6hr abihiitt ant) dilate

Novmlm ll, 1911

98% QEhituriol

Now. A Real Issue

Grinnell librarian Christopher McKee several weeks ago
issued a report on the status ofGrinnell‘s library which should
be of more than passing interest tothe student body. The
conclusions were that, compared with the libraries of similar
four-year liberal arts schools, Burling is seriously trail,
ing in terms of resource growth and percentage of the coir
Iege budget committed to strengthening the library.

The problem of Grinnell‘s library status bears on the whole
situation of campus priorities. We like to believe that we are
committed to upholding a firm and superior academic stan—
dard, yet our real interests, as reflected by some of the
economic decisions made over the past several years, may lie
elsewhere

During the 1960‘s when money was not so tight and colleges
were able to commit funds to long-range programs, we failed
to consider the importance of the library's rate of growth,
Rather we built a Forum, anew bookstore, a PhySlcal Education
Complex, generally expanding the size of our physical plant.-
perhaps overexpanding, since it now appears to be underutilized
because of the small size of our student body. Such projects

'have undoubtedly added to the atmosphere and educational
quality of the collegev—that we do not deny. But the problems
we are now realizing may indicate that we did not do enough
serious thinking about possible alternative uses of the funds.

Grinnell students should be vitally interested in the academic
quality of the college and in programs for academic improve-
ment.

Grinnell students should be vitally interested in the future
course of college policy in this area. We are, after all, the
reason for the college's existence and the beneficiaries of
whatever programs it decides to undertake. We pay much of
the money. Of all the groups on campus we have the most
vested interest in the academic quality of the college and in
programs for academic improvement.

There are few issues of more direct importance to students

than this. If we fail to take the initiative in pushing for a greater
commitment to the school’s academic development, we will have
no grounds in the future for complaint about a misapplication
of funds. The library, the editors feel, is a good place for us
to start.

ISPIRG Funding

The Board of Trustees' action last week in denying the Iowa
Student Public Interest Research Groupa funding_mechanism
for the Grinnell campus has had the effect of throwing the
local group into a sort of limbo Since participation in the
state iSPiRG Board is dependent upon a college's ability
to define a funding plan, Grinnell’s seat on that Board is now
in jeopardy. Making the issue even more complicated is the
fact that Grinnell is one of the most active colleges on the
state level, having two of' its studentseeMary Jane Wynn and
Curt Gorrelleein primary leadership positions.

We suspect, however, that the action of the Trustees may in
the long run lead to a better solution of the funding problem
Despite its obvious advantages totheISPIRG group,the original
plan had serious faults, Every studentwould have been assessed
a certain charge on his tuition bill each semester as his/her
contribution to ISPIRG, and students not wishing to support
the group would have had to go to extra trouble to get the money
back Whether intended or not, the mechanism incorporated
a serious bias against those students who do not support the
organization.

iSPIRG by its very nature assumes that students as a whole
are in favor of programs in the "public interest" and are
willing to donate a certain amount of their time, energy, and
money to supporting the cause. Such a philosophy seems to
imply a certain necessary positive demonstration of com-
mitment to the goals of the organization The funding plan by
its nature contradicted that.

The Trustees’ action however, should not force a state of
inactivity .upon the Grinnell group. The work to be done is
important, and certainly studelits who support the concept of
the Public interest Research Group should be able to formu—
late a mechanism for providing it with funds Members of
ISPIRG and the administration are presently working out an
alternate funding plan which, we hope, can be approved in time
for the next semester. A positive approach to ISPIRG funding
would allow a genuine demonstration of support and concern.
and may well lend the group the strength and credibility it
finds necessary in order to be effective.

Jlte We ‘Uiau

Iowa’s

by Jim Alt

Well, the Des Moines Register and
Tribune have done it to me again.
Every time I gohameic Des Moines,
I can count on having to explain
their latest story about Grinnell

This started even before I gradur
ated from high school, The spring
of my senior year the Register
reported Grinnell's nude Playboy
protest, variousanuwardemonstrar
tions, and the shocking revelation
that a woman had Stayed overnight
in A dorm with ti man

Because those events were fronts
page stories in Iowa, i spent that
spring defending my chosen college
against high school administrator-
types who only knew--and believed
”what they read about Grinnell in
the REF,

These conservative administrator-
types were convinced that I, a re-
latively decent (it not always re,
spectful) individual, was descending
into a Hell of radicalism and day
cadence,

Although I found that possibility
fascinating, I doubted whether life
at Grinnell would be all that excit-
ing. But i had actually spent some
time on campus, while the adminiSr
trator-types had onlyreadthenews-
paper accounts.

There was just one teacher at my
high school who expressed any en-
thusiasm about my college choice.
Unfortunately, he was considered
strange himself, beingasoftrspoken
senior English teacherwhoadmitted
liking poetry. Nobody muchbothered
him, but then, nobody much listened
to him.

Senior year I formed the habit of
scanning the Registers front page
so I would he prepared for thecom—
ments at school. learned the last-
ing enmity at my principal whn he
finally confronted me and demanded,
“Why are you going to thatplace?”

I had abandoned tact and diplomacy
by then, and had turned to honesty
instead. I replied, “Becausel hope
to get a little better education there

 

— The Iconoclast

 

 

 

View Of Grinnell

than I have gotten in this place."

My answer did not seem to mole
lify him, and we spoke only rarely
afterwards. I understand fromother
Iowans at Grinnell that my experir
ehce was not unique.

i doubt whethermy principal'sview
has changed much in the last four
years. In that time, he has read
about a “Student shutdown", a
“Black takeover” highlighted bythe
Register's emphaSls on "demands
for soul food”, and, most recently,
the Tribune’s front-page column as
bout Grinnell's coed bathrooms and
dorms.

Few of us at Grinnell seetheevene
ihg Tribune, so you may not have
read Gordon Gammack’s column.
There is not much you cansay about
Gammack’s columns in general, exr
Capt that they are undeniably aimed
at the lowest intellectual Common
denominator of his readers.

In reporting conversations with
Marge Daly, Gammack devoted his
entire November 3 column to ades—
cription of Grinnell’s coed bath-
rooms and dorms. The Column it
self, although peppered with phrases
like “raised eyebrows" and“things
forbidden”, is not inaccurate,
merely inane.

Although Gammack says that “the
dormitory program at Grinnell (is)
one of the most liberal and pros
gressive in the nation” (really?),
he reports with a sigh of relief
that, “The administrationestudent
consensus is that sexual relations
are not increased in dorms where
men and women live in adjoining
rooms."

There are also the usual tired
cliches about brother-sister re-
lationships, attributed to students
whom Gammack carefully identifies
as non—Iowans.

What bothers me, though, is that
after apparently talking with Marge
Daily at some length, the only topics
that Gammack Could think to write
about were showers and toilets. I

admit that it is a little dull around
here, but there are still Somethings
that I would consider more impor-
tant.

Why not, for instance, do it (allow
up story abonttheprogress--orlack
thereoferofCBSoncampus7Thelast
that Iowans heard, they were Still
in the library. Why notwrite about
the freshman tutoriai program, or
about off—campus programs, or
about the college's ongoing self,
evaluation? Why not describe Grin,
hell’s experiments with curriculum
and requirements, Where weare“li~
beral and progressive” at least in
terms Of Iowa schools? Might not
these topics he of some interest
to Iowéiiis'.7

As it is, I do not look forward to
going home at Christmas and field-
ing the inevitable queries. There is
something discouraging about heat
ing your brains out im- four years
here, and knowing that your home
state's image of Grinnell is limited
to one of unruly students, sus-
piciously permissive administra—
tors--and now, coed bathrooms.

There is something discouraging
about meeting a high school classA
mate or his parents whom you have
not seen in three years, and listen-
ing to their greeting; “I-iey, Alt,
are they Still taking their clothes
off down at Grinnell? Haw, Hawi“
That actually happens, and It nape
pens amongotherwisewell-educated
and informed Iowans.

h faint spark of hope camelast
summer, though. A high school
classmate who goes to Dartmouth--
and with whom Iwas never particr
ularly close~~sought me out at a
party. He just had to pass along the
favorable impressions and com—
mean that he had picked up about
life and academics at Grinnell...
and to wonder Why he heard these
things only after he left lowa.

And you know. sometimes i wonder
about that myself

The Call Of liberty

by Gregg Dalfner

Last week I raised the question:
What principles should men agree
upon in order to live and deal with
one another? To continue--

When a politician pleads for na-
tional unity it is generally assumed
that he is making an appeal for hare
monious peaceful Coexistence.
Often it seems that we're being told
that if only we’d allwish hardenough
for unity, then zap, our nation would
be united. How? Somehow,

What is little understood isthct nae
tional unity, like love, is not a pri-
mary, but rather a consequence,and
must come voluntarily or not at all.
Just as One can not Order a Child
to love his parents, and when one
does the result is he will hate them»
so too, one can not order a nation
to unite. If a politician's demands
for unity violate your convictions,
if he urges you to support policies
which you oppose, or take part in
actions you regard as evil or join
your enemies -in the name oi unity
rthen the only results will he hyr
procrisy, corruption, hatred, and
national disintegration.

Only when men learn that the only
moral means of dealing With other
men is by means of a free, vol—
untary, unforced, uncoerced exV
change will there be peaceful cor
existence. Only when men recognize
that each and every man has a right
to his ownlife, which menas the freer
dam to act on his owv judgement for
his own goals, by his own volunr
tai‘y choice, and that no man may
stop him, can there be a peaceful
human society.

linsicnlly, there is only one way to
violate a man’s rights, to compel him
to act against his own judgement or
to expropriate his values: by theuse
of physical force Al the point of a
gun Thus the political epithet' No
man may initiate the use of phy-
sicnl force against nnother man

This is a political system which
some Call Libertarianism and Others
have named laissezriaire capital,

ism. Under such a system, force
would be used only in retaliation(by
the government) against those who
initiated it,

Benevolence and fear are incom—
patible. Only when a man knows
that his neighbors have no power to
forcibly interfere with his life can
he feel benevolence toward them,
and they toward him. Since agree
ment on the principle of individual
rights imposes no ofﬁcial dogma nor
violates anyone’s convictions, the
greatest variety of views and ideas
can peacefully coexist in the same
country without threatening anyone.
Hence, should two men disagree,
they are free not to deal with each
other. Ironically, the criminal, the
man who refuses to respect indi-
vidual rights, when he chooses to
initiate the use of force, is answer-
ed on the terms he has chosen--
by force.

Individual rights is the only proper
principle of human coexistence ber
cause it rests on man’s nature as
a being of conceptual consciousness
(for a detailed explanation 0fthis see
Capitalism: The Unknown ideal A Ayn
Rand) Since man is a Contractual
animal, he must plan his life long
range, be able to make his own choi-
CBS and deal with other men by vole
untary agreement. And since an
agreement takes at least two par-
ties, man must be able to rely on
other's observance 0fthe agreement

150i ﬁnlliiill
Storm anti ﬁled:

The cnhnni Surltt no hurt it ih. student hair
ram u: Grinnell chum, puhllshed miiy Hill!
the mum t) in onion hy the cymhcu criurr
Commune in Student valicatwns on rich in.
tonal npihichi do not nkcesxllily mun line has
0' Inc ihdoni body. unity, in innininiuhh nf
crihhni chin” nnuni train the smut um
Black unlwl be reproduced hr Duhiluiion when
in: express conxrnl at in. can.”

Second this wsuit mid Grinnell, [on soliz

con-ow . .
MANAGING ranch.
Cori cplroh

uunnrss MANAGER

phi pimns
vimy wimn
Jvhn Wylie

. .Jim inmmin

they‘ve entered,
Such a system would allow any
form of voluntary activity Thus,
those who were inclined to the Left,
who desired a collective life style
with communal property and equal
distribution Of goods and wealth,
would be free to establish their own
communes so long as the particle
pants entered and stayed voluntarily,
while those on the Right, believing
in private ownership of land and
goods and competitive trade in a
free (unmanipuiated) market place,
would be equally free tocreate their
own private institutions and o0m~
munities. Such a voluntary associa-
tion of peaceful coexistence would
leave each alone without any face
lion's seeking or able to impose
its way of life on the other.
Whereas the problems Standing in
the way of the realization of this
libertarian laissez-i‘aire ideal are
monumental, the purpose of this pane
egyric was, as with the birth of any
liberty movement, to awake thepeo-
ble to its call.

(_,

Because our typesetters and
printers will beonThanksgiving
vacation next Thursday, there
will be no issue of the S&Enext
week. We will resume publica-
tion on Friday, December 1.

‘—’l

ADVUH [SiNL munch
CIRCULATION MANAGER . m shivhmh
sroms canon )izrty up
coLUMh‘ms Jim Alt, Greg:
Dunn. ink Dem-ell, Knihxhiicimchimimh.
Sine run. with You;

Pho'rociurhzns John Bench.
why. prim", nor 2 mm, munch... um
Eldridge, «my rinchcr Cary chm, an:
Glaser. this charm, cuu Kulisakl, le
Munlrc, Bob sums, xuh whom

ARTIST ., Mum. Burslein
musr wihcynmm
nrrom‘ens inkr Dru-d. uni
Burbulrs, Elaine cmy, AM Chisel. ichrllc
cmy, hum Crou. ﬁrm Eldridu phi cum.
chn Count! inn... Kathi. uixmu Lounﬁou
Melina, Cm; Murphy. um Nitolii, hymn
on“. rhhhn Roswig. pinn Srhoudrlmryrr
mi siuhm, tnrh Sosin,L)nn Vordis:n,hlartm
Wanker Krn wihntn, Tiny Wolf

“mountain;

 

