticks, or a pizza, and you have to buy a certain amount every week, it’s just a pain, and it doesn’t make any sense,” Thomas said.

Thomas said students have complained about the lack of combos. However, Shirley explained that several students would request drink options besides soda. The dining staff’s solution was to end the combos, a decision which only cost buyers an additional 40 cents. According to Shirley, hummus wraps, no longer sold at the Blink, were not selling last year, but are available in the Great Hall. Similarly, mozzarella sticks sold in low quantities, and would often inconveniently explode in the fryer, Shirley said. Thomas reminded us that change is part of life, saying she believes people will grow accustomed to the new Blink.

In an online survey about the current state of the café, 59% of participants’ answers fell under the category of Starbucks when asked to list their favorite change or food item. Answers related to snack foods such as chocolate-covered blueberries, Kind bars, and Peeps slightly outnumbered students’ love for wraps or quesadillas. Design and ambiance changes composed the smallest category.

In one response, Marie Bowen ’20 wrote, “I am so thankful for the new atmosphere and decorations in the Blink. Everything looks classy and trendy.” She added her appreciation of late-night snacks and conversations, calling the Blink “a neat place for community.”

Julia Smith ’21 commented that she was “disappointed by the switch to Starbucks,” explaining her sadness that the Blink no longer supported Stone Cup, a local business.

Emily Pritchett ’21 expressed similar concerns to those of Smith, writing “Starbucks is fun, but it isn't the Covenant Blink, so it isn't as traditional.”

When asked which food item they missed the most, over half of the question’s 41 respondents selected smoothies. 14.6% gave non-answers, with mozzarella sticks and milkshakes tying for third place at 9.8%.

In her response, Anne Miller ’20 criticized the expensive price of Starbucks drinks, writing that she has always appreciated the cheap comfort food and drinks of the Blink, and that her money ran out much quicker than usual this semester.

“I think everyone was happy to have everything be lower quality because it was cheap.” Miller mentioned Starbucks being five minutes away, writing that there is no need for an additional Starbucks on campus. “I haven’t heard of any students who have been glad for the change.”

When survey participants were asked for new menu suggestions, the most popular wish was to revive smoothies. However, since the installation of Starbucks, Covenant’s campus is prohibited from serving other drinks.

“We’re an exclusive Starbucks campus,” said Director of Dining Services Shawn Lynn, pointing out that the Great Hall’s coffee, Seattle’s Best, is also a product of Starbucks.

“It wasn’t like last year where we could make up our own menu items,” he said.

Besides smoothies, some participants suggested the inclusion of healthier alternatives. Other answers included nachos, chicken salad, additional wrap flavors, pita chips and hummus, and inexpensive chocolate options.

When asked about renovations, Lynn said that last year, the Blink “wasn’t a destination where people were coming to hang out.” As a result, the dining staff decided the café would be more appealing to students with the addition of Starbucks.

“People are coming here for meetings, people are coming here to study, people are coming here just to hang out way more than last year,” he said.

While the cafe’s renovation may seem complete, Lynn says that even more changes are being considered, with next summer possibly ushering in a more spacious bar-top and additional booths.

“We’re always open to new menu ideas and new special ideas for sure,” Lynn says of the food. “We’re here for the students, and I want students to feel comfortable coming to us.” Lynn says his office, located behind the cashier stand, is always open for students with questions, comments, or concerns. Additionally, if students are concerned about food on any given day, they should come talk to someone, no matter how busy they may look. “We can’t do what we don’t know.”

Shirley says the dining staff would like to see more student engagement with the Blink. She explained ideas for a karaoke night, as well as the addition of table-top games. Lastly, she mentioned that students should not be afraid to request their favorite song.

“As long as it’s appropriate, I’ll play it.”

Carter Christmas 2019

Earlier this month, students crowded in the hallway just outside the south stairwell in Carter, waiting for a chance to experience Carter Christmas 2019.

After snaking their way through Carter, students and members of all the Carter halls met together in Carter Lobby waiting for the announcement of the winner. At 9:45, Carter RD Stephen Dillon and Carter Hall President Rebekah Castano ’22 announced the final results.

Castano announced that People’s Choice went to Borderlands, who designed their hall to emulate a ski lodge, and that Judges’ Choice went to Fourth North who created a Carter Christmas Museum.

Dillon announced that there were two prizes, a donut party, and a pizza party; the winner of the Judges’ Choice got to choose which of the two they wanted.

Anne Miller ’21, RA of Fourth North, after celebrating the results of the evening with her hall said, “We decided a theme last night. We went to Wal-Mart this morning at 11:30, and got back at 1.” They then spent the rest of the day decorating and designing for that evening.

Seth Van Dyke ‘22 of Second Central (Photo Credit: Hannah Rodehaver)

Didn’t go this year? Here’s what you may have missed:

The first hall students walked through was Second South, which displayed a Minecraft Christmas. This was then followed by Second Central who attempted to recreate the famous Christmas movie Elf. There were thousands of tiny-paper shreddings strewn across the floor, and if you weren’t careful you would be hit by either hanging candy canes or snowballs.

Finishing off the second floor was The Ghetto, who originally was not allowed to participate in Carter Christmas due to discipline issues earlier this semester. Student Development declined to comment on specifics.

“An Open Ticket to Ghetto” (hand and photo credit: Daniel Fremen)

Ghetto reproduced the drama of airport travel during Christmastime as all “passengers” were granted an “Open Ticket to Ghetto” as admittance to Flight 420 on Ghetto Airways.

Moving to the third floor, Third North went for a play on the stereotypical word in Christmas movies, “Pole” and made multiple different scenes out of it, including a voting poll. Third Central introduced everyone to Tipton, which came from the popular Disney show “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” Third North emulated the “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” movie, including portrayals of Augustus Gloop in the chocolate river and the bubble-gum chewing Violet Beauregard.

Fourth South bouncer Lydia Barton ‘23 for the Fourth South Christmas Exclusive (Photo Credit: Hannah Rodehaver)

The 4th Floor included a YouTube theme on 4th South and “A Covenant Christmas” on 4th Central, which featured popular Covenantisms such as “ring by spring.” This was then followed up by this year’s Carter Christmas winner, Fourth North, who did a “Carter Christmas Museum,” with students portraying icons such as the Mona Lisa and Bob Ross.

If you weren’t careful entering Borderlands on the fifth floor, you could have been hit by a student barrelling down the Borderland slopes. Borderlands displayed the fun of experiencing December and Christmas at the ski lodge. Wrapping things up, Summit took the song “Home for the Holidays” and designed their hall accordingly. They featured free cookies, warm apple cider, and a Great White Pyrenees dog (yes, a real live one).

Tanner Tichy ‘22 skiing down the slopes of Borderlands (Photo Credit: Hannah Rodehaver)

Controversially, however, at one point while passengers were on the airline on The Ghetto, someone allegedly yelled, “It’s your friendly terrorist.” A disgruntled student then emailed Dillon who, upon consideration, decided that Ghetto was to be disqualified from a chance at winning.

Should they not have been disqualified, Ghetto still fell short of People’s Choice by 45 votes, landing them in a 4th place spot overall.

After Fourth North finished celebrating in Carter Lobby, all the halls then rushed up the stairs and elevators to begin the arduous process of cleaning.

Articles of Impeachment Brought Against Trump

On Wednesday, December 4, a new phase of impeachment inquiry into President Trump began. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler, D-NY, assembled a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee to decide what actions are needed and if any articles of impeachment will be drafted.

Four different law professors were brought into the Judiciary Committee meeting. Noah Feldman, Pamela Karlan, and Michael Gerhart were called in by Democrats, and Jonathan Turley was requested by Republicans. Nadler invited these witnesses to help the Judiciary Committee to understand the historical and legal context for the impeachment before proceeding. The hope was to provide a conceptual framework for what could be the articles of impeachment.

The three professors brought in by Democrats argued that Trump’s actions were deeply worrying and should be impeachable. Feldman said, “If we cannot impeach a president who abused his office for personal advantage, we no longer live in a democracy,” according to the New York Times.

Turley, the professor on the Republican side, argued that Democrats were not taking time to fully investigate the case. He said that the case developed so far would cheapen the impeachment and create a dangerous precedent. He told the New York Times, “This isn’t improvisational jazz - close enough is not good enough.”

Moving forward, Democrats have the majority on the House Judiciary Committee which could advance the impeachment to the floor of the full House. Here, with enough support, the House could rule that there is sufficient evidence to bring President Trump to trial in the Senate. However, the Republican Party currently has a majority in the Senate. If Trump were sent to trial, one of the major questions would be whether or not allegiance to party would overrule a fair trial.

There was an Intelligence Committee report released on December 3 that laid a broad framework for what articles of impeachment might look like. The report stated that the president abused his power, endangered national security for his own benefit when seeking foreign involvement in the 2020 election, and obstructed Congress by not allowing key witnesses to testify.

In an interview with NPR, Daniel Freeman, former parliamentarian to the House Judiciary Committee, said that “the most contentious part of the job is crafting the articles of impeachment.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on December 5 that House Democrats would move forward with the drafting of articles of impeachment against President Trump. She said, “Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our Founders and our heart full of love for America, today I am asking our chairmen to proceed with the articles of impeachment.”

Shortly after Pelosi’s announcement, Trump tweeted, “If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our country can go back to business.”

House Democrats must decide whether they want to limit their case to Trump’s dealings with Ukraine or include the earlier accusations that he obstructed justice when trying to stop the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

On Tuesday December 10, the house Democrats announced that they will bring two articles of impeachment against Trump, abuse of power and obstruction of justice. According to NPR news the resolution said “President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

Once the articles are finalized, the Judiciary Committee will send them to the House for a vote on whether or not to impeach Trump. If the Democratic-led House votes to impeach Trump, then there will be a Republican-led Senate trial in the month of January concerning whether or not to remove or acquit the President.

Men in Sheets: Catacombs’ Toga Tradition

On a chilly Friday night in November, a group of boys began preparing for a dance party. They grabbed hall relics, hung Christmas lights, set up a fog machine, and wrapped bedsheets to look like togas. A playlist was made, a location was set, and it was time for the traditional Catacombs Toga Party to commence.

“When 9:00 PM rolls around, and the people start coming in by the tens and hundreds, they can rest assured that Toga is not just a dance party, it is a Catacombs experience that will touch on all the senses,” said AJ Rollman ’22.

The Catacombs Toga Party occurs every fall semester and has been around for a while. However, none of the residents currently living on the hall know the history or origins of how Toga came about. Was it just something to do back in the day, or was it part of a larger story?

Clarity regarding the origins of the Catacombs toga party appears to remain lost in memory. Alumnus Josiah Roe ’02 claims that a few of his friends started wearing togas to Dr. Bill Davis’ CHOW I class while reading the Aeneid, as a joke.

When Dr. Davis saw that they were wearing togas he decided to share the information that, when he was at Covenant, the Catacombs used to dress up in togas around the hall, and he also shared the fact that the hall used to flood when it rained.

Upon hearing this, Roe and his hallmates had an idea and ran with it. They decided to throw a party on their hall that included a man-made flood in the form of a kiddie pool and, of course, togas.

Dr. Davis said, “I honestly have no idea why anyone would connect me to a Catacombs party,” when he was told this story because he is, in fact, a Brethren alumnus. After receiving an anonymous text regarding his involvement in the origins, Davis assumed he was at the center of a prank.

Johnny Bates ’98, another Catacombs alumnus, said, “Actually, we had one in 1985, it was a part of Belz Bash,” which included a live band.

With or without the origins of the toga party being decisively known, it continues to be a long-standing tradition that comes from being a part of the Catacombs.

The current RA, Michael Fenema ’21, said, “The Catacombs boys have always had a taste for the modern and the ancient,” so a toga dance party makes perfect sense.

As of 2013, the toga party is no longer allowed to be held on the hall because of a fire hazard. This year's party was off-campus at the home of some Catacombs seniors.

In an extremely cramped living room with students from all over campus, the toga party commenced. It was a night full of crushed toes and lost voices, carrying on the longstanding tradition of the Catacombs, even if no one knows how it started.

Publix Made Public

If you have ever thought to yourself, “Gosh, I really wish there was a Publix at the foot of the mountain. That would be so cool and handy. Driving all the way to North Shore is for suckers!” then you are not alone. In fact, your dreams are coming true.

Just recently, a sign near the old Mount Vernon restaurant (which closed in 2017) on South Broad Street has appeared that reads, “Coming Soon: Publix. Where Shopping is a Pleasure.” In the near future (a construction date is not known yet), the old Mount Vernon restaurant, as well as the old Pizza Hut building, will be torn down and replaced with a swanky new grocery store.

The decision was not an easy one and has been a long time in the making. Last November, the city's Board of Zoning Appeals refused the developer's plan for the new Publix by a 5-4 vote. Along with these hesitations, Chattanooga citizens themselves voiced concerns about the new plan. As this new store is meant to directly serve those in Alton Park, Lookout Valley, Lookout Mountain, and St. Elmo, concerns from these residents made it to the ears of board members and councilmen, such as Councilman Erskine Oglesby, who has a hand in the planning for this new addition to the city. He received word from some residents who had issues with where exactly the store would be placed, as well as concerns about access to the store and walkability along South Broad, and the amount of space that would be taken up along the road just for a Publix.

In light of the voiced concerns and the denial of the proposed plan, last December, the panel voted to re-hear the case, and changes to the development as a whole where made in order to better accommodate the community that would be served by Publix.

“We appreciate the good faith, effort, and patience from the developer to build a high-quality store that fits within the fabric of the community plan,” said Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, according to WCRB. “This new design includes space for amenities, like small-scale retail, but also an emphasis on pedestrian safety with accessibility and connecting our city with the completion of the Tennessee Riverwalk.”

After such changes to the plan and development for Publix, this past May, city leaders voted 6-0 to implement the new plan, after 6 months of back and forth debate. Oglesby says that the area desperately needs another grocery option, as Food City serves a single district of 20,000 people. Along with providing more options, Publix will provide more than 100 jobs, as well as utilizing vacant space. The hope is that with the new addition of the grocery store, small businesses will also be attracted to the space and set up shop along South Broad to support the area itself.

Publix not exciting enough for you? What about TopGolf, or even Dave & Busters? That’s right, you can look forward to both of those establishments popping up sometime in the near future in the Chattanooga area. Topgolf is coming to East Ridge, specifically 500 Camp Jordan Parkway, right next to the Bass Pro Shop. Dave & Busters construction is underway at Hamilton Mall, taking the location of the old Sears. While the opening date of Publix and Topgolf are still uncertain, Dave & Busters is planning to open its doors in the spring or summer of 2020.

Writing SIP: Then, Now, and Future

Walk up to any Covenant senior and ask them what SIP is, and they’ll tell you: it’s a 1-2 semester research and writing project that culminates, in most cases, in an extended, research-based essay about 25-30 pages in length. Written by students in their senior year at Covenant, SIP, or the Senior Integration Project, is required for graduation and has been since the early days of the college. However, in the past, things were a little different.

Dr. Gwen Macallister ’95, professor of English and recently appointed the head of Covenant’s English department, shared her experience with SIP back when she was a senior.

“When I was a student here—at least in the English department and I think in most courses—there weren’t actual SIP classes. [Seniors in their last semester] would sign up for SIP, but it was entirely an independent process. It rested completely on the student’s shoulders to be proactive and talk to professors, find a reader, come up with a topic, and basically monitor [their] own progress.”

Not to say that students were completely alone in the process, added Macallister:

“[Some students] had a professor who was more involved with seeking [them] out or setting particular deadlines for drafts and things like that, but it was still very much a self-directed effort. You had to be very disciplined to work without the structure of a course.”

The result, Macallister recalled, was not only satisfying but prepared her well for graduate school.

“I actually really enjoyed working on my SIP and found it to be really rewarding. I had never researched something so thoroughly and extensively, and SIP gave me a taste of what it was like to really be a scholar.”

Maggie Luke ’20 has experienced a similar joy in researching her SIP this semester.

“[My favorite part about researching SIP so far has been] getting to read poetry, both for my own personal edification but also for this project. [I also love] getting to write it, because I don’t feel like there’s a lot of poetry written about the time of being a student because it’s this weird in-between place. But our presence here matters and I want to write about that and I want to write about it well.”

As an English major, Luke gets two semesters to work on SIP: the first set aside for research and the second for writing. However, in many ways, Luke’s research began before her senior year.

“I’m really, really interested in poetry, so one semester I went to [Dr. Bill Tate] with a couple of other students and told him we were really, really interested in this, but knew that Covenant didn’t really offer any more classes on it. So we created our own class and did an independent study where I was able to research Mary Oliver and write my own poetry in response to hers. It was really, really fun and I really appreciated that one-on-one instruction.”

The research Luke started in the independent study provided a foundation for the research she is working on this semester for her SIP. Luke also attributes her confidence to her many English professors, especially Dr. Tate.

“When you get to the SIP, you get to pick your reader, and ideally it’s a professor who’s known you and knows what you’re interested in and good at. So it’s not just you and this paper; it’s you and your research and someone to help you. For me, Dr. Tate has known how to push me and where I need to be going or what my weaknesses and strengths are, and that’s been really cool.”

Armed with research experience, the help of her professors, and her own creative ability, Luke felt confident starting her SIP.

“I definitely felt prepared to do a project of this size, going into my senior year. I’ve written several 10-page papers and gotten good feedback from them, and as I’ve progressed as an English major I’ve learned better and better how to research. I think as long as a student is trying to be faithful to the calling of doing the research, doing the reading, and growing and maturing in that path, they can feel confident and prepared going into SIP.”

Unfortunately, not all students reach their senior year feeling prepared to tackle their own senior integration projects. Over the past couple of years, faculty committees have convened to discuss the results of a research experiment conducted by a higher education consulting firm working for Covenant. Dr. Jay Green, a professor in Covenant’s history department, participated in one such committee this past summer in order to discuss these findings with other departments.

“[By conducting] very comprehensive interviews with a lot of students, this firm found that one thing students craved but that we, either in reality or in our messaging, weren’t offering, was a four-year mentored Capstone experience.”

This finding surprised Green, as well as other members of Covenant’s faculty. After all, a mentored Capstone experience was one in which students learned to think and research critically in preparation for a final project that represented the culmination of their four years in college. For the faculty, this was exactly what SIP has been. However, as Green pointed out, there are two main problems with that.

“First of all, nobody knows what a SIP is outside of Covenant. Even [President Halvorson] cannot talk about ‘senior integration projects’ beyond the walls of Covenant because nobody knows what he’s talking about. So the language of SIP is problematic.”

But even within the walls of Covenant, SIP loses a certain audience, namely, underclassmen.

“SIP focuses on the senior,” said Green, “and says this is a project that you do your last year here; it’s a project for your last semester. And it doesn’t say ‘culmination of a four-year mentored relationship with faculty advisors and mentors, with ideas, with books, with student colleagues.’ So while SIP is good, we need to talk about it differently and make good on the fact that it’s a four-year mentored experience.”

One thing the departments discussed over the summer was a strategy for better communicating the goal and purpose of SIP.

“We’re trying to make the senior project more visibly connected to core curriculum and the earlier courses in the major,” said Green. “I think that’s always been true, but I don’t think that we’ve done as good a job as we should helping students see it.”

The project itself, Green said, “isn’t really changing substantively,” but the lead-up to that final project will be a lot more intentional, so that underclassmen can sooner and better understand the significance of their classes—classes they might otherwise disregard as mere requirements for graduation.

“[After discussing Capstone with the other departments] I’m trying to be more intentional when I advise students,” said Green. “I don’t want to just watch them check boxes but to help them see how their different courses, especially ones that might not feel particularly relevant to their major, are preparing them as a student who’s on a pathway toward the Capstone experience.”

Because, in many ways, SIP is students’ final impression of their Covenant education, Green believes that it is important to spend time aligning students’ perceived purpose of their senior projects with its stated purpose.

“The main reason for changing to Capstone,” said Green, “is to be clearer to ourselves and to the outside world who we are, what we value, and why the experiences we’re inviting students to in our core and majors are special. The greater coherence provided by the language of Capstone is designed to do that.”

Green anticipates that the new language of Capstone will start rolling out with the 2020-2021 undergraduate catalog, in which SIP classes will be replaced with Capstone classes. In the meantime, many professors, including Green, have already started using the term Capstone with current students in preparation for the change.

Second North or Ghetto? This Year at Covenant

Earlier this semester on October 30, Meg Miller ’21 wrote and distributed an open letter across campus to express concern over the name of 2nd North in Carter, otherwise known as Ghetto. It was distributed across every resident hall on campus and called on students to sign a grievance form to petition for the name to be changed.

Students such as Will Payne ’20 responded immediately to the letter. Payne took to Instagram by posting a picture of the letter to his story, voiced his opinion of agreeance with Miller, and took a screenshot of a confirmed submission of a grievance report.

However, for people like Caleb McNaughton ’20, word of the letter came through other people.

“I was a little bit surprised when I first heard about the letter, because of everything else that had gone on with Ghetto at the beginning of the semester with the hazing incident and all the probation stuff. It just seemed like something else put on top. Which then caused me to be frustrated for the hall,” said McNaughton.

McNaughton lived on the hall his junior year, but lives off-campus this year.

RA of Ghetto, Alex Stayte ’21, was also taken aback by the letter. In an interview with the Bagpipe, Stayte said he was not informed about the release of the letter and was caught by surprise when a friend of his texted him about it. Stayte and other members of the hall expressed dissatisfaction that they were not directly contacted by Miller before she went public.

Karl Ferda ’22 also wrote a letter to Ghetto, but took a more direct approach. He did not want his letter to become public and delivered copies of it directly to the hall about a week after Miller’s initial letter.

“I had originally thought about writing a letter similar to Meg Miller’s and was happy to see that someone had written about it,” said Ferda.

Ferda is a first-generation American and comes from a Jewish family. He discussed his family’s history with ghettos in Nazi Germany and expressed how off-putting the name has proven itself to be. Ferda said that he never liked the name because of the stories he grew up hearing from family members.

In the Senate meeting on November 5, Senators discussed what steps should be taken going forward. When asked what they were hearing from students, Jonathan George ’21 said he was hearing that most people were frustrated with Miller’s call-to-action. Other senators, like Cameron Cortman ’22, echoed this, saying that he had heard similar sentiments from students. Senate looked at potential steps that they could take to address the issue of the hall name as a campus community; however, the issue was dropped and went undiscussed in subsequent meetings.

In an effort to address the varying opinions between Miller and Ghetto residents, Miller, McNaughton, Stayte, and Ghetto resident Roy Makkar ’21 set up a meeting on November 6 to discuss the situation. They met for an hour and asked a round of questions for clarity between both sides.

Because Ghetto residents were in the process of discussing among themselves what they were going to write in their counter-letter, they did not have an answer to what they were planning on doing in response to Miller’s letter. There was no conclusion by the end of the meeting, but both sides were able to defend their position in person rather than through another medium.

Following the letters, in a series of interviews with the Bagpipe, multiple members of the hall and those connected to it cited the origin of the hall name as a rationale for keeping the name. Stayte said that the name came from a nickname given to members of the hall in the past who were passionate about missions in the poorer predominantly African-American communities. Because of their constant work, as the story goes, the members of the community nicknamed them “the ghetto boys” and provided them with bricks, which are still above the doors on the hall to this day, to serve as a reminder of their connection with the community.

However, this story has not been confirmed other than through word of mouth from members and former members of the hall.

In a 2015 Bagpipe article by Molly Hulsey ’18, then-Associate Dean of Students Jonathan Ingraham was quoted saying, “[The] issue of the name ‘Ghetto’ has been brought up on a number of occasions by different students, college alumni, family of students, and the friends of the college.” Ingraham was Covenant’s Associate Deans of Students from 2012 to 2016.

In an interview with the Bagpipe on November 19th, Ingraham clarified this by saying, “In most of my years here, that was a conversation I was having with people pretty regularly. I would say 3-4 times a semester.” Ingraham also said that while it was for sure talked about, he did not recall any grievances being filed by a student.

Payne said that he does not believe that Student Development would let other racial slurs or harmful content be allowed across campus if it were not the name of a hall.

“I hope the name gets changed,” said Payne. “But more specifically, I think the best outcome would be for current students and alumni of Ghetto to get together and take care of it on their own. The name is something that they’ve done which has a lot of positive history that they’re proud of, which is good. But it’s also harmful in the sense of not causing your brother to stumble, not causing offense, or not causing offense for the Gospel. They can come together and change it on their own, without there having to be hard feelings with Student Development.”

Student Senate introduces a new position: A Multicultural Liaison

On November 8 students received an email with the subject title “The Multicultural Liaison, The New Senate Position” which informed them that Senate had unanimously decided on a 15th position that would be proposed to be added to their staff.

This concise email let the Covenant community know that a new position, which will be elected by the student body, will be entirely devoted to someone to advocate for multicultural students. Attached to the email were three documents with information regarding the proposal of this amendment as well as a letter to the Student Association of Covenant College. 

Student body president Erik Peeples ’20, the then-vice president, headed up the proposal for this position early in the fall of 2018. He proposed the position after a conversation with the Multicultural Program about a lack of communication between them and Student Senate. After this, Peeples said, “We were brainstorming ways in which we could do better.” He felt the need to give the multicultural students the opportunity to be heard on campus. 

In light of this, Peeples formed an Ad Hoc committee, a temporary committee of Senate members, focused on brainstorming ideas regarding this issue. It included three Senate members and two Multicultural Program leaders. The committee’s goal was to figure out what the details of the position would look like. 

The mission of the Multicultural Program is to “provide safe spaces and community where these students feel welcomed and comfortable,” said Jed Williams ’20, one of the Multicultural Program leaders. 

This position is not just to be an advocate for the Multicultural Program. The person in this position will also care for all of the clubs that further both Student Senate and the Multicultural Program’s mutual goals on campus. They will oversee clubs related to the Multicultural Program by attending meetings and keeping both organizations updated on the issues and topics being discussed within these clubs. 

Initially, Senate and the Multicultural Program did not unanimously agree. Two of the main concerns that the Multicultural Program members had with the proposed position were: since the student body is not comprised of mostly minorities, the student body voting for a leader to represent the minority could be an issue, and that one minority would represent all minorities on campus.

Once these issues were brought up, Peeples began to work on the issues that the Multicultural Program members brought up and moved forward with the Ad Hoc committee. 

After working through these issues with the Multicultural Program members and Sarah Ocando, the then-Associate Dean of Students for Student Life, the updated version of the position was proposed and was approved, which allowed the process to move forward into the fall of 2019. 

Nesha Evans, the current Associate Dean of Students for Student Life, says that she thinks the new position will be a positive addition for future students and said, “It will give multicultural students a voice where they previously didn’t have one.” Since multicultural students are not the majority on Covenant’s campus, Evans thinks that having someone on Senate who represents the needs of these students who are the minority will be beneficial. 

Any member of the Covenant student body is able to run for this position as long as they are focused on bridging the gap between the multicultural students and Senate. It does not have to be a minority student. This will be enforced by requiring the candidate to have a petition with the signatures of four leaders of the Multicultural Program as well as the signatures of 10% of the student body. 

Within the Multicultural Program, students are excited, and some feel that this should have been done much sooner. Williams said that “many are interested in running for this position.”

Before this decision could be acted upon, a Constitutional Amendment needed to pass allowing the number of students on Senate to change from 14 to 15. Students voted on the amendment and it passed on November 20. This begins the process of adding a Multicultural Liaison to 2020-2021 Senate which students will vote for in the Spring of 2019. 

Around the World in 500 Words

Political unrest continues in Hong Kong as police and civilian clashes continued on November 11. One protestor was shot as a Chinese policeman wrestled with a white-hooded protestor at an intersection. A black-hooded protestor then came up seemingly to help the other protestor and was shot by the policeman. The protestor who was shot is now in stable condition according to the Hong Kong hospital authority.

Another violent incident that put another individual in critical condition took place in the Ma On Shan neighborhood. A man was lit on fire after being covered in a flammable liquid by another individual. Police are still investigating whether this burning incident is connected to the political protests that have been taking place over the past several months.

Another protest incident occurred the same day, as police used tear gas and water cannons against students protesting at the Chinese University.

“I do not want to go into details,” said Hong Kong Executive Carrie Lam, “but I just want to make it very clear that we will spare no effort in finding ways and means that could end the violence in Hong Kong as soon as possible.”

The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has resigned following several weeks of pressure from the army and other protestors. An election to determine the next president will be scheduled, but for now Bolivia’s interim president will be the deputy head of the Senate.

Morales, the first indigenous leader of Bolivia, had served as Bolivia’s president for three terms beginning in 2006. Last October, he garnered much criticism by running for a fourth term which is technically illegal in Bolivia’s Constitution.

The Bolivian people have been polarized by Morales’s resignation. Some celebrated while Morales’s supporters took to the streets in protest. Several buses have been destroyed, and politicians’ homes have been targeted in the wake of the resignation.

In the Middle East, there is growing international concern about the increase in Iran’s uranium stores. Iran’s accumulation of low-enriched uranium is greater than what the Joint Comprehension Action Plan (JCPOA) allows them to have, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran had about 172 more kilograms of low-enriched uranium than they were supposed to. This increase in uranium caused concern among many nations, as it could allow Iran to continue to develop its nuclear program and eventually nuclear weapons.

In a recent attempt to stabilize and secure the northeast state of Borno, Nigerian forces have killed many Boko Haram militants, according to Ghana News. The Nigerian army’s increased attempts to eliminate the Islamic terrorist group from the region have yielded put increasing pressure on the insurgent terror group.

Speaking to reporters, Nigerian army spokesman Aminu Iliyasu claimed that the army was identifying more Boko Haram hideouts and therefore raiding and bombarding them with their better weapons. The Nigerian army has been systematically going after Boko Haram and hopes to eliminate as many militants as it can and to establish safer areas in northern Nigeria. 

The Daily Post has also reported that two individuals who had been hostages of Boko Haram have been recently released. Moses Oyeleke, pastor of Living Faith Church, and science teacher Ndagilaya Umar have both been released.

CRISPR Gene Editing Technology Takes the Next Step Forward

In late October NPR reported on the “CRISPR revolution,” saying that scientists have recently developed an easier way to edit DNA and re-write genes with more ease, precision, and safety than ever before.

A field of study first initiated in the 1990s and early 2000s, CRISPR was first discovered by Francisco Mojica, a scientist at the University of Alicante in Spain. According to the Broad Institute’s website, he “proposed that CRISPRs serve as part of the bacterial immune system, defending against invading viruses.” Whenever a CRISPR enzyme recognizes a threatening bacterium, it essentially chops up the offending bacterium’s DNA until it doesn’t exist anymore.

In January 2013, Feng Zhang, a scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, successively used a certain type of CRISPR code called CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genomes in mouse and human cells.

Zhang, in a video posted on the Broad Institute’s website, describes the process as similar to editing a book. If there’s a wrong word in a book—“big” instead of “little,” for instance—simply removing the word “big” doesn’t fix the sentence. It would also be incorrect to simply add in the word “little.” Instead, the editor must both take out the wrong word (“big”) and replace it with the correct word (“little”).

Similarly, Zhang wants to use CRISPR to find and remove genetic mutations in human DNA (the “wrong words,” so to speak), replacing them with normal, healthy sequences (the “right words”) in order to prevent genetic disease.

However, CRISPR-Cas9, while accurate, has its limitations. For instance, it’s unable to correct genetic mutations in cells such as those that carry Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.

New technology overcomes these limitations. David Liu, a biologist at Harvard and MIT, reported to NPR that this technology, called prime editing, “is really a step—and potentially a significant step—towards this long-term aspiration of the field in which [scientists] are trying to be able to make just about any kind of DNA change that anyone wants at just about any site in the human genome.”

The implications of such technology are breath-taking. On the one hand, while many lives could be saved from lethal genetic diseases, prime editing could also have potentially negative effects on patients, regardless of whether those effects occur on purpose or accidentally. 

One primary concern is about the unintended effects of altering a person’s DNA. According to the website SciTechDaily, “a series of studies have suggested that CRISPR may cause cells to lose their cancer-fighting ability, and that it may do more damage to genes than previously understood.” Other unknown consequences could appear as well.

Gene editing also has the potential to be used on embryos in an attempt to create babies that are stronger, healthier, and even more intelligent, a move which could create unfair social disadvantages for those without access to such technology.

It is widely known among the scientific community that CRISPR and other gene editing technology is moving faster than government regulation can keep up with. 

In fact, it was only this past July that Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed the first state law to directly address CRISPR technology. This came as a response to one California resident in the business of selling “DIY gene-editing kits,” one of which was apparently supposed to increase muscle mass when properly applied. 

The new law, to go into effect in January, prohibits “sales of certain do-it-yourself CRISPR supplies...unless they carry a bold notice ‘stating that the kit is not for self-administration.’” according to the website Technology Review. 

Two years prior to this incident, in 2017, the Food and Drug Administration announced that DIY gene-therapy products were illegal. According to their website, the “FDA is aware that gene therapy products intended for self-administration and ‘do it yourself’ kits to produce gene therapies for self-administration are being made available to the public. The sale of these products is against the law. FDA is concerned about the safety risks involved.”

The FDA also cautioned consumers “to make sure that any gene therapy they are considering has either been approved by [the] FDA or is being studied under appropriate regulatory oversight.”

As gene-editing grows faster and easier with new prime editing tech, however, these warnings may go unheeded, requiring stricter legislation.

The Diddly Squat on Democratic Candidates

Tired of not knowing diddly squat about politics? Well, get ready to impress your friends with your knowledge, because boy oh boy do I have an article for you.

2020 is one of those years that, as a kid, sounded kind of weird and made up. It just didn’t compute in your mind; it was too far away and we’d probably never make it. But alas, the decade is ending, and 2020 is nipping at our heels, so it’s time to really pay attention to those upcoming presidential elections, wouldn’t you say?

So, why not be informed this time around? While I will not be giving an exhaustive explanation of each candidate, I (with a little help and information from the New York Times) will be giving you a little snapshot of what a few of the Democratic front runners are doing so far, just to jump start you in your political journey.

First, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., affectionately known as Joe Biden. You may know him as the 47th vice president back in the day, when Barack Obama was in office. Biden is 76 years old (77 on November 20th!) and was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania right next to Michael Scott. But don’t let that fool you, the man is no stranger to politics. Biden is a six-term senator from Delaware, and he has also tried for the Democratic nomination for president in 1988 and 2008. And of course, there’s the whole vice president thing. He’s kind of like your cool, famous grandpa.

Biden’s current national polling average is 28%, making him the Democratic front runner. He is passionate about the issue of health care, and often discusses it in relation to some of his own personal tragedies, including the loss of his first wife and daughter in 1972 and the loss of his son in 2015. Along with the issue of health care, the New York Times states that some of Biden’s other signature issues are, “Restoring America’s standing on the global stage [and] strengthening economic protections for low-income workers in industries like manufacturing and fast food.” Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Joe Biden. *applause*

Close behind Biden, with a national polling average of 20%, is Elizabeth Ann Warren, affectionately known as Elizabeth Warren. The 70-year-old Massachusetts senator and former Harvard professor is known for “having a plan.” Seriously, she has released detailed plans that could potentially reshape and restructure the economy, and her phrase “I have a plan for that” has even made an appearance or two on t-shirt designs. You may also know her as that candidate who takes selfies with everyone. That’s right, Warren spends hours at the end of her town hall meetings at the front of her “selfie line,” where anyone and everyone can quickly and efficiently have their picture taken with her and shake her hand. Maybe that seems a little silly to some, but in a world of social media, this has proved to be an effective mode of spreading her name and message to those across America, as well as helping her stand out among competitors. She’s kind of like your cool, hip grandma.

As an expert in bankruptcy law, Warren also knows her stuff. She helped set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Obama administration, and is known for her policy plans, including “creating a wealth tax, canceling student loan debt for most borrowers, and breaking up big technology companies,” according to the New York Times. Warren is passionate about income equality and political corruption, as she sees big corporations attacking the middle class. Let’s also not forget that she is a woman, and a woman has never become president. A history-making election, if she makes it. Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Elizabeth Warren. *applause*

For our third and final candidate, coming in with a national polling average of 17%, we have Bernard Sanders, affectionately known as Bernie “Feel the Bern” Sanders. A theme so far in these three candidates is that they seem to know what they’re doing, and Sanders is no exception. Sanders was elected to the House of Representatives in 1990 and is the former mayor of Burlington, Vermont (not to be confused with the Burlington Coat Factory), as well as a senator from Vermont. Something definitely worth mentioning is that Sanders is 78 years old, which means that if he were to be elected, he would be the oldest president in history. I will say that, if Joe Biden or Donald Trump were also elected, they too would hold the title of oldest president in history. However, Sanders takes the cake, because he is older than both. He’s kind of like your cool, really old grandpa.

Sanders, runner-up to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, has many topics and ideas that he is trying to push forward. First, Sanders is a self-proclaimed democratic socialist. While the exact definition of this term is a little tricky, democratic socialists do not support capitalism, meaning that “they want workers to control the means of production,” according to the New York Times. They also believe that socialism should be achieved via democracy, hence the term democratic socialist. Sanders is also known for his “Medicare for all” platform, as well as pushing for tuition-free public college. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bernie Sanders. *applause*

These are brief insights into your top 3 Democratic candidates, but let me remind you there are 14 other Democrats currently running. So remember to stay informed, exercise your right to vote, and keep doing your best!