Friday, October 17. "69

SCARLET ’AND BLACK

President's Statement on Student Decision-Making

' Publish” below are Presl-
iient Glenn Leggelt’s remarks
about involving students In cur-
ricular decision making; he
delivered them at a special
faculty meeting Sept. to. The
president said he delayed pub-
licizing the statement because
he “didn’t want to raise stu-
dents’ expectations before the
facultyi reacted to the proposal."
In response to Leggelt’s state-
ment, the faculty voted last
week to admit four studem re«
porters representing campus
media into its meetings, Illdi to
lorru a joint faculty-student ad
hoe committee to consider
ways-anthueans visavls: 1)
student attendance at. and pos<
llble participation in faculty
meetings; 2) the process of se-
lection and election at student
representatives to faculty standi-
lng and EPC committees; and
a) the relationship between slu-
dent EPC representatives and
divisional EPC committees.)

i want to talk for several
minutes about the ways»and-
means question of student par-
ticipation in determining the
educational policy of the Col-
lege We know there is and has
been for a long time a great
deal of indirect participation.
Students ieam quickly that the
best teachers teach the best
courses, and a successful ca-
reer for any teacher at an in-
stitution such as Grinnell is
very much determined by his
ability to attract and continue
to interest good students His
reputation is created and re-
created with every generation
of students. But what we have
come to mean over the past
few years by student participa-
tion is a more formal thing,
what we might call a struC<
tured device for seeing that
the student voice in college
government is consciously rep
resented. Such a structure.
though imperfect and under
going continued revision, now
exists in many aspects of stu-
dent aiialrs: in matters relat-
ing to student life in the re -
dence halls, in student disch
plinary procedures, in student
publications. and radio, and to
some extent in the scheduling

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and management of public
events.

Student participation on divi-
sional EPC committees offers
some promise as a way of elic-
iting suggestions from students
on divisional curricular mitt-
zero, but I think we should con-
sider a more thoroughly devel-
oped structure for represenling
student voice in college wide
educational policy. One reason
is our own mixture of feelings
as a faculty about the degree
of participation we want. All-
other is our difficulty in dis-
covering what degree of par-
ticipation students themselves
actually want. Still another is
that the stnicture of student
government does not appear to
be designed to deal effective
ly with the sophistications of
educational policy determina-
tion. Consciollsly or not, the
structure of student govern-
ment is partially designed to
deal with faculty and admin-
istration as adversaries, not
as colleagues To see the point
i am trying to make we have
only to compare the structure
of faculty governance and its
relationship to the deans, presi-
dent, and trustees with that of
the structure of student gov-
cmment and its relationships
to faculty, deans, and presi-
dent. Over the years the fac~
ulty has developed a structure
to represent its best interests
and obligations in a coopera~
live, constructive deliberative
way; and serious couimnta<
tions between it and the inter-
ests and obligations of the trus-
tees and the president are a
rarity.

Now we need to help the stu.
dents develop a similar struc-
ture for representing their best
interests and obligations. Prag-
matically speaking, such a
structure will reduce the noise
level and let us get on more
calmly and errectlvely with our
teaching and Scholarship. Peda-
gogically speaking, the task of
creating and using such a
structure will give students
part of the education we owe
them; it: will also provide us
with helpful advice and sug-
gestions about educational pole
icy. The problem is where and
how to begin. At one time, I
thought it best to proceed as
we obviously were: adding stu-
dents to faculty and adminis-
trative committees here and
there, trying to settle, at least

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tentatively, the question of stu-
dent representation at faculty
meetings; und, all in all, meet-
ing pressures as intelligently
as we could while we were
trying to decide the shape of
the structure that appeared to
be aboming under our feet.
indeed, llntil we came to the
difficult question of student
representation at faculty meet-
ings, I think we had done
rather well. We had met with
some success the problems of
representing students on publi-
cations and radio matters, on
admissions policies, and on stu-
dent affairs. The matters of
EPC representation and judi.
cial council operation still pre.
sent nagging questions, but
they are due mostly to bad
luck and the lack of prece-
deuce.

But in proceeding in this
general pragmatic way. we
have now humped straight into
the problem of student repre-
sentation at facility meetings,
This is not a matter which can
be solved by simple expedi.
encies. it is too fundamental,
and l confess that my instruc-
tions to the Faculty Organiza-
tion Committee to come up
with an answer were prema.
lure. It was asking too much.
As soon as I realized this point
and was driven back to more
basic considerations, 1 began
to think that what might be
desirable is a group which
could be called something like
The Facultysmdent Commis-
sion on Determination of Silk
dent Participation in Educa-
tional Policy, with members
chosen by appropriate means,
and with a mandate to report
by some deadline with recom-
mendations to both faculty and
students. But this device, how-
ever reflned, is not only too
cumbersome; it also assumes
too many things, among them
the notions that matters can
be held at the status quo while
the committee is working and
that agreement on the principle
of how much participation can
be achieved within a reason-
able time.

i think now a middle course
is more advisable and I wish
to propose it to the Faculty
organization Committee for
consideration, in hopes that it
will report its deliberations and
recommendations about the
matter first to the Executive
Council and then through the
Council to the faculty 81 I
whole.

This is my proposal:
That the Faculty Organiza-
Uon Committee meet with the

Student Senate, which includes
the Executive Cabinet of Slu-

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'tfent Government, and form all
all boo group to consider the
following:
(1) How the various student
groups involved in curricular
studies, including the student
representatives on EPC Conl-
mittees, might be consoli-
dated into a single, manage-
ablesized group charged with
(A) Developing an election
or selection process for
choosing more effectively
and quickly than now stn~
dent membership on vari-
ous faculty and administra-
tive committees.
(a) Developing a system
for articulation between the
members of the Student
Senate and students serv-
ing on divisional EPU
committees.

'(C) After point B has been
accomplished, developing a
way in which the faculty
EPC chairmen and the stu<
dent EPC representatives
can meet together and de-
cide how best to present
their recommendations to
the F a c \l l t y Executive
Council, When that latter
group is ready to present
its recommendations to the
faculty as a whole, repre-
sentative members of the
Student Senate might be in-
vited to the faculty meet‘
ing to speak to the recom-
mendations.

(2) While engaging in these
deliberations, the Id hoe
group might consider recom-
mending to the faculty at its
next meeting that the faculty
invite to all its regular meet-
ings a representative from
the student newspaper and a
representative from the stu-
dent radio, whose functions
will he repertorlal only.
(That there will be particu-
larly sharp and logical dif-
ferences on this latter recom-
mendation I am aware, and
you are invited as individuals
to send them on to members
of the Faculty organization
Committee. My argument is
simply that faculty meetings
are going to be reported one
way or another, and the pres-
ence of student reporters
might be self correcting and
perhaps give more accurate
results.)

As I see them, the ways-aud-
means assumptions behind this
proposal are:

(i) that the relationship of

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the Student Senate to its con<
atituency can he made very
similar to its oonsiituencyli
(2) that the proper place to!
organizing and channeling
college-wide curricular dis
cussions is the Student Sen.
ate and Faculty Executive
Councill

(3) that once curricular prov
posals have been developed,
they should continue to follow
our traditional process: that
is, presentation via the Fao~
ulty Executive Council to thc
faculty as a whole;

(4) that representatives of the
Student Senate can be invited
to speak at faculty meetings
in which curricular recom-
mendations are being dis
cussed;

(5) that, otherwise, student
representation at f a c u it y
meetings will be restricted to
official stlident reporters.

What i've been talking about
are largely ways-andrmeans of
getting more effectively than
we do now student opinion and
perceptions about educational,
policy matters into the stream
of our traditional procedures.
My philosophical biases are
probably apparent. My couvic<
tion remains that ultimately
curricular matters are essen-
tially the obligation and rep
sponsibility oi the faculty nnd
the president, working together
under the delegated authority
of the trustees I am not yet
ready to make any Iundamenial
changes in this conviction. I
am persuaded, however, that
students can bring useful and
proper help to us on education»
all policy matters, provided we
assist them in devising struc.
tures that make such help ef-
fective and constructive.

} Queen

Continued from Page 1
ervise homecoming queen eleth

*tions' merely "to cooperate With

the powers that be."

On Oct. 7 the student senate
recommended that homecoming
queens be abolished at Grinnell
in response to representatives
of the Grimeli Women’s Liber-
ation group who argue that
homecoming queens perpetuate
the false image that women are
objects, and they emphasize sue
perticial values such as beauty
rather than more important hu.
man qualities.

In a referendum last Tuesday
students Voted 423-189 to abolish
homecoming queens. However,
those results were ruled invalid
due to ambiguous wording on
the ballot and improper prior.
notice of the referendum

Grinnell hurtled into headlines
throughout the world last year
when students elected a mail)
sophomore, Dick “The Kid"
Mellman as an unofficial home-
coming queen.

“I'd rather not have a ilOYllE<
coming queen of the wrong kind
again," commented President
Glenn Leggett last week.

"i enjoy looking at a pretty
girl as much as the next guy,”
he continued, "but if students
don't want a homecoming
queen, it's okay with me. I want
to stay out at it."