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In recent months, Grinnell has turned its attention to the
issue of Affirmative Action. Near the end of last year, the
administration wrote a document establishing an official
college policy on the issue. Last Wednesday, SGA approved
its own statement on the implementation of Affirmative
Action at Grinnell.

Both the document and the statement support Affirmative
Action, which is good. In a choice between two equally
qualified candidates, one of whom is a white male and the
other of whom is a woman or a minority member, the latter
should be hired. But a close look at the details of the writings
reveals that the administration’s view is closer to what
Grinnell's policy should be, though both writings have
weaknesses.

The good aspects of SGA's statement are the stress on the
need for public awareness of Grinnell's Affirmative Action
Program and the call for workshops in that area. However, it
makes no mention whatsoever of the need to maintain the
high caliber of Grinnell’s hirings. This is its glaring
weakness.

Maintenance of a high caliber in faculty and staff and
successful implementation of Affirmative Action policies are
not incompatible, but the former could easily suffer without
careful judgement and caution regarding the latter.

The administration's document clearly shows a com-
mittment to keeping the high quality hirings of Grinnell,
even if it means passing over a woman or a minority member
to hire a white male who is better suited to fill Grinnell’s
needs.

SGA's statement also threatens Grinnell's standard of
excellence by calling for the hiring of women and minorities
to a far greater extent than that established in the ad-
ministration’s document. The latter calls for Grinnell's
faculty to have a percentage of women and minorities equal
toor slightly above the percentage of such people with Ph.-
D.s or the equivalent in the general public. SGA calls these
percentages “woefully inadequate.“ SGA wants to help
correct “the historic inequities in access to graduate school”
by hiring a larger percentage of women and minorities than
the administration calls for.

Affirmative Action hiring to a degree far above the level of
PhD. holders will almost certainly lower the quality of the
faculty. It is certainly true that discrimination by grad
schools has denied many women and minorities an equal
chance to obtain Ph.D.s, but 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. SGA's aim is noble, but it would be best handled if
grad schools themselves adopted Affirmative Action
policies.

The administration's document is not without major fault.
It calls for the Affirmative Action advisory Committee to
have a voice in hiring decisions, which is good because it is
easy for an administrator to find some semi-plausible
justification for considering a white male better suited for
Grinnell's needs than a woman or a minority member. (The
concept of equally qualified candidates is probably more
abstract than real). However, as the SGA statement points
out, the document gives the Committee no means of
nullifying a hiring or promotion that it believes to be in
violation of Affirmative Action policies. We suggest that all
hirings and promotions be subject to nullification by a
unanimous vote of the Committee. This would give Af-
firmative Action supporters an undeniable voice in hiring
and promoting, but the need for a unanimous vote would
assure that the Committee is confident about its
nullification.

 

_Lcl

LAWYERS

(OTHER

 

 

registration 77

Doug Schultz
$5,000 in humanity

For only a few hundred dollars
more than what it costs to go to
Grinnell for a year, I had the op
portunity to study at a foreign
university for one year and, as a
bonus, experience the
magnificently rich culture of
Germany. After receiving a
financial memo from the
treasurer’s office, I began to look
with a raised eyebrow, therefore,
at the $5,Mplus which I’d be
dishing out this year Just to sit
myself down in the middle of the
Cornbelt.

Tuition at German universities
for Gennan students, is zero and
for foreign students, depending on
thetype of program or scholarship,
is quite minimal, That leaves a
proportionately larger share of the
budget for “living expenses"
which usually include plenty of
food, drink, concerts, theater and
transportation costs, On paper
Grinnell‘s costs look pretty
sobering by comparison

UPON returning to Grinnell,
however, i quickly realized that
that five grand each year was
buying me a lot more than the
chance to become a highly
educated Jobless. I was buying the
chance to become iobless in style,

 

with grace and humanity7
a truly unique experience.

Nowhere, for example. but on a
small college campus such as
Grinnell, does one have the op
portunity to meet a switch board
operator who really cares about
the voice on the other end. “I would
have left long ago, it it weren’t for
the kids that I've gotten to know,”
said Ida Weaver, 54, a 9-year
veteran of the pushbuttons.

MRS. WEAVER got to know one
former Grinnell couple after
connecting so many of their
urgent, long distance phone calls,
“She” was a senior and “he” was a
graduate student calling late at
night. She just recently received a
wedding announcement from
them. As if she hadn’t done enough
already, she sent them a gift.

She once spent what was the
equivalent of a year's earnings to
help out a grandchild in need.
There’s no lack of generosity or
humanity in her Corner of the
campus,

And I found humanity elsewhere.
in places and ways that one would
least expect it. For instance, that
$5,0007plus also buys me the
privilege of not having my lunch
served up and out on a conveyer

Wall: 21 big loss

 

 

 

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, in V7

, l

 

 

Joseph Wall's forthcoming resignation from Grinnell is a
real shock. it seemed only natural to assume that since Wall
had spent an impressive total of about 35 years associated
with Grinnell, he would complete his teaching career here. As
it is, Wall will be leaving at the end of the year to take a
position at the State University of New York at Albany as
chairman of the history department.

The SUNY~Albany offer is ideal for Wall, who was looking
for a change of scenery and more time to do research. SUNY-
Albany has made a strong acquisition. Wall has a nation-
wide reputation and has been honored many times for his
achievements. His biography of Andrew Carnegie is believed
by many to be the definitive work on the industrialist. It is
strange to find a professor of this stature at a college that
has only 1200 students and that does not have a “publish or
perish" attitude.

Grinnell made an effort to keep Wall by presenting offers
that aimed mainly at allowing more research time. These
offers included setting aside full years to do research and
lightening the work load when the professor was on-campus.
The administration also asked if salary considerations could
help persuade Wall to stay, but he said no, Though un-
successful, the administration deserves praisc for making
special efforts to keep Wall.

Wall, who some have appropriately called Mr. Grinnell, is
certain to make his resignation official. His contributions to
Grinnell are immeasureable, except to say that they are
extensive. The knowledge he gave to students and faculty
members and the prestige he brought to our college will
always remain. But his presence will be missed. We wish him
the best.

belt, one Wienerschnitzel after
another. six daysa week. It’s much
more satisfying to be able to look
the server right in the eye when he
or she dares to dish up that
whatever-it-is-theyrcall-it stuff.
AND WHERE else, but in such a
college environment can a Boy
Wonder of kitchen management
become the top man, Mr. Food
Service himself, within a few
years”!

At most German universities, by
contrast, the cafeterias are run not
by one manager, but by the local
“Studentenwerk,” an alls
encompassing service and
maintenance organizationma sort
of university-size benevolent Big
Brother, whose meals were about
as various, unpredictable and
exciting as the starched, white bed
linen they issued every other week.
i much prefer it Grinnell's way:
having just one scapegoat to blame
when the vegetables. like my
sheets used to be, are overcooked.

AND WITH the more personal
closeness of having student
workers, rather than dispensing
machines, conveyor belts and
disaffected workers, the dining
rooms do seem to be maintaining a
degree of simple, Americanrstyle
humanity, hard icecream or no
hard icercream. And let us give
credit where credit is due. Mr.
McConnell also seems to be taking
serious steps to keep costs down,
albeit with restrictive hours on the
Forum grill,

Nevertheless, there are Certain
areas or aspects of Grinnell which
seem to have a curious lack of
humanity. Try the health center
for instance. In many cases, if
you're very sick, and only the clerk
is on duty, you can't be admitted,
because if anything should happen
to you while you were there, the
college would be terribly liable,
and that gets expensive If you are
not very sick, but just need to
recuperate, you can’t be admitted
to the bedrooms either, for the
above same reasons, presumably,
and because you are not sick
Catch-22.

FURTHERMORE, although
most attendants at the Health
Center have some training in First
Aid, they are not allowed to ad»
minister it at the Center without a
doctor present, because that would
be practicing medicine at a health
institution Without the auspices of a
doctor. according to Iowa law
CatcthZ,

If there are more corners of
absurdity hidden within our ens
\‘il'oﬂmellt. I haven't found them
yet or they have slipped my con» -
sciousness momentarily. But I'd be
anxious to hear about them, I want
to know exactly how far my $5,000.
plus is going.

 

