The Grinnell
Scarlet & Black S

9/23/77
Grinnell 'College

Grinnell, Iowa
Vol. 86, No. 4

 

llere is a look at the always popular Danish Maid Bakery as it is
never seen at 2:00 in the morning. (Photo by Chris Lower)

Bakery ends tradition,
closes in early morning

By Marikay Kameczura
and Katherine Kovanda

Grinneilians who need food for
thought in the wee hours oi the
morning and those who like to
wander around town at 2 a.m. will
either have to ignore hunger pangs
or find another destination.

The back door at Danish Maid
Bakery is now closed.

THE OWNERS or the bakery,
Bill and Suzi Hansen, are short of
help. “My husband is the only one
here," Ms. Hansen said. “As soon
as he gets someone to help him, the
back door will be open again.”

Danish Maid Bakery, thereiore,
will not be opening at 2 am. for an
indefinite amount of time. Not only
must the Hansens find a new
employee, but the newcomer must
be trained as well.

IN THE meantime, the college
business is really being missed,
“One Saturday morning a line was
outside the door at 2 a.m.,” recalls
Mr. Hansen. ”We didn’t finish
waiting on everybody till five to 3 "

Most of the college students were ,

interested in buying the ireshly
baked donuts.

WHEN BILL and Susie
l-lansen bought the Danish Maid
Bakery irom Bill’s iather in
Augustof me, they knew very well

what life was like working in this .
bakery. Bill's father started the ,

business 23 years ago and it has
been going strong ever since. In
fact, Bill‘s father, grandfather,
and stepgrandi‘ather were all

bakers,
that

Some things happen

 

cannot pe helped, Such an oc»
curence was me fire they had in
1963. This fire caused so much
damage that a whole new front for
theistore had to be built.

Other changes came too. In 1969,
a Grinnell College student went
down to the bakery to observe the
baking in the early morning hours
at Danish Maid. On one of these
nights, he asked whether he could
buy anything. The answer was yes
and the rest is historyl Soon droves
of Grinnell College students began
arriving in the early morning
hours to buy some freshly baked
goods,

THIS phenomena was welcomed
by both the college and the Han-
sens. Still , people can be at their
worst at that time oi day. They
have had students come in drunk.
necking and swearing. Yet overall,
the Hansens enjoy their
business with the college students.
Aside irom the revenue gained,
Bill and Susie Hansen have made
some good friends. They have been
invited to weddings, and received
postcards in the summertime from
students who missed their baked
goods. One girl even baked them a
Chocolate cake. But the most in-
teresting occurrence came when
the Hansens were presented a
plaque and made honorary
members of the senior class of ’76.

The Hansens promise to notiiy
the college when the bakery opens
up for latermght business again
"We hate closing as much as the
kids do,” says Ms Hansen. “it’s
like breaking a tradition."

' staff

Turner discusses stocks,
energy use, White Paper

By Elaine Ashbaugh

During a discussion with
members of the Scarlet and Black
this past Wednesday,
President A Richard Turner
addressed the problems of South
African investment and increasing
energy costs for the college, as well
as discussing the aftermath oi the
White Paper.

Turner spoke at length about the
college investment policy, an issue
revived by students Jon Neiderr
bach and Jim Stuart in their at-
tempts to find out the extent of
Grinnell College’s investment in
corporations involved in South
Africa. They push for the College‘s
divestiture of stock in companies
involved in perpetuating the
system oi apartheid now prevalent
in South Africa.

AT THE moment, a “no
sunlight” policy on the portfolio oi
college investments is holding up
both students‘ attempts. However,
President Turner says that he has
not actually talked to or instructed
College treasurer Robert Anderson
about continuing this closed-file
policy. Turner admits that he
knows no historical reasonsfor the
portfolio secrecy, but prefers to
check with the Board of Trustees at
their November meeting to find out
if this policy is purely traditional or
if it has a legalrpoliti 1 basis. In
reierence to the poss‘ lity oi the
portiolio being opened to students
previous to such a meeting, Turner
admits, ”I wouldn't be terribly
upset if it happened, but it’s a little
bit nerveracking.”

Stuart has drawn up a list of
iifty~one corporations involved in

In Focus

 

South Atrlca, He hopes for a
response irom Anderson, despite
the basically closed book policy
now being followed, as to whether
or not the College holds stock in
any of those particular companies.

[N referring to this list, Turner
commented, “I think if all the
names speleically are given that
are on that then effectively you
would reveal a third of the port»
iolio—that probably makes me a
little nervous." Continuing, he
said, ”My assumption is that we
hold 50 per cent of that list. Of
course we have stock in most of the
obvious companies.”

Knowing that the list includes a
number of such “obvious," blue
chip investments, Turner
nonetheless states that he would be
glad to look at Stuart’s list.
Although he affirms that he would
not give out specific names, Turner
added that he would head Stuart
“into the right ballpark.”

BELIEVING that the portfolio
issue is more than Simply a South
Airican issue, Turnerwill bring the
topic before the Board ior general
discussion. Turner personally
believes that ”most of us would
agree that the South African
situation has come to such a head
that ‘revolting’ is probably not too
strong a word," but he wants the
Board to consider all such cases of
moral investment responsibility.
He plans to ask the Board if. as a
general rule, “they‘re going to
favor a proxy resolution" (rather
than divestiture).

in the interview wiﬂl the 5&3,
Turner brought up the possibility
of the College having “among its

Board a corporate responsibility
officerisomebody who is going to
monitor the portiolio in terms oi
not just South Africa, but all major
challenges." Turner mentioned
nuclear power, strip mining,
employment disclosure practices,
and the Arab embargo as other
:possible challenges.

EVEN IF such an officer were
looking at the problems and
reporting regularly to the Board,
Turner reasoned that, in practice,
the decision to Vote a stock-holder
challenge —to return a letter

.stating concern to the company

managementiwould be in the
hands of the Board.

Both in the appointment of a
corporate responsibility officer
and in establishing an Investment
Responsibility Committee, Turner
recognizes a great number of
problems though he sees no harm
in the basic idea. He foresees
”tremendous problems in getting
the adequate information to make
the judgments.” Concerning the
responsibility of a given come
pany‘s actions, he said “additional
problems would appear in
deciding which issues you deem—
and for what reasonSVLo be really
pressing: How do you translate the
degree of concern on the there
,mometer into action? When it gets
to 50 degrees do you do something
or do you Wait until it gets to 757”

ANTICIPATING the discussion
of the Board, Turner thinks that
divestiture Will not be considered a
real alternative. “I wolild assume
that they would say that we are

 

trying to get maximum growth and
Continued on page 2

Apartheid. abuses continue

By Julie Brand

There are approximately 25 million Americans
today living at an income level deiined by the
government as inadequate to provide the basic
necessities of life. This may be shocking to the other
38,4 per cent Americans, but these statistics make
the US, look like paradise when the South African
situation is considered.

According to the Position Paper on Stanford
University’s Investments in Corporations
Operating in South Africa, 80 per cent of all blacks
live under the Poverty Datum Line (PDL), which is
defined as the absolute minimum income on which a
family can survive, This was estimated by South
African officials to be $149 a month for a black
family in Soweto, the central black township near
Johannesburg. Yet the average black industrial
worker earned $125 a month, considerably less than
survival wages. The reasons for these inadequacies
become apparent when the laws of South Africa are
examined.

THE GENERAL policy of the apartheid govern-
ment tends to place the blacks under the domination
of the African white minority economically,
politically and socially. This government, elected
by the 4,2 million whites, controls the lives of 20.7
million blacks. Recently this control has been
challenged, as the numerous reports of riots in
dicate Still. plans of the South African government
to assign all blacks to nine “homelands” 01' Ban-
tustans are being carried out These Bantustans are
comprised of 250 noncontiguous areas, and make up
approximately 13 per cent oi‘ the land.

The remaining $7 per cent of the land is reserved
for the Whites, although the blacks account for 80
per cent of the population. Not only does this make
the Bantustans the most densely populated area in

 

- all of Africa, but they only account for two per cent

of the total agricultural production and hold iew oi
the many mineral reserves in South Africa.

LAWS HAVE been passed which drastically
restrict movement from these Bantustans. One law,
known as the Pass Law, requires blacks over the
age'of 16 to carry passhooks at all times. Violations
oi this law account tor 250,000 arrests per year. This
is attributable mainly to the Substantial unem-
ployment percentage, There are roughly two
million blacks out of work, almost inevitably
creating a considerable migrant labor force.

Those blacks that do' have steady jobs are not
much better off. Trade unions, industrial councils,
apprenticeship programs, strikes and even certain
jobs are illegal for the black worker. According to
reliable sources, such laws are responsible for the
high standard of living for white South Africans.
“White per capita income,” according to the
Stanford Position Paper “is thirteen times greater
than black and the gap is still increasing."

APARTHEID is apparent everywhere, even to
the educational institutions. While the whites enjoy
a free and compulsory education system, the blacks
have neither. Even then the exgenditures for a
black children are fourteen times ower than those
for white children, The student-teacher ratio, as
reported by the Stanford Position Paper, is 56:! for
blacks, while whites, in separate schools. have 21
students to each teacher, As a result, some do per
Cent of all blacks are illiterate,

The medical statistics, sadly enough. are the
worst by iar. “There is one doctor for every 44,000
blacks compared to one doctor for every 455
\vllitcs. Three out 0i every five children die in the
Bantustans (mostly of starvation) heiore they

Continued on pace (5

 

