Mennonite Weekly Review

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Oakwood residence hall at Eastern Mennonite University, beloved by many alumni as an enclave for male pranksters, will be demolished late August. A new 120-room residence hall will replace Oakwood with a projected budget of $6 million.

The EMU board of trustees approved the building plans during its June 27-28 meeting. The trustees also authorized staff to renovate Elmwood and Maplewood residence halls — including adding a “link” between the buildings if funding permits — with final approval of plans expected by June 2009.

“Replacing Oakwood and remodeling or upgrading other residence facilities affords an exciting opportunity to tie these efforts into our campus-wide focus on creation care and sustainability,” said Ken L. Nafziger, vice president for student life.

One aspect of that: A covered bike storage area sufficient for 64 bicycles.

EMU anticipates demolition in August. The exact date is yet to be finalized, but it may include an open house “sleepover” for alumni who want one last night in the “hallowed halls” and a first swing with a sledgehammer the following morning, according to Douglas J. Nyce, director of EMU alumni-parent relations.

In other business, the board approved a recommendation from the academics committee to combine the undergraduate justice, peace and conflict studies and applied sociology majors into one new major, “peacebuilding and development,” beginning in the fall of 2009.

This 45 semester-hour major provides an Anabaptist-influenced framework for understanding social justice and social change within the context of the fields of peacebuilding and development.

The board also approved a recommendation to add a non-profit entrepreneurial management concentration in the master of business administration program. A certificate in the same area will also be offered jointly with EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

“Non-profit management is a natural area for a Mennonite institution,” outgoing Provost Beryl H. Brubaker told the board. “It will bring added value to our program and is of great interest to our CJP students, who often leave EMU to manage non-government organizations in the peacebuilding arena.”

Trustee Linford King, chair of the seminary committee, reported that the Association of Theological Schools had just given final approval for Eastern Mennonite Seminary to offer the full master of divinity degree at EMU’s Lancaster, Pa., extension site.