 

Th

Scarlet and Black

Grinnell

Wednesday

November 24, 1971

Volume 80 Number 14

 

Students Meet; Discuss'PressureiAcademics

Final Meeting In ARH Last Night

Tuesday‘s All Campus meeting in Ann Auditorium, billed in advance as a
iorum tor the discussion oi improving the educational system here, produced
a great deal oi talk, a good deal oi irustration, and perhaps the consensus
that the real problem at crinnell today is a lack ot interaction.

Shelley Floyd opened the meeting by outlining theprogress oi the “academic
pressure issue” irom a series oi individual student meetings to an all cam-
pus meeting Sunday to a presentation to the iaculty meeting Monday. She then
turned the iloor over to Dave Snyder, who suggested ways in which the dis»

250 Crowd Herrick

Au all-college meeting in Herrick
Chapel Sunday evening resulted in
the questioning oi college goals and
the effectiveness of Grinnell acaa
demic and social life. The meeting
was called to discuss problems of
academic pressure, evidenced by
increased study time and related
social problems. The meeting voted
to continue discussion oi the prob-
lem Tuesday evening.

SGA president Shelley Floyd opened
the meeting, which was attended by
over 250 students, Shelley immedir
ately gave the ﬂoor to Bob Huxtabie,
a sophomore who identified himself
as one Of those Who calledthe meet-
ing. Huxtable’s speech emphasized
that the meeting hadbeen called to
reveal ideas concerning the present
problems on campus, academic and
social; he pointed out that the Exe-
cutive Council had taken action by
notifying the professors of the coun-
seling staff's belief that academic
pressure exists. The letter which he
read was signed by President Leg-
gett, and suggested that professors
decrease pressure in indiVidual
courses and perhaps change takes
home exams to in class or Orals.

Early discussion in the meeting was
centered around the academic prob
lems. Many students came forward
and explained that they noticed an
increase in work, although many did
not link it to any cause. One prevas
lent opinion was that the college
lacked a “cause" to rally around,
such as the war had been, before
the killings at Kent State.

There seems to have been a gene
eral conservative mood since then,
heightened by a sense or economic
insecurity. This means, ior stue
dents, the realization that a BA.
does not necessarily meanthata jab
will exist after college. This in»
creases the importance oi graduate
school, and the high gpa needed to get
in.

Fertile faculty, economic insecur»
ity means the problem of retaining
positions when it is evident that the

See SUNDAY Page 7

Nollen Service

Friends of the late Mrs. Louise
Bartlett Nollen will meet at Grins
nell house next Sunday at 4 p.m.
to honor the memory of Mrs.
Nollen, who died last June 5.
Mrs. Nollen was the wife of Dr.
John S, Nollen, President of
Grinnell College from 1931 to
1940

Dean Wall, Professor John
Piitsch, and Greg Vranicar will
speak in tribute. Vranicar is a
member oi the Friars, a senior
honorary society in which presi.
dent and Mrs Nollen had a spec
cial interest.

The Francesco Trio will play
the Mozart Trio in E Major at
the memorial event.

Mrs. Nollen was born Dec. 16,
1577 at Lynniield, Massa.
chusetts. She was graduated from
Vassar College and received a
master’s degree irom Brown
University. She taught at several
New England schools.

in 1914 she married Dr. Nollen
and the couple moved to Grinnell
in 1920 when he became dean of
the faculty at the college. He
served as president oi Grinnell
until 1940, He died on May 13,
1952.

That’s

Pressure _
reading,

Photo by Dan Henry

As students file into Herrick Chapel tor
Sunday’s meeting, two students are busily

Pass Prof Evaluation

Shelley Floyd, Anne Walter, and
several other students spoke to the
laculty at Monday’s meeting about
academic pressure and other can,
cerns expressed at the general
meeting of students Sunday night.
Their presentation precededthe lace
ulty’s passing in amended form of
the Hamilton Committee's recoms
mendations for establishing student
course evaluations.

Anne Walter reported that 250 to
300 students attended the meeting
Sunday night, “one oi many such
meetings” which indicate “a gen-
eral malaise” among students. Con-
cern with both academic pressure
and interpersonal relationships has
contributed to this, Anne said.

Anne told the faculty that there
were two general concerns voiced
at the Sunday meeting: first, that
students are ieeiing pressure now,
at the end of the semester and that
faculty should be aware of it and try
to help upset students; second, that
many students question education at
Grinnell as it now is, and would like
to discuss speciiic changes whereby
“students and laculty (may) make
education more meaningful",

Bob Huxtable and Dave Snyder also
spoke to the faculty briefly; Bob
urged faculty and administration to
participate in the meeting Tuesday
night and Dave asked for the begin
ning ot a general "dialog between
iaculty and groups at students on
how we can improve practices".

The substantive portion oi Mons
day’s faculty meeting was devoted to
consideration and passage or a mos
tion on part oi the question oi iaculty
evaluation. On a recommendation
from what has been dubbed the
“Hamilton Committee”, question-
naires similar to those utilized last
spring will be administered with a
iew slight modiiications as part oi
the registration procedure tor the
iollowing semester. Graduating sen-
iors and other students who will not
be returning are required to return
the questionnaires prior to their
departure,

The legislation establishing this
questionnaire for next year required
two amendments from the Commit
tee for passage, and two other
amendments were oiiered, but
iailed. An amendment proposed by
Mr. Don Smith (History) that Stu-
dents not be required to complete
the evaluation forms, as if com—
pletion were a degree requirement
but that they only be required to re»
turn the questionnaires, passed, as
did an amendment by Mr. Arnold
Adelberg (Mathematics) to include
seniors and others who leave Grins
nell before registration for the next
semester, in the sample.

Two amendments failed: one by Mr
Irwin Goldberg (Sociology) to re-
quire that there be an 85% return of
completed questionnaires for the
Executive Council to usethe evalua-
tions in personnel matters; and one
by Mr. Virginius Thornton (History
and American Studies), to have the
evaluations completed (or returned)
by students at the end of thesemes-
ter being evaluated,

The committee was appointed to
determine (1) the overall valueoithe
questionnaire, (2) the uses to which
the questionnaire could be validly put
in terms of the responselast spring,
and (3) changes that would increase
the value oi the questionnaire.

The committee has prepared a
thorough evaluation or the questions
naire taking the return rate and core
relation between responses into cone
siderauun, From this the only 5m,
tistically usable information for
personnel decismns was the overall
rating oi the proiessor. The use or
other questions is limited to aiding

See FACULTY Page 2

News Analysis

cussion could be most fruitful.

Among his suggestions were that
participants keep an open mind, lise
ten to each other, don’t yump on
people, and realize that whatever the

problem was, it was a mutual prob-
lem.

in the Wide ranging discussion
which iollowed, students expressed
divergent views on what education at
Grinnell means and how important
this is, the neediormoregroupproe
jects, the lack oicommunicationbe-
tween students and iaculty in non.
academic areas, the preservation oi
papers and independent projects tor
research by others, the poor social
atmosphere, and the need tobalance
academics and other facets oiGrin-
hell life.

Several students debated the
issue oi what the term ”Crime“
Education” should mean. Several
expressed the view that a student
coming to Grinnell came knowing at
least what he or she personally
wanted and expected togainirom the
institution, Freshman Tom Powers
disagreed, saying that he hadn’t
really known what education was
about while he was in high school.

Many students indicated that they
were suiiering irom a lack oi free—
dom in independents and a lack oi
communication with their prois,
Senior Al Hammond responded to
both claims with the statement that
the initiative ior new course ideas
and communication among students
and between students and proiessors
must come irom the students them-
selves. ”Go to your prots," he
repeatedly advised.

Phase II Examined

by Robert Voertman
Prolessorol Economics

Attention is riveted on the wage-price control machinery, Visible vested
interest groups, organized labor being the most visible at the moment, are
jockeying for positions inthe newly contrived system for administering wages
and prices, These new administrative agencies, The Pay Board, The Price
Commission and the rest, constitute a loosely-connected set oi tribunals
which have the uncomfortable task of arbitrating conflicts of economic ins
terest, in a context oi unequally distributed economic and political power.

The dominant issue involved in the inﬂation control process is, of course,
the distribution of national income. Mr. Nixon's decision to adopt a price
and wage regulating policy was a decision to place the exercise oi power
over the distribution of income into the spotlight of Washington politics,

What does it mean to saythattheissue in inflation control is income distri—
bulicn? ii prices or goods are held in check but wages are not, then income
will be redistributed irom property owners (prolits, rents, interest, and the
like) to laborers as wages rise, in like manner, if only some prices rise, then
incomes in those industries producing goods with rising prices will tend to
rise relative to other industries; if the health service industry’s prices rise
and farm prices fall, income distribution shifts in favor of doctors and against
farmers, The tough inﬂation control decisions all effect incomes.

Now,,why would a practical politician. seeking to win reelection, get into
such a risky game as arbitrating income distribution conﬂicts? First of all,
most of the voters felt themselves losingirom the inflatiun’s impact on their
incomes. Effective power over income was not evenly distributed, and many
more people perceived themselves as losers than as winners. Secondly, the
group or losers was not only large, but included some traditionally important

groups of GOP supporters; cornbelt

farmers, insurance and some finance

interests, and tinally a cluster oi manufacturers aiilicted by import compo.
tition. Thirdly, the slowdown in economic growth and the trend oi rising
unemployment couldn’t be reversed without a risk oi even worse inilation
unless a system or wage and price controls could be instituted,

Organized labor had been doing relativelywell in the inilation, and expected

See ANALYSIS Page 7

Although iar more iacuity members
were present at the meeting than had
attended the earlier sessions, their
participation was notably lacking,
until Mr. Burkle broke the silence.
in reaction to calls from several
students ior more interchange be-
tween students and prols, he indi—
cated that with his current work
load, ”If I had any more inter-
change, i would explode." He elab-
crated further that he was not com-
plaining about the workload,..that
{allowing a summer ofplay he looked
toward to eight months of intense
academic pressure.

Mr. Klausner made a distinction
between “being there andbeingpre-
sent”. He indicated that often stu-
dents ieel that proiessors are
“there" in class but are not really
present. This can be the fault ofboth
parties involved. He concluded
”This iacuuy has pledged itseli to
be present whenever students are
present, Why not join us...and be
present, not ]ust there.“

The meeting continued with anuni-
ber oi other comments on life at
Grinnell. Signs of restlessness
began to develop as the hour anda
quarter mark was reached, and
Shelley Floyd took over the door
for a brief summationt

She said that although the meeting
had been rather irustrating,thattwo
things seemed clear -that there was
currently a lackluster tone to acae
demics and that students seemed to
be remote from each othert

Unlike the earlier meeting Sunday,
no further course of action was de—
cided upon Tuesday. However, many
speakers during the evening indi»
cated their hope that the discussions
would continue after Vacation, when
end of semester pressures did not
prevent them.

leggell Plans
To See World

President Glenn Leggett will
leave Grinnell December leora
two month trip around the world
in which he will visit Brazil,
Kenya, Australia, and New Zea—
iand. Mr. Leggett was given a
$5000 grant for a short term leave
by the Danforth foundation about
a year and a hail ago.

The grant, reiered to by college
presidents who have had it in the
past as “combat iatigue pay" or
“non", according to Mr.
Leggett, stipulates at the col»
lege president recei ing it must
be gone irom two to iour months
and must he actually away irom
the business and environment oi
the college. There are no other
requirements, Mr. Leggett said;
the purpose of the grant is to
give the presidents some “think-
ing time."

Mr. Leggett will take his iour-
teen year old daughter, Joanna,
with him on the trip. They will
ﬁrst go to Rio de Janeiro, and
stay there three or iour days;
then they plan to go to Nairobi,
Kenya, where Mr. Leggett’s old-
est daughter and soneinalawlive.

 

