its. Two

Editorials . . .

Something missing
In curriculum planning . . .

Intense curriculum evaluation sessions took place over vacation
in committee meetings of the presidentially-seiected Faculty com-
mittee on Educational Policy and Curriculum. In a February re-

rt to the faculty, this committee promised a "tentative and per-
aps speculative paper” to be used otter vacation for “fonnal dea
parlment, division and individual faculty comment," Thus, the
giverandrtake of faculty over the issue of curriculum change ls at a
peak presently. Whom is this evaluation designed to benefit? is its
aim ll) make the faculty better satisfied with their teaching duties?
That would certainly be fine, but is that the primary aim? Will
new programs created by the study mostly serve President Leggett
as a sales tool in tundrsising? Or is the goal an educationally pr0<
ductive curriculum for the students who actually take the courses?

The curriculum commiitee has, of course, utilized some ad-
mlrable methods in attempting to glean student opinion. They re-
quested suggestions (receiving sadly little response) and they dis-
tributed extensive questionnaires to students and recent alums. The
questionnaires did elicit what some members of the committee
consider to be a good response for a form of such length. (370 re-
plied out of a student body numbering approximately 1,150. This
does not include alums.) Committee members The Reporter talked
to expressed the desire to also consult personally with students in
dividually or in groups. While the committee has formal channels
for the gathering of individual faculty and departmental opinion,
no such formal structure exists for similar communication and
feedback with students.

This situation has its origin in President Leggett’s misguided
concept of his appointed committee, He believes curriculum mat-
ters to be solely a taculty concern. When the committee was
formed, ideas about student representation on it or a parallel stu-
dent committee were thrown out. A strong senate curriculum com-
mittee might have stepped in and demanded recognition but the
student committee was lacking — in direction and in firm, con
tinuous leadership. The student body as a whole has little of which
to be proud in the way it has allowed the study of curriculum
changes to slip through its fingers.

That stage of the study is history now. Yet them il still n
place for student participation before open questions become set
recommendations — especially since the faculty committee seems
receptive. There are several possibilities: Students could be
included in curriculum meetings called by the iaculty of their
major field. Perhaps isculty members would wish to choose a tow
seniors in their department to attend these meetings regularly or
perhaps the meetings should be open. The SGA should resurrect
the concept of a parallel student committee to the faculty’s. The
faculty committee should put a rain on further deliberations until
they have made sure that a structure for Consultation with students
has been put in ettcct. Although student participation should be the
concern of everyone at Grinnell, the responsibility for its imple
mentation will, in this case, probably rest with SGA ~ thus with

Ric MacDoWell and his newly appointed speaker of the senate,
Phil Bertenthal.

x

by the administration on the
position because he is a special
student.

The other members of the
committee are Jim Sebern, Fur—
urn Chairman; Ann Kirschner,
Assistant Forum Chairman; and
Sue Piansky, Movies Chair-
man, The position of Informal
Activities Chairman was elimi~
hated and the Gadabouts Chair-
man will be chosen next fall.

New social coordinator

Dale Dreyiuss has been se-
iected as Social Coordinator for
the coming school year. John
Denny was declared ineligible

The Board of Publications
voted Wednesday, April 5, to
accept the Grinnell Reporter
as the new name for the col-
lege newspaper.

The Grinnell Reporter

{formerly the Scarlet & Black)
Grinnell College

Grinn-ii, lam!

A wcskly newspaper published rnch Friday or
the college year by the Grinnell cum-nurse on sut-
dcnt Publications. Represented tor national adver-
tising by National Advertlxinz service, Inc., College
Publisher: reprsscnmive, is East 50th srrsst, New
York 22. N.v. Sccond class noxiaKe onto or Grinnell.

town. Subscription rate 35110 per rcnnoi year. isoo
Dﬂld subscriptions.

OPS

Member of in.
colioglst.
rm. Sank.

curios

BUSINESS micro
EDITORIAL srnrr

___ Itryrtynn Neuman

. Surnn wui
Harold ruson, Phyllis Muir-y.
nul Nuhlnln, nichsrd Schnelmv

nsrry Ancona
no soctnmnn
Susan Kaeser

"oars surron _.

con mrroa .,

cum: PHUI'OGRAPHEII _
SCIENCE CONSULTANT . .inhn wnr

amnrlmr STAFF ,. lelhl berkcy, .lln nus, Andy lsnus,
sue Galvin, Sue Gclbcr, Dan bucks. Lllah Morton.
have ntllon. sin 0 . nutty Shel

naniCAl. Iuomvlson __

Henry Wilhelm

Tho Grinnell REPORTER

Friday. April 7, my

New: appraisal

The future of the theatre departmenl

by Melinda Ward

Ed. Note: The recent theater department
shake-up has resulted in a debate over tho
merits of an academic as opposed to produc-
tion oriented education in the theater. Enters
ing this controversy is Mrr Porter Woods, who
comes horn Mtddlebury College, where he is
an Assistant Professor of English and As‘
mlate Director of the Wright Memorial
Theatrer woods received his n.3, from Brown
University in English Literature, his M.
from the University or Oregon in English L t-
erature, and his D.F.A. from the Yale School
of Drama in Playwrlting and Theatre History.
He has written several plays and is presently
working on a study of the Negro playwright
in America.

President Glenn Leggett said in an interview
with The Reporter that he hopes Woods will
strengthen the academic pan of the Theatre De-
partment. Leggett stated that Woods will prob-
ably teach courses which have not been regulan
iy offered before by the department — American
Theatre, Theatre History, and Modern Dramatic
Theory. Leggett anticipates that Woods will
teach two courses a semester and that the de-
partment will be able to manage three major
productions per year.

Several theatre majors were introduced to
Woods during his recent visit to Grinnell, and
have expressed enthusiasm about the addition of
an instructor primarily Concerned with the aca-
demic aspect of theatre. In discussions with Leg-
gett and Executive Committee Chairman Joseph
Wall (history) these some students have strongly
stressed and argued that. the extracurricular and
practical aspects of the theatre should not be
sacrificed for the sake of the academic portion.
The students maintained that practical work in
the theatre is necessary for a good campus
theatre climate, since it provides experience an
students interested in the theatre as an extra-
curricular activity and preproiessionai train~
ing for theatre majors.

Leggett said at. that time that ho “had no in-
tention of slacking oil on the production end of

theatre,” yet he offered no ideas as to who would
teach introductory courses and courses in acting
and directing.

It is the feeling or many theatre and non-
theatre majors alike that students are primarily
concerned with practical courses which provide
active enjoyment and professional training. It in
s common feeling that practical theatre gen-
erates excitement in the theatre department and
that it attracts new students to the Stage. It lb
alsD felt that courses such as American Theatre
and Major British Drama could be handled in
the American Studies and English programs, as
they have been in the past.

Leggett has expressed the view that a basic
background in dramatic literature and theatre
history is necessary for maintaining excellence
in campus productions. At the same time he has
expressed his enthusiastic opinion that theatre
productions during the 196667 season have been
of excellent quality. even though he has made it
apparent by his actions that he considers the
academics in the theatre department to be in-
ferior.

Leggett’s long range plans for the department
may be admirable but they nevertheless would
seem to present an immediate problem for both
theatre majors and Grinnell theatre audiences
who are accustomed to an extracurricular and
production-oriented approach to theatre.

It would seem that this problem might have
been avoided or at least lessened had those re-
sponsible ior hiring and organizing the departs
ment been more aware of the diversity of needs
of theatre in a small liberal arts college such as
Grinnell. Students must be concerned with the
immediate, but they are capable of understand
ing long range goals. Regardless oi Wuods’ capa-
bilities and promise, the 196153 theatre season
will be a difficult one for the department, due to
this shift of emphasis and to the particular
vacuum left by present Director Richard Meyer’s
departure. It is felt by many students that in pur-
suing a total turnover of theatre personnel Legs
gett acted without adequate insight or ioresight
and without suiiiciently broad evaluation oi
the theatre department and its role in Grinnell
Cohege..

\ Nous: search for form and variety

By Nancy McCannon

Space does not allow me time for a formal
detailed criticism on Nous; this is rather on
evaluation. The hardest thing in evaluating a stu-

dent publication is deciding on your criterion. it
is simply unfair to compare beginning works with
classics. A good student work is seldom a
classic. The fairest method of evaluating is para-
lleled by distinctions in children's drawings. There
are children whose sterilized and stiff Cartoon
drawings allow only repetition and children whose
wavering lines search for form and variety. In
other words the basic criterion for judging stu-
dent art it elast‘ ty. is there enough freedom
and imagination to allow for growth?

One thing promising about Nous is that it sug-
gests that tile Salinger influenced higilly realistic
personal autobiographical, “I was lonely on the
railroad track” school of student poetry is dying
out. This allows one to read Nous Witbnllt the
haunting suspicion that the same eighteen year
old wrote the whole thing. More seriously the death
of this highly artiﬁcial convention has opened
Nous to old variety and less stock devices and
views.

A iew poets fell by the way (but not as many
as could have been predicted) on a more basic
issue, the confusion oi philosophy with poetry.
If you have a political, philosophical comment,
write an essay. Poetry simply doesn't have the
length to be a solid argument and it has other
first principles. The difference between philosophy
and poetry is comparable to the difference be
tween a minister and a lover. The former has the
obligation to be right, the latter to be good. Or
as Gertrude Stein says, “Poetry is the loving and
leaving at nouns." From this perspective, caro-
lessness and timidity with words is adultery.

In Nous as a whole then is both great an-

evenness of quality (probably unavoidable) and
variety of form (very interesting). in form it
varies from poetry in all shapes, to woodcuts,
prints, and photos, to scholarly essays.

On the student essays Gregory Robinson’s ap»
pears to be the most imaginatively scholarly. Tbs
idea is well worth considering. Howard Davidson’s
essay, while not actually applying to Paradise
Lost, has a wild and wield logic that is iunny and
appealing, I reier Don Gregory to Raymund Bells
(Historical Studies Notes 1965), “The problem of
Western Society in the last two hundred years il
creating a balance between the will of the min-
ority and of the majority, between freedom and
equality.” In other words. neither equality nor
utility are to be taken as absolutes. Because you
can think of one example in which utility must
be Considered does not mean that there are not
countless examples in which equality is the prime
consideration. One is informed by the other. Per‘
haps Western society must be willing to sacrifice
one man under certain conditions, but how about
all of Red China or the whole Jewish population?
Utility is too simple, also. There are utilities and
utilities. Art is a lie but abstract models have
their own deception. Well written but I think you
divided by zero.

of the poetry, Eleni Sarant produced the most
finished piece. Nancy Loes‘ poems contain sun-
prises, Paul Jones’ and John Herr‘s are uneven
but promising.

The art is well selected. Lester Tobias' cover,
and the woodcuts by John Thornton and Lynn
Adams are all interesting. Jon Megibow's and
Carol Morgan’s prints are sophisticated and sen—
sitive. Henry Wilhelm’s photographs show amaz-
ing growth. They show sensitivity to texture. light.
chiaroscuro. They vary 1mm surrealistic, ro-
mantic landscape in his tint on do evocative,
almost Kleelike lows landscapes I personally
would buy Nous just fit the photographs.

 

