The Waltonian

As fall is now upon us, I thought there was no better time to talk about a fantastic water sport. I played this game during my time in Boy Scouts, so I have first-hand experience of greased watermelon. Greased watermelon is a game played in the water with teams where you try to get a – surprise surprise – greased watermelon into the opposing team’s goal. The watermelon cannot be lifted above the water surface.

You might think that this sounds rather similar to water polo. However, as we all know, playing sports with fruits makes them 300% more fun, and playing sports with slippery things is 175% more enjoyable, so greased watermelon is 475% more fun than water polo.

One of the great things about this game is its simplicity. You don’t need some fancy balls or gadgets, or a rulebook the size of Les Miserables. You just need a melon, grease (e.g., sunscreen, leftover butter, Crisco, etc.), and a nice body of water. For the price of one melon and some slippery stuff, we could have a greased watermelon tournament at Eastern! And we are having perfect weather for it too: you can play in the pond, then get a doctor’s note to miss class for hypothermia.

Having played this game before, I can attest that it is indeed fun. The difficulty of holding onto the melon adds a layer of chaos and excitement. As far as I can remember, there were also no injuries. The best part was this: after we finished the game, we broke the watermelon and ate it.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any sort of community dedicated to this sport, as a Google search yielded sparse results. It seems to have only a meager player base, and there are no world championships of the like. It is moments like this that make me truly ashamed of the human race. Will no one take up the mantle, and be a missionary for greased watermelon? Imagine an Olympics where such a simple yet sophisticated game was played, wowing audiences and convincing young boys and girls that they too can be a champion greased watermelon player.

We here at Eastern have the ability and the responsibility to rescue such elegant sports from the depths of obscurity. Is there anything better to do on a brisk autumn day than to play Greased Watermelon with your friends? I didn’t think so. Dust off your bathing suits, clear your schedule, pick a pond, avoid security and inject some fruity fun into your life.

Cars are a ubiquitous miracle of the modern age that we often take for granted. They make our lives so convenient that it is hard to imagine doing many day-to-day activities without the ability to quickly move from one place to another. There is a massive community of car enthusiasts, and it is easy to see why: they are truly wonderful and revolutionary machines. Like many of our possessions, cars often have stories connected to them, or quirks that give them their own identity.

My car, which I have fondly named Bessie, is a 2005 GMC Yukon. It was previously owned by close family friends, who sold it to my parents, who eventually bequeathed it to me. It is the car I learned to drive in, and now it is with me at college.

Bessie is a seven-person van (nine if you put someone in between the two middle seats and someone in the trunk… don’t worry, I have definitely never done this) with the turning radius, and gas mileage, of a small tank. When I inevitably drive all the way down to the end of an Eastern parking lot and can’t find a spot, I have to make an elegant 20-point U-turn to get out. As for actually turning into a parking spot, it is a coin flip as to whether I can fit between the lines on the first try, or have to pull out and try again… and again. And, in case you’re wondering, that is not a skill issue, despite what my friends may say.

But Bessie’s oddities are not limited to its size. Pumping gas is a long process, as filling up the tank too quickly causes the gasoline to spurt back out of the car, often onto my clothes or shoes. It probably takes me around a minute per gallon. The back right window does not roll down. Occasionally, the AC will emit white gas that I hope is just a byproduct of it recently being recharged. There is no bluetooth, and the CD player is broken, so I use my own speaker placed in the center console to play music. During the summer, the constant flashing of the “Engine Coolant Hot,” warning necessitated me having a container of coolant in the car at all times. There are also other mysterious warnings that are constantly showing up; they probably aren’t a big deal though.

The many dings and scrapes to the paint job tell of a life well lived (and don’t represent anything about my driving). And, of course, there are the strange noises that accompany any old car. Squeaks, screeches, squeals and weird clicking–the sounds of a much loved vehicle. Bessie makes me think of an old cow: slow, lumbering, a little worn by time but still doggedly pushing on. But my car has its advantages. Its large size allows for me to drive most of my friends to and from places, and it has great suspension, which comes in handy when driving over speed bumps at 30 miles per hour.

My car has so many memories connected with it, from being driven to high school by my parents, to going to church, to late-night Wawa runs, to unofficial karaoke sessions with my friends. It has been the setting for joy, anger, laughter, crying, deep conversations and so much more. Many of my favorite moments from college have occurred while in the car. There is nothing quite like bonding with the person sitting shotgun while en route to run errands. I love Bessie, despite all its odd quirks. I personally have only owned it since the summer, but it already has sentimental value for me. It has been a companion from high school until now, and I hope it will continue to serve me well for years to come.

Over the summer, I ran across a fascinating article by writer Rob Henderson called “Victim Signaling and Dark Triad Personality Traits.” In this article, Dr. Henderson discusses a study which found that people who score highly in Dark Triad personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) are more likely to speak and act in ways that made them seem like victims (also known as “victim signaling”), whereas those who score highly in Honesty-Humility personality traits were far less likely to. The research also found that victim signalers were more likely to cheat in a coin-flip game.

I highly recommend you read the whole article, but, in summary, Dr. Henderson argues that, “The inverse relationship between Honesty-Humility and victim signaling suggests that victim signalers may be greedier, less honest, and more exploitative than those who do not signal victimhood.”

This article acted as a very sobering warning to me. The modern era in general and Christianity in particular has a massive emphasis on caring for the poor, needy and victimized. This is a good thing; however, it leaves us vulnerable to manipulation by Dark Triad personalities, who are likely to act victimized in order to receive status and favors. As may be expected, Dark Triad types are attention seekers, but can often come across as likable (see “Dark Triad” in Psychology Today). Research has shown that women find that a man is more attractive if he has Dark Triad traits (Henderson talks about this in his article).

It is worth noting that Dark personality traits exist on a scale, and that I am convinced that it is perfectly possible for someone who scores highly on the Dark Triad to choose to be a good, kind and honest person. However, just as some people have a disposition towards alcohol abuse, there exist people who are disposed towards manipulation, and are quite good at it.

I think most of us want to believe that people are fundamentally good and honest. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The existence of victim signalers presents a conundrum: how do we properly distinguish between those who have been truly victimized, and those who are only pretending? The research implies that those who are attention seeking and narcissistic are more likely to receive the “benefits” of being a victim (i.e., favors, social status and resources) than those who are honest, for the simple fact that those who score highly on Dark Triad traits are more likely to practice victim signaling. Now, obviously, someone who has Dark Triad personality traits can be legitimately victimized; however, they are more likely to either exaggerate or simply lie, and, in doing so, they can pull resources away from those who genuinely need them.

There is a strain of Christianity that says, whenever someone asks you for something, you should give it to them. However, in this world resources are limited, and giving victim signalers what they want creates incentives for them to keep demanding more and more in “compensation” for their “suffering.” It also teaches people to never try to move on from their suffering and victimization; if you can get anything you want just by claiming victim status, why would you ever stop? There are simply too many real victims in the world for us to waste our energy on those who are merely pretending. There is no use giving to the needy if those we give to are not, in fact, needy.

Hamlet is a work that stands tall, even among the many legendary plays of Shakespeare. It is a tale of revenge, madness, love, betrayal, life and death that has captivated many since its release in the early 17th century. This semester, the (arguably) most renowned work of the English language’s greatest playwright is being performed here at Eastern University.

I had the great pleasure to speak to the director of this production, Anna Rebmann. Rebmann summarizes the play in this way: “‘Hamlet’ is about a young man trying to do the right thing with all kinds of obstacles in his way, including even the obstacle of his own heart. When his father gives him the challenge of achieving justice … Hamlet basically shows that how you pursue your objective matters as much as what the objective is … along the way, it becomes more about revenge than justice.

“‘Hamlet’ is a wonderful example of Shakespeare’s work; it has all of his tragic elements, mistaken identity, and a central character who is relatable but flawed. It has some really wonderful comedy in it.” Ms. Rebmann says that it is a wonderful play to put on at a college because “it has so many wonderful supporting characters [that provide] great opportunities for college students to get some extra acting experience and to shine in their roles … We have a really amazing team of student actors, and I really love watching student actors grow into the parts.”

The cast for the upcoming production stars Amari Dickerson as Hamlet, Caroline Herrick as Ophelia, Ethan Goondewardene as Claudius and Hamlet Sr, Payge Shaw as Gertrude, Aniya Sanchez as Polonius, Richie Izzo as Laertes, Megan Odland as Rosencrantz, Morgan Fitch as Guildenstern, Caroline Herring as Horatio and a host of other talent in the ensemble and stage management. Being among the amazing actors for this show, I have been genuinely impressed by their abilities and growth, even with just a few weeks of rehearsal under our belts.

Ms. Rebmann’s directorial style and vision will undoubtedly shine through the finished product. Rebmann told me, “I fell in love with telling stories when I was around seven … When I was about eleven, I saw a production of ‘Hamlet’ come through, and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, adults do this for a job. I want this job.’ I went to college to study theatre, went to grad school to study acting, after grad school I continued to act and do stage combat choreography, and I also started to do more directing. I actually assistant directed ‘Hamlet’ for a professional company in Maryland some years ago.”

This will not be a simple, low-effort production of “Hamlet.” Director Rebmann has taken the effort to add some new ideas and elements to her interpretation of the play, most notably, placing it in a modern setting, and the addition of “living statues.” These statues of Hamlet’s ancestors “visually represent his emotions and inner turmoil during his monologues. They gradually leave him during the course of the show as Hamlet departs the honorable pattern they set,” according to Rebmann.

Ms. Rebmann concluded our interview by saying, “Come see the show. It’s a very nippy adaptation. If you do all of the text of ‘Hamlet,’ it runs three and a half hours … but we’ve cut it down to under two hours… The language is beautiful, and it’s always a delight to be in a space with other people for a live performance. So, treat yourself, and come see a show.” The show will be performed on November 10- 11 at 7 p.m, and on November 12 at 2 p.m. I know that I, for one, am looking forward to it.

I have now been writing for the Waltonian for several semesters, and, like most other people, am a regular consumer of various journalistic outlets. I truly love working for the Waltonian, and appreciate a lot of the work my fellow writers are doing here. With that in mind, throughout the past few years I have begun to notice several persistent problems within journalism that I believe should be discussed. Journalism, like any other profession, has the possibility of being done poorly, and what makes it all the more dangerous is that it heavily influences how people like myself see the world. In this article, I want to mostly focus on some of the pitfalls of news reporting.

One of the unavoidable parts of being human is bias. No matter how hard we try, we will always see the world in a subjective manner, colored by our experiences and opinions. That can be especially clear in journalism. Though many journalists try to just “present the facts,” even what facts they choose to present is an indication of bias. It is somewhat inevitable– in any news story, it is impossible to give every single detail about a specific incident. This can become a major problem, though, when we ignore facts that are inconvenient to our worldview. Sometimes, even before all of the facts come out about a specific incident, we rush to our own conclusions.

A prevalent example is the 2019 case of Jussie Smollet– the African-American actor claimed to have been assaulted by men shouting slurs and “MAGA country.” Prominent celebrities and news outlets rushed to express their horror and sympathy– and then, a few months later, it turned out Smollet had made up the entire incident.

This is not to say that similar assaults have never actually happened– however, in this case, many people allowed their preconceived opinions to inform how they reported about the Smollet case before all the facts emerged (a textbook example of confirmation bias). Our worldviews are all well and good, but they can not be allowed to trump facts. Individual events in our world are not archetypal and representative of every single incident of a similar type.

A similar pitfall is selective reporting. It is impossible, especially for a school newspaper, to report on every single major news event. However, there were occasions where I thought I detected a major bias in our paper. The Waltonian is demonstratively not opposed to reporting on shootings, but there were two major shootings that they did not report on, even when I volunteered to write the articles– the Covenant School shooting, and the murder of Temple University Police Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald. Both events were major news stories, but the Waltonian actively refused to report on the Covenant incident, despite it being a major tragedy involving our fellow Christian brothers and sisters, and they never got back to me when I requested to write about Fitzgerald’s murder.

I want to reiterate: no news outlet can report everything, and this is not meant to be a personal attack on the Waltonian, or anyone running it. However, I do want to suggest that it is very easy for us to avoid talking about events that would force us to reconsider our views about the world. The Waltonian, CNN, BBC, and Time Magazine all reported on the murder of Tyre Nichols, an event where police officers behaved disgracefully– yet, none of those same outlets reported on Christopher Fitzgerald’s murder, who was responding to reports of a robbery when he was shot. Some people believe cops can do no wrong– that is false. But it is equally false to believe that cops can do no right.

Journalism as a field wields great power and responsibility because we rely on it to tell us about events in our world that we have not personally experienced. If I misrepresent those events, it causes them to be misrepresented in the minds of everyone who reads what I write. Even if I am perfectly honest in my journalistic enterprises, however, there remains one more pitfall. What Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matthew 23:4 can very easily apply to us: “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” Knowledge is a burden, and far too often we lay it on others instead of grappling with it ourselves. Especially when journalism intersects with activism, hypocrisy can be a pervasive issue.

How many journalists or activists who write about, say, shootings, actually take active steps to try to make the issue better– ie, learn first aid, interview law enforcement on how to best respond to such events or take defensive measures in their own lives and teach others to do the same? Merely reporting on shootings doesn’t lower the danger they present– in fact, it often exacerbates the problem because the reports can inspire copycat events. Talking about something is not the same as doing something about it. Being a rabble rouser is not the same as being brave.

The work that journalists do is important– and that is why it is so fraught with danger. There are probably many, many more pitfalls than the ones I have discussed here. Doing well in any field takes hard work, discipline and humility. Remember– there are things you are wrong about. Honesty is more important than protecting your personal worldview. What you say and do has consequences. You have a responsibility to act in a manner pleasing to God and loving to your neighbor.

God bless you.

Sources: 6ABC, CBS

By: Daniel Finegan

In most sports movies, you don’t need to be told when something good happens. Most viewers are familiar with the visual language of a football player running down a field or a baseball player swinging his bat. “Touchdown” and “home run” are phrases that we not only know, but have incorporated into our everyday vocabulary. You could tell a friend that you “knocked an essay out of the park” and you’d get an encouraging smile.

But the language of roller derby is so obscure, even finding an example of it for this article proved challenging. Roller derby as a sport is not familiar to mainstream audiences. This is the challenge that “Whip It” (2009) faces. This movie, starring familiar faces such as Elliot Page, Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wig, must communicate to the audience what elements are important without getting bogged down in explanation.

The first flash of exposition is delivered from the perspective of an audience member, through the sports announcer character Johnny Rocket, played by Jimmy Fallon, as visual details are flashed across the screen. In roller derby, the points are scored by a player called the jammer, who wears a helmet with a star on it. This is the only key piece of information the audience is given during the first match.

The second layer of exposition follows as the main character, Bliss, learns the rules at tryouts for the local league. This is delivered through the coach, played by Andrew Wilson. The heavy contact nature of the sport is emphasized. The audience is shown fall after fall, as well as contact between players.

If the layman knows anything about roller derby, it’s that it can get aggressive. The culture of roller derby is also introduced, as the audience is shown characters greeting each other by their “derby names,” a tough-sounding, usually pun-ridden alias each player goes by. Bliss eventually adopts “Babe Ruthless” as her derby name.

As tryouts begin, a montage of skating, falling and getting back up again is shown. This is where we are given a piece of information the audience is sure to understand: a stopwatch. As the main character makes a lap around the track, the coach calls out a time that is six seconds shorter than the previous skater’s time. Even those unfamiliar with roller derby understand that a faster time is better.

When Bliss makes the team, she begins practicing. These drills are true to life. In both roller derby and life, you spend a lot of time weaving in and out of cones.

The second match of the movie makes use of the most classic visual image in sports media: the scoreboard. Once again, any audience knows what numbers mean, so the balance of the game is presented quickly and succinctly as montage-style rounds of play give life and action to the score.

As with any Hollywood dramatization, “Whip It” leaves out many important details and exaggerates others. The most deemphasized aspect of roller derby in this movie was also the one that has the most potential to kill a dramatic impact: concern for safety.

When I joined a junior roller derby league in high school, I spent the first two weeks learning how to fall safely. I also learned about the extensive gear required: mouthguard, wrist guards, knee pads, elbow pads and, of course, a helmet. All this gear is shown in the film, and a moment occurs when Bliss’s teammate gifts her a mouthguard with the comment, “safety is sexy,” but on the whole, the danger of roller derby is emphasized and the concern for safety, is de-emphasized.

In all, the movie’s composition did justice to the sport. It’s electric and chock-full of action, passion and sisterhood. “Whip It” was the reason I started playing, and revisiting it made me want to throw on a pair of skates again. No matter how a sports movie chooses to depict its sport, the best thing a sports movie can do is to inspire a love of the game.

I find it very ironic that the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. A day dedicated to gratitude is followed by a day that is all about buying more stuff; a day about thanks followed by a day about greed. I would like to talk about gratitude. We are very ungrateful people, and teenagers and young adults (including myself) tend to not realize how blessed they really are. I tend to get caught up in my own head, envious of others and blind to the wonderful things all around me.

Something I hear very often is complaints about “the rich” in our country. We ignore the fact that, compared to world history, we are staggeringly rich. The fact that you and I are at college right now attests to our bountiful wealth. Sixty years ago, only 7.7% of Americans over the age of 25 had graduated from college. In 2020, the statistic was 37.9%. Not only that, but we live in the richest time in known history. In 1960, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the entire world was $1.39 trillion (in current U.S. dollars). Today, it is $96.1 trillion. In church a few weeks ago, a visiting bishop preached about the story of the rich man and Lazarus. He said this: “We are the rich man in that story.”

Indeed, our standards of living today are such that phones, the internet, and cars are requirements for modern life. These pieces of technology did not even exist until recently, and now they are almost universal in our lives. Air conditioning was invented near the start of the 20th century. As the Department of Energy points out, “Once considered a luxury, this invention is now an essential.” A vast majority of American households own televisions. Many things that were once considered luxuries are now commonplace.

When it comes to disease, too, we are so far advanced beyond our predecessors. Cystic fibrosis was discovered in the 1930s. The life expectancy for an infant with the disease was 6 months. Modern treatment has raised the average life expectancy to over 30 years. Smallpox used to kill millions every year. Now, it survives only in laboratories. For myself, when I was younger I had appendicitis. If I had lived a few centuries earlier, it is quite possible I would have died from the condition. Instead, because of the wonders of surgery, I am alive. Many of my family have had serious health conditions over the years, but, thanks to the blessings of modern medicine, they are alive and well today.

I’m not encouraging apathy about genuine difficulties and problems in the world. What I am trying to do is encourage gratitude. Yes, there is injustice; yes, there is inequality; yes, there is poverty in this world. But we are so blessed in ways that most of us fail to acknowledge. I personally am so blessed in countless ways. What if we spent more time being thankful for all that we have, instead of being envious of the things we don’t have?

Sources: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Energy, American Museum of Natural History, Statista, The World Bank

By: Daniel Finegan

I have been exceptionally lucky in that my parents did not allow me to have social media in high school. Now that I am older, I have made that decision for myself and have never regretted it. Many of my generation have not had the same fortune. All around me, I see my peers addicted to their phones. Often, when I am with my friends, those whom I love and want to spend time with, they pull out their phones and start mindlessly scrolling through social media. I do not think people mean this purposefully, but it gives the impression that the lit up screen (often pressed just inches from their face) is more important than the real people around them.

Excessive use of social media is not just like an addiction, it is a quite literal addiction. Social media use causes the release of dopamine in the brain, a chemical that motivates us to seek pleasure. After we finish the activity causing the dopamine release, the body hits a dopamine low to compensate for the high. What’s worse, the more one uses social media to achieve this dopamine hit, the less intense the high, but the more dependent we become upon the stimuli to function.

As neurology researcher Dr. Adam Gazzaley of the University of California, San Francisco points out, “The prefrontal cortex, this area of the brain that is involved in our cognitive control, our ability to process and direct our attention based on our goals, is the last part of our brain to develop.” This area of the brain is not fully developed until our late twenties, which means that children and teenagers find it especially difficult to control their impulses, such as binging on social media. Of course, it is not only a problem for youth: according to one report, people spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on their phones. How many of us can honestly say that we are not addicted?

Overindulgence in screen time is linked to depression and anxiety. This is certainly true for me; after a few hours of staring at my phone, I feel lethargic, stressed and unmotivated. Correlation does not necessarily mean causation, but over the past decade, as social media has become more prevalent, rates of suicide and self-harm have risen.

It can feel like we need social media; without it, how can we keep up with our friends? But here is a great irony: social media inhibits our ability to interact with our friends. I am in college, surrounded by wonderful people, and yet all I can do is stare at my phone. Those 4.8 hours a day we spend on our phones could be spent with real, complex, beautiful people, instead of celebrities or the carefully curated and edited images that people present of themselves. It gives us the impression of a connection between people, but it is a false connection that makes us anxious.

Social media does offer advantages, such as the ability to connect with people who live far away. However, the costs greatly outweigh the benefits. Many of us are willing to admit all of these downsides, yet how many of us are willing to change our behavior in light of this knowledge? It is hard to break a social media addiction. It takes willpower and self-control, abilities teenagers are notoriously bad at. We have a choice in front of us: succumb to the addiction, or fight it.

Most of you reading this article probably feel galvanized against social media right now–and in a few minutes, you will be back scrolling through the app that has become your god. There is no shortage of people who are willing to talk about the problem, but how many are willing to make the hard sacrifices it takes to make things better? I want to challenge you to resist. As Dylan Thomas wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Rage, rage against the dying of the light in your eyes.

Sources: All Poetry, BBC, The Guardian, The Social Dilemma, Psychology Today

By: Daniel Finegan

Who am I? It is a question that we spend our lives trying to answer. We grasp for identity wherever we can find it, whether it be in our jobs, our hobbies, our countries, our political affiliations, our families, our cultures etc. These are certainly all aspects of who we are, but they do not fully define us. When someone thinks of me, I want them to think of me as who I am, not necessarily as the sum of my interests or opinions. So: who am I?

There are parts of your identity that you have no control over, even if they are part of who you are. You cannot change where you were born, and you cannot change your genes. These are essential aspects of your identity, but they are not up to you. Perhaps the only thing in life you have full control over is your choices. I cannot and should not worry about the things that I cannot change; instead, I should focus my attention on what I can change.

Am I an American by birth? That is something I cannot change, because I was born here. But the content of my character is something I can change through my actions. I am what I do, whether that be in thought, word or deed. Am I a generous person? If so, that is who I am. Am I a greedy person? If so, that is who I am. What you do is the most important part of who you are, the good and the bad.

My actions and words show what is in my heart, but they can also change my heart. If I claim to be a loving person, yet hate those around me, I am a hateful, and deceitful person. But, if I practice love, I will become a loving person. C.S. Lewis says, “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

I must acknowledge my vices in order to overcome them; self-deception is immensely dangerous because it greatly inhibits our ability to become better people. Do not surround yourself with people who flatter you. Find those who will challenge you to be better.

Our vices are part of who we are; our human nature is fallen and inclined towards sin. We should not glory in our evil, but instead, utterly destroy it in ourselves before it destroys us. I cannot hope that who I am will save me: I need to look no farther than a mirror to find my worst enemy. I am meant to be so much more than I am right now.

I was made in the image of God to do good, and yet here I am, fallen so far. Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a very famous quote that eloquently speaks to who we are meant to be: “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” When Christ calls me, He calls me to die to my former self. What does it mean to die to myself? Galatians 2:20 states “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” If I am to become the man that I ought to be, who I am now must die. But it is only through dying in Christ that we start to become who we are truly meant to be. Josef Pieper said it well: “We are not yet what we already are.”

By: Daniel Finegan

Source: Eastern.edu/ While Eastern’s campus has seen many additions, a lot of old features and buildings remain

Different people have very different stories about applying to college. For me, I knew almost from the beginning of my application process that I wanted to go to Eastern University. My time here so far has only reinforced my belief that I made the right decision. As I walked through my first few months of college, I also began to discover the rich and beautiful history of the college.

Eastern began as Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1925 in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. The board of trustees established a “Collegiate Department” seven years later to provide an undergraduate program for students who needed it. In 1938, it began offering a Bachelor of Arts degree; soon afterward it moved from Rittenhouse Square to a new campus in Overbrook, Pennsylvania. Between 1951 and 1952, the Collegiate Department separated from the seminary and was renamed Eastern Baptist College. It moved to a new 42-acre campus in St. David’s, the estate of Charles Walton.

Charles Walton was a wealthy leather tanner and church elder. After suffering a heart attack, he decided to build a country estate to escape the demands of his office work. His estate (“Walmarthon”) was finished in 1913, and Walton died three years later. Shane Albertson, an admissions counselor at the St. David’s campus, said, “Some of the buildings [from Walton’s original estate] still remain but the purpose has changed. The Mall Cottage was once a greenhouse. Andrews Hall was Walton’s garage where he kept his cars as well as his horse stable!” Additionally, the prayer chapel in Walton Hall was once a billiard room. The waterwheel (by the path that leads from Olson Field to Doane Hall) was used for Walton’s leather tanning business and is one of the few working waterwheels in the country. Willow Lake (behind Walton Hall) was originally a swimming pool.

During the first semester of Eastern Baptist College, there were a mere 47 students. Originally, male students lived in what is now called Guffin Hall, and female students lived in Doane Hall. Both residence halls were acquired with the purchase of neighboring estates. The college continued to expand and grow throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Former U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower made contributions to the building of the Warner Library, which was completed in 1964. In 1981, an MBA program was approved, marking the first graduate program of the college. The distinctive eagle in front of Walton Hall is a Wanamaker eagle, donated to the college by Hecht’s Department Store in 1995. After eight years of fundraising, the Bradstreet Observatory was built in 1996. Eastern College became a university in 2001. And in 2003, the university came full circle by acquiring Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which was renamed Palmer Theological Seminary.

The institution today known as Eastern University started from humble beginnings but has steadily grown into the wonderful campus we know today. 2025 will mark the 100th anniversary of Eastern, and we’re sure many more features will be added to our history book as we continue to grow.

Sources: Eastern University Website, More Than Knowledge by John Baird, Great House by John Baird, Senator Mastriano Website, ABC News, People Magazine