Page Two

 

The Scarlet 8i Black

Student Newspaper of
siinneii College,

Grinnell. Iowa
\ASUHL‘MA\ An independ-
3‘ '7,” cut mission on.
a ‘ Lllstted weekly, ex-
:ceoi during non.
.‘ :‘days no examina—
rg 5‘ lion periods, ny the
’Iiiiohtsseffi‘ orinneli Committee
on Student Publicar
tlons. Subscription mic SGJW per
school year,

Edna's ,,.,...._ "my ritnoii,

Lloyd Genoa
John Brody
. S|evc cmw

Buslncss Manager
Manny": Editor .

spans Editor .... John Pepper

Reporters , , , . corny Newktrk,
Muk saoiernan, Greg nutmer,
heroic Grimm, Kathryn Heine.

 

S83 EDITOR/Al

Last Friday, February 6th, a statemerttwas placed
in our college post office box informing us that Henry
Wilhelm, Krystyna Neuman, et 31. were leaving the
staff of Pterodactyl 7 temporarily, they assure us.
Going into exile like Leon Trotsky before them, they

are leaving
revisionists.

the situation

in control of fascist

As Mr. Wilhelm, Miss Neuman, and their friends
carefully point out, the change in policy on the part

of the rest of the Pterodactyl staff

“ain’t our

revolution.” We are glad to See the revolution at last
showing its true colors. It seems that there never really
is very much room in a revolution for idealists afte;
power becomes a question. Those who work in the
name of any legitimately sanctioned freedom will be
crowded out by others with fewer scruples and more

ruthless methods.

Our editorial policy differs radically from that of
current and past Staff members of Pterodactyl; yet
we are disappointed by this turn of events. At least
Mr. Wilhelm, Miss Neuman, and their friends were
working for a principle or set of principles, however
different from our own, Bruce Nissen has said that
he and his friends are “working for a society that’s
above freedom of speech.” Presumably after Mr.
Nissen’s revolution has gone beyond his newspaper

into society at large, the ‘

‘culture and politics of the

majority” will be used to determine what other changes
must be made in the Bill of Rights, Perhaps his society
will be above other freedoms.

It is not too surprising, then, that Mr. Wilhelm refers
to Grinnell’s “anarchist-socialists" as “fascists,” and
we are amused to note one more instance in which
the politiciansof the far left have gone so far that they
are practically indistinguishable from their brothers

on the extreme right.

Students Try Experiment in New

Freshman Humanities Program
By Betsy Erickson

Grinnell's traditional freshman
humanities program is being
challenged by a new non-credit
experimental seminar led by Ric
MacDowell. The reading list
includes Camus‘ The Stranger,
Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
Carson's Silent Spring, and
Jacobs’ Death and Life of Great
American Cities. ,

At the first course meeting,
held February 4th in the South
Lounge, MacDowell and ap-
proximately twenty participants
discussed their expectations for
the course. MacDowell feels that
many freshman come to Grinnell
excited about learning, and that
they quickly lose interest when
they don't feel challenged by
“classics" wllich they consider
irrelevant to their lives. Some of
(his enthusiasm could be retained
if they, in organized groups,
could read and discuss Works
related to today's social
problems.

Many students agreed with
MacDowell. One said she felt a
gap in her learning, and that she
did not know how to fill it, Others
stated that classes are imr
personal, and some instructors
do not appear to be interested

in their subjects. In general, they
thought they would get more
from group discussions of the
topics than from their own
readings.

MacDowell originally became
inlerested in the project While
doing research on freshman. He
thought that perhaps the second
semester humanities program
could be changed to include more
Works relevant to student's
lives. He first discussed this with
Dean Wall, then brought it before
the humanities committee. They
rejected his suggestions, so
MacDoWell decided to test his
ideas in an experimental
seminar.

The change in approach to
learning is as important here as
thc change in material offered.
Many humanities sections consist
mainly of lectures with little
student participation, whereas
MacDowell’s approach allows
much more freedom of
discussion. It is hoped that this
approach will be incorporated
into the regular humanities
program so that the
disillusionment many freshmen
find will not carry on to their
remaining college years.

Friday, February l3. mo

mass M mi in or." AQERVID

SCARLET AND BLACK

Letters to the Editor . . .

OpenLetter:

After this semester’s first soil;
editorial 7 an editorial ill~
disposed toward effective student
participation in the school’s
decisionrmaklng process 7 I
have made every effort to get
the Steering Committee (Phil
Mcars, Bruce Nissen, Mick
Schalmann, and myself) to
respond to this editorial, since it
directly affects the work of our
committee, My proposal was to
call for a teach-m (which as I
believe would have been an
appropriate form of mass
communication). The following
were my reasons:

First, our committee, which is
supposed to work for “new
structures” that allow for more
effective student participation on
nearly all levels of decisronr
making, cannot obtain its
legitimacy by its sheer eXlstence
through election. Rather, we can
only obtain legitimacy from
continuous interaction and
mutual communication between
the student body and our com-
mittee. We must not be a
separatist elitist group.
Therefore, since the mentioned
editorial affected our work, we
should have taken the Op-
portunity of a teach-in during
wllich we could have talked about
the implications of the editorial
on our work, Since the editors'
and our views are contrary, I
regarded it as essential for our
future work to fllld out the
response of other students.

Second, and perhaps more
important, a teach-m would
contribute to the political
education of students. Many
students at the moment are
politically apathetic, There are
not many people that are con-
cerned about the political and
social implications of this
educational system. However, if
we do not realize these political
and social implications, We

cannot execute effective student
participation. A structure super-
imposed on apathetic students
would be impotent. This struc7
ture could never serve its vends
unless students realize its
political Slgnificance. Political
awareness is the prerequisite for
effective student participation.
The bourgeois. the politically
apathetic, has to be transformed
inlo the Ciloycll. the politically
aware. And in teach-ins, where
we can communicate with the
whole student body rather than
with some few committee
members, we could have talked
about the political relevance of
our education. It could have been
astart.

Since the other members of the
Steering Committee had contrary
views on this issue, however, and
since I regard this political
concern as the conditio sine qua
non for “workable new struc-
tures," i am forced to resign,

This resignation from the
Steering Committee is not a
resignation from my effort to
generate political awareness. As
long as this political awareness
remains only a potential, 1 cannot
be part of a group which attempts
to superimpose a structure on
students who do not fully realize
the political significance of this
structure,

Bourgeois or citoyent'. We all
will have to make a decision.
Political apathy, trying to stay
away from getting involved, is
a decision too,

w. Eugene Prewo

TotheEditor:

Last week's editorial cons
coming the distribution by the
student Senate of the $50,000 plus
activities fee was slightly
misleading, to say the least. If
we inignt elaborate a hit, that
editorial may be placed in the
proper lighl.

The figures for total or
pcllditul'cs quoted in the article

were approximately correct, but
accurate Information on the
distribution of thoseifunds was
lacking. At the end of the last
year, the Finance Committee of
the Senate approved ex-
penditures of $54,775 for this
school year ($27,337.50. per
semester). Income for the first
semester was $26,649 ($23.50 from
each of 1138 students), and the
deficit of $738,550 was paid out of
the Senate’s emergency budgets
balancing fund, General Budget
and Reserve (GB&R). This
semester, due to attrition (we
have only 1080 students), the
budget will have to be Cut since
GB&Rcann0t make up the deflcit
of$2,007.50. ,

Concerning the allocation 'of
this $54,775, the readers will be
glad to learn that the Social
Coordinating Committee
receivcs $32,690 (about 60 per
cent of the total) for their con-
certs, movies, dances, etc. The
individual halls and the Initiative
Fund are allocated a total of
$7,725 (14 per cent); $2,150 (4 per
cent) goes for speakers and
special programs (such as the
Drug Symposium); Nous'
replacement, something called
Montage (7) gets $1,100 (2 per
cent); and Radio KDIC receives
$2,750 (5 per cent), The Senate
itself does have a working fund
This year the Senators allocated
themselves $2,860 (5 per Cent) of
which $2,200 goes for executive
and secretary salaries, This
leaves only $450 in the Senate's
account. The Senate also has at
its disposal about $1,000 which
was not spent from last year’s
budget; and, pending the for
mation of a Speakers Committee,
the Senate controls tlle Speakers
Fund

But wait, we have only ac-
counted for on per cent of that
$54,775. thl‘c is the last 10 per

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