President George W. Bush's visit to Calvin College on Saturday was met by hundreds of protestors both outside and inside Calvin's Field House. For the two days before the visit, letters ran in the paper expressing opposition to Bush's visit on behalf of alumni and faculty, including a letter signed by 100 of 300 Calvin faculty members. While protests inside the Field House were limited to hats and arm bands with antiwar messages and people remaining seated in opposition to Bush during standing ovations, a rather lively group of protestors marched outside from the entrance to Woodland Mall to Calvin College where the group fanned out along the East Beltline and Calvin's campus. As has been the case with most visits by President Bush in Grand Rapids protestors raised a variety of concerns from money for health care to the proposed privatization of Social Security, although the majority of signs and banners were in opposition to the occupation of Iraq. Signs and banners reading "Self-Determination for Iraq: It's Time to Get the Hell Out," "Stop US Imperialism," and "Bring the Troops Home NOW" reflected the fact that the majority of US citizens are now opposed to the war and occupation.
Both Bush's commencement address and the protests garnered considerable media coverage both locally and nationally. Even before the commencement, planned protests were covered in the media--two Calvin professors appeared on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" television show on Tuesday and articles appeared in the Washington Times about student and faculty-led protests. Local organizers with the Confronting Empire group had numerous contacts with local and national press leading up to the event, although the various media people the group talked with were primarily interested in reporting about "anti-Bush feelings" rather the group's specific objections to the illegal occupation of Iraq. Today's Grand Rapids Press reported "hundreds of protestors" while national news outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times had articles reporting on the protests. The New York Times reported that Bush's speech, consisting primarily of rather vague statements advocating community service and jokes about his lack of verbal skills, was trimmed from its original 45 minutes in order to achieve a more "bipartisan" tone.
According to the Grand Rapids Press, the roughly one hour visit by President Bush will cost the city $25,000 to $30,000 in police and fire overtime.
