Christmas with Professor Calvin Townsend and President Todd Martin

Every year, a professor close to many hearts quietly hosts an unsung tradition—one that turns campus into a home during the holidays. A warm Christmas dinner with Professor Calvin Townsend welcomes students into the festive spirit, even when home feels far away. To better understand the heart behind this tradition, I sat down with Professor Townsend to reflect on how the dinner began, what it has come to mean and why it continues to matter.

MH: What originally inspired you to start hosting a Christmas dinner for students who stay on campus during the winter holidays?

CT: I was inspired by two things, one of them being a movie. It is called The Holdovers—a wonderful film. It is a story about a professor spending the entire Christmas break with a group of kids at a prep school. It was four years ago when I realised that, okay, we recruit international students at TWU, and if we are a liberal arts university—one defined by science, truth and justice—then we have to show them hospitality. I went, that’s what’s missing here. 

I’ve catered the dinner, bringing in food from a restaurant. For the last two years, we’ve made food and brought it to campus, and this year we held it on Boxing Day. This year I also invited President Todd Martin who cares deeply about this community and the communities within it.

MH: What does this dinner mean to you personally, and how has that meaning changed over the years?

CT: To be honest, it started off as the right thing to do. This is justice given to the other, who is my brother and sister. It’s about unconditional love, unconditional forgiveness and unconditional hospitality. We’re all brothers and sisters. We share this community, but some of our community doesn’t have a voice, and that’s wrong. So, initially, it was an idea. It was political. But what ended up happening is that I fell in love with that community and just spent time with them. What I would like to call some of my best friends on campus are in that community. So for me, that’s where I want to be. I’m not giving up anything by spending my time on this event, because the event is where I find my meaning and where I find my purpose. 

MH: For students who may be far from their families during the holidays, what do you hope they take away from this gathering?

CT: [Some of] our international students can’t go home. They are stuck on campus and they’re missing their friends and family. If we are a community, we see [campus] as one family, so we’ve got to look out for each other.

MH: Why do you think small acts of gatherings, like this dinner, matter so much in a university setting, especially during the holiday season?

CT: They bind us together as a community—when we share a space, share a meal and then share conversation. 

The Mars’ Hill team extends sincere thanks to Professor Townsend for his continued generosity and commitment to the student community, as well as to President Martin for supporting and valuing spaces of hospitality that make TWU feel like home, especially during the holidays.