Francis Collins will visit the EMU campus on Saturday, November 17 at 10 a.m. in Martin Chapel. Why, one might ask, should Francis Collins be worthy of mention to any given individual? Besides being the author of the best selling “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,” the founder of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), a member of Institute of Medicine and a recipient of the Presidential Metal of Freedom, Collins’ research and leadership role in the Human Genome Project may one day uncover secrets of hereditary diseases to isolate the responsible genomes. With three billion genome pairs in the human body, the research spearheaded by Collins has successfully mapped and sequenced human DNA.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2007, the Tunnel of Oppression took place in EMU’s University Commons. The Tunnel of Oppression was a part of the Dialogue on Race program that gave students and faculty members the opportunity to learn and experience the issues of oppression in today’s society. Jennifer Kimble, the previous Multicultural Services director, first started the Dialogue on Race program, and Melody Pannell took over when she became the new Multicultural Services director in 2003. The mission of the Multicultural Services Office is to provide educational opportunities and programs that encourage members of the entire EMU campus community to develop a better understanding and appreciation of their own culture, as well as the culture of others from different ethnic heritages. The theme of the Dialogue on Race was to “Resist, Relate, and Renew.”

If you have not yet ventured beyond Harrisonburg to the small, friendly town of Dayton, the Dayton Farmers Market could motivate you to. Instead of the barrels of fresh food provided by local farmers that you would find at the Harrisonburg market on Saturday mornings, the Dayton Farmers Market is an indoor collection of stores, not unlike a mall, but with a homier feel. Many of the stores feature locally made products or fairly traded goods. Twenty-two merchants are listed as being a part of the Dayton Farmers Market, including vendors of food, books, toys, and crafts.

EMU’s social system is built around divisions. The first-years complain about cliques coming from EMHS or LMH, while the upperclassmen remorsefully discuss how cut off they are in faraway Hillside. There is an unspoken divide between the athletes and “the rest” of campus, and previous opinion pieces have discussed the racial divide that most definitely still exists.

The practice soccer field lies vacant except for leaves blowing around in the brisk fall wind. A trail of grass no longer leads to the locker rooms in the back hallway of the Commons. There are no soccer players in the training room nursing bruised shins, or women’s volleyball players heating up a sore shoulder, and cross country runners no longer stretch outside the team entrance to the Commons. The fall sports season is over.

Seattle-based blown glass artist Ryan Mellinger returns to his native Harrisonburg to display his latest artwork at EMU’s Hartzler Library Gallery. The exhibit, which opened on Sunday, is the Goshen graduate’s first solo display.