This past week, I was assigned to read a chapter from John D. Roth’s, “A Mennonite College for Everyone (?)” for junior seminar. Our discussion focused predominantly around the role of love in historical analysis: Is this Christ-like love — the kind that prompts empathy, and is void of quick judgment — a helpful tool in academic research? Though after class, I found myself juggling a rather different question: at what point is an unwavering allegiance to a particular cause … necessary? In the chapter, “Redefining Community: The Long  Struggle for LGBTQ+ Inclusion, 1990-2010”, Roth covered Goshen College’s internal and...

By Eliza Alemán • September 18, 2025 • Features

Now that I’ve started my senior year at Goshen College, I cannot help but reflect on the time and contributions I’ve given to The Record. With this reflection comes a critique. A year ago, Carmen Merino wrote a letter to the editor, voicing her disappointment in the editorial staff and communication department over the misrepresentation of minority students.  Merino calls out the glaring pattern within the leadership application process. You would expect such a forewarning letter would encourage future executives to always be inclusive in each article they write. However, this was set on the backburner when it came to...

By Aaliah Higareda • September 4, 2025 • Features

Writing your final editorial is a daunting task. I seriously considered writing an editorial about some random topic and never acknowledging the fact that this is the last one. But, here we are, and I can’t pretend that this isn’t the end —  in barely over a week I’ll stroll across the stage and receive a diploma, ending four years of hard work. Shout out to the rest of the seniors, we really are a great class aren’t we? But the ending of our college journey makes me think about how we end things, and what it feels like to...

By Tyson Miller • April 17, 2025 • Features

At the beginning of this semester I decided to make a small change to the masthead. Next to the editorial, the masthead features the staff of The Record, as well as a few other bits of information.  I added the line “The Record is made without the use of A.I.” It felt important. We live in a world where A.I. is being used for more, and getting better every single day. Over the past 18 months, A.I. has hurtled forward at breakneck pace.  I remember first playing with A.I. as a first-year. I signed myself up for a beta version...

By Tyson Miller • April 3, 2025 • Features

As I get to the end of my college career, I am, like every senior before me, incredibly daunted by the fact that I am going to have to go do something with my life. Like, very soon.  All the seniors are at different places with our future plans, and some of us have better ideas about what we want to do than others. I am one of those with nothing concrete, with no goals.  It sounds scary, but the more reflection I’ve done over the past few months, I’ve realized that I really just don’t have any big goals....

By Tyson Miller • March 27, 2025 • Features

Throughout my grade-school years, I thought of college as a big deal because of the extreme academic rigor I was sure was about to ensue. I imagined spending endless hours in the library grinding away at the research paper that would determine my future. And yes, I did end up spending hours at the library, but I’d say about half of that time was spent talking with people, or playing some obscure game from the reserves with a group of friends. I have learned a great deal academically throughout my time at GC, but academic improvement was simply not what...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • March 13, 2025 • Features

This past week The New Yorker celebrated 100 years. For context, The Record will celebrate its 113th birthday this year. Just a lowkey flex. Anyway.  In their celebratory edition, Jill Lepore, a staff writer, wrote an article titled, “The Editorial Battles That Made The New Yorker.” It takes a deep dive into the relationships between various editors and writers over the history of the magazine.  Reading it was overwhelmingly validating, from the standpoint that it affirmed something that I’ve experienced and observed in my time working with The Record — the relationship between writers and editors is a tenuous one. ...

By Tyson Miller • February 20, 2025 • Features

This semester, for the first time ever, The Record has covered every Student Senate meeting in some capacity with our new column, “Student Senate summary.” I’ve personally attended every meeting, and done the reporting, (don’t tell my staff, but I plan on delegating it at some point soon) which has been an eye opening experience and prompted the question, what should the role of Student Senate be at Goshen College in 2025? There have been five meetings so far this semester. The first four were comprised of myself, the actual senate and, for two of the meetings, a friend of...

By Tyson Miller • February 13, 2025 • Features

During a time where technology giants like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are front row of the inauguration, it’s important to disconnect from short-form content and to engage with art. On Jan. 19, TikTok was temporarily banned from the United States over speculation that government officials from China were collecting data to influence American users’ opinions by escalating or suppressing certain content. When the ban went into effect, every American user got a pop-up message explaining that TikTok was banned in the U.S., but the last part of the message made me scoff: “We are fortunate that President...

By Aaliah Higareda • February 6, 2025 • Features

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that this has been a rough week. (It’s Tuesday as I write this — long way to go) There’s a lot going on, and if you’re tired of hearing about it I get it, but stay with me because I think this is important.  Everyone has their own reactions, feelings and fears related to the events in our country this week, and I’m privileged to be a straight white non-disabled male.  When we hear about the things that are happening in our nation’s capital, and the fallout around the country and the world,...

By Tyson Miller • January 23, 2025 • Features

This November I received an email with the subject line “Make your year-end gift to Goshen College on Giving Tuesday.” Over the next few days, as “Giving Tuesday” approached, I received more emails, asking me to donate money to GC. One of them even urged me to increase my annual giving to $1,000. I would argue, however, that over the course of my time here I’ve already been giving thousands of dollars annually to the college, albeit in the form of tuition rather than a gift, and that it is inappropriate to ask me, as a college student, to give...

By Tyson Miller • January 16, 2025 • Features

There are a few things I keep in my everyday tote bag: my Mac, some lip balm, a notepad and pen, my phone and a magazine. Always a magazine.  The ways that I can rip it, cut it, collage it, paste in, pin it and tape it are the best; I can fold over the corners for later reading. It is permanent and can’t be altered with a refresh button, just like The Record.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved a good magazine. Whether it’s a home tour in Architectural Digest, a recipe in Better Homes and...

By Sadie Brenneman • November 21, 2024 • Features

In our last issue, in the bio of the opinion “Take the world to Chili’s,” I was surprised to see that the writer, Jason Dubois, listed “writing love letters” as one of his hobbies. I’ll admit, it left me perplexed. Does he write to his significant other? His Love interests? If so, how many Love interests does he have and how often does he write them? Are they for family, friends, Loved ones? Are they for himself? But before we break that down, let’s talk about what Love is.  ChatGPT says that Love “typically involves a combination of affection, respect,...

By Charlie Aldrich • November 14, 2024 • Features

The ‘thumb area’ of Michigan was an enigma of a place to grow up. It has everything you can imagine in a midwest area: it’s small and quaint, has endless farmland, and it’s full of honest, hard-working people. But there’s one thing that stands out — it’s overwhelmingly red. I never quite understood what being “red” meant and how it affected my life. “Swing state” is another one of those terms, and it’s one that’s been thrown around since I first heard the words “Trump” and “President” in the same sentence. That’s because Michigan is currently a swing state, and...

By Charlie Aldrich • October 31, 2024 • Features

I was nervous before leaving for college. I remember asking my wise older cousin Caroline, a recent college graduate, for advice. “Before you know it,” she explained, “you’ll feel like you have two homes. When you’re back at home with your family, you’ll recognize the familiarity of your house and community. But college — your friends, your dorm, campus — will feel like home too. You’ll never feel homesick because two places feel like home.”  As a senior, I can affirm that her words are true. I sincerely feel at home at GC. The train, which used to be jarring,...

By Amelia Witmer-Rich • October 24, 2024 • Features