Following a weekend full of events celebrating Martin Luther King Jr., Goshen College students, faculty and staff gathered for a town hall meeting in the fellowship hall of College Mennonite Church. Gilberto Perez, dean of students, opened the townhall by naming how he envisions the beloved community here at Goshen College growing. “Part of what we want to do this afternoon is to begin to put together what we want to call this beloved space, but any process that needs to get done needs structure,” he said. “It needs human resources, it needs rituals, and it also needs tension, because...

By Emily Kauffman • January 18, 2018 • News

What happens when students are unable to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday, or are staying in Goshen but don’t have any plans? This is a the question that Jason Samuel, professor and WGCS General Manager, along with his family, have answered by hosting a Thanksgiving meal open to any and all students. Samuel is entering his 14th year of hosting this meal, and the average number of guests has grown to over 30 people. He said, “The table has gotten so long that we’ve had to turn it into an L-shape and it just fills up the whole bottom...

By Pamela Ortiz • November 16, 2017 • Features

As stated in an announcement from the Provost’s office last week, there have been some changes to the Title IX committee. This committee guides the process of sexual assault and misconduct reporting on campus. Effective November 10, the roles of two long-time faculty members and sexual violence advocates will be shifting: Beth Martin Birky, professor of English and director of women’s and gender studies, will become a member of the committee as a deputy coordinator. Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice, and conflict studies, will move into Birky’s previous role as faculty advocate. The Title IX committee consists of...

By Marris Opsahl • November 16, 2017 • News

After many years of serving the Goshen College community, Bob Yoder, campus pastor, mentor and friend, will be stepping down from his position as campus pastor at the end of this semester. Yoder is leaving after working at Goshen for 14 years, having started in 2003 as assistant professor to youth ministry. In 2006, he took on the role of campus pastor, and for six years managed performing both of the roles simultaneously. After this year ends, Yoder will be beginning his role as the new donor engagement officer at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Indiana. “I see...

By Nathan Pauls • November 16, 2017 • News

Kelsey Fraley, a former Goshen College women’s basketball player, has now joined the coaching staff. Fraley played for four years as a Maple Leaf and graduated in 2017. Throughout her career, Fraley had multiple coaching opportunities in Goshen, including head coach of the freshman boys’ basketball team at Goshen High School and head coach for the Bethany Christian Middle School girls’ team. Stephanie Miller, head coach at GC, enters her eighth year for the Goshen College women’s basketball team, and she has added a new assistant coach to the staff. “The day came when I had to make the decision...

By Ben Cotton • November 2, 2017 • News

Pat Lehman, professor of communication, is adding another set of responsibilities to her job as she anticipates leading the 2018 Spring and Summer Peru SST units. Lehman will leave in mid-December for Peru to prepare for the SST, with students following in January for the spring semester SST. She is looking forward to the upcoming trip. Lehman said, “I’m excited about strengthening my Spanish…seeing some of the world-renowned sites like Machu Picchu…and working closely with Goshen College students in an SST experience.” While she only recently visited Peru for the first time earlier this summer, this isn’t her first time...

By Nathan Pauls • October 26, 2017 • News

One might expect to become a collector of stories if they live half of their life in another country each year. Goshen College Economics professor Jerrell Ross Richer is one such man. Jerrell, his wife Jane, and their four children, Sierra, Naomi, Teresa and Jordan have spent three years living half of each year in Ecuador. The family works with Mennonite Mission Network and lives in the eastern rainforest region with indigenous people and works the Ecuadorian Mennonite church. Richer and his family are in Goshen for now, but plan to head back to Ecuador by late December. The Ross...

By Olivia Copsey • October 12, 2017 • Features

Before Roger Lewis fell head over heels for the tuba, he first fell in love with a woman named Irene. Today, Lewis is happily married and settled in Sturgis, Michigan, and teaches at Goshen College as an adjunct professor of music specializing in low brass instruments. However, the journey Lewis took to get to where he is now was not easy. When Lewis graduated high school at the age of 17, he moved from Chester, New Jersey to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music where he met the young woman who changed his life forever. Irene studied...

By Abby King • September 14, 2017 • Features

In January, the President’s Council at Goshen College announced that all sabbaticals are to be frozen for the next two school years, starting this fall. The decision was made during the process of developing the budget for the fiscal and academic year of 2017-2018, as the college identified cost savings. Sabbaticals are given to full-time teaching faculty after 10 years of employment, subject to approval from the academic dean’s office. There is a limit on the number of sabbaticals granted each year. A professor may choose one of the following two plans: (a) one semester with full pay, or (b)...

By Maddie Birky • April 13, 2017 • News

Next year, Jo-Ann Brant, professor of Bible, religion and philosophy will be taking on a new role at Goshen College: interim vice president for academic affairs. Brant will be replacing Ross Peterson-Veatch, who is the current interim vice president. Brant will work with Peterson-Veatch to ensure a smooth transition. “My role as an interim vp,” Brant said, “will be to make sure that all the regular work of the Academic Dean’s office is completed so that the academic programs run smoothly.” The interim vice president for academic affairs serves on the President’s Council and leads all aspects of the academic...

By Elsa Lantz • April 6, 2017 • News

Jason Samuel’s love for radio started when he was in elementary school. While in the Cub Scouts, his troop (led by Samuel’s mom) went on a field trip to WIOQ, a top 40 radio station in Philadelphia. On the field trip, Samuel’s troop was able to go to all parts of the radio station including the on-air studio and production studio. Samuel said that the field trip that day confirmed his love for radio. “That really had a profound impact on me,” he said, “and I thought, ‘Man, I would love to do this for my life.’” Born and raised...

By Spencer Buttermore • March 30, 2017 • Features

On Jill Koop Liechty’s desk sit stacks of carefully-cut-out inspirational quotes and Bible verses. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.” –John 1:5 More quotes, photos of her family and keepsakes from her time spent abroad cover the walls of her office in Newcomer Center. “I try to have a theme,” she said. “I think about what quotes or Bible verses would work together.” The bulletin board outside of her office is just as full as the one inside, but this time there are posters of campus events, various announcements and the same cut-out...

By Jordan Waidelich • March 16, 2017 • Features

“Everyone circle around the room,” instructed Debra Detwiler Brubaker to her Women’s World Music Choir, not impressed with their tired, mid-semester sound. The choir members pushed their chairs into the center of the spacious room. “Get into a low squat. Lower! Good.” “Now, we’re going to sing from our ovaries.” The choir sunk down into a low squat, with their hands almost touching the ground. Uncomfortable giggles circled the room, but Detwiler Brubaker stayed serious. “Now, sing,” she said, “You have the power to create. You are the beginning of the next generation. Open up and sing with this power...

By Maggie Weaver • March 9, 2017 • Features

Jessica Baldanzi, associate professor of English, has a unique passion: comic books and graphic novels. Her affection for this form of creativity started in her childhood with works like Betty and Veronica and Richie Rich. However, she became seriously invested in comics and graphic novels during graduate school at Indiana University Bloomington. “I was a student assistant for Susan Gubar, a feminist scholar, and part of her syllabus was Art Spiegelman’s Maus,” Baldanzi said. “That was the first time I was like, ‘Wow, this is doing something really powerful that books don’t.’ Once you get into it, there’s really no...

By Marris Opsahl • February 9, 2017 • Features

If you venture into the Hershberger Art Gallery right now, you will find several lifeless birds. The gallery is showing Merrill Krabill’s most recent project entitled, Between Earth and Sky: exploring loss and redemption. The exhibit is made up of smaller pieces, all exploring the contrast between life and death. Each piece is comprised of a section of a tree root, a clay bird, seemingly lifeless, nesting in the root and a landscape photograph printed on an accompanying hanging cloth. In each photograph, the clay bird’s image has been edited into the sky scene, emphasizing the interaction between earth and...

By Sadie Gustafson-Zook • October 13, 2016 • Arts