one twenty seven

Your Study Playlist Is Lying to You

By Thomas Kreske You’ve got a playlist for it. Maybe it’s called “focus mode” or “study mode” or just “lo-fi”. You put it on, you settle in, and you feel productive. But here’s the question nobody asks: are you actually performing better, or just more comfortable while performing worse? The research has an answer. You’re…

How Essential are Civic Values and Engagements to a Liberal Arts Education?

By Paul A. Djupe What is college for? Is it to teach timeless arguments and methods of inquiry? Is it to respond to current problems and markets? If you can believe it, there have been times in my lifetime when these questions did not seem so pressing. Not so now. It feels like we are…

Caffeine or water – Whose pregame beverage sets them up for success?

By Sarah Sollinger Everyone has their pregame routine. I always put on my left sock and shoe before my right. My teammate eats the same breakfast—two eggs and a piece of toast. For many of my teammates, the routine includes an energy drink, usually a Celsius. Of my 30 teammates, most are reliant on their…

Discerning Moral Agents: How High Stakes and Low Trust Stifle the Liberal Arts Ideal and Where to Go Next.

By John Elliot Harpham College campuses have historically been a place where young people can sharpen their civic skills and flex their rights – a safe and constructive space for students to prepare for full participation in American democracy. But today, the climate has shifted. Self-expression and collaboration across differences are lagging. There seems to…

The Need for Civic Engagement Education

By John Elliot Harpham Denison’s mission statement puts the ability to morally discern, to autonomously think, and to participate in democratic society above all else as the goals of the college. These are honorable goals, and they paint a wonderful picture of what liberal arts values are all about. Yet, as I look around at…

Hydroflask or Dasani – what is the safest way to take your water on the go?

By Sarah Sollinger Reusable water bottles are everywhere across Denison’s campus. There is one in the side pocket of almost every backpack on campus, they litter the tables in Slayter, and not a sports practice goes by without a collection of them on the sidelines. Whether it is an Owala, Hydroflask, Yeti, or Stanley, the…

Easy A with AI?

By Joanna Passalaris Whether it is ChatGPT, Gemini, or even Grok, AI has become increasingly present on college campuses. Students seem to be integrating AI into their studies even if professors don’t allow it. How exactly are students using AI and is it actually helping them? AI can be used for a range of tasks,…

Pain in the Parking at Denison

By Joanna Passalaris Every year Denison changes some aspect of campus life for better or worse. One of this year’s changes was the new freshman only quad, which created an entirely new parking plan. While not the biggest problem in the world, getting a parking spot near my quad isn’t a guarantee. Enough students complained…

Balancing Books and Broken Bodies – How Resource Gaps Challenge Student-Athletes at Division III Schools

By Bella Bergeron Turning on my phone after a thrilling five-set match, I saw the time: 8:58pm. My high from the win immediately turned into a low. There was no way I could change, shower, and walk to the dining hall before it closed at nine. I had two options: either sprint to a different…

Lots of Students Use AI; Fewer Think It’s Good for Their Education

Miles D. Williams, Visiting Assistant Professor of Data for Political Research [Note: This is a version of a post Dr. Williams did for his Substack Foreign Figures] AI (shorthand for all the large language models at large these days) is on everyone’s minds in higher education—well, really at every level of education, and in anything…

Do Drunk Cigs Count?

By Joanna Passalaris Drinking is classically considered an inherent part of the college experience, but what other vices do college students partake in? For years, smoking and nicotine usage have been on the decline after societal efforts had been made to reverse the cool image of smoking. Despite these efforts, nicotine use has continued. The…

The Steady Decline in Drinking at Denison

By Paul A. Djupe An old rule of policing is that showing up to one area merely serves to push crime to other neighborhoods. I feel like Denison has been doing some of this in recent history, trying to break the stranglehold of the Sunnies or the notorious suites of East, which served to push…