Recently I’ve been thinking about what a collaborative Mennonite college newspaper might look like. It’s ironic that in our (great/horrible) age of globalization, the five Mennonite colleges are not more connected.
What’s happening at Bethel College? Did Bluffton University finally finalize plans for a new recreation center? How is Eastern Mennonite University? And what about Hesston College? I think a newspaper produced by students that connects these five schools together would be awesome.It’s possible now. Just this semester, Sheldon Good, the editor-in-chief of the Record, has helped our staff learn and adapt to an online software program called WordPress. We now upload our articles online, and everyone with access to WordPress can edit and read the articles.
A writer at Hesston could upload an article for a page editor at Bluffton to edit. A few hours later, a Goshen student could sit and read that same article in the Rott.
I think if the Mennonite colleges worked to become less individualistic and more holistic through a newspaper, the Mennonite church would benefit as well. There could finally be a place for college students to learn about the issues currently debated in Mennonite Church USA.
Who will replace Jim Schrag? Wait, who is Jim Schrag? What is the proposed health insurance plan that will be debated at Convention 2009?
What might happen if we became more connected and informed about each other?
