Page Two SCARLET AND BLACK Friday. February 1, I96. RUMORS, BOYCOTT. VIOLENCE SCRUTINIZEB BLACK STUDENTS IN A WHITE TOWN lilllllillllllillllllllllllillllllilllllllllllllilllllilllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllliilllllllllllllillilillllllillllllllllllllllllillllliilllllllllllillllllilllllilllillilllllllillllliillllllilllllillllllillllllillllllillllllllllllillllilllllillllllilllllillllllilllllllllllllllllliilllllilllllllllllllilllliilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllliillllilllllliillllllllliiillllillilillllllillllliilllllllllllliillillillillliillllilllilllllllllilllllllllllillilll BOYCOTT BACKGROUND REVlSlTED HUBER’I’ FARBES ($3 BOYGOTT (Continued from Page I) lponsored stencil in hand. But that day, the ladies said, the mimeograph machines were all out-ot-order. The Service Bureau people promised Heli- gott they would have the copies by 8 mm. the next day. But early Tuesday morning otter assembling his group and repnring them to stnii mail- oxes, Heligott was told that the Service Bureau would not run off the document in (pres- tion with or without Prof. Ca- nary’s sponsorship. Dean Winters told them. Heligott said, that “your ma- terial is too controversial and will not be run all." , NEGRDES REPUDIATE ; hovcon But while Helfgott’s predom- hrantly White planning group was jousting with the College administration and Service Bu- reau, a group of about sixty students — almost all Negroes ._ met Monday night. The group did not decide on a name, a future program, or even the lime {or another meet- ing. It did decide on a president ._ North Younker junior Hu— bert Farbes. Forbes, representing “around lety of us," told the 5&3 that the group did not support Helfgott‘s boycott and would have nothing to do with a boy- out in the lawn of Grinnell. He told l-leligott the same thing Tuesday. But repudiation notwithstand~ ing, Helfgott went down to Grinnell Office Supply and ran off “a few" copies of the Col- legersuppressed document, put them on posters reading “THINK ABOUT IT . . . THERE ARE ELEMENTS ON THIS CAMPUS WHICH BE- LIEVE THIS INFORMATION IS TOO CONTROVERSIAL AND SHOULD NOT BE DIS- TRIBUTED T0 STUDENTS,” and posted them in the college postoiiice, the Quad dinner line, and the bulletin board at Cowles. “There have been many in- stances of derogatory name- c allin g (‘Nigger,' ‘Jigaboo,’ etc.) from high school kids," the poster read, “who are not picky and will shout something MAX HELFGO'IT at any readily identifiable eth- nic group." INCIDENTS FINALLY CITED It then cited instances of deliberate attempts by towns- men to run down Negro stu- dents and faculty members with automobiles, lack of help from the local police in situ« rations where Negroes were ver- bally and physically accosted in the Iown, and occasions in which the College could but did not, his charges against townie aggressorsl A final alleged instance of Negro harassment summarized a confrontation between mem~ bers of the Oscar Lindsay Trio and town bullies after a cam- pus concert last Friday night. “It was fortunate no fight was threatened," the poster concluded, “b e c a u s e each member of the Trio was car- rying a .38 caliber pistol." By 7 pm. Monday night all but one poster (the one in Cowles) had been torn down, and the one remaining bad the last incident effaccd with marking pens or various colors. Helfgott‘s troubles were just beginning. One oi the students present at the TriOrBully confrontation at Wayne's Steakhouse (“the Rex”) denied that the Trio car- ried guns and told Helfgott — rather vehemently —— to re- move her name from the pos. ters. Mr. Canary became reluc- tant to sponsor the petition, Helfgott found himself “tallb ing continually (or three days without sleep" explaining the entire mess to “everyone on campus." Heligott spent the next few days visiting President Glenn Leggett (at Heligott’s own re« quest), explaining his actions to the student Senate Wednes- day night (at the Senate’s re quest) and considering the fu~ ture of the boycott idea. HE’S NOT SORRY Asked if he was sorry for ever considering the boycott, Heligott said. “No, I’m sorry for the cons fusion that resulted from the early release or information to the wrong people — which is again my fault and for which I must take all responsibility BOYCOTT — (Continued on Page I) By JOSHUA SACHS The meetings which have tak- en place in the last week are a first response to the harass ment of Negro students irorn the college by some elements of the town of Grinnell. The students feel that the at- mosphere in the town is hostile to them. “Whenever you're downtown," said Junior Howard Ward, “You get sneered at.” He added, though, that the mer- chants are friendly and that the trouble comes mostly from high school students. Resident adviser Zelte Craw- ford recalled being called ”nig- ger” while out on dates in the town. He also said that some- one tried to start a fight with him one night at the Pizza Pub. He reported neither incident, saying, “What can you do? You can't pin it down to anyone." Crawford added that he did not know or a single Negro student here who has not been subjected to some harassment, GET IT EVERY DAY Professor Denis de Coteau echoed Crawford‘s statement. He said that he had had two incidents in October, nothing since then, but that be under- stood that “Negro students get it every day." De Coteau a- greed with Word that the tmw ble is mostly from some high school students doing "what they think is fun.” Senior Mike Dejole agreed that by and large his relations DEAN RICHARD WINTERS with the town have been friend- ly. He said his only trouble has been with town resident Jim Slebiska. SLEBISKA-KELLEY Slebiska has been implicated in several unpleasantries, the most noteworthy being a light last year with Lou Kelley. Ac- cording to Kelley, he (Kelley) had been at the "Rex” one night when a fight broke out outside between Slebiska and student David Price. Lflu said he went out to watch and that Slebiska, shouting “i hate niggers worse than anything," leit Price to go after Kelley. Lou tried to get away but was prevented by a ring of townies watching the fight. He at last escaped and got back to his hall, where Slebiska appeared a few min- utes later and attacked him again. The police arrived and led Slebiska away. What hap- pened afterward is uncertain. Kelley Said that neither the police not the college at» pmached him to see if he would press charges. President Leggett and Dean Thompson both as- sured the 8&3 that the college is willing to prosecute but that no students Could be found to testify. The whole matter is confused. Slebiska told sophomore Grady Murdock several days ago that Chief Peters told him that he was not to be in any establishment in Grinnell at the same time as a Negro. Grady feels that Slebiska is influencing fl'le conduct of the students from the high school towards the Ne- gro students, but Slebiska said that he doesn't like the high PROF. DENTS DeCOTEAU school people and wants nothing to do with them. TOWN UNAWARE Most incidents of harassment do not seem to have been re- ported to the college or the police. However, President Leg- gett said that he called the meeting last Sunday at Grinnell House because several Negro students had reported occur- rences. This meeting was at— tended by Leggett, several pro minent townspeople, including Chief Peters and Rev. John Hed- ger, and Negro students Lou Kelley, Grady Murdock and Roy Walker. Most of the people in volved in this meeting felt that its value lay in inior-rning the townspeople that the problem exists. Most people in the town seem to have been unaware of the problem. Prof. de Coteau re< lates how “after Martin Luther King spoke, one of the owners of McNally's came to me say- ing, ‘That man King sure is fantastic. Thank God we don’t have anything like that in this town.’ I told him an hour and a half of incidents that I had heard about and by the time I was done he was nearly crying. He had no idea that things like that were going on." Rev. Hedger of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and director of its student center, told the San that most of the townsmen at the meeting were unaware that incidents against Negro stu- dents were frequent and that friction and resentment were growing. He fell: this was partly because Negro students and pro« lessors had been understandably REVEREND JOHN HEDGER reluctant to discuss these ems barrassing occurrences. The Negro students tended to explain the lack ot reports dif- ferently. They express the opin- iun that many incidents con- tained conduct ugly and alien. sive, but not illegal. When asked whether reports had been held back for fear of retaliation from some town residents, Grady Murdock replied, “Hell, no." Lou Kelley agreed that ”a lot of people in the town were made aware of things that they hadn't known before.” He felt the townspeople were sincerely ignorant of the situation, not just covering up. In a meeting held last weelf by Chief Peters. and the auxili- ary police, Peters said that most incidents had never been reported. He urged that any harassment, however trivial, be reported at once to the police. BEING BLIND Other people were not so con. vinced. Professor tie Cnteau thought Peters bad a tendency to play down everything that has happened as unimportant. "is he waiting tor something to really happen?” he asked. Grady Murdock said "I’m sort of skeptical that they were tali- en entirely by surprise. The meeting helped to direct con- sciousness." Sophomore Frank Thomas said, "quite often when incidents occur there is a Cou- casion present. This is not a matter of being unaware, but of being blind.“ Already, attempts are being made to alleviate the tension. President Lsggett considered his meeting a beginning and ex- pressed tbe hope that subsequent events, such as a rumor that the college would boycott the town would not make things more difficult. Rev, Hedger obviously Con- cerned over the incidents, inr formed the 5&3 that he had preached about the problem BACKGROUND— (Coutinued on Page 4)