Controversy Gver College Role in FBI Probe

The college administration
Tucsday decided to stop acting
as an intermediary between stu7
dents and Federal Bureau of
Investigation agents who for
the past two weeks have been
Conducting an investigation of
Grinnell students involved in the
SDS demonstrations in Chicago
earlier this month.

“If FBI agents come on cam-
pus, we will not serve in an the
tormediary role," said Joseph F.
Wall. clean oi the college. Wall
told the 5&3 he had eallier ofv
lered two FBI agents the use of
a college building to question
freshman Kay Sophar and‘ her
roommates because he wanted
to protect the students from the
embarrassment of going to the
Grinnell police station. “I was
operating on what I thought

were generous instincts,” Wall
explained.

President Glenn Leggctt said
that the college’s role in the
FBI probe had been “simply
that of relaying information
from FBI agents to students"
and informing students that
they were not legally bound to
meet with the agents.

“The use of the word inter-
mediary is unfortunate." Leg-
gett said, ”because it gives the
impression we were cooperating
with the FBI in a way that we
weren't." Both Wall and Leg-
gett said that they thought they
were prov1d‘ing a service for the
students involved by relaying
the information, and were not
intentionally aiding the FBI
agents.

Mrs. Alice 0. Low. dean of

students, used the words ”inter-
mediary cdpaCity” to describe
thc college’s role in the matter
in a note sent to the students
involved.

Both chgett and Wall were
critical Thursday of a new story
about the FBI prcbe here that
appeared under a banner head-
line on the first page of Wednes-
day's (Oct. 29) DE; Moines
Register. Wail was expected to
release early today a statement
“ larifying the facts" about his
invclvemcnt in the matter.

lowa Governor Robert D. Ray
criticized the college adminis-
tration’s role in the FBI probe
during a press conference Wed-
nesday. "Schools should not be
in the FBI business," Ray said.

According to a memorandum
released by the President’s of»

{ice Tuesday, FBI agent Ells
worth Gustafson and a fellow
investigator called at the of—
lice of Dean Wall Friday,
Oct. 17, and told him they
wished to talk with Miss So-
phar and her roommates.
Wall contacted Mrs. Alice 0.
Low, dean of Students, who in
turn contacted the girls in-
volved, informed them of Gus-
tafson’s message, and told
them their legal rights. The
girls met with the agents that
day in a college office.

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, another
FBI agent called on President
Glenn Leggett. Dean Low also
attended the meeting. The
agent said he wished to talk
with 11 students whom the
5823 had identified as having
been in Chicago during the

GRIN NELL COLLEGE

SCARLET & BLACK

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER

SDS demonstrations. “The im-
portant thing to remember,”
said Leggett, “is that the FBI
already had the names. We
didn‘t give them to them.”

After consulting with the
college attorneys, Leggett and
Low agreed to contact the stu-
dents the FBI wished to see.
In a note sent to the students
involved, Dean LOW said, “The
dean’s office is acting in an
intermediary capacity only
between the current investiga-
tion conducted by the FBI and
the students here.”

In a brief meeting with the
students on Monday, Dean Low
again reiterated that the col»
lege was acting only in an
“intermediary capacity." One

FBI—

Cont. on Pg. 2, Col. 3

 

Vol. LXXVll

erinnen. lows, Friday, October 3|. We"?

ND—_7

 

Leggett Delays Statement
On Disruptive Protests Policy

BULLETIN‘ShC‘rily before
the son went to press,
President Glenn Leggeitt said
that after discussions with the
Judicial Council and Student
Affairs Committee, he has
decided NOT to issue a
statement on disruptive
protests at this time.

“I have questions about the
need for it and about how
it might be interpreted by
students," Leggett said. “For
the time being, the statement
is not dead, but it’s dor-
mam.”

President Glenn Leggett is
revising a draft of a state-
ment he has written concern
ing the college policy on dis-
ruptive protest. the sari; learns
ed this week. Leggett said the
statement “which is not on
procedures, but on attitudes"
may be ready for release next
week.

He explained that the “state-
ment on college responsibil-
ity” will attempt to deﬁne “at
what point the community
should draw the line” with re-
gard to disruptive protests by
students.

Leggett read the original
draft of his statement at the
Oct. 9 faculty meeting, and the
faculty Executive Council has
since made recommendations
to the president concerning re»
visions. The statement is pres-
ently being discussed by the
Judicial Council, and the final
version will be submilled to
the trustees before being re-
leased.

Leggett said that he is pro;
paring the statement because

This is the first son to be
printed. on an offset press. It‘s
getting better all the time.

“the executive council of the
Board of Trustees felt we
ought to have one.” He added
that the trustees first began
discussing the matter last year
when the Rev. Theodore M.
Hesburgh, president of the
University of Notre Dame, is-
sued a controversial statement
on disruptive protests and nu-
merous other colleges and Uni
verslties, p re p a re d similar
statements defining their [.307
siticns.

Rabbi Rubenslein
Is Gates lecturer

Rabbi Richard L. Rubens
stein, Theologian and Profes-
sor at the University of Pitts-
burgh, will deliver the annual
Gates Memorial Lecture Series
at Grinnell Sunday through
Tuesday (November 24).

He will give three public lec-
tures. all] in Herrick Chapel,
on the theme “Religion After
the Death of God.”

Lecture themes will be
“Why I Parted Company with
Traditional Theology" (Sun-
day, 8:00 p.m.); "Technology
and Contemporary Religious
Experience" (M o n d a y, 8:00
pm); and “Religion After the
Death of God” (Tuesday,
11:00 am).

Rabbi Rubenstein also
serves as Chaplain to Jewish
students at the University of
.Pittsburgh, Duquesne Univer-
sity, CarnegierMellon Univci'r
sity, Chatham College,

He is the author of the books
Alter Auschwitz and Religious
Imagination. He has also con-
tributed articles to numerous
journals.

Profs Debate Abolishing Senior Comps

After several years of contrur
versy about the senior compra~
hensive examination, the fac-
ulty met Monday and debated
whether to abolish comps as a
general graduation r e qu i r e-
merit.

Prof. Joseph F. Wall (His-
tory), dean of the college,
placed on the floor a motion
to abolish the comprehensive
examination as a graduation re-
quirement “effective for the
class of 1970."

Wall told the faculty that
after debating the motion for
11/2 hours, the faculty’s Execu-
tive Council was divided evenly
on the question, with five mem-
bers favoring the abolition of
comps and five others opposed.

“In some respects that was
good," Wall said, "because
now there is no pressure from
the Executive Council (on how
the faculty should vote). We
must get a decision within the
next week or two."

Wall also told the faculty that
the three divisional educational
policy committees had been
divided on the issue of compre-
hensive examinations. The
Humanities Divisional EPC res
commended that the comp rc~
quirement be maintained, while
the Social Studies and Science
Divisonal EPC’s recommended
that it be abolished.

Asst. Prof. John H. Worley
(Philosophy), faculty secretary,
read a proposal which he will
offer as an amendment to the
present motion at next Mon-
day's faculty meeting. The pros
posal would allow individual des
partments to replace the
present comp requirement with
programs that “could consist of
a comprehensive examination,
a theSis or paper, a particular
course or seminar, a research
project, a public performance,
or any combination of these."
Such programs would be either
required or optional, but if

passing them is a graduation
requirement for majors, they
“must be accepted by the Di-
visional EFC, the Executive
Council, and appear in the col-
lege catalog.”

Wall said that the comp issue
was “fundamental to the basic
issue of college policy and the
reason for the existence of the
college itself.” He explained
that the Executive Council dis-
cussed the issue dn the level
of whether Grinnell’s purpose
is to provide only a broad and
diverse liberal education, or
whether it does, or should. also
provide high quality pie-pro
fessional training.

During debate on the motion
to abolish comps at Monday’s
meeting, the faculty appeared
to be divided on the issue for
various reasons.

P r o i . Morris Parslow
(French) defended the compre-

hensive examination because it
“evaluates the student’s ability
to define and to operate in his
field and to see the relationship
of that field to the general lib-
eral arts in a wide perspec-
tive."

"I'm against comprehensive
examinations as a general We
quiremenl." Prol. Irwin Gold-
berg (Sociology) told the
faculty. “Leaving the require
ment to each department would
allow the departments to do
what's best for the student.”
Goldberg said Grinnell should
“prepare our students for the
world into which they are
moving” by aiding in "occur
patioual placement and self-
fulfillment." He said that
comps don't serve those pur-
poses in his discipline, and

FACULTY—
Cont. on Pg 4, Col. 1

Some 2|) students marched onto Ward Field bearing a Viet
Cong banner and gave the clenched-fist sign of resistance
during the flag-raising ceremonies at the Homecoming foot-
ball game Oct. [8. “I didn’t like it," said President Glenn
Leggetl, who added that there are no grounds upon which the
students could be disciplined.

 

