S pport rights

Edward Mezvinsky, U.S. representative to the U.N.
Human Rights Commission, spoke here last Thursday and
though he said little about his new position on the Com-
mission, he did discuss brieﬂy U.S. foreign policy com-
mittment to human rights.

Comments like Mezvinsky's, at least sincere ones, would
rarely have been heard from US. foreign policy decision-
makers ten years ago, Before Vietnam, Watergate and CIA
revelations, the foreign policy ”establishment" had few
qualms about twisting law and civil protections to serve
what it thought to be the national interest Concepts such as
decency, morality and rights were important as long as they
did not interfere with the national interest. Mezvinsky,
however, showed a sincere concern for decency, morality and
rights and showed a desire to make sacrifices to achieve
human rights at home and abroad.

THAT’S A good attitude, Human rights are everybody's
concern and no geographical, linguistic or political barrier
should block efforts to secure these rights. The lesson of
Vietnam was not that the US. should mind its own
business. Rather, it taught us that we should be more
considerate and cautious about the goals we work for abroad.
Human rights are primarily a moral issue and secondarily a'
political and economic issue, They are, therefore, a goal that
any moral personm however one chooses to define the hazy
word “moral”——should find worthy of pursuit at home or
abroad.

Too often, the idea of human rights is equated with
political and civil rights. Human rights entail economic
rights as well as political and civil rights. Freedom from
starvation is as important as the right to vote and protection
from unwarranted search and arrest, to cite examples.

The U.S. should be sincere in working for each of these
types of human rights Nothing would show more sincerity
on the part of this country than strong efforts to fully
establish political, civil and economic rights at home.

MEZVINSKY said the US. was acceptable in the former
two areas. That‘s not certain. Domestic CIA surveillance.
the absence of extensive protection for homosexuals from
discrimination and our extremely difficult voter registration
process show clearly that more work is needed. Last year,
Morton Halperin, director of the Project on National
Security and Civil Liberties, noted in a lecture that the
Cubans who attempted to assassinate President Truman
were put in jail for an unusually long time and that Korean
and Iranian students in this country are often placed under
surveillance by foreign intelligence organizations.

Economically, as Mezvinsky noted, the US. is very
inadequate, Though it is easy to play with numbers, a strong
case can be made that 25 per cent of all Americans live in
poverty. So, the U.S. has a long way to go domestically. But
that does .not mean it should neglect human rights effort
abroad.

WE SHOULD be willing to use economic and military aid
to promote rights. This cause deserves high priority and we
should not back down whenever a foreign leader expresses
contempt for US. pressure promoting human rights.

 

 

 

The Scarlet & Black

Second class nosisge paid at orinueli, la. slim

 

Editor
Assonaie Edilpr
News Editor

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Spuris Elinor
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Reporters
Daniel alum, Julianne Brand, Farron Brougher, Aubrey Carlsoni, Trena
cieiand, Justine Daheriy, Eileen Deegan, Ann Desmondi Andy Dunan, Mark
Eweri, Howard Friix, Tyrone Gibbs, lim Hansen, Kenneth Johnsmn,
Marikay Kamouzura, Thomas Kerr, calnerine Koranda, Rod Low, John
Mandel, chris Marler, Mark Mayer, Tim opormiiler, Judy Packer, Tom
Ponies, David Parkinson, Jane! Pope, colin Sacks, John shumway, Jim
Sirirkler, David Teasdale, Chrlsiopher Theo, Tracey Tomashpul, Thonds
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carioonisvs
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Columnisls

Will CDlliris, Vivki Fon'anini, ooug Schuilz, Leah Sendlei’, Michelle slacuy,
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sob Miicnell
Kathy Voper
Bob Meyer
Chris Lower
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pnmogrsphers

Farrpn aroughsr, Kari oukslein, Howard Frill, Rod Low, sieve siiberberg,
David Teasdale, Jeremiah whilipy.

 

Published weekly exzepiduring holidays and yscslion periods by Grinneil
College siudeni Publications and Radio commillee, Grmneil, lowa,‘50ilz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Day Amer hurling SUDK,

Lowering of standard unnecessary

To the editor: Though I agree with
last week's SdiB editorial which
supported an Affirmative Action
program at Grinnell College, I
disagree with some of the
statements it contained. Some of
these statements, I think, may
have resulted from a misreading of
the SGA statement on Affirmative
Action at lhe college and - or from
a misunderstanding of What Af-
firmative Action is.

In the editorial, the 5&8 editors
Support me stated goals of the
College Affirmative Action
Program which are that “the
number of women and minorities
on the faculty be not less than the
per cent of such persons among
those with Ph.D.S or equivalent
final degrees."

HOWEVER, THE 5&8 editors
Should understand that those
numbers of women and minorities
at Grinnell are a MINIMUM goal
stated in the plan, The plan cer-
tainly does not limit numbers of
women and minority professors at
this percentage,

The plan itself points this out.
“The benefit to be received from a
model community of colleagues
suggest that these goals. especially
for minorities, are indeed
minimum aspirations.” The plan
goes on to state, and 1 strongly
agree with its position, that. as an
educational institution, Grinnell
should be a model community, and
therefore not try to mimic the
world, but rather be more fair and
less discriminatory in its prac—

 

tices.

BESIDES Grinllell's attempt to
be a model community, women
and minorities should be hired so
that all members of the campus
community will have an op
portunity to interact with Lhem.
and so that they can provide role
models for women and minority
students on campus. Because
Grlnnell is In need of women and
minority faculty and staff, a
woman or minority's sex or race,
can and should be counted as one of
the quallties which makes them
desirable at Grinnell,

The 5&3 editors seem to be
worried about the quality of
women and minority faculty
members. I think part of lhis
concern comes out of a misreading
of the SGA statement on Afr
firmative Action at Grinnell and,
possibly, a misunderstanding of
What Affirmative Action is.

THE 5&8 said “it is not wise for
Grinnell to base its hiring on what
credentials a woman or a minority
member might have been able to
put on a resume had it not been for
discriminatory acceptance
practices by grad schools." But
nowhere did the SGA statement
imply that Grinnell Should hire less
qualiﬁed faculty than it is now
doing.

To make certain that the
document did not imply such a
position and that it was not a
misreading on my part, I talked to
Jon Neiderbach, SGA president
and author of the statement. Jon

Bi.” Kowals/ez'
L1ttle-known battles

The many battles fought during
the last 2,000 years have directly
and indirectly molded the fate of
modern man. Here are a few of the
least famous, yet most inﬂuential
struggles of the past.

The Battle of Everschnook: The
actual “first” battle of the
Revolutionary War. Four
Americans and a sheep were
wounded when an exploding
cheesecake went off in their faces.
Two nearby Tories ran to the site of
the mishap and were captured by a
somewhat foolhardy ermine
named Gregory.

The Flapmince Struggle: More
than a battle, this fight pitted the
ﬂora against the fauna of the state
of Illinois. The Floral forces, led by
the Mush Mallow and the Black
Walnut. suffered the worst losses,
while the ”Well oiled machinery"
of the Fauna (led by the American
Coot. Midland Watersnake, and
Eastern Wood Pee Wee) had little
trouble in this coup d’etat and
suffered no casualties.

TllE J. CHRIST Pinocle Games:
Although this Conflict bears little
resemblance to infantry slaughter,
Blitzkreig tactics, or napalm
bombing, the J, Christ Pinocle

 

Games did play a large part in the
final outcome of Judaism.

On his passage from Bethlehem
to the Bronx, 3 man of Slight build
(referring to himself only as a
representative of Sacred Moose
University) accosted Jesus and
offered to play Pinocle with him for
the rights to the New Testament.
Not one to pass up a quick game
with high stakes, our Lord agreed.

THE TWO men played for forty
days and forty nights. The
university representative was
winning heavily, and the other
members of the Holy Trinity were
becoming concerned, Gasps and
sighs of disbelief were heard from
the clouds above the card table.
Things were noi going well for
Jesu, until, as luck would have it,
the stranger forfeited the game
when the land around his chair
dropped twenty feet.

The 'l‘restlemire Travesty: The
almost unknown and yet equally
uninteresting contest between
Abraham Lincoln and the Easter
Bunny over the opening of the
Gettysburg Address,

The rabbit, eavesdropping
outside the president’s door, heard
Lincolnv rehearsing his speech.

 

 

conﬁrmed that hiring unqualified
candidates was not in the SGA
statement. “Hiring unqualified
people is not what Affirmative
Action is about," he Said.

RIGHT, Affirmative action is
extra efforts to search for women
and minority applicants for each
job position, in hopes that, more
often than in the past, such persons
will be best Suited for teaching,
administrative or other jobs at the
college.

Affirmative Action does not
legitimize hiring unqualified or
less qualified candidates.

And to say lhal hiring a number
of women and minority facility
members that is higher than the
percentage of such persons among
those with PhD’s “will almost
cerlainly lower the quality of ihe
faculty" is ludicrous. The 5&8
edilors seem to have become so
concerned about what they THINK
Affirmative Action policies will
entail that they can’t stand back
and look at the nonsense of their
own statements.

Affirmative Action efforts should
not stop when the composition of
the Grinnell faculty reflects the
percentages of women and
minorities with Ph,D.s . Rather
they should be continued in-
definitely, realizing that minimum
goals may not be met immediately,
and also that these are MINIMUM
goals and should be reached and
surpassed as quickly as possible.
Janet Pope

Lincoln had wanted the Address to
begin “What's shakin', cats?"
while the Easter Bunny favored
the more conservative “Four score
and seven years ago.”

LINCOLN agreed to settle the
disagreement through a hopping
contest, a decision some critics see
as one of the most foolish of his
term ln office.

The Cacomo Squabhle: On the
Galapagos Islands after the visit of
Charles Darwin, famous
naturalist, there was a
disagreement that almost caused a
change in the present theory of
evolution and natural Selection. It
seems that a sea turtle who was
repeatedly ignored by Darwin’s
crew Wanted to immediately
evoive into an overweight gramr
mar school teacher, just to make
all of the scientist’s hypotheses “go
over like a rubber chicken,” Other-
members of the Galapagos com-
munity. thinking of the possibilities
of tourist trade, rose to protest ihe
turtle. Several Small skirmishes
resulted, but major nuclear war
was averted at the negotiations
table, where the turtle dropped his
plan in favor of twefve free ad
cordion lessons.

 

