Calvin College Chimes

Thursday, April 16, Calvin University’s department of visual and performing arts hosted its annual Spring Arts Festival in the Spoelhof University Center and the Commons Annex. The event featured a large breadth of student artwork with diverse styles and mediums. When asked by Chimes to describe the event in one word, students involved and attending the festival described it as “lively,” “colorful,” “happy,” “festive” and “multi-faceted.” This captured the atmosphere well.

A new chapter of Delight Ministries opened at Calvin University this year, offering weekly Bible studies and community building events aimed at growing Christian friendships and fellowship among women on campus. Since the start of the fall semester, the ministry has found great success.

In the spring semester of the 2025-26 school year, I lived in Washington, D.C., which is a city that understands something crucial: memory needs visual representation. Walk ten minutes in any direction and you will come face-to-face with a giant. There is Abraham Lincoln, looking out over the Mall as if still holding this Union together by sheer force of will. There is Thomas Jefferson, pen in hand, eternally mid-sentence.

The Bible almost always describes romantic love from a male perspective. What I mean by this statement is that we read things like Isaac loved Rebecca (Genesis 24:67), Jacob loved Rachel (Genesis 29:18), and Samson loved Delilah (Judges 16:4) throughout the Bible. However, you will be hard pressed to find it written the other way — a woman who is “love-stoned” for a certain man. Nevertheless, this is precisely how Michal was in regards to David.

On a random Sunday night in March, in an act of spontaneous boredom, I decided to go see Project Hail Mary without knowing much about it at all. I went in expecting to be entertained for a few hours, leave, and continue on with my life. Instead, here I am a month later, halfway through the book, a folder full of saves on TikTok, and painstakingly recreating Project Hail Mary characters in Tomodachi Life. (Plus my roommate making fun of me by recreating the book for my mii in the game).

Reformed Christian writers have long reflected on what it means to hold office in institutions, including government institutions, beginning with John Calvin and his writing on magistrates. Officeholders bear obligations rooted not in personal ambition but in the nature of the position itself — preserving the integrity of the institution they serve and advancing the common good through its legitimate means. Focusing on the requirements of office both elevates and limits Christian involvement.

In ML 326, Restorative Justice and Communities of Reconciliation, Dr. Cioffi asked my cohort to imagine that genuinely ethical Marxists achieved absolute political power. I replied that those ethical Marxists would promptly die at the hands of unethical Marxists, as usual. He concurred sadly, then moved on. Yet Marxism still holds strong appeal, despite an eight-figure body count and a legacy of economic devastation. What, exactly, keeps pulling Marxism out of the dustbin of history?

Roy Blackmon, a former Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI) student, was imprisoned in 1999 for a crime he did not commit. Exactly 27 years later to the date, Blackmon was exonerated on March 31, 2026. Blackmon, in rebuilding the life that was stolen from him, will continue his education at Calvin’s Knollcrest campus in the fall. Wrongful conviction and faith “Can you just imagine somebody coming right, rushing into the Chimes office, putting you in handcuffs and taking you to jail?

Rarely a day goes by where I do not remember watching President Greg Elzinga himself say, out loud, to a crowd of various student leaders and a Dutch princess, that he used Gemini’s Copilot to generate a part of his speech. A flood of emotions washed through me that I am continuing to grapple with: I felt angry, disappointed, hurt and cheated. I wanted to hear what the president had to say, not what Copilot had to say. I could have asked Copilot myself.

Editor’s Note: While this article does involve internal reporting, the editorial staff of Chimes discerned the importance of the Calvin Community being made aware of some of the behind-the-scenes challenges faced by student publications, including Chimes. Steps have been taken to ensure the journalistic integrity of the piece has been upheld.