During an interview with The Crescent last fall, Provost Andrea Scott was frank about George Fox University’s (GFU) academic priorities; liberal arts programs weren’t going to make the cut. Keeping in line with Scott’s statement, the university announced a new general education plan, which included notable cuts to liberal arts programs.

Fall 2020 has been a season of change for the George Fox University (GFU) women’s soccer team. The most obvious alterations are the result of the pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the traditional soccer season, pushing the competitive season into late spring and disrupting the daily practice structure.

George Fox University (GFU), established as Friends Pacific Academy in 1885, is built on Kalapuyan land. The Crescent released the first article in this series in issue four.

George Fox University (GFU), established as Friends Pacific Academy in 1885, is built on Kalapuyan land.

This summer, Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests sprouted in metro areas all over the nation after the police killing of George Floyd. Now, protests are growing in smaller communities like Newberg, a rural, conservative, and overwhelmingly white city.

On Oct. 12, George Fox University (GFU) students received word that the Spring semester schedule had been significantly altered to mitigate COVID-19 risk. This included the extension of Christmas Break and elimination of Spring Break, which was replaced with multiple long weekends and a midweek day of rest.

At 8:30am every Saturday, when the sun is barely rising and the air is still cold the Run GFU club assembles in front of the Hadlock Student Center (HSC), chatting for a while before departing on an early morning run. Run GFU is a relatively new club, founded by seniors Keoni Lynam and Molly Carter last fall.

While the 2016 election was all about red “Make America Great Again” hats and blue Hillary Clinton buttons, this year, a new venue to express political affiliation has emerged: the mask.

On Sept. 8, smoke descended onto Newberg as the sky took on a buised color. In the following hours and far into the night, Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVF&R) issued Level Three fire warnings to Chehalem Mountain and Bald Peak residents, forcing them to evacuate as wildfires began to overtake hundreds of acres of forest.

On the George Fox University (GFU) The semester began with the removal of the elms outside of Edwards-Holman Science Center (EHS) which had contracted Dutch Elm Disease. Dutch Elm Disease is “highly contagious” and causes them to go “fairly quickly which is typical of that disease,” according to Plant Services’ superintendent of building repair and campus arborist Carl Anderson. “It’s contagious enough that it’s good practice to remove them as quick as you can.”