| Editorial: For the sake of one student...
As you’re reading this, a well-known student of the college, Vito Russo, is going to be packing up his belongings to move back home following his academic dismissal from Calvin.
After being told that he was being academically dismissed, Vito made numerous efforts to show the ways in which he has made progress in academics. And although he has gone through a lengthy and stressful process of appeals and hearings, his words have fallen on deaf ears.
Any employer would be thrilled to have such a dedicated individual on the payroll. Should we be concerned that our college’s attitude towards someone of the same caliber is a much more flippant one? Perhaps it is time for the college to lift the academic dismissal policies out from under the dust. Vito’s case is the perfect example of why something needs to change before the college misses out on the opportunity to learn from other thoughtful and gifted individuals.
Since learning of his possible dismissal in January, Vito has given the people and committees he has met with every reason why he should stay: his GPA is just short of the cutoff that would have completely avoided this situation altogether. Vito has faithfully attended his classes, especially during Interim, and has showed that he is a willing and capable student. Of course, none of this is surprising – Vito is a very intelligent and discerning individual – the exact kind of student that the admissions department works hard to lure to Calvin’s campus.
But this apparently is not enough to save Vito. He has run up against a wall of bureaucracy that has so far proved insurmountable. Vito has appealed to Student Academic Services, the Academic Standards Committee, the registrar, Provost Joel Carpenter, and he has even tried to get an audience with President Byker. Whereas most student facing expulsion resign themselves to their dismissal and disappear from the campus, Vito has fought an uphill battle to show that he is dedicated to Calvin College and wants to finish his degree here.
The mere fact that Vito has gone through the time and great stress of a month’s worth of appeals should speak highly enough of his desire and work ethic to remain here. Few, if any, students have ever gone to the length that Vito has gone to in order to appeal their dismissal.
How is it, then, that the policies surrounding academic dismissal remain so rigid that they have no room to be merciful? Plenty of students are here merely because it is expected of them. For the college to turn away someone who desperately wants to be here and wants to learn is indicative of a larger problem.
There are other reasons Vito should stay. Vito is well known among campus for the bold and boisterous (read: loud) way in which he makes his opinion known on many social and political issues. But Vito is not like the typical faux Calvin liberal that can often found in Johnny’s or the Fish House, mixing equal parts youthful angst and middle-class sniveling into a political “statement” that could easily be gotten from the lyric sheet of any punk rock band. Rather, Vito is an extremely analytical thinker and a discerning listener (even if he’s easily distracted at times). He displays a breadth of knowledge and literacy that rivals that of the finest graduates that this school produces. Make no mistake: Vito is extremely intelligent – a fact that becomes evident after engaging Vito for just a few short minutes in serious conversation (I trust that the administrators have made an effort to do this, right?).
Perhaps the administrators considering Vito’s dismissal did not take his intelligence into account when looking at his case, preferring instead to relying on grade point averages and test scores that can be (as educators know all too well) damningly deceptive. But unfortunately, Vito’s case doesn’t match up by the numbers. His cumulative GPA is a tenth of a point too low; for this, the college proposes to extract him permanently and irrevocably from the campus scene. What a horrible mistake that would be.
I am no stranger to the area of academic trouble myself. During the first semester of my freshman year I failed a math class and got Cs and Ds in all the others. The college made a tough but generous decision to allow me to return here to study and turn my grades around. Since then, I’ve been the Editor in Chief of Chimes, a Student Senator, a dormitory Spiritual Activities Coordinator, the treasurer of Abstraction, and the administrator of Student-News. I met my fiancणe here, and I have met dozens of wonderful people who have become best of friends. None of this would have been possible if Calvin had chosen to write me off as an academic failure instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt and another chance.
I implore the Calvin administration to reconsider Vito Russo’s case, and in doing so, to rethink the ways in which academic dismissal is determined. Vito is a vital and important member of this community; the fact that he is being wrongly removed says dark and troubling things about this institution’s holistic evaluation of its students. I believe Vito is the paradigmatic example of the type of student that Calvin wants: analytical, intelligent, courageous, and truthful. Vito possesses these qualities in great quantity and quality, and Calvin College should be proud – not ashamed – to have him as a student. It is a pity that stoic bureaucracy stands in the way of him achieving his goals.
I sincerely hope that Vito is allowed to return; if not, a piece of my great respect for this college will have been lost.
-cb, with bh
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