Jonathan Bloom addresses audience in JRC 101. Photograph by Joey Brown.

What has been the response, post-release of your book, from the industrial farming community?
I don’t know that the industrial farming community has paid much attention to the issues because they are the ones who waste the least because they harvest in a mechanized way. They usually harvest all that they have planted. I don’t think that they are paying much attention to food waste, unfortunately. Most of the food being wasted is happening in households and on farms with crops that are handpicked.

Do you think that less food would be wasted if more people ate vegetarian?
Yes. You are wasting less food if you are eating as a vegetarian because meat is a very inefficient food the way we produce it. One calorie of meat needs ten calories of grain to produce it. So, from an efficiency standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to eat as a vegetarian. Furthermore, when you are eating as a vegetarian, you tend to be a more mindful eater and I have found that that, in general, leads to less waste.

Did you ever feel in danger or at risk in writing your book, like you were uncovering a truth that players in the food industry wanted to remain concealed?
I never felt in danger personally. But I found that there were plenty of people in the retail food environment that don’t want to think about food waste and there are plenty of people in the agricultural circles who dislike the amount of food waste. Some are embarrassed about the amount of waste that is happening on their farms. Even for people in the Department of Agriculture, there might be a bit of reticence to talk about food waste because they see it as something that they could be doing a better job about curtailing, but they aren’t. Whenever I would talk to people about food waste, I was always careful about the semantics. When you use the words “food waste” with some people it connotes culpability or guilt. If you are a journalist and you want to get people to talk about the issue, you have to be careful about the language you use.

What role do you see spiritual communities playing in food waste reduction and change in consumption behaviors?
I think there’s a real role for spiritual communities to be involved in raising awareness about how much food is being wasted and then to prompt action to reduce that waste simply by being good stewards of the earth. If, in some way, your faith can lead you to that conclusion—that wasting food runs counter to theology—I think there’s a real power there and I have seen that in most faith groups that I have come across. In today’s massive agricultural system, that notion is sadly forgotten and oftentimes a bit antiquated.

To what degree do you think that some of the measures taken on college campuses that you advocate for (i.e. eliminating trays from the dining hall, organizing public awareness campaigns) could just be treatment of symptoms to a more rooted, systemic problem?
I don’t think that they are mutually exclusive. I think you can work to reduce waste on a personal level, or even on a college level, and then also try to impact the modern industrial, monoculture agricultural system. In the long run, I think it will be more helpful to reform the system directly, but I do subscribe to that idea of thinking globally and acting locally.

Closing remarks?
I think people would be amazed at how easy it is to reduce the amount of food we are wasting if we just took a step back and thought about it. It’s not difficult, its the green thing to do, it makes economic sense and its ethically sound.

Photograph by Devon Gamble

Brown graduated from Luther College with a B.A. in Political Science and from Iowa State University with an M.A. in Political Science. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, with an emphasis on higher education and administration.
President Kington contacted Brown through e-mail regarding the position.
“I returned two weeks later with a proposal he asked me to put together, where I showed him what I thought the interim would look like,” Brown said.
While he hasn’t specifically worked in diversity programming on campus, Brown feels he will bring a useful personal perspective to the job.
“In all reality, I’ve done student programming before, but this was outside of my focus,” Brown said. “I think my lived experience and my own interest in diversity—and what that means and how to define it—really puts me at a good place to serve the interim role.”
Brown expects to create stronger relations with SGA, strengthen the Multicultural Leadership Council (MLC) and work with other student affairs divisions. This includes working with Grinnell Science Project, International Pre-Orientation Program and Peer Connections Pre-Orientation Program to create more purposeful interaction within and between the programs.
“I want to build on a strong relationship that [Michael Benitez] has established with Raghav [Malik ‘13] and the SGA, and streamline a funding request system … and I want to build on MLC,” Brown said. “I think it’s a great council that has a lot of critical and tough conversations … that build cross-cultural and intercultural communication.”
Brown is expected to hold the position until December 31 of this year, by which point the College expects to have the permanent Director in place.

Andrea Lakiotis ’15 presents during the Humanities Symposium. Photograph by Gregory Hinton ’14.

“Our model last year was good, so we hope to keep to that structure,” Kapila said. “I might look for other avenues to advertise for this at [the] beginning of the semester.”
One unintended change Kapila noted was a decrease in the variety of applications. In future years, she hopes to encourage a diverse assortment of applicants with unique presentations, as well as expand the event to other places on campus.
“We would like to see more specific departmental proposals. Last year we had many more from Music and Arts,” Kapila said. “Maybe we could vary the panel to get a variety of presentations and maybe vary the locations—for instance, we could have some of these in Bucksbaum or some in the amphitheater.”
One of the presentations that did cater to this demand for stylistic variation was an original one-act play written and directed by Anna Banker ’15. Her piece, I Dream Before I Take the Stand, was the final project for her Theatre and Dance 235 Directing class. Though it had already premiered in a festival held last semester, Banker believed that the symposium would give her project greater depth.
“We decided to have this performed at the Humanities Symposium to have it critically discussed, to think about creative means of using theater as a vehicle for civic reflection,” Banker said.
Assessing the Symposium, Banker believes that it reveals the breadth of the Humanities and she views this as a vehicle for bringing together a diverse range of interests. Additionally, she hopes that more people will be able to participate in this process of having a wider audience critically reflect on your work in the future.
“I hope that more people attend and that it just becomes a bigger event every year, I think this one was bigger than [the] last and I hope it can continue to grow,” Banker said.
Another student who presented her work at the symposium was Eunice Ahenkorah ’13. Ahenkorah discussed her term paper about the Muslim experience in France for a class on Middle Eastern politics. She had initially thought that presenting in front of professors would be a daunting task; yet, once she went through the motions of working with the Writing Lab, she felt comfortable in the role.
“You take a much more adult role when you are up at the podium and you get a large boost of confidence because you are doing something for yourself and not just a class,” Ahenkorah said.
The Symposium also gives students the opportunity to assume a larger sense of ownership over their work and Ahenkorah would encourage more students to get involved.
“The Symposium helps students delve more into a subject by picking up a term paper that they may have put down,” Ahenkorah said. “Taking the chance to go back allows one to rethink the subject and have a sense of ownership for the project.”
Another highlight was the keynote speech from Christopher Newfield, Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara. His talk, titled “The Return of Creativity: Literacy Theory v. Innovation Theory,” asserted the need to refocus our attention in higher education on the Humanities.
Reflecting on the event, Kapila believes that she gained substantially from listening to students’ work and having them present in front of professors.
“It was rewarding to see how sophisticated our students are when reading the essays and I like the formality of what they wrote, because that is something that we don’t often see,” Kapila said. “Students are the ones up there and we are in the audience; that reversal is very satisfying.”

SGA Cabinet 2013-2014 (from left): Roni Finkelstein ’15, Clare Mao ’14, Thomas Neil ’14, Opeyemi Awe ’15, Joe Wlos ’15, Gargi Magar ’16, Aaron Levin ’14, Natalie Richardson Gentil ’14. Not pictured are Sam Offenberg and Remy Ferber (both ’14). Photograph by Avery Rowlison.

There have been several changes already, such as the introduction of an online application in order to accommodate students living off-campus. Because there was an influx of applicants, the selection process was especially challenging.
“I think we had a lot of very qualified people—Grinnellians, and what it really boils down to is sometimes the roles were fairly specific … some people were very exceptional and we didn’t necessarily find the right role for them or they didn’t express interest in a role that we thought that perhaps they were a perfect fit for,” Neil said. “We had so many applicants that we couldn’t really interview a lot of people, which I think, as someone who wants to make SGA an open door, it was tough to confront that reality. There’s only so much time, we can’t interview everyone.”
Those involved in the process of selecting were Neil, Awe, Ferber, Finkelstein and Wlos, once he was selected as Administrative Coordinator.
The new SGA cabinet has already been highly involved in putting forward possible changes to be made next year. One significant change to be made is extending the title and role of Outreach Coordinator to include diversity as well.
“I think it’s easy to come into this position with a lot of gigantic goals and then to be dissuaded. I would say [that we need] to first get our act in order: organize funding, having a more streamlined process, improving the accessibility … social media, outreach and diversity,” Neil said. “Priority number two is building a unit that can be a contributor to the discussions that are going to have to happen next year.”
Each of the designated cabinet members has also been coming up with ideas for their respective positions.
“I really enjoy throwing events, they’re, to some extent, giving back to the community. My main priority is to focus on smart programming and making sure we have events available to different publics and that we’re sponsoring more events than just Harrises on the weekends,” Richardson Gentil said. “And I know that’s very hard, but I think if we introduce a couple more events … things where alcohol isn’t the focus [it] would show that we are trying to provide entertainment for everybody and you don’t have to get wasted on the weekend to have a good time.”
“I like movies—I know that’s a cliché thing to say, but I do and I’m very interested in filmmaking and film production … I’m trying to get myself immersed in that and change the way film is figured in Grinnell, because it seems the interest is generally low,” Kyerematen said.
Some of Kyerematen’s ideas for the Films position include film festivals and film competitions with more specific themes, engaging more with student groups and the community and getting more opinions from the student body.
“Every student could be Films Chair—everyone has 20 movies they like, but my aim is to show things that people want to watch. It’s amazing how many resources we have at our disposal at this school. We have one of the best school cinemas and one of the most comprehensive media libraries in the Midwest,” he said. “For college students, that’s a great outlet—to be able to watch movies with friends for free.”
The Cabinet is eager to hear back from the student body. Kyerematen encourages students to email him with their suggestions.
“I want to hear what people want to see because I don’t want the money that they’ve paid to go to waste,” he said.
“If every student at the start of the semester felt empowered enough to go to SGA and request a budget, then I would be happy,” Neil said. “Whatever we can do to become more approachable in that process and make this whole thing a little more simple … that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Ray Kuntz, an external consultant, was hired as Interim ITS Director in July 2012 and has since been working to restructure ITS. The College is now searching for someone to replace Ray Kuntz as ITS Director and plans to fill the position by June.

“We’re moving more towards a team structure,” Kuntz said. “Teams are going to be a little more self-directed than they have been in the past, as opposed to hierarchical management.”

The new structure entails restructuring ITS internally and the termination of three members. Kuntz explained the need to let some staff members go.

“There [are] skills we need to bring in that we don’t have,” he said. “And we’ve been trying to build skills within our staff in some of the roles, but it just takes so much time to build the skills—years and years—that you’ve got to bring in some leadership that can jumpstart you in a lot of critical areas, if you’re going to really move the needle on change.”

The changes were announced with only a couple of weeks remaining in the school year. Kuntz said this plan has been in the works since January, with the decisions being made in a “collaborative decision process” with Kalkbrenner, Smith and senior ITS members. After the announcement on Tuesday, ITS is wasting no time in taking action.

“Changes are effective right now,” Kuntz said. “We just want to keep this thing moving in a positive way … We’re ready.”

Three people have been let go by ITS, but three leadership positions have opened up.

“We’re adding three new roles, which are Relationship Manager, Project Office Manager and Operation Manager,” Kuntz said.

Some students have expressed discontent with the release of College employees and don’t see the College’s reorganization as justified, especially at this time of the semester.

“ITS made these changes suddenly, with no warning, two weeks before the end of the semester, without considering the fact that next week is arguably the most difficult of the semester, with exams to follow,” said Amber Gruner ’13, who is a Technology Consultant (TC).

Additionally, students expressed concern at the lack of transparency in the process.

“I was very surprised to hear the news of the ITS reorganization occurring. But then again, I really shouldn’t have since they never consult students about their changes. They just do what they think is right,” wrote Nancy Hernandez ’13, a TC who completed an Assistive Technology internship last fall, in an email to the S&B.

Despite these concerns from students, Kuntz believes this reorganization is the right move for the College.

“Our goal is to increase efficiency … We must add resource to areas that the campus is screaming for help on and we just don’t have the skills,” Kuntz said. “So we’ve got to respond to that. You’ve got to keep the ship running.”
Kuntz says the changes ITS has made this week were in the best interest of providing support to the student body.

“Our objective here is to serve the students, serve the community,” Kuntz said. “That’s why we exist as a department.”

This action is the latest in a number of protests and expressions of student dissatisfaction with the administration’s diversity policies. Previously, a group of students put up posters protesting the understaffing of the Department of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership, formerly the Department of Diversity and Inclusion, as well as a lack of transparency in decision-making, such as moving the office under Academic Affairs with inadequate explanation.

The students’ most immediate proposal was the organization of a town hall meeting that would allow all students and faculty to establish a dialogue with Kington.

“I really do think that there needs to be a back-and-forth kind of dialogue between the students and the administration,” said Gregory Hinton ’14, Chair of Concerned Black Students (CBS). Hinton was present at the lunch with a number of students from CBS and other groups.

The listening session was intended to include a variety of students from groups such as CBS, Asian and Asian American Association, Stonewall Resource Center, anti-Oppression Peer Education Network, Chalutzim and Student Organization of Latinas/os.

Kington said that he found the meeting beneficial.

Students spoke with President Raynard Kington in Nollen House on Monday. Photograph by Avery Rowlison.

“I thought it was a productive meeting. I learned a lot,” he said. “I thought there were interesting comments. Some not surprising, but they helped me think about things in slightly different ways.”

The Council on Diversity and Inclusion recommended that Kington hold smaller listening sessions as a means to more easily hear student opinions.

“While town hall meetings can play a role … not everyone has a chance to talk,” Kington said. “[This] is a better form for conveying information than having conversations, especially about sensitive, difficult topics.”

Many students disagreed and felt that the uninvited walk-in sparked a conversation that was open to more students and that would not have happened otherwise.

Student Concerns

Students were consistent in identifying three issues that the College has in regards to diversity: communication, transparency and stability.

“Communication is heavily flawed,” said Deborah Tillman ’14, one student who walked in on the listening session uninvited.

Christian Snow ’13, who was selected for the listening session, agreed with Tillman.

“Decisions get made that directly affect students,” she said. “You can go and see exactly what was affected and students aren’t consulted in any way or even really told. We have to figure it out on our own.”

Multiple students who were invited to attend the listening session did not know how they were selected or why they were chosen as representatives of their fellow students. Kington said that they were chosen by the Council on Diversity and Inclusion, but many students were unaware of what the council does in general, much less the fact that they were selected by it for the meeting.

While students were appreciative of the administration’s attempt to reach out, they were frustrated that Kington did not choose a town hall format as they had wished.

Turnover at the Department of Intercultural Leadership and Engagement is the central issue for students in the area of transparency and stability. The office, formerly the Department of Diversity and Inclusion, lost Intercultural Affairs Associate Daria “Dotty” Slick in Spring 2011 and Vice President for Diversity and Achievement Elena Bernal ’94 in Spring 2012. Director of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership Michael Benitez will be leaving at the end of the semester after taking the position at the beginning of this school year.

Some students see the departures as indicators of a systemic lack of stability and support that has characterized the department in recent years.

“You have the Mike Benitez situation, so that’s another issue of lack of stability in the sense of, he was here for one year,” Hinton said.

A statement by Kington at the listening session about the necessity of hiring a Chief Diversity Officer before changes could be made also sparked frustration from students, who saw it as an excuse.

“Why wasn’t Michael Benitez moved to that position in the first place when he is highly qualified? How is it that you let a gem like him slip away and get hired to be a dean somewhere else when he’s done so much work here?” Snow said.

Hinton and other students mentioned that with departures and the movement of employees such as Intercultural Affairs Associate Marlene Jacks to different offices, they do not know who to go to with their problems.

Additionally, some students feel a lack of respect from the administration and a lack of engagement from the student body as a whole.

“We didn’t get the same type of attention that the financial aid situation got,” Snow said. “Because when things don’t affect people, they don’t care.”

President Kington’s Response

Kington agreed with students that there had been mistakes in communication.

“We didn’t do a great job of communicating broadly about the direction that certainly I was looking toward in terms of promoting and strengthening our diversity, but changing how we do diversity,” he said.

However, he noted that students could have raised the issue with him previously.

“It’s a two-way street, though,” he said. “I have open office hours. Students come to me all the time for all sorts of things and that was the first meaningful conversation I’ve had.”

He added that he is looking to move forward.

“There were ineffective steps on all sides here, but we’re over that now, I think, and we’ve begun the meaningful conversation,” he said.

Kington mentioned that the need-blind admissions discussion absorbed much of his time, preventing him from communicating about diversity. He noted that need-blind admissions affect diversity by enabling the College to achieve a diverse population without examining student need in the admissions process.

He extolled the high amounts of aid Grinnell gives to students compared to peer institutions.

“I have no doubt that we spend far more than many institutions on aid to domestic kids in general, but particularly high-need students, and domestic kids of color are more likely to be high-need,” he said.

Kington mentioned that he thought the biggest challenge for minority and first-generation students was the difficulty of their transition to college.

“For many, it’s a different world in lots of ways,” he said. “It’s a different world for lots of students, but I think a credible argument could be made that for many domestic kids of color in particular, but also I think first-generation kids from every race and ethnicity—that’s part of the diversity issue here as well—aren’t as comfortable in the transition to a place like Grinnell as some other students… That’s probably the biggest issue, but there are probably other issues as well,” he said.

Another point Kington brought up was a campus climate report released in October 2011. It laid out an extensive list of what the College was doing with diversity initiatives and what it had to do. The report mentioned that minority students did not feel as comfortable in classrooms as other students, Kington said.

It also addressed issues of faculty retention.

“I’ve been struggling with the issue of diversity in faculty, personally, for decades,” Kington said.

In terms of stability in the diversity office, Kington had the office moved under Academic Affairs to bring it to the core of the College’s educational mission.

“We know that there’s more to our college than what happens in the classroom, but what it does is say, when we do all those other things to build a more supportive social environment, that they’re all towards this core mission,” he said, adding that non-academic issues wouldn’t be marginalized by the move. “So I don’t think it precludes doing any of those things that we know are important. Students live here. They have to have comfortable lives. All students have to have comfortable lives here; we know that. But this connects those efforts to our core mission.”

The departures of multiple staff members from the office were due to their personal choices rather than the College’s actions, Kington said.

“Elena Bernal had an opportunity to go elsewhere. I can’t control that,” he said. “Michael Benitez was brought in, and to be honest it was probably unfair to him that he was brought in and was no longer working with the person who had hired him. He got a great opportunity. Mazel tov.”

Kington recognized that so many departures in the same department was cause for concern, calling it a “legitimate criticism” and he said that hiring the Chief Diversity Officer was the priority.

“We’re taking seriously the concern of staffing,” he said. “The only way to solve the stability problem is to fill the positions.”

Assistant Director of Analytic Support and Institutional Research Narren Brown has been chosen to serve as Interim Director of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership, taking over from Michael Benitez until at least this December.

Some concerns have also been raised by students on campus about the retention of the Posse Program, despite the College’s verbal commitment to renew their contract. Kington said the College will sign the contract once they finalize details about providing Grinnell with more of a role in the selection process, including the ability to select more or less than the ten students that are traditionally chosen, and the option to examine another location depending on the College’s need.

“We made the commitment,” he said.

Employee Perspectives

Faculty and staff recognize that the College has had issues with supporting diversity and in communicating policy to students. For most employees, the most important idea was that there needs to be institutional support for diversity and the campus needs to come together to help make that happen.

When asked by the S&B about what kind of support the diversity office has received, Benitez said that he is aware of student concerns and has reached out to the College multiple times to try to obtain additional support and resources for the Department of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership, but that the administration gave little to no response.

He said that the understaffing of the department resulted in him trying to juggle his own job working with students in addition to assuming some duties that should have been the responsibility of the Chief Diversity Officer. He also cited low budgets for many diversity-oriented organizations such as the Multicultural Leadership Council and the Black Cultural Center.

Furthermore, when asked, Benitez said that many students come to Grinnell for the financial aid they receive, but do not necessarily feel accepted or supported once they arrive due to a lack of resources.

One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed frustration with finger-pointing and said that Grinnell has to work on fixing the problem.

“It’s not about being critical. We need to find tangible solutions,” the employee said.

One suggestion of the employee was for the College to do a better job making decisions in concert with people who are qualified to give advice.

“I think sometimes the very people who are the experts in the areas of diversity and inclusion from the faculty side and the staff side are not even asked to be a part of the solution,” the employee said.

The employee asserted that the move of the diversity department to Academic Affairs could be a good thing with the right support.

Associate Dean Heather Lobban-Viravong, English, and Henry Rietz, Religious Studies, who serve as co-chairs of the Council on Diversity and Inclusion, and Brown, the Interim Director, believe that the department’s placement in Academic Affairs suggests that it is important to everyone.

“I think having that office under Academic Affairs really anchors diversity issues even more solidly in the mission of the institution,” Lobban-Viravong said.

Dean of Religious Life Deanna Shorb said she wants to make sure diversity is still being respected as a core value of the College beyond simply being tied to academics.

“We have three core values and one of them is diversity,” she said. “It concerns me that diversity and inclusion might be regarded as purely an academic affairs or curricular concern where we only study race and culture in the classroom. It is my hope that the new Associate Dean will work with the diversity and inclusion staff to rebuild what was once a vibrant co-curricular program.”

She did acknowledge the importance of an academic angle.

“We do need to study race and culture but we also need to recognize the wonderful diversity on our campus and with it that there are unique cultural and racial needs for expression,” she said.

Faculty members see communication as key to bringing all parts of campus together to address the problem.

“For me, what’s most important is opening up lines of communication,” Rietz said. “So it’s not just sending out an email or press release or putting things out there, but opening up spaces and relationships where we can have conversations.”

The employees agreed that the diversity department needs an institutional commitment from the administration, saying it is a priority. This process will begin with the hiring of the Chief Diversity Officer, who Kington says will hopefully be chosen within the next month.

“After [Roni Finkelstein ’15, Assistant Treasurer] conducted some more calculations, she declared that ACE had been over-allocated by $32,000,” state the April 17 Joint Board minutes.

SGA Treasurer Raghav Malik ’13 attributed the over-allocation of funds to the increased number of budgets submitted to SGA this year.

“We ended up with a few more budget requests this year than was usual, this semester in particular,” Malik said. “We ended up with a whole bunch of budget requests, and it’s hard to say no. People are doing great stuff, you know.”

ACE Chair Chloe Griffen ’14 declined to comment for this article, citing a tight schedule by email. A reporter went to Joint Board this week to speak to her, but Griffen was not there.

Although ACE is currently over-budgeted, SGA is working to ensure that the currently scheduled events do still occur.

“We’re trying to make sure that events still happen even though we are a little bit over-allocated,” Finkelstein said.

Photograph by John Brady.

To prevent overspending, SGA is working with students who have budgets for events to cut their expenses and decrease the overall budget.

“So we ended up over-allocating a little bit, so we need to do some cuts, and that’s what Chloe’s been doing recently,” Malik said. “She’s been meeting with every student group that has a budget for an ACE event that hasn’t already happened yet. She’s been meeting with them and talking about how they can trim their budgets down. And it’s not just ACE that’s trying to do the cutting—we’re all trying to do a little bit of cutting so that we don’t have to seriously cut down on ACE.”

“People are being really nice about it. They’re not fighting against cutting their budgets; they’re being really understanding from all our reports from Chloe,” Finkelstein said.

Some groups have had their budgets cut in half.

“There are some [organizers] that have found more places to cut and some that haven’t, things like Block Party because Block Party is one of the biggest events we throw and then there’s other events like the Grinnellian that has managed to do a really good job shaving off their budget,” Malik said, “For instance, things like ice are nice to have but not necessary to have to make a drink.”

Some organizers of ACE events are not as happy as the treasurers might think. Jack Menner ’13, one of the organizers of the Grinnellian, said that after receiving a frantic email from Griffen, the Grinnellian’s budget, already approved by ACE, was cut from $680 to $300.

“We’re not happy about it,” Menner said, “But we’ll make do.”

He said that they were able to keep the budget for lighting and their sound mixer but had to cut their publicity and food budgets.

“What’s going to suffer is the vegetarian options. Those meatless patties are expensive, but we’re trying to still be as accommodating as possible,” Menner said.

The Student Programming Committee (SPC) has seen a huge number of budgets and the Student Initiative Fund (StiFund) has spent a record amount on student initiatives this year.

“We’ve had generally huge involvement in everything that StiFund has done,” Malik said. “It has spent more money this semester than in any of the seven that I’ve known about SGA. So they’ve been incredible.”

A factor working in SGA’s favor is that it typically over-budgets anyway to account for groups’ actual spending habits, such as those who never spend the money or forget to turn in their receipts to get reimbursed for their expenses.

“We typically do over-allocate a little bit anyway because we know that most people, especially with things like ACE and SPC … typically end up under-spending it. So if they ask for $100, they’ll only spend about 86 or 87,” Malik said,  “On average, we spend about 85 to 87 percent so as a result, we can over-allocate to about 112 percent safely.”

To prevent over-budgeting in the future, SGA is planning to be more stringent in their budgeting earlier in the year.

“I would say overall it’s just been that people are really taking advantage of the SGA budget, which is awesome, but for next year, looking forward, we’re going to have to acknowledge that there’s this ramp up of interest and allocate accordingly starting at the beginning of the semester,” Malik said.

Malik and Finkelstein said they do not anticipate the over-allocation of the budget to be too much of a problem. SGA normally puts away four percent of the entire annual operating budget as an operating reserve to be used for small surpluses in the budget. They do not expect that they will have to dip into the operating reserve fund.

Shirar had been facing the class D felony charge of carrying weapons on school grounds after being arrested Feb. 28 with four handguns in his room in Main Hall.

“We did not have probable cause to move forward with the charge,” Petig said.

Petig never met with Shirar, but based her decision on information from the investigation and law enforcement reports.

Shirar did receive a fine for the charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the Student Handbook, “Conduct that endangers the safety of the residential community is prohibited. For this reason, no resident shall have in his/her/hir possession any weapons or firearms.”

However, Shirar said he will be allowed to re-enroll at Grinnell in Spring 2014. Dean of Students Travis Greene declined to comment on the situation.

Shirar said he understands the College is in a difficult position with regards to letting him re-enroll. He wrote in an email that he has not felt a negative reaction from campus with regards to his arrest.

“On the one hand, they’re more interested in using this as a learning experience, in letting you take something good out of it and get back to finishing your diploma,” he wrote. “On the other hand, though, there’s a sense that they can’t be too lenient.”

Shirar said that he is grateful that Grinnell has been so understanding.

“The fact that they’re willing to give me the chance to re-enroll is a very generous gesture on their part—they’re putting a lot of trust in me, and it’s my responsibility to show that their trust isn’t misplaced,” he wrote.

“The awareness we raise during this week will hopefully serve as a foundation for all year round, so people kind of have a sense of what is an active bystander or any other type of sexual assault programming we have going on throughout the week,” said Chris Marsho ’14, a leader of Real Men.

Alan Heisterkamp, Director of Mentors in Violence Prevention at the University of Northern Iowa, gave the first presentation Monday evening, kicking off the week with an emphasis on engaging men as important players in the prevention of gender violence.

“When you talk about men’s role or engaging men in ways in which to raise awareness and prevent issues of gender violence … men are not coming at the same volume or the same percentage as their female counterparts are to have these conversations,” Heisterkamp said.

Drawing upon his personal experiences as well as a wealth of statistical information, Heisterkamp illustrated that in the last 10-12 years, a greater proportion of men have been drawn into the discussion of gender violence. Heisterkamp pointed to the emergence of male-oriented gender violence prevention networks and national ad campaigns to explain that much of this increased awareness stems from efforts to forge connections between men along the lines of violence prevention.

“One of the things that works to engage men is to be able to attach yourself to other men who are thinking in similar ways,” Heisterkamp said. “For example, to bring it even closer to home here at Grinnell, Real Men.”

On Tuesday, Brenda Bash, the Director of the Polk County Crisis and Advocacy Center, spoke from a different perspective on these issues by addressing ways to provide support for survivors of sexual assault or abuse.

“Everyone is a crisis responder,” she said. “There are tools that we have when we respond to any kind of crisis. These are things that you don’t need a Ph.D. for. You don’t need to have all of the initials after your name.”

Some of these tools included ensuring that survivors feel safe and calm. Bash also said that it is important to encourage their self-efficacy and connectedness to a support network. The final step of the process is to provide hope for the future.

“Our body is designed to heal itself; that is how we’re built,” Bash said.

In addition to visiting lecturers, the Student Affairs staff provided a more local viewpoint during a Consent Workshop Panel in the JRC on Wednesday.

“New for this year is a panel we [have] that has several staff as the panelists,” Marsho said. “I think it [was] really interesting to have a staff perspective on some of the issues that are on campus as opposed to a student’s perspective, which is typically what we’re dealt here.”

The diversity of perspectives represented in these various activities can be traced back to the five different campus groups who sponsored the events. Real Men, the Feminist Action Coalition, Pioneer Diversity Council, Grinnell Advocates and Healthy Relationships were all involved in coordinating activities to raise awareness.

“What we did last year is we had one group host a night and this year we kind of did that similarly but we kind of meshed those together so it was definitely more of a collaborative effort and I think that was really good for what we’re trying to do,” Marsho said.

By working together, all five groups are able to make their roles on campus visible and encourage the community to see them as resources as well as ways to get involved.

“The purpose of this week is to show that the campus stands in solidarity with its survivors and that we take this issue very seriously here,” said Anna Banker ’15, member of Grinnell Advocates and a leader of the Feminist Action Coalition. “I think it’s really to contest this idea of invisibility that is related to sexual assault very often.”

Sexual Assault Awareness Week continues today at noon with a panel on Title IX, which promotes equality in education. There will be a one-act play on Monday in JRC 101 at 4:30 p.m.

Rajmohan Gandhi spoke this week about peace. Photograph by John Brady.

How would you summarize your talk for students who were unable to attend?

I refer to some of the conflicts in the greater Middle East area as well as the South Asian area. I refer to Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, India, Kashmir. My purpose was not to analyze these conflicts in great detail at all, but what would these conflicts look like if we were wearing Gandhi’s spectacles? So how would the world look, or these conflict areas look, if we were wearing Gandhi’s spectacles, and what sort of suggestions we might have to reduce or remove those conflicts. That was the basic idea. I also contrasted what might be called the colonial or imperial or security approach to conflict and the Gandhian approach to conflict. So that was another part of the talk. And I also spoke of what I had learned from my latest research, which was on the history of the Northern part of the India-Pakistan sub-continent, a great region called Punjab, which was split in 1947 into two: Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab, and what that history taught me about these issues. In particular, how the army was trained by the British Empire, the Indian army, and how after many years of training, some decades of training, the different groups, sectarian groups, religious groups, instead of becoming closer to each other became more distant from each other. And what lessons we can learn from that when it comes to let’s say Iraq or Afghanistan with troops that have been trained, security forces that have been trained. What can we learn from that experience?

Can you expand on the colonial interpretation of conflict and how we approach conflict today?

There is some similarity between the colonial view and the security view. Not that the security view is mistaken, but it has some weaknesses. One of the most important things I have learned in my research is that when outside forces intervene in an area, there is a temptation to exploit divisions that already exist. Say the Sunni-Shiite division, to exploit that. Whereas the real need is to bridge the division rather than accentuate it. To put it in another way, the strategic and commercial interest of the intervening powers should be secondary. The long-term interest of the region should be primary. How can we really help the region? Not: how can we make the region safe for us (or less hazardous for us)? That should not be the primary objective. The primary objective should be how can we get the people in those, how can we help them to really live with each other, and then take our hands off and let them do it the way they can. Often, in many of these places, the notion that these divisions are ancient, or that they are in some ways eternal is a mistaken notion. The elites of the different groups have often fought with each other but at ground level there has been good relations between the groups. So we should encourage that reality, or strengthen that reality. So that is one of the points that has come out of my research.

What has been your personal journey with interfaith dialogue?

I have been associated for 50 plus years with a group called Initiatives of Change. It used to be known as Moral Rearmament, but about fifteen years ago the name was changed to Initiatives of Change. And the philosophy behind this group is very simple: If you want to change the world you should start with yourself. It’s a common sense idea, but not always a very easy idea because you know, we all want somebody else to be better and be more reasonable, but what about us? So that’s the philosophy. And people of all faiths, all parts of the world, all races, all nations are associated with this. So that has been the context in which I have done my justice and reconciliation work, or my interfaith work in life. I am not primarily a student of religion. I am a student of history and politics, but of course religion is deeply involved in history and politics, so I’ve had to study religion too.

How does your faith and spirituality impact your worldview?

Here are some ideas that I carry in my mind most of the time, or all of the time: that every single person in the world is very special, that every single person in the world can do some remarkable thing, that at an essential level, we are all the same underneath, whatever our religion may be, whatever our race may be, whatever our nationality may be, we have the same desires in ourselves, we have an idea of what is right and what is wrong, and most of us sometimes are prejudiced, but we can look at our biases and prejudices and look beyond those. So reflection about oneself and a real study and understanding of the world outside, these are two important pieces of equipment that any peacemaker needs: reflection about herself or himself, and a good thorough understanding of the world.

How would you say people integrate Gandhian ideas into their everyday life?

One point I made in my talk yesterday was that nonviolence was a very crucial part of the Gandhian message, but it’s not the only part. Inclusiveness, pluralism, getting different groups to work together is as important as nonviolence, or is another component to nonviolent ways of life. And it is true that people who say we want to be realists, because there are organized people who have guns and weapons at their disposal, and if they want to do great harm, what can nonviolence achieve? That is a legitimate question. But we may say that nonviolence has not succeeded in some of the world’s toughest situations. But what is completely plain is that violence has not succeeded. Nonviolence may take a lot of time to fight against some oppression nonviolently may not produce immediate results, but violent methods to end domination or end oppression have produced disastrous results. So I don’t say that absolute, total nonviolence in all circumstances is the right way, no. As I said in my talk yesterday, if there is a foreign invasion, if there is a terrorist attack, if there is a terrible oppression that you want to end, we cannot say that never will we use violence. Some use of arms has to be condoned and accepted. But the ideas of understanding the other group, the other nation, the realization that we are all the same, basically. We think of some people as enemies, but the enemy is not totally unlike us, and we also have something that we don’t like in the enemy that may also exist in us. So those understandings are very much part of the Gandhian perspective. So if we wear Gandhi’s spectacles, we may see that the enemy is not so different from us.

How do you feel that you are carrying Gandhi’s vision or mission throughout your life?

I find as I study his life more and more, reflect more and more upon it, that my life is in consonance with that. It certainly is. But that’s not my aim. My aim is not to ask myself, if I face any situation, whether it’s a personal one or if I want to understand a conflict issue in the world, I don’t ask myself, “What would Gandhi have thought?” I ask my conscience and I ask my mind. But I find that when I ask those questions, the answers I get are very similar to the ones that Gandhi got.

The administration has been sharpening its focus on alcohol policies and their execution in recent years. Kington said in an interview last week that changes so far and a recent focus on preventing sexual misconduct, which is tied to alcohol use, crystallized the need for consultants. He emphasized that all of the changes are intended to prevent  unsafe behavior, not increase punishment.

“We have devoted more attention to prevention over the last several years and I have no problem at all owning that,” Kington said.

There have already been significant changes. When current seniors first came to the College four years ago, alcohol education at New Student Orientation was just beginning to expand. Lyle’s Pub rarely asked for identification. The College allowed Grinnell Relays to feature a beer garden on Mac Field. Conference Operations supported the planning of the 100 Days party. Student organizers of 10/10 and Block Party did not feel strong administrative pressure to prevent excessive drinking at their parties.

Now, incoming students take an online alcohol education course, alcohol.edu, which is coupled with more programming at orientation. Lyle’s Pub consistently wristbands and asks for identification. Grinnell Relays is not allowed to include beer. A student organizer of 100 Days had to front more than a thousand dollars in costs, later made up from ticket sales, because the College stopped supporting the party’s planning this year. Dean of Students Travis Greene told the S&B in October that if 10/10 had not gone well this year, it “could be in jeopardy of not existing as we currently know it.”

The Harm Reduction Committee, a group of students and staff that makes recommendations on safer ways to deal with alcohol on campus, acknowledges that some of the changes challenge a campus culture that has long allowed students to drink with relatively little oversight.

Accelerating Changes

The increased focus on alcohol safety has modest roots. During the 2007-2008 school year, students on the All Campus Events Committee and in the Student Government Association implemented a policy of requiring $25 worth of food to be present for every keg at a party. The arrivals of Greene as Dean of Students, Houston Dougharty as Vice President for Student Affairs and Jen Jacobsen ’95 as Wellness Coordinator, all in 2008, solidified the attention on harm reduction around alcohol use.

Before then, New Student Orientation’s alcohol programming consisted of one half-hour talk.

“Don’t take straight shots of Everclear. Not even kidding, that was pretty much the take-home message,” said John Burrows ’10, a former SGA Vice President of Student Affairs, speaking about his orientation.

One of Greene, Dougharty and Jacobsen’s major initiatives was increasing education about safe ways to drink alcohol. Orientation now includes a two-hour alcohol discussion followed by a pub night with alcohol safety trivia.

“We started at such a low bar in fall of 2008, when Houston and Travis and I were all new here, because there were no discussions,” Jacobsen said.

Changes accelerated when Kington became president in 2010. He is the former acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

“When I first came, there was a flurry of activity because of the concerns that I was going to make the campus dry,” he acknowledged.

Kington did not do so, but instead began with the more modest step in 2010 of asking the Harm Reduction Committee to review the College’s policies to see if they matched the recommendations of an NIAAA report, issued while Kington was acting director, on changing the culture of college drinking.

The decision to then hire alcohol policy consultants arose out of a tense campus discussion surrounding an increase in adjudicated instances of sexual misconduct in spring 2012. In response, Kington created a task force to recommend changes aiming to prevent sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse, which are closely related. The College also hired consultants to examine its compliance with Title IX, which requires colleges to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct to ensure a nondiscriminatory environment.

“What changed the conversation was when we started a discussion about Title IX,” Kington said. “What we heard in a strong, consistent, resounding voice was, ‘You cannot deal with sexual assault and sexual misconduct separate from dealing with alcohol.’”

He said the Harm Reduction Committee’s review was a first step. “We’ve done the first level of stuff to do. We’ve started the online training, we’ve started doing a range of things,” Kington said. “Now we have to go to the next level, and that’s why we’re having a consultant.”

Outside of any recommendations the consultants might make, the Harm Reduction Committee is still following up on the review Kington ordered and is considering some potentially significant changes.

Jacobsen, who co-chairs the Harm Reduction Committee, said the committee is working on ways to strengthen enforcement of the alcohol agreements all party organizers must sign before hosting a party. The agreements require organizers to give wristbands only to students of legal drinking age and then only to serve students with wristbands. These agreements are rarely carried out as intended.

“We recommend that wristbanders consistently check IDs (standing next to ACE security when possible) and only wristband people who have a photo ID that shows they are of legal age,” states the working document of the Harm Reduction Committee, written as part of the 2010 review. The document adds: “This represents a major challenge to campus culture.”

Jacobsen said the committee is hopeful students, particularly the party organizers and those working as All Campus Events security, will carry out the increased enforcement on their own. “Some accountability is expected for the alcohol agreements,” Jacobsen wrote in an emailed response to a follow-up question. “I/we are hopeful that will come from students. I worry if students are not proactive about this, it will come from the administration.”

New Policy Players

The creation of the task force on sexual misconduct and alcohol policies last year and this year’s decision to hire outside alcohol policy consultants has shifted the focus of some of the work surrounding alcohol policy away from the Harm Reduction Committee. This shift has the potential to decrease students’ voice in decision-making. About half of the members of the Harm Reduction Committee are students, and it is co-chaired by the SGA Vice President of Student Affairs, Sivan Philo ’13. The task force, on the other hand, has eight staff members, one professor and two students. As for the consultants, Special Assistant to the President Angela Voos, also the leader of the task force, emphasized they would be speaking with students before issuing their report.

Jacobsen said students are essential to the alcohol policy work of the Harm Reduction Committee. “The Harm Reduction Committee would not work if it weren’t half students and if it weren’t co-chaired by the SGA VP of Student Affairs,” Jacobsen said. “I think if you’re not familiar with college students and the culture of alcohol on campus, it’s really easy from the outside to say like, ‘Well, why don’t you just make a rule and make blah, blah, blah happen?’ And that’s just not how it works.”

She added that being too heavy-handed can push alcohol use underground, where it is less safe and students are less willing to call for help. “I think harm reduction has done really good work over the past four and a half years and it has been very partnered with students and it has been incremental, maybe not as fast as some people would like, but culture change takes time,” she said.

Voos was quick to express her support for the work of the Harm Reduction Committee. “I am totally in favor and applaud the harm reduction,” she said. “The reason to bring in outside consultants is, even with all of the energy that is here, we don’t have all the answers. There are people who have been studying this. That’s their profession. They know more than we do. Why not, with the support of the president, bring in people to help us?”

The decision to hire outside consultants did not extend far beyond Nollen House. Greene, the Dean of Students, and Philo, the SGA Vice President of Student Affairs, who are both members of the task force on sexual misconduct and alcohol policies, said when contacted by the S&B last week that they were unaware of any efforts to hire consultants. Kington informed the Executive Council, the highest committee of the faculty, of his decision to hire outside consultants on March 6, according to the minutes of the meeting.

Changes to Campus Activities

Recent changes have already had an effect. The Harm Reduction Committee’s working document calls for “increasing enforcement at campus-based events that promote excessive drinking.” 10/10 was one of the parties it singled out. The document emphasizes the need for organizers to meet with the committee well in advance so they can plan ways to have a safe party. Greene told the S&B shortly after the party, in October, “I think that this year, more than any other year, people were worried that this could be the last 10/10 if things went south.”

Greene explained last week that he had said that because the party organizers had not communicated well with the Harm Reduction Committee in the lead-up to the party and that there was a new police chief for the town of Grinnell.

Assistant Director of Residence Life Dan Hirsch, who was on call during the party, noted that the year before he had received 30 calls for help, but this year he received zero. He attributed the drop to a mix of the party going well and pressure for the party to go smoothly discouraging students from making problems known by calling.

Ben Doehr ’15, manager of Lyle’s Pub, said the stricter identification checks at the pub are a result of pressure from the police, including the citation of underage drinkers early in 2012, as well as a change in student management and pressure from Student Affairs.

“The managers weren’t instructing people to card and so the pub got in trouble with the cops; the cops got mad at the College,” Doehr said.

The College long helped plan 100 Days, a party for seniors with roughly 100 days left in the year. The party turned into an occasion for kissing as many fellow seniors as possible starting in 2001. The Conference Operations office decided earlier this year that it was inappropriate for them to continue supporting the party.

This year will be the first since the party’s most recent revival in which Grinnell Relays is not allowed to feature alcohol. Jacobsen said problems the past two years led to the ban.

Changes in Relays, a long-standing tradition at the College, reflect changes in the alcohol climate overall. Founded in 1973 by Wayne Moyer, Political Science, and students in his first foreign policy seminar, Relays was an outdoor party featuring events such as tug of war and the Milwaukee Beverage Relay, where contestants chugged a beer rounding each corner of a baseball diamond. Moyer called it a “Sunday school picnic with beer.” After Iowa raised the drinking age to 21 in 1986, the party never fully recovered. The latest push to return the party to its former glory came about five years ago, with it featuring beer that was supposed to be confined to a roped-off beer garden.

Two years ago, Jacobsen said the College decided there needed to be an alcohol agreement for the event because it was an exception to policy to allow so much alcohol outside. After student organizers violated the agreement the past two years by allowing underage students to drink and providing more beer than initially agreed upon, Jacobsen said the natural decision was to discontinue allowing alcohol.

Moyer said allowing the beer garden had added vibrancy to the party in recent years. “I think allowing an enclosed area sure helps,” he said.

He added that a spring party can be positive for campus. “I think there needs to be something in the spring. Whether Relays is the right thing or not, I don’t know,” Moyer said. “There’s a lot of pent up energy and apprehension. I think the Sunday school picnic with beer idea still has its appeal.”

An Ingrained Culture

The larger climate of alcohol use on campus is cause for some concern, acknowledged Philo. He said there are dangerous instances of students drinking too much and he is working to change that fact. “If a change like that is going to happen, it’s not going to happen through the administration,” he said. “It has to come from the students themselves.”

Burrows, the former SGA Vice President of Student Affairs, remembered that there have always been fluctuations in the amount of attention given to alcohol use on campus, and policies such as requiring wristbands for those of legal age have long been the college policy. The official policies and what happens in reality can be very different.

“As long as there’s been wrist-banding, there’s been people finding ways to get around it,” he said.

Wilson described how the College selects investments. He said it would be very challenging to divest from fossil fuel companies because those investments are part of larger funds. The College would have to pull out of the entire fund to end an investment in the energy company.

Chris Bair discusses college coal usage during the environment town hall Tuesday in JRC 101. Photograph by Mary Zheng.

While discussion had been circulating about the possibility of divestment from fossil fuel companies, the conversation has slowed due to the current volatility of the economic climate.

“We felt that it would be in some sense hypocritical to change our investment strategy to avoid any taint of fossil fuel while continuing to power the campus by coal,” Queathem said.

Queathem’s portion of the presentation documented measures that the College has taken over the past several years to reduce greenhouse emissions and reliance on fossil fuels internally. In October 2011, President Raynard Kington signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which pledges the College to be carbon neutral by a date it is still in the process of determining.

The Sustainability Planning Committee was established shortly thereafter. Queathem and Bair are both members. Over the past two years, the committee has generated a plan of sustainability, consisting of a number of ideas that would align the campus and community itself more intimately with the principles of sustainability, if implemented.

Among the projects presented were sub-metering all buildings to provide immediate and exact feedback of energy usage, construction of net-zero emission buildings and renovation of old buildings to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The committee has also proposed the creation of a course in sustainability that would link with prestigious environmental institutions.

Queathem concluded by providing a much-anticipated update on the status of plans to develop a wind farm, the largest project that the committee has proposed thus far. The wind farm would reduce non-renewable energy use by 60 percent and emissions by 40 percent. The total cost of the project is estimated in the millions.

Queathem spoke about whether the wind farm project was modeled after those that have been constructed to meet the energy needs of other college campuses.

“We can benefit from the mistakes made by other institutions. The fact that we have delayed our project a little bit will be beneficial. We don’t want to just mimic other institutions, we want to stand out,” she said.

During the question and answer period of the meeting, Bair noted the difficulties in financially supporting the project.

“[The trustees] have approved moving forward with the project but they have not approved financing,” Bair said. “The issues have been the same for about the past seven years.”

“No doubt that within the year, the final vote will be taken by the board whether or not to finance the project,” Kington said.

Queathem has implored the student body to approach the Sustainability Planning Committee with any ideas regarding changes that they would like to see happen on campus or to the curriculum that would inspire the creation of a more sustainable culture on campus.

First, could you tell me a little bit about the short course you taught at Grinnell the past two weeks? 

The purpose of the course was to introduce students to the principles of restorative justice and their historical roots, to discuss current restorative justice programs and applications of restorative principles and to compare how our country currently addresses conflict and wrongdoing with how we might address those matters using a more restorative approach.

What is the one thing you most hope your students took away from the course?

I hope my students will think more critically about how our society deals with wrongdoing and the impact our choices have on the victim, the offender and our communities and that my students will actively work toward improvements that take a more restorative approach.

How can we open society’s mind to the ineffectiveness of a punitive justice system?

We must find opportunities to share with our family, friends and elected representatives the true impact of our “get tough on crime” policy. While many violent offenders need to be incarcerated, the United States imprisons nonviolent offenders at a staggering rate, with little effect on public safety. We must inform others that sending more and more offenders to prison produces more and more individuals who will not have the ability to become well-functioning members of our communities because simply punishing offenders does not rehabilitate them. When offenders are not rehabilitated, their families and children suffer as well, amplifying the human and societal costs of our punitive justice system.

 In your class on Monday, you talked about how in current criminal processing, victims of a crime are very uninvolved and in some ways neglected. How can criminal processing better meet the needs of victim?

The criminal justice system could better meet the needs of victims by providing to them an opportunity to talk to the offender face to face, if the victim wants to do so; by timely informing the victim of the progress of the criminal case and seeking his or her input; by offering services to address the trauma the victim has suffered and by simply acknowledging in a respectful and caring manner the victim’s emotions and needs in any interaction with the victim.

What do you think is the purpose of the ways offenders are continually punished after their sentences ends—for example, the difficulty they encounter in finding employment and obtaining financial aid for higher education, etc? Do you think this purpose is achieved effectively? 

In my opinion, laws that take away offenders’ opportunities for public assistance or to fully participate in our democracy, for example, not allowing felons to vote, serve the sole purpose of punishing offenders. Ironically, while the public expects offenders to mend their ways and become productive members of our society, these laws work against their ability to be successfully reintegrated into their communities. I think these laws, unfortunately, are very effective in punishing offenders in a vengeful and counterproductive way. Offenders’ difficulties in obtaining employment reflect our culture’s stigmatizing view of crime, which further reduces offenders’ chances for rehabilitation and their families’ prospects for economic support.

There were several contributions to this schedule from Clare Boerigter ’14, who wanted to invite representatives from a non-governmental organization from Costa Rica for which she previously volunteered. The film Dirt, which is inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of Earth, will be shown Monday at the request of Christian Noyce ’15.

Additionally, Chris Bair ’97 of Facilities Management has offered two campus tours. The first one, on April 12, focused on energy usage for the campus, and the second one, on April 26, on waste practices.

The event with the Costa Rican organization on Tuesday allowed students to learn how an NGO outside of the United States functions. Specifically, the presenters touched on how they contribute to the improvement of the community while focusing on environmental ambitions. The commitment of this organization is towards conservation, eco-tourism, community development and education.

“They try to bring the financial benefits of tourism to educating the greater community,” Boerigter said. “They facilitate group discussions and reforestation projects.”

State senator Rob Hogg spoke on climate change during Earth Week. Photograph by Devon Gamble.

For the more politically engaged, Earth Week offered a number of politically geared activities. Iowa state senator Rob Hogg volunteered to come and speak on the importance of climate change and what can be done to improve the situation on a state and national level. Meanwhile, Wednesday through Friday, students from SEC petitioned outside of the Dining Hall to get members of the community to pose with a sign explaining why they reject the plans for the Keystone Pipeline along with collecting signatories for a letter addressed to President Barack Obama resisting the plans for the pipeline.

The group said it was very pleased with how the events came together and how, from so many different perspectives, the national day was recognized with a week of activities. Earth Week represents the variety of subjects that students care about, but that they acknowledge that there is still plenty of work ahead.

“I am very happy with the diverse array of offerings we have during Earth Week and spilling over into the following week,” said co-president of SEC Liza Morse ’15. “It just shows how multifaceted environmental activism can be and I think that is important, for students to recognize that they can create meaningful change in so many different ways.”

The group is also hopeful that with more participation, they will be able to gain more support from not only students, but the administration as well. They also want students to know that there is no reason that efforts should be secluded to Earth Day or Week, but that these causes are to continue well beyond.

“One of the positive things about having so many events is raising awareness to administrators because when you get them involved you can get more financial support,” Boerigter said. “We encourage people to find a project that they want to work on and we will lend our support.”

“James’s personal story of being sold into forced labor in a fishing camp at a young age in Ghana and his work to save children consigned to a similar fate really inspired our students and faculty committee members,” Purcell said. “We decided that the campus would benefit from a deeper look at the issue.”

The program’s first event was “The Truth About Domestic Sex Trafficking and How it Affects You” and featured speaker Tina Frundt, who spoke on the issue of domestic sexual exploitation, including pimp- and family-control situations. Frundt, a victim of sexual human trafficking herself, described how openly Americans have glamorized pimping and how detrimental the glossy image is to victims/survivors.

“She really broadened my understanding of how coordinated and organized pimp culture is and what kind of impact that subculture has on broader perceptions of and actions taken on sex trafficking,” said Anna Hall ’13, founder of the Grinnell Free the Slaves chapter.

Wednesday’s convocation featured acclaimed writer Louise Shelley. Shelley is currently a professor at George Mason University and is also involved in researching many types of illicit trade. Her book, Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective, is widely cited in the realm of trafficking research. Shelley’s talk, entitled “The Business of Human Trafficking,” explained how connected trafficking is with the development of the world. In her talk, Shelley discussed how climate change, something seemingly disconnected from trafficking, also affects the business of human trafficking.

“You cannot study this [human trafficking] in isolation—it is connected to sociology, economics, political science and many other subjects,” she said.

Within her talk, Shelley placed emphasis upon how the business is not nearly close to being abolished. In fact, she argues that without awareness this business is likely to exponentially increase.

“In this country, we have almost no persecutions of people in labor trafficking,” Shelley said. “There needs to be more awareness. We’ve been a long time coming with where the problem is. In Iowa, it’s only been four or so months where there have been persecutions on human trafficking.”

That same night, there was a panel discussion entitled “Fighting Human Trafficking in Iowa,” where members of the Grinnell police force described their experience dealing with human trafficking in Iowa. Although it may seem as though Iowa is much too remote for human trafficking, this erroneous assumption is part of what the Rosenfield Program hoped to address through this symposium.

“One excellent feature of this symposium is the way it brings together all three themes that the Rosenfield Program focuses on: public affairs, international relations, and human rights. We seek to educate the campus and the community in these important areas, and this symposium allows us to examine how they are connected,” Purcell said.

Shelley also shed light on many other forms of human trafficking that are discussed even less than sex trafficking. One of the greater misconceptions about human trafficking is that it only exists as sex trafficking. However, the United States is also affected by labor trafficking, where individuals are smuggled across nations, continents and the world and then forced into labor.

Hall agreed with Shelley that more awareness is key to creating an impact on this subject.

“I believe the best way to help end human trafficking is by spreading knowledge and awareness about the issue and how to fight it,” Hall said. “I hope that everyone who attends these symposium events takes the information to their friends and families and spreads the word.”

For those interested in the topic of human trafficking, Free the Slaves meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Voicebox on the third floor of the JRC.

Chinaphobia, in its broadest sense, is racism against people with Chinese ancestry and constitutes a global phenomenon.

“[Chinaphobia] is driven by people’s fears—irrational fears—over what China might do or might not do,” Scott said. “[The workshop] was a quest for us to see that [Chinaphobia] functions as an ‘ism.’ It is a kind of racism towards people of Chinese descent, and it’s a global phenomenon.”

Zhang, Scott’s research assistant this semester, concurred.

Kesho Scott, American Studies and Sociology, spoke during a workshop concerning combatting Chinaphobia. Photograph by Greg Hinton.

“We don’t tolerate racism, sexism, etc. So why should we tolerate baseless attacks made on the Chinese? Contrary to the popular belief that Chinaphobia is not racism, anti-Chinese sentiment is essentially racism since many still conflate Asians with Chinese,” Zhang said.

The workshop, and Scott and Zhang’s semester-long research project, originally developed out of a conversation in one of Scott’s classes.

“I have been doing a project on the Chinese Diaspora and its history emerged when a student asked me ‘Where are the Chinese in the world and why are there so many Chinese in the continent of Africa today? Then another student said, ‘It’s a new form of colonization.’ So that small conversation led me to want to understand,” she said.

Scott and Zhang laid out a history of Chinaphobia in America, beginning with fears over Chinese immigration during the late 19th and early 20th century, concerns over cheap labor and unfair labor practices, and the some and the lasting Cold War divisions between communist and capitalist societies.

Contemporary Chinaphobia, Scott and Zhang argued, stems from Chinese ownership of some American debt and an inability to recognize continuing racism against Chinese-Americans.

“Now that they are our competitors, as an emerging capitalist country with a communist political regime, I began to notice this sort of backlash against China,” Scott said. “As China emerges as a world power, it’s increasing.”

The larger risk of not addressing Chinaphobia, both in the United States and abroad, could have profound impacts on the relationship between China, the United States and the wider world in the near future.

The most difficult obstacle to addressing Chinaphobia is getting community members to recognize and challenge Chinaphobia in their daily lives.

“We know it exists, we know it’s one of those soft power issues, the fact that we don’t talk about it, might mean we’re playing right into it,” Scott said. “When people do make Chinaphobic remarks, we don’t quite know how to handle it. … We all have to confront those limits in our human precision.”

The workshop was recorded, and is available on video at the AV Center or by getting in touch with Scott.

The College currently has contracts with Posse in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., receiving ten students from both cities each year, and has decided to renew both programs.

Vice President for Enrollment Joe Bagnoli expressed enthusiasm for the program’s renewal.

“Our partnership with Posse is a natural expression of the College’s core commitments to academic excellence, diversity and social responsibility,” he said.

The study, called “Posse at Grinnell College: Exploring the Economics, Demographics, and Effectiveness,” found that Posse students have “significantly lower” average SAT and ACT scores than other students.

“Those academic inputs, some might expect, would predict lower retention or graduation rates, but remarkably there is no statistical difference in retention rates, first and second year, between Posse and non-Posse students,” Bagnoli said. Other than one anomalous year, Posse graduation rates are comparable to those of all students.

Posse students also make up a substantial portion of Grinnell’s students of color. Around 74 percent of all Posse students at Grinnell were African-American or Latino, the report stated. These students comprise approximately one fourth of Grinnell’s African-American and Latino students, as well as 13.5 percent of Grinnell’s first generation students.

A second study, called “Posse Leadership Survey,” surveyed faculty and staff members and determined that Posse students were more likely to assume leadership roles on campus, including on campus committees and student organizations, than other students.

The College wants to use Posse to find students that would be overlooked by the normal college application process, Bagnoli said. The goal is to ensure there is space for students who do not have the social or economic capital to stand out in the normal selection process. Posse students pay no tuition.

In renewing Posse, Grinnell is acknowledging that Posse is serving the College’s goals for diversity and leadership. However, the College also recognizes that the program is expensive.

Posse costs $160,000 annually, which covers participation fees paid to the Los Angeles and D.C. branches, mentors for the Posse Plus retreat, travel expenses and the selection process.

In addition to these fees and expenses, the Posse program earns Grinnell $320,000 less each year in tuition than the College would receive if Posse students were replaced with students of average financial need.

So far, the College has not found alternative methods of gaining the kind of diversity that Posse provides.

“We looked at the costs to try and assess cost versus benefit and ask ourselves questions about whether or not there were alternatives that were less costly that could help us achieve the same objectives,” Bagnoli said. “And it’s possible that there are alternatives, but we have not yet demonstrated through any alternatives that we could accomplish on our own what we have accomplished through our partnership with Posse.”

The issue of how the College handles diversity has been at the forefront of the campus conversation following protests by group of students looking for more support for minority students once they arrive at Grinnell. President Raynard Kington sent an all-campus email addressing the issue on the last day before spring break.

“When we return from break, I invite the campus to begin a transparent, civil, and comprehensive discussion of this most important issue,” Kington wrote in the email. “I am working with the Council on Diversity and Inclusion to help guide this discussion, beginning by convening a series of listening sessions with constituency groups.”

Bagnoli also mentioned that Grinnell will continue looking for other ways to strengthen its commitment to diversity. He cited a 30 percent admittance rate of domestic students of color this year.

“That’s a very high number for us at Grinnell and a very high number for places like Grinnell,” he said.

Also unusual is the fact that Grinnell has two Posse programs.

“Most [need-blind institutions] that have Posse just have one,” Bagnoli said. “And the ones that have more than one tend to be the schools that have much larger student populations than Grinnell.”

This year is the College’s tenth working with the D.C. Posse and eleventh with Los Angeles. Since the Posse contracts last for five years, Los Angeles was up for renewal last year, but the College had the deadline extended a year in order to study whether Posse was meeting its goals for diversity and student leadership.

Bagnoli said Grinnell’s success at finding other methods of recruiting a diverse student population will affect the College’s decision to renew the program in five years, but for now, at least, Posse is here to stay.

The Watson Fellowship is a one-year grant awarded to a graduating college senior. Forty students in participating institutions across the nation are selected and given a $25,000 stipend in order to pursue their international independent study project.

“The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship offers college graduates of ‘unusual promise’ a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel in international settings new to them,” reads its mission statement.

Photograph by Saw Min Maw.

Most was recognized by the Fellowship for his accomplishments at Grinnell, which include co-manager of SEG, a coordinator for Altbreak and lab services coordinator for ITS. He is a General Science-Biology and Economics major. His student initiatives to fix the printers are currently being implemented and he has also performed research at several institutions.

Most’s independent study project is entitled “Do-It-Yourself Biology: Innovation, Social Implications, and the Inversion of Research Paradigms.” The project focuses on synthetic biology, a science in which organisms are engineered to perform unprecedented, unnatural functions.

“We are getting to the point where we can essentially program life,” Most said.

Most said an example of this science of the future is genetically engineering goats that produce spider silk in their milk.

“[Do-It-Yourself biology is] a radical movement to try to democratize synthetic biology as a science,” Most said. “Anyone can explore them, essentially do them in their basement and tinker around, perform genetic engineering and hopefully, innovate.”

Innovation is key to Most’s project and to the field of DIY biology. Most will be traveling to four or five community bio-garages around the world where DIY biology is performed.

“Bio-garages are spaces in which do-it-yourself biologists are providing the infrastructure for people to learn about the science and to explore it,” Most said. “I’ll be going to the UK, Canada, India and Singapore. So I’ll be on the forefront of this really brand new movement. If you look at how many bio-garages there are in the world… there are only a handful because this is so new, so radical. That’s why I was really interested in it. I really like the cusp of the cusp. What’s new, what’s happening: what I think could be a productive avenue for entrepreneurship.”

Most plans to initially go to two established bio-garages to learn the science in synthetic biology and then to travel to two or three lesser established ones to build up the community and movement, tapping into his entrepreneurial interests. He hopes to learn much about himself and much about the world, including controversial ethical issues.

The focus of his Watson Fellowship project is along similar lines to his occupational aspirations.

“I’m interested in, first and foremost, where biology and entrepreneurship intersect, and how that will look in twenty years,” Most said. “I would love to found a startup one day; that would be mind-blowing.”

Most referenced Bill Gates’ assertion that DIY biology is at the forefront of technology.

He said he is excited to be starting with biological molecules in his innovative DIY biology project.

“I’m really honored to have the opportunity to explore exactly what I want to explore for a year,” he said.

The program, called “Stars for Knowledge, Knowledge for Change,” is designed to improve literacy rates at Chardowani Middle School. By purchasing computers, constructing a library consisting of books in English and Bengali and providing Internet access to the students, she hopes to diminish the dropout rate of the students and broaden their scope of thinking. There will also be workshops for parents and students that will aim to reduce dropout rates.

“[In] the village I’m working with, there are many kids who drop out of high school because their parents think that it’s better if they leave high school and start working,” Tareque said. “The main purpose of this project is [to introduce] a library; these children study subjects like science, physics and chemistry … they want to earn money as fast as possible. In the library, I’ll

have books about life and how education would be beneficial for them and other subject areas such as anthropology and psychology––things that they might not be aware of but can get to know through the books in the library.”

Photograph by Saw Min Maw.

Another goal of hers is to provide the children with incentives for reading, by implementing a Future Stars Program in which each student in the school will be rewarded one star for each book report they write. Their peers will evaluate these reports, which she hopes will foster a peer community in which students motivate and are motivated by each other to read. The ten students with the most stars in each grade will be rewarded with certificates and medals, which is an important inspiration tool, since the students are hardly recognized in school.

“The whole project is being funded with $10,000, but according to the budget I’ll only need $8,000,” Tareque said. “[For the remaining] $2,000, I’ve arranged for it to be kept in a bank account and the interest generated from it would be enough to keep the whole program maintained.”

Tareque is excited about implementing this project, as are the students and locals.

“They’re really looking forward to it,” she said. “First, I was a little worried because I’d never been to that village, but then my aunt sent me a letter from the principal who was super happy about it. The principal told the children about the program and they were really excited for this summer.”

How did Canvas get started?

There is a history of activism and trouble-making in Serbia and it starts very early in the early ’90s. The people who founded Canvas are also the people who founded the Serbian resistance movement. They’re basically coming from the generation which opposed Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian “Strongman,” since 1992. I was in my freshman year, I was 19, there was a huge student’s protest in 1992 and they were basically anti-war, so we occupied the campus and campuses in a few other cities and this was my first entry into the world of non-violent struggle and non-violent activism. Later, we learned our little skills in 1996-1997. There was an election fraud. Milosevic stole a local election: the population won and he denied and then there were three months of demonstrations. So, among the people who organized the protests were the people whom I am very close with. That same generation of students formed the Serbian resistance movement. It was quite successful when it won by ousting Milosevic in October 5, 2000. Afterwards, we went off in different directions. I went into politics and [for] three years I was a member of the Serbian parliament and served as a special advisor to the first Serbian democratically-elected prime minister. In 2003, Zoran Djindjic was assassinated, my term in parliament ended and we started getting invitations from throughout the globe, from the people who were inspired by the Serbian non-violent revolution. Obviously, there was a movie called “Bringing Down a Dictator,” which was translated into 16 different languages, traveling across the globe. People would see the documentary and get the idea that they could make it happen at home and started reaching out to us. Late 2003, while working with a group of Zimbabwean activists in Cape Town, South Africa we decided to form the organization. We officially registered early 2004. The full name is Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies, or Canvas.

What does the organization do?

We are an educational non-profit which makes people power user-friendly. Our general idea was to look into movements throughout the globe, try to figure out what was unique for each movement, what connects the movement, and try to look at the universal principles of success. Throughout the scope of the nine years, now we have worked with people from 46 different countries. Some of them were typical pro-democracy activists like the people from Burma, Zimbabwe, Georgia, Ukraine; some of them are more inclined to anti-corruption issues. We also met with the Occupy movement last year. We have worked with environmental NGOs struggling with companies in Nigeria because this methodology of people power and building a movement is far wider than just struggling with a dictator. It is basically a blueprint for starting with a small group, mobilizing people around the vision of tomorrow, planning for a serious campaign and then trying to deliver. This is a very long answer, but I think maybe it’s very important to know all of this for an introduction.

Can you tell me more about your talk today? On the College calendar, it is explained as a discussion about the Responsibility to Protect.

I am not representing the foundation or my times as a diplomat, I am more still talking out of my personal perspective. It is the latest attempt to stop mass killings and mass atrocities and it is the latest effort since the 1940s and the end of WWII [and the] Holocaust. There have been a number of horrible genocides—Cambodia, Rwanda, parts of former Yugoslavia—this is meant as an effort to stop mass killings and prevent them. Therefore, I want to talk about what this initiative is.

What are some of the strategies that this project uses?

Let me take it away from the foundation for a moment because this effort is part of the latest international initiative that goes back to 2000 when the Canadian government brought together heads of state from around ten other nations. They all asked, how can we put together a better effort to stop and prevent future mass killings? We have heard from, for years, people saying, “Never again,“ but how can you make this real? There was a large coalition that put together this report, and from this came the concept, Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This means that countries can’t just do whatever they want… this usually means larger powers should do something positive. In ten years, this went from an idea and report to a largely accepted norm in the world today. It was front and center in 2005 at the World Summit, when over 170 world leaders published an outcome document. One of the things they decided to do was institute the norm R2P, again very nice thought on paper, but how do you make this real? You look at cases today—Syria is an obvious example where the complexity just becomes clearer and clearer everyday, while in Kenya and Libya we have seen this work in a positive way. When the former leader Gaddafi said he was going to kill mass numbers of people, intervention by a number of countries made sure this didn’t happen. Kenya in 2007 did see a large number of killings, and while they have many questions about the new leader, still it did not happen this year. Step by step you are seeing small amounts of progress, and the key is how do we keep this progress going so that we can prevent mass killings overtime.

So, this is a multilateral organization that renders support from many countries?

This is a condition or norm that has been adopted by many countries and this outcome that came out of the World Summit that countries adopted. Depending on how you look at this it can be a principle, a rule or norm, but the key is how do you make this more real. The US has been a leader with this. Countries have suggested that you need to have more of a warning about potential atrocities and how we do that. The US was one of the first to set up an atrocity prevention board, members from the State Department, White House and the CIA, meet regularly to make sure information is shared. Other countries like Australia, Denmark and Holland have also taken a lead in this. There are ongoing efforts to get over 200 countries to coordinate. The African Union has been particularly good at coordinating and preparing for response and it has worked in Somalia and to some extent in Kenya. The point is that people are trying very seriously to implement this policy.

I have spoken to folks on campus from countries that have experienced genocide in their country, such as Rwanda. One thing they expressed concern over was the UN’s inability to act strongly in these places; rather than stopping it, the UN provided food and medical aid, the reason being sovereignty and not wanting to infringe on countries rights. I wanted to know if that is an issue R2P must handle? 

If you go back to the creation of nation-states you find it very essential to the discussion of how a State decides what to do. The idea of sovereignty is paramount, but with globalization over the last twenty years, with the change in communication, the whole global reality has changed. You must have a second look at sovereignty and what it means in today’s world. When you get to the question of human rights and mass killings, you have to say, “wait a second, the world is moving more in the direction of universal human rights.” When you have countries that want to use mass killing as a strategy or are too weak to stop the violence going on, what do you do? That is where the R2P comes in. It is an evolving concept, but basically sovereignty in today’s world is no longer absolute. You can’ t do whatever you want, the world will not accept that and there are consequences, whether it is the International Court of Justice or others.

Paula Smith. Photograph by Saw Min Maw.

The end of this academic year marks the completion of Paula Smith’s term as Dean of the College. David Lopatto, Psychology, has been appointed as Interim Dean following her departure, and the College is now beginning a national search for a new dean who will help lead the College as it deals with academic issues such as expanding the use of technology, finding new assessment methods and making faculty salaries more competitive.

Smith’s five years on the job have included a number of accomplishments, including expanding the Mentored Advance Project (MAP) program, which she helped launch in 1999 as an Associate Dean.

“Something that is great at this stage is that at least half of the MAPs are outside of science,” Smith said. She noted that the program’s broad appeal at Grinnell sets it apart from summer science research programs at other colleges. “Now every department has done MAPs,” she said.

Smith is also proud of the fact that credit is now offered for Prison Program classes, and athletics and academics are more integrated through methods such as having Physical Education faculty teach tutorials.

As Interim Dean, Lopatto said he is interested in continuing to move forward on the College’s strategic plan, but does not yet have a specific plan of action. He recognizes that the College is constantly in flux.

“A bad strategy would be to try to keep everything status quo,” he said.

One contribution Lopatto would like to make is to figure out the College’s relationship to online learning and technology.

President Raynard Kington also sees technology as an area that the College should emphasize.

“We’re really talking about using technology in creative ways to improve the education we provide,” he said.

The College recently received a $250,000 gift from Board of Trustees Chair Clint Korver ’89 and Miriam Rivera intended for innovative teaching and online learning.

Despite this focus on technology, Kington said the College is not planning to join the trend among institutions such as Harvard and Stanford to set up online courses available to the public, called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS).

“I don’t think anyone is seriously considering the College becoming a provider of MOOCs,” Kington said. “I think that would not be smart. Lots of great places are already doing that. What we have to do is figure out how we can use all these incredible online resources to help improve our education and there’s a fair amount of it already occurring. I mean, we have a range of ways in which online learning and online resources are already embedded in lots of the courses that we have here. So it’s really about continuing that.”

Smith mentioned that technology is also important to the faculty and is being used in many creative ways already.

“This can be a faculty-driven process where they want to introduce technologies into their classes,” she said.

Online resources can also be used to assess student learning so faculty can more easily adapt to their students.

“Students, parents and families are increasingly demanding evidence of the impact of what we do,” Kington said.

The College is exploring the implementation of ideas such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test that seeks to measure student improvement from the beginning to the end of college. It is also considering using writing portfolios for students to supplement other assessment methods currently in use.

These changes, which also include new methods of career development and alumni outreach, are all part of the College’s strategic plan on which the new dean will work.

Conversations about faculty compensation will also continue under the new dean. Faculty salaries have fallen lower than those at peer institutions, prompting concerns among faculty that recruitment of top new faculty will become more difficult. Recent discussions on the College’s financial future also factor in.

“The bottom line is that we’ve known that with our benefits we do pretty well relative to our peers,” Kington said. “With regard to actual salary, we’ve fallen behind some of our peers, so we hope that we will over time be able to catch up in terms of the actual salary, but in order for us to do that we have to deal with these financial problems.”

Instead of returning to teaching next year, Smith will be working on an administrative project to create a risk management plan for the College. The following year, she is due for a sabbatical, during which she hopes to write another novel.

“One of the things that has been tough as Dean of the College is I don’t have time for my own writing,” Smith said. “So I’ve missed teaching and I’ve also missed my own writing.”

There are moments of nostalgia, Smith said, when she listens to other professors talk about their classes. She will resume teaching in the fall of 2015.

When she returns, there will be two fiction professors at Grinnell. Smith is excited that her replacement in the English Department, Dean Bakopoulos, is remaining at the College.

“It’s great that a regular faculty position has been created for him,” she said.

The search for a new dean itself is different than what the College has done in recent history. Rather than selecting the dean from among the faculty, the College will be conducting a nation-wide search.

Kington believes it is time to widen the field of candidates.

“We are a nationally prominent institution,” he said. “I believe that for major leadership positions we should do national searches.”

He mentioned that understanding liberal arts colleges and leadership and management skills are some characteristics he is looking for in the new Dean.

The model for the search is one Kington has used in the past. The College is currently in the final stages of hiring a search firm to help find likely candidates.

Kington has also asked the College’s Executive Council to advise him and assist in the search. The council is made up of the Chair of the Faculty, the three division chairs, and two at-large faculty members.

He says he will largely rely on SGA to represent student interests in the search. “I think it’s odd for us to handpick which students get to provide input,” Kington said. He said that SGA would be asked to select students to help interview candidates.

The first stages of the search process will be confidential, Kington said, because some candidates might not want their candidacies known until they are sure they want the position.

Once the field narrows, candidates will visit campus and there will be opportunities for students and staff to meet them.

Smith is supportive of the search process, saying that it opens up all the possibilities for candidates. She is pleased with her term as dean and said she has tried to work for the students, despite the fact that she is not as visible to campus in her role as dean.

“I really hope that I’ve been serving students all along,” she said.

The symposium, Poshtov said, is intended to fill a gap on campus, but not to transform the College or Grinnellians.

“I think that what Grinnell lacks is just information with respect to the outside career world in that particular field, [finance,]” he said. “We’re very good at sending people to Peace Corps and graduate school; we’re very good at that, but there’s no reason for us not to be good at sending people into finance.”

The symposium, which will take place in JRC 101, is being funded by the Career Development Office, the Office of Alumni Relations, SGA, the Department of Economics and the Wilson Program. Interest appears high on campus, as over 100 students have signed up to attend the symposium.

“A lot of people would probably say that there’s this negative connotation with finance and business on campus, but each person you ask will say that they have nothing against finance and business, but they think that the majority thinks so,” Jutrsa said. “As we can see through our sign-up sheet and the overwhelming number of people who have applied, that’s not the case. People are interested in finance and they would like to see more.”

The symposium is centered on Grinnell alumni working at “prominent organizations such as Alliance Bernstein, R.W. Baird, TIAA-CREF, U.S. Department of Treasury, RMB Capital Management, Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Scotland and Grinnell College Investment Office,” according to the symposium’s Facebook page. The organizers mainly found alumni through LinkedIn, the Loggia and Alumni Relations. In fact, Poshtov said they were surprised to find so many potential speakers.

“[There were] more than we had expected. Percentage-wise, I am pretty sure that most other schools would beat us, but I think that there were more [alumni in finance] than we had anticipated, and particularly the quality and seniority of the people was something I did not expect,” he said. “We have really world-class people out there.”

The event will feature two panels on which alumni of various ages will discuss their experiences in finance, including their career paths and more information on the industry itself.

“We hope that [attendees] get some broad career skills, maybe brush up on their networking and hopefully they will realize how difficult it is to break into these industries, especially from Grinnell, being so far away from a major city,” Jutrsa said. “Hopefully they will actually become more proactive about internships.”

Lee stressed that the event is open to all sorts of Grinnellians, regardless of experience in finance, and will be valuable to a broad swath of students.

“For students who don’t have any exposure to finance, we want them to know that their Grinnell education is relevant and that finance is something that everyone should be interested in,” she said. “For students… who already know that they want to do something in finance, this will be a great opportunity for them to network, to get to know the alumni and just to learn more about the industry in general.”

Something else that the organizers hope that the alumni address is the relevance of a Grinnell education in finance. One of Grinnell’s benefits, Poshtov said, is the strength of its classes.

“Grinnell offers an accounting course, a corporate finance course, and a financial economics course which are directly related to finance, and those courses, I can say personally from taking all of them, are world-class. They are unbelievably good,” Poshtov said.

However, the symposium will also offer lessons about how classes alone are not enough, and what must be done outside of academics.

“You’re probably not going to get a job in finance if you just rely on your Grinnell education; it’s probably not going to happen. But the Harvard kid who does nothing but study is likewise not going to get a job,” Poshtov said. “Getting a job in a competitive industry like this involves getting an edge. And having the education, the Economics degree or Mathematics degree or whatever, simply isn’t an edge because your competition has that as well. The question is: How do you stand out?”

While the organizers and alumni will try to shed some light on this question during the symposium, this is not just a one-time event. Next year, the event will expand to a Grinnell Liberal Arts in Business Symposium, which the organizers hope will be broader, while still addressing job and internship-seekers.

Students who did not RSVP to the event are still welcome to attend. The symposium will take place in JRC 101 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, with several breaks for food and networking opportunities. Attendees are asked to wear business casual attire.

Farid Esack is a professor in the Study of Islam and Head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and author of Quar’an, Liberation & Pluralism: An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity Against Oppression. Tuesday, he spoke in JRC 101 on “The Humanities for and Beyond the Human – Reflections of a Progressive Islamist. Esack sat down with the S&B’s Joe Engleman’ 14 to discuss the role of humans in environmental issues, avoiding over-consumption and liberal theology in relation to his own middle-class life.

Professor Esack spoke in JRC 101 on Tuesday. Photograph by Tela Ebersole.

During your talk on Tuesday, you rhetorically asked the audience whether the humanities were about human life or if they are about how “human beings interact with other sentient beings on Planet Earth.” How did you develop this view of the humanities? How does this tie in with your views on environmental justice?

I don’t know where it comes from, Joe.  But, I am obsessed with the question of who gets left behind. I can enjoy things. I can have fun. It’s not as if I am this kind of really tight-ass self-righteous character who is forever looking for causes, but it is, who is being left out?  Who is paying for this?  When I enjoy my stay at Grinnell, and talk about how nice it is that they brought me in. How nice it is that I am getting a decent honorarium for my speaking, I must ask, these students and the huge amount of student debt that they are facing afterwards. Is there a relationship between the expensive flight from South Africa to here and my honorarium and this student debt? That is in part why I kept raising the question of student debt [at lunch] because I can just see these nice kids—creative, intelligent, and bright—or I can also see the mess they are sitting with once they graduate.  I can choose to just see all the food that there is or I can choose to see at what cost is this.  I have this obsession with who is being left behind, and our companions on this Earth are being left behind.

… You can see the decimation of species.  You can see the signs in climate change. It’s quite simple, Joe, it’s very, very simple. We’re living in a limited Earth. We’re going on, we’re partying with this Earth, as if there is some kind of magic at the end of the day that’s going to bail us out. But the Earth can’t sustain. There’s nothing prophetic, there’s nothing particularly insightful about all of this—recognizing that we are all finite human beings; the Earth is finite, and therefore we can’t just run amok.

Do you have a message for American students?

It is to seriously grapple with the idea of having less. The idea that for the collective survival of human kind, we must have less, we must own less, we must be less. That there is integrity in small and less.  So that’s the big idea. Challenging the notion that our worth is located in greatness, in our size, in our power. It’s a deeply distractive idea.  It creates resentment. It creates bitterness. The question then doesn’t become, “Why do they hate us?” The question is a much more simple one, “Why don’t they hate us?” When you want to be the biggest, when you want to be the best, when you are the biggest bodybuilder on the block, and you strut your stuff, it creates resentment.  People may not have the capacity to fight against you, but they have the will to dislike you. I don’t think ordinary Americans want to be disliked, but this is in the inevitable price you must pay if you want to maintain that vision of who you are.

And then there is one small thing that always saddens me that each student can take on board. When you go to the dining room, can you only take the amount of food that you’re going to eat?  I am amazed at the wastage of food, and the complicity of different people in it. I’ve spoken to you about big things, but there’s this small thing that pains me a lot in the United States. It’s food and how people’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs, and this for me is a reflection of the larger problem. We consume too much; we take more than we can even consume.  So consuming too much is the problem, taking even more than what you consume is an even bigger problem, but that is a small thing I’d love to leave people with.

How do you approach liberation theology in either a practical or theological sense?

Liberation theology seeks to privilege the concerns of the marginalized… The central thing is a struggle to identify with the marginalized. The other thing about Liberation Theology is this preference that the Catholic theologians call “God’s preferential option for the poor,” but there is an element of tension in that. If God’s preferential option is for the poor, are you saying that God doesn’t care about the wealthy? If you say that God is really with black people in a Civil Rights or an anti-racist struggle, are you saying that God doesn’t care about whites?  So in Quranic language, I speak about God as the sustainer of the oppressed, he’s also the Lord of all people, and Lord of the universes. And God cares, but in a different way, God cares that the one person being liberated from the effects of another person’s racism, but God cares about a white racist (and I’m just using this as short-hand, blacks can also be racist) God cares about liberating that white person from that white person’s racism. There is a caring, but it’s a different kind of caring.

The second key thing about liberation theology, and where I fall very, very short, I’m very, very inadequate. Liberation theology insists that the terrain of theological thinking is not the academy.  It is not the seminary.  The terrain where theological thinking takes place is in the struggle for a better world… My primary terrain wherein I locate myself is the academy. I’m in a university. I speak, I teach, I deal with texts, I deal with students, I intellectualize, I write, I speak about all the right things, I write about all the right things, for my students I’m serious about the work of critical engagement.  In my class, I’m, most of the times, not a liberation theology. My students, most of the times, don’t know where I hang out on issues, because I’m academic. I have to throw different sides of arguments at them. My primary task is to make them think, not to get them to think the way I think.

So what I am saying is that an indispensible dimension to liberation theology is where are you located. I do good work. I serve on boards that do good development work. I serve on boards that work on environmental justice. I speak on these things around the world, but there is a major gap, and that gap, as I said, exposes my charlatanism. I live in a very middle-class area.

My mode of traveling is very, very middle-class. I, in fact, own two apartments. I have one in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg. I do good things with my money. I earn a good salary. I also earn honoraria for speaking engagements.  I do a good job with my money, I think. The way I spend my money fits in with my dreams, my vision, my ideals. But at the end of the day, Farid, you’re just another middle-class academic masquerading as a liberation theologian.

A group of students has been postering campus buildings over the past week with concerns about the administration’s handling of diversity issues. Dean of the College Paula Smith sent an all-campus email Tuesday in response, but the students say they are not satisfied with what she wrote.

The group signed an open letter to President Raynard Kington, calling itself “Students Who Are Outraged and Paying Attention.” The letter raised issues such as what it says is a lack of adequate staffing in diversity-related departments, a lack of transparency in decision-making and problems with moving the diversity office under Academic Affairs.

One of the first posters to appear said, “How many years does it take for Grinnell to get a ‘fully staffed and functional’ diversity inclusion department for its students? 167 years (+5 according to President Kington) Congrats to the Class of 2022 for getting to experience it!!!!”

The quotation from the poster came from a Feb. 22 S&B article where Kington said he hopes to have the diversity office “fully staffed and functional” in five years. “Recently, several students have publicly expressed concern about the staffing to support diversity at Grinnell College,” Smith wrote in her all-campus email. “Because their questions relate to one of our most strongly held values, I want to respond in a public way as well, and share information about what we are doing to support diversity at Grinnell.”

Many posters, including this one, could be seen around campus this week attacking the administration’s diversity policies. Photograph by Avery Rowlison.

She announced that the College has renewed its relationship with the Posse Foundation. The College reviewed the success of the program this year before making the decision.

She encouraged students to email Kington at contactkington@grinnell.edu or go to his weekly office hours.

She added that the College is in the process of hiring a Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Dean of the College. The College intends whomever is hired to understand both diversity and its connection to academics.

“In order to support the academic success of our diverse student body we have moved the diversity function directly into Academic Affairs,” she wrote.

Michael Benitez, the Director of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership—who is leaving after this year for a job at another institution—as well as the group postering, have concerns about this change, saying all-around support for multicultural students in areas beyond just academics is important.

“We are delighted that Paula took the time to read and respond to our posters,” the group wrote in an open letter to Kington posted around campus. “However, the content of the email doesn’t address the real issues we have and will continue to raise.”

The letter addressed the shift of the diversity office to Academic Affairs by asking, “Why was there no communication with students and faculty who have been here for years and whom are personally effected [sic] by this change?”

The letter also addressed the staff turnover at diversity departments. Intercultural Affairs Associate Daria Slick left in spring 2011 and Vice President for Diversity and Achievement Elena Bernal ’94 left in spring 2012. Benitez is the latest departure.

“On the issue of stability, why isn’t there a fully functioning diversity department with a supporting staff? Why has the only thing consistent with the office been the overturns of the staff?” the letter said.

Shaquall Brown ’15, one of the students involved with the posters, said there is a disconnect between having diversity and supporting it at the College.

“Grinnell tends to promote [diversity,] but once you have all these diverse students, how are you supporting them?” she said.

She reiterated the letter’s position that Smith’s email was unsatisfactory.

“We didn’t expect it to come from Paula,” she said. “I thought Raynard himself was going to respond.”

She added that more discussion with Kington is needed, and that many students have class or are otherwise not able to go to his office hours.

“I want him to address us himself and have a town hall,” she said.

After two rounds of voting and one disqualification, the SGA Executive Elections have come to a close. Earlier in the week, Remy Ferber ’14 was announced as Vice President for Academic Affairs-elect and last night it was revealed that Thomas Neil ’14 will be next year’s SGA President and Ope Awe ’15, Vice President for Student Affairs.

However, much of the attention during the election period was directed toward the disqualification of one of the presidential candidates.

For fifteen minutes on Monday, Chloe Griffen ’14 passed out pastries outside the dining hall, which were left over from an event in the JRC. Election Board voted to disqualify her for violating the policy against giving anything out as part of campaigning.

“Though not explicitly codified in written policy, at a meeting of all SGA Executive candidates on February 24th, the Election Board orally informed candidates that distributing campaign materials, such as buttons or trinkets, violates SGA Election policy,” an all-campus email from Election Board said.

Election Board admitted several mistakes in the email, specifically placing and not removing the tag of “DISQUALIFIED” by Griffen’s name on the PioneerWeb election results, not allowing Griffen to appeal her disqualification with ample time before the runoff election and not naming “food” as a material banned from campaign distribution.

The Election Board’s email apologized for “unintentionally drag[ging] Ms. Griffen’s name through the mud,” saying they “deeply, deeply regret both our errors in judgment and the campaign violations of the candidate.”

Griffen received about 17 percent of the vote in the first round.

As for the winners of the elections, Neil said this was an emotional win for him, after having a “pretty rough first year” at Grinnell, taking the next year off and then returning to Grinnell.

He beat Sam Offenberg ’14 60 percent to 40 percent.

“To finally succeed at Grinnell and to find an opportunity to really make an impact here, however little that impact may be, I feel very fortunate. It’s pretty moving,” he said.

Neil has in mind a variety of changes he would like to see next year.

“I definitely would like to see some improved campus unity,” Neil said. “Start building some bridges between the campuses and the communities that need to happen. I’d also like to see marijuana handled differently… through a slightly different process. I’d like to see some follow-through on the sexual assault and major strides made in multiculturalism and diversity and some strong communication and engagement from the student body facilitated by the SGA.”

He is not only excited about the changes he will make, but is prepared and excited to work with both Ferber and Awe.

“Getting a good cabinet sends a message. We’re serious. We’re going to be organized. We’re responsible. And things are going to be a little different,” he said. “I like working with people who get things done and they both get things done.”

VPAA-elect Ferber also looked forward to working with her fellow cabinet members.

“I look forward to establishing a strong and effective SGA Cabinet with my fellow elects. How the student body perceives its student government is a significant determinant of how successful that group can be on campus,” she wrote in an email to the S&B.

Ferber said she is eager to start as VPAA and to work with her fellow officers.

“In order to be effective next year, I look forward to getting started on the issues this semester. Once the Executive positions are confirmed, we will get started establishing our Cabinet and crafting an agenda for the coming academic year,” she said. “[Current VPAA] Kelsey [Scott ’13] has already been in touch with me and as this semester continues she will keep me in the loop on meetings and issues, so as to ensure consistency and a smooth transition between our terms.”

Next year’s VPSA, Awe, was honored to hear that she had won.

“To me, [this win] says that my fellow peers trust me enough to do good things for them in SGA,” she said. “It’s very humbling.”

Like Neil and Ferber, Awe said she is looking forward to working with her fellow officers. Awe and Neil live on the same floor and Ferber interviewed Awe when Awe applied to become an SA, leaving Awe with positive impressions of her fellow executives.

“I’m actually thrilled to work with them. … They seem like really intelligent, smart, capable, passionate and action-oriented people. I couldn’t ask for better people to work with,” she said.

One way Awe thinks that SGA can improve immediately is becoming more approachable to the student body.

“We need to start taking our office hours to the students, so meeting in the Grill, having a consistent dinner time in the D-Hall so that people recognize and know that this is an opportunity where they can reach out to us,” Awe said.

She named two “non-negotiables,” issues that she is devoted to.

“We need a sexual consent policy. An open, affirmative consent policy. Grinnell’s just doesn’t cut it. When you compare us to our peers, it’s actually laughable,” she said. “[And also] making sure that the administration understands the frustrations of students that are involved in the multicultural organizations.”

These issues, among others, will be looked into next year as the three candidates and their cabinet, the members of which are yet to be named, attempt to make the changes they wish to make on campus.

“I’m going to burn the midnight oil trying to make this place better,” Neil said.

Police arrested a Grinnell College senior on Feb. 28 after College staff found four handguns, one of which was loaded, in his room in Main Hall, according to a criminal complaint.

The evening began when Campus Security and Residence Life received tips that the student had intimidated other students with weapons. Security and Residence Life contacted Grinnell Police.

Grinnell Police Officer Heath Jepson responded and joined Campus Security in Main Hall.

“Upon arrival, I saw one underage male drinking alcohol and [the senior], who was being investigated for the aforementioned intimidation,” Jepson wrote in a criminal complaint. “I saw several items of drug paraphernalia in plain view, including two bongs and glass pipes, a grater, and other items with marijuana residue on them.”

Jepson then arrested the student for possession of drug paraphernalia, and College staff proceeded to search his dorm room, where Jepson said they found handguns and the “edged weapons” used in the intimidation.

“[He] admitted to possession of the handguns and ammunition, as well as the edged weapons used in the intimidation incident(s),” Jepson wrote.

The student is charged with carrying weapons on school grounds, a Class D felony that carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a potential fine of $750 to $7,500. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Grinnell Police Captain Theresa Peterson said he had been released on bail after a hearing on the morning of March 1.

President Raynard Kington wrote in an all-campus email sent on March 1 that weapons had been found in a student’s room and the College believed there was currently no threat to the community.

Dean of Students Travis Greene said he could not comment on the exact details of the case because it is currently an ongoing investigation. Greene said he, the Residence Life Coordinators, and Director of Residence Life Andrea Conner had just met to review the College’s policies.

“I think Grinnell has the potential to use this as a teaching moment to figure out, here are the things that went really well and here are the things that we can improve upon, so if we can use technology to figure how to get information in a timely manner, we’re thinking outside the box of how to do that,” Greene said. “We have and we’ll continue to look at our policies and protocols of how to respond to various situations.”

Editor’s Note: While the previous version of this article correctly identified the student in question, based on the criminal complaint, the S&B agreed to remove his name from our website after several weeks. Further disclosure will be based on the student and the outcome of the investigation.