| February 5, 1999 |
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Calvin College Chimes
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Looking back one final time at By Nathan VanderKlippe When speaking about this year’s now-completed January Series, June Hamersma’s face lights up. In her words, “provocative is what the Series is all about,” and the 1999 January Series once again proved to be just that. “There wasn’t a speaker on the Series that didn’t provoke my thinking. And yours as well.” For Hamersma, the director of the annual Calvin January Series, the old adage “there’s more than meets the eye” is very true. On the outside, her white hair and sweet voice are reminiscent of the stereotypic grandmother. Her strikingly sharp blue eyes, however, give the impression of a woman who is intent upon doing her job, and this would be the description more likely given by those who know her well. Ever since taking on the job as January Series director 12 years ago, Hamersma has been the driving force behind the appearance of numerous well-known speakers on campus during interim. Fifteen speakers took to the podium over the month of January. Hamersma noted that the average attendance for these speeches was 1400 (those above and beyond the Auditorium’s 1200-capacity were seated in video overflows in FAC classrooms), although some speakers attracted greater crowds. For example, Scott Ritter, the former director of UNSCOM, drew over 2200 people, and Garrison Keillor and Roland Flint, who delivered their joint abecedary in the Field House, entertained over 6,000 attendees with their poems, witty banter and stories. In her efforts to “give Calvin publicity throughout the world,” Hamersma co-ordinated several alternate broadcast mediums for increasing January Series exposure. C-SPAN, the commercial-free cable television public affairs network, broadcast the lectures of three January Series participants: Scott Ritter, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and Robert Kaplan. Also, as a new endeavour this year speeches were broadcast live across the Internet in RealAudio. To do this, CAS Professor Quentin Schultze worked with Gospelcom.Net, a Christian Internet publication and resource site, to put in place the required technology. An archive of this year’s speeches has been made available at <www.calvin.edu/january/1999>. Looking back at the Series, Hamersma also emphasised the level of appreciation expressed by the individual speakers toward Calvin College. “Some [speakers] that don’t know about Calvin are absolutely astonished by the crowds and the students. ... But without exception speakers saw Calvin as unique.” She quoted Librarian of Congress James Billington as having been “enormously impressed” with Calvin, saying that the strongest point about the January Series is that is has “maintained a high standard without getting involved with fads or trends.” Hamersma also noted that the Series is not exclusive to speakers who are stated Christians. Instead, she seeks to incite intellectual stimulation. To highlight this point, she cited the controversial “Economist on the Playground” speech delivered by economist Steven Ladsburg on the last day of the Series. Although some complaints were raised about his presence on the January Series, Hamersma noted Landsburg’s position as advisor to presidential hopeful Steve Forbes and asserted, “We jolly well better know what this economic policy is.” Asked if she could name a personal favourite speaker, Hamersma responded with some hesitation, “If I had a favourite this year, it would be perhaps Kathleen Hall Jamieson or Francis Collins. But I learned something from every speaker. They all made me think.” Although she is already looking ahead to the year 2000 January Series, where the world-famous St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is already scheduled to appear, Hamersma took one more moment to reflect on January, 1999. “I think that the January Series 1999 lived up to its reputation of presenting the outstanding provocative thinkers and performers of our time.” |