Vol. 139, Issue 17

Sthecarlet & Black

April 10, 2023 • Grinnell, Iowa

thesandb.com

“I know that children will die because of this law:” anti-trans legislation threatens Iowa

By Zach Spindler-Krage spindler@grinnell.edu

The Iowa state legislature has proposed 29 anti-LGBTQ+ bills this legislative session. Governor Kim Reynolds signed two particularly restrictive bills into law on March 22, causing fear across Iowa about the impact of the laws and uncertain future of civil rights in the state. Many students, faculty, staff and administrators at Grinnell College are confronting the recent trend of restrictive legislation and weighing potential responses to the objectionable lawmaking.

The Current Status of the Iowa Legislature

Op-Ed: Please listen to trans people! A reflection on transphobia

By Jay Kratz kratzjay@grinnell.edu

Content warning: contains discussion of violence, transphobia, school shootings and suicide

When I clicked on the hashtag #schoolshooting on Twitter late in the afternoon on March 27, the first image I saw was of a shooter’s professional headshot next to their name and pronouns (he/him). Female, read the headline of the tweet. Fuck, I thought.

I woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning and checked Twitter again. I saw that Elon Musk had promoted a tweet by some right-wing commentator. It had four different shootings listed with the repeating phrase: “shooter identified as trans.” Well, there it is. Not only are children dead, but the tragedy will doubtlessly be used to bolster attacks

a trans person.

against trans people across the country for the crime of existing. I am even more terrified for my life and rights as

>> Continued on page 7

Students create center to celebrate disability culture

By Claire Giannosa giannosa@grinnell.edu

The new Disability Cultural Center (DCC) opened Tuesday, April 4, establishing a space for disabled students on campus to socialize, relax, attend events and create conversations surrounding disabled culture and ableism.

The DCC, located in Steiner Hall room 205, is run by three students and one advisor. Roman Belsher `24, executive outreach officer for the DCC, said the space will be student-led and focused on the lived experiences of disabled students rather than accommodations and academics, which is the focus of the office of accessibility and disability

>> Continued on page 2

PAUL HANSEN

Iowa has historically been a leader in civil rights. In 1868, Iowa became the first state to desegregate schools. In 2007, the state made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2009, Iowa became the third state to legalize same-sex marriage. Now, over a decade later, Republicans in the Iowa state legislature, empowered by their sweeping success across the state in the 2022 midterm election, are proposing — and passing — a flurry of bills to restrict LGBTQ+ rights.

>> Continued on page 3

Staff Editorial: Transphobia is not a “both sides” issue

As Grinnell College’s student newspaper, it is our responsibility to provide fair and comprehensive coverage of issues that affect our community. In light of recent Iowa legislation that directly endangers and marginalizes the trans community, it is important to address both this harm and the way that national news coverage has contributed to a wave of anti-trans sentiment.

The Scarlet & Black refuses to platform bigotry or any content that may cause further harm to trans individuals. Rather, we remain committed to a journalism that centers the truth, not hatred disguised as fair representation of “both sides”. Trans rights is not an issue with two equal sides.

It is also important to acknowledge that the process of journalism in itself has allowed for this bigotry to be published and given a platform. We recognize that the way the media works can be opaque, confusing and has been recently used to disguise intent to harm the trans community. In order to avoid media coverage that features limited perspectives, we maintain that transparency in reporting on these issues is imperative. A newspaper should not be used as a weapon or place of hate.

While we work to cover the legislative and social issues that marginalize trans students, we also want to center the joy, creativity and resilience of the trans community. We maintain that trans students are an integral part of Grinnell in all aspects, not just when under attack, and we will continue including their perspectives.

Ultimately, the primary objective of any newspaper must be to provide a service to its community.

By publishing honest coverage, we hope to empower our readers by giving them information that might otherwise be left unknown. As we strive to meet this ideal, we want to emphasize that our platform at the S&B should be an available resource to all members of the Grinnell community.

For example, the Opinions section is a space where students are always able to submit their thoughts, concerns, and experiences. Please reach out to [newspapr] or directly to our opinions editor [peckcami] with any story pitches, op-ed ideas or if you’d simply like to meet with us. Additionally, two representatives from our editorial team hold office hours in the Spencer Grill from 1:00-2:00 every Monday-Friday. Office hours are meant to provide a space where any and all questions, story ideas or suggestions on how to improve or amend our coverage are always welcome.

Part of being transparent about the journalistic process includes addressing which stories get written. If there is an issue that the Scarlet & Black has not covered that you believe should be addressed, please reach out to us in any of the aforementioned ways so that we can continue to best serve our community.

Signed, Allison Moore `24, Editor-in-Chief

Nadia Langley `23, Editor-in-Chief

Ellianna Cierpiot `25, News Editor

Millie Peck `23, Opinions Editor

Sarah Evans `26, Video Editor

Hemlock Stanier `25, Contributing

Artist

Lilli Morrish `25, Arts Editor

Additional signatories:

Claire Giannosa `26, Staff Writer

Ashley Baek `25, Staff Writer

Carter Ottele `25, Contributing

Writer

Krista Spies `24 Staff Writer

Sophia Mason `26, Contributing

Artist

Mohammad Igbaria `24, Sports Ed-

itor

Conrad Dahm `26, Staff Writer

Taylor Nunley `26, Staff Writer

Zach Spindler-Krage `25, Staff Writer

Maddi Shinall `23, Visuals Editor

Eleanor Corbin `24, Features Editor

Jandry Perez Garcia `24, Community Editor

Parris King-Levine `24 (left) and Jules Covitz `24 (right) in the Stonewall Resource Center.

OWEN BARBATO

This spring, Disability Cultural Center (DCC) student leaders plan to host events, workshops and regular discussions based on topics suggested by students.

PAUL HANSEN

Jay Kratz `23 asks that the Grinnell community listen to trans voices.

Bargaining moves to mediation stage

By Taylor Nunley nunleyta@grinnell.edu

The collective bargaining sessions between Grinnell College and the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) moved to mediated sessions effective April 6. As the next step in bargaining towards an agreed-upon contract, future sessions, mediated by Jim Tuecke from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, will be closed to public viewing.

UGSDW and the College’s collective bargaining teams have met three times since March 16, two of these sessions occurring during spring break. At these meetings, student data privacy and security, wages, hiring and training, hours and overtime and sanctuary campus proposals were discussed. UGSDW has also put forth their full comprehensive bargaining proposal.

UGSDW collective bargaining team proposed amendments modifying the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” article in the contract at the March 16 meeting. These proposals included protections for workers with disabilities, LGBTQ+ identities, religious affiliations and workers of color. The College expressed concern specifically over payroll software they may have no control over, using the example of a worker wishing to change their preferred name or pronouns. They also cited many of these proposals as already being protected under federal law.

UGSDW also brought forth a proposal allowing a two-week period of grace for student workers being trained in a new position or learning a new concept. The College said many workplaces understood student workers were being trained and generally wanted to avoid discipline for those new to a position. The College ultimately did not agree to the UGSDW’s full training proposal.

A “Sanctuary Campus” clause intended to prevent federal immigration authorities from being allowed in College workplaces was also proposed. The College argued there was no need for an article providing these protections in the contract since it is outside the scope of bargaining.

Finally, the College brought up issues with the recent work stoppage UGSDW facilitated on Wednesday, March 15. According to the College, UGSDW had put up signs saying workplaces were closed when they were not — the College also said the ultimate decision to declare a workplace as closed was up to the College.

Frank Harty for the College’s collective bargaining team said, “We will file an unfair labor practice charge if this conduct is repeated.”

In the first collective bargaining session held during spring break, the College and UGSDW discussed the hiring and training, hours and overtime and union rights clauses specifically. UGSDW’s proposal on hiring outlined desired stipulations

Disability Cultural Center opens

for work expectations and the onboarding process. The College said most of the practices are already in place, and since hiring occurs before a student enters the workplace, these practices would not technically involve a student worker part of UGSDW.

When discussing the article concerning union rights, UGSDW and the College disagreed when it came to the union meeting on campus. UGSDW said they wanted to continue the process of meeting on campus in accordance with other student groups — the College said UGSDW is classified as an outside group and must follow the rules of outside groups to reserve spaces on campus.

The final collective bargaining session held over spring break mainly discussed data security and wages.

The College insisted UGSDW sign both a Data Security Agreement and a Non-Disclosure Agreement if they continued to seek students’ personal information, including phone numbers and workplace employment — this would be along with students releasing this information through a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) waiver. The College offered UGSDW access to this information in a locked office on campus, but only on paper.

Following UGSDW’s concern over tiered wages, the College also put forth a new wage proposal allotting student workers a starting base wage of $13.25.

Project house aims to create allergyfriendly environment

By Conrad Dahm dahmconr@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell College Department of Residence Life approved a new project house for students to live in for the 2023-2024 academic year. This as-of-yet unnamed project house is targeted toward students’ dietary restrictions or allergies. The next-year residents have already been selected.

A project house, according to Dennis Perkins, assistant dean of Residence Life and student conduct, is an off-campus house affiliated with the College that provides a certain theme to live in. “Students really come up with the idea,” Perkins said. He explained further that after coming up with an idea, students pitch the idea to staff who work with students to create the house.

Before this project house existed, Perkins said students came up with the idea of Food House around four years ago. “Students wanted a space where they could prepare and talk about meals,” Perkins said.

Food House will not continue in the upcoming academic year. Perkins explained there were multiple reasons that this decision was made, but he said overall, “I just believed it was no longer compatible for all the people to be there.”

According to Kelly Banfield `24,

who lived in the house last year and for part of this year, Food House allowed students to cook food whenever they wanted. “We could cook whenever we wanted, and oftentimes we shared, so there was always something to eat,” Banfield said. According to Perkins, Food House did not particularly cater to students with allergies or dietary restrictions, but this new project house will.

The house coordinator for the new project, Bella Villarreal `26, explained that the purpose of this new house is to have a safe space for people who have food allergies or dietary restrictions.

She also said she believes that “Cross-contamination is a big issue in D-Hall.”

Villarreal also explained that the house will provide a kitchen where “everyone is respectful of each other and that is also consistently a safe space.” She explained that after the application was sent out by Residence Life, some of the students who applied were selected and then notified of the decision. Those students then had the option to live in the house for the next year or live elsewhere.

One student living in the house next year is Mara Feirer `26.

“I am excited because I don’t want to live in a dorm,” Feirer said. One of Ferirer’s primary concerns was the price of a meal plan that she could not utilize as someone with a gluten intol-

erance. “I’m frustrated that you have to pay for a primary meal plan when we live on campus because that meal plan does not really serve my needs,” explained Feirer. She said further that, “It’s frustrating to me that I have to pay for food that won’t necessarily be safe for me to eat.”

resources.

The project began in 2018 when Autumn Wilke, associate chief diversity officer for disability resources and current advisor for the DCC, along with Eliza Willis, professor emeritus of political science, and Maya Larson `22, submitted an application to the innovation fund, which supports ideas for project proposals at Grinnell College to improve education and campus life, to explore what having a DCC on campus could be like.

By exploring other cultural centers on campus such as the Black Cultural Center (BCC) and Stonewall Resource Center (SRC), as well as touring DCCs at Stanford, Berkeley and other schools, Wilke said they started thinking about what makes each of them a cultural center and how they can mirror that model.

Although Wilke said the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the development of the DCC, the group got back on track this year. The initial focus of the innovation grant was to see if Grinnell would benefit from a disability cultural center in general.

Belsher talked to Grinnell College alumni to get a sense of what disability culture was like for them.

“Knowing how happy it made them when they found any amount of disability culture … [the DCC] could be a hub for people with disabilities who are going and doing awesome things,” Belsher said.

After accessing the need for a DCC on campus, Wilke said the executive officers started visioning what they wanted this space to be. Belsher said the DCC is a place for people to find their identity within the disability community.

“There’s a lot of resources for people with disabilities in terms of social and career development. Things that help disabled people survive a little better and feel better in the world … the goal is for disability to not be othered,” Belsher said.

Ariana Furlong `24, DCC executive operations officer, said the most important element of the space is adjustability.

“No two people who identify as disabled are the same. You have invisible disabilities, you have physical disabilities, and being able to morph

the space to accommodate everybody should be the goal,” Furlong said. Furlong also described the types of accommodations available at the center, including adjustable lighting and movable furniture. Feedback can be provided by filling out surveys through a QR code in the center or by emailing dcc@grinnell.edu.

Overall, the student officers said they want the space to feel comfortable for everyone. “My hope is that it will feel homey, but like an accessible version of homey … I go here, and I feel like I have a space that’s for me,” Belsher said.

The center started a weekly series called “Working With Ableism,” on Fridays from 12-1 p.m. in the Humanities and Social Studies Center room S1325, which are information sessions about educating others about ableism, how to respect those with disabilities and career development. On Mondays from 5-6 p.m., the DCC will also be hosting disability discussions.

Unlike other on-campus housing, students living in project houses have the option to opt out of the meal plan.

Feirer said, “I think it would be cool to live with other people who have similar concerns because, you know, community of similar experiences. It’s nice to have that support on campus.”

Villarreal added, “I really do want it to be an open kitchen that people can come cook in and share meals in.”

“We are hoping for that to be kind of geared toward people who are more established in the community or who are wanting to become involved,” Belsher said.

Since the space started with an innovation grant, the future of the space is unknown. However, Belsher, Furlong and Wilke emphasized their commitment to making sure the space remains permanent in some form.

“I think it would be amazing to have a permanent space where those who are disabled on campus feel like they can be themselves. I think right now we’re at a great starting point because we’ve gone years without having a space and we’re finally getting one. Even if it’s temporary, I’m very thrilled,” Furlong said.

DCC — Continued from Front Page

Knowing how happy it made them when they found any amount of disability culture … [the DCC] could be a hub for people with disabilities who are going and doing awesome things.

Roman Belsher `24 DCC Exectuve Outreach Officer

OWEN BARBATO

The Disability Cultural Center (DCC), located in Steiner 205, held its opening event on Tuesday, April 4.

PAUL HANSEN Mara Feirer `26 will be living in the new project house for the upcoming academic year, which she hopes will make it easier to have safe food to eat.

I’m frustrated that you have to pay for a primary meal plan when we live on campus because that meal plan does not really serve my needs . . . It’s frustrating to me that I have to pay for food that won’t necessarily be safe for me to eat.

Mara Feirer

`26

Students respond to anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Iowa state legislature

According to J. Ann Selzer, the president of Iowa’s preeminent public opinion research firm, Iowa’s ideological swing towards conservatism is driven by the state’s large percentage of independent voters moving toward the Republican Party — in 2020, Trump won 56% of independents, a change from 2012, when Obama won 58% of independents.

Grinnell College President Anne Harris said that Iowa residents must contemplate and study how the political trajectory of the state has shifted so dramatically in the past decade. “How did we [Iowa] get from a point of being third in the nation to support same-sex marriage to now being among the first in the nation to ban identity-affirming care?” she questioned.

The ban of gender-affirming care for children under 18, established by the passage of Senate File 538 (SF538), declares that health care professionals shall not knowingly perform practices for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance or perception of gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s biological sex. Although the law is effective immediately, minors already receiving gender-affirming care will have a 180-day waiting period before they are forced to end treatment. A violation of the prohibitions by a healthcare professional is subject to licensee discipline by the appropriate licensing board or entity and may result in compensatory damages.

Although SF538 passed decisively, public support does not align with the legislative action. According to the March results of the Grinnell College National Poll, a majority of respondents (53%) oppose legislation that would ban transgender children from receiving gender-affirming care with the approval of their guardians and doctors.

In addition to the ban on gender-affirming care, Senate File 482 (SF482) legally prohibits persons from entering single- and multiple-occupancy restrooms or changing areas in elementary and secondary schools that do not correspond with the person’s biological sex. This law is also effective immediately. There are no criminal penalties for violation — instead, the Iowa Attorney General handles complaints, and violations are dealt with at the school level.

The impact of recent legislation on Grinnell College

Since Grinnell College is a private institution, much of the recent restrictive legislation does not legally apply to the College, even if it may apply to the Board of Regents public institutions — University of Iowa, Iowa State and University of Northern Iowa. However, while some legislation may not affect Grinnell students as students, it may affect them as residents of Iowa. Likewise, the legislation directly impacts the College as an employer.

“If you’re moving your family here and your child is transgender and under the age of 18, that’s a very different conversation about whether or not to take a job at Grinnell,” said Harris. “Even if you’re coming here and you’re single, but you want to eventually have a family or have family visit you, Iowa’s current political climate may present significant fears and challenges.”

Although the Family Medical Leave Act allows Grinnell College faculty to apply for an unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks during a 12-month period to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition, the practicality of seeking gender-affirming care in another state is limited, even though the College’s insurance “provide[s] coverage for gender reassignment surgery and services to a lifetime maximum of $75,000.”

“My now 17-year-old child came out as non-binary a couple years ago. About a year ago they decided that they would like to have gender-af-

firming hormone therapy,” said Monty Roper, associate professor and department chair of anthropology. After extensive conversation, research and medical consultation, Roper was ready to move forward with gender-affirming hormone therapy for his child.

“Then we watched carefully as … gender-affirming therapy was outlawed,” Roper said. “The University of Iowa clinic sent us a set of other clinics in the mail from Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin, and we have been busy trying to figure out how this is going to work now.”

Jay Kratz `23 and Romeo Garcia `23, the co-leaders of Transgender Advocacy Group, said that the current political climate of Iowa is likely to cause prospective students to reconsider whether they feel truly comfortable and safe attending Grinnell College.

“We have historically had trouble as an institution attracting queer faculty and staff, particularly in terms of the position for LGBTQIA+ professional support staff,” Kratz said. “There is no doubt in my mind that these legal barriers are only going to compound that difficulty.”

According to a survey of 778 incoming college students conducted in February by the Art and Science Group, 31% of liberals and 28% of conservatives said that they wrote off a university because of state politics. LGBTQ+ students were more likely than their straight, cisgendered peers to say politics and policies affected their college decision (32% compared to 21%).

Harris said that while everyone needs to consider what is best for their psychological and emotional safety, the Grinnell community will rally around LGBTQ+ individuals in the face of political threat. “In some ways, love and support of LGBTQ+ students is more pronounced here because it’s more challenged here. Because identity is under pressure, there is a resurgence of resources,” Harris said.

The College’s response to recent laws

Following the passage of SF538 and SF482, Harris released a campus-wide statement via email denouncing the laws and rearticulating the College’s commitment to affirming LGBTQ+ identities. Harris said that the College is researching how institutions have navigated similar laws in other states, and it is consulting legal counsel about how to comply.

“In a democracy, reasonable people can disagree about a law while complying with the law,” Harris said.

“Grinnell’s compliance with laws does not automatically entail our philosophical agreement with them.”

Kratz said that the College should be more transparent as they discuss the legislation and contemplate additional responses. “There is an incredible amount of confusion and fear amongst trans students on campus,” said Kratz.

“Not knowing what the College is planning in terms of compliance with discriminatory legal statutes only amplifies that worry.”

Garcia said that the first step is opening lines of communication. “One small but key way in which the College can support trans well-being moving forward would be to create more opportunities for dialogue between queer students and administration,” said Garcia.

“I’m sad. I’m angry. I’m embarrassed for Iowa. I’m ashamed that I didn’t do more to fight this,” said Roper. “I’m disappointed by the hypocrisy of a set of politicians that preach parental rights but then decide to overrule the decisions of families and their doctors relating to our children’s well-being.”

The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, published a peer-reviewed study in Transgender Health in 2021 which found that transgender youth with acceptance from at least one adult had 39% lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year compared with their transgender peers who were not accepted.

Student initiatives to address anti-LGBTQ+

sentiment

The Prairie Fire Socialist Organization, a recently formed student group led by Jules Covitz `24 and Parris King-Levine `24, has been working to initiate a more extensive social justice-oriented response to recent restrictive legislation.

“For an institution that calls itself a social justice institution, we were pretty frustrated with the lack of political action on campus,” said King-Levine.

“You come here thinking there will be a lot of activism, and after the pandemic, there really wasn’t.”

Covitz said that the experience of transgender students in Grinnell can be exceedingly difficult. “Even if people are supportive of trans rights, it often feels like they are somewhat removed from the reality of the situation,” Covitz said. “Many people are not adequately educated about the topic or will make jokes or comments that are implicitly homophobic.”

Covitz and King-Levine said that the College should be doing more to support LGBTQ+ students, including providing more free gender-affirming apparel to transitioning students, increasing access to and publicity about the newly opened makeup closet, offering better information about accessing hormone treatment and more clearly explaining legal implications of legislation to students.

Additionally, Prairie Fire has been collecting signatures for a petition to have the College unsubscribe from the New York Times. According to Covitz, the New York Times’ coverage of transgender individuals has been especially heinous and has allowed state legislatures to use New York Times articles to justify the criminalization of gender-affirming care. Prairie Fire’s Instagram reads that, “by cutting off Grinnell’s student and faculty subscription to the Times, we take responsibility as well as deal a blow to the coffers of repugnant journalism.”

Ode to the empty spaces on Grinnell’s campus

Harris said that rather than relying on a single voice of condemnation, writing a letter to the New York Times may be more effective at creating change. “Would unsubscribing from the New York Times create the type of change we want to see? I don’t think it would. We are the tiniest of tiny blips on their subscription list,” said Harris. “Unsubscribing would likely hurt the campus members who use it as an academic resource without affecting meaningful change. However, a letter written by students, possibly in conjunction with other colleges, to the editorial board of the New York Times may be a vastly different story. That may cause them to listen.”

The future of LGBTQ+ bills in Iowa King-Levine said that while current laws are primarily targeting people under the age of 18, the successful passage of many of these laws has prepared the legislature to target everyone. Of the roughly 12 anti-LGBTQ+ bills still progressing through the Iowa state legislature, many apply to residents regardless of age, including proposals to prohibit spending on diversity and inclusion offices in state universities and to allow health-care providers to refuse care on the basis of religious beliefs.

In addition, Senate File 496 would prohibit instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation through sixth grade and notify parents if their child asks to use different pronouns in school, House File 7 would require public institutions of higher education to report what they teach, including LGBTQ+ topics and House Joint Resolution 8 would ban same-sex marriage in Iowa.

While many of the proposals may ultimately fail to pass during this legislative session, which ends on April 28, the mere discussion of them has incited widespread fear about the curtailment of civil rights in Iowa.

Harris said that the College is prepared to address the effects of the legislation on students and employees, and that this is an opportunity to uplift the communities being targeted by recent legislation.

“Grinnell is off the beaten path. That means that students self-select to come here,” Harris said. “We are now in a position where we need to shine a light on that path because of some of the legislative and judicial changes in this country.”

“I know, I know, I know that children will die because of this law,” said Roper. “But I am hopeful, so hopeful, that we are at the nadir of this political ideological parabola and that better days are coming.”

By Oliver Wolfe

Where do you spend your time on the Grinnell College campus? If you’re a social sciences or humanities major, you are sure to have a lot of classes in the new Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC).

If you are a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) major, you likely spend much of your time navigating the maze of the many-times-renovated Noyce Science Center. And every student is of course familiar with the Joe Rosenfield `25 Center (JRC) — where else is someone supposed to get a bite to eat around here?

These three modern and centralized buildings dominate Grinnell College, and the triangle made between them undoubtedly creates the campus’s midpoint. Bucksbaum Arts Center, Burling Library and the Bear Recreational Center are also crucial — they create the boundaries of campus and provide important study spaces, classrooms and venues for events varying from basketball games to improv shows.

There are many historic buildings scattered across Grinnell’s campus, however, that slip through the cracks and tend to be forgotten about — buildings that once played a critical role in the College’s ecosystem but have since been repurposed.

Who among us has set foot in the beautiful gothic dining room attached to Main Hall? Or the old classrooms in Goodnow or Steiner Hall? Does anyone actually spend time with friends in the Forum?

For this story, The S&B spoke to two long-time faculty members — Wayne Moyer, professor of political science and department chair of policy studies who has been teaching at Grinnell since 1972, and Jonathan Andelson `70, professor of anthropology who was a Grinnell student himself from 1966-1970 before returning as a professor in 1974 — in order to find out what effect the new buildings have on our campus culture. What spaces, special nooks and cozy crannies do students these days simply walk right past, and what kinds of memories were made by previous generations of students in buildings that are now often overlooked?

Before the JRC’s relatively recent construction in 2005, the Forum, which now is most known for housing Information Technology Services (ITS) and Student Health and Wellness (SHAW), was a highly frequented spot for students. “The Forum used to be the center of everything on campus,” Moyer remarked. “It served the purposes both of the Grill and what is now the atrium in the HSSC.”

The Forum boasted a grill and a coffee shop of its own and two lounges. “The south lounge was a place of small-scale concerts. And it was also a place for smaller-scale lectures,” Andelson said. “It was a very, very cozy space in a way that JRC 101 just isn’t. And you felt a real sense of community in that room. Sometimes, you get that feeling in JRC 101, but not so often, and in south lounge, almost every event really felt like community,” he said. But that was not all that Andelson said the Forum had to offer. “There was a room called the listening room,” Andelson reminisced. “And you could go to the basement desk and ask them to put a record on for you out of the listening room, and you can hear the record. It was really cool. I spent a moderate amount of time in the listening

room,” he said with a laugh.

The JRC’s construction in 2005 did not only drastically alter the role of the Forum on campus, but it brought with it the Marketplace Dining Hall, which marked the end of the era in which Grinnell campus boasted two functioning dining halls — one resided in Cowles Hall on the north section of campus, and the other occupied the large and beautiful gothic dining room attached to Main Hall.

Moyer said he misses the dining hall in Main. “It sort of gave the flavor of a medieval dining hall,” Moyer said, before mentioning that the quality of the food service has vastly increased since the Dining Hall’s move to the JRC. “You would wait in the line with a tray there, and you had a very limited choice in terms of what you could get. It would be like being in a cafeteria — you didn’t have the variety of choices that you have now.” These days, that space is often locked up and is occasionally used for events such as alumni dinners.

The much more recent and drastic addition of the HSSC to campus in 2020 brought about a massive change according to the two professors — nearly all the classes that used to take place in Goodnow and Steiner Halls were brought over to the HSSC. “There was a philosophical angle to this,” said Moyer. “You had all the science people together [in Noyce], and it sort of bonded them together. I think there was a sense you might be able to do the same thing with social studies and humanities [with the HSSC],” he continued. “Now we have one huge building. I’m not sure we see much more of each other than we did before, even though we’re all in the same place.”

Goodnow Hall previously housed the anthropology department. “We were there for maybe 20 years,” said Andelson. “And that was really nice because we kind of owned the building, and we could put displays up that we wanted,” he continued.

Wayne Moyer Professor of Political

“Steiner used to be philosophy and religious studies offices, and some of their classes were there,” said Moyer. “The classrooms in Steiner I never thought were great — there was a great big one underground that didn’t have any windows,” Moyer said with a chuckle. He said that moving to the HSSC was definitely an upgrade.

The arrival of the JRC in 2005 and the HSSC in 2020 brought a number of quality-of-life improvements for the Grinnell College campus, but it also brought a number of changes to the campus ecosystem. So next time you pass Goodnow on your way to a class in the HSSC, or the old dining hall on your way through Main Hall, think of the many generations of Grinnellians who used those spaces.

“There is some nostalgia. I don’t have as many opportunities to go in as many places as often,” Moyer said. “The campus is far more beautiful though.”

SOFIIA ZARUCHENKO

The department of anthropology used to be housed in Goodnow Hall.

wolfeoli@grinnell.edu

There is an incredible amount of confusion and fear amongst trans students on campus.

Jay Kratz `23

Now we have one huge building. I’m not sure we see much more of each other than we did before, even though we’re all in the same place.

Science

Soybean crushing plant plans are underway

By Nina Baker bakernin@grinnell.edu

Iowa developers have plans to build a soybean crushing plant just south of Grinnell city limits. If approved by Poweshiek County, the plant will join a growing number of facilities across Iowa and the U.S. at large dedicated to grinding soybeans, a process some legislators and environmental activists describe as damaging to local environments.

Across the U.S., soybean crushing plants have proliferated to match the rise in demand for soybean meal, soy products and renewable diesel, which uses soybean oil. As of 2023, Iowa has the highest soybean crush capacity of any state, according to the Iowa Soybean Association.

Rachel Bly, Grinnell City Council member, explained that according to the developers’ estimates, the plant would use around 400,000 gallons of water each day. She added that developers told her that wastewater discharged from the plant would be less than the Iowa Department of Natural Resource’s threshold, and it would be insignificant enough that

the wastewater could be deposited into the North English River.

“That’s a huge amount that they will be using,” Bly said. “I’m not sure how a plant that uses 400,000 gallons of water a day does not have significant wastewater. Where does it go?”

In general, Bly said, the council has little information, and the proposal for the plant’s construction is in its very early stages. As of April 6, the plant has not received approval by the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors.

“The council was not brought into the process until very late, and we still don’t have a lot of information,” Bly said.

The same developers connected to Grinnell’s proposed plant began construction of a similar soybean crushing plant in 2022 near Storm Lake, Iowa. Bly said that members of Grinnell’s city council have been in communication with Storm Lake officials as the council evaluates the benefits and costs of the plant.

In 2022, Storm Lake Times journalist Tom Cullen reported that its nearby plant would emit hundreds of

tons of air pollutants each year, including hexane and dust, but would comply with federal Clean Air Act standards. This is also a concern for Bly.

Similarly, trucks coming to and from the plant could amount to hundreds a day, Bly said, which may contribute to safety concerns and air pollution.

While Bly said she has only heard from constituents with concerns about the plant, she said that she can see potential positive economic impacts for the area if built. For example, local soybean farmers could bring their product directly to a nearby processor, reducing the transportation burden, she said.

“For our farmers, there is likely some positive economic impact,” Bly said. “And it is likely they will get some form of tax abatement from the county, but eventually, there will be a tax benefit because they would have to pay property tax.”

If built, the plant would be located between Iowa Highway 146 and the intersection of 32nd St. and 430th Ave. Because the location of the plant falls outside city limits,

Grinnell’s city council does not have the authority to veto or approve the project. However, Bly said that the council can pursue action to discourage or encourage the plant.

“So, we have the ability to say no, they can’t use our water, for example” she said. But even if the council denied the developers’ access to Grinnell’s water plant, developers have the ability to create their own

water plant and tap into the same Jordan aquifer Grinnell draws its water from, she said. Bly added that the city council can choose to grant or reject tax incentives to the plant.

Bly said the council will continue to receive data and reports from the developers and the county about pollution, hexane, truck traffic and other factors before pursuing action on the plant.

Voters deny PPEL proposition due to unclear language

suggested to voters the legislation was a bond vote.

Bond votes approve the issuing of new bonds by the school district to finance the building of new schools, new facilities and pay for salary increases among other goals. This debt would be paid for by taxpayers, leading to tax increases. However, the proposed PPEL simply proposed redistributing the revenue of property taxes to maintain and repair the school buildings at no extra cost to the taxpayer. Smith said that this misconception is the reason why the most recent PPEL vote did not pass.

By Ashley Baek baekashl@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell-Newburg Community School District conducted a special election proposing a Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) that would redistribute the property tax revenue towards improving school facilities. The proposition was denied due to what Dustin Smith, the president of the Grinnell-Newburg Board

By Taylor Nunley nunleyta@grinnell.edu

of Education, perceived as an error in the language of the proposition that he said would be improved in the future.

The Iowa Board of Education states that the school board may annually certify a PPEL, and the funds can be used for various purposes including the purchase and improvement of grounds, construction of buildings, purpose of equipment or technology and repairing, remodeling, reconstructing, improving or expanding the

school houses or buildings. The levy did not pass, with final results coming in at 567 voting in favor and 573 voting against in both Powershiek and Jasper County. The vote took place on March 7.

This proposed PPEL was meant to maintain and repair the school buildings. However, there was some miscommunication on the ballot involving language of “purchasing and improving grounds” that may have

The management fund was getting too large, and thus, the board was planning on lowering the property taxes that are being assessed with that fund, moving them over to the PPEL fund. According to Smith, this would have no tax increase for any homeowners or property owners, and instead, it was just shifting which fund the tax revenues would go into.

He said that the confusion was due to the language in the ballot as it mentioned constructing a building because the money can be used for that, but that was not their purpose. Smith said, “We just wanted a little extra money to help fix up our schools.”

Smith said that leading up to the

next election, more education on the use of the funds will be a priority. In the past, the voted PPELs did not have tax increases, and according to Smith, “the community has never not approved. They haven’t supported big bonds or big tax increases, but the procedural votes have passed easily in the past.”

The PPEL votes have regularly passed in the past, yet the board struggles to raise taxes to build new buildings. This has been an issue for about 10 years, according to Smith. The past votes that proposed a tax increase to build a new building were not passed.

Smith said, “I think the confusion between this PPEL being the same as the other proposed tax increases is part of the reason it didn’t pass. And I think that’s the education we need to do. Next time, we need to say that this is not to purchase land or build a new building. Instead, we want to maintain the safety and security of the schools and the students.”

Due to the results of the election, the money that was going to be moved will stay in the management fund. Now, the board has another fiscal year before having to take action on it, by either lowering taxes or passing another vote to see if they can shift the funds.

True Grinnellian: Jan Phifer

Jan Phifer is a child of six — as a young girl, she and her siblings spent their summer days exploring the Colorado mountains and playing in the creek near their Iowa home. Even though she was young at the time, Phifer believes her early exploration of the world is what sparked her interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Now, as a preschool teacher at Fairview Elementary School, Phifer has received the Iowa STEM Teacher Award from the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and Kemin Industries for her dedication to inspiring and cultivating local Grinnell elementary students’ interest in the STEM field.

The Iowa STEM Teacher Award honors six teachers from different regions across the state. Nominated by her peers, Phifer had the distinction of being named the esteemed recipient of the award for the South Central Iowa STEM region.

Phifer has long been involved in improving the STEM curriculum at her school. In her 31 years teaching at Fairview Elementary, she has written a number of STEM grants for the Iowa STEM Scale-Up Program, including one for this academic year involving water exploration.

“She’s a terrific model for myself and the other preschool teacher,

Jordan,” Andrea Zhorne, a preschool teacher at Fairview Elementary, said of Phifer. “It’s been a joy to work with her and to see how she gets kids engaged in learning about STEM, and then scaffolding where they’re at and moving them up to the next level.”

Phifer said she believes STEM education at an early age is crucial for children. “As I continue to train through ongoing professional development, the importance of this component [STEM education] in early learning has become more of a focus versus when I first started training in early childhood [education], where literacy was really a heavy focus. But I think now they are realizing the importance of providing this type of learning experience for kids is just as important if not more important,” Phifer said.

When teaching, she said she starts with her students’ “sense of wonder and curiosity.”

“If you think about working with young children, even toddlers, all they do is ask why and how. They want to know how the world works,” Phifer said. “Oftentimes, parents, or caregivers or the people working with them don’t know an immediate answer that can help the child, and instead, they can discover it together.”

Phifer’s classroom is full of handson materials to encourage students to build and problem-solve their way to an answer or concept — a myriad of water containers, with holes meant for discovering how water flows, and

magnetic builders are just some of the different tools Phifer’s students use to explore STEM at a young age.

Phifer was also involved in an after-school activity, for kindergarten through second-grade students, called Tiny Techies. The program works to facilitate and encourage students’ knowledge of early coding. With the $1,500 Phifer will receive for her classroom from the Iowa STEM award, Phifer said it is possible for the school to expand the Tiny Techies program. As it exists now, students from the neighboring Bailey Park Elementary School

are bussed over for the after-school program, causing around a 40-minute delay. Her idea is to duplicate the materials so the program can be housed in both schools individually and students have more time to engage.

“It’s not set in stone yet because those materials are pretty expensive,” Phifer added.

Following the official announcement of her award, Phifer’s school held a surprise assembly in her name.

“I was pretty overwhelmed and not prepared,” she said, speaking about her reaction to the award. “I think it was

because when I look at all the amazing things going on in the state in the area of STEM, I thought it was incredibly touching that someone nominated me … I felt very honored and loved that the importance of the building blocks that we can provide here was recognized at the state level.”

Despite teaching in Grinnell for over 30 years, Phifer lives in the nearby city of Monroe. Although she did receive an offer to teach in Monroe’s school district, she declined it. To her, the Grinnell-Newburg district is “worth the drive.”

CORNELIA DI GIOIA

feeling with

By Lilli Morrish morrishl@grinnell.edu

Before she had a solo show, a nonprofit or five national titles, Carly Schuna `06 had the Klutz Book of Juggling. “It came with three beanbags,” Schuna said, “and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever come across.” Now a professional circus artist, Schuna’s juggling skills have only improved since she first honed them at age 11, but it was not until 17 years later that she discovered her true life’s purpose — the German wheel.

Schuna’s journey to the circus was anything but orthodox. She did not do her first trapeze trick as a toddler, nor did she run off to join the circus as a teen. While she wanted to be a contortionist as a child, the only box she ended up squeezing to fit into was a quad dorm room during her first year at Grinnell College, where she eventually graduated with a degree in English. This led her to a career as a freelance writer, editor and copy editor, which she still dabbles in when she is not otherwise occupied by her manifold circus-related responsibilities — “they complement each other really, really well,” said Schuna.

Outside of journalism, Schuna continued to juggle, and in 2012, she found herself at the annual Madisonarea juggling festival Madfest. It was here that she had her first experience with the German wheel, or Rhönrad, a hulking, person-sized apparatus composed of two parallel metal hoops connected by six bars. While the wheel is relatively common in Germany, Schuna said that there are less than a dozen programs for teaching German wheels in the U.S.

“I had never seen a German wheel before,” Schuna said. “So I started rocking on the wheel, and I just felt

like that was where I belonged. I’ve never had a feeling like this. I finally found the place where I’m supposed to be, where I’ve been supposed to be all along.”

This moment sparked a decadelong love affair that has so far resulted in Schuna being crowned five-time U.S. Open All-Around Champion in wheel gymnastics and co-founding the Madison Circus Space, a volunteerrun nonprofit that has turned Madison, Wisconsin into a hub for the circus arts. The Madison Circus Space has provided an outlet not only for Schuna to practice, coach and perform, but also for her to share her boundless passion for circus with her community.

During her time at Grinnell, she felt guilty for not finding a social justice cause that she felt committed to.

“I volunteered for voting campaigns, and for soup kitchens and for nursing homes, and I just wasn’t enthused enough about any of them to really dedicate myself to them,” she said. “I thought, maybe I’m just, like, a really selfish person … but it turned out it just took me a long time to find it, and it’s circus.”

Since the Space’s founding in 2013, Schuna has devoted thousands of volunteer hours doing everything from administrative tasks to laying wood floors.

Despite her own competitive prowess, Schuna has set aside competition for the time being to focus on coaching and performing. “I always found competition really stressful,” she said. “You have to use a certain type of music, you have to wear a certain type of outfit, and I wanted more creative freedom than that.”

Creative freedom certainly abounds in her solo show titled “It Takes Guts,” a meditation on anxiety and circus performance involving trapeze, juggling, tricks with her Australian cattle dog-border collie

`06

mix named Piper, enormous plush puppets of body parts and, of course, her signature German wheel. The performance, which came to Grinnell College’s Flanagan Studio Theatre on April 8, is based on a poem by John Roedel titled “The Anatomy of Peace.”

Carly Schuna `06

Schuna said of the poem, “It really resonated with me because I’ve had chronic anxiety since I was a kid. A lot of the imagery that he mentions in this poem is stuff that I just experience on a day-to-day basis.” Like Roedel’s poem, “It Takes Guts” is a journey through the body, piece by piece, exploring the human experience in all of its messy, anxious, joyful glory.

“What makes me feel most energized about circus is that it scares me so much,” Schuna said. While the thought of spinning inside of a giant metal wheel might be gut-wrenching for many non-acrobats, for Schuna, sharing her love of the circus arts — anxiety included — is what brings her life meaning.

“Before I discovered wheel I thought you could only fall in love with a person, but I fell in love with my wheel, and I'm still in love with my wheel,” Schuna said. “It’s just what makes me happier than anything else.”

More on Schuna and “It Takes Guts” can be found on her website, www.headoverwheelscircus.com.

Spotlight on Grinnell Oratorio Society

By Krista Spies spieskri@grinnell.edu

This Friday, Grinnell students and community members have the opportunity to witness a hundredyear-old campus tradition. The Oratorio Society choral group, performing on April 14, has connected members of the College with those of the community since 1901.

Josh Boggs, visiting assistant professor of music, serves as director of the Oratorio Society for the 20222023 school year. What sets it apart from other musical groups on campus, he said, is the makeup and function of the group.

Not only does the ensemble include College faculty, staff and students along with members of the town community, it also is “an intergenerational group,” Boggs said. “We have members sometimes as young as in their teens to members who are bordering 90 years old.”

“Anything that the College can do to interact with the community more is so crucial,” Boggs said. “Choir is a perfect example of something that is very accessible to community members and faculty, students and

staff. The traditions are really similar. A lot of people grew up singing, and it’s also something that is relatively inexpensive. We have a voice, and it’s free.”

We have members sometimes as young as in their teens to members who are bordering 90 years old.

Josh Boggs, Director of

Regarding the group’s repertoire, Boggs said that the name Oratorio Society implies larger-scale works. Often, the singers are accompanied by instruments, such as during the fall semester of 2022, when the group performed a portion of “Handel’s Messiah” with the Grinnell Symphony Orchestra and the Grinnell Singers.

However, for the concert this week, Boggs brings his experience in sacred acapella music by creating a repertoire of entirely unaccompanied pieces that include sacred choral

music, Renaissance music, the modern American choral piece “Wondrous Love” by Robert Shaw and more. The centerpiece of the program will be a mass by Hans Leo Hassler.

According to Boggs, at the choir’s peak, it had approximately 80 members. Though the Oratorio Society utilized virtual concert spaces during the COVID-19 lockdown, the group also experienced a reduction in members and participation, which Boggs said was difficult to weather.

“The hardest thing with COVID is getting people to commit to weeknight activities regularly. Having to give up another weeknight is obviously a choice that people have to make, but I’m really glad that they do,” he said. Now at roughly 30 singers, the group is meeting and rehearsing for the first year as “normally” as it had done prelockdown.

Larry Anderson, a tenor singer in the ensemble, is a part of a group of community members from Newton who travel regularly to Grinnell to practice and perform in the choir. He said that the music is challenging, and the Society is about “the pleasure in making music together.”

Boggs added that the Oratorio

Society rehearsals are “a bright spot in my week because it is still very connected to my job here at Grinnell, but it’s really refreshing to interact with lots of new faces and people who look forward to this being a time when they can come to our campus and make music with us.”

During a rehearsal for their upcoming concert, the members of the choir warmed up and then practiced the pieces in order of their performance program. They excitedly

discussed the best positions for them to surround the audience with sacred choral songs, involving placing themselves in seats among the crowd. One warm-up exercise included repetition of the simple phrase “I love to sing,” a declaration that encapsulates the infectious energy of the Oratorio Society.

The Grinnell Oratorio Society will perform this Friday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Sebring-Lewis Hall in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts.

Observing with NASA is out of this world

By Kailee Shermak shermakk@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell Area Arts Council is home to an Observing With NASA exhibit kiosk until May 27. The kiosk allows users to explore photographs of planets, constellations and other objects in space, courtesy of NASA telescopes. Users can also take their own pictures of various celestial objects via telescopes operated by NASA across the country.

As a Smithsonian affiliate since 2019, Grinnell College has the opportunity to apply to host traveling exhibitions sponsored by the institute, and it was selected as one of 30 locations to host Observing With NASA. Morgan Niner, an AmeriCorps VISTA member who works in the College’s community, partnerships, planning and research department, applied for and organized the exhibit alongside Sarah Smith, the director of outreach programming and events.

“Being an affiliate has granted the College many opportunities for programs and events that were not available before,” Smith said.

Niner emphasized the unique

opportunity to collaborate with the Smithsonian and NASA in a rural area. “People will have the chance to interact with something that’s a Smithsonian name, a NASA name.

It’s not something you typically find here in small-town Iowa,” she said.

Unlike past exhibitions the College has hosted from the Smithsonian, Observing With NASA is located in downtown Grinnell. Previous exhibits were located on campus in Burling Library. This choice of location was no accident, according to Niner.

“We wanted to make sure that the community also had an opportunity, not just students, to see and experience the exhibit,” she said.

At the center of this exhibition lies the goal of an approachable and accessible place to learn about space. Dr. J.R. Paulson, a physician and amateur astronomer who has exhibited his astrophotography at the arts council previously, echoed this sentiment. He expressed his excitement at the prospect of this technology and image of being available to the Grinnell public.

“The moon’s right there, you can see it better than Galileo,” he said,

gesturing to the clarity and precision of the digital photographs.

Niner highlighted that exposure to new knowledge and technology is a critical part of this exhibit. She said local elementary schools will have a chance to explore the kiosk during class, and she intends on having Paulson host a talk on the exhibit. More information will be available on the Grinnell Area Arts Council website and social media.

“The goal for the exhibition is just for people to do something that maybe they’ve never done before,” Niner said.

The kiosk allows visitors to choose from photos already taken by NASA-operated telescopes or take an entirely new picture. This process starts with the user selecting which celestial object they would like to capture. Then, the user customizes their photo settings including frame size and exposure time. This picture will be taken during the next clear night by a telescope camera operated by NASA and then sent to the user via email.

Paulson explained how colors can be manipulated in these images, similar to the work he does in his

own observatory. The kiosk includes blue, red and green filters as well as an invisible light option. This invisible light feature allows users to isolate elements within the image by differentiating their color. For example, oxygen particles within an image can be manipulated to display as green.

“You’re just manipulating pixels.

It all goes back to how many photons hit this pixel,” he said. As a further interactive element,

any images users develop on the kiosk are available for free printing through Total Choice Shipping and Printing in town. Visitors also have the option of exporting their final image via email.

The Observing With NASA kiosk will be in the Grinnell Area Arts Council building until May 27, and it is open to anyone during the council’s hours of operation. More information can be found on their website, www.grinnellarts.org.

Before I discovered wheel I thought you could only fall in love with a person, but I fell in love with my wheel, and I'm still in love with my wheel.

Grinnell Oratorio Society

Baseball clears their bases with spring break games

from last year’s season. Ian Brown `24 and Hollibaugh said the first- and second-year players have made great strides in the maturity of their game.

“We really played a better brand of baseball this year,” Hollibaugh said when comparing this season’s spring break games to last season’s.

These improvements have been a long time in the making. Brown explained that the team’s dedication even before the season started has helped them get to their current performance level, as well.

“Everyone was buying in and working hard in the fall,” Brown said.

Along with developing a cohesive and mature team, the Florida trip helped identify the strengths and weaknesses they will be working with this year, according to Hollibaugh.

By

After a long schedule of competitive games over the past month, the Grinnell College baseball team is back on campus and ready for the second half of their season.

The beginning of the team’s season has been marked by a spring break trip to Florida, where the team played 16 games over the span of 14 days, according to Tim Hollibaugh, head baseball coach. Prior to the spring break trip, the Pioneers faced Westminster College in a series of three games over the weekend of March 11.

Heading into the top of the ninth inning in their third and final game against Westminster, Grinnell was down five runs. Both teams managed to secure one win, so the threat of losing a second game, and thus the series, against Westminster loomed. With one out

and the bases loaded, the Pioneers began to make an offensive shift.

After scoring four runs, the Pioneers still trailed by one point until Luke Porter `23 stepped up to the plate. Porter hit a home run, bringing in two other runners who were on base and helping Grinnell take the lead 8-6 for the first time

all game. The team then racked up a total of 3 more runs during the top of the ninth alone, a total of 10 in 1 inning, helping them secure a series victory over Westminster.

ahead to the rest of their season with hopes to get into the Midwest Conference playoffs and perform well there, according to McCain.

This rally reflects a team atmosphere that the players said is very close-knit.

“We’re trusting our teammates, we’re trusting ourselves and we’re really playing together as a unit. We’re putting together really great games, and we’ve got tough opponents,” Mac McCain `25 said about the team’s energy in games.

Their time in Florida helped foster this team’s energy and maturity

Brown and McCain both described the team’s strong defensive skills, consistently making fewer errors on the field than their opponents and with quality pitching. Unfortunately, the team has experienced several injuries that complicate their training and performance.

“We’ve been battling some freak injuries, but it’s also a testament like we’re really pretty deep in every position,” Hollibaugh said regarding the several concussions and other injuries that pulled players from the field.

These injuries have taken a toll on the pitching staff, McCain said. Despite this setback, the pitchers were still able to shut out the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Platteville in Florida on Mar. 20. Alex Love `23 pitched the first six innings, racking up five strikeouts.

Hollibaugh said he was particularly excited by Love’s pitching performance during the UW-Platteville game. He said that Love’s four years of hard work were truly highlighted in his pitching in that game.

The team is now looking

The Pioneers played three games against Monmouth in Illinois this past weekend, and the results from those games can be found on the Grinnell Athletics website. They will next face Cornell College on April 13 at Pioneer Park at 1 p.m. and again at 3 p.m.

Ultimate frisbee hires coaches as team culture shifts towards competitiveness

who join the women and non-binary team come in with little experience in frisbee, said Graham, the coaches will be helping them develop those foundational skills.

While the co-captains who were interviewed said some team members were hesitant about a potential cultural shift in the team because of coaches, Cowan noted that the coaches’ current presence “is the result of a culture shift” with an increase of members and competitiveness for both teams. Notably, the open team is currently ranked sixth in Division III.

The coaches typically come to one practice a week and attend any tournaments the teams attend. Culver and Crown work more closely with the open team and women and non-binary team, respectively. The coaches are helping with “systems level thinking” during games and passing down “strategic knowledge,” said Cowan.

By

year compared to previous years.

After over a year of deliberation, Grinnell College’s ultimate frisbee teams have formally hired two new coaches, Nicholas Culver and Rebecca Crown, in late February of this year. This was an effort made to relieve some of the responsibilities expected of the team captains on the growing teams and to strengthen their national competitiveness.

This is the first time the ultimate teams have had coaches, according to Jacob Cowan `23, co-captain of the open team, and Mallory Graham `23, co-captain of the women and non-binary team.

Both Cowan and Graham have been on their respective teams since their first year at the College. After quarantine, Cowan said he noticed an increase in the number of people attending open team practices, citing no less than 35 people attending compared to around 20 people in the fall of 2019. He also said that the average team member is “significantly more committed” this

This shift led Cowan and the other co-captains of the ultimate teams to more seriously consider the possibility of coaches during the 202122 school semesters. In the fall of 2022, the teams held discussions, and later a vote, on this topic. A majority of team members who voted supported the team getting coaches.

In late 2022, the teams got the positions approved by the athletic department and the College, and they sent out applications to ultimate frisbee club teams based in Iowa, like the Chad Larson Experience. Culver, 27, and Crown, 26, are a married couple who both participate in that mixed ultimate frisbee team. They had multiple interviews with the co-captains, the athletic department and human resources.

Before hiring the coaches, the co-captains were responsible for not only planning and leading practices but also finding tournaments, getting paperwork in on time, coordinating transportation and other logistics.

According to Graham, the new coaches have been “aware of the

culture of frisbee we have here.” She said she and other team members disclosed in discussions some hesitations that come with hiring coaches and its potential to change the teams’ culture. Cowan added that other team members expressed worries due to past negative experiences with sports with “some really toxic and terrible coaching.”

“Historically, we’ve really focused on being welcoming and inclusive to everybody,” Graham said. “And we want to maintain that.”

After working with them for a little over a month, she found that the coaches “only want to be as involved as we want them to be.”

“The captains very much have the final say on what the teams do,” Graham added.

The ultimate teams do not require prior experience, and they are led by students, deviating from how varsity sports teams typically function. Graham said that having ultimate frisbee be more relaxed than a varsity sports team is part of why she joined the team in the first place. Because many of the people

Based in Des Moines and with over seven years of ultimate frisbee experience, both Culver and Crown graduated from the University of Iowa having played for the university’s Division I teams throughout their time there. Culver is an actuary and Crown is a credit underwriter.

Crown said that she wants these athletes to be “the best version of themselves that they can be both on and off the team.” She said while being on a Division I ultimate team, she noticed a “win-it-all mentality,” whereas the Division III teams’ coaches are about “lifting each other up.”

Mallory Graham `23 Women and Non-Binary Team Co-Captain

Graham said that Crown, in particular, has offered insight into the various frisbee cultures she has been a part of and what the co-captain’s options for participating in frisbee after graduation look like.

“Because it’s just such a great group of people, they deserve to have somebody that wants them to succeed and is there to help them do it,” said Culver.

CONTRIBUTED BY TED SCHULTZ

Cole Philpott `25 at bat against Lawrence University on April 2. In the doubleheader matchup, each team won one of the two games.

Kailee Shermak shermakk@grinnell.edu

CONTRIBUTED BY TED SCHULTZ Mac McCain `25 playing the infield against Lawrence University.

CONTRIBUTED BY TED SCHULTZ Lucas Hadding `24 scored a run in the second game against Lawrence University.

We’re trusting our teammates, we’re trusting ourselves and we’re really playing together as a unit. We’re putting together really great games and we’ve got tough opponents.

Mac

McCain `25

Everyone was buying in and working hard in the fall.

Ian

Brown

`24

OWEN BARBATO

Jack Connelly `25 recieves a pass during one of the ultimate frisbee open team’s indoor practices.

OWEN BARBATO

Solomon Golden `24 (right) prepares to throw the disc while Mack Trachtenberg `23 (left) guards him.

Cadence Chen chencade@grinnell.edu

Historically, we’ve really focused on being welcoming and inclusive to everybody, and we want to maintain that.

Please listen to trans people! A reflection on transphobia

The week before spring break, we had a bit of a campus cultural moment wherein there was a flurry of activity, debate and an outpouring of — I will say it — explicit transphobia on the anonymous app YikYak. For context, I am aware that the app is currently banned on campus Wi-Fi, but I must admit that I, along with so many others of you, have occasionally been known to use the app (for personal context, I deleted YikYak the Wednesday evening all of this went down because it became too intense for me). I wanted to speak very briefly on the issue that sparked debate, the petition to have the College unsubscribe from the New York Times as an institution, but more importantly, on the transphobia that resulted from it. Please try to take this as a moment of education and reflection.

Articles written, published and promoted by the New York Times have been cited in countless numbers of anti-trans legislation intro-

duced around the country during a terrifying wave of transphobic sentiment overwhelming legislatures everywhere. Are you aware that on the very same Wednesday that campus was busy debating the merits of transphobia on YikYak, the Iowa state legislature passed several anti-trans bills? One of them forces trans students out of their

preferred bathrooms and changing rooms — even visitors and parents to the school must conform to this new bathroom fascism. Another one bans gender-affirming healthcare for anyone under the age of 18. Do you really think they are going to be stopping there?

According to an open letter signed by over 1,200 New York

Times contributors, in the past eight months alone, “15,000 words of front-page Times coverage debating the propriety of medical care for trans children” has been published (see nytletter.com for more information and to read the letter itself). I just checked Twitter again — Indiana has just passed a ban of gender-affirming care for those under 18. That makes it the 12th state to do so. Almost 25% of the country is now virtually unlivable for trans youth. If you think I am exaggerating about the “unlivable” part, google the suicide rates for trans youth who do not have access to proper care. I am too devastated at the moment to do it for you. After all of this, I have my simple ask of you — please listen to trans people. We are living in a terrifying, hostile state right now, both literally and figuratively. Please be considerate and take the time to educate yourself for the sake of your fellow human beings. We exist too, and we deserve to live our fullest lives. I am tired of being outspoken, I just want to live in peace.

Food for thought: I’m game

By Gabby Hernandez hernande6@grinnell.edu

With spring break came the opportunity for the S&B sports editor, Mo, to freeze two racks of lamb chops and transport them from the West Coast to rural Iowa for the S&B community editor, Jandry, to cook and for me to enjoy. Those lovely chops were priced by Costco low enough for the average college student in this economy to indulge once in a blue moon. I was napping when the chops went into the oven, but the heartwarming scent of lamb quickly spread throughout the residence and awoke me from my slumber. I descended the stairs and came face-to-face with that divine meat. It quickly became clear to me that these chops were personally blessed by the gods. The deeply browned exterior and juicy pink center makes me salivate even thinking about it now. There are very few foods that make my mouth water like lamb

Office Hours: Karla Erickson, Sociology & American Studies

By Raffay Piracha piracha@grinnell.edu

In Office Hours, Raffay Piracha `25 sits down with faculty to learn how their scholarship provides them with equipment for living

In this installment, I want to center the nature of office hours themselves. Is there a culture of office hours that we can explain?

They might go something like this — I show up to my professor’s office based on the times listed on their syllabus. I have four questions prewritten based on the class’ next due paper. We exchange pleasantries, and then I ask, they answer and I leave. But on a different day, I just want to be my instructor’s friend despite knowing little to nothing about their discipline. I want to learn about them and from them, but I do not want to sound foolish. What, then, do I do?

I think whether we are conscious of it or not, our roles as students can seem prewritten. The College’s marketing campaign carves out our niche as prodigious self-starters, interdisciplinary humanitarians on a quest to save the world while simultaneously learning its nuances. Literary depictions of academia romanticize the peculiar amity between teacher and

student despite the obvious power dynamics involved in such friendships. I do not purport to know whether you should or should not attend office hours. However, I do know that cultural narratives undoubtedly mediate our college experience — the question of whether we preserve or jettison these practices is up to us.

To begin answering some of my questions, I’m soliciting the advice of someone accustomed to being super meta. This week, Professor Karla Erickson, sociology and American studies, unravels some of the complexities of office hours.

***

Karla Erickson, how were you taught to do office hours?

One of the things that I think is so interesting, from a social perspective about office hours, is that we’re not trained to do them. So, of course, we all do them differently because no one teaches us how to do them.

They’re just assuming you picked them up?

By osmosis. And then you’re required to hold office hours — the advice is one to two per week, per class.

The Scarlet & Black Staff Spring 2023

Nadia Langley

Allison Moore

Nina Baker

Ellianna Cierpiot

Eleanor Corbin

Lilli Morrish

Mohammad Igbaria

Jandry Perez Garcia

Millie Peck

Samuel Bates

Nora Kohnhorst

Maddi Shinall

Cornelia Di

There’s a ton of difference about what people do when they’re doing office hours, it’s like this very unscripted reality, right?

Exactly, it’s like, are you supposed to talk about homework, or about your feelings or…

People don’t always have an expectation of what the interaction is going to go like. So I feel like I end up setting up the expectations quite a bit from where I sit, but students have also been subtly trained by their tutorial professor, or, you know, high school counselor, or other times they’ve interacted with a person with some authority over them in an unscripted way.

Okay, and how should office hours go, from your perspective?

I could imagine there are several highly valuable ways of structuring office hours that would be satisfying. I think that ultimately an office hour is like one of the densest points where we deliver what we promise, which is a kind of high-touch education, where you are being taught as a person. Many students graduate without ever going to office hours. In the absence of some encouragement from somebody, social class comes out a lot in terms

chops. The chef’s knife cleanly sliced through the spaces in between the bones. Juices, containing an unimaginably beloved flavor, leaked out of the chops and onto the plate. Once properly chopped, the chops were lightly salted with sea salt and served.

I took a bite. The subtle sweetness and a slight hint of gaminess was just perfect. The rosemary that lingered on the edge of the top added a gracefully herbal contrast to the perfectly chewy meat of the chop. The garlic rub had settled deeply into the meat and added another layer to this complex dish.

Lamb chops generally have a unique, rich flavor. Some people may find the flavor of lamb to be too strong or “gamey” for their taste. I, however, love it. No other meat tastes like the animal it comes from quite like lamb does. I can imagine myself confusing pork and beef under a blind taste test under the correct conditions. However, never — not even if I had lost my taste

I will leave you with this tweet, written by Alejandra Caraballa (@ Esqueer), about the gut-wrenching and devastating recent school shooting in Tennessee — “Thank god Tennessee protected the children from the so-called horrors of drag and gender affirming care so they can be shot up at school by an AR-15 instead.”

of who’s willing to use office hours, because if somebody is from a less privileged social background, they might be avoidant. Your expectation of having a satisfying conversation may hinge on your social location. So I think there are more ways for office hours to go wrong if you feel like an irritant, if the faculty or staff member is multitasking while you’re in there.

But there are multiple ways for it to go, right? I’ve had offices by [near] enough people that I’ve overheard a lot of office hours — my friends and I

For information on the current anti-trans legislation happening around the country, I recommend a couple folks on Twitter: the independent journalist/activist Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) as well as Harvard Law instructor Alejandra Caraballa (@Esqueer).

to illness — would I be unable to identify lamb meat from a cluster of other samples.

Eating these lamb chops was like taking a journey through the Iowan countryside on a day with weaker winds and sunlight perfectly blocked by white, fluffy clouds. Each tender bite revealed a new landscape of taste and texture.

The flavor was rich and sophisticated. It had layers of earthy and herbaceous notes that complemented the natural sweetness of the lamb. The seasoning was subtle yet impactful, thus enhancing the overall taste experience.

Consuming these chops was not a meal, it was an experience. They were a dish that demanded attention, appreciation and enjoyment. Savoring these chops was like experiencing a burst of sunshine on a cloudy day. I wanted to stand there and experience that joy forever. The chops brought warmth and brightness to my palate and stomach.

talk about a kind of office hours philosophy. For example, I’ve learned a lot from somebody like Vrinda Varia in student affairs, where she is explicitly trained — she’s a social worker — and knows how to do an intake interview that doesn’t feel like an intake interview. When somebody shows up at my door, and I don’t know why they’re there — like they just happened to be in my class but don’t have a specific question — I have to devise a way of connecting with them inside our roles, so that’s what I try to do.

We exist too, and we deserve to live our fullest lives. I am tired of being outspoken, I just want to live in peace.

PAUL HANSEN

Jay Kratz `23 ask the community to complete the simple request of of liste

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ing to trans people in the wake of horrific transphobia.

CONTRIBUTED BY KARLA ERICKSON

Professor Karla Erickson always tries to meet students where they are at.