Page Flour

SCARLET AND BLACK

December 3, I95

 

A College Hunts AWPresiclent

I wandered into the Poweshiek County National Bank in this city some days agar
for the first time in four years, looking for a Mr. Kinsey, who, 1 had been told, was,

a member of the Special Committee on the Presidency and could tell me the things ll mlal student music I when _ e d'r . m
wanted to know. I found that he is the president of tlle bank, and that presidents of} a, ‘ ”‘9 stud "t I “to" “Ch
small town banks aren‘t the easiest people in the world to see. He whipped past me,‘
three or four times, thinking no doubt, I-was selling advertising for somebody or en-
y. After he found ollt what I was there for and had invit-

ed me in, I found him to be an extremely cordial gentleman and very willing to answer!

ganged in some other drudge

by Al Harrison

my impertinent questions. Which he did.

I have felt for some time that comm unication between those powers which are
making the selection and the students to be affected by it has been somewhat lackingt
That apparently isn‘t the fault of the Trustees. They simply had never been asked be-
fore I was curious to know just what sort of methods were being used for selecting the
considered, and particularly just how
much the welfare of us rich kids who go here was being taken into the picture.

In the past, we have been plagued just a little by an almost complete lack of un-
derstanding between the President and the kiddies, finely disguised by small talk and

successor to Sam, what sort

bill" talk.

The amazing thing was how
Sam could cleverly guide us
.,along his own paths, pretending

to open his heart to us, giving

extravagant promises, and then
reneging on. almost everything.

This point became actually ob-

servable in last year‘s CONSU-‘

tutiondl crisis 7(this sounds like
a the beginning of the American
Revolution) The committee of
students which at that time was
drawing up a new set of rules
for us to, live by was doubtless
accused of going, too fast: of
trying to cram too much reform

-into too small'a span of time;

of attempting an educational

Utopia too rapidly. All this was

probably true. But it wasn’t the

.iault of the students concerned.

They were promised certainl
- things (always by word of

nwuth, which they accepted),_l

which/encouraged them along,
the lines in which they wcre'l
operating. Then, when the timel
came for agreement or decision, ‘
the, candy was rudely taken out
of baby's mouth. We got ir
tated, and rightly so. Some oil
1 us' are afraid of ,the samcsorti

of thing happening again. I’m“

afraid my contact with the

Trustees doesn't'oiiel‘ much pos

itive assurance of non-repetition,l

but the gentlemen of the Spa
cial Committee are trying.

After Sam rcsignéd last siimi
mel' (or however he happcncd to}
leave, whichever rumor is ti‘ue),,’i
the Trustees' got together quite;
rapidly, and formed a Special
Committee on ,the Presidency,l
whose Job, obviously, was toi
choose a ncw President. Thei-el
are scvcn men on the Commit»
tee, of which John R Heath of
’Cameron 5: Heath in Chicago is‘
the chairman. Mr. Heath is a
lawyer. as is one other memoci-i
of the Committee. One at the‘
members runs a string oi maga»
zines in the East, another is a
membcroi the Cowlcs publish»
mg empire

,‘l A fifth is important in the
' Younker snterprisc in Des
Molncs, a sixth is a manuiac.
. turer, and Mr. Kinsey is in
' the banking business. As Mr.
Kinsey said, they are all busi-
nessmen of one sort or another. l
and arc all tackling a job 1
which is .unfamiliar to them. l
This may not be good, and .
iagain it may be. No matter
how lunch we may have obs
joctcd to Sam's constant ily-
ing out of town for money-
ra ng' trips (that‘s what we ,
always heard or thought they i
' wcrc). it’s obvious that one oi
the President's necessary func-
tions is just that, A husis
.‘ nessmml would he apt to have ‘
the ability to rind ii man with
a good background in bllsis
boss and financial matters.
And being weil-cducntcd, as l
‘ the Committee members ill'c,
he would also be iillle to l
judge the cilllllidatcs‘ ('llltlll'ul
blitkgrﬂtlntls HS \\'L‘ll its the
next lmm prolnibly no could
do a licttci job than tlic, str t
ilcatlrlltil‘llill, who would iu- in,
clincd to clioosc a loss iicll.
rounded man. Tins, i loudly
hope. is true. The kind or i
nnui thc Committcc is looking 1

l
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‘\it‘l:

of men were being‘

 

 

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You know, maybe nobody wants to be president of Gi'innell.

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for is one who, primarily, has
a- sound background in cduc‘ac
tioii; secondly, has a good
background in administrative
matters. He is to be a comv
plctcly wellsrounded individ—
ual, one who “can get. along
with anyone.” Let's hope so.

Applicants come under con-

sideration mostly on the recom—l

,mciidation of Illemb’ers of thc
Board of Trustees and of those
on the Special Committcc. Mr.
Heath compiles and kocps files
on thcsc men in Chicago, and
the tiles are sent around the
country to the Committee melns
hers The members look the [tics
over, and if they happen to no»
ticc someone who interests them
particularly, or is in the iieiglir
borhood. they go ahead and m»
tcrview him on their own initia—
tiVe. l

Most ol the interviews are

arranged by a member or mom:

has or the Committee with the
applicant at his place of busi-
ness. 1 gather that very few of

the one hundred or more can»l

didates have actually been able
to visit the campus. In most
cases, more than one Committee
member interviews an applicant,
though the separate talks are
had at dilicrcnt times.

One Di the questions I
most interested in was what
position the Committee took on

‘matters of student government,

in relation to their selection. Mr.

Kinsey couldnt
much on that matter. He says he
is, likc the othels. somewhat ill-
informed on these things, and
pi-cicrrcd to say that such mat-
ters are purely adininisti-ativc,
and should be left up to the
Administration, that 13', the new
President. We may be back
whcrc we wcrc a year ago. We
more or less have to trust to
luck on that point. But I don't

want to draw any folsc canclils-l,
‘ions, When asked just what tllc'
condition ol comm uni c ation=

should ho bctwccn thc Picsidciit
{Illtl the students on all matte-

Mi. Kinsey gale this
"Vl’i" \vzlilt (0
who gcts nloug \Villi CvCl’vlmKlV

nw uuss

‘llrl li(’ul‘{l this llel‘ui' 7A ll 1, a,

tlcnls at the College, and Mill

wasl

cnlightcn me I

lii‘d a man,

1
'can get along with them.” i
’propose that if the Trustees
~to the 5am situation. The opin-
ions and problems of the student
,ibody should be taken more con-
cl'etely into the situation,

I wasn’t too encouraged, But
[a well-rounded individual, of
‘the type the Committee is look-
ing for, should, we hope, be
able to cope honcstly even with,
lstudont government.

We have often heard the
statement or rumor to the efr
fect that the President is
l merely a iigurehead in the
administration oi the College;
that the trustees actually run
things. This is probably due to
the fact that. our last Presi-
dent was out oi town more
often than he was in his of<
fice attending to College ad-
ministrative matters. it is
true that the operation of the
College is founded in the Arc
ticlcs of incorporation, and in
the By-lnws oi the Trustees
of Iowa College; but i gather-
ed from what I have heard
from this Committee, that the
Presidency is more oi a con.
crete responsibility than some i
or us think. This should be ‘
obvious. The Trustees are
scattered all over the country,
and are all busy people, They ,
are occupied with thcir prolcs— l
sions: and actually it is sur. i
prising how well iniormcd,’
they can ho, with so many
other things on their minds ,
They could not hopc to run 3
the College, «ml I’m quite :
sure they don't try to. The
, members at the Special Com— .
l mittee appear somewhat ap—
pnllcd by the responsibility
they now have—of finding n
suitahlc man who can iiiliill
l their requirements for a small
college presidcnt. Altar
they’ve picked him, it seems ,
they’d just us soon lot mlmin- 1
istrative ninttcrs rest with
l him. . , l

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“Grinncll Collcgc holds it
cannot ho iiiaic positivc about
this l'olzitio ip. ihcr mo in
great danger 01’ going right mick

'7liot Just student gnvr‘i'iilllcilli

Literary-Minded or Not —— You'll Always
Enjoy Bakery Goods From'The

T DANESH-MAID' BAKERY

mall who lilies ltirls»-0l'~llle htih i

lncw faces had excepionally fine training and experience in hi-
school or were inherently blessed with enough ability to ent

'pointed out as topgradc, despite

An Experiment
The Freshman Showcase

by Chuck Haynes

There was a time, at (r 'Vnell, when the only out!
for the small group of stage struck individuals was the a

his chagrin, found that his artistic endeavor was in,tl
hands of zt group, made up, primarily, of assorted, frustra,
ed song and dance men. Though the student musical wi
probably keep its amateur standing, and remain an outli
for ribald humor and legal jaggery (which is its greate
advantage), steps are being taken this week to give hop

ful, but inexperienced and passibly untalented newcome

a chance to get up on the stage before an audience.

This new experiment, the Freshman Showcase, iormulat
and produced by the Grinncll Players organization, is designed
g‘lvﬁ‘ freshmen a chance to participate in Gl'lnnell’s dramatic a
tivities. ' .

‘ In the past, earning a chance tovaCt or perform technical sc
vice in the Grinnell theatre has not been as easy as one migh
suppose. The aim of the Grinncli theatre, like any other theatr-
ls to present the best productions possible, which is only logi -
What makes good productions? On this campus, a small group

lcxporicnccd and (by college standards) talented people interests
1 in producing and acting in plays, Where do these experienced pc

pie _Come from? In the past, a few, usually less than a half~doz
new faces from which freshman class were added to 'd nuele
group of established performers and technicians each year. The.

the ”charmed circle" or small clique ol people who “put on t
shows here at Grinncll.”

‘ _ This small clique dominated and controlled all thc drama a
tivitics Thus Joe Schmaltz, who came in as a talented fi'eshma
could appear in as many shows as he wanted during his four ye
stay at Grinncll, which he probably did until he got so. sick

1 playing opposite Helen Heartburn, who also came in as a talent

freshman his year, that he might decide not to appear in one c
two plays. Joe, to coin an unthedtl‘lcal phrase, which he probabl
never used, had it knocked, and if he found the time to becom
pinned, his girl soon took on the role of backstage Wife.

Under this system newcomers, whether ir shmcn or upper
classmcll. were not consciously discouraged, but whatchance Iii
they have, competing in the peri'unctionury tryouts against th-
established "inner eirclc” crowd that had picked up experienc-
and broadened their talents with every succeeding show, '

Three years ago two senior women, with no previous actin
experience at Grinnell were cast in difficult roles by a student d
rector, and, with consolencious work on the 'part of the directo
the two women gave fine pertormances. About the same til
(word has it it was just.d coincidence) the peo’ple in the theatl
department realized that maybe they were letting a lot of tale
go to waste, may-be Joe Schmaltz. the boy prodigy, didn‘t have
play Hamlet, \Klng Lear, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame a
in one year. . - , ‘

The~Freshman Showcase was designed to permit any fresl
man who wished to try his hand at acting, whether he had all
experience or not, to play a role, and not just a walk—on bit.

The Showcase not only gives the newcomer a chance to dis-
play his u-arcs, but also, and more important, gives the directo
a chance to see this person in 'nction, before an audience, in cos

' tumc, playing opposite other actors, with his lines memorized,
which is pretty tough to do in the usual readinzvtryout situation
, which usually tells a director only whether or not a new hope
ful can read. , , ,

The part-reading tryout ‘is about as effective for testing ne
actors as holding freshman basketball tryouts by having the ne
players read the rule book. ’ ‘

Whether the Freshman Showcase is a box office success i
little importance, but people might turn out for this-show in
the refreshing experience 01' sccing some new faces on the Gri

ncll stage.

unique position among liberal and intermwmg many mp me
arts colleees in the coiiiiti-yl'l.
-\ 2 . s~ one, and thc d:
Mi: Kinsey told inc no small”, 5“” T“ “W h
the reactions ‘of those undemmswn is not one tat can
should be made hastily.

consideration toward Grinnelll
it all up by saying vaguely, “w

were unusually favorable. I
Even out East, it seems. the I ‘t t _ L good coneg
g . con wan Jus _a .
C9116)?! ’5 ﬁmugm 0f. , lwe're trying to make Grinne
highly. I asked about Grinnells‘ a great college,” I manked hi
reputation particularly, becauseiand took my leave He is
l have sometimcs 'felt that wavcry polite and cooperative Del

i . - ,
were ossibl a littlc rovincial, 5011- 1 say this because “9 50m

p y . p . .tinics are inclincd to be skept»
away out here in the leds ofi

, cal of the sincerity of the pe-
Iowo, i do think it’s true, now,iple who gmde the came“
that we’re attending a school got the answers 1 was lookin
which is more than occasionallylfor. and was somewhat impres
,ed with the size of the job t
. , LSpgciai Committee has uncle
”5 5‘29 and 1093‘”- ‘takcn. Mr, Kinsey unlocked ii

The gentlemen \vhuse hi ,door for me, it being pa,
tories arc in Mr. Heath’s [ileslbankers’ hours, and I left hii
in Chicago are primarily those in the clutches of.an advertisin
who have been engaged » salesman tor the Cyclonc. '
viously in educational activiti
More than this I don‘t know. I
gotlthc il‘npi‘ession that most oi
them have at some time or other
been presidents or import-
ant officials ol rollcgcs or
versitics.

At the time or this writing.
tho Frcsidcnt has not yet been
sclcctcd We have bccn told that;
the announcement would bol
mode this month. tollowing thcl
inccling oi the Board oi Trus-
tccs on Dcccmboi 4. This socins‘
ralhcr hopciiil, Mr. kinscr \zl\s,‘
and i can scc his point. Tlic ioh‘
of sifting a hundrcd histoi-icsl

Attei‘ Mr, Kinsey liad summe

‘ My,
“ml 9 0 mm:

nv: mus
tollcini

300'

RETRACTABLE BALLPGIN'I

 

