I O T R I U M P H E 3

by Sarah Briggs

Peter Mitchell, ’67, first came to Albion as a student headed for a career inthe ministry. Today, as Albion’s 14th president, he remains an evangelist ofsorts. In the few months he has been in office, he has established himself asan outspoken champion for liberal arts education, and particularly for liberalarts education as it is practiced at Albion College. Having initiated a long-range planning process on campus in August, he has high aspirations forAlbion 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 couldsee either an erosion of that or a rather significant strengthening. . . . Wecan 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 collegesin the country. I have every reason to believe that future can surface fromour planning process.”

He has already shared his “gospel” with the news media, at alumnievents and in ceremonies opening the school year. His words suggest hishopes for Albion, but they also reveal his unwillingness to settle for “second

best” in anything he attempts. Success is achieved, he maintains, bycontinually 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’ meetingin April 1998. Planning—he prefers the term “envisioning”—is essential,he says, to keep Albion moving forward. “All great institutions are inperpetual renewal,” he emphasizes.

Over the next eight months, he will lead an 18-person Vision Commit-tee, including faculty, administrators, students, trustees and alumni, whichwill define the role of a church-related liberal arts college in the 21stcentury. While the vision statement is being developed, all members of thecampus community will be invited to review it and offer their input.

“If the envisioning process is open and inclusive,” he says, “the vision isembraced by every constituency, and the sense of ownership ensures itssuccess.”

Moving forward with integrity

“The rate and magnitude of change is so extraordinary that it demands aninstitution to be constantly renewing and revitalizing itself from within. If it’s drivenexternally, then you’re responding to market forces and events—that’s not the rightway to secure your future. If it’s driven from within, then you’re doing it from corevalues and principles and that allows you to move forward with integrity instead ofbending to every passing trend or fad.”These and the comments that follow are excerpted from recent interviews and writings.

President Peter T. Mitchell, ’67

D. TRUMPIE PHOTO

‘You needto look

where you’regoing and go

where you’relooking.’

I O T R I U M P H E4

‘Making meaning’

“People have a great yearning to make sense out of what is going on and tofind meaning. The quintessential way of finding meaning is to expose oneself tothe 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 lookedto as people to trust and follow in the future.”

‘A model learningcommunity’For his part, Mitchell would like to see a plan built onthe belief that Albion can and should be a modellearning community.

“A model learning community,” he explains, “is aplace that is continually rediscovering itself anddiscovering new insights into the world in which itfinds itself. All members of this community arecontinually learning—albeit at different rates and withdifferent emphases—but everyone is learning. . . .

“Students need to feel—from the very beginning ofthe admissions process—that they are entering a placethat truly values learning,” he continues. They thenbetter understand what is expected of them and canmore fully appreciate the academic environment as awhole and the respective talents of the people withwhom they are studying. Learning is at its best,Mitchell says, when students are actively involved inthe process—acquiring information, sharing insightsand debating ideas with others.

Shaping this learning community for the nextcentury, and determining how best to portray it to theworld beyond the campus, will be central tasks of thetotal planning effort.

Being a “model” means being innovative—in thiscase, creating academic programs and strategies thatwill set a new standard in higher education. Mitchellbelieves Albion should play to its strength in theinformation technology arena and embrace technologyas an essential tool in the teaching and learning process.Supported by recent infrastructure grants totaling morethan $3-million from the Kellogg Foundation and theDow Foundation and with the establishment of theFerguson Center for Technology-Aided Teaching in1996, Albion is poised to become a leader in employingtechnology within the liberal arts curriculum.

“We should be teaching students the skill ofdiscernment,” he says. “They should know how toaccess information, and how to interpret it, synthesize itand integrate it into their own understanding. Informa-tion technology is a power tool for intellectual endeav-ors.”

Meet Becky MitchellThe board made some controversial decisions about

ways to improve student academic achievement andstrengthen the core curriculum. More than once, Beckyplayed a leadership role—which sometimes meant shewas also a lightning rod for public opinion. In oneinstance, she voted against a citizen request to releasestudents from classes so they could participate inreligious education away from the school premises.While she said it was a difficult decision, given herown strong faith, she felt compelled to maintain thedistinction between church and state. It was a stancethat was “not popular with some segments of thecommunity,” she notes.

In reporting on Peter and Becky Mitchell’s departurefrom Columbia, SC, last year, the local media calledthem the “education duo.” It’s an apt description. AsBecky Mitchell notes, between the two of them theyhave 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 formerboard 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, Beckymade a gradual transition to education by volunteeringas an art teacher for the local schools when they livedin Kentucky and later earning a degree in earlychildhood education and serving as a preschoolteacher in the Boston area.

While in South Carolina, she also tutored inthe Columbia schools. The insights she gainedfrom that experience eventually led her to runfor the school board, serving a district with15,500 students. When the election resultswere in, she was the top vote-getter among 18candidates vying for four seats.

D. TRUMPIE PHOTO

President Mitchell(right) confers withWilliam Willimon,dean of the chapel atDuke University,prior to Willimon’saddress during theOpening Convocationon campus Sept. 4.Willimon’s addresshelped launch theenvisioning process,which will continuethrough April underPresident Mitchell’sleadership.

D. TRUMPIE PHOTO

Becky Mitchell (left) visits with retired Collegefaculty/staff members Paul and Alice Cook atan Albion community reception held in theMitchells’ honor in August. Becky has beenactive in the other cities in which they havelived, and she plans to be involved in the Albioncommunity as well.

I O T R I U M P H E 5

She enjoyed her tenure on the board,she says, in spite of the controversies.

“I learned a lot. I like being insituations where I have to learn. That’swhat makes life interesting.”

Perhaps that’s why Becky feelsequally at home on the college campus.

“I like the college setting, and I like students,” shesays. “Meeting with the students in November duringthe interview [at Albion] was so exciting. That reallyclinched it for me. They are outstanding . . . wonderfulyoung people.”

Albion’s students have responded in kind. In aneditorial following the Mitchells’ visit to campus lastfall, The Pleiad wrote, “The Mitchells were fantastic.They listened. They gave thoughtful, considerateanswers to tough questions and displayed a genuineconcern for the future of the College. . . . Even anerrant sunbeam which attempted to blind her during thestudent forum could not detract from Becky Mitchell’sgrace.”

With Peter now entering his third college presi-dency, both Mitchells are seasoned veterans in theirrespective roles. Though active and supportive as firstlady, Becky says she tries to avoid “living the life ofthe college,” believing that maintaining some distancehelps her see the institution with “fresh eyes andenthusiasm.”

And she has consistently pursued her own interestsapart from her college involvements.

It’s not easy doing what he’s done. When you’reworking with faculty and administrators, students,alumni and trustees, all of whom often have their ownagendas, it’s hard to forge one agenda for an institution,but his track record has demonstrated that he’s able todo that.”

Witmer believes Mitchell also has earned respectwithin the institutions he has led because he is “highlyprincipled.”

“Peter is a good example to people—the way heconducts his personal life and his professional life. Ithink he is ethically impeccable and has very high

standards both professionally andpersonally. That becomes clear topeople who know him.”

Describing his leadership styleas “collaborative,” Mitchell sayshe’s “always eager to mobilize theinherent strengths and resources”in the people with whom he works.

“It’s important to me thateverybody feels as though theyhave a stake in the success ofAlbion, they have an understandingof what’s going on, and they find aplace in which they can plug in andmake a meaningful contribution.That’s going to be the key to ourstrength.”

Wearingmany hatsToday’s college president isexpected to do all things welland—the more difficult chal-lenge—do them simultaneously,Mitchell notes.

The president must be avisionary with the leadershippresence that “commands respectand inspires people with confi-

dence that the institution is headed in the right direc-tion.” He or she must be an effective manager ofpeople and financial resources, an experienced fundraiser, a talented marketer and a strategic planner adeptat “capitalizing on institutional strengths and shoringup areas of weakness.” And he or she must be wellversed in the purposes of the liberal arts and understandthe larger context in which higher education mustoperate today.

While a president’s first commitment has to be to hisor her own institution, the chief executive’s influencereaches far beyond the campus, Mitchell says.

“I believe the college president has a role in shapingpublic policy, in addressing issues of social justice, inarticulating a vision beyond the college campus forsociety. You need to play an active role beyond thecampus if you want to earn the respect of those on thecampus.”

During his presidency at Columbia College in SouthCarolina, Mitchell was active both in his local commu-nity and in regional and national educational organiza-tions. He expects to do the same at Albion, givingspecial priority to town-gown relationships as a “moraland social responsibility.”

“We will prosper as our environment prospers,” heexplains.

Of those commitments, her family will always topthe list, she says. The Mitchells’ son Peter, 12, is aseventh-grader in Albion. They also have two growndaughters: Melissa, who lives with her husband andyoung son in the Boston area, and Stephanie, who isbeginning her second year of law school at the Univer-sity of South Carolina.

An amateur painter, Becky says she especiallyenjoys bringing children to the arts. She is also an avidantique collector. She adds with a grin that this is onepassion that Peter doesn’t always share.

As she has done in other cities where they havelived, Becky also plans to become involved in the localcommunity. In Albion, she hopes she can offer herknowledge and experience in health care, the visual artsand K-12 education in particular.

“As the community improves, obviously the collegebenefits,” she says. “We can help one another.”

The Mitchells first met in 1969 when they bothwere living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and theywere married after a six-week courtship. Their“partnership” has worked, Becky says, because she andher husband share a similar outlook on life.

“Peter and I don’t take ourselves too seriously. Life isso short, and there are so many wonderful moments to itthat we hope we can provide some pleasure for everyone.We simply want to be a catalyst for community.”

—SFB

Using a teamapproachWarm and engaging, Mitchell possesses a seeminglyboundless supply of energy. As his wifeBecky puts it, he has two speeds: “fast”and “off.” He sleeps little and advises hisstaff not to worry about filling up hiscalendar. “I have enormous stamina,” heinsists.

His sense of humor and informalityimmediately come through, whether he isdancing the macarena at a summer partyfor faculty and staff or helping familiesunload their vehicles at freshman Move-In Day.

His long-time friend Ron Witmer, ’64,says Mitchell’s “infectious optimism” hashelped him accomplish his goals.

“[Peter can] take difficult situationsand make the best of them,” Witmerexplains. “He has had significantprofessional challenges over the years.

H.G. HUMPHRIES PHOTO

Peter and Becky Mitchell’s family includes their daughter, Melissa MitchellGoldman (left), shown with her husband Charles Goldman and son Max; their sonPeter, (standing, center back); and their daughter Stephanie (right).

(continued on p. 6)

I O T R I U M P H E6

A microcosm of life in America

“The City of Albion is a microcosm of life in America, with all its problems andall its potential. At the same time, it is small enough to work. One of my visionsfor Albion College is to work with the City of Albion to become a model 21st-century city. The potential for building a profound sense of community is tremen-dous. Albion students not only will receive a top notch liberal arts education, theywill develop community-building skills that will serve them throughout their life.”

Mitchell thrives on this multitude of presidentialresponsibilities but, at the same time, remains realisticabout what can be accomplished.

“You can’t do everything. Every president willleave a legacy of opportunities missed but will alsoleave a legacy of challenges met. You do as manythings as you can, and you do the most importantones.”

‘Coming home’to AlbionDuring last fall’s search process for Albion’s newpresident, Peter Mitchell asked to be interviewed firstamong the final candidates. However, on anotheroccasion he was first at Albion more by accident thanby choice: he literally was the first student to arrive athis residence hall on the day freshmen were to move infor the fall semester. The only problem was he arrivedan hour and a half before the building opened. Addingto his uneasiness, it was the first time he had set foot onthe Albion campus.

“Because my folks had to get back to the UpperPeninsula [where we lived], they literally dropped meoff on the steps of Seaton Hall at 7:30 in the morningwith my suitcase,” he remembers. “I learned later thatmy mother cried all the way to the Mackinac Bridge.”

It was September 1963. President John F. Kennedywas in office, and the idealism of “Camelot” permeated

the campus. Over the next four years,the face of the campus changed withthe addition of the Bobbitt VisualArts Center and the construction ofTwin Towers and new fraternityhouses. The Basic Ideas program wasinitiated, and the unit system tookeffect. The Motown sound was “in,”and campus concerts featured suchgroups as The Temptations. Studentdebates focused often on racerelations as the civil rights movementgained momentum.

While many more changes havetaken place in the intervening years,Mitchell senses “the feel of thecampus is the same.”

“The students Becky and I havemet are like we were [as students]. . .optimistic about life, wanting to makea difference, intelligent but not purelycerebral, looking for an experiencethat would prepare them for beingresponsible people.”

And, he says, this shared tradition will serve himwell as president of his alma mater.

“You have a special fondness that only an alumnuscan have. A sense of historical perspective that—aslong as you can be objective—brings a sense ofintimacy to your understanding of the organization. . . .

“It is an honor to be a college president,” he adds.“It is the highest honor to be president of your college.”

J. WHITEHOUSE PHOTO

At an Aug. 3 picnic in Escanaba for Upper Peninsula alumni, friends,current students and their families, President Mitchell (far right) visits withstudents (from left) Cori Johnson, Sara Shunk, Betsy Hutula and MattOkraszewski. Mitchell, who graduated from Albion in 1967, is also a UPnative.

Biographical Sketch of Peter T. Mitchell, ’67He holds a master’s degree in English language and literature

from the University of Michigan, an Ed.S. in instructionalsystems and technology from Indiana University, and an Ed.D.in higher education administration from Northeastern Universityin Massachusetts.

A past president of the South Carolina Association ofColleges and Universities, Mitchell was active in many localcivic groups and served on the Board of Laity of the SouthCarolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.He has been a featured speaker for national and regionalconferences sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education,American Council on Education, the Council for the Advance-ment and Support of Education and other groups. His serviceand achievements were recognized in April 1997 when hereceived the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honorpresented by the governor of South Carolina.

Peter Mitchell will be formally inaugurated as Albion’s 14thpresident Saturday, April 25, 1998. Other festivities are beingplanned for the week leading up to the inauguration.

Peter T. Mitchell, ’67, became president of Albion College July1, 1997, succeeding Melvin L. Vulgamore who had served aspresident since 1983.

Prior to coming to Albion, Mitchell was president ofColumbia College in Columbia, SC, for nine years. Under hisleadership, in 1989 Columbia College established the Women’sLeadership Institute, the first of its kind in the nation, and in1993, created the Center for Women Entrepreneurs, a regionaltraining and consultation center. As he left Columbia in June,he had just completed the fund raising for a $6.5-million Centerfor Science and Technology. Columbia’s endowment morethan doubled during his tenure, and annual giving tripled. Inaddition, U.S. News and World Report named the college as oneof the top five regional liberal arts colleges in the South.

From 1983 to 1988, Mitchell served as president of LasellCollege in Newton, MA. Earlier in his career, he held appoint-ments as vice president for development and as director ofadmissions at Lees College in Jackson, KY, dean of admissionsand financial aid at Fisher College in Boston, MA, and associ-ate professor of English at Bay de Noc Community College inEscanaba.

“I live a lot in the future,” Peter Mitchell says inexplaining his perspective as president. Working withother people to effect future change is his greatestchallenge and his greatest joy.

“I believe you can transform individual lives,organizations and even cultures if you have enoughcapacity to dream, if you have perseverance and faith inother people. I have enormous confidence in people.”

I O T R I U M P H E 7

State Representative Mark Schauer, ’84

Theviewfrom

theHouse

These Albion

graduates see

public service

as a high calling.

by Bill Koshelnyk

D. TRUMPIE PHOTO

Mark Schauer, ’84, iscompleting his first year inthe Michigan House ofRepresentatives. He hasintroduced several bills onexpanding health insurancecoverage that have passed theHouse and await Senateconsideration. RepresentingDistrict 62 in CalhounCounty, Schauer serves asvice chair of the Housecommittees on Health Policyand on Urban Policy andEconomic Development.

Congressman Dave Camp, ’75PHOTO COURTESY OF D. CAMP

Congressman Dave Camp, ’75,holds a news conferencefollowing the passage of hisAdoption Promotion Act bythe House Subcommittee onHuman Resources. The bill,which streamlines theadoption process for thenation’s foster care children,passed the U.S. House inApril, 416-5. Camp hasrepresented Michigan’sfourth district since 1990.

(continued on p. 9)

Mark Schauer, ’84, sums up his political outlook by quoting the words of former Speaker of the HouseTip 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 pursuinginternships “on the Hill” in Washington, DC, Schauer did his in a Hispanic/African-American neighbor-hood in Philadelphia. He followed up on that experience by interning with the planning director for theCity of Albion.

Under the tutelage of such legendary Albion professors as Julian Rammelkamp, Dave Camp, ’75, learnedthe importance of “doing your homework” with thoroughness and precision. And that’s a regimen hestill follows in his fourth term as the Republican congressman from Michigan’s fourth district. Campsays he frequently confronts bills that deal with subjects he knows nothing about—then has to educatehimself 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 Ican about the issue. I talk to people whose opinions I respect. I sort it all out and hope I’m making thebest decision I can. Then, sometimes, I change my mind. I’m open to being persuaded—to beinginfluenced in a positive way.”

(continued on p. 8)

I O T R I U M P H E8

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 highschool students.

D. TRUMPIE PHOTO

After graduation, he became a planner for CalhounCounty and then served as director of the CommunityAction Agency of South Central Michigan (as he notes,“at the ripe old age of 25”). Along the way, he earned amaster’s degree in public administration from WesternMichigan University, and he has since completed thecourse work for a doctorate in political science/urbanstudies at Michigan State University. He took overleadership of the Calhoun County Human ServicesCoordinating Council in 1992, then ran as a Democrat forthe State House last November, becoming—at age 35—one of Michigan’s youngest legislators.

Schauer sees his role as that of an “ombudsman.” Hebelieves it’s his job not only to represent his 62nd-districtconstituents as their delegate to the legislature, but tomarshal the resources of state government to help themaddress their personal and community needs. “In myview, the interests of the State of Michigan and theinterests of the people are the same thing,” he said.

That understanding reflects what Schauer sees as anirony of contemporary American politics. “People aredisaffected with the political system,” he said, “while atthe same time, approval of individual representatives ishigh. We’re in a period of turbulence, a time when thepublic perception of government is changing. Whatpeople want to see in their representative is someone whois involved, who’s part of the community, not someonewho rides off to Lansing or Washington and is never seenon the streets again.”

Majority Floor Leader Pat Gagliardi thinks Schauer ismeeting those expectations. “The commitment to servicethat Mark has shown, even in the brief time he’s been inoffice, is what’s needed to help restore public confidencein government today,” Gagliardi said. “You have toremember that those of us who are elected officials ask forthese jobs. We’re not drafted. If you’re going to do thiswork, you have to see it as a high public calling. And I’mimpressed with how well Mark and some of the otheryounger members of the legislature understand that.”

Gagliardi observed that a legislator has three jobs.“First, you’re a politician,” he said. “You have to getelected. Second, you’re a lawmaker. And third, you’re apublic servant. You spend most of your time on numberthree.”

Gagliardi noted that Schauer’s focus on addressing theproblems and needs of the people in his district clearlydemonstrates his understanding of the public servant role.But from the viewpoint of the floor leader—the personwho has to translate the dynamics of day-to-day politicsinto a system for achieving the party’s goals—Gagliardiobserved that Schauer has shown considerable aptitude forthe 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 bythe Republicans for a long time. That says something abuthis personality and about his work ethic. And not only didhe conduct an effective campaign, he hit the groundrunning when he got to Lansing. He put together a verygood staff. He’s been instrumental in helping to advancethe Democratic agenda, especially our tax-cuttingproposals. And he’s already had three bills passed in theHouse and sent on to the Senate.”

Perhaps the one factor which Gagliardi considersSchauer’s greatest asset is his highly personable nature.“Mark’s the kind of guy everybody wants to go onvacation with,” he said. “He makes a great first impres-sion. When people meet him, they just like him.”

Kim Tunnicliff, director of the Ford Institute and alongtime friend and political ally, cites one particularaspect of Schauer’s personality as crucial. “He listens topeople,” Tunnicliff said. “Mark is completely accessible.When you talk to him, you don’t get the feeling that he’splanning what he’s going to say next. He listens to youand then responds to what you’ve said.”

Tunnicliff believes that Schauer’s ability to listen is thekey to his skills as a communicator, which he sees asanother of the Battle Creek legislator’s strengths. “Markcan 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, andhe recalls that he cultivated it while at Albion. “I waschallenged intellectually at Albion,” he said. “I learnedhow to think, how to write, and how to express myselfverbally. And I was able to pursue a lot of diverseinterests 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 muchof what I’m doing now. I believe I’m a good communica-tor. And the key is that I treat all people with respect andfind common ground.”

Schauer noted that his Albion contacts are stillimportant. “The friends I made when I was in college, andespecially through the Ford Institute, were a wonderful

becoming recognized as someone who has a real future inpolitics.”

Len Berkey of Albion’s Anthropology/SociologyDepartment first became acquainted with Schauer whenBerkey was serving as interim director of the FordInstitute, in which Schauer was participating as a student.Years later, when Schauer was director of the CommunityAction Agency of South Central Michigan, Berkey wouldtake students on field trips to Battle Creek where Schauerwould address the groups about the urban and poverty-related problems his organization dealt with.

Berkey was impressed at how Schauer could communi-cate with any audience. “Mark was someone who wasageless,” he said. “He was only about 25 at the time, buthe could talk to senior citizens, to business people, tocollege kids. He can walk into one room and speakSpanish, then be a home boy in another room, then go intothe next and introduce you to someone from the KelloggFoundation—all without missing a beat. I found thatamazing, especially in someone so young.”

part of the Albion experience,” he said. “And I’ve foundthat over the years I’ve kept in touch with a lot of thosepeople. I’ve even called on them for help in my commu-nity and political work. Albion is very strong on personalrelationships—between students and with faculty mem-bers as well—and I’ve valued that.”

Those contacts came in handy in last fall’s campaign,when several Albion friends worked on Schauer’scampaign. Tunnicliff had the special experience ofsharing the political spotlight with Schauer during his owncampaign for Congress. They both ran as Democrats, andtheir districts overlapped, so they often campaignedtogether. Tunnicliff was defeated, but he expects Schauerto have a much brighter political future.

“I think Mark is someone who could be considered forthe governor’s mansion in a few years,” Tunnicliff said.“He’s got all the tools. He’s enormously disciplined, andhe works hard. I was really struck, on the campaign trail,by how Mark would be out knocking on doors at any hourof the day or night. He never stopped. Also, he’sbilingual, he’s accessible, and he’s able to attract good,dedicated people.

“In a very real sense, Mark is a model of what today’spolitician should be.”

State Representative Mark Schauer, ’84(continued from p. 7)

I O T R I U M P H E 9

Dave Camp (standing) regularly meets with constituents across his district,which encompasses 16 Michigan counties. He is pictured here at a town hallmeeting in Evart. A fiscal conservative, Camp has donated all of the payincreases he has received while in Congress to a scholarship fund thatprovides financial assistance to mid-Michigan college students.

PHOTO COURTESY OF D. CAMP

Camp recalls the training in how to sort out hugeamounts of information and analyze problems logicallywhich he received from history professor JulianRammelkamp, among others.

“Once you could sit through one of ProfessorRammelkamp’s classes, nothing was ever quite sodaunting,” Camp said. “He liked to give unlimited-lengthexams, though he later cut back to just four hours. Thereading lists for his courses were extremely challenging.He demanded a great deal of his students. But he madeyou feel you could do anything you set your mind to do.He made you believe in yourself.”

That belief was reinforced by other aspects of Camp’sexperience at Albion—in particular the College’s smallsize and liberal arts focus, which permitted close contactswith many faculty members and encouraged students toexplore a broad range of subjects. Albion’s intimateclasses made it impossible to slip by unnoticed.

“When I went to law school I was surprised to find thatmany of my classmates were terrified to speak up inclass,” Camp said. “They had attended large universitiesand took most of their courses in big lecture halls, so theyhadn’t experienced being called on very much in class. AtAlbion, nobody ever got by without being called on, so Ihad no trouble speaking up any time in a law class. It wasa tremendous advantage.”

Camp graduated from Albion with a B.A. in econom-ics, after having participated in an overseas study programat the University of Sussex in England. He received hisJ.D. degree in 1978 from the University of San Diego LawSchool, then returned to his hometown of Midland topractice law, gaining particular experience in the legalconcerns of small business as well as estate planning. Heserved as special assistant attorney general from 1980 to1984, representing two state funds in hearings to deter-mine eligibility of people filing worker’s compensationclaims.

Helping a law partner in a non-partisan race for acircuit judgeship aroused Camp’s enthusiasm for theelectoral process. “The political side of things suddenlycame alive for me,” he said. “I had done a considerableamount of volunteer community work, and of course as anattorney, I functioned as an advocate. Getting involved inpolitics just seemed like a natural outgrowth of all that.”

A term in the state legislature sealed his interest. Hewon his seat in the U.S. Congress in 1990, and has beenreelected three times since (the last with 66 percent of thevote).

In the House of Representatives, Camp sits on thepowerful Ways and Means Committee, and he is the

ranking member of the Subcommit-tee on Human Resources. Theseappointments reflect his interest insuch hot political issues as taxreform, health care, trade policy,Social Security and welfare reform.Last year, Time Magazine creditedhim with being responsible for a“decisive breakthrough” in themaneuvering that led to passage ofthe welfare reform bill.

A fiscal conservative, Camp hasbecome a vocal opponent of hightaxes and wasteful governmentspending. He is especially aggres-sive in his campaign to eliminate thenational debt, having returned morethan $560,000 from his personaloffice account to the treasury fordeficit reduction during his fourterms.

Such effort has placed Campamong the top dozen members of Congress consideredleaders in the fight for a balanced budget. He has receivedrecognition from anti-deficit organizations, winning theWatchdog of the Treasury Award and being named a“Taxpayer Hero” by the National Taxpayers’ Union.

He has also combined his commitment to frugality withhis interest in community service, donating all the payincreases he has received while in office to a scholarshipfund that provides financial assistance to college studentsin mid-Michigan. Some $12,600 has been awarded so far.

Camp’s four terms have spanned a period of majorchange in the makeup and power balance of the Congress.He was one of a handful of freshman representatives whenhe took office in 1991. Now, new members dominate,with more than 60 percent having come to Congress sincehe entered.

Likewise, while George Bush was president in that firstyear, Congress was in the hands of the Democrats, andCamp experienced being in the minority. That all changedwith the GOP sweep of 1994. Democrat Bill Clinton iscurrently in his second White House term, and theRepublicans are the majority party in both the Senate andHouse of Representatives. This transition has providedCamp with a sort of learning experience in itself, helpinghim to formulate his own political “Golden Rule.”

“It was interesting being in the minority,” he said. “Ithink that experience has kind of tempered my attitudenow. I know what it’s like to be in the minority, and Iunderstand that everyone here is only an election awayfrom being out of office. All of that has made me a bitmore sensitive in my dealings with members of the otherparty. It’s helped me to understand that you have to treatpeople as you would like to be treated.”

Still, Camp takes pride in the achievements of his ownparty since the GOP has come to dominate the Congress.“The new majority has accomplished quite a lot,” he said.“You wouldn’t necessarily know it from how the mediatell the story, but more than two-thirds of the ‘Contractwith America’ [the Republicans’ legislative plan promotedin the 1994 campaign] has been signed into law. Andwhen the tax reduction bill passes, we will have completedthe entire Contract.” [Ed. note: The tax reduction bill hasbeen passed since this story was written.]

And he’s proud of his own record representing thesecond largest congressional district east of the Missis-sippi, an area one and a half times the size of Connecticut,covering 16 diverse counties that encompass urbanindustrial communities and rural farming regions alike.Camp is candid in stating that he believes his primaryresponsibility in Congress is to act as an advocate for thepeople of mid-Michigan. “If I don’t speak for them, whowill?” he asks rhetorically.

His efforts have met with success. Along with healthyelectoral margins, the Midland Daily News commentededitorially last year that “Camp has proven to be aneffective congressman for the fourth district” and “hasdemonstrated a genuine concern for his constituents byattending to their needs as quickly and efficiently aspossible.”

One of the secrets of that success is staying close to thegrass roots. Camp lives in Midland with his wife, Nancy,and three-year-old son, Andrew, regularly flying toWashington on Tuesday mornings and back to MichiganThursday nights. And he keeps up a steady circuitthroughout the district, traveling to keep in touch with theneeds of the voters. Camp is philosophical about theconstant grind. “A lot of people in the business worldtravel 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 ownpowers of judgment. But when you do something youbelieve in, it’s easy to defend. You get into trouble whenyou vote in a way that you don’t believe in.”

Camp’s powers of judgment receive a favorable verdictfrom 42nd Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ludington, ’76, ofMidland. Friends from their days at Midland’s Dow HighSchool, Camp and Ludington followed amazingly similareducational and career paths until Camp took a turn intolegislative politics and Ludington sought the judiciary.Contemporaries at Albion, both studied abroad at theUniversity of Sussex, and both took their law degrees atthe University of San Diego. That was no accident. “Ialways admired Dave’s judgment,” Ludington said, “andto a great extent, I modeled my career after his.”

The judge observed that Camp understands his role asspokesman for the people of mid-Michigan in a very broadway. “What distinguishes him from a lot of people yourun into in politics is that he considers the impact of eachpiece of legislation on everyone in society,” Ludingtonsaid. “You won’t find Dave working for a bill unless he’ssatisfied that it advances the interests of the nation as awhole. He’s scrupulous about that. I believe Dave giveshigher consideration to his sense of ethics than mostpeople in politics ever do.”

But politics can be a complicated endeavor. And asmuch as Camp might follow his principles, he has to dealwith 438 other representatives who are, presumably, tryingto follow their principles—or at the very least, trying to dowhat they think their constituents want them to do. Inother words: the democratic system.

“I believe that everyone here wants to do the rightthing,” Camp said. “But we have profound disagreementsover 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 thissystem that’s extremely inefficient, but that lets the peopleaffect 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 weremarking up the tax bill in the Ways and Means Commit-tee, you saw how the process functions. We had somevery serious disagreements, but it was civil debate. Theprocess proceeded in a positive way, and that’s the wayit’s supposed to work.”

Ludington vouches for Camp’s commitment to thedemocratic process. “Dave never loses his sense ofdirection, his intention to propagate laws and policies thatare best for all the American people,” Ludington said. “Ithink if he continues to work as hard as he has in the past,and if he maintains his commitment to advancing theinterests of all the people, Dave could have real nationalpolitical potential.”

Bill Koshelnyk is a freelance writer from Hillsdale, MI,who specializes in higher education topics.

Congressman Dave Camp, ’75(continued from p. 7)

I O T R I U M P H E10

by Sarah Briggs

As a young seminary student 25 years ago, Selva Rajwould rise at 4:30 in the morning to catch the train intoCalcutta where he worked at Nirmala Hriday, MotherTeresa’s first home for the destitute and dying. From7 a.m. to 5 p.m., he would bathe, groom and comfortthe patients who had been brought there from the citystreets.

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 seemaggots in his stomach. . . . I was overwhelmed by theexperience.”

That day Raj, who is now an assistant professor ofreligious studies at Albion, began a personal andprofessional relationship with Mother Teresa and herministry that continued until her death Sept. 5. Hevolunteered at Nirmala Hriday one day each week from1970 to 1973 and had steady contact with MotherTeresa during the early 1980s when he taught at theMorning Star Regional Seminary in Calcutta. Evenafter he moved to the United States in 1985, Raj wouldvisit with Mother Teresa each time he returned home.On his latest trip to India, he represented AlbionCollege at her funeral, where he waschosen as one of 200 priest-celebrantsat that service, and on the day afterthe funeral, he said a private mass atMother Teresa’s grave in the MotherHouse of the Missionaries of Charity.

“[Mother Teresa’s death] broughtme face-to-face with what she stoodfor,” Raj says, “all that she did in thelast 50 years, and the ideals that shestood for. It reminded me of thevalidity of those values. For me, Ithink Mother Teresa passed away buther spirit lives on.”

Raj says he was especiallyimpressed by the number of non-Christians who came to pay their lastrespects to Mother Teresa. AmongCalcutta’s 14 million inhabitants,only 60,000 are Roman Catholics,and yet nearly a million mournerscame to the church during the days her body was lyingin state, and hundreds of thousands lined the streets towitness her funeral procession.

“I got chills when I saw the crowds and the way theywere crying,” he says. “[For them,] it was like losing afamily member.”

Mother Teresa transcended religious lines, Rajbelieves, because “she did what most people would liketo do but can’t do. . . . She reached and helped theunreachable.”

Her ministry extended to “the poorest of the poor.”She sheltered orphans and the handicapped, and caredfor those suffering from leprosy, tuberculosis and manyother life-threatening diseases. By the time theyreached Mother Teresa’s door, many were near death.Raj says his work with Mother Teresa was an essentialpart of his training to become a priest.

“I grew up in a middle class home in India. I didn’thave a lot of suffering in my home nor was I exposed toa lot of poverty, but I knew that if I was going to beworking among the poor I had tohave a firsthand experience of whatit means to be poor. These werepeople who had nobody in theworld. Mother Teresa would givethem a dignified, holistic prepara-tion for death. I wanted to be partof that experience.”

And so Raj set about bathing individualswhose bodies were covered with boils, orfeeding those too weak to lift a spoon. As heworked with the hungry and the sick, he says helearned that comfort also comes from “a kindword, a simple touch, a moment spent withsomeone who is lonely.”

Later on, as a faculty member at the MorningStar Seminary, he remembers attending areception the seminary hosted in MotherTeresa’s honor after she won the Nobel PeacePrize.

“I sat next to her [at the reception], and youcould see literally hundreds of people lining upto kiss her feet. . . . She had not changed [afterwinning the prize] but people’s perception of herhad changed. She had become a celebrity in theeyes of the public. But she still rode the street-

cars, she walked the streets, she stopped and said helloto people. She was an amazingly inspiring individual.”

In his last visit with her, in 1993, Raj says MotherTeresa told him of a man who every day would standbegging near the entrance to her convent. One day theman came up to Mother Teresa and gave her all of thecoins he had received that day. The equivalent of onepenny in American money, it would have bought foodfor his entire family.

“That was the greatest gift I ever received,” MotherTeresa concluded.

As he reflects on Mother Teresa’s life and work, Rajsays, “I saw for myself the power that she exerted onthe globe and on Calcuttan people. She brought allthese people together. She was the hope of humankindin this century because she recognized the best inhuman beings. I saw for myself the way she . . . wonthe 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 havemet her, worked [with her] and been inspired by her. Iconsider that as one of the great blessings in my life.”

A native of India, SelvaRaj has been a member ofAlbion College’s Depart-ment of Religious Studiessince 1995. A specialistin Asian and comparativereligions, he earned hisPh.D. at the University ofChicago. During his tripto India to attend MotherTeresa’s funeral, hepresented letters ofcondolence from AlbionCollege to MotherTeresa’s successor, SisterNirmala, as well as toHenry D’Souza, thearchbishop of Calcutta,to Indian Prime MinisterInder Kumar Gujdal, viathe chief secretary ofWest Bengal, and to JyotiBasu, chief minister ofWest Bengal.

While in India to attend Mother Teresa’sfuneral, Selva Raj returned to NirmalaHriday, Mother Teresa’s first home for thedestitute and dying, and visited with thepatients. He volunteered at the home as aseminary student from 1970 to 1973.

The quality of mercy

Albion religious studiesprofessor Selva Raj (left) had apersonal and professionalrelationship with Mother Teresathat spanned the past 27 years.Sitting next to her, he says, youfelt you were in “a sacredpresence.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF S. RAJ

Raj met with Mother Teresa’s successor,Sister Nirmala, and later said a mass atMother Teresa’s grave in the MotherHouse of the Missionaries of Charity.