Marvin Blickenstaff was my piano professor at Goshen when I began as a first-year student in the fall of 1979. Seeing him, and listening to his teaching and performance, transported me back to my 17-year-old self – a strange and vivid experience that was both disorienting and orienting.
News
Why we are proud: Pride Month & Goshen College
Jun 20 2021
During this Pride Month, we at Goshen College celebrate the lives, love and impact of our LGBTQIA+ students, employees and alumni.
We know that Goshen College, for most of its history, has not celebrated or even accepted our queer students and colleagues. I am grateful that the Goshen College Board of Directors adopted a new non-discrimination policy in 2015. But I also know that Goshen College harmed many of you through our past policies and actions. I am truly sorry. And we know that we have more work to do as we seek to be a truly inclusive community. We are committed to continue to learn, grow and change.
I am proud of the queer and ally students, employees and alumni who were brave and persistent in calling for change over many years, and for those of you who continue to challenge us to become more just, inclusive and equitable. Thank you!
We seek to offer full support and inclusion to our LGBTQIA+ students and colleagues, and we celebrate who God made you to be — your gender, your relationships, and your love for others.
On campus and in my travels as Goshen College president, I have had the privilege to meet and to talk with many of you, listen to your stories — painful and hopeful. I am regularly filled with pride for who you are and how you make our world better and brighter with your rainbow of gifts and talents.
Keep shining and speaking your truth. We are proud of you.
Rebecca Stoltzfus
My 17-year-old self
‘Freedom for everyone’
Every day is a good day to learn a little more about history. Today, Juneteenth, is an especially good day to listen to a story that has shaped our present day through a long and painful struggle for freedom. In the words of Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth, the freedom we celebrate through the telling of this story is freedom not only for enslaved people, or Black people, or Texans, but for everyone.
The contemporary, creative work of the Gospel
When Kevin and I set out on a learning tour about Anabaptists in Switzerland and Germany, we were prepared to hear stories of persecution and cruel executions. What has surprised me are the stories of ecumenical reconciliation and active love that continue to spring forth from the Anabaptist movement 500 years later.