Bryan College Triangle

by Lana Douglas
Staff Writer

Human trafficking. Statistics for Dayton, Tenn.: unknown. The statistics are unknown because citizens of Dayton may not recognize what human trafficking is, not because it does not exist.

Bob Vincent, mayor of Dayton, declares March 28-April 4 "Human Trafficking Awareness Week." Triangle photo by Staff Writer Lana Douglas.

Most people don’t realize that human trafficking is happening because it has never been defined for them, said junior Andrew McPeak, president of Students Stopping Trafficking of People (SSTOP).

The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

On March 25, Bob Vincent, mayor of Dayton, declared March 28 – April 4 to be “Human Trafficking Awareness Week.”

Vincent said he was unclear about how human trafficking affected Dayton before he was approached about issuing this proclamation.

In order to promote awareness Vincent said that we must first have a clear definition of what trafficking is. Read full story »

One of the fundamental characteristics of leadership is to be aware that it is impossible to change anyone’s heart. All that a leader can do is provide a system that will allow for the desired change to occur.

With this in mind I watch every incoming freshman class and wonder if we here at Bryan College have set up a system that allows for students, over the course of four years, to have their minds and hearts refocused toward Christ. I believe that we have accomplished this. I, myself, have been drastically changed by my experience here at Bryan.

As I look back on my time here, I can see that it was the people, not the institution that changed me. I have come to believe that the systems we create must be ones that connect people with people. We need a system that allows for seniors and juniors to reach out to freshman and sophomores, and allows for faculty and staff to reach out to students. Every sophomore, junior and senior on campus can think of at least one or two people (students or faculty) who have influenced them in some way to follow Christ.

Although this has been true for all of the upper classmen, I wonder if it will be true of the future freshman classes. Next semester 66 upperclassmen will move down to the new town homes. Most of those students will choose a meal plan that will have them only on campus for classes and possibly one meal a day in the cafeteria. With this happening, I am left wondering if the freshmen will lose their opportunity to experience what so many of us upperclassmen have come to value so highly: our relationships with one another.

I humbly suggest that instead of letting this happen, those 66 of you who will be descending halfway down the hill next year will decide, right now, that you will use your new housing not as an opportunity to “get away” from campus, but as an opportunity to minister to the rest of the school. I’m talking BBQ’s in the parking lot before soccer games, Super Bowl Parties and Bible Studies. Open up your homes and give the underclassmen next year an opportunity to learn from your success (and failures). If we fail to establish this as a pattern next year, it will be much harder to make it happen in the future. This is your opportunity to play your part in continuing this community that has been such an essential part of each of our lives. I sincerely hope that we will all rise to the challenge.

Sincerely,

Andrew McPeak

Hatian children stranded in the chaos following the 7.0 earthquake. Photo courtesy foxnews.com

by Kaity Kopeski
Online Editor

“The situation in Haiti is very complicated,” writes Rev. Rodne Romeus on Jan. 25, two weeks after the 7.0 earthquake hit his country. Read full story »

Photo courtesy of Dubaifilmfest.com

Kaity Kopeski
Online Editor

Students sporting Obama shirts is not something you normally see around Bryan College’s campus, but over this past week numerous students have been doing just that.

Ask someone about this shirt and they won’t tell you about their political affiliations, they’ll tell you the story of Invisible Children. Read full story »