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Political Season...

Danger Of Agreement

President Leggett’s recent statement regarding Campus po~
litical activity is a necessary attempt to deal with a wider
problem which invariably exists in a community such as that
of Grinnell: the problem of distinguishing individual actions
from institutional stands.

Grinnell is a small and tight community and has historically ‘

been a liberal one, thus for years it has tended to form a
consensus stand on many issues. The campus has been shown
in this election year, for example, to be overwhelmingly
Democratic and strongly liberal in its outlook: an 3&8 po-
litical survey several weeks ago showed that all but 4.2%
of the community considered themselves to be politically
Democratic or Independent, and that 77.9% intended to vote
for George McGovern for President. The county Democratic
chairman is a professor at the college, and the local‘Demo-
cratic headquarters opened only last week after students
had provided the impetus Seven former Grinnell students
are now working actively in the Iowa McGovern organization
and several othes are active in the Mezvinsky for Congress

campaign.

The problem with such unanimity, however, is that outsiders
tend to View such activism as college policy,

Two and oneehalt years ago Grinnell, under great tension,
succumbed to the popular demand and took an institutional
stand. Closing the school a few days after the invasion of
Cambodia in May of 1970, members of the Administration
and selected students flew otf to Washington toyoice to Iowans
in Congress the college’s concern over the matter.

This year there is no such crisis situation. This is no in,
vasion or war, but merely a political campaign. Nonetheless
we must be careful to avoid appearing as an institution to
advocate one political philosophy or another, {or once that
happens we make ourselves the tool of an ideology and a po-
litical movement while ceasing to be a free community. As
an educational institution, we should be concernedwithbroader
things. President Leggett's statement will, we hope, assure

the continuation of that ideal.

Peace Collective:

To the Editors:

For the last three years, the Nixon
administration has intensified the
eiiort to torce the population or
South Vietnam out ofthe countryside
and into the cities and highly guarded
“strategic hamlets”. Under the
stepped-up pacification program it
has declared much of the country-
side a ”free [ire zone,” and has
destroyed one-third of the hamlets
in South Vietnam.

The current offensive of the Peo-
ple’s Liberation Armed Fi-ces,now
in its seventh month, has changed
all this; much of the pacitlcatlon
program has been dismantled. Hunr
dreds of thousands of peasants, freed
trom strategic hamlets, are making
their way back to their ancestral
iorm plots, which are mostly in the
“liberated zone"-rthat part of South
Vietnam under the administration of
the Provisional RevolutionaryGovr
ernment, (PRG)

Since the offensive began, the li»
berated nren has greatly expanded,
and now comprises vast zones
stretching from the northern most
province of Quang Tri to the south~
ernmost province or Ca Mou, Even
General Weyand estimates that one-
half of South Vietnam is now cons
trolled by the PRC.

in these liberated zones life has
actually been improving despite car-
pet bombing by Nixon’s B-52’s. Two
thirds of the hamlets in the zone
how have medical teams, Wages are
20 times as high as in Saigon,
Returned refugees are given land,
iood, and money In one province,
classes for 10,000 students were
organized and 25 schools were set
up in 2 districts of another, in April
and May. In western Nam Bo a
p05 graduate medical school offers
trai ng in pediatrics and clinical
medicine. 70,000 people were vac-
cinated in Ca Mau in one twenty
day period,-—--Explosions by Bv
52's shook the Village. The whirl—
wind of destruction swept across the
woods and fields, killing farmers
and travelers, out leaving the V117
lage untouched foretonlght, But the
greenness of the rice plants are
overgrowing the destruction caused
by bombs and sh ls.

Unfortunately li ngagainstthewar
does not show the same greenness
in this country. Many are still con-
cerned and are taking the chance to
continue struggling in theirownway.
We need your help. We've distribr
uted the “War Bulletin” fromwhich
much in the previous paragraphs
has Come, to your hall lounges,
S,A.’s, ahd Rh’s. We are setting

High: Hessburg letter 'Absurd', Unclear

To the Editors:

While glancing through the Sept.
29th issue of $3113, I discovered a
letter to the editor from John Hess»
burg, which purports to legitimately
attack “The Iconoclast",the column
written by GreggDatfner.lt is easily
the most absurd letter to the edlr
tor printed in your paper to dole
Granted, this is no mean tnsk ino
world in which men use language

' as they would use a whore. Still,
Mr. Hessburg's letter possessesall
the necessary qualifications It is
hysterical, imbalanced, curpihg,
slipshod, and there is a constant
attempt throughout the whole of it
0'. attack the man instead of the
idear—a modus operandi which is
egregiously inimical to a mature
discussion of ideas Indeed, it would
seem that more IS involved here (at
least tor Mr. Hessburg) thansinlple
rational inquiry.

I must begin my "defense" by state
ing that I do not, at this time,
agree with every aspect oiGi-cgg's
ideas. But I do happento knoworcgg

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himsellnund l respect his intelllr
gence and ihtegrityiiis thoughts re-
presellta valid contributiontowhat-
ever intellectual lire maybeassum»
ed to exist or Grinnell. They are
worth thinking about, it not
accepting. Hessburg himselr speaks
of Datfner J5 ”admittedly possess-
ed or such abundant philosophical
aptitude "

in paragraph five, Hessburgseems
to imply that Dalfner is a ration:
alist. Perhaps he has not done his
homework thoroughlyenoughtoknow
that Gregg is an Objectivistua
school otthought which has no more
omnity to rationalism thanl‘atlonal-
ism has to empiricism Perhaps-r
and this is equally probable-he is
aware or Gregg's beliefs, but has
chosen to distort them, On the other
hand, i [eel unable to charge him
vlilll malice aforethoughtonthis pars
liculnr point, since he is equally
inept in distinguishing what rations
nllsm itself is

licsshurg construes Daflner as
shying that, ior each individual sits

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nation we encounter, we must enter
into thought in order to take steps
to insure our survival. Clearly this
lS not what Gregg means He means
that, on the whole, 2: process or
conceptual thought is required for
the existence oi mankind, which is
true. it Mr. Hessburg has managed
to survive up to now without think,
ing (a conclusion supported in more
than one Way by his letter) it is
simply because others have done it
ior him

What Daffner meant when he said
“Man is tree to evade reality and
to unrocus his mind” was “Man is
free to attempt to evade reality and
to uniocus his mind", which is not
contradictory to saying “Man is not
exempt born the laws of reality H
The presumed contradiction is in.
visible, not naked; rind I also, lnClr
dentally, consider the obove eXr
plicotior. to be unnecessary ior any

but the densest readers.
If Mr. Hessburg had had the wits

to look up the word “iconoclast”
he would have round that the true
definition, which is ”one who
attacks and seeks toovertnrowti‘ad-
itional 0! popular ideas or institu-
tiOns" is not identical with his own
rattler loughnbly incongruous ver-
sion (”h person who categorically
rejects all fraudulent institutions
within his sphere of ekistence”)
By tlle correct definition oftlie word,
Gregg Dattner is an iconoclast, and
o tnr better one than any sellrstyled
“iconoclast" who would condone
either llessbilrg's methods, or his
as yet unclear ideas

Christopher High

Antiwar Center

up finances. And the Peace Center

in Herrick Basement is open 2:00
to 4:00 pm Monday through Sature
day. There are resources down there
to continue your own anti-war work.
We’d love you to help us with local
and national contacts,yourprojects,
and your friendship and ideas. Anne
Houston, x-357, is organizing dratt
counseling. Janet Schuldiner, x-357,
is getting together an all campus
rummage sale on Oct, 13th. Jenna
Finch, 236-5654, is working with
news carts on KDIC and general
information. Jim Dlers, Mears 3rd,
is organizing a news paper collec-
tive that will write an 5513 column
and send letter-to-theeeditor to area
newspapers. Rob Rainer, r567, is
doing general information finding

out about Republican functions which
to leaflet, and Working with Eric
Graat, x-256, on organizing an in.
dependent socialist action group
along the lines or the New American
Movement. Yu’ll be hearing more

from us. Let us hear from you.

Peace Collective

Hawkins: Apathy

To the college community:

I spent 371/2 years at Grinnell,
during those years a lot or things
happened, to me, to my friends,
to the college, and most noticably
to our society.

Drugs became more middle class,
more common and to an extent more
respectable. We put aside some
of our Victorian and Puritan views
of sex and morality. Patriotism
changed, no longer was it enough to
simply be an American, we were
more likely to adopt the “My Coun—
try, Right or Wrong.” attitude, or
we would become hypercritical, to
condemn the evils, ignore many of
the practicalities, and demand the
Idea], 3 ”Change it or lose it.”
attitude. Crime rose, as didgovern-
merit snooping and heavy handed~
liess. Nothing was the same any
more. Thewhole society'seemed to
have entered a period or rapidly
increasing change, we began to ex-
perience Alvin Toffler’s Future
Shock.

Many cried that our society/coun-
try was being torn to shreds by
an ettete corps of dope smoke
ing homosexual communist inspired
hippy freaks, or that thelmperialist
forces and the big corporations had
succeeded in getting a strangle hold
on all aspects of our lives,

But, for me, there was really no-
thing to fear, for being at Grin-
nell I experienced the enthusiasm o!
a generation out to change it all,
to end the war, to feed the hun-
gry, heal the sick, clean up the
cities, and much more. We were
going to save the country, maybe
the world.

Then one sunny May morning some-
one woke me up and told me that
we’d invaded Cambodia and Laos,
that they were Shooting (and kills
ing) kids on campuses all over the
country and that we were all going
to go down to the “liberated”ROTC
building, After two years of a lot
ol talk we now had an opportunity
to act, so we closed the schools,
over 400 of them and decided that
we'd given notice that we weren’t
‘gonna take no more.’

The next (all we came back, but
some how the ability or desire to
get fired up about anything “heavy"
was gone. it was study and/or party
at Grinnell. And as tar as getting
involved it wasn't just Grinnell, it
was the whole country, and we’ve
been going down hill ever since.
It wasn't just the war either, it
was everything, It seemed that so-
clety was finally slipping over the
edge, It wasn’t dope, or free love,
or the Black or White Panthers,
it wasn‘t even I'NLT. it was us,
the people.

Look up apathy.
Mike Royko points out in an ar—
ticle (“Realities or War Fade"-
So Do Cries of immorality“) that
suddenly the war was no longer
much at an issue with the youth:
people don’t hate it as much now
that they don't have to go whe—
re the shooting is. The war is not
over, it has just changed, like a

Nielsen: Thanks

To the Editors‘

On behalf of the Alumni Office, 1
would like to express our thanks
for the gracious hospitality andcone
sideration which the student body
showed to our alumni guests this
past weekend. OurVisitol‘sleft cam-
pus pleased that they had come,
enthusiastic about the College, and
committed to help in every waythey

can,
Chris Nielsen

Director of Alumni Affairs

Moves To Grinnell

freeway thru a ghetto, we see the
nice concrete and asphalt but no hun-
gry children.

Now we must not forget the home
front either, the urban cesspool,
the rotting schools, the unemployed
who can't get a job, the conditions
in the Veteran’s Hspitals, the
heroin, and the growing tendency of
Americans to condemn as wrong or
evil anything or person that they
don‘t personally agree with.

The following is part of an article
by Louis Cassels ot UPI entitled
”Compassion, lndignation Fatigue
Amicts Nation".

“Perhaps the hardest moral duty
ior men and women oi our time is
to keep on caring,

“They have felt sorry ibr so many
llood victims, earthquake victims,
and war victims they simplyaren'l
able to muster the sympathy they
know they ought to have when their
newspaper shows them a picture at
a child in Bangladesh whose belly
is bloated by malnutrition, orwhen
they see on television the look or
suitering on the {hogs or Vletr
namese peasants lieeing lrom a
burning village.

”To be indirierenl to wrong do-
ing, to shrug it on or laugh at
it is a symptom or advanced dee
gradation ol the mural sense
Something--is ll Vietnam7 and the
‘death‘ DiGod’mrslmply wearincss
ofcarlnguseeins to have adminis-
tered n massive dose or novicuih
to our national conscience."

Cole I. Hawkins
558 N. Sunnvside
Portervllle, Calit, 93257

Medvin: Criticism?

To the Editors:

As one reader who is strongly
against censorship, I still find it
hard to believe that you chose to
print the letter from Mr, JohnHesS-
burg Ill concerning the "Iconoclast"
column. i believe that “everyone
-should-haverhisrsay” etc; how-
ever, Character assasinatlon is nota
viable form of criticism. Mr. Hesse
burg showed his immaturity bybas-
ing his “criticism" nothing but a
personal attack of Mr, Daffnerhimr
sell (eg. “Mr. lconoclutz“ and
“greasily iatuous smile”), I feel
that it is an editor’s responsibility
to separate genuine criticism trim
the verbal garbage that Mr. Hess-
burg chose to write.

Ron Medvin

(Ed. note: The SKLB makes a pol-
icy ot printing all letters from mem-
hers of the campus community of
whose identity we are aware.)

Kulawiec: Protest

To the Editors.

It 5&3 has embarked onanew printr
ing venture (5&5 Magazine, Friday,
Sept. 29, 1972) by permitting obr
scene words in print (poetic lie
cense'?!), then I'm wondering when
pictures or the “real thing" will
appear next. And it they won‘t, then
I ask, like the innocent adolescent,

"Why “0”" Ed Kulawiec

 

