Human Rights Activist to Speak

John Kamm (above right) is a successful and respected American businessman in China and champion of human rights. He has been responsible for the release or reduced sentences of more than 250 political prisoners languishing in China's jails. Kamm will offer his views on business ethics at Grand Valley on Tuesday, April 1. A panel discussion featuring local business leaders will follow. The event is open to the public free of charge.

Kamm is executive director of the Dui Hua ('dialogue') Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization dedicated to improving human rights in China. In 1990, he was president of Hong Kong's American Chamber of Commerce and a vice president of Occidental Chemical Corporation when he discovered that international businesses in China have leverage in improving the country's poor human rights record. He went a step further and began to advocate that American corporations dealing with China use their influence to become ambassadors for American values and rights.

Kamm's address, 'The Third Way: Ethics, Business and Human Rights in China,' will be featured at 7 p.m. on April 1 in the Loosemore Auditorium of the DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St. Participating in the panel discussion following the lecture are Win Irwin, president of Irwin Seating Company, George Jackoboice, CFO of Monarch Hydraulics, Inc., and Peimin Ni, Grand Valley philosophy professor. Jon Jellema, dean of Arts and Humanities at Grand Valley, will serve as moderator.

Kamm is visiting Grand Valley for three days, March 31-April 2. He will also speak at a Seidman Breakfast Series event on April 1, from 7:30-9 a.m. at Loosemore Auditorium. The business breakfast is open to the public. Call 331-7100 for more information.

This event is sponsored by the GVSU Arts and Humanities Division, Seidman School of Business, Philosophy Department, and Business Ethics Center. The Wellspring Society in Grand Rapids also contributed its support.