Diversity and Theater Draw Ire at Michigan Community College

Here we go again. For anyone who has had their head buried in the sand, Michigan's economy is in the crapper, and has been for years. The "Big 3" automobile manufacturers are imploding, manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas, housing prices have all but collapsed, there's a foreclosure crisis and Michigan's unemployment rate tops the nation.

Those realities, of course, lead to another hard reality. Michigan runs on tax revenues: sales tax and property. All of that generally goes into the general fund, where lawmakers dole it out based on a combination of constitutional mandates and pet projects.

I've written about how our budget crisis has lead to government shut downs (2007 and 2009) and how the cuts implemented because politicians (especially the Michigan GOP) refuse to budge on new revenues is impacting the lives of Michigan citizens — for example the recent outbreak of syphilis and HIV in the state.

But now we have a community college trustee grandstanding about budget issues because he is upset over a play which allegedly presented Jesus as "King of the queers." Yes, that's right, Corpus Christi, the Terrance McNally play that rewrites the story of Jesus and his apostles from a gay-centric perspective, is under attack again. But the problem here is the production under assault was done eight years ago as part of a community partnership between Actors' Theater of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Community College.

I am serious, I can't make this stuff up.

The Grand Rapids Press reports Richard Ryskamp, a trustee at the college, on Monday made a big fuss about the theater group's relationship with the college that includes a $19,000 subsidy, free use of the college's theater, an office and access to students as volunteers to build sets.

Ryskamp wants nothing of it. He called Corpus Christi a play in which Christ is "King of the queers," and accused the theater of being involved in evil things.

But hey, why stop with those evil theater folks? Ryskamp also attacked the Woodrick Diversity Learning program, which costs the college $30,000 a year, and the Diversity Lecture Series, which costs $15,000 a year.

Ryskamp is also alleging the Actors' Theater 2010 season includes a production that portrays "Jesus in an unflattering way." Except the theater's website has no show referring to anything of the sort.

Ryskamp has his knickers in a knot because none of those programs require contrary views to those presented. Last year, for instance, the Diversity lecture series hosted a speech from Angela Davis, a two-time Vice Presidential candidate on the Communist Party ticket.

I served for two years as a Trustee on the Lansing Community College (LCC) Board of Trustees. I spent hours with budgets and budget issues. And I know that if Ryskamp is interested in trimming fat from the budget, there are a lot larger budget items to target. You know, the athletics program, which is similar to LCC's which means it is probably operating on an annual budget of $200,000. Or administrative costs, as there are ALWAYS ways to cut administrative costs. Or he could demand a return on investment analysis of spending on all college programs, as LCC does.

This is not about budget priorities, or the gaping hole of $3.5 million that Grand Rapids Community College has to cut. This is about a man pushing his narrow minded agenda to silence viewpoints he disagrees with, simply because he disagrees with them. It's a veiled assault on academic freedom, plain and simple.

Send Ryskamp a message now, urging him to apologize for attacking student theater and diversity lectures as evil. Simply put, the Grand Rapids Community College board deserves better than that kind of rhetoric.

Photo credit: Grand Rapids Community College