The Goshen College yearbook, in circulation since 1915, will come to an end after this year.
Goshen’s yearbook, The Maple Leaf, will not be printed after the 2014-15 academic year.
According to Adela Hufford, director of enrollment operations and yearbook advisor, a 40 percent drop in the budget is one of the major causes for the Maple Leaf’s termination.
The sole budget for the production of the yearbook is a $40 fee, which 40 percent of students opted out of this school year.
According to Joe Springer, curator at the Mennonite Historical Library, this is not the first time discussions about ending the Maple Leaf have taken place.
In 2011, Springer was asked to evaluate whether or not the yearbook should continue. In his report, he names the digitization of information as a primary cause for the decline in interest of the yearbook.
Another cause for The Maple Leaf’s decline is a lack of student commitment to make the yearbook.
Hufford said that with the ability to collect all of one’s personal experiences on social media, yearbooks are losing popularity because the experience depicted is broad and not tailored to the
Springer stated that an activity alumni enjoy at class reunions is pulling out yearbooks from their time at Goshen to reminisce.
“How do you maintain a relationship to what was experienced? The biggest loss will be the ongoing connection with the college experience,” Springer said.
Sam Weaver, a senior, reflected on her own time looking at her parents’ yearbooks from the past.
“It’s an unfortunate loss. It would be nice for future generations to be able to look back on our time here,” Weaver said.
There are neither current plans nor enough funding to make an alternate form of the yearbook, such as an online version.
“It was a good experience and I’m sad that this chapter is closing,” Hufford said reflecting on her time as the Maple Leaf advisor. “We will have to find a new way to encapsulate a year at Goshen College for historical purposes.”
