. The Scarlet & Black, Sept, ll. luvs—page 4»

 

Those back-to-school
blues strike again

Welcome back to Grinnell, home of Duffy's Tavern,
Golden Sun Feeds, and the small liberal arts college we all
know and love so well.

A few things happened over the summer to make Grinnell
not quite the familiar place we remembered. President
Turner shaved off his beard, Dave McConnell continued his
campaign to change the physical face of Grinnell (all in the
interests of efficiency, of course], Govemor Ray has made
Pub offrlimits to freshmen, the library underwent some
significant alterations (you might feel like a sardine around
finals time), a student is living in the Cowles “powder
room," and yet another dorm is undergoing renovation.

BUT THEN AGAIN, some things never change.
Everyone is, as usual, grumbling about embarking upon
another year of all-nighters, indigestion, and writer’s cramp.
Everyone will, as usual, grumble about any number of
issues, major and minor, that will crop up during the year.

Two'campus issues, although relatively minor in the
grand scheme of things, have received much attention since
our return, and deserve analysis. First, Food Service
Director Dave McConnell has provoked a great deal of
controversy with the changes in diet he has instituted, as
well as with the installation of computer terminals in the
checkout lines at Cowles and Quad.

Also, in the dorms, many ﬂoors voted last week to have
single sex bathrooms, resulting in inconvenience for many
irate students, who now have to walk up or down a ﬂight of
stairs to use the facilities.

THERE IS A striking similarity between these two
seemingly unrelated student gripes, In the first case, one
man [albeit a man in a position of authority] has made
sweeping changes in a student service that affects over a
thousand students. In the second, one vote could cause
irritation and inconvenience to as many as 50 people.

The bathroom problem is not so serious: most students
will probably end up ignoring the restrictions, and using
whichever bathrooms they please. But there is a principle
involved: it is unfair for the wishes of one person to deter-
mine the matter for so many. The way the voting procedure
now stands the vote for co-ed bathrooms must be
unanimous, or else that bathroom and at least one other will
be single sex. Late last year, SGA tried to change the policy,
drawing up a proposal that would eliminate single-sex
bathrooms on cored floors, but the policy was rejected by
President Tumer.

MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR SGA to try again. This time,
instead of opting for an all-or-nothing alternative Ideman~

'ding all bathrooms on co-ed floors be co-ed). a change
in the voting procedures should be proposed. A majority
vote should be required to settle the matter. This would be
more fair for all concerned, and a policy would be established
that would not be blatantly transgressed by most students,
as the present one undoubtedly will be

The Food Service situation is more complicated. We do not
question Dave McConnell’s knowledge of the food business,
his need to save money because of inﬂation, or even the
necessity of the computerization of the Food Service. The
question, rather, is one of accountability.

THE CHANGES MADE IN the Food Service Were
sprung on the students without warning, without publicity,
without consultation. Hours were changed, certain foods
appeared and disappeared, and disgruntled students are left
to wonder what's going on. The students, as consumers,
should have more of a voice in the way their service is run,
and should be provided with more information about how it
is run. And this information should be available before
changes are made, not after, when it is too late. Granted,
McConnell may know more about the Food Service, but that

is no reason why the users of that service should be ignored.
In both these cases, students are upset not so much

because of the results but because of the feelings of
frustration and powerlessness which arise when they have
little or no control over matters that concern them. The
issues may be small ones [ice cream cones and bathrooms
don’t really amount to much), but they should be dealt
with.

Welcome back.

 

 

 

David Blatt

 

Economic doom soon at hand

AS liberal arts Students, most of
us are familiar with theories and
Syslems which are worked out in
meticulous and specific detail, and
yet depend on false or invalid
premises

The familiar metaphor of the
*‘buggywhip syndrome" (referring
lo a manufacturer of buggywhips
who kepl perfecting his product
ond lowering the price and yel
couldn’t understand why nobody
was buying buggywhips anymore)
can be applied lo anythingfrom the
Ptolcmalc model of the solar
system to the Maginot Line, but
perhaps its most important up
plicatioll is to the economic values
of American society,

in lhe foreseeable future, the
malerialistic foundations of
conlemporary America will
evenlually cease lo be, and some
form of a new order will appear,
How easily and in what manner
this change is effected. and what
lype of society will replace the
status quo depend largely on us,
the American people, and how we
choose to respond to the coming
days of reckoning.

UP UNTIL NOW THE values of
our industrial culture have been
based both socially and in-
dividually on material standards
and economlc growth. it may be a
cliche to say that Americans are
cl'assly materialistic, but almost
every good and service is judged
by its market value. Even the risks
and inconveniences ol everyday
llfe are measured and comr
pensated for in terms of more
cal‘ningsihazardous working
condilions, the stress of respon-
sibility, lhc complexity of
automated. bureaucrnlizcd
cxislencc. Most people, of course,
realize that dollars \\'lll not lranr
slate cxaclly into happiness nor
erase personal and cultural
dilemmas, but we don’l really
know what else to do so wc jusl
seek more money.

Market Value Is the Common
denominator lhal cvcrybody can
understand. It is just as lmpol'lallt,
lfllot more so, on a societal level as
on a personal one, Economisls
measure GNP and per capila
standard of living with precise

 

statistics, interpreting them with
the lmpliclt assumption lhat more
is better. To maintain our standard
of living our production must grow.
and with [his end in mind, the
marvelously immense and HIV
lricatc American ccunomic syslem
gathers resources, raw materials.
and people from around the world,
lransforms them into pricetagged
goods and services, and sends
them out agaln

WHEN THE
nlnlfunctlons, or produces
worrisome side effects like
pollution, poverty, and social
inequality, the government's
traditional remedy when there
has been one) has been to “in
lernallze the exlernalllies,” or
prowde a penalty or incentive so
that socially deSlrablc behavior
will be made profitable. The
treatment of social ills caused by
industrial production and con
sumpuon is paid for with more
production and consumption

No one would think of forcibly
reallocaling resources to send
factories from Ohio lo Mississrppl,
or lo lake money away from whites
to give to blacks Instead, with a
continually growing economy,
everybody has a chance to prosper
and nobody need go without. This
reliance on growth not only
provides a surefire “cure [or what
ails you," but also encourages al
stable political and economic
structure, Both the haves and the
havenots are cooptcd inlo the
system or no one has anylhing to
lose and potentially much to gain
from burgeoning material wealth.

IN FACT. OUR growth-based
economy and society of dollar
standards does work tolerably well
lor many people. but are ils goals
desirable in (he first place?

This question Will soon become
irrelevant. Leaving aside all of the
moral misgivings involved in
ccaseless pursuit of riches, the
dubious ethics of profit milking and
lhc Illhllmanlty of placing
monetary values on cvcrylhing.
American society as we know ll
\\ill probably be doomed in our
lifetime.

SYSTEM

_lurned

 

OUR PRESENT WAY of life,‘
confronted on the one hand by [he

absolute scarcily of the basic
natural resources (which are
already running out), and on lhe
olner hand by the increasingly
intolerable effects of high
technology mass production and
consumption lpollution,
destruction of lhc lifersupporting
ecosystem. Increasing economic
and social complexity and the
resulting growth of government
power. to name a fewl \vlll even-

luallv be squeezed out of existence.
it requires no prescient Vision or

sophisticated computer model lo
realize that the future will be
vastly different no matter what we
do Luxury items. energy, food and
transportation will become ex-
tremely scarce and valuable,
implying a retreat from regional
and national homogenization and a
return to local and personal self
sufficiency.

The relationships between in
dlviduals, government, and society
will be shifted, and all of them may
clash over how to proceed, Our
immense economic machine and
technical knowrhow could be
toward Smallrscale,
resourcerefficient and labor7
intensive enterprises; or
lechnology might remain wedded
to the complex growlh and con-
sumption ethos, with probably
disastrous consequences.

With the Inbred urge for the
American Dream thwarted, there
is a real danger of serious conﬂict
between alienated communities
and ethnic groups. Unless the
issues of materialism and
economic growth are squarely
laced, lhc nation may soon be lorn
apart by polilical and social lur-
moil (lo say nothing of the in-
lernational implicallons of a
resource-growth squeeze, which
are nothing short of staggeringl

THIS IS J\ PROBLEM from
which no one can escape: personal
and societal values must evolve in
response to a new environmcnt. ll
would be criminal for us. as
liberally educated people, nol lo
use lhc perspectives and insights
no can gain here m recognizing.
addressing, and coming to grips
with a world of limlls and Scarcity.

 

