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VOL. LXXIX No. 4

NOVEMBER 13, 1970

GRINNE LL, lOWA 50112

Board Of Trustees To Meet Here;
Two Sessions Open To Student Body

The Board of Trustees will
hold a series of meetings Sat
urday and Sunday with admin*
istrators, faculty members,
and students. Two meetings
Will be open to the student
body at large.

The first will be an informal
meeting Saturday evening in
Younkers Lounge starting at
8. Topics for discussion will
be possibilities for better ins
forming the college commun-
ity of the board's meetings
and actions, and the ad hoc
committee's proposal that the
senior class each year elect
a member to the Board of
Trustees for a two'year term
beginning after graduation.

The second open meetingwill
be Sunday afternoon in the
Forum South Lounge from 3
to 5. Students at thattime may
discuss their role in college
goverance with the trustees.

A number of closedmeetings
Will also be held. The first,
a general meeting Saturday
afternoon, will include the ex-
ecutive council of the faculty,
executive cabinet of SGA, and
the trustees including chair-
man Lawrence G. Keeney. Nu-
merous reports will be pre-
seated at that time, featuring
President Leggett'spreliminr
ary plans for academic reor-
ganization, a report on the
faculty‘s progress in curricu-
lum reform, Dean Walker's
report on finances and the pres
jected tuition increase next
year, and a report from SGA
president Andy Loewi.

Sunday morning the invest-
ment committe and commit
tee on trustees (a selection
committee) will meet. Inaddi-
tion, the remaining trustees
will meet with Leggett, Deans
Kimbo and McDowell, the fac-
ulty executive council, and the
SGA executive cabinet to dis-

Community Day Is

Moderate Success

Community Day, scheduled
for October 24th, was extend-
ed beyond twenty four hours
because rain forcedpostpone-
ment of the day's activities.
Small groups of townspeople
and college students worked
in the afternoons ofthe follow-
ing week to clean up several
vacant lots. This job included
cutting down trees, removing
garbage and moving heavy de—
bris to the junk yard.

Although much of the enthu-
siasm was lost due to the
weather, most of the jobs, ex-
cept painting houses, did get
done; and public responsewas
favorable. Anne Walter, studs
ent organizer for Community
Day, said, "The momentum
was really squelched by the
weather; but there are great
possibilities for the future.
There is no question that the
public response we got was
favorable."

Possibilities for the future
include a day to be set aside
in the spring to paint houses.

cuss changes in judicialcoun‘
cil organization and proced-
ure and possibilities for ch-
anges in the disruption clause.

Another closed general
meeting will be held from 11
to 12:30 to hear reports from
the investment committee and
committee on trustees. From
2 to 3 the trustees will hold
a closed—door meeting with
Leggett.

Loewi, speaking of the large

CHARLES WILLsY, Sam Moore (superviser), Elvin Willis,

number of closed meetings,
expressed the desire that the
first general meeting Saturn
day could have been opened
to the student body. It was
not, he said, because the tr-
ustees would not have recei~

*vved fair notice prior to the

meeting. However, a S&Brct
porter will be admitted to this
and other closed meetings,
and a report will be published
in next week's paper.

Wright Tactics Draw
Attention To Racism -

by Debby McKnight

The mail box blurb announ-
ced: “Nathan Wright, Jr. on
‘Black Power: a Creative For-
ce.’ " and described Wright
as "a vigorous black strate-
gest of blackrwhite confron-
tation.” “Vigorous" was an
understatement. Wright, wh—
ose credentials include his
book about Newark, Ready to
Riot, and chairmanship of the
AfrvAmerican Studies De-
partment at SUNY, Albany,
was on campus November 5.
He spent much timewithblack
students and visited the Amer-
ican Minorities class. An in-
formal public discussion took
place in South Lounge at 4:00.

Before the discussion, Wr—
ight exchanged a few words
with each person in the aud-
ience, creating a kind of bond
that does not usually xist
between students and vi 'ting
speaker.

Then be defined the topic:
“I'd like to hear what black

w “vs

Ea‘rry McDaniel and 1.3..

Kummerow (moderator) formed a panel discussing prison life in America and Riverview,
a "buffer" state between penal institutions and the outside world, crudely analogous to

the Grinnell community suspended between youth and adulthood.

(photo by Marty Sachs)

Inmates Rap About Prison Life,-
Say Men Treated Like Animals

by Bill Knecht

Three inmates and a super
visor from the Riverview Ree
lease Center near Newton sp-
ent Wednesday afternoon at
Grinnell discussingprison life
and the American penal sys-
tem.

The three men, Barry Mc-
Daniel, Alvin J. Willis, Ch»
arles Willey, and theirsuper-
visor, Sam Moore, spent the
afternoon in discussion with
faculty and students, first in
Loose Hall Lounge at 2:15and
finally, in the South Lounge at
4:15.

Their discussion began with
dieir experiences as inmates
of various corrective institu-
tions, especially Riverview,
where they becameacquainted
with one another. Riverview,
they explained, is a "buffer"
between hardrcore penal in-
stitutions and the outside
world. It provides a place for
convicts to adjust to the pres-
sures and tensions of every»
day lifettsmall things to most
people, but forces strong ent
ough to drive some men to re
turn to the “security" that
prison can offer. Since they
are not usually allowed to re
turn, they must commit new
crimes to be readmitted.

The men expressed theirbe-
lief that therearea greatnume
ber of criminals who would
truly like to assume a normal
role in society, and who could
benefit greatly from an instit
tution like Riverview. They
cited their own experiences in
penitentiaries, wheremen we-
re treated “like animals,"
and were not given the coun-
seling and individual attention
they feel is necessary to es-
tablish true rehabilitation.
They explained how a convict
in a hard- core institution is
likely to drift into a “dream
world" of fantasy in which he
does not have to work for a
living, or accept the blame for
his mistakes, or seek to pro
vide for his own security, or
accept any of the responsibie
lities a healthy member of
society must accept in order
to adjust to that society.

They elaborated that Rivera
view has extensive facilities
to aid inmates in reorienting
their goals and behavior. Psy-
chological therapy sessions
enable individuals to see their
problems more clearly and
to help them to be able to es-
tablish healthy relations with
other people. Individual couri-
seling helps inmates toasscss
their capabilities and to

Search for healthy goals to
suStain them on the outside.
Job training gives them skills
to enable them to support th-
emselves. Frequent opportun-
ities for social contact, such
as Wednesday-night skating
in town, and frequent visits to
friends and families, enable
them to interact on a normal,
everyday plane with people
they would otherwise have no

(continued to page 6)

students have to say about
things here at Grinnell Col-
lege . . . What are some of
the tings thatneed to be done?"
An immediate suggestion was
to have more black people.

Taking this up, Wright cone
tended that the "marginal op»
inion" - that of groups denied
full participation ina society-
is more sensitive to that soc-
iety. From here he stressed
the need for black faculty mes
mbers. ”To omit 15% of the
American experience is to
preclude any chance of find-
ing the truth about it." He.
then said that black recruit-
ers are necessary for finding
creative black instructors who
will not serve as “window
dressing” for a college inter-
ested only in "being white."

Convincedthat he "couldne-
ver have gotten a job at any
major university if it had not
been for black student pro-
test,” Wright put some hope
for changes in America.
racism on the efforts ofyoung
people. First he demandedthe
recognition: ”Everybody in
America has apro-white mind
. . . a black man knows he is
honkified as everyone else but
he tries to overcome it, know-
ing it's not in his or the white
people's interest." However,
white Amerim refuses to ad-
mit its own racism, and this
refusal prevents dealing with
the problem. Before the two
races can get together many-
thing, Wright contended that
white people mustunite among
themselves to begin corrects
ing their own attitudes. .

The discussion content was
not new; the ﬂamboyant con-
frontation tactic was. Wright
commanded the attention of
everyone in his audience; wh-
atever the opinion of his phil-
osophy and style. The even-
ing address at Herrick Chapel
was similar. A large crowd
gathered to hearWright “bear
down very hard on white peo-
ple."

Denouncing civil rights leg-
islation, Wright claimed that
in the last fifteen years, the
black American's positionhas
actually deteriorated. He at-
tributed this to the inherent-
ly conservative role of social
institutions such as colleges.
Society does not allow them to
exist except to preserve the
status quo. Since the Ameri-
can status out) is white sup-
remacy, institutions general-
ly further racism. However,
Wright did not rule out all
possibility of change. Anyone
who wills human fulﬁllment
will just have to work at un-
dercutting the “dehumanizing
effects of institutions."
Addressing himselfto imme-

(continued to page 3)

Women's lib Weekend Conlerence

I riday, Nov. 13

8:00 p.m. panel discussion "A Definition of Women's Liber-
ation in Terms of Goals" participants: Marlene Dixon;
Shannon, from the Twin Oaks Community in Virginia; a
representative from the Chicago Women's Union; a repre-
sentative from the Grinnell Women's Liberation Front
10:00 p.m. informal reception for guests

aturday, Nov. 14

10 a.m.*5:30 p.m. workshops on the topics ofWomen in Media
and Art; Women as a Caste and Class: Daycare; Lesbianism;
Alternative Life Styles; the Institutions of Marriage and
Sexual Intercourse; and any others that women decide they

want to have
6:00 p.m. Digger Dinner

7:30 p.m. role playing and informal discussions , whatever

you to do
-unday, Nov. 15

10:00 am. panel discussion "Women's Liberation asa Basis
for Radical Social Change" participants: Marlene Dixon;
Barbara Chasin; a representative from the Grinnell Women's
Liberation Front; re-resentatives from the Feminists

 

