Creators of Ruth Petition Speak Out Before Pending Vote

Photo Courtesy of Sower Staff

By Olivia Proctor

In February of this year, students Joshua Marlatt and Trenton Bruntz published a petition on change.org to change the names of the Ruth A, B, and C dorms to Ruth, Boaz, and Obed. The petition has since made a lot of headway in its goal of reaching 500 signatures, now with over 320 signatures. 

The idea came from a lunch conversation with friends on the different dorm names around campus. 

“The topic came up that all the dorms had unique names except the Ruths,” Marlatt and Bruntz said. “We’re not sure who came up with the names Boaz and Obed, but it just made sense that it would be the family members closest to Ruth. It was just a bonus that these names connect Jesus’ lineage from Ruth to Obed to Jesse across the parking lot to David across campus.”

Marlatt and Bruntz also think that giving each of the dorms unique names would give each dorm their own distinct culture. 

“We feel like a name change would boost their sense of community within the building like the communities in Schulke or David or other dorms with their own name,” Marlatt and Bruntz said. “We also think it might be easier for the pizza delivery guy.” 

An announcement was made in June that Student Senate would back the petition and bring it to the Administration for enactment. Due to COVID-19 delays, Marlatt and Bruntz have had to push back their presentation of the petition to the next Board of Regents meeting on October 27th. 

“Even though we are disappointed we have to wait longer for a decision, we are excited that the petition can get even more signatures at the beginning of this year,” Marlatt and Bruntz said. 

The petition can be found at chng.it/27vt7BNpDR.