Page Tell

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Friday, October l7. not.

Call for Power in Administration, Academics, Counseling, Services and Rules

) Senate

Cont. from pg. 1

floor was contacted by meni-
bers of the original committee
to come to a large meeting to
set up committees to begin to
investigate the students' role
in the various areas of decl<
clan-making at the college, and
also to talk to the people on
their floors and encourage them
to participate in the formulas
iion of proposals.

The committees appointed
spokesmen for the senate meet.
ing, and these spokesmen outs
lined some of the basic issues
involved in the students' pres~
out and future role in the col-
lege.

RA SYSTEM CRITICIZED

Senior Mike Penzner, Loose
Hall House President, speaking
for the Committee on counseb
ing, criticized the present coun-
seling system for being incom-
petent and wasteful. He pointed
but that 70 thousand dollars is
spent annually for resident ad.
visors who generally have no
professional qualifications as
counselors. Furthermore, many
students have no contact with‘
their R A’s because the R A's
are either incompetent or phys-
lcaiiy too»far removed, Penz<
ller charged.

Penzner admitted tiiat some
D! the R A's are serving Well,
but asserted that in general
students are getting poor
service for what they are pw-
lng.

He also pointed out that
twelve thousand dollars is be-
ing spent on student advisors
who are usually less competent
than R A's. Perhaps the most
important point of Penzner’o
speech was that the counsel-
lng service was designed by
the administration and the
counselors were chosen by the
administration, and that stu<
dents must have a future voice
in determining counseling pol-
icies. He also emphasized that
resident advisers now play a
dual role as counselors and ad-
ministrators, and this impairs
their function as counselors.
For 82 thousand dollars the

tudents of the college should

ave professional counselors,
eopie who can guarantee com
identiality and cannot be sub.
poenaed by the courts, he said.

. CITES HAWN'S ATTITUDE
' Sophomore Steve Schwom,
assistant Student Coordinator»
gpoke about student social serv-
fces, including BEtG, maids,
bookstore, library, health cen«
gar, Forum and SAGA.
chwartz pointed out that stuo
ent complaints concerning the
1:30 tum. telephone cut-off
'even in mid-conversation)
lnd the present room-cleaning
service have gone unneeded by
Physical Plant Director Dale
Hawn. He also recalled the
work of last year‘s bookstore
committee and the petition that
over 600 students signed re-
garding the deplorable state of
- the bookstore, all apparently to
no avail. Schwartz noted that
the Forum, our student union
bf sorts, is completely run by
Mrs. Jewell Hawk, with stu.
ilents having no say concerning

its budget, policy, or hours.
While committees on SAGA,
the library, building renova~
tion, as well as the Student
Affairs Committee already have
s o m a student representation,
more work needs to be done in
these areas to institutionalize
the student’s decision-making
function, Schwartz maintained.

Sophomore Marshall Barber,
speaking on social regulations,
questioned whether the admin-
istration had any right to dic-
tate rules to students without
meaningful student participa-
tion in the formulation of those
rules. More specifically, Barr
ber observed that the Student
Bill of Rights passed last year
provides protection for stu-
dents, and makes the Mhour
opens policy all the more or.
hitrary and unjustifiable. He
also questioned the administra-
tion’s right to require students
to liVe in dormitories and to
decide who may live off cam-
pus.

Finally, Barber stated that
the college ought to examine
whether it should enforce laws
that are legally the responsi‘
bility of state and local or fed
eral officials. if the college
finds that it must respond to
these laws, students must have
a role in deciding what action
the college will take in these
matters.

CALLS FOR
CURRICULAR VOICE

Senior Jon Royal, after re-
latillg some amusing parables
starring the one and only
Mama Alice (Dean Alice Low).
stated that Student participir
Lion in academic decisions is
minimal and should be expand-
ed. He noted that while in
some departments (notably Po-
litical Science) students had
an equal role in decision-mak-
ing, in general students had
little power in their depart<
ments. There are only two stu-
dents on divisional EPC’s, and
no students participate, in fac<
ulty and trustee approval of
academic innovations. Royal
questioned whether the present
grading system is beneficial, as
well as whether the present re-
quirements were appropriate.
He pointed out that students
should have a voice in the sea
iection of new professors, and
should also have a meaningful
course evaluation system to de-
termine ways to improve the
curriculum and faculty. inter»
disciplinary options might be
created, he said, as well as 8.
12, and ldrcredit independents
when jusﬂﬁed, and students
should also be able to initiate
courses more easily than they
can now. Royal concluded by
saying that the important
thing was to acquire a voice
in the decisions concerning
academia matters rather than
to effect specific changes.

TELLS
ADMINISTRATION’S POWER

Sophomore .ilm Silverman
then presented an effective
understatement 0f the fact that
when one examines the power
of the faculty and administra<
tion, he finds the ultimate and
final power in virtually all as.
pects of campus decisionrmak-

lng. He noted that the admin-
istration or the trustees had
the final say on admissions.
curriculum, requirements for
graduation, and social rules
Silvermun outlined the [l'BnleiF
dous power of the faculty's
Executive Council, which has
no student members. The coun-
cli has oversight of the cur-
riculum, advises the piesident
on faculty appointments and
tenure, building construction
and renovation, and divisional
and departmental organization,
Furthermore, it acts as the
board of review for the com-
mittee on academic standing.
This, Silverman pointed out, is
a far cry from “trial by your
peers.” No students sit on the
Committee on Academic
Standing, or on the Board of
Trustees, and all of these bodies
hold closed meetings.

TRUSTEES UNDEMOCRATIC

The Board of Trustees at
Grinneii is a self-perpetuating
body that fills vacancies and
makes new appointments with-
out any regard for a democratic
process that could involve
alumni, administration. faculty.
and students. The board has
complete financial control of
the College, and has the final
say on the approval of new
faculty, Silverman concluded by
saying that students and faculty
clearly deserve an institutional-
ized role in these administra-
tive bodies.

8 e n l o r Mick Schaalnian
finished the formal speeches by
telling the students that any
move to institutionalize student
power at Grinneil would fail
without strong student support.
He urged students not to be
dissuaded by past failures, and
to get together and work so
that the student body as a
whole can take a proposal to
the administration and the
faculty and demand action.

The meeting was then opened
up to the floor. Sophomore J oko
Mai-golin expressed a pessl~

'nilstlc View, and wondered what
the students would do if they
met stiff opposition. Sophomore
Dave i-lechler quoted some
incomplete but revealing
statistics that he compiled that
indicated that a vast majority
of the Grinneii student popih
lation favored at least an
equal role for students in all
facets of the deCiSanrmaklng
process. Several students called
for a show of strength and unity
when the final proposals are
Submitted to the college.

I personally urge all students
to take part in formulating a
student philosophy and state-
ment of position, one that can
be backed by a majority of
students. For the first time i’ve
seen the possibility of mass
student action to provide the
students with an official role
in college decisions, a role that
can be utilized by the present
and future students of Grinnell
College, '

GDIC FUNDING REQUESTED

In a special 9 o‘clock meeting
Tuesday night the senate
wrapped up its usual business
SD that it Could devote its 9:30
meeting at Roberts Theater to
the question of student power
at Grinnell. The earlier meeting
was held in Burling Basement.
The senate passed a resolution
asking the administration‘ to
fund the Grinnell Draft In-
formation Center ae it is a
counseling service and there-
fore not in the realm of student
government. GDlC needs funds
badly, and the senate felt that
the service was an important
one to the student body.

A referendum was scheduled
for Thursday on the question
of whether the student body
wanted a homecoming queen.

The referendum will effect this
year’s homecoming. A refer»
endum Tuesday was ruled lil-
valid for procedural reasons.

Dean Connie Kimho asked the
senate to formulate a coni-
mittee to propose parking rule:
for the college parking lots. The
committee was formed, and in
general, the senate felt that
while students should be
restricted from service areas.
they should be able to park
where they please.

SENATE OKAYS LOAN

S e n i o r Tom Thomas
petitioned the Senate for a loan
of $200 to enable him to print
a special iii-page supplement to
the sea. The supplement will
be Thomos’s exclusive report,
with pictures. of the militant
demonstrations that were held
by the SDS Weathermen faction
in Chicago last week. The
report will be free for all
Grinnell Students and Faculty.‘
and will be sold to others tn
defray the original printing
costs. The Senate approved the
loan unanimously.

The speakers fund committee
allotted $150 to my to get a
member of the Chicago 8, “the
Conspiracy,” to speak at

'Grinnell. A committee member

has been in Contact with John
Froines, one of the. “con-
spirators," and the chances of
getting him to speak at Grinneil
are Very good, he said.

in other senate news, A
special meeting was held last
Thursday to inquire into tho
policy of the initiative fund.
Hall presidents and social
chairmen should have copies of
the fund‘s guidelines by now.
and any questions should be
submitted to the Initiative Fund
Committee.

When you fix up your room —

Remember

Vosburg Building Center

 

Ahrvano’s Folk Tales, Chapter 'I

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY GRINNELL‘

Once upon I lime 'J. B. Grinnell gotI lost "in the dark woods of'lowo, and
fell asleep. When he woke. he saw a mysterioui light. Evenfuolly he came to
a house coiled Ahrvano's, where many people were playing at fen-pint. They
told him he had been asleep for more than a century.

"I mutt be hungry." he sold, and at» heartily of Ahrvano's biggest pizza.
"How do I get out of the forest?" he Asked.

"Go west, old man,“ replied Tom Gorbixon. 50 J. 3. did, and lived happily

ever after.

(Well. have and girls, it lost goes to show you can't believe everything
you lead in the 5%.). The moral of this story:

Have An Ahrvano's Pizza

You Might Live Happily Ever After Too.

 

