Friday. octabw l4. lm

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Aflack from the East

Boy Wonder Bliizes Des Moines;
Excitemenl,Speculaiion in Wake

By Don Winuey

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy barnstormed through Iowa
last weekend for Democratic candidates, giving Iowa
politics some excitement, some intelligence, and a fine

pair of white teeth. In Des
Moines. a throng of 3,500 greet-
ed him with all the hoopla and
mesmeric excitement that
greets any Beatle or presiden-
tial candidate, There were a lot
of young voters. a lot who were
just young. and a surprising
number of medicare maids,
those little old women without
tennis shoes who View Bobby
as a grandson par excellence.

Standing ovations were the
Itanding orders for the day,

Senator Kennedy

When Congressman Neil Smith
of Des MDines (Dem) an-
nounced, “I know of no one in
the Democratic party, in the
nation today, who can help lcwa
more this fall," everyone went
wild. Everyone, that is. except
a few who wondered if Smith
had forgotten about President
Johnson. But Democrats
weren’t going to discuss him,
not today.

Behind all the glamour and
commotion were lhe efforts of a
wealth—oiled machine, an East-
ern braintrust, and the political
dead body 0! Hubert Humphrey.
n is easy to dislike Kennedy on
those grounds. but one might as
well dislike American politics
and apple pie, His isn’t the ﬁrst
dynasty nor the first healthy po-
litical organization in American
politics. After all, what he
wants, or may want is what
Lyndon Johnson wanted when
he sat soaking his Tee! in the
muddy Pedernales. And who is
to say Mr. Johnson deserved
what he got, or that Mr. Ken—
nedy will get what he deserves?

When Kennedy speaks, his ac<
cent seems to link his words
with the past, the New Frontier,
and the rest of American his-
tory,
selves crowd the present into
the future. “i am not satisfied,"
he keeps saying in that iamiliar
staccato repetition, with the ta-
miliar forward thrust of his
right; hand. “i am not satis—
ﬁed." His speech is last and
stumbling, but the eiiect is that
same sense of urgency to grain
pie with Society’s problems his
older brother had. It is the sense
of lolal.involvement in the pres
ent, a pragmatism that in its
very immersion in the present

while the words them- 0

becomes the traditional theme
for any successtul political can-
didaie.

Kennedy has to mature before
any further ambitions are rea-
lized and he has the time to do
it in. He is a tresh political hope
—and an energetic unktor the
country. ObVlously, a lot can
happen before l972, and Ken-
nedy may not be able to main.
taln his momentum to keep it
rising. Many already see him
building a national political
base in Iowa and elsewhere this
tall, Many see him as a future
President and Kennedy himself
doesn't seem adverse to the
idea.

News from Other Campuses

At Amherst College in Mas<
sachusetts, the impact that 18
seniors made by walking out of
the 19% graduation ceremonies,

at which Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara was given
an honorary degree. is now be-
ing telt. The faculty has re-
quested thbt they be allowed
to help the Board of Trustees in
the selection of honorary de-
gree candidates. The Student
Council has proposed that sen—
iors Choose their own Com-
mencement speaker. The sen-
iors want to present a list of
four or ﬁve men to the Trustees
who would then select the
speaker from the list.

The present grading system
at Amherst is under discussion.
There have been suggestions to
give six weeks grades in the
required Problems of inquiry 1
course on a Satisfactory — Un-
satisfactory— Incomplete scale.
The committee on Educational
Policy is making a survey on
grades, but has not yet made
any deﬁnite recommendations.

as:

Freshman studies are on I
three year trial'basis known as
the New First Year Program
at Antioch College in Yellow
Springs, Colo. Because of com.
plaints about the program of
group presentations. related
seminars, and independent
study, the studies will be more
structured this year. Ninety per
cent of the freshmen's academ-
ic work last fall went unevalu-
aled, The emphasis appears to
have shiited to longrrange de-
partmental s e min a r 5. One
teacher offers two forms of a
course. There is an elevenweek
course with three weekly 50-
minute class sessions or an in-
dependent study program rein~
forced by ten 80~minute presen-
tations followed by similar
meetings.

During July, Antioch Cul-
lega published I mndlfied
statement on college sex that
seemed to be welcomed by
most Antioch students. The
statement still prohibits pre-

 

More Letters . . .

Feizer Sickening
To the Editor:

Feller sing is n day old and
yet i still have a sick feeling
inside when i think of parts of
it. Without dramatics—I'm talk,
me about James and North and
their disgusting presentation.
The topic of Negro culture is
one about which lhe average
American while is grossly ignor-
ant. and Grinnellians seem to
be no exception. if these halls
were bold enough to choose
such a topic, you'd think they’d
choose it with the awareness
that its treatment would re
quire sensitivity, Am I the only
one nauseated‘!

“To pay tribute to the honor
and dignity oi a people.” since
when do we dress like Vaga-
bonds? Tear up your clothes
and look disreputable—Negroes
are like that. Negro spirituals
must be sung‘that way. Were
you trymg to Justify or amelio-
rate the horror of slavery by
pointing out that even under
such conditions beauty arose?
Don't insult our intelligence
so. And if you wanted to pre-
sent the beauty, why not dress
as you would dress to present
the beauty of any other digni
ﬂed people.

1 especially liked the way you
chose a White man’s song to
express Negro honor. Do you
really believe that a slave
could be happy to be owned
and ordered around and beaten
and spit on? it is n subtle but
pervasive prejudice that many
believes that a Negro would
say “nothings plenty for me."
or course, I don‘t want nothing,
you say, but Negroes are Ell-
iel‘ent.

And your dialect was nice too
—a cute little reminder that
illiteracy breeds poor grammar.
it was illegal to teach a slave
to read, remember?

You took second place —
your singing was good. Your
handling of the topic was often-
sive and what really makes

me sick is that you don’t even
know it,

“Tribute to honor and dignis
1y." “Land of the free and the
home of the brave." And you
really believe it.

—Peggy Barlett

Commands Students

Ed. Note: The following lets
fer was received by the
Alumni Office.

Dear Mary,

This afternoon I drove to
Grinneil to take a triend to the
Rock island station. We decid~
ed to drop in at the Fine Arts
Building to see the exhibit of
hay Frederick‘s work. Our short
stay on the campus was so pleu-
sant that I want to tell you
about it.

As we stood on the south side
at Highway No. 5, waiting for
a chance to cross, a friendly
student on a bicycle called out
to us, “Press the button there
beside you and stop the traffic."
How stupid we werel We hadn’t
even noticed the appliance.

Then we entered the build-
ing, and everyone we met or
spoke to greeted us with a
friendly “hello” or a cordial

Headquarters For:

alousEs - SKIRTS
SWEATERS . DRESSES

3W4

GRiNNELL NEWTON

 

WAYNE’S STEAKHOUSE

"the Rex"

restaurant -cockiciil lounge

steaks

Next to Hit Theater

and friendly reply to our ques-
tion. Really, i was impressed.
and so was my friend. Some-
how. I felt right at home again
utter 50 years, The atmosphere
at Grinnell is still the same, i
thought. And I was glad

We walked down the red car-
peted nislc in Herrick Chapel,
and r remembered the many
times i had sat there in morn.
ing chapel or Sunday afternoon
Vespers. And I enjoyed the
beautiful windows all over a-
gain. 1 could almost see Pro-
tessor Scheve at the organ.

Forgive me for being so senti-
mental. i didn't intend to be
when i started to write. 1 only
wanted to commend the stu-
dents 1 met for being so friend-
ly and courteous. They made
Grinnell College campus more
than just an ordinary one to-
day. My friend. who is not a
Grinnell graduate, was lmr
pressed as much as I was.

Tonight, I am proud all over
again to be able to say, “I am
an alumna of Grinnell."
—Elva Grace Cooper,
0 Grinnell, 1917

 

DON’T

fight it.

Get Eaton’s Corrisable Bond Typewriter Paper.

Only Eaton makes Corrisabie.
anon PAPER CORPORATlON. PiITSFIELD. MASSACHUSETTS

marital sexual intercourse In
the college dormitories, but it
does so in much milder terms.

Instead of threatening with-
drawal, the statement merely
says, “premarltal intercourse
is not acceptable." The col-
lege does not want to take a
moral position against sex,
but neither does it wndttne
sex.

o u o

The first coeducational High'
Rise Dormitory opened this tall
at Coe College. it is character
ized by a ground ﬂoor lobby.
separate recreational, storage.
and laundry facilities for men
and women in the basement
and separate elevators, Wom<
en students occupy the top four
floors of the nine story building
and men occupy floors two
through five. Most of the stu-
dents living in the new dorm
have expressed iavorablc opiu.
ions about it, although there
have been lrequent minor prob
lems with the elevators.

e o 3!

Seniors at Beloit have their
own private club this year
called the Senior House, It wan
initially organized by the ad«
ministration, but is now run en<
tirely by the Senior CounciL
Membership is open only to sen.

JD'S RESTAURANT

Elevated—oi 911V: Main.
Grinnell

Mistakes don't show. A mis-key completely disappears
from the special surface. An ordinary pencil eraser lets
you erase without a trace. So why use ordinary paper?
Eaton’s Corrasabie is available in light. medium. heavy
weights and Onion Skin. In IOU-sheet packets and 500-
sheet ream boxes. At Stationery Departments.

8

 

