iscusses C

k r.

LUTHER ERICKSON (chemistry) elaborates on a point during last Tuesday's discussion of
education at Grinnell in the South Lounge of the Forum. On left is panel member Charla:
Cleaver (English). and on Erickson'r right is Harold Fletcher [political science].

 

9mm

Oldest College Newspaper West of the Mississippi

 

Vol. LXXii

Grinnell. Iowa, Friday, February [2, [965

No. 16

 

583 Poll: Students Used Interim
But Don 't Care About Elimination

The results of the Tuesday 5&3 poll. on the interim Show that 360
students agree with the decision to drop interim while 275 are opposed
to such a move. A total of 552 people — about 57 per cent of the stu<
dents — took the lunch-line pool, although everyone did not answer

every question.

The poll indicated that 352 students leit campus tor more than one

i ‘k ‘k

t

‘k ‘A'

Knopf Discusses Elimination of Interim,
Cites Need for More Independent Study

By Alan Axelrod

"The faculty generally
agreed that the interim wasn’t
doing the job and that we need
to get at other ways of inde-
pendent study," said Kenyon
Knopt (economics), chairman

' of the faculty, when asked
about the faculty decision to
’ discontinue the interim session.

Knopf observed that “the stu»
dents' educational process has
been developed in terms of
formal structure—credits, as-
signments and grades. To slip
that little bit of time in and
expect very much in the way
of independent study is unreal<
istic."

He felt that a college needs
to build gradually into its stu-
dents the ability and desire to
pursue knowledge for its own
sake. ”I think we can do a lot
more in the way of encourag<
ing students to undertake inde<

 

pendent study, but there are
no formulas to get the job
done,"

Knopf pointed out that there
is much more work outside of
class now than there was ten
years ago. He felt. however,
that students need to be en-
couraged to broaden mem-
selves by doing reading out:
side of their major areas.

“One test of a good college
education would be to inter-
view people 15 years after they
graduate and see if they have
done much reading outside of
their professions To develop
the kind of desire needed for
this sort of reading is, of course,
one of the fundamental pur-
poses of a liberal arts educa-
tion," he said.

Knopf recalled that the in-
terim program and the incep-
lion 0f the Junior Liberal Arts

KNOPF—
(Continued on Page 6)

 

day during the interim while 296
remained at Grinnell.

568 of the students answering had
read one or more books, while only
84 had not. This was the only ques-
tion which all students answered.

The interim was intellectually
beneficial to 389 students, but 7A7
people said that they were not so
benefited,

Only 177 persons thought there
should have been assigned projects
during the interim session; 452
were opposed to such a proposal.

of the 202 freshmen responding
to the poll, 121 had gone in one or
more oi the lectures given by
Wayne Booth while 78 had not.
Three freshmen did not answer
this question

82 of the 174 sophomores went
to one or more of the lectures given
by Joseph Schwab; 89 did not and
three didn’t answer.

153 juniors took the poll, and 93
of them felt that the interim pro-
vided a good time to study for the
ILA. Only 44 felt that the interim
wasn’t a good time to study for the
ILA, and 11 didn't answer.

0n the question of whether they
could have studied as Well for the
ILA over the Christmas break. 44
juniors Said yes, 92 Said no, and 17
didn’t answer.

of the 123 seniors responding, 59

POLL—
(Continued on Page 3)

 

 

By Gerald Goddard

A faculty panel debated the short—
comings of Grinnell College in the
context of a liberal education Tues-
day night before over 250 students.

The panel of tour faculty mem-
bers — Charles Cleaver (English),
Robert Haveman (economics), Lu-
ther Erickson (chemistry) and
Harold Fletcher (political science)
— reached no consensus, but each

C. A. Harrell Gives
Seasongood lecture
This Monday Night

C. A. Harrell, a veteran of 40
years in the public administration
field, will be on the Grinneli Cole
lege campus Sunday through Wed-
nesday. Feb. 1417, under the span-
sorship oi the. Murray Seasongood
Good Government Fund,

Currently visiting professor in
public administration at the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. Harrell will

C. A. HARRELL

be hosted here by students in the
Program in Practical Political
Education.

His schedule includes attending
classes, meeting formally and in.
iorrnally with students and stu-

HARRELL—
(Continued on Page 5)

 

urriculum, College life

member saw varying weaknesseu
in the college makeup

Moderated by Reginald Archam-
bault (education), the panel sought
to explore his assumption, ”What
we have is very good; how do we
make it excellent?”

Cleaver opened the discussion by
pointing to the distinction between
saying, “that unless we experience
knowledge in more than a cerebral
sense, it is not very good knowl-
edge."

He said, “The passion at Grin-
nell for learning is at somewhat
less than a screaming pitch.”

Cleaver advised more seminar
work and more involved participa-
tion in place of detached apprecia-
tion, particularly in the fine arts.

Agreeing with Cleaver, Fletcher
blamed the lack of depth in leam-
ing on the racetrack aspect of the
curriculum. He said students and
professors alike are hurried and
regimented.

“The atmosphere is one of great
pressure, and this situation is gen-
eraily unsatisfactory," said Fletch-
er.

The solution, he said, was in I
program not unlike that in opera-
tion at Swarthmore Where the num-
ber of courses during the last two
years of study is reduced from
four to two.

Fletcher Said these classes of not
more than ten would meet as l
seminar perhaps only once a week.
with much of the initiative com-
ing from the students themselves.

Many oi the present mid-term
and final examinations would b0
eliminated under this system, ad-
ded Fletcherl He also observed
that such a system would “assum'
considerable maturity on the part
of the student.”

Fletcher noted that he was cau<
tiously optimistic about this ma-
turity despite the mass exodus
from campus during the interim
period

Archambault characterized and,

divided college life into day-time
and night-time activity. He said
that during the day the student
crosses into central campus and
becomes a student, but when he re-
turns at night he changes into a

PANEL—
(Contlnued on Page 4)

 

Power Failure in East, West Norris;
Norris Men Left Wandering in Dark

The 102 men of East and
West Norris halils awakened
Tuesday morning to dark halls,
gasoline fumes. smoke that
filled both lounges, and water-
less taps and fountains that
made early morning shaving
and washing a near impossibil-
ity.

The general power failure was
caused by a broken water main,
split as a result of contraction
and expansion from widely
varying Iowa temperatures. Its
water flooded a utility room
in the basement of the five
year old building, and pro-
duced a small explosion when
the water level reached the
electrical transformer. located
in the storage room. Gasoline
pumps, placed on a lot behind
the halls, were used to draw
the water from the flooded
basement and created a nox-
ious gas and fumes which perv

 

meated the
both dorms.

The power, which went off at
4:25 a.m., was not resupplied
until about 10:45 a.m, and run:
ning water was not returned to
the halls until nearly 3:00 pm.
that afternoon.

This six hour blackout crov
ated inaccurate - clocks and
alarms which tailed to ring. ao<
counting for much oversleery
ing and late arrivals to classes
on the second day of the new
semester,

ground floor 0!

ADDRESS HERE:

3391103 xiouuruo
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