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. DANISH MAID Home of Quality _ Large variety of delicious cookies and doughnuts 4th Ave. One of the Nation's Finest Restaurants Since 1887 Mo rsholltown, lower