An upper-level Spanish class at Calvin College will get a taste of real-world political and cultural issues when it hosts an upcoming forum on Hispanic immigration issues.

"Hispanic Immigration to West Michigan and Proposed Changes to Immigration Law" will be held Monday, October 11 from 7:30 pm to 8:45 pm in the Commons Lecture Hall at Calvin. It is free and open to all, and will be conducted completely in Spanish.

Calvin professor Marilyn Bierling leads Spanish 395, which meets this semester on Monday nights at the college. The class is a special topics course for Spanish majors and minors and is conducted entirely in Spanish. So, says Bierling, it made sense to her and the class to both do the forum and hold it in Spanish.

Bierling says the forum will provide a place for public discourse on immigration law and the effect that the different proposals (both by Republicans and Democrats) would have on Hispanic immigration to West Michigan.

"And," she says, "the event will be an opportunity to discuss the general effects of Hispanic immigration to West Michigan as well as the concerns of the local Hispanic community."

Confirmed panel members include: Andrés Abreu (editor of local weekly El Vocero Hispano), Richard Kessler (an area attorney), Ramón Peralta (a teacher and historian) and Armando Hernández (a Bank One vice president and El Vocero columnist).