5.6 percent

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

In 1985 Calvin College adopted a governing document which was quite unique amongst its peers in higher education: The Comprehensive Plan for Integrating North American Ethnic Minority Persons and Their Interests in Every Facet of Calvin’s Institutional Life.  The Comprehensive Plan, re-written and re-embraced in 2004 as a new document entitled From Every Nation (FEN), continues to provide guidance as Calvin’s principal road map towards becoming a genuinely multicultural Christian academic community.

The original Comprehensive Plan set an aggressive goal: that by 2003-2004, 15 percent of the student body, roughly 600 students, would constitute North American minority, or AHANA students. AHANA is Calvin’s designation for students of African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and Native American descent.

Today, AHANA students comprise 5.6 percent of Calvin’s student body--235 students to be precise. (This percentage does not include any of Calvin’s 315 international students). The AHANA percentage is slightly higher for faculty and staff at 6.5 percent, equaling 56 faculty/staff members.

Why has Calvin fallen short of the goal of 15 percent?  To be sure, the reasons are numerous and complex. 

The “Why?” question is an important one.  The answers need to be examined and understood. Yet Calvin College must also continue moving towards an understanding of the “How?” question in order to become the Christian academic community that God is calling it to be. 

Parents and friends, racial justice, reconciliation, and cross-cultural understanding are not only critical to the future of Calvin College, they are among the most important issues facing our world today.  To know that Calvin College struggles openly and directly with these issues is to understand the very heart and core of Calvin’s mission, that of educating for shalom. Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., former dean of the chapel and current president of Calvin Theological Seminary, writes this of shalom:

That’s what Christian higher education is for. It’s for shalom. It’s for peace in the sense of wholeness and harmony in the world. It’s for restoring proper relationships with nature and other humans and God . . . a Christian college education equips us to be agents of shalom, models of shalom, witnesses to shalom.

Shalom. What a beautiful vision!  The witness of Jesus Christ and the urging of the Holy Spirit compel us to be faithful agents of that vision. 

It would be easy to be discouraged by the pace of Calvin’s progress towards achieving that worthy vision. That pace certainly causes tension and challenge within this community, but it continues to stimulate healthy dialogue and foster a holy uneasiness with the status quo. 

Even though we’re presently at 5.6 percent, I’m more encouraged than discouraged.  During the past three years that I’ve been “back” at Calvin (I also worked at Calvin from 1977-1991), I’ve been impressed by the strength of resolve within this community to struggle towards this vision of shalom, of reconciling and restoring that which has been broken. Though progress is slow, there has been progress.  The Calvin College of 2006 is a few steps closer towards that vision than the Calvin College of 1985, when the percentage of AHANA students was 1.3 percent. Clearly though, a long road and journey lie ahead to reach the goal.

Parents, you are important players in this effort.  We believe that it’s important to invite you into this conversation and to share our hopes for this vision, God’s vision, for Calvin College.  Your prayers, support, advice, and awareness of this initiative are crucial towards our vision. 

This invitation is especially important for those of you who are parents of our AHANA students—we invite open and honest conversations about your students’ experiences at Calvin, and your experiences as parents, and how we can make improvements in this arena. Understanding the personal struggles and triumphs of our students and parents informs and instructs us as we move on toward the goal.  If you’re not sure where to begin that conversation please call me at 616-526-6094 or e-mail me at .

The numbers and percentages related to moving beyond 5.6 percent are important.  But an increase in numbers and percentages is not the only goal.  Ultimately, our efforts must transform Calvin College until this community is in harmony with the vision that God is calling us to.

And what will that community look like?  Let me share this fine vision from the current FEN document, a vision that was also articulated in the original Comprehensive Plan:

We envision a kingdom community in which cultural diversity is seen as normal; a Christian “family” that transcends ethnic, cultural, racial, and class boundaries: a communion of saints in which “each member should consider it his duty to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members” (Lord’s Day 21 of the Heidelberg Catechism); a community in which Reformed Christians from all of these groups see Calvin as their college. It is the biblical vision of Pentecost rather than the vision of Babel.

Let it come quickly.  Amen.

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