Calvin University Chimes

Student bloggers chronicle their unique perspectives on Calvin

Michael Lentz
March 10, 2017

Five Calvin student bloggers and one vlogger regularly document their Calvin experiences online: Dana Drosdick, Temi Ogunnoiki, Kurt Delos Trino, Jay De Man, Purun Yeo and Dario Lirio. Each blogger has...

Changes to Passport structure aim to bring students to campus sooner

Michael Lentz
March 3, 2017

“There's no perfect way to do orientation” said John Witte, dean of students. “We’re always assessing how orientation is going. I’ve been in conversations in other years where we have asked,...

Just citizenship panel discusses blindspots in nationalism

Michael Lentz
February 24, 2017

"No movement or ideology captures the attention of millions without, on some level, pointing to something genuinely good." This is why we must contend with nationalism, according to Professor Michael Watson,...

Calvin’s drug and alcohol use comparable to national average

Michael Lentz
February 10, 2017

This past interim, nearly forty Calvin students took a class entitled, "The Complex World of Drugs." The class, which was offered as both a DCM and a non-DCM, included a diverse mix of lower and upper-level...

Regathering offers students transition to new semester

Michael Lentz
February 3, 2017

Each year, at the precipice of the second semester, campus ministries hosts ReGathering — a time for students to come together in reunion with the Calvin community. It is a time, specifically, for students...

Kill-a-watt kickoff

Michael Lentz
January 13, 2017

This past Monday night the dorm sustainability coordinators, in partnership with Residence Life, hosted a Kill-a-watt kickoff event in the Covenant Fine Arts Center. The event began with a video narrated...

In the wake of this election, God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves

Michael Lentz
November 11, 2016

The greatest commandment is: love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And the second greatest is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. Of all the commandments, these are...

Post Family Farms excites again

Michael Lentz
November 4, 2016

Fall at Calvin has long been commemorated by a nightly celebration of doughnuts, cider, hayrides, a corn maze, goats and cows to pet, s'mores and line dancing at Post Family Farms. This year was no different....

Diving into the new model of “Unlearn”

Michael Lentz
October 22, 2016

Some Calvin students may realize that this year, due to a thoughtful and necessary shift, the familiar "Unlearn Week" has been renamed "Unlearn 365." This is a programming shift and a focus shift – instead...

On Calvin’s campus sharing is (car)ing

Michael Lentz
October 7, 2016

Perhaps in your travels around campus, you have noticed the two new Nissans sitting at the end of the Schultze-Eldersveld strip of short-term parking spots. Those vehicles are part of the new Car Share...

Spotlighting student organizations

Michael Lentz
September 9, 2016

Perhaps you went to Cokes and Clubs last night and witnessed the wonderful madhouse and monument to student involvement that are Calvin's student organizations (affectionately called "student orgs"). There...

The Mountain Goats bring self-aware commentary to performance

Michael Lentz
April 21, 2016

This past Thursday night, as part of the Festival of Faith and Writing, a prominent indie-punk-humanist group, The Mountain Goats, performed a concert to a three-quarters-full CFAC. The crowd was made...

Bronze Age of the Nineties Review

Michael Lentz
November 12, 2015

“Bronze Age of the Nineties,” the debut album from Liance (musical vehicle of senior James Li), is an album about death. It is an album that claims life is a collection of interactions with death....

Letter to the Editor: Some more thoughts on “indie” music at Calvin

Michael Lentz
October 3, 2015

Last week there was an article published in the op-ed section of Chimes which observed that the Calvin student activities office (SAO) seems to only invite/book/care about "indie" musical artists for the...

‘Carrie and Lowell’ is provocative and moving

Michael Lentz
April 17, 2015

In the song "John Wayne Gacy Jr." from his 2007 album, "Come On, Feel The Illinoise", Sufjan Stevens sings: "And in my best behavior / I am really just like him / look beneath the floorboards / for the...