SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday, September is. i9o2

 

 

Scarlei and Black

GRINNELL COLLEGE
Grinnelli Iowa

a weekly newspaper published each
)mr in the ciuiiicii Coiumiitee on student Piitili
Ailtlrizw hicu , iuiii. ileiiiesontod tor uitiiiuil adie'rlisiiiu
by N ioiial Aih' rnc Cnl riibiishci itch
ieseii no. .1 Madison ;\\e., New 'roi i’l‘d as
smalld cl. s er at the Post at at c iiiiiei under
the ac: oi ll ich a. tow. Subscription iaie slam per school

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Manager . .
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Transition-end in sight?

A good academic challenge."
“Lite". October 3. 1960
“a Grilmell education is ii good education.m
1959 Admissions brochuie
. a spirit oi iiee inquiry, a student culture that
respects learning and is concerned about values . . . a lively
spiiit oi discussion , These aie the elements that dif-
iercntiate great colleges iroiii indiiierent ones"
1952

President Howard B. Bowel-l, Pall,

Poi as long as we can remember Griunell has been ’ill transi—
ton," ti ing to deiiue itselt in that intangible. limbo between good”
and great." We have been growing up at a college. which also
is painiully leaving adolescence The campus. once blemished with
monstrous Victor in buildings, has been made handsome annually
with tons or Clear _ l cement, while the academic curriculum has
done this. lops around us.

But the larger Gl'lnnell, the Gi-innell we know when we arc
to! conducting tours ior prospective Meais freshmen or sitting
ii historical i udies. is still cozilv and saielv ”good." '

We are bigger, smarter. richer but still “good” And the sense
hilt Griimell is exciting or stimulating comes like intermittent
rumbling irom a complacency so seldom disturbed.

in his Convocation address President Bowen states . iiics
and p‘nctlcal proposals for completing our long transitio He
describes a “great" college, but this is not your college or mine—

at least not yet.

. Ii Grinnell is to revitalize the liberal arts pictics so cinptiiy
chanted. in America academia, oui college must change And the
realities oi this change demand a diiierciit sort oi Griiiuell irom
ilie one we e known,

The wca nesses oi American higher education which Presir nt
Bowen outlines—narrow admissions critera. frenzied‘college ie,
Lad examnation procedures and grade—boundingeare not wholly
the fault at the colleges themselves

The national environment makes demands on higher educae
iion. and Prr. dent Bowen's goals oi “contemplative study" and
‘fruittul discussion" olten lose in the pinch, Wc tyrannize through
numbers because men are too otten judged in quantitative terms,
Students play the glade-houndjllg game because it satiatcs oui
compulsive ambition The Presidents ‘scholurlv leisiiie implies
o mature sense oi balance whilc most oi Ainciican “10“ mg up
i: a iienized quest for concrete. evidence at secuiizti

President Bowen’s “blend oi American and European edl! ,
cation" is is irom the iamiliar res ohsc colleges make to am
societys motives. Under the Piesidciit's blucpiiiit Gr'lllell
would stand as a oi oi society and, should this blueprint be
implemented Glimiell will attrnc't the kind oi student making a
similar turn away ironi majority values.

The college as critic also impiics the student as critic. and
true scholarship demands students who want to lca.u loi the
pleasure oi tla act itseli. it will take a lot oi boot stiap pulling
‘ior press at G mnelliaus to handle the challenges oi the new
Grilmcll.

This ycai's resurgence oi pl'epping's playiul banality ls'hal‘dly
conductive to "d student cultul'P that respect? 1? ing and
earned about values. and i wonder it the uppercla lt‘lml'who cllnﬁ
i-o hall spirit and gioupishuess would not
thalic at a Glmnell defined in telms 01' Pl

i We might have ieaiiy olitstandlnu athletic teams at the aim!

1311- out- of- trail tlon but only lll'lybe. Small atl‘ilpti‘s might even

get the same iusli ii om admissions as eve. bodv else. Can we be as

cheiitable about losing games with aih .tr. who come bv Coins
cidence as we are eager to win with those who are lieie now
through piecise calculation

The admiiiistiation and iacultv must assume uupieccdented
leadership in implementing the Piesidents stated goals Some poor
. e may get hurt. The realities oi change are hard. The Presidcn s

ploposals reach into the Silallf’f‘ chemistl'v that form: a ColleEC’a
atmosphere Will this college. into which we hare nil pouied so
much oi ouisclve . iinallv ieiiitc or will we slip into .i lessei iole
as most distinguished member oi the lowa Piotccliie League toi-
Spherieal Students? Only through etl‘ort at this crucial moment
will Grinnell accomplish the transition irom “good" to “great."

“Gl‘il‘mell:

by Larry Snlucker
5&8 Managing: Editor

 

Editors note—This is the i st in a series oi columns to be
authored by members oi the Social Coordinating Committee
and which will deal uith social activities on campus.

it has been hard toi us to keep irom noticing the active par—
t’ ipation bv studcnts in all ' the social as well as academic
activities that have been held sin . our semester began.

Roberts Theatci has been packed ior almost every movie
shown. Bar-her Plaza was extremely crowded tor a New Student
Days square dance and tor the iieshman mixer. These aie only
a tow instances oi the many times so in that we have had a social
success

We are not putting ouisrlves on our back. The activitics pioe
vided have not ditiered irom tli e ot the previous years.

What we are proud oi is that apparently more students
have taken time out iroiii their necessary studying to enjuy
themselves at a social iniictioii. The purpose oi our committee
is to piovide the tum-turns and attempt to build up cntiiiisiasm
ior them.

They do, however.
:v hope that you will continue your record. that ,
:aking time to take time off.

depend upon your participation We sincere—
u “'lll persist in

Social Coorilinalillg Cammillee

.- .
To the iiditor

We're dow in the
about lllc 0b ’DLIS but unsltllc
(SIC) fur-fetched l -Ielchbtl
theme oi Quad Opens; tiicreioic,
We. The Women oi Loose 13rd
hcrchy declare that it is ion to
l'evollicild we are revoltinsl

Rs perceptive college student.
v,c arc aware at certain pi-coc
cupations which prcy upon the
minds (mid bodicsl oi thosc
inst emerging ii-om puberty:
consequently, in order to till the
demands oi the students on this
campus. we wish to announce
that we will provide the dirtiest
theme oi the evening l'or Quad
Opeussl and we most cordially
invite you to come and visit us.

H00 HAAi s

All The Women of Loose 3rd

(lumps

To the Editor

Last Saturday we watched one
of the water rights which have
plagucd North campus each
weekend this tall We were ini
tially disturbed .by the noise and
vulgarity oi these, but were
even more surprised at their
character

A FEW YEARS back a water
ﬁght arose spontaneously and
usually occurred only two or
three times in the spring at the
year. Many people were annoys
ed then, as now, but is was [3057
sible to rationalize this behavior
as the “college boys’” release
t'i-oni pressures of a long winter
at Grinncll.

Then a large number oi the
men on North campus either
participated or at least crawled
out oi the sack to watch. Now
these displays involve from one
to two dozen men while the
rest oi North campus turns an-
grily in bed and mutters: “1:30
and they're still at it ”

There are several perspectives
irem which these weekly events
may be viewed. One is the irri—
tation to those in slumber both
in and out of the college com.
munity. The ioreboding sounds
oi mcn from one hall discuss»
ing perspicuously the diet oi
anothcr loi'ewarnssa tired com»
munity oi several hours oi riot
mg. This is iollowed by a wasle~
basket pop band and a crowd oi
niaie cheerleaders demonstrating
their command tor lock or Com—
mand) oi llle vernacular.

Even more distu hing in these
recent outbursts is the evi-
dcnrc oi a malady which
seems to afflict. Grinnell. For—

this was limited to

k g and loggia love but

now this sum compulsiveiiess

seems to be apparent in this
type oi “hall Spirit."

None oi these men seemed to
derive much enjoyment irom
their game last Saturday, much
as one drinks not ior the taste
oi the liouo- or the quiet re.
laxatioii derived irom it but to
become completely incbriated in
as short a time as possible,

The sport or the water-ﬁght
has disappeared. While other
resideiiccs of North campus have
expended their Saturday energy
and learned that they m'llst wait.
patiently ior Sunday, this group
moves ohtuseiy into their mes
chanical game. They ﬁll their
buckets with water.
group down the loggia until they
ﬁnd another group with the
same aimless anxiety, and both
line up ior the ﬁrst heave, Then
tiicv return to the same line
again and again to heave wa-
ter at each other. .

As they trot bacli ior ienlls.
beating on their tin cans. you
hear such remarks a . "i can be
unsophis cated ii i uanti" and
"Won't it be great7 all all
have double pneunioi a in the
morning." Scorn ior this activity
ma not be d"et‘ted at "imma—
ture ii-cshineii. ior this crew is
composed oi both the shin soph—
oniores and "Sophisticated scu—
io

First ' Roundtab/e '

did Convocation tall!

Too often

a college newspaper

ti‘eills of everv incident of

undorgruduatc tile as a kind oi Laotian crisis by squeezing the in.

iormulity oi college into a traditional news format.
conceived by the Scarlet and Black as a device tor
cs iniormaiiy and as a sounding board ior

table" w' ~
reporting pertinent '

studentsfaculty opinion.
thistory), Peter Cohan,

Cha rl es
Bruce

”The Round-

Alan Jones
Nadia

Cleaver
Porter,

(English).
Larry siuucker,

Ramzy and Ruth Gruenewald were participants this week. Jim

Hatfield acted as
siblc tor recording.

llatrield: rll simply begin by
thioiviiig out the general qucse
Lion'
en‘s address relate to the iuture
Grinucil?

Sniuckeri in tact, I’d like to
know whether Grinnell has
been in transition the past iour
years or just me,

Jones The President's speech
recogn . lots at rapid change
in the past years, and rd real—
ly hoped that he might tell us
its lime to relax and Settle
down a bit . . just settle down
and read our book

Cleaver; It’s a real pleasure
to me that he might well have
said that and didn‘t, i was be.
ginning to fear the college
would think it had it made.

Hatiield: Do you think the
students at Grinnell can accept
the idea oi scholarship ior
scholarship’s sake without the
weekly reminder oi grades?

Cleaver: Re man talks about
the counterv iling role oi edur
cation in society. It there is an
undesirable trend, the educa~
iional system should buck it
There is no wav to gauge the
readiness of our students ior
these ideas except by trying
them

name We have to be some.
what pactical Will Grinnell
cease to attract the many good
students who conceive oi educzls
tion, at least partly. in terms oi
practical educalloil?

Cleaver: Practical education”
rm not so sure I understand
that, '

Ramz

moderator.

i mean. will the pro-
poscd Gr uell approach got its
students into graduate schools.
law schools and so on -

Porter: Griiiiiell's reputation as
a solid educational institution
would insure success on that
score. I helicvc President Bow-
en spoketo this point in his
address.

Jones. Is this such a revolu-
tionary “new system" at all?
There scenis to be the develops
ment in the President's speech
oi certain tendencies that are
here already The really com—
plicated suggestion is the 96
hour graduation requirement
and this. paradoxically, is a
kind oi numbers game itseli.

Hatfield: Do you think the
iaculty is happy with the type
oi student that is coming to
Grinnelll

move as a _

i

There is a Latin proverb that :

says. “Liber non est qui noii
allqunlldo iiihil agit." (He is not
irec who does not do nothing
once in a while.) The siglitﬁe
cancc ot these ueekend octiiilies
is that they are not “doing
nothing" as one might say oi
earlier riots.

Craig Henderson

iieward Dunn

and Mike Hol‘OWitz was

how doe: President. Bow- . ,

leSI30n~
The Editor

Cleave i speak im only one
"iaculty; but by and large, yes
. But i wish there were more
mavericks . . . interesting people
people who weren‘t willing to
accept passively all the rules of
the dorm and all the rules of
evel thing.

Gruenewnlﬂ: In this connec-
tion I see a feat need to re-
vamp the admissions policy, to
have detailed interviews with
every applicant The admissions
counselors must be sensitive to
the values implicit in the con-
vocation address.

Hatfield: Many of us have
wondered what President Bow-
en’s address implies for prep—
ping.

.lones: Part ot prepping prob-
lems are a result of many none
preppel-s moving out of the
halls.

Smucker: What about the a -
ministration? I’ve seen very 1
tie leadership in four years on
this very issue.

Gruenewaid: You can't pass
the problem to a higher author-
ity

Jones: The problem of the ad»
ministration is that they have
allowed gieat student responsi—
bility in the hopes that
what? that iesnonsihi ty
would mature one. And th.
hasn't happened. apparently.
Most oi the faculty would say,
away \ Hi the tlaninable thing!

Ci 'Ive. Any orientation pro»
Fran} implies a situation where
ireshuien are not peel-s . , . bul‘
somehow still little ds who
have to be treated diiierently
from the rest oi mankind. Pei“
sonally. i find it pretty darn
hard to talk academics to a per
son wearine a prep hat.

harm. The maiority seem to
want it s. .

Porte Or will accept it.

Coho Could there be a cor-
relation between Grinnell's gen-
erally prohibitive rules. which
keep the student in a basically
adolescent situation, and prep»
pins as an' adolescent venture.

Cleaver: Actually, these pubs
erty rites, like prepping. are
relevant to the President’s
speech. We can't go on to a
system that presupposes matur-
ity as long as the other remains.
i think ,this pseudosfralernity
system is far [r m the original
intent of the Grinnell residence
arrangement.

PETER COHON AND LARRY SlVlUCKER watch and
listen 215 Allan Jones (history) becomes expansive about

the President‘s addres‘

 

