SCARLET AND BLACK

 

A STUDENT O’PINION

HELP! THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME

By JIM RUDOLPH

(I write this with the hope of
continuing discussion of a prob
lem raised by Paul Jones in
“The Loneliness of the Long
Distance Runner.")

The rumors so widely circu-
lated last Tuesday night con-
cerning the existence of five
(six, twenty, who knows how
many) nareo men on the Grin—
nell campus gave birth to pro-
fuse activity by a large portion
at the college community.

The switchboard was busier
than on any past Thanksgiving,
make-shift Paul Reveres were
running imm house to house to
iniorm the students of these
m 05 t unwanted guests, and
these students were racking
their brains for new and better
hiding places. (Let's iace it,
the students, the deans, and the
narcs know that there is a lot
at grass on this, as well as ev-
ery other campus in the nation
this year.)

Paranoia seems to be a com-
mon state of mind on the Grin-
nell campus this year (eg.
ie a rs of administrative sup-
pression of student involvement
in Convocation, tears that one
of the new resident advisors is
making his living by being no
informer to the deans, etc).
What is the cause at this slate
of paranoia which seems to
plague Grinneli College stu-
dents?

Living on the west coast this

summer, I encountered a simi-
lar phenomenon among the
new leltist and hippie “move
ments." This fear was not
merely the natural iear, that
at being busted, but spread tar
and wide into almost every as-
pect of politics and human re«
lations.

Paranoia is the bud oi the
“don’t trust anyone over thir<
teen" ethic, the Communica-
tions Company publications oi
the Diggers, and of other pub-
lications such as Ramparts,
whose editors think that their
child's youth rellovvship group
is being subsidized by the CIA,

Paranoia is evidenced in the
Dean's Office latest master-
piece, Student Use at Drugs,
when tho drug phenomenon is
referred to as a “problem” by
its authors.

The problem i wish to discuss
is a common enough one to
Grinnell people, but its com-
monness by no means lowers
its importance it is communi-
cation. What is the cause of
this paranoia, ultimately, but a
misunderstanding due to a lack
of communication?

What is the cause oi the
many-sided paranoia involved
in the drug Scene but a misin-
formed body of lawmakers
writing archaic and unjust
marijuana laws, the uncertain
extent of the enforcement of
these laws, and the multitude
of rumors concerning the ef-
iects oi grass which rise out of

misinformed
sources?

I congratulate the deans on
their statement concerning
their elllorcelrlent ot drug laws
on campus, yet was appalled at
their ignorance concerning the
actual eilects at these drugs.
Their knowledge is akin to that
oi the producers of the incred-
ibly gross, sensationalist ilick,
The Weird World of LSD—Ii
movie which portrays every
trip as a bummer during which
man sees his inherent death-
wish as real.

If this communication, lie.
the dean’s statement, is to re-
ceive national attention, 1
should think that the deans
would want to do more than
reveal their ignorance on the
subject oi drug ciiects, (May-
be communication here in-
volves turningron the deans?)

What are these fears con-
cerning American centraliza-
tion turning into a police state,
controlled by our gestapo, the
CIA, except a lack oi com-
munication between govern-
mental institutions and the peo-
ple they supposedly represent?

Wllo knows what the CIA is
doing? Who knows what is hap<
pening in Viet Nam? who con-
trols mass communication in
this country?

Perhaps the reason students
today are doing their damnedest
to avoid the limit ill not that

PARANDIDS—
(Continued on Page 1)

and uninformed

 

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) DRUGS

(Continued lrom Page il)

in regard any student can-
tributing to the (drug) Prob-
blem by misuse oi drugs or
contributing to others misuse
or drugs as having engaged in
conduct dangerous and harm-
ful to himself and others and
therefore subject to separation
from the college.

It is undeniable that certain
drugs are dangerous. Some
sedatives, stimulants and hal-
lucigens are cited as examples.
But it is widely agreed by stu-
dents that these do not consti-
tute the “drug problem" at
Grinnell. in any case, it would
seem a rather inhumane policy
to expel a student ior, say,
excessive dependency on trana
quillizersi

it is the use or marijuana, I
submit, which is the subject of
the Deans’ concern, and there-
fore it is somewhat misleading
to deal with this drug in the
same context as other, admita
tedly dangerous, drugs. Let us
consider the “iacts” presented
about marijuana:

(l) Marijuana has ele v e n
(slang) synonyms, which are
listed;

(2) it is cheap and demand
is growing;

(3) it has a characteristic
odor;

(4) it is often used under
cult-like conditions;

(5) it causes no mental or
physical deterioration;

(6) it has, by wldo Agree-
ment, no therapeutic value
for mild neuroses:

(7) “its dangers come from
the distortion of time and
space judgement, u unique
ieeIing of well-being, depres—
sion of inhibitions and ‘im-
pulse reiease.’ "

(8) users at marijuana are
sometimes led to the use of
heroin.

Fact 8 belongs in that “mass
of speculation" which the
Deans promised to avoid, Like
the domino theory, it is an an
gument no longer advanced ev-
an by the most pig-headed oi
partisans. Facts 2, a and 5 do
not concern us here Fact l is
a clumsy way oi saying that
users of pot may be regarded
as uncouth and unsavory. Fact
7, which spells out the “dang-
ers" oi using pot, is not inaC<
curate, as long as one remem-
bers that these effects are im~
permanent and by no means
undesirable

Fact 6 is open to debate To

the statement that
' ana is Without therapeu-

FASHIONS designed and sown
tor yell snort Clothes.
Formals, Spun coon.
Everything tho Fortinn-Mindod
Nssdi,
ruout Sis-525.31”

After a pm.

Friday, September 2v, my

tic effect on mild neuroses, the
Deans appeal to the testimony
at its users. it is my impres-
sion that most users would teen
tiiy to the opposite. in any
case, there is much to suggest
that individuals will not turn to
an illegal and expensive drug
which does nothing to reduce
neuroses or tensions.

The Deans are at another
opinion. Students, they suggest,
turn to pot because it is a lad
(iact 4). There is an “illusion
oi drama, excitement or myth"
about pot. “Drug experimenta-
tion or use or abuse is some-
times undertaken as a means
oi momentary escape (or) re
bellion.” Smoking pot is "a
communal enterprise," and at-
tracts students who, like chil-
dren, are fascinated with
“ ‘Cool' initiation into certain
mysteries."

This aspect of drug use sug-
gests the underlying reasons
for the administration's aver-
sion to pot smoking. 1 cannot
here go into detail why cults-
like and “antibourgeolse” be<
havior should mystify and mm
voke a reaction in a typical ad‘
ministration. But is is patently
not a concern ior pot users
which has led the administra-
tion to issue a threat to expell
them. The Deans have made
no effort to arrive at a new
solution based on “the facts."
The facts presented about mara
ljuana do not support one pol-
icy more than another, What
the memorandum represents is
an apology for a preconceived
policy. It the Deans have con-
vinced anyone of their point of
view, it has been done by puta
ting the cloak oi scholarship on
dishonesty and sophistry.

The decision of Grinneli ad<
ministrators not to remain in-
different to pot smoking is not
surprising. They have produced
a document designed to cum
vincc themselves. and others of
their mind, of the worth of an
essentially inllcxiblc policy.
Their attempts at sociological
and psychological “explana-
tions” represent little more
than ridicule of those who they
pretend to understand and are
painiul reminders that Grin.
hell's Deans have a habit of
conironting a strangs phenone<
non not with understanding but
with suppression.

it has not been my aim here
to advance an argument in:
the legalization of pot; rather,
i have sought to deny a piece
at apology and propaganda the
cloak of scholarship.

CHURCH

Due to construction work at
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in
town, Episcopal services will
be held in Herrick Chapel at 8
arm. and 5 p.m. Sunday for
the next three weeks.

 

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