Organized by the Student Government Association, College Conservatives, and Young Democrats, the series was funded by an Inclusive Excellence Grant from 91����Ƶ’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as a Pluralism Project Grant. 91����Ƶ 50 students attended each session, held at the University Commons Student Union on the evenings of March 12, March 19, and March 26.

Senior biology major Maria Longenecker, who helped organize the series as SGA co-president, said she hopes it can serve as an example for others to follow. At a time of heightened political division, she said, it’s more important than ever to bring people together.

“91����Ƶ encourages us to work toward peace and justice and resolve conflict, and this feels so woven into our values,” she said. “I think we created something we saw was missing, and we see that missing in the world more broadly. It’s so tempting to disengage, but I hope this can serve as an example for how to lean in and continue to care for one another.”

‘The elephant on campus’

“Disagree Together” formed in response to tensions that student leaders felt on campus last fall. After a campus vigil for Charlie Kirk sparked arguments in the Royal Radar group chat, Longenecker said it became clear that students needed a space to discuss political issues.

“That demonstrated to us how much energy and conflict is under the surface here at 91����Ƶ that we often don’t address,” she said. “It feels like the elephant on campus.”

SGA leaders heard from students across the political spectrum who said they felt ostracized and misunderstood because of their beliefs, with no clear place for them on campus. Longenecker and fellow co-president Leah Frankenfield believed it was important to pull in many perspectives to dream up a way forward. They met with the College Conservatives and Young Democrats to develop a space where students of all political persuasions could feel comfortable.

Dibora Mekonnen, co-president of Young Democrats, said the series created a meaningful space for students to engage in difficult and sometimes uncomfortable conversations in a respectful way. “I believe it has positively affected students by helping them become more open-minded and more willing to engage with perspectives different from their own,” she said. “In shaping the campus, the series has contributed to a culture of dialogue, understanding, and community-building by showing that disagreement does not have to lead to division, but can instead become an opportunity for learning and growth.”

Jacob Dwyer, president of College Conservatives, said he also felt the event was a success and was encouraged by the turnout. “I think it’s important that we engaged in meaningful dialogue,” he said. “Going into it, I knew we might not agree on everything, but because we were able to have open conversations, we gained a better understanding of why we each think about certain issues the way we do.”

Longenecker said she was surprised by how willing people were to be honest with one another. “I thought it would be harder to get people to have conversations about the things they disagreed on,” she said. “But once people got in a room, sat down, and started asking questions, it was beautiful to see that engagement happen.”

The Why and the How

The series unfolded over three sessions, each focusing on a different aspect of disagreement.

The first session centered on the question, “Why do we disagree?” Students mapped their identities to better understand how their experiences shape their beliefs and examined how those views are formed. Kory Schaeffer, director of programs for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, facilitated the discussion and offered guidance on creating a respectful environment for disagreement.

The second session was titled “How do we disagree?” and featured a panel discussion on politics and Christianity. “We thought that was important to discuss because 91����Ƶ is an Anabaptist institution, and it’s such a central part of our values,” Longenecker said.

The third session, “Practice disagreeing,” invited students to sit in small groups and ask one another questions about political topics or anything else they were curious to explore. “It was beautiful to look around and see people, who I’ve never seen talk to each other before, sit down and have these deep conversations about their beliefs,” Longenecker said.

She said she believes new relationships have formed as a result of the “Disagree Together” series, especially during the third session. “I hope people walked away feeling like someone new sees them as a person first and is also interested in hearing their beliefs,” she said. “I hope it’s started conversations that will continue.”

As members of the SGA executive board prepare to hand off leadership to their successors, she said they’ve developed a plan outlining how future boards can respond and create similar spaces for students to engage in difficult conversations if another contentious event arises on campus. “I see this as a beginning, not the end,” she said.

On Tuesday evening, just a short time after the verdict was announced, I sent a message  to our campus community. I named the value of a cathartic, collective exhale on the swift verdict, and our shared witness around a faith-informed justice on the occasion of this historic moment. Indeed, the trial was a long-awaited step towards repair in our country’s long and awful legacy of racialized violence. 

I also expressed support of deep listening and bold collaborative action: We especially surround our BIPOC students, faculty and staff tonight with care and compassion. We commit ourselves to continuing to hear their voices, to stand with them, and to do the hard and necessary work to extend the movement to expand racial justice and equity in our nation, our community, and on our own campus. We will work together to make our community of learners more and more fair and equitable inside and outside the classroom. 

The Black Lives Matter movement has taught me many things. Saying the names of our black citizens senselessly killed or injured at a shockingly disproportionate rate at the hands of law enforcement is a powerful reminder of my own white privilege. And so again I say his name: George Perry Floyd Junior, to remind myself this is not an ending at all.

As educators, we still have much work to do. Here is a brief summary of some tangible steps our university has taken recently on issues of racial and social justice, with special attention to diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of our community of learning:

• Diversity objectives are featured in the President’s Annual Report and 91����Ƶ’s 2020-25 Strategic Plan.
• A new fund to support DEI training and related initiatives benefited from nearly $93,763 in current and pledged donor support this spring.
•  91����Ƶ’s Board of Trustees is led by Manuel A. Nuñez, professor and faculty director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Villanova Business School. The board remains deeply committed in specific ways to diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes in learning objectives, campus climate, and representation.  
• More than 10 newly established endowed scholarships and direct grants to increase access and opportunities for BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students have been cultivated just this year.
• We continue supporting, building relationships, listening to and learning from leaders of our student organizations, including Black Student Alliance, Latino Student Alliance, International Student Organization, SafeSpace, and the newly established Asian Pacific Islander Student Association.

And finally, we are delighted with an important addition to our team: Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán. She started as our executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion just a few weeks ago, and has already made connections with our Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, and among our student groups and their leaders. We look forward to her leadership as we make our actions toward racial and social justice more concrete. 

Below, Dr. Font-Guzmán shares a short reflection on the verdict. Continue on to read reflections from our student leaders, and leaders of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. 

No one person can enact the kind of dramatic change our schools, communities, and country needs. We must listen together and lead together. Each member of our university has a contribution to make. We welcome your support and your prayers on the journey ahead.

From Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán, executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion

The murder conviction in the case of Mr. George Perry Floyd Jr. has been unprecedented in many ways. It is a rare event in the history of the United States that a White policeman is found guilty of murdering a Black man. 

At the personal level, I have mixed feelings about the verdict. Although I felt encouraged by it because it held the perpetrator accountable, justice did not triumph. True justice requires giving each person their due. Mr. Floyd should be alive today. 

And yet, I do not despair. I am hopeful that this verdict can move us to take the needed crucial steps towards transforming – and when necessary – dismantling the systems that allow for this violence to continue. There is no better act of subversion than building relationships and communities. This verdict was possible thanks to all the organizers, peaceful protesters, students, and people willing to – as John Lewis said– “Get in trouble, good trouble.”

Here at 91����Ƶ, we are committed to peace, social justice, and community. We will continue to work together with love and compassion to create an environment where everyone can be their true selves, belong, and be safe. 

A joint statement from two leaders of the Student Government and Black Student Alliance

Ma’Khia could have been any of us. In the span of two hours, our collective conversation had shifted from a tense relief that Derek Chauvin had been found guilty in the murder of George Floyd, to the overwhelming grief and anger that we know so intimately. 

After George Floyd’s murder this summer, the Student Government Association sent an email affirming protests and demonstrations being carried out in the name of justice. We also named that many of our clubs that serve as affinity groups for marginalized voices unfairly bear the burden of providing programming aimed at educating our broader campus community. Weeks later, the Black Student Alliance presented a list of demands, calling our campus community to live more fully into our self-proclaimed values of justice and peace. 

Now, after the verdict has been read, we as student leaders continue to commit ourselves to standing alongside those who fiercely speak truth to power, uprooting systems which cause harm, including those within our university. We will rage until LGBTQ+ communities feel safe, until ICE is abolished and the prison industrial complex is destroyed, until families are no longer torn apart on the border, and the ongoing Indigenous genocide is stopped.

We know that there is much work to be done. We envision a community that rejects notions of scarcity,  where justice is abundant and freedom is genuine. This is a vision that 91����Ƶ says it shares, and so we call 91����Ƶ to answer, to act: 

To create and hold spaces for BIPOC students, faculty and staff. To offer tangible support through meals and offer extensions on deadlines. To compensate the unpaid labor of those who have consistently borne the brunt of liberation work within 91����Ƶ. To show up for your students in the classroom, at our events, in this nation and this world. Show up for your marginalized  students in the ways we’ve been asking of you. This is how we live into our mission. 

Anisa Leonard, co-president of Student Government Association; Maya Dula, secretary and past co-president of Black Student Alliance

Eastern Mennonite Seminary

In the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, we believe that the mutual flourishing of relationships is essential for faith. We belong to one another as members of the human family. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the body of Christ, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor 12:26). When one person, family and community suffers injustice, the harm impacts us all. 

A verdict from our national justice system may provide some clarity, but that alone cannot restore human dignity and wholeness. We commit fully and collectively to this restorative work: to practicing justice in compassionate relationships as a learning community and in the communities in which we participate throughout the world.

Learning how, within our own faith communities and our university community, we can truly resist the systemic racism made so visible in this moment impels us to deeper prayer and richer action. We thank God for leaders in many communities of color in the United States, and some of our own community members, who have long modeled the discipleship of work for justice.

Dr. Sue Cockley, dean; Dr. Nancy Heisey, associate dean; Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, incoming associate dean.

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

The United States was built on a mixed message – all men are created equal and only white men who own property count as full citizens. The territory of the United States was created through displacement, genocide, and war against indigenous peoples and a neighboring country, Mexico. Wealth was amassed by white men who exploited enslaved peoples from Africa and violently suppressed attempts to organize for labor rights. As a country, we have struggled with these tensions since our founding. Our history cannot be ignored in our move toward a different future.

Rooting out and transforming the original sin built into the United States is a long, hard, slow process and once again we are being challenged. Do we settle for order masquerading as peace or do we demand justice that supports authentic peace, healing, and equity? As the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, we have answered that question. Now, we must actualize it in our current context. As a predominantly white institution, this work is deeply personal for each of us and for CJP and 91����Ƶ as organizations. Thankfully, the jury in Minnesota has held Derek Chauvin accountable for his actions. Let us continue our work to grow justice with humility and integrity. That means listening to and following leaders who have experienced the violence and injustices of our current systems.  

Dr. Jayne Docherty, executive director

91����Ƶ’s Student Government Association posted this statement June 3, 2020.

To the 91����Ƶ Community, 

As 91����Ƶ’s Student Government Association, we would like to denounce, affirm, acknowledge, and make commitments in response to the most recent unjust deaths of people of color in this country. 

Firstly, we denounce all forms of racism and bigotry. As outlined in our SGA constitution, it is our duty to “oppose and challenge any forms of discrimination, prejudice, and violence against students or student groups on campus.” Displays of intolerance, whether flagrant or subtle, go directly against our school’s mission to “prepare students to serve and lead in a global context”.

We affirm, specifically, our black students who are most affected by recent and past events of racism in our country. We affirm protests and demonstrations being carried out in the name of justice and against systematic violence. 

We acknowledge that the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade are four of countless unjust deaths of people of color in our country. We acknowledge that these deaths are not isolated incidents and that the public outrage in response to these deaths is long overdue. We acknowledge that we have been slow to listen to students of color in our university, just as the public has been to people of color in the United States. 

We make a commitment to holding our university accountable, to providing resources for all students to learn more, and to continuing the conversation through the means of art, committees within SGA, and staying informed. We name that many of our clubs that serve as affinity groups for marginalized voices unfairly bear the burden of continually providing programming aimed at educating our broader campus community about subjects such as white privilege. Lastly, we reiterate that we serve all of our students, and we welcome continued feedback in how we can better do so. 

In solidarity,

The Student Government Association Executive Team

Senior Aliese Gingerich, founder of the group, says that even talking about sexual health “can be very hush-hush,” especially on a Christian college campus.

But that “hush-hush” has been less so lately. In recent controversy, a Rolling Stone article about the alleged gang rape of a female student at a University of Virginia fraternity party was . Also in the press has been the recent government scrutiny, related to Title IX gender equity laws, of how colleges and universities handle sexual violence and harassment complaints.

Add the new Coalition’s efforts to the discussion. The group also goes by the acronym of “SPEAK,” which means Support survivors, Prevent assault, Empower bystanders, Advocate for change, and Know yourself and your rights.

“We want to cultivate a more honest and supportive campus climate for survivors of sexual assault,” says Gingerich, “and a climate that is more proactive in preventing sexual violence.”

Most incidents go unreported

Overcoming barriers to communication is the cornerstone of this student-initiated and administration-supported initiative, according to faculty sponsor and .

“The more we are aware, talk openly, and face this as a campus,” says Comer, “the healthier we become.”

The group has raised awareness this month through a day of activism and a discussion on healthy sexuality in Common Grounds with the Campus Health Educators organization. They hosted a final discussion and meeting in University Commons to make plans for next year.

Two incidents of sexual assault have been reported from 2011-2013 in 91����Ƶ’s most recent Campus Safety and Security Report. However, according to a 2003 study published by the international journal Criminal Justice and Behavior, “completed and/or attempted rapes [among college students] were reported to law enforcement officials in less than 5 percent of cases.”

Many people believe that sexual assault does not happen on a Christian campus, or are just unaware of the definition or consequences of sexual violence, says Gingerich.

“I think it’s an organization long overdue on campus,” says junior Hannah Mack-Boll. Her involvement in the coalition was prompted by survivors of sexual violence in her own life, who need support. “Part of that is prevention,” she said.

Graduate student Jodie Geddes, who is studying , says the coalition’s goals span from specific discussions of consent and assault to addressing “the way we uphold human dignity in our society.”

First-year Isaiah Williams was another member volunteering alongside Mack-Boll and Geddes at the coalition’s first event this month, a photo booth where students posed next to their own hand-written statements about what “consent is” and why they “stand with survivors.”

Engaging voices

Gingerich’s motivation to start the group comes from learning about this type of trauma through her mother’s work with the in Iowa City, Iowa. Housed at the University of Iowa, the organization offers a variety of healing, support, advocacy and prevention services, including 24-hour crisis lines, support groups, and awareness campaigns.

“I just grew up hearing lots of stories” about both healthy and violent forms of sexuality, says Gingerich.

When her mother asked what training and resources 91����Ƶ provides, Gingerich says, “then it dawned on me, we really have nothing. And that’s kind of ridiculous … it lit up a fire in me.”

Gingerich worked with Comer to propose a task force to and the President’s Cabinet. From this proposal, the Coalition was born as an offshoot of the Crisis Management Preparedness Team.

Goals of the coalition include engaging “a variety of voices,” says Geddes.

The group also wants to educate the campus community about how to respond to traumatized survivors – to encourage the campus community to become more “trauma-informed,” Comer says. “We often do not take into account the trauma the experience carries. Most people do not want to talk about this, know this, or face this. We are human beings, and this is one of our challenges, even at 91����Ƶ.”

Three of his daughters between the ages of 13 and 21 were killed instantly, along with a 17-year-old niece.

Abuelaish, a gynecologist and obstetrician who was the first Palestinian doctor to work on the staff of an Israeli hospital, responded with a book, “,” about his life, the tragedy that befell his family, and his vision for a peaceful future between Israelis and Palestinians. The book has been translated into more than 20 languages. Abuelaish has won numerous awards for his peace activism, and has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

During the first week in November, Abuelaish discusses his journey and the role that doctors can play as peacemakers at several public appearances at 91����Ƶ (91����Ƶ).

“Since our emphasizes a holistic approach to health and healing, we are especially interested in hearing Dr. Abuelaish’s description of how healthcare delivery is linked to creating peace,” said , professor of and director of the master’s in biomedicine program.

Abuelaish is now associate professor at the at the University of Toronto.

“Dr. Abuelaish has an inspiring story of forgiveness, resilience and hope,” said , director of . “In spite of losing three daughters and a niece due to Israeli shelling of his Gaza home, Dr. Abuelaish has chosen to work for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. His choice to humanize rather than demonize the ‘other’ is a powerful example for all who are proponents of nonviolence.”

The following events on campus will be open to the public:

• Tues., Nov. 4, 11-11:45 a.m. chapel, in Martin Chapel
• Tues., Nov. 4, 7-8:30 p.m. Community lecture, “From Forgiveness to Compassion: The personal journey of a Gaza physician” followed by book signing, in Martin Chapel
• Wed., Nov. 5, 12-1 p.m. lunch and informal conversation about interfaith experiences in the Middle East, in West Dining Room
• Wed. Nov. 5, 1-2 p.m. Book signing, in
• Wed., Nov. 5, 4-5 p.m. , “I Shall Not Hate: A Journey of Hope through Faith, Tolerance and Courage” followed by book signing, in Science Center 106

Abuelaish’s visit is sponsored by 91����Ƶ, the , the 91����Ƶ Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, the 91����Ƶ Center for Interfaith Engagement, the 91����Ƶ and .

“There’s definitely art in science,” says the third-year major at 91����Ƶ. Advanced lab work depends more on technique than step-by-step instruction. When recrystallizing a substance, “you just have to have the right touch.”

Good honed his scientific touch over the summer of 2014, spending 10 weeks alongside a graduate student at North Dakota State University. Their overall goal was to make organic chemistry more sustainable. Around 96% of current organic chemicals come from a petroleum base.

“That’s becoming a big issue for a number of reasons,” said Good. As sources of fossil fuels dwindle, the environment suffers and politicians clash. Seeking petroleum’s replacement, Good experimented with biomass carbohydrates to make chemical building blocks that could be used in polymers like plastic and nylon.

“The reality of the project, for me, was science doesn’t happen quickly,” said Good. Seven weeks into the program, he still had no results. He and his partner returned to the drawing board, put in 70-hour weeks at the lab, and wrangled a presentation from their data. Good ruefully describes the work as “demoralizing! I have no results, but I have to stay here for another 12 and a half hours!”

While in the short-term unsuccessful, their work represented another step towards revolutionizing organic chemistry. Even given the stress, Good recommends summer research programs for a glimpse into graduate school life and valuable research skills.

Upon returning to 91����Ƶ, Good was invited by chemistry professor to contribute to an interdisciplinary project. In Hawaii, the “noni” fruit is revered as a cure-all for ailments, even cancer. Several recently published papers have started identifying the compounds in noni that may substantiate these claims. The method behind identifying noni’s chemical makeup, called running a standard, is Good’s next endeavor. He will create around 10 of the organic molecules suspected to be in noni and analyze them against the fruit. If the synthesized molecules match those found in noni, then those molecules are verifiably present at that stage of the fruit’s ripeness. Other collaborators, including student Alex Bender and , assistant professor of , will use statistical analysis to predict molecular changes throughout the fruit’s ripening.

As ‘s vice president for marketing, Good also marries creation and analysis in web design. He has worked with the director of student programs, , to modernize how organize and attract members. While he has “dabbled in [visual] design work” with posters and flyers, his primary focus is the online content. Be it helping clubs code websites or creating Facebook pages, Good wants to give the SGA “some way to keep people engaged.”

Playing the tuba is one way Good himself stays engaged. “When I want an escape from science, I go to music,” he says. His flair for originality is present in music, as well: tuba has only been recently recognized as a solo instrument. He is also involved in a newly forming brass quintet on campus.

Good’s myriad talents are the product of imagination as much as practice. “At some level,” he says, “people stop being able to explain what they do in the lab. . . they have their own style.” This style, for him, generates innovative work in test tubes, for the ear, and on the web.

The auction, which begins at 1 p.m. on Thomas Plaza in front of the Campus Center, has been organized “in the spirit of the 1969 student library drive,” when the entire campus community, galvanized by student enthusiasm, . By doing so, they protected a major construction grant for the , still in use today, and won glowing national headlines ($111,000 in 1969 would be worth well over $700,000 today).

Equipment from the Science Center, including eight microscopes (both full-size and miniature; most in their original wooden cases), will headline the auction, led by local auctioneer John Bowman.

One unique item will entitle the new owner to tell a funny story: Years ago, the planners of a donor appreciation dinner purchased what they assumed were “rosebud glasses” to garnish each table, emblazed with the blue seal of Eastern Mennonite College and Seminary. As it turned out, they had actually bought shot glasses.

Other items up for auction from the science center include ten of the greenhouse’s best plants, assorted science glassware (perfect for flower vases), two Margaret Gehman paintings, a hand thrown ceramic bowl by Jerry Lapp, an Esther Augsburger statue entiteld Robe of God and an astronomy course packet, including star charts, from the M.T. Brackbill era.

“It’s been great having the support of the development office, Science Center faculty and staff,” said SGA co-president Christine Baer, one of the auction’s organizers.

Organizers hope drive becomes template for future

Co-president Carissa Harnish said planners have been inspired by the 1969 campus-wide library fund drive since last fall.

“Organizing this drive has been a learning process,” Harnish said. “We’ve never done an auction on this scale before. Hopefully, this can be a template for student campaigns of the future.”

Also to be auctioned are donated items, including two nights’ lodging at a “tranquility guest suite” east of Harrisonburg and a copy of professor ’s recent book, Pickups, a Love Story. A “marketplace” of other items, including baked goods, will be for sale as well.

A matching grant will magnify the SGA’s fundraising efforts. For every $2 raised, an additional $1 will be added by the Marietta McNeill Morgan and Samuel Tate Morgan Foundation. A personalized letter has been sent to parents and families of students, announcing the student-initiated campaign and the matching grant.

“We’re delighted that SGA has taken the lead in mobilizing student support for the Suter Science Campaign,” says , vice president for advancement. “Students have expressed keen interest in this campaign since its inception, and it’s great that the student government leaders have stepped up to engage the larger student body in the effort.”

Fundraising efforts focus on west wing of science center

The has reached and exceeded its initial $7 million goal to modernize the laboratory section of the building, built in the late 1960s.

Bringing the west wing into the 21st century is the focus of current fundraising efforts. This involves demolishing and replacing S-104 (known as the “head room” for its array of antlered trophies) and upgrading ancient HVAC systems.

“During our student years, this is our home,” says Baer. “When we learned from development that we could designate how the funds are used, that really injected additional energy into the campaign.”

Replacing all the chairs in the large auditorium S-106 with more comfortable seating is one idea, albeit an ambitious one. Other possibilities have been discussed, including an outdoor amphitheater classroom, equipment purchase or front entrance landscaping.

As part of this discussion, “the students are interested in how buildings change the campus,” Harnish says. “We’re here for a few short years. It’s good to know that people are thinking and planning for the future.”

In the ramp-up for the auction weekend, SGA launched several student awareness events. Before the latest Hunger Games movie screened in S-106 in early March, students were treated to a “fun science” culinary experiment – ice cream made using liquid nitrogen instead of ice.

Updates on the student science center campaign can be found on its , as well as a link to a secure online form for making a financial gift to the student campaign. For more information on remote bidding on the day of the auction, call Phil Helmuth, executive director of development, at 540-746-2068.

If it rains, the auction will move inside to the upper level of University Commons.

Freelance Whales – Friday, Feb. 7,  9 p.m. – $5 students; $15/$20 non-students advance/door.

“Their sound is awesome,” says Emma King, a junior who’s been a fan for several years and saw the band perform last fall in Washington, D.C. “They’ve got a great stage presence and they’re just a really great band.”

Freelance Whales makes extensive use of unusual instruments like the harmonium and glockenspiel to create a sound that has drawn comparisons to huge acts like Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens. named the group to its list of “50 Must-Hear Bands” before the 2010 SXSW festival, while in a review of the band’s 2012 album Diluvia, the called Freelance Whales “one of indie rock’s most intriguing new acts.”

The and worked together to bring the band to 91����Ƶ, in response to student surveys that have constantly reflected a desire for larger acts to perform on campus. The two groups have decided to pool resources every three years to attract a big-name musician or band.

“It’s really special to have a major artist come to 91����Ƶ,” says , the assistant director of student programs who arranged the show. “Come to hear great music and come for a more exciting experience in a more intimate setting than you’ll usually get.”

The band will perform in Lehman Auditorium.

SGA co-president Christine Baer became a fan of the band as she and the rest of SGA listened to Freelance Whales as they were discussing which group to bring to 91����Ƶ. She adds that the band has a group of avid followers on campus as well as a growing number of people who have begun to listen to them more recently.

“We’d love to get a good student turnout,” says Baer, who hopes to recapture the excitement that was present on campus when Joshua Radin performed.

Tickets for 91����Ƶ and JMU students are available for $5; non-student tickets cost $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Advance purchase from the is recommended.

The indie/folk musician writes his own music and accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. His music has been featured on TV shows including “Scrubs,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Brothers and Sisters.”

Radin’s latest album is “The Rock and the Tide” on Columbia Records. His most popular songs on iTunes are “I’d Rather Be With You,” “Paperweight,” “Brand New Day,” “One of Those Days” and “Sky,” with Ingrid Michelson.

Radin has launched a partnership with the non-profit organization, Little Kids Rock, in an effort to revitalize  music education across the country amidst unprecedented budget cuts. He will visit Little Kids Rock classrooms in select cities throughout his nationwide tour, where he will work alongside teachers to incorporate his songs into the lesson plan.

Advance tickets are available 10 a.m.-2 p.m. daily from 91����Ƶ’s student life office at 540-432-4135 and will be on sale at the door. General admission is $15. The concert is sponsored by the Student Government Association and Campus Activities Council. For more information, call 540-432-4644.

The 91����Ƶ community is sending out prayers to the people of Haiti and offering ways for the campus community to support relief efforts in the wake of a 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

“We have alumni and current students with connections in Haiti,” said Ken L. Nafziger, vice president for student life. “We want to support and encourage them, as well as provide ways for all students to feel empowered to do something in what can feel like a hopeless time.”

The community is invited to share thoughts and prayer concerns on the .

Collection baskets

91����Ƶ will set up collection baskets around campus for contributions to support Haiti relief efforts. Monies collected will benefit organizations such as , the relief, service and development agency with a long history in Haiti and with many 91����Ƶ connections.

Collection baskets will be located in the Student Life Suite (), Business Office (), and front reception desk at .

Group prayer vigil

For those who wish to participate in group prayer, there will be a prayer vigil for Haiti held in the Campus Center Greeting Hall at 10:30 a.m. immediately following University Chapel on Wed., Jan 20. It will be led by campus pastors and student pastoral assistants.

Respond during basketball games

91����Ƶ’s next and games at home will provide another giving opportunity. Donations will be collected at half time of the games on (men’s game) Wed., Jan. 20 and (women’s game) Fri., Jan. 22 in Yoder Arena in the University Commons (see campus map).

Donations

Cash or checks for 91����Ƶ’s Haiti response are welcome. Make checks out to ‘91����Ƶ Haiti response.’ Drop them in a collection spot on campus or mail them to 91����Ƶ Development Office, 1200 Park Road, Harrisonburg VA 22802. The full contribution will go to trusted partner agencies in Haiti.

Other opportunities across campus will be posted as they are determined. These may include conversations and learning opportunities about the country of Haiti, its economy and infrastructure, prayer, reflection, assembling of material resources and more. Student groups such as the Student Government Association and Young Peoples Christian Association will spearhead events.

You can view a short video by a Mennonite Central Committee worker in Haiti:

Questions about 91����Ƶ’s response can be directed to the Student Life office at (540) 432-4135.

The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley, the Episcopal Church’s only full-time missionary serving in Sudan, will speak on 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26 on "Preaching, Teaching and Living Hope: a missionary view of Sudan," in Strite Auditorium of the Campus Center.

A priest of the Diocese of Virginia, she will talk about her work in South Sudan as well as the overall situation this war-torn African nation, including the genocide in Darfur.

More Information 

Stanley has been an ECUSA missionary since July 2005 and is back in the United States because of precarious security issues in Sudan.

A 1997 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary, she served dioceses in Virginia before becoming a full-time missionary.

She is the author of the "Short-Term Mission Handbook," written for the Diocese of Virginia, and is a national newspaper columnist.

Stanley was a journalist for more than 20 years as well as a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Kenya in the mid-1980s.

Admission to the program, sponsored by 91����Ƶ’s , , and the ‘s Student Lecture Series, is free.

For more information, call the language and literature department at 540-432-4168.

A noted Christian activist gave an “altar call” at 91����Ƶ Tuesday night, Feb. 21, for persons to bring a heightened moral sensitivity to the social and political arena.

In an address at 91����Ƶ, Jim Wallis of Washington, D.C., drew from ideas in his latest book, “God’s Politics,” in calling persons to “get involved and make a difference where you are” because of their faith commitments.

Wallis is the founder and long-time editor of “Sojourners” magazine that covers issues of faith, politics and culture. In 1995, he was instrumental in forming “Call to Renewal,” a national federation of churches, denominations and faith-based organizations from across the theological and political spectrum working to overcome poverty.

“It’s easy to be confused about what it means to be a Christian these days,” Wallis said. “Being a Christian doesn’t automatically put you in a certain political camp. God is a public God. God is neither Republican nor Democrat. To be a Christian means to stand for what Jesus stood for.

“I’ve got some good news for you,” Wallis told his audience of 91����Ƶ students, faculty and community persons. “I believe that the monologue of the Religious Right is fading in this country and a new dialog has begun. I sense a new hunger for finding a moral center that wants to dig deeper, to view what lies beneath our current social and political order.”

“Faith can’t and shouldn’t be narrowed down to addressing just two issues – abortion and gay marriage – as many are wont to do,” Wallis said. “I find more than 2,000 scripture verses in my Bible that convince me that poverty is a moral issue too.

“Nuclear weapons, AIDS, concern for the environment and the ethics of war are also moral issues,” he added.

In contrast to emphases on abortion or gay marriage, Wallis said in his travels and conversations he is meeting more people with “a desire to find common ground on the sacredness of life and the integrity of the family.”

The speaker said he is encountering “a new generation of young people who have been turned off by religion but are asking “what can I do,” and responding to a new altar call to “make a difference” in the world right where they are.

“What the world is waiting for is spiritual integrity and social justice, for people to come to Christ and to enlist in His program in the world,” Wallis said. “Discipleship follows conversion.

“People of faith have to make a choice between hope and cynicism. Cynicism is a buffer against commitment and leads to despair,” he said. “Rather, rise to the challenge of using your God-given gifts in the crushing needs around you – that’s what changes history.”

Wallis’s remarks were frequently interrupted by “amens” and audience applause in the nearly-full Lehman Auditorium (the facility seats around 1,000). He received a standing ovation at the close.

Wallis’ appearance at 91����Ƶ was made possible by The Student Lecture Series, a student-initiated endeavor to bring well-known speakers on campus to address socially relevant issues. Sponsorship for this event comes in part from , and the .

A noted Christian leader for social change will speak 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, in Lehman Auditorium.

Jim Wallis, founder and editor of “” magazine, activist and international commentator on ethics and public life, will address issues of social justice and moral politics espoused in his latest book, “God’s Politics.”

Wallis was a founder of “Sojourners” – Christians for justice and peace – more than 30 years ago and continues to edit the magazine, covering faith, politics and culture, with a combined print and electronic media readership of more than 100,000 people.

In 1995, Wallis was instrumental in forming “Call to Renewal,” a national federation of churches, denominations and faith-based organizations from across the theological and political spectrum working to overcome poverty.

Wallis speaks at more than 200 events a year, and his columns appear in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and other major newspapers.

His most recent book, “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It” (Harper Collins, 2005), debuted at No. 4 on the New York Times’ best-sellers list and remained there for 16 weeks. He offers regular commentary and analysis for radio and television and teaches a course at Harvard University on “Faith, Politics and Society.”

Wallis lives in inner-city Washington, D.C., with his wife, Joy, and their sons, Luke and Jack.

The is a student-initiated endeavor to bring well- known speakers on campus to address socially relevant issues. Sponsorship for this event comes in part from , and the .

A $5 donation is suggested at the door.

By Tom Mitchell, Daily News-Record

Loren Swartzendruber quickly points out that schools like once reflected an academic norm.

“Most colleges started out as Christian colleges,” Swartzendruber told his audience at Wednesday’s Downtown Prayer Luncheon at First Presbyterian Church.

New times and attitudes made higher education’s 91����Ƶs an exception, said Swartzendruber, 91����Ƶ’s president, and a considerably larger secular academic world poses obstacles to spiritually-based colleges.

91����Ƶ’s comparatively lower paid faculty, Swartzendruber says, swap higher salaries for a chance to teach in a more religiously free school.

“We are blessed with people committed to the values of 91����Ƶ,” said Swartzendruber.

Such values include a campus ban on alcohol and drugs and a healthy nudge toward church attendance, though 91����Ƶ does not enforce the latter practice, Swartzendruber said. Besides Sunday service, 91����Ƶ offers chapel worship twice a week

91����Ƶ, while hardly shedding its old denominational roots, has added new branches. With a charter governed by , 91����Ƶ’s enrollment of nearly 1,300 students shows more women than men – 61-39 percent respectively – a ratio of Mennonites and non-Mennonites that is virtually 50-50.

A more unbalanced quota, Swartzendruber says, is 91����Ƶ’s fiscal disadvantage in matching other schools’ operating budget. “We aren’t heavily endowed,” he said, citing 91����Ƶ’s endowment of $17 million from former graduates and other supporters.

Setting stricter behavior standards for students and staff allows schools like 91����Ƶ to be more selective. Both parties sign contracts binding them to 91����Ƶ’s standards of demeanor.

“We can discriminate in hiring,” Swartzendruber said, referring to his school’s employing of persons deemed compatible with 91����Ƶ’s personal standards. Such philosophies aren’t meant to demean other colleges’ hiring and admission policies, he said. “We’re just different from schools like JMU.”

91����Ƶ’s mantra of “nurture and discipline” meets mischief halfway.

“We don’t necessarily expel a student for something that another school might,” Swartzendruber said. “I accept the community’s high standards and expectations, but we’re human.”

Right Fit

91����Ƶ students Joel C. Lehman and Erica Kraybill, co-presidents in the university’s , took different paths to the Harrisonburg college, but found at 91����Ƶ an ingredient both felt they might have missed at other institutions: compatibility.

Lehman, a senior from Lancaster, Pa., who is studying , found 91����Ƶ to be something close to a second home.

“Two things drew me to 91����Ƶ,” Lehman said. “First, the fact that it is a small liberal arts college that’s religious. Secondly, I grew up in a church family and wanted to attend school where I could talk about my faith. ”

Lehman said that 91����Ƶ’s conservative climate and comparatively low profile don’t faze him. “I knew if I chose to come to 91����Ƶ, I wouldn’t be challenged as much by other religions. 91����Ƶ doesn’t have as large a reputation as schools like UVa or places like that, but people are very intrigued and impressed by it. Even though it doesn’t carry the same prestige, it doesn’t mean that the education is not at the same level.”

91����Ƶ caught Kraybill, 23, on the rebound. Kraybill, a major from Columbus, Ohio, transferred in last year after two years at Guilford (N.C.) College. Guilford, Kraybill said, “wasn’t the right fit,” for her.

“I took a year off after I left Guilford and visited 91����Ƶ but I didn’t expect to end up here,” said Kraybill, whose parents graduated from 91����Ƶ. “What attracted me to 91����Ƶ was its really strong academic program. What kept me here, in addition to the academics, was its Christian focus.”

Another draw for Kraybill was 91����Ƶ’s campus chemistry.

“I really felt people at 91����Ƶ were connected with each other and had strong sense of common mission in terms of their goals in life, that people here know who they are and what they stand for.”

91����Ƶ’s Mennonite foundation welcomes diversity, said Kraybill, who eyed Ohio State but balked at a vision of life at a larger school. “91����Ƶ is very spiritually minded and very Christian centered, but it’s not exclusive and its focus is on reaching out to the community and wider world of people in need.”

When they graduate next spring, Lehman and Kraybill may perform public service abroad. Kraybill attributes her interest in such global work to attending college on a campus that encourages such callings.

Said Kraybill: “91����Ƶ’s focus on mission comes through.”

Pleasant Valley

Carissa Sweigart, 25, a senior from Hesston, Kan., transferred to 91����Ƶ last year from Hesston (Kans.) College, a small 2-year liberal arts school, to study . While knowing Swartzendruber, who served as Hesston’s president before coming to 91����Ƶ two years ago, eased Sweigart’s transition, 91����Ƶ’s place in the Shenandoah Valley’s cultural and geographical mix drew her to the Harrisonburg school.

“”I looked into a lot of different public [colleges], including some in my own state,” said Sweigart,. “I like the diversity and the idea of knowing the professors and most of the other students. The area here attracted me, too.” Sweigart added that coming to 91����Ƶ “gave me a place where I could be part of a community.”

Contact Tom Mitchell at 574-6275 or mitchell@dnronline.com