TlIBrSC‘JI'lL‘l & lilac ‘.

cpl. is, ltthipiigt‘ ti

 

Looking back a decade
Grinnell students 11111120! soc1ety’s change

by (‘nlin sticks

By the fall of 1968, tension bet
ween townspeople and Grinnell
College students was cxtrcmc. A
black sophomore was quoted in the
5&8 as saying “somebody is going
to get hurt“ in response to racial
harassment on the streets of
Grinnell. The Grinnell Draft In
formation Center began its second
year on campus, and 90 students
attended 3 Students for a
Democratic Society meeting. The
war raged on in Viet Nam, and two
national heroes lay dead The

had only just begun in the hery
year of 1968. In addition, dining
hall meals were still Served by
waiters.

HISTORY PROFESSOR Alan
Jones recalls the fall of 1968. He
says that the predominantly left
Wing student body ”came back
from the Democratic convention
disillusioned and dismayed,"
There had been active campus
support for McCarthy and Ken-
nedy the previous spring, and the
nomination of Humphrey was a
major disappointment The recent

“We were so hip it was sick”

campus atmosphere reﬂected the
mood of the nation

Today, ten years later, Grinnell
is a pleasant. small. Iowa college,
turning out increasing numbers of
law. business, and mcdical
students. While such issues as the
college's investment in cor-
porations perpetuating apartheid
in South Africa occasionally find
their way into conversations here,
concern is casual. An air of
pragmatism and acceptance
dominates the campus,

tiNE STUDENT described this
tenryear process as ”the
metamorphosis from a progressive
liberal institution to a bland,
conservative Midwestern college.”

Yet in spite of the radicalism
associated with Grinnell ten years
ago, some rather innocent features
emerge. 1968 was the iirst year of
sexually integrated campuses,
There were no coed dorms (except
Younker and Loose, divided by
wingst. and strict visitation mies
existed. The gradual transition
from segregated campuses to co-
ed floors, now taken for granted,

 

—Rz'cle Stein

assassinations of Martin Luther
King and Robert Kennedy tApril
and June of 1968, respectively)
were still fresh on the minds of
Students and the war in Viet Nam
was a major issue on campus.
Two hundred students attended a
draft resistance rally in the fall of
I963, and there was much debate
over Air Force ROTC. still present
on campus. when a Marine
recruiter came to Grinnell. 2300
white crosses were erected on
central campus in protest.
ACTIVISM ALSO characterized
the student body at the level of
campus issues, SAGA food service
workers held a Strike at Quad for
three days and won their demand
for higher wages, The illegal
visitation rule caused extensive
debate between students and
administration. Halls began
declaring 24»hour visitation in
defiance of the administration.
Grinnell's first Women’s Group
was organized in the fall of 1963. A
birU1 control counsel center was
initiated at 1205 Park when the
college refused to allow the Health

Thc revolutionary students of 1963 adorned central campus with
23W crosses, (Photo courtesy oi the Grinnell llerald-chisteri)

 

Center to house such a facility

Till-1 PREVIOUS SPRING had
been no less active in Grinnell.
Against a backdrop oi viet Nam
and the civil rights movement.
racial tension permeated the town
of Grinnell. Several black students
were subjected to verbal and
physical abuse by Grinnell youths.
Meetings with Chief of Police Bill
Peters ensued and a handful of
arrests iollowed, according to
Peters, These incidents ted to the
formation of the Concerned Black
students group on campus.

Racial tension was augmented
by the assassination of civil rights
leader Martin Luther King in April
of 1963. The cullege held a three
day moratorium featuring lectures
by members of the National
Committee on Civil Disorder, It is
interesting to note that King spoke
at Grinnell and was given. an
honorary Doctorate of Humane
Letters in October of 1967,

THE PTERODACTYL. an
alternative newspaper published
by students, was initiated in 1968,
only to have an issue seized by the
Iowa Bureau of Criminal In-
vestigation. Attempts by Iowa
Attorney General Richard Turner
to squelch the paper ultimately
failed,

Professor Jones sees today’s
Grinnell student as having “much
less political or moral involvement
and interest,” But, he points out,
“The whole society has changed,
Students of the ‘70’s mirror
problems oi the time. Economic
issues seem important now," He
describes today’s student as
generally “skeptical about society
and his chances of changing it."
Students of the ‘80’5, on the other
hand. were faced with the war, the
draft, riots in their cities, and
assassination, which “seemed to
bea common practice of American
politics.

"STUDENTS OF THE Y60’s were
not thinking of what kind of Job
they would have after college.
In ﬁle '70’5, they are. They’re
working harder academically now
and they're more grade con-
scious," 'Jones believes.

Despite these factors. Jones does
not feel that actual classroom
behavior is Substantially different
now than it was ten years ago. He
says, “’70‘5 students have main-
tained some of the style of the 'SU’S.
They are concerned with their
rights as students, and they are
still concerned that classroom
teaching be related to their own
interests, Grinnell is probably still
more political and activist than
most other campuses."

BOB GLOBUS IlAS run JD'S
restaurant in Grinnell for 17 years,
and in thattime he has seen college
students from a town perspective.
His conclusions reﬂect his per
spective: “The pendulum always
swings Now it’s booze and babes

again. rather than LSD, Ap-
pearances have changed. but \l hat
goes on inside stiitionts' heads
li ‘t really

- ludents are qutet today
because they found that they had
no Itilluelice in the ‘tiO's. There‘s
also u language difference today
Students iire less concerned l\ith
broad political issues tintl nioreso

continues ‘It cro ~etl party lln€S*
everybody \\‘rS voiicei-iit , Today
there Lire no such issues,

Globus tools that towllrgml‘n
relations have vastly improved
over the last tcnyeni Vict Nam
led people to speak out about other
issues including race," he recalls
"Blacks and totinies especially
didn't get on "

POLICE ('llll‘Jl“ Bill Peters
agrees that lowiircollege relations
have improved somei
ivhat, although he does not
feel the difference is extreme,
”Things were about the same—l
suppose they're a little better
now," he comments. He also Cites
the 1968 harassment of black
students as the major problem of
ten years ago “Black students
were harassed I attended some
meetings with them, and some
townspeople were eventually
prosecuted on misdemeanor
charges." Peteis says that the

 

the late ’oo's enjoyed theniseiies "

l’ctel‘s does not Ice] that the
tmt‘nrgowll dichotomy was as
distinct as some tee A lot of
townies did synipath e with the
revolutionary students 1 syme
paihizcd iiith them I'm not
against it g od protest, It's Just
how u bout it 'i

RIC i\'. who runs Rick’s
BikeShopiiiG nnellt‘, student
at the college in loch Ile sum-
iiiiu 98' "We were so hip it was
sick Asked it he has any contact
\\ltl’l tnday' students he
laconicaliy replies. ”v . I know
how boring you are not

Stein Icets that Grinnell students
of the ’70s lire “more concerned
with advancing their positions in
society than 'th questioning the
purpose of so cty

STUD ,, TS 0|“ 1‘] 0'5
haibored the delusion tdt they
could have an impact on the world
Now they simply search [or a
comfortable niche" He sees the
student of the‘ﬁo’s as issue»
oriented. Today’s student. by
comparison. is a sclirccntered
vocational entity.

He also feels that the RushsMcd
program could not have existed at
Grinnell College ten years ago, and
sees contemporary Grinnell as a
“prermed. prerlaw machine,"

TEIN ALSO recalls the illegal
Vi tation rules of 1568, but notes

:3,

Yes. this is a ROTC meeting on the Grinnell Campus._’l‘he group was
still active in 1968. adding turmoil to the already active campus.
(Photo courtesy of the Office of College Relationst)

town and the college exist as two
separate. independent entities.
Although drugs are usually
associated with the late '60‘5,
Peters says. “You've got a hell of a
lot more drugs now than you did
then." Asked if he was concerned
with drug use on campus. Peters
smiled and replied, “If I can catch

that they were rarely heeded. Drug
consumption, he ieels, was
probably about the same then and
now in terms of quantity, But he
summarizes, “People were ex-
panding their awarenesses then.
Now they’re just getting high."
Most people seem to agree that
the notable changes in the Grinnell

“I‘m not against a good protest.

It’s just how you go about it"

—Police Chief Bill Peters

'em, I’ll get ’em."

STUDENTS HAVE changed
vastly over the last ten years,
Peters contends. “Hell yeahel see
a lot of ditterence. Their purpose is
more direct now than then, There
was a time ‘you couldn't satisfy
anybody I think students are
happier now. I ieel sorry for the old
revolutionaries. You should be able
to look back on college as a good
time, I don't think the students of

student body over the last ten
years reflect the changes In-society
over that time, Some see these
changes as good, some as dismal.
Some feel that a return to the ace
tivism oi the ’60’s Is likely, others
are doubtiul. In any case, the
college will no doubt continue to
turn out a fair number of adequate
law and med school candidates,

and perhaps also a handful of
progressive thinkers.

 

