Scarlet and Black GRINNILL COLLEGI Grimm". iovla A weekly news Aperlpubilshed encll Fndny ul DIE (01‘ 193: year by the rlnne Committee on Student Publica- hons. Represented for notional advertising bx NlliDan Ad- vertisinfl Service, Inc., College Publililcrs epresenuiive, 18 East 50th StreeK. New York 22, N.Y. Second class post» lg: paid BI Grinnoli. Iowa. Subscription mt- $5.00 per school yeur. 1,992 paid initial-lotions. , / "a, “a. 7A . nzsa IDITOR ...... Business MANAGER MANAGING EDITOR . con ammo Nzwa EDITOR FUTURE EDITOR _-._. spams cor-tons . HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER M NEWS ncromans Lynn mnzm .vlm Merriam John won Mmlu Post Susan Ilylor O/nInlu lruir * . Bunny lulu, Hum Unmh _____ Tam I-Iurlmln Ann Showdiel', Nancy Gmmko, Pam clay, susm culm- s. sm- Casey, Kznfon Clymer u Lovell, Nick Non-s, run an" Walk Right In . . . First it was the barracks, with worn floors and cracked windows; then it was just a hole in the ground. And. now, It’s many things —— for the college, on im- portant calling card that attracts the eye of the loa- nevolent donor as well as the wistful gaze of the hope- ful prospective; for the newcomer, an exciting addition to the Grinnell scene; to the oldtimer, who once danced behind the old fireplace and later stood by to look into that large hole, a sparkling wonder; and for the cynic, .Who will always complain first, a glass menagerie. II’ORTS REPORTERS ”um—mm.” But no matter what vocabulary you deal in, there’s no doubt about one thing — tonight is the Night of the Forum, when the new campus center opens its doors and invites each and every one of you into its expansive glough expensive embrace, Never before have Grinnell allege students had such a deluxe toy placed before them, nor has any structure been raised before, on campus that encouraged relaxation and recreation in such a varied social and cultural manner. At first you probably won’t know what to do with it. The idea of having any one of five areas in which to lounge just might scare you into not lounging. at all, and the idea of having espresso coffee served to you when before one had to stand in line to beg a tea bag might choke a few appetites. And there will be those who will never be able to properly say Forum when they really mean Union, But for those of you who haven’t waited too long 7-— and can handle a great deal when you only expected to have a little—and are willing to give a lot—its there >— its welcome — and its yours. Walk right in. LB. COMING Next Week THE GRINNELL NOEL SCARLET AND BLACK Friday. December 4, i954 Letters to the Editor Farthing Tells Conclusions About Liberal Arts Colleges To the Editori After four years of more or less passive observation I have come to the following conclu» sion about the facts of life at a liberal arts college: The liberal arts college ex- ists for two purposes; I) The primary purpose is the glorifi- cation of the college and all people connected with it, in- cluding the board of twstees, administration, faculty, alum- ni, and students. 2) The second» ary purpose is to convince the student of the value of liberal education, and to assist him in building a foundation of knowl~ edge, about himself as well as his academic subjects. Both of these purposes are good, and they are interrelated. For example. as the glory or good reputation of the college increases, the college receives more money which can be used to improve the educational of— ferings, which in turn assists In further increasing glory. Although I do hope to gain from the rubbing off of any glory which Grinncll College has attained or may in the Iu< ture attain, I feel that I will profit far more from the educa- tional experience of my years at Grinnell. It appears to me that, unfortunately, what should be the secondary purpose of the college has become the pri- mary purpose—that is, glory has been placed before educa- tion, when it should be the other way around. The academic and cultural education offered at Grinnell is good, but social education is at a prepvschool level. If education, in the broadest sense of the word, were the primary purpose of the college, then all students would be con- sidered as ends in themselves and all decisions concerning them would be made in their own best interests and with their participation. But, in fact, the primary purpose of the college is its own glorification, and individual students are only a means to this end. Inso- far as students are a means to an end and not an end in themselves they have no rights. (Except for the right to life itself, in a biological rather than popular - psychological sense, which is guaranteed by the state.) The social contract idea is useful in (his analysis. When a Proctors Called Unnecessary: Students Can GoVern Selves To file Edilor In the past few weeks there has been much concern over an ex- plosion of feeling between the ad- ministration and student govern- menl. The result has been a rumor, certainly not denied by the ad- ministration, that the long threat- ened "system of advisers” will be. instituted on North campus next year. In view of the sentiments ex- pressed by some members of the administration on student enforce- ment of rules, there can be little doubt that these “advisers" will also be proctor-s. The philosophy behind a system of proctors is basically repugnant, because it implies, quite Simply, that students old enough and in- telligelu enough to Come to Grin nell are still not capable of govern- mg themselves. The administra‘ Lion’s reply ro this would seem to be that unfortunately the students are not capable of governing them- selves; look at the recent viola< tions on North campus. This, how» ver, is not quite true. Actually, the case is that the students are not capable of enforcing the rules that the adminisfl'al‘lon has pre- scribed. 1 am referring to rules such as those on illegal visitation. lustlrunng a system of proctors will not effectively solve this prob- lem of enforcement, because it is a simple sociological tenet that laws which do not coincide with the mores oi the society are very difficult to enforce. This is the reason why police have such a problem With traffic violations. The unfortunate result of attempt- ing to enforce these rules that rlon't cnlncide with the mores is that eventually all law, even that which has a moral foundation, he- gins to be held in contempt. I may be presumpluous in pre- tending to speak for the entire campus, but l believe that there are two rules which the majority of lhe’studenls feel should be an; forced: quiet hours, and disorderly Conduct. Other rules such as those on illegal Visitation deal with a person's owu morality which most people feel should be properly left to himself. so long as a person's conduct does not interfere with or injure someone else. he should be allowed to go his own way. What is specially irking is that I feel that Ihe majority of-the facul- ty and the administration also hold ,lo this philosophy. However, we pass the buck to one another. Some students say we must enforce these rules because of the adminis tration; the administration says it’s the fruslees. and the trustees say it’s the parents, an amorphous group from whom it.is almost im- posslble to obtain a statement of opinion. It might be said here, however, that Illef'e are many par- ents who are more than willing to Send their Children to schools that have a far more liberal set of rules than Grinnell At Northwestern, for' example, llnderciasswomen have 2:00 AM. hours, and upperclass women have no hours at all. an aside from this point. it would seem that if there is any group in society that will stand on_princi- ple, it should be the academic com- ‘muuity. And, we should make and, enforce only those rules in which we really believe. If the college wishes to hold in this policy, I am quite sure that the students are capable of elliorcmg it, and that there is no need for proctors. Richard Tillatson student enters the college he is in effect agreeing that he will glve up any rights which he previously had. in return for certain advantages. These ad- vantages include: the advan- tage of taking a certain nun» ber of academic'courses each semester; the advantage of taking the liberal arts exam and senior comp‘s; and finally, if he utilizes all of these ad— vantages and doesn’t do any- thing naughty, the advantage of graduating. In return for these advantages he also has the responsibility to study hard enough that he doesn’t flunk out, thus wasting someone's money and increasing the col< lege’s dropout rate, which would damage its glory. when one is a partner to a social contract he has no rights except those which were agreed to in the contract. The sovereign power may grant certain privileges for the sake of expediency, but these are not rights, and can be with- drawn at any time. Among the rights which are lost are: the right to stay out past 12 pm. if you are female; the right to know "why” if you are kicked out; the right to privacy, no matter who you are; the right to drive an auto- mobile; the right to drink liq- uor if over 21 years old. At the present time the last two lost rights are returned to cer- tain students as privileges, but they may be withdrawn at any time for infractions of the rules, or for no reason. Student gov- ernment is another privilege. In the neverrending quest for college rule changes it seems that some Students think that their rights are being violated —they forget that at college one has no rights,‘ But occas- ionally, through the benevo~ 'lence of the board of trustees and the administration, more privileges are granted: for ex ample, the liberalization of the drinking rule, Where privileges are granted it must be expect- ed by all students that their peers will accept the conse- FAR'I‘I-IING— Continued on Page 3 South Younker Appreciate: Still To the Editor: The Student Government As~ ' sociation is an often criticized or- ganization. The efforts it makes are not usually of a publicized na- ture, Much of its work is done quietly and beyond the sight of the general student body. In recognition of lhe vast amount of time and energy expended by many SGA officials in the last few Weeks on behalf of South Younkel' hall, we would like to express our appreciation publicly. We do this not only to express our gratitude, but also to make the Campus aware of the dedication and hard work displayed by our SGA lend— ers. Rick Rosensweig, Pres. Larry Hultgren, Sec’y South Younkei' Hall