A free screening of “The Last Class with Robert Reich” was held in the Umble Center on Wednesday, as a part of the Yoder Public Affairs lecture series. The event was a collaboration between the Goshen College religion, justice and society department and a group of community members from Assembly Mennonite Church. 

The film follows former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich as he teaches the last class of his teaching career. The documentary covers themes of education, wealth inequality, power and aging as around 1,000 students fill UC Berkeley’s largest lecture hall to take the class “Wealth and Poverty” as Reich teaches it one final time. 

A key person in getting this film to Goshen was Beck Unternahrer, a community member who is on the advocacy and repair team at Assembly Mennonite Church. Unternahrer and her husband have been listening to Coffee Klatch, a weekly podcast with Reich and Heather Lofthouse, president of Inequality Media Civic Action.

They started advertising “The Last Class” on the podcast, and Unternahrer bought tickets for a showing in Chicago last June. “I felt a connection with the people in the theater. … Just seeing it with other people was powerful because even back then … we knew that this was a precarious situation and being with people who would have been of some equal amount of concern about that felt good,” she said. 

With the next closest showing of the film being Indianapolis, Unternahrer took the initiative to bring it to Goshen herself. She approached the advocacy and repair team, and was told to form a committee, who promptly started looking for a venue. 

While the Goshen Theater was their initial pick, the expense made it unrealistic. That was when Glenn Gilbert suggested it be proposed to GC. Unternahrer first contacted Cynthia Good Kaufmann, director of events, who led the committee to the religion, justice and society department.

Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice and conflict studies, received the email in December, expressing that a group from Assembly Mennonite Church was looking for a place to host a screening for “The Last Class.” She said that the religion, justice and society department seemed like the most fitting to sponsor the screening, and the department was fully on board. 

About the sponsorship, Unternahrer said, “I couldn’t believe it. And then even to do it with no ticket cost — so that’s so exciting that it will be available to people at no cost.”

Wednesday was Shands Stoltzfus’ first time seeing the film. “I really enjoyed it. I love hearing people talk about teaching, and as I am approaching my own retirement age … I do think about things like, “What will I do when I retire?” and the answer immediately is, well, the same thing I’m doing now,” she said. 

Julia Gautsche was one of the individuals that was on the committee. She also saw the film for the first time in Umble. “I’m optimistic because I see films like this; I see young people involved in a lot of different activities for good in our community,” she said. “I think it’s the optimism in spite of reality, and knowing that each of us, working at what we feel passionate about to make a difference.”

She also shares in the appreciation shown for education. “What a gift it is to have good teachers that make us think creatively and make us step outside of our boxes and consider each other. … What a wonderful gift to be in a class of people who have differing opinions and be encouraged to think critically and to do good.”

After the screening, Shands Stoltzfus said, “I’m so pleased with the turnout. … So many community people came out.” 

“I hope that people take away a sense that there is energy. Maybe it’s not optimism right now, but there is energy,” she said.

In regard to what she hopes people took away, Unternahrer said, “I hope that they feel energized, inspired to take action and that they remember that there really is still a lot of humanity in our country and reason to believe that we can get through this particular time in our history.”