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‘You need to look where you’re going and go where you’re looking.’ President Peter T. Mitchell, ’67
by Sarah Briggs Peter Mitchell, ’67, first came to Albion as a student headed for a career in the ministry. Today, as Albion’s 14th president, he remains an evangelist of sorts. In the few months he has been in office, he has established himself as an outspoken champion for liberal arts education, and particularly for liberal arts education as it is practiced at Albion College. Having initiated a longrange planning process on campus in August, he has high aspirations for Albion in the next century. “We are in a very enviable position—excellent resources, quality people, fine reputation—but we’re also entering turbulent times in which we could see either an erosion of that or a rather significant strengthening. . . . We can command a position as the premier liberal arts college in Michigan, among the five best in the Midwest, and as a model for liberal arts colleges in the country. I have every reason to believe that future can surface from our planning process.” He has already shared his “gospel” with the news media, at alumni events and in ceremonies opening the school year. His words suggest his hopes for Albion, but they also reveal his unwillingness to settle for “second
best” in anything he attempts. Success is achieved, he maintains, by continually striving for your personal (or institutional) “best.” “My whole life is built on that premise,” he says. Mitchell has mapped out an ambitious timetable for the planning effort, with the first phase to be completed prior to the Board of Trustees’ meeting in April 1998. Planning—he prefers the term “envisioning”—is essential, he says, to keep Albion moving forward. “All great institutions are in perpetual renewal,” he emphasizes. Over the next eight months, he will lead an 18-person Vision Committee, including faculty, administrators, students, trustees and alumni, which will define the role of a church-related liberal arts college in the 21st century. While the vision statement is being developed, all members of the campus community will be invited to review it and offer their input. “If the envisioning process is open and inclusive,” he says, “the vision is embraced by every constituency, and the sense of ownership ensures its success.”
Moving forward with integrity
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The rate and magnitude of change is so extraordinary that it demands an institution to be constantly renewing and revitalizing itself from within. If it’s driven externally, then you’re responding to market forces and events—that’s not the right way to secure your future. If it’s driven from within, then you’re doing it from core values and principles and that allows you to move forward with integrity instead of bending to every passing trend or fad.
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These and the comments that follow are excerpted from recent interviews and writings.
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‘Making meaning’
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People have a great yearning to make sense out of what is going on and to find meaning. The quintessential way of finding meaning is to expose oneself to the liberal arts and learn to see patterns and connections in the midst of chaos. Liberal arts graduates will be able to cope with the world . . . they will be looked to as people to trust and follow in the future.
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‘A model learning community’ For his part, Mitchell would like to see a plan built on the belief that Albion can and should be a model learning community. “A model learning community,” he explains, “is a place that is continually rediscovering itself and discovering new insights into the world in which it finds itself. All members of this community are continually learning—albeit at different rates and with different emphases—but everyone is learning. . . . “Students need to feel—from the very beginning of the admissions process—that they are entering a place that truly values learning,” he continues. They then better understand what is expected of them and can more fully appreciate the academic environment as a whole and the respective talents of the people with whom they are studying. Learning is at its best, Mitchell says, when students are actively involved in the process—acquiring information, sharing insights and debating ideas with others. Shaping this learning community for the next century, and determining how best to portray it to the world beyond the campus, will be central tasks of the total planning effort. Being a “model” means being innovative—in this case, creating academic programs and strategies that will set a new standard in higher education. Mitchell believes Albion should play to its strength in the information technology arena and embrace technology as an essential tool in the teaching and learning process. Supported by recent infrastructure grants totaling more than $3-million from the Kellogg Foundation and the Dow Foundation and with the establishment of the Ferguson Center for Technology-Aided Teaching in 1996, Albion is poised to become a leader in employing technology within the liberal arts curriculum. “We should be teaching students the skill of discernment,” he says. “They should know how to access information, and how to interpret it, synthesize it and integrate it into their own understanding. Information technology is a power tool for intellectual endeavors.”
President Mitchell (right) confers with William Willimon, dean of the chapel at Duke University, prior to Willimon’s address during the Opening Convocation on campus Sept. 4. Willimon’s address helped launch the envisioning process, which will continue through April under President Mitchell’s leadership.
Meet Becky Mitchell In reporting on Peter and Becky Mitchell’s departure from Columbia, SC, last year, the local media called them the “education duo.” It’s an apt description. As Becky Mitchell notes, between the two of them they have been involved in the whole spectrum of education. While Peter has devoted his career to higher education, Becky is a certified preschool teacher and a former board member for a large metropolitan school district. “Peter and I love to watch young people develop,” Becky explains. Though she was initially trained as a nurse, Becky made a gradual transition to education by volunteering as an art teacher for the local schools when they lived in Kentucky and later earning a degree in early childhood education and serving as a preschool teacher in the Boston area. While in South Carolina, she also tutored in the Columbia schools. The insights she gained from that experience eventually led her to run for the school board, serving a district with 15,500 students. When the election results were in, she was the top vote-getter among 18 candidates vying for four seats. Becky Mitchell (left) visits with retired College faculty/staff members Paul and Alice Cook at an Albion community reception held in the Mitchells’ honor in August. Becky has been active in the other cities in which they have lived, and she plans to be involved in the Albion community as well.
The board made some controversial decisions about ways to improve student academic achievement and strengthen the core curriculum. More than once, Becky played a leadership role—which sometimes meant she was also a lightning rod for public opinion. In one instance, she voted against a citizen request to release students from classes so they could participate in religious education away from the school premises. While she said it was a difficult decision, given her own strong faith, she felt compelled to maintain the distinction between church and state. It was a stance that was “not popular with some segments of the community,” she notes. D. TRUMPIE PHOTO
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Using a team approach Warm and engaging, Mitchell possesses a seemingly boundless supply of energy. As his wife Becky puts it, he has two speeds: “fast” and “off.” He sleeps little and advises his staff not to worry about filling up his calendar. “I have enormous stamina,” he insists. His sense of humor and informality immediately come through, whether he is dancing the macarena at a summer party for faculty and staff or helping families unload their vehicles at freshman MoveIn Day. His long-time friend Ron Witmer, ’64, says Mitchell’s “infectious optimism” has helped him accomplish his goals. “[Peter can] take difficult situations and make the best of them,” Witmer explains. “He has had significant professional challenges over the years.
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It’s not easy doing what he’s done. When you’re working with faculty and administrators, students, alumni and trustees, all of whom often have their own agendas, it’s hard to forge one agenda for an institution, but his track record has demonstrated that he’s able to do that.”
Witmer believes Mitchell also has earned respect within the institutions he has led because he is “highly principled.” “Peter is a good example to people—the way he conducts his personal life and his professional life. I think he is ethically impeccable and has very high standards both professionally and personally. That becomes clear to H.G. HUMPHRIES PHOTO people who know him.” Describing his leadership style as “collaborative,” Mitchell says he’s “always eager to mobilize the inherent strengths and resources” in the people with whom he works. “It’s important to me that everybody feels as though they have a stake in the success of Albion, they have an understanding of what’s going on, and they find a place in which they can plug in and make a meaningful contribution. That’s going to be the key to our strength.”
Wearing many hats
Today’s college president is expected to do all things well and—the more difficult challenge—do them simultaneously, Peter and Becky Mitchell’s family includes their daughter, Melissa Mitchell She enjoyed her tenure on the board, Mitchell notes. Goldman (left), shown with her husband Charles Goldman and son Max; their son she says, in spite of the controversies. The president must be a Peter, (standing, center back); and their daughter Stephanie (right). “I learned a lot. I like being in visionary with the leadership situations where I have to learn. That’s presence that “commands respect what makes life interesting.” and inspires people with confiPerhaps that’s why Becky feels dence that the institution is headed in the right direcequally at home on the college campus. Of those commitments, her family will always top tion.” He or she must be an effective manager of “I like the college setting, and I like students,” she the list, she says. The Mitchells’ son Peter, 12, is a people and financial resources, an experienced fund says. “Meeting with the students in November during seventh-grader in Albion. They also have two grown raiser, a talented marketer and a strategic planner adept the interview [at Albion] was so exciting. That really daughters: Melissa, who lives with her husband and at “capitalizing on institutional strengths and shoring clinched it for me. They are outstanding . . . wonderful young son in the Boston area, and Stephanie, who is up areas of weakness.” And he or she must be well young people.” beginning her second year of law school at the Univerversed in the purposes of the liberal arts and understand Albion’s students have responded in kind. In an sity of South Carolina. the larger context in which higher education must editorial following the Mitchells’ visit to campus last An amateur painter, Becky says she especially operate today. fall, The Pleiad wrote, “The Mitchells were fantastic. enjoys bringing children to the arts. She is also an avid While a president’s first commitment has to be to his They listened. They gave thoughtful, considerate antique collector. She adds with a grin that this is one or her own institution, the chief executive’s influence answers to tough questions and displayed a genuine passion that Peter doesn’t always share. reaches far beyond the campus, Mitchell says. concern for the future of the College. . . . Even an As she has done in other cities where they have “I believe the college president has a role in shaping errant sunbeam which attempted to blind her during the lived, Becky also plans to become involved in the local public policy, in addressing issues of social justice, in student forum could not detract from Becky Mitchell’s community. In Albion, she hopes she can offer her articulating a vision beyond the college campus for grace.” knowledge and experience in health care, the visual arts society. You need to play an active role beyond the With Peter now entering his third college presiand K-12 education in particular. campus if you want to earn the respect of those on the dency, both Mitchells are seasoned veterans in their “As the community improves, obviously the college campus.” respective roles. Though active and supportive as first benefits,” she says. “We can help one another.” During his presidency at Columbia College in South lady, Becky says she tries to avoid “living the life of The Mitchells first met in 1969 when they both Carolina, Mitchell was active both in his local commuthe college,” believing that maintaining some distance were living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and they nity and in regional and national educational organizahelps her see the institution with “fresh eyes and were married after a six-week courtship. Their tions. He expects to do the same at Albion, giving enthusiasm.” “partnership” has worked, Becky says, because she and special priority to town-gown relationships as a “moral And she has consistently pursued her own interests her husband share a similar outlook on life. and social responsibility.” apart from her college involvements. “Peter and I don’t take ourselves too seriously. Life is “We will prosper as our environment prospers,” he so short, and there are so many wonderful moments to it explains. that we hope we can provide some pleasure for everyone. We simply want to be a catalyst for community.” (continued on p. 6) —SFB
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A microcosm of life in America
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The City of Albion is a microcosm of life in America, with all its problems and all its potential. At the same time, it is small enough to work. One of my visions for Albion College is to work with the City of Albion to become a model 21stcentury city. The potential for building a profound sense of community is tremendous. Albion students not only will receive a top notch liberal arts education, they will develop community-building skills that will serve them throughout their life.
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Mitchell thrives on this multitude of presidential responsibilities but, at the same time, remains realistic about what can be accomplished. “You can’t do everything. Every president will leave a legacy of opportunities missed but will also leave a legacy of challenges met. You do as many things as you can, and you do the most important ones.”
‘Coming home’ to Albion During last fall’s search process for Albion’s new president, Peter Mitchell asked to be interviewed first among the final candidates. However, on another occasion he was first at Albion more by accident than by choice: he literally was the first student to arrive at his residence hall on the day freshmen were to move in for the fall semester. The only problem was he arrived an hour and a half before the building opened. Adding to his uneasiness, it was the first time he had set foot on the Albion campus. “Because my folks had to get back to the Upper Peninsula [where we lived], they literally dropped me off on the steps of Seaton Hall at 7:30 in the morning with my suitcase,” he remembers. “I learned later that my mother cried all the way to the Mackinac Bridge.” It was September 1963. President John F. Kennedy was in office, and the idealism of “Camelot” permeated
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the campus. Over the next four years, the face of the campus changed with the addition of the Bobbitt Visual Arts Center and the construction of Twin Towers and new fraternity houses. The Basic Ideas program was initiated, and the unit system took effect. The Motown sound was “in,” and campus concerts featured such groups as The Temptations. Student debates focused often on race relations as the civil rights movement gained momentum. While many more changes have taken place in the intervening years, Mitchell senses “the feel of the campus is the same.” “The students Becky and I have met are like we were [as students]. . . At an Aug. 3 picnic in Escanaba for Upper Peninsula alumni, friends, optimistic about life, wanting to make current students and their families, President Mitchell (far right) visits with a difference, intelligent but not purely students (from left) Cori Johnson, Sara Shunk, Betsy Hutula and Matt Okraszewski. Mitchell, who graduated from Albion in 1967, is also a UP cerebral, looking for an experience native. that would prepare them for being responsible people.” “I live a lot in the future,” Peter Mitchell says in And, he says, this shared tradition will serve him explaining his perspective as president. Working with well as president of his alma mater. other people to effect future change is his greatest “You have a special fondness that only an alumnus challenge and his greatest joy. can have. A sense of historical perspective that—as “I believe you can transform individual lives, long as you can be objective—brings a sense of organizations and even cultures if you have enough intimacy to your understanding of the organization. . . . capacity to dream, if you have perseverance and faith in “It is an honor to be a college president,” he adds. other people. I have enormous confidence in people.” “It is the highest honor to be president of your college.”
Biographical Sketch of Peter T. Mitchell, ’67 Peter T. Mitchell, ’67, became president of Albion College July 1, 1997, succeeding Melvin L. Vulgamore who had served as president since 1983. Prior to coming to Albion, Mitchell was president of Columbia College in Columbia, SC, for nine years. Under his leadership, in 1989 Columbia College established the Women’s Leadership Institute, the first of its kind in the nation, and in 1993, created the Center for Women Entrepreneurs, a regional training and consultation center. As he left Columbia in June, he had just completed the fund raising for a $6.5-million Center for Science and Technology. Columbia’s endowment more than doubled during his tenure, and annual giving tripled. In addition, U.S. News and World Report named the college as one of the top five regional liberal arts colleges in the South. From 1983 to 1988, Mitchell served as president of Lasell College in Newton, MA. Earlier in his career, he held appointments as vice president for development and as director of admissions at Lees College in Jackson, KY, dean of admissions and financial aid at Fisher College in Boston, MA, and associate professor of English at Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba.
He holds a master’s degree in English language and literature from the University of Michigan, an Ed.S. in instructional systems and technology from Indiana University, and an Ed.D. in higher education administration from Northeastern University in Massachusetts. A past president of the South Carolina Association of Colleges and Universities, Mitchell was active in many local civic groups and served on the Board of Laity of the South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He has been a featured speaker for national and regional conferences sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, American Council on Education, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and other groups. His service and achievements were recognized in April 1997 when he received the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor presented by the governor of South Carolina. Peter Mitchell will be formally inaugurated as Albion’s 14th president Saturday, April 25, 1998. Other festivities are being planned for the week leading up to the inauguration.
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State Representative Mark Schauer, ’84
The view from the House These Albion graduates see public service as a high calling. by Bill Koshelnyk
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Mark Schauer, ’84, is completing his first year in the Michigan House of Representatives. He has introduced several bills on expanding health insurance coverage that have passed the House and await Senate consideration. Representing District 62 in Calhoun County, Schauer serves as vice chair of the House committees on Health Policy and on Urban Policy and Economic Development.
Mark Schauer, ’84, sums up his political outlook by quoting the words of former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neal: “All politics are local.” Schauer, a first-term state representative from Battle Creek has always been interested in local politics. When most of his fellow students in Albion’s Gerald R. Ford Institute for Public Service were pursuing internships “on the Hill” in Washington, DC, Schauer did his in a Hispanic/African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia. He followed up on that experience by interning with the planning director for the City of Albion. (continued on p. 8)
Congressman Dave Camp, ’75 PHOTO COURTESY OF D. CAMP
Congressman Dave Camp, ’75, holds a news conference following the passage of his Adoption Promotion Act by the House Subcommittee on Human Resources. The bill, which streamlines the adoption process for the nation’s foster care children, passed the U.S. House in April, 416-5. Camp has represented Michigan’s fourth district since 1990.
Under the tutelage of such legendary Albion professors as Julian Rammelkamp, Dave Camp, ’75, learned the importance of “doing your homework” with thoroughness and precision. And that’s a regimen he still follows in his fourth term as the Republican congressman from Michigan’s fourth district. Camp says he frequently confronts bills that deal with subjects he knows nothing about—then has to educate himself well enough on the topic to decide how he’s going to vote. “It’s like being in college,” he explained. “I have to ‘go to the library.’ I try to find out everything I can about the issue. I talk to people whose opinions I respect. I sort it all out and hope I’m making the best decision I can. Then, sometimes, I change my mind. I’m open to being persuaded—to being influenced in a positive way.” (continued on p. 9)
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State Representative Mark Schauer, ’84 (continued from p. 7)
After graduation, he became a planner for Calhoun County and then served as director of the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan (as he notes, “at the ripe old age of 25”). Along the way, he earned a master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University, and he has since completed the course work for a doctorate in political science/urban studies at Michigan State University. He took over leadership of the Calhoun County Human Services Coordinating Council in 1992, then ran as a Democrat for the State House last November, becoming—at age 35— one of Michigan’s youngest legislators. Schauer sees his role as that of an “ombudsman.” He believes it’s his job not only to represent his 62nd-district constituents as their delegate to the legislature, but to marshal the resources of state government to help them address their personal and community needs. “In my view, the interests of the State of Michigan and the interests of the people are the same thing,” he said. That understanding reflects what Schauer sees as an irony of contemporary American politics. “People are disaffected with the political system,” he said, “while at the same time, approval of individual representatives is high. We’re in a period of turbulence, a time when the public perception of government is changing. What people want to see in their representative is someone who is involved, who’s part of the community, not someone who rides off to Lansing or Washington and is never seen on the streets again.” Majority Floor Leader Pat Gagliardi thinks Schauer is meeting those expectations. “The commitment to service that Mark has shown, even in the brief time he’s been in office, is what’s needed to help restore public confidence in government today,” Gagliardi said. “You have to remember that those of us who are elected officials ask for these jobs. We’re not drafted. If you’re going to do this work, you have to see it as a high public calling. And I’m impressed with how well Mark and some of the other younger members of the legislature understand that.” Gagliardi observed that a legislator has three jobs. “First, you’re a politician,” he said. “You have to get elected. Second, you’re a lawmaker. And third, you’re a public servant. You spend most of your time on number three.” Gagliardi noted that Schauer’s focus on addressing the problems and needs of the people in his district clearly demonstrates his understanding of the public servant role. But from the viewpoint of the floor leader—the person who has to translate the dynamics of day-to-day politics into a system for achieving the party’s goals—Gagliardi observed that Schauer has shown considerable aptitude for the legislator’s other two roles as well. “Mark pulled off a big upset last fall,” Gagliardi said. “He defeated the incumbent in a district that was held by the Republicans for a long time. That says something abut his personality and about his work ethic. And not only did he conduct an effective campaign, he hit the ground running when he got to Lansing. He put together a very good staff. He’s been instrumental in helping to advance the Democratic agenda, especially our tax-cutting proposals. And he’s already had three bills passed in the House and sent on to the Senate.” Perhaps the one factor which Gagliardi considers Schauer’s greatest asset is his highly personable nature. “Mark’s the kind of guy everybody wants to go on vacation with,” he said. “He makes a great first impression. When people meet him, they just like him.”
Kim Tunnicliff, director of the Ford Institute and a longtime friend and political ally, cites one particular aspect of Schauer’s personality as crucial. “He listens to people,” Tunnicliff said. “Mark is completely accessible. When you talk to him, you don’t get the feeling that he’s planning what he’s going to say next. He listens to you and then responds to what you’ve said.” Tunnicliff believes that Schauer’s ability to listen is the key to his skills as a communicator, which he sees as another of the Battle Creek legislator’s strengths. “Mark can connect with all the factions and interests,” he said, “and he works well across party lines. I think he’s
Schauer sees his ability to communicate as a gift, and he recalls that he cultivated it while at Albion. “I was challenged intellectually at Albion,” he said. “I learned how to think, how to write, and how to express myself verbally. And I was able to pursue a lot of diverse interests that have proven extremely useful. For instance, I spent a semester abroad studying Spanish in Mexico. My experiences at Albion laid the foundation for so much of what I’m doing now. I believe I’m a good communicator. And the key is that I treat all people with respect and find common ground.” Schauer noted that his Albion contacts are still important. “The friends I made when I was in college, and especially through the Ford Institute, were a wonderful D. TRUMPIE PHOTO
Mark Schauer (right) meets with Operation Bentley participants during their visit to the state capital in May. Albion political science faculty members direct Operation Bentley, an annual governmental study program for high school students. becoming recognized as someone who has a real future in politics.” Len Berkey of Albion’s Anthropology/Sociology Department first became acquainted with Schauer when Berkey was serving as interim director of the Ford Institute, in which Schauer was participating as a student. Years later, when Schauer was director of the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan, Berkey would take students on field trips to Battle Creek where Schauer would address the groups about the urban and povertyrelated problems his organization dealt with. Berkey was impressed at how Schauer could communicate with any audience. “Mark was someone who was ageless,” he said. “He was only about 25 at the time, but he could talk to senior citizens, to business people, to college kids. He can walk into one room and speak Spanish, then be a home boy in another room, then go into the next and introduce you to someone from the Kellogg Foundation—all without missing a beat. I found that amazing, especially in someone so young.”
part of the Albion experience,” he said. “And I’ve found that over the years I’ve kept in touch with a lot of those people. I’ve even called on them for help in my community and political work. Albion is very strong on personal relationships—between students and with faculty members as well—and I’ve valued that.” Those contacts came in handy in last fall’s campaign, when several Albion friends worked on Schauer’s campaign. Tunnicliff had the special experience of sharing the political spotlight with Schauer during his own campaign for Congress. They both ran as Democrats, and their districts overlapped, so they often campaigned together. Tunnicliff was defeated, but he expects Schauer to have a much brighter political future. “I think Mark is someone who could be considered for the governor’s mansion in a few years,” Tunnicliff said. “He’s got all the tools. He’s enormously disciplined, and he works hard. I was really struck, on the campaign trail, by how Mark would be out knocking on doors at any hour of the day or night. He never stopped. Also, he’s bilingual, he’s accessible, and he’s able to attract good, dedicated people. “In a very real sense, Mark is a model of what today’s politician should be.”
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ranking member of the Subcommittee on Human Resources. These appointments reflect his interest in such hot political issues as tax reform, health care, trade policy, Social Security and welfare reform. Last year, Time Magazine credited him with being responsible for a “decisive breakthrough” in the maneuvering that led to passage of the welfare reform bill. A fiscal conservative, Camp has become a vocal opponent of high taxes and wasteful government spending. He is especially aggressive in his campaign to eliminate the Dave Camp (standing) regularly meets with constituents across his district, national debt, having returned more which encompasses 16 Michigan counties. He is pictured here at a town hall than $560,000 from his personal meeting in Evart. A fiscal conservative, Camp has donated all of the pay office account to the treasury for increases he has received while in Congress to a scholarship fund that deficit reduction during his four provides financial assistance to mid-Michigan college students. terms. Such effort has placed Camp among the top dozen members of Congress considered leaders in the fight for a balanced budget. He has received (continued from p. 7) recognition from anti-deficit organizations, winning the Watchdog of the Treasury Award and being named a Camp recalls the training in how to sort out huge “Taxpayer Hero” by the National Taxpayers’ Union. amounts of information and analyze problems logically He has also combined his commitment to frugality with which he received from history professor Julian his interest in community service, donating all the pay Rammelkamp, among others. increases he has received while in office to a scholarship “Once you could sit through one of Professor fund that provides financial assistance to college students Rammelkamp’s classes, nothing was ever quite so in mid-Michigan. Some $12,600 has been awarded so far. daunting,” Camp said. “He liked to give unlimited-length Camp’s four terms have spanned a period of major exams, though he later cut back to just four hours. The change in the makeup and power balance of the Congress. reading lists for his courses were extremely challenging. He was one of a handful of freshman representatives when He demanded a great deal of his students. But he made he took office in 1991. Now, new members dominate, you feel you could do anything you set your mind to do. with more than 60 percent having come to Congress since He made you believe in yourself.” he entered. That belief was reinforced by other aspects of Camp’s Likewise, while George Bush was president in that first experience at Albion—in particular the College’s small year, Congress was in the hands of the Democrats, and size and liberal arts focus, which permitted close contacts Camp experienced being in the minority. That all changed with many faculty members and encouraged students to with the GOP sweep of 1994. Democrat Bill Clinton is explore a broad range of subjects. Albion’s intimate currently in his second White House term, and the classes made it impossible to slip by unnoticed. Republicans are the majority party in both the Senate and “When I went to law school I was surprised to find that House of Representatives. This transition has provided many of my classmates were terrified to speak up in Camp with a sort of learning experience in itself, helping class,” Camp said. “They had attended large universities him to formulate his own political “Golden Rule.” and took most of their courses in big lecture halls, so they “It was interesting being in the minority,” he said. “I hadn’t experienced being called on very much in class. At think that experience has kind of tempered my attitude Albion, nobody ever got by without being called on, so I now. I know what it’s like to be in the minority, and I had no trouble speaking up any time in a law class. It was understand that everyone here is only an election away a tremendous advantage.” from being out of office. All of that has made me a bit Camp graduated from Albion with a B.A. in econommore sensitive in my dealings with members of the other ics, after having participated in an overseas study program party. It’s helped me to understand that you have to treat at the University of Sussex in England. He received his people as you would like to be treated.” J.D. degree in 1978 from the University of San Diego Law Still, Camp takes pride in the achievements of his own School, then returned to his hometown of Midland to party since the GOP has come to dominate the Congress. practice law, gaining particular experience in the legal “The new majority has accomplished quite a lot,” he said. concerns of small business as well as estate planning. He “You wouldn’t necessarily know it from how the media served as special assistant attorney general from 1980 to tell the story, but more than two-thirds of the ‘Contract 1984, representing two state funds in hearings to deterwith America’ [the Republicans’ legislative plan promoted mine eligibility of people filing worker’s compensation in the 1994 campaign] has been signed into law. And claims. when the tax reduction bill passes, we will have completed Helping a law partner in a non-partisan race for a the entire Contract.” [Ed. note: The tax reduction bill has circuit judgeship aroused Camp’s enthusiasm for the been passed since this story was written.] electoral process. “The political side of things suddenly And he’s proud of his own record representing the came alive for me,” he said. “I had done a considerable second largest congressional district east of the Missisamount of volunteer community work, and of course as an sippi, an area one and a half times the size of Connecticut, attorney, I functioned as an advocate. Getting involved in covering 16 diverse counties that encompass urban politics just seemed like a natural outgrowth of all that.” industrial communities and rural farming regions alike. A term in the state legislature sealed his interest. He Camp is candid in stating that he believes his primary won his seat in the U.S. Congress in 1990, and has been responsibility in Congress is to act as an advocate for the reelected three times since (the last with 66 percent of the people of mid-Michigan. “If I don’t speak for them, who vote). will?” he asks rhetorically. In the House of Representatives, Camp sits on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and he is the
Congressman Dave Camp, ’75
His efforts have met with success. Along with healthy electoral margins, the Midland Daily News commented editorially last year that “Camp has proven to be an effective congressman for the fourth district” and “has demonstrated a genuine concern for his constituents by attending to their needs as quickly and efficiently as possible.” One of the secrets of that success is staying close to the grass roots. Camp lives in Midland with his wife, Nancy, and three-year-old son, Andrew, regularly flying to Washington on Tuesday mornings and back to Michigan Thursday nights. And he keeps up a steady circuit throughout the district, traveling to keep in touch with the needs of the voters. Camp is philosophical about the constant grind. “A lot of people in the business world travel as much as I do,” he said. Despite all his efforts to stay close to his constituency, Camp knows that opinion polls do not a legislator make. “You can’t always know what the people want,” he said. “As their elected representative, I have to call on my own powers of judgment. But when you do something you believe in, it’s easy to defend. You get into trouble when you vote in a way that you don’t believe in.” Camp’s powers of judgment receive a favorable verdict from 42nd Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ludington, ’76, of Midland. Friends from their days at Midland’s Dow High School, Camp and Ludington followed amazingly similar educational and career paths until Camp took a turn into legislative politics and Ludington sought the judiciary. Contemporaries at Albion, both studied abroad at the University of Sussex, and both took their law degrees at the University of San Diego. That was no accident. “I always admired Dave’s judgment,” Ludington said, “and to a great extent, I modeled my career after his.” The judge observed that Camp understands his role as spokesman for the people of mid-Michigan in a very broad way. “What distinguishes him from a lot of people you run into in politics is that he considers the impact of each piece of legislation on everyone in society,” Ludington said. “You won’t find Dave working for a bill unless he’s satisfied that it advances the interests of the nation as a whole. He’s scrupulous about that. I believe Dave gives higher consideration to his sense of ethics than most people in politics ever do.” But politics can be a complicated endeavor. And as much as Camp might follow his principles, he has to deal with 438 other representatives who are, presumably, trying to follow their principles—or at the very least, trying to do what they think their constituents want them to do. In other words: the democratic system. “I believe that everyone here wants to do the right thing,” Camp said. “But we have profound disagreements over what the right thing is. That’s as it should be, though. The Founding Fathers wanted a lot of debate. They wanted power to be diffused, so they set up this system that’s extremely inefficient, but that lets the people affect the process. “I tend to be an optimist, and I believe in that system. If you saw any of the debate on C-SPAN when we were marking up the tax bill in the Ways and Means Committee, you saw how the process functions. We had some very serious disagreements, but it was civil debate. The process proceeded in a positive way, and that’s the way it’s supposed to work.” Ludington vouches for Camp’s commitment to the democratic process. “Dave never loses his sense of direction, his intention to propagate laws and policies that are best for all the American people,” Ludington said. “I think if he continues to work as hard as he has in the past, and if he maintains his commitment to advancing the interests of all the people, Dave could have real national political potential.” Bill Koshelnyk is a freelance writer from Hillsdale, MI, who specializes in higher education topics.
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF S. RAJ
Albion religious studies professor Selva Raj (left) had a personal and professional relationship with Mother Teresa that spanned the past 27 years. Sitting next to her, he says, you felt you were in “a sacred presence.”
The quality of mercy by Sarah Briggs As a young seminary student 25 years ago, Selva Raj would rise at 4:30 in the morning to catch the train into Calcutta where he worked at Nirmala Hriday, Mother Teresa’s first home for the destitute and dying. From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., he would bathe, groom and comfort the patients who had been brought there from the city streets. He remembers vividly his first day at the home. “They had just brought a man in from the street who had a gaping hole in his stomach, and you could see maggots in his stomach. . . . I was overwhelmed by the experience.” That day Raj, who is now an assistant professor of religious studies at Albion, began a personal and professional relationship with Mother Teresa and her ministry that continued until her death Sept. 5. He volunteered at Nirmala Hriday one day each week from 1970 to 1973 and had steady contact with Mother Teresa during the early 1980s when he taught at the Morning Star Regional Seminary in Calcutta. Even after he moved to the United States in 1985, Raj would visit with Mother Teresa each time he returned home. On his latest trip to India, he represented Albion College at her funeral, where he was chosen as one of 200 priest-celebrants at that service, and on the day after the funeral, he said a private mass at Mother Teresa’s grave in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. “[Mother Teresa’s death] brought me face-to-face with what she stood for,” Raj says, “all that she did in the last 50 years, and the ideals that she stood for. It reminded me of the validity of those values. For me, I think Mother Teresa passed away but her spirit lives on.” Raj says he was especially impressed by the number of nonChristians who came to pay their last respects to Mother Teresa. Among Calcutta’s 14 million inhabitants, only 60,000 are Roman Catholics, and yet nearly a million mourners came to the church during the days her body was lying in state, and hundreds of thousands lined the streets to witness her funeral procession.
“I got chills when I saw the crowds and the way they were crying,” he says. “[For them,] it was like losing a family member.” Mother Teresa transcended religious lines, Raj believes, because “she did what most people would like to do but can’t do. . . . She reached and helped the unreachable.” Her ministry extended to “the poorest of the poor.” She sheltered orphans and the handicapped, and cared for those suffering from leprosy, tuberculosis and many other life-threatening diseases. By the time they reached Mother Teresa’s door, many were near death. Raj says his work with Mother Teresa was an essential part of his training to become a priest. “I grew up in a middle class home in India. I didn’t have a lot of suffering in my home nor was I exposed to a lot of poverty, but I knew that if I was going to be working among the poor I had to have a firsthand experience of what it means to be poor. These were people who had nobody in the world. Mother Teresa would give them a dignified, holistic preparation for death. I wanted to be part of that experience.”
While in India to attend Mother Teresa’s funeral, Selva Raj returned to Nirmala Hriday, Mother Teresa’s first home for the destitute and dying, and visited with the patients. He volunteered at the home as a seminary student from 1970 to 1973.
And so Raj set about bathing individuals whose bodies were covered with boils, or feeding those too weak to lift a spoon. As he worked with the hungry and the sick, he says he learned that comfort also comes from “a kind word, a simple touch, a moment spent with someone who is lonely.” Later on, as a faculty member at the Morning Star Seminary, he remembers attending a reception the seminary hosted in Mother Teresa’s honor after she won the Nobel Peace Prize. “I sat next to her [at the reception], and you could see literally hundreds of people lining up to kiss her feet. . . . She had not changed [after winning the prize] but people’s perception of her had changed. She had become a celebrity in the eyes of the public. But she still rode the streetcars, she walked the streets, she stopped and said hello to people. She was an amazingly inspiring individual.” In his last visit with her, in 1993, Raj says Mother Teresa told him of a man who every day would stand begging near the entrance to her convent. One day the man came up to Mother Teresa and gave her all of the coins he had received that day. The equivalent of one penny in American money, it would have bought food for his entire family. “That was the greatest gift I ever received,” Mother Teresa concluded. As he reflects on Mother Teresa’s life and work, Raj says, “I saw for myself the power that she exerted on the globe and on Calcuttan people. She brought all these people together. She was the hope of humankind in this century because she recognized the best in human beings. I saw for myself the way she . . . won the hearts of people just by gentleness and compassion. I saw for the first time the power of love. . . . “I can’t but be grateful for the opportunity to have met her, worked [with her] and been inspired by her. I consider that as one of the great blessings in my life.”
Raj met with Mother Teresa’s successor, Sister Nirmala, and later said a mass at Mother Teresa’s grave in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity.
A native of India, Selva Raj has been a member of Albion College’s Department of Religious Studies since 1995. A specialist in Asian and comparative religions, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. During his trip to India to attend Mother Teresa’s funeral, he presented letters of condolence from Albion College to Mother Teresa’s successor, Sister Nirmala, as well as to Henry D’Souza, the archbishop of Calcutta, to Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujdal, via the chief secretary of West Bengal, and to Jyoti Basu, chief minister of West Bengal.