Emergency response teams were called to “full response” when the fire alarm in North Bond Hall was trig­gered on the sec­ond floor April 29.

Students stood in the chilly night air while fire fight­ers and police offi­cers secured the area.

“The whole build­ing was evac­u­ated,” said Niketa Patel, a senior in den­tal hygiene. “It was all smoky.” Patel believed the event occurred around 10:15–10:20 p.m. (more…)

My under­grad­u­ate career at Ferris has been many things.

I’ve enjoyed my time and had dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tions to deal with. I’ve learned and grown, stum­bled and righted myself. It has been a process of ongo­ing improve­ment. (more…)

There always seems to be a flurry of activ­ity at the end of the aca­d­e­mic year. The Ospreys have returned to their nest behind the Swan Building, grad­u­a­tion is a scant 17 days away, classes are in the final stretch, in a lit­tle over a week on May 1 pub­lic places in Michigan will go smoke free and sum­mer is loom­ing. Of course it seems like this every year but there is a dif­fer­ent sense about this one, being that it is my last run-up to sum­mer as a col­lege stu­dent. (more…)

The Arts and Sciences Commons gets a new guest, an Alaskan Brown Bear donated by Roger Card to the Card Wildlife Center Wednesday, April 14.

At the Torch we always value the input of our read­ers. So when we received a num­ber of Letters to the Editor last week, we were excited that there was so much feedback.

Obviously one of the more hot-button issues has been the role that Ferris stu­dents and the city of Big Rapids play within one another’s exis­tence. To me, this seems like a type of “chicken or the egg” sit­u­a­tion. (more…)

There has been an ongo­ing dis­cus­sion, I’m sure for as long as Big Rapids and Ferris have been around, as to the role each plays in the other’s existence.

On the page oppo­site this one you’ll see two let­ters to the edi­tor regard­ing recent sto­ries that ran in the Torch. Some may choose to share their thoughts online as well. The fas­ci­nat­ing thing is how dif­fer­ent the per­spec­tives can be between mem­bers of the com­mu­nity and mem­bers of the stu­dent body who call this city home nine months of the year. (more…)

Love it, hate it, or mis­un­der­stand it, health­care reform is a mas­sive and impor­tant step in our society.

But I believe that equally impor­tant as the reform to an indus­try with such flaws is the edu­ca­tion one seeks regard­ing said indus­try. (more…)

There is some­thing about planes. Just some­thing. They’re safe, really for the most part, any fear is a prod­uct of our own imaginations.

But on a plane we are all trapped into the metal­lic illu­sion of tragic trans­port. On a plane, the best-case sce­nario is a swift end. There are no lifeboats, no airbags. There is no chance. (more…)

The speed at which the day goes by can be daunt­ing. Weeks evap­o­rate and months turns into semes­ters and years.

In all of this mov­ing for­ward, we inevitably neglect the present. (more…)

ONE, The Project is com­ing to cam­pus to remind stu­dents of the sim­i­lar­i­ties and cel­e­brate the dif­fer­ences they share with other peo­ple both on cam­pus and around the world.

First-time film­mak­ers Ward and Diane Powers, cre­ators of ONE, The Movie, are com­ing to cam­pus to share their unique and inspi­ra­tional expe­ri­ences. The cou­ple was an unlikely can­di­date for cre­at­ing a movie; Ward Powers has been a prac­tic­ing trial attor­ney in Michigan for over 22 years. In 2002, Powers awoke one night and had a sud­den com­pul­sion to cre­ate a movie. With his wife Diane at his side, Powers set out to make what became ONE, The Movie. (more…)