Guest speakers included seven Mennonite draft resisters who shared their stories of resisting the Vietnam War draft during the late 1960s. Four of these men, Dennis Koehn, John Lind, J.D. Leu and Doug Baker, were part of a panel that answered prepared questions by students from PAX club, as well as members of the audience.

Leu, Baker and Lind, all GC graduates, attended the 1969 Mennonite General Conference in Turner, Oregon, which dealt with amending the Mennonite position from a slightly coercive non-participation stance to the more active non-cooperation stance.  Each of the four panelists spoke directly about the conference in 1969 and their role in shaping it.

Koehn had not been directly involved in the 1969 conference at Turner, but was arrested during his first year at Bethel College because he refused to register for the draft.  He spent a year and a half in prison.  Lind spent a number of years in Asia doing alternative service during the draft and participated in the 1969 conference.  Leu reflected on 1968 as “a year of radicalizing.”  Living in California, he experienced the secular peace movement and felt driven to apply it to his own Mennonite background.

Baker was the “token youth delegate” at the 1969 conference.  After helping amend the Mennonite position on draft resistance, he wrote up a report on the happenings at Turner, Oregon, as a record for himself and others.

After lunch, the conference broke up into three mini-workshops focusing on tax resistance, counter recruitment and working with conscientious objectors in the military.

A common theme throughout the conference was discovering strategies for witnesses and how to use witnesses in an increasingly complex world.

Baker replied to this by saying, “Whatever breaks your heart, respond to that.”

Koehn added, “Our highest calling today as Mennonites is to go live with the enemy and report back what’s going on.”

Duane Shank, a draft resister and author, ended the conference with his closing remarks.

“How do we as Christians relate to war and the war system in absence of the draft?” he asked.  His response was that the church and its members should be “Christian witnesses to the state.”

Beth Martin Birky, Professor of Women’s Studies, and Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Assistant Professor of Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies (PJCS), along with Rachel Halder, a senior, and Elizabeth Speigle, a junior, presented their women’s studies research during a conference in Atlanta this past weekend.

The group attended the National Women’s Studies Association’s 30^th annual conference in Atlanta, which took place from Nov. 12-15. The conference theme was “Difficult Dialogues,” and Martin Birky, Shands Stoltzfus, Halder and Speigle presented in the session entitled, “Narrating Collection Action: Chandra Mohanty’s Genealogies of Community and Noncolonized Dialogue.” Carolyn Shrock-Shenk, Associate Professor of PJCS, moderated the session.

Halder, a communications major, and Speigle, a sociology major, spent their summers studying the history of the women’s movement in Costa Rica. Martin Birky went on SST in Costa Rica and has returned several times. Through her travels, Martin Birky has done significant research on the Costa Rican women’s movements. In doing so, she has collected hours of film of Costa Rican women.

At the conference, Halder presented her Maple Scholars final project, which included a short documentary about the ethics of the Costa Rican women’s movement and the Artisans Commission of Santa Elena-Monteverde (CASEM), a small cooperative that makes and sells crafts in Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Speigle presented her research on the role of religion in Costa Rican women’s lives. An important lesson Speigle learned during her research was to recognize her cultural bias and not let it get in the way of studying women from another culture.

“Each individual has a unique story, but at the same time, everyone is influenced by their own cultural context as well,” Speigle said.

Adie Gerig, a senior environmental science major, presented her Maple Scholars research in late October at the Indiana Academy of Science meeting in Kokomo, Indiana.

The meeting was spread over two days with over 100 presenters in 15 different areas of science. Gerig researched the effects of deer consumption on a restored tallgrass prairie with Jeremy Good, a senior, and Ryan Sensenig, Assistant Professor of Biology.

“It was really cool to see the other presenters in the [environmental science] field,” commented Gerig.

Kathryn Schlabach, a senior molecular biology/biochemistry major, also presented her 2008 Maple Scholars research at the same Indiana Academy of Science meeting this October. Her presentation was titled, “Effects of Selective Internal Radiation Treatment (SIRT) on Liver Ultrastructure.”

“Here is an opportunity to get some of these stories down,” said Coyne. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if the Mennonite culture and the WWII veteran culture could relate to each other?’”

The initiative is part of a larger project through the Library of Congress, pulling together the oral interviews of those involved in wars in which the United States contributed. WWII veterans from Elkhart County are lined up for interviews throughout the next nine months. Individuals who chose Conscientious Objector (CO) status or did service will also be interviewed.

“This project is clearly for veterans, but we wanted to include people who were involved in service, too,” said John D. Roth, professor of history, “[This project] can create possibility for some personal friendship to emerge.”

Roth, along with Joe Liechty, professor of Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies, along with other GC professors, is scheduled to join with community members in helping conduct roughly 75 interviews in the spring.

Three interviews have been recorded so far, and 10 more are scheduled before Christmas. GC President Jim Brenneman conducted the first interview with Frank Coyne, Dan’s father.

“In interviewing Frank, I gained a deep appreciation for his observations, his personal struggles, his sadness about the need for war, and his resolve to work for a more peaceful planet,” said Brenneman. “He gave me insight into a world that was not part of my own experience. He was a delightful person…a new found friend.”

The interview format comes from a standard procedure released from the Library of Congress that includes an outline of suggested questions, although personalized questions are also encouraged.

“What I’ve found is that many [veterans] have stories  not shared with their family for whatever reason,” said Coyne. “The families are so appreciative of these stories.”

Coyne added that many of the veterans face illness. The interview process has become replicable enough for interviewers to visit individuals at their home, at the hospital or at a nursing home.

Interview material will eventually be donated to the collection at the Library of Congress, and each veteran will receive DVD copies of their interview for their family.

Through this oral history project, “We can see more fully what the world looks like to a World War II veteran,” said Roth.

Carl Haarer's stories of his father's college time, his own decision to be a reporter and why he incorporates poetry into his news reporting on radio WBZ in Boston. Photo by Angelica Lehman.

Carl Haarer, one of Boston’s top radio reporters, can play the guitar and piano, sing, write poetry and speak theology. He did all these things – and talked about journalism — on Tuesday in his Umble Master Class keynote address.

Haarer, who works for WBZ, said he had no idea he would become a journalist when he graduated from Goshen College with an English major in 1979.

He described his job as a radio reporter as similar to being a student: you listen, learn, process and try to find meaning in new-found knowledge. The key, he said, is to be awake.

“There’s always something greater than what we see and what we hear,” said Haarer. “We just have to be awake enough to see and hear it.”

Over his years as a reporter, Haarer has seen both joy and tragedy. Regardless of the situation, he believes God to be ever-present. When covering a house fire, he said,“I have to believe that in those ruins, in the walls of that charred house, that God is there.”

Haarer told the story of Tiffany Moore, a 12-year-old girl killed in the crossfire of a gang shooting. After she died, her mother, Alice, would stand for hours at the place she was shot—the blue mailbox on the corner.

“Something like that creates its own music of sadness,” said Haarer, .

Haarer incorporated piano and guitar music into his lecture. He played on guitar “I’ve got my feet, I’ve got my shoes,” a song he wrote for the Moore family. He also played on the piano the hymn from which he drew the title of his lecture: “Breathe on me, Breath of God.”

Whether covering the killing of a child like Tiffany or the death of a firefighter like Steve Minehan, who went into a burning building in search of trapped colleagues and never returned, Haarer said he poses the question: Where is the Kingdom of Heaven in the moments of darkness on earth?

“Regardless of the moment in which I find myself, I always feel that there’s something greater than the headlines that are spilling out,” said Haarer.

Haarer read excerpts of poetry throughout the lecture. On-air reporting doesn’t mean just stating the facts, he said, but sometimes also providing an additional commentary through Dr. Seuss-like poetry. Events such as the Super Bowl, the championship season of the Boston Red Sox, visits to Mother Teresa or a beer summit at the White House Rose Garden have all inspired poems.

Over 50 years ago, Haarer’s father, David, took the Umble Center stage and gave a speech talking about the importance of roosters to farmers. Haarer recalled the image.

We are all farmers, he said, but we can’t do our work of sowing and reaping the soil if we’re asleep.

“Thank goodness for that rooster within us all, that spirit, that clarion that forces us to be awake,” said Haarer. “A new day is always dawning, but you have to be awake, alert, for God is always breathing.”

Michelle Kauffman, right, a senior nursing major, was one of several nursing students who administered H1N1 vaccines at Goshen High School on Friday. Photo by Emily Miller.

The last time it happened, it was smallpox and polio in the 1960s and 70s.  Now, decades later, the public health system is back–the schools are giving mass inoculations—this time because of the H1N1.

Six Goshen College students in the Community Health nursing course have had the opportunity to be a part of this history-in-the-making, as they do their clinicals with the local health department, schools and with agencies that work with vulnerable populations.

As a part of the course, these nursing students are required to spend some time at the Elkhart County Health Department.  This fall, the health department asked the nursing students to be prepared to go out to school clinics; the department needed all available personnel to help distribute and administer the H1N1 vaccine.

All six students have had the opportunity be at least one school giving H1N1 vaccines, and several students have been to more than one school.  In the past two weeks, the students have given at least 700 vaccines at Goshen Middle School, 750 at Goshen High School and 900 at Memorial High School.  They have also given vaccines at the junior and senior high schools in Fairfield and Jimtown.

According to Sherry Wenger, Associate Professor of Nursing, they were at the schools for less than three hours, averaging about 400 shots per hour.

Anna Srof, a senior nursing student, said, “The students came in, sat down, got their vaccine and left all within a minute or two.”

Wenger estimated that about 50 percent of the student population received the free vaccine.  Next to be vaccinated will be the elementary school age group.

“The schools are certainly seeing cases of H1N1, but it seems to be at a manageable level,” said Wenger.

Wenger named staying away from others who are sick, coughing or sneezing into your sleeve, getting plenty of rest, eating right and getting the H1N1 vaccine as easy strategies to avoid the flu.

“It has been an excellent experience for this group of students to be able to see how the local public health department is responding to the flu pandemic,” said Wenger.  “It is really something for them to be part of this—they are making history.”

Regina Shands-Stoltzfus presented her doctoral research on African American Mennonite women in a lecture in NC-17, Tuesday. Photo by Martin Brubaker.

Alice Walker, author of the novel “The Color Purple,” once said, “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.”

These words have guided the doctoral research of Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Assistant Professor of Peace, justice and conflict studies, who presented her research in a public lecture Tuesday night entitled, “’As Purple is to Lavender’: Experience and Influence of African-American Women in North American Mennonite Affiliated Churches, 1948-1968.” She is pursuing her doctoral research at Chicago Theological Seminary.

The Mennonite Historical Society sponsored the Tuesday-night affair in which professors, students and community members learned about Shands Stoltzfus’ research concerning the role of African-American women in the Mennonite Church before and during the Civil Rights Movement.

Shands Stoltzfus interviewed seven Mennonite African-American women and expressed her desire to “capture these stories, hold them, and share them with the church.” African-Americans desired freedom, social change and equality during the Civil Rights Movement.

Mennonites’ eagerness to create integrated churches and the respect that stemmed from “leaders who lived and breathed what we did” invited African-American families to the Mennonite faith tradition.  The women she interviewed were born in the northern U.S. and claimed other faith traditions prior to becoming Mennonite.  They attended three different Mennonite churches in the midwest.

Shands Stoltzfus described the life of her grandmother, Joyce, who lived in Cleveland among a large black community. Ample factory jobs drew African-Americans to the area.

“There were a lot of black people with things to do,” said Shands Stoltzfus.

The close-knit community that Joyce lived in included Lee Heights Mennonite Church. The church’s close distance to Joyce’s home led her there.  The welcoming Christian environment convinced Joyce to convert from Baptist to Mennonite; however, she missed the call-and-response and gospel music that have been incorporated into contemporary Mennonite churches.

Through the little-known stories of Mennonite African-American women such as Joyce, Shands Stoltzfus shaped and continues to shape her own narrative.

The purpose of the meeting was solely for campus conversation.

Schrock-Shenk said, “None of us have the whole truth, we all only have pieces of it.”

A number of students at the meeting said they would be more comfortable if a patriotic song, such as “America the Beautiful,” were to be played in place of the anthem; even without lyrics, the national anthem is still associated with the military.

Steve Wiktorwski, head coach of women’s basketball, said that “America the Beautiful” was played before a few basketball games a number of years ago, and that there were just as many complaints about playing the substitute as there were for not playing anything.

According to Wiktorwski, the athletics department has to deal with complaints all the time about not playing the anthem.

“Whatever we decide, we need to have a united philosophy about why we take this stance,” he said.  “At the very least, we need some help with how to handle this.”

A number of students and faculty at the meeting struggled with what it means to be hospitable—does it require compromising identity?

Doug Schirch, associate professor of chemistry, said, “Hospitality is very important, and I apologize for the times members of the campus community from other faith backgrounds are made to feel their opinions are unwelcome here.  But I’m not familiar with having to give up religious convictions in order to be hospitable.”

He likened the situation to asking a Jewish school to serve pork so visitors would be more comfortable.

Questions about the differences of flying the U.S. flag on campus and singing the national anthem to the flag also arose.

Lane Miller, a 2009 alumnus, said, of the flag on campus, “A flag symbolizes citizenship, something which I value, but the anthem indicates nationalism. I do not bind myself with a national culture that I’m not comfortable with.”

John Roth, professor of history, said, “ As a pacifist, I feel a burden to make it clear that I don’t disdain my country.  I have no difficulty calling myself a patriot. I can stand with respect and listen to the anthem being played, but there is something about turning and collectively singing to an image [the flag] that feels like idolatry.”

If the anthem were to be played prior to a sporting event, a number of students at the meeting said they would either not stand, or choose to arrive after the anthem was played.

A distinct separation between Mennonites and non-Mennonites on campus was acknowledged, as well as the separation between athletes and non-athletes.

But this isn’t to say that the issue of the national anthem is strictly a religious-based issue; some non-Mennonite students at the meeting said they thought the college should not play the anthem, while other Mennonite institutions, such as Bethel College in Newton, Kan. and Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio, do play the national anthem.

Tim Demant, athletic director, closed the meeting with a call to be more considerate of the language we use.

“While listening to people talk tonight, the idea of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ was very prevalent, with people saying things like ‘our tradition,’ ‘our campus,’ ‘our heritage.’  We invite others to come to the college, but call the non-Mennonites ‘them.’”

Demant said that roughly 45 percent of students are not Mennonite, and many feel on the outside.

“I am not calling us to abandon the ‘we,’ but to reconsider who ‘we’ is,” said Demant.  “This issue is much bigger than the national anthem.”

As of Monday, Nov. 9, the president’s council had not met since the town hall meeting.  There will still be further processing and conversation before the council makes any decision.

The presentation began with what appeared to be a ping pong ball. Steve Woodward, the speaker for the evening, held it with two fingers and it began buzzing. The device used the person holding it to complete the electronic circuit between the power source and the noisemaker. With this simple machine, Woodward demonstrated a point that he would build upon for the next two hours.

The human body carries an electrical charge.

The Goshen College Nursing Student Association hosted Woodward on Tuesday, Nov. 10 to speak about energy kinesiology. This is a treatment related to massage therapy and acupuncture that balances the body’s energy flow using touch and movement. Woodward practices this alternative medicine at his clinic here in Goshen.

This practice does not deny the value of modern western medicine, but seeks to blend it with far-eastern concepts of health. Key to this understanding is keeping balance between a person’s physical, emotional and nutritional needs. Energy kinesiology teaches that this balance can be maintained through touching a person’s body at points where natural electrical currents flow.

The highlight of the evening was when Woodward used muscle testing to explore the subconscious physical reactions of Kristen Fath, a senior, to a subdued childhood memory. While many people seemed uncomfortable and skeptical of the ideas at first, by the end most were nodding in agreement with what Woodward had to say.

This new health practice is too new and unconventional to be regularly covered by health insurance; however, Woodward made the idea sound very reasonable and opened people’s minds to the possibility that energy kinesiology may be on to something.

Woodward also provided useful techniques for college students. So, remember, the next time you need to make sparks fly on that big exam or high-stakes game of Ping Pong, touch near your navel while rubbing both your lips–this stimulation promotes concentration and wakefulness.

Sarah Kaweesa spoke on campus Monday about the physical and economic effects of climate change in her home country, Uganda. Photo by Angelica Lehman.

Sara Kaweesa, a creation care advocate from Uganda, spoke to students on climate change in the Communicating Across Cultures class on Monday evening. She is from the A Rocha Uganda Initiative, touring the midwest with Reverend Tafue Lusama, who is speaking about the effect climate change is having on his home country of Tuvalu. The two spoke last week at the Goshen Theater as part of their “Ankle Deep in Reality” tour through Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Of the effects of rising carbon dioxide emissions, Kaweesa said, “Forgive me, but Africa bears the brunt, but has not been the source.”

She began her presentation with a number of statistics about the current demographics in Uganda: 75 percent of Uganda’s population is below 25 years of age, and youth unemployment rate has reached 83 percent.

Kaweesa noted the absence of supermarkets and stores in Uganda, and consequently, the people’s reliance on goods the earth produces.

“I’ll go to my garden, I’ll get my food and herbs there,” she said. Environmental degradation affects the lives of poor people because they depend the most on natural resources.

According to Kaweesa, if the earth were to rise in temperature two degrees it would have a catastrophic affect. It would greatly reduce the useable land for robust coffee production, which is the leading export in Uganda. Increased temperature means increased crop failure, Kaweesa said.

“People have committed suicide, people that I knew,” said Kaweesa. “They couldn’t bear to watch their children die [of hunger].”

Kaweesa strongly urged that adaptation is possible, as well as increasing food security by taking measures to save energy. Women in her village have begun to hang plates to dry directly above a garden bed so that the water is reused—dripping off into the soil.

She elaborated on the spiritual roots of the ecological crisis.

“I see God’s power in creation,” she said. “If there’s any reason to care about the earth, it is for Christ.”

Kaweesa said that Christians should be at the forefront of environmental advocacy and action. Things we can do right now include: pray, intentionally serve overseas, spread the word about creation care to children and youth, and prune back our lifestyles. Despite cultural differences, she said we should focus on the similarities between nations.

“As Christians, we need to think pretty hard: where is it going to end?” said Kaweesa. She said there have been lots of different theologies that makes it hard for the church to be actively united for climate change.

“That’s why it has to be rooted in Christ,” she said. For more information on Restoring Eden, the organization both Kaweesa and Lusama work for, visit the website www.restoringeden.org.

Glenn Gilbert, Utilities Manager at Goshen College, spoke in Monday's convo about GC's electricity expenditures and the US's over-consumption of coal. Photo by Angelica Lehman.

Students were held rapt during Monday’s convocation as Glenn Gilbert, Goshen College’s Utilities Manager and sustainability coordinater, walked onstage wearing a conductor’s hat and poured roughly fifty pounds of coal from a metal trashcan. He strode forward and announced: “This is coal.”

He then turned off all of the lights in the chapel and opened the blinds, allowing the current-day sunshine to break in and provide all of the light. Why use ancient sunlight when we can use today’s?

Gilbert then proceeded to illustrate Goshen College’s addiction to coal both historically and in the present day, using easily understandable examples. For instance, the college’s electricity usage in two weeks equals roughly one train car full of coal, which is about twenty seven cars of coal a year. Think about that next time you’re stuck behind a train!

He also explained that water fountains do not work by magic. The water is refrigerated, which requires electricity. The physical plant golf carts require electricity. Your microwave requires electricity. About 96 percent of Indiana’s electricity comes from coal, which means that our addiction to electricity is also an addiction to coal.

Gilbert also showed a clip from the documentary Burning the Future: Coal in America, which showed the devastation that mountaintop removal coal mining brings. According to the documentary, coal mining is a nasty, but currently necessary system that we perpetuate through our constant use of electricity.

So what do we do about it? Gilbert suggested that we advocate for alternative energies, become aware of our habits and choose to change them. This brief presentation was only a small part of the discussion about energy usage on campus. There will be more meetings and events in the near future to help change our energy-consuming culture and habits.

JR Burkholder, a student leader during the 1960s draft resistance movement, has more recently been working with GC's PAX club to organize a conference exploring the history of conscientious objection. Photo by Angelica Lehman.

Draft resisters from the 1960s will congregate at Goshen College this weekend to discuss resistance and peacemaking in Saturday’s PAX sponsored conference entitled ‘Resistance: taking a stand against war, 1960s to today.” Draft resisters who were student leaders at Goshen College in the late 1960s, along with resisters from other colleges, will reunite and engage in conversation with current student peacemakers in a weekend that is already drawing scholars from many states.

JR Burkholder, former professor of religion and peace studies, played a central role in draft resistance at GC in the late 1960s. He instigated conversation about holding a reunion this fall to commemorate the events of 1969, when the General Conference of the (old) Mennonite Church adopted a resolution stating that non-cooperation with the military draft was a legitimate stance for Mennonites.

“It all started when I sorted out papers from my past,” said Burkholder. “I was realizing how important the ’69 events were to that generation of students.”

Burkholder named Doug Baker, Devon Leu and Jon Lind as the student “ringleaders” of draft resistance at GC in the 1960s—all three will be on campus this Friday to speak in religion classes and share at the conference on Saturday.

The conference will take place in NC 19, beginning at 10 a.m., with stories and conversation with Baker, Leu, Lind and other 1960s draft resisters. PAX club members Daniel Foxvog, Hannah Miller and Annali Smucker, all seniors, will lead the session with some initial questions, after which the session will open up for questions from the audience.

“It’s important for us to learn from history how we can have an impact in society, and how we can communicate effectively with the church as college students,” said Foxvog.

After a complimentary lunch, three workshops will be offered on the themes of tax resistance, counter-recruitment and working with the military. Duane Shank, a draft resister who was arrested as a freshman at EMU during the ’69-’70 school year, will deliver closing remarks and summarize thoughts shared throughout the day.

“[The conference] is a two-pronged approach,” said Burkholder. “It’s a reunion and a conversation with today’s peacemakers.”

Perry Bush, history professor at Bluffton University and author of “Two Kingdoms, Two Loyalties” (currently on display at Good Library), contacted Michael Friesen, of the University of Toronto, about the conference. Friesen is focusing his Ph.D. work on Mennonite draft resistance during the Vietnam years, and he will attend the conference.

Those interested in attending the Resistance conference on Saturday should email Sylva Keenan at sylvark@goshen.edu. Those who would like the complimentary lunch must email Joe Leichty, at joecl@goshen.edu, by noon on Thursday.

Carl Haarer, an accomplished radio personality, will be on campus this coming Monday and Tuesday to deliver a keynote address in the Umble Master Class. Photo contributed.

Carl Haarer, award-winning reporter and radio poet for WBZ in Boston, is this year’s featured Umble Master Class speaker. He will be on campus on Monday and Tuesday next week to speak in classes and deliver the keynote address. The keynote address, entitled “Breathe on me, breath of God” will be held in Umble Center on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is free to the public and will include a reception.

Haarer’s career began at Goshen College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He now goes by the professional name of Carl Stevens, and is a well-known radio personality in Boston. He was named “Best Radio Reporter” in Boston Magazine’s August 1997 issue. Through his general reporting work at WBZ he has won, four times, the prestigious Edward R. Murrow National Award for Writing, as well as  a National Murrow Award for Feature Reporting.

His on-air poetry concerns both political and current event material; a few examples include the Obama inauguration, the primary election campaign of Hilary Clinton and the baseball rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

Haarer will share his reporting experience and poetry with Goshen College students in several settings. He will speak in Broadcast Media Production and Introduction to Radio classes, in addition to two “Lunch and Learn” sessions where any students are welcome to engage in sharing and conversation with Haarer over the lunch hour. On Monday, Nov. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., students can join Haarer in the Dining Hall to discuss and hear some of Haarer’s poetry. A similar session focused on broadcasting will be held in the Dining Hall on Tuesday from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Both he and Sara Kaweesa of Uganda are embarking on a speaking tour with Restoring Eden, a Christian organization that advocates for the environment.  Each speaker has firsthand accounts of how climate change is affecting their communities, ecosystems, families and churches.

Tuvalu is an island nation in the south Pacific with 12,000 inhabitants–it is the fourth smallest country in the world. Tuvalu has been one of the first countries to experience the destruction of climate change in very concrete ways: it is beginning to disappear.

Reverand Lusama described the physical effects of climate change that he has experienced. Coastal erosion is currently shrinking the tiny island and creating land disputes that are dividing communities. Trees that hold the shore in place are being uprooted by waves and swept out to sea. Once the trees are gone, said Lusama, there is nothing to keep the sand from following.

Tuvalu’s highest point is merely fifteen feet above sea level.  Until recently, Tuvaluans were able to access underground freshwater for drinking and for agriculture.  However, the ocean’s initial rise has caused saltwater to seep into the aquifers, killing their crops and trees and eliminating the primary source of drinking water.

Lusama named high tide as a daily reminder of the ever-encroaching sea.  Houses that were built on dry land in recent years now flood at every high tide.  According to Lusama, at this point the ocean is not receding.  At the current rate Tuvaluans will have to evacuate the islands in less than twenty years, saying goodbye to the place they’ve called home for millennia.

The land is not the only thing at risk—Tuvaluan culture will inevitably die as a result of leaving their homeland where it developed.

Lusama pled for U.S. citizens to act immediately and support government policies that could help save Tuvalu and the other island nations that are in immediate danger.  Global emissions of greenhouse gases need to fall about 40% by 2020 for Tuvaluans to avoid evacuation and cultural extinction.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is advocating reduction of 20% of emissions by 2050. This would not make a difference significant enough to save the island nation of Tuvalu. Lusama considers these lacking policy choices no different than genocide; in his opinion, it is simply using greenhouse gases to kill people and eliminate cultures.

Although Tuvalu is distant and much more vulnerable to the preliminary effects of climate change than the United States, it remains an indicator of the irreversible damage that will come if the world’s citizens and leaders don’t act now.

(SIDEBOX:) If you missed “Ankle Deep in Reality” last Saturday, you have another chance! Sara Kaweesa is coming back to campus to speak in Pat McFarlane’s Communicating Across Cultures class on Monday night from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in NC 17.  Everyone is welcome.

Alana Kenagy, junior, spoke about her experience with emotional abuse at Tuesday's Take Back the Night vigil. Photo by Angelica Lehman.

T-shirts fluttered in the breeze in Schrock Plaza this week, created by victims and friends of those who have suffered from sexual assault or domestic abuse. Goshen College recognized sexual assault and domestic abuse this week through the clothesline project, the annual Take Back the Night vigil, and a women-only safety awareness training.

Although taken down earlier than scheduled, the clothesline project drew people to Schrock Plaza to view the variety of T-shirts hung each year, giving artistic representation to those who have encountered sexual or domestic abuse or know someone who has been affected.

On Saturday, about 30 GC women gathered in the Rec-Fitness Center for safety awareness training–a huge increase in participation from last year. The training was led by members of Peacemakers, a martial arts team from Goshen. Steve Thomas, director of Peacemakers, and Wes Higginbotham, master instructor in martial arts, split the seminar into two parts: verbal assertiveness and hands on martial arts instruction.

Students were given a chance to ask questions about situations they face in GC settings as they learned about self confidence in dealing with verbal assertiveness. Then, they learned martial arts with instruction from Higginbotham.

“We learned how to get out of a choke-holds and arm grips,” said Hannah K. Miller, a senior.

On Tuesday night, students gathered in Newcomer Center for the annual Take Back the Night rally, a movement inspired in the 1970’s by a group of women who wanted to recognize the fear the night brings.

A chime rang every two minutes to symbolize that a woman is assaulted every two minutes in the United States. Piper Voge, a senior, and Alana Kenagy, a junior, shared their personal stories amidst candlelight and interspersed Taize music. Voge’s story dealt with physical abuse, while Alana’s dealt with emotional abuse.

Kenagy articulated the difference between the two types of abuse; while both are traumatic, emotional abuse is the kind you don’t see.

“You don’t hear stories in the news about them,” she said. Due to the intimacy of the vigil, story details will not be printed.

After the vigil, the men who attended worked on a painting project called “These Hands Don’t Hurt,” and the women bundled up for a march.

Chanting “Women Unite! Take Back the Night!” the women walked the path down eighth street to New York street, and back towards campus along ninth street. Houses along the streets were invited to turn their porch lights on or light candles in solidarity of the march.

Miller commented that helping plan the Take Back the Night rally this year gave her a new perspective.

“It was more empowering this year,” she said. “I could see other people experiencing [the vigil] for the first time.”

Dear GC community,

Greetings to you on this mid-November day. I wanted to communicate with all of you about events that have transpired over the last few days that you should be aware of in relation to Goshen College’s long practice of not playing the national anthem before athletic competitions.

Our practice of not playing the national anthem at our sporting events has been a practice of the college since its inception 114 years ago rooted in the nearly 500-year-old confessions of faith of the Mennonite heritage and in the simple New Testament expressions, “Jesus is Lord” and “God so loved the world.” Such an expansive reign and love includes a deep love for our own country, to be sure, but also for the whole world.

At the college, we have decided not to play the national anthem, but instead to start our games with prayer. I do expect our athletes and fans to stand in respect at away games – and to participate if they choose – when the national anthem is sung.

I believe all of us who are citizens of the United States love and honor our country profoundly and are grateful for the blessings of U.S. citizenship. We fly the U.S. flag on campus, annually read the Constitution, honor the Fourth of July as a national holiday by not working, pray for our leaders, and, many of us vote. Some of us pledge allegiance to the flag, sing the national anthem and are veterans of war. Others choose to be conscientious objectors to war, stand silently when the flag is saluted and choose not to sing the national anthem. In honoring the differences, we honor the best of our country.

Two hundred and fifty years before modern democracies enshrined the ideal of separation of church and state in their constitutions, people of strong religious conviction – including Mennonites – were killed for holding fast to that ideal in feudal Europe. They paid a heavy price for their belief. It is this very principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that now allows people of faith in the United States to express their differences freely and without coercion. Far from disrespecting our country, Mennonites pay homage to it and love it, precisely because of the freedoms enshrined in its founding documents paid for by those who died to preserve that freedom of faith and conscience. Early Mennonites arrived on these shores in 1683 to help establish early America as a beacon of hope.

To bring this closer to home, in Elkhart County alone, nearly 4,000 Goshen College alumni show their loyalty and love by devoting their lives to our community as teachers, government leaders, doctors, judges, nurses, artisans, farmers and many other service professions.

We are also keenly aware that many of our students come from other countries and represent different religious faiths and 40 different Christian denominations. Our love extends to them as well.

Despite our deeply held convictions, we know there are some who will continue to disagree with our position on the national anthem. If you receive any outside inquiries, please feel free to refer them to the Public Relations Office.

These outside inquiries have provided the opportunity to gather feedback, engage people locally and elsewhere about this issue, and to talk about the distinctive education we offer at Goshen College. We welcome questions about the college – who we are, what we do and what we believe. And we welcome dialogue, which this has encouraged: with people all over the country, with our neighbors in Michiana and especially amongst ourselves. For this, I give thanks.

Peace,
Jim Brenneman