Page . Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday, April 27. l962

 

 

ﬁrarlvt anti Tﬁlark Boston weighs NSA pro and con

GRINNELL COLLEGE
Grinnell, Iowa

A weekly newmper published each Friday iii chi collelxa
year by ihe crinnsll Committee on Student Publications, r,
Andrew Brown, chairman. Represented for nuiionnl advertisinl
by uriicnni Advertising Service, rnc., adhere Yublixhers be.»
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Jim Hnmcid
George Buck

Larry Sninckrr
. snni oinssmnn
. Len Cnlodneyi Jim limos
. Susan a. Robert:
. usseli rpksr, Ccmiyn sins
Barbara Hunt. Gcrninine Rooney
refer M. Miller

. .Vohn i-inrlun

Turner
chcer
Lev-inc
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llmim.
Assistant News anion
Snoris Editor: .

Copy sailor .

chief rhomcrnpncr
Eireulntioﬁ Manager l . Judon
uyouz unuur . uy
Ail Scissmsn l , Much
Business Au; , Leslie Brusletlen, Sue

 

Mole psychology

We can not applaud the equivocal stand taken by the
Board of Trustees on whether or not to build a fall-out
shelter at Grinnelll

While it seems likely that no such project will be now
undertaken, it seems that the Board avoided its responsibil-
ity as an inﬂuence on national opinion when it did not come
out in opposition to the entire shelter program.

Like Hanson W. Baldwin, who is military editor of the
New York Times, the mole psychology behind fall-out Shel»
ters doesn’t appeal to us.

Whether or not sllelters will save lives, he points out,
is an open question. The best of the experts disagree on
the immediate effectiveness of a shelter program.

Dr. James Van Allen and other physicists at the State
University of Iowa have stated that “it is extremely dang-
erous to give the impression to the public that the build—
ing of fallout shelters will enable the average citizen to
survive a nuclear attack."

The dangers of such a false promise are two-fold,
according to Baldwin. First, he says, it might create a false
sense of security, distracting us from carrying out projects
which offer greater promise of real secur y. And second-
ly, he points out that such a program, with its insistent
emphasis on radioactivity, would add to the national psy-
chosis — “fear of the invisible killer” i which already
handicaps oul- diplomacy.

From a strategic point of view, according to Dr. J.
David Singer in the October, 1961, Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientist, tlle fall-out sheltel‘ program “has almost nothing
to offer as a device for reducing the probability of nuclear
attack.” Instead, such a program could increase internar
tional tensions and lead the enemy to believe we are pre-
paring a first strike.

Finally, we agree with Editor Baldwin. “A shelter pro-
gram cannot be justified on the basis of individual life-
saving, but solely on the basis of national security. And
that is precisely where the present program seems to fail.
It is not worth the $7 billion it would cost or the effort
involved.”

Not so serious

Wednesday's Spring Riot was not the spontaneous and
irresponsible student outburst that rumors and publicity
seem to have labelled itl

Student demonstrations — especially those of the
springtime variety i are a common occurence on campuses
around the country, And not all of them are as harmless
as the one staged here.

The Riot was the product of months of planning by an
unofficial student committee, Although the affair had no
authorization from the college, authorities wisely saw the
Value of a planned affair controlled by various student
leaders.

Spring demonstrations are traditional at Grinnell and
the planned affair was regarded as a substitute for the
potentially dangerous parity raid type of outburst which
has greyed the heads of so many student deans on campuses
everywhere.

The fact that ten students were fined may seem to
some to introduce a note of seriousness into the whole
thing. But we are assured that the fines resulted only be—
cause the ten failed to ensure that their actions would not
disturb anyone.

No malicious damage was inflicted to property in the
incident. The fines were levied only because the students
had technically violated laws which have been abused by
vandals in the past.

Agent X3-5

This week an uncredentialled and unpedigreed stranger
from the Cent ill Intelligence Agency interviewed interest-
ed seniors for positions in his organization and revealed
a glimpse of life on the cloak and dagger level.

That the mystery man’s written communication with
the college was on plain letter paper is our only factual
information, but some campus observers suggested that the
man was mashed, carried the proverbial violin case, used
a portable lie detector on student applicants, whipped out
hurried memos in invisible ink and had as his recruitment
slogan, “Fight Castro : . U-Z can join the CIA." Un~
fortunately, our lelld’s quick departure prevented the
S&B from verifying these speculations.

Larry Smucker
News Co—editol'

by A1 Boston

(son President)

This coming Wednesday night
the Student Senate will decide

whether the ‘Grinnell Student
Government Association will
uphold last week's decision to
continue its membership in the
National Student Association
(NBA).

The fact that NSA provides
this campus with a potential
source of beneﬁt and that it
costs the students a little over
$300 yearly makes this issue
one ,of the most important to
come before the Senate.

When lGrinnell rejoined NSA

more than a year ago, after an
absence of several years, the
move was taken in hopes that
certain beneﬁts would accrue to
the school.

irirsi, lGrinnell would be play
ing a role Within the only na-
tional organization of college
students, thus providing this
campus, greatly interested in na-
tional affairs, with a forum for
its opinions.

Secondly, the Grinnell campus
could utilize the vast informa—
tional resources of the NSA,
thereby providing student ol‘ganz
izations and individuals with a
ready supplement and impetus
for their interests and projects.

With such beneﬁts in mind,
we cannot term our one year
in leA a successful one. Ale
though the National Student
Congress each summer provides
the students of member schools
with n focal point for iheir
opinions, the structure of the
Congress and the practices of
some member schools are such
that the actual opinions of col—
lege students many times re.
main unknown.

Also, no one can claim that
NSA made u great impression
in campus life in general, Too
few people even realize its ex»
istence, let alone its potential.
I ‘helievc this is rlue to our
luck of experience in dealing
with such an organization.
Having just rejoined NSA, it
was difficult to perceive im-
mediately what we were to do
with it.

‘Granting that our year of NSA
memlbership was not successful,
I would caution against the idea
that continued membership with-
in NSA cannot lbe beneﬁcial.
Such a conclusion is premature.

The National Student Congress
has various undemocratic aspects
io its procedures, 'but it does
provide a forum for siudcni
opinion. If this opinion is not
truly representative, the place

for reform is on individual colr
lege campuses. The lGrinncll
Student SEnate last fall voted
to have delegates to the Nation-
zil Student Congress elected by
a campus-wide vote. Other
schools, ioo, are working for re-
form and the pcssibililies of
success are not dim for this
coming year.

More importantly, however, I
feel that the Grinnell campus
Can beneﬁt by our association
in this organization. in the eslub.
lishment of an NSA committee,
our NSA coordinaior, aware of
each organization’; projects, will
at all times know to whom to
give incoming information. Also,
these people will be free to re-
quest information from the NSA
headquarters.

I feel that through such co-
ordination of interests, our mem-
bership in NlSA can be a true
beneﬁt to fliis campus. After a
membership of one year, we
are in no position to make such
a Conclusive decision concerning
NSA. as withdrawal would cer-
tainly be.

Perhaps NSA should ’be on
probation, but so should we as
a member campus. If NSAhas
not worked this yrnr,pai~iofihe
fault stems from our failure to
utilize more fully its potential.
1 would urge the students of
Grinnell and the representatives
to the Student Senate to support
Grinnelrs continued membership
in the National ’Student Asso-
ciation.

catty-:1

To the Editor:

Two years ago the ”share-a-
meal” program was instituted at
Grinnell College. In an effort to
continue the program. tomorrow
evening we will be eating a
German mcai instead of the reg
ular steak dinner.

Substituting one foreign meal
for the Saturday steak dinner
will save enough money to pay
for the board expenses of a for-
eign student for a full year at
Grinnell.

The philosophy underlying
this program is three-fold: i)
As students of Grinneli. we will
be indirectly sharing a small
part of our financial resources
with a foreign student; 2) we
will be sharing in his culture
and customs by eating his food;
and 3) we will be sharing our
educational facilities and culture
with him when he comes to
study here next year.

Faculty members and their
families are cordially invited
to participate in this meal.

We sincerely hope that mem-
bers of the Grinnell community
will participate enthusiastically
in this program, not as a great
physical sacrifice but as an ex-
pression of good will and inc
terest in furthering a foreign
student's education and oppor-
tunity.

Board of Religion
I. a. c.
Cosmopolitan Club

 

hunghts out of Season

During Wednesday's well-
planned, constructive and posir
tive riot, a saboteur took liber-
ties with the fusebox, so I tried
graumblingly and Abe Lincolne
like to read a good book for
fifteen candlelii minutes and
then gave in to dark thoughts,
The following “Worst" Awards
of the Year are the products of
this pessimism.

Worst cartoon: Paul Court-
Wright’s gibe at the Washington
protest in November.

Worst booking by the concerts
committee: the bad singing and
inanities of the Brother’s Four.

Worst joke: First Brother
Four, “Know why my girl re»
minds me of Pavlovian psy-
chology? Second Brother,
“No." First Brother, “Because

every time 1 ring a bell she‘s
ready."

By Larry Smucker

Worst administrative blunder:
an equivocal policy toward a
pernicious scheme, the fallout
shelter.

Worst Rosenfield lecturer: the
’ol “realist,”

Worst movie: the minor league
La Dolce Vita, “The Savage
Eye,” whose scene in the faith-
healing tabernacle lacked. brev-
ity among other things.

Worst cloak and dagger ef—
fort: “Connie” of the Council
on Soviet-American Friendship
casing the union from behind an
oversizcu “New York Times.”

Worst outrage by townies:
city police accusing the “Chute
terbox" entrepreneur of pushing
dope and demanding an investi-
gation of cigarette butts,

Worst bit of annoyance and _
hypocrisy: as ever, the cumpus
SMUCKER
(Could. to p. 3, col, 2)

Paul Ashley hears good and bad “folks" at concert

by Paul Ash‘ley

"The nrnciice of "reviewing"

. . in general hns nothing in
common with the art of crib
icism." William James.

Since I hope to criticize I will
get the review over by saying
that I thought the folk concert
was a very good event and hope
another will be held next year.

It has taken me three years
to decide iliai Pete ’Seeger’s not
having Caruso's voice doesn’t
matter. Seeger is doing shine.
thing else, something in which
a good voice would be extra
baggage, and perhaps harmfully
extra. Last Saturday's folk cone
cci-t reminded me, however, that
there is a Cut-off line.

I suppose the only real cri-
terion for a folk singer is
how much the folks want to
hear him: Being a folk, then,
I would like to explain whnt
it is that Pete Cohan, Sam
Schuman, Maria Cortinn and
Mary Edmondson have which
made them the high points of
the show.

After “Bob Hope“ finished,
Cohan came out in a shirt that
looked like my grandmother's
bedroom wallaper, gym shoes
without socks, and a pair of rot-
tell blue jeans: The audience
sensed immediately that this
was a folk singer, but the real

reason why becamc clear later
in the first half when Clark
Dlmond and Schuman sang
“Doctor Freud.“

Thcuiffcrencc was that Dir
mcncl, Lightbom‘ne and Mark
Martin were performing while
Cohen and Schuman were sing.
ing: When they got on I felt like
singing along, but with Dimond
(who got better as the program
progressed) all I wanted to do
was run up on the stage and
stretch his Vocal cords for him
so hc could hit those low notes
without such :i terrible struggle,
stop trying so hard, relax, and
have a good time.

Besides this stage presence,
which is sort of creating the
illusion that one is not perform-
ing, there were other differences
which separated the cast memr
bci-s. On one end there were some
voices so bad that no audience
should be subiected to them and
on the other end there were peo,
ple like Miss Edmondson who
had voices far above the cut-off
linc.

Another differentiating factor
was versatility, which is perhaps
only a careful choosing of the
material. Julie Newman, for ex-
ample, although she sounds
much like Joan Baez, was very
good on n dirge or a slow bcl.

lad, but as soon as she tried
anything loud or fast her voice.
got scratchy and thin.

This thinness was another dif-
ference, for there were some;
like Light‘bom‘ne and Miss
Newman, who had small voices,‘
others like Martin who had
loud voices, and still others who
were able to be either strong or
soft, as the song demanded. And
this is important. '

The especially good people
seemed to be better able to tell
how the song asked to be sung
while ihc others, although this
does noi” apply to Miss New
man, dapted the song to their
capabi ties.

A folk song is not a serious
art form. On one level the ,
only possible reply to that
siutement is “so what?" but
on another level it makes an
important point _ a folk song
is to feel whereas n serious art .
form is to understand and feel.

Folk songs come off much
better when approached with
primitive joy or grief than with
sophistication or urbanity. The»
better singers last Saturday
knew this, and because they did
they reached lhc audience either
in its belly or its laughing
place, but not its mind. The)-
could, for a couple of hours,
umnkfully, i-csl, .

 

