Photo by Julia Baker.

One of the main attractions of Goshen College for me was its international studies emphasis. I was originally so stoked by this that I even attempted a minor in it for a while.

However, fed up with full course loads, in my final semester, I decided to disregard the last class, drop the minor and fill in the subsequent free time by joining Diversity Circles. While the trade may seem unbalanced, I feel now that I ended up making the more rewarding choice.

Diversity Circles involve one night a week spent with a racially and hopefully ethnically mixed group of students who share experiences, concerns and insights into societal problems with diversity and race. It was in this setting – not in the classroom – that I began to learn about what it means to be white and privileged by learning from my peers what it is like to be neither of these things.

I spent a great time with many of the meetings simply absorbing and feeling the pain and anger of my friends as they shared story after story of racial profiling, harassment and outright racism. We all felt immense frustration and lack of direction with how great the problems are. But we all found hope in the seemingly achievable problems that we can correct at home.

Since Goshen College is our home right now, we came up with a few ideas of action.

First, we could not emphasize enough how valuable we found our Diversity Circle experience and how saddened we were at the lack of campus involvement from both students and faculty in these educational experiences.

Thus, as the general education requirements are being reevaluated at this time, we propose that an anti-racism/race relations component be added to the first-year experience, whether it be through colloquium or as a separate class.

Yes, we felt it is that important. It is one thing to learn about the civil rights movement on MLK Day, but it is far more important to be given the tools for addressing racism on a daily basis.

Secondly, we felt embarrassed and downright irate by the facade that the college puts on about the diversity of its campus.

Have you ever taken the time to count how many Goshen College faculty are people of color? Well, it’s 5 percent. The creation of spaces for faculty of diverse cultures needs to be a priority action for the campus. Its time the college lived up to its own standards.

Sound interesting? Don’t be shy to get involved and join Diversity Circles in the fall! You will only regret not joining sooner.

Carolyn Stigge is a senior nursing major from Newton, Kan.

Those of us who couldn’t celebrate in our nation’s capitol filed into the Umble Center at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, confident that this was worth missing or cance

Photo by Jordan Kauffman

ling a class for. With Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities and the inauguration of our country’s first African-American/biracial commander in chief both falling within a two-day span, students have barely had time to breathe, let alone to reflect on what this all means.

King’s dream may seem to have been fulfilled, but the inauguration of Obama is only one step on a long journey to racial equality. Based on hope and change, however, Obama’s campaign and subsequent presidency could be exactly what the American people need right now to bend the plot line of racial history. Perhaps history will paint Obama standing at the horizon of American politics, exactly when our country needs the strength to believe again.

I was elated to see how many students and faculty came to witness the inauguration. For the first time I can remember, the country seems to be alive with anticipation. Chants of “yes we can” were audible throughout the country, even in the midst of a recession, housing crisis and potential for racial division.

It is my hope that Obama can fulfill his plans and truly lead to change. We are a part of history. We helped make it, and it’s time for us to join in and celebrate it.

I encourage you all to offer the gift of hope to your fellow Goshen College students throughout the rest of this week. Random acts of kindness and words of encouragement are small gifts that don’t take a lot of time to give but are greatly appreciated.

We are the ones who made this election possible. Obama won our age demographic. We made his story. Now let’s make our own.

Jennifer Speight is a sophomore English, secondary education and pre-law major from Cleveland, Ohio.

Photo By Julia Baker

With the elections finally ending and Martin Luther King Jr. Day quickly approaching, we are challenged to remember the dreams Martin Luther King Jr. once had. At this moment in history, we can see the steps that we have taken as a nation in progressing towards Dr. King’s dream.

For the first time, we have elected an African-American as the head of the highest political office in our country. By achieving this, we have not only shown progress toward racial equality, but we have also shown that race is not a limitation any longer. We still have work ahead of us, as we continually face systemic discrimination. However, the present is a glimpse of hope for the future.

This year’s MLK Day is one of great significance to us, because of its historical implications. This year, a dream is being fulfilled. We are, as a people, moving out of an abyss of constant barriers, and moving into a new era, alight with possibilities and opportunities. We now recognize that we have the chance to be an even more powerful and effective body if we capitalize on strengths found in us as individuals, defined by our character, rather than our race.

Dr. King said in his “I Have a Dream” speech that, “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” We have reached a time when this has become an attainable goal. We have not completely been put on the solid rock of brotherhood just yet. The road ahead of us still holds a journey to be traveled. We must take this journey together, regardless of race, class, religion, sexual orientation, or anything else that causes divisions between us. We must take this journey as brothers and sisters.

Brett Bridges is a sophomore ASL major from Crete, Ill. and John Tamirat is a junior buisness major from St. Paul, Minn.

Photo by Julia Baker

All of you should have received a yellow brochure last Thursday in campus mail advertising GC’s annual Ethnic Diversity Circles for the spring semester. As often happens, however, mass mailings usually get lost by the wayside, not to be found again until we start clearing out our rooms at the end of May term. Hopefully you got a chance to see one of these brochures and it sparked your curiosity. And if not, here is a second shot for us to show you what you could be missing.

Ethnic Diversity Circles are weekly, student-led discussions amongst an ethnically diverse group of GC students as well as faculty and community members. Every week, a new topic helps us to openly discuss the issues of racism, privilege, differences and other subjects that we face as a diverse campus and community. The discussion series lasts for six weeks and at the end of the six weeks, there is an action forum that is held to help us put into action the types of changes and improvements that we discuss in our small groups.

The idea behind these circles is to openly express how we feel about the environment that we live and interact in every day with people from all different backgrounds. These circles aid us in talking about the kinds of issues that we face every day, yet tend to ignore. If you join one of these circles, you will have the opportunity to discuss your perspectives on such issues with peers, as well as to see things from a new perspective.

We hope that you would come and speak openly about how you feel, but also that you would listen openly to how others are feeling at the same time. Diversity Circles are meant to help bring us together by recognizing our differences. They are meant to help us go forth and celebrate these differences.

There are still placements available for Diversity Circles. You can pick up a brochure in the Multicultural Affairs office, on the second floor of the Administration building, on Stacey Meyers-Ray’s desk, in the bin marked “in-box”. These brochures need to be filled out and turned in by the end of the day on Friday to the same “in-box” where you got it from. Schedules for circle meeting times will be announced at a later date. Hope to see you in a circle!

Brett Bridges is a sophomore ASL major from Crete, Ill.