Latinx
November 2, 2018
Aguirre models civic engagement
By many measures, Richard Aguirre is a model of American success. He won awards as one of the fastest milers in the country as a high school track star. He became an accomplished journalist, supervising a staff of 35 as a senior editor at the Salem Statesman Journal in Oregon. He served as director of public relations at Goshen College for nearly a decade and now holds the title of community impact coordinator. But he is deeply aware of how his own story intertwines with that of his family, complicating the telling. He strongly believes that his family story mirrors...
October 3, 2018
Hispanic Heritage month celebrates diversity
Hispanic Heritage month for 2018 began on Sept. 15 and will run until Oct. 15. On the Goshen College campus, numerous events are planned and have already happened to celebrate the rich and diverse backgrounds of the Latinx community. The Latino Student Union (LSU) kicked off the month with their first meeting/picture day on Sept. 14, when students took photographs representing their countries and discussed how to get involved with upcoming events. Sept. 23 marked the day of the LSU World Cup Soccer Tournament, an event that was open to the campus. Last Wednesday, Sept. 26, the LSU led a...
March 29, 2018
Mexico highlighted in LSU cultural event
Last Friday evening, students, as well as some faculty, gathered on the lawn outside of Umble to celebrate Mexico’s culture and history. One of Latino Student Union’s (LSU) leaders, Lourdes Resendiz, was the head planner of the event. She was in charge of planning and executing the LSU Cultural Spotlight, with a focus on the country of Mexico. Students who identified with the Mexican culture were the main people who were involved and helped with the event. They put lots of hard work by taking time to plan the event and contributing towards it. All contributions counted, whether it was...
March 22, 2018
Community responds to DACA update
Dreamers located in Elkhart County let out a sigh of relief on March 14 when the Indiana Legislature passed a proposal allowing DACA recipients to continue obtaining professional licenses. The Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, was put into place in 2012 during the Obama Administration in hopes of protecting undocumented persons who came to the United States as children. With DACA status, Dreamers, or DACA recipients, are protected from deportation and receive a work permit. Every two years, Dreamers must renew their DACA status. During Trump’s first year of presidency, he announced that DACA was to be...
March 15, 2018
Community classes building confidence
For the past three years Rocío Díaz, Coordinator of Parent and Community Engagement, has been coordinating a non-credit program of adult English classes at Goshen College. What first began as a pilot program with only three teaching levels, is now a fully structured English program with 56 current students that meet four times a week for 12 weeks and six levels of education based on the evaluation of the student. Díaz has been living in the United States for over 20 years and learned English by watching TV, listening to music, and not using interpreters. In the past, Díaz did...
February 1, 2018
Community celebrates CoreCivic withdrawl
Chants of “Si, se puede!” (“Yes, we can!”) changed to “Si, se pudo!” (“Yes, we could!”) on January 27, when over 300 members of the Elkhart County community gathered at College Mennonite Church. The occasion was in celebration of CoreCivic’s Monday decision to withdraw its proposal to build immigration detention center in Elkhart. The evening’s program included an audience sing-along of the original song “Queremos Paz” (We Want Peace) and speeches from community members involved in the events leading up to the CoreCivic decision. Translator headsets were provided for Spanish speaking attendees. Lisa Koop, Associate Director of Legal Services for...
January 25, 2018
Dreamers recap trip to D.C.
Jose Chiquito, along with 18 other DACA recipients and allies, traveled to Capitol Hill to demand a “#CleanDreamActNow.” Chiquito, a Goshen College sophomore, left with Indiana Dreamers in Action (DIA) on Wednesday, Jan. 17 and traveled 10 hours to Washington D.C. with the intent of conducting sit-ins and meeting with senators. DIA was one of the many pro-DREAMers movements from all over the country that journeyed to D.C. for a “Day of Action” where they demanded that a clean Dream Act be included in the government budget. DIA’s first stop on their brief time in D.C. was to Saint Marks,...
January 25, 2018
CoreCivic withdraws zoning requests for ICE facility
On Monday morning, Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder informed the public that CoreCivic, a private prison company, had chosen to withdraw their zoning request to build a 250,000-square-foot ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention facility in Elkhart County. This announcement followed a groundbreaking letter last week from local business leaders, demonstrating a lack of economic support for the facility and issuing a call for CoreCivic to withdraw their proposal. Signees of the letter include Goshen mayor Jeremy Stutsman, local chambers of commerce and prominent business leaders of local communities. Announced in fall of 2017, CoreCivic’s plans to create an ICE...
January 18, 2018
Dreamers Travel to Washington D.C.
Members of Indiana Dreamers in Action (DIA) shrugged on their nicest suit jackets and pulled on their dancing shoes on Friday night as they hosted Black Out, a fundraiser of dancing and drinks. Last night, they used the donated money to pay for gas as they drove to the east coast. Today, they will wrap scarves tight around their necks and grasp signs of protest as they lobby in Washington D.C. DIA, composed of 19 DREAMers, including Goshen College’s Jose Galvan Chiquito, a sophomore, headed to the U.S. capitol yesterday. When the group arrives in D.C., they will be visiting...
November 30, 2017
Goshen community reacts to proposed ICE detention center
On C.R. 7, just outside Goshen, lies a property which has existed as farmland owned by Fir Properties LLC of Elkhart, up until now. However, this property could potentially become the location of a detention center for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The company interested in buying the property is CoreCivic of Nashville, Tennessee, one of the largest for-profit prison owners in the United States. CoreCivic owns over 70 facilities, located in 20 states throughout the U.S. They currently house over 70,000 inmates. The proposed facility in Elkhart would house 800-1,200 inmates. The detention center would be used...
November 20, 2017
Latino Entrepreneurship Program focuses on collaboration, innovation
Gilberto Perez Jr. pulls three business cards from his shirt pocket: one for a tuxedo-rental store, another for a florist and the third for a ballet folkorico group. All are Latino-owned businesses located in Goshen. Many of the local businesses in the Goshen and Elkhart County area are owned by Latinos — the Latino population of Goshen is approximately 29 percent, while Elkhart County is around 15 percent. Perez, dean of students at Goshen College, points at the cards and says, “What would happen if Goshen College offered adult [business] education to these individuals? …We’d be building up the next...
September 28, 2017
Goshen nears goal of becoming Hispanic Serving Institution
Goshen College is drawing closer to reaching its goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in order qualify as a Hispanic Serving Institution, schools must have an undergraduate full-time equivalent enrollment in which at least 25 percent of students are Hispanic. As of this fall, Goshen College stands at 23 percent. The incoming class of 215 full-time students is 32 percent Hispanic. Goshen College has the goal of qualifying for the ranking by next year. After achieving eligibility status, there remains a year-long application process. “The college is investing more in Latino student...
September 28, 2017
Convocation kicks off Hispanic Heritage Month
Last Friday, Latino Student Union held a convocation in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Students that attended the event experienced music, community and prayer. The convocation was organized by the leaders of LSU: Elijah Lora, Nora Rangel, Jorge Soto, Samantha Camacho-Ramirez, Lourdes Resendiz, Jose Ramirez, and their advisor, Rocio Diaz. They opened with a welcoming for those who had gathered and a statement of the LSU theme for the month: “know your neighbor.” The convocation kicked off a month of LSU-sponsored campus. From Sept. 15- Oct. 15, Goshen College students can pay tribute and celebrate the many different Hispanic cultures...
September 14, 2017
Goshen to support DREAMers
On Sept. 5, anxiety fell upon many in the Goshen community as President Donald Trump ordered the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Since its conception in 2012, approximately 800,000 young people have benefited from DACA, including a handful of Goshen College students. The policy allowed young adults who were brought into the United States at a young age the opportunity to work and study in the US legally without fear of immediate deportation. Now, according to the New York Times, officials said that DACA recipients could become eligible for deportation as early as March 2018....
March 30, 2017
GC works for Latino Higher Education
Goshen College will be co-sponsoring the first Indiana Latino Higher Education Conference at The University of Notre Dame on Thursday, April 13. The goal of the conference is to showcase what Goshen College and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) have done in the past several years to promote Latino student enrollment and retention in higher education and to encourage other independent colleges to do the same. To be considered a HSI, the institution must have an undergraduate Latino enrollment of at least 25 percent. This conference was conceived in early 2016 by Richard Aguirre, director of corporate and foundation relations, and...