Union building
October 5, 2023
Clock tower sits still and silent over campus
The clock tower doesn’t garner much attention from students these days. In the era of cell phones, students have other ways to check the time. Positioned on top of the Union building, the clock tower was built in 1956 as a part of the overall building construction. Initially a complicated system with many points of failure, it didn’t take long for the tower to be critiqued. In 1959, Donald M. Marquis wrote an article for The Record complaining about the lack of consistency in the chimes. “It either didn’t ring, rang all the time, or rang a pseudo Jazz pattern...
January 16, 2020
Goshen College community settles into the renovated Union Building
With the spring semester off to a start and the renovations in the Goshen College Union Building completed, staff members and students have had time to adjust and settle to the new spaces. The eight-month long project was completed in September of 2019. The last piece of the puzzle was the relocation and new design of ITS Media, the AV desk and the bookstore. ITS Media now has larger work and office spaces. These renovations were part of a separate project and budget from the previous reservations of the Juanita Lark Welcome Center and the new Leaf Raker Cafe. Glenn...
September 25, 2019
Historic mailboxes find new use
The Union renovation left hundreds of mailboxes without a purpose. Once the hub of social activity, the mailboxes are finding new life in creative hands. David Miller, retired biology professor and former Merry Lea program director, offered his woodworking skills to build savings banks using the mailbox doors. Miller has over 300 doors to work with. The doors are the most memorable part of the mailboxes. The oldest ones are made of brass, Miller said. A pattern of ornate lines forms a border around the edges, and a twelve-pointed star decorates the keyhole. “I know that the doors of old...
September 21, 2019
Haitian art transforms new Union
On The Leaf Raker Cafe’s opening day Arlin Hunsberger was the first person to order breakfast. He ate a breakfast sandwich. Hunsberger ate with his two grandchildren on Sept. 2, next to the newly opened gallery built to house the art collection that he and his wife, Naomi, donated to Goshen College. The collection includes 100 works of Haitian art, spanning 55 years of Haitian culture. The pieces will rotate through the gallery in the Hunsberger Commons. The Hunsbergers took interest Haitain art during their first visit to the island for development work with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in...
October 10, 2018
You’ve Got Mail – Just No Mailbox
If a student goes to the mailboxes in the Union Building to look for a letter from home or a favorite magazine, they might end up waiting forever. After decades spent serving as one of the most important communication channels on campus, the student mailboxes in the Union Building are closed for business. Beginning this semester, students will get their postal mail the way they get their packages. “A notice of delivery will come from Campus Post Office alerting students of the arrival of a U.S. Postal Service delivery,” said Kim Snyder, audiovisual officer supervisor for ITS Media. “The notice includes the Monday...
November 15, 2012
Commuters still looking for permanent space
While other construction projects on campus are close to completion, one project has been held up: the construction of the commuter's lounge. In other years, the commuter’s lounge has offered off-campus students a part of campus where they can study, eat or just hang out between classes. The renovation of the Union building to create the Center for Intercultural and International Education offices left the old Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning office space empty. Early last spring it was decided that the commuter lounge would be moved from the south end of the Union to the north end of...
November 8, 2012
This winter, geothermal unit heats three buildings
Last spring, Goshen College partnered with Chillit Chillers, a local business that designs and manufactures geothermal monitoring systems, to install an efficient heating and cooling system for Umble Center, the Good Library and parts of the Union Building. Glenn Gilbert, GC sustainability coordinator, said that geothermal, though expensive to install, was a good option for the college. “We have a desire to get away from steam," said Gilbert, "which is a wonderful [heat] source but is not very efficient.” The project came at this time because several buildings needed heating upgrades anyway. But why should students care about a utility...
November 1, 2012
Intercultural education at Goshen gets a new space
Anyone who has walked through the new entrance of the Union building has likely noticed some big changes this year. The centerpiece of the revamped building is a large and colorful office space open to the world through a row of tall windows and decorated with paintings by artists from cultures around the world. This area is home to Goshen's new Center for International and Intercultural Education (CIIE). CIIE is not a new organization, but a partnership of already established departments on campus that deal with international and intercultural affairs. The new office space for CIIE is home to what...
September 27, 2012
Commuter students await lounge renovations
Goshen College students living off campus will have to wait until mid-November to use the new commuter lounge, but Bill Born, vice president of student life, thinks it will be worth the wait. The Union building commuter lounge is being refurbished, but with a few complicated twists. Originally, the college planned to situate the new and improved commuter lounge in the former quarters of the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning in the north annex of the Union, Born said. But when James Townsend arrived as vice president for enrollment and marketing, he persuaded the rest of the leadership team...
September 7, 2012
Construction projects occupy campus
Goshen College students stepping onto campus this fall will notice a plethora of construction welcoming them to campus. The college is currently in the midst of three major construction projects: a new train underpass, a renovated Union building and a new geothermal heating system. All three projects started last spring and are scheduled for completion at some point this fall. Bill Born, vice president of student life, explained that, while the idea of an underpass had been bounced around even before his time here, “the actual project that we’re now seeing probably came to the table six or seven years...
January 12, 2012
Changes coming soon to Union
On March 1, students will begin to see big changes to the Union building. Construction will start as phase one of the Union renovation project aims to redo the west half of the Union gym. Phase one of the planned construction focuses on developing a new gathering place for the intercultural development programs. The remodeled area will include office space, conference space and reception space, creating a common space shared by the Center of Intercultural Teaching and Learning, the international education department and the multi-cultural affairs office. Along with new offices, new men’s and women’s restroom areas will also be...
October 14, 2010
Bell towers’ faulty chimes solved at last
A familiar ringing mysteriously vanished from Goshen College this fall. The clock tower over the Union Building was silent. The strangest part was that nobody seemed to know when or why it disappeared. In the weeks leading up to the mysterious silencing, the chimes had a tendency to stop mid-ring or ring incessantly. It was a mystery. As it turned out, the bells hadn’t been stolen, abducted by aliens or silenced by students protesting their class schedule. They had been shut down by Utilities Manager Glenn Gilbert. “It’s been off since last Friday and nobody notices” Gilbert said last week....