Claire Buck ('22) is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Hope College Anchor. As an English major and a pre-med student, she gets excited whenever she finds places where science and storytelling intersect. When she's not editing articles or wrestling with WordPress, she enjoys wandering around farmers' markets, writing sonnets, and baking bread for her housemates.
As polarization and divisive partisan rhetoric erode trust in American democracy, one political science expert has proposed a new way of choosing governing officials, inspired by Hope College’s longstanding tradition known as the Pull. Democratic elections would be replaced by a massive, threehour tug-of-war competition between Democrats and Republicans. The party that holds the most…
When Stefanie Jacobs (’19) toured Strath Haven High School with her fellow students in the Philadelphia Center (TPC) program, she noticed that something felt off. Jacobs recalled meeting with the vice principal and two members of the student congress. “When we spoke with them, it felt disingenuous and almost like there was an agenda,” Jacobs…
After years of underfunding, Ottawa County Community Mental Health (CMH) will get an additional $2.5 million from the state over the next four years. Lynne Doyle, director of the county’s CMH, explained in an interview with the Holland Sentinel that this won’t be enough to guarantee financial security for the crucial public health organization. The…
A few weeks ago, the Anchor published an article on the Chinese oppression of Uighur Muslims. Despite its massive scale, this human rights crisis still isn’t widely known or condemned. The government of China has gone to great lengths to make sure that these abuses stay under the radar and to quiet international criticism. That’s…
Michiganders who enjoy ice fishing, skating or simply walking on the frozen surfaces of the state’s many freshwater lakes may find that these pastimes are no longer possible if current warming trends continue. A study recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change reveals that more than a thousand Michigan lakes that typically froze over…
When Hope College professor Holly DeVivo’s mother left for the Mexican Consulate one morning, she hoped that she might finally be able to get help achieving permanent resident status in the United States. Instead, she missed her exit and ended up at the Canadian border, where she was arrested and placed in deportation proceedings. Since…
This January three Democrats took key leadership positions in Michigan’s government. Over the past two months Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson have worked to change the policies of the Republican-controlled state legislature. Here are some of their most recent efforts. Earlier in February Governor Whitmer issued an…
This year almost two billion voters will elect their leaders— more people than ever before, according to an Aljazeera News report. Citizens of several democracies cast their votes recently or are heading to the polls in the coming months. At the same time, American voters are considering their options as new candidates come forward to…
When judges announce the outcome of a gerrymandering trial later this month, their ruling could potentially redraw dozens of legislative and congressional districts across Michigan. Sparked by a lawsuit brought by Michigan’s League of Women Voters, the trial lasted from Feb. 5-7 and called on the testimony of both experts claiming that the districts illegally…
Last Friday students from across Europe skipped class to demand that their politicians take action to stop climate change. The movement originated in Sweden, where young activist Greta Thunberg began leaving school once a week for sit-ins at the Swedish Parliament to demand that the government address environmental issues. Inspired by her protests, young people…