Monday, June 06, 2005

George Bush and Calvin College

Interesting topic, huh? George Bush and Calvin College. If you haven't heard, Bush recently spoke at the Calvin graduation (Calvin is the rival school to my alma mater, Hope College). It was supposed to be a perfect location for Bush to speak--super-conservative west Michigan and supposed college students who would fall into the trap of "Christians must be conservatives." Karl Rove thought he had met the ideal venue--instead he met his match.

Jim Wallis explains it in an article in a recent issue of SojoMail, an e-newsletter that I have come to read regularly. In short, progressive Calvin students, faculty and staff responded with their hearts, "protesting" Bush's policies regarding the war, the environment, the poor, etc. Graduates wore "God is Not a Replican or a Democrat" pins on their gowns. Many faculty and staff wrote an open letter in The Grand Rapids Press (the complete text of which I looked for on-line but could not find), outlining ways in which they disagreed with the President.

Unfortunately, the reaction to the protest--instead of applauding students for stepping up against an administration that thought it could just waltz onto campus without controversy--was extremely negative. West Michigan is an area where Bush's campaign visits are to raise money, not votes. Staunchly conservative. And the public didn't like people at Calvin objecting to the President's policies. While I didn't find the original ad, I did find the letters to the editor the week following. Not pretty. Almost every letter was against the fact that the students, faculty and staff spoke out against Bush. One of the letters I found belonged to one of my own professors at Hope, Dr. Jack Holmes.

While at Hope, I did not like anyone from Calvin. They were the "enemy," especially when it came to sports. But since I've left campus, some of my best friends have been from Calvin. One Calvin friend was telling me that people have actually written to the college, telling them that they should remove "all references to being a Christian college" because they disagreed with Bush. They are even expecting enrollment to decline for the fall, in the wake of the protest.

After all this, here are my thoughts: First, I have a lot more respect for the people of Calvin--I admire their willingness to stand up in a tough situation. Second, I value my time spent in west Michigan, but I'm SO glad that my worldview has been shaped by influences outside of the region!

Any thoughts on this?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I thought it was interesting what Jack Holmes said in his letter:

"Just because actions are taken when some disagree does not mean that listening has not taken place."

He's trying to argue that the President is listening, but he could just as well be defending the actions of the protestors. Ironic, isn't it?

Then he goes on to say:

"My challenge to the signers of the letter and other academics in Western Michigan is to promote full and open debate on issues. One important step in this direction would be to have a few more political conservatives on area faculties."

Isn't this part of debate? And if only 75% of the faculty at Calvin didn't sign the letter, is the problem really that there aren't enough conservatives on the faculty?