Race
November 19, 2015
Diversity hiring initiative presented at meeting
Goshen College released a nine-point plan to increase the diversity of faculty and staff during the all-employee meeting on Monday. During his welcome to the meeting, President James Brenneman noted that while GC has has made marked improvements in diversifying the student population, there is still a long way to go for the employee population. “I believe that students… continue to be hurt by systemic racism,” he said. “We are little by little becoming reflective of the diversity of our surrounding community. [But] all of this is still not enough as long as our students—particularly those of color—have the feeling...
November 12, 2015
CIIE and local African American communities
This fall, Goshen has had its most diverse first-year class ever, with 40 percent of traditional students identifying as non-white, compared with 15 percent in 2006-2007. Goshen College’s Latino student population, in particular, has skyrocketed. But that was not the only advancement towards growth in minority student enrollment. CIIE is currently working with the African American community in both Elkhart and South Bend to make higher education much more achievable. Since 2006, Goshen College has dramatically increased minority student enrollment. During the 2015-2016 academic year, 36 percent of traditional undergraduate students were minority or international students, compared with 17.7 percent...
April 16, 2015
Students attend Caravana 43 panel in Chicago
On Saturday, April 4, five Goshen College students travelled to Chicago, IL to participate in a community forum, march and panel given by Caravana 43, families of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students. Caravana 43 is travelling across the United States to share their stories and demand the return of the students and an end to U.S. military aid to Mexico. First-year Hannah Yoder and sophomores Zach Zimmerman, Anya Kreider, Mimi Salvador and Alma Flores all attended the events. In the evening, the National Museum of Mexican Art hosted a presentation given by Latinos from the local suburb of Little Mexico....
April 16, 2015
Police and students discuss Ferguson protest
Goshen College students and faculty took a step towards more open conversation on Wednesday, April 1 when the Goshen Police Chief Wade Branson and Goshen Mayor Allan Kauffman met with Gilberto Perez, Regina Shands Stoltzfus and six Goshen College students in the Center For Intercultural and International Education at GC. The meeting was called to begin discussion about the Ferguson Solidarity Protest that occurred in downtown Goshen last fall. “Tonight we are here to discuss what our experience was and what that means for us as people who need to coexist,” said Shands Stoltzfus, who opened the meeting with the...
November 6, 2014
Goshen Students Attend Diversity Conference
Goshen College students had a chance to explore issues of diversity and oppression at the sixth annual North Park University Diversity Conference. This year, the theme for the conference was “Building an Appetite for Diversity.” It aimed to allow students to explore and converse about issues such as race, ethnicity and gender. Attendees were offered a variety of workshops and seminars on these topics and there were artistic displays of music, poetry and theater. Students were also given the opportunity to network throughout the day. Marco Fraticelli, a first-year who attended the event, said, “The first workshop I went to...
October 8, 2014
‘Heavenly Voices’ Gives Voice To Mennonite Women Of Color
“Heavenly Voices,” a play written by Goshen College professor Pat Lehman, has made an impact on both its audience members and the women involved in its production. “Heavenly Voices” grew out of the Mennonite Woman of Color Oral History Project. From 2000-06, Lehman and her colleague Linda Christophel traveled across the United States interviewing Mennonite women of color about their experiences with racism in their communities, both in and out of church. Lehman and Christophel both come from bi-racial and multicultural families, and their own experiences with racism and discrimination spurred them on to hear the stories of other women....
April 2, 2014
Microaggression Photos
Black Student Union and Latino Student Union joined together to present the Microaggression Project last night at 6:30 p.m. in NC 17. The event was centered on the theme, “We too are Goshen.” Students from both clubs took pictures with microaggressions they have experienced before the event and posted the pictures around campus. There was discussion about the presence of microaggressions and how society can eradicate them.
January 29, 2014
Our Legacy: A Conversation on Race with Lee Roy Berry Jr.
I have heard Lee Roy Berry speak on justice and race before, so I am familiar with his deep voice, confident presence, and thoughtful words. I have heard his former political science students praise his teaching. I felt shivers anticipating my interview with him. But, I noticed that my nerves were twitching not just in respect, but also in fear of the “race issue.” I am passionate about anti-racism dialogue, but I’m afraid of my own privileged ignorance. I’m afraid to say something insensitive. Nevertheless, Martin Luther King Jr. Day rolled around and I attended a spoken word coffee house...
January 24, 2013
Johnson explores race through storytelling at MLK events
Dana Johnson, a novelist who now teaches at the University of Southern California, was a guest speaker on campus for the Martin Luther King Jr. events this past weekend. The California native has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. During her visit to Goshen College, Johnson read excerpts from her 2012 novel Elsewhere, California at a special reading on Saturday evening and during the extended MLK convocation Monday morning. Both readings were well attended and enthusiastically received. Elsewhere, California is a coming-of-age story about an African-American girl growing up in the suburbs...
January 24, 2013
Smith speaks on radiation, racism and forgiveness
Students and community members witnessed the power of forgiveness Sunday evening, and again at convocation Monday, after hearing author and award-winning filmmaker Wilbert Smith. Smith, an insurance agent from California, told the story of his friend, Vertus Hardiman. Smith and Hardiman met through their church choir. Hardiman was born in 1922 in Lyle’s Station, Ind., and at the age of five became a victim of illegal medical experimentation aimed specifically at African-American children. The experiments were allegedly carried out to study how much radiation the human body could handle. Hardiman’s story began in what Smith referred to as America’s “radiation...
January 17, 2013
Racism class focuses on “shalom”
Goshen College students will have an opportunity to discuss issues of race and racism with the one-credit course PJCS 199--Conversation on Race--offered this weekend. Regina Shands Stoltzfus, assistant professor of peace, justice and conflicts studies, will teach the class. Students enrolled in the course will be introduced to basic lessons about race and racism including vocabulary, key concepts and overall theoretical perspective. They will participate in conversations about what race means, how it impacts people’s lives and personal experiences. Apart from teaching basic concepts of race, the class will also attend the Martin Luther King, Jr. Study Day events with...
March 21, 2012
Revisiting a “Sundown Town”: Race & Culture in Goshen
A special report from Reporting for the Public Good (Comm 350)
March 8, 2012
RFC hosts three indoor marathons in one weekend
The fourth annual Maple Leaf Indoor Marathon, held on Feb. 25 and 26, brought runners together from around the nation. Doug Yoder, the cross-country and track coach at GC, played a significant role in organizing the marathon and also participated by running two and a half marathons for the occasion. “It was a great event,” said Yoder. “Everyone was impressed with our organization and with Goshen College in general.” He also noted that the marathon was a great way to nationally spread the word about Goshen College because people came from all over the country to participate. On Saturday the...
April 21, 2010
Racism continues in Goshen
Many people might believe that racism is a thing of the past. Some would state that racism was solved with the Civil Rights Movement, or that the election of a biracial president proves that the country has moved past the era of racism. This is simply not true. While the United States as a whole has made definite progress, racism still exists, in both covert and overt forms. This past fall on the Goshen College campus, Brenda Salter McNeil was contracted to audit the campus climate. The audit “takes a critical look at an institution in regards to racial diversity...
October 28, 2009
Wise unmasks white privilege
How are a 36-hour-old pot of rotting gumbo and white privilege alike? “It doesn’t matter who made the mess, you live with the residue and heritage of the mess now, and are responsible for the clean-up,” said Tim Wise, an anti-racism speaker and author whose most recent book is titled Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama. This illustration opened Wednesday’s special convocation about white privilege, as part of Goshen College’s endeavor to increase awareness of racism and diversity. Wise’s convocation focused on the root of racism: white supremacy and its effects,...