~Page Two

Friday. February 9. I962

 

 

' ‘ n c
In opp051+lon
The controversial proposal now bet'ore the Student

Senate provides for the campus-wide election 01' a SGA
president and vice-president on a ticket1 Tile vicenpl'esident

would sel ‘c as leader of the
Speaker.

Senate replacing the present

loth men would be Executive Cabinet members

1nd both 1'. ould liavevveto powers.

We
'1 11 o

oppose tlle proposal.

ticket" idea is an attempt to ploinote party pol-

itics on campus Party politics is a full tme 11011 Any stu—
cent who “Quid consider lunning' 101' office under the new
proposal might as well change his major to campus al'fa s.

That part of the proposal which would give president
and his running—mate botll executive veto power is all at
tempt to establish greater coordination between the Cab-
inet and the Senate. We think there‘s been enough coordn

ination i too much;

The original idea it' 1113

Xide tlle Senate with capable, none

in fact.

rccall cor 'ectly, was to pro-
111 lcadci'ship. 'lhe

SGA piesident vas to be the maior source of e\ecutive
legislation That is not the way it has worked.

Last year the Senate elected a Speakcl' who was and
i: ex l'emely capable. But that Speaker was not and is not

1,01Ppal'tismi. Whether it is Do

tempei'nlent suits him to sei
lelnental'ian. we don’t know.

'ible to find a person whose
only as a moderator. a par-

It is quite obvious that, with his

gavel, and with his power to appoint committee heads, the

Speaker is in a position to contlmol

or at least belid tlle

Senate. \1 e_ feel it would be 1'1 mistake to grant the man in

such a pos

ion the power of e\ecutive Veto too.

This is no personal attack 011 Cam IIendersllot. We

'13 just viewing the facts. He holds strong political views.
It seems a bit unrealistic for anyone to expect him to trade
them for a gavel 7 uhich is exactly what the Speaker

must do if he is to guide 1111
Senate and campus fairly.

factions and interests of the_

, The soil; tion, as we see it, is not to pass the ploposal
which is 11011 lief-me the Senate (and, should it pass there,
ir will be beioie the enti1e campus because it is 11 constitu-
tional amendment and requires campus appro1'al)1

Let us, instead, kill it and proceed with the present

,system with this admonition to the Senate:

keep ill mind

' 1e demands of the position you are filling when you select

a Speaker.

'young

One portion 01' the proposal which we have
'el', worthy of adoption with only

to scuttle above is, 1101'

talen’r'

attempted

slight alte'i tions. This is the suggestion to open the pro-
posed rice-presidency to second semester sophomores ill

order to tap “young talent."

tempt to bring underclassmen into contention for

We entirely support this at-
hig'h

campus office he think there ai'e students here who are,
after only three semesters at Gl'innell, completely capable
of filling any student office on campus

 

' 'lilll"l‘ 111111 - l

FORUM

by Cameron Hendershot

There has been much discus-

on this year about the grouu

g disinterest of students in
running lor the major campus
government oﬁices. Last year‘s
elections brim-ca a case in pomt.
a total of nine pebple ran for
the top ﬁve positions.

The consensus seems to be
that, as the academic pressures
increase with the resulting de-
mands on time, there will be
even less interest in assuming
ihe burdens :0; leadership.

Two alternatives present them-
selves. One would be to return
lo the administration some of
the responsibilities p r e s e 1i t l y
held by student government.
Tlehher the administration nor
the student body seems to want
lhis. The other alternative then
would be to strive toward, pro-
(edurai changes which would
lessen the work load or the top
oﬁicers while still maintaining

an eﬂective and responsible

government.
One such prohosnl inward
this end of greater executive
efficiency will be voted upon
by the Senate next week. This
ccuStitutional uni endinl cut

would in effect creme inc ol-
ﬁce oi vice-president ahd drop
the present position 111 Speak-
er or the Senate. The SGA
vicerpresident. as an allrcam-
pus ele‘cted uﬁiriiil, would he-
comc n member at the excel»
tivc cabinet, “is primary 11“-
ties woulli'be to assist the
president and to preside over
the Student Senate.

The SGA President is pri-
11131in a co-ordinatoi' of the
various branches of government,
a representative of the Grinnell
students in faculty and adminis-
tl'ation. and an originator of
legislative 'ograms HIS co-
ordinating and representative

Starlet anh Iﬁlark

Grinnell, Iowa
GRINNELL COLLEGE

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11111 i1.i 111111),

 

A column 01' opinion
open to contribution by
Scarlet & Black readers.

SCARLET AND BLAGK

 

ﬁfhunghts nut niS

A PLAY:
DIALOGUE
OUT OF
SEASON

Sinucke!‘
(Cast)

Fclla 7 a talker
Roscoe Pooi-licld 7 Who
and tries to Crack. eggs
Rasscl 7 A paniicr
11101. 1110111 7 Willi definite ideas
Bradley 7 A coffee-hour cubinci
lilcr
Graham llpsworth 7 A boy
The characters are Situated
within their individual library
carouscls along a blank wall.
They are studying.

Fella (To a nameless
dent): “Sno Queen race looks
sweaty. The Cleveland (lollies
are unbelievably fired for Teri
Tripp and she'll be hard to beat
or course, there's always Susie
Slilepp, Great girl . . . what
more can ya say about 511511;
Shlepp. Semester is getting on
to a big start. Hardly enough
time to book and sack. Ya know
what Saturday's toboggan race
reminds me 01"? Yukon King...
remember." (Does imitation ot
sled dog)

Roscoe Paoriield (Intensely, to
Rassel) “Those shlepps! (Worldr
weary shake of head). You
know, this is . . such a mater-
ialist and Conformist world. No-
body wants to do the things that
really coum. Things like 1 1 . 1
used to run in the fields a lot

. and someday everyone 01'
these collfol‘mists . 1 . will wake
up with SnoADaze stamped in
gray flannel letters on . . . on
their foreheads."

Russel (Seeming serious, gaz—
ing into Roscoe's eyes): “You’ve
got something there. Good in—
sight, Rosiroe.n (Then throwing
his head back and thrusting eyes
distantly upwartd)

lays,

functions, both quite lime—cum
sumiilg, are rclzlivcly fixed. His
last role, um of legislative in-
novator. depends upon the in.

_ clination and convictions of the

President.

1 uiarly rclevnni is lhc
way in which the spcukcrship
has evolved, Originally cun-
rcivcd, perhaps somewhat un—
realistically. as only :1 purliu—
mentary one, lhc office has
emerged us the lockrpill ol
the legislative branch of gov-
ernment. 1n add-man to his
delegated prwcrs (e.g1, presid-
ing oilicer, appointment oi
committees). the speaker has
gradually assumed certain
others, such :1: formation at
the agenda and legislative
propnsul in order to expedite
the working oi the 4S-member
group.

Though some might consider
this increase in hincliun linde-
sirable, it must be viewed as
a logical and even necessary
extension of the office. in ad-
dition the speaker is new electe
ed by only uie Senate on the
basis of a short Speech. He unis
becomes tree to exercise his civn
judgment.

From this perspective the ad-
vantages that would accrue {rain
the proposed change become up.
parent. First the presiding or.
ﬁcer or the Senate as a member
of the Executive ciibinci, would
better undelstand the problems
of the Cubincl, and the Cabinet
the desil or the Senate. Secr

.onaiy, his campus ividc election

would allow all the students in
select! lho viccpresideni on uie
basis of his slated views Last-
ly, and most importantly, lhe fact
that the President and Vice-
president 11ill run together as
a team will help in ensurcra
general consensus between the.
two key bﬁicers. in addition,
the creation or the ouicc will
allow the president to delegate
some responsibility to the VICEV
president, and vice versa. As of

conli. _ .

ETISUII
By Larry Smucker

“8110»Daze, SnorDaze
Good old Golden . . "

Bradley (To Roscoe and Ras-
sel): “The student's imagination
has got to hc freed from the
pettiness oi 811043820. The larger
world issues. it seems to me, dc-
rnand his time, thought and ac—
tion,"

r1011 Mohl (Observes students.
walks off muttering: "1) College
is knowledge, 2) College is 51.117
dents. Therefore, college is stun
(lent-knowledge” (J. Mchlmsey
Bungle “Conception ol :1 College,’
lsil, p. 4391)

Graham Epwortli: "Thcrc is
something to be said for ami-
able dissipation"

Rassel: " . Good old Golden

1 yep, Roscoe.”

Rnscoe: " . People . . . medir
ocrc . . , regimented . . . culture.’

Braille. “Kahn's sluir may
not be right, but it’s certainly
essential to understanding the
larger issues. Naturally, it is

“Marx. Milton, Mcndelsnhn.
r1111. 11111111. (To himself);
Marcus Aurelius.
Maritan, Morgenthau,
Mendel and Moliere"

Fella: “A leg contest .
right!"

(Roscoe and Rassel get up to
leave, Bassel trips over Fella'l
foot)

Rassel:
me."

Roscoe: “Ngrphz!” (Signs, ~cxiti
with Russel)

Bradley: (To Fella):
docs Politics c47 look."

Fella: “Shouldn't be too bad.’

Bradle “Going to the cof-
rccaiou

Fella. “What is it?"

Braille - "The topic is in Loco
Adultis: the role 01' the adult in
a children's society'; sounds in.
tel‘esting,"

Fella: ”Guess I‘ll have to pass
it up."

Bradley: “0K, see ya."

(Fella begins to read. Prof.
Mohl is busy translating Andre
Gide into ancient Sanskrit.)

Graham Epwm‘tli: “Spectator
spoizs will'never replace bad»
lnlnton

. all

(To Fella) “Excuss

“How

how, each office is so constitul»
ed as to preclude any 1 ch
sharing of the work load.

What are the Objections that
might be raised to such a pro-
posal-l That such u Change might
lead to the formation of politi—
cal parties on campus has often
been Cited. The causal relation
seems rather tenuous. Political
parties are not 11l’ltlen into the
constitution; they must evolve
out of popular illtci’e . The
real key to the formation of
parties lies in the legislative
and not the executive branch.
AS long a: the senators are

elected by halls and not campus-
wide, such all evolvemont is
highly unlikely.

A second argument might
be that this change breaks
down the separation 01 powers
and gives too much inﬂuence
to the executive. The farmer
part of the argument .is amply
refuted by the legal prece-
dents existing in both national
and state governmenLS. The
latter part needs careful deﬂ—
nltion. The kind and degree
of inﬂuence must. he noted.
The major change would be
flint the Executive Cabinet
and particularly the Presi-
dent would be guaranteed full
access to the Senate. “'vitll
their general consensus the
Speaker would no longer :be
an alwaysmtential roadblock.
One last argument should be
dismissed, It is that the Campus
will not be able to select the

most qualiﬁed Candidate be-
cause he :‘uns with the presi-
dential candidate in :1 “package
deal" Although lior both po-
lltical and administrative rear
sons the presidential Candidate
is unlikely to Select all obvious-
ly incapable running—mate, the
reservation does remain valid.

It can only be nutcd that on

balance the [5am in administra-
tive efficiency will outweigh
the pos ible losses in freedom
oi choice.

agile“

To the editor:

in his letter last week Denton
Fox sccmcd to segregate life
into two spheres which he iccls
1111 not belong together: action
and thought. His implications
were that the college years are
those when a student selects a
philosophical. economic, and pi»
litlcal position, and the other
years of his litc are those in
which he acts on those views to
which he commits himself.

c P. siiuiv, in “Two Cultures,"
points to this view as a procure
ions trend among intellectuals tar
day and suggests that the solu—
tion lies not in assigning only :1
few years pl life for the study 01
art, literature, history, philosophy
and science, but rather giving
these areas and thought to the
questions aiising in theln,

Unlike the scllolastics of me-
dieval Europe, we cannot absorb
all there is to be learned today.
Our world demands specializa-
tion. Yet I would suggest that
it" a liberal arts education is to
be meaningful in our lives, we
must integrate this breadth of
thought into our Specialization
and our daily llVlng.

Educators recommend the
student approach his subject
matter with questions in order
to gain the greatest vuluc from
it, and the men wbuse books
we read and whose ideas we
analyze are attempting to ans-
wer questions which arose
from lheir experience.

Certainly this is the case with
Aristotle, Machievelli, Burke,
Marx, Freud, and Sartre. justrta
mention a few. The student who
struggles with the relationship
between thought and action and
who discovers at a significant
level ihe frustratlons of commun-
ity living is most likely to ap-
proach his study with some of
the same questions.

in the "Public Philosophy‘
Walter Lipnlann comments on
this relationship between ideas
and the “existential world.
“Wily do men make mistakes?
Because an iniporiani part of hu-
man behavior 5 reaction to the
pictures in their heads.

“Human behavior takes place
in relation to a pseudo-envirorr
me'nt — a representation. which
is not quite the same for any two
individuals, of what they suppose
to be 7not what is — the real-
ity of things.

"This mummade ,ihis cultural
environment, which hds its be-
ing in the minds of men, is inlei»
posed between man as a biolog~
icdl organism and the external
reality. It is in this realm that
ideas are eiiicacious . . . The airy
nothings in the realm of essence
are efficacious in the existential
world when a man ,believing it
to be true or good. treats the
idea as if it were the reality.”

I would contend, then, that
college is not n' place im-
“thinking” alone, but an oppor—
tunity ‘for the student to test
these ideas of other men as
well as his own, mid when he
has made mistakes to eval-
unte his action wilh intelli-
gencc.

The ability to ariiculule ideas
is not dependent upon uic ideas
alone, but derives from many
nnsuccesslul attempts to express
them. Just because the student
has listened to and read many
critical analyses of literary
works. he is not able in make 1
critical evaluation of a war}:
himself: usually it requlres many
trials on his own part. The stu-
dent making the lrip to Wash-
ingion had given considerable
thought and study to the ideas
they were purporting, but it was
necessary for them to make the
trip to prove or disprove the
eliicacy. oi their ideas,

This point of view would
mean that life at college should
be an organic whole, not merely
11 Utopia of thought, in which
the student may estabish pat-
terns oi thinking and living
which will continue :hmughcui
his his,

ci-iig ncndeison

 

