 

Q g 33119;: 3 never die. , ,
EX-activists comment on yesterday

IIclII' ' Wilhelm's

interests have always

been grounded in

photography. While at Grinnell, Wilhelm ran into problems with his
exhibition oi a collection oi nude photographs. Today he operates the

East Street Gallery in Grinnell.

hy John strauss

Remember this doctrine? You
can’t trust anyone over 30, Now,
those people who once proclaimed
this are nearing, or over, that
milestone themselves.

Let’s face it, there isn’t a Beatle
(John, Paul, George, or Ringo)
under 34. Rennie Davis is
somewhere selling insurance; the
war is over. But what has hap
pened to the lesser known rebels of
the late ’60'5 and early ’70’s’! Have
they joined the establishment.
mellowed, or found others areas to
express their radical views’!

FOR ITS size and location,
Grinnell was surprisingly active in
those turbulent yearsi Issues such
as censorship, human and civil
rights, open dorms and, of course,
Viet Nam plagued the campus.
Grinnell had its share of peace
marches, strikes, pranks and
radicals.

Where are the Grinnell radicals
often years ago, and what are they
doing now? That‘s what the Sim
editors wanted to know.

1 set off in hot pursuit of Erin
nell's ex—radicals. Tracking down
possible informants involved much
legwork, including numerous long-
distance phone calls charged, of
course, to the college.

Henry
Wilhelm ‘69

HENRY Wilhelm was the first
“ex»radical” I contacted He was
rushed for time, as he was
preparing for a trip to an industry
conference out West, where he
would demonstrate his new in-
vention, a photo washer. He
operates the East Street Gallery
here in Grinnell.

Wilhelm has been interested in
photography for some time now. In
fact, while at Grinnell, his
photography caused quite a stir on
two different occasions. “It was
my view on freedom of the press
that got me in trouble,“ he smted.

FIRST. as editor of the Grinnell
Book in 1966, Wilhelm Wanted a
book which “showed what it’s like
to be a student at Grinnell . . . The
book was misunderstood—it wasn't
meant to be a political statement."

Wilhelm’s book included pictures
or students drinking and smoking
dope “At that time dope was just
coming in, The pictures were
discrete. I was reporting a cultural
phenomenon which was coming to
Grinnell Five or six pages were
cited as unbecoming."

THE college reiusea to publish
the book “If the book were
published now the college would be
duly embarrassed” because ﬁle
pictures were so tame.

 

(Photo by Chris Lower)

A photo essay Wilhelm exhibited
in the Forum with pictures or
nudes was also censored. In fact,
the pictures were confiscated,
though later returned.

WILHELM also helped with the
publication of the underground
paper of the time, the Pterodactyl.
“I was into publications—not
politics." The Fterodactyl brought
the issue of freedom of the press to
a head. Always radical and often
pornographic, Wilhelm admitted,
it “never had a coherent political
viewpoint. . . some of it was pretty
ridiculous.”

Iowa Attorney General Richard
Turner tried to squelch the
Pterodactyl at one point. “It
Wouldn’t have been so big if it
wasn't lor Turner . . . it wasn't so
much the politics—at that time,
any political belief could be
spoutediit was the porn, . .
The administration thought
publications were learning
devices. They dictated what was in
or out," said Wilhelm. “Student
rights were being dictated by the
administration,"

WILHELM left Grinnell and
went to Bolivia to work with the
Peace Corps. After seeing the
mass corruption there, he formed a
better opinion of the U.S. Returr
ning. he smrted his gallery, and
designed the photo washer. He is
new writing a book on how to
preserve photographs.

Wilhelm is still a firm believer in
freedom of the press, “Watergate
helped to strengthen my views on
free press,” he stated

Richard

Schneirov ‘70

I CONTACTED Richard
Schneirov, now living in Chicago.

rwith the aid of the alumni office.

Schneirov played an important
role in the radical movement at.
Grinnell.

 

Editor and founder of the
Pterodactyl. a member of Students
for a Democratic Society (SDS)
and the Grinnell Student
Movement, Schneirov played an
instrumental role in the open dorm
controversy, It was Schneirov who
was brought to trial on campus in
'68 ior allowing his girlfriend from
another college to stay overnight in
his room (he subsequently married
her).

A MAID caught Schneirov’s
girlfriend the next mornlng. When
the RA. told her she had to leave,
Schneirov and SDS look a stand.
“It was one of the first open dorm
controversies in the country. The
trial became big neWSrarticles ln
the New York Times and
Chicago paper-s,” Schneirov said.

“Seventy-two to ninety per cent
of the student body attended the

Leggett tried to make a
e didn’t want the
publicityibut I reiused. Essen-
tially the dean was madea fool off
everybody was laughing at him,”
Schneirov was kicked off campus
but not expelled, as was the rule.
He then lived with Henry Wilhelm
for a while

THE SDS emphasized student
power on both national and local
issues, said Schneirovi “About 40
per cent of SGA were SDS meme
hers. We organized the student
campus workers strike . . . we
made a mess of the dining hall for
two or three days,” he said

Schneirov also humorously
remembered the anti-ROTC
campaign of ‘68. “SDS challenged
ROTC to a football game on the
soccer ﬁeld, which was covered
with snow. It was very surreal as I
remember itmhalf of our sup-
porters were stoned. We shouted
cheels like ‘Ho Ho Ho Chi Mihn.
SDS is gonna winr' " Final score:
SDS 7, ROTC 6.

TODAY Schneirov is starting his
PhD. dissertation at Northern
Illinois University in American
history. Although he is still com
mitted to human rights, he admits,
“the times are different, now
there’s no big. overriding issue.”
He believes that the radical
movement was a success. “I'd do it
all over again. We changed
people’s viewpoints—that‘s the
real meaning of eiiectiveness, if
you can change someone’s
viewpoints. We made some small
institutional changes, too . . . I
don’t know what it was about that
class, we had all the radical
leaders, we were really connected
to the counterculture: long hair
and drugs,"

Carl Gray ‘66

“I wasn’t into political activities

at Grinnellimore like'
humanitarian activities," said
Gray. Once an outspoken
columnist for the son, Gray was
involved in the campus civil rights
movement. “The {act that there
were only i2 blacks in '62 was a

subtle and embarrassing problem
for the college."
FOR Gray, the civil rights
movement “wasn't an ethnic thing.
. it involved human rights
directed toward integration of‘the
society,” Gray admitted that he
was “grateful” to Grinnell and its
“Norman Rockwell scenes” and
“charmed by the community and
the whole American experience"
Gray ottered some remarks on
the present state of civil and
human rights in both Grinnell and
the country as a whole. “Grinnell is
a better place than some admit.
The world is vicious and there's
no place like Grinnell out there.”
He feels that some people come to
Grinnell with had attitudes. The
race problem, according to Gray,
has complicated goals which have
not been clearly defined. “They'll

SDS and open dorm policy while a
student here. “i don't regret my
involvement It was a good thing at
the time," He left Grinnell in '68
and went to University of Illinois in
Chicago, There he became in-
volved with the anti-racism and
antrROTC movements. “People at
Grinnell were never really into
chanting and marching ”

FOR THOR, life as a radical
student was an “all consuming
way of life It Controlled my lile [or
about two years. I wouldn't or
couldn't think about anything
else ”

I asked him if some of the things
SDS did were meant as political
statements or pranks. He
responded that SDS had a ”pacifist
orientation which we took
seriously, but if you didn’t laugh
then you‘d cry ”

This group of dazed students gathered in front of Burling Library to

protest the college administration
regulations in 1969,

stay that way as long as blacks are
a separate entity. There will be a
lot of conflict until both blacks and
whites realize this."

Gray left Grinnell and did grad
work in American Studies in New
York, He also traveled to San
Francisco, Los Angeles and
Germany. “Germany was a lot like
Grinnellihighly defined group.
spiritr" He has worked in theatre
and as a porn writer, among other
things. He is now a student at
Columbia University‘s library
school. Gray believes he now has a
better idea of what life is about.
”Why go to Grinnell to hitch? It's a
nice place, an incubator College is
a time to have fun. Don’t hate it,”
Gray feels the idea of “black
houses and floors is really stupid.
Ifyou’re nothappy, form a group
that's ridiculous!"

GRAY [S distressed that the
black issue is now one of
“emnicity, not human rights." He
feels there ought to be a single
standard of American culture.
“We don't want distinctions.” he
said.

Eric Thor ’70

I REACHED Thor in Chicago
With the assistance of Richard
Schneirov. Apparently the two still
keep in touch. Both were interested
in my project, and gave me some
other names I might find useful.

Thor was also involved in the

 

’5 plans to draw-up college drug

(Photo by Henry Wilhelm)

A HIGH school math teacher in
one of Chicago’s inner city schools,
Thor linds that teaching
“dominates my life now.”

For him, deradicalization was a
gradual process. “I started to drop
out or the political movement. 1
was more interested in ecology.”
Thor found that having a job “gave
me a good excuse to ease out of the
movement at a time when I didn’t
understand it. I was still confused
in my own head I left bit by bit,
and after a while I wasn’t in it any
more . .

TODAY. Thor has a “depressed
view" and is “disgusted with the
future of life on this planet. Not
because of political problems but
because of ecological threats."
Thor assessed his radical days as
“exciting times” but also a “waste
of time." He added “after years of
running around handing out
leaﬂets I watched as nothing
happened.” .

Although the present political
philosophy of our Grinnell radicals
seems to have toned down over the
years none of them have really
compromised their feelings of ten
years ago. What they did at
Grinnell has had important
repercussions on their later lives,
Sometimes. remembering the past
is painful for them; other
memories are fond. Either Way,
their recollections provxde an
interesting perspective into
Crinnell’s radical past,

 

