Goshen College was recently showcased in an hour-long Telemundo special.
The episode was titled “Talento Desperdiciado: Universidades, Latinos y Trump.” The title translates to “Wasted Talent: Universities, Latinos and Trump.”
The report featured interviews with a variety of Latino Goshen faculty, students and parents. It centered on the theme of Latino education in the United States and the challenges that Latino students and families face in the current political climate, along with the colleges that serve those students.
The students interviewed were from a range of majors and years in college. They spoke about the challenges of attending college and the support they felt Goshen College had given them and other Latino students.
“The interviews with Telemundo were a way to give a voice to our students and their experiences,” said Gilberto Pérez, Jr., dean of students, in a press release. “We are proud of our students for their courageous storytelling.”
In fall 2025, 29% of Goshen College’s traditional undergraduate students identified as Hispanic/Latino, compared to 6% in 2007. The U.S. Department of Education designated the college a Hispanic-Serving Institution in 2023. With this designation, the college successfully competed for a $3 million Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Grant allocated by Congress.
The U.S. Department of Education announced in September 2025 that it was ending discretionary grant funding for all Hispanic-Serving Institutions. With that decision, Goshen College lost $1.8 million that had been awarded.
“Grants come and go, student servingness doesn’t,” Pérez said. “Goshen College was serving all of our students before the grant was received, and now that the grant was removed, we are committed to continuing to serve all of our students. Our student servingness is not dependent on grant dollars. It’s dependent on relationships and trust.”
Student support was a theme throughout the Telemundo report. One Goshen College student said (translated from Spanish), “here, everyone is like ‘speak Spanish, celebrate your culture.’ That’s the difference [at Goshen College]: you feel like it’s good to be Latino, it’s good to celebrate your culture.”
Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus reiterated those words in September in a campus-wide letter:
“We want to be known as a place where people go out of their way to learn to know one another, advocate for each other’s civil rights and dignity and where all campus members feel they can belong — in our classrooms, departments, residence halls, religious life, event venues, athletic facilities and work spaces,” Stoltzfus said.
