TlieScarleLSt Black, A]: l 20, l

 

Dorm problems:
a non-issue

Faculty members were prepared Monday to discuss “the
problemH of student life in the dormitories.

But the discussion showed there isn't much of a problem.

The meeting was convened by Deall 0f the College Waldo
Walker, who said he "agreed" with the concern of Ad»
missions Board members who feel “the general level of
unruliness is detrimental to our admissions program and is
contributing to greater attrition of Students than is
necessary.”

The meeting, however, was largely anti-climactic, Faculty
members who expected to hear about various atrocities
performed by students within the Walls of the campus
residence halls were treated instead to a barrage of statistics
from Dean of Student Affairs Jim Tederman which show
today’s students to be relatively well-behaved.

The statistics, which came from Resident Adviser
evaluations, show how tame the “dorm problem" really is.
Noise, for example. is seen as a “problem" by only 25 percent
of the students responding. And, as Tederman said, ”noise”
is a difficult concept to measure empirically.

As for the much bemoaned vandalism problem, the
evidence shows this has been exaggerated as well. Teder-
man told the faculty damage to college property has
never been lower. In addition, the college is paying less to
repair damaged property than ever.

Dorm life is far from utopian. Steroes are often too loud,
students occasionally are inconsiderate, and conflicts bet
ween neighbors often arise. But these problems are not
symptomatic of any broader, serious problems facing dorm
life here. They shouldn't be viewed with alarm by either the
faculty or the administration.

Even we make mistakes

“Campus thefts are an unsolvable problem with no easy
solution—" 88:13, Apr. 13, 1979.

That distressing prose, billed by one student as the
"dumbest sentence ever written," ran as the lead paragraph
in last week's lead story on campus security.

Although the story was written by John Mandel. it should
be noted that Mandel did not commit this particular
grammatical atrocity. The lead had been rewritten in the
wee hours of Wednesday morning by a staff member who
shall remain nameless.

Blunders such as this are particularly embarrassing for a
newspaper. After all, newspapers deal in words. Their job is
to communicate the news as clearly, objectively and con-
cisely as possible. Mistakes such as the one which appeared
last week stand in the way of the attainment of such goals.

More seriously, however, the distressing prose of last Fri-
day's article only confirms the beliefs of those who feel
student editors shouldn't be trusted to deal with serious
problems on campus and that a student newspaper should be
little more than a public~relations arm of the college.

Unfortunately, the critics can cite more than last week's
botched lead to confirm their point. Grammatical errors, and
typographical , errors have appeared with distressing
frequency this semester. The notorious headline announcing
the “Rosenfeld” rather than the “Kosenfield” lecture is a
case in point.

If the critics are to appraise the S&B fairly, however. they
should look at more than its all too frequent grammatical
mistakes. The 8&8 has frequently attained levels of ex»
cellence not attained by many professional publications.

But the S&B’s relatively good record still does not excuse
blunders like the lead to the security story. Unfortunately,
mistakes such as this are an unsolvable problem with . . . .

The Scarlet 5? Black .

Posimosiors: send form am in The Scarlei & Black, Grinneli college,
crihneli, lowa sullz.
Second class wsiaae paid an Griuneil, lowa sum.

 

Eoiior
Associaie Edilor
News Ediior
Feature Ediiors
corcnvy Ediiurs
Photo Editor

sporis oiior
Adveriisino Manager
Circulation Manager
Busmess Manager
Faculty Advisur

sub Mitchell
Dan Flynn

Andrew Schultz

Jon Elbaum, Ken Krimsiein
Paul Morris, sunny Neil
Karl ouksiein

Paul Schwartz

Molly sobcock

Evan Solomon

Nancy DuTeau

William Demlnoﬂ

Reporters
Susan Ban, Eric Berry, Dan Blum, Anna Marie Campblll, Marllvn Clark,l
Trena Clelano, Mark Flnkleﬁleln, Jim Gall. Nancy Gould, Toni Holman,
Kale Hughes, Marlkay Kameczura, Lori Lochrnahn, John Mandel. Jcﬂl
Melsles, Bob Meyer. Bev Peterson, Steve Plarrer, Anne Rowland. Paul sch- I
warn. scan Shepard, Dave Wick. Kathy Wilmolie. Ken yordon, Alan um. i

Published weekly excupi during holidays,

Grinneli College siudehi Publications
50m. and Radio

and vacation periods. by
cummiiiee. Grinnell, Iowa

 

 

 

.l

 

 

Letters to the editor

Decries st’iB women’s cross country and track coverage

To the editor: I cannot believe the
lack of coverage the women’s cross
country and track and field teams
have received this year!

The cross country team has had
many firsts this past season,
bringing home three trophies and
placing no less than third at every
meet.

GRINNELL WON the Con-
ference, placed second out of nine
teams at the Les Duke Invitational
and placed third at the prestigious
Loyola Lakefront Invitational in
Chicago. At Loyola, many schools
soon found out just where or what
is “Grinnell”—including an
outraged University of Illinois
Circle coach, Whom we had beaten
narrowly, and who had insisted the
scorekeeper re-check the allotted
points.

Later that season, at the Central
College Invitational, we placed
third, only one point ahead of
Drake Universityianother first in
the history of women‘s cross
country.

THE TOP SCORERS on this
team were Julia Carver, captain,
Toni Heiman, Kate Hughes, Diane
Morgan, Laurie Ballou, Sarah
Brichford and Ruth Reich. With
only ten members, this team did an
outstanding job last fall!

The indoor track and field team
had 27 membersione of the

Dance Troupe

commended

To the editor: I would like to
commend the Folk Dance Group
and its leader on a very good
performance. The timing between
dances was skillfully done without
a hitch. David J. Mallaek. Class oi

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largest turnouts of all the 20 var
sity sports at Grinnell. Yet, why
just a line in the SliiB about our
first meet in which we placed third
out of three, and nothing about our
two consecutive triangulars in
which we won? On March 10, we
hosted nine teams and placed a
very admirable third, with so
points. This is quite a jump from
the previous year‘s sixth place
finish with only eight points scored.

IT'S IMPORTANT that some of
the outstanding performances be
recognized, Diana Thompson, in
shot put, scored consistent first
and seconds at triangulais. Diana
Hearst and Harriet Phinney have
tied for first and placed con-
sistently at meets in the high jump
\vitha 4’s" best jump, Julia Carver
broke the school mile record with a
5:34 time and won the half~mile
event at the invitational. Sarah
Sanford has had excellent perr

formances—always placing in the
top three in her so yard dash event

An athlete that has executed
many exciting performances is
freshman Brenda Bower. Always a
(up 1-2 finisher in the 220, she raced
against, and beat, the state
champion from Dordt College in-
ches from the finish line,‘in that ev-
ent at our invitational. Asimilar
performance was seen a few weeks
earlier, when she anchored the 580
relay, caught up with her opponent
in the last ten yards, and beat her
by only a step.

KATE HUGHES has run every-
thing from 220 yards to 2 miles and
has won or placed in them all!

There are obviously many other
athletes who have contributed
valuable poian or much support
and spiritto this very special team.
Why not give them the recognition
they so rightfully deserve? Mary
Ann Pankey

Urges participation in elections

To the editor: Next Tuesday and
Thursday, after dorm rooms for
next year have been chosen, new
hallmates are supposed to meet to
nominate and elect their SGA hall
reps. Usually about four or five
people show up and some dip gets.
elected, making {or another lousy
Joint Board. I know how stupid it
all must seem to most, but consider
what I have to say before you
decide not to attend these
meetings.

SGA is responsible for countless
social events; the budget next year

 

will be about $100,000, It also has a
great deal to say about decision-
making here~more than in most
schools. Student input (or student
power) is directly related to the
quality of hall reps. So, if students
are concerned about electing a rep.
who is interested. concerned, and
knows how students think, and if
people with such qualities are
urged to run, then SGA won’t be
siupid next year. Let's have good
people next year, please? Danny
Kadden

IT IS NOT 1‘00 LATE

to spend next year in Denmark,
Finland, Norway or Sweden

live and study in a small,

residential school as one
American among Scandinavians

become fluent in a new

language
discover
and gain
yourself

For further

another way of life
new perspective on

information about our

1979-80 program (cost, departure,

college credit ,

etc.) , contact:

Scandinavian Seminar — Dept. 7
100 E. 85 St. , New York, N.Y. 10028

(212) nil—8340

NDINNIPiN
801 SEMINAR”

 

