Friday, March 6, I954

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm very glad to be back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sold President Howard R. Bowen to the Sit-B. The President and

his wife returned ’this week from a four month leave of absence. During this time. the
Iowens visited colleges and universities in Europe. India. East Africa. and the For East.

 

T. Parsons Labels 20th Century as Turbulent, Creative;
Sees Societal Stabilization; Lauds Generality in Studies

Dr. Talcott Parsons, professor
of sociology at Harvard, was a
ampus guest

arly this week

as part of the

' “Interdisciplin-

ary Seminar on

rder.” A for-

mer student at

- School of eco-
omics and the
U niversity of
Heidelburg, he
' has h e a d e d
”R50” H a r vard’s In-
terdisciplinary Department of
Social Relations for the past 20
years.

By Karen Adkinson

“I believe that the twentieth
century will come to be viewed
like the seventeenth century —
a turbulent time, uncomfort-
able to live in, but highly cre-
ative,” asserted Talcott Par-
sons, noted sociologist.

“Oui- generation has been
through tremendous s o c i a 1
changes. Nineteen fourteen
was the end of the Old Europe,
The precariously b a la n c e d
state system of the 19th century
was ended. The subordination
of extra-European territories
was gone permanently. Inter»
nai transformation took place.
The next generation has a ter-
rific job ahead of it, but there
is some prospect of a stabiliza»
tion with the more Violent dis
turbances near the periphery
rather than in the center. This
does mean a continuation of
coups in Latin America and
situations like South V i e t
Nam," he concluded.

Parsons denies that modern
society is tending toward more
centralization and rigidly or»
dered society “except in per;
iods of crisis and only in limit-
ed sectors."

He used the modern univer-
sity as an example, “The ma-

 

dern university is an extraord
inary phenomenon. Never has
mere been an organization so

complex which has allowed for
so much autonomy."

Parsons was a biology major
as an undergraduate at Am»
herst. He has studied at the
London School of Economics
and Heidelberg University as
well as at Harvard

"1 cannot voice any regrets
at being a generalist. Speciali-
zation in generality, or method
in madness," he said playfully,
“is actually a better expression
because there must be some
organizing principle which links
g e n e r a 1 studies. Being a

specialist is safer; a generalist
runs the risk of superficiality;
but if knowledge, which is sys-
tematic, is to be organized,
generalists are necessary."

Parsons noted another mo-
dern intellectual d i l e m m a,
“There is a deep tension in in-
tellectual circles today between
the organized skepticism of
science and the need for the
kind of Commitments which
can be the basis for action and
yet be intellectually respect-
able. The extremists forego in-
tellectual respectihility in or-
der to push their cause, but for
me majority this deep tension
is not so easily resolved,”

} Lousin Column
Continued from Page 2

_ only one thing: their dislike of

living with the same group of
men for four years, especially
in particularly noisy or other
wise bad living conditions.

While I think it is true that
off-campus people tend to be—
or to become—more individual-
istic, I hardly think that individ-
ualism even with its inherent
possibility of unthinking non-
conformism, is in itself undesir-
able. Let’s not forget that most
of the leaders of Grinnell’s newA
ly-formed Civil Rights Group
are off-campus dwellers and all
are rather determined noncon-
formists. So this is bad?

Besides, what makes anyone
think that throwing all of these
people back into the milieu of
North Campus is going to
change them? Many of the serr
iors, victims in their freshman
year of admissions-office mis-
calculations, are understand-
ably going to be withdrawn—
even somewhat anti-social—for
the rest of their Grinnell days.
To be sure, the Dean of Men
has had problems with North
Campus, too, Does anyone
really think that all the drunk-
enness, all the Boar‘s Heads,
or all the illegal visits occur
off-campus?

One last point: the students
have thought well enough
(which means that they have
first known well enough) of
three off»oampus»type men to
elect them to the mrea highest
positions men can hold on this
campus for this past year.

Page Seven

} Groom's Letter

Continued from Page 8

ernment. The ardor of reform
and idealism has been replaced
by cynicism and distrust. Un-
deniably, this is a “revoltin'
predicament.”

Without taking the time to
defend this stand, I suggest
ah immediate change of direc-
tion. The optimum solution of
good rules and strict enforce-
ment is intolerable. Since poor
rules are the "given" or un-
changeable factor, it seems that
the only realistic response is
the traditional one of discrete
evasion of the rules governing
personal conduct.

That is to say, I advocate a
return to hypocrisy. It is no
more unprincipled to disregard
a rule affecting personal moral
conduct which you sincerely op-
pose for moral reasons that it
is to subject yourself to an un-
realistic, artificial and unneces<
sarily restrictive code of con-
duct. The tacitly understood
flexibility of rules which has
generally prevailed in our uni-
versities and colleges seems to
me far more compatible with
the serious business of an edu‘
cation than the foolishly rigid
conduct control, with its accom-
panying resentment, n n d e r
which we are now living.

Steve Grooms

An Amateur Radio Club is
now being organized on cam-
pus. Anyone interested should
contact Mike Schulhof, 353, or

 

Dirk Scholten.

 

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