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William James College Interviews
GV016-16
Interviewer: Barbara Roos
Interviewee: Steven Laninga
Date: 1984
[Unknown]
People have their William James t-shirts.
[Laninga]
Is that right? You know, I never had a William James t-shirt.
[Unknown]
No?
[Laninga]
They don't make them in my size, so I never bought one. And it always bothered
me and I couldn't really be a part without a William James t-shirt. And then I
decided that was going to be my own little private experience: the William James
student without the badge. My own mark.
[Unknown]
Okay, let’s go from the top, your history, why you came to William James
College, kind of go over again what we just talked about.
[Laninga]
I started at William James in, I believe, the fall seventy-four, after two years of
Calvin College, here in Grand Rapids, and a year of stopping out and private
introspection. I bummed around a lot. The fall of seventy-four, I went back, intent
on studying photography at William James. And I was attracted to the rather
broad offerings of photographic training at the school, as it was clustered with the
other schools. And because of Willy Jay's lenient attitude towards students, I felt
that I could slip in and out of William James, and across to TJC, and over to the
regular school, to get all that I needed to study photography without having to
cope with the superstructure of a traditional liberal arts education undergraduate. So that was the reason I came out there, and my intention when I
arrived on campus. A couple of things happened when I got there. I met my
future wife about the first week and we really haven't been separate since. It's
been almost ten years now. That's very nice, and that's a little present from
William James to us, I think. I, also, after pursuing photographic chemistry, and
darkroom, and cinema, and a number of other photographic classes, began to
become aware of a greater, more profound aspect of the photographic image
making process. And that was what happens after pictures are viewed. What
goes on in the mind of the viewer? What goes on in the mind of the creator, and
how that is transmitted through this piece of material? So, I began to be
distracted by that whole topic area and ended up a good ways from where I
started when I wanted to be a photographer. And I became, instead, someone
who, mostly, thought, talked, and wrote about the process of communicating
through media. And my degree is still a media degree, a Bachelor of Science
�from William James. But a lot of my course work was really in the Social
Relations department at William James.
[Unknown]
Can you talk a little bit about the educational experience? What you did at
William James? How or what you perceived the college to be?
[Laninga]
Okay.
[Unknown]
[Inaudible] Something that it was?
[Laninga]
Well, I was a commuter student for the entire five years that I was at William
James. A part-time commuter student. I arrived on campus about five minutes
after I was supposed to have gotten there. And I would leave as soon as I had
done everything I came on campus to do, whether that was attend a class or
attend a class and go to the library for an hour, what have you. As a matter of
fact, I used the bus to get there, for a number of years. So, my experience of
William James is, perhaps, a little different than many William James alumnus in
that I was not really ever caught up in the community of William James. I had
almost a business relationship with the school. It was a transactional relationship.
Very, very clean in that respect. I would pay for the class, I would show up, I
would talk, I would think, I would write, we would interact, and I would leave. And
all the stuff that went on the Skylight Room, all the committees, and task forces,
and all the other stuff that I heard about and read about went right past me for a
very tumultuous and colorful five years. And I was almost as unrelated to it as the
people in Grand Rapids that only heard about it from associates. Still, in all my…
there are some things about William James that I think cannot be taken away in
that it was a school that was focused on the individual and permitted the
individual to find his or her education. That was what originally attracted me to
the school in the first place. And that part I really did take advantage of. I don't
think that the Skylight Room and all the goings on in there was necessarily what I
came to the school for the first place. I got what wanted out of school and the
school gave that to me and generous quantity. I pursued my own course, and I
came away fully satisfied with what I got. As I said, it was a transaction
relationship. And I came away a much better person for having been there.
[Unknown]
We talked a little bit about how the school dealt with failure. Can you say
something about that?
[Laninga]
William James had a pragmatic approach to education. And caught up in that is
an understanding that in order to achieve worthy goals, there are risks that must
be taken, and one of the clearest risks is the risk of failure. And failure was
always real at William James. It was something that everyone lived with, from the
lowliest new student, right on through the administrative offices. Everyone dealt
with failure on a daily basis around here because much was tried and only a
�portion of that was accomplished. And everyone understood the realities of
stalled projects and fizzled ideas. And I have since then come to understand that
one good idea is worth a hundred ones that seem to be good, and it's worth
weeding through a hundred possible ideas to come land on one good one. And
that means a lot of failure. That's ninety-nine failures. So, I probably… that's one
of the most valuable things I learned at William James. I'm not sure that that is so
readily accessible at other schools, where failure is completely different in its
meaning for undergraduates.
[Unknown]
Moving on to how do you think… what do you think William James was as an
experiment? Do you think it failed? Do you think, you know, we talked about not
being allowed to fail or something…?
[Laninga]
Let me say it again, William James, the experiment of William James College, did
not fail. I firmly believe that the experiment of William James College was not
permitted to succeed. The school is a part of the community around it, and it
serves the community, and the community is supposed to nourish and feed the
school. And the two of them grow together. That takes a long time, it takes
generations in most cases. This school was not permitted to grow for even a full
generation. There is no way of knowing what kind of contribution, ultimately, the
school could have made because it was not allowed time enough to bring its…
they're no longer students, they're almost children, to adulthood. It's alumni we're
not permitted to reach places visibility and influence in the community that are
typical of a situation where a school and a community have grown up together.
And that's really a tragic loss for this community, and obviously for the school,
and all of those of us who felt that it was an important place to keep around.
[Unknown]
In five years?
[Laninga]
I think that if the school had been permitted to live on for a few more years, four
or five years, that it would have to been impervious to any kind of administrative
reevaluation. It would not have been quite so easy to simply pull the plug on the
school that had fifteen years of roots in the community. I think by that time, there
would have been enough reason for the school to stay around, for it to stay on
and continue.
[Unknown]
What did survive the experiment?
[Laninga]
The people survived William James. And the people are scattered all over the
world, but there are a great many of us still in the West Michigan area. And the
school may be closed, and the books may all be scattered, and the files filed, but
what the school accomplished is still here, it's a living, it's breathing, and it's
making its presence felt every day, every year. And there's no telling what real
contribution was made, yet, because we're not finished yet.
�[Unknown]
Was there anything of the philosophy that survived? Do you think West Michigan
is now without a William James philosophy, entirely, because the school went
away?
[Laninga]
No, I think the philosophy preceded the school. I don't think that's something so
graded and timeless, and profound as that kind of… William James thought,
originally, is already eighty or ninety years old. And I don't think he was the first…
he may have been first to verbalize it, perhaps in English, but I don't think that the
philosophy is gone. I think it was here before the schools here, and maybe it will
return in another form for future. I'd like to think so. I know I would support any
effort along those lines because I still think it's the most humane way to educate
people.
[Unknown]
Excellent. Okay. This is Barbara's question: what is the essence of William
James?
[Laninga]
Define essence.
[Unknown]
That's just what she told me to ask you, so I have no idea.
[Laninga]
No more help than that. What is… what was the essence of William James?
[Unknown]
What do you feel was the essence?
[Laninga]
Well, I don't want to talk about failure again, but I think that the essence of what
we knew as William James was an agency. It was an agency available for those
who pursued, frankly, whatever they wish to pursue. I saw a number of students
out there pursuing something other than education. The school was big enough
to accommodate them. It was free enough to accommodate them and was
flexible enough to accommodate them. There were… part of the essential quality
of the freedom of that type of curriculum is that you must allow people to… how
can I say this is less than a blunt form? You must allow people to not do anything
at all. You must allow people to not contribute, to not participate. They've had
twenty years of a more structured regimen and built up all kinds of blocks and
obstacles to a direct link to the education process. And it takes time for people to
break down all those old barriers and realize and understand that nothing stands
between them and what it is they want to be and what they want to achieve but
themselves. So, all of these self-defeating habits, regimens, have to be cleared
away. And no one can do that for you. No one can come in and reorient you, you
have to do that for yourself. It worked for a great many of us. It didn't work for all
of us. And probably the essence of William James was willingness to allow
people to go their own way, whether that meant going out the door or not. A lot of
people drifted in and out of the school, and that's not wrong. That's exactly what
�the school was for.
[Unknown]
Great, beautiful. Alright one [inaudible] the tape. How was the William James
Association formed?
[Laninga]
William James Association was formed in the wake for William James and out of
the grief and the bitterness of the moment. A feeling a need to respond to this
administrative cruelty was expressed. And the only thing that not the only thing
but the thing that probably is most typical of that particular group of people, our
age group, our mentality, our culture, is collective action. We almost knee jerk
react to any kind of challenge in a collective manner. So, the Association was
originally formed as some notion of an influence group for the preservation of
some aspects of William James. And I think as that it's probably failed. But like I
said before, failure's a reality for our community. And something bigger than that,
I think, was realized by many people. That we’re all alive and well. We got
together, we saw each other, and felt of each other. We were fine. The school
was dead, we were fine and we knew that things are going to be okay.
[Unknown]
Crazy. Anything else you want to wrap up with?
[Laninga]
No, I think you've pretty well gotten it all on there.
[Unknown]
Alright. Thank you, Steve.
[Laninga]
You're welcome.
[Unknown]
It's going to be good.
[Laninga]
When do I see it?
[Unknown]
Well, I think there is going to be a…
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
William James College Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1984
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Grand Valley State University
Michigan
Universities and colleges
Oral histories
Alternative education
Interdisciplinary approach in education
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Roos, Barbara (Interviewer)
Identifier
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GV016-16
Format
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video/mp4
application/pdf
Type
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Moving Image
Text
Language
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eng
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
GV016-16_GVSU_63_Laninga
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Laninga, Steven
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1984
Title
A name given to the resource
Steven Laninga interview (video and transcript)
Description
An account of the resource
Interview with Steven Laninga by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Steven Laninga was a student of William James College and a member of the class of 1979 at Grand Valley. In this interview, Steven discusses the personal journey that led him to William James College in the fall of 1974, studying photography and incorporating Social Relations coursework, and how the William James Association formed in the wake of the college closing. This interview is part 1 of 1 for Steven Laninga.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Roos, Barbara (Interviewer)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Grand Valley State University
Michigan
Universities and colleges
Oral histories
Alternative education
Interdisciplinary approach in education
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng