Calvin College Students Protest President Bush Visit

On 21 May, President Bush gave a speech to the 900 graduating seniors at Calvin College’s 85th Commencement ceremony in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The day before, between faculty, alumni, and friends, 823 people took a full page ad in “The Grand Rapids Press” with a signed petition protesting the presidents visit. Another one third of Calvin’s faculty, 130 professors, took a half-page ad the day of Bush’s visit saying that, “No single political position should be identified with God’s will.” Nicholas Wolterstorff, the originally planned speaker, was offered to sit on the bench with the president and said that he would rather weed his garden. Despite their efforts, 5,000 people showed up to the event and the protests were not even heard. Chuck Walton, a Christian Reformed Church pastor in Iowa, says that Calvin College is big enough to embrace on-campus gay entertainment yet they will not stand a visit from the president of the United States. Walton responds to the college’s actions by saying, “I don’t get it.”