Scarlet and Black

GRINNILL COLLEGI
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Walk Right In . . .

First it was the barracks, with worn floors and
cracked windows; then it was just a hole in the ground.
And. now, It’s many things —— for the college, on im-
portant calling card that attracts the eye of the loa-
nevolent donor as well as the wistful gaze of the hope-
ful prospective; for the newcomer, an exciting addition
to the Grinnell scene; to the oldtimer, who once danced
behind the old fireplace and later stood by to look into
that large hole, a sparkling wonder; and for the cynic,
.Who will always complain first, a glass menagerie.

II’ORTS REPORTERS ”um—mm.”

But no matter what vocabulary you deal in, there’s
no doubt about one thing — tonight is the Night of the
Forum, when the new campus center opens its doors
and invites each and every one of you into its expansive

glough expensive embrace, Never before have Grinnell
allege students had such a deluxe toy placed before
them, nor has any structure been raised before, on
campus that encouraged relaxation and recreation in
such a varied social and cultural manner.

At first you probably won’t know what to do with
it. The idea of having any one of five areas in which to
lounge just might scare you into not lounging. at all,

and the idea of having espresso coffee served to you
when before one had to stand in line to beg a tea bag
might choke a few appetites. And there will be those
who will never be able to properly say Forum when
they really mean Union,

But for those of you who haven’t waited too long
7-— and can handle a great deal when you only expected
to have a little—and are willing to give a lot—its there

>— its welcome — and its yours. Walk right in.
LB.

 

COMING
Next Week

THE
GRINNELL
NOEL

 

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday. December 4, i954

Letters to the Editor
Farthing Tells Conclusions About Liberal Arts Colleges

To the Editori

After four years of more or
less passive observation I have
come to the following conclu»
sion about the facts of life at
a liberal arts college:

The liberal arts college ex-
ists for two purposes; I) The
primary purpose is the glorifi-
cation of the college and all
people connected with it, in-
cluding the board of twstees,
administration, faculty, alum-
ni, and students. 2) The second»
ary purpose is to convince the
student of the value of liberal
education, and to assist him in
building a foundation of knowl~
edge, about himself as well as
his academic subjects.

Both of these purposes are
good, and they are interrelated.
For example. as the glory or
good reputation of the college
increases, the college receives
more money which can be used
to improve the educational of—
ferings, which in turn assists
In further increasing glory.

Although I do hope to gain
from the rubbing off of any
glory which Grinncll College
has attained or may in the Iu<
ture attain, I feel that I will
profit far more from the educa-

 

tional experience of my years
at Grinnell. It appears to me
that, unfortunately, what should
be the secondary purpose of
the college has become the pri-
mary purpose—that is, glory
has been placed before educa-
tion, when it should be the
other way around.

The academic and cultural
education offered at Grinnell
is good, but social education is
at a prepvschool level.

If education, in the broadest
sense of the word, were the
primary purpose of the college,
then all students would be con-
sidered as ends in themselves
and all decisions concerning
them would be made in their
own best interests and with
their participation. But, in fact,
the primary purpose of the
college is its own glorification,
and individual students are
only a means to this end. Inso-
far as students are a means
to an end and not an end in
themselves they have no rights.
(Except for the right to life
itself, in a biological rather
than popular - psychological
sense, which is guaranteed by
the state.)

The social contract idea is
useful in (his analysis. When a

 

Proctors Called Unnecessary:
Students Can GoVern Selves

To file Edilor

In the past few weeks there has
been much concern over an ex-
plosion of feeling between the ad-

ministration and student govern-
menl. The result has been a rumor,
certainly not denied by the ad-
ministration, that the long threat-

ened "system of advisers” will be.

instituted on North campus next
year. In view of the sentiments ex-
pressed by some members of the
administration on student enforce-
ment of rules, there can be little
doubt that these “advisers" will
also be proctor-s.

The philosophy behind a system
of proctors is basically repugnant,
because it implies, quite Simply,
that students old enough and in-
telligelu enough to Come to Grin
nell are still not capable of govern-
mg themselves. The administra‘
Lion’s reply ro this would seem to
be that unfortunately the students
are not capable of governing them-
selves; look at the recent viola<
tions on North campus. This, how»
ver, is not quite true. Actually,
the case is that the students are
not capable of enforcing the rules
that the adminisfl'al‘lon has pre-
scribed. 1 am referring to rules
such as those on illegal visitation.
lustlrunng a system of proctors
will not effectively solve this prob-
lem of enforcement, because it is
a simple sociological tenet that
laws which do not coincide with
the mores oi the society are very
difficult to enforce. This is the
reason why police have such a
problem With traffic violations.
The unfortunate result of attempt-
ing to enforce these rules that
rlon't cnlncide with the mores is
that eventually all law, even that

 

which has a moral foundation, he-
gins to be held in contempt.

I may be presumpluous in pre-
tending to speak for the entire
campus, but l believe that there
are two rules which the majority
of lhe’studenls feel should be an;
forced: quiet hours, and disorderly
Conduct. Other rules such as those
on illegal Visitation deal with a
person's owu morality which most
people feel should be properly left
to himself. so long as a person's
conduct does not interfere with or
injure someone else. he should be
allowed to go his own way.

What is specially irking is that
I feel that Ihe majority of-the facul-
ty and the administration also hold

,lo this philosophy. However, we

pass the buck to one another. Some
students say we must enforce
these rules because of the adminis
tration; the administration says
it’s the fruslees. and the trustees
say it’s the parents, an amorphous
group from whom it.is almost im-
posslble to obtain a statement of
opinion. It might be said here,
however, that Illef'e are many par-
ents who are more than willing to
Send their Children to schools that
have a far more liberal set of rules

than Grinnell At Northwestern, for'

example, llnderciasswomen have
2:00 AM. hours, and upperclass
women have no hours at all.

an aside from this point. it would
seem that if there is any group in
society that will stand on_princi-
ple, it should be the academic com-

‘muuity. And, we should make and,

enforce only those rules in which
we really believe. If the college
wishes to hold in this policy, I am
quite sure that the students are
capable of elliorcmg it, and that
there is no need for proctors.
Richard Tillatson

 

student enters the college he is
in effect agreeing that he will
glve up any rights which he
previously had. in return for
certain advantages. These ad-
vantages include: the advan-
tage of taking a certain nun»
ber of academic'courses each
semester; the advantage of
taking the liberal arts exam
and senior comp‘s; and finally,
if he utilizes all of these ad—
vantages and doesn’t do any-
thing naughty, the advantage
of graduating. In return for
these advantages he also has
the responsibility to study hard
enough that he doesn’t flunk
out, thus wasting someone's
money and increasing the col<
lege’s dropout rate, which
would damage its glory.

when one is a partner to a
social contract he has no rights
except those which were
agreed to in the contract. The
sovereign power may grant
certain privileges for the sake
of expediency, but these are
not rights, and can be with-
drawn at any time.

Among the rights which are
lost are: the right to stay out
past 12 pm. if you are female;
the right to know "why” if you
are kicked out; the right to
privacy, no matter who you
are; the right to drive an auto-
mobile; the right to drink liq-
uor if over 21 years old. At
the present time the last two
lost rights are returned to cer-
tain students as privileges, but
they may be withdrawn at any
time for infractions of the rules,
or for no reason. Student gov-
ernment is another privilege.

In the neverrending quest for
college rule changes it seems
that some Students think that
their rights are being violated
—they forget that at college
one has no rights,‘ But occas-
ionally, through the benevo~

'lence of the board of trustees

and the administration, more
privileges are granted: for ex
ample, the liberalization of the
drinking rule, Where privileges
are granted it must be expect-
ed by all students that their
peers will accept the conse-

FAR'I‘I-IING—
Continued on Page 3

South Younker
Appreciate: Still

To the Editor:

The Student Government As~ '
sociation is an often criticized or-
ganization. The efforts it makes
are not usually of a publicized na-
ture, Much of its work is done
quietly and beyond the sight of the
general student body.

In recognition of lhe vast amount
of time and energy expended by
many SGA ofﬁcials in the last few
Weeks on behalf of South Younkel'
hall, we would like to express our
appreciation publicly. We do this
not only to express our gratitude,
but also to make the Campus
aware of the dedication and hard
work displayed by our SGA lend—
ers.

Rick Rosensweig, Pres.
Larry Hultgren, Sec’y
South Younkei' Hall

 

