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by Andrew Schultz

An army can't get along without the
iootsoldier; a corporation] can’t get
along without the mailboys, In every
institution, there are those indispensi-
ble people who must perlorm the
physical labor without wllich an institu-

Job descriptions outline the ins
dlvldual duties and equipment to be
used, Certain jobs offer higher pay
rates based on the skill necessary in
the work or the variety and complexi-
ty oi skills required in the work,

Since the resolution of the ten week

Is the lazy B&G worker real, or an

imagined scapegoat—an easy target
for abuse and complaint?

tion is unviable.

The college is no exception, although
the term menial is an unfair adjective
for some oi the types or skilled
laborers the college employs as
painters, carpenters, boilerworkers,
plumbers, electricians.

Grinnell’s platoon of laborers, some
78 of them, are captained by Physical
Plant Director Dale Hawn Hawn is
plementation oi the policies deter-min
ed by the administration, and is where
the buck stops when it comes to per-
[orming services from fixing toilets to
major construction work,
major construction work

Hawn has three lieutenants who
directly oversee the work to be done.
Harold Horn is manager of housekeeps
ing services with authority over maids
and custodians. He has, in the past,
been the person who hired Students ior
summer positions on 5&0

Max L Jones is manager of plant
trades and grounds and is thus in
charge of the people you see mowing
the lawns, trimming the hedges. tak
ing the garbage away and some or the
more technical areas: carpentry, elec~
trical work.

The heavy-dilly work in heating,
cooling, and plumbing. is supervised
by Gerald Arment, manager ot
mechanical systems lor B&G lithe
boiler is on the tritz or you're not get
ting enough hot water, Armenl Will
probably have a hand iii what's being
done to fix the problem. Within these
divisions are grouped teams or
workers according to their specialty
Thus, there are crews of painters,
trouble-shooters, groundskeepers.
custodians, and the like, with each
group being headed up by a working
foreman.

Workers are operating under the
new union contract, which took effect
last July. it is a tllreeryear contract
which established rates of advance-
ment in wages over the three year
period and explains the natures oi all
jobs and the iringe benefits accruing
to workers

1974 strike, relations between labor
and management have been described
as “amiable ” in 1974, latte workers
received only one paid holiday per
year. in negotiations, the workers
demanded three paid holidays. The
current contract allows tor eight paid
holidays per year plus one additional

Dale Hawn:

by Don Flynn

Dale Hawn seems to be the man
whom members ol the Grinnell coma
muiiity love to hate. Hawn has been
the director or the physical plant some
1968: in that capacity he supervises
the organization that is commonly
known as B826.

Hawn has a 13.5. degree in civil
engineering front Iowa State Unlversi
ty and has done graduate work in
structural engineering Before coming
to Grinnell, Hawn worked as a struc»
tural engineer ior an architectural
tirm and as a project supervisor for a
construction company. Hawn was
supervising the construction oi Grinr
nell's heating plant when he was hired
as associate director oi the physical
plant in 1957.

For many people, anything other
than operational and aesthetic periec-
tion [mm the physical plant is blamed
on Hawn Last year, Hawn was blam»
cd for the architectural abomination
which is known as Macy House, tor
destroying the redwood siding on the
Science Library. and [or the hotel-like
qualities oi the renovated dorms,
More often than not, these things are
not Hawn's fault.

More otten, iiawn does only what
his Job charges him with doing- he
carries out policy which has been for-

B&G--a look at the campus 8

holiday given at the college's discrc~
tion

According to Hawn, Vice Provost
Ken Browning, and Provost and Dean
Waldo Walker, the number or 3er
personnel is the lowest it has been in
recent years The possibility or more
cutbacks in the tuturc is a dilemma
tor the college. There are tasks which
must be performed and a reduction in
personnnel usually means a reduction
in the amount ot services to the coir
lege community.

Hawn has had what he terms
‘motivational meetings' with his staff,
intorming them of the possibility or
the lean years to come it the declining
enrollment syndrome seriously strikes
Grinnell. With iewer students there is
less total college income, and the first
area to be cutback will be special ser-
vices it a belt-tightening comes,

Another threat to maintaining the
present level or services is inilation.
With energy prices skyrocketing, the
rate of all other materials and costs

Grinnell’s ‘me

mulatcd by someone else( usually the
provost or vice provost) Although he
is an advisor in the policy considera-
tioils, he does not make policy deci-
sions, he only carries them out in the
manner he leels will work best.

Why then is Hawn so often the butt
oi campus criticism? There are
several reasons. Paraphrasing trom
Shakespeare’s Julius ( esiir, Hawn
quotes liiark Alltolly in Caesar's
eulogy: "The good things you do are
buried With you, but the bad live:
they're what people talk about."

Another reason comes from Provost
and Dean Waldo Walker. Walker
theorlzcs that “the physical plant
director is the mess seargent oi the
army " Walker lcels that people need
someone on \\ ham to take out their
trustrations, and the physical plant
director, like the mess seargent oi the
army, iits the bill pcricctly.

“It the iaculty and administrative
staff had to eat in Dave's [Food Ser-
vice Director Dave McConnelll dining
hall, they'd be on Dave just as much
as they‘re on Dale. But there is only
one place where you can really give
vent to rage..,someone who’s down in
the pecking order and can't take
evasive action [Hawn]," Walker said.

He feels that most offices in college
administration have two components:

Scarlet & Bl

 

