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 big mix.”

“There are people who have never done sign language but think it’s interesting and some people are going to be teachers who figure they will have deaf students and should be familiar with the culture,” Baumann said. “It’s a good group.”

In a typical meeting, the group opens with prayer and then reviews the lesson from the previous meeting. Afterwards, they begin the new lesson for the day.

“We usually go through the new vocabulary first,” Baumann said. “Then we practice them in conversations. Next, we’ll either do an activity or a game, something more fun.”

“We all learn it together and teach each other—it is a team effort,” Main said.

The group also tries to better understand deaf culture.

“It is one of the most misunderstood cultures there is,” sophomore Raya Rubino said.

The group discusses different aspects to the deaf culture such as deaf education, deaf history and deafness and religion. “We try to cover a new deaf cultural topic every month,” Baumann said.

The group performs songs in sign language as an activity during chapel a couple of times per year.

“We try to pick a song and translate it from English into sign language for Christmas and Easter. It is hard because everyone is trying to do the same thing at the same time and to a rhythm,” Baumann said.

Sophomore Megan Fuchs said she enjoys the chapel activity.

“I love it when we sign in Chapel…I learn so much more rather than having a vocabulary sheet, it’s more hands on experience,” she said.

The Sign Language Club does a lot of advertising at the beginning of the year. They use flyers, e-mails, a Facebook group, a slide in chapel and they post information on the CUBE.

Main is the person who started the group.

“I think it started in the spring of ’06 when I got connected with another girl interested in starting a group and we put down the rough foundations of what the club could really look like,” Main said.

Main and Baumann wanted to be intentional about making sure that people joined the group and committed to it.

“We put down a schedule and syllabus so everyone could commit,” Main said.

“I think everyone calls it a class, not a club,” Baumann said.

Fuchs is hearing-impaired and has been since childhood.

“I went deaf when I was two and a half years old,” Fuchs said. “I knew very little sign language, just the basic kid stuff like cookie, apple, candy and mom.”

“After I got my cochlear implant, my doctor didn’t want me to sign,” Fuchs said. “Now after fourteen years, I am starting to learn sign again.”

Rubino joined the group this year.

“I barely knew the alphabet—that’s it,” Rubino said. “I think it is a good skill to have…I am doing it just so I am exposed to it.”

“I hope to be able to do sign language during my four years at Cornerstone and beyond,” Fuchs said. “I am the only deaf person in the club. I do a lot of lip reading and it is nice to know sign as a back-up in case my cochlear does not work.”

The club has evolved since its inception. “I think it really was last spring when we set down a foundation that people really committed,” Baumann said.

“It’s becoming more known in the community, we would definitely encourage students to come visit,” Fuchs said.

“We are always looking to grow the group,” Baumann said. “The trick is how.”

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 in Grand Rapids, Chicago, the UK and even Kenya are connected to TheCommon.org. Many ministries in the Grand Rapids area are as well. There are 150 communities around the world plugged into this site.

Rick Devos and Ben Gott were attending Mars Hill when Rob Bell, a teaching pastor at Mar’s Hill, started talking about sending out e-mail blasts to the entire congregation when a need arose. Devos and Gott devised a more organized way to connect those who have needs to those who want to help: TheCommon.org.

TheCommon.org is a Web site that connects people. Needs are posted from individuals, churches, ministries and now Cornerstone University and are filled by others who have posted their abilities. This way, people are connected with people, sharing what they have to better the world.

Kroll said that people naturally want to help each other, “but the way church organizes it is so complicated.”

The site is ability-driven and need-driven. Someone’s need is another’s ability to fulfill. This site connects the two quickly and easily.

A personal profile is set up when you join TheCommon.org. You are able to fill out what abilities you have or what services you need. Notices are sent and received that match needs and abilities. Whether a soup kitchen is in need of workers or an elderly lady needs her lawn mowed, people are connected to help each other out.

People who need anything from textbooks to couches to carpooling can submit posts. Those who have offered such things are alerted to the needs in an inbox, and then they can choose to offer assistance.

“Our goal is to make connections easier,” Kroll says. He is passionate about TheCommon.org as a tool to get the body of Christ serving.

“My goal with this is for the concept of service to change from a quarterly project that we do to being part of our DNA. It’s what we’re called to,” he said.

RAs, CAs and Student Development are facilitators of the CU community on TheCommon.org. Their job is to monitor the site to make sure that content stays appropriate, and they also help with keeping things moving. For example, if a request has been up for a couple weeks and no one has responded, they might put it in another category or reword the request.

Larry Rice, Director of Global Opportunities, is one of the people that helped get CU partnered with TheCommon.org. What he offered as the grander vision of the web site is this: “[It is] a tool to help the Body of Christ fulfill its mission.” He asserted that as Christians we are called to minister to and build up each other, and whether the need is as simple as trading textbooks or carpooling, TheCommon.org can help.

Communities are formed on TheCommon.org so that people are actually helping people in their area. For example, Cornerstone University is its own community. However, there is an opportunity to blend communities.

If a church had a heart for a certain ministry, they could blend their communities. As a result, the needs and abilities would be specifically lined up.

“My hope is that students will not only be connected within our own community, but also with the local non-profits and ministries,” Rice said.

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 some time before the department became Spiritual Formation. Swanson said they first began when Tom Emigh left CU two and a half years ago.

When Emigh left, Swanson said the department started to go through a transition. This transition continued when Joe Stowell became president of CU, and he brought with him Ed Dobson, an individual who had a large amount of experience with young adults.

The department knew they needed a new look. Spiritual Formation, which had only been a subset of Student Development, became the new name.

As they tried to be good stewards with finances and personnel, Swanson said Dobson helped them restructure the department. Under Dobson, they developed the three dean structure of Patrick Miller, dean of student services; Christine Mutch, dean of discipleship and Swanson, dean of community life.

One of the first things they realized was their need to expand the staff working with commuters and student activities. Katie Azkoul became assistant director of commuters and student activities.

Two new additions were also made to the department: Matthew Westerholm became director of worship arts and Gerald Longjohn, director of ministry development. Westerholm worked with CU chapels and the Evensong team, while Longjohn focused on missions outreach and establishing a second year experience for sophomores.

All of these changes took place before or during the last academic year. For the 2009-2010 school year, more changes have taken place when Dobson announced he was stepping down and Murdoch informed the department it was time for him to make a transition of his own to another job. He has since taken a job at the University of Alaska.

Before Murdoch left, he brought Scott Barrett on as an intern from the seminary to help him with student first and second year experiences. During this time, the department also switched its new student orientation program from Leadership Journey to their own curriculum, Terra Firma.

With several people leaving and orientation program’s focus shifting, Swanson said the department realized they needed to do some restructuring yet again.

Bringing in an outside consultant, they began to switch people positions around to better fit their passions and experience.

Ryan Davis, who had spent a number of years in the residence halls, took over Azkoul’s position of assistant director of commuter life and student activities. Azkoul then took Davis’ position as residence director of Cook and Van Osdel residence halls.

“At first, she wasn’t sure, but now she’s really excited,” Swanson said about Azkoul accepting the RD position. Swanson added, “Ryan’s done a great job with commuters and activities, so it’s a win-win situation all around.”

Longjohn and Larry Rice also switched positions. Rice began working with missions, Longjohn became dean of community life.

“[Larry’s] natural passion has always been for missions and interacting with that is a great opportunity to get him some experience,” Swanson said.

Also, with Murdoch gone, his position had to be filled. CU hired Chip Huber as dean of student engagements, and he took over student first and second year experiences.

“Coming to Grand Rapids from Chicago after 14 years at Wheaton Academy was a huge change, but we have and continue to feel confident in God’s leading and blessing in making the switch,” Huber said about him and his family. “I’ve loved jumping into relationships with so many students, staff, faculty and coaches in these first days. I loved being a part of the kick-off for Terra Firma.”

Swanson also said Barrett saved the department in many ways as he came in and took over many of the details surrounding Terra Firma, as well as caring for the Sirdars and Sherpas.

“We put cement shoes on his feet, threw him in the deep end and he actually swam,” Swanson said about Barrett.

Some final changes in the department included Molly Heemstra switching from career services to residence halls, and Mutch switching from full-time to part-time after she had a baby.

Overall, the many transitions have gone well.

“I’ve been really impressed and humbled by the way the transitions have drawn us together as a department. Each of us have had to rely on the others for training, input, and advice on the new responsibilities that have been entrusted to us. The cool thing is that we’ve been able to help each other out with becoming territorial or guarded in the process. It’s been a busy, crazy season, but it’s been so much fun to be surrounded by great people!” Longjohn said.

“More than anything, I am struck just about every day how much fun it is to work in the Spiritual Formation office with people who love Jesus and long for students to know Him more deeply,” Huber said. “They have welcomed me beyond my expectations and I love the team that God has brought together.”

Swanson also said the transition has gone well.

“When you have good people, they can handle transition; they can handle the stress; and they’ve done an amazing job,” he said.

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 I noticed when I talked with people here was a general dissatisfaction with the IDEA forms,” Ostrander said.

IDEA, which stands for Individual Development and Educational Assessment, has been the main venue used for evaluating professors for some time now. It allowed students to take mandatory assessment tests, usually involving around fifty questions. Tests were taken in class with standard pencils and paper.

“With the IDEA evaluations, students don’t always want to sit there and fill out 50 questions, so they just fill out the A column to finish it faster—which kind of defeats the purpose,” Ostrander said. “So overall, the quality of feedback from the students wasn’t very good.”

He also noted that professors found the tests annoying because it forced them to take time out of class to give the examinations.

These problems were quite familiar to Ostrander, as he had seen them in previous years at John Brown University in Arkansas, where he served as dean of undergraduate studies before coming to CU.

“[Ostrander] wasn’t hired until July 1, but he started addressing this problem long before that, back in spring semester of ‘09, when he was being interviewed for provost,” Associate Provost Tim Detwiler said.

After discussing it for a good six months, Ostrander took his ideas to both the CU faculty senate and the undergraduate academic council, where his proposal was accepted.

“We’ll be replacing [IDEA] with our own tool, an online course evaluation questionnaire that we’re developing ourselves,” Ostrander said.

Aside from Detwiler and GRTS Academic Dean John Verberkmoes, six other faculty members are helping develop the evaluation questions. These members are Andy Smith, associate professor of Bible; Ronald Kronemeyer, professor of education; Michael Stevens, professor of English; Peter Atwood, professor of mathematics; Judith Fabisch, professor of English; and Laurie Burgess.

There will be about 25-30 questions on the examinations. For this semester though, the questions will be more university-wide rather than customized to each class. This is due simply to the fact that this is the initial test-run of the new evaluation system.

“Eventually, we’ll have it so that each division can customize their own questions,” Detwiler said. “All of the evaluations will feature 15-20 common questions and then that department can come up with some of their own questions as well.”

Although they are still being developed the questions cover topics such as, the professor as a manager, evaluator, communicator, teacher/learning facilitator, scholar and social being. There are also several questions about overall student perception and academic rigor.

Another notable feature of the new evaluation system is that it is based completely online, allowing students to take the assessment tests on their own time. This also allows professors to avoid using up class time for students to take the test.

“Students will receive a series of two to three e-mails during the process,” Detwiler said. “The first will remind you that the evaluation period is open. The next two or three will be reminders if you haven’t already taken the test.”

Once the evaluations have been completed, the results will appear almost instantaneously for the professor and the board of administration to see.

Incentives will be presented to students at the end of the semester to encourage them to participate in the evaluations. Actual prizes and such are still being discussed at this time.

Ostrander and Detwiler showed true enthusiasm for this new change.

“The main thing we hope to gain is better academic quality,” Ostrander said. “A side benefit though is that these evaluations will give students a better sense of empowerment. We are a student-centered university so we want to get their input.”

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 students on the councils do not have specific roles but rather work as a focus group. The advisers are a listening ear, and the council members address issues raised by the student body. Council members also generate ideas for activities to promote community.

“It’s going to make us a program better able to serve our students,” Stamm said.

Feedback ranges from ideas on fun events to concerns about curriculum. The business students will be starting up a new business club, and the music department will be having a fun event in the spring to gather students and faculty.

Both Stamm and Bohn want the council meetings to be informal, and to meet about once a month. This gives the members time to hear concerns, generate ideas and then share the ideas with the advisors. The meetings will be a discussion forum; a “think tank,” according to Stamm.

Both instructors want the students to know that they value their opinion.

“We want all the students to feel that there is a connection…that we are willing to listen to their concerns,” Bohn said. “I’m serious about listening. I don’t want to just hear what they have to say, but I want to implement also,” Stamm said.

It is Bohn’s and Stamm’s hope that all the students will feel comfortable going to their fellow students on the council and voice their concerns, which in turn will come to their attention in the consistent meetings they are planning.

The students selected to be members of the councils were chosen via differing methods in the two departments. The professors of the Business Division nominated those students they felt would be beneficial to this new team. Sixteen individuals were selected. The music majors nominated students and then voted for the three they wanted on their council.

Members of both councils are excited to be a part. Rachel Wiard, a senior with a major in business administration and a student assistant in the Business Division, said, “SAC was created to be the students’ voice, to encourage community, and to promote a healthy working relationship between faculty and students.”

Sam Longo, a business finance major in her junior year, is excited for the “great difference” the SAC will make in the division.

“We’re just starting to get our feet wet!” she said.

The SAC for the Business Division will be evaluating programs, internships and domestic and international opportunities. They are exploring what avenues and opportunities will provide beneficial employment and future relationships.

Aaron Turner, a senior music education major, said, “I would love to see the council help alleviate miscommunication and build a better student faculty relationship. In addition, I think that the council is going to help unite the music department as a community.”

Briana Bolthouse, a junior with a major in music education with a trumpet emphasis, laid out some of the ideas they have presented.

“So far, we’ve put together two fun projects, which will bring together the students in the music department,” she said. “Jared Kellogg is designing a music department T-shirt that everyone will be able to order, and I’m working on a student-led music department newsletter. Aaron Turner has posted our information in the music building so that students can contact us whenever they want.”

“We want the students to know that they have a voice in the department,” Bohn said. “We are here to serve the students and to really help them grow as musicians and followers of Jesus Christ.”

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 needs and stay student focused — but with the change came budgetary challenges.

“[It] takes an extra $2,400 for this year to do this,” Sweet said.

Sweet said the extra money is needed to hire more student workers for the extended hours, but the library doesn’t have any authority to increase its budget.

Fortunately, the expenses for this year will be paid through the CU undergraduate program, and the CU Professional & Graduate Studies program, Sweet said.

Provost Rick Ostrander said funds had to be found elsewhere this year because the change came after the university’s budget was set. The budget is usually set a year in advance.

If the extended hours are a success, Ostrander said CU will “plan ahead and put [additional library funds] in our operating budget for next year.”

Ostrander said his office is providing the undergraduate portion of the funding because the later library hours “seemed like something that would be helpful for students,” and “was worth putting money into.”

Sophomore Sarah Westveer will be one of the student workers working the night shift for circulation after the library hours change.

The learning disabilities major isn’t unfamiliar with working a midnight shift. During the summer, Westveer worked at Arby’s, a restaurant that closes as late as 2 a.m.

“I hope that people really take advantage of it,” Westveer said about the new library hours. “I would love to see it really busy with people. I would hate to see only a couple of people here for the midnight hours.”

Later library hours would have helped sophomore Ashley Bliss out last year when she had to finish a project.

It was about 11 p.m. at night when Bliss realized she needed a Bible dictionary of Paul and his letters to complete her exegetical project for a Biblical Hermeneutics class. The project was due the next day for the psychology and family studies major, but Bliss couldn’t finish because the library had already closed. Bliss had to turn her project in late.

Because of that experience, Bliss thinks extended hours will be beneficial to students.

“I think it will be really useful, especially if people are busy during the day,” Bliss said. “They can come late at night and get work done.”

Junior Rebekah McNay had a spontaneous thought last year to grab some visual aids from the Curriculum Materials Center upstairs in the library. She wanted to add to her lesson plan as an elementary education major but couldn’t because her thought came after library hours.

McNay said she comes to the library three times a week to study and usually stays until closing. She said the new library hours will definitely work with her study habits.

“It will be more convenient,” McNay said. “I am up that late anyways studying, so it’s nice to be in a quiet place.”

Sweet said that the extended hours are only for this year. He said the library will “reassess [the changes] at the end of the year.”

“[If the change] proves to be popular at all, we will reconsider it,” Sweet added.

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 end of the spring semester of 2009. CUSG began conducting interviews with students, trying to find someone who fit the qualifications of a CUSG leader. Amanda Smith, vice president of legislation, helped with the selection process.

“We wanted to find someone who exemplified the qualifications of a student leader,” Smith said. “You have to have someone who’s passionate about CU and student government. You also want to have someone who is very good at what you do.”

Aside from these things, other aspects of character and integrity were assessed. These included responsibility, ability to do the job, dedication, character and ability to communicate.

“We didn’t want to hire someone who was a good worker but didn’t have the skills to communicate what student government’s trying to put out there,” Smith said. “We were looking for a balance in all of the categories.”

Rider was the first to join the student government team. She had expressed a desire to work for CUSG in the past but had not been able to get involved. Also, a recent semester spent in China had prevented her from joining in the spring semester of 2009.

“Jessica had always been in mind,” Smith said. “She’s very professional and good at what she does. We knew she’d be a good fit because she’d work hard to get things done and represent student government in a positive way.”

Rider was hired over the summer and is in charge of budgets and finances for student organizations.

“Her position is a lot more behind the scenes,” Smith said. “The organization or club you’re involved in asks for money, but you have no idea who gives it to you. That’s her job.”

During the first week of the fall semester, Mokma and Marsman both became a part of the CUSG team as marketing VPs.

Both were selected out of a number of students for their character, display of responsibility, dedication and talent.

Mokma will focus on direct media, while Marsman will focus on paperwork. Both will be in charge of the CUSG Web site.

Outside of this work, the two will also be in charge of approving marketing flyers and announcements, helping get the word out about upcoming events with student government and using different media-related venues to promote CUSG.

Mokma, a senior majoring in media with a film emphasis, is excited about his new role with student government.

“It’s great getting to know the people I’m working with better, and to begin getting things off the ground,” Mokma said. “It’s gratifying to see something that you influenced, changed or added.”

However, getting things started has been a challenge for Mokma.

“We need access and clearance before we can just do certain things. You’ll get to see what those things are soon, though,” Mokma said.

Smith has been very pleased with both Mokma and Marsman.

“They have a great balance of the main qualifications of a student government leader,” Smith said. “They are both very talented and good at getting messages across. They are also good and responsible men.”

CUSG President Joe Steggs was also very happy with the three new additions.

“[Jessica] has provided an attention to detail that eludes me and most of the CUSG staff. She has a very important role that keeps our organization going,” Steggs said. “Luke and Lance just provide an excellent sense of humor to the staff and they are such a good hand on the pulse of students. They know what good advertising is at CU and they know how to get it done.”

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 engagement, a position whose title is slightly misleading.

Dean of student engagement “doesn’t mean what it sounds like,” Huber said. The position does not include premarital counseling or coordinating candlelights. Instead, he is in charge of engaging students to spiritually connect into the Cornerstone community, and to help create a community that will encourage students to spiritually engage.

Specific responsibilities include the overseeing of all student activities and the student government, giving leadership to the Terra Firma first year experience and helping to develop the second year experience in years to come.

Huber said it was difficult to leave Wheaton Academy, where he was previously employed. His family was “very rooted in that community, but God really made a door open here.”

When Cornerstone asked him to consider the position, Huber noted that his gifts and passions met at a point that fit really well with the opportunity Cornerstone asked him to consider.

The type of position wasn’t the only draw for Huber. He was excited about CU’s vision and direction, as well as the opportunity to work with college students. This opportunity convinced him to leave his 14-year position at the Academy.

Huber is passionate about what he does, and he wanted to help college students discover their passion and how God wants to use them to impact our world.

Huber’s job is very focused on people and relationships. His favorite part about the position, he said, was the chance to work with an amazing team of people in Spiritual Formation and to have the opportunity to meet hundreds of students just in the past few months. He is excited to see the hunger and passion CU students have for what God is doing, and their desire to be a part of it.

Joe Stowell, CU president and Huber’s pastor when he was in high school, expressed his delight that the Lord had brought Huber and his wife here to join the Spiritual formation team.

“He brings the goods that we are looking for in our spiritual leaders on campus … authenticity, vitality, a living commitment to Jesus and a love for God’s Word,” Stowell said. He appreciated the feedback he’s gotten, which showed that already Huber has made an impact on campus.

When asked what question he wished students would ask him, he said, “One that I have wrestled with and explored: ‘Why are you so passionate about issues of poverty and justice around the globe?’”

According to Huber, it’s because of his long-term partnership with students in a community in Zambia.

“We have an awesome chance to offer the gospel in all its fullness to the people in need,” Huber said.

One way Huber sought to share his passion for the poor and needy is by giving leadership to ACTs (the World Vision Activism Network), one of over 100 chapters on campuses around the country.

His passion is for the poor comes from knowing how strongly God’s heart beats for these people.

“As we care for the poor and the needy, we experience life and growth ourselves,” he said.

After many trips to Zambia, Huber has gotten to know the people and has fallen in love with them, an experience he calls “one of the most transformational for my own spiritual journey.”

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, has always aspired to take such a trip.

“Ten years ago, a friend and I went to Eastern Europe,” Fabisch said. “We saw Prague, Budapest and Vienna. I knew after that trip, I wanted to teach the Holocaust in Europe.”

Fabisch talked with Dean of Community Life Gerald Longjohn about the subject. It was Longjohn who introduced her to EF (Education First) college study tours, a company dedicated to helping teachers plan and lead the tour of their dreams.

“The tour looks wonderful,” Fabisch said. “I knew that even if I worked on it for two years, I wouldn’t be able to come up with something that good.”

To start things off, students will arrive in Berlin. They will then get a chance to walk through and explore the city, experiencing historic landmarks like the Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. After this, guests will get a chance to visit the Jewish Museum, which explores over 2,000 years of German-Jewish history.

Throughout the trip, students will dive into some of the historic places that made up the Holocaust during World War II, including the Old Jewish quarter of Berlin, Warsaw, the Gestapo headquarters, the Pawiack Prison and both the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps.

“You just can’t compare reading about it in a book to actual hands-on exploration,” Fabisch said. “I was in Dachau [ a concentration camp] in 2000, and I remember walking along the gravel road and thinking how much my feet hurt. Then I thought how can I complain when I think of what’s happened here?”

The final few days of the tour take place in Prague, where students will be able to explore several synagogues and several other important landmarks.

The trip will begin around the May 17, and will continue till around May 30. Specific dates and times are still being discussed.

The cost of the trip is around $3,500. This cost includes three hours of credit, which can count for either a history or English class. Financial aid does not apply unless another course is taken during the summer, for a total of six credits or more.

The trip is open to both students and alumni. Fabisch suggests it to anyone who is interested in the Holocaust.

“We all need to be interested in the Holocaust because we need to learn from it,” Fabisch said. “Looking at the situation in Darfur and other countries, it seems the world hasn’t learned much.”

Longjohn is also very supportive of the trip.

“I believe that the trip Dr. Fabisch has planned offers our students an incredible opportunity to explore the context for this important genre of literature,” Longjohn said. “Visits to places like the Jewish quarter of Berlin, the Ghetto of Warsaw and the Auschwitz death camp promise to provide moments of intense, sober reflection and a new perspective on the literature of the Holocaust.”

Students can sign up for this trip through Oct. 31. For further information, please contact Fabisch.

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 resigned from DP Fox Sports in 2007 and spent two years at McShane & Bowie, a West Michigan real estate law firm, before coming to CU on Oct. 1. At the law firm, Sack was the chief operating officer.

Sack will oversee the marketing and communications division “to provide strategic planning and oversight of marketing endeavors, as well as moving our commitment to internal communications forward,” CU President Joe Stowell said.

Stowell said Sack was hired because he had many years of experience in the marketing field.

“Bob’s experience and success in marketing ventures in West Michigan over the last 20 years made him a prime candidate for this job,” Stowell said. “He is highly networked in West Michigan, which is a necessary component for his success in this role. Also, he has a deep commitment to Cornerstone University and our mission. All of these became compelling reasons to invite him to join the team.”

Sack said he was attracted to CU because “it was a great opportunity to be a part of such a tremendous mission.”

He also enjoys a challenge.

“The world of higher education is extremely competitive,” he said. “That is extremely exciting to me.”

Sack has spent his entire career working within the marketing world, which he said has many principles and skills that transfer from one industry to the next.

He also taught at Grand Valley State University for three years as an adjunct instructor, so the college scene isn’t unfamiliar to him.

“I have always enjoyed time on college campuses,” he said.

In fact, being a part of a university again is one reason why Sack chose to work at CU.

Sack said he has known of CU for 20 years through business and other activities involving people from CU. Also, his wife, two brothers-in-laws and one sister-in-law attended CU.

His daughter has also decided to attend CU, which he said created an excitement within his family as he took on the new position.

Before he was contacted about the job, Sack said he wasn’t planning on leaving McShane & Bowie, but realized that God had opened another door for a reason.

“[I was] coming to the understanding that God could really use me … to make an impact here,” he said.

Sack said the process was “diligent and prayerful,” and the more he talked to other people, the more it was confirmed that he was making the right decision.

To be selected for the position, Sack said he went through four extended interview sessions and found out he was hired the day after Labor Day.

“The welcome from people here, from the outset, has been magnificent,” he said.

Sack said the conversations with Stowell were important in his decision to come to CU.

“His leadership and visions for the university is a critical part of why I became interested,” Sack said.

Stowell said Sack’s hiring will give CU “a greater capacity to tell the story of the great things that God is doing here at CU to the broader community in West Michigan, Michigan and the Midwest, as well as the expansion of our opportunities to enhance internal communications with students, faculty and staff.”

Bob McNamara, general manager of DP Fox Sports, said he admires Sack’s integrity.

“[He is] a real honest guy,” he said. “If he gives his word, he follows through.”

McNamara also added that Sack’s “work ethic was second to none.”

“[He was] a guy who was well organized and prepared, efficient, very professional in how he conducted himself and his employees,” he said.

McNamara said Sack’s marketing style was creative and “I think he was very efficient in how he assessed the market place and how he formulated different approaches.”

But above all, McNamara said CU’s newest employee is top grade.

“It’s an excellent hire and he will do a tremendous job for the university,” he said.

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 year, CUSG was more centered on keeping students entertained; for example, they entertained students by making the new sand volleyball pit. This year, the focus is geared more toward helping to solve any confusion within the student body.

“Any question, problem or concern we will address and explain,” Steggs said.

CUSG wants students to realize that rules like curfew are established for a reason.

“We do not think that students are going to paint the town red,” Steggs said. “We just want to give them more opportunities to bond.”

In order to represent the new CUSG through their Web page, a lot of changing and updating needs to take place.

Lance Mokma and Luke Marsman, two of the new Vice Presidents for CUSG, are working on making revisions on the Web page.

“I, being a film major, work more on the media side of things, while Luke takes more of the business side of it,” Mokma said.

Mokma explained that this is not as easy as it sounds. There are many stipulations that keep them from updating the CUSG Web page on the Cornerstone Web site. In order to make changes, they have to get permission from “someone higher,” Mokma said.

Mokma and Marsman are having a hard time obtaining the permission to change the Web page. Mokma said the people in charge are very busy, so it is hard to get a hold of them.

Last year, student government started a Facebook page. Mokma and Marsman, both fond of the idea, decided that they would continue and update it this year.

“We are just giving it a new look,” Mokma said.

“CU is very centered around Facebook — it is a [nexus] for communication. That’s what CUSG is all about,” Steggs said.

Steggs said Facebook seemed like the answer for communication because people use it more than their school e-mails.

“You look around in a class and see Facebook pages up everywhere,” he said.

In the near future, the Facebook page will include updates and information on the projects CUSG is working on. Both Steggs and Mokma want the students to be aware that they are working for the good of the student body, and are not just up in Spiritual Formation “hanging out.”

“Facebook will be like the mouth of CUSG,” Steggs said.

Mokma said the members of CUSG are also going to enhance the information flowing from the Facebook page by adding videos.

The videos will introduce who the members are, will explain what they do for CUSG and will explain how their roles affect the student body. Mokma also plans on making more video of all of them together and posting them on the site.

Mokma also is hoping to start a CUSG YouTube account or use Steggs as a second source for video postings. They will use the YouTube account for the same videos on the Facebook page and others they make in the future.

Freshmen Jesse Padgett thinks the CUSG Facebook “is a quick and easy way to get information, and it helps people to be informed.”

Padgett also believes that Facebook is a more effective method than a Web page directly out of the Cornerstone’s site.

“I think that people will come across it more when adding a friend,” he said, “They will see that CUSG has made and update and go to their page. Perhaps CUSG could put a link on their Facebook page to their other site to direct attention to it, too.”

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,” said Marty Marra, assistant professor of kinesiology at CU and a close friend of Meyers, in a statement. “His dear wife, family and friends all feel the void of losing one so precious but we know the hope that we have through Jesus Christ our Lord. No more tears, no more pain, no more crying … just praising our Lord forever and ever.”

Meyers, an associate professor of science, faithfully served Cornerstone during his 30 years at the institution. He taught Foundations of Scientific Inquiry, Anatomy and Physiology I and II and Origins. At the time of his death, Meyers was serving as the division chair of the Kinesiology, Science and Mathematics Division.

In February 2007, after several months investigating the cause of his intense abdominal pain, Meyers was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On Feb. 6, 2007, Meyers underwent a Whipple Procedure to remove part of the cancer. A three-week hospital stay and several months of at-home recovery followed the procedure. Although he underwent chemotherapy treatment, Meyers was never pronounced cancer-free.

Despite his condition, Meyers continued to teach. During the 2007-2008 academic year, Meyers carried a full-load of teaching. His load lessened the following year, but the classroom continued to draw him in until the end of the 2009 spring semester.

“The Lord has led me through quite an incredible experience recently,” he wrote on his Cornerstone profile. “Through it all I can say that ‘God is good.’”

His health continued to decline during the summer and, according to a post made by his wife on his Carepage Web site, he was admitted to the hospital on Aug. 18. On Sept. 30, Meyers was sent home and, under the care of Hospice and his wife, remained there until his death. Meyers became unresponsive on Oct. 17, and, as his family said in a statement, went “home to be with Jesus, his Lord” the following evening.

“He is finally at peace,” the family’s statement said.

Meyers is survived by his wife of 38 years, Karen Borger Meyers; his daughter, Kalena Meyers; his son and daughter-in-law, Jeremy and Melissa Meyers; their sons, Jayce and Grayson; his daughter and son-in-law, Lauren and Jonathan Vermilye; and his sisters, Diane Schreiber and Betty Denis.

There will be a visitation today at Metcalf & Jonkoff Funeral Home, 4291 Cascade Road SE, Grand Rapids. The family will be present from 1-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. at Berean Baptist Church, 1574 Coit Ave. NE, Grand Rapids.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested contributions be made to CU’s Ronald Meyers Scholarship Fund. To make a contribution, send a check to CU’s Advancement Office (mention the scholarship in the memo line) or visit http://app.etapestry.com/hosted/CornerstoneUniversity_2/CornerstoneDonation.html, choose the “Where Needed Most” fund and write “Meyers Scholarship Fund” in the comment section at the bottom of the form.

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 to face off.

The freshmen were split into two teams, A and B, and took the field. Freshman B team scored the first touchdown with an amazing, nearly full-field sprint to the end zone. The team stayed strong and, after the sophomores eliminated the juniors and then the seniors, ended up beating them and winning Mudbowl.

Gerald Longjohn, director of ministry development, and Jim VanStensel, the resident director of West Side, emceed the event and kept up a lively play-by-play. The witty comments and comebacks thrown back and forth between them mirrored the ball’s exchange between hands on the field.

“Nice catch by pink shirt…and blocked by Ashton the Girl.”

“Those girls are really representing tonight.”

The excitement and hilarity of the emcees helped fuel the crowd’s passion for the game.

Among the spectators were students of all grades, members of the Board of Trustees and the President of CU himself.

“Mudbowl is the loftiest tradition at Cornerstone University,” President Joe Stowell said. “There is nothing that eclipses it – not Commencement, not chapel, not exams. It is the premier event when we get down and dirty for Jesus.”

So many of the players were excited before the game. The response to “Why did you come to Mudbowl?” was overwhelming. Sarah Parsons, a freshman, said, “Our youth group has done Mudfest in the past” (she had the shirt from 2006 to prove it) “so I was pretty excited to hear about this!”

Sarah’s friend, Meghan Walicki, also a freshman, said “Mud is the best consistency of fun ever!”

Beniah Dickson, a sophomore, said “I must be crazy; it’s cold, raining, I’ll get sick and I won’t even be able to catch the mud-covered football.”

Ariel Fryling, also a sophomore, followed with, “Rainy, muddy, funny: what more could we ask for? I probably won’t even touch the ball; I’m just doing it for the mud.”

Many students voiced the opinion that Mudbowl was great for building community. Joe Steggs, CU’s student body president, said “It’s a community builder at its nitty-grittiest. It’s the only time of year at CU that you can rub your friend’s face in the mud then walk away hugging him an hour later.”

Freshman Taylor Deshaw said, “Seemed like a great way to get involved in the community.”

Costumed players dotted the field throughout the game. Some of the girls wore dresses that, according to the emcee, were a part of the original cast of Little Women.

When asked what he was dressed up as, sophomore Seth Matthews said, “I am the Scottish Fury. I’m here to do my duty for the Spirits of Mud and to bask in their grimy glory.”

Longjohn, when commenting on the costumes, said, “The costumes were hilarious. Jared Doty continued his trend of sporting the scariest costume on the field.”

This year’s rap contest was won by Cassie Gosnik, who composed an original rap about Mudbowl. Her creativity entertained the crowd as well as won her a well-deserved prize.

A group of seniors watched the event from a homemade hot tub. The back of a small pickup truck was lined with a huge tarpaulin and filled with hot water. The boys enjoyed themselves and their accomplishment immensely. The amount of water in that truck bed was probably not enough to clean up even one of the players when they were done romping on the field.

Jay Kadlec, a sophomore this year, summed up Mudbowl in a few simple words. “It’s dirty, but in a good way.”

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 of Cornerstone’s core program, but with the creation of “Issues in Hermeneutics,” a course which covers many of the same topics, the division realized the need to make some changes.

The two factors that decided the fate of Biblical Criticism were resources and efficiency. The BRM Division was concerned that their resources of time and personnel were not best serving the student population.

BRM Division Chair Dwayne Adams said their goal was to “streamline,” which they hoped would improve their synergy as a division.

Adams said they knew they “needed to prioritize our limited resources in terms of faculty, and must make sure the courses we offer are really a bang for the buck.”

The need for change was presented by the BRM division, put forth by Adams, but was agreed on by the whole division. This was a decision made at the division level, not at the university council level.

Adams, like Smith, said the changes in the BRM Division take place in order to keep improving the program for students.

Adams said he realized the frustration students would probably feel when they found themselves virtually repeating a course.

Adams and the rest of the division value students and the investment students make in attending this university. Their goal is to give them the best return for their money. If a student repeated a course, or took another course which they felt was repeating the same information, Adams knew most students would not be satisfied.

Since the course will not appear in the 2010-2011 academic catalog, students who would have needed the course will be offered a substitute.

Adams and the BRM Division also looked to the well-being of their own team. Some professors, like Smith, taught more than the traditional class load this semester.

While it has always been important to serve the students and make sure they had what was necessary to succeed, it was decided that discontinuing the course would alleviate the class load.

Smith taught Biblical Criticism but is now teaching Issues in Hermeneutics (REL 245), as well as a course entitled “Septuagint Studies.”

Septuagint Studies will give Greek minors a hands-on experience translating the Greek Old Testament. Adams said the logic of the Bible, Religion and Ministry Division followed the thought of “Why waste a whole semester when you could be cultivating your Greek?”

Issues in Hermeneutics presents a more in-depth study of Biblical Analysis tools, exposing students to much of the same information as Biblical Criticism and should not to be confused with the general education required Hermeneutics course.

Biblical Criticism was an option for BRM majors, while the new course, Issues in Hermeneutics, is required. Removing the Biblical Criticism course not only allows students to take the new course, but students can also take a different course, perhaps one more helpful towards their career goal, to fulfill the requirement.

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 Cornerstone University since 1979. While doing so, he gained the respect of all of his colleagues and became a mentor to faculty and students alike.

In fact, Jim Fryling, professor of chemistry, was beyond words.

“There’s a lot I could say about Ron Meyers, but the words would be insufficient to express how much he meant to the Cornerstone community,” Fryling said. “Ron was first and foremost a humble servant of Christ … His love for his Lord overflowed into the lives of his students and coworkers.”

Fryling said Meyers was an excellent example of the godly love displayed in 1 Corinthians 13. Through this he taught Fryling the most valuable lesson of his teaching career.

“I always knew it was important to care about and care for my students. Ron showed me that caring isn’t enough. He showed how to love them. For that, I will be forever in his debt,” he said.

Raymond Gates, associate professor of biology and Meyers’ colleague for many years, will remember Meyer’s commitment to science and God’s word.

“Ron’s legacy will be his faithfulness to the infallible word of God’s book of Genesis,” Gates said.

Julie Sanford, assistant professor of science, also reflected on his legacy. She said the things she will remember most about Meyers is he was brilliant and respectful, and he loved life, teaching and his church.

“I cannot imagine living with all the suffering he experienced and yet, he wanted to live,” Sanford said. “He never wanted to give up on life. He maintained the hope of living.”

In addition to loving life, Sanford said he loved teaching as well. Because of his passion, he never cleaned out his office, for he never gave up the hope to one day return to the classroom again.

Before Sanford ever taught at Cornerstone, she knew Meyers and his wife, Karen, when she was a child as she attended the same church as them, Berean Baptist. She said he will be greatly missed at his church also.

Marty Marra, assistant professor of kinesiology, team taught Anatomy and Physiology since she arrived at Cornerstone in the fall of 2005.

From the time she arrived, Marra said Meyers was her mentor.

“Ron taught me everything I needed to know about PowerPoint, grading the collegiate culture and Odyssey, as well as trusting in the faithfulness of the Lord in times of trouble,” she said.

Students will also miss him and his presence in the classroom.

Junior Kelly Ambrose said, “Professor Meyers had an excellent balance of faith and reason. His faith was evident to his students. He was dedicated to his teaching and to the Lord.”

She also added, “His attitude throughout his illness was an inspiration to me, especially when I was diagnosed with cancer last year. It was a joy to pray for him in my classes when he was sick and to know that CU was covering me with prayer the way they had for him.”

Joe Stowell, president of Cornerstone, also recognized all Meyers represented at CU.

“Ron was an unusually gifted teacher and mentor, and he set the bar high for the kind of faculty member we love to have here at CU,” he said.

Outside of teaching, Marra said, “Ron was a godly man who knew his Savior personally and shared his faith with everyone he met. Ron loved his God, his family and his job, and he served all faithfully.”

After Meyers became ill, Marra said she would often visit him and his wife during his hospital stay.

“Both Karen and Ron amazed me with their unwavering faith and hope in a God that was bigger than any disease,” she said.

While Meyers will be greatly missed at Cornerstone, Stowell said, “Our loss is not to be compared with the grief that his wife, Karen, their children and loved ones are experiencing. He will be most deeply missed, and we want to assure his family of our love and prayers through the days and weeks ahead.”

In a recent CUBE posting and an update to Meyers’ Carepage, Meyers’ wife, Karen, expressed her grief and marveled at God’s faithfulness.

“I can testify that God’s grace is sufficient and His strength IS perfect in our weakness,” she wrote. “He has been faithful in meeting my emotional needs.”

She added, “My family and friends have also been so supportive. I haven’t had much time alone as they are always checking on me and inviting me to join them for coffee, lunch, supper, walks and phoning me … The college has been so supportive through all of the months of his illness and continue on with me as well. I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love in so many different ways.”

His former colleagues, friends and family also rejoice that he is now with his Lord and Savior.

“My heart rejoices in the fact that Ron is with the Lord experiencing the promise of eternal life,” Marra said. “His dear wife and family and friends all feel the void of losing one so precious, but we know the hope that we have through Jesus Christ our Lord. No more tears, no more pain, no more crying … just praising our Lord forever and ever.”

Sanford reiterated Marra’s sentiments in the one thing she knows about Meyers above all else, “Ron is with Jesus now—pain free.”

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 active role to play,” he said.

The 13th annual Grand Awards were held on Oct. 4, at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center.

During the award show, a friend played a trick on Jerusich after he received his award. The trick made the audience roar with laughter.

“When I got my award, and I was about to give my speech, Adam Miller, a senior at CU, interrupted my speech by pretending to be Kanye West, and said ‘Taylor Swift did one of the best acceptance speeches of all time,’” Juresich said.

Kanye West, a hip hop artist, recently pulled the same stunt on Taylor Swift, a country music singer, at the 2009 MTV VIdeo Music Awards. Swift was accepting an award for the best female video when West grabbed the microphone to tell the audience that Beyonce Knowles, a R&B singer, had a better music video.

This is the first year Juresich has been nominated as the main actor by the grand awards’ committee of judges. Jennifer Hunter, associate professor of theatre, is proud of her students and can’t wait to see what is to come in the future.

“The Grand Awards is an outside constituent that recognizes our strive for excellence in theatre here at CU,” Hunter said. “When we get nominations and win awards, it’s a second pat on the back for work that we are very proud of.”

Juresich described the Grand Awards as the Tony Awards of Grand Rapids. All of the theaters in the area compete with each other for the Grand Awards. Community theaters are in one category and colleges are in another.

Cornerstone’s theater program was also nominated for most outstanding lead actress, outstanding production and best director for a college musical.

Hunter shared her favorite memory from that evening. “I enjoyed seeing all the CU students dressed to the nines, sitting together and supporting the theatre program.”

This year’s upcoming theatre season includes: A Shakespeare comedy, Anne of Green Gables and a Sondheim musical, a new first for CU theater.

Juresich is back on CU’s stage in Shakespeare’s “A Mid Summer Nights Dream,” where he will play the character Ly Sander. Opening night is Nov. 13.

Juresich said he is excited to be a part of a William Shakespeare play again.

“My favorite character I have ever played would be ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged,’” Juresich said. “I got to play 12 characters, a lot of girl characters, which was fun. It was my first show my freshmen year at CU.”

“I have been doing acting my whole life,” Juresich said. “A Mid Summer Nights Dream is my 26th show I have ever done and my 5th show at CU.”

After receiving his award, Juresich still finds it hard to believe that he won it.

“It’ll look great on my resume, too,” Juresich said.

Juresich looks forward to the future as an actor and hopes to be a part of the Grand Awards again.

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 a plan of action for enrollment.

“We made a lot of different decisions last year to strategically think about new initiatives,” Link said. “Looking at scholarships, are we offering the right scholarships, are we offering the right amounts in the scholarship and really just trying to figure out if the scholarships and the programs for scholarships were comparable to other schools.”

Link said also that admissions’ counselors are traveling more and CU campus visits have increased.

“I think we have a better streamline process with campus visits, so I think that was a huge factor,” Link said. “Our visit program has grown a lot in the last two years.”

CU is also building relationships in the community by talking with pastors and guidance counselors, Link said.

After a four year decline in student population, this is the first year the undergraduate program has seen positive results.

In 2005, CU had its largest undergraduate population with 1,384 students, but the next four years resulted in an 18 percent decline, according to Registar Gail Duhon.

For Fall 2009, undergraduate students numbered 1,180 with 423 new students and 757 readmitted and returning students.

Link said she is uncertain about why enrollment took a dive, but suggests that the economy might have played a part.

“I think there’s a chance that the economy was really starting to affect us then,” Link said. “Knowing that in order to help the university sustain itself, you have to have a certain amount of tuition……with the economy kind of take a downward turn then, but yet tuition continues to increase, I think that could be one of the factors.”

The economy also was linked to changes in CU undergraduate’s retention rate this year.

“Our five-year average freshman to sophomore retention rate is 69.08 percent,” wrote Kay Landrum, director of student retention, in a prepared statement. “We had worked to increase this to slightly over 70 percent return rate for the Fall ‘08 student group, but felt the current economy affected our return rate for this fall.”

Landrum also said “exit surveys of freshmen indicated finances as the primary factor [for leaving CU].”

The director of student retention said other important factors include “academic preparedness” for a college course load “as well as a positive experience and excellent education once students arrive.”

Although the numbers were low, Link said positive changes have occurred as a result.

“We’ve had new majors get created. We have new marketing that we are sending out to students, Link said. “We are going to have a new Web site that will attract families, so maybe some of the things that we didn’t have then, we have now which will only help to keep us going higher.”

Unlike the undergraduate program, PGS and GRTS’s new student population has increased continually during the past five years.

The unstable economy has actually brought many new students to PGS, said Sandra Upton, dean of business programs.

“You have so many business leaders who are, because of the crisis, trying to reinvent themselves because they don’t know what’s going to happen or something has happened,” Upton said. “They’ve lost jobs or they’re not sure what might happen so they are attempting to be proactive in furthering their education so that they can be in a better position for new opportunities.”

The addition of the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program (TESOL), masters in business administration and the associates of science in human services programs at PGS have attracted more students, said Keith DeBoer, PGS director of student services.

Laurie Wittbrodt, PGS director of enrollment, said there has been growth within the associates of science in business studies program, and Rob Simpson, associate provost, mentioned the new PGS location in Lansing, Mich.

Although PGS is increasing in West Michigan, DeBoer said it’s decreasing on the other side of the state.

“The other side of it is, in Detroit, we’ve decreased over the last four years from approximately 300 to right around 50,” DeBoer said

But Simpson pointed out that the decrease was intentional “to take resources and put them back into this region.”

“A part of the reason is this is the market that people recognize the Cornerstone name in,” Simpson said. “They know who Cornerstone is in this market. [In] Detroit, we were one of 28 competitors and that’s how they looked at it and so here, [in West Michigan], we are one of the handful of schools and a very recognized name in this market.”

At GRTS, President Douglas Fagerstrom said 425 students are projected for next fall.

In 2005, GRTS had 223 students and, through the past five years, has increased 44.7 percent.

Fagerstrom said many factors have led to increased enrollment at GRTS including the efforts of the admissions team.

“The first thing is quality faculty and a high standard of academics with a reputation for academic excellence,” Fagerstrom said. “[In addition,] a stellar [and] outstanding admissions team working closely with our Academic Dean John VerBerkmoes. Tara Kram has been creative, she’s been flexible, and she has led her team to the three all-time high enrollments over the last three semesters.”

Tara Kram is the director of GRTS admissions.

Fagerstrom also said the urban cohorts, the development in online programs and the offering of evening classes have contributed as well.

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 since been released on bond and ordered to avoid contact with anyone 17 or younger, The Grand Rapids Press reported in its Nov. 1 edition. Initially suspended from Cornerstone University, Birman later chose to withdraw from the university.

Also according to the Grand Rapids daily newspaper, Birman, who faces one count of first-degree CSC, three second-degree CSC counts and one misdemeanor count of fourth degree CSC, could be sentenced up to life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge. Birman is also slated for a probable cause hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 25. He was reported to have no prior criminal record.

Meanwhile, Gerald Longjohn, CU’s dean of community life, said Cornerstone continues to show the love of Christ by praying for both the former student and the reported victims in this case.

“Thankfully, as followers of Christ we can call upon our heavenly Father on behalf a friend, so we have been encouraging students to be praying,” Longjohn said. “[In addition] we’ve been encouraging students not only to be praying for Shawn, [but] to be praying for the other families involved in this situation and to be praying that in the midst of a very difficult and really, very dark days, that because of the situation, God’s light will be revealed. This is why the Gospel is so critical to us. This is why, thankfully, we have our hope in Christ.”

Longjohn said that even in the midst of this situation, God is still in charge.

“Our concern is always for what God is doing in the lives of students and that even in the midst of a difficult process that our staff has done all that we possibly can to reach out to Shawn to assure him that God’s work in his life isn’t finished,” Longjohn said.

Dwayne Adams, division chair of Cornerstone’s Bible, Religion and Ministry Division, said that this is the perfect time to model the grace of God.

“This is what gives us an opportunity, I think, to show the world that, if indeed he is guilty, that we also view this as wrong, and we ask for God’s healing of the victims,” Adams said. “It pains us that sin always harms people, but that doesn’t surprise us. We know that from the biblical narrative that sin harms, but what we want to do as a Christian community, we will be there with you through the process of your journey of restoration; I think that is where we can model the grace of God through Jesus Christ.”

Longjohn also said, “There is an appropriate place for us to be really angry at the enemy, the enemy being Satan, at the destruction he causes. There is an appropriate place for us to be heart-broken and to be angry. Not at the individual people … but Jesus says that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy and it’s heartbreaking to see that happen.”

Longjohn also mentioned Psalms 1 and how a love of God’s word is crucial to a person’s life.

“It makes me really want to cling to that, not because I am better than someone else, but it’s just a powerful warning about how devious the enemy is,” he said.

Longjohn said that Birman, during his years at the university, was involved with the music program and also a singer on the worship arts team during chapels.

In addition to his work at CU, Birman was director of music ministries at Voice of Hope Church in Wayland, Mich., and was a youth counselor for the Life Line Program at Brightside Church in Caledonia, Mich., it was also reported in The Grand Rapids Press.

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 live with a host family which consists of a señora, her housekeeper and my roommate, Katie Wiggins. The food here is very Mediterranean—olive oil, fruits, vegetables, bread, veal, fish, etc. My favorite food besides café con leche is paella con pollo (rice dish with chicken, vegetables, and saffron).

“My favorite food the cheesecake ice cream, but, meal-wise, my favorite is guiso de patatas,” Wiggins said. “It’s a common Spanish dish that somewhat resembles vegetable stew with an olive oil base. The food is usually very good; it just took some time to get used to the strange eating schedule: breakfast at 7, lunch at 3 and dinner at 10 p.m.!”

My favorite part of being here is that I live and breathe Spanish! It is actually a chore to write in English because I am surrounded by Spanish all day. At times, it is overwhelming how much I don’t know even after studying Spanish for over six years. My señora is always supportive and reminds me there are things in the Spanish language that even she doesn’t know…and she’s spoken Spanish all her life!

All my courses are taught entirely in Spanish by native Spanish professors. My advanced grammar and communication class is excellent because we study the small aspects of the language that make a significant difference in effective communication. My art history class is interesting because I am able to learn a lot about culture and history of Spain while learning about a concept that is unfamiliar to me—art. The literature class is taught from a Spaniard’s point of view in Spain rather than Latin America. New perspectives are always great!

I go to a convent with orphans on Thursdays and help with homework—it is a great way to use my Spanish in a very authentic situation.

“A guiri, is someone wearing shorts and a T-shirt, camera around his/her neck, and walking around the streets of Seville, map in hand, at 4pm in the afternoon,” Professor Salva, my literature professor, said.

I hope that I am becoming less of a guiri every day! It is very true that Spaniards are never out at 4 p.m. in the afternoon because that is when the beloved siesta takes place. This is definitely something we need to implement in the United States. I try to pass as a Spaniard sometimes by dressing more formally and not smiling at someone on the street unless I know the person. The mentality here is, why waste energy on saying hi to everyone? This sounds really rude to Americans who are accustomed to making eye contact and acknowledging the person, but it makes sense because this is a large city and we can’t smile at everybody!

Thus far, this semester has been better than I could have imagined. Granted, there are times I miss my friends and family in the States, but how can I have that mentality for too long when I have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

¡Hasta Luego!

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 off the water to better locations. The recession has hit the gambling businesses as it has many others. A Michigan casino is cutting into Lake County riverboat revenue.

The study committee will be tugged in several directions in making recommendations to the General Assembly.

Tax breaks should be out of order. Most other businesses are suffering from the recession.

Yes, casinos are taxed more than other businesses, but the operators knew that from the start. The higher taxes reflect the toxic nature of the industry. Addictions lead to more crime and a breakdown of families.

Here’s just one of many examples of that fact: Indianapolis’ Penrod Society has sued former treasurer Brandon Benker to recover about $382,000 that he is accused of stealing. The theft, allegedly driven by Benker’s gambling addiction, nearly drove the Society to bankruptcy.

Offer more legal gambling and look for more Penrod-style thefts.

Yet, state leaders are reluctant to let gambling enterprises go into bankruptcy because government has its own addiction — to the tax money generated by casinos. It’s hard to tell, however, how much the industry is really hurting, or whether business will pick up once the economy recovers.

The plea for tax relief takes different forms. The racinos in Shelbyville and Anderson want to pay a lower rate to the state, or receive a rebate on some of the $250 million license fee they paid to set up casino-style gambling at the tracks.

But why not extend favorable tax treatment to other industries hurt by the recession but that also offer a better return on quality of life? Why not favor life science companies or book publishers?

Other special interests are pushing for even further expansions of gambling, including the move of a Lake County riverboat to a busy spot along an interstate. A Fort Wayne casino also remains a possibility.

Such moves would trigger a chess game: Other casino operators would want something as well, as they fight for larger slices of a pie that won’t get much bigger.

The study committee has a broad mandate. But the one area that should draw its focus is how to wean the state from its addiction to gambling revenue.

Casinos should not be considered too big to fail.

Russell B. Pulliam, journalist, book author, associate editor and columnist at The Indianapolis Star, is a syndicated columnist, whose columns focus on topics ranging from politics to social issues to family life. He may be contacted at: russell.pulliam@indystar.com

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 a perusal of classrooms will reveal plenty of students who are not crunching numbers with their accounting software but instead surfing Facebook or YouTube.

In other words, these laptops that hold such promise as teaching and communication tools also create a potential obstacle to learning.

Of course, as long as schools have existed, students have been devising ways to avoid paying attention in class. When I was in high school, a half-finished crossword puzzle was an essential part of my class notebook. It’s just that laptops have made the temptation to wander far from the confines of World Civilization even more alluring, especially on a wireless campus such as Cornerstone.

So are computers evil? Of course not. Like so many things in our world, however, the internet expresses both the goodness of human creativity and the corruption of the fall. I love being able to check the weather forecast on my Blackberry before a bike ride, or e-mail my son at college.

But sometimes technology can get in the way of having meaningful interaction with other people or with our world. Playing real tennis on an outdoor court under the hot summer sun is a lot more fulfilling than Wii Tennis. When Facebook keeps us from actually speaking to and touching other human beings, then technology has fallen from its good purpose of enhancing relationships to obstructing them.

So what does a wired, hi-tech Christian learning community do with our technology? For starters, hopefully we have some good face-to-face conversations about the impact technology makes on our lives and our learning. For example, next week Cornerstone professors are having a workshop in which they share their struggles—and productive solutions—surrounding the use of laptops in class. Some professors love to find challenging and creative ways to use computers. Others prefer to have students leave their laptops at home and use good old-fashioned pencils and paper. Both approaches can be valuable.

Furthermore, in our quest to combine learning and technological innovations, we should be wary of the notion of “multi-tasking.” Neurologists tell us that when we think we’re multi-tasking—doing e-mails while listening to a lecture, for example—what we’re really doing is task-switching. That is, our poor, RAM-limited brains are being forced to rapidly switch from writing an e-mail to catching a snippet of a professor’s lecture and back again. And each time, the brain has to back up and recreate the context of the situation. In the process, we hamper our ability to engage in deep, significant thought and conversations.

Recently, the Atlantic ran an article entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” They concluded that while we have become adept at multi-tasking, our constant web-surfing, channel-switching and texting has hampered our ability to focus and think deeply on a text or a topic. In the author’s memorable words, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”

As Christians, we are called to go below the surface and dive deep into ideas and relationships. Technology can be a great tool to get us out on the sea. But when technology gets in the way of real, tangible experience of God’s creation and other humans, we should have the fortitude to toss it aside and dive in head-first.

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 display of God’s creative energy!

Besides being the Creator of such an incredible diversity of life, God created immense diversity in the physical universe as well. Although astronomers have devised groupings of stars based on their temperatures and sizes and other characteristics, these estimated twenty thousand billion billion stars are unique. Astronomers have names, some dating from antiquity, for a only few hundred of these stars and catalog (numeric) designations for several million of them, but according to Psalm 147:4, God has names for each of them. Given the world population of nearly 7 billion people, this means that in the known universe there are about three trillion stars per man, woman and child.

As a space physicist, I am privileged to study the diversity of the planets around our closest star, the Sun. The inner “terrestrial planets” are relatively hot and rocky and the outer planets are mostly spheres of gas. Often these differences have fairly simple explanations. For example, the difference in the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets and the outer planets can be explained well by some basic physical principles dealing with how gas molecules move when pulled in by an object’s gravity while simultaneously darting about faster than a speeding bullet. However, other characteristics of these planets are still mysteries – e.g., why Earth and Venus (pretty much “twins” in so many other ways) have such dramatically different magnetic fields. It is good for us that we have a relatively strong magnetic field. Without it, life here would be unlikely. Venus, on the other hand, has no measurable magnetic field, which would make it a sad day for a homing pigeon, or for a Boy or Girl Scout trying to use a compass there.

Over the past 24 years, new methodologies and increasing precision in measuring the light coming from stars other than our Sun have enabled astronomers to infer the presence of over 350 extrasolar planets. In the early days of discovering these extrasolar planets, the media stories seemed to follow a predictable pattern: “New Planet Discovered Orbiting Star X! Maybe There Is Life Out There!” The headline seemed to indicate that life was all but inevitable, but every article ended with some rendition of the sad refrain: “Hile expert Y says that this discovery is interesting, this planet is either too hot, cold, large, small, dry, toxic, etc. for life to ever conceivably exist there.”

Each discovery of a new planet drives home the observation of how unique Earth is. Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez and philosopher Jay Richards beautifully present our uniqueness in their book, “The Privileged Planet.”

There is another exhibit hall in the Museum of Natural History – the Hall of Human Origins. Only one of the thousands of species in the Hall of Diversity gets its own hall. If there ever were a “Hall of Planetary Diversity,” all current evidence points to the existence of only one planet special enough to be home to beings in God’s image. Just as the study of other animals in biology helps us to see how special humans are, so the study of other solar system bodies helps us to see how special is our home, Earth.

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 night that changed my life.

As my friend and I drove down the road to Mel Trotter Campground, we were excited to see our friends. Little did I know that God would use this experience to shape me into the person that I am today. Pulling into the parking lot, we were greeted by a few friends and we made our way into the chapel. Tonight was the night that members of our church gave testimonies to the rest of the church family. Since it was mostly people older than me, and their stories seemed to drag on and on, my friends and I weren’t paying attention until one man talked into the microphone.

This man spoke about his past drug and alcohol abuse and growing up with no friends and parents who didn’t care. This caught my attention more than anything. This made me realize how fortunate I am to have the family, the friends, and less temptation than most. It made me feel guilty for taking it all for granted. It made me feel like all my life I had been gliding through without a care in the world.

The youth group met shortly after that and I found out that most of them had been having the same thoughts as I was having. We prayed right there as a group in the chapel chairs, but before long we were all sitting on the floor, hugging with tearstained cheeks and sobbing prayers to the God who loves us more than anything. What started as a short prayer of thanks had turned into a three-hour prayer of forgiveness and praise. I have never experienced anything like this before. The spirit of God was in this place and every one of us could feel it.

That night after we prayed, I took a walk and found a grassy hill away from everyone. As I lay down to look at the dark, star-filled sky that shimmered above me, I recommitted myself to my Lord and Savior. That night I realized I have not been living the life that I should. Being a Christian isn’t about sitting and watching the world; it’s about going into the world and making disciples of all the nations. I needed to spread the word of God instead of keeping it all to myself. That is what I have been doing and it feels great to be living a life for God and not for myself.

E-mail: alyssa_m_corwin@cornerstone.edu

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 the billionth time) what you are planning to do with your life.

And what do you see?

A big fat question mark.

You are not alone. Many freshman and transfer students alike are still undecided in their major, and some even remain undecided until well into their sophomore or junior years.

“I feel out of place here at college where everyone seems to have a goal, dream, drive that spurs them on as I am just complacently taking classes in attempts to catch onto something of that nature,” said Seth Mathews, a fellow undecided major.

Well, undecided majors, you are in luck, because here at Cornerstone we have an office specifically for you: Career Services.

Career Services is upstairs in the Corum, and is a place to get advising, take a personality or career assessment or simply express your frustrations and feelings about your intended career path and how that fits with a possible major. John Warren, the associate dean of career services and internships, is the person to contact when you are undecided.

Warren will sit down with you personally and talk about determining the right major for you. For career services, determining what you want to do is priority over what major you choose to study.

“We want to focus first on possible career paths you might be interested in, then look at majors that fit,” Warren said.

To help find what careers you might be interested in, career services first sits down to get to know you more and let you talk about your struggle. Sometimes the best way to figure out what you should do is to talk it out with someone.

“Ask people who know you,” Josh Andrews, a sophomore at CU, said.

After you talk through why you are undecided, Warren may take you through various career assessments or personality tests to help you narrow down a few specifics careers that might work best for you.

“We have an interest survey along with the Myer-Briggs that we offer,” Warren said.

Make sure, though, you don’t depend too heavily on a sixty question online test to determine what you will do after college.

“Most of the career tests are used more as a talking point,” Warren said.

Warren then discusses with you what two or three career paths appeal to you most and what your personality and skills might do best. You also talk about what other types of training might strengthen your chosen career and he helps set you up with a professor or adviser. But after that, it is your turn to choose from there.

“Ultimately, it’s your decision…once you’ve determined those careers, it is time to go out and explore it,” Warren said.

Other students have their own methods of choosing a major or career path.

“Get a list of all the majors offered at Cornerstone, and cross out the ones you don’t want to do,” Abby Meyer, a junior at Cornerstone, said.

Some choose a broad major before they know what they will do with it.

“I just chose bible because I always enjoyed teaching and it’s good to know about the word of God. I figure with Bible, you can’t go wrong,” said Jacob Revor, a senior at CU. “If you are discouraged that you don’t have a major, just know I have one, but I still don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Take or audit a class you might be interested in pursuing as a major. Visit Career Services and heed the professional advice they give. Ask your parents or the students around you what you would be good at. But above all, seek God and ask Him what he has called you to do.

I hope soon that you might turn that big fat question mark into an exclamation.