March 17, 2023 Vol. 98, No. 13
NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A OPINIONS . . . . . . . . . . 3&4A SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1B COMMUNITY . . . . . . . . . . 2B FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . 3B LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 4B
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Professor visits campus to speak on spiritual, economic wellness SOPHIE ROSSITTO news editor The American Studies Institute (ASI) welcomed an economics professor and author to campus March 13 to give a lecture on connections between foundational spiritual principles and economic freedom in society. Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley, who teaches economics classes at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., spoke in Benson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on the
t o p i c of “ Biblic al H u m a n Flourishing and Economic Freedom.” According to the ASI website, Bradley serves as vice president of academic affairs at The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit. She has written and coedited three books on Christian approaches to economics. Bradley has
also co-written a book called “The Political Economy of Terrorism,” which is set to come out this year. Bradley compared her definition of “flourishing” to the Hebrew word “shalom,” which describes qualities such as health, wholeness and strength. Bradley said this concept of well-being is related to God’s plan for humans in Genesis 1:27-28 when he created them in his image and instructed them to “be fruitful and multiply.” Since God has given dignity to each person, Bradley said human systems need to also extend honor and respect to everyone. “Any economic, legal, cultural system has to be grounded in universal human dignity,” Bradley said. “It is very easy for us to believe that we have dignity. It is harder for us to extend dignity to everyone else.” The sinful fall described in Genesis had an impact on the sphere of economics, Bradley said. Things in this broken world will always come at a cost, and humans will always have a scarcity of resources such as time and knowledge. Bradley said her idea of economic freedom has been influenced by the work of economist Milton Friedman, who described this type of freedom as the ability of people to leave and enter markets without being forced. Bradley said humans naturally want to act in their own interests, but these desires do not always have to result in greed and manipulation. She said one approach, which is supported by scripture, to cultivate healthy
economic relationships is to offer incentives for people to satisfy their own interests while helping others at the same time. “Biblical prosperity is mutual,” Bradley said. Junior Gauge Shaw said he is studying to become a clinical psychologist, so he liked the way Bradley focused on the idea that certain motives lead individuals to make choices. “You can apply that to a lot of situations that drive people to do things, especially make economic decisions that are going to impact millions of other people,” Shaw said. Senior Megan Drause said she appreciated the opportunity to hear Bradley present a female perspective on topics she has learned about in her classes. “I thought she had some really interesting points to make about how economy can interact with theology,” Drause said. “I’m a business major, so we talk about that a lot.” Drause said she also appreciated Bradley’s points about helping those living in poverty. The professor said people need to change the narrative about these issues and recognize the dignity of individuals who have been excluded from broad economic exchanges, instead of seeing them as people who are destined to always be poor. Bradley said college students who want to address problems such as poverty in their communities need to understand that the process of bringing change can be long, but they can collaborate with others who are working toward the same goals. “We have to be willing to get in there and really kind of walk with people to try to help them,” Bradley said. “And I think that’s hard, but I think it’s necessary.” Photo by MACY COX
Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley speaking about biblical human flourishing and economic freedom in Benson Auditorium March 3. Bradley, an economics professor from George Mason University, was the guest speaker at the second American Studies Institute Distinguished Lecture Series event of the semester.
Student Association hosts Pi Day pie bake off
MATTIE POWERS student writer The Student Association (SA) held a pie bake off March 14 in the Olen Hendrix Building to celebrate Pi Day. Students signed up in teams to face off in a challenge that took place in the Olen Hendrix kitchen. The competition started at 6:30 p.m. Five teams signed up to test their skills in the kitchen, baking a variety of pies from a derby pie all the way to a pizza pie. Teams were allowed to come to the competition with their pie crust already made, but the rest of the pie needed to be made at the bake off. One of the judges was assistant family and consumer sciences professor Megan Jones, who talked about how this competition impacts her department. “I just love that this space is being used,” Jones said. “A lot of people don’t know about it, and they walk in, and they’re just surprised, and I just love it. I mean I teach the classes that we use in here, Food Science and a class called Family Resource Management, and I just love that people are coming in and using it and doing something that I love doing: cooking.” The rest of the judges for the competition consisted of assistant professor of business
David Kee and both the male and female junior representatives from the SA, Ella Duryea and Max Guyer. Duryea talked about her favorite part of the bake off and what makes it so special for everyone involved. “My favorite part, honestly, is that I have never seen almost any of these people, but we’re all here together and like having a good time,”Duryea said. “I think food is something that brings p e o p l e together, and to get to enjoy it like with people I’ve never met before is really sweet.” One of the students competing in the competition was sophomore Ella Smith, and her team made a dark chocolate pecan pie with homemade whip cream on top. Smith described what appealed to her about this competition. “I like being with my friends doing this ‘cause usually when I’m baking it’s me by myself and all of my other friends are just doing whatever,” Smith said. “I’m just usually like, ‘I have free time; I’m just going to do this,’ but this is fun because I’m right here, and we’re literally just laughing the whole time,” Smith said. The winners of the bake off were senior Ragan Edison, sophomore Lauren McDuffie and freshman Kiersten Mahan, and their prizes were baking supplies, a box of cookies and gummy bears.
Photos provided by Lauren Simmons
(Above) Freshman Kierstan Mahan, a member of the winning bake off team, concentrates on making a pie crust in the Olen Hendrix kitchen. (Left) Mahan, senior Ragan Edison and sophomore Lauren McDuffie received an award for winning the Pi Day bake off on March 14.