 

Radioalism grilled
Tuesday night

The whole issue over “Fort McConnell” came to a head
Tuesday night in a confrontation we could hardly have
envisioned. .

Planned by a group of students as a graffiti attack on the
new structures in the Grill, the meeting quickly became an
iid hoc open forum with more than 200 participants.

The organizers began by asserting that the graffiti attacks
on the Grill turrets were illustrative of a campus-wide
dissatisfaction with the way the Food Service has been run.
Not only was this faulty logic, but it also exhibited a sur-
prising lack of awareness on the part of the protesters
Students claiming to represent campus-wide student opinion
had, in the future, better make sure they do, for one of the
most interesting revelations to come out of Tuesday's
meeting was that a sizeable number of students do not
support the graffiti campaign and apparently are satisfied
with the management of the present Food Service.

THE RESULT was that the students who had planned the
meeting quickly found themselves on the defensive, trying to
legitimize their largely indefensible position of advocating
the disfigurement of what is, technically. community
property. And while it is unlikely that Tuesday's meeting, as
one student put' it, “set radicalism on this campus back
twenty years," it was clearly not a good night for radicalism.

So what is to be done with Fort McConnell? Some
students suggested turning the structures into graffiti walls.
But the major complaint against the structures is that they
are aesthetically unattractive; and walls of hand-scrawled
graffiti are hardly a satisfactory alternative. A stroll down to
the bathrooms in Burling basement is enough to convince
anyone of that. Painting them black would not be in keeping
with the atmosphere of the Grill and only serve to give the
place the atmosphere of a morgue. g

McCONNELL'S suggestion to cover the structures with‘
artwork from the Rehling Collection seems the best alter-
native at this point short of physically removing the ad-
mittedly graceless structures. If artwork is to be hung,
McConnell explained, the walls will have to be cleaned, And
here, it seems, is the logical juncture for those students
charged with defacing the structures to come forth and offer
to remove their impromptu additions. Yet, there is no reason
to single out just two or three. Therefore, all students so
inclined: known graffitists, clandestine graffitists, those who
feel solidarity with the graffitists, etc . . .should come and
help clean up the walls. And Dave McConnell, in his
willingness to forgive and forget, will undoubtedly supply
both paint and refreshments. It wouldn't take more than an
afternoon.

And What did Tuesday‘s tragi-comedy prove? It proved,
for one thing, that the streak of radicalism so much a part of
Grinnell during the last 15 years is not dead. And that’s
good. It also proved, however, that today’s students will not
pursue radicalism simply for the sake of doing so7 that the
aims and actions of those who advocate protest must, in
themselves, be responsible ones. Perhaps this is a
manifestation of that much-heralded trend of conservatism
among Grinnell students Or maybe it’s just that students
here require substance rather than emotional rhetoric before
commiting themselves to a cause. We hope it‘s the latter.

 

 

 

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Leif r i

 

th

Freeman: role of SA should be flexible

To the editor: As an SA, Iread last
week's Open Space column wnh

,some misgivings. Looking at my

own history as an SA, 1 sounded
like nne of those “irresponsrble.
selﬁsh SA‘s,” except that I don't
even make popcorn. I would like in
present another view on effective
SA behavior, one which I per
sonally believe to be just as valid
as the one presented last week.

My major difficulty with the
article is that it comes across as a
definitive statement on how to be
an SA. Idon’t believe that the job is
really susceptible to definitive
statements. My experience has led
me to conclude that the most
important consideration in being
an SA is to respond to the wants
and needs of the floor. not to give it
what I personally consider to be
|mportant.

WITH THIS in mind, I
wholeheartedly agree that the SA
has a duty to “identify potential
problems” on the floor and deal
with them as best as he-she can.
Crisis identification and in-
tervention are definitely important
parts of the job.

Concerning the other dunes of
the SA, I tend to disagree as to
their importance for the effective
SA. From my experience, It seems

~ that a sense of communiiy on the

floor is not necessary to a good
living situation, and can even be
counterproductive. Just a sense of

The Scarlet and Black is a
forum of communication read by
students, faculty, administrators
and trustees. We encourage our
readers io express ihemsclves on
maiiers important to them and lo
react to issues appearing in the
paper by submiiting letters in the
editor We ask that they be brief,
lfa reader prefers to do a lengthy
treatment of a topic, “Open
Space” articles may be sub
milled. We reserved the right to
edit all letters and articles for
reasons of clarity andor size.
The deadline for Submitting
material is Tuesday at 9 pm. for
the issue appearing on Friday of
that week. All material must be
signed. though signatures will not
be printed ,if so requested.

 

mutual respect and tolerance is a
viable way to build a good floor,
without building any kind of
community.

ON THE subject of mediating
disputes or representing aggrieved
persons, the SA can be valuable.
However, if such conﬂicts can be
resolved satisfactorily without the
good offices of the SA, so much the
better, No SA should feel called
upon to mediate every conﬂict.

I also don‘t see that I am
automatically obligated to be
“adviser, confidant and, above allr
friend," I try to maintain friendly
relations with everyone on‘ my
floor, but it is their option if they
want me as an adviser, a con-
fidant, or a friend. I would not feel
any less an SA ifsome of the people
on my floor hated my guts. I will
always try to be open and available
to my floor, andu-y to be ready in a
crisis.

FINALLY. I'm not totally in
agreement with the implication
that the good SA is a leader on the
floor. Certainly during New
Siudeni Days and the beginning of
the year. when the floor is shaping
up, the SA can have a large impact
on how the floor develops. Role
modeling and friendly relations
with the floor are important at this
time.

However, as the ﬂoor takes on
form, I don‘t feel that the SA needs
to “lead“ it any longer. The SA can

 

become more of a facilitator for
things the floor wants to do, and
help smooth out the obstacles in the
way of a reasonably good living
situation, The SA can still be a
leader, but only in the sense of
helping people get where they
would like to go.

NOW THAT I have objected to
almost everything, let me say that
what I have just given is my own
personal style as an SA; the style
described last week may be just as
valid for another SA. Also, I feel
that I probably perceived some of
the statements in last week's ar-
ticle as categorical when they were
not intended to be. Finally, many
of the duties of the SA described
last week may have to be taken on
by some SA‘si in certain cirr
cumstances because of develop-
ments on the floor that require the
SA to act.

To be an SA involves Willingness
to get involved and perhaps expend
a great deal of time with people, as
well as the sensitivity to know
when to get involved, and when to
back off. win this in mind, I agree
with the description of the SA
candidate given last week: “. . .
internally motivated, caring in-
dividuals with a sense of humor
and a side of humanitarianism-
people who know. and like,
people.” Ross Freeman

Let them eat cake

To ilio editor: We feel, as up
perclasspersons now imbued with
lmmeasureable maturity, that a
bourgeois injustice has been im-
posed on our diet and culinaiy
habits, For the greater part of four
years. we have been subjected to
unfair breakfast hours. u is totally
incomprehensible and impossible
that we could ever rise at the early
hour of 7:15! We feel that other
students would agree with us, Only
pre-meddies with afternoon
classes would gel up this early.
We have come up with a solution
to this problem. We feel that all hot
breakfasts should Lake place from

11:15 pm. to 12:30 a.m. rather than
7:15 am. to 8:30 am. For some
unknown reason, we get hungry
late at night, and would much
rather have our breakfasts then A
greater number of students would
eat breakfast, which would im-
prove [he nutritional value of our
intake.

We’ve suffered under the early
risers, now let them eat cake!

We’ve suffered under the early
risers, now let them conform to our
eating habits. The SCP isuppol'lers
of Coliinibiaii peasants)

 

