Dear Editors of the Weather Vane,
Miranda Beidler, Emma Nord, and Cassidy Walker have been co-authoring an impact statement regarding the changes EMU is making to express the EMU community’s love for EMU and our frustrations with these changes and there being a lack of transparency surrounding it.
This letter addresses that Eastern Mennonite University is a place that we all dearly love and how lots of changes have been taking place that have made the student body feel an unavoidable tension that begs to be addressed.
The changes that students have been made aware of are: program closures, loss of beloved professors (Kirsten Beachy, Chad Gusler, Kyle Remnant, and more contract closures rolling out), a career-oriented education, and changes to the intercultural program. These changes feel unrepresentative of how we the students know EMU as the beloved institution.
We have been collecting statements that have been collected from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to put more voices within the impact statement than just our own. These sentiments express our love for EMU, but concern for the actions being taken, and the lack of communication and the lack of EMU’s values not being representative of the changes. We feel as though EMU is transitioning in a way that no longer feels student-centered, now going against its very own value statement:
“EMU prepares students to serve and lead in a global context. Our community of learning integrates Christian faith, academic rigor, artistic creation and reflective practice informed by the liberal arts, interdisciplinary engagement, and cross-cultural encounter.”
We are aware that EMU is under significant financial stress, and we too want EMU to survive and thrive. However, is growth worth pursuing if it must come at the cost of EMU’s values and campus community? Anabaptist singer-songwriter Bryan Moyer Suderman says it best in the lyrics: “My money talks/ It speaks voices loud and clear/ About what matters most to me/ So tell me what you hear.” EMU’s budget decisions speak volumes about what the institution truly values, and students are listening. We notice when EMU makes decisions based on financial fear rather than our values. We’re not asking for Eastern Mennonite to be a martyr, and we don’t deny that change can be good. However, we challenge EMU to choose radical trust and commitment to its values and communities rather than letting fear of scarcity dictate decisions.
These changes make our hearts ache for the institution we love, and we grieve the loss of the EMU we once knew. EMU cannot exist in the way it once did without listening to those whom EMU is for. Eastern Mennonite has become a place where students feel that they can be themselves and grow into great leaders. These changes on the horizon threaten the EMU we know and love.
It is possible to make changes that will help the institution survive this financial crisis without losing what EMU stands for. We urge you to listen to student voices, as well as to faculty and staff who are greatly affected by these changes. We ask for transparency in decision making. We ask that you make a point to open the conversation, let those who care so deeply help make these difficult decisions. Let us carry this burden together, we want to be a part of this. We are begging, let us take part.