Dear editor: I write this letter with a discouraged sense of trust in both the editorial staff and The Record as a whole. Last week, I wrote an article covering the African American Spring Open House that was held here at GC by Lawrence Giden and his interdisciplinary team.  I was hesitant to write the article, as I have experienced frustration in the past about the censorship done by editorial staff at the Record, in addition to the misleading representation of particular sentiments as a result of inaccurate editorial suggestions (and, inevitably, published changes.)  I experienced pushback from Record staff...

By Carmen Merino • April 11, 2024 • Features

We are encouraged! Last Wednesday, these two octogenarians from Greencroft joined nearly 100 students and friends of Goshen College to lift our voices in song, listen to moving speeches, hold protest signs and generally try to have our voices heard. It was so heartening to see students trying to make a difference, speaking to the GC administration, asking them to speak up against the violence and killing in Gaza. They spoke of their own sorrow, anger and disappointment at our culpability in supporting the carnage. Yet, there was a glimmer of hope as GC students and leaders from Michiana Voices...

By Jep and Joyce Hostetler • April 4, 2024 • Features

Dear editor, I appreciated the coverage of the philosophy minor in The Record last week and would like to offer some of my thoughts. During the fall of my first year, I took the course Philosophy, Wonder and Existence with Professor Woodington, an adjunct who is no longer at GC. Now, in my fifth year, 160 credit hours later, I still remember it as being one of my favorite and most formative classes. The topics we covered were completely unrelated to my film and communication studies, but I was fully engaged by the content. We tried to understand the fundamental...

By Jackson Steinmetz • November 9, 2023 • Features Eli Reimer • November 9, 2023 • Features

Dear editor, The violence unfolding in Israel/Palestine is horrifying and heartbreaking. As a follower of Jesus, I stand for peace and am opposed to killing. And as Dr. Martin Luther King said, “There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice.” The tensions between peace and justice makes this conflict so heavy and morally disturbing. The brutal loss of life and hostage-taking on Oct. 7 left me speechless, and now the horrific violence of the Israeli response grinds on relentlessly. I grapple with painful images, rhetoric from activists and media on both sides, and...

By Rebecca Stoltzfus • November 2, 2023 • Features

As of the time I am writing this, I have noticed a distinct lack of administrative statements on the crisis in Gaza. This is especially striking because President Stoltzfus issued statements on both the Russo-Ukraine war and the Jan. 6th Capitol riots shortly after news broke. It has been several weeks since Israel declared war on Hamas and began the siege of Gaza. Let me preface my own statements by noting that I am neither Palestinian nor Jewish. I found Emma Gingerich’s piece on the importance of the Palestinian perspective insightful and poignant. You can find it in the Oct....

By Liam Morris • October 26, 2023 • Features

Dear editor, I left the men’s soccer match last Wednesday frustrated and embarrassed. Our team didn’t have its best showing, but that’s not what really bothered me. What really got under my skin was the heckling by our fans.  For starters, I don’t think it’s working. If anything, instead of getting in the other team’s head, our hecklers seem to fuel the other team’s determination. I’ve seen it happen at multiple men’s games — basketball, volleyball and soccer.  It’s reached the point that I don’t really want to go to men’s games anymore. It’s too painful and awkward.  What starts...

By Rob Brenneman • September 8, 2023 • Features

On Jan. 26, I wrote an article on behalf of the student organization, Discrimination Student Caucus, that included issues of accessibility on campus.  In the published article there were phrasings that The Record staff changed, presumably in order to be more palatable to the GC administration and to the GC donors.  Listed below are the changes in vocabulary that diminished the severity of inaccessibility on campus.  Original words:  – All of Umble Center (Specifically the lack of a functional ramp, as there are only stairs to the other levels and there is no accessible seating)   –  The RFC’s “elevator” is...

By Robin Chico • February 16, 2023 • Features

I am writing in response to the September 26, 2019 RECORD article, “GC Sets Sights on AAUW Conference,”  by Cecilia Garcia. No mention was made of the fact that the primary financial support for Goshen College students to attend the American Association of University Women (AAUW)-sponsored National Conference for College Women Student Leaders has been provided by the Goshen Branch of AAUW. Since 2010, 13 women student leaders at Goshen College have been able to attend this conference held annually at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. I believe this is an example of significant community-college collaboration and should...

By Record • October 2, 2019 • Features

Note from Kristin Troyer, executive editor: Last issue, Jace Longenecker wrote the piece “Stop using privilege as a silencer,” for the Perspectives page. Running it posed an ethical dilemma for me as an editor: as a person I didn’t necessarily agree with the piece, but as a journalist, I knew that he has a right to share his opinion. We ran the article, and I anticipated feedback. The following letter to the editor was sent by Irene Schmid, a 2016 graduate of Goshen College; I felt it should be shared with our audience. I also gave Jace an opportunity to...

By Record • October 31, 2018 • Features

Feb. 21, 2018 To the Editor of The Record: I was surprised to notice in the Feb. 15 issue of The Record that the term “redneck” is alive and well in formal spoken and written discourse at Goshen College.  Surely the term is as derogatory for its ethnic group as are the more notorious ones for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Using a color term to identify any group of people seems offensive to me.   Even “white” has its problems.  There must be some “rednecks,” or children of “rednecks,” enrolled at Goshen College.  Do they feel welcome? Sincerely, Ervin Beck...

By Record • March 15, 2018 • Features

Dear Editor, We wanted to write to you to give corrections to errors in the article written on J Sider doing an interactive video conference at the Lunch and Launch (Your Business) held on February 27, 2015. The event was hosted by the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies in Rieth Recital Hall. Young professionals from the community including alumni, as well as members of both the Elkhart and Goshen Chambers attended the event. Unfortunately, due to the Spring Break schedule, students were not able to attend the event. The idea behind such an event was to help young professionals...

By Ross Peterson-Veatch • March 12, 2015 • Features Kendra Ramseyer • March 12, 2015 • Features

Gretchen Geyer is a senior social work major at Goshen College.    Last Wednesday, Reyna Grande presented a very passionate and compelling personal story of overcoming many obstacles, working hard to reach her goal of higher education, and becoming an author. As I entered Umble Center, I was very impressed that it was nearly full. I finally found a seat near the back and anxiously anticipated Grande’s story. At the beginning of chapel, Beverly Lapp politely reminded us once again, to please put away our electrical devices. She then invited us to welcome our guest speaker to talk to us...

By Gretchen Geyer • November 13, 2014 • Features

My dear friends, colleagues and Goshen College community, I listened with eagerness then disappointment to President Brenneman’s update of the GC Board’s meeting. The Board has deferred its decision on hiring LGBTQ faculty. We can lead or follow on hiring LGBTQ faculty; that’s our choice. I suggest we lead. I recognize that the Board wants to care for all the members of our community, and I respect that. But this change will happen; it’s just a matter of when. A hiring change feels like a big move, but in fact it is a baby step in our society’s progress to...

By David Ostergren • October 22, 2014 • Features

Letter to the editor To the campfire enthusiasts of Witmer Woods: I enjoy a good night of tenting just a much as the next person. There's something about sleeping that close to nature that reinvigorates and restores. Thus, I had a quiet little smile when I spied the bright red-orange tent around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday in Witmer Woods. My smile was quickly replaced by a frown, however, when I came across a still actively smoldering bed of coals in the middle of the path. I spread out the hot spots as best I could and smashed ends of glowing...

By Jeanne Liechty • March 18, 2009 • News

Letter to the editor I was at the Concord Mall on Tuesday to help distribute food to unemployed families. It was an inspiration to have Feed the Children come to Elkhart. But as a Mennonite minister, a former Goshen College professor (of the New Testament) and one who cares deeply about the jobless, the homeless and undocumented immigrants in the area, I saw and felt another side as I stood inside the mall and watched the show. Bob Thatcher (president of Concord Mall) was never so completely out of touch with reality as when he used that platform to praise...

By Donald Blosser • March 11, 2009 • News