We found your published April 27 response to our letter regarding police activity on campus to be a surprising dismissal of students’ concerns. Rather than taking the time to thoughtfully consider our ideas and requests regarding the need for greater transparency and communication, the SGA Cabinet (excepting the President and Concerts Chair) wrote a sanctimonious and condescending letter to the S&B that distorts the intention of our original letter and ignores the interests of the student body.

An important function of the SGA Cabinet is to act as an intermediary between the students and the administration. We feel the Cabinet has a duty to consider the very serious issues brought forth by students they represent.

Rather than addressing our requests for improving communication between students, the College, and the police department; clarifying the college’s policies; and protecting self-governance, the Cabinet chose to hone in on drug use on campus. The SGA Cabinet’s letter, rather smugly, informed us of the illegality of marijuana consumption and distribution, which is obvious. The point of our letter was not to defend drug use on campus. More disturbingly, the SGA failed to consider at all the many reasons, other than illicit drug use, that students are uncomfortable with the police presence on campus.

Grinnell prides itself on fostering a safe environment for everyone, including minorities, the LGBTQ community, and other marginalized groups. For many of us, there is a lot of discomfort with the way power and privilege play into police interactions. It should not be difficult to understand that a heavy police presence on the campus makes many people uncomfortable. By addressing only one small element of the concerns stated in our letter, you distorted our position.

Lastly, the Cabinet misrepresents our “naïve understanding” of self-governance. The Cabinet seems to understand our position to be that self-governance means that we as students are above the law. However, we are fully aware that we are subject to the law. Our letter says the “police presence makes it impossible for students to engage in self-governance” because it inhibits students abilities to mediate problems within the Grinnell community and take care of each other. The SGA Cabinet response took this quote out of context. Our letter stated this in noting how the police presence drives illicit activities further underground, which is negative for both the police and the well being of the student body.

After seeing the Cabinet’s patronizing and inadequate reply to our letter, we urged them to reread our letter through a clear, unbiased lens, and consider thoughtfully our concerns. We also asked them to consider revising or retracting their April 27th statement and show themselves to be true representatives of the student body. Their failure to respond to us has prompted us to publish this letter publicly reiterating and clarifying our position in light of the Cabinet’s misrepresentation of it.

—Concerned Students for a Just Society
Hannah Margolies ’14 and Amelia Wallace ’14

Braden Brown
Lindsey Challis
Elliot Karl
Jessy Mcmillen
Logan Shearer
Thomas Neil

One of the major problems I have noticed is that Grinnell science faculty orient their mentorship and resources to the high-achieving students who will eventually end up pursuing graduate school or professional school. The amount of favoritism that is present in the sciences is so palpable that it makes for an uncomfortable working and learning environment. Even as a student who has carried out summer research at competitive programs sponsored by brand-name schools (shouldn’t that be enough to “prove” my intelligence?), I still feel as though all of my ex- and current professors see me as a mediocre student and nothing more. I am constantly trying to prove that I am not incompetent. To be fair, I was never a perfect student and struggled during my first year. I turned and still turn in homework late on occasion. I miss class sometimes. For all intents and purposes, I am as average as they come. Yet, I managed to develop the skills to receive high grades in all my upper level electives. By that time, however, I was glossed over and never offered any sort of mentorship that I saw all my highly-successful friends enjoy.

To expand on this point, the science faculty does an atrocious job at building relationships with the “average” student. My wish is not to be coddled. However, with the exception of maybe one or two professors who I’ve taken classes from, it seems as though there is no interest from the faculty to bring out the best in students who show potential but who perhaps lack the motivation, assertiveness, or study habits to excel. In the end, this creates a vicious cycle and sets up an unfair expectation: either you excel from day one and reap the benefits of positive relationships with faculty members or commit yourself to standing on the sidelines during department picnics.

The next issue I’d like to address is that of diversity among faculty members. To put it bluntly, the number of faculty of color in the sciences is abysmal. Currently, 8% of science professors are tenure-track professors of color. This figure stands in stark contrast to the ones we find in the other divisions: social studies (16%) and humanities (30%). Also, guess how many full professors of color there are in the sciences? None. I searched through the Science Division meeting minutes to see if there was any discussion about hiring more faculty of color. Aside from a mention of starting a SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) chapter at Grinnell, there were brief conversations regarding faculty diversity at Grinnell. The September 2010 minutes indicated that the science division does a relatively good job of graduating students from underrepresented population, but that attracting and maintaining a diverse faculty was a struggle. Minutes from ensuing months did not mention this topic again and there was no indication of receiving student input regarding this problem.

I was fortunate enough to attend the PossePlus Retreat this year. As I was talking to some of my Posse friends as to why there were only a handful of science professors there, the general
sentiment they expressed was: “Well, science professors could care less about these sorts of things.” Yet, anyone who has ever attended a PossePlus Retreat knows that it is an amazing opportunity to engage with the community in a completely different context. Some of my friends have stopped inviting their science professors because they have never showed any interest in attending or sharing that experience with them.

I would like to challenge science faculty and students to begin conversations regarding the social dynamics that are present in the division. We must be willing to be self-reflective about how we interact among ourselves —we need to be blunt and openly discuss how social dynamics (race, gender, class, assertiveness/passivity etc.) play a role in developing relationships and in how students learn and succeed. In the end, I remained in the sciences because I had two professors who encouraged me and brought out the best in my intellect. I am confident that we are capable of having these conversations and improving the quality of our learning significantly.

—A Concerned Graduating Science Major

Okay, so it was a little anticlimactic. But, in another respect, the organizers of the event achieved something remarkable: they united people. For about half an hour, a critical mass gathered at the same place at the same time for a common purpose. And it begs the question: What if they had gathered for a purpose other than throwing frisbees?

Earlier that day, I had gone to Central Park in town for a less publicized event: Occupy Grinnell’s May Day celebration. I was one of about twenty people who showed up at the gazebo for the gathering honoring International Workers Day. Speakers, both from town and from the Grinnell faculty, got up and spoke on issues ranging from union solidarity to globalization to the plight of undocumented workers. Musicians played guitar and sang labor songs. Overall, I had a very pleasant experience.

But something was missing. The fact is, events organized on behalf of an incredible mass of people — in this case, workers of the world — don’t have the same weight behind them when there’s not a mass of people attending them. I’m not condemning the world-record-setting that went on Wednesday. I just wish events like May Day could yield a similar turnout.
In its nascent months last fall, Occupy (everywhere, not just Grinnell) did not encounter such turnout problems. That’s understandable; the movement was new, exciting and compelling, and people tend to gravitate to social movements with these qualities. The problem is that, eight months later, Occupy no longer possesses novelty. That, combined with the perceived lag in momentum over the winter, large turnout no longer comes so readily.

However, the May Day demonstrations across the country and the world on Wednesday suggest a re-enlivening of the movement. In New York, Chicago and Oakland, thousands of protesters took to the street to honor workers and help visualize “a day without the 99 percent.”

I contend that this victory was partly to due to a specific issue motivating people to go out and demonstrate: that is, the immigration battle going on in the Supreme Court right now. Indeed, immigrants’ rights group constituted a large part of the marches on Wednesday. In general, I think Occupy does best when it is organizing around a specific issue or for a specific purpose. As Todd Gitlin, in a recent article about Occupy for The Nation, wrote: “In the realm of direct action, it’s crucial to gather new circles of supporters by winning tangible victories.” These “tangible victories,” whether getting Bank of America to drop its $5 debit card fee, defending citizens against illicit evictions, or preventing the construction of the Keystone pipeline (for a while), are what propel Occupy forward. Rhetoric can be compelling, but at the end of the day, people take time out of the schedules to demonstrate when they believe they can make real change.

The history of mass movements attests to the success of organizing around specific issues. Consider the fight for women’s suffrage in the 1920’s and for civil rights in the ‘50s and ‘60s, just to name two. Organizers for these movements realized they could build broad coalitions by uniting people against practices commonly perceived as unjust. Occupy needs to follow suit. I commend the strategy Occupy took in the beginning, refusing to issue demands, because I think it made a really important point about the inability of our existing institutions to address any such demands, but Occupy is at a critical point right now and needs to build a critical mass. As history can attest, movements never succeed unless they are mass movements.

As Grinnellians, we tackle what seems like a million different things in one day. Why do we tend to overload our schedules with all of these amazing opportunities? For most of us it is because being a Grinnellian means taking on activities that truly interest us, and living out our quirky image of ourselves. Would you read the day’s activities above differently if you knew that the person was an active member in the music department? What if you knew the person was a senior? What if it was an athlete? Regardless of who exactly lived this day, as Grinnellians we can all relate. For us, days like this are the norm.

Many student-athletes chose to come to Grinnell because it granted us the opportunity to be many things and to thrive in a campus that encourages and appreciates the inherent diversity of the student body. While for us, one of our many activities and interests happens to be athletics, it is just the same as choosing to focus on music, theater, having a job, or being involved with the SRC or in SGA. By choosing to come to Grinnell we made the choice to invest ourselves in the culture and to adopt and embrace the identity of a Grinnellian. Athletics is something that we choose to take part in, but we are more than just athletes; we are musicians, artists, scientists, and scholars, things that we hold in as high—or higher— regard than being a student-athlete. Above all, we are Grinnellians, and that is what matters most.

We feel that after four years of living with some of these divides, and the stereotypes that they all too often invoke—of what it means to be an “athlete” or a “non-athlete”—we can say with heartfelt certainty that we don’t like it either. We are more than just athletes, and we want the campus to know that.

Sincerely,
Concerned Grinnellians:

I help educate elementary school students about the harms of bullying—Heather Kubicek, Women’s Soccer and Women’s Track and Field;
One day, I want to move to Africa— Morgan Bober, Women’s Swimming and Diving;
I want to spend my summer working ten hour days knocking on doors and making phone calls… campaigning!—Jayme Wiebold, Softball;
I am taking Hindi with the ALSO program—Hannah Colter, Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field;
I love to make art, especially Graffiti!—Brian Westerlind, Football;
My goal is to spend the next year working at a rehab clinic for people with traumatic and acquired brain injuries —Michael Cole, Men’s Tennis;
I enjoy sewing, knitting, and crocheting—Bridget Zajac, Volleyball;
I play the piano, harp, and organ, and I picked up cello this year—Sachi Graber, Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field;
I enjoy working with individuals with intellectual disabilities; I lead a group that goes bowling every Sunday—Ashley Jeannin, Women’s Basketball;
I love to dance/perform. Whether it is for an event such as the ISO cultural evening, making random videos, singing for the Gospel Choir or simply Harris… so let the music play on—Harpreet Singh, Men’s Football and Track and Field

The Chris Hade/Rob Yin scholarship is a 1,500 dollar prize that goes directly to a graduating senior who has participated in either G-tones or Grinnell Singers and exhibits the same incredible musical and personal qualities both Chris and Rob possessed. I’ve worked closely with Meg Jones-Bair this semester to renew the scholarship through alumni donations and help ensure that it is continued for years to come. To me, the prize means a lot, and I’ve personally seen it do a lot of good for its first recipient, Adam Thein ’10. In fact, Adam was one of the first people this year to donate towards the renewal of the Hade/Yin scholarship.

At Grinnell, alumni relations with the college have been notoriously strained, and I won’t argue that students’ issues with how the Senior Challenge has been marketed are invalid. I have many of my own qualms with the way this college attempts to garner funds from its alumni. And as the authors noted, non-monetary donations are indeed very valuable in whatever form they arrive. I simply want to point out that these donations can be beneficial for both individuals and the college, and that the people eliciting them do mean well. If you are inclined to give, certainly do it for the right reasons—whatever that reason may be to you.

-Ethan Kenvarg ’12

The Scope of the Problem
The number of sexual assaults at Grinnell and the pervasiveness of coercive sexual practices is disgusting. Since I was sexually assaulted four weeks ago I have reached out to other survivors and talked with administrators to try to grasp the magnitude of the problem. I believe I have only scratched the surface, and I am horrified.

Sexual assault is notoriously under reported; the numbers we do have are too high. According to Steve Briscoe there were seven reports of sexual offenses at Grinnell College in 2011 and nine already in 2012. Sexual offenses include sexual assaults and other sexual misconduct such as harassment and fondling. These numbers only include incidents reported to Campus Security, so the actual number of incidents is significantly higher.

According to a 2000 study by the U.S. Department of Justice approximately 2.8% of women on a college campus may experience rape or attempted rape during the course of a single academic year, which does not include assaults which occur during school breaks (Fisher, Cullen, and Turner).

There are about 1600 students at Grinnell College and about 55% of them are female, so in any given academic year approximately 25 women experience rape or attempted rape at Grinnell if the Department of Justice estimates are correct. In four years, there will be approximately 100 rapes or attempted rapes on campus. Any given woman who attends Grinnell for four years has about a 10% chance of experiencing rape or attempted rape.

Grinnell’s Sex Culture and Rape Culture
When six survivors and I shared our stories of sexual assault, some common themes emerged. Based on our experiences, there is a hypermasculine sense of entitlement that most of our rapists embodied.

Our sexual assaults were not an aberration from Grinnell’s sex culture. They were an extension of it. The more we compared our experiences (both consensual and non-consensual), the clearer it became that a sense of pressure and disempowerment is more common than not.

We noticed a pattern throughout many of our sexual encounters of not being comfortable with some sex acts that our male partners wanted. It was rare for them to accept this and allow themselves to simply enjoy sex we could both agree to. Instead they often bargained, argued, pestered or coerced us into performing the sex acts or reluctantly accepted our limits. This is not sexy, and not sex positive.

Sexual assault is not a dramatic departure from Grinnell’s sex culture. It is the final step on this spectrum of bargaining, arguing, pestering, and coercing. I believe that it is the rare man who happily respects consent, although most do not cross the line into sexual assault.

For those who do cross that line and sexually assault their fellow students, they seem to think there are no consequences. Usually there are none.

Shameful Failure of Self-Governance
We do not believe that Grinnell College has put enough money, thought, or staff towards preventing sexual assault on campus, but we also recognize the administration as allies. Our anger is reserved for the men who sexually assaulted us, and we hope that you will channel your anger towards them as well. We do not blame the administration for the number of sexual assaults at Grinnell, but we do find their current efforts to prevent assaults totally inadequate.

The perpetuation of rape culture along with alcohol hospitalizations, and the casual destruction of campus property all represent shameful failures of self-governance.

If you don’t have the guts to intervene when you see someone kick over a trash can and walk away, what are the chances you will risk the social embarrassment of getting involved to make sure everything is okay when you see a man half carrying a barely conscious woman into her room?

If you are too afraid to confront your friend when he keeps drinking dangerous amounts, what are the chances you will be brave enough to support a survivor when she says your buddy raped her?

It is our responsibility as students to intervene when we see potentially abusive or coercive situations. We applaud organizations such as Real Men, Active Minds, Feminist Action Coalition, Campus Advocates, and AJust that have worked to raise awareness, support survivors, and prevent sexual assaults.

Supporting Survivors
There have been important efforts in recent years to streamline the reporting process and make sure survivors receive a consistently supportive message from administrators. But there are still lingering stories from before about survivors having unpleasant and retraumatizing experiences after approaching various staff members or trying to hold their attackers responsible.
Based on my experience and that of most of the survivors I know, the college administrators are compassionate, sensitive, supportive, and helpful.

Unfortunately, students remain in the dark about the available resources and who to approach. It should be common knowledge that the college takes sexual assault very seriously, which staff members are the best contacts, and that they are focused on the well-being of the survivor.

Inadequate Prevention
Despite the solid support for survivors, there are few effective policies to prevent assaults. Sexual assault is not a natural disaster. Nine Grinnell men decided to violate my friends and me. And we are not the only ones.

The college needs to take aggressive steps to make it crystal clear what types of behaviors violate consent and that there are consequences for those who choose to commit these violent crimes.

I believe behavior on campus would be radically altered if every Grinnell student knew that sexually assaulting a fellow student would result in suspension or expulsion. I imagine it is very difficult to explain to a college that you were kicked out of your last school for sexual assault.

Vindictive? Maybe. An effective way to reduce the rape and abuse of Grinnell students? I hope so.

An Important Note
Sexual assault can be committed by any gender against any gender. I have male friends who have been assaulted by both genders. But according to the U.S. Department of Justice, 9 out of 10 reported rapes are committed against women (2003). My article focuses on the experiences of women who have been assaulted by men at Grinnell, because those are the only survivors who have made contact with me.

Sexual Assault Survivors and Allies welcome contact from survivors of all genders whose sexual assaults occurred in Grinnell or elsewhere. We want to hear your stories, include you in our activism, and give you any support we can.

— Sexual Assault Survivors & Allies
survivors@grinnell.edu

My boyfriend graduated the year before, but I still hung out with our group of friends. One night I was pre-gaming on my floor with them and must have blacked out. When I woke up it was morning and I was lying naked in my bed covered in bruises and scratches. There was a pair of boxers on the floor. The next day I heard rumors that I had cheated on my boyfriend with one of my friends. I guess that’s what he told people.

I couldn’t remember anything but I could tell something was wrong. Six days later a doctor had to medically remove the tampon that had been forced deep inside my body. I couldn’t tell my boyfriend.

I went out the following weekend and tried to drink away the pain. I drank until I blacked out. In the morning a friend told me he saw a guy I didn’t know carrying me (barely conscious) and that he thought the guy had slept with me. The next night the same guy returned to my room and started banging on my door shouting, “You know you liked it you slut, you know you want some more!”

I was humiliated and ashamed. No one told me there were resources I could seek out. I didn’t know that I could file charges against these men and have them gone from my life within weeks.
The next weekend I drank until I blacked out again, but this time I came out of it naked and in an unfamiliar room. There was a guy I knew but had never even flirted with on top of me using my body to get himself off. I was terrified and felt sick. I went home afterwards, sat in the shower, and cried. I have never felt so out of control and degraded.

It’s been nineteen months and I still have nightmares and panic attacks when I see them around campus. People have written slurs on my whiteboard, called me a liar, a slut, and a whore. I have been told to forget it happened and stop making such a big deal out of it. I have only recently, with the help of some amazing friends, begun to attend campus events again. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully recover.

I met him earlier this year and immediately fell for him. He was charming, funny, attractive, and seemed genuinely interested in me. We had an on-again-off-again thing for the next couple months. I was a virgin before I met him. I let him have sex with me because I wanted him to like me, but it really hurt and I was scared. I didn’t want to do it again, but I still liked kissing him.

On a cold night a few months after the first time, I went to his room hoping to make out with him and fall asleep cuddling. I got there and he tried to take my clothes off as soon as I walked in the door. I told him very clearly that I did not want to have sex.

His response? He spent about forty minutes using verbal and physical pressure to coerce me into having sex with him. I tried every strategy I knew to get him to back off, but he was persistent. Finally he gave me an ultimatum: if I didn’t have sex with him right then and there, we were done.

He acted as though it was my choice, but it wasn’t. He had all the power. By this point he had taken off most of my clothes and his hands were all over me. It did not matter what I said, or what I wanted. I caved under the pressure and said, “whatever,” thinking that he would act like a decent human being and leave me alone.

He didn’t. He had sex with me for twenty minutes as I lay there shaking and whimpering from the pain, completely terrified. He sped up as he got closer to coming, and tears rolled down my cheeks. He treated me like an animal. When he was finally done with me, he pulled out and left the room to throw out the condom. I put my clothes back on as quickly as I could. He was cheerful and told me I could stay the night. I said no and left.

I have suffered severe emotional trauma for the past two months as a result of this coercive and unwanted sex. After connecting with other survivors, I gathered the courage to speak out about my experience. I look forward to reclaiming some of the agency he took from me that night.

I met him at a High Street house after a Harris party. I had noticed him around all year, but we hadn’t really talked and only danced once before. He asked me to dance, and I agreed. He asked if I wanted to leave. “Sure,” I said with a smile.

When we got to his room I told him I didn’t want to have sex, but he started to push the issue pretty immediately. “Are you sure you don’t want to have sex?” He asked at least three times, and each time I told him no firmly. I started to get irritated and pulled away. “I’ve hooked up with other guys, and they’ve tried to convince me to have sex too. You’re not any more convincing than they were. I’m not going to change my mind.”

Bitchy, sure, but this guy was really starting to piss me off. There’s nothing sexy about rolling around naked with someone and having them pester you to do things you’re not comfortable with. I’m comfortable with my body, and I don’t put much stock in the idea of virginity. But I knew that intercourse would be particularly emotionally and physically intense the first time, and I wanted to share that with someone that I loved and trusted.

He kept pushing the issue and at one point I got up to leave. I was fed up from being pestered and frustrated that we couldn’t just destress and enjoy a light-hearted, mutually satisfying hook up. I don’t remember what he said, but he indicated that he would back off so I agreed to stay.

It seemed like I had finally gotten my message across. But the moment I let my guard down he penetrated me without a condom and without my consent.

I twisted away and maybe pushed him. “Relax,” he told me. It was hard to relax after he did something like that. I was upset and confused and I didn’t know what to do. I’m embarrassed to admit I stayed for 20 more minutes. I wanted to pretend it was just a normal hook up and nothing had happened.

At first I didn’t know whether or not I wanted to report him. I paid $20 for the morning after pill, made an appointment to get tested for STDs, and cried some.

I talked to a few friends and a counselor, and I started to get angry. I talked to Russ Motta at Security and Travis Greene and decided to take him to the College Hearing Board. He was found responsible and expelled.

I noticed him the first day of class. He was everything I liked: charming, funny, and confident. We only made out once, but for the next five months we kept exchanging provocative and sexual text messages.

He desperately wanted to keep it a secret while he tried to repair his relationship with his ex-girlfriend. He used coercion, feigned sweetness, and, eventually, threats to keep me quiet. He sent me the same threat at least five times: “If you ever tell anyone…”

After months of this, we were both ready for it to end. I agreed he could come by my room so we could finally be done and gain closure. All I wanted was twenty minutes – just enough time to tell him I was finally over him.

I did not plan to bring up the texts, but he did. I realized he wanted to do some of the risqué things we had been discussing the past few months. At some point we started talking about his ex-girlfriend, and he became very angry. I cried, and he walked out.

Perhaps the thing I regret most is telling him to come back. He did, snapping at me, asking if I wanted it. I said yes. He took his shirt off and asked if we were going to do this or not. I consented. I took my shirt off, thinking that once we started he wouldn’t be so angry.

Instead, it got worse. He ordered me to take off my bra, get on my knees, turn around, etc. I had never had an encounter like this before, and it made me incredibly uncomfortable.

In the middle of a blow job, he demanded that I spit. I shook my head and mumbled “no.” He violently pulled me to my feet by my arm and breast and proceeded to be rough with me until he came.

Finally, he left. After the door slammed shut, I got a text: “If you ever tell anyone, God help you.”

This experience was deeply traumatizing. I can rarely sleep, or even be in my room. I don’t eat regularly. I cry everywhere and all the time. I have panic attacks when I see him around campus. My grades are slipping fast.

I will never be the same woman that I was. But, I hope I can find my voice again by speaking out.

I had been seeing him for a while, and I trusted him enough to tell him about my history of sexual abuse as a child. He was the first guy I’ve ever been romantically involved with.
One night I got really drunk with friends. I had nine shots in two hours. He had decided to stay in and do homework, and later that evening I went over to his room. I was too drunk to give consent and the last thing I remember clearly from that night was bragging to him about how many drinks I had earlier.

When I woke up in the morning he was freaked out and kept apologizing. He told me he raped me, had been too lazy to use a condom, and came inside of me. He regretted it immediately afterwards. He said sex without a condom was something he had always wanted to try.

He handed me a hundred dollar bill and told me that I needed to go to the pharmacy and get Plan B.

I didn’t initially label the experience rape because I didn’t want to associate my current situation with my history of sexual abuse. For the next couple of weeks I ignored the emotional abuse, the manipulation, and the threats that he would hurt himself if I left him.

I tried so hard to pretend that everything was okay, but finally I broke down. I had to withdraw from a class we were in together, move to a new room on the other side of campus, obtain a No-Contact Order, and change the way I normally went about my day to make sure I didn’t see his face.

But this wasn’t enough. I needed to feel safe on campus again. I still feel unreasonably guilty for taking him to the College Hearing Board. He was suspended until I graduate.

—Sexual Assault Survivors & Allies
survivors@grinnell.edu

We recognize this weight is not always easy to bear. It can be particularly challenging at this time in the academic year, so we encourage you to take advantage of the many resources and support structures provided at Grinnell. For academic concerns, you should always feel free to talk with your current faculty, your own faculty adviser, or to talk to our academic advisers here in the Student Affairs suite in the JRC. Other important resources include:
 
—Student Health and Counseling Services (641-269-3230)—confidential resource and also includes after hours emergency counseling or health phone consultation
—the Chaplain’s Office (641-269-4981)—confidential resource and Domestic Violence Alternatives/Sexual Assault Center Advocate
—talking to your RLC or the RLC on-call (641-269-4600)
—or any Student Affairs staff member (641-269-3700)
—Access to many of these services is available day or night.
 
In recognition of this week’s focus on sexual assault prevention in the Scarlet & Black, we join you in embracing the philosophy of self-governance that we all value. Sometimes self-gov means being responsible for our own behavior, and sometimes it means having the courage, confidence and care to encourage others to be responsible for their own. We need to help each other in ways that reflect our community standards – those are, Grinnellians act with integrity and consider how their actions will impact others; Grinnellians value not only their own personal safety but the safety of others; and Grinnellians accept the consequences for not upholding these shared values. If you or a friend are in need of support, please contact Campus Safety and Security at 641-269-4600 (24/7/365) to speak with an RLC on call (who also has access to a Student Affairs dean on call).

As we enter the final weeks of this school year, we urge you to take care of yourselves and each other. Please remember that all of us in the Grinnell community support you as you endeavor to uphold the tenets of self-governance.
 
Yours for a safe and respectful Grinnell,
 
Travis Greene
Dean of Students

“Two credits in an approved 300-level internship in development, strongly recommended or Four credits in an approved 397 independent project or 499 Mentored Advanced Project (MAP)”
I had an internship lined up, a flight booked and a place to stay reserved. While attempting to finalize my plans, I ran into a few college policies that didn’t really make sense.
First, I found out that the only way to have the $1275 per credit cost waived is to apply for grant funding, even though the internship was a course requirement. At first it seemed as though GDS concentrators had it worse than your average major/concentrator, but then I was told that most concentrators apply (and get approved) for grant funding. I hadn’t planned on asking for funding for my flight or lodging but considering that it was the only way to avoid paying the cost for credits, I decided to apply for it. It’s strange that if you decide to self-fund an internship, you end up having to pay more.

Second, I found out that the college’s policy regarding travel to countries on the State Department’s “Travel Warning” list is inflexible. I had assumed that because Pakistan is my home country, I would be able to apply for grant funding on the watch list. I look like an average Pakistani, I speak Urdu and I’d be staying at my parents’ house; I’m as safe in Karachi as I would be in a mildly shady neighborhood in Detroit. The assumption that my case would be regarded as an exception to this rule was not entirely baseless—I know of at least two Grinnellians who have, in the past, been awarded college funding while in a similar situation. I was informed, however, that while this matter was being “discussed” at an administrative level, the college did not have any formal policies that would allow it to consider my request for grant funding. In fact, I was told that even if I were willing to pay the requisite $2550, the college would not approve my internship for credit, primarily because of liability issues.

I am not the only person who has run into this problem; Grinnell has a 13% international population with students hailing from 84 countries, 15 of which are on the travel warning list. While I do not understand the logic behind needing to pay for credits that are required for a concentration, I do understand that the college’s policy surrounding travel to “unsafe” areas is well intentioned. However, the OCS sponsors a study abroad program in Israel, which is also on the travel warning list; I was told that the justification for this is that “the Travel Warning for Israel pertains primarily to the West Bank and Gaza, so students may attend the Hebrew University since it is not located in one of those areas.” While the State Department list does explicitly point to the West Bank and Gaza as areas where extra precaution needs to be exercised, Jerusalem, which is home to the Hebrew University, is mentioned as one of these areas. It seems as though the college does have some sort of framework to allow for exceptions to this rule.

I have received support from various offices including the CDO and OISA in dealing with this matter, but I think that given the inconsistency of the Grinnell policy, the administration needs to be more transparent. Moreover, it should consider whether any unconscious bias informs this inconsistency. Why should Jerusalem be OK when Karachi is not?

— Miriam Assaad

We found last week’s letter to the editor (“Police, Interrupted”) from the Students for a Just Society deeply concerning. While we acknowledge that there has, in fact, been a significant increase in police presence on the College campus this year, we take issue with the concerned students’ interpretation of events, and more importantly, their naïve understanding of self-governance.

Throughout this school year, the Grinnell Police Department has been more actively patrolling the areas on and around campus. Additionally, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement has recently been investigating drug use on campus. It is important to note that their investigation is independent of the activities of the Grinnell Police Department and the two should not be conflated.

We agree that this increased police presence is both unfortunate and disconcerting. However, we have brought it upon ourselves. Whether you agree with the law or not, the consumption and distribution of marijuana is illegal. By choosing to consume marijuana, you are in violation of the law. If you are caught, there are consequences. The consequences for the distribution of marijuana are even more severe. The concerned students’ assertion that “the dorms at Grinnell are not areas subject to high-crime” is blatantly false. There are students dealing marijuana on campus, and the authorities have figured this out and are acting upon it.

The central tenet of self-governance is personal responsibility—that is, to take responsibility for one’s actions. Self-governance does not mean that we govern ourselves; the College campus may be a bubble, but it is not its own sovereign nation. Claiming that “police presence makes it impossible for students to engage in self-governance” is simply wrong. Students are making choices that are contrary to the law—choices that have consequences for those unfortunate few who have been caught by law enforcement officials.
Self-governance is a core value on this campus, but it seems fewer students have an understanding of what it truly means.

—Alex White ’12, Chris Dorman ’12, Wadzi Motsi ’12, Allison Wong ’12, Austin Frerick ’12, Phillip Brogdon ’12, Kathy Andersen ’13, & Raghav Malik ’13

However, the Senior Challenge has been meet with serious criticism in recent years. This year, the use of Whitney Hendrickson ’12 and Robert Yin ’12’s names in the donation form aroused complaints and suspicion. Neither student’s family requested a “donation in honor of” and the placement of their names in fundraising material comes across as marketing to grief. While a donation in Yin’s name goes toward a scholarship for a graduating singer or musician—in conjunction with the Chris Hade ’09 Memorial Prize—donations in honor of Hendrickson do not go to a specific scholarship. The lack of even an attempt at personalization reinforces the impression of marketing, rather than memorializing.

The Class of 2012 is not the first year to voice complaints about the Senior Challenge. The way the Alumni Council has constructed the Challenge reduces seniors’ gratitude for a variety of interpersonal and academic experiences to dollar amounts; disregards non-monetary ways of giving back to Grinnell; and practically pits students against each other—those who give and those who don’t—in pressured situation to give money to Grinnell. The Scarlet & Black recommends that the Alumni Council completely restructure the Senior Challenge to represent the many ways that alumni can contribute to Grinnell and to reduce the pressure to donate money.

While the Scarlet & Black takes no position on students’ personal choice to give to the Senior Challenge or not, we encourage the Class of 2012 and future graduating seniors to reflect upon the ways that Grinnell has cared for us and changed us. We encourage students to consider giving back to the school in any way that feels appropriate, in the spirit of supporting future generations of Grinnellians in the same manner that we were supported.

Reducing the brightness of your display is a good first step. Many modern computers will automatically brighten so that their displays are visible in bright light, but it’s better to find a dimmer workplace than to fight the sun (or an overhead lamp). Regularly cleaning your display will make sure that everything stays clear, even with the backlight at low levels.

For tablets and smartphones, this is a particularly important consideration. Since these are essentially screens with processors attached to them, cutting down on display brightness can dramatically improve battery life. You may have to override your device’s automatic brightness settings (in iOS, this is located under Settings > Brightness, and is in the same location on Android machines).

The next big target is your device’s radio (or radios). Staying connected to the internet (or a 3G/4G network on a phone or tablet) draws considerable power, and unless you absolutely need to be online, shutting off your connection is one of the best ways to save power. Many laptops have physical switches to shut off their wireless radios, or a keyboard shortcut.

If neither are available, you can turn off wireless on a Windows machine by clicking on the network icon in the lower right, then opening the network settings. Choose “Change adapter settings,” then right click your wireless adapter and select “disable.” Don’t forget to revert this change after you’re done with work!

On mobile devices, enabling Airplane Mode is the best way to power down your radios all at once. On an Apple device, you can find this option under Settings > Wireless. On Android devices, you might find this in your notification tray, or under Settings > Wireless and network. This will often disable your Bluetooth connection, so be advised if you’re using an external keyboard!

For laptops, the next consideration is keeping your machine cool and well ventilated. Running the cooling fans takes power, and keeping your machine running hot can be detrimental for your batteries. There are two ways to keep the fans quiet: either keep the processor idle (by not running many programs at once), or by keeping the machine on a hard, flat surface.

The fans will have to work particularly hard if your computer’s vents are filled with dust. Using a can of compressed air every few weeks can prevent a buildup of debris inside your machine, which will both keep everything running cool and reduce the speed at which your fans have to run.

In a similar vein, avoid stressing out your machine’s hardware when you’re in a pinch. Manipulating photos and videos may require use of your computer’s graphics card, which is essentially a second processor designed to handle graphical work. These cards can draw a lot of power when you least expect it, and will dramatically reduce your battery life. This also means avoiding online videos—and those on your hard drive as well.

Reading data off a hard drive or DVD will use even more power, since your machine will have to spin up physical disks in order to retrieve your content. Streaming video, such as shows on YouTube, Hulu, or Netflix, can be equally taxing on your battery. If you have an external music player (such as an iPod), try to use that for your music until your computer can charge.

You should also try to keep your running programs to a minimum. Modern devices will slow their processors whenever possible to save power, but if your processor is unable to idle, your battery will suffer. Putting high loads on a processor will also generate heat, heat that can only be dissipated by turning on a machine’s fans.

For Android devices, the free JuiceDefender app can aggressive manage your device’s wireless and data connections, turning them on only when is absolutely necessary. While you can unlock additional features for a cool $5, the free version is often more than enough to double times between charges.

Hannah’s implicit declaration that no jobs exist aside from writing or working at McDonald’s, as well as her later theft of her parents’ tip for the housekeeper at their hotel, immediately offends the liberal conscience—her actions reek of the certain kind of privilege that spawned the familiar hashtag #whitegirlproblems, the kind of privilege that has become the obsession of those who possess it. We (and by “we” I mean white people of educated, liberal backgrounds; with my choice of pronoun I betray myself) are eternally calling out ourselves and each other on our liberal hypocrisies and bourgie foibles. To be honest, I think this is largely what motivates the outrage over Girls—this compulsive need to acknowledge privilege, to let everyone else know that we are aware.

But what purpose does this hyper-self-aware social consciousness serve? None; I would say on its own, it does about as much good as complete ignorance. At worst it placates our sense of guilt, solidifies in our subconscious the supposed inevitability of racial and economic injustice. I don’t have an issue with Girls; I think it’s an incredibly well-acted and incredibly honest portrayal of what happens to be a specific demographic—maybe it’s time that HBO’s target audience saw itself reflected in the programming they consume. But, it does make me pretty uncomfortable, in a way that I think it will some other Grinnellian (especially female) viewers uncomfortable. Lena Dunham, who wrote and created Girls and plays Hannah, graduated from Oberlin, Grinnell’s Ohioan cousin. Does the same fate—adrift and hopelessly-self absorbed in Brooklyn—await us?

Again, I generalize. Many Grinnellians are not white, or upper middle class, or HBO subscribers. Many are first-generation college students. A good amount hope to become doctors, lawyers or scientists in other parts of America besides New York. However, in this economy more and more young people are struggling, and the proportion that can afford to languish in post-grad ennui is becoming slimmer. It seems like as good a time as any to stop obsessing over privilege. Of course, a certain amount of self-awareness is necessary, and healthy, but the levels I’m observing right now are unproductive. Why not channel that neurotic energy into addressing issues of socioeconomic inequality here at Grinnell? If you see the Lena Dunham route as inevitable, Grinnell is probably the most diverse living environment you’ll see in a while. Maybe now is the time to try to reach out across the class divide. At the very least, you can educate yourself about it by watching Seasons 1-4 of The Wire.

Or will they? Recent findings on campus suggest your options may be better supported than you think.

As we began our strategic planning work on improving post-graduate success on campus, our “post-graduate success” working group quickly encountered a persistent paradox. We heard often, especially from students and alumni, that Grinnellians do not support careers in the for-profit sector. Yet when we asked individuals if they felt that for-profit careers were inconsistent with a Grinnell education, many acknowledged such a belief exists, but very few people would “own” that point of view.

We decided to test campus opinions with a survey, administered to all faculty, staff and students last semester. The results are now in, and they are quite interesting.

We surveyed all 282 faculty, 485 staff, and 1632 students (a total of 2399 individuals) last semester; 46 percent of the faculty, 31 percent of the staff, and 24 percent of the students responded.

We asked everyone if they personally agreed or disagreed with three propositions:
A career working in for-profit organizations is consistent with Grinnell’s core values.
Any career can be consistent with Grinnell’s core values.
A career working in nonprofit organizations is consistent with Grinnell’s core values.
In order to get at the possible disconnect between what people think themselves and what they believe other people think, we also asked them to tell us if they agreed or disagreed with the following:
I believe a majority of the faculty (or staff, or students) believe this proposition.
I personally believe this proposition.
Let’s focus on the for-profit and nonprofit results, and accept that the question about “any career” was subject to a variety of statistically inconsistent interpretations.

Regarding nonprofit careers, there is no surprise that Grinnell’s campus is united in its enthusiastic support for this career path. Only 3 percent of the people who completed the survey disagree or strongly disagree that a nonprofit career fits Grinnellian values (that’s 19 individuals out of 674). This response pattern holds true across all three constituencies. And everyone perceives that a majority of others believe this as well.

When we look at careers in the for-profit sector, however, there is far greater support for this career path than we tend to assume. (Remember that for-profit careers include running your own marketing business or working for Bank of America, producing records in Nashville or running an organic-foods restaurant in Chicago.)

Of the three groups surveyed, faculty members are the most supportive group regarding for-profit careers. For instance, 92% of faculty believe that such work is consistent with Grinnell values or they have no strong feelings against it (even though only 47% of students think that a majority of faculty support this position). Only 7.75% of faculty themselves see for-profit work as incompatible with Grinnell values. Thirty-nine percent of students indicated that a majority of other students do not believe for-profit careers are consistent with Grinnell’s values, when in fact only 16% of students are opposed. That means 84% of students believe a career in the for-profit sector is compatible with Grinnell’s values or don’t have a strong opinion about it. Of all those who responded on campus, 15% disagree that a for-profit career is compatible with Grinnell’s values. All other respondents think for-profit careers fit our values or have no strong opinion one way or the other.

We also asked respondents to indicate their top three criteria that lead to post-graduate success. At least a third of all respondents gave a vote to a well-rounded education, internships, the ability to translate classroom skills, advanced research, leadership positions and lifelong learning. Students felt more strongly about internships, while faculty and staff ranked the translation of classroom skills more highly, but there was a great deal of consistency on the most important factors.

So what’s our conclusion? A clear majority of people in the Grinnell community see a career in either the nonprofit or for-profit sectors as compatible with Grinnell’s values. The question students should be asking themselves is, “what is the best choice for me?” Our students possess an array of interests, values, skills, and abilities. And as a College community, we should continue striving to help them cultivate these talents so that when they leave this place as alumni, they are poised to make a substantial difference wherever they land: as a consultant, as a policy analyst, as a banker, or as an activist.

To see all the data visit: https://pioneerweb.grinnell.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_23_1

— Lesley Wright and Mark Peltz
Co-Chairs, Post-Graduate Success Strategic Planning Working Group

Over the past year at Grinnell we have noticed an unprecedented amount of arrests and police activity on campus.

The increasingly visible presence of the police on campus is disconcerting to many of us. In the last few months, many of our friends and classmates have witnessed members of our student body being targeted, arrested, or suspended.

The sense that we are living under constant surveillance is oppressive and it affects all of us. Students who do not drink alcohol or engage in illicit activities have told us that they feel threatened by the frequent police presence on campus.

Campus security claims that “proactive, preventive approaches” and “transparency and accessibility” are among its core values. If this is truly the case, we as students feel that there needs to be far better communication between security, the police department, and the student body.

Many students feel that the police have no right to be patrolling our living environment, specifically the dorms. The dorms are our home. It should be understandable to anyone that we are angry with police entering the space where we live. Students, like other citizens, are entitled to a degree of privacy and protection from unreasonable harassment.

It is imperative that we be informed as to why the police are in the dorms and when they will be in the dorms if the goal is to make the students feel safe and secure. The dorms at Grinnell are not areas subject to high-crime or violence and the recent police activity seems hugely disproportionate to any particular threat. 

Judging by recent events, Grinnell’s policies in relation to drug and alcohol use and self-governance appear to be undergoing many changes. The current policies on drug and alcohol use seem ambiguous. The policy explains that the College prohibits the use of illegal drugs and underage drinking, but then goes on to emphasize the role of self-governance in regards to these matters. Police action is not addressed in the policy. Many Grinnell students are increasingly concerned as to where the boundary is between campus security’s authority and police action.

Furthermore, we feel that self-governance is one of Grinnell’s most important principles. Police presence makes it impossible for students to engage in self-governance and only serves to drive activities that may be problematic even deeper underground. If the College does want the police to be the primary agent in handling drug and alcohol related issues, the College has an obligation to clearly articulate that policy to the students.

The entire student body holds self-governance as a core value, and we feel it is now under grave threat.

Recent events strongly suggest that the College is currently enabling police activity on campus that is both excessive and unreasonable. We hope that the College will take action to improve communication with the student body, clarify current policies, and protect self-governance. We thank you for taking the time to hear our concerns.

—Concerned Students for a Just Society
Hannah Margolies ’14, Amelia Wallace ’14, Caitlin Beling ’12, Sapir Blau ’14, Braden Brown ’14, Ben Burt ’13, Vilma Castaneda ’14, Lindsay Challis ’12, Joel Coats ’12, Allis Conely ’14, Nick Conway ’14, Anne Damtoft ’13, Ashraya Dixt ’14, John Dreier ’13, Laura Dripps ’14, Colin Fry ’14, Max Fulgoni ’12, Javon Garcia ’14, Erica Hauswald ’12, Joe Hiller ’12, Jarrett Joubert ’12, Hannah Kapp-Klote ’13, Elliot Karl ’12, Clara Kirkpatrick ’14, Rebecca Kulik ’14, Amy Linder ’14, Lucy Mcgowan ’15, Jessica Mcmillen ’14, Emily Mester ’14, Taylor Nys ’13, Natlaie Pace ’14, Victor Pinheiro ’13, Violeta Ruiz ’15, Sara Sanders ’14, Zoe Schein ’12, Claire Schumacher ’14, Logan Shearer ’14, Rachel Smith ’12, Hannah Southern ’14.5, Laura Stamm ’12, Emily Stanfield ’12, Kim Steele ’13, Abby Stevens ’14, Amanda Stromquist ’12, Sarah Swearer ’13, Carly Wakshlag ’15, Sylvie Warfield ’14

Kington suggests implementing an academic redshirt program similar to that of the NCAA, which allows student athletes to delay their competitive eligibility while still training and attending classes in order to become “more competitive” overall. Following Kington’s logic, academic redshirting would give students from underperforming high schools one year in which to bridge gaps in their preparatory education before pursuing an undergraduate degree.

In theory, we agree with Kington’s suggestion that higher education institutions take action to better accommodate students’ transitions from public high schools that inadequately prepare them for college. Kington lays out several pathways for this educational foundation: a prep school model, an academy model and a community college model. These proposals, although still general, sound both interesting and encouraging and we hope that Kington will bring this discussion to the campus at large. We are eager to hear more details, both about the various parameters for identifying these students and the programs to be potentially developed to meet their needs. Who are the students this program seeks to target?

What are they supposed to achieve during this “redshirt” year? Additionally, we suggest that the education classes available to current students be expanded to include domestic educational policy, perhaps as a part of the policy studies concentration. Furthermore, as we have seen by the success of this week’s Africa symposium, a symposium on education would be fruitful.

As an institution that is committed social justice with considerable resources, Grinnell should explore every possible avenue to address educational disparity. Striving to include students from a broad variety of educational backgrounds is a crucial step in this direction, as Kington has identified. This college’s focus on addressing issues of educational inequality should by no means end with admissions.

If your teachers allow it, your next step is to consider your needs. Do you want your notes to sync across devices? What kinds of devices do you own: a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, or some combination? What kinds of notes do you need to take? Do you need to write complex equations, or draw diagrams?

Once you know what you’re looking for, you can make a much more informed decision about what software to use. There may be no perfect solution, but a few compromises here and there are well worth saving your hand some serious cramping.

The best all-around note-taking solution is Microsoft OneNote (Windows, Android, iOS). OneNote offers a staggering array of features designed to help you take notes, all laid out in a clear and easy to use manner. OneNote’s greatest strength is its flexibility. If you need to take text-based notes, OneNote behaves like a traditional word processor. But you’re also free to insert text boxes wherever you want, along with audio, video, drawings, and other multimedia. Science students will also be pleased with OneNote’s equation editor, which helps jot down formulas with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The notes themselves can be organized into notebooks, folders, and individual pages, closely resembling real, physical notebooks.

OneNote also has the advantage of syncing through Microsoft’s servers, meaning that if you use a free LiveID, you can access your data on any computer with OneNote. OneNote also has mobile apps for Android and iOS. While they can’t display your notes as well as the true desktop programs, they’re more than suitable for reviewing notes, as well as inserting drawings. It’s worth noting that using a stylus with a tablet is your best bet if you intend to handwrite a lot of information. You don’t get to take advantage of the wonderful keyboard shortcuts on the desktop version, but a touchscreen helps balance things out.

Unfortunately, OneNote isn’t available for Mac OS X. If you own an Apple computer, that can be a fairly crippling flaw. Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 does include a Notebook mode in Word, but its features are drastically limited compared to OneNote. Even worse, notebooks you write on your Mac aren’t truly compatible with OneNote—or with Word on other computers, for that matter.

OneNote’s major drawback is its high price tag—although it’s included with the academic version of Microsoft Office, that’s still $99. Evernote (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) is a free alternative that also enjoys limited support on webOS and Linux. Evernote syncs your data easily between devices, and its flexible interface is well suited for inserting multimedia. On the other hand, Evernote behaves much like a traditional word processor, and you cannot write freeform over a page.

Evernote’s cross-platform support is a powerful tool, but if you really need to access your notes from anywhere, you might want to try a web-based alternative. Catch. com (Web, iOS, Android) is a simple tool with some powerful ideas. Notes are organized into streams, each of which can be publicly shared with others via the web. You can organize them using hashtags (such as using #bio to categorize notes, or using hashtags to be able to search keywords). Clients for your Android and iOS device let you take your notes on the go, and make some edits on the fly.

Catch.com isn’t designed for much more than text, and if you need to insert multimedia you’re essentially out of luck. It’s a useful tool, but if you hope to store more than images or basic voice recordings, you’ll want to try one of the earlier alternatives.

While there are many other programs and services out there, there are plenty of reasons that these are well-regarded. Give them a fair shake, and you’ll be rewarded come exam time.

Only five weeks remain until I will (fingers crossed) meet Raynard Kington and several more of you at our shiny, new amphitheater, where I will receive that fancy piece of paper which is, allegedly, the whole point, the goal, or at least the symbol, of the period of my life between August 2008 and May 2012. Five is a pretty small number, relatively speaking, so I have to confess I’m feeling a little nostalgic.

Grinnell has given me a lot. Some of that is wrapped up with the words “social justice.” The moments I’ve felt most proud to be a Grinnellian were those in which I felt that I was part of a community in which love, respect and care for one’s fellow human beings, both on campus and around the world, were valued. That feeling, and the sense of empowerment that came along with it, are a gift that I have received from this community.

Grinnell is also a place where I’ve been, at times, incredibly frustrated. One thing that’s been frustrating is the struggle to maintain some sense of history in this rapidly changing environment. More than a few times, I’ve watched other students reinvent the wheel because they had no knowledge of what other students had accomplished. This has been one of the concerns that we on the Voicebox Council have spent time thinking about this semester.

That’s why we’ve been so happy to work with Sam Mulopulos ’14 to organize a social justice open forum/think tank-style discussion which will take place on Monday, April 16 at 8:00 PM in Quad. We hope to talk about the history of activism at Grinnell, resources available for service and/or anti-oppression work, and what social justice can and should mean for Grinnellians going forward. I hope that many of you will join us next Monday. I hope that social justice can continue to mean for Grinnellians what it has meant for me.

—Robin Wetherill ’12

At this point, it is important to clarify exactly what I am doing. In addition to increasing the amount of food, beer, and games at Block Party, I contracted this band to play well-known covers of light rock and other genres of music. My thought was that this would provide some easy and fun listening background music as people are celebrating the end of the school year.

However, as a party organizer, I am having trouble understanding the strategies SGA is employing to handle the constituent concern. I was of the understanding that my role as host conferred onto me certain discretionary privileges in addition to the responsibilities I have already undertaken in the extensive planning of this celebration.

The fact of the matter is, SGA and ACE approved me to use funds in this way and, given this approval, I made financial commitments to performers with those funds. I now face the reality of having to break my contract with these performers, which reflects poorly on the professionalism of myself and Grinnell College students. I remain confused, also, as to why funds were not simply withheld. It was my understanding that the proceedings of SGA, particularly the approval from ACE and Joint Board, are in place to address concerns about whether my discretion reflects the desires of the student body (a somewhat impossible task that is best accomplished with good judgment and humility).

Despite my disappointment with these proceedings, I think that we can compromise and resolve this issue. Perhaps, though, this is a situation which highlights problems in the budget process and suggests that SGA needs to reform some of its policies regarding the allocation of funds. To the individuals who voiced this initial concern, I would have been more than happy to address your concern in conversation as the tenets of self-governance suggest. I am disappointed with how all of this was handled.

Ultimately, it is my hope that everyone comes to Block Party on Friday May 18th and has an incredible time. See you on the BLOCK!

—Matt Rosenbaum ’12

When you see something on Facebook or Twitter that moves you or interest you, you can re-post, like a status, type a hashtag within seconds. Maybe you don’t consider it activism; the  term “slacktivist” seems irrelevant. Your re-post was simply a characteristic of our generation’s impulse to share information as frequently and quickly as possible. It’s completely understandable.

The reason “slacktivism” draws so much criticism, and a slick pejorative term to boot, is that we can just as easily re-post, like statuses, or type hashtags with regard to the Hunger Games, Jeremy Lin, or cute videos of baby elephants. Wedging in a link to an article about the bombings in Syria amidst all of our daily output can, well, trivialize it.

This is, of course, a pretty simplistic outline of the conflict. One of the reasons I can’t quit Facebook is because all of the interesting tidbits I receive daily on my newsfeed that I probably wouldn’t encounter otherwise. (Also, because of all the cute baby elephant videos that come up). I accept the rapid-fire, sound-bite oriented reality of information sharing today, and I don’t think it’s going to go away soon, but inherently something is lost when we choose to receive information this way.

That’s the basic premise of Clay A. Johnson’s “The Information Diet.” Johnson advocates regarding the information we take in much the same way we should regard food, that is, mindfully and selectively. Modern life is saturated with information-cheetos, if you will — appealing and easy to consume in bulk. According to Johnson, a diet too high in information-cheetos leads to ignorance. They’re empty calories, as my mother would say. Your brain needs and should have information with more sustenance.

Which brings me back to slacktivism. I contend that slacktivism is the result of a modern diet high in information-cheetos. We’re bombarded with so much pre-packaged, processed information that we can’t decide what to care about. Instead, we make an unconscious decision to avoid truly engaging with anything. We share these tidbits, letting them pass briefly through our system, soon to be forgotten.

So how do we fight this natural inclination toward slacktivism? I say we take to heart a lesson from a modern classic, Lizzie McGuire. Whenever I’m feeling stressed out, I recall an episode where Lizzie, awakened to all of the problems plaguing our environment, tries to live her life an obsessively environmentally conscious manner, sparing neither her time nor personal relationships. When it looks like she’s about to implode with anxiety, Lizzie’s dad drops an important lesson: Choose a few things to care about. Pursue them fully. You’ll be a more effective activist that way.

I’m completely serious. I think this is a really valuable insight. As such, I challenge everyone (myself included) to do some research. Find one or two issues that really speak to you. Read about the issue every day. Post an article you think is really important to Facebook — I don’t think that’s a bad thing to do, if your choice of article is carefully considered. And the more you learn, the more you might find yourself inclined to engage in activism, in whatever form, that is meaningful to you.

We saw a slacktivism of sorts in full force this fall, as the Occupy Wall Street movement expanded rapidly and became inseparable from the hashtag #OWS. There were the thousands of people camping in urban spaces, but what about the millions online? Occupy is a movement indebted to and defined by the Internet. Organizers tweet about every two seconds. It was impossible to be online last fall and not see something Occupy-related at the top of your newsfeed. In recent months, the movement, both in terms of physical and internet presence, has undeniably faded. And you have to wonder: What happened to all of that energy? How much of it was slacktivism?

I don’t believe our response to Occupy was all slacktivism; I think it touched something very real in the American conscious. But as Occupy or other mass movements evolve, we’re going to have to seriously confront the role slacktivism plays.

iOS, designed by Apple, powers the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It’s well-regarded for its good looks and ease of use, and holds the dominant share of the tablet market. Although it has recently been losing ground to Android in the smartphone market, its development remains as strong as ever.

If you own an Apple product already, iOS is probably your best bet. Apple devices unsurprisingly work best with others of their kind, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the app market. By all estimates, there are over half a million apps in the App Store, many of which have equivalents on full-fledged Macs. For example, the DayOne journaling app can use Dropbox or iCloud to sync your data between a Mac, iPad, and/or an iPhone.

To take advantage of this, you’ll have to invest in Apple’s way of doing things. That means using Apple products, buying Apple apps, and following the rules. It’s something you should be decidedly conscious of for the future. Once you begin using Apple products, you put yourself at a substantial disadvantage if you ever want to switch.

Keep in mind that while Apple’s products are easy to use, they’re highly inflexible. iOS has no way to manage files, meaning that doing any real schoolwork on an iOS device can be tricky at best. Although several applications try to provide a workaround to this limitation (iFiles is an excellent example), they’re far clumsier than what you can do with a good Android device.

Compared with their Apple brethren, Android devices typically boast far more powerful hardware, and they’re far more versatile on the whole. In exchange, they sport a far more unfinished look—sometimes, positively childish. With more recent releases, Android has become a far more polished product—but one with many kinks still to be worked out.

If you’re willing to put in a bit of legwork, however, Android devices give you far more control over your device. File management on an Android smartphone or tablet is almost the same as you’d find on a desktop; fire up a file manager of your choice (one popular one is the free Astro file manager), and you can copy, rename, and open files with relative ease.

The applications you’re allowed are far more versatile. Unlike their iOS counterparts, programs you download from the Google Play store can actually replace their default counterparts. If you don’t like the built-in texting app, download a new one. The same goes for browsers, e-mail clients—even the default skins and launchers. It’s a far cry from iOS, where you have to jailbreak your device to make the simplest of changes.

Fan favorite apps such as Angry Birds, QuickOffice, Documents to Go, and so on are readily available for both Android and iOS devices. However, apps designed for Android tablets tend to be few and far between, especially when compared to those available for the iPad. Unlike the iPad, however, Android tablets do a reasonably good job of making phone apps “look” like a tablet application.

It’s worth noting that owners of the new iPad will find themselves in a similar situation. At present, most apps have not updated for the newer, higher-resolution display. While they theoretically look no different from apps on an iPad 2, the difference is starkly noticeable after a few days with native apps.

In both cases, you’ll find a number of silly restrictions. Android smartphones in particular are often restricted in one way or another by carriers, and Apple devices have Apple itself to thank. You can get around them (by rooting an Android device, or jailbreaking an iOS machine), but both tasks can be pretty risky.

Personally, I would recommend Android if you’re willing to put in some work fine-tuning. For an out of the box experience (or if you already own their products), go with Apple.

iOS, designed by Apple, powers the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It’s well-regarded for its good looks and ease of use, and holds the dominant share of the tablet market. Although it has recently been losing ground to Android in the smartphone market, its development remains as strong as ever.

If you own an Apple product already, iOS is probably your best bet. Apple devices unsurprisingly work best with others of their kind, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the app market. By all estimates, there are over half a million apps in the App Store, many of which have equivalents on full-fledged Macs. For example, the DayOne journaling app can use Dropbox or iCloud to sync your data between a Mac, iPad, and/ or an iPhone.

To take advantage of this, you’ll have to invest in Apple’s way of doing things. That means using Apple products, buying Apple apps, and following the rules. It’s something you should be decidedly conscious of for the future. Once you begin using Apple products, you put yourself at a substantial disadvantage if you ever want to switch.

Keep in mind that while Apple’s products are easy to use, they’re highly inflexible. iOS has no way to manage files, meaning that doing any real schoolwork on an iOS device can be tricky at best. Although several applications try to provide a workaround to this limitation (iFiles is an excellent example), they’re far clumsier than what you can do with a good Android device.

Compared with their Apple brethren, Android devices typically boast far more powerful hardware, and they’re far more versatile on the whole. In exchange, they sport a far more unfinished look—sometimes, positively childish. With more recent releases, Android has become a far more polished product—but one with many kinks still to be worked out.

If you’re willing to put in a bit of legwork, however, Android devices give you far more control over your device. File management on an Android smartphone or tablet is almost the same as you’d find on a desktop; fire up a file manager of your choice (one popular one is the free Astro file manager), and you can copy, rename, and open files with relative ease.

The applications you’re allowed are far more versatile. Unlike their iOS counterparts, programs you download from the Google Play store can actually replace their default counterparts. If you don’t like the built-in texting app, download a new one. The same goes for browsers, e-mail clients—even the default skins and launchers. It’s a far cry from iOS, where you have to jailbreak your device to make the simplest of changes.

Fan favorite apps such as Angry Birds, QuickOffice, Documents to Go, and so on are readily available for both Android and iOS devices. However, apps designed for Android tablets tend to be few and far between, especially when compared to those available for the iPad. Unlike the iPad, however, Android tablets do a reasonably good job of making phone apps “look” like a tablet application.

It’s worth noting that owners of the new iPad will find themselves in a similar situation. At present, most apps have not updated for the newer, higher-resolution display. While they theoretically look no different from apps on an iPad 2, the difference is starkly noticeable after a few days with native apps.

In both cases, you’ll find a number of silly restrictions. Android smartphones in particular are often restricted in one way or another by carriers, and Apple devices have Apple itself to thank. You can get around them (by rooting an Android device, or jailbreaking an iOS machine), but both tasks can be pretty risky.

Personally, I would recommend Android if you’re willing to put in some work fine-tuning. For an out of the box experience (or if you already own their products), go with Apple.

When you see something on Facebook or Twitter that moves you or interest you, you can re-post, like a status, type a hashtag within seconds. Maybe you don’t consider it activism; the term “slacktivist” seems irrelevant. Your re-post was simply a characteristic of our generation’s impulse to share information as frequently and quickly as possible. It’s completely understandable.

The reason “slacktivism” draws so much criticism, and a slick pejorative term to boot, is that we can just as easily re-post, like statuses, or type hashtags with regard to the Hunger Games, Jeremy Lin, or cute videos of baby elephants. Wedging in a link to an article about the bombings in Syria amidst all of our daily output can, well, trivialize it.

This is, of course, a pretty simplistic outline of the conflict. One of the reasons I can’t quit Facebook is because all of the interesting tidbits I receive daily on my newsfeed that I probably wouldn’t encounter otherwise. (Also, because of all the cute baby elephant videos that come up). I accept the rapid-fire, sound-bite oriented reality of information sharing today, and I don’t think it’s going to go away soon, but inherently something is lost when we choose to receive information this way.

That’s the basic premise of Clay A. Johnson’s “The Information Diet.” Johnson advocates regarding the information we take in much the same way we should regard food, that is, mindfully and selectively. Modern life is saturated with information-cheetos, if you will — appealing and easy to consume in bulk. According to Johnson, a diet too high in information-cheetos leads to ignorance. They’re empty calories, as my mother would say. Your brain needs and should have information with more sustenance.

Which brings me back to slacktivism. I contend that slacktivism is the result of a modern diet high in information-cheetos. We’re bombarded with so much pre-packaged, processed information that we can’t decide what to care about. Instead, we make an unconscious decision to avoid truly engaging with anything. We share these tidbits, letting them pass briefly through our system, soon to be forgotten.

So how do we fight this natural inclination toward slacktivism? I say we take to heart a lesson from a modern classic, Lizzie McGuire. Whenever I’m feeling stressed out, I recall an episode where Lizzie, awakened to all of the problems plaguing our environment, tries to live her life an obsessively environmentally conscious manner, sparing neither her time nor personal relationships. When it looks like she’s about to implode with anxiety, Lizzie’s dad drops an important lesson: Choose a few things to care about. Pursue them fully. You’ll be a more effective activist that way.

I’m completely serious. I think this is a really valuable insight. As such, I challenge everyone (myself included) to do some research. Find one or two issues that really speak to you. Read about the issue every day. Post an article you think is really important to Facebook — I don’t think that’s a bad thing to do, if your choice of article is carefully considered. And the more you learn, the more you might find yourself inclined to engage in activism, in whatever form, that is meaningful to you.

We saw a slacktivism of sorts in full force this fall, as the Occupy Wall Street movement expanded rapidly and became inseparable from the hashtag #OWS. There were the thousands of people camping in urban spaces, but what about the millions online? Occupy is a movement indebted to and defined by the Internet. Organizers tweet about every two seconds. It was impossible to be online last fall and not see something Occupy-related at the top of your newsfeed. In recent months, the movement, both in terms of physical and internet presence, has undeniably faded. And you have to wonder: What happened to all of that energy? How much of it was slacktivism?

I don’t believe our response to Occupy was all slacktivism; I think it touched something very real in the American conscious. But as Occupy or other mass movements evolve, we’re going to have to seriously confront the role slacktivism plays.

We have something to say. Are you listening?

It’s 11:57 a.m. and you are walking into the Dining Hall with a couple hundred other students, who loop in a single-file line around a pile of disbanded backpacks on the floor of the JRC lobby. Someone bumps someone else. Marie greets you with a smile as you enter the dining hall and walk into the main dining space. What do you hear? Clinking silverware, ringtones, laughs, whispers, conversations and screams—the deafening roar of students, attempting to eat and escape before their next class or errand. What do you see? Tables upon tables of students sitting with students who sit with those students they’ve sat with before. Now, what are you thinking? Perhaps your friends are running late, or told you they’d meet you on the left, the right or in intimate dining. Now, think harder, look closer, and listen carefully.

Of the many students, faculty, staff who live and/or work in this residential community, how many do you know? How many do you want to know? How many will you get to know? What do you think they talk about during lunch? What are their life histories? And what do they think of you?

All too often at Grinnell, critical discussions regarding campus climate are avoided to make time for our many commitments or are more heavily concentrated among certain organizations, spaces, and social groups. In fact, as many upperclassmen can testify, significant and campus-wide conversations between various fragments of our community have only been provoked and fostered in response to bias or hate-motivated incidents—periods during which the social divisions that undoubtedly exist on campus become more easily perceptible and exaggerated. For some, the familiarity of belonging to a social group can be a source of comfort and strength. Just the same, such organization fosters exclusion, miscommunication, stress, tension, and aggression.

We’ve therefore identified a need to design a venue in which students, faculty, staff and, perhaps, alumnae can voice their perspective of the college, without any form of censorship, whether self-imposed or enforced. Enter The Voices Project—an anonymous, weekly, uncensored S&B interview column, for Grinnellians to share their experiences of Grinnell College, its diversity and their place within the community. Ideally, The Voices Project will be a space—a true “safe space”—for students to articulate opinions that they may feel uncomfortable voicing publically. And circulating these perspectives (which will be selected from a wide a variety of people associated with the College, such as first-gen students, athletes, social justice leaders, wage-earning staff, faculty-of-color and individuals with conservative and radical political positions, to name a few of many), we hope to foster a critical and ongoing dialogue regarding campus climate through Grinnell’s most widely read publication.

So here’s your chance Grinnellians.

Have something you’ve been itching to say? Email [voices] to set up a confidential interview with one of our staff members.

(The Voices Project was created by Elliot Karl ’12, Sivan Philo ’13, and Adrian Rodriguez ’15, who will hopefully be the first of many to get involved in the project.)

In the big picture, of course, this overdue development at Grinnell is but a drop in the bucket. Institutions of higher education as a whole compromise only a nominal portion of America’s energy use. What’s needed is support and funding for large-scale wind energy projects all across the country. And this is not easy to obtain, despite the widespread consensus at this point (among everyone who’s not part of the American right) that dependence on fossil fuels is becoming increasingly unsustainable and harmful.

I’m cynical enough to assert that goodwill alone will not propel the widespread deployment of alternative energy like wind. As of right now, wind technology is relatively expensive and ineffective compared to traditional dirty energy. While more and more energy companies are experimenting with wind, it’s still not as profitable as fossil fuels. Furthermore, in developing countries, dirty energy is bringing millions out of poverty, and that’s hard to give up. Ultimately, governments need to pour far more money than they are currently into research and development for alternative technologies to make them economically viable.

The other major obstacles to wind deployment in America right now are the current state of wind siting policy and public attitudes toward wind. The main problem is that in most states, the siting process is not set up to facilitate wind. While more states are turning to one-stop permitting, in most cases developers must consult the local zoning and siting authorities and the state zoning and siting authorities, as well as a variety of state regulatory agencies. Some of these restrictions are in place, justifiably, in order to protect local wildlife and ensure public safety (it is true wind turbines have been responsible for significant bird fatalities, spawning the term “condor cuisinart”). But for the most part, the current siting system (or lack thereof) hampers legitimate wind development.

Meanwhile, hostile public attitudes toward the “white monsters” can delay projects indefinitely. Some of you may have heard about Cape Wind, a wind farm off the coast of Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts that has been in the permitting process since 2001. Residents, who formed the formidable Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, contended the proximity of the turbines would ruin their views and diminish property values. Robert Kennedy Jr., himself, whose family owns a vacation home on the Sound, published an opinion in the New York Times criticizing the project for being “the right idea, but in the wrong place.” The Massachusetts Supreme Court finally approved the project in December.

Motivated in part by the Cape Wind fiasco, the Massachusetts legislature is attempting to pass the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, which would streamline the siting process by establishing state-wind siting standards and one-stop permitting at the Massachusetts Energy Facility Siting Board. A key feature: It preserves “home rule authority” so that the community in which the project is proposed can veto the project. After that the only option for the developers is court. I think this is important because, while some of the opposition to turbines is pure NIMBYism (let’s call it what it is), it is a legitimate grievance that in the past big wind companies have neglected to consult locals, and I think this lack of communication is a lot of what causes the inevitable backlash.

I am optimistic that Massachusetts is just the beginning of a national movement to facilitate wind energy development with state siting policy. Meanwhile, I hope that President Obama, like Kington, will get with the program and invest in the future.

SHACS brought counseling onto campus and the appreciation was incredibly clear as demand for therapy dramatically increased. Increased convenience, word-of-mouth and, in some cases,  a higher quality of therapy had students flocking to the Forum for short-term therapy. In the S&B staff’s anecdotal experience, after SHACS began offering therapy on-campus, students began talking more about their struggles and successes with mental health; therapy became a more socially-acceptable and even a popular topic of conversation; and students began to actively encourage one another to check out the therapists at SHACS. The S&B really appreciates all of the work SHACS has done toward improving student mental health and expanding outreach, because the need at Grinnell is great.

These moves were in response to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment, administered to Grinnell in the Spring of 2007 in which more than a quarter of Grinnellian’s reported experiencing depression, while a fifth of the student body said they had experienced anxiety disorders. These numbers compared unfavorably to those of other small colleges and the national rates. The expansion of SHACS certainly jumpstarted efforts to improve Grinnell’s statistics, and it’s done a great job thus far.

However, as therapy services increased in popularity, demand has surpassed the supply of therapists significantly. If a student booked an appointment yesterday, March 1st, the earliest appointment available would have been March 16th, more than two weeks later.

The S&B believes this length of delay needs to change. While we recognize that SHACS is presently constrained by both space and staffing issues, we think the mental health of students should be a top priority; no student should be discouraged from making an appointment with SHACS because of a long wait time.

SHACS is currently working on increasing the number of therapists available through a pre-doctoral internship program. Doctoral students would be a cost-effective way of increasing capacity, according to Stephanie Brown, Lead Psychologist and Director of Student Health and Counseling, but they still require salaries and space. She says that an internship with doctoral students could begin at the earliest by 2014.

So our editorial this week is two-fold. First, for the time being, we strongly encourage students interested in therapy to make appointments regardless of the wait-time. Second, we urge students, faculty and administration to make the expansion of SHACS a high priority, long-term goal.  Faculty can weigh in on the need for services as well as contribute ideas for how to move forward. SGA should gather student ideas and support for improvements and expansions. The administration should create a comprehensive plan for a larger space and more funding for SHACS.  Students clearly need the support of therapists and will benefit greatly from increased availability and timeliness of services. The S&B hopes to see changes coming soon.

In this case, you can have your cake and eat it too. Grinnell’s campus machines actually allow you a lot of options, and if you’re always on a particular computer it may be worth your while to poke around. Changing your desktop background is a great first step, but what else is there to do?

Put programs you like on the storage server, for one. Although the amount of space you have is way too small to store music or videos, most applications will comfortably fit in your folder.

If you’re a Mac user, you may have noticed that installing applications is usually a matter of dragging the app into your Applications folder. On campus Macs, you can’t do that. The applications folder is locked down. But if you double-click on a downloaded application, you can still run it without trouble. Drag the application to your storage folder, and you can run it from any Mac on campus. You’ll have to change the settings around on each new computer, but it’s worth it.

For example, I like to use Dropbox to keep my homework in sync. By saving Dropbox.app to my storage folder, I can run it from any Mac as if I were on my own laptop. The storage server won’t give you enough space to store your dropbox folder, but “installing” Dropbox onto a computer I use frequently is the next best thing.

You can actually install Dropbox on Windows machines as well, because Dropbox does not require administrator access to install and only works with your user account. Although you will not be able to sync extended file attributes (if you see administrator prompts, you can safely cancel them during setup), it’s more than enough to get to work.

Do keep in mind though that you will be storing those files on the physical computer. Although these machines are reasonably secure (particularly against other students), I wouldn’t recommend using this solution for anything sensitive (such as tax information or particularly sensitive documents). You can work your way around this by choosing “Selective Sync” while setting up Dropbox and only choosing files you really need.

Dropbox keeps your files in sync, but if you use Google Chrome you can also keep your bookmarks and history with you too. Using Chrome’s sign-in feature (click the wrench menu in the upper right) will let you painlessly set up any installation of Chrome the way you want it, extensions and all. If you’ve come to rely on plugins like Adblock, Chrome makes life much easier.

If you’re always on the move, consider dedicating a flash drive for portable apps. Portable apps are programs that store their settings on a flash drive or folder, which makes them perfect for thumb drives—and your storage server. While installing portable apps is pretty simple (typically, you either just download a .exe or install the program to a flash drive), it’s often a good idea to use a manager to keep things tidy.

PortableApps.com offers an excellent and easy to use launcher that makes it simple to install portable applications and simultaneously keep your documents with you. While the platform only works with Windows, it’s well worth the space. There are similar solutions for Macs, but they’re not as well developed at the present time.

If you’re particularly privacy-conscious, you can install Google Chrome or another browser onto your flash drive and do your browsing from there. Using the portable browser means that your history and cookies will be saved to the drive, and not to the computer. This is typically more useful with truly public computers, like those you might find in a library.

All in all, though, there’s no reason why you can’t take a little bit of home with you when you work with a school computer.

What hasn’t slowed down over the past 16 years is the student activism, raising concern with yearly campaigns to remind the administration of their green promise. It’s groups like SECC, SEG, No Limits Project, and others that fight for the future generations of Grinnellians to enjoy things like gender-neutral housing, handicap accessible buildings, and of course windmills. While we applaud the administration and President Kington for finally carrying out a project that sat in purgatory for almost two decades, it is the work of four generations of Grinnellians who fight in the name of social and environmental justice that allowed this project to come to life.

SEG, Grinnell’s student-run micro-financing group, has long been commended by Grinnell students, administrators and trustees.  They started loaning money in developing countries and became a certified non-profit in Fall 2009. Last year, they began a campaign closer to home, granting emergency microloans to Poweshiek County residents.

These programs earned SEG the recognition of the White House, which selected it as one of 15 finalists. Of those, the five with the most votes will be invited to the White House and featured on the TV show “The Dean’s List” on mtvU.  As of 1 a.m. on Friday, SEG is in eighth with 670 votes. Click here to vote!

UPDATE:  As of Sunday at 2 p.m., SEG is in second place with 6,861 votes.

Given this, we might as well take some time and make our web experience the best it can be. And the browser I unequivocally recommend is Google Chrome.

The first thing you should do when using Chrome is to look into the preferences. You can get to this menu by clicking the wrench icon in the upper right, and choosing preferences (or options on Windows machines). Looking at what options a program gives you is a great way of learning more about it, and Chrome gives you a fair amount of room to work with.
One feature that many people miss is the sign-in feature. If you have a Google account (and who doesn’t, these days?), you can sync your history, bookmarks, and extensions to any other computer with no fuss at all. That means that your perfect setup at home will be available on any of the campus machines you use—just pop open Chrome, sign in, and everything is just as it was.

While you’re still in the preferences menu, pay attention to the “Themes” and “Extensions” options. “Themes” aren’t the most useful things in the world, but there’s nothing wrong with making your browser easy on the eyes. Chrome gives you the option of choosing between “professionally” designed skins and a huge marketplace of user-submitted themes, so you can be as picky as you like!

Extensions, on the other hand are genuinely useful. As we say about smartphones, “There’s an app for that!” Extensions range from silly (generating pictures of insects on web pages) to extremely useful (blocking advertisements). Some of my favorites:
Adblock Plus does a fantastic job of cleaning up your browsing experience. All those flashy, annoying banners are gone, and while a few slip through the cracks, it’s hard to go back after using Adblock.

Better Popup Blocker does for popups what Adblock does for ads. This one is a bit more of a tossup, because Better Popup Blocker occasionally disables genuinely useful popups and sites that look like advertisements. Fortunately, just clicking on its icon lets you easily enable or disable the extension for any site.

Flashblock is something many people flinch at—blocking Flash? Online videos? But Flashblock can be a godsend, blocking heavy elements of websites that you don’t really need to see. If you want to unblock a specific element, just click on it. And your YouTubes are safe—you can whitelist the site just by clicking the icon.

I-AM-STUDYING-BLOCKER/StayFocused are both good study aids, especially if Chrome is your main browser. With a little setup, these extensions can go a long way in keeping you on task when you should be studying, but they still give you the flexibility to have some fun. I-AM-STUDYING-BLOCKER also compiles stats on your daily browsing habits—though this is more scary than useful (hours on Facebook, anyone?).

Extensions aside, you’ll also want to make good use of Chrome’s omnibar. If you type in the first few letters of a site with a search—such as YouTube—you can press tab to open up a search bar for that site without having to load it first. And don’t forget—the address bar is a Google search in and of itself!

One last tip is to make good use of Chrome’s incognito mode. Pressing CTRL + SHIFT + N (or Command on a Mac) opens a special window that doesn’t track your history or store data. This is especially useful when you’re on a public computer and don’t want to forget to sign out by mistake—but it also lets you sign into two Gmail sessions at a time (or any other site—just try it!).