Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. Founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, it is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The college enrolled 847 students in fall 2025. Although rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, the college welcomes students of all faiths and backgrounds.
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.
History "Old" Mennonites started the Elkhart Institute in Elkhart, Indiana, in August 1894, to prepare Mennonite youth for college.Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 294 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.Schlabach, Theron F: Peace, Faith, Nation: Mennonites and Amish in Nineteenth Century America, page 300, Herald Press, 1988 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. By 1905, the Mennonite Board of Education had taken control of the college, dissolving the Elkhart Institute Association.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 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. 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.Juhnke, James C: Vision, Doctrine, War: Mennonite Identity and Organization in America 1890–1930, page 128. Herald Press, 1989 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".Toews, Paul: Mennonites in American Society, 1930–1970: Modernity and the Persistence of Religious Community, page 88. Herald Press, 1996
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.Rachel Waltner Goossen, Women Against the Good War: Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front, 1941–1947 (1997) pp 98-111 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.
In 1980, the college was granted care of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, a nature preserve that now offers Goshen's master's degree in Environmental Science.
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.
The campus had a building boom in the late 1990s. The Goshen campus has increased from less than to with 18 major buildings.
In 2011, LGBT Christian students advocated for equal human rights in administrative policies. Jonathan S. Coley, Gay on God's Campus: Mobilizing for LGBT Equality at Christian Colleges and Universities, UNC Press Books, USA, 2018, p. 33 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. 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.
On January 21, 2010, The President's Council announced a change to Goshen's long-standing policy of not playing the national anthem at college events to begin playing an instrumental version of song prior to some college sporting events. This decision led to complaints from students, faculty, and alumni and Goshen's Board of Directors reversed the President's Council decision after seeking extensive input from the college community.
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 at its athletic events. Subsequently, two Goshen city councilmen also criticized the college. 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." The college's president, James E. Brenneman, announced on August 19, 2011, that as an alternative, "America the Beautiful" would be played before select athletic events.
Publications The college manages several publications, including The Mennonite Quarterly Review, Mennonite Historical Library, and Mennonite Church USA Archives. It also hosts the Mennonite Central Committee archives, offices of "The Mennonite", and has numerous alumni connections with the broader Mennonite Church.
Academics Goshen College offers 46 majors and 52 minors for undergraduates. 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. In 2014, Goshen College partnered with Eastern Mennonite University and Bluffton University to launch the Collaborative MBA program.
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. Service may include working at a hospital, nursing home, kindergarten, or missionary service. The college has in the past also offered a domestic SST to immerse students in the Latino culture and community in northern Indiana.
Student life
Clubs and organizations
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.
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.
Performing arts
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.
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.
Athletics The Goshen athletic teams are called the Maple Leafs (chosen due to the city of Goshen being referred to as "The Maple City"). 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) 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.
On October 7, 2022, Goshen College introduced Dash, the first official mascot in school history. The name was decided in a poll amongst faculty and students.[citation needed]
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. 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.
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.