SCARLET AND BLACK Friday. December ii. in Scarlet and Black GRINNELL COLLEGE Grinnell. low: A weekly newspaper published each Friday or the col- lege year by (he Grinnell comnimce on srudenr Publica- lions. Laird u. Barber, chairmen. Represented {or natlonal advertising by Nallonal Advenlsing service. Inc., College Publishers Representative, la East 50in sireei, New York 22, N31. Second cluss postage paid it Grinnell. Iowa. siiuscripuon rule $4.50 per school year. .llnl ncrzou Conmd Dnum . Dave Buetz . John wall ren Adkinson EDITOR .. BUSINESS MANAGER MANAGING :anon . NEWS EDI-mu .. FEATURE EDITOR On the basis of an extensive report submitted by the SGA committee appointed to examine the automo« bile rule section of the Council on Student Life’s 1963 report, the Student Senate, Wednesday night passed a motor vehicle regulation which includes two key pro- visions: (a) “Students of Junior and Senior class status are permitted to maintain and operate motor vehicles” and (b) ”Students of sophomore, junior and senior class status may drive cars maintained and operated by other students for social purposes with the permission of the owner.” The ,SGA committee’s five page report included detailed objections to all five of the principal reasons that were cited by the Faculty Council on Student Life “to justify continuation of the present rule, (Only students who are members of the senior class are per- mitted to maintain and operate motor vehicles while in attendance at Grinnell College).” - The committee report also listed a number of "positive advantages” that they felt would accompany the liberalization of the automobile rule. Some of these advantages are: 1. The presence of more automobiles on cam- - pus would help minimize the disadvantages of Grinnell’s cultural isolation. 2. An automobile would establish at least one means for a student to obtain privacy. 3. More automobiles would facilitate and make more economical transportation to House- parties and other events involving the moving of large numbers of students. 4. More automobiles at Grinnell would result in significant decrease in the cost of transportation to and from Grinnell for many students. In support of the Motor Vehicle regulation as passed by the Student Senate, we would like to make a few additions to the SGA committee's list of “positive Advantages” accruing to the change. 1. With the continual shift in college academic policy toward more academic freedom for the student through increased opportunities for independent study in his or her major field, the greater availability of an» tomobiles would broaden considerably the possible scope of any such study. It should make readily avail- table the extensive library facilities of nearby univer- sities (SUI, Iowa State, Drake) and provide an oppor- tunity for Grinnell students to attend lectures at these and othervnearby schools, Other academic benefits of a liberalized car rule would include increased oppor- tunities for personal interviews with prominent people in the area and direct observation of educational events by interested students 2. Due primarily to Iowa climate conditions during the months of December through the middle of April, student travel, even within the confines of the campus, is severely restricted. Students tend to become semi- hermits, venturing out of their dormitory rooms, for the most part, only when it is absolutely necessary. The greater availability of cars throughout the winter months would allow for greater student movement and a healthier campus atmosphere. We applaud the work of Cal Collier’s SGA com— mittee for the fine job done on its report, as well as the Student Senate for its speedy passage of the new Motor Vehicle regulation. We hope to be able, in the near future, to add our kudos to the popular acclaim that would greet passage of this new regulation by the Faculty Committee on Student Affairs, the President. und the Board of Trustees. Memorial Fund Reaches $259 5 Grinnell students have do< hated $259 to the Ralph Ogan, Jrr, Memorial Fund, student leaders have announced. The money, collected in the men’s and Women's cafeteria lines, has been presented to Mrs. Ogan, Jeffrey B. Burnham, sopho- more from Falls Church, Va., and Jon Larson, senior from Grand Island, Neb., spearhead- ed the effort. They said the contribution was made as an expresSlon of student appreciation of the late Mr. Ogan and of the whole Grinnell police Iorcc. Russian visitors flunk a University of Chicago translator in an informal session held last Saturday in the Loose Lounge. The Candy Man has noted that TEXAS has become the first team in Southwest Confer- ence history to go undefeated in conference play. The Long- horns will appear in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day. , The Russians who visited Grinnell College aver the weekend included Alexander Krivopulnv. a member of the editorial board of Kamsomolskuyu Pravda; Alexander Chuhurion. secretary of the Historical institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR: and Eliseyev Genniny Pavlovich. mechanical engineer. ,Phil Johnson Radicals Blur Political Picture Extremists seem to dominate American politics today. They have not captured all of the votes and offices as yet, but extrem— ist groups make so much noise with their screaming that it is sometimes difficult to hear anything else at all. The Bircllers ex- pose half the government as “Communlst dupes and sympathizers", While the far left attributes all the World’s evil to Wall Street. The right demands a withdrawal from “dangerous internationalism" While the lelt condemns the waste and injustice of a free enterprlse economy. The Americans for Democratic Action and the Americans for Constitutional Action trade insults. The National Review and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee call each other ”sinister conspiracies." It is comforting to View these radical groups as the creations of small minds. They are dismissed as lairly ignorant groups with simplistic answers, cater- ing to the uneducated All that is needed is a little education, and then the radi< cal cannot stand. Ii we accept this premise, it should follow that a student at an institution of higher learning should be fairly impervious to the attractlon of their neat answers and com spiracy theories. Theoretically he has more knowledge than the average man, and has more tools of analysis at his disposal. And of course, he can always ask the opinion of hls faculty, who are even higher on the scale of enlightenment and judiciousness. He should be safe. The unpleasant fact, however, is that radical student groups of all kinds are rapidly spreadlng across the country. There have always been student groups with extreme political vlews, but never be~ fore have they managed to grow so large, so well organized. and so well financed. The in lelt is represented by many groups. The Students For a Democratic So- ciety, which started in June 01 1962, is prl< nlarily an Eastern group, but is rapidly spreading across the Country The Campus Americans For Democratic Action is much lurlher to the left than its parent organlza» llon, the ADA. The Young Socialist Alli- ance has a number of growing chapters across the country. New York City has ”.5 own local group, Advance, which has now been indicted under the Smith Act as a CDmmlmlSerl‘Ont organization. The right wing has only one major stu- dent organization, the Young Americans for Freedom, but it is the largest and best- tlnanced of all of the racial groups, The YAF was set up In 1960 on the private es- tate of William Buckley, of National Re- view iame. It now has more than 20,000 members across the country, as well as a slate of full-time officers. Juniors and sen< lors here will remember Fulton Lewis III, the YAF representative who Came to GX‘m‘ hell in 1962 to delend the House UnaAmerh can ActiVllles Committee and the film “op- eration Abolition". Even more disturbing is the extent to which extremist groups have been able to capture the natlonal conventlons ot/ the Young Republicans and Young Democrats. Last June's YR Conventlon in San Fran- cisco came out with an unbelievable plat- form, closely parallellng the views of the John Birch Society. in September in San Diego. the Young Democrats set ionh an ultra~llberal platform which led several prominent Democratic leaders, including Governor Brown, to publicly repudiate the whole affair. There is probably a hlgher percentage of students in extremist organizations toe day than from any other age or occupa- tional group. The question of why is large- ly unanswered (and largely unasked). My own hypothesis is the following: 3. Students DO have more political information than the man on the street, theoretical and rather superficial. but this information is in most cases There is lime real political insighr on today’s campus. 11. There is a certain excitement in challenging accepted values and ways of doing things. 1:. There is no real responsibility for which most student groups are held ac- countable, ,such as running a govern- ment. These groups are not unlike pro- fessors in this regard. d, There is real disillusionment‘with the present system which allows dis- criminalion, poverty, and violence on the scale u-lat they exist. in this country. These students want in change the sys- tem, and lind the substitution of a new system easier than muddling through the complexities of the one that actually exists.