Just Get It Together, Goshen College: In Support of Women’s Soccer Players Speaking Out

by Erin Bergen

I was sexually assaulted within the first few weeks at Goshen College. I have always known I am not alone in that fact. That is the story for many college students, and many students at Goshen College.

My trauma was exacerbated and compounded by the response of the administration. Since writing about how my Title IX complaint was taken on by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the OCR has finished its investigation. My claims of Title IX violations and retaliation were substantiated by the federal government, and Goshen College signed a Resolution Agreement.

My healing was able to begin when Goshen College signed this agreement with the OCR that has nine requirements and deadlines. I was able to feel like I could rest from the three year struggle to feel valid and safe after this particular incident.

This agreement was not just for my healing. My fight was not just for me. It was so that others would be safe, feel supported, and be heard.

There is a battle going on between, on one hand, the former and current players of the Goshen College women’s soccer team, and on the other, the college’s administration. There has been financial, physical, verbal, racial, and sexual abuse perpetrated by coaches, and the president has responded by insulting and discrediting the survivors who have chosen to share their stories publicly. Rachel Stoltzfus and Anneliese Baer both shared their stories so bravely, and I feel the fight continuing.

I am disturbed and disheartened that Goshen College did not take the opportunity to be vulnerable and respond in a way that would be true to the values they espouse. For a college that publicly declares its commitment to peace and claims to be linked to a history of nonviolent action, they have not responded well to students who challenge the status quo. They continue to scramble to be in federal compliance, let alone do the right thing. It took decades too long to allow the hiring of open LGBTQIA+ professors, there is a plethora of racial misconduct that is swept under the rug, and the administration has tried to pit movements of racial equality and gender equality against each other, as if we are not bound and marching for the same freedom.

I ask that everyone who was quick to stand behind me after I told my story reach out and actively stand behind the current students who are moving forward with the story of which I am just a page. Goshen College moves forward with the assumption that student movements come and go in four-year cycles like the students themselves. Alumni, supporters, family members, and those who are just fed up have a voice that needs to continue to show that this is not something that will go away. Anneliese and Rachel described exactly what they were asking for, and these are tangible things that we can do to do right by students who have been mistreated.

I am attaching the agreements that Goshen College made with the Office of Civil Rights. This is a document that anyone – student, faculty, or community member – can use to encourage Goshen College to do right by their students.