Brown

Dr. Flanigan, Infectious Disease Specialist, Speaks at CU Libertas Series

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

In November, the CU Libertas’ Leadership Lecture Series featured Dr. Timothy Flanigan, a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals and Alpert Medical School of Brown University. His message was entitled “Faith, Suffering, and Practicing Medicine in the Midst of the Pandemic.”

Christian Union Event Inspires Young Leaders

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

Students with Christian Union ministries at some of the nation’s most influential universities gathered virtually last spring for a Seeking God Lifestyle Seminar. For eight evenings, attendees heard inspiring teaching on topics ranging from repentance to revival, gathered in cohorts, and sought to draw closer to the Lord.
 

CU Libertas Helps Students Plug in During Welcoming Campaign

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

One-on-one meetings over coffee, family-style dinners, and a weekly prayer breakfast—they are all on the menu as CU Libertas at Brown University continues to connect with students in the fall semester.

New Minsitry Fellow Excited About Fall Campaign

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

Sheri Casali, a new Christian Union ministry fellow, is especially passionate about discipleship. As the fall semester begins for CU Libertas, she is filled with hope and excitement when she considers the potential impact of mentoring students at such a prominent university like Brown.

CU Ministry Center Named for Brown’s 1807 Valedictorian

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

The Adoniram Judson Ministry Center is a strategic meeting place at Brown University.

Christian Union Libertas uses the facility for a wide range of events and functions, including fellowship, Bible courses, one-on-one mentoring, prayer, training, meals, and administrative work.

CU Libertas Preparing to Meet Freshmen and Sophomores

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

Matt Woodard, Christian Union’s ministry director at Brown University, is twice as excited for the upcoming Freshman Gathering Campaign at Brown University this fall.

CU Libertas Celebrates Seniors

By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer

In an exciting and encouraging end to their time in college, seniors of CU Libertas gathered in person to be celebrated and recognized by underclassmen and to get off campus for a seniors-only day retreat. Though these kinds of events are typical for the graduation season, Ministry Fellow Laurel Copp says that these were the only two in-person events the ministry formally hosted all year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Q and A with Dr. Vincent Naman

By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer

Christian Union New York has teamed up with the ministry’s alumni engagement team to connect recent graduates and young professionals to mentors who work in the same field. Part of Christian Union’s mission is to transition college seniors into the workforce or graduate school well, linking  them with a broad Christian network to support and sustain their faith while also networking professionally. 

Vergerio ’22 Will Serve Internship with Samaritan’s Purse

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

In her sophomore year at Brown, Gabrielle Vergerio ’22 stepped out in faith and attended a Christian Union Libertas event, despite not knowing anyone in the ministry.

“On a whim, I decided to venture out to one of the meetings,” she said. “I was immediately met with such warm and sincere welcomes. CU Libertas at Brown was really my first home on campus.”

1820 Revival Transformed Providence, Brown University

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor 

Virtual Women’s Bible Course at Brown Stays Connected   

By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer

The women of Christian Union Libertas at Brown University are using this season to dig deep. Although the fall and spring semesters are very different than in previous years, with most students taking classes remotely, the women’s side of the ministry has found ways to deepen their connections with one another. 

Ministry Fellow Laurel Copp realized that things would need to look different this academic year in order to engage students well, so she took two of the Chrisitan Union foundations, Bible course and discipleship, and reimagined them. While much is the same, a lot is different, as Copp believes this year can be one of substantial growth. 

Infectious Disease Specialist Talks COVID-19, Students, and Spiritual Warfare  

interview by tom campisi

Timothy Flanigan is a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals and Alpert Medical School of Brown University. At the Alpert Medical School, Flanigan mentors students who work side by side with staff in clinical medicine. For the last ten years, he has taught a popular course at Brown, Beyond Narnia: The Literature of C.S. Lewis.

May 23, 2020

Thanks for joining Christian Union Libertas (Brown University) at 4:00 PM EST for the virtual reunion. Christian Union Libertas invited participants from all classes, all denominations, and all Christian ministries to this annual event. We loved connecting with Christian alumni and current students. Thanks for joining us! 

Brown University Study Presents Radical Disparity

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

Teens who engage in same-sex activity may be more than twice as likely as their peers to turn to self-harm, according to research from Brown University.

In June, the study appeared in JAMA Pediatrics, prompting a wave of attention from media outlets, including medical press. Such findings add further weight to existing scholarship that has documented physical and emotional risks associated with alternative sexual behavior, especially during adolescent years. In the study, psychiatrist Richard Liu, Cornell ’02, found that rates of non-suicidal self-injury were elevated among engaging in same-sex or “bisexual” behaviors, when compared to other adolescents. Liu is an assistant professor in psychiatry and human behavior at Brown’s Alpert Medical School.

Strikingly, 38 percent to 53 percent of surveyed “homosexual” and “bisexual” teens acknowledged engaging in personally dangerous behaviors, compared to 10 percent to 20 percent of adolescent youth who said they had cut, hit, or bruised themselves.

Christian Union Celebrates Five Years at Brown 

At the Christian Union Staff Conference this summer, the organization celebrated a major milestone—five years of ministry at Brown University.

A few weeks later, Ministry Director Matt Woodard and Ministry Fellows Laurel Copp and Ben Pascut began earnestly to prepare for year six and the annual Freshmen Welcoming Campaign.

A Med Student’s Exhortation to Live in the Moment

By Anna Delamerced, Brown ’16 

Editor’s note: The following article is reprinted with permission fromCornerstone Magazine, Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design’s Christian literary arts publication.

In the spring of 2012, senioritis hit me. After reading my acceptance letter to Brown, I immediately began to daydream. Whether it was envisioning myself walking across the Main Green to class or chilling in the dorm lounge with my hallmates, I was preoccupied by thoughts of college. Before I knew it, prom and senior projects had become things of the past, and I stood next to my classmates at graduation. “Where did the time go?” I asked myself. I had been thinking about college so much that I had missed out on savoring my final moments as a high school senior. 

This is something I’ve struggled with for a long time. Even at Brown, similar thoughts crept up on me. I loved many parts about college life: late night conversations in Perkins, studying at the Ratty with friends, singing worship songs on a Friday night. My faith grew exponentially through fellowship, prayer, reading God’s Word, and spending time with Him and my brothers and sisters in Christ. Still, it seemed like the pattern of wanting to move on to the next season continued.

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John Hay Library Puts Emphasis on “Gay Pulp Fiction”

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

Christian alumni from Brown and other top-tier universities were disturbed, but not entirely surprised, at the news of the university’s plans to expand and catalog its massive collection of “gay pulp fiction.”

Brown University plans to catalog its massive collection of gay pulp fiction, and the John Hay Library’s curator of literary and popular culture collections would like to add “more books that cover the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum.”

Brown’s more than 4,600 (and growing) volumes of cheap, highly explicit paperbacks is one of the biggest collections – or possibly the largest – of any, according to WBUR.org. The radio station noted that most of the books are “straight up pornography,” but others are categorized as “sexual lifestyle guides.”

In July, Boston’s NPR news station reported on the university’s efforts to catalog its pulps. The majority of titles are geared to same-sex attracted men. Once finished, Heather Cole, the John Hay Library’s curator of literary and popular culture collections, says she is “interested in adding more books that cover the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum.”

Rodarte ’19 Challenges Classmates to Be Change Agents

by tom campisi, managing editor

In her Class Day speech, senior Patricia Rodarte encouraged fellow Brown University graduates to go beyond borders.

Rodarte, a native of El Paso, Texas, grew up less than a mile from the Rio Grande, which marks the boundary between the United States and Mexico. She opened her speech by talking about the shared culture and interdependent ancestry and economies of El Paso and its “sister city,” Ciudad Juarez, Mexico—despite being separated by a 10-foot-tall fence. 

“There is a constant movement of people across their ports of entry…” she said. “Crossing borders is central to my region’s identity.”

Your Gift by June 30 Will Share Gospel and Change Lives

Q and A with Lisa Schultz

At Christian Union’s Nexus Student Conference in February, Schultz was a member of the law and government panel during the vocational breakout sessions.