was no urgency for such a course are limits to the application of Page Four . SCARLET AND BLACK Friday. May I5, I970 M } leeral Ed. Continued from Page 3 students is that of the complete to the incomplete, not oi equals to equals. A father does not take a vote in a family, a doctor does not vote with the nurses, and the directors do not vote with the employees on the advisability of building a new plant. in educa~ tion, where knowledge is one aim, knowledge should be the guiding principle even more so, and if this is abandoned, other prin- ciples will take its place, such as oratory, emotion, politics, violence, etc., and then there will be only a semblance of knowl- edge. The argument that sometimes students‘are right and administrators wrong does -not disturb the relation between the rule and the exception; for doctors too are sometimes wrong, but is is still they who should make medical decisions and not the nurses, who are more numerous. Concerning the advisability of a discussion course on ethics dealing with the development or' character. perhaps colleges today should be thinking more about it. For many years there } Letters Continued from Page 2 can doubt that Grinnell students arecapableofcondemnation’! Are Grinnell Students capable of affirmation? Could we have said that we will continue classes to honor those who died? That we will continue classes because we believe that education alone, not just the education of the classroom but also die education of exposure 0t many ideas and worlds, produca that tolerance which we hope will lead to brotherhood? Could we honor their lives above their deaths? If we must sacrifice to show our sympathy for what the Kent State students sacrificed, and what the soldiers in Indochina sacrifice, why must we always sacrifice our classes? Why not the time outside of our classes? Is our time spent in private pursuits of pleasure and education unworthy of sacrifice, or is it too important for it? Will it be more impressive to the world. to Iowa, to the friends and families of those who are sacrificed, that we can organize pickets and protests? 1 think we would be saying and meaning far much more if we held a service — a communion in which both liberal and conservative could participate 7 to stand for life, for peace, for liberation, rather than against death, against war, and against repression! l Life, Liberty, and Peace to the‘ Peoplelll Jane Daniel —-——— Women performed better academically during the first semester than men of coeducation at Yale University. A breakdown of grades at four levels revealed: “Honors" women 27.5 per cent, men 23,9 per cent; “high pass” e women 46 per cent, men 39.6 per cent; ”pass" a women 18.6 per cent, men 23.4 per cent; "fail” — women 0.9 per cent, men 1.4 per Cent. The percentages represented the grades of 3,254 men and 566 women at the university. for the college atmosphere for proper habits was strong enough to discourage improper habits But that atmosphere is dis appearing now, and there is nothing left to replace it, except “personal conscience," a polite term for individual caprice, which is nothing more than a set of contradictory thoughts and actions. What is needed today. then, is the reinstatement of proper conduct through the awareness of the principles which justify that conduct; for to change just the habits is neither easy nor intellectually convincing. Finally, although divergence of opinion should be allowed, it does not follow that every opinion which is different should be given an equal hearing. There are also opinions which are obviously bad or obviously harmful or obviously destructive, and to honor them as if they were equal alternatives or equally controversial is ridiculous and unwise. If men with different opinions have truth as their aim, they should be like friends trying to determine which of the opinions are true; so there the terms “Controversial" and ”divergence of opinion.” So since the pursuit of important truths is good, and this is one of the aims of a liberal education, administrators and faculty and students should be like friends trying to discover and impart that which is true. Friendship, even more than justice, is a basis in any community which is formed for the sake of some good. As Aristotle says, ”friendship seems to hold a state together, and lawgivers care more for friendship than for Justice; for when men are friends, justice is not wanting, but when they are just, they still need friendship, and the action which is most just is considered to be the one which is done in a friendly man." If so, then, friendship is even more important in an educational community, for here truth and goodness and beauty are pursued to the highest degree. The lack of this quality in the educational institutions of a nation is a strong sign of a grave failure, for if thfie institu- tions cannot promote this quality, no others can, and the whole lation suffers. —§ To The Editors: An educational institution is not a political institution. Colleges should not be used or dominated by political purposes and goals. The resolutions passed by the faculty on May 5 and May 8 were morally unjust in their Violation of individual and academic rights. My direct plea, made in the name of individual freedom, that the May 8 resolution be circulated as a petition which faculty members could sign if they so desired, Was ignored. 1 deplore this spirit of intolerance which violated the tenets of academic and personal freedom by insisting that many voices be heard as one voice. When a majority so deliberately forces its will on a minority the very existence of freedom is threatened Beth Noble Spanish To The Editors: On Monday morning, May 4th, an etching by David Petta was stolen from the Student Show in the Fine Arts Center. It seems likely that the thief was a Grin- nell College Student, so I direct my remarks to this community. For a number of reasons, Ifind this particular kind of theft thoroughly revolting. implicit in the theft isan' appreciation for the product of a fellow students labor which, far from being a subtle form of flattery, smacks of a total disregard for the stu~ dent Whose work it is. This thief is a parasite who sets himself so far, above his fellow students that he feels it his right to appro- priate their labor for himself and his action strike at the root of mutual trust upon which this community must rely for its con tinued openness. I ask him to Consider the destructiveness of his theft, and to the college community at large, I suggest that the protection of such a thief is self destructive. Henry F. Klein. Instructor in Art Open Letter; Tonight I am sick with the events of this day. Isee this insti- tution as a number of people, some who have acted in good faith for a cause in which they believe. But I see many others, students and faculty alike, who, through the emotional intensity of the moment, have been co~ opted into a movement and an action which will destroy this school. It’s all in your priorities, you say, and 1 agree. But my priori tiesare different. Anyone who really knows who I am knows that I favor the political views of the people who want this place closed. But I have watched these people take both the student body and the Iacultyof this college and herd them like sheep into an action that sets a very dangerous precedent for future activities on the campus. What are you going to do the next time something like Kent or Cambodia happens? Where are you going to draw the line the next time? What really hurts is to see how so many people, who normally offer lots of debate to any propos- al on this campus, can accept with so little question a badly thoughtout, radical proposal, perpetrated by a radically re- pressive campus. Who is going to answer to my friends who are seniors, who will miss the cul- mination of their college careers? Who will answer to my friends who came to mis place to learn to think? Who will an- swer to people who don’t know what they are going to do with the sudden burden of three empty weeks, some who have no place to live until June, many who must try to resettle without the benefit of much»necde'd student employ- ment checks for the month of May? Who will answer to the students who see the action as irrelevant to die larger issues that face our nation, yet must explain to their parents what is happening here'! But most im- portant, who will answer to the Collection Increases Grinnell College has received three original prints from Watson Powell, Jr., president of the American Republican Insurance company 01 Des Moines, The prints — by Max Bill, Michael Challenger, and Ernest I‘rova — will be added to the col- lege’s permanent art collection and will be included in a group of new acquisitions to be exhibited May 8731 in the Schaetfer Gallery in Grinnell's Fine Arts Center. The prints, all dated 1969, are. — “Drei Hallerta Wurful," a color lithograph by Bill. 7 “I command you to vanish,” a color serigraph by Challenger. 7 A color serigraph from Trova’s “Study Falling Man” series. Grinnell’s permanent collec- tion was begun in 1952 and now includes some 280 items of sub stantial merit. Many of the works are on permanent exhibition in college buildings. .— faculty members who are educators. nut political tools to be used for a political purpose? I’m sick of you, all 660 of you, if you happen to be 'a student, and all 91 of you, if you happen to be a faculty member, If you can’t see that fins is the first step toward me death of Grinnell College, then this school no longer has the right to live. Mike O‘Connor To the Editors: Throughout this century we have been waging a war as costly as any World War. Yet the battles are not taking place in the jungles of Vietnam or on the hills of Korea but on America's own soil. It is the Americans struggle against America. We are witness» ing the Second American Revo- lution. This belief is no longer me rhetoric of a radical few: the violence in American cities, the suppression of free voices every- where, and me deaths at Kent State and across the nation all attest to an imminent revolution. America has progressed past the point where protest can be a playful pastime: our individual rights and very lives are in jeopardy now. Sending delegates to Washington and Des Moines and placing advertisements in die New York Times are noble gestures, “But when moral ADDRESS: gestures, however emotionally satisfying, become mere sub~ stitutes for effective policies, or when they might even help to worsen a particular situation, they are robbed of moral validity.” (Colin Legum, London Observer, on the Nigeria Civil War.) What purposeful measures can we take out in Iowa? In light of die tragedy at Kent State, we could take steps to prevent such a confrontation from becoming catastrophic here. The time and money put towards preparing students to protect themselves would be well spent, Firstraid against mace, gunshou, or simi» lar hazards and rudimentary self-defense methods are good things for all of us to have at our disposal. The past has shown that these measures would have been beneficial; the future will show whether more drastic pre- cautions are necasary. Paul Rothmsn COULD IT HAPPEN? An unidentified student was arrested last night and charged with breaking and entering Burling Li- brary. The student pro- 'Iested that he intended only to read.