Uncategorized

New Chess Club at Lynchburg

Camille Waits ~ Guest Writer

A newly organized chess club at the University of Lynchburg hosted its second meeting for members to play games of chess on Tuesday, March 21. 

Ben Myers, founder of the chess club said, “We believe that the club is important for students because it provides a place for them to connect with each other over a shared interest, and allows them to see what it is like to play the game of chess in a community setting.”

The chess club is open to all students, and 24 new members joined to play opponents and  cement new friendships.

Chess players of all skill levels are welcome. Myers stated, “You need to know absolutely nothing about chess to join the club. There are many of us who are members of the club who would be more than happy to teach you how to play.”

Inclusivity is a main message of the chess club, Myers adds. “Our goal is to create an environment where people feel welcome and can experience the game of chess, no matter what kind of skill level they are at. We believe that playing chess is an incredible skill that can help in many aspects of life, and we want people to be able to have a place where they are able to do that,” he said. 

(more…)

Welcome Editors Note

Dear Hornet Community, 

The Critograph staff is excited to kick off a new semester of the newspaper and share both local and national news with our community. 

We will be posting the first issue of the semester next Wednesday, Feb. 1 and will continue with the normal posting schedule afterwards. 

We are looking forward to rounding out this school year with the Critograph and telling all of your stories. 

Wishing you a wonderful semester, 

Alyssa Wilson 

Editor-in-Chief 

Sweet Briar Professor Joins University of Lynchburg

By Emily Brubaker ~ Guest Writer

 Professor Sandy Glass 

Professor Sandy Glass joins the College of Business faculty at Lynchburg as the newest professor in accounting and finance.

Glass has an MBA from the University of Lynchburg and brings experience from private industry and academia.

She is currently completing her doctorate at Liberty University. 

: Sweet Briar Professor Joins University of Lynchburg (more…)

Lynchburg is back to the pre-covid Winter Break schedule 

As the holiday season approaches, so does a long awaited break for the University of Lynchburg students. This year’s break looks a little different than it has the past two years. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lynchburg, along with many other schools across the country, ended the fall semester before Thanksgiving and gave the students their holiday break through the New Year. In 2021, for example, exams finished up Nov. 23rd and students did not return to campus until Jan. 24th. 

This year, like pre-pandemic years, students will get a week off for Thanksgiving then have to return back to school for two weeks to finish up classes and take their final exams.

(more…)

Women’s Soccer Won ODAC’s Title, Lost in NCAA Tournament

By Caroline Gilmore – Marketing Manager

Photo retrieved from Lynchburg Sports

On Sunday, November 6, the University of Lynchburg Women’s Soccer team won their 17th Old Dominion Athletic Conference title after three overtimes and finally a victory in penalty kicks between the Hornets and their opponents, the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins.

Megan Dee ’23, scored the team’s first and only goal in the second half, briefly putting Lynchburg in the lead until Virginia Wesleyan tied it up in the 79th minute, leading to the penalty kick tiebreaker.

Goalkeeper Jade Lecklider ’24, played relentlessly, blocking four shots on the goal made by the Marlins.

After the game, Emily Santana ’23, received the honor of being the tournament’s most outstanding performer, with Lecklider, Haleigh Casey ’25, and Sophie Walsh ’23 joining her on the all-tournament team.

Once the tournament had concluded, seven Lynchburg Hornets received postseason awards through all-conference team honors.

(more…)

Response to the Letter to the Editor

Dear Megan, 

Thank you for reading The Critograph and for reaching out to the staff with your concerns. Without expression from the student body, we as a newspaper are unable to continue growing forward and set a precedent and reputation of what the Critograph represents. Here at the Critograph we believe that all students – regardless of their faith or lack thereof – should be able to express what they believe in and share those beliefs freely with the student body. 

Throughout its existence, the Critograph has been a space for any and all students to write about their faith. This includes a Wiccan column that has been active with the Critograph for several years. We work to make sure that articles are still inclusive and never work to harm the lives or wellbeing of others. In fact, we open the newspaper and welcome students of other faith practices to write about what they believe in as well. 

Before being posted, articles of all kinds go through multiple people to be edited and approved. Just like you, the editors of articles have varying views on religion and are all diverse in their own ways as well. This editing process includes the weekly Faith’s Faith article that you mentioned in your letter. Faith did not allude to harming any marginalized individuals through her article or use any harmful, aggressive language. Even after rereading the article after receiving your letter, we still found no harmful or offensive language within the article. 

However, we do agree that the University of Lynchburg should be a champion for diversity and inclusion, and as a paper we strive to uphold President Alison’s pillar of diversity by including articles about the Christian faith because that is what a student wanted to express. We understand that there are many other faith practices outside of Christianity and if students would like to write about those, they are more than welcome to. 

The Critograph is an inclusive space for all students and everyone is welcome here. We strive to promote equality and we will continue to put forth our best effort to minimize the promotion of hate on campus. We would implore you to please reread the article, and our email is always open for you to point out specifics that you found hateful in the article. 

Thank you once again for sharing your voice and your opinion with the Critograph. We welcome free speech and are open to hearing what our fellow Hornets have to say.

Thank you, 

The Critograph Editorial Team 

Letter To Editor from Megan Pickett

Dear Editor,

I am writing today to discuss my displeasure with the Critograph’s handling of recent articles.  I am specifically referring to the article titled “Faith’s Faith: David’s Trust and The Afterlife”. I am currently a student and student leader to several Spiritual Life Center student groups on campus as well as being employed full-time at the University of Lynchburg. This article is part of a group of several other articles that have been posted by the Critograph in the past year. The Spiritual Life Center staff has reached out on multiple occasions about the harm that articles like this cause to students on our campus of different faith practices yet it appears that the Critograph has done little in response. There is nothing wrong with wanting to share your faith and how you find your spiritual practice to be beautiful and comforting but when your words 1) represent the University of Lynchburg as an institution and 2) promote harmful narratives towards marginalized communities then you need to rethink how you are sharing your message. I could potentially understand if the article had an overarching theme that could be understood and related to by students regardless of their faith practice but even that is not the case here. I have a question for the Critograph, I get that you are a newspaper, but how would you feel if someone thought that you were less of a person because of your religion and then the university that is supposed to be a champion for diversity and inclusion in Lynchburg allows for it to be sent to all students.  This is something I would expect out of Liberty University and I am so disappointed that UofL is allowing it. One of President Alison’s 3 pillars of the university is Diversity and Inclusion and this includes individuals who are not Christian. I know personally that I am not the only student who found great issues with this article, many of the students in my own Spiritual Life Groups and others that I am in communication with have also expressed their disgust with the recent article. 

I want to make it clear that my issue is not that the University is posting articles about the Christian faith, my issue is with the offensive and disrespectful language used in the article and with the apparent disregard that the Critograph editors have when it comes to the inclusion of all students.

So Critograph, please do better in vetting your articles. This is not the institution for the promotion of hate.

Respectfully,

Megan Pickett

The Critograph’s New Normal

By Dr. Ghislaine Lewis ~ Advisor 

 Critograph Advisor, Dr. Ghislaine Lewis

The Critograph kicks off the 2022- 2023 school year at the University of Lynchburg with its 107th volume and its third year as a solely online publication.

I also step into my sixth year as the newspaper’s advisor and I am so excited about the multitude of stories that our staff will uncover and tell this year.

The energy across our community is electric as we embrace our new normal.

As the student voice of the University of Lynchburg, we want our storytelling to be a collaborative effort as we celebrate the university’s triumphs and highlight its challenges as we work toward equitable and inclusive solutions.

(more…)

Note from the Editor in Chief – Alyssa Wilson

Welcome to a brand new school year, Hornets!

My name is Alyssa Wilson and I am proud to serve as The Critograph’s editor-in-chief for the 107th volume of the newspaper.

I am a junior journalism major from Radford, Virginia. I love getting involved on campus and doing community service through the Bonner Leader Program.

Community and service are at the core of who I am and I am excited to cultivate that with you through our student newspaper, The Critograph. 

My goal is to create a community among our students, alumni, faculty and staff, and beyond through collaborative storytelling and engagement.

I hope you will join us each week as we seek to tell impactful stories from across our community, we will also be reviving some of our favorite columns from years gone by. 

The newsroom team and I hope you enjoy everything that the Critograph has to offer this year! 

Have a great semester, Hornets! 

Alyssa Wilson 

Men’s Soccer prepares for ODAC Tournament

By Samuel Graham ~ Guest Writer

Photo Credit: Kate Duncan/Lynchburgsports.com
Lynchburg players listen to the starting lineups being called. The Hornets will host Shenandoah in the ODAC Tournament quarterfinals this Saturday.

The Lynchburg Men’s Soccer team defeated the Eagles of Bridgewater College 6-1 on Tuesday night to secure the number two overall seed in the 2021 ODAC Men’s Soccer Tournament.

Tuesday’s win came on senior night for the Hornets and marked the seventh straight victory for the team.

“The guys have been playing well at the end of the year,” said head coach Chris Yeager. “We hope to carry this steady play into the playoffs.”

(more…)

Lynchburg Honors African American Firsts

By Dr. Ghislaine Lewis ~ Faculty Advisor

President Alison Morrison Shetlar welcomed the community to the African American Firsts lunch

As part of the Homecoming 2021, the University of Lynchburg paid tribute to several African American firsts.

The honorees included the first black students to live on campus, the first black head coach, the first black student government presidents, the first black administrator, the first black dorm mother and the first black dean. 

Those honored included Dr. Allethia Ingram ’76, MEd ’86, Mr. Bob Tate ’71, Dr. Christopher Boyd ’97, Ms. Coretta M. Jones ’73, MEd ’76, Dr. Dorothy Smith Akubue-Brice, PhD, Mr. Hilliary Scott MA ’21, Dr. Kelli Rainey ’99, Dr. Loretta Jones-Gafford ’73, Ms. Tommie McCune, and Ms. Wilhelmina Washington Johnson-Niblett ’70.

(more…)

Welcome Back to the Hive 

By The Critograph Editorial Board

As we celebrate our first homecoming since the beginning of the pandemic, the Critograph, the student voice of the University of Lynchburg, wanted to welcome you HOME with a special issue of the newspaper.

We have spent the last 18 months publishing the paper online at www.thecritograph.com and we are so stoked about having a physical issue this weekend.

Our marketing manager, Jessica Head, ’22 and our copy desk chief, Hunter Epperson,’22 have spent weeks delving into the archives with the help of librarian, Ariel Myers, and transcribing issues.

We are proud to present historic stories from issues of the newspaper spanning from the 1940’s to the 1990’s.

As we read through archival issues, we were particularly tickled by the gossip column titled, “Straight From The Squirrel’s Mouth,” by Nutsy, that we can trace back to the 1940’s.

(more…)

The Dreamer by Lana Cunningham

This poem I wrote for my children. I hope my kids never lose sight of their dreams no matter how cold the world is to them. I hope my kids always remember that I will be right there to support their dreams and always protect them to the best of my ability.

Somnium
Meī tenēte fortiter pretiosī.
Conserve vestra somnia omnibus vīribus.
Enim hīc valeō atque hīc stō.
Semper hīc meum manum tendere,

Alere omnia somnia quae tenētis. 

Et dēfendere vōs ā frigidō. 

Vōs semper amābō meōs pretiosōs. 

Quod mater vestra sum, amor meus numquam timet.

Meī tenēte fortiter pretiosī, 

Ad omne somnium in vestrīs aspectibus.  

The Dream

My dears, hang tight. Keep your dreams with all your might. For here I am and here I stand. Forever here to reach out my hand. To support every dream, you hold. To shelter you from the cold. I will forever love you my dears. For I am your mother, my love never fears. My dears hang on tight. To every dream in your sights.

No widgets found. Go to Widget page and add the widget in Offcanvas Sidebar Widget Area.