Author: Josh Siatkowski

Baylor students are sandwiched between two factors that compress the value of their education. On one side, a tightening job market is bringing prospects for young graduates back down to COVID-19 lows. On the other side, disproportionate price increases in the already fast-growing industry of higher education continue to push the cost of a degree toward hard-to-believe figures.

Jim Jaska has been the mayor of Ross, Texas, for 40 years. But in four decades at the helm of the 250-person community just north of Waco, he’s never seen a situation like this: plans for a $10 billion data center are underway right in the little town’s backyard, threatening its rural identity — and he wasn’t told anything about it.

The 2.25-mile Bear Trail around campus is mostly concrete, but three-fourths of a mile between the Dutton Garage and the intersection of Second Street and Bagby Avenue is a softer decomposed granite surface that narrows to just a few feet in some spots. Construction Project Manager AJ Mueller said that about two-thirds of that stretch is currently being upgraded to an 8-foot-wide concrete sidewalk, while the remaining third near Dutton Garage is tentatively scheduled for the same work.

Between Valley Mills Drive and Irving Lee Street — home to campus’s closest H-E-B — the southbound I-35 frontage road has been cut down to one lane since mid-2025. Its completion, along with other parts of the project, such as a new intersection at Valley Mills, will improve the driving experience in the area. But for now, traffic has swelled on the street where students make their final right turn into the H-E-B parking lot.

The verdict is good news for Baylor students: The Trompo King serves delicious Mexican food with affordability and availability, making it a great addition to the campus area.

In a time where only the tensest interactions between civilians and law enforcement are being distributed across the internet, Baylor’s Department of Public Safety is doing things differently. Lighthearted informational posts and staff bios fill the department’s social media feed, while donut giveaways and bracelet-making workshops fill the time between patrols.

The Trompo King, run by Jorge Alvarado Jr. and his father, will serve a variety of Mexican dishes, but specializes in trompo. “Trompo,” which roughly translates to “spinning top,” describes al pastor pork roasted on a rotating spit, but it is slightly different from an al pastor taco.

Although the flooding began around the time of the recent winter storm, the pipe burst was an independent event, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities and Operations Patrick Carley.

Writing is not merely hanging on despite repeated attacks by the changing world. It’s progressing in tandem with each breakthrough, acting as a necessary component of our technological and communicative revolution.

The 135-spot parking lot on the corner of 5th Street and Bagby Avenue has been temporarily converted to Baylor’s first daily pass lot. For $5 a day, students can buy a full-day pass to the lot on the southeast corner of campus.

Upon Kokernot Hall’s anticipated completion this July, the university will finish the plans it set back in 2013. With part of the construction budget now freed up for other projects, it opens up the question of what’s coming next for projects across campus. While there is no confirmed plan for a similarly connected string of renovations, Vice President for Student Life Dr. Sharra Hynes alluded to future projects in a September interview.

As of Thursday evening, predictions from The Weather Channel show Friday bringing mostly rain, but as temperatures go below freezing overnight and stay there Saturday, precipitation will go from freezing rain during the day and change into a wintry mix in the evening. Sunday, as of now, is expected to be mostly clear, with the storm ending overnight. But forecasts have been ever-changing as the week goes on, previously predicting multiple inches of snow.

Dr. James Brockmole of Notre Dame will join Baylor as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and he’s bringing his background in psychology, his faith and his love for national parks to his role.

In anticipation of the coming Christmas holiday, Baylor’s advancement office is encouraging alumni with daily Advent devotionals, featuring reflections from 24 Baylor staff, faculty and students, plus an introductory message from President Linda Linvingstone.

Most student-led organizations are lucky to sign up a few new members and get funding for an occasional meal. But one group, led by a network of college students across the country—including a Baylor freshman—has already gotten hundreds of students to sign up and received commitments for over $1 million in charitable donations. And they don’t launch until next month.

With endless blocks of skyscrapers, millions of fast-shuffling feet and only a tiny presence of Baylor alumni, it’s easy for the Bears of New York’s finance scene to feel as out of place as the 1600-mile distance from Waco would suggest. But there’s a world out there where Baylor’s footprint in the Big Apple is just as sizable as the dominant ones in Dallas and Houston.

Once the high-cost event took off, seven student performances commenced, broken up by giveaways and raffles in between. The second half of the show was a premiere screening of “The Celebration of Everlasting Color,” a student-produced feature film written by 2025 Baylor graduate Aaron Rivera.

“We sit under shade trees we did not plant,” Baylor Regent Dr. Michael McFarland said in reference to the forced labor by which Baylor was built. “We drink from wells we did not dig. And we are warmed by fires that we did not light … Baylor’s story, like the story of our great nation, is both complicated and redemptive.”

As diverse as Baylor’s offerings are, though, the academic makeup of the student body is not exactly the intellectual rainbow that the triple-digit number suggests. The palette is probably better described as dozens of thin strips with slightly different shades, sprinkled among a few very wide bands of dominant colors.

The Memorial, which was recommended by the Commission on Historical Campus Representations in 2020, addresses Baylor’s historical relationship with slavery. It recognizes the university’s construction through enslaved labor and Judge R.E.B. Baylor’s own possession of enslaved people, while continuing to acknowledge all parts of Baylor’s story.

A Night Under the Stars, which takes place on the evening of November 7 at Fountain Mall, will feature eight performances with live voting from the audience, an array of food trucks, and a premiere of “A Celebration of Everlasting Color,” an hour-long feature film created entirely by Baylor students. But before the event became a reality, it dealt with questioning when seeking approval and funding. And for good reason.

Depending on when they graduated, Baylor alumni will give you a different profile of their time in Waco. From year to year, those differences might be as small as a better football record or a few new faculty, but when you compare Baylor of the 1970s to the campus we call home today, the two schools are vastly different.

Slapped on the side of Brooks Residential College, the words, “To you I hand the torch,” are for many, the extent of knowledge on Samuel Palmer Brooks’ Immortal Message. But Homecoming is a better time than any to remember the story behind those words: they’re a message of hopefulness and responsibility, even when the times around us are full of uncertainty, struggle and death.

What seems like the most reasonable answer to this commission problem is to reduce the number of agents in the market, allowing brokers to make fair compensation while homebuyers and sellers aren’t victim to inflated commission rates.

Presentations spanned the spectrum of industries — and even created industries of their own. From stock trading algorithms, to road-trip planning apps, to programs that calculate the best way to produce a chemical compound, students brought their best ideas in an attempt to secure a portion of the $5,000.

Now 2-2 in conference play, the Bears’ chances at a Big 12 Championship appearance have regressed into long-shot territory. Baylor’s breakout season, which seemed imminent in early August, is not to be.

Although no plans to upgrade or expand the intramural fields have been announced, Assistant Director of Competitive Sports Reid Jackson said that the current intramural space is constantly busy.

Beginning in February 2025 and lasting until 2029, My35 Waco South works on the three-mile stretch of I-35 between 12th Street and South Loop 340. Along this stretch, crews will widen I-35 to eight lanes, reconstruct overpasses and bridges and complete various other work on sidewalks and on-ramps and off-ramps. Also, at Valley Mills Drive, the project will add a novel intersection design, according to Jacob Smith, Waco TxDOT public information officer.

Instead of a big city high-rise, Morehead’s team works in a small red brick building in downtown Waco. Suits and ties are replaced with casual (mostly green and gold) clothes. And in an industry that’s mostly men, four out of the office’s five investment professionals are women. It all helps to put the attention on what really matters: making money for Baylor without touching students’ wallets.

With 11 different off-campus apartment complexes and dozens of individual homes in its real estate portfolio, Baylor houses far more than the 39% of students who live on campus, and the number is growing.