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GTfitiasm ela ages A History of Goshen College 1894-1994 Susan Fisher Miller CULTURE FOR SERVICE A History OF GOSHEN COLLEGE 1894-1994 SS Susan Fisher Miller Goshen College Goshen, Indiana 1994 ‘” s1i09v ar208 a 8) CULTURE FOR SERVICE A History OF GOSHEN COLLEGE 1894-1994 To Peter, Christopher and John William Additional copies available from: College Relations Goshen College Goshen, IN 46526 © 1994 by Goshen College All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Printed by Evangel Press, Nappanee, IN TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Preface Xi 1 Introduction: Culture for Service 2 Beginnings: Elkhart Institute and Goshen College 1894-1913 11 Delicate Balance: The Community of Faith and the World of Knowledge 1913-1923 53 Academics and Ecclesiastics: Old Goshen and Its Closing 1923-1924 87 New Equilibrium: Tradition, Courage, Change 1924-1940 123 Watch Us Grow: Marching Toward Modernity 1940-1954 164 Coming of Age: The Demands of Society and the Lordship of Christ 1954-1970 189 Jogging and Flying: Bridging the Real and Ideal 1970-1984 PaF o Faith Beckons Us Forward: Leaning Into the Future 1984-1994 200 Appendix A: Presidents and Academic Deans, 1894-1994 307 Appendix B: Teaching and Administrative Faculty, 1894-1994 308 Appendix C: Buildings Erected or Acquired, 1903-1994 324 Abbreviations 326 Endnotes 327 Bibliography 357 Index 363 ae 7 ee . i at tir ie pae i| i 7 2N e ; >) a7 , ke,v iosv e\ 7 , eayo A = , , : aFe, / aeakd Le girtval? edb rim wo, x bot bua mi) iv «' ; ; : } | Bike! ar sth RT | soi “ya abet eee tmm ae. eee ? = 15a) So eae onats _ Whats Gh Eine yu worn’) ab a ee ee ose ay ah a Aig eae mn i< er es a nmi Pena, ee See a : AK —— bos ee 7u‘n : 3 aide i nS i ge faite ea ul boy ie thei Lie posal er ~ » & ak + Keto ¥ ae ete hia 0 e Chea 0" eS Vii SS FOREWORD Only an author who loves both Goshen College and the Mennonite Church could have written the pages which follow, a centennial history. She, her parents and grandparents are closely linked to both institutions. Susan Fisher Miller has provided a carefully researched book, meticulous in de- tail and judicious in its treatment of persons and issues. She writes of the “creative tension” between church and college which is even implied by the college motto, “Culture for Service.” A creative tension between faith and learning is as old as the second century. Church father Tertullian (c.155-c.220) asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusa- lem?” Creative tension is as contemporary as the February 1994 “impasse” between the Pope’s efforts at accountability for right teaching of Catholic theology and the autonomy required by an American university as stated by President Edward A. Malloy of Notre Dame and others. It is rare in the Protestant tradition for a college founded by a church to remain sufficiently close to its religious community after 100 years to have a recognizable relationship at all, let alone a creative tension. Readers should be reassured that church-college relationships are important enough in 1994 to provide an organizing theme for ten decades of Goshen College history. Inasmuch as even a “creative tension” is uncomfortable for both churches and colleges, it is not surprising that colleges and churches in America have found ways to relax the tension. The dominant pattern is secularization of the college. Christopher Jencks and David Riesman, writ- ing in 1968, observed that “over the past century several hundred sectarian Protestant colleges have dropped their church ties and have become offi- cially non-sectarian” (J encks and Riesman, The Academic Revolution). The other way to relax the tension is to drop denominational ties for a broader, college-defined Christian identity. Wheaton (Illinois) and Taylor (Indiana) are examples of such colleges within the evangelical Protestant tradition. Against the backdrop of separatist historical trends, Miller richly de- tails the pain and creativity of the tension as it unfolded at Goshen College. Two strands of this history deserve particular mention when the reader looks for creativity within the tension. The patient, long-suffering response of President S.C. Yoder to a steady stream of criticism during his first years of service after the closing of the college in 1923-24, had a significant steady- ing effect. The second strand of history was the faithful response of Goshen College people to the service theme of Mennonite life in the aftermath of World War II. An interview with Atlee Beechy refers to the faculty recruits Vill of the 1940s as “socialized to think of service, church and education as fun- damentally related.” This further played itself out in 1968 and following years with Goshen’s pioneering and now nationally recognized study-service term abroad. As Miller puts it, SST’s success was an “improbable wedding of Mennonite historical truth to . . . freethinking liberal education”. The reader will also notice a number of critical turning points in the GC history. What if President Noah Byers had not given us the seminal motto “Culture for Service” in his 1903 inaugural address? What if Noah Oyer had not accepted President-elect S.C. Yoder’s invitation to become the Dean of Goshen College? Yoder declared that he would not come as president unless Oyer became Dean. It is hard to imagine Goshen’s sur- vival without the teamwork of Yoder and Oyer during difficult times. What if the faculty had not endured during the Depression years when they received IOU’s instead of paychecks? What if Dean Harold Bender had not synthesized the themes of Christian service, peace, community and dis- cipleship and located them within Anabaptist history, and made them significant for American Protestantism and American democracy? What if President Ernest Miller had not succeeded in obtaining accreditation in 1941? What if President Paul Mininger and Provost Henry Weaver Jr. had not taken the risk of pioneering the Study Service Term? What if alumnus Charles Ainlay had not assisted three presidents in promoting positive community relationships through his leadership on the President’s Advisory Board? What if President Lawrence Burkholder had not opened the way to the first undergraduate exchange program with China? What if the spouses of the pioneering presidents had not coped with the distortions of family life and provided emotional and even financial support? Many more turning points could and should be mentioned. These hinges of our history all importantly affect the Goshen College we enjoy today. The centennial year 1994-95 is not only an occasion to celebrate the past but to anticipate the future. How will the creative tension and part- nership between church and college find expression in the future? What follows is a blend of hope and prophecy. Let us accept the creativity of the tension and work in such a way that the church provides a place for the critical intelligence and aesthetic sensitivity nourished in academe. Let us pray that the college will continue to have a humble reverence for the Holy Scriptures and for the truth of God Who has met us in Jesus Christ and a love for the Mennonite Church. Let us dedicate ourselves as well to pro- viding a place of spiritual welcome for all who seek for Truth. In addition to the college’s strength in the service professions of medi- cine, nursing, social work and teaching, let us hope that both college and church will increasingly value art, music, drama, poetry, new forms of creative expression, and other disciplines included in our curriculum. Let us