By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Baylor’s Bill Daniel Student Center celebrated its 71st birthday Monday. The SUB is a social hub for students — referred to as the “heart of campus,” the SUB is home to restaurants, a game room and is the spot that hosts Dr. Pepper Hour each week during the school year— a tradition nearly as old as the SUB itself. Students from Baylor Union Board, a student programming group that hosts Sundown Sessions and UBreak, arrived late Sunday night to decorate the SUB. Center senior Chloe Gipson, a member of Union Board, was one of…
Author: Matthew Muir
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterFor the first time, Vertical Ministries held a worship service as a combination event with Baylor’s Family Weekend. Vertical, a student-led non-denominational ministry, holds its normal services Monday nights at 9 p.m. and encourages students to pursue an “authentic ‘vertical’ relationship with God.” Friday night’s service in the Bill Daniel Student Center’s Barfield Drawing Room was a special family worship service included as part of Baylor’s Family Weekend tradition. While Vertical is popular with students at Baylor, it was the first time the ministry held an event targeted at families and the first time the…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Baylor’s 2019 Family Weekend will take place today and Saturday. The long-standing tradition gives the families of students a chance to experience Baylor through on-campus activities and events. Family weekend began in 1960 and is organized by the Baylor Chamber of Commerce. Family Weekend gives the families of Baylor students a taste of what the university has to offer condensed into two days of activities. Events include Welcome Hour, the After Dark talent show, a Lady Bears volleyball game, tours, Taste of Waco and Family Faculty Coffee, which is an opportunity for families to…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterAs construction crews convert the I-35 highway and surrounding roads into a quagmire of traffic cones and concrete barriers, surrounding businesses have begun feeling the effects. The construction is a result of the Texas Department of Transportation’s project that began in April to improve and expand I-35 through Waco. Roshan Thakor is the owner of Stone Hearth Indian Café in downtown Waco. Stone Hearth suffered a significant drop in business over the summer, and Thakor lays the blame squarely on the intensified construction along I-35. “If the three main exits to your business are closed…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer, Video by Nate Smith | Broadcast Reporter Baylor students flooded the Richland Mall J.C. Penney Sunday evening for BU Suit Up. The event, organized by Baylor’s Career Center, gave students the opportunity to get discounts on professional attire and advice from career success professionals. Sunday was the fifth Suit Up event held by J.C. Penney and the Baylor Career Center. Held after normal business hours, Suit Up is exclusive to Baylor students and is one of many partnerships between J.C. Penney and colleges across the country to hold similar events. Bakersfield, Calif., junior Michael…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer, Video by BrenShavia Jordan | Broadcast Reporter Baylor’s new Active Attack Training Video portrays a shooting on campus to illustrate proper safety procedures to follow during an active attacker situation. Released Thursday morning, the video describes the Avoid Deny Defend procedure to follow in the event of an attack. Avoid the threat and try to escape, deny the attacker access by barricading doors and hiding when escape isn’t viable, and defend aggressively as a last resort. Mark Childers, associate vice president of Baylor’s Department of Public Safety (DPS), wants the Baylor community to know…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Debbie and Eddie Sherman arrived at Miller Chapel on a hot May day to find the air conditioning switched off, but rather than let that mar their wedding, it became something to look back on and laugh about. Forty three years later, the Sherman’s returned to Miller Chapel— this time with working air conditioning— for one last chance to visit the place they tied the knot. Saturday’s open house at Miller Chapel gave members of the Baylor community the opportunity to reminisce about their experiences with the chapel. Located in the Tidwell Bible Building,…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Baylor formally announced plans to join the top tier of American research universities by pursuing the Research 1 classification. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education defines its R1 classification as one given to universities with “very high research activity.” 130 schools currently hold the R1 classification. Baylor is one of 131 schools holding an R2 classification, which is given to universities which display “high research activity” and is the tier below R1. Baylor provost Dr. Nancy Brickhouse said that pursuing the R1 classification is about recognizing and validating the research taking place…
Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Sitting down to write, I’m hardly more than a couple of lines down the page before I feel my focus start to drift. A nagging urge and a few habitual swipes of the phone later my mind elects to completely neglect my work. In its place, my No. 1 digital fixation, social crutch and bad habit: Facebook. It’s a platform I yearn to cut myself off from, but am too deeply invested in to bear going without.Aside from being a massive black hole into which much of my free time is sucked, Facebook is also…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterBaylor University students collectively make thousands of schedule changes over the course of each semester, especially during the first few weeks of classes. Baylor’s office of the registrar keeps statistics pertaining to adding, dropping or being waitlisted for classes. Hannah King, associate registrar for business operations and analysis, provided statistics for each of the most recent fall and spring semesters. In each of these semesters, nearly 3,000 Baylor students made changes to their schedule during the first five days of classes. These changes included adding, dropping or moving onto or off of the waitlist for…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer As fires continue to rage thousands of miles away in the Amazon rain forest, the environmental costs will likely be felt around the globe. For weeks, fires in the Amazon have torched hundreds of square miles— the majority of them were caused by farmers clearing land for crops or livestock, first by cutting down trees and then by burning the area to clear out the remaining vegetation. Dr. Melinda Coogan, a professor of environmental science at Baylor, described the impact of the fires as a “quadruple-whammy.” Trees that would normally absorb carbon dioxide and…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterBaylor University President Linda Livingstone voiced Baylor’s support for LGBTQ students but left university policy unchanged in a statement reaffirming the university’s views on human sexuality on Tuesday. Baylor’s official stance affirms the school’s biblical view on human sexuality, including the view of both “heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior” as deviations from the norm. In the statement sent via email to students, faculty and staff yesterday, Livingstone responded to “an increased number of questions” regarding Baylor’s positions on sexuality and LGBTQ issues with a new web page on the Baylor website answering…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterAn appeals court recently overturned a former Baylor football player’s sexual assault conviction, but his case is far from settled. Sam Ukwuachu was convicted in 2015 following the alleged 2013 rape of a Baylor freshman athlete. On July 10, the 10th Court of Appeals ruled that Ukwuachu’s due process rights were violated and overturned his conviction while calling for a new trial. July’s reversal is the third in Ukwuachu’s case. The 10th Court of Appeals first reversed the conviction in 2017 before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reinstated it the next year. Tom Needham,…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer An unnamed former assistant professor of economics accused Baylor University of gender-based discrimination in a Title IX lawsuit filed Aug. 9. In the lawsuit, John Doe alleges Baylor found him guilty of sexual misconduct on the basis of his male gender. The lawsuit claims Baylor compensated for recent sexual assault scandals by enacting a “university-wide culture of anti-male bias and intimidation inconsistent with its stated Christian principles.” Doe alleges he was terminated from his position as a result of this culture following accusations of sexual misconduct. Four causes of action against Baylor are listed:…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterWaco’s entertainment scene is primed for expansion with numerous businesses confirmed or rumored to come to the city in the near future. Two entertainment complexes are planned for the area near Central Texas Marketplace – a development between I-35 and New Road developed by NewQuest Properties and a site off of I-35 and Loop 340 developed by MKT Real Estate Holdings, LLC and 58 Aggie Development, LLC. Plans for the New Road complex include restaurants and retail establishments, as well as larger entertainment venues. Thus far only a Cinemark movie theater is confirmed, but other…
First look at the overhaul of finance and HR systems coming in 2020
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterSenior lecturer Dr. Jane Damron said she felt honored to be included in the same company as some of Baylor’s great professors at the Collins Outstanding Professor Award Lecture Thursday afternoon. The Collins Award recipient is selected each year by the senior class, with the recipient receiving recognition in university publications and at spring commencement and a $10,000 cash award. The award is provided by the Carr P. Collins Foundation. Damron, a senior lecturer who currently teaches classes in small group communication, nonverbal communication and interpersonal communication, is the 26th recipient of the award. Damron…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterAs graduation and summer approaches, students learned how to effectively network and pitch themselves for a job at the inaugural Liberal Arts Career Summit at the Mayborn Museum this past week. The career summit featured guest speakers from companies such as Google and Chick-fil-A, booths from numerous employers and breakout sessions to help liberal arts students make connections and learn how to market themselves when searching for jobs or internships. Shelby Cefaratti, a marketing and graphic design specialist for the career center, said the career summit aimed to offer a different experience from the typical…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Two petitions, one urging Baylor to allow LGBTQ groups on campus and the other opposing them, circulated online in recent weeks. Both of the dueling petitions surfaced in the lead-up to conservative commentator Matt Walsh’s controversial visit to Baylor last week. The pro-representation petition, most recently titled “Join more than 2,700 members of the Baylor family standing up for all of Baylor’s students, including those in the LGBTQ community,” claimed Baylor’s approval of the Walsh event and its organizer, Baylor Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), represented a “fundamental unfairness” in Baylor’s treatment of student…
Story by Matt Muir | Staff Writer, Video by Julia Lawrenz | Broadcast Reporter Baylor unveiled a new brand identity as part of its Baylor United rebranding effort on Monday. The full reveal comes after a partial reveal which took place on Saturday before the spring football game. Baylor partnered with Nike to showcase new athletic uniforms and a new bear logo. The new branding, described as a “one-brand” approach, unites Baylor under a redesigned interlocking BU logo, which will be used universally across all Baylor institutions. The new logo replaces the decade-old mark featuring Pat Neff Hall and Judge…
Story by Matthew Muir | Staff Writer, Video by Kennedy Dendy | Broadcast Reporter Student government passed a bill Thursday intended to encourage inclusion of LGBTQ groups on campus. The bill labelled SR 66-14, introduced by San Antonio senior senator Paige Hardy, asks Baylor Student Activities to “explore new ways of defining organizations to permit on-campus participation of LGBTQ groups.” Baylor’s Student Policies and Procedures’ Statement on Human Sexuality denounces “homosexual behavior” as a deviation from the “biblical norm.” As a result, Baylor refuses to allow LGBTQ groups on campus. According to Hardy, a change to the way student organizations…
Matt Walsh controversy drives LGBTQ involvement in event celebrating inclusion at Baylor
Tuition has increased by 60% in the in the past 10 years alone
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterThe first meetings in the week-long Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault lunch series took place Monday and Tuesday afternoons at the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation. The series will continue through Friday. The lunch series runs through Friday and tackles topics including accountability, respect and safety, and each meeting includes free food. The series is part of the nationwide Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault initiative (MARS). MARS seeks to educate men about the role they can play in eliminating sexual assault. Monday’s meeting was presented by members of Baylor Men…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer The Baylor Religious Hour Choir (BRH) was informed by Institutional Events on Tuesday that the Chapel they have called home for decades will be closed and refitted beginning next week for use as temporary office spaces. In response, BRH gathered with alumni for a Thursday evening special sendoff service for Miller Chapel. Miller Chapel was dedicated in 1954 following the construction of the Tidwell Bible Building, which it is housed in. The renovation closes the book on more than six decades of history with events ranging from worship services to weddings. BRH president Abby…
By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer Baylor Student Media continues to be recognized for excellence as the Baylor Lariat, Roundup Yearbook and Focus Magazine racked up numerous awards throughout the 2018 to 2019 school year. Highlights included a first place Best of Show award from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) for the for the March 1 issue of the Lariat covering the Shawn Oakman verdict, first place in overall excellence for Lariat TV News from TIPA in the Global News Relay, first place in overall excellence from TIPA for Focus Magazine’s Fearless issue from fall 2018 and first place…
Entertainment and history collide as the School of Education begins its second century
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterWaco ISD Superintendent Dr. A. Marcus Nelson officially resigned Thursday night in the wake of his arrest on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession on March 6. Nelson delivered his resignation via a letter to the Waco ISD Board of Trustees, who announced it at Thursday night’s meeting. Nelson noted the controversy and division his arrest caused and wrote that his resignation was for the good of the community. “The discussion has become more about me and my poor decisions than our schools, our students and their success,” Nelson said. “I have to acknowledge that…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterWhile classes were out for spring break, the Beauchamp Addiction Recovery Center continued with their regular programs offering students the support needed to deal with addiction. A fairly new addition to campus, the BARC opened in fall 2017 and is located on the ground floor of Teal Residential College. The BARC is a part of Baylor’s Department of Wellness and is designed to support students dealing with and recovering from all forms of addiction. The center has an open-door policy Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and provides students with an array…
By Matthew Muir | Staff WriterHotel Indigo Waco-Baylor’s recently announced Charity of the Month partnership program will work with 12 nonprofits through 2019.The “Charity of the Month” program seeks to highlight a charity every month to help raise money and give back to the Waco community. The partner charities for 2019 are Caritas, CASA of McLennan County, Esther’s Closet, H.O.T. Autism Network, Fuzzy Friends, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, Talitha Koum Institute, Rainbow Room, Waco Habitat for Humanity, Susan G. Komen, Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry and Toys for Tots.These charities represent goals as varied as battling cancer, fighting…