Page Two

A Tradition . .

o

It's a tradition that each new editor a given his first
chance at editorial power »— set forth his views of and plans‘

for tlle newspaper. Essentially I'm an iconoclast, a conscious
malcontent, and rebel in the face of such a dogmatic tradition.

However, after careful consideration of several factors,
I have decided to write that same editorial. I came to this
decision, by the way, when I observed the ten inch empty
space in the upper left hand corner of this page and realized
I didn’t want to talk about hall reorganization (and neither do
many other people, SGA included), I didn’t want to talk about
abolishing finals (I don’t think about finals let alone talk about
them), and I didn’t want to talk about student apathy. I just
couldn’t work up the energy to talk about that last one.

To the point: I don’t think you're going to see any star~
tling changes in the 8&3, John has worked up a pretty good
staff, has a fairly smooth operation going. Why should I rock
the boat? There are some small technical matters where we
will differ. I, for example, will probably use larger headline
sizes. Essentially, however, we are in agreement about news
papers and so you will see no purge, no great rebellion.

What are you likely to see? You are likely to see a great-
er interest in schools other than Grinnell. You may see a no-
ticeable increase in concern about things that happen outside
of our sequestered little Skinner box on the prairie. You may,
in tact, find an editor who is quite bored with things that have
concerned campaigning editors of the bygone days. I’m not
likely to become upset about SGA elections and the like. I
might be inclined to be more upset if a program that stood a
chance of really doing or accomplishing something failed.
Like the Des Moines project — as a random example 0r like
the LeMoyne exchange program a for another.

 

Letters . . .

Wittgral Says Spending for NSA
ls Legitimate Function tor SGA

To the Editor:

Paul Thurston presented an in-
teresting personal appraisal of the
Des Moines Project in last week’s
see. He implied in his letter, how
ever, that the $250 expended _an-
nually for Grinnell's affiliation
with the National student Asso-
ciation and for implementation of
NSA programs on campus comes
from "money allocated for social
purposes." I would like to clarify
the exact financial nature ot Grin-
neu College’s relationship with
the NSA.

Using the academic year 1965»
1966 as a pertinent example, of the
$2,600 comprehensive fee paid by
each Gn’nncu student, $50 was ear
marked as an activity fee. From
that $50, the Grinnell Student So.
cial Coordinating Committee re»
ceived 521 {or the implementation
of its various campus social pro-
grams. The remaining 323 of the
activiiy fee was shared by the
men's and women's residence
halls, the student publications, the
roium, the student auditor and
the Student Government Associa
tion. it was from the student gov»
ernment’s total allotment of $1,630,
or approximately one dollar aild a
half out or each student's activity
fee, that the Student Senate de-
cided to budget 3250 for Grinnell’s

dent money allocated tor social
purposes; it came from student
money allocated for the operation
of the Student Government Asso-
ciation.

George Witlgral

 

SCARLET AND BLACK

Wilbur lenks

Friday. December 1|?“

Jenks' Journal

The jet airliner is more than a machine. The Con»
ception, form and meaning of a machine are in its
function; rarely does a machine achieve, like the
Pleta or The Divine Comedy, seltvtranscendence, the
quality oi convincing the beholder that it is what it is
not: stone Mary and the dead Clirist, words a uni-
verse. A machine is only as noble and significant as
its function. We attribute to a computer, for example.
squatting in its clinical and cool surroundings, the
ability to “think." It Lherelore takes on (or us a mell-
acing humanity, the implacable, lealureless lace of
an unearthly usurper.

What is the function of the Boeing 727? To trans-
pon. passengers from one place to another? Yes, and
more. It has, for me, a theological. almost spiritual
function. Its immense power and range was devel-
oped in order to overcome the perﬁdinus tyrants that
rule the heart: time and space. To leap from Chicago
to Boston in one hour and‘ twenty»iivc minutes is to
draw near to the annihilation of human limitation. It
is [0 suggest that time and space can be conquered
in physical as well as spiritual battle, The earth can
become a unity, time an illusion.

The fan jets thunder, embossed with rimming
sunlight, and as the 16,0004011 bird rises from the
runway I am estatic With submission. The earth falls
away. and only the most iundaniental human prob-
lems are visible. Absiracrioils like morality, Value,
culture and self are no longer apparent, (or their
records in the laces at human beings are diminished
to noLhing. I am aware only that the earth is a plan-
et, inhabited by a civilization. I can see how Ihat civ-
ilization has sketched its presence on the surface, its
frail geometry on the gentle and overwhelming illogi-
cal simplicity oi nature. I am no longer an individu-
al, though i teel the pain of my insignificance. i am
spread out over the immense distance, suffering \u‘b

tier the paradox that I am both a part of all I see and
not a pan of it. For an instant that pain is relieved;
I do not exist. I am all that exists, I am the measure
of my vision. My senses leap to accommodate it. But
my wisdom is inevitably interrupted, perhaps by c
stewardess scivlng scrambled eggs or by the disap- ,
pointing realization that 3 Howard Johnson's insult-
ing orange roof is visible lrom 31,00u lee! up. 1 im-
agine that lor some who have died in jet airllnel‘s it
might have been a maternal, almost perieci death:
a soothing return to the immensity. For others, for
whom selﬂessness could not he sustained even by
the stratosphere. horriiying.

The abruptness oi the changes wrought upon [he
mind by these flights irom world to world coiiiounds
me. The mind adjusts to the varying significance at
experlence as the eye does to changing light. To re.
turn after a VESlt With a loved one to a less radiant
reality is to be troubled by a certain dinlness of
vision. The world is unreal, unsatisiying; the eye is
empty. Conversely, to tall into her presence after
months 0! separation is to be momentarily blinded,
blinded by the signiﬁcance oi it, Our minds do not or-
ganize experience according to time but according to
significance. Thus, it is that our whole lives may or
hit around a single lovely event, or that a memory
may he more immediate than the present itsell. im-
mediacy is a function or meaning, not at time. The
extremity oi a jet-night renders all illusions trans
parent. all realities‘ opaque.

1 had a sale night. When the plane touched the
ground and rolled into the flight pier, l was com-
pelled, as I often am, [a thank God. Then i waICIied
as a small set of gears restored the wing naps to
their neutral position, and remembered that this was
a machine, that man had made this mythic vehicle.
First thanks go to him.

 

Student Opposes Class Segregation,
Supports Unstratitied Hall Reforms

To the Editor:
I have been following with in-
terest the discussion of the resi»
deuce hall system at Griunell and
have been somewhat dismayed that
the only concrete suggestion of
change has involved an integration
of the sexes with a segregation by
classes. ‘

To separate students by classes
seems to me to be more arbitrary
than to separate them by sex. The
only rationale which seems to mo.

tivate this is the desire Io extend
the privileges of upperclassmen,
while providing “an apprentice
ship to maturity" for underclass-
men. in this headlong rush for a

For South

Anti-Muternulism Seen as Big Problem

Campus, Future Generations

aff'ntion with NSA. Quite sim-
ply. the money allocated for NSA
affiliation Llitl not come from stu-

better system for the supposedly
more mature. the needs of the 1an
dcrclassinen seem to have been

Scarlet and Black

GRINNELL COLLEGE
Grimm". law-

A weekly news ipci published each Friday oi the cob
lcgc yeci by the onnncll Committee on student Publici-
nous Represented for national advertising by National Ad»
vertlsing Service, inc, College Publishers Representative.
13 East onth street, New york 22, mt Second class post»
one plus] it Grinncll, lowu Subscription me 55M) per
school year, lam Amid subscliotioos.

“KIM. , , . . .
tiusllx'

 

nob rtoolcmc
nrrola i-osou
sieve mosey
cyuinlii umsr
. erul uric y
_ sue lai or
w handler Mollrnnn

.llm sturcls, Scott rnrrish, Stove spender
Karen Summers. Stun“ ivnl

Alon AxleIl, Julllcc aim, siic nirqulst, Manna amt-y,
raul nradicy, Prim cuy, Anne Funcr, lcir Hm.
lcancne Mall, Mary Malcolm, sic ivlocstuc,

Jim merger, Jnxml Poland, Eleanor onto, Judy econ,
Dilute Pulucmncc, wiiyne Slcngcl. Suc Daimler, Dick cliaoy
. . uetsy Hermu, narrari VL'csitllll

bxclmlva EDITOR

other or unease .
C|RCULATION MANAGER
rilnio ’RAPHERS .
uusiNrSs sure
utruitrbns ,

copy STAFF

 

 

forgotten and their contribulion

to hall life has been ignored.
Integration of the classes has

recently been Alislituled on South

Campus with a success that makes
a return to separation or classes
irrational. For every impression
able lrcsliman who has been ini-
tiated into the evils of the jaded
uppcrclass existence, there are a
dozen whose contact with upper
clnsswolllcn has served to acquaint
them with a serious commitment
to studying, to soothe their home-
sickness, to enable them to discuss
ideas in a dispassionate manner.
and to cope with the barrage or
new experiences, both social and
intellectual, with which college
has assailed them. For the ini-
mature freshman, the uppcrclcss
man is a necessary guide; for the
mature freshman, she is is neces
sary companion. To remove her
would be a return to the ilnspeak»
able frivolity of Mears and Main
three and tour years ago.

This is not to say integration by
sex or ioinoval of restrictions
should be abandoned with the re-
iection of segregation by classes.
This would be throwing out the
baby with the bath water. But to
keep the bath water would wrinkle
the baby pretty badly. So think
twice about the advantages or send
ration by class and work harder
to find an alternative which would
give you what you want most.

Karcii Adkinsonl

Wolf Jealously Notes

Week's Correspondence
To the Editor:

 

To the Editor:

in recent weeks there has been
much discussion concerning the
North Campus Problem. Last week
President Leggett indicated in the
56:15 that "anti-intellectualism is
pretty prevalent on North Campus”
and also “there is excessive moral
neutrality in the residence hall
system." Perhaps, but I do not
wish here to discuss this sublect.
ltuther, i wish to bring to light a
tar more serious matter, one possir
bil , so pervasive tb' no one is
aw e ot it. one so awful no one
dare reveal it—TIIE SOUTH
CAMPUS PROBLEA

But you say there is no South
Chlnpus Problem? Events of the
past weekend argue otherwise,
Early Saturday evening, a young
man appealed to the women of
Conterence House for advice on a
grave crisis in his lifeiihe care of
two young kittens. 1 dare not re-
veal his identity nor mine. The
incident suggests that the con-
sequences or such a revelation
would exceed Lhe grotesque hunlilir
ations suffered by the males in
Genet’s The Balcony.

with straight laces but diabolic
intentions, these females (I use
the term with reservations) in-
structed Ibis innocent lad to per.
form unnatural ICE that common
decency forbids me to disclose.
Have these females no heart!
Could they not sense the anxieties
of iathcrhood this innocent was
sulferingl But where were their
maternal instinctsl This matter is
broader than Conference House: it
concerns all South Campus.

Do not turn away gentle reader.
This inalcise may be repu b

You gnl quite a few letters ihimmdamen

neck, didn't you? Wm WM: '"llmliﬁé’nrliﬁdﬁ 3.5

gﬁoa (villa .buW sbn _
l - . .

of the anti‘ntellectualisin and
moral neutrality on North Campus.
but what or antimatarnalisni and
perverse morality on South Gain-
us'! what kind of mother will the
outh Campus coed make? in sur-
veying campus life, in the future,
we must look with one eye at
North Campus mil with the other
at South Campus. Certainly prob-
lems exist among the men, but
among the females there is a threat
which endangers future genera
lions.
Anonymous

Student Cleans Up
‘Scrombled Eggs

To the Edito
Just 50 that, should anyone ever
look back on this string of events,
it will be seen that there was a
stubborn thread of truth parallel
ing the more popular version, that
at every turn the loud circum-
stantialities were met by attempts
to state what was actually the case.
I'd like to point out a couple oi
inaccuracies in last week’s puller.
in your ‘Egghead’ story.
quoted Dean Thompson as say lg
that four students it the Colrlcs
SAGA office with eggs after being
apprehended by the Grinncll police
for doing the same thing ftiptovvn
Both of these ‘Iacls' are illcol'recl
as slated —— as has been pollllt‘kl
out to Dean Thompson. as has been
pointed out to SAGA Chuck, us
has been [utilcly repeated it is
safe to assume that this correction
hoped. too — but then,
i ‘ Iald’wcassﬂudl‘il,

A HI HWOH m NM,

 

u, u.

 

