Vii-ruddy May 29. i061

SCARLET AND BLACK

h9- Thru

 

The 60's: A Decade of Change

By TERRY PARSSINEN
Asst. proi. oi History

Author‘s note: I was asked to write
a pleoe comparing the presenl student
mood to that which prevailed in me
early sixties, when i was ii student
here.

Perhaps two incidents that occurred in
my sophomore year, 1960—61. best iiidi<
(Late the diﬂerences between my student
generation and yours. During the “mock
election at Grinneii in the fill, Kennedy
was soundly beaten by Nixon. Later that
year. a group at rwcnlycdd athletes
Attacked and shaved the head of one of
Grinneli's ﬁrst “beatniks” (we had no
hippies then), for no other reason than
that his long hair somehow oiiended
them

In the context oi the present campul
mood, oi course, these events seem like
medieval atuvisms. ‘i'hough extreme,
both events sprung iron: the same per-
caption: we were heirs to a country,
a college, and a hie-style that were not
in need at fundamental change. Adjust—
ment. perhaps, but not change. We wero
crew—cut, clean-Cut Young Democrats or
Young Republicans, depending upon our
penchant ior such adjustment. Although
we were anxious about The Bomb, we
were basically optimistic about the in-
mm.

1 think that our quietism, as compared
to your activism, was not a result oi any
great difference between us. We, too,
came streaming in ironi upper middle
cuss suburbs, proudly displaying our
Ni-is certiﬁcates and our impeccable
high school records. What has happened
is that two events — the Black Move-
ment and the Vietnam War — have in-
tervened between you and us, and made
it impossible for your generation to ac-
cept things as they came to you.

in 1963, we perceived only that small
part of the Movement that was bound
on be Visible ﬁrst: the struggle for legal
oqualiiy. Commutation, when it came,
’Waii between men like Martin Luther
King, jr., and Bull Conner. What was
at stake was whether blacks could attend
better schools, use waiting rooms, and
vote. And votei Could any sensitive man
(all to understand that this was a strug-
gle between Right and Wmng? Could
any intelligent man iail to predict that
still: Enabiishment — after receiving a
tow embarrassing join — would disown
die Bull Couriers, Ind make the ricces~
nary adiustments to include the blacks?
Watts and “Black Powerl" were still two
years away, and no one. in his wildest
knnasies. could have projected black
students carrying guns at I liberal uni~
varsity.

Likewise. the war in Vietnam was no
more than an irritant, not so irnich be-
cause it was wrong, but because it was
unsuccessiul. This, like other babties in
the Cold War, was simply an uniorum-
ate, though necessary episode in a long
series oi ooni’lcts with the Communists.
Even those oi us who hoped for a detenta
between the U.S. and tile 0.8.8.11. would
not have argued for the immorality at
American intervention in Guatemala.
Labanon, or Cuba. The rules M conduct
for nations like those for men in a Hobbe-
Biun state of nature, were not encum-
bered by concern loi- morality. This

attitude carried ovei into the leading
radical student organization or the early
1960's, the Student Peace Union, and its
adult counterpart. SANE. We feared not
thai our leaders would act immorally,
but that they would act ioolishly. During
the Cuban missile crisis, for example,
we were less concerned about the moral
question oi intewcntion than we were
about the danger oi a nuclear war.

Since 1963, the “liberal veneer has
been stripped iroin American imperial-
ism." to quote Andrew Kopkind. and the
Black Movement has turned out to be in-
credibly more complex than anyone
could have imagined. The institutions
and persons responsible for adjusting the
machinery and perpetuating the Amer-
ican Dream have failed. Above all, our
iaith in the responsiveness or a demo-
craticaliy—eiected government to the will
at the electorate has been shaken, or
even crushed. The prolongation of in:
war, and the continued neglect or do
mestic problems have made a mockery
of this belief.

Under these circumstances, it is not
rrnprisiug that a substantial part or your
generation prefers either to attack or opt
out of the institutions and life-style that
my generaiion accepted. There were, at
course, dissidents among us, but their
despair never led to a cynical attitude
toward the entire system inn: is preva-
lent among many oi you. in some ways,
this cynicism, dds automatic disrespect
ior authority has been productive. On
one level, it has forced some Americans
to reconsider the moral implications 01‘
their country’s inrcigu policy. Closer to
home, it has led to a questioning or
every facet of university regulations and
traditions. Black students have made
universities aware of their moral obliga-
tion to minority groups, and white radi<
cais have made universities reconsider
the propriety oi the traditional grading
system, research-oriented faculties, and
integral lies to the military-industrial
complex. Together, black and white stu-
dents have iorced a restructuring oi
universities. For these and other con-
tributions you deserve our thanks and
our praise.

It is a professional axiom that every
historian is a captive or his times. To
some extent, his contemporary percep-
tions necessarily affect the way in which
he views the past. I believe that this his
sight is also applicable to student garter
ations. Certainly my generation was a
captivc or the ohucry optimism oi early
Kennedy years, In the same way, your
generation is the captive oi the history
at the last four years, the extent, lor
most of you, oi your political concious-
Iiess. Seeing both the domestic and for-
eign situations deteriorate in that time,
Come 0! you conclude that they Cannot
improve. Revolution or collapse are the
only alternatives. The rhetoric of stu-
dent radicalism echoes the apocalyptic
prophecies of earlier religious and secu<
Jar revolutionaries who were at the brink
of despair. These anarchists and mil-
lenarians are now footnotes to history,
and the impending doom that they pre-
dicted never came to pass. They were
deluded by their selective and simplistic
reading or events, as we were at the
beginning of this decade, and as some or
you are at its and.

YOU'RE GRADUATING?
Well, Pin a Rose On You!

BATES FLOWERS

TOO LATE FOR WORDS

By LEE MARIL

Seniors are no more, has becrls, alum-
ui, and juniors wait in the summer
wings ior the cue to begin their final
year. Renaissance, rebirth, etc, repe-
tition oi the same hopes, iailures, per-
haps achieved goals, perhaps not. But
it all doesn't end with the diploma bit
on graduation day and as Grinriell is
about to become a sign in the rear-view
mirror the benurnbed driver has just a
(cw last desperate words.

And they are to beware, to plan
ahead, to watch out, to realize that {our
ycars goal exceedingly last, that

Look Back in Anger

By DAVID SWEE

In looking back at Grinnell four year:
ago, it is easy to laugh at the silly prac-
tices and the ridiculous rules that were
then truly enloi'ccd: coats and ties at
late dinner; women’s hours, 12:00; tresh<
men women hours, 10:30, until they
“demonstrated" that they would be
“good"; North-male, Southriemaie and
never the twain shall meet ‘i'ire drills”
on South Campus only; prepping, which
was against the rules but was prac-
ticed anyway, while the administration
turned its back; real “housemothers”,
but only on South Campus; open rooms
every Sunday. 2-5; three lounge parties
a semester with two hours oi legal open
dorms; liquor was “naughty” on much oi
South Campus; pot in Langan; woodSies:
waierhalloons in Cowles; water lights;
animallsm all over, and the administrha
tion unconcerned; “It's alright as long
as i don’t know about it."

Four years later all oi this is guuc
But the changes have brought new ques»
tlons. When is SAGA going to start do-
ing things which students want? (What's
so impossible about a Sunday bluiich,
liH:00?) Why Can't more dorms be
'made coed? When is the Resident Ad-
visors program going to be turned into
something eiieclive, as opposed to some-
thing haphazard? how long will students
pretend to obey the eighty-four hours oi
legal opens? How many obey them now?
when is the administration going to al-
low students to run their own lives?
When is it going to recognize that stu-
dents can be adults it treated as such?
When is the administration going to
com out with a good drug statement,
like their position on liquor, which is that
it is the: student's responsibility to obey
the it’ll! law. and tho administration
will nit interiors? Has mimaiism really
died, or is it just hiding in Dibble? And
is anybody going to do something about
it? with the new “concern" for the stu<
dents, how come the student advisor
program is so lousy? And why is the
college paying them $14,000 when they
are so desperate for money that they are
asking student government to fund a
sex education program? Finally, with all
oi the new “communication" how come
the administration ls hiring a particu-
lar resident adviser couple when this
year‘s resident advisora and the many
students who met them all recommend
that they not be hired? is anybody
really listening?

dreams about graduate schools, mar.
ridge, liic, remain dreams as long on
there is a war in some heaven-knows-
where country where the people an-
yellow and eat rice all day.

And they are to sit down now, whilo
there is still time to think, and wonder
What you are going to do when the no<
iicc Comes in the mail and you‘re not
really ready tor it. Plan now what you
are going to have to race in (our year:
or less; there may still be a war, per-
haps a new war in Thailand, Korea, or
who knows Where, and the problem!
will remain the same.

Whether it’s Vietnam or anywherl
else the same balance must be reached
between ideals, conscience, and reality,
and in the process as few people must
be adversely affected as possible. And
you, or course, are one or those people,

I didn't really believe that lour years
later there could still be a war and
that, despite the supposed pcacc talks,
there could be a few, if any, signs of
all imminent peace. But that is exactly
the case and here we all are, at least
me, out in the cold rain with a paper
umbrella,

And so i want to say a lot of things
About the inequities oi the system, the
injustice of the present draft, the ac-
tualities oi the armed services (God
bless them), and the absurdities of War.
But the time has already passed for
such words and it's really just a little
bit too late. I’m tired of Saying such
words and l malize that each person
must face up to the reality oi the siiu<
stinn in his own good time. And so I

leave ii at that.
r:

268 Future People

commencement

liaiisiheniiis
By KATHY BULL

Grinneli is expelling another eruditl
graduating class irom her womb. Woops,
inw the world. Labor pains began WedA
nuday evening when the seniors wen
treated to dinner at the spacious Quad-
rangle dining room. The misplaced repli-
ca oi the president's medallion wa-
wwardéd to G. F. Crandall anyway,
and the alumni awards went to '1‘. Jr
Triplet: and K. .i. Karison. Bacon
laureate will be lite first truly solemn-
izing event or the Weekend. it will
be at B p.111. tonight in Herrick Chan
pei with Kathy Karison, Mary Maleoul
and Hubert Farbes homiiizing.

Tomorrow, Friday, May 30. 1989, A. D.,
It 2 pm. “amid Hughes will “Search
for a Contemporary Context" and thu
graduating class or 1969 will receive their
passport: to the future,

BLASSIFIED ADS

you SALE: A 1938 Buick Touring Sedan
(2-door). In excellent running condi-
tion and very reasonably priced. Cou-
tact G, p. Zimiuar, ext. 232 or 236451221,

FOR SALE: Very the-p, 50cc Hond-
rnotorcycie. In excellent condition,
most, $50. That's definite. Or mak.
an offer. That's deﬁnite, too. Call 0v
627i).

CONGRATULATIONS!
We Salute You, Class of '69

Swede's Grinneil Laundry

 

