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February 04, 2005

Emily Gosselink Associate Dean of Covenant College

Another disturbing story about how Covenant College is handling student development and student relations. This one is about the Associate Dean of Students Emily Gosselink, and it was verified by a half dozen students.

There's a long tradition at Covenant going back at least to the mid-90's of impromptu hippie-ish dance parties or acoustic concerts on the Chapel Lawn or behind Founders (or anywhere on Campus, for that matter). Call it getting your funk on.

One such event took place a few weeks ago in the Mills Hall stairwell at 2 in the morning. The Associate Dean, Emily Gosselink, happened to be on campus at the time and heard the concert, walked over, and proceeded to loudly insist that the students stop their unseemly behavior, which, she claimed "was against everything that the College stood for." Never mind that dance parties, including those of mixed gender (and this one was not), are now allowed by the College. The dancing was not "bootie dancing" to hip-hop or other "non-white" music the College would likely be against, but was some Jazz-Funk electronic from Covenant College alumni Infradig.

One student, an RA, tried to explain to the Dean that their activities were well within the College guidelines, to no avail. She threatened disciplinary action against all the student present until they returned to their room.

I find this whole thing saddening, and it certainly doesn't make any sense. It's this sort of behavior that's caused the office of the Associate Dean of Students to lose the enormous respect, trust, and influence it had built up when Barb Scheur was present. Heck, students are already mocking Emily Gosselink and the College for the event.