Students who live in three of the two-year dorms at Baylor — Teal Residential College, Honor Residential College or Brooks Residential College — sign a two-year contract when they move in. For some, the experience grows their community. For others, it’s a fight to get out of the contract.

Dr. Alexander McNair, an associate professor of Spanish in the modern languages and cultures department, and Dr. Kelly Johnston, associate professor in curriculum and instruction in the Moody School of Education, were the two recipients of the 2026 Centennial Professors Award this year.

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All Are Neighbors, held in the Cashion Academic Center, drew 270 ticketed attendees, totaling 352 people, including VIP guests and speakers, nearly filling all available seats. The event was created in response to TPUSA’s presence on campus, but speakers and organizers consistently emphasized that the gathering was not merely reactive. Instead, it functioned as a faith-centered call to action, rooted in Christian teaching and expressed through civic engagement.

ARTS & LIFE

In a world that is all over the place and constantly changing, cozy games help. Games like The Sims 4 and Animal Crossing offer low-stakes, calm gameplay. These games allow players to tend gardens, fish and decorate their dream homes at their own pace. There aren’t any fast-paced, quick time events or frustrating levels to complete, which helps promote relaxation.

Taking a gap year does not mean abandoning your goals. It means strengthening your ability to pursue them. It allows for reflection, growth and, perhaps most importantly, recovery. When you return — whether to school or another path — you do so with clarity rather than exhaustion.

When we allow ourselves to be useless, we’re going against the idea that the value of us as living beings is tied to our output, our bank accounts or our GPA. We give our brains a chance to rest, and more importantly, we give our minds a chance to catch up to our bodies. We remind ourselves that we are human beings, not human doings.

Criticisms directed at TPUSA accuse the organization of “provocation” or creating a “spectacle.” These claims are reinforced by short viral clips rather than engagement with the organization’s actual ideologies. When judgements form this way, people risk oversimplifying complex viewpoints and reducing TPUSA and its supporters to an out-of-context viral clip.

Baylor University will host a stop on the campus tour of Turning Point USA, a national political organization that is known for staging confrontational political events at universities. While supporters say these events at universities promote free speech and bring conservative ideas onto campus, but Baylor students should be asking a deeper question: are these tours actually to foster dialogue, or are they designed to turn universities into a stage for political theatre?

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