Freshmen—how they're doing in the first days

bylowolorkson

The character and number of new
students can have a big impact on a
College. No words ﬂ’lat describe this
semester’s new crop of students are
“many” and “bright," said John
Hopkins, Director of Admissions.

Three hundred and sixty-two
freshmen and 61 transfer students are
enrolled this fall, a total of 423 new
students, compared to last year’s 412.

There are 18 foreign students on
campus this year, a rather large
number considering that it is not the
school's admissions policy to attract
students from special foreign exA

: change programs. All students from

other countries seek out Grinnell and
apply for admission individually.

Because the freshman class is a lit-
tle larger than expected, some tem-
porary housing shortages have

One ol Di‘nb‘r Hails muslin" 5 ewe-n new ow item a
(oi/lei of me other mp,

photo byloel Aoch

developed. The main cause of housing
shortages this year has been the
greater number of returnees to the
college campus, It seems mat fewer
students took short-term leaves, decide
ed not to attend Grlnnell anymore, or
traveled abroad on various foreign
programs, such as Grinnell-in-London
and GrinnelHn-Parls.

According to Director of Student
Housing Susan wittpen, the 21
students living in converted study
lounges and overcrowded rooms
should be relocated in permanent,
more spacious housing by the end of
September.

Relocation, however, will depend on
the number of students who drop out
or opt for off-campus housing later
this fall,

National newspaper columnists may

worry about “plummeting" SAT
scores, but such is not the case with
the Grinnell freshmen. The average
Verbal score has remained at 570 from
last year, while the average math
score has gone up 10 points, to 600. Na»
tionally, average SAT scores are in
the mid-4005.

Another indication of the quality of
incoming freshmen is their class rank.
Ninertcl'lths of this fall's freshmen
ranked in the top twosfifths of their
senior class.

The most impressive iigure related
to class scholastic ability is me
percentage of students with SAT
scores over 700. This figure has in
creased from 6.6% to 105% of Grinnell
freshmen since last year in verbal
skills, and from 12.4% to 16.3% in"
math skills.

Parents’ weekend misplaced?

The annual Parents' Weekend will
coincide with the Jewish holiday, Rosh
Hasanah, this year, on the weekend of
September 21-23

William Deminoff, Director of Col-
lege Relations, explained that of die
four dates considered for Parents‘
Weekend, the 21st is Rosh Hashanah,
and the 28th is the weekend just prior
to Yom Kipper.

The weekend of October 5th was
discarded because there will be “no
football game, no athletics oi any
kind, and one concert and very little
else,” while the weekend of October
12th is too late because it is the
weekend before fall break.

“The feeling was you just have to do
something,” Deminol‘f stated. He ex-
plained that the Jewish holidays coin-
cide with Parents’ Weekend every six

or seven years, and said, “The date
was never picked lightly and there
was a great deal of discussion about
the whole thing ”

Tracy Miller, Cocoordinator of the
Associated Jewish Students of Grinnell
College, said, “I realize there’s no
other way they could do it this year,
considering the present schedule, but
it was poor planning to make the
schedule the way it is, We want to see
that this doesn’t happen again,
because it has happened before,”

She pointed out that “one-third to
one-half of the students are Jewish
and he's (Deminofl') offending a lot of
people. We compromised and will pro-
bably hold a big service on Parents'
Weekend, but a lot of parents just
aren‘t going to come now.”

Grinnell’s organized activists

by Emily Silllman

Mobilization for Survival (Mobe)
and the Iowa Public Interest Research
Group (IPIRG) were the two major
activist organizations on Grinnell's
campus last year, This year both pro
mise to be active again. ‘

Mobe is a relatively new organiza—
tion which was started last November
largely through the efforts of
sophomore Anne Rawland. In very
general terms, it set its goals as: zero
nuclear weapons, stop the arms race,
zero nuclear power, and meet human
needs.

Earlier in the year, a half dozen

b

Grinnellians had attended a national
Mobe conference in Des Moines and
decided to start something at Grinnell.
Calling themselves the “Ad Hoc Coali-
tion for Alternatives to the Military,”
the group sponsored a series of events
corresponding to a visit on campus of
a recruiter tor the us, Marine Corps
in October, 1973, The object of the
event, which included speakers,
discussion, and a concert, was to draw
attention to what they felt was wrong
with the Marines and to do
“counterrrecruitment.” They featured
education on options to joining the
armed lorces, They clalm it was a

successful effort because the US.
Marines cancelled a planned return
Visit to campus.

In November, the present, more per
manent group was formed. Nationally,
Mobe is not an organization, as such,
but a coalition of various church and
activist groups. Rawland, the present
coordinator on campus, explains that
Mobe behaves as an organization at
Grinnell because of the size of the
campus. By its title, Mobe presents
itself as part of a statewide and na»
tional movement to bring an end to
nuclear power and nuclear weapons
Rawland states its goals as being to

Stevie! ond Block,

 

