Page Four

Thoughts About New Dorm

Tlli

the last of two articles by Ann Lousin concerning the

construction of a new men’s dorm. The first appeared in last

Week's issue.

(For those of you who were
not with me last week, the first
part of this column was a de-
fense of the off-campus men.
This week, I should like to de-
fend on campus women.)

The Board of Trustees’ pro-
posal to build a new men’s
dorm is doubly ridiculous be-
cause I) there is no need to
pull thirty men hack on cam-
pus; and Z) the need for some
drastic changes in the women’s
dorms is overwhelmingly great-
er than the need for better ac-
commodations for the men. For
example, Loose hall, which was
built in 1947, was the last wom»
en’s dorm, whereas the college
has since then‘erected the dou—
ble Younkers in 1948 and the
double Norrises in 1960.

At the time that the college
built Loose, it left one whole
wall solidly without windows
with the promise that within a
few years a Loose tower would
be built, approximately the
height of Main hall, so that
the Quadrangle would then be
architecturally balanced, There
were also to be a parking area
for the Women students and
their guests and a proper en-
trance off Eighth avenue, some-
what like the Main hall en-
trance. This would have re-
lieved much of the traffic at
Main and offered a second en-
trance for women after the
loggia was closed. Needless to
say, the women are still wait-
ing for these additions,

MeanWhile, the over-crowd»
Ing of the loggia continues.
Main hall undoubtedly holds
the worst accommodations on
campus. In that peak year of
1960-61, Main, which was built
to accommodate about forty
women comfortably, held sixty»
three uncomfortably. The wom—
an of Main have, in reality, no
lounge, as anyone who has ever
been in the “Q'uadrangle
Drawing Room" at lunchtime
can testify. When Gardner
lounge replaced the Little
Theatre the Trustees said that
it would become the Main Hall
lounge in 1964, Now the plans
are to keep it a public meeting-
room, (for “dating couples,”
Dr. Bowen said.) So Main hall
still won’t have its own lounge.

The rooms in Main are un-
doubtedly the smallest and, on
the whole, the noisest in the en-
tire Quad. Sound carries as if
all the rooms were wired on a
hall intercom. ls it any wonder
that the chief obstacle to abol-
ishing freshman dorms is that
upperclassmen refuse to move

' out of larger soundproofed
singles in Loose into miniscule
CChOvchambers in Main with
less than minimum airvspace?

Speaking of wiring, the elec-
tricity of the Quad. especially
in the five oldest dorms is dan-
gerously inadequate I have
leen rooms designated by the
architect as singles actually
turned into doubles with only
one wallsocket. The number of
appliances on the one outlet
is enough to cause an overload
and possibly a fire—~as it did in
my room in my freshman year
in Main.

Kitchenette facilities are
hardly adequate and often less

 

than what North Campus has.
Instead of the eleven legal and
several extra-legal refriger-
ators that the men have, the
women have four legal refriger-
ators and apparently no illegal
ones, One' kitchenette often
serves 3060 women, with the
result that any maintenance is
virtually impossible, the kitch-
enettes are ill-equipped, and
those who want tea or coffee
must make it in, their rooms
with the illegal, but necessary,
coils.

The women’s lounges are no
bigger, and sometimes smaller.
than those in the men’s halls,
even though they serve 25 per
cent more people per lounge,
Three of the women’s halls
have poorly-equipped recrea-
tion rooms with furniture that
look as though even the un-
ion would reject it. One of these
rec. rooms houses the one tele-
vision for over 500 women,
(North Campus ratio: 11 for
600,)

And then there are “terrace”
apartments-the basements of
Cleveland, J a m e s, Haines,
Read and Loose. In I-Iaines and
Read these rooms are separ-
ated only by tissue-paper parti-
tions. Empirical evidence has
demonstrated that a Coke
dropped in the farthest room
at one end of the floor can be
heard most clearly in the room
at the other end.

The Trustees and Messrs.
Bowen, Stauss, and Ludwig
have long neglected the renova-
tion of the women's dorms in
spite of protestations by two
Deans of Women—largely be-
cause the little sheep of South
Campus do such a dandy job
of being Hausfrauen and mak-
ing the best of their situation.
Many women have tried to ame-
liorate some of the atrocious
color of Skidmore, Owings,
eto.'s interior decorator by
making their own curtains and
dyeing chair - covers, bed-
spreads, and rugs to match. It
is amazing what they can some-
times do with cramped, illrdeo
orated rooms.

However, mis has gone far
enough. It is high time that the
ewes of the Quad stopped baa-

 

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday. March l3. I964

Premiere offellon's ‘Daniel Prince' March 15-18.
Open Stage ln-lhe-Round. Sludenl Music Employed

This Sunday, Monday, Tues-
day and Wednesday nights,
Grinnell audiences will have an
opportunity to witness a unique
drama experience when DAN-
IEL PRINCE, a play by Keith
Spencer Felton, is presented in
Arena Theater.

The play, sponsored by Na-
tional Collegiate Players and
Grinnell Players, portrays a
day in the life of a young man
in Paris of the 188035. Felton,
who also is producing and di-
recting the play, describes it
as a “dreamrpoem,” a phrase
which indicates a facet of the
drama’s psychological frame-
Work,

Through many Varied series
of events, the play reveals its
protagonist’s search for truths
within his existence, His rela-
tionships with an actress and
professor shed varying per-
spectives on his character.

Discussing the drama, which
he wrote last semester, Felton
states, “The Counterbalance
between ‘ events’ of futile
search, and fleeting moments
of awareness provide a basis
for the play’s action. Symbolic
values are attached to many
facets of the play. I chose a late
nineteenth century setting, be-
cause I ieel that the color and'
vivacity of life of this period,
which is reflected in the music
of Wagner, the painting of
Manet and Renoir, and the writ
ing style of Stendhal and Flaur
bert contain a glimpse of the
intricate deception which so-
ciety of this period constructed
to cloud honest encounter with
human dilemmas. I am fasci-
nated by the Romantic—Victor-

ing contentedly in the face of
steadily worsening conditions,
especially when it is so obvious
that they are discriminated
against in housing. Now that
the Trustees have simply com~
pounded the matter by agree—
ing to build another men’s
dorm with the money allotted
for housing from the Ford
grant, I hope that the women
will, at long last, insist that
they allot some of.that dona-
tion to the women instead,

 

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

AUXILIARY '

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Show

Cards 0 Dessert 0 Door Prizes

MARCH 23 — 1530 PM. —, $1.15

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GRINNELL
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ian rituals of living, which in
so many ways reflect the frenzy
we find in our own era.”

Asked about the technical
phase of the production, Felton
replied: “I am intrigued by
the kinesthetic elements in
drama, as well as character
depiction. As a result, we have
fashioned a set which, within
the confines , of the Arena
Theater provrde us with five
acting or stage areas, which
serve to relate the characters
through means of changing per-
ception, We have attempted,”
Felton continued, “to employ
several art film photographic
techniques, which enhance the
possibilities of production in
a foursided arena,"

DANIEL PRINCE is the first
production in the Grinnell
Arena Theater which uses the
theater-in-therrou'nd technique,
with the audience completely
surrounding the actors. ’

 

In the/lead role of the young

poet is Bruce McConachie. Sue
Monto is featured as Annette
Dubois, the actress, and Ken
Freedman plays the role of
Auguste Chauvin, the professor.
Also featured in the cast are
Barbara Shivley, Terry Mc-
Coy, Jane Geifken, Dick Reich-
mann, Howard Harned, Mar-
g a r e t Weathers, Margaret
Brewer, Burt McDowell. Jane
Ewert, Jim Frank, Barbara
Breckenridge, Barbara Coop-
er, Milton Tootle, Robin Koni-
kow, Keith King, Nick Dicken,
and Bill Grenzebach.

The music of the play was
composed and pre-recorded by
Bruce Kohler and Sheila Kogen.
Written in collaboration with
Mr, Felton, this original score
is an integral part of the play.

The production staff includesxi
Production assistant: — Linda
Laing; Set Construction—Tom
Somerville; Lighting — Milt
Tootle; Sound — Robin Koni-
kow; C03tumes~Karen Hardy.

 

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