By Abby Kozal
In a November newsletter from Aquinas College, President Alicia Córdoba commended campus historian Ryan Wendt’s work with Haunted Holmdene, a popular ghost tour-style event where participants are led through the campus’s 116-year-old Holmdene Manor.
Wendt hosted “tours for 191 people.” Events like Haunted Holmdene have proved to be popular, yet many believe it is still worth questioning why a faculty-approved research project, such as the fairy garden, has been shut down.
The fairy garden was a summer 2023 student research project created by Arabella “Bella” Cummings, facilitated and approved by various members of faculty and staff, including the Center for Sustainability. The goal of the project was to foster community spaces, like the fairy garden, to contribute to community well-being.
The project went through multiple states of approval from different departments. They were approved and prepared to start building by a tree near the woods of Regina Hall to encourage students to use the wooded pathways. Before the research project could be fully completed, it was shut down by administration. The biggest reason for the project not being allowed to continue was the location of the fairies. By being placed under the stations of the cross it became too borderline to be allowed to continue on a Catholic campus.
Students on campus took to social media with mixed complaints. The location of the fairy garden “comes across as a direct attack of a sacred Catholic Practice,” one student said in an anonymous post to the Instagram account redflags_of_aq. This came out of concern to how close it was to the Stations of the Cross set up in the wooded trail to Regina Hall.
“What was the intention of the fairy garden to begin with?” the same student continued. “To summon mythical creatures?”
They went on to say, “If people want to separate church and state, don’t go to a Catholic institution.”
Other students disagreed, with one writing, “The separation of church and state in our education is essential, and the voices of ALL students, faculty, and staff must be heard.”
This is not the first fairy-related project at Aquinas. In 2015, “Brookby Enchanted Fairy Garden Walk” was held at the Brookby Estate by the Grand Rapids Symphony Women’s Committee. Over 35 fairy houses took over the estate to raise money for the symphony’s educational programs.
After the project was shut down, Cummings chose to hold a silent protest during the required student-research symposium. Instead of an oral presentation, Cummings chose to have twenty minutes of silence. While she stood, students were invited to fill a whiteboard regarding concerns on campus.
Arabella “Bella” Cummings stands in front of whiteboard filled with student concerns – Photos by Daniel Brooks
Numerous students, staff members, and even a Dominican Sister filled the room in support of Cummings’ protest.
Multiple students wrote about issues with administration. When asked what changes they would like to see at Aquinas, one student took to writing “Admin who do listen, reflect and make change.”
The lines are still unclear between what sort of community projects are allowed on campus, and how they are required to connect with the Church. One thing to note is that the Catholic Church does believe in ghosts, spirits and demons, however these are not at the forefront of their belief systems. However does this mean that other mystical creatures cannot be present on campus? Probably not, it simply means that more communication needs to happen between administration and the people planning the event.
The Saint 