After a day of riding to and from work and campus, I can say with some amount of certainty that my bike chain is good! It did seem that the chain was just too loose, and I'm just disappointed in myself for not noticing it before. It probably happened when I was changing the inner tube a while back and didn't tighten the bolts well enough, allowing for the back tire to move out of place at some point before I retightened them.
Once again, thank you all for the advice!!!
