Fage Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday. September 22. |96l

 

 

ﬁrarlpi ooh iiiltifk

Grinnell, Iowa
GRINNELL COLLEGE

A weekly neivsiianer published each 1
year by the Grinch Committee on Student rublie ions
Andrew Blown, iiimvi nepicsciiird {or niiiona ndiciusiiiy'.
by Niiiiionil Acieiiising Sciiicc ruc. ooilcge riiblisncis iii-ii
iesentarnc. 12» hiadison A1e.. New '1'e N. 1:. Entered as
second clhss matter at the Post since at limeli. loiva. under
the act of March 3, 1:27.. Subscription r e 51.50 per school l

day or tlic college
11,

Nancy rorel
, 111' iani Welty

Sports
[xi-car Editor:

Fenian. Editors .
oorw mirrors ~ ,

Susan

'was

gadmii-able

by Jack Chapman ,
The ﬁrst case this year cone

‘cei-ning violation of the Orienta‘

tion regulations was presented
before the Men's Primary Court
last Tuesday evening, in a

‘travesty oi the judicial System,

the court ﬁned North Younker

‘hall,

The case far the prosecution
undeniably weak, almost
The defense was
relation to the
although to deny

non-existent.
(in
competition),

‘the vague charges was almost

1 unnecessary.

Advert inc
Layout -
Advertising Sulesmen
Business Assistants . . , . . . < ,

Admssiolis and Confusion ‘

Inquiries concerning the Grinncll admissions policy:
particularly in connection with the class of 1965 have beell
directed to both this office and that of the Student Govern:
ment Association. Essentially students and facility are askv;
lug two maioi questions. Why is thele a notable decrease
in. the pcicentag'e of fleshman students from the East!
(there are 11 percent as compared with the 20 percent
of last year‘s class) and why, if our admissions policy
is conceined with leflecting' in its population choices a
geographical sampling of students are only 11 pel cent from
the Atlantic States this yeai, and about 2'5 per cent from
the Iowa region 01' about 50 per cent from the Iowa-
Illinois legion? , l

These inquiries are not to be blushed off easily since
it would seem to be a valid conceln of the student bodyi
and faculty to ascertain how fellowvclassmates and studentsi
are to be chosen from the many applicants, sillce these
classmates do much to determine the tone not only of class-l
loom activity, but formal and informal activity which takes:
place outside of the classroom. ' 1

I11 an effort to airive at some satisfactory answer
the SGA is taking steps to investi gate the present adm .

ions policies. An SGA committee will report back to you

through representatives after conferring with the adnlin- -

istt‘ation. Next week a statement from Dean Stauss at—l
tempting to answer your questions will appear in the S&Bl
'oditorial columns It is hoped that this investigation 11
clarify much of the confusion which reigns We invite youil
comments and lettels.

Cowles-MA Mature Decison ’l

,from one particular
another. but from the facts as
they affect each group and each,
thinker.

Although the opinions express,

Laurels go to Cowles hall for attempting something
new in the way of orientation proglalnming Last weckl
' Cowles voted unanimously to abolish the present prepping
illoglam in their hall and substitute a personal apploaoh
p ogram devoid of n1att1esses,fiie chills and the usual ob~
senity. Oui beanies ale off to you Cowles.

Our Last Words

We often point with pride to the fact that 0111' Grin
nell community ofi'els an oppoltunity to expelience a max
imum number of views and opinions and a minimum 01;
‘pressure to accept any one of them. And this boast gene1‘1l—
ly holds true si\ and a half months of the school year.

But it would be unrealistic to suggest that during the

x weeks covered by the freshmen orientation program,
the class of '65 is not press d into believing that hall‘
'tmity and the Grinneli tradi on are supreme, inviolable,l
yLlnquestionably desirable and ultimately necessary for :1
meaningful four years at Grinnell.

We certainly do not condemn the hope of any person‘
.at Grinnell that his hall may become a showcase of cooperar

We and competitive spi t. And that a feeling of close

endship develop among the halls members, which noilld
'cal y on even into the years past college.

But we do condemn this same person when he tries

i to force feed his ideas into the minds of freshmen on the
, grounds that “you have to make ’em find out what hall
fellowship is because they’ll never find out themselves.”

i What about the fellow who came to Gl'illllell believing
.our claim that we have no social fraternities but who, in»
lstead, finds his hall elders doing theil' best to make a
Iflaternity out of their hall {01 fool of it becoming ”just
la do1"."mit01y

! We maintain that most freshmen come to Gl'innell
llooking for a certain amount of fellowship, that most would
‘participate‘in hall and campus activities it only their
,upperclass brethren would prOVidc an example

i Fell too many people here say “this is 11 but we ulc go-
ing to do to you freshmen to make sure you become fulll'
acquainted with Grinnell and our hall. ’ Too fen say “this is
11 hat Glinncll offers you and we hope that, like us, you will

find it valuable. " l

This is not intended to he a clitique of anvones 01 ideas “here freedom to keep our own personalities is ll]iv
cvelyones View of college life. We realize that too many hold would ring true fol einllt months instead of just si\

images have been imbeddcd too deeply in many minds lJV
idom and Dad, class of ’37 and the poplllzll Hollywood cons

, morning)
.North

.inilitant
trial was a shoddy

, cvel

Yet, using the time of tho
prepping episode (1-30 Sunday
as justiﬁcation for a
verdict of guilty, the court ﬁned
Younkel' 320. Even I, a
anti-preppei', felt the
and crudcl
attempt at Justice.

uiieh court member has a
in yudiec concerning prepr
ping; i1 is inevitable. Under
our system of law, howevch
each court member must supc
press his prejudices, and can-
ﬁne himself to the considerar
tion of the facts and argu-
ments :15 presented in the
court room.

The law is vague and the
men of north campus desire
deﬁnition Each judge must un-
(leistnnd the giavity of his tier
cision and be as obicctive and
deﬁnitive as possible.

1 shall not express my spin-l
lions.ol\ the validity of prepping,
lhe . that has been done by all,l

Indceol the Student Scnr
ate resolved, teinpei-ariiy at
least, that question last spring
The extremely nebulous artu
ele adopted by the Senate con-
cerning the orientation program
sets down very loity purposes:
to further adaptation to life in'

often.

‘Gl'lnnell residence halls and the

college as a whole; to foster a
realization of the opportunities
which Grinnell and college life
offer; to facilitate a rapid and
eﬁcctive academic adjustment
to college.

The resin ions are express ‘
ed as follmvsi “There will be ‘
no activities carried on during ‘
the orientation program which ‘
L'uuld endanger the physical
or mental condition of the l
participant or impair his
study time or ability to nd— ‘
just to college life."

There wlll be no ’obsceniiiesl
and no swatting; hall membei-
ship cannot be contingent upon
participation in the program.‘
Violation of these plovisions, in
letter or in spiiit can result in
ﬁnes

Since these iegulations speci l
ﬁeally plohibit only om: of the
lid anal pieppiiig activiticsia
(swatting). the lna]0|‘ rcspoliSi-
bility foi adaplalion of that
prepping piograin to the iules
iests on the hall piesldent. i
There is a ﬁne line that dis—

,tinguishes voluntary from eblig:

aiory: it is difficult to deter—.
mine what could endanger the
physical or mental condition or

‘activity,

could impair the ability to odii ~
to college life Some hall pm A
dents have not accepted tl
responsibility with the gravity
it demands,

Dccidedly, and admittedly, the
majority of the men on north
campus favor a rigorous prc —
ping program. The administi ,
lien, the faculty, a vocal rhi—
nority of students and, most im-
portant, the law demand re-
straint.

Under pressure from both
forces, the presidents of halls
engaged in prepping are in a
dilemma. T h e s e presidents
certainly have a responsibility
to their constituency; yet, if
we are to uphold the concept
of student government and

1self-enforcement, the greatest

reSronsihility is to the consti-
tution and its laws.
Undeniahly there have been
Violations, covert as they may
be. A boy has been injured,
lach of hall membership has
been threatened those not par-
iticipaiing. One president deﬁes
‘the inquiry of concerned stu-
dents into his hall’s prepping
piogram; another preps subtly
nd discicetiy

The goals of the program ale
peivcrted, the iestiictions deﬁed
in spirit. These presidents must
accept their responsibilities and
exert their power to restrain
as the law requires

and as we students demand.

THE FORUM for DISSENT.

by Gary Hanson

Bill Johnson

Mike Montross
Much of today's coininentai-y‘
_ local or international, pol
cal or ether-wise — seems sadly
aching in {actual material. WC
believe that clear thinking must
necessarily have a solid founda—
tion of previously examined
facts, and that tho consideratio ,
of any controversial issue mustl
arise not from the arguments 0
one particular group or another,
thinker oi-

ed in this column Vii celtainly
be open to dispute we will at-l
tempt to base our interpretations
on our understanding of the facts}

land not oul previous emotional

piei'udices it is to this ploposir,
tion that we dedicate this col~
uinii,

As the tension and misun-
derstanding between itussia
and the United states mounts,
the necessity of finding a so.
lution to the Berlin crisis lic—
eomes acute. rot. at n time
when it is essential to know ,
what is happening, our lead-
or: are failing to reveal the
truth to us.

In his speech to the nation on

ception oi College, USA But

nation of anyones right to pressure others into accepting
their View of the orientation program's goals.

Some parts of the halls programs have produced
noble results at least as measured on the utterly llndofin»
able fellowship Stale many Grinnellians seem to go by.
But, too, many of the aspects of individual hall programs

unrewlll'ded and i1 few of them —

SCSI“ llllWﬂI'l'ﬂllif‘d,
illegal.
Palts of the programs of

campus have been conducted admittedly in violation of StLlA
One of those halls has been
fillOKl for such t‘1 violation. Other halls have taken advantage

dcllt Handbook regulations.

of the weak legal link which

as a checkpoint. Obviously, many a boy \ ill ”volunteer"
,a stunt which has no real purpose in order that he might
not he considered anti-unity or whateml'

So it seems at last that

‘1'ied on under stricter supervision by tllc'CofHP [1111!] has
been evidenced in the first week in the six of the program’s i
might prove valuable to some Grinnell students
not by their own admission, many would fool disappoint—
ed \1 ere they not given a chance to participate in it.

not believe for a minute that the pl'oszl'alll is
body 5 idea of the l1 v to a successful life at Glillncll. 1

duration,
In t

But let's

Th perhaps our boast libou

and a half

July 25,1961 (see vitalspeeclies,1
Sept. 1,1961) Piesident John F l
Kennedy piesented a veision e l
the Beilin crisis to- the Ameiicaiil
people that beie little iesembr‘
lance to the real Berlin crisis. l

Kennedy explained the East~l
West conflict Ovei Berlin in de-i‘
ceptively simple term the So-!
Vlet Union wants to take DVE ,
West Berlin and America will
defend the people of West Ber.

:lin no matter What the Cost.

No other aspect of the crisis
was mentioned in Kennedy's
speech: according to Kennedy
America must Choose to defend,
West Bellin or give it up. i

But iathei than the Clucmll
decision of the matter, this is a
gross misrepresentation of the
truth. Such dishonesty should be
vehemently condemned whether-
it occurs in America or the 50-,
wet Union. Yet no major United,
States newspaper has criticized‘
this speech to our knowledge. ,

Tile West, in spite of her post
war- agreements to keep Ger
many disarmed ”forever," has ‘
armed the West German ne—
public and has recently threat—
ened to supply her with atomic
weapons Perhaps the real 11ch
liii cri is caused by the Soc
vict Union’s fear of a strong
Germany.

Does this seem preposterous?

it is an out and out condem

at least threc halls on north l

“voluntmz‘W
for 1

offers the wow

the prob am, if it were car-

t our li inf: in a colllple\ oi

Should the SeViet Union fear a
strong Germany any nioie than
a stioiig United States?

Let us View the situation from
the Russian side of the Iron
Curtain. Seventeen million Russ
sians perished as a result or the
Nazi invasion of the Soviet
Union.

In the West German Adenauer
government of today twelve out
of seventeen cabinet members
and high officials were once
Nazis; 84 percent of the ambas-
sadors and leading diplomats in
the Bonn foreign office had pre—
viously worked with Hitler.

The LG, Fai'ben industries.
which supplied Eichmann with
the “Zyklon B gas” are again
dominating German industry;
Hens Globke, legal initiator o:

, the annihilation of the Jews in

the ’305 and ‘405, is Adenauer‘s
rightrhand man today.

And according to F. Yorick
Blumenficld in his recent re-
port on the West German elec-
tions of 1901 (Editorial Re-
search Reports, vol. 11, no. 8),
"German ministgr of defense
Joseph Strauss has said that
anybody who worked against
the Nazis, for whatever reason.
must lie considered a security
risk."

President Kennedy would have
us believe that the Soviet Union
stopped the flow of refugees in.
to West Berlin because of what
this was doing to “their" East
Germany. The Soviet Union has
never tried to build up East Ger—
many as the West has built up
West Berlin. After the war. iac»
tories were actually shipper“!
from Germany to Russia,

The Soviet government felt
that Germany should be left in
destruction in order to learn the
llorror of war. The East Germans
weie foiccd to proclaim the day
of Hitlers deieat as one of their
national holidays. The refugee
problem really indicatcs that the
Soviet Union does not so much
fear a weal; East Germany as
she does a strong West Ger»
man and a united Germany
l0“ . ed towards the West would
undoubtedly be far worse.

The Berlin problem is more
complex than either- side cares
to admit. Neither side has begun
‘ronUM FOR DISSENT ,

toilette third-s.

INinston L, King, dean of the

 

Jim Hatfield

chapel, will speak on “By VVh'cll
‘AutllorityT' in College church
lSunday morning at 11:50,

 

