Race
August 27, 2020
GC alums capture activist momentum
Last Sunday, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha, Wisconsin police officers as he attempted to enter an SUV. The event renewed the energy of many organized movements across the U.S. fighting for justice for Black men and women killed at the hands of police officers. The death of George Floyd on May 25 initially ignited a lot of these activist groups this summer and the story was the same for 4US, a group of Goshen activists fighting for social change. Goshen College graduate Abraham Medellin ‘19 started the group on June 10 as a Facebook...
February 24, 2020
Michelle Alexander visits Goshen College
Last night, on Feb. 19, Goshen students, faculty, staff and community members, welcomed writer, civil rights advocate and professor Michelle Alexander. Alexander, best known for her 2010 book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” presented at the Atlee and Winifred Beechy Peace, Justice and Reconciliation Lecture, in Sauder Concert Hall. Alexander took to the stage and was immediately welcomed with a standing ovation from the audience. Regina Shands Stoltzfus, associate professor of peace, justice and conflict studies, began the event by asking a question relating to The New Jim Crow - the book that spent...
November 29, 2019
Administration sticks to policy, stays silent on identity of hate speech perpetrator
On Sunday, Nov. 3, reports of homophobic and racist slurs written on Goshen College’s campus were made to the college. On Nov. 4, the administration began two investigations into the incident and has since identified the party or parties involved. Despite calls from students to release the name or names of the perpetrators, the administration has withheld the information in accordance with the college’s policy on bias-related incidents. Since President Rebecca Stoltzfus condemned the hate speech in an email to the student body on Tuesday, Nov. 5, the administration has provided no further public information about the incident. Katie Baer,...
April 12, 2018
Intercultural Coalition of Goshen College hold town hall meeting
The Intercultural Coalition of Goshen College (ICGC) organized a town hall meeting on Wednesday, April 11. The event took place at the Fellowship Hall in College Mennonite Church in front of students, faculty, staff and community members. The meeting was held following a student lead walk out on March 21, that saw students head to President Stoltzfus’s office and present her with the stories of racism on campus, the coalition's mission statement and a summary of resolutions. The panel consisted of President Stoltzfus, Ken Newbold, Jo-Ann Brant, Linda VandenBosch, Dr Mitch Mitchell, Gilberto Perez, and Duane Stoltzfus. Along with ICGC...
March 22, 2018
#StandWithUsGC walkout a success
Students got the Goshen College administration’s attention when they marched out of chapel to demand changes regarding racism on campus on Wednesday, March 21. As students left the chapel, a tunnel formed to guide people toward the Adelphian Fountain. There, members of the Intercultural Coalition of Goshen College (ICGC) read anonymously submitted stories of racism on campus. The mission statement of the coalition and a summary of the resolutions being presented to the president were also read. Four leaders from ICGC walked up to President Stoltzfus’s office to give her the resolutions as well as a T-shirt and button that...
March 22, 2018
For the Record
It’s easy to say that racism doesn’t affect me, that homophobia has no impact on my life, that sexism isn’t something that actually exists, transphobia is a myth. As a privileged straight white woman, I could easily say all of those things and more. I could avert my eyes from the suffering of others and focus on my own privileged straight white world. But I won’t say those things. I can’t say those things.Because I am a part of the Goshen community where I interact with people who face oppression on a daily basis. I have friends, classmates and peers...
November 30, 2017
Where is my Asian role model?
Growing up, Mulan was not the only one who felt confused about the reflection she saw when looking into a mirror. Adopted from China at the age of 1, I am what people in the Asian-American community might call a “banana.” I look yellow on the outside but feel white on the inside. Feeling this way has caused me to examine insecurities I have felt – and sometimes still feel – about being Asian. There’s a part in the movie, “Mulan,” where she (the protagonist) wipes white makeup off of her face only to be left staring at her Asian...
February 9, 2017
Dedication celebrates first African-American graduate
On Friday, students, staff and faculty, community members and others will come together for the Juanita Lark Welcome Center dedication and celebration. Lark was Goshen College’s first African American graduate, receiving her diploma in 1943 with a major in education. Lark spent part of her college years at Hesston College, as well as Howard University, before graduating from Goshen. According to Jim Caskey, vice president for institutional advancement and an organizer of the dedication on Friday, President James Brenneman is the force behind the dedication. Brenneman wanted to recognize “luminaries” who helped make Goshen College an “inclusive educational environment.” Brenneman...
January 19, 2017
Conversations on Race: preparing for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
This past weekend, 14 students participated in a timely course entitled Conversations on Race, taught by Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice, and conflict studies. In four sessions over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, students engaged in conversations focused on the history of American racist structures, mass incarceration and white identity, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. “Every year the course changes with whatever theme we are having for MLK Day,” Stoltzfus said. The theme for MLK Day events this year was “It Is Time.” Stoltzfus continued, “This year it was harder to pin down,...
October 13, 2016
Black Lives Matter demonstration
The cries of passionate students rang out above the rush of traffic on Friday night as a demonstration was held in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The demonstration, planned by Malcolm Stovall with the help of Claire Frederick and Sarah Hofkamp, all seniors, and Marco Fraticelli, a junior, was spurred by the discussions and actions surrounding NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the national anthem, as well as the recent deaths of two black men, Terrence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott, at the hands of police. The Black Lives Matter movement is an international campaign and was founded...
October 6, 2016
Faculty members run in bicentennial torch relay
In celebration of Indiana’s bicentennial, a torch relay passed through Elkhart County on Tuesday Oct. 4, featuring three Goshen College employees. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay started in Harrison County on Friday Sept. 9 and will finish in Marion County on Oct. 15. Richard Aguirre, director of corporate and foundation relations, Rocio Diaz, CIIE coordinator of intercultural community engagement, and Gilberto Perez, senior director of intercultural development and educational partnerships, each took a turn running through Goshen with the torch. “It was a fun experience,” said Perez, “but perhaps the greatest joy in all of this was seeing the GC...
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...
February 18, 2016
“Equipping the Saints” Conference brainstorm strategies for change
Leaders of color and white allies within Mennonite Church USA met January 21-24 for a conversation about issues in the workplace. “Equipping the Saints” was the latest conference of the Hope for the Future gathering since it was started five years ago. It began as a way for leaders of color at Mennonite institutions to meet and support one another. After two years, white allies were invited to join that conversation. Toward the end of January, Goshen College sent a group of three students (Nahshon Lora, a first-year; Deeksha Pagar and Gabby Castanon, sophmores), five faculty and staff members (Norman...
January 28, 2016
MLK Day: Reimagining the dream
Goshen College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations began this past Saturday. The slogan for this year’s theme was “Trouble I’ve Seen: Naming the Nightmare, Re-imagining the Dream.” The celebration filled the weekend with a wide spread of activities for students and community members alike. The weekend began with a few guests including Sofia Samatar, a Goshen College graduate of 1994 and world-renowned science fiction writer. On Saturday, Samatar gave a public reading that featured excerpts from her novel “A Stranger in Olondria,” another excerpt from the upcoming sequel, a short story titled “How I Met the Ghoul,” and a...
January 14, 2016
GC faculty addresses letter to students
Cases of racial injustice on college campuses have rocked the nation this year. Violence towards black lives by police officers, the killing of nine black parishioners in Charleston, the escalating mean-spirited political rhetoric against minority faith traditions and immigrant populations, along with instances of misguided speech and prejudice, even on a peace college campus like Goshen’s, motived many faculty and staff to sign an open letter affirming their stance on these issues to GC students. Faculty and staff were invited to sign “An Open Letter to Our Students from GC Faculty and Staff,” shared via Google Docs, in support of...