Page Two EDITORIALS We Ain’t Gonna Study War No More? “The only thing necessary to the trlumpll or evil is that good men do nothing.” Edmund Burke Many defend AFROTC as merely another course of study, its presence war— ranting no moral decision. We disagree. ROTC, in any form, is an integral part of the American military complex, which is in turn olten the instigator and always the instrument of violence in American foreign policy. A moral stand must inevitably be taken. Even those who disregard the issue because Grlnnell is small and few students are involved, are taking a moral stand — that ol silent complicity. The very existence of the Armed Forces must be either morally supported or con- demned, and those who remain silent unavoidably give their tacit agreement to this military complex. The popular defense of the well-educated soldier, the set-called “liberal linger on the trigger” hypothesis, is based on the assumption that the power of the military will be used justly and humanely by intelligent men. There are at least two weaknesses in this myth. First, this idea may very Well have been valid back in the middle ages when a man was a gentleman first and a soldier second, but this is no longer the case Today’s army makes soldiers, pure and simple, who all fit the same, well dis plined mold. Individualism, whether a result of education or any other factor, is discouraged to the point where, atter military training and indoctrination, the difference between a Grinnell soldier and a Texas Tech soldier is doubtlully Very great. A second weakness is that, given the structure of military life and the simple directness of the chain of command (I say, therefore, you do), it is reasonable to assume that, even if a man tried to implement. the lessons of his liberal education, he would very probably prove to be utterly ineffective, (and has proved so, many will testify). It is apparent that, whatever the future status of AFROTC at Grinnell, our decision here will not shake the world: we will not insure the success or the demise of the military by what we do. This frees us to consider the principle involved in the question, and allows us to act: morally upon what we decide. The sides are drawn. will we symbolically demonstrate our aversion to both war and the military by refusing to admit the compatability of an obvious instrument of violence with the teachings of a liberal education, and discontinue any college ties with a preparation for that violence? or will we, by remaining silent or continuing our ate filiation with ROTC, become accomplices to that violence, in essence condonliig. the existence and actions of the military, and affirming the proposition that any. liberal arts graduate is only half a man without a few notches on his gull handle? The decision is ours, and it is too important to be ignored or taken lightly. The principle ’nvolved, complicity “All! the military and consequent support rendered its basic policies and even its very existence, is too iundameiunl a contradiction to the philosophy and beliefs of this college for us to be content with hallrway measures. 0ui- position must be made absolutely cle . all ties with ROTC must be immediate- ly and completely abolished. Rather than hopelessly concentrate on Council Col— lege‘s liberalization oi the U.s. Air Force, let us constructively concentrate on our llbeidlizatlon of Gl'lllnell College. S.K., an, KH. Now is the Time This weekend one of the most tragic events or our time, the assassination of Dr. Mai-tin Luther King, will be commemorated. This is not the time for ninking it a long weekend in Chicago, or starting your drinking a day earlier, or even spending an extra few hours in the library, just because classes have been called off for Friday. This is not Just another Gl‘lllllell Weekend. This is a time for taking a long and hard look at ourselves, both as individuals and as a total community. What did this man stand for? Why was he killed? Who killed him? And maybe most importantly, how can we develop ourselves and our community so lliat he will not have died in vain? D.s. So Happy Together Some time in the near future, the Student Ailalls Committee will meet to decide the status of next year's dormitories, their gender and distribution. This is the perfect opportunity to examine the resulls of the Younker Experiment, with an eye to both perservmg this coed dormitory and instituting others of the same type. The increased social mobility and case of campus lite which has resulted from this year's integration of campuses has been obvious. but equally obvious is the fact that there is still room for enormous growth in this area. The overwhelming‘ success of the Younkers has shown us that, rather than be content With the halt and half division of the campuses, the entire dormitory system should be modeled as much as physically possible on the idea of coed dormitories. Alternating men’s and women’s dorms and formation of shared-lounge dorms would insure the evolu» tion of this natural living situation into maturity. There are at least two other hall complexes on campus which offer possibilities for a Younkeretype shared-lounge situation: Loose, and East and West Norris, both of which should be made functional in this way as soon as possible. Arguments such ls cost and the possibility of puritanical public outcries pale beside the enormous benefits the addition of these complexes would provide. Ari institution which can lavish money on such luxuries as unnecessary reception centers and multimillion dollar game rooms can certainly, with a little planning, find the funds to dismantle a few urinals and install them someplace else. And since when has Grinnell been lfraid to step courageously and ambitiously in new directions and, despite close- minded public sentiment, forge new paths toward truly liberal education? We urge the Student Affairs Committee to act positively in this matter, and proVide Gl'innell with the mature social structures it needs to become the ”experience" it professes to be. K. H. SCARLET AND BLACK l talk of the town l by fredrlcka nelson I wouldn't say that grinnell has n ditterent aspect alter break, though the smell of spring moisture is in the air and the grass is hinting from its grey- ness that it just might turn green and surprise us all — maybe give us a sniff of new life inside. . . though places can go through seasons, they do not have the kind 0! changes in the middle of somewhere and sometime that are characteristic of people. i think many of us have returned, fulfilled by new relationships or renewed by confron- tations, to look around again at our places in spacetime and dream or change. i think many know that dream- ing is funny and fantastic until it is tumed into doing. we need to learn to make what We find into what we want. >0! * III l‘ a friend of mine shared a fantasy with me just yesterday. we agreed that this country with its colleges of various kinds and its multi-Various peoples is long overdue for its apocalypse. the friend had seen a horse in the sky draw- ing a chariot of doomechange. the horse was an omen and the people who saw it tried to interpret its meaning, was it had or good? it was a stallion beautifully free With no reins binding it behind the doomsman. its hooves were drawn out into the clouds behind it and its head was strainv ing for the blue openness. there was llei— [her Chariot nor l‘ltlel‘. among mundane things the horse is rare, but lmlteethe-less real. omens are all around [or those who travel to notice if they Wlll. places don’t change, but April 4 m9 The Scarlet & Black Grinnoll College, Grinnell, lowa An independent news» paper published weekly. during holidays null titer. and examination periods. a by the Grinnell Com- Qd more on Student roari— ‘iy/ chums. Suhsnlptlon MWNSE rate 35.00 Der school yea suslw mssm .nnucr: STROM Editor .,.._ nurlnm Manage questions oi travelers and relate our own experiences in such a way that we will further our abilities to understand and to make our dreams into realities. these shared experiences help each of us interpret the places we call our own. enough. . . . not because enough has been said, but because i cannot say these things as Well as they should be said. * 3k * )0! friends of ms. king will be glad to know that i am no longer misinforming them when i say that she has returned and her shop is quite open. also the friendly freaks of 3271/; broad, in. eluding the cat and {our beautiful kittens, and their other people friends want to wish mr. earl brown the best of luck in his new business. the varsity will never be the same, though young mr. daniorth tries very hard. readers, stop at paglai’s pizza in maryvills, missouri and say hello to mr. brown. =l< * * >l< readers and friends, you are cordially invited to come and visit our kittens and look over our col< leCtlorl 0i oddities that We are selling as “furniture.” (kittens not for sale) directly overhead dr. terguson’s office on broad street and the stairway is on the leIlh side. good day. people in new places are able to see what isn’t so apparent to the natives. hopefully each of us will be able to ask iii Saul State The swords of lawn Attorney Genet-n1 Richard Turner have been slashing away ill Grinnell for seveial monllls now, and so far most of tls have managed to keep our pl‘ovelbial cool. But the latest stab by the Des Moilles Crusader has cut a bit too deeply to be ignored. The Turner investigation of the disrbbing incident at Gl'ilinell was so ludicrous that It llaldly melited editorial comment. The latest Turner fiasco is so outrageous that it merits all the wrath that can be squeezed out of a typewriter. As Griiinellinns were happily packing up for their annual Spring jaunt into the real world, Richard Turner attempted lo castrate the already feeble Movement at Grinliell by cutting oil iis organ of communication. On March l3 slate agents Hildef the direction of Turner — without a warrant m confiscated ma- terial that was to have been printed in Ptel'odnctyl, Grinnell’s “underground” paper. The Des Moines Register called the actions of the Attorney General’s Diilce “shocking" and “totalitarian.” We would Call them despicable and intolerable. Fl'lor restraint and censorship arc Concepts repulsive to anyone concerned with protecting the righls of free press and free speech. But such total disregard for due process or law, such blatant suppression of the freedom oi expression, should provoke even the most apathetic Grinnellian. The elltlre altair Smacks Soul'ly of hookburning, and if the values of this in- stitution are worth anything at all, Grinnellians had better wake up and do some firefighting. The book you save may eventually be your oivn. Tile Iowa Civil Liberties Union should be commended for volunteering its services to the Pterodactyl stair members whn have filed an $11,000 damage suit against the Attorney General’s office in an effort to regain the confiscated material. Turner’s testimony in the Case has been rather amusing. He claimed that Ptera is “obscene” because ”it appeals to the prurient intelest,” despite the fact that there has been no judlCial determination on the matter. Can We presume that Mr. Turner meant to say that Piero appeals to his prurient interest? That would be quite Et feather in the caps of the Flow staff. Turner also claimed that no seizure Occurred, since the printer volunteered to give Ptero's material lo State agents. it is clear. however, that the material was volunteered by the printer only after the Attorney General had requested it. In any event, Turner's relusal to retul‘ the material to its rightful owners on the Ptero staff makes him solely responsible for the paper’s suppression, regardless of whether or not all actual seizure occurred. It was also amusing that after condemning Ptero as “obscene trash,” Turner testified that he hadn’t read the copy completely. (Perhaps this is a inanisfestation of the “blind justice” we hear so much about.) Turner explained, “It's too dis< gusting.” The storm trooper tactics of Richard Turner are what we find disgusting. They appeal to the Puritan interest. They are utterly without redeeming social value. And, to use Mr. Turner’s phraseology, they are mere trash. Hopefully the courts will act rapidly in restoring Pterodactyl to its higheflying position by dulling the sword of Richard Turner and pulling him back in his place, wherever that may be. l-lopefuily, even here in Nowhere, U.S.A., the pen is still mightier than the sword. ll it is not, the sad state at Iowa is in a sadder state Lhan many of us had feared. MB.