Enviromental Clubs Celebrate Spring; Kick Off Campaigns

Samuel Kessler
Staff Writer

Goucher College’s Earth Day and Earth Night celebrations were held Saturday, April 20. Students organized the celebrations. They were intended to raise awareness and fundraise for environmental clubs and their current campaigns.

Leila Hanna-Kohen ‘15 runs GEAR’s interactive paint balloon popping piece. (Photo: Romy Ackerberg)

Earth Day took place on the residential quad. Six clubs—Imagine More, the Agriculture Co-Op, GEAR, Goucher Outdoor Society, Yearbook Club, and Bollywood Club; two special interest houses—Peace House and Green House; and one outside vendor—a scarf-maker, attended and tabled the sparsely attended, but lively event. While the celebration was scheduled from one to five p.m., the festivities only began in earnest around two p.m.

Crossroads Task Force Addresses New Programs and Course Loads

Samuel Kessler
Staff Writer

The Crossroads task force offered presentations about a varied set of academic issues to the Board of Trustees in January. Though certain suggestions are already being introduced into the Goucher College’s working system, the task force, in conjunction with the Academic Strategic Planning committee, recommended large changes as well. These recommendations included creating a global liberal arts degree and making changes to course schedule format for students and professors, while continuing to value increasing academic mentorship and apprenticeship.

Crossroads Task Force Propose Future Plans for Goucher

Samuel Kessler
Staff Writer

President Sanford Ungar sent an email to the staff and faculty detailing the creation of a taskforce called Crossroads on January 4. In his email, Ungar describes Crossroads as “the second iteration” of Crossroads, a task force created in September 2011 by the suggestion of the Strategic Planning Group. Crossroads is formed from a mixture of trustees, faculty, staff, and ex officio members (who are members due to having another important role on campus), with some of the members returning from Crossroads. Returning members include President Ungar, Associate Professor of Education and Faculty Chair La Jerne Cornish ’83, Professor of Psychology Rick Pringle, now Chair of the Board Norma Lynn Fox ’76, and Chair Pierce Dunn. Meetings of Crossroads+ began in January.

Huntsman Discusses American Politics, Election as President’s Forum Speaker

Samuel Kessler
Staff Writer

Former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman spoke in the Hyman Forum on Monday, November 19. The name of his speech was, “Election 2012 and the Challenges Facing America Today;” however, the former Utah governor strayed from the prompt and simply summarized it, saying, “The Republicans lost.” Huntsman then went on to analyze the current political landscape. Noting the landmark polarization of the past election cycles, he was optimistic about the country’s ability to reconnect politically. Said the former ambassador; this process ought to be the primary concern for the nation, its citizens, and most importantly, its students.

Republican presidential candidate, former governor of Utah and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman spoke about the future of the United States’ political landscape in the college’s Hyman Forum on November 19. [Photo: Rachel Brustein.)

According to Goucher President Sanford Ungar, the college scheduled Jon Huntsman—who was elected twice to the state office, but resigned to become ambassador to China, a position he then resigned in order to run for U.S. President– using an alumni grant which contributes to the scheduling of yearly prominent conservative speakers in the President’s Forum speaker series. This grant contributed to the payment of past conservative speakers such as Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove. The fund is used to create political diversity in the speaking schedule.