i : The

:* Scarlet
& Black

Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa

2/18/77 Vol. 85, No. 17

 

. Black Clusters

’1

by Tom Arenberg

The Joint Board accepted a
Student Policies and Regulations
implementation for the Black
Cluster System Wednesday. The
implementation now goes to
President Turner lor approval. it it
is approved, it will retain the Black
Cluster System (BCS), with minor
changes. for next year.

The Implementation, which
passed 13711, outlines formal
guidelines by which black fresh

79‘?“ can be placed in rooms near

'ack uDDerclasSmen. Black
upperclassmen, ii they want to
be part of the cluster system,
receive rooms that are then

gavailable for general room

raw. Incoming black freshmen
who desire to live ln a cluster are
placed in rooms near these up
perclassmen.

The rationale lor the system, as
presented by Concerned Black
Students (CBS), which led the
effort to continue the system,
entails three major points:
BCS promotes black cultural
awareness. allows black freshmen
easier adjustment lrorn
gdominantly black cultures to

predominantly white culture of
i. nell, and improves the
cohesiveness of the college black
community This rationale is

"lar to that presented in 1970

lien the BCS was first
established.

Most members of the committee
that initially dealt with the
proposal to renew the BCS, the
Housing Committee, found the
rationale outdated Said Lei Ann
Marshall. “They ithe Housing
Committee members) felt that the
rationale CBS presented to support
their re: uest for the cluster 5 stem

 

renewed

doesn’t {it the cluster system as it
exists now. The number of students
participating in the cluster system
is radically different and the

Alumni secretary
Davidson fired

nature oi the cluster system is i. .

different (from when it began)."

Last semester, the Housing
Committee Voted 84), with one
absent. to eliminate the formal
BCS and establish instead or
”informal" means by which black
freshmen and upperclassmeri
could live near each other. Under
this proposal, black upv
perclassmen would draw rooms
through the normal room draw
procedure. rather than
beforehand. Black freshmen would
be sent literature regarding the
opportunity to live near black
upperclassmen and the Assistant
Dean of Students would place in-
terested black freshmen in rooms
near black upperclassmen
whenever possible. The Housing
Committee generally agreed that
this proposal would provide all the
benefits of the BCS. without having
that separate, formal system for
blacks

Student Policies and
Regulations. the parent committee
of the Housing Committee, later
overturned Housings proposal, 57
4. It then ordered ﬂ’le sub»
committee to draw up formal
guidelines for the BCS, which
Housmg did. These guidelines were
approved by SPdrR last Friday and
then by the Joint Board on Wed
nesday. SP&R member Ruth
Montgomery, summing up the
thoughts oi those who voted to
overturn Housing, said she saw no
reason to end a policy that was
wanted by some people and
disadvantageous to no one.
There are two changes in the

, A}

v

\t A

Representatives vote at Wednesday’s Joint Board meeting'on

Greg Lee. Mercedes Jones and
Janet. DePriest listen intently
during Wednesday nights Joint
Board discussion or the .Black
Cluster System.

implementation for next year, The
Assistant Dean of Students will
place black freshmen who so
desire in rooms near black up
perclassmen if it is possible. This
represents part of the Housing
Committee’s original proposal and
is mainly a formal statement in
writing oi a policy that Assistant
Dean of Students and Director of
Housing Susan Crim said has been
followed informally in the past.

The other change is that the
Housing Committee, rather than
BCS. Will poll black students. once
to determine which students want
to partimpate in the BCS and again
to find out where the studean Want
to live. According to a CBS poll
taken this year, support of the BCS
is high among black students.
Housing Committee member Sue
Wittpenn noted, however, that the
number of students willing and
able to participate is less than the
number supporting the BCS.

The number oi black ups
perclassmen who take part in the
BCS has been dwindling. In the
three formal clusters that exist
now. there are only 11 up
perclassmen, despite the policy
that each cluster must have at
least four upperclassmen

There is a belief among some
whites that the BCS gives blacks
preferential treatment in getting
the best rooms, Wittpenn does not
think so. noting that the locations
oi the three existing iormal
clustersiLangan. Loose and
Younkeriare not necessarily “top
pick dorms."

Jon Neidcrbach, who is white
and who circulated a written
argument against the BCS. said the
system puts Gl'lnnell in the posi
tion of “lnstitutionalizing racial
discrimination and segregation."
Montgomery said that ”any ate
tcmpt to maintain a black com-
munity can be regarded as
separatism, but It shouldn’t be,"

A leading spokesman for CBS,
Lori Harrison. noted a key
argument against eliminating the
BCS and establishing “informal"
clustering in saying that there
would not be sufficient guarantee
that black upperclassmen could
draw rooms near each other.

by Mary Brandt
and Chris Lower
Last week, in an unprecedented
move, a Grinnell College ads
ministrative employee was
dismissed with one day’s notice.
Last Monday, David Murphy, vice-
president ior Resources and Ex-
ternal Affairs, officially announced
his plans to restructure his
department under the new title or
the Office of Development, which
included the immediate dismissal
of Grace Lang Davidson
Murphy also announced on
Monday the promotion of Jan
German to the new position at
“Director of Alumni Programs."
In a memo circulated Monday,
Murphy explained that German
will assume the responsibilities
formerly held by Davidson. He
explained that she “will have staff
responsibility for all aspects of the
Alumni phases of the overall
development program.”

The dismissal marked the end of

the short career of Davidson in the
Alumni office, In June, 1976. she
applied for the position of Alumni
Executive Secretary. On being
selected. she relinquished her
position as secretary of the Fine
Arts Office,

At the time she assumed the new
post, it included the general
responsibility for developing and
sustaining the alumni program.
With a support stail of five people,
the Alumni Secretary represented
an autonomous operating unit
within‘lhe Office of Resources and
External Affairs

After Davidson had been hired,
last semester's administrative
reorganization went into effect
The reorganization radically
altered the previously deiined
duties oi the Alumni Secretary in
addition to her defined duties,
Davidson also assumed the bulk of
the duties related to alumni club
supervision and fund raising,
which had been German‘s
responsibility. At the same time,
German was promoted to the
position of Associate for Special
Projects

The support staii was
assimilated into the Office of
External Development with the
exception of the Alumni
Secretary‘s personal secretary,
Marrina Kaloupek, and a part»lime
class agent secretary. Two weeks
ago Kaloupek was promoted to
supervrsor of the operations unit or
the Development Office.

It was in this atmosphere of flux
that Davidson was called in on
Tuesday. Feb. 8 and told that her
job had been terminated, although
she would receive the salary for
which she was contracted through
the month of June.

Several administrators coma
merited that they knew oi no other

 

situation in whichanemployee had
been asked to leave before their
contract expired, with full pay, and
with such short notice when
inquiries were addressed to
President A, Richard Turner and
Murphy. both answered all
questions with “no comment,"

Although no college policy ior-
bids the immediate dismissal, with
pay. of an employee, there are
guidelines for dismissal in general
to be found in the Grinnell College
Staff Handbook, which was last
issued in August at 1972 with
regard to dismissal. the manual
states:

“Fortunately, the college seldom
finds it necessary to dismiss an
employee. li termination is
necessary for reasons not
prejudicial to the employee, he
may expect to receive notice or not
less than one month prior to the
termination date Upon receiving
such notice, an employee is free
both to seek and to accept other
work immediately.

”when dismissal is necessary
because of unsatisfactory work,
the college will give the employee
as much notice as possible, or»
dinarily not less than two weeks.

“Dismissals necessitated by
dishonesty or misconduct become
eiiective immediately upon
determination of facts concerning
the offense, While such deter-
mination is being mudc, the em-
ployee may be suspended. An
employee who has been suspended,
if later reinstated to good standing,
will receive regular compensation
[or the period of suspension.”

Although it can be assumed that
the above regulations refer to
termination \iithuul pay, it has
been pointed out by some that
immediate dismissal might imply
“dishonesty or misconduct," and
could be potentially damaging to
Davidson's future job prospects.

it is both the sudden manner in
which the action was carried out
and the administrative silence and
defensiveness about the firing
which seems to have aroused
criticims from members of the
campus community Ruth
Prescott, associate director of
College Relations, commented, “in
the 33 years that I have been here,
nothing like this has ever hap-
pened I am totally appalled . .
this used to be a humane and
compassionate place, and sud
denly it's not ”

Art professor Richard Cervene
offered the opinion that the method
in which she was fired was
“ethically incorrect."

And an upper level ads
miliistrator said that "I’m sure
Mr. Murphy had his proiessional
reasons for doing it. but I don't
think it's the Grinnell way of doing
things." . ,

 

