Last semester, GVSU administrators surveyed students to ask what the university should aspire to be. In considering qualities and defining missions, I never thought certain fundamental functions — such as champion of free speech or free thought...

The “Goldilocks Zone” for Liberal EducationA couple years ago, a good friend of mine studied abroad in Crossmaglen, Ireland. When he came back, he told me a story that, every so often, still traipses forward from the outer fringes of my memory....

At the university, classic literature—alongside other fine arts—is often placed on a pedestal, canonized on a red velvet pillow, shrouded in bulletproof glass. And, maybe, there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, these works have ...

Recently, we’ve been barraged with the message to buy local, to support shops in our towns and to avoid the big, evil corporations.Others say it’s too expensive to buy local, that Walmart is affordable. However, that isn’t the whole picture. It’s...

Amazon and The Publishing Gods have been fighting a lot lately. All of their bookish children have been hearing their harsh words through the walls and are choosing which parent they’ll live with if the couple splits up, and it’s been A Whole Thing....

During the last month, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend 10 days in Israel with a group of 40 other Jewish college students from Michigan.While I was there, I climbed mountains, swam in the Dead Sea, rode a camel and saw the holiest Jewish sites...

For many students, the coming of summer means relaxation, vacationing and traveling. While others are stuck taking summer classes or booked with an internship or another job, a short day trip or fun activity can be planned. Though everyone wants to...

It’s that time of year again, when the Grand Valley State University population leaves campus for the summer. It becomes a deserted “no-man’s-land,” with very few students left. For those of you who do stick around to take spring/summer classes,...

I get it: finals week is every college student’s hell. It’s a time of massive stress, pressure and nervousness all packed into one little week of end-of-the-year papers and exams. However, what I don’t understand is student’s frequent use of...

The time has almost come. Students, faculty and staff, about one more week and you’ve made it through another (perhaps your last) academic year. Congratulations! We just want to give you a little advice before you start your summer — sort of...

Many of us are members of the millennial generation. As such, we’re accused of many crimes, egocentrism being one of them. The “me me me” generation, they call us.We’re at the center or our own worlds, independent solar systems revolving around...

I stopped by Gradfest earlier and stood there perusing the sign outside the room for a minute or two before someone just inside the door ushered me in and had me sit down at a computer to take a survey (half of the questions on it didn’t even apply...