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Scarlet & Black Volume 133, Issue 6
Union of students approves contract with College
By Steve Yang yangstev17@grinnell.edu
The Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) has voted to support a tentative agreement that would raise the hourly base wage from $8.50 to $9.25 for all student employees of the Marketplace Dining Hall and provide an additional 75 cents per hour based on hours of experience. The agreement will go into effect on Oct. 1, following President Kington’s official submission of approval. The agreement will provide 265 employees — both students and full time workers — with a 9 percent wage increase. “I am pleased that with this agreement, students will finally have an easier time contributing to their education,” wrote union President Cory McCartan '19 in a press release. He cited rising tuition and stagnant wages as “erod[ing] the relative value of workstudy wages by over 25 percent.” McCartan began investigating wages paid at Grinnell versus industry standards after he noticed that approximately one in six shifts were not covered at the dining hall and then decided to establish a union for students. The union was formed in March of this
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September 30, 2016 • Grinnell, Iowa
Actor 10/10 committee decides on new event Sean Astin campaigns for Clinton
By Louise Carhart carhartl17@grinnell.edu
Grinnell and Hobbiton converged this Thursday, Sept. 29 when Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” movie franchise, visited Grinnell in support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Speaking in the Grinnell Area Arts Council Stewart Gallery, the former Middle Earth resident implored students to realize the potential of Iowa’s electoral votes and to think consciously about the impact of their vote. His visit coincided with the first day of early voting in Iowa. “It’s actually kind of exciting to be in Iowa on the first day that you can vote, it’s electrifying,” Astin said. “Iowa is absolutely critical.” Astin remained objective about his role in the campaign, explaining that he understands some millennials’ desire to vote for third party candidates or abstain from voting altogether. He was adamant, however, that doing so would only contribute votes to republican candidate Donald Trump. “What’s important to you? What do you care about? This election could not be clearer,” Astin said. “It couldn’t be a more stark contrast. Our country stands on the precipice of making an extraordinarily horrible mistake. I wish
>> See Dining page 2
GARRETT WANG
The new 10/10 will end on the north end of campus, aiming to keep students away from High St. at night. By Zane Silk silkzane@grinnell.edu Big changes are coming to Grinnell’s annual 10/10 party, which takes place every year on the Saturday closest to Oct. 10. While the details of the changes remained a mystery following the announcement of a new alcohol policy in August, the new plans are now materializing. The revamped event is being planned by a 10/10 committee that consists of Committee Chair Andrea Conner, Vice President of Student Affairs; Michael Sims, director of
Campus Center Operations/Student Activities; the two Chairs of All Campus Events; the two Chairs of Weekend; one representative each from the men’s and women’s Ultimate Frisbee teams and a Community Advisor. “We knew that we wanted to enlist students to help us with those planning efforts, because I am not necessarily the best barometer of what college students will think is fun,” Conner said. The committee started meeting about five weeks before 10/10, which ACE Co-Chair TJ Jones '17 admits is a short timeframe to transform what is arguably the College’s biggest annual
event. “It’s a very short time. If it were up to me, we would have met way earlier,” Jones said. However, Conner believes that everything will come together in time and plans to release the event details on Monday, Oct. 3. General plans are already in place: the event kicks off with a used clothing drive over lunch, followed by a fair on Mac Field with bouncy castles, laser tag, free concession foods and other carnival activities. Afternoon activities include men’s and women’s soccer games and a football game, with activities for attendees >> See Sub-Free page 3
>> See Sean Astin page 2
ACE reconsiders Harris parties
Natalie Rothman: historic diplomacy and a same-sex
love affair
XIAOXUAN YANG
Weekly campus council meetings discuss issues such as the future of traditional ACE events. By Philip Kiely kielyphi@grinnell.edu Every weekend, hundreds of students gather for a party in Harris or Gardner sponsored by the Student Government Association (SGA), All Campus Events Committee (ACE) or hosted by a student group. Although certain weekends are typically reserved for Harris parties, ACE has been required to make last-minute changes for scheduling reasons, bringing up questions of safety at college parties. For example, last weekend, due to the unavailability of Harris, the Beyoncé themed party was moved to the much smaller Gardner venue. “We tried to get Harris for that party, … but due to some scheduling conflicts SGA was not able to secure Harris instead of Gardner, so we had to come up with a new plan,” said Michelle Risacher ’17, director of ACE Student Safety (ACESS). When planning Harris parties, the SGA plans for a maximum of 300 people at a time. However, Gardner’s capacity is about half of that, which makes it a challenge. “Beyoncé Harris/Gardner was a challenge, and we’re still kind of dealing with that,” said Claudia Handal ’18, ACE Coordinator. Because of the smaller space, ACESS, a student staff that provides crowd control and event safety in a Friday "Theory and Practice of the Coalition" Spencer Grill, 3 p.m.
non-punitive manner, had to make some tough calls in the name of safety. “Even though we were turning people away, we were still over capacity,” Risacher said. Fortunately, the lines were short, and people were able to enter after a slight delay. “So we had to come up with an alternative plan or otherwise cancel the event itself and so while we’re aware that it was probably not a popular plan this was opposed to canceling the event altogether so that’s one of the tough decisions that we have to make,” said Risacher. Keeping events under capacity is integral to safety. “There was a lot of sweating … and so that’s a hazard because people can slip on that sweat … in case of an emergency where we would need to evacuate Gardner, there’s a danger that there could be a stampede which could result in injuries and even death,” Risacher said. Overfilled events also inhibit ACESS workers from effectively doing their jobs. The dense crowds make it difficult for them to access partygoers who may need help. Gardner does have some advantages over Harris as a location. “Gardner is a much smaller space, … it’s a more fluid space. … I think that the sound quality is much better at Gardner,” Handal said.
It is typically used for concerts, and is accessible to non-students while Harris is used for larger student-only gatherings. One thing that does not change between the two spaces is the commitment shared by SGA, ACE and ACESS to making parties safe and enjoyable. ACE provides each Harris or Gardner party with pizza and water, and a budget for anything that the party might need. “ACESS is there to keep the peace, help students stay safe and uphold selfgovernance,” Handal said. “We’re not the police, we’re not campus safety, we are students, we are your peers, so if you need something please let us know. … We’re not punitive, we’re not going to send them anywhere or give them a fine or anything” said Ayesha Mirzakhail ’17, Director of ACESS. ACE and ACESS are each trying new things to improve the Harris experience. This semester, there were no pre-determined Harris themes, so students groups chose their own. “Instead of having Halloween Harris on Halloween somebody could technically have done it in November,” Handal said. ACESS has just rolled out walkietalkies for their staff, and plans to add headsets as well. This improves communication, especially in Gardner, which has poor reception.
Friday Presentation by poet D. Allen
Friday Opening Reception: "Archipenko: A Modern Legacy Faulconer Gallery, 4:30 p.m.
Mears Living Room, 4 p.m.
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Natalie Rothman, associate professor of history at the University of Toronto, visited Grinnell last Monday night to share the story of a torrid love affair in early modern Istanbul. Rothman’s presentation analyzed a same-sex relationship between a dragoman, or Ottoman translator-diplomat, and Venetian barber in the sixteenth century Venetian embassy. By means of this microhistory, Rothman makes a case that the affair speaks to the role of domesticity and transimperialism in early modern diplomacy. The S&B’s Emma Friedlander sat down with Rothman to discuss her research, historical gender roles and the modern invention of East and West. The S&B: What is significant about this particular case study in early modern Istanbul? Natalie Rothman: The paper revolves around a case study or microhistory of a love affair between two young men working for the Venetian representative in Istanbul in 1588. It’s based on a transcript that I found of the Venetian representative — the bailo — interrogating 16 men who were current or previous resident employees of his house to testify about the nature of this love affair, what they had seen, what they knew. I was trying to use this case as a lens on broader questions about early modern
XIAOXUAN YANG
Rothman spoke last Monday.
Tuesday
Workshop: Study Spaces that Foster Productivity and Learning JRC 227, 11 a.m.
diplomacy, about interactions between local Ottoman subjects and people coming from Venice all living and working together in the house, about different perceptions of sexuality and tensions around authority. The S&B: You were trained as a historical anthropologist. What does that mean and how does it inform your approach to history? NR: The program I was trained in was trying to give us grounding both in social theory and anthropological approaches and methodologies. ... Most importantly, always thinking of questions of scale and the relationship between different units of analysis. ... To give an example related to my research, not to assume that because the case is taking place in Istanbul then everything we need to know only takes place in Istanbul. People are always connected in all sorts of ways to broader processes and also broader temporalities. ... We might identify as belonging to a certain religious community, to a certain gender, to a certain race, those kinds of things. What anthropology allows me to do as a historian is to always ask about the genealogies of these categories. The S&B: You stressed in your talk that when studying transnational history, it’s important to understand context as a multidirectional process rather than as a binary. Why is this especially important when looking at the early modern Middle East? NR: I think it’s especially important because you quickly realize that there is no such thing as the early modern Middle East. The Middle East is really an invention of modern imperial dynamics. What you have in the early modern period is an Ottoman empire that controls three-quarters of the Mediterranean and is very much integrated economically and culturally, I would argue, with its neighbors, whether it’s to the west, or what we now understand as the West >> See Rothman page 2
Tuesday Grinnell Prize Awards Ceremony JRC 101, 12 p.m., other events throughout the week.
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