peace
February 9, 2017
Miller-Shearer holds oral history workshop
Dr. Tobin Miller-Shearer visited Goshen College’s campus last month to conduct an oral history workshop to students. Held on Jan. 16, the workshop focused on the value and methodology behind oral history. Ten interested students went to the workshop, with majors in peace, justice and conflict studies, history and education. “Oral history brings the historian in a room with the person whose story and whose memories are needed to uncover a part of the past that’s little known, or has never been recorded,” said Philipp Gollner, assistant professor of U. S. history. The workshop opened with Miller-Shearer explaining to students...
February 2, 2017
Serving with joy, singing for peace
It’s difficult to feel like you’re making a difference these days. In this time of political strife, with our country banning other countries from entering, how can you feel like you’re creating change when those up on Capitol Hill refuse to listen? Sing. That is what Galed Krisjayanta is doing. “Music is a powerful tool,” the senior Hesston transfer said. He realized this when he spent a summer traveling around Indonesia, the land of his birth, performing and singing at refugee camps after an earthquake ravaged Yogyakarta in 2006. While he was travelling and performing, he was also promoting his...
October 13, 2016
“Party Favors”: a reminder at height of election season
This past weekend, Homecoming Weekend visitors had the chance to enjoy this year’s Peace Play Contest winner, “Party Favors” written by Cary Pepper, at Umble Center on Friday-Sunday, Oct. 7-9. “Party Favors” centers around an independent candidate, Malcolm Wilkes, played by Jonah Yoder, a sophomore business major, as he attempts to run a clean campaign amidst the pressures of the foul play that naturally accompanies modern politics. The head of his independent party sends Stuart Severet, played by junior theater major James Lang, to encourage Malcolm to take whatever path it is that ensures him victory, whether or not that...
March 31, 2016
Multiple upcoming EcoPAX club events
With spring officially here, EcoPAX is ready to capitalize on the warm weather with an array of events lined up for the final stretch of the semester. All of the events in one form or another represent the goals of Goshen College’s ecologically-minded leaders by broadening community through ecological awareness, action, education and living by forming connections on campus and throughout the entire Goshen community. Ben Wiebe, a sophomore and one of EcoPAX’s planning committee members, expressed his enthusiasm about the upcoming events when discussing some of the specifics. “It’s difficult to have a lot of interactive EcoPAX events throughout...
March 10, 2016
GC to host Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship conference
For the first time since 2006, Goshen College will be hosting the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship conference, this year centered on the Black Lives Matter movement. The Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference of Mennonite and Affiliated Colleges, established in 1953, is hosted annually by one of six participating Anabaptist colleges. Students and faculty from GC’s PAX Club, Black Student Union and the peace, justice and conflict studies department have been working together the conference that will be held next weekend, March 18-20. The conference theme is “Solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement: Why and How?” Students and faculty will have the...
November 12, 2015
Diversity talks with Regina Shands Stoltzfus
Regina Shands Stoltzfus, assistant professor of peace, justice and conflict studies at Goshen College, explores the meaning of diversity on campus. What does diversity mean to you? I would say that diversity is a fact, like the world is diverse in a lot of ways. And for the work that I do, I usually say both outside and inside the classroom, that I do “anti-oppression work.” I used to call it diversity work, but it became such a buzz word and such a word that escaped the vision that I have become a little suspicious of it. Sometimes I think...
September 17, 2015
Goshen College revises crisis plan
Earlier this month, one student at Savannah State University and at Sacramento State College were shot to death on their respective campuses. Closer to Goshen, a Purdue University student was shot and killed on campus last year. Goshen College’s crisis management team is updating the college’s plan to make sure students know what to do in an emergency situation, be it a gunman on campus, a tornado or another type of emergency. The college’s crisis management plan is nearly a decade old, a document of several pages inside a thick, white binder that sits on the desk of Brian Guetig,...
March 5, 2015
Students attend Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference
On February 13-15, GC students and alumni made the long trek to Hesston for a peace conference. Eliana Basinger, a first-year, attended the event and gave the following report: We left at 5 a.m. Friday morning on a bus and drove until we arrived in Hesston, Kansas, at 6 p.m. It was a long drive, but it was nice to have time to sleep, do homework and talk to people. The students who went were seniors Tim Bixler and Mariah Martin, junior Marissa Hochstetler, sophomores Isaiah Friesen, James Garcia, Naomi Gross, Phil Longenecker and Zach Zimmerman, and first year...
February 19, 2015
C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest
On Tuesday, February 17, five Goshen College students competed in the annual C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest in Umble Center. Participants delivered an 8 to 10 minute speech on a topic of their choice relating to peace. The purpose of the contest is to provide an opportunity for students to become involved with the cause for peace and develop rhetorical skills. The contest winner, Dona Park, a sophomore art and interdisciplinary major, gave a speech titled “Through the Eyes of the People” and spoke on the very real truths of what is currently happening in North and South Korea....
November 13, 2014
Student Organizes Hymn Marathon For Peace
Friday evening at 7 p.m., hymn singers will gather in Newcomer 19 to kick off a hymn marathon. The marathon will cover every verse of every hymn in "Hymnal: A Worship Book" and will likely last the entire weekend. Hymns have long played an important role in the broader Mennonite culture and at Goshen College. Bobby Switzer, a senior and leader of the Hymn Club, said, “There is something beautiful about singing in parts. The individuality of each voice is allowed and valued for its distinctiveness, and yet the cohesive whole is more beautiful than any separate part. It’s a...
October 8, 2014
Students Called To Be Witnesses For Peace
Goshen College students were invited to take part in a weekly witness for peace as part of an ongoing community demonstration. Last week, Gwen Gustafson-Zook, minister of worship at Goshen College, posted an eye-catching announcement in the Communicator. In summary, it was an invitation for Goshen College students to head downtown on Wednesday to witness against the ongoing war in Iraq. Every Wednesday afternoon, community members gather to pray and support those who suffer in Iraq and war inflicted areas. The majority of the members who participate in this protest are from a group called Seniors for Peace. The members...
March 7, 2013
Roth speaks on twenty-first century martyrs
John D. Roth, professor of history, introduced a new project that he will be undertaking, “The Global Anabaptist Profile and Suffering Church Project," at the 2013 C. Henry Smith Peace Lecture on Tuesday night. The peace lecture is an annual event delivered at Goshen College by a faculty member from a Mennonite college or university. Roth’s lecture was titled “’Bearing Witness’ As Peacemaking: A New Martyrs Mirror for the Twenty-First Century?” The lecture focused on introducing a new project that Roth will soon be starting, which will consist of collecting stories of adversity and suffering from members of the Anabaptist church...
February 21, 2013
Putnam’s ‘Peace in Laos’ wins oratorical contest
On Tuesday night Jacob Putnam, a sophomore, won the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest, taking home $500 and the chance for his speech to compete in the bi-national contest. Judges Anne Hershberger, a previous winner; Bob Yoder, campus pastor; and Phil Waite, pastoral team leader at College Mennonite Church, collectively decided that Putnam’s speech, which discussed the problem of unexploded ordnances (UXOs) dropped on Laos by the United States, best met the contest criteria. Putnam explained the problem: less than one percent of the unexploded ordnances have been disabled in Laos and the U.S. is not spending enough money to...
February 13, 2013
Compassionate peacemakers prepare for oratorical contest
Goshen College students are preparing to reinforce the school’s core value of peacemaking through the tradition of speech making. This Tuesday, five students will compete in the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest, organized by the communication department, to share topics related to various forms of peace. One contestant will move on to the bi-national competition. “This contest allows students to articulate being a compassionate peacemaker,” said Pat Lehman, professor of communication and contest coordinator, “and it is powerful to see students improving their speaking skills.” Each contestant will present an 8-10 minute speech that is 1200 words or less...
November 29, 2012
40 students join hundreds in Georgia for SOA Watch protest
On the weekend of November 16, about 40 students from Goshen College attended a large gathering outside the gates of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). The event was organized by the group SOA Watch, who seeks to see the army school closed. SOA part stands for ‘School of the Americas,’ the name that the military base had when the group formed. The School of the Americas’ name was officially changed to WHINSEC in 2001. The SOA Watch group says that the annual gathering is “the largest annual anti-militarization gathering in North America.” The SOA Watch explains that...