A group of students identifying with the feminine experience performed at the 10th annual Goshen Monologues last Saturday, sharing powerful stories about relationships, privilege, campus dynamics and identity.  Goshen Monologues began in 2014 and was initially inspired by The Vagina Monologues, a 1996 episodic play by Eve Ensler that explores sexuality, body image and femininity. The student-led tradition has continued every year since then. Ceramic mugs were made by students Brandon Jimenez and Simon Hertzler Gascho and given to the Monologues cast to recognize the significance of the 10th anniversary. The performance occurred in the Church-Chapel, where the mood was...

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Endah Setyowati, a visiting global scholar from Indonesia, spoke Tuesday about living out Goshen College’s core value of compassionate peacemaking in Indonesia as part of the Yoder Public Affairs Lecture series. At the well-attended event held at College Mennonite Church, Setyowati conversed with Study-Service Term director Jan Bender Shetler, about working on conflict resolution in Indonesia. Shetler guided the conversation with Setyowati before the event was opened up to audience questions. Setyowati grew up in Surabaya in East Java, Indonesia with a unique family background that proved useful for her peacemaking work later in life. Learning from a Christian mother...

By Amelia Witmer-Rich • December 2, 2021 • News

The Goshen College Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) club is seeking to boost activity and membership this semester after a hiatus last year. The club is currently led by three students: Ainslee Zou, a senior biochemistry and music double major; Gretta Rempel, a junior biology major; and Lauren Murphy, a sophomore biology major.  Zou says that the mission of Women in STEM is “to promote growth in an inclusive, supportive and trusted environment for diverse and underrepresented voices in the [STEM] community.”  “Our main goal is inclusion,” Zou said. “So even though we are the ‘Women in...

By Augusta Nafziger • September 16, 2021 • Features

The Goshen courthouse lawn was unexpectedly empty last Saturday, Oct. 17 as the women’s march, organized by Amanda Qualls, was moved to a virtual gathering. Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in Elkhart County, the event was moved online and streamed live on Facebook. Qualls was joined by Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice and conflict studies at GC; Julia King, Goshen city council member; and Erin Floyd, educator and community activist. The four women shared personal stories and experiences of strong women in their lives, signs of hope that they are seeing and the importance of this...

By Nick Yutzy • October 22, 2020 • News

Every February, for one night only, Newcomer 19 becomes a tightly packed performance venue celebrating one thing: gettin’ down to the feminine sound. The show, aptly named Chocolate House for the abundance of sweets provided, is an annual showcase of non-binary and female student talent put on by the Goshen Student Women’s Association (GSWA). Acts can be anything from singing to spoken word, but the door is also open to discussing more taboo “lady problems,” like social pressures on women or periods.  In continuing with flipping the script, GSWA always invites the men to hit the kitchen for the event....

By Olivia Smucker • February 16, 2020 • Arts

Every day last week, the Goshen Student Women and Non-Binary Association (GSWA) hosted events on campus including nights with guest speakers, evenings of difficult conversations and mornings of yoga and relaxation for the GC student body. These events kicked off a new year of activities for GSWA, a club under new direction this semester.  Heather Gabel, Emmy Rupp and Josefina Castillo, all juniors, took on leadership roles of the club. They look forward to heading events on campus to support women and non-binary students. The leaders are looking to continue what GSWA has done in the past, including “uplifting voices...

By Nick Yutzy • November 1, 2019 • News

For nearly a decade, Goshen College has been a member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The AAUW is an organization that empowers women by advocating for gender equity in educational, social, economic and political areas of life.  Every year, the AAUW hosts a National Conference for College Women Leaders (NCCWSL), where collegiate women from across the country are invited to engage in meaningful ways in a space that is dedicated to empowering them. While at the conference, students develop new leadership skills by attending discussion panels, workshops, or listening to guest speakers.  For the 2020 national conference,...

By Cecilia Garcia • September 25, 2019 • News

Umble Center was filled on Sunday night for the presentation of the sixth annual Goshen College Monologues. Monologues is a space created for women and non-binary students and faculty of GC to share stories and experiences.   During the fall semester, women and non-binary people submitted a monologue to the steering committee, who then reviewed the stories and assigned them to cast members during the spring semester. People’s stories are shared anonymously.   This year, there were stories about identity, relationships, sexual assault, mental health, body image and friendship. Including the committee members, 25 people made up the cast.  ...

By Mary O’Connell • April 4, 2019 • News

Walking through Schrock Plaza this week, one won't be able to ignore the T-shirts and bandanas strung across the square. The Clothesline Project, which began at Goshen College in 2004, is a part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week and is hosted by the Goshen Student Women’s Association (GSWA).   Past members of the Goshen community wrote on and/or decorated T-shirts which are then hung on clotheslines surrounding Schrock Plaza each year. The T-shirts are filled with the stories, emotions and responses of those who have been affected by sexual assault.   This year, for the first time, GSWA collaborated with...

By Mary O’Connell • March 29, 2019 • News

A presentation on Tuesday evening given by Kimber Nicoletti-Martinez, MSW, LCSW and director of the Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault (MESA) program at Purdue University, marked the beginning of events and workshops held at Goshen College for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.   The presentation entitled “Inviting Everyone to the Table in Sexual Prevention Work” was held in the Umber Center. The event was sponsored by PIN, GSWA, Student Senate and Student Life.   For over 20 years, Nicoletti-Martinez has been an advocate of social justice for migrant farm workers, Latinx immigrant communities and other marginalized populations. As the founder...

By Cecilia Garcia • March 29, 2019 • News

Students of all years came to support their classmates’ performances and eat chocolate desserts during the annual Chocolate House event on Friday, Feb. 9., in Newomer 19.   Chocolate House is an event hosted by Goshen’s Student Women Association (GSWA). The coffeehouse-style event allows women and non-binary students to share their voices. Male students are welcomed to help provide chocolate desserts. Everyone is invited to come support their fellow women and non-binary peers.   “The purpose of the event is to allow women and non-binary students to have [a] place to share their voice for others to hear and bring...

By Elsa Lantz • February 14, 2019 • News

Together they stand in black, one by one taking the stage to recite a story written by another.   This sets the scene for the annual Goshen Monologues, a night where women and non-binary people perform a selection of stories, monologues and poems created anonymously by other non-male identifying people of the Goshen College community.   The Goshen Monologues, born out of a desire to create an event similar to Eve Ensler’s 1996 play The Vagina Monologues, first took place in 2013. Because the event has grown in popularity over the years, the number of participants has grown to around...

By Olivia Smucker • January 24, 2019 • Features

Goshen College celebrated International Women’s Day with two events on Wednesday, March 7: a special chapel held in the morning and a celebration in the evening. Campus Pastor Reverend LaKendra Hardware preached the message for the International Women’s Day chapel. She began by reading select pieces of the Biblical creation story from Genesis 1:27-28 and 31, which describe the creation of man and woman. She called them “words of encouragement and a reminder” of two things: firstly, that man and woman were created as equals, and secondly, that humanity was created in God’s own image. She continued to reference these...

By Admin • March 15, 2018 • News

Students got the opportunity to learn more about their bodies and self-care through a variety of Healthy Bodies events sponsored by Goshen Students Women’s Association (GSWA) this week. There were various events that covered many topics such as a “Conversation about Masturbation,” a Healthy Sex panel led by Dr. Catherine Bast, building self-care valentines, and ending the week by body casting and painting. The week started off with some relaxation and exercise with Yoga Night led by Ann Hostetler on Sunday evening. On Monday, there was space made for a conversation on gender identity and misogyny led by PRISM students....

By Pamela Ortiz • February 15, 2018 • News

This past Saturday, thousands of women once again marched for equal rights. Jan. 20 marked the second annual Women’s March on Washington, with hundreds of cities around the nation participating in their own marches and rallies. Some of those marchers were GC students and graduates. One group was Chicago-bound. Jenae Longenecker and Laura Hochstetler, both seniors, were on SST in Tanzania when the last Women’s March occurred and wanted to see what it was all about. Longenecker said, “I had lots of friends who attended and was definitely inspired from a distance, both on the day of the march itself...

By Marris Opsahl • January 25, 2018 • News