News

Furman is known for its celebration and encouragement of diverse experiences. Since 2009, the Office of Undergraduate Research and Internships has set aside a day, known as Furman Engaged, to admire and reflect on such experiences of the student body.

Six faculty members will also conclude their professorships and begin the retired life this May. The professors are retiring for diverse reasons, but the main consensus is that they are ready to see what lies beyond the Furman gates.

The number of Cultural Life Program events a student attends in any given semester affects their priority for choosing classes for the following term and more importantly is a requirement for graduation. While many students find it easy to meet the 32 CLP event attendance requirement, there are many others who struggle to get every single credit before walking out of Furman’s gates for the last time.

Dr. Carl Kohrt had already retired twice when he agreed to become Furman’s interim president last spring, and with Dr. Elizabeth Davis set to assume the presidency this summer, the former businessman from the class of 1965 is preparing to hang up his hat once more.

Instead of worrying about the usual exams, papers, and lack of sleep, the junior class’s biggest concern this week was entering Furman’s housing lottery in hopes of ensuring a spot in the North Village apartments for the upcoming semester.

Earlier this semester, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty John Beckford announced that Academic Affairs would seek to reduce its share of the university’s budget deficit through a net reduction in the size of the faculty, a move that some at Furman have feared will lead to larger class sizes.

The Furman Band premiered their final performance for the year with the presentation of their spring concert this past Friday. Both the Symphonic and Wind Ensembles performed pieces by the world famous composer David Maslanka.

Acclaimed Harvard physicist Lisa Randall will address Furman students April 10 to kick off Furman Engaged!, the university’s annual celebration of liberal arts research and the work students invest into answering questions within their respective academic disciplines.

Technology is responsible for affecting the ways professors at Furman and around the country publish their work, whether their work is peer-reviewed or published on non-traditional platforms such as blogs and newspapers.

On the first of next month, students who drive downtown while texting or talking on their phone could see flashing blue lights in their rear view mirrors.

Brooks Buffington, a Furman alumnus and one of the creators of Yik-Yak, showed his true colors — clearly not a DC Comics guy — when he nearly quoted Ben Parker in an interview with CNN, defending his app from allegations that it makes cyber bullying far too easy.

The Furman Creative Collaborative hosted its second TEDx event last Saturday titled “Stories: the Common Thread of our Humanity.” The event was held at the Peace Center in Greenville and served to explain the universality of stories throughout cultural and historical contexts.

The article “Students Developing Mobile App to Consolidate University Resources,” published in the February 25 issue of The Paladin, incorrectly stated that the Furman Student Mobile App would allow students to access and navigate Outlook email.

Furman will once again play host to prominent world leaders this week, bringing in current and former international ambassadors for a two-day international symposium titled “Japan in the 21st Century.”

The Student Government Association recently held student body elections to select four new peers to lead for the 2014-15 school year. As SGA prepares to bid farewell to the current leadership, The Paladin recently asked the incoming officers to introduce themselves and give a sneak preview into their plans for the year ahead.

A new project at Furman is taking a novel approach to helping students address issues surrounding body image, combining research and peer discussion to counter negative social expectations about beauty and appearances.

Construction on a new sidewalk connecting the Vinings to campus will begin in May and will be completed by the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.

According to data from the Admission Office, the university received 23% fewer applications from prospective students this year from last year, a decrease that will likely increase the acceptance rate for the incoming class of 2018.

Under the leadership of members of the Furman Creative Collaborative, Furman University will soon be hosting its second TED conference, called TEDx because the conference is independently organized, on March 22.

Sex — many college students explore it during their four years as an undergraduate, from romantic relationships to studying questions about sexuality in their courses. But one group at Furman is betting that at least some students have lingering questions about the facts of life, perhaps ones that went undiscussed in their high school sexual education class.

A fuzzy line lies between reality and fiction. Furman’s new Film Club is set to begin filming a new reality show, and though the production will not follow the genre format typical of reality shows, the content, which originated from stories gathered from Furman students last semester, will illuminate student’s lives — with some creative license — going beyond the student face presented at chapter meetings, classes, organization meetings, sports, and other extracurriculars.

Students Weston Catron and Nick Holt are making plans to change the chaos with a new mobile device app that aims to improve student access to course syllabi, academic calendars, Outlook email, and other university resources, consolidating data and resources into a single tool.

Housing and Residence Life spent February interviewing and selecting next year’s hall staff members, a team of 115 students. The application process for these positions is competitive, and it is always unclear how many spots will be open for the next school year, as current RA and FRADs often make the choice to try and return to their positions.

The Presidential Search Committee and Board of Trustees announced last week that they had unanimously selected Dr. Elizabeth Davis, a longtime professor and administrator at Baylor University, to serve as the 12th President of Furman University, making her the first female president in the university’s more than 187-year history.

On July 1, 2014, after the completion of the spring season, Furman University will disband the men’s golf team, ending a more than 80 year athletic program that has won 13 Southern Conference titles during its history.