This article is from the EMU News Archive. The approximate date of publication was in August 2003. Current EMU news is available at www.emu.edu/news

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EMU 'A Place of Purpose,' Brubaker Declares

Eastern Mennonite University is "a place with a particular purpose," built on the vision, experiences and contributions of all who have come before, said interim EMU President Beryl H. Brubaker in a convocation address Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Dr. Brubaker welcomed students, faculty and staff gathered in Lehman Auditorium on the first day of fall semester classes and recounted several milestone events in the life of the school founded in 1917 on the eve of the U.S.' entry into World War I.

The convocation opened with a faculty-staff processional. Representatives of various academic and administrative departments on campus placed familiar objects with long histories of symbolic meaning on tables on the platform - stones, water in containers, candles, plants and flowers and other items.

"Places [like EMU] have buildings and landscapes that have their own stories," Dr. Brubaker said. "As we go in and out of these buildings and cross its landscapes innumerable times, will we do so nonchalantly with no knowledge of the stories that made them or will we pause to reflect on the meaning of their sacred spaces?" she asked in her welcoming message.

"The school began in 1917 and taught Bible, vocational studies to develop skills for teaching and agriculture and other courses to broaden students' outlook on life," Brubaker said. "Those early students sang just as we do today because music, from the very beginning, was deemed important.

"With an emphasis on biblical teaching and music, we aren't surprised to learn that this chapel auditorium we now sit in was one of EMU's early buildings," she said "We call this building the C.K. Lehman Auditorium in honor of an early faculty member, Chester K. Lehman, who taught Bible and directed choral groups. He later became the first academic dean.

Brubaker cited the rich contributions of several other long-time faculty members, including the late D. Ralph Hostetter and M.T. Brackbill, for whom EMU's planetarium and natural history museum are named. She also credited retired faculty member Daniel B. Suter with building a strong reputation for EMU's pre-med program over three decades, and the late Anna Frey, who "brought literature alive in her classes in the 1970s."

"These persons brought a passionate faith to their work at EMU," Brubaker declared. "Their commitment to deepening faith, broadening awareness and developing skills is still true of faculty and staff at EMU. Our EMU vision, mission and values still proclaim these goals.

"In 1965, new president Myron S. Augsburger insisted that opposing views from students need to be given voice in an atmosphere of respect, but at the same time, professors need to honestly confess their Christian views," Brubaker pointed out. She noted that former academic dean, the late Ira E.Miller, also called for "daring to present all sides of an issue while sharing commitment to a preferred one.

"EMU is a place where learners of every age can ask questions, consider a variety of answers and freely choose where to stand," Brubaker declared. "At the same time, we continue to be a school of the church where faculty and staff have chosen to be here because we espouse a particular worldview and are free to share particular understandings about God, about the created world, about morality.

"We want EMU students to become inquirers who are open to change and growth but who also make particular commitments," Brubaker stated. "Doers who follow their passions but who are never-the-less humble servants and peacebuilders. Creators who are also healers, never losing sight of how our inventions change the fragile systems within which our world lives. Persons who are ready to become part of a people, of communities that care for each other and work together to accomplish things we can't do alone."

To illustrate these qualities in action, Brubaker recounted the events of December, 1969, when students and faculty joined together to raise $111,000 in three days - through skipped meals, community service and a giant auction - to qualify for a matching federal grant to build what became Hartzler Library in 1971.

"EMU is a place of giant educators from the past who live on in our buildings and grounds and in those educators who have taken their places," Brubaker said. "It's a place to deepen faith, learn skills, and broaden awareness. A place that invites inquiry, stirs passion, releases creativity and practices community. A place where a dream almost lost can be revived because faculty, staff and students choose to become partners together with God to achieve the impossible. A place of invitation to a commitment to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

"Welcome to this place."

Kenneth J. Nafziger, professor of music, led a time of reflection and commitment, using the symbols placed on tables, to conclude the convocation.

EMU's fall semester runs through Dec. 12.

Posted: August 27, 2003