President’s Speech: Becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution!
On January 25, 2023, Goshen College students, staff and community members gathered in the Church-Chapel to celebrate the recent designation of the college as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. This is Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus’ speech, as prepared for delivery.
Good morning and welcome! Buenos dias y bienvenidos! This is a celebration convocation!
We are here this morning to celebrate Goshen College’s new federal designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution! But even more, we are here to celebrate the Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx students and families who have made our surrounding community economically and culturally vibrant.
In this region, Latinos have faced many challenges and have also made many contributions. Latinos have provided the labor that has powered Elkhart’s manufacturing industries. They have built buildings and put roofs over our heads. They have started businesses that have created jobs. They have filled positions in the services industry that are necessary for our economy to function. They are civic leaders, church leaders, educators and good neighbors. And they have enriched local culture with their various cultures, music, language, food, dance and art.
You have transformed not only our community, but also Goshen College. We are here today to celebrate that.
The U.S. Department of Education awarded the designation of Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) to Goshen College last week. In the numbers, this means that for consecutive years GC has met the criteria of at least 25 percent of its full-time undergraduate students identifying as Hispanic/Latinx, and that overall we enroll a high number of students who demonstrate financial need.
This designation makes us eligible to compete for some federal funding that is set aside for a variety of types of minority-serving institutions.
But these numbers are a manifestation of a much more important transformation, because the most important word in this designation for me is the word “serving.” We are not only a Hispanic enrolling college, but a Hispanic serving college. And along the way, our Hispanic students have taught us how to become more student-serving – for ALL of our students.
Our diversity is essential to our academic excellence and vibrant community. As we teach, learn and seek truth together, our diversity invites us to see in new ways, to recognize problems, to imagine new solutions, to realize our strengths and to claim justice – which I use in the Biblical sense of the word Shalom. Only in working together through our diversity do we gain the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in life, leadership and service, and to create a more just, civil and joyful society.
So that’s what this is about, but now a little bit of history.
Goshen College has been on an intentional journey toward this HSI designation for almost 20 years with many people contributing towards this goal. Some of those people are here with us as guests today, to celebrate this moment, for which I am so grateful. Welcome back!
Indeed, many visionary leaders at GC contributed to the diverse and multicultural campus we now enjoy and celebrate. They recognized an important need with a growing Hispanic demographic change in our region, and they built on our commitments to justice, as well as our long history of being a place that serves first-generation students and opens the door to higher education. So to those leaders and our predecessors: I say thank you!
Then in 2006, Goshen College received a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment for what was first known as the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning (CITL) and later as the Center for Intercultural and International Education (CIIE). Over time, important functions of those centers were integrated into the college’s structures of academics, student life, enrollment and, most recently, the Center for Community Engagement.
With this generous grant support, Goshen College ramped up recruitment and retention efforts for all students of color — with a particular focus on Hispanic/Latinx students — informed by research. The college began to hire more Spanish-speaking faculty and staff, and held Spanish-language workshops for Hispanic families at local high schools, answering questions for first-generation students and families who were considering college. And the college set about finding ways to not only reach more Hispanic students, but to support them in new ways as they completed their degrees.
Today we enjoy a much more diverse student body. Fifteen years ago, only two percent of the college’s undergraduate students identified as Hispanic/Latinx, compared to 30 percent this semester!
And the journey continues. Today, 55 percent of GC students identify as students of color, Hispanic, indigenous or from other nations. We are committed to working with our student leaders, deepening our relationships with Latinx students and their families, as we work toward more fully realizing equity and inclusion for students of all backgrounds and identities.
We also realize that diversity exists within us. Latinx students have many intersecting identities, as do you, as do I.
We will continue to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our campus, our mission and our operations. We want to be known as a place where people go out of their way to learn to know one another, advocate for each others’ civil rights and dignity, and where all campus members feel they can belong — in our classrooms, departments, residence halls, religious life, event venues, athletic facilities and work spaces.
As we have stated in our vision: “Rooted in the way of Jesus, we seek inclusive community and transformative justice in all that we do.”
One of the things I like to do is to go hiking. And when the journey feels long, and the way seems steep, it is helpful to celebrate mile-markers. And that is what we are doing today, along this long road to being a truly just and inclusive community.
Celebremos, GC!