Friday, October 30. I964

SCARLET AND such

Page Three

 

Taylor Wants Senate to ‘Retire';
feels It Is No Longer Necessary

The Student Senate has called
for its own death In its aug-
ust life of four years, it has
occupied well over 2000 man
hours a year in meetings alone
(plus all the other bunc that
Went on behind the scenes). it
has proved that no matter how
wonderful a representative leg-
islative body may seem in po-
litical theory, it is not only in-
efficient, but also entirely un-
necessary on this particular
college campus.

Let us be realistic. Grinnell
College is in the business of
educating, Grinnell students
are in the business of learn-
ing. But Grinnell College is not
In the business of providing
an outlet for pseudo—political
activities.

I do believe, however—after
too many years of experience
with this octopodal monster—
that student government has a
function on this campus—an
important function.

Those members of the col-
lege community who have
worked on it seem in agree—
ment, as am I, that student
government has two function
to carry out those responsibl »
ities assigned to the students
by the college, and to consult
with officials of the college
when student opinion is de-

, sired, _

If one must use political
theory. or its jargon, the Grin-
nell student body is not sov-
ereign, Thus it does not pos-
sess sovereign power. We, as
students, have volunteered for,
and are assigned certain rer
sponsibilities by the college. It
is the function of student gov»
ernment to carry them out.

These are properly the du»
ties of house presidents and
their assistants, and of the ap~
pointed committees,

Student leaders then, are stu-
dents who are willing to im-
plement these functions, to do
the nasty chores and go in the
meetings, in return for the
benefits of friendship and per-
sonal satisfaction which these
positions offer.

Getting back to the Student
Senate, let us be realistic again.
It's a big hunk of extra bag»
gage; it's bogging the monster
down. The following, with very

 

little exaggeration
goes on now.

I-Iall elects two senators, For-
ty senators elect speaker. Sen-
ate meets. Executive Cabinet,
aws Board, Coil-11> present
proposals for Senate to rubber
stamp. House council already
knows through house president.
Rest of hall is not at house
meeting, doesn’t care, or
doesn’t know who hall senator
is

is what

And, neally, how could any-
one consult with a body such
as this?

The situation varies, of
course, from hall to hall, but
the point is that the house
presidents and the executive
cabinet have actually worked
out everything the Senate has
passed for four years. It’s used
all that time and energy doing
nothing—except getting in ev-
eryone else’s way.

No one is trying to usurp its
power—just to get a job done.
There's no power to usurp.

I submit that we should po-
litely kill the Student Senate
and bury it with all the due
pomp and circumstance it has
lived among.

Let the AWS and the CDIHP
legislate in the first place. Then
they would only have to do it
once. Let them consult with
the administration. They ac-
tually know what is going on.
They would be much more ef-
fective. Let them have the trust
they deserve,

There need be no separation
of powers in a system that has
no sovereignty. We need a
workable, efficient system to
do a lot of chores—not A model
of the federal system. _

Since we expend so much
time and energy doing practi-
cally nothing except chores
anyway, let us rid ourselves
of this part of the monster, and
allow those students who will
take on our responsibilities the
freedom of an efficient system
in which to work.

Let us realize, also, that we
are students: Let's free our-
selves of useless meetings. .
and spend our time with books.
Sue Taylor

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Shades Of Gray—w
Once Upon a Time. .

A True

By Carl Otis Gray

In years to come when I am
very old and my little brown
skinned children come and sit
upon my knees and ask for the
honest facts about black and
white, I shall sign and recount
for them amazing facts about
how they got to be what they
are. I shall tell them the fol-
lowing story about their Dad-
dy.

Once upon a time when I was
young and still in college, I
met a Black Muslims At mat
time I was young and idealis-
tic and I stopped to set this
gentleman straight about the
hats of life,

“Sir,” said 1, giving due re»
spect to his age, ”don’t you
realize that you are using ex-
tremist tactics by peddling this
hate mongering propaganda?”

“Man, you have been brain
washed by those so - called
White liberals" was his courte-
ous reply.

"Your position is just as had
as that of the Ku Klux Klan,"
I reminded him.

“Yes, man you have been
brain washed,” he continued.

”You know of course, that
all leading anthropologists re—
fute any concept of racial su-
periority," Again, I had to rev
fresh his memory.

“Tell me what good has the
white man done in this world?”

”Well, really, that‘s a fairly
obvious question to answer.
Look around you. Most of the
conveniences of the modern
world do happen to be a pro
duct of Western civilization,
which of course has most of
its heritage in the course of
European and Middle Eastern
development."

“Oh really?" he seemed in-
terested now.

“Yes. and you see as Ameri-
cans we necessarily are heirs
to this heritage . . ."

“As Americans?"

“Yes, as Americans," I had
to be patient with him, ”You
see the fourteenah and fifteenth
amendments say . . ."

”The fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments to what?”:he was
relatively dense,

“The American Constitution.
Plus there is this new Civil
Rights Bill that proves without
a doubt . . .”

“Wait a moment,” he inter-
rupted, “what are you a citizen
of?"

“America, the United States.
U.S.A.”

"What is your n ative
tongue?” he asked,

“English."

“Ho; ho!” he thought he had
me, “were your parents Eng-
Iish?"

“No. they were American."

“But they speak English . .

”In America we speak Enge
lish." 1 was impatient.

“We speak English," he
mused as if it were a new
thought. “But your skin is dark;
why don’t you speak Ibo or
Yoruba?”

“Because I’m an American,
Stupid,"

"But your skin is dark. You

 

Story

say you’re an American." He
acted as if the combination was
new to him. ‘ '

“Yes, yes, I’m a Negro Amer-
loan, a Negro American," I
repeatEd,

Suddenly there came the
light ; his face beamed, ”Man,
you‘re not a Negro or an
American, you’re a psuedo Af-
rican!" He seemed so sure.

Well! Never had anything .

come to me as such a shock.
He meant to tell me that my
parents had hidden this great
scar from me for so long. That
in reality my identity was
false, that I was laboring un-
der [these delusions of gram
deur this I couldn’t, I
wouldn't accept this. I knew
precisely who I was and what
it meant. The nerve of the idiot.
I dismissed him.
>.< e a

Surely when I am old I shall
look back on this incident and
chuckle through my long white
beard and my sunglasses, as I
tell my children about their
heritage. By that time I’m sure
the word psuedo will be out of
the American vocabulary so
that they won’t understand its
significance.

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