Page 4

Calendar Plan Sparks
More Faculty Debate

bv Anne Walter

Changes in theauademic calr
endar for 1971-72 will be de-
bated by the faculty at their
meeting this Monday (4:15,
ARH auditorium). Two chan-
ges from the current calendar
format have been proposed:
1) an eXtension of the buffer
days before exams for both
semesters from one day to
four days and 2) moving the
spring semester up one week,
i.e. starting a week earlier
in January and closing a week
earlier in May. The major
debate will concern the second
change.

The AcademicStanding Com-
mittee has offered 5 advant‘
ages for the change:

" 1) Qtr Christmas break is
considered by many students
and their parents to be exces
sively long. There has been
increasing pressure on the
administration to open dorm:
early so that students could
return a week before registrar
tion and the beginning ofclas-
ses.

2) By shortening the Christ
mas vacation, the secondsem~
ester can end a week earlier,
which will provide fora longer
summer vamtion.

3) An earlier terminal date
in the Spring will give many of
our students an advantage in
seeking summer employment.
This is of considerable im'
portance as summer jobs be-
come more difficult to get.
4) Campus tensions and an~
xieties increase the latersch-
no] is open in the Spring.

5) An earlier terminal date
is often of great convenience
to parents who have children
in other schools. “ ‘

The committee offered two
disadvantages: ,

" 1) An earlier closing date
works a hardship on a few
courses in biology in which
spring ﬁeld trips are import
ant.

2) In the opinion of some
members of the physiml edur
cation department, theearlier
terminal date will work a

hardship on the springvarsity
sports.

The advantages cited by the
Academic Standing Commit-
tee are readily debatable. As
to point 1, concemlng com-
plaints that Christmas vaca-
tion is too long, it must be
said that those who really like
the length of Christmas break
are not apt to tell the admin-
istration their feelings. It is
quite possible that a majority
of the student body would gre
eatly prefer having a longer
break. This carried into point
2 which states the obvious:
with a shorter Christmas van
cation there is a longer sum—
mer vacation. This is notnec~

. essarily an advanmge. Many

summer jobs do not start un-
til the first or middle of June
so that few students would
have the advantage of an extra
week of work. An extra week
in the longer summervacation
is not such a large increment
that it will drastitzlly change
the nature of the summer va-
cation whereasa longer winter
break could make a difference
to those who work at Christ-
mas, to those who have totra~
vel long distances (overseas)
to get home and wouldn't go
if there was less time, and it
is conceivable that a shorter
break could make a difference
in the degree of readiness felt
by some students to return to
school.

Getting out earlier in the
spring could makes difference
in so far as summer jobs are
concerned, as smted in point
3. However, Grinnell already
closes earlier than many col-
leges and universities. Even
so, the job market is so tight

that most arrangements must"

be made during Christmas or
Spring break or while here in
Grinnell. Therefore, this ar-
gument for the change is not
as substantial as it might be.

Point 4 concerning campus
tensions increasing in the sp-
ring is hard to dispute if the
Committee means that stud-

(continued to page 7)

THE SCARLET AND BLACK

PPPE Hopes To Get

FCC Commissioner

The PPPE, Program in
Practical Polltiml Education,
this year hopes togetNicholas
Johnson, a Federal Commun-
ications Commissioner, to
speak on campus. He plans to
tour Iowa and speakat Coe and
Dubuque about the end of
March and the first of April.
Chances are, he will come to
Grinnell also, but final ar-
rangements have notbeen con-
firmed.

Housing Changes

The Social Policy and Regu-
lations Committee will dis
cuss the proposed housing
changes at its regular meet~
ing Wednesday at noon in a
Forum FDR.

February 26, 197i.

Fatally Discussions Continue

Monday‘s faculty meeting
will feature discussion and
possible vote on proposed chi
anges in the academic calen-
dar and the opening of debate

. on the faculty reorganization

proposal. The meeting at 4:15
in AHR Auditorium will be,
as always, open to students.

The new calendar proposal
recommends that Christmas
vacation be shortened to three
weeks, with student returning
to campus a week earlier in
January and leaving a week
earlier in May. Students would
begin second semester clase
ses January 11 neXt year under
the proposal.

All proposed is an extension
of the Buffer Period between
the end of classes and the
start of final exams from one
to three or four days.

Breed Calls For SGA Changes

Dear Sir,

With the conclusion of my
term as a senator [feel that
I have several constructive
comments and criticisms on
the nature of SGA and on the
role of the leaders of SGA.
This year’s administration,
under the leadership of Andy
Loewi, made many significant
advances towards improving
the situation of the student at
Grinnell. Andy provedhimself
to be an able negotiator in the
realm of student power and
the most effective period of
his leadership, last spring
when the school was closed
down, has been forgottenby
too many people.

The frustration for those of
us serving as the represent-
atives of the student body on
the senate was that the execu-
tive cabinet (Andy, Mary
Brooner, Greg Vranicar, and
Bill Thomas) too easily made
decisions without consulting
the senate. It was this as-
sumption of power by the exe—

cutive cabinet thAt made the .

abolition of the senate inevit-
able. At many times I felt
like no more than a "rubber
stamp" for a predetermined
course of action. All of the
members of the senate, when

A Forum For The Students?

by J.C. Labowitz

The other night something
happened in the Forum which
gave me cause toponder.John
Otto needed change fora quar-
ter and the change machine
down in the basement (where
the pinball machines would be
so convenient) was in its cus-
tomary out-ofeorder state, so
he went up to the lady behind
the desk and asked for change.
She said that she couldn'tg-ive
him change because then she
wouldn’t have any change.

That kind of logic is what
made higher education what it
is today. I can readily see that
she would be in tough shape
if she had given away all of
her change, because then she
.wouldn't have any change to
give away. But since she
didn’t give away any change,
she still had change to give
away. Except that she isn't
giving any change away, be-
cause there is a Catch" Catch
22. All of which is all well
and good, except that John
doesn't have his change.

i, frankly, was appalled. Who
the hell was the change being
saved for? I guess what both-
ered me the most was thatthe
student who was not getting
the change was the one that
was losing, and who is the
Forum being run for? I can't
see the logic in denying stud‘

ents the service that their
Forum is there to provide.

Right here I would like to
state the point of this article.
(I like to identify the point of
the article bewuse sometimes
they tend to be obscure.) This
kind of incident that l have
described is irksome because
the attitude that it describes
is uncommon. There are a
great many people working at
this college who are genuinely
working for the students. I
am referring to what [believe
are termed "service person-
nel", not toprofessors. (While
I know some professors are
working for the students, they
will have towaittheirjournals
istic turn.) Not to totally cone
demn the Forum desk, Imust
compliment Ruth Roberts and
Mrs. Nebergal on the con-
scientious job they do.

The kind of people that [am
talking about are the BétG men
and the maids who have man-
aged to escape the general‘at-
tention and concern ofthe stu—
dent body since the climax of
the strike last spring. A lot of
stuff is dumped theirway, both
literally and figuratively, and
Lyle, Grace, Mrs.Mullins and
the rest just keep on truckin',
always with a big hello to any
student who cares to take the
time toacknowlcdge theirpre-
sence, if nor their necessity.
And what can you say about

Ernie in the post office? ,

I could list the essential and
ignored "service personnel"
all day. Such folks as Mr.
McEee and the bookstoregang
and the library staff make es-
sential chores downright en-
joyable at times. Mr. McBee
especially has made the book
store a showpiece of courtesy
and efficiency, which was no
mean feat. Florence and all
the girls behind the grill in
the Forum do a tremendous
job, particularly at 10:30 on
Saturday night when themovie
and the concert have both just
ended and the line is like a
roller derby jam. Florence
runs a pretty tight ship, "par-
ticularly if the boss isn’twat-
ching”, one that is concerned
with its customers who are
primarily the students.

I do not contend that all is
wonderful with the jobs being
done around this mmpus. i
also do not intend to overlook
anyone who deserves atten»
tion, such as Oda and Max in
the Deans“ office and the peo-
ple downtown in the Office
Building. My apologies toany»
one I have nOt mentioned. But,
with spring comingon, itmight
be nice if the attitudes thatthe
students have come to expect
from the people around them
were rewarded with a little
more than the ignorance that
has become customary.

elected, carried an eagerness
to the job and willingness to
work for the student body
that was never mken advantage
of. My main hope for the in-
coming legislative group is
that the leaders of that group
will be more capable of dis
tributing power and respon»
sibility than the present exe-
cutive cabinet.

Steps must also be taken to
get the burgeoning committee
system under control. The
incoming group of elected rep-
resentatives should become
the source of all major policy
decisions and the committees
should take over the job of
implementing the policy of
the elected body. If the dan-
gerous trend of concentration
of decision making power in
the committee structure is
continued the students will
agin find they have. little ef-
fective voice in'the decisions
which shape their education.
0in an elected body has the
right kind of mandate to fair:

- 1y representthe wishes of the

student body.

Overall, next year will call
for a much different kind of
leadership titan we had this
year. The new leaders must
come into office with a major
objective of extending student
government back to the studs
ents. If this does not happen
'dien student power will be lost
in the muddle of a disorgan-
ized committee structure.

Sincerely,
Michael Breed

School is scheduled to begin
August 30 this fall.

Opposition to the shortening
of Christmas Break has ale
ready developed among Stud'
ents and faculty, and a refer-
endum on the proposal will be
conducted Monday in the lunch
linES.

An informal worship service
will beheldin the South Lounge
Sunday, February 28. at 11
a.m. Mrs. Mary McDermott
Shideler of Ames, Iowa, a
theologian, will lead the dis-
cussion. She is the author of
several books, and her topic
Sunday is ”On Being a Hero.”

Fourteen students have been
elected to Mortar Board. a
national honorary society for
women.

They are Lisa Cheraskin,
Carla Coffey, Mary Homerin,
Sandra Kelsten, Iris Much-
more, Carol Schmidlein,
Paula Sprotte, Ann Burges,
Barbara Johnstone, Sherida
Lyman, Marsha 0se, and
Katherine Sutherland.

McKnightStory
‘ln Bad Taste’

To the Editor,

It is my opinion thattheartie
cle last week regarding Deb
McKnight's car accident was
in extremely poortaste. [have
been in a car accident which
was definitely not as serious
as the one described and if
such an article hadbeenprint-
ed about me, I would have
been quite upset.

Any accident is serious to the
person involved at the time,
true, but to have completely
ruined a car and still be alive
is a _iracle in itself and I
feel it is unsporting to be as
flippant about it as the article
sounded. I doubt that whoever
wrote the article meant any
disrespect, but Ialso fee that
they were wrong to treat the
subject in the manner inwhich
it was presented. Ialso doubt
that theirpartingcommentaba
out Ric MacDowell was true,
but that it consisted of what
they felt was a witty way to
end anarticle. Ifso, lam sorry
for their lack of judgement,
and I would like them to know
that in one case at least, their
attempt to be witty was afail-
ure.

Jane Buchholz

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal

The Grinnell 8 reached a
dead~end Monday when the
Supreme Court refused tohear
the appeal of their conviction
for "open and gross lewd-
ness" in the infamous Play~
boy demonstration.

The incident occurred Feb-
ruary S, 1969,in Gates Lounge

during a speech by Brice Dra~ '

per, a representative of Plays
boy Magazine. The students,
five women and three men,
were protesting Playboy's

”sexist" policies.

The 8 were convicted in the
Poweshiek County District
Court because of the restricc
tive charge to the jury given
by the judge. The jury fore-
man, Sharp ‘Iannom, contri-
buted his jury pay to the ap—
peal, (pulling the charge "fools
ish."

The Iowa Supreme Court ups
held the conviction 573 last
June.

An editorial by Neil Fischer
,was broadcast over KDIC ab-
out the incident, which claimed
that Henry Wilhelm, a local
photographer and former stu-

dent, had sponsored the dem—
onstration in order to sell the
pictures (which appeared in
newspapers and magazines
from coaststOrcoast). The re
sult was Wilhelm’s libel suit
against the college, which is
now pending in the District
Court.

The 8mustnowpaytheir $200
fines, plus the lawyers fees,
which should be extensive.

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