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Northeast Passage

When spring arrives, the students on North Campus may be
of a heartier breed than those on South Campus. This may
seem amazing, because the natives of the two hemi-campuses
endure similar environmental conditions, subsist on similar
diets and spend. their days doing substantially the same
things. It will astound the reader to discover that the prin-
cipal cause of the waning of the southern half of our little
world will be one innocent-looking, but strategically placed
fence.

A resident of North Campus who wishes to journey to the
Palace of Sports to ﬂex his muscles and escape from the
sub—zero Iowa winter into the sauna can travel the rela-
tively short distance by a direct route. However, a resident
of the Southern hemi-campus has slightly farther to travel.
And that’s not all! Although there is a south entrance to
the palace, he must take a substantial detour (around Darby
gymnasium, through the gate, and across the football field)
to reach it. His other alternative is to walk along the rails
road track to Tenth Avenue and into the north entrance of
the Palace--the only virtue of this route is that it passes
close to the Health Center.

The ideal route for a South Campus resident would be to
pass through the gate at the southeast corner of the practice
field next to Darby, and thence to the south entrance. But
for some mysterious reason this gate has remained locked.
Last semester a passage was created through the fence 3
bit farther north--probably by desperate southerners, but
during the Christmas vacation this hole was repaired.
The weather is even worse now than it was in December, so
we predict that fewer and fewer students from South Campus
will risk exposure to the elements to get exercise--unless
someone takes pity and sees to it that the gate in question

is opened.
Grades

The all college Educational Policy Committee (EPC) which
began considering revisions in the grading system last Octo»
her, is now nearing the completions of their deliberations.
A straw vote taken at a December 9, 1971 meeting revealed
most of the committee memberstobeinlavor of Mr. Parslow’s

”proposal for all A-B-C/erase system.

Under this system, the D grade (which now stands for “un
satisfactory" work) would be eliminated, and no credit would
be given for work below C quality. Failures, however, would
not be recorded on the student's transcript, and satisfactory
academic progress would be determined by the number of
credits earned in a year. Although Mr. Parslow originally
proposed to do away with the credit option entirely, the com»
mittee voted yesterday to keep it, but restrict it to no more
than one course per semester.

The college EPC is formally a subcommittee of the Faculty
Executive Council; it was first formed on an experimental
basis less than a year ago, and its six student, five faculty,
and three administration members are empowered to make
academic policy recommendations to the Council and the
Faculty. Since October, the committee has been going over
each issue in the seven or eight grading proposals which were
submitted to it then, and it has apparently decided on the
A-BeC/erase system as the best answer to most of the ob-
jections to the present system.

There seems to be no major objections to the committee's
plan; student and faculty opinion has been solicited and appa—
rently carefully considered all along, and unless there is
opposition which has heretofore not shown itself, anew grading
system may well be the first major accomplishment of the
most powerful of the student power committees.

Faculty Agenda

Dean Walker recently asked individual faculty members to
indicate what items they wish to discuss during their meet-
ings this semester. This may be an important step, because
throughout the first semester the agenda kept getting longer
and longer as such business as the Guroff proposals for
faculty reorganization and the Magee proposal for faculty
self—evaluation was never completed. In fact, there usually
was never time during the faculty meetings todiscuss them.

it will be interesting to see whether Dean Walker can find
the time for the faculty to finish what it started last
semester.

The Grinnell
Scarlet and Black

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The Scarlet and Black

The Doppelt Effect _
The Night The l

Circus Come To Town

by Jack Doppelt

“Come One, Come All! To The
Gl'rrreatest Show on Earth." That’s
what announcements for the First
Ward Democratic Caucus should
have read. They'd never have gotten
sued for false advertising.

Monday night the Barroom and
Bedlam Circus wheeled its way
through town for a one-night stand.
The promoters wanted to make it as
easy as possible to attend. Usually
circuses are only frequented by
stalwarts of tradition; loyal circus-
goers who can appreciate the intri-
cacies of such an institution. But
this time novice students were gran-
ted the opportunity to peer into the
peephole of the Big Top.

The students snuck under the tent
by every technicality imaginable.
The promoters didn’t mind. They
considered it a circus renaissance.

Some weren’t eighteen yet. But
if they would be by November they
could participate. If they weren’t
iowans, no matter. How can you
deprive an enthusiastic youth from
the festivities? If they would never
vote in Iowa, that was understand-
able. This is an itinerant circus. The
acts are the same all over.

The center ring and side shows
merely adapt lo the audiences. The
barker, Committeeman Dick Sans
ders roared in that familiar barker
fashion which lingers omnipresently
but sounds a million miles away.

There were the distracting side
shows. A Show of hands Vote for
governor of Iowa was one I persons
ally would like to see more of at
circuses.

The candidates were described this
way: “Tapscotl is an urban popu-
list. Franzenberg is older and ran
before. Gannon is younger and an
NFO farmer."

Now how are kids who have never
been to a circus supposed to appres
ciate the precision artistry in this
act? This sleight of hand was so
quick, by the time the vote was over,
I still thought Tapscott was a spout
over a sink.

But the center ring and side shows
were what everyone was Still await»
ing. The barker proclaimed the first
two side shows to be “Scoop” Jack-
son and “Jumping John" Lindsay,
the famous high»wire act. But they
cancelled because their ladder broke
and they had no support.

”Happy" Hubert, the trained ele»
phant act was daring considering
the cramped surroundings. It fea-
tured four riders on ornately clad
elephants. But the people could sense
it was just too similar to the "other”
circus' act.

“Frontrunner” Muskie, the trar
peze artist managed to barely ware
rant one delegate. Way up at the top
of the tent, it was difficult for the
people to clearly discern his posi-
tion on the wire. One fall and it could
be all over.

However, Father Tan Creti, the
Muskie delegate lrom Grinnell,
looks at it differently. He believes
that “Muskie is running a careful
political race”. When the time is
right, he plans to move the trapeze
act lower so that everyone can
clearly see his solutions and plate
forms.

Shirley Chisholm, a recent acquiSr
ition by the circus, proved to be a
dynamic act. She managed to secure
one delegate by gathering people who
would have been contented with an—
other act. but wanted front row seats.

As‘Virginius Thornton, a McGovern '

delegate commented, ”Support {or
Chisholm is really romantic, but she
doesn’t have a broad enough appeal. ll
when you can only please the kids,
you can't hope to be the center at-
traction.

But the kids took over this circus.
The center ring attraction reﬂected
the circus’ willingness to cooperate.
“Grass Roots” McGovern, the man

shot from a cannon, exploded with
six delegates. This act monopolized
the Big Top but won’t fair as well
with perennial circusAgoers.
“Cause Candidates tend to ignite
people”, reasoned Father Tan Creti.
And there’s only so many times you
can be Shot out of a cannon harms
lessly.

The circus does have national ap-
peal Mr. and Mrs. Bob Santee, have
followed the big Top lrom Rapid
City, South Dakota in admiration of
the "Man shot from the Cannon".
Mr. Santee is now one of the Mo»
Govern delegates. He sees a possi-
ble rejuvenation ofcircus participa-
tion and commends the interest of
the youth. ‘

The circus witnessed its bestturn»
out in spite ofthe menacing weather.
The greatest disappointment was the
lack of townspeople. Many from this
ward realize that the circus will be
packed with kids and don’t want to
fight the havoc. Others have totally
lost interest in circuses. some claim
there are just no worthwhile acts left

I heard many complaints about the
circus Monday night. Many claimed
that the kids were too rowdy and no
one concentrated on the acts. Others
don't think circuses present a real-
istic approach to determining the
future.

But don’t blame the youth . They
were allowed to sneak under the tent.
That’s the way circuses are run.
"How can students expect to be
treated like adults if they act ‘that'
way7”, I was asked. I happen to
think they fit right in.

Watch the super circuses. They get
more spectacular and more under,
handed every step of the way. It’s
too bad us kids aren't as indepenr
dentrminded as we like to think.
When there’s a circus, we tend to
Join right in. It's ”conventional"

art by Miriam Bursteirl

Grinnell Alive
With Boredom

To the Editors:

All of Grinnell is alive with bone-
dom. Students, weary of the week‘s
heavy work load, have been anxiously
awaiting this weekend in hopes of
parti , ng in some special, non-
academ activities.Unfortunatelyit
seems as if our hopes were just that,
for, just like last semester, there
are no ”special" activities going on
on campusll

(1) who is in Charge of Grinnell's
activities?

(2) is it true that some $20,000 is
allotted for special groups?

(3) Was it true that in [969, for
example, Grinnell was visited by
Pete Seeger, Muddy Waters, and
B.B. King (who was shown in your
film for prospective students to
supposedly represent the caliber of
entertainment to expect on campus)?

(4) In past years have Jefferson
Airplane, Jesse Fuller, Danny Cox,
and Paul Butterfield given concerts
here?

(5) In 1970 did a tworday lolk
festival take place?

What is happening this year and
why777777?7????7??

Perhaps if the quality of Grin»
nell’s weekend activities equalled
that of last year students could
better cope with the College’s acae
demic pressures. As it is, the only
time kids here get together to talk,
etc, is in the long meal lines (that
in itself is an interesting topic).
Unfortunately, for those of us who
do not wish to leave the College (and
one does not have to physically leave
the campus to escape fromit), there
is little left to do but hit the books
again. Please do not respond to this
letter by stating that one can always
go and see the scheduled movies.
The movies which Grinnell shows
are of nowhere near the caliber
of other schools, some just as small
though not as expensive.

My friends who go to other colleges
tell me that in the theatre in their
dorm (capacity 200) they have seen
such recent movies (especially when
compared to the relics Grinnell
gets) as Mash, Myra Breckinridge,
and, Butch Cassidy and the Sundauce
Kid. I've gone to several movies
where only twenty people were left
in ARH when l myself walked out!

So, as I prepare to go to bed, early
and bored, my minal statement to
you (whoever is in charge) is that,
taking everything into consideration,
your weekend activities are (for lack
of any better words ) pure garbage.

"Preston Gould

 

