 

Scarlet and Black

GRINNELL COLLEGE
Grime“, lawn

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Lynn Denzler
Knien Adkinson

nuerEss MANAGER .
MANAGING EDITOR
NEWS EDITOR ..
FEATURE Enl'm
SPORTS Eon-on Len Cclcdncy
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All letters to the Editor written (or publlcatinn in the Scarlet

and Black must be typed and double spaced. No unsigned letters

. will be printed. However, writers' names will be withheld upon
request. The 5&3 reserves the right to shorten any letter.

Grinnell and Civil Rights

Six children are dead in Birmingham. Birmingham’s
16th Street Baptist church is partially destroyed. Else—
where in the South—in Georgia and Mississippi—integra-
tion in the schools continues as the exception rather than

the rule.
The Sunday school deaths jarred America. The dogs,

the cattle prods, the high pressure hoses all seemed un-
real—removed. But the deaths of children are inescap-
able. Newspapers across the country were enraged. A
banner headline in the Pittsburg Courier read: “U. S.
MUST ACT NOW!”

Spurred by the American civil rights crisis and par-
ticularly by the deaths in Birmingham, a sympathy march
“aimed at bringing the problems of civil rights to the im-
mediate attention of the people of Iowa" has been organgd
by the students of Iowa State University.

Through demonstrations (such as the march scheduled
for Sunday) ; through contributions to groups like the 8012b
ern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonvio—
lent Coordinating Committee, ,the Committee on Racial
Equality; through letters to our Congressmen; and through
our social attitudes we must‘become a part of this battle

for equality.
J. P. H.

_—__S+eve Groom

SCARLET AND BLACK

Once upon a time lasi week an innocent
young Grinnell student had an amazing exper-
icncc.

“Imagine that,” he mumbled rather astonished-
ly to himself. ”A real live, honest to goodness,
really and truly, no foolin’ around beatnik!"

“Imagine that,” he mumbled again.

Yes, for the first time in his life he lay his
innocent young eyes on a living specimen of
a member of an almost extinct sect known as
“beatniks.” Quickly he narrowed his Eyes suspics
iosuly as he tried to recall the Words in his
sociology text.

“Let‘s see,‘ he thought aloud, “a beatnik is
a retreatist who denies inc desirability of
success and refuses to conform to the xcqincc-
merits of middle class mortality and in addition
does not offer any alternatives Yes, that’s how
it went," he said pcnsivcly lo himscli.

The United States National Student Associa-
tion has been subject to heavy criticism from
many quarters ever since its foundation in 1547.
Every spring the Grinnell College Student Sens
ate must decide whether or not to continue our
membership in the organization, and at that
time there is always vocal criticism of USNSA’s
policies and procedures. In part this results from
the simple {act that you cannot please every-
body at once, but many of the protests have
been directed at important shortcomings in the
organizations.\

Some of the most common criticisms of
USNSA in the past have been concerned with
the manner in which many resolutions are pass-
ed. Resolutions at the National Student Congress
are initiated in five separate committees. Each
'delegate to the Congress is a member of one
of these committees. Any and all resolutions
passed by the committees are brought to the
plenary floor for consideration by the entire
Congress. The difficulty in this process arose
from the fact that an enormous volume of legiss
lation was coming from the committees (over
100 resolutions in 1962).

The Congress, in its limited time, could not
possibly consider all of fhcsc bills. Rather
than let those hills dic completely without
consideration, a procedure was devised in
which all bills not considered by the Congress
were cclci-i-ed to the National Executive Com-

 

Friday, September 20, W63 1

‘_——Pe+er M. Miller

The Sanity of Stones

“llnaglne that," he said again, still not quite
sure that he was looking upon a real live beat-
nik. \

“You’re real, aren’t you," he asked appre
hensively, afraid that the beatnik might not
answer and disappear into a puff of smoke.

“Oi course I‘m real!” the beatnik said with
a yawn. “Everybody asks me that question. It’s
all quite tiresome by now, you know. I sup—
pose you’re going to ask me to prove it or some—
thing?”

“Prove it , . or something," the young
Grinnell student said defiantly!

“Oh well, if you insist."

“l insist," the young innocent Grinne11_ stu-
dent said insistently.

And so the real live, honest to goodness, real-
ly and uuly, no foolin‘ around beatnik disappearr
ed into a puff of smoke and was no more.

Phil Johnson

NSA Changes Rules

mitten for ﬁnal action. The NEC is a 28-mem»
bei- hoard composcd of the chairmen of the
various regions of USNSA plus the national
officers. Since the Congress has usually been
able to consider only 25 to so bills’in its limited
time, this procedure resulted in about 75
per cent of the policy statements of the or-
ganization being considered by 23 people. The
effect of this situation on the representative
nature of the bills passed is clear.

At this year’s National Student Congress, the
referral of legislation to the NEC has been efe
fectively ended. First, the number of resolu-
tions coming to the ﬂoor from the committees
has been limited to 31 pieces. ‘

Secondly, all mention of referral to the NEC
has been Stricken from the constitution, by-laws,
and the Congress rules,

Finally, the NEC has been dissolved and has
been replaced by 3 Congress Steering Committee,
which will be concerned mostly with the me-
chanics of the Congress. The resolutions passed
by the Congress determine the policy and pro-
gram of USNSA throughout the year. In the
future, all such resolutions will be passed by
die plenary session or not at all, the delegates
from each member school voting upon them. (An
explanation of the resolutions passed at this
year‘s Congress will appear in next week’s Scar-
let and Black,

Uncle Sam's Opens Registration

[Encampment Needs Fran/mess

Every college is regularly presented with
problems, and to meet these problems, the insti-
tutlon creates problem-solving machinery (i.e.
student deans, curriculum Committees, or a pres-
ident’s round table), There is an increasing ten
dency among American universities and colleges
to infrcducc students into this machinery in
order to create greater support for institutional
policies, to encourage student responsibility, and
above all, to bring to bear the maximum intel—
lectual force on common problems.

The phenomenon ambiguously called the Grins
nell College Encampment is one such attempt to
involve the students in the problem-solving pro-
cess. Student involvement could be accomplished
far more economically if a conference equiva-
lent to the Encampment were to be held on the
campus itself. The theoretical justification for
this expense lies in the nature of the shortcom-
ings of the problem-solving machinery.

Because the solution of common problems de-
pends on communications, these shortcomings
are, as one would suspect, rooted in failures of
communication. You have heard of the “dialogue”
between the different groups within the col-

lege community.'Thc dialogue between students
and college administrators has, at times, failed
for various reasons. One reason is the occasional
lack of frankness on one or both sides. Another
reason is that this dialogue is oficn conducted by
rumor, a process which results in distortion.

Still another reason is the occasional inabil-
ity of either or both sides to divorce themselves

from positions which are partially acquired by
a long association with a certain group, These
differences may be exaggerated by the formal-
ity of meeting in an office. One more criticism
would be that the dialogue, as opposed to a con-
versation, takes place over an extended period
of time; too much time between statement and
reply is conducive to misunderstanding,

Some oi these shortcomings exist to a degree
on every campus. The Encampment proposes to
meet these shortcomings by allowing a cross-sec»
tion of students, faculty and administration to
converse rationally in an informal atmosphere‘
isolated from the campus. The dialogue will bel
immediate and (hopefully) lively and frank.

The emphasis so far on the solution of prob»
lems should not obscure the equally valuable
function of the encampment of concentrating
original thought on the future of the college. An
institution which is content to deal with problems
as they arise will find that problems will never
cease to arise. By looking ahead it is hoped that
the participants of the Encampment will make
suggestions for policy changes which would con.
stitute better means for satisfaction of the ends
the college now pursues. Nor should these ends

themselves be exempt from rational criticism.

Despite a superior environment for rational
discussion, the Encampment is subject to the
severe limitations of time and unprofessional
opinion. Because of these limitations, the Encamp-
ment is not intended to be a quasi~legislative
body antecedent to Senate action.

 

Students interested in joining
Uncle Sam’s Club should sign
up next Tuesday or Wednesday
in the lunch lines at Cowles or
in the Quad. Work at the club-
house will begin on Sept. 30.

Uncle Sam’s is a club for
Grinneli children, run by the
city with the aid of college su-
pervision and planning, Mem-
bers work with different age
groups in arts, crafts, and rec-
l'eation. The highlight of the
year features the Uncle Sam’s
Christmas dinner, held in Cowles
for Club children and their cols
liege sponsors.

Buddies Dinner
This Wednesday

The annual Buddies Candle—
light dinner Will be held Wed-
nesday evening at 6:30 in the
Quad Dining Hall. Sponsored by
th‘e YWCA, the dinner is for up-
perclass women and their freshe
m’dn buddies and is one of Save
eral annual Buddy events. Tradi-
tional dress for the dinner is
white.

Following the dinner, the girls
will attend the candlelight serv-
ice in Herrick Chapel.

Illinois College
Honors Nollen

Naming of a new dormitory

in honor of the late Dr. John
Scholte Nollcn of GrinneLl has
been announced by Lake For-
est (lll.) College.

Dr. Nollen was president of
Lake Forest College from 1907 .
until 1920. piicc to returning to
Grinnell. where he had taught

Romance languages from 1393
until 1903. He served as Grin-
nell dean of the faculty from
1920 until 1931 and was presi-
dent of the college from 1931
until 1940,
president emeritus. He died in
1952.

when he became

Chaplain to Speak
in Herricik Sunday

Roger Eldridge, the college
chaplain, will speak at 11:30
and. Sunday in Herrick Chap-
el on the title, “St. Dolce
Vita’s Dance.”

 

 

