SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Uh» ﬁrorlrt & l'h’lhrk

swam Newspaper of Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa

An independent newspaper published weekly.
except dining holidays Ilnd cxamillanan periods, by
thc Gniinell Coulmlilce on student Publications.
siloscripnbn Yale 5600 per school year.

The President’s Proposal

President Leggett has recom—
mended to the Student Affairs Com—
mittee an increase to 84 hours per
week in hours for coeducational visi-
tations in the residence halls. This is
considerably less than the 24 hours a
day the student government demand-
ed. Nevertheless, Leggett’s proposal
represents a victory for students, for
several months ago it seemed almost
inconceivable that the college would
budge on this issue.

There may be merit in the argu-
ment that to have a policy in which
there are some visiting hours is hypo-
critical; that is, only a policy of no
legal coeducational visitations or a
policy of 24 hour visitations is com-
pletely consistent and honest. Neither
“honest" policy, however, would be
workable at Grinnell College, and Mr.
Leggett has wisely chosen the expedi-
ent path. A college cannot run when a
majority of its students is so dissatis-
fied with a rule that it concerns itself
more with discussions on the rule
than with academic matters. A col-
lege administration cannot govern
when it does not have the support of
the students. Nor can a college which
has 24 hour opens survive financially
in a world which frowns upon such
use of rooms.

Mr. Leggett has tried to lead the
campus out of the confusion in which
it finds itself. He has tried to win the
support of the students, but he has al-
so tried to put together a proposal
which will be acceptable to parents
and faculty. He probably has succeed‘
ed in achieving these aims, and the
college will be the better for it.

The letter of the President is, des-
pite its virtues, somewhat deficient.
The only question on which Mr. Leg-
gett is really specific is the number of
hours to be allowed for open dorms.
On the accompanying problem of en-
forcement he offers no suggestions.
Enforcement of rules is a touchy ques-
tion, for students are not receptive
to the idea of having to enforce a rule
on their neighbors. Students general-
ly feel that what one does, if he does
not disturb another, is his own busi-
ness, and the prevalence of this feel-
ing will inhibit any enforcement of
college rules in the dormitories. It
may be that there is no way to enforce
rules outside of paid proctors, a meth-
od of dubious effectiveness.

For the past few weeks many
dormitories have been declaring

JAMES ALEXANDER ARIETK
Eduardo-Chief

KATHERINE NEWKIRK
Managing Editor
YVOR STOAKLEY

Sports Editor
.ioHN GARDNER
Associate Editor
Mimi ANDERSON

Al'l Editor
sauce STROM
Elm-um Madrigal

DOUGLAS EARL
Citculatlait Manager

Nancy beckon. Connie Ericson, chiroru riohch,
John Gorilley, Reggie Graham, Stephen Grow,
Pa|l| Lewis, kurch izbhnc, Mark Sublenian

Reporters

“home rule," and many dorms and
floors have adopted 24 hour opens for
themselves in the light of Mr. Leg-
gett’s proposal it would be better for
the college, and better for the resi-
dence halls if they were to undo these
do facto assertions of authority and to
accept the President’s suggestions. To
insist upon 24 hour opens when it ig~
nores the best interest of the whole
community, would be simply an ex-
pression of insolence.

It is our opinion that Mr. Leggett
has acted in the long—term interests of
the college. He has updated our resi-
dence rules so that they are similar to
those of other colleges in our category.
He has made a fair proposal and one
that ought, on account of its liberali-
ty, appeal to most students.

Yale Goes Coed

According to last Friday's New
York Times, Yale University will ad-
mit undergraduate women for the first
time next September. This action of
Yale’s may well be the beginning of
that great university’s demise. Death
is the natural lot of man, and of all
human things, but Yale seems actual—
ly to be courting death.

Never before on the grand scale
which impends has Yale had to en-
gage itself with that serpent riddle,
that fustian fuss, that immortal enig-
ma known as the visitation problem.
It is true that there are women in New
Haven, but never has woman been in
the classroom, where minds are liable,
upon occasion, to be turned, and
hearts won and lost. As romances de-
velop as male and female students
whisper to one another during lec-
tures, and as boys carry their girls'
books, and as girls become the fourths
in bridge games, Yale will be nagged
and nettled with demands for greater
student freedoms.

According to the Times, Kingman
Brewster, President of Yale, said his
decision to ieminate Yale had been
”somewhat precipitate.” if only
Brewster had read The Scarlet and
Black. He might then have waited,
and time might have killed his baleful
plan. A look at the S&B, if it did not
weary his eyes, might have created in
him second thoughts, and as he saw
this great college, oldest by far west
of the Mississippi, and long a coed
institution, continue to grapple with
the problems caused by the presence
of the gentler sex, he might have seen
the advantages in being “for men
only."

Friday. November 21. 196!

tellers lo the Editor

Schneirov Protests
5&8 ‘Disiorﬁon'

To the Editor:

I write this in reply to an
article that appeared last week
in the 5&3. The article was a
deliberate distortion of my
views and moreover was ob-
tained under false pretenses.
The article includes extensive
misquoting and many outright
lies.

Early last week, freshman
Paul Rolliman Called and asked
to talk (0 me about the draft
and SDS. At no time did he
say he was reporting for the
5&3. He proceeded to ask me
a lot of personal questions,
most of which I tried to answer
n-uthiully. The article in the
5&8 is similar in subject mat-
[91' though not in content to the
conversation i had with him.

First of all, the article trav-
esiies my views by taking
statements Completely out of
context, I never said that “as
a humanitarian" i would give
my life to “the cause — ‘the
great revolution.” 1 said that
1 would fight in a revolution
and ii necessary risk death,
The article makes me seem as
though I am some Sort of vis<
ioiiaiy s e e kin g martyrdom.
Nothing could be farther from
the truth.

Second, 1 never said that I
had accomplished the work of
gaining selirdetermination. This
statement in the article is Whol-
ly false. The work on hall self-
deiermination was a collective
effort on the part of a great
many students. I think that it
would be fair to say that my
case sparked the current con<
cern over self-determination.
The reason why l elected to
take the case before the Judi-
clal Council was to spark such
a concern. But this is a matter
of public knowledge known to
all who attended the open hear-
ing; it is nothing new. The ar<
ticle further states that I said
I started all the excitement
over opens. 1 never said this
because it is not true. The
opens issue is one with a long
history dating back long be-
fore I came to Gl‘inllell. Most
students don‘t need me or any-
body else to tell them how to
feel about coeducational roam
Visitation,

Third, concerning Lee Mar-
il, 1 never said that I had to
“Convince” him about opens.
Lee Mal‘il and I have differ-
ences on certain matters and
have had a few short discus<
sions on opens and related sub-
jects, but I do not claim to have
convinced him about opens or
any other matter. In fact, as
far as I know, Lea Maril has
always been for opens.

Fourth, about leaving my
room, 1 never said “I really
like people and I like to be
around people” even though
there is a large element of
truth in that statement. I
didn’t accept Leggeit’s punish-
ment about living on campus
willingly because i ielt that it
was mainly a political punish~
ment, The dual purpose oi the
punishment was to paclly con-
cerned alumni, trustees, and
donors, and to set an example
in the student body that no

one can stand up openly to tho
administration and get awa,
with it. A political move such
as this must be responded to
politically, and the decision to
move out of my dorm room
was not mine alone, but a gen.
eral one made by SDS.

The fact that the SM! anlclo
is literally a pack of lies is
not isolated from larger issues.
it is part or the sol; policy
against student selideterminao
tion and against myself. The
effect of the article is to slan-
der the serious political discus.
sion which people within SDS
including myself are trying to
engage other students in.

Richard Schneirov

(Them was, in fact, (In er-
ror in last week's story about
Richard Schiicil'oo which we
regret. We reported that
Schnciroo said he halt to con-
vince Lcc Mnril about the
need for more opens. Schnei-
i‘ov actually said that he hall
to convince Mm'il that the
time was amiropriuie for
seeking more cumin—Editor)

Schneirov Compliance
Diuppoinis 52559

To the Editor:

It appears that Richard
Schneirov has let the student
body down by compromising his
principles. In the October 4,
1968 issue of the 58:3, he was
quoted as saying “Anything less
than ‘not guilty’ Will be unac-
oeplable," Today i read in the
Des MDilles Register, and had
conﬁrmed by Grant Crandall,
that he is now living off-campus
His compliance with the will u
the administration contradicts
that which he lead the Studenl
body to believe he stood for,
Are We to assume that he has
reevaluated his position and now
feels his visitation warranted
the "sentence” that President
Leggett handed down on October
30? We, who did not completely
share his views, still greatly re-
spected him for standing up [or
something he sincerely believed
in. His actions within the week'
have possibly killed his move-
ment. because they have said to
the student body—accept con.
duct pi’obations; accept evict
tions from the residence halls;
accept the decisions of the ad-
ministration.

Bruce Besso

Critic Called Naive
In ‘Hurrah’ Review

To the Editor:

I Wish to comment upon
Eleonora Spiegel’s critique,
“No Cheers for ‘Amerlca Hur‘
Iah’ t- Miss Spiegel says its
acting was exaggerated: it
was, and rightly so. The ac-
tors needed to make a point
about life. To do so would take
several years, if Lhey were to
proceed at life's normal pace.
But they chose to make their
point in two hours at an exag<
gerated pace.

The critic says that those in
the audience who were offend~
ed, revolted, and shocked by
the play, should have been
warned beforehand so that

LETTERS—
(Cont’d. on Page 5, Col. 1)

 

