hursday May 29. P759 SCARLET AND BLACK Page Eleven ROTC Reversal Faculty Frustraies Student oy TED GLICK On Monday, May 19, the faculty once again showed their lack of conscience and their low opinion of the students of the institution. At the last faculty meeting of the year, while students were engaged in writing papers and taking finals, a motion was unexpected» iy sprung on an uninformed faculty ask- ing for a reversal of the previous deci- sion to remove academic credit from ROTC in 1570. Mr. Vanderpool, one of the members of the committee set up to look further into the ROTC question, presented this motion, and it was passed 47735. Reasons for Ibis action are yet to be put forth by Vanderpool or any other member of the faculty to the stu- dents. , What does this action mean? To me it means two things. First, it is clear that when the faculty made their initial de- crsion to remove academic credit from ROTC the reason was not one of moral principle; rather it must have been primarily one of the academic merit (or lack of it) of the courses. The sec~ ond thing to be learned from this action ' is that it shows once again what the faculty, as a collective unit, thinks about the students — they think of them as "loggers”. "Doing the right thing for the wrong reason” is something we are continually being wsrned against doing. But, as is too often the case, our supposed “su- parlors” did just the thing which most or them counsel against. They were either too conscienceless or too naive to see that a continuation of ROTC on ' this campus will do nothing but increase the amount of men who serve this coiuitry under the facade of “defense”, but in fact as agents of oppression in conflicts such as Vietnam. Operating under the illogical assump- ‘ lion that this is 1945 and that the United States is not an imperial power, they Show their blindness, be it a moral blindness or simply a blindness of per ception, of what this country is really about. Either of these reasons is not excusable at a, supposedly, "good" school like Grinnell. The second point is just as important as the first. Students at Grinnell, as well as at virtually all other pubic schools and colleges, are treated as “niggers”. The secretiveness of the motion and the tact that it was put forth at the last faculty meeting or the year, ill the final minutes, and dur- ing finals week, shows where the minds of at least some, and probably a majority of the facility, lie. They think of students as second‘class Citir zcns, not worthy of having a real voice in their education and not worthy of being notified of plans to reverse what had been decided on before largely as a result of student pressure. These aie the two reasons why 1 de- cided to go on a hunger strike to try and move the conscience of those who so obviously need some pressure to get moving. The faculty should consider themselves lucky that it was a last and not some other action that would have “horrified" them (Columbia, Harvard. Berkeley, Stanford — dig it?) That is not to say that such an action is not in the foreseeable future; I will be very surprised it next year does not bring enough student agitation to make this year's actions look like parity raids and 1950's pranks. As this issue of the sets goes to press the ROTC issue has yet to be decrded. it would he gratirying and surprising if the faculty did decide to stick to their first decision decided upon earlier »—< an elimination of ROTC credit. How- ever, no matter what the faculty de- cides to do on this issue, it is clear that the continued high»handedness of the faculty in all areas of college life will next year bring increased student pres- sure and militance on all fronts for a role not as niggers but as human beings with power to control their own lives. We, the students, don’t want to and aren’t going to be treated like niggers any more. Compliments of Harry's Sport Shop Best Wishes, Seniors Celebrate Your Accomplishments With Us! t rain 5 Louauonu ”Fine Food in a Friendly Western Atmosphere” Profs Rethink Rolf: Issue In the wake of several weeks of in- decisiveness about the withdrawal of academic credit from the college ROTC program, the faculty is presently voting on a final recommendation as to when accreditation of Aerospace Studies courses should cease. President Leggett on Tuesday sent a ballot to all faculty members asking them to vote on whether ROTC credit should be continued until June, 1972 (when the Air Force plans to have totalr ly phased out ROTC at Grinnell) or if it should be discontinued after Sept. 1, 1970 (as the iacuity recommended 47-40 on Apr. 7.) At a May 19 meeting the faculty voted 47434 to alter its original decision and recommended that academic credit for ROTC courses he continued until June. 1972. A majority of the faculty at that time apparently believed that the Air Force’s decision to phase out ROTC at Grinnell made the earlier recommenda- tion unnecessary. However, a special faculty meeting was called last week after the executive council received a petition signed by 13 faculty members asking that the faculty reconsider the question of when ROTC credit should be terminated. The mat- ter was discussed at a full faculty meet— ing last Monday, and a committee was appointed to draw up the ballot that is presently being circulated, President Leggett has asked that all ballots he returned by 5 pm this Friday. Monday’s special faculty meeting was called after sophomore J. Theodore Glick began fasting on May 20 to protest the To demonstrate our concern over the Vietnam conflict, Grin- neirs flag is tlyiiig at hall—mast over central campus, and will continue to do so until the end of the cris' faculty’s reversal of its earlier- ROTO recommendation. Glick sent a» letter to all professors informing them that he would not eat. until the faculty. met to reconsider the ROTC matter. He ended his 3—day hunger strike after learning that the executive council hadiealled tho speual meeting. President Leggett told the SH) that his recommendation to the board of- trust- ees on the status of ROTC credit Will probably be based upon the faculty re- commendation that will be finalized when the ballots are counted on Friday. denominations $9 Grads It's Been A Pleasure Doing Business With You GOOD-BYE . . . AND GOOD LUCK R&J FABRIC CUNNINGHAM DRUGS LEEPER MUSIC CO. » GIFTS INTERNATIONAL BRYAN'S SHOE SERVICE THARP PHARMACY ELLA'S FLOWERS SANITARY BARBER SHOI’ POYNTER'S 4th Avenue Fashions, Inc.