By Carolina Lumetta
5.7.20
On April 21, faculty passed a motion to give students the option of choosing Pass/No Credit (P/NC) for Spring 2020 classes. Students had until May 1 to apply the P/NC designation to their classes, which will appear on their final transcripts in place of a letter grade. The new grading option allows students to count coursework completed during the Spring 2020 semester toward graduation requirements without affecting overall GPA.
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By Carolina Lumetta
4.25.20
“The major part of the conservatory is personal communication and community,” said Chloe Liu, a junior music composition major from China. “Now that’s impossible. All the projects are gone and recitals are cancelled.”
The March 11 decision by college administration to continue the Spring 2020 semester remotely has caused all academic departments to redesign their courses for virtual learning. The Wheaton Conservatory of Music was also required to adapt to an online education in place of in-person musical training. To date, most classes have switched to online instruction, but ensembles, recitals and juries have been cancelled. The conservatory is deferring performance rescheduling decisions to the professors to be made on a case-by-case basis.
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4.24.20
Correction: a previous version of this article initially stated that the SG proposal applied to course work in the Spring 2021 semester. This was a typo and is now changed to reflect the correct year.
4.17.20
By Carolina Lumetta
4.10.20
Due to Wheaton’s campus closure, the current Student Government (SG) cabinet passed proposals to amend the constitution and allow for virtual campaigning and elections, and on April 9 the polls closed on this first all-online student election season. Candidates shared their campaign platforms on social media, and they recorded speeches which were sent to the student body through email and posted on SG’s YouTube channel. Student Body President Sarah Yoon and Vice President Nat Lewis also moderated candidate interviews in place of in-person Q&A sessions. Students cast their ballots via email forms, a normal aspect of the voting process that remained unchanged from previous years on campus.
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By Tennyson Bush
After a temporary judicial ruling preventing the city of Chicago from limiting free speech in Millennium Park, Wheaton’s Chicago Evangelism Team (CET) returned to the park on Friday, Feb. 21. Judge John Robert Blakey ruled in a 32-page opinion memorandum that “the City’s restrictions prohibit reasonable forms of expression in large areas of the Park.”
A status hearing is scheduled for March 4 to discuss how the case will proceed. Though the students have won the right to return to Millennium Park to preach, the case is not yet over, and Judge Blakey’s decision to prohibit Chicago from enforcing speech restrictions will only last until a final judgement is made at the conclusion of the case.
Continue readingBy Tennyson Bush and Carolina Lumetta
2.28.2020
On Feb. 19, Senior Class Co-President Joshua Franker posted a laminated notice on the forum wall in Lower Beamer stating that all anonymous posts would be taken down at the end of the day. In response, senior Leo O’Malley began collecting signatures to hold a referendum on all 2019-2020 Student Government (SG) proposals. After a day of encouraging students to join his cause in Lower Beamer and other areas of Wheaton’s campus on Thursday, O’Malley says that he now has 103 “signatures and commitments to sign.”
Franker’s notice, which was not an official SG initiative, encouraged students to take ownership of what they post on the wall. “Look to write what is edifying,” the notice said. “Please put your name and date on your posts (Posts without names are welcome but will be taken down at the end of the day).” Franker enforced this rule for three days following the post. “Any student could have done what I did. Any student can post on the forum wall or take stuff down,” he said.
The rules laid out in the notice mirror the ones suggested in a Nov. 9 SG proposal called “Standardization of the Forum Wall” in which Franker called for “continued conversations with the administration” about the forum wall.
Continue readingBy Melissa Schill
2.28.2020
After being hired in January, three academic advisers are preparing to begin their work with students as part of Wheaton’s new Academic Advising Office (AAO) during the second half of the spring semester.
Mandie Porick, Candyce Cabral and James Kim will be providing advising support specifically designed for first-year and transfer students, in addition to what these students receive from their major-specific faculty advisor. The new team will also serve students who may need increased support, such as first-generation students, students with academic accommodations, athletes and international students.
Continue readingBy Micah McIntyre
2.14.2020
After being disbanded at the beginning of the 2018-19 academic year, Wheaton’s group for students who identify as LGBTQ was re-approved by the administration in January and moved from the Chaplain’s Office to Student Wellness.
The new agreement between Refuge student leaders and the administration allows for Refuge to operate independently from other groups in the Chaplain’s Office that focus on sexual sanctity. The decision to reinstate Refuge comes in response to student reservations about replacing Refuge with curriculum-based groups such as In Terra Pax and Refuge Discipleship Small Groups (DSG).
Continue readingBy Melissa Schill
2.14.2020
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, Wheaton College and Elmhurst College signed an agreement giving liberal arts nursing majors the opportunity to receive their bachelor’s degree from Wheaton in three years, then go on to get their master’s degree in nursing from Elmhurst in two years.
“I am delighted that we are able to partner with Elmhurst College,” Provost Margaret Diddams said. “In this way, students receive Wheaton’s excellent liberal arts education and are able to complete their professional training with the top notch nursing faculty at Elmhurst and state of the art facilities at Edward-Elmhurst Hospital.”
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