All the President's Men

All the President’s Men shows why original investigative reporting is so important. Woodward and Bernstein uncover and document activities that had been previously unknown to the public. By paying careful attention to every detail, Woodward uncovered one of the biggest breaches in government policy. By attending the arraignment for the burglars and then realizing a top lawyer was representing them Woodward started to put the pieces together. His suspicion grew as he realized that each person was a member of the CIA. Eventually such meticulous reporting led to the resignation of President Nixon. Through investigation, Woodward and Bernstein were able to act as watchdogs over the most powerful of society. Because of journalists, we remain a free democracy.  

Foreign student’s faith challenged but remains strong at Christian college

By Stuart Knechtle

Wenham MA—Chris Samuel 18, a freshman biblical studies major, first came to America with a desire to see how American religions differed from the religions he experienced all his life in Bangalore, India. At Gordon College, a Christian liberal arts school, he would get a much better understanding of such religious diversity.

One of the first differences he noticed was how the terms Christian and Catholic were used synonymously in the U.S. “In India, Catholics aren’t even considered Christians and Christians aren’t considered Catholics. Here, it seems like everyone is considered Christian,” he said. Samuel is like many international students who come to campus with certain expectations and find them immediately challenged. “Here, I don’t understand why there are so many denominations. Why can’t people just be Christian instead of Episcopal, Baptist or Protestant? I don’t even know what Episcopal is. Shouldn’t we as Christians all be of one denomination anyway?”

Unlike those students who immigrate to the U.S. from another country and have their faith expectations immediately challenged when coming to Gordon, those students who come to Gordon from somewhere in the U.S. see more of their expectations met.    

“I expected my faith to grow tremendously when I came to Gordon. And that’s exactly what it did,” said Andrew Pottorf, 18, a junior biblical studies and German double major, who is from New Jersey.

All his life, Samuel has been an advocate for the Christian faith. But, in India he found sharing his faith very difficult. “Muslims came to my door once with clubs. They wanted to take all the Christian assets we had from my dad’s Christian organization.” Fortunately for Samuel, his family had a friend who was head of the state of police who was a Christian. All of the Muslims in his area were targeting Christian land and they were lucky enough to have that relationship.

“Eventually my dad, who was the director of this Christian organization, had to sell off this land because of the Muslims. Things could have been much worse than that though. Once he was attacked on the street by Muslims, and fortunately policemen were close by and saw the fighting. If they had not been there he could have easily been killed.” 

One of the biggest differences Samuel has experienced when it comes to living out his faith here in the U.S. is that he hasn’t felt the kind of heavy persecution that he felt on a regular basis in India. This has been detrimental to his faith. 

“In school in India there was constant opposition which made my faith stronger. Here, everyone claims to be of the same faith. You are not of your own accord here.” Samuel has found that strangely very few people in America talk about Christianity. Especially at a Christian college he says he expected many more Christians to talk about their beliefs on a more regular basis. 

“In India I got to talk about my faith almost every other day freely to mainly non-Christians, but I knew there would be sharp opposition. I was known as a Jesus freak.” Samuel said that many people hated that he brought up Christianity and told him that it was a fake religion. “Hindus believe Christians actually have something wrong with them. They can’t understand why Christians have such a weird urge to help people.”

Paul Borthwick, 56, a biblical studies and Christian ministries professor at Gordon said that in India there is heavy religious pride. “Many believe that to be Indian is to be Hindu” said Borthwick. “There are many Hindu nationalist groups.”

Borthwick said that in India, the culture and religions are predominately community oriented. He said that this is vastly different from the U.S. which is often about individualism. “If a Christian wants to become a Hindu or an atheist or anything else, he often doesn’t have to give much up. If a Hindu wants to become a Christian, he most likely will have to give up his family and entire community.” In Hinduism and Buddhism, Borthwick said, there is a heavy syncretism which is the blending of beliefs. Christianity differs in that it claims that Jesus Christ is the only way. 

Both Samuels and Borthwick believe that Christianity differs from other eastern religions in simply the character of Jesus Christ. “The Jesus who we believe walked our pathway and died for our sins," Borthwick said. "No other religion comes close to making a claim like Christianity.” 

Washington D.C.

Stuart Knechtle

            Washington D.C. was an experience I will never forget. The Newseum included everything I could possibly want in one building. From having to wake up at 3a.m, to seeing the door that exposed Watergate, I felt like I was experiencing a day in the life of a journalist. When I listened to two men discussing politics and journalism, one who worked beside Henry Kissinger and the other who was a reporter for the L.A. Times, I began to think harder about the issues. Not only do we have a tremendous obligation to uncover the truth, but we also have an obligation to present such truth to each and every citizen. The biggest thing I took away from that day was that it is a journalist’s job to get the truth and by presenting such truth, hopefully justice will be granted to all.  

Gordon students receive wealth of knowledge from local writers

By Stuart Knechtle

Wenham, MA—Last Thursday, Gordon College students got a chance to learn from some of the best in the area when Salem News’ own, Dave Olson and Muriel Hoffacker, came to lecture in a journalism classroom.

Dan MacAlpine Visits Gordon

By Stuart Knechtle

Wenham, MA—When Dan MacAlpine came to Gordon on Thursday he brought with him a lifetime of experience to share with journalism students. His main objective was exhorting the students to use clear and concise language that could pull an audience in, instead of putting them to sleep.  

Peace In The Midst Of Conflict

Stuart Knechtle

            During the 1960s to be a black citizen in the U.S. took courage and an understanding that God wrote the law, no county or government. The legislated law at that time said that if your skin color was darker than white, there were many things you could not do. Today it is unfathomable to think that just a few decades ago you could be jailed for not sticking within the parameters that your race was assigned to here in the U.S. Change would need to be made, and it would come from the unlikeliest of activists. Young adults in their early 20s or teens (many even younger) stood up to the mainly older white, racist authority that sought to suppress the entire race.

            Similarly to how communism fell in the 1980s in Europe and at Tiananmen Square, apartheid also would crumble in South Africa due to young men and women taking a stand. Those in Birmingham Alabama started this dauntless trend that became contagious. The first day the fire hoses, dogs, and clubs came pouring down on these activists in Birmingham, a masterpiece for media was created. In one block you could witness the horror of white, racist bigotry towards the nonviolent young blacks that would fill up newspapers across the country. This incredible stand for peace in the midst of violent hate would wake people up to what was going on around them. Although Martin Luther King Jr. only saw signs of the “promised land” he predicted his people would enter even though there was a good chance he would not be going with them.

Gordon College Alumni Offer Advice to Next Generation

By Stuart Knechtle

Wenham, MA—Students at Gordon College flocked to try and hear words of wisdom imparted by successful alumni this past weekend. Mariwyn Light, a Communications Major from the class of ’09, spoke to a journalism class at Gordon about the drug wars in Mexico and how Americans’ addictive natures are fueling the entire volatile situation there. “Now that I am at grad school in El Paso Texas, I see how much Gordon helped me in my writing to set me up so I can help change this situation” she said, “but journalism and writing will also help you in whatever field you go into.” She encouraged the class to write as often as they could and seek advice from the talented professors at Gordon.

John Phelps, a 2008 Communication Arts major, had spoken a week before Marilyn. He stressed the importance of writing for either a local paper or applying for an internship that could help jump start a possible career. He pushed the students to work hard because “once you enter the real world things only get more competitive and you begin to see that a good night’s sleep is very tough to come by.” Phelps’ exhortation to work hard seems to be a model that each of the alumni live by.   

Trevor Peterson was another grad who was on Gordon’s campus this past weekend. He was a standout student athlete when he was at Gordon College as he received all conference honors in lacrosse and graduated with honors in the field of Economics in 2008. “Gordon helped me understand critically what my faith was and should be” he said, “I would encourage any current student to join some kind of ministry that he or she could attend with consistency.” Peterson said that Gordon helped nourish and groom his faith as it set him up for the deep growth he experiences now.

Peterson also spoke about the importance of having a diverse group of friends when you are at college so you can see life from different perspectives. By finding the right group of people at Gordon they can help you “get involved with something deep so you can see where your gifts and talents really lie” Peterson said.