This year marks a major milestone for our country. As of 2026, we have considered ourselves an independent nation for 250 years. Of course, nothing is official until July so in theory we haven’t quite made it yet, but it’s a big year nonetheless. 

In honor of this moment, I wanted to take inspiration from some local history — what were my predecessors saying in their editorials, a mere 50 years ago. 1976 was a year marked largely by the fact that it was the first year in what, for many college students of the time, would have been living memory that the Vietnam War was no longer a bloody reminder hanging over the head of the American people. 

The editorials during this time have always struck me as a more vulnerable, raw representation of campus opinion than their modern counterparts — taking on more controversial and political topics. While I think some of our recent restraint is warranted, this semester I hope to recognize the platform of The Record and speak courageously, knowing that not everyone can safely speak their mind right now.  

However, though I have plenty of thoughts of my own on our current political climate and the ever-changing environment at Goshen College,  I wanted to take a moment to share some lines from these past editorials that feel to me as though they could be published today, and let their honesty inspire us. 

First, a permanent conundrum that I have heard at every level of the college: what students and donors want is not always in alignment. Peter Miller, editor in the spring of 1976, said, “The college has to pay attention to two points of view; the community and the Mennonite constituency.”

For him, this also poses a bigger question concerning college censorship and control of student action. In the chilling conclusion to his first editorial, Miller says, “At one time we could not dance, but we could march to the courthouse and protest the Vietnam War. Now we cannot dance, and I wonder exactly how far we could march.” 

Both Beth Johnson, editor in the fall of the same calendar year, and Miller acknowledge that it was an election year and encourage Record readers to go out and vote. Johnson notes a congressional speech given at Notre Dame, in which the speaker shares worries about the American public in rather familiar terms — “[The public] can see and hear what its government is doing, but it doubts that the government can hear it,” said then-Senator Walter Mondale, who would soon go on to take the vice presidency. 

There are mentions of broad worry that Mennonite enrollment is dropping, I have heard the same concerns for the past four years of my education here. At the same time, editors shared concerns that the student body is too divided by individual activity, religious difference or country of origin. Johnson begs that “a student body, no matter what the size, could share a stronger commitment to the meaning of this institution than is currently called for.”

“We will neither search for scandal nor ignore problems that need to be researched,” Johnson said, in a piece entitled “Purpose for The Record: Covering the News.” Though I have not heard it named in exactly these terms before, I believe that this is still our goal at The Record today, and I would echo her final thought as well — please, let us know how we do.