Page Two SCARLET AND BLACK ScarletL and Black GRINNELL COLLEGE Grinnell A wot-luv newspaper published each Friday ot the college year by the Grinch Commuter on Student Pub. ircotions. Represented for national advertising it tional Advertising Servi NI- lnc., College Pub lshels vA Representative, is Ens: soni'su-cct, New York, 22, N.Y. «Second class postage pitid at Grinnell. Iowa, Subscrtpllon rate 35,00 per school year. idoo paid subscrlptions, News non-on . rumor: znrron cont EDITOR , . neuron EDITORS CHIEF rrromona moi-commute Burr narold Fuson Susan will Martini Berkevy Net] Fischer Susnn Gelber , Itnn Kinchnor . . . .liin Stu-rul- _ Alnn Bernhardt, Susan 1mm . rout Nncbmln, cn-rlcs Smlth, Kryl Nenmlnn, nl'c lint Srhneimv, Kntlly siren, .lnn i-i-lu, Jlne rot-inn Paul Jones, Ann Klrscluier, Bruce nip-tram, Richard Kuhn, Andy luau, Theren Johnston 8&3 Editorial Staff Appointed Six ii A 1! staff members have been appointed to editor- ial positions in the past week. They are Martha Berkey, News Editor; Suzanne Geiber, Copy Editor; Neil Fischer, Feature Editor; Ann Kirschner and Alan Axeirod, Senior Editors; and Jim Slurgis, Chief Photo- grapher. Miss Berkey is a sophomore and former Copy Editor. Miss Gelber, a junior, was previous- ly a staff member of the Sim and has worked for The Mon tins Ferry Times Leader, Mor- tins Ferry, Ohio. She was also on the staff of two Shell Oil publications, Mr. Fischer is I sophomore transfer student from Tulane University, in New Orleans, where he was a columnist for the Tulane Hul- laballoo. Miss Kirschner, a sopho« more, was an sails reporter last year. Mr. Axelrod is a junior and a farmer Associate Editor. Mr. scurgis has done extensive work for the StitB as well as for the Cyclone. He is a sopho- more, The new appointees will join Anne Farrer, Assistant to the Editor, and Steve Casey, Sports Editor. letters . . . Questions Editorial To The Editor: 1 was much struck by the edi» torlal in the last issue, in which is repeated several times the notion that rules should rellect reality. The notion strikes me as both dangerous and fallacious. It human conduct were simply and merely natural, like natural laws, then rules, i.e.. scientific laws, would be no more than re- flections of reality, But if hu- man conduct is a matter of choice, of free will, then your editorial’s thesis will be that laws ought to correspond to whatever human beings choose to do. If the majority should choose to be cruel, intolerant, vicious, then the laws should, by reflecting these, sanction ouch attitudes and their conse- quent acts. Man’s nature is, it seems to me, unlike nature’s nature; and no man’s rules precede the re~ silty of his conduct. Otherwise there would be no use in having rules and laws. John Crosset, Department of Classical Language Blind Commitment? To The Editor: The Des Moines Project raises larger, m are urgent questions — probing questions about ourselves and our roles as college students and mem- bers of society. The questions which we raised last week should have, we think, been asked and answered before Grinnell College students be« came involved with the sock» economic problems of Des Moines, Few advocate poverty. In this country, it is simply un- American and anti-Great Soc- iety to brandish pro - poverty sentiments; more importantly, though, we recognize that the poverty of a few is the poverty of all. Yet each of us must ultimately discover and define our motives: are we joining blindly because involvement and commitment are now so- cially acceptable and the 'in' thing? Or do we commit our- selves oiit of basically humani- tarian and egalitarian motives? How do we commit ourselves. Whether to is better to be blindly committed or uncom- mitted is a moot question; the issue we face is how can we pragmaticaliy involve our- selves in social action without being duped and mislead? The desire of Grinnell College stu- dents to become involved in social reform is not an issue. Nor is the issue the existence of need in this area; both are real and do exist. Perhaps the participants would object to our terminology of ‘blind com- mitment. yet, each one of us is blindly committed to some aspect of life without really knowing why ~— nor do most of us take the time to discover why because youthful enthusi- asm will suffice. Before we commit ourselves, whether to civtl relorm or to graduate school, wouldn’t the possibili- ties of failure be somewhat re- duced if we assembled as much concrete. speciiic, factual information as possible before embarking upon any worth while project? The Des Moines Project, for example, perhaps would still exist if judicious- PH] Friday. September 23. I966 Invalid Generalizations As a young fish 1 used to wonder what going to a liberal arts school would be like, so i decided to go to Grinnell College. I adjusted my scales, swam into the opaque bowl where the school was located, and was sur- prised tb see all of the students attached to the sides of the bowl by tape over their fins. As soon as I was discovered, I, too, was taped down. It was really terrible, because I couldn’t see out and whenever I looked in, all I saw were stnlg< gling fish and changeless patterns of activity in the center of the bowl. Looking a little closer, even though I was bound by the tape. I saw several older fish talking heatedly about something I couldn’t understand. They never quit talking, and oddly enough, never moved, never changed their position, and, as far as I could tell, had probably always been that way. As long as I was there, I never did know who they were, or what they were doing. I stayed at Grinnell for my whole college career, and teamed two things: freedom can never be used in an unqualified sense, and an institution is by nature an unchang- lng thing. The only thing that l was allowed to learn for myself was that fishbowls are unchang< ing, isolation is one of those mixed blessings that was be- stowed on this college by a handful of visionary Congrega- tional ministers and that minor robber baron, J. B. Grinnell. The lowa frontier may have been exerting in the midrlssfl's: but a century later, Grinnell seems distant from the events. and experiences which deeply involve other youths of our so- ciety. Geography may thus be a factor limiting the involve- ment of Grinnell students in the civil rights demonstrations in the South, the poverty pro— grams of Appalachia, and the Viet Nam policy organizations centered in universities east of the Mississippi and west of the Rockies. But geography is too simple an explanation for the distance between Grinnell students and the activities of their content» poraries, One senses that the real cause of the non . involve- ment of the average Grinnel- lian in the rebellion against the American Establishment is his failure, on the intellectual lev- 21, to develop a critical attitude toward the society that pro- duced and conditioned him. When I finally was untaped and awarded the piece of tape for my Valiant career and per- severance, I was given a chance to talk to a stu< dent who didn’t stay at Grinnell but worked loose from his tape and was washed out of the bowl because at that. He had a few things to say about the time he spent there. He said that he, too, had high hopes when he went, but that he. like all the others, was imme« diately lettered by a tape which he called con- vention, unimaginativeness, and unwillingness to change. I didn’t. really understand him since I had never been taught the value of metaphor. the concept or glasses. Dan Bucks Rumblings A goal of the liberal educa< tion, to paraphrase at least one prolessor, is to develop indi ‘- duals who understand them- selves and their world and, most importantly, who compre- hend the changes that both the individual and society are un- dergoing. By this criterion of critical awareness, most Grin< nell students flunk the test of a liberally educated person. It Grinneilians understood themselves and their world, would they be so lax at relat- ing their accumulated knowl< edge to values and purposes? It this campus were populated with students who were acquir< ing a liberal education, would there be such a failure by Grinnellians to immerse them selves in the affairs at our time? Poverty in Grinnell, Des Moines, and the Tama reserva- tion does not activate this cam< pus. De facto segregation in Iowa is not even recognized. Study groups on the Viet Nam war, a war that is fast ap- proaching Korean levels and that could escalate into a ma- jor catastrophe - are crushed under the combined weight of apathy and humanities papers. Even problems that are more He went on to say that he had been close enough to hear the old fish in the middle talking, and that the only topic of concern was how to build the perlect pedestal on which to sit, He said that: the most common topic of humor was the idea of experimentation and responsibility for chances taken if anything were changed. 1 chuckled, since I knew the joke already. He went on, and I‘ve g0! to admit that he was a good speaker, even though he was a sophist. After a while, I tired of listening to him and de- cided to go home, sit down and have a good yawn. The only thing that i wonder is if those old fish can still see through their rosecoiored immediate, that are located on campus, do not inspire the stu< dents in action. Organizations are choked by the combined in. fluences of bureaucracy, petty personal concerns, and student indifference A social structure that restricts students from forming their own personal moral values does not raise cries of objection. The call tor students to help in welding this college into an inspired com- munity goes unhecded. If Grinnell studens do not: really understand the present nature of themselves and their world, how can they begin to comprehend how the forces of today will shape the future? Perhaps these rumblings will fall on deaf ears, and students will continue to enter, in me chanical manner, the class- rooms and laboratories. But hopefully, a few will begin to understand that the times are changing, and that indifference to these changes results in ignorance and confusion. if a few understand, this campus need not accept that world as it is, but can begin to en- vision the world as it ought to be. With an awakened con- sciousness, the students can end their worship of fake gods. ness of reason had prevailed and fundamental questions been asked and answered. The Des Moines Project was an experience which should serve as a model in defining motive a n d commitment. Surely knowledge and under- standing of a problem is pre- requiSite to solution. Now, case in point, did Billy King really possess the ability to communi- cate this knowledge to a pre- dominantly midtlie class group of college students? Why was- not a more detailed, in , depth, study made before the initial relatively large - scale plunge taken? Enthusiasm, commitment. by all means! But uninformed involvement when informed in- voiyement was both possible and desirable? Suzie Hughes Jamie Baker D.M. Project Evaluated To the Edltor: A final evaluation of the Des Moines project would be valu- able both for interested students and those who might consider a comparable project in tlie fu- titre. i think that most people are aware of the achievements of the Des Moines Project. It: started three block groups, co- operated with three rent strikes. and distributed information on welfare, the poverty program, city government, etc. through- out the community in which it operated. To the Grinnell stu- dent who has had no experience with community organizing. I can suppose that the achieve. merits seem minimal. But com- munity organizers only intend to build the groundwork for change in a slum. Their work involves undramatic, person-to- person encounters; improved education or better housing con- ditions don’t come for years. .M. LETTER— (Continucd on Page 7)