Page Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

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Editorials

Curriculum Suggestion —

Since its beginning, the Negro’s struggle for civil
and human rights has stressed his privileges as an
American citizen as well as his rights as a human being.
For, the Negro in the United States is not only part of
a distinct racial progress, but also part of the total de-
velopment of American society. The Negro’s role in
American history has, however, been almost completely
ignored in conventional classwork. Although certain Grin-
nell courses mention some facts of Negro history in an
incidental manner, no direct and detailed formal investi-
gation of the subject is offered.

Negro history is usually excluded from course offer-
ings because it is supposedly too specialized an area of
study for a small liberal arts college, Certainly Grinnell
should emphasize broad, integrated, rather than narrow,
restricted course work. But the inclusion of Negro history
as merely an addition to already existing courses would

robably not give it the importance and stress that Negro
llistory deserves. Until Negro history is given its proper
emphasis in American history from grade school on,
a separate, comprehensive course is necessary to compens
sate for the neglect. Two areas that could merit special
attention are the Reconstruction period and the civil
rights efforts of recent years,

At Grinnell there may be difficulty in finding some-
one who feels qualified to teach the subject. The college
could, however, seek outside resources. Response to last
semester’s questionnaire about the LeMoyne program

dicated interest in a faculty exchange program. Since

egro history is an area in which LeMoyne, which al-
ready offers the course, could contribute to Grinnell, isn’t
this a natural opportunity for initiating the suggested ex-
change? Any arrangement of this kind would require pa
tient effort and persistent enthusiasm, but the benefits
for both colleges would be great.

At a time when much of American life is dominated
by the battle for racial equality and dignity, Grinnell can-
not continue to ignore the importance of acquainting its
white students with a knowledge of their fellow Ameri-
cans and its Negro students with a sense of their own his-
torical identity. “Black and white together” has meaning
only if we know who the “black" is and what he has ac-
complished for and with the “white." P

. M.

Apartments for Women —

Women students were presented with a pleasant sur-
prise yesterday. Dean Alice Low notified junior women
that the college tentatively plans to allow a limited num-
ber of them to live off-campus in private apartments in
their senior year, 1967-68. This new freedom, coupled
with the recent proposal to abolish women’s nightime
hours restrictions, recognizes for the first time women
students’ rights to equal social responsibilities.

Mrs. Low does seem to consider the new possibility
in women’s housing a temporary one, however. Mrs. Low
and a committee are studying the question of building a
new women’s dorm that may potentially bring students
back on-campus. But hopefully this committee will give
considerable weight to the opinions expressed by a signifi-
cant segment of the student body in the 5&1! article last
week “Students Endorse Apartments".

Students have a wide variety of dwelling needs.
Possibilities for different types of living fl dorms and
apartments, co-op and coed dorms — should exist side
by side.

Scarlet and Black

GIINNELL COLLEGE
GI Ill [own

A weekly newspapcx published zadl runny oi the
collcsc year by me onnnell Committee on Student rub-
lications. Represented for nuilonsl mvcmsing by Nh.
ilonsl enucauonnl Advertising Scrvlcc. College Publish-
cis hepmninuvc, is East suth Street, New York, 22,
NlY Sccono class pbsrage pniu ll Grinnell, Iowa. Suh~

scrlpllon mo 55.00 per school year. lam plld lubscrip-
Ilons.

EDITOR ,

BUSINESS

ASSOCIATE EDITOR _ _ ._
EDITORIAL sure _

Krys|ylu Neumnn
Susan wlu
Suzlnn: Gelber

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Plul Nncnmm, hlcbum Schnelmv

Hurry Anconu
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, Susan Kneser

Mike Delete, Chuck nsmchnck
John wml

my. . Andy lsuncs.
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Illll Guy, Knlhy she.

rscuNchl. IUFDWISDR

soon-rs Lunch
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BUSINESS srnrr
SCIENCE CONSULTANT
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A Student Opinion

ill Defense of Selective Servio

By Steve Shender

in spite of the fact that current fashion among
Certain senators from Massachusetts and libel"
allyroriented college students dictates the con«
demnalion ol the present Selective Service Sys~
tern, much remains to be said in its defense.
While Senator Kennedy‘s plan for a national lot-
tery and the NSA position on the dralt are to be
commended for their noble egalitarian semis
ments, it should be recognized that they ignore
a hard reality bl mid-20m century society, and
thus obscure the real issues at stake.

To employ a hackneyed cliche. our present
era is one of increasing complexity on all fronts.
In foreign affairs, national security planning, edu~
cation, and urban planning — in name only a few
fields m the demand of American society for
highly educated, technically competent individu-
als is steadily increasing. There are few people
who would deny that without such individuals
our potential culture functioning in a predomis

’nanlly primitive, agrarian world would be se-

riously impaired. in short, the objective Candis
tions of the present epoch require, more than
ever, the existence of an intellectual-technical
elite corps for national survival.

The present Selective Service System was de-
signed in full cognizance ni this hard fact oi life.
It was created and instituted to ensure the con-
servation of a valuable natural resource — in-
tellectual competence and technical Skill _. ll an
era of limited warfare. The major crit ism of
current detractors of the system is that it is un-
fairly biased against certain ethnic communities
and lower-income groups in general, Their an-
swer to the problem lies in the substitution of
some sort of arbitrary system of conscription for
the present system. By being arbitrary, the new
draft system would necessarily be more just. Yet
an inherent problem Di a "just", arbitrary sys—

tem lies in tile fact that it is also blind, and it
blindness may be inimical to our real national
interests. For who can really measure the long.
run societal costs of a search for blind justice

‘which results in the siphoning off or some of our

most important intellectual resources to the
battlefields of Vietnam, or Thailand, or Cam-
bodia, or wherever our current mania for “pre-
venlive warfare" threatens to take us. As long as
we can afford it (that is, as long as we can avoid
involvement in an armed conflict on the scale of
World War H) We must make some attempt to
be selective. It is far better to rationalize unfair-
ness in a manner which minimizes the long-run
costs to society, in terms of intellectual resources,
than to cast our fate to the winds of a national
lottery at universal military service.

All of this is not 10 deny that certain gmup.
in our society are bearing an unjustly dispropor-
tionafe share of the military burden. Yet the in-
justice comes not from the present Selective Serv-
icce System, but from the fact that our society
penalizes certain individuals for circumstances
of birth and environment which are beyond their
control. The criteria for the present system of se«
lection is intellectual capacity as gauged by at-
tendance at an institution All higher education. It
thus reflects the injustice of society because it
has a builtrin bias against individuals who, be-
cause of racial origins, early educational depriva-
tions, and economic hardship — rather than be-
cause of the lack of intellectual capacity — have
been unable to gain admittance to one of the
country’s several thousand ivory towers. While
making out draft law more arbitrary will serve
to prevent it from mirroring the real injustice of
society, it will not serve to rectify that injustice.
Indeed, by providing an added drain on our in-
tellectual resources, it will only serve to make 1!
more difficult for us lo solve the underlying prob-
lems which make the present Selective Service
System so unpalatable.

 

trolled by the administration,

are possible. Your continual

letters“ . . .

The True Grinnell
To the Editor:

The recent election has clear
ly shown the true spirit of the
liberal Grinnell student body.
When faced with a choice be-
tween action or being pacified,
between progress or promise,
the majority chose, in the true
spirit ol rural America, to be
content with what they have
and to be fooled by a facade of
“profitable” discussions with
the admlnistration,

The majority ni Grinnell is,
has been, and probably always
will be fooled. They were not
fooled by the candidates, not
by the administration, but lhey
are fooled by themselves. They
fool themselves into believing
that they are a new generation
full of new thoughts and are
willing to accept the ideas of
the previous generation. They
fool themselves into believing
that Grinnell promotes indivl»
duality and new thoughts.

In reality the majority of
Grinnell consists of small town
Victorian people and thoughts,
In reality Grinnell teaches that
conformity is the best way,
and we are incapable bl our
own worthwhile thought. There
is a lot of talk about progress,
just as there is a lot of talk
about sex, and I lot of talk
Xbuut drugs: there is just u lot
of talk. Grinnell is a stronghold
of conservative America, pro-
tected from any new ideas by
miles of cornfields.

I do not say that this is
wrong. I only say that those
people who are fooling them-
selves should recognize that.
Grinnell is basically conserva-
tive, and they should realize
that they will end up living a
nice middle class life, agreeing
in several years with such fam-
ous seventeenth cenluiy philo—
sophers as Glenn Legzelt and
John Crosett. Recognize thlt
you are quite willing to be con-

and realize that such events as
spring riot are only a reward
by Papa Legget fnr being nice
little boys and girls all year.
Once you realize this, perhaps
you will also realize why the
majority of those students not
willing to be moulded by Grin»
nell’s compulsive conformity
either transfer 01‘ are removed
by the administration,
Ray Hilborn

No Privacy

To the Editor:

Anyone who spends much
time in South Lounge has prob»
ably experienced the nuisance
of being told to sit up straight.
Two weeks ago, when ibis hap»
pened to me, I asked on in
explanation of the reasoning
behind the rules. I was entire
ly ignored. In fact, the person
walked away while i was talk
ing. 1 then sent. the following
letter. As of yet, i have not
received a reply; therefore, i
subnlit the letter as an open
letter:

Mi . Jewell Hawk, Director
Grinnell College Forum
Dear Mrs. Hawk:

Since you did not have the
common courtesy to finish our
conversation before walking
away, i must use this letter to
voice my objections.

First, why is South Lounge
called a lounge? If we wanted
an extension of the library,
then cxiin couches could have
easily been placed in Bin-ling.
I fail to see the crime involved
if 1 choose to use South Lounge
to relax, yet i am plagued with
the continual nuisance of some-
one tapping on my shoulder,

Sccond, 1 asked you what you
proposed as an alternative to
South Lounge (If you recall
this is the point at which you
walked away while 1 was talk-
ing. Will you please answer
this question? When I complain
of the lack of privacy at Grin-
nell, 1 up told that "range-
ments other than open dorms

disruption of my privacy in
South Lounge illustrates the
fallacy of this flgumentv So
again I ask, where am I to find
Privacy?

Third, under what authority
do you continually disturb me?
My understanding is that the
Forum is the place designed
[or student social use, I want
to use it for that purpose, not
as a show place.

This time please answer my
questions.

Sincerely,
David D. Schrcck

iThis is the carbon from the
letter 1 sent to Mrs. Hawk two
weeks ago.)

Young’s Crazy People

To the Editor:

The dearth of “crazy people"
which Mr. Young nutEd in his
essay in last week’s son has
more to do with an apparently
revised admissions policy, I ha-
licve, then it does with the col-
lege itself. Quite frankly, there
hasn’t been a richly endowed
(with “crazy people") class ad,
mitted since the characters
who were seniors my freshman
year departed. True. this is sad,
but it isn’t the college enviro—
ment that is preventing crazi-
ness from flourishing.

Mr. Young suggests that
Grinnell might to do more to
“accommodate, even encourage,
the exceptional" and he sug»
gests as a reason for our lack
of crazy people “that we make
it too difficult to be crazy
here.”

I don’t think that the Grin»
nell atmosphere, itself, can be
held responsible for the lack
of crazy people. No one is
forced to sucn‘iice his colorful
eccenuiciliss for a serious, pro-
ductive, highly-motivated way—
of-life. A true crazy person!
in the best sense of the word,
"crazy” - will proceed in his
own crazy style in spite of ihe

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