Since the inception of Christianity, religious intolerance has targeted diverse groups, often justified through varying degrees of public, political, and ecclesiastical backing. A persistent theme in American colonial history is the narrative of fleeing religious persecution; however, the journey to new lands has historically not exempted the British colonies or the United States from religious persecution and intolerance. Despite Thomas Aquinas’s assertion that “coercion cannot produce faith,” Thomas Jefferson’s declaration that “our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions,” and William Penn’s assertion that “I know no religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness,” widespread practice of religious intolerance persists among Americans.

Although methods, political messaging, and supporting institutions have evolved, the prejudice against “the other” has remained significant. Historical instances include anti-Catholicism, antisemitism, the establishment of Judeo-Christian dominance, anti-Islam sentiment, the Ku Klux Klan, Asian exclusion policies, and recent illegal actions driven by xenophobia, such as those executed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Movements of religious intolerance have utilized various political defenses; nevertheless, each has gained powerful momentum through populist justifications rooted in hatred, often cloaked in religious sanction. The latest manifestation of religious intolerance warrants a more careful examination of the genuine convictions of Evangelical Christians. Evangelicalism adheres to foundational principles such as Biblicism, crucicentrism, activism, and conversionism. Despite the shortcomings of these principles and inter-denominational disagreements, it is undeniable that none of these tenets inherently mandate intolerance. Through a hermeneutical examination of Christian ethics, political discourse, and historical cases, I argue that the support of conservative Christians for Donald Trump – antithetical of a Thomistic ethic – and his illiberal ideology do not deviate from historic forms of exclusionism that serve an American civil religion emphasizing various models of religious intolerance and Christian nationalism.

In this presentation I will be showing the process of making a short film using the knowledge I've gained throughout my 4 years here at Juniata College.

In the 21st century, marriage is understood as a partnership between equals, but this is a relatively recent idea. In the medieval and Victorian periods, marriage was understood as a contract between the man (the master) and the woman (the servant). Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales provide a fascinating lens into how elite people of the late 14th century understood marriage, and more specifically, the amount of control a woman had in her own life. Five hundred years later, Mary Eliza Haweis, a preacher’s wife, reinterpreted Chaucer for the young boy and the home-schooling mother. Haweis translated, updated, and criticized five of Chaucer’s Tales in Chaucer for Children (1877). This paper will concentrate on three of those Tales, The Knight’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, and The Franklin’s Tale. The heroines of these Tales, Emelye, Griselda, and Dorigen, are united through their lack of choice but each woman interacts with their forced subservience in a slightly different way. By analyzing these three women’s stories in the original medieval period, and their Victorian reinterpretation, we can understand how the institution of marriage, and more importantly, female agency has been represented in these two key periods.

The study abroad experience you'll never forget! Listen to Aditiya Kommi and Daniel McCauley share stories from their time during the Hiroshima and Peace Study Abroad 2025 in hopes of motivating others to apply.

Cohesion is a key construct in sport psychology that influences athletic performance, encompassing both task cohesion—the shared commitment to collective goals—and social cohesion—the interpersonal bonds among team members. This study examines how the relationship between cohesion and performance differs between athletes in co-acting sports (golf) and interdependent sports (lacrosse). Participants included collegiate athletes from Juniata College (n =60 ), with 22 golfers and 38 lacrosse players aged 18–24 years. Cohesion is measured using the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ), which assesses four dimensions of team and individual cohesion. Performance indicators include individual tournament scores and team averages for golf, and win–loss records and player statistics for lacrosse. Data is analyzed using regression analyses in JAMOVI to determine whether sport type impacts the relationship between cohesion and performance. It is hypothesized that both task and social cohesion display relationships with performance in interdependent sports, whereas only social cohesion shows a relationship with performance in co-acting sports. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how different forms of cohesion function across sport types, providing insight into how coaches and sport psychologists can tailor team-building strategies to optimize performance in both individual and team-based contexts.

My capstone project is a documentary about Chinese students’ live in Juniata college. Focusing on the theme of belonging, loneliness, and future purpose.

Communication connects and guides us in our everyday relationships. As social beings, we long for an outlet to be connected. Follow my journey as I explore how to understand my thoughts and feelings through cinema.

In this presentation, I introduce my bachelor’s thesis, which looks at how viral videos showing private or emotionally charged moments spread on social media and how professional journalism deals with the same incidents. While social media allows content to circulate quickly and without formal ethical constraints, journalism follows established professional guidelines concerning verification, privacy, and harm minimization.

Based on five recent case studies, the thesis compares these different approaches and examines the tension between fast, emotion-driven visibility and journalistic responsibility. It explores how this tension shapes public discussion and affects both media practice and the individuals involved.

Communication connects and guides us in our everyday relationships. As social beings, we long for an outlet to be connected. Follow my journey as I explore how to understand my thoughts and feelings through cinema 

Communication connects and guides us in our everyday relationships. As social beings, we long for an outlet to be connected. Follow my journey as I explore how to understand my thoughts and feelings through cinema 

Communication connects and guides us in our everyday relationships. As social beings, we long for an outlet to be connected. Follow my journey as I explore how to understand my thoughts and feelings through cinema 

Communication connects and guides us in our everyday relationships. As social beings, we long for an outlet to be connected. Follow my journey as I explore how to understand my thoughts and feelings through cinema 

Communication connects and guides us in our everyday relationships. As social beings, we long for an outlet to be connected. Follow my journey as I explore how to understand my thoughts and feelings through cinema 

Want to study abroad but not sure where to adventure? Join Danny McCauley and Adithya Kommi as they recount their time in Japan for the Hiroshima and Peace Study Abroad Program, sponsored by the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.

In January 2025, Juniata College received a Mellon Foundation Grant focusing on the use of digital storytelling to capture Appalachian stories regarding economic challenges. We will share instructional design considerations and strategies, resources, and lessons learned in creating training resources. Our media blueprint will be shared as an OER.

In the 21st century, marriage is understood as a partnership between equals, but this is a relatively recent idea. In the medieval and Victorian periods, marriage was understood as a contract between the man (the master) and the woman (the servant). Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales provide a fascinating lens into how elite people of the late 14th century understood marriage, and more specifically, the amount of control a woman had in her own life. Five hundred years later, Mary Eliza Haweis, a preacher’s wife, reinterpreted Chaucer for the young boy and the home-schooling mother. Haweis translated, updated, and criticized five of Chaucer’s Tales in Chaucer for Children (1877). This paper will concentrate on three of those Tales, The Knight’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, and The Franklin’s Tale. The heroines of these Tales, Emelye, Griselda, and Dorigen, are united through their lack of choice but each woman interacts with their forced subservience in a slightly different way. By analyzing these three women’s stories in the original medieval period, and their Victorian reinterpretation, we can understand how the institution of marriage, and more importantly, female agency has been represented in these two key periods.

The Juniata Model UN team recently returned from the Midwest Model United Nations (MUN) competition in St. Louis. This presentation summarizes our participation in the simulation, focusing on the development of critical skills in public speaking, strategic alliance-building, and multilateral diplomacy. Join us as we share the highlights and key takeaways from this experience.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) remains a major public health burden due to frequent recurrence, high mortality, and limited treatment options. While previous studies have largely focused on bacterial dysbiosis, growing evidence indicates that fungal members of the gut mycobiome, particularly Nakaseomyces glabratus and Candida species, contribute to CDI severity through transkingdom interactions. To elucidate functional mechanisms underlying CDI pathogenesis, we performed an integrated meta-omics analysis of 100 human stool samples (50 CDI+, 50 CDI-) using paired metagenomic (MG) and metatranscriptomic (MT) sequencing. Species-level taxonomic profiles and KEGG Ortholog (KO) functional gene expression were generated using Kraken2 and eggNOG-mapper, and metabolite predictions were inferred using HUMAnN3 and MelonnPan. Beta diversity analyses revealed significant separation of CDI+ and CDI- cohorts at both taxonomic and functional levels (PERMANOVA, p<0.01). Differential abundance analysis identified enrichment of facultative fungal pathogens (C. albicans, unclassified Saccharomycetaceae) and C. difficile toxin-associated genes in CDI+ samples, while CDI- samples exhibited greater transcriptional activity in short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) and secondary bile acid synthesis pathways. Gene-level functional enrichment indicated activation of sporulation, oxidative stress response, and amino acid fermentation pathways in CDI+, alongside reduced carbohydrate metabolism. Predicted metabolite profiles suggested increased production of cholate derivatives and pro-inflammatory metabolites in CDI+, whereas butyrate-associated metabolites were enriched in CDI-. Preliminary machine learning models using random forests and gradient boosting demonstrated high accuracy in classifying CDI status based on functional gene signatures (ROC-AUC >0.90), even after excluding C. difficile. These findings highlight transkingdom functional biomarkers and disrupted metabolic networks that may drive CDI pathogenesis, supporting future predictive modeling and mechanism-guided therapeutic strategies.