Sign Language Club studies ‘misunderstood’ culture

By Allison Curby
Seniors Bethany Baumann and Bethany Main are the co-leaders of the sign language club which meets Monday mornings on campus from 10 till 10:50. The club is open to all students regardless of their previous exposure to sign language.
“Some people know signs, some people don’t know any,” Baumann said. “It’s a pretty [...]

CU partners with TheCommon.org

By Aubrey Headrick
Cornerstone is the first university to partner with TheCommon.org.
Jay Kroll, a graduate of CU and a founder and facilitator of this site, helped bring this connection to the campus, and Kroll said, “the potential of so many students getting involved is exciting!”
The site began a couple years ago and has quickly grown. Churches [...]

After changing roles and adding faces, Spiritual Formation is geared to serve

By Hannah Strauel
Last year, Student Development changed its name to Spiritual Formation and adjusted several positions. This year the changes in Spiritual Formation continue.
Some of these changes included Chuck Swanson becoming the interim vice president of Spiritual Formation, David Murdoch leaving the department and Chip Huber coming to Cornerstone from Wheaton Academy.
However, these changes began [...]

New online course evaluation forms created

By Lauren Honigford
When evaluating instructors this semester, students will be tossing aside those long questionnaires and pencils for an assessment test they can take directly off of their laptops.
When Provost Rick Ostrander was first hired at Cornerstone, he immediately addressed the flaws he saw with the current mode of assessing professors.
“One of the things that [...]

Student advisory councils created

By Aubrey Headrick
Student Advisory Councils (SAC) have been instituted for the Business and Music Divisions of Cornerstone University.
These councils serve as a clear channel of communication between the student body and the faculty. Donna Bohn, chair of the Fine Arts Division, and Brad Stamm, chair of the Business Division, are heads of the separate councils.
The [...]

Miller Library to be open until midnight

By Amena Anderson
Procrastinators have another lifeline.
Starting after fall break, the library will be open until midnight Monday through Thursday. The library currently closes at 10:30 p.m.
Keeping with the school’s “best year yet” theme, Library Director Fred Sweet said Miller Library wants to do its part.
Sweet said the library will make the change to meet student [...]

CUSG hires 3 new staff members

By Lauren Honigford
Among the many other changes taking place at CU this semester, CUSG has hired an additional three new vice presidents to their staff.
Senior Jessica Rider is VP of finances and senior Lance Mokma and Luke Marsman are the co-VPs of marketing.
The need for positions to be filled in student government arose during the [...]

Huber takes on role as new dean of student engagement

By Karissa Ryan
Cornerstone University’s new dean of student engagement enjoys sitting on the sidelines, but only when it comes to watching Cornerstone soccer teams.
Chip Huber, one of Spiritual Formation’s newest members, confessed that he is an avid fan of soccer. Most of his time, however, is spent performing his duties as Cornerstone’s dean of student [...]

Fabisch to lead overseas Holocaust trip in May

By Lauren Honigford
In May 2010, Professor of English Judith Fabisch will be fulfilling a dream she has had for over 10 years. She will lead a group of students and alumni throughout various parts of Europe that are linked historically with the Holocaust.
Fabisch, who has taught a Holocaust literature course at CU for many years, [...]

Former Grand Rapids Griffins promoter hired at CU

By Amena Anderson
It takes a real leap of faith to start with a pro hockey team and finish with a Christian university.
For 11 years, Bob Sack promoted the Grand Rapids Griffins for DP Fox Sports. Now, he’s the executive director of marketing and communications at Cornerstone University.
The former senior vice president of sales and marketing [...]

CUSG Web site receives a makeover

By Stasha Giese
Facebook is everywhere. It has taken over Cornerstone’s campus, and Cornerstone University Student Government (CUSG) is ready to adapt. CUSG is making some serious changes in both their goals and media for the 2009-2010 school year.
“This year, we are more concerned with student issues, not activities,” said Joe Steggs, CUSG’s president.
Steggs said last [...]

Meyers’ battle against cancer comes to an end

By Katherine Wisen
After a three-year battle against pancreatic cancer, Ronald Meyers—beloved professor, colleague and friend of Cornerstone University—has entered into heaven.
Surrounded by his family and in the comfort of his home, Meyers passed away Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.
“My heart rejoices in the fact that Ron is with the Lord experiencing the promise of eternal life,” [...]

Freshmen claim Mudbowl victory

By Aubrey Headrick
Standing too close to the sidelines was a sure way to get splattered with mud on Oct. 8 as the contestants of Mudbowl 2009 battled their way across the field. With 90s music blaring in the background and spectators dancing just to keep warm, the muddy field filled with its first two teams [...]

Biblical Criticism course cut from CU catalog

By Karissa Ryan

Biblical Criticism, or REL 103, will no longer be offered within The Bible, Religion and Ministry Division after the spring 2010 semester.
“We’re always looking for how we can do things better, how learning changes and how better to serve our students,” said Andy Smith, associate professor of Bible.
Biblical Criticism was once a part [...]

Meyers leaves behind many friends and rich legacy at CU

By Hannah Strauel
After a hard-fought, two year battle with pancreatic cancer, Ron Meyers went home to be with his Lord on Oct. 18, 2009. However, he leaves behind a rich legacy, many friends and family, who will miss him dearly.
Meyers, associate professor of science and chair of the Kinesiology, Science & Mathematics Division, taught at [...]

CU student wins ‘lead actor’ at Grand Awards

By Sarah Brower
Cornerstone student Kyle Juresich won “Most Outstanding Lead Actor in a College Production” at the 2009 Grand Awards for his performance in “Suessical the Musical.”
“I am still blown away that I was even nominated,” Juresich said.
He won for his performance as The Cat and the Hat last spring.
“It was a really fun and [...]

Enrollment increases for CU, PGS and GRTS

By Amena Anderson
Overall student enrollment increased this year for Cornerstone University’s undergraduate program, Professional & Graduate Studies program and the Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.
CU’s undergraduate population increased three percent, PGS’s students by 10 percent and GRTS’s students by 19.07 percent.
Lisa Link, director of CU undergraduate admissions, said last year her team got together to create [...]

Prayers go out for former student, minors in case

By Amena Anderson
Cornerstone University community members continue to pray for a former CU student awaiting trial on state criminal charges, as well as for the minors in the case.
Shawn Birman, 24, recently arrested and arraigned in connection with four felony counts of criminal sexual conduct (CSC) reportedly involving three Wayland High School band students, has [...]

Student Column: A word from Spain

by Lisa Wooning
Saludos de España!
I am studying abroad in Spain and I’ve been asked to share my experiences with you. To start, I am a third-year student in the education program at Cornerstone studying English, Spanish and TESOL. I am studying Spanish in Seville, Spain with the Semester in Spain consortium program with Trinity College.
I [...]

Guest Column: More demerit than merit with casinos

by Russ Pullium
Billboards may boast about the great benefits of casinos for Indiana, but the gambling industry has pitched a different message to the Hoosier state’s General Assembly’s Interim Study on Gaming.
Industry executives are begging for tax breaks for casinos and horse tracks. The riverboats want an option for land-based casinos so they can move [...]

Staff Notebook: Laptops: Blessing or Curse?

by Rick Ostrander
Recently I attended a teaching conference with several Cornerstone University professors. One evening as we discussed our triumphs and tribulations as teachers, the conversation turned to the challenges posed by those Dell laptops that one finds everywhere around campus. While these machines create lots of exciting possibilities educationally, it’s also no secret that [...]

Faculty Notebook: The uniqueness of our home planet

by Ned Keller
When you are next in the Museum of Natural History in New York City (the museum caricatured in the movie “Night in the Museum”), take time to visit the Hall of Diversity, where there are preserved over 1,500 examples of the millions of species of living things here on earth. What an awesome [...]

Student Testimony: Alyssa Corwin

by Alyssa Corwin
It was a clear and warm August day just over three years ago. I stood gazing up at the stars in awe of God and the past few hours I had just experienced. I was at a church retreat with a youth group I had attended the past year and this was the [...]

Editor’s Notebook: Undecided? Do something about it.

by Sasha Hettich
So, you’re undecided.
Undecided in your major, undecided in your career path, undecided in why you are watching your bank account go a decade into debt (or more)—without knowing an end. You meet friends during Christmas break who talk about how much they love their education program, or your great aunt asks you (for [...]

Our View: Three to a room is way too crowded

This year, record breaking numbers have been recorded as the largest incoming freshman class in CU history arrived. Sounds great, right? Well, with these numbers there have come some challenges. For parts of the student body that reside in Pickett, a three-person-to-a- room lifestyle has been adopted.

The same space in a dorm that two people [...]

Faculty Notebook: What a best year ever looks like

by Philip Bustrum
Since Cornerstone initiated this slogan for the coming school year, I’ve wondered what a “best year ever” would look like for me. I’ve dreamed about perfect classes where all my students got A’s, someone paying off all my debts (read school loans), winning the million dollar lottery, traveling the world, championships for Cornerstone’s [...]

Guest Column: Taking Darwin on faith

by Russ Pullium
Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking “Origin of Species” is 150 years old this year.
As part of the celebration, Indiana University is offering its first “themester” on “Evolution, Diversity and Change.’’ It’s a cross-disciplinary approach, including lectures and the play “Inherit the Wind” about the 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee.
Scientists have taken the occasion to lament [...]

Student Testimony: Christina Woolard

by Christina Woolard
As I sit here thinking about what to write, I’m realizing that God truly has, and is, doing a marvelous work in me. He is changing, molding, shaping and forming me into a young woman that knows beyond all doubt that all she needs is her Savior. It’s stretching, exciting, painful, uncomfortable and [...]

Student Testimony: Rachel Higginbotham

 
By Rachel Higginbotham

 Five years ago, I slept in a dorm, ate in a cafeteria, worked in a college office, spent as much time on the free and plentiful, wifi points as I did studying and thought life was a wee bit stressful. The Lord must have a bright and beautiful sense of humor within His [...]

Editor’s Notebook: Unsolicited forgiveness

by Katherine Wisen
I came home Monday afternoon to a picture of repentance.
Kona, my family’s perpetually mischievous 1-year-old puppy, stood at the opening of my bedroom door with guilt written across her face. Her eyes were glossy and lowered, her nose slightly tilted to the ground, her giant ears tucked neatly against her head and, I’m [...]

Our View: Study abroad: required?

Cornerstone University is beginning to really emphasize study abroad trips.
There are professors who lead study abroad trips every year and some majors, such as Spanish and humanities, require students to study abroad in order to complete their degree. Spanish majors have to complete a semester in Spain and humanities majors have to go to Oxford, [...]

Volleyball team gets green idea

By Tyler Brandli-Hale
Staff Writer
When does the Cornerstone University volleyball team play, anyway?
Now, without taking the time to look up the schedule online, Head Coach Ryan Campbell and his team are attempting to increase campus awareness of when the games are.
This year, on game days, the CU volleyball players can be seen wearing bright green T-shirts. [...]

Two CU athletes receive WHAC player of week

By Victoria Rosales
Staff Writer
Each week the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference chooses one student from each competing sport who has helped his or her team in a significant way. WHAC honored two of Cornerstone’s star female athletes as Player of the Week, September 14, 2009.
Marcie Blacquiere has been playing volleyball with Cornerstone for four years and has [...]

CU golfer sinks hole-in-one

By Nicole Parry
Staff Writer
Ben Vanbiesbrouck, a sophomore at Cornerstone University, scored his first hole-in-one on hole 17 in the season’s first WHAC Jamboree at the Stonewater Country Club.  
 The golf team practices about two hours each day, seven days a week. They play games even more than that.
Vanbiesbrouck had high expectations for himself in the competition. [...]

Midnight Madness starts basketball season

By Hope Cronkright
Your LIfe Editor
 Enthusiasm and anticipation drew around campus for Thursday, Oct. 8.
At 11:00 p.m. in the Hansen Athletic Center, the men’s and women’s basketball teams celebrated the kick off of their upcoming season with Midnight Madness.
Every year the event follows Mudbowl and lasts about two hours. It includes free games, prizes, and events [...]