Goshen College

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Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, and is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has an enrollment of 824 students.<ref name="GC Quick Facts" /> While Goshen maintains a distinctive liberal Mennonite worldview and Mennonites make up 30 percent of the student body, it admits students of all religions.<ref name="GC Quick Facts" />

Goshen College is home to The Mennonite Quarterly Review and the Mennonite Historical Library, a research library compiling one of the world's most comprehensive collection of Anabaptist and Mennonite primary source material.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

History

"Old" Mennonites started the Elkhart Institute in Elkhart, Indiana, in August 1894, to prepare Mennonite youth for college.<ref name="Randall Herbert Balmer 2004, p. 294">Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 294</ref> H.A. Mumaw, a practicing physician, first led the small operation with a group of 15 "Old" Mennonite ministers and laymen started a corporation named the Elkhart Institute Association.<ref>Schlabach, Theron F: Peace, Faith, Nation: Mennonites and Amish in Nineteenth Century America, page 300, Herald Press, 1988</ref> Lured by businessmen to relocate several miles away to Goshen, Indiana, the Institute moved in September 1903 and added a junior college course list, renaming itself Goshen College.<ref name="Randall Herbert Balmer 2004, p. 294"/> By 1905, the Mennonite Board of Education had taken control of the college, dissolving the Elkhart Institute Association.<ref>Richard Thomas Hughes, William B. Adrian, Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Survival and Success in the Twenty-first Century, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 1997, p. 202</ref> After 1910, most of Goshen's students were enrolled in college courses. There were attempts at founding a "School of Agriculture" and also a college-prep academy program.

The school was closed during the 1923–1924 school year by the Mennonite Board of Education but reopened the following year.<ref name="Randall Herbert Balmer 2004, p. 294"/> One of many factors in closing the college was denominational tension due to modernist and fundamentalist Christian theologies of the 1920s and their impact on Mennonite theology at the school.<ref>Juhnke, James C: Vision, Doctrine, War: Mennonite Identity and Organization in America 1890–1930, page 128. Herald Press, 1989</ref> In response to this crisis, many of Goshen's faculty and dozens of students, frustrated with the Mennonite Board of Education's decision, relocated to Bluffton College.

When the institution was reopened, it was marked by the new leadership of president S.C. Yoder and dean Noah Oyer.

The community became known as the "Goshen Historical Renaissance".<ref>Toews, Paul: Mennonites in American Society, 1930–1970: Modernity and the Persistence of Religious Community, page 88. Herald Press, 1996</ref>

During the 1940s, Goshen was one of the Mennonite Central Committee's key places to form a "relief training school" that helped to train volunteers for unpaid jobs in the Civilian Public Service, an alternative to the Army. Many Mennonites chose the civilian service alternative because of their beliefs regarding Biblical pacifism and nonresistance. Young women pacifists volunteered for unpaid Civilian Public Service jobs to demonstrate their patriotism; many worked in mental hospitals.<ref>Rachel Waltner Goossen, Women Against the Good War: Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front, 1941–1947 (1997) pp 98-111</ref> Lois Gunden, a French professor at the college, volunteered for the Mennonite Central Committee and established an orphanage for refuge children of the Spanish Civil War and Jewish children from Rivesaltes internment camp. The children that she rescued were malnourished, in poor health, and had lice. She was awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for her efforts to care for and protect children.<ref name="Bartrop">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1980, the college was granted care of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, a Template:Convert nature preserve that now offers Goshen's master's degree in Environmental Science.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1993, Harold and Wilma Good, longtime friends of the college, left their estate to Goshen. The estate, said to be worth many millions, consisted of the majority in stock of the J.M. Smucker Company. Wilma was a daughter of the company's founder. The college sold the stock and added the funds to its endowment, more than doubling it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The campus had a building boom in the late 1990s. The Goshen campus has increased from less than Template:Convert to Template:Convert with 18 major buildings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Publications

The Mennonite Quarterly Review, Mennonite Historical Library, Mennonite Church USA Archives, including Mennonite Central Committee archives, offices of "The Mennonite", and it has numerous alumni connections with the broader Mennonite Church.Template:Citation needed

Academics

Goshen College offers 46 majors and 52 minors for undergraduates.<ref name="Majors and Minors">Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the most popular programs are nursing, biology, business, communication, education, American Sign Language and environmental science. The college also offers a Master of Arts in Environmental Education, a master's degree in intercultural leadership, and a master's degree in nursing with two tracks: family nurse practitioner and clinical nurse leader.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, Goshen College partnered with Eastern Mennonite University and Bluffton University to launch the Collaborative MBA program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Study-Service Term

Students either spend a semester abroad or complete an intercultural experience in the United States. Goshen College's Study-Service Term (SST) is a program which approximately 80 percent of students participate in to complete their intercultural study requirement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Service may include working at a hospital, nursing home, kindergarten, or missionary service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The college has in the past also offered a domestic SST to immerse students in the Latino culture and community in northern Indiana.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Student life

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Clubs and organizations

File:Beach volleyball @ Goshen.JPG
Goshen College intramural volleyball

Goshen College has no official fraternities or sororities; however, many different types of clubs and organizations exist to help facilitate campus life.

International students

The International Students Club (ISC) hosts the Coffeehouse every year, an event during which international students demonstrate their artistic talents. Students are also given the opportunity, through Global Citizenship, to individually talk about their culture, and have it published by the Goshen College newspaper.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Intramural athletics

Intramural athletics are also offered. Throughout the year, students can participate in the coed sports of outdoor soccer, volleyball, sand volleyball, kickball, ping-pong, pickleball, touch football, ultimate frisbee, wiffleball, basketball, indoor soccer, and 3-on-3 basketball.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Performing arts

File:Goshen College Music Center.JPG
The Goshen College Music Center

Goshen College students have a variety of shows to attend in the Music Center's Sauder Concert Hall and Rieth Recital Hall or the Umble Center, used for theatrical productions. With the addition of the Music Center to campus, the college has offered a Performing Arts Series of nationally renowned artists from across the country. Previous guests include Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion, Indigo Girls, The Wailin' Jennys, Nickel Creek, Colm Wilkinson, Chanticleer, Canadian Brass, Tokyo String Quartet, Seraphic Fire, and Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.Template:Citation needed

Spiritual life

Although Goshen maintains that people of different faiths are welcome to the college, the school emphasizes Judeo-Christian values in regard to operation, justice, and teaching. Historically, faculty members at the school have been Christian, with a large portion adhering to Mennonite convictions.Template:Citation needed

Athletics

The Goshen athletic teams are called the Maple Leafs (chosen due to the city of Goshen being referred to as "The Maple City").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Crossroads League (formerly known as the Mid-Central College Conference (MCCC) until after the 2011–12 school year)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for most of its sports since the 1970–71 academic year; while its men's volleyball competes in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC).

Goshen competes in 14 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, track & field, and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball. Men's and women's bowling will be added in the fall of 2023, bringing the total sports teams to 16.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On October 7, 2022, Goshen College introduced Dash, the first official mascot in school history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The name was decided in a poll amongst faculty and students. <ref>[citation needed]</ref>

Campus facilities

Goshen College has four dormitories, apartment living, and several small group houses. Outside the original quadrangle, Goshen's current campus has not been the result of a single master plan. Instead, the campus has evolved eclectically from building to building as the institution grew.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Four-year residency was typical until the mid-1970s, when a growing student enrollment prompted school officials to forgo building new dormitories and allow upperclassmen to live off campus. In 2005, Goshen College announced its plan to return to four-year residency. With more students on campus, the school has spent over $10 million building and renovating dorms.Template:Citation needed

The Roman Gingerich Recreation and Fitness Center was constructed in 1994 with three full-sized basketball courts, four racquetball courts, a 200-meter indoor track, climbing wall, and weight room. The fitness center is open to all students and staff, and is used by community members as well.Template:Citation needed

The $24 million Music Center, completed in October 2002, has become regionally renowned for its design and acoustics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Construction Template:Webarchive</ref> The Music Center consists of several main sections: Sauder Concert Hall, Rieth Recital Hall, the Art Gallery, and various classrooms, practice rooms and offices. Several highlights are a central recording studio, MIDI labs, and Taylor and Boody Opus 41, a 1600-pipe tracker pipe organ, the first in the world with tempering based on alumnus Bradley Lehman's research of Johann Sebastian Bach's notation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The facility was designed by Mathes Brierre Architects (design architects), Schmidt Associates (architects of record), and TALASKE (acoustics and audio consultants).<ref>Goshen College Music Center website Template:Webarchive</ref>

Sustainability

In 2007, then Goshen College President Jim Brenneman became a charter signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment joining with leaders of 175 other higher education institutions that have agreed to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on their campuses.Template:Citation needed In 2008, Rieth Village at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College became the first platinum-rated LEED building in Indiana.Template:Citation needed In the spring of 2013, the college took the further step of purchasing 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources through the procurement of renewable energy credits. A computerized building temperature regulation system, motion light sensors for indoor and outdoor lighting and open loop ground-source heat pumps further reduce energy consumption on campus. The campus has also converted nearly 20 percent of its lawn space to native plants and prairie restoration.Template:Citation needed Goshen College students and staff have developed a food composting system, planted a community garden, built a solar hot water collection system and continued to reduce energy consumption campus-wide.Template:Citation needed In 2014, the college earned a silver rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) report for its sustainability efforts. Through an aggressive energy reduction program and efficiency upgrades, Goshen College has reduced electric consumption by 25 percent and gas consumption by 23 percent since 2007.Template:Citation needed

Small Group Housing/Intentional Living Communities

Small Group Housing (SGH) and Intentional Living Communities (ILC) are housing options for juniors and seniors on Goshen's campus. Started in the 1970s, SGH/ILC offers students the opportunity to live in a house arrangement, with common kitchen and living spaces. The purpose of SGH/ILC is for students to develop another living experience alternative to dormitory life. Goshen College maintains that SGH living is a privilege, and students must apply as a group to live in a residence. An application board consisting of resident directors, spiritual life, and physical plant employees review all potential candidates in the spring for the next school year. Each group must create a housing plan, division of responsibility, show examples of volunteerism, and a commitment to better the Goshen campus, as well as resolve conflict. Other factors considered in the application process include house cumulative GPA, extracurricular involvement, median age of the group, and personal faculty recommendations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Houses are then rewarded to applying groups who exemplify high academic, moral, and volunteer efforts, based on objective and subjective review.Template:Citation needed

Goshen College students have also lived in local housing not associated with the college.Template:Citation needed

Satellite facilities

Goshen College maintains Merry Lea Environmental Center in Indiana,Template:Citation needed and the J.N. Roth Marine Biology Station in Layton, Florida.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other properties maintained by Goshen College include Witmer Woods,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a Template:Convert arboretum with over 100 native Indiana species, and the adjacent property College Cabin (Reservoir Place),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> used for special events, along the Elkhart River and Millrace.Template:Citation needed

Beliefs

Marriage

In 2011, LGBT Christian students advocated for equal human rights in administrative policies. <ref> Jonathan S. Coley, Gay on God's Campus: Mobilizing for LGBT Equality at Christian Colleges and Universities, UNC Press Books, USA, 2018, p. 33 </ref>Goshen and Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia added sexual orientation to their anti-discrimination policy in July 2015, allowing the hiring of openly LGBT employees. <ref> Template:Cite news</ref> This decision was criticized by member-universities of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), prompting both universities to leave the organization in September 2015. <ref name="PeaceChurchOut">Template:Cite news</ref>

Controversy

National anthem

On January 21, 2010, The President's Council announced a change to Goshen's long-standing policy, and thus allowing an instrumental version of the national anthem to be played prior to some college sporting events.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Anthem" /> This decision led to complaints from students, faculty, and alumni. College art professor, John Blosser, was quoted saying, “It’s obviously about a battle. It’s rather violent. It’s about using violence to conquer and that would be something that many people here would have problems with.”<ref name="Fox News">Template:Cite news</ref> In response, Goshen's Board of Directors reversed the President's Council decision after seeking extensive input from the college community.<ref name="Anthem">Template:Cite web</ref>

The incident thrust Goshen College into the national limelight that June when several reports on Fox News publicized the fact that the college refused to play the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," at its athletic events. Two Goshen city councilmen publicly criticized the college, with one referring to the decision as "anti-American" and stating that "instead of living here in Goshen, they should go down and live in Cuba or Iran, then have them come back and see if their attitude has changed."<ref name="Fox News" /> The college, affiliated with Mennonite Church USA, which is traditionally a peace church, published an online fact sheet stating that "historically, playing the national anthem has not been among Goshen College's practices because of our Christ-centered core value of compassionate peacemaking seeming to be in conflict with the anthem’s militaristic language."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The college's then president, Dr. James E. Brenneman, announced on August 19, 2011, that as an alternative, "America the Beautiful" would be played before select athletic events.<ref name="Anthem" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Notable people

Template:Main Goshen's motto, "Culture for Service" is evident in many graduates and faculty. Below is a partial list of notable people who have been associated with the college:

Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning

On October 25, 2006, Goshen College announced that it was the recipient of a $12.5 million Lilly grant to create the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning (CITL).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Aquirre>Aguirre, Richard: "Access, Transformation & Research", Bulletin: The magazine of Goshen College, Winter/Spring 2007, pp. 11-12</ref> The purpose of this grant was to research challenges that come with changing demographics in rural towns with small colleges. Goshen College is located in Elkhart County which had a large and rapidly growing Latino population at the time (12.6 percent of the population in 2006).<ref name=Aquirre /> Despite growing minority populations, Indiana's minority enrollment in its colleges and universities has only increased two percent.<ref name=Aquirre />

Traditions

  • Goshen's motto, "Culture for Service," was coined by president Noah E. Byers in 1903Template:Citation needed
  • Goshen's school colors, purple and white, were modeled after Northwestern University, where President Byers attended and after which he wanted to model GoshenTemplate:Citation needed
  • One of the college's many traditions is "sampling" sap from the city of Goshen's official Maple Tree, located on campus, and "testing" how many more weeks of winter there will be. Professors from the science department bring out their equipment with much fanfare to determine the official length of winter. In 2006, the maple tree was removed because of disease rotting the hardwood and was replaced by a new tree, now the official maple tree of Goshen. In 2007, new president Jim Brenneman replaced this tradition (which probably resulted in the early death of the maple) with "Weather or Not Day"; a day celebrating Northern Indiana's fickle weatherTemplate:Citation needed
  • Early (1925) advertisements for the college were refreshingly direct. One said "Goshen [is] not the best college in the United States. But it is better than the rest for Mennonite young people."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

College seal

Goshen College seal signifies the book that all alumni have signed since graduation, and the lamp signifies the enlightenment that comes with education. As a Christian school, the book also signifies the importance of word, as well as God's call for his people to be "light to the world."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Campus

References

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