Volume 135 Issue 14

Fred Buck instructs banjo, mandolin and resophonic guitar. Arts page 4

Student-athletes and their work-play balance.

Sports page 7

Students who choose to work off-campus.

Community page 8

Scarlet & Black the

thesandb.com

Volume 135, Issue 14

Special Edition:

The Work Issue

For Grinnell College students, it is often difficult to separate employment from academics. Many Grinnell students hold one or more campus jobs that they must balance between rigorous academics and extracurriculars. 86 percent of students receive aid at Grinnell, and one mechanism for receiving aid is work study (Grinnell College Tuition and Financial Aid).

For the first issue of 2019, The Scarlet and Black has decided to create a work issue that showcases both a different side of employment in Grinnell College and broadens the conversation beyond students.

Further, it is a timely decision for The S&B to explicitly discuss employment issues on campus following the events of Fall 2018. Last semester, The S&B extensively reported

on the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers and the administration’s response. The union was and is an important issue to follow, and specifically discussing work is a logical step for the paper. The S&B wants to extend our coverage of work issues on campus to not only focus on the union but shed light on less discussed matters that are just as relevant to campus life.

Matters of labor and employment on campus have been covered in the news, and it is time to discuss these matters in even more detail as to how students and the community are impacted.

The S&B aims to provide further insight into the unique relationship between the College and employment by examining both students and faculty. Such issues that will be covered range from shortages in college faculty, the intersection

of personal interests and work, and the balance that students must strike between academics, extracurricular activities and employment. Additionally, this issue will not only discuss work affairs on campus, but how issues of employment in the broader community impact Grinnell College students. The S&B aims to show that work issues exist not only on our campus, but around us as well, and that the unique relationship between the Grinnell community and college is affected by matters of employment.

The work issue delves deeper in to the unique relationship that students have with work, understand how the campus and community are impacted by federal actions regarding labor, and make sense of how college faculty and staff operate inside the context of work.

February 1, 2019 • Grinnell, Iowa

Update on UGSDW post-concessions

A breakdown of Grinnell's workforce

By Seth Taylor taylorse@grinnell.edu

PAUL CHAN

Ella Williams '19 and Nate Williams '20 lead UGSDW action on Dec. 14.

By Julia Anderson anderson14@grinnell.edu The 2018 fall semester was an eventful one for the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (USGDW), as their attempts towards expansion reached the attention of national news sources including NPR, Teen Vogue and Vice. The union’s goal of expansion was to grow into the representative bargaining power for all on-campus student employees, beyond its current scope of dining services employees.

After a campus-wide election voted to expand the union to allow membership from all jobs on campus, UGSDW ultimately withdrew their petition after ongoing disagreements with the College. The petition for expansion would have been presented to the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board in Minneapolis, and The NLRB’s verdict could have had the power to change the national precedent on students’ ability to unionize at private colleges and universities.

With the dawn of a new semester, UGSDW executive board members say that they are not giving up on their goal of expansion.

“We never promised to give up, we never said that we were done.

All we said was we are no longer asking the government to help us, and that has no effect on our ability to take any actions, to strike, any of Saturday Swim and Dive Meet v. University of Nebraska Russell K. Osgood Pool, 1 p.m.

our legally protected rights, and it is not changing our overall goal at the moment. We are still trying to expand,” said UGSDW Executive Board Member Jacob Schneyer '21.

On Jan. 21, UGSDW published a report titled “Racial Discrimination at the Spencer Grill” to their website.

The report, conducted by Executive Board Member Cory McCartan '19, alleges that students of color at the Spencer Grill face harsher levels of discipline and termination than their white peers. UGSDW receives notifications of any student employee firings, so after noticing a potential pattern, union members requested anonymous information from Grinnell’s Human Resources office to analyze further.

At the Spencer Grill, student employees face a “three cuts” system in which cuts serve as penalizing actions. After receiving three cuts, a student is fired.

“What I found was that white and non-white student workers are about equally as likely to get those first two cuts, but that third cut — which is when you should be fired — suddenly now employees of color and international student workers are much more likely to get that third cut compared to their white counterparts,” said McCartan.

According to the report, white student employees are also more likely to receive a second chance after three cuts, sometimes not facing termination until four or five >> See Union page 2 Monday Zumba Bear P103, 4:45 p.m.

For all intents and purposes, Grinnell is doing well economically. Unemployment has fallen steeply since 2009, resting now at 3.2 percent; median household income has steadily increased

while the number of SNAP food assistance recipients has steadily decreased; and data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that the average weekly wage in Poweshiek County is $800.

Still, issues of workforce recruitment, workforce development and poverty persist, and both governmental and non-governmen-

tal organizations across Poweshiek County are working to alleviate these problems.

Recruiting Workers For the city of Grinnell, there are two main barriers that challenge workforce recruitment: housing and childcare. the Center for American Progress >> See Diversity page 2

Campus Safety's new patrol vehicles resemble police cars

By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu

Over winter break, Campus Safety acquired two new vehicles that closely resemble those used by police departments across the country. The purchases had been planned for a while - the previous interim director of Campus Safety had submitted a request to the Building, Maintenance and Equipment (BM&E) committee in 2016.

In 2016, the request for new vehicles was not authorized.

However, in 2017, James Shropshire, Director of Campus Safety, submitted another request for the same vehicles and specifications.

This request was granted, leading to the purchase of the cars, which cost $34,000. Proposals sent to the BM&E committee must be for purchases that cannot be made in the regular budget cycle, and proposals are evaluated and ranked by priority. For example, a proposal submitted in 2017 would be funded in 2018, explaining why the car purchase occurred when it did.

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According to Shropshire, there are several reasons for why the College purchased the new cars.

“The primary reason was that the vehicle was designed specifically for patrol operations. The engine and transmission are specifically geared toward low speed travel with frequent stops, the vehicle being started and turned off multiple times a day, and a suspension

tailored to in-town driving. The secondary reason was that these type of patrol vehicles are eligible for company fleet plans, thus we were able to leverage the College’s fleet account to receive an excellent price point as well as the fleet benefits for warranty and repair items,” wrote Shropshire in an email to The S&B. Further, Shropshire believed

SCOTT LEW

One of the new Campus Safety cars, purchased for patrolling capabilities. >> See Campus page 2 Thursday "The Infinite Wrench," Flanagan Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday Writers @ Grinnell: John Garrison Faulconer Gallery, 8 p.m.

Arts 3 | Features 5 | Sports 7 | Community 8 | Opinions 9

2

News

Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu & vitaioli@grinnell.edu

College buys two new $34,000 campus safety cars: Praise for patrolling capabilities despite police aesthetic

Continued from Front Page the old cars needed to be replaced by newer and more efficient models. The previous Campus Safety cars, the purple truck and white van, were “mismatched in color, not designed for our operations, and had different College branding as they were purchased years apart,” wrote Shropshire. Additionally, both cars had over 100,000 miles and required regular maintenance.

However, many students feel uncomfortable with the aesthetics of these new cars, given their resemblance to police vehicles.

As Shropshire explained, Campus Safety does serve the College community in the same way that police do, thus requiring that Campus Safety is prepared with the tools to best help them serve Grinnell College.

“I have general concerns that the tools, equipment, and uniforms that are designed for our type of work are strongly associated with Law Enforcement. Thus, due to the needs of ensuring operational success, we utilize these items that

often evoke a variety of feelings from the community based upon their lived experience. My hope is that our daily interactions with the campus community reinforce our goal of being engaged, approachable, and when enforcement is necessary to do so from an educational stance as opposed to a punitive one,” wrote Shropshire.

Thus, due to the needs of ensuring operational success, we utilize these items that often evoke a variety of feelings from the community based upon their lived experience.

James Shropshire, Director of Campus Safety After students arrived on campus, many took to social media to voice their opinions of the new cars, taking issue with the paint job and bull bars on the front fenders of the new cars. Shropshire explained that these aesthetic details were included to reflect the branding of the

College, as this vehicle is operating in an official capacity.

“Incidentally, it has been my experience that the push bumper also significantly decreases the damage to the front bumper, frame, and engine casing if it is struck head on in an accident. This is not the intended purpose of the equipment, but it is a nice fringe benefit of the equipment,” Shropshire wrote.

“I recognize the need for an update in campus safety vehicles, but that need should be fulfilled without evoking an image that can make many community members feel uncomfortable or unsafe to interact with campus safety,” wrote Sam Xu '20 in an email to The S&B. Shropshire recognizes that such negative associations exist with the new cars, but he feels that this purchase is worthwhile and can help Campus Safety better serve the College community.

“I hope that we can assuage any concerns that students might have about the use of equipment with a cop aesthetic through our daily positive interactions with the campus community … I would invite

Union to continue collective bargaining fight in new year Continued from Front Page cuts.

The College has since responded to the report through a special campus memo. According to the memo, “the College takes the concerns raised in UGSDW’s report very seriously” but in its analysis of the report found “the limited data insufficient to draw meaningful conclusions.” However, an independent third-party will conduct an investigation overseen by the College’s Interim Chief Diversity Officer, Leslie A. GreggJolly.

“The administration said they’re open to talking about this with us, and we’re going to really press them on specific things we can do to stop this from happening going forward,” McCartan said.

We really want to reach out to all members of the Grinnell community and make sure that we’re doing our jobs as the representatives, both on the surface but also in our goal of expansion of all the student workers on campus.

Quinn Ercolani '20, UGSDW President UGSDW had also anticipated beginning the spring semester with their first action early on, hoping to travel to the University of Iowa on Jan. 23. President Raynard Kington

was invited to give the MLK Human Rights Week Distinguished Lecture at the University, and union members planned to distribute information outside of the lecture in response.

The action was ultimately canceled due to poor road conditions.

“We kind of felt like this was a betrayal of MLK’s values because he was very much involved in radical labor activism, and he had this understanding of different forms of oppression being linked together. … Because of that, we think it was really inappropriate to have someone who is actively engaged in trying to reduce labor rights of people who are trying to gain them give a lecture like that,” Schneyer said.

Schneyer noted that UGSDW had no plans to picket the event or to discourage people from attending the lecture. They hoped to distribute flyers as well as meet with the University of Iowa Labor Center and graduate student union in a show of solidarity.

In terms of the future, UGSDW plans to continue its goal of expansion on-campus and is open to potential compromises, such as expanding to represent some but not all student employees. In addition, executive board members hope to meet with Kington as well as the College’s trustees this semester.

“We can continue to put pressure on the administration and make them realize that denying students and student workers their rights is the wrong move for

Grinnell College as an institution.

Regardless of any economic impact it might have, our values should be a priority for us. The cost of a union is not going to change the way Grinnell College operates in a significantly detrimental way. The only thing that it does is affirm our values and our commitment to social responsibility,” said UGSDW President Quinn Ercolani '20.

Other future plans include bargaining on the dining contract as well as a potential student employee strike. Overall, UGSDW members hope to engage more with students and hear how they can improve their mission.

The administration said they’re open to talking about this with us, and we’re going to really press them on specific things we can do to stop this from happening going forward.

Cory McCartan '19, UGSDW executive board member “We really want to reach out to all members of the Grinnell community and make sure that we’re doing our jobs as the representatives, both on the surface but also in our goal of expansion of all the student workers on campus.

We want to make sure that we’re doing it the way that people want us to be doing it,” Ercolani said.

PAUL CHAN

Students gather outside of Nollen house at the UGSDW action that took place on Dec. 14. To date this is the last union action to take place, as the first of the semester — a Martin Luther King Day event — was canceled due to weather.

anyone who was interested to meet with me to come see our patrol vehicles, review the functionality of the equipment and its intended purpose in the context of our work, and exhibit the key differences between a safety vehicle and a police vehicle,” explained Shropshire.

But honestly, I personally feel safer with these intimidating cars driving around because Grinnell is really scary and dark at night.

Lana Katai '21 When asked how he would respond to students who feel that the image and associations of the cars outweigh their potential value, Shropshire wrote: “I would affirm their lived experience and what law enforcement tools, equipment, and uniforms represent to them. I would look to explain the value of these items to the Department of Campus Safety and the college community and invite them to discuss ways in which our department can positively interact with and impact the

community despite the use of law enforcement equipment that might create a negative perception.”

While some students are struck by the appearance of campus safety’s new vehicles, for others it does promote feelings of insecurity with the vehicles patrolling campus.

“I’m not really bothered by them. [Campus Security] have continuously been nothing but kind to me, once offering to fix my bike so I didn’t have to pay for it, and another time driving me to Frontier on my birthday,” wrote Lana Katai ’21 in a message to The S&B. “I understand some people are uncomfortable with our campus’s safety, which is completely valid.

But honestly, I personally feel safer with these intimidating cars driving around because Grinnell is really scary and dark at night.”

The S&B reached out to the Interim Chief Diversity Officer, Leslie Gregg-Jolly, and the Assistant Director of Intercultural Affairs, Jordan Brooks, for comment. Both parties declined to comment on how the newly-purchased vehicles might affect student safety dynamics on campus.

Tackling campus labor shortages in SHACS and theatre

By Candace Mettle mettleca@grinnell.edu In the 2019 spring semester, the College intends to fill 18 oncampus positions, most notably in the student health and counseling services (SHACS) and the theatre and dance department.

“We are looking for individuals who have an interest in contributing to a strong academic environment that also concentrates on developing students to fulfill our mission,” wrote Stacy Koehler, associate director employee recruiting and support, in an email to The S&B. “A belief in social justice and diversity and inclusion is also important.”

As Grinnell College claims to support diversity and inclusion, interim diversity officer Leslie Gregg-Jolly suggests that those involved in the hiring process be mindful of their applicant pool. In an email to the Scarlet & Black, Gregg-Jolly referred to the Grinnell College Faculty Recruitment Guidelines & Procedures, which states that “a community that encompasses a diversity of people and perspectives is the foundation of excellence in the liberal arts.” A key way of achieving diversity is for recruiters to refer to networks supporting diverse candidates.

The Consortium for Faculty Diversity database, the National Science Foundation, the National Women's Studies Association and historically black colleges and universities, among other special caucuses and committees, are cited in the handbook as resources to pull more candidates with diverse backgrounds.

To address mental health needs for students, The College recently hired Dr. Eric Wood, a psychologist with 12 years of experience in college mental health, as dean for health and wellness. Over the course of his career, Dr. Wood has worked with two federal grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, been named a diversity scholar for national organizations and served on an advisory board for a consortium of schools.

SHACS currently offers free tele-psychiatry services through University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and partners with the University of Iowa psychology doctoral program for in-person visits. Students can choose to participate in either group or individual sessions, depending on their goals for counseling. However, the doctoral students work part-time, and as a result the College lacks a full time, on-site psychologist. “[Dr.] Wood will promote comprehensive prevention programs that support goals for diversity, inclusion, and belonging across the College, as well as support strategic leadership in the areas of health and mental health services,” wrote

Sarah Mochenross in an email to The S&B. “Given the shortage of psychologists in the state and the nation, we are especially thrilled to have someone of [Dr.] Wood’s expertise and experience on campus.”

Dr. Wood, who is AfricanAmerican, wrote in an email to The S&B that he looks forward to working at the College. He acknowledges that there are not many psychologists of color or with diverse identities, and though he holds many accomplishments, they are not representative of the field embodying diversity.

“I often find myself to be the only person of color in the room, and, sadly, this relates to historical factors as opposed to the intent of any particular institution.”

Nonetheless, he wrote that working at Grinnell presents an exciting opportunity for himself and the College.

“Grinnell [College]'s desire for a psychologist with experience in college mental health undoubtedly meant that the school wanted someone who was thriving and happily working at another institution. Such was the case for me, and because of this, and my obligations to students, etc., transitioning was necessarily a drawn-out process. I will say that during 12 years at my previous institution, I've turned down 4 unsolicited offers from other institutions, and my previous school made several counter offers to keep me. I only say this to highlight how Grinnell is a very compelling place to work,” Wood wrote.

I often find myself to be the only person of color in the room, and, sadly, this relates to historical factors as opposed to the intent of any particular institution Dr. Eric Wood, dean of health and wellness The theatre and dance student educational policy committee hopes to work with the College to replace Professor Ellen Mease’s imminent vacancy with a professor who is a person of color.

Theatre and dance is notably dominated by white people, notably men; therefore, the committee argues that having someone from a marginalized identity would diversify the department and fulfill the College’s commitment of creating an excellent academic environment. The representatives of the committee could not be reached for additional comment before the publishing of this article.

The S&B will continue to cover the department as well as other vacancies.

Arts

Edited by fruchter@grinnell.edu

3

Grinnell students support themselves through creative work

By Abraham Teuber teuberab@grinnell.edu While Grinnell College is known for its academic opportunities in the arts, it is also home to several students pursuing art as work. Through the media of visual art, music and creative writing, student artists at the College use their artistic passions to financially support themselves.

“90 percent of my income goes to tuition for work study, so I’ve been using my Etsy as a way to get food money … because right now I’m not getting enough to sustain myself every week,” said Sofia Carr, '22, who sells embroidery commissions.

However, Carr has found that assigning monetary value to her creative work can be difficult. She explained that although her work should get close to $30 when adding in the cost of materials, she doesn’t think anyone would spend that much money on an non-established artist.

“I understand the labor that goes into [my work], but people just don’t want to buy art from an amateur embroiderer for $30,” Carr said.

Cassidy Christiansen, '20, a visual artist who works with a variety

of media, commended the opportunities available for working artists through the College, such as the Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX).

“You can submit art, and half of Faulconer Gallery is all student work. It’s like the best of the best.

There are cash prizes for categories, and then [art] is also for sale, and professors and the school buy a lot of artists’ work.” said Christensen.

Still, they find conflict can arise in mixing their personal passion with the need to support themselves.

“I have a hard time dealing with the monetary aspect of buying artwork. If I could, I would just give away all of my art for free, and that’s what I do most of the time … I’m lucky that I’m in a position where I can do that,” they explained.

In the realm of music, singer and bassist Victoria Park '21, described having similar experiences: “The creative product itself is mostly for me and I try to focus on just making the best thing that I can … that’s the most important part as opposed to being like ‘What is going to be a song that sells?’”

Park, who publishes under the name Pictoria Vark, also elaborated on music’s role as a form of labor.

“I do consider my bass-playing to be skilled work, and something I’ve worked hard to be compensat-

ed for. I think that’s really important for musicians to stand for.”

Ian Donaldson '20, member of the Washington D.C.-based band “Cool Baby,” detailed some of the difficulties of using music to support himself financially.

“You won’t get any money from streams … so you ask, ‘How can we monetize this?’ You make money from selling merch and doing shows. You pretty much need another job,” said Donaldson.

“It’s hard to monetize music because it’s like a public good. On the radio, for instance, anyone can tune in, so it’s just so hard to attach value to something that’s immaterial.

How do you value art? That’s why all of the monetization comes from shows.”

Steven Duong '19, who has had poetry published by journals such as Salt Hill and Pacifica Literary Review, emphasized the significance of exposure in creative writing.

“Once I had a body of work, I started submitting to journals, figuring out how to market [my] work and find publication,” said Duong.

“Selling your work is not only a way to make money, but also a way to show it to other people and get it to a place or platform where it can be seen by others and hopefully inspire others.”

LIZ PAIK

Victoria Park '21 performs under the name Pictoria Vark. She has worked throughout her career to be compensated for her bass-playing.

LIZ PAIK

Sofia Carr '22 supports herself by selling embroidery commissions on Etsy, although she feels that she has to undersell her work. Ian Donaldson '20's band Cool Baby streams their music on Spotify but makes money through branding.

On the job: Jay Shuey

SOFIA MENDEZ

Jeremy Shuey works at the Faulconer Gallery guarding the various works of art that cycle through the exhibits.

By Anneliese Stattelman stattelm@grinnell.edu Jeremy Shuey, or Jay, as many Grinnellians know him, has worked at the Faulconer Gallery for two years. In that time, he has garnered the reputation of being a friendly face on campus, and someone always down for a conversation.

As the security guard, Shuey has unparalleled insight and access to the art gallery, and the interactions that happen within.

Interactions with the art “depend on what the topic is. You see a lot of positive interactions but if you get something kinda controversial where the people have conflicting thoughts about it sometimes you’ll get that negative reaction but it’s very rare,” said Shuey.

Shuey meets more than just students on the job. He also meets children from local daycares and elderly people from nursing homes. He says that reactions to the art vary with different demographics.

“It all depends on what the people are into. The students here and people who are more creative interact with [the exhibits] a lot more. They look into it and see more than what a person would that’s just from the public that isn’t really artsy or don’t have that creative mindset.”

Shuey himself has a creative mindset. With a background in psychology and a deep interest in theology, he describes himself as a detail-oriented and artsy type of person.

“I would have to say my favorite [exhibit in Faulconer] so far was probably the art-biology mix because it was very widespread and was more colorful and vivid.”

Shuey’s love for art is combined with a military background in the Army and the Air Force. In addition, he has previous experiences as a security guard in the local hospital. Both of these made the job at the College’s art gallery a perfect fit.

And Shuey says that the College as a whole was a big motivating factor

behind his decision to take the job.

“Once I heard it was at Grinnell College I was definitely in. I’ve always liked Grinnell College,” he said. “I actually applied to Grinnell College a long time ago. It was just a really good fit. So far I don’t see anything negative about it at all.”

Shuey is a single father of two with a nine-year-old and an 11-yearold at home. “I’ve raised them since they were little itty-bitty babies still in diapers and formula,” he said.

Although he represents the friendly Iowan culture to a tee, Shuey isn’t himself an Iowa native.

A native of California, he experienced the same transition to the state as many first-years experience when he was a kid.

Once I heard [the job] was at Grinnell College I was definitely in. I've always liked Grinnell College.

“I was going into the seventh grade when we moved to Iowa. It was a shell-shock moving from California to Iowa,” he remembered, “We of course had some misconceptions about Iowa just like anybody would; thinking Iowa’s just all cornfields.

And I was thinking ‘Oh, everybody's going to be in bib overalls.’ It was totally not that way. Everybody is super friendly in Iowa and it’s a great place to live.”

Shuey says that working at the College has changed how he sees Grinnell.

“When you’re out and about and people don’t know much about the College, sometimes they have different views. But when you actually get to the college and get to talking with people and seeing what they’re all about it has definitely changed everything for me,” he said.

“I’m very happy to work here, everybody gets along well, it’s kind of like a family. They help each other out, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Arts

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Edited by fruchter@grinnell.edu

Breaking down the music department's over 40 faculty members

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu As anyone who has ever looked at the College music department faculty page knows, the College provides a dizzying variety of private lessons, special-interest ensembles and performance groups.

With a 40-member faculty, the music department is unusually large.

This is mostly due to the presence of Applied Music Associates, or AMAs, who teach private lessons in disciplines that vary from the bagpipe to the cello.

Fred Buck is an applied music associate at the College, and teaches private lessons in banjo, mandolin and resophonic guitar, an instrument found mainly in bluegrass music.

Buck has been teaching at Grinnell for over 25 years, with his student numbers growing from just two in his first years at the College to over twenty this semester.

My whole goal is to give them a lifetime’s worth of playing … it’s not just to learn an instrument; it’s to fit in with other people and play.

Applied Music Associate Fred Buck Buck, who has been playing the banjo for over 40 years, teaches in Music House (1032 East St.) every day of the school week from around 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Buck also organizes “jams” where students have the chance to play together.

“My whole goal is to give them a lifetime’s worth of playing … it’s not just to learn an instrument; it’s to fit in with other people and play,” he said.

“I call music a participant sport.

[Playing in a group] is more than just playing an instrument … and I think the only way you can learn

that is to play with people.”

Professor Eric McIntyre, chair of the music department and conductor of the College orchestra (in addition to many other musical pursuits), explained that the majority of AMAs teach exclusively in a one-on-one setting, and that most of them do not live in Grinnell, but commute from one of the nearby cities. Almost all AMAs at the College work as professional musicians simultaneously with their teaching position.

Essentially, that's the one requirement, that someone be a working musician.

Music dept. chair Eric McIntyre “Essentially, that’s the one requirement, that someone be a working musician,” said McIntyre.

AMA positions are not tenuretrack, but rather have contracts that are renewed on a year-to-year basis.

McIntyre explained that due to this fact (as well as that AMAs tend to have at least one other job outside the College), the music department has a much higher rate of faculty turnover than most other academic departments at the College, where all or almost all positions are tenuretrack.

"They have faculty status, at least in that they have faculty p-cards and ... library benefits," McIntyre said. "Some have beenfits and the benefits have to do with if they are over a certain number of hours ... most, or many, its just an hourly contract, so they're paid based on how many students they teach."

Hiring for the positions is partially determined by the specific subjects students want to study. For example, if a particular instrument is very popular and there is a shortage of faculty to meet the demand for

SOFIA MENDEZ

Applied Music Associate and Grinnell resident Fred Buck teaches his students banjo, mandolin and resophonic guitar. The music department employs 40 faculty members to teach everything from accordion to cello. lessons, the department may decide to add another AMA who specializes in that instrument.

Regarding the more unusual instruments, McIntyre explained, “Rarely do we say [that] we want to just offer an instrument and go and find the teacher — there’s usually some question of demand, and then of course there’s all the standard orchestral instruments and band instruments and voice, which we want to always have staffed.”

For some rare specialties, it has been difficult for the department to find available teachers.

A specialist in the cornetto, an early music predecessor of the

trumpet, teaches over Skype due to the difficulty of finding a local cornetto virtuoso.

When we added bagpipes, we just happened to have a virtuoso bagpiper here in our community who could teach, and along with that, there was some curiosity from students, and so in that case we were able to add that .

Eric McIntyre On the other hand, McIntyre said, there have been occasions

in which, by chance, a specialist was available within the local community.

“When we added bagpipes, … we just happened to have a virtuoso bagpiper here in our community who could teach, and along with that, there was some curiosity from students, and so in that case we were able to add that,” McIntyre said.

When students wanted to learn the accordion, the department found an instructor even closer to home.

“It just so happens that Joyce Bergan, who works in our office, is an accordionist” McIntyre remembered, “and so she was able to start teaching that way.”

Website re-design Day jobs and monologues: What does it mean to work in the arts? highlights student life, present and future

By Eyerusalem Desta destaeye@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell College communications department facilitated a website re-design with branding firm Ologie to incorporate more student-focused elements.

By Sarah Licht lichtsar@grinnell.edu For the arrival of 2019, the College has made several changes to its overall branding, the most noticeable of which is the website. If you click onto the College’s website, you will find a more personal look at the Grinnell experience. The new site has a much more vibrant appearance than the old design.

The College hired branding agency Ologie to conduct user focus groups and testing to determine the best way to redesign the website, including what content users of the website would want to see.

Sarah Anderson, the director of content strategy in the Office of Communication, said that the focus groups indicated a desire for more content and functionality related to student life at Grinnell.

Specifically, Ologie identified the inclusion of photos and videos that showcase what it is like to be a student at Grinnell and easy ways to discover events occurring on and off campus as goals of the redesign.

Once Ologie determined their content and design strategy, the College’s long-term Drupal [an opensource Web development software] development team built the site.

The effectiveness of the building process is apparent, since the

new design aspects of the website flow seamlessly with the older parts of it.

Although Anderson stated that updating the College’s website “was always part of the implementation plan for the brand strategy,” the recent changes also give students a look into the College’s continuing branding process.

The website created will be able to grow and change if need be, creating a flexible medium to show the evolution of the College’s brand.

The content team designed the website’s new elements to develop as the Grinnell experience changes and grows. Although many student stories, pictures and videos have already been added to the website, the redesign allows for the inclusion of many more pieces of the Grinnell experience to be added over time.

Anderson stated that this functionality allows the website to show the “richness and vibrancy of the student experience” to all who visit.

The stories, which will be continuously added to the website, show what past Grinnell students have thought of the College alongside current student testimonials.

The variety of stories convey the message that, much like the website, the College’s story is never truly done.

It’s a narrative familiar to most art majors: it can be hard to make a living coming out of college.

Yet theater professionals Lesley Delmenico and Rachel Harvith attest to the reality of a successful, if not always obvious, post-graduate career path in the arts.

“I did a lot of other things before I finally found that I needed to do theater and that wasn’t until I was in my thirties ... I did all the practical stuff [first],” said theater and dance professor and artist Lesley Delmenico.

Delmenico explained that when she began to actively pursue a career in theater she was already married and raising two children. “The thing you need to do kind of sneaks up on you,” she said.

Contrary to her experience, and perhaps because of it, Delmenico advises students to pursue their interests directly after college.

“It’s harder and at that point sometimes people kind of lose, not the passion, but the sense that ‘okay, I can do this, at [this] point, I can make that kind of big change,’” Delmenico said.

She stressed that pursuing an artistic passion does not mean sacrificing your financial wellbeing; the trick is balancing your day job with your artistic work.

Always to give yourself the freedom and the flexibility within that job to be able to go out and to do that audition.

Prof. Lesley Delmenico “Always to give yourself the freedom and the flexibility within that job to be able to go out and to do that audition,” Delmenico said.

Rachel Harvith, theater director and the head of the College’s career community for arts, media, and communication, faced this challenge when working at a theater company after college. She loved the experience, but “they were paying us practically nothing,” said Harvith. “So actually, honestly, I ended up … moving home and doing retail.”

Yet Harvith nourished her theatrical passion by volunteering at a theater company in her area, which turned into a paid position

at the company. She explained that it is important not to discount experiences from other fields that may aid in one’s true goals.

Harvith asserted that the myth of being “pigeonholed” in an entrylevel day actually helps artists gain experience that sets them apart from other artistic professionals: “Any time that you can connect the dots in unusual ways, that’s where you can really show your work as an employee as a thought leader.”

Both Harvith and Delmenico spoke to the idea that no experience is to be discounted, and that each experience is just another piece of the artistic journey.

“You don’t have to feel like you ever are pinning yourself in a corner, your life is so much more nuanced than that,” Harvith said.

Delmenico also emphasized the multi-faceted nature of any postgraduate career: “Keep creating that patchwork which is always a moving target that you’re working with or a patchwork that you’re always putting new pieces in until that comes through or until you have so many things lined up … that you know that you can support yourself,” she said.

We would hope buisness and industry would look at their employees and want them to make a good, afforable wage.

Mayor Dan Agnew

SARINA LINCOLN

Rachel Harvith, the director of Grinnell College's career community for arts, media and communications also maintains an active career in the arts, a career path about which she also advises students.

Features

Edited by anderson14@grinnell.edu

Community Advisors navigate the emotional labor required of job

By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu Community Advisors (CAs) have a job that sets them apart from other employment opportunities in the Grinnell College community.

CAs serve to help students address their concerns and, if they cannot, guide them to a resource on campus who can. They also create bulletin boards and door decorations, host programs for their halls and have an on-call rotation each weekend where the student serves as an on-campus resource. CAs also hold regular administrative staff meetings, in which they discuss how walk-throughs are going or any concerns with residents.

Every CA must undergo a training before each semester starts. This comprehensive training spans multiple days to ensure that CAs are adequately prepared to handle any scenario that may arise. One aspect of training is the Behind Closed Doors

scenarios, which are created and acted out by Community Advisor Mentors, the students who are often the go-between for Residence Life staff and Community Advisors. These roleplaying exercises aim to prepare students for any possible situations that either have occurred in the past or may come up in the future.

While there are requirements that all CAs must adhere to, much of the job is handling unexpected scenarios with residents that one cannot always anticipate. Additionally, this role does not have set hours; students do not “clock in” for work, unlike every other campus job. Because CAs are always in work mode, it can be hard to separate work and personal life. “Something I like about training is that there’s no real way to prepare you for being a CA. The amount of situations that can come up are infinite; you can’t deal with everything. But training gives you the ability to — for the vast majority

SARINA LINCOLN

Dani Evans-Schreiber '19 poses in her room, which she says must often double as her workspace due to the demands of the Community Advisor job.

of situations — say either ‘I can do this’ or ‘I can’t do this, but I know someone who can,’” said Jasper Egge '20, a CA for the first floor and half of the second floor of Kershaw in East Campus.

Because CAs work so closely with their residents and are never truly off duty, it can be difficult to find a work-life balance. Additionally, this job can involve a lot of emotional labor that can be hard to manage.

“I live where I work, I’m never not a CA. Because I’m always in a place where my residents can see me, whether that’s at Harris or High Street or in the Grill doing homework, I can have a resident come up and say ‘hey I need your time right now’ sort of, whenever,” said Leah Johnson '19, Community Advisor Mentor for the CaNaDa cluster and a CA for Norris first and the Cowles Apartments.

The workload across campus is not uniform; some dorms may require more work for CAs than others. The emotional labor required of a CA may not be consistent either, making it so the job can be demanding and incredibly personal.

“We are technically paid for 16 hours a week for work, and I don’t think I could ever say ‘yes, I consistently work 16 hours.’ But some weeks I will do the emotional labor of 20 hours and some weeks I will do four. And that just happens,” said Dani Evans-Schreiber '19, a CA for Read second and third floors.

CAs are invested in the well-being of their residents, but sometimes they can take on too much. “We’re not therapists, which is sometimes a hard thing to get into our minds and sometimes residents’ minds as well,” said Evans-Schreiber.

Despite the demands that this role can ask of students, CAs continue to serve in this position because they love their work. CAs form bonds with their residents and have a unique connection to the Grinnell College campus community.

“It’s always for my residents, even though I know they’re changing every year. I want to help them, and I want to make sure that they are doing okay and people are doing okay. It’s worthwhile, for people, for helping people,” Evans-Schreiber said.

Residence Life Coordinators work through quick turnover rate

By Umang Kamra kamrauma@grinnell.edu Grinnell College recently experienced the departure of an employee, as Joshua Murphy, the Residence Life Coordinator (RLC) for Clangrala, stepped down from his duties.

The RLC position is accompanied by an unusually high job turnover rate.

“The average lifespan of an RLC in any given institution is usually about two to three years because at most places, it is the entry level position,” said Leah Reuber, the Assistant Director of Residence Life and the RLC for East Campus.

Reuber is the longest-serving of all the current RLCs at the College.

Reuber also pointed out that the rurality of Grinnell might be one of the most important factors that affect the tenure of the RLCs. She suggested that because Grinnell College is a well-known name in the liberal arts circuit, many tend to underestimate their tolerance of living in a place that has just a Walmart and Hy-Vee and where the nearest cities are an hour away in either direction.

Adam Gilbert, the RLC for Smounker and a First Year Experience Instructor, further explained the impact of the RLC’s entry-level position on its high turnover rate at the College.

“Someone that works as an RLC might stay in Residence Life and move up to an assistant director position or transition to another job in student affairs … In the world of higher education, there are many entry-level positions and very few mid-level management and directorlevel management jobs. Since this is the case many people in RLC positions will work as an RLC at a few different colleges before they find a higher up position in their desired area of Student Affairs,” wrote Gilbert in an email to The S&B.

The job of an RLC can be challenging, strenuous and highly demanding. Reuber mentioned that due to a great deal of responsibility and a high expectation of involvement in matters pertaining to student well-being, it can be difficult for the RLCs to take out time for themselves or to back off when they need to. She and Gilbert both consider the job to often be physically and emotionally taxing.

“In every position where you live where you work, it is like living in a fishbowl. Everyone sees what you do 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is also the challenge of job title. Most people do not know what an RLC is, and a lot of people get confused between what an RLC

5

Labor union, relationships with students provide job perks for Facilities Management

By Emily Barber barberem@grinnell.edu Five days a week, at 2:45 a.m., Brad Marlatt’s alarm sounds. It’s time for him to get ready for the day. He clocks in to work at 4 a.m.

Marlatt, a custodian for the JRC and Younker pit, has worked for the College’s Facilities Management Department (FM) for 15 years.

According to FM’s department page on the College’s website, FM’s mission is “to provide and maintain physical facilities which meet the current and future needs of the Grinnell College community, in support of the overall mission of the college.” FM’s three sub-departments, custodial, grounds crew, and skilled trade, focus on different aspects of maintaining the campus.

According to Marlatt, for custodians, the job entails “anything that involves cleaning.” While school is in session, Marlatt works in the JRC for the first four hours of his shift, and then, after a short break, cleans Younker pit. During the summer, FM focuses on upkeep projects like floor waxing, wall and window washing and cleaning and replacing light fixtures. Marlatt says alumni week is one of his busiest times. Custodians have to get the dorms ready for alumni right after students move out.

Move-out often leaves big messes and the fast turnaround, Marlatt said, sometimes makes the job feel like running a motel.

Marlatt said he feels sufficiently compensated for his hard work, in large part thanks to wage contracts negotiated by FM’s labor union.

Union representatives from International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a national labor union with a chapter in Des Moines, negotiate FM wage contracts with the College every three years. According to Marlatt, Teamsters traditionally negotiates for cost of living increases each year in the form of yearly percentage increases on FM workers’ hourly wages. Usually, the increase is around two to three percent per year.

Marlatt is thankful for the union:

without it, he said, he’d be “working for a lot less and benefits wouldn’t be quite as good.” Marlatt asserted that, because of their union, FM workers have substantially higher hourly wages than other on-campus employees.

Furthermore, representatives from Teamsters represent FM workers if they have issues with management or if a conflict arises. Technically, Marlatt said, FM workers “don’t even have to address management” unless they have union representation with them.

Teamsters’ relationship with the College has mostly been good. FM has had a union for as long as Marlatt has worked for the College, and Marlatt said the College generally has “negotiated in good faith” with FM. However, “sometimes you get what you want, and sometimes you don’t."

"I do this job because I love getting to know the students.

It's what makes it worth it."

Brad Marlatt Facilities Management Marlatt said FM’s last wage contract with the College was good, with “pretty good raises.” However, in the past, the College has refused to give cost of living increases and has instead given FM workers stipends.

“Stipends aren’t good,” Marlatt said. Ideally, he said, workers would get an increase on their hourly wage instead of a lump sum stipend for the year.

Aside from the lucrative pay and regular percentage increases, Marlatt finds meaning in his job through the relationships he gets to build with students. Marlatt said he has driven students to the airport before, and he likes to try to get to know the names of students he sees regularly. He remembered an instance where a student was surprised that Marlatt knew his name.

“Sure I know your name,” Marlatt said. “I do this job because I love getting to know the students. It’s what makes it worth it.”

and an RA is. Even people that have been to college aren’t always aware of what an RLC does. At small colleges every position is required to do multiple jobs,” Gilbert wrote.

In addition to the RLC and First Year Experience Instructor positions, Gilbert also works with the Housing Coordinator, serves on several committees including the Harm Reduction Committee and co-manages the Alcohol Event Server team.

Reuber will be taking over the supervisory responsibilities for Clangrala following Murphy’s leave.

She will manage the staff in that residence cluster along with Lindsy Morgan, the RLC for Loosehead, who is taking over two of the staff personnel and house coordinators.

ANDREW TUCKER LIZ PAIK

Younker and Smith Halls Residence Life Coordinator Adam Gilbert with his dog Ziggy, working in Younker.

Vehicles inside the Facilities Management garage wait to brace the cold Grinnell weather. Due to the intense winter weather, some FM employees have had to work for several weeks without days off.

Features

6

Trans/non-binary students reflect on workplace experiences at Grinnell

By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu Across jobs at the College, it seems that many transgender student employees do not feel accepted in their workplaces. Some feel more comfortable going by the pronouns they were assigned at birth rather than risking awkwardness and non-acceptance from supervisors.

Others who opt to choose gender-affirming pronouns in the workplace often find that they are frequently misgendered. Some trans individuals have reported hearing transphobic comments from workplace supervisors.

“More often than respected, I feel my trans identity is mostly just tolerated, in pretty much every campus job I’ve had,” wrote Cassidy Christiansen '20 in an email to the S&B. Christiansen currently works for Student Government Association as the Concerts Chair, and, in the past, they have also worked as a concerts committee member, a Community Advisor (CA) and CA at Large, and at various positions in the Dining Hall.

“I didn't come out to the non-student staff at D-hall about my pronouns because I was just too nervous, and it was a very gendered atmosphere ... I’m glad that workers there are sometimes choosing to wear their pronouns on a pin, but it doesn't really get at the issue of assuming you need to know or have the right to know anyone’s gender identity,” wrote Christiansen.

Christiansen continued, “There are several wonderful women working in the bakery and I just couldn’t know if they would accept me or not, and it seemed like less of a hassle to just be misgendered.”

Another student employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, also chooses to use the pronouns they were assigned at birth rather than risk othering from their colleagues.

“The place where I work is mostly middle-aged white ladies, some of whom have made explicit transphobic comments to me,” they said, “so there’s that aspect of it that I know some of them are actively transphobic. Also, I just don’t want this part of my identity to be such a big thing in my interactions with people at the workplace. I think it’s easier for me in the classroom, like if I say my pro-

nouns are they/them it’s just easily incorporated … and if I did that in the workplace people would try but it would just be like a whole thing and I don’t want it to be a whole thing, and people would mess up a lot, and I feel like it would just become central to some of my interactions and I just don’t want that.”

The student was left feeling uncomfortable after a coworker recently asked them what their pronouns are.

“It was like they were saying, your gender isn’t legible to me, please come out to me,” they said.

“For me, I don’t like that question. I feel like if people are referring to me in a way that’s different from how I want to be referred to, I feel like I can say something, but I don’t like being confronted. I saw ... on Twitter, someone said instead of asking what are your pronouns, you should ask what are your pronouns in this space.”

Among students who choose to use gender-affirming pronouns in the workplace, it is a common experience to be misgendered. Jax Seiler '22, who works in the Spencer Grill, wears their pronouns on their nametag but is misgendered by supervisors.

“I get misgendered with pronouns even though I have them on my hat with the name tag, but I haven’t really said anything, so I feel like that’s kind of ignored … It’s a little like, okay you’re wrong and it’s a little uncomfortable but I’m gonna move on because that’s life,” said Seiler.

Harley Rivers '19 has worked as a CA for three years and goes by ze/ zirs pronouns. Initially, ze felt that zir nonbinary identity was not accepted by other CAs during training.

“I was nominally out as non-binary but could never talk about it or dress in an affirming way without feeling uncomfortable stares during training from a staff member, of many who’d never seen ‘someone like me’ before,” wrote Rivers in an email to The S&B. Rivers was also surprised to find that zir previous struggles with mental health issues and anxiety, which are common for trans and nonbinary individuals, were seen as weaknesses within the position.

“With the empathy and crisis aversion and anti-oppressive work

I had learned through my gender identity and associated emotions, I thought that I could bring more to the table; instead I stayed silent on this point out of fear of judgment and performance evaluations,” ze wrote.

In the last two years ze has worked as a CA, Rivers has seen improvements in how the CA system treats trans students (for instance, by adding places to write pronouns on door decorations). However, ze still wishes that the CA system could become more accepting to transgender applicants.

“I yearn for more representation and for the wonderful transgender applicants to this job to be accepted into a more welcoming space,” ze wrote.

Making work environments more welcoming to transgender students is a bigger issue than simply telling supervisors to forcibly ask for their employees’ pronouns. It would mean restructuring entire workplace cultures to be less gendered and more welcoming of transgender individuals.

“If there were other trans and nonbinary people in a certain space, that could help. Or if people had some kind of training. Because there’s some conversation around it, enough that people would think to ask what my pronouns are, but there’s maybe not enough of a conversation, or maybe it’s not quite the right conversation,” the anonymous student said.

Christiansen suggested allyship to trans students as a way to make them feel safe and supported at work.

“If it’s okay with your trans colleagues, call out people, staff/administration (and even professors!) because when you speak up for us we feel so much safer knowing there's an ally in the room,” they wrote.

Christiansen also said intersectionality in addressing problems facing transgender student-workers is important to address.

“As a white nonbinary trans person, my experiences with transphobia are not the same of those of trans people of color on campus and I can only hope that we begin to highlight those voices and experiences while taking seriously radical bias training across all employees of Grinnell College. This is certainly not just an issue of gender bias, but bias of race, class and sexuality.”

LIZ PAIK

Jax Seiler, a non-binary student employee at the Spencer Grill, says that they are often misgendered at work despite displaying their pronouns on their nametag.

Edited by anderson14@grinnell.edu

Disability Resources employees work to make campus accessible to all

HELENA GRUENSTEIDL

As the Assistant Dean of Disability Resources, Autumn Wilke helps to make accomodations and improve accessibility across campus.

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu Most students have probably visited the third floor of the Joe Rosenfield '20 Center at least once in their time at the College, whether they were picking up their room key, gaining permission to have a guest stay over or visiting one of the many resource offices housed on that floor.

One of those offices is the Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources, which provides assistance to students with disabilities in many different facets of their lives at Grinnell.

Autumn Wilke, Assistant Dean of Disability Resources at the College, described the responsibilities of her job in an email to the S&B. “I have a very dynamic role, and my day-to-day functions change drastically based on the current individuals I am working with and the specific aspects of accessibility that the campus is working to tackle,” she wrote.

Wilke explained that, among other duties, she participates in the oversight of accommodation support for students, staff, faculty and campus visitors. In addition, she manages various groups of students who work to improve accessibility on campus, including the Access Leaders, who audit campus buildings for accessibility, Digital Accessibility Student Leaders, who create accessible forms of documents and videos and classroom assistants who work to support students with disabilities within their academic classes.

Wilke wrote, “I also work closely with the Council on Diversity and Inclusion and with Intercultural Affairs to address the inclusion of people with disabilities, to address campus climate issues and to advance disabled pride.”

Miho Tatsuki '20 is an access leader for the Disability Resources Office. Tatsuki said that in her position, she’s done accessibility walkthroughs of various buildings, including the John Crystal Center, the Center for Careers, Life, and Services and the Humanities and Social Sciences Complex. The walkthrough

was completed before the building opened to the general student body.

During the walkthroughs, she and the other Access Leaders evaluated the buildings for compliance with the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), then compiled a report with their findings.

Tatsuki, who has been working for the office for two years, described the initial training she received for the position, which included going to the Institute for Human-Centered Design in Boston, Massachusetts.

The training focused on the use of user-experience design in buildings.

Describing this concept, Tatsuki said, “Traditionally, the people who design buildings are different from the people who might actually use the buildings.” This especially applies to people with disabilities who use and work in the buildings and the principles of user-centered design intend to bring into the design process the voices of people with various needs who might use the building.

Wilke wrote that one of the more difficult parts of her job can be getting the whole campus involved in cases where most or all of the general population must participate to improve accessibility: for example, keeping ramps accessible relies on all students not chaining their bikes to the sides of those ramps. She wrote, “Continuous campus education is needed. … This is especially true because disability is an incredibly broad term and individual people experience access barriers differently which means that lots of education is necessary.”

Students with disabilities who work on campus can receive assistance from Wilke in exploring accommodations within their jobs. She explained, “Students with disabilities who are unsure what accommodations may be helpful and reasonable for their specific workplace are welcome to meet with me to discuss potential supports and receive assistance in thinking about potential modifications that do not alter the essential functions of their position.”

Sports

Edited by odonnel@grinnell.edu

7

Grinnell's student athletes attempt to balance work and play

CONTRIBUTED

Raghu Inturi '20 is part of the men's tennis team. He also works at the Kistle Science Library.

By Ben Mikek mikekben@grinnell.edu The vast majority of Grinnell College students have many scheduling demands on their plates, from attending class and tackling problem sets to work-study shifts and social obligations. But for the onethird of Grinnell College students who participate in one or more sports, balancing their schedule is a particular challenge.

“In terms of balancing it all, yeah, I struggle a lot,” said Raghu Inturi '20 in an interview with the

Scarlet & Black. “I’ve developed strategies for dealing with it, and my time management skills have gotten a lot better.”

“I've developed strategies for dealing with it, and my time management skills have gotten a lot better."

Raghu Inturi '20 Inturi spends about 14 hours each week practicing and competing with the men’s tennis team and another eight hours working at the

Analyzing the labor hierarchy at the Bear

By Ingrid Meulemans meuleman@grinnell.edu As one of the largest facilities on campus, the Charles Benson Bear '39 Recreation and Athletic Center offers a range of employment opportunities for student workers.

Mikyla Murphy '19 is one of the student supervisors at the Bear. On a day-to-day basis, she works at the Cage, coordinating with other parttime workers and managing schedules.

Based on the way that labor at the Bear is currently organized, reliable student workers are a necessary for the functioning of the facility.

Although they are usually seen seated at the main welcome desk or the check-in station in the fitness center, students also work from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the Cage, the equipment rental room, and serve as lifeguards in the pool area. Lifeguards are part of a separate employment system, and their scheduling is not included within Murphy’s responsibilities.

However, Murphy is not solely in charge of the workers in the Cage.

Similar to the other student employees, she answers to a full-time supervisor, Roger Bauman. According to Murphy, having a supervisor helps alleviate some of the pressure associated with her position. Murphy admits that her job as student supervisor is “stressful” because she needs to “make sure people are there even if it’s not my shift.”

Having someone with a little more authority comes in handy in the rare situations where Murphy would have to discipline a student worker. According to Bauman, the Bear uses a “two-strike” system to discipline workers. While they have had no behavioral problems with workers, there are sometimes unexcused absences.

“Our biggest problem with the

student workers is not showing. I don’t mind if they don’t show up if they tell me ahead of time, and none of the other supervisors do either, but so many times they just don’t show up without telling us,” said Bauman.

“If that’s the case then we send them a notice that says if it happens again, we’ll have to consider their employment here.”

A student getting two strikes, however, is a rare occurrence. Bauman attests to the reliability of both the student workers and student leaders, saying that, “they are all self-sufficient and there’s very little for me to have to look after.”

Murphy and Bauman’s positive opinions of the Bear’s working environment were echoed by one of their student workers. James Msekela '20 works in the Cage and at the front desk of the fitness center. Msekela stated that Bauman and Murphy are “fantastic”. He was also insistent on how “amazing” of a boss Bauman is: “he is always nice, and is always asking about us.”

The one flaw that Msekela did find in the Bear’s labor hierarchy was that the expectations of who student workers should contact first are sometimes confusing. Msekela admits that if he does have a question or a problem, the next steps aren’t very clear regarding whether or not he should contact Murphy or Bauman. “[I] often try to reach out to [Bauman] because I’m super comfortable with him. He’s also higher up so whatever it is he could get it done a little quicker,” Msekela said.

While students like Murphy are technically in charge of other workers, the general environment of the Bear is very team-oriented.

“I have been very fortunate that I have had exceptional student lead workers, and if you have good helpers it just makes the job go so much better,” said Bauman.

Kistle Science Library.

“It’s not as difficult as one would think it is, but it’s definitely difficult managing shifts,” Inturi said. “Because of [Tennis] practice, I have to sign up for late night shifts, and I would definitely prefer not to do that.”

Abigail Thomson '19 also works hard to balance her participation in Softball with campus employment at the Fitness Center and at the Sexual Health Information Center.

“For SHIC it’s definitely harder [than for positions in the Bear]. In season, so the spring semester, … I

can’t change my softball schedule, so unfortunately, I definitely have to put some pressure on them … I can’t go to all the weekly meetings, and occasionally I’ll have to drop a shift because I have a game or something, but I try to work it out so that … like, I’ll send them ahead of time, these are the days I’m going to miss … so I’ll try to make it work.”

Despite some initial challenges, though, it seems that students who simultaneously work and participate in athletics enjoy some benefits as well. A 2016 study by Kurt Beron and Alex Piquero of the University of Texas at Dallas, for instance, found that student athletes who had jobs on or off campus had higher GPAs than athletes who did not work. It is not clear whether or in which direction this relationship is causal, but both Inturi and Thomson said they had benefited from the experience of working and playing a sport.

“All the positions I work at, I can do a lot of academic work while I’m there, so that’s really not a problem at all,” Thomson said. “Honestly, it’s definitely a lot of time, but for me, I prefer being in season to not, because when I’m really busy like that, I have to be very organized and I have to constantly be working, and for me that kind of keeps me more motivated.”

“We’re in a [Division] III college where academics are above sports, and we come here for academics,” Inturi said.

He also noted an additional benefit of a busy schedule: “You have to question whether you really love

all of the things that you’re into, if you really want to continue doing it, which I think is one of the prime benefits of doing tennis and work and extracurriculars and academics all on top of each other. You get to test the waters a bit.”

“I prefer being in season to not, because when I'm really busy like that, I have to be very organized and I have to constantly be working, and for me that kind of keeps me more motivated."

Abigail Thomson '19 Some of those time management skills might come in handy in the future; a Purdue University and Gallup Polling study from 2016 found that former student-athletes were about two percentage points more likely to be employed than their classmates, and four percentage points more engaged in their workplace.

Nevertheless, some challenges to working and playing a sport remain. Inturi said that the time commitments of a campus job might set him apart from other members of the tennis team.

“On the team, there’s not too many people with jobs too, so it’s kind of hard to relate to other people in that sense,” he said. “Within the tennis team, it’s not necessarily division, but I guess there kind of is, because whenever I say, oh, I can’t go out tonight or I can’t hang out because I work, no one else on the team has work and can relate in that sense.”

Grinnell coaches give advice to students on career opportunities

CONTRIBUTED

Assistant Swim and Dive Coach Callie Eyman Casey '14, competing during her time as a student at Grinnell.

By Tommy O'Donnell odonnel@grinnell.edu With a student body boasting more than 500 student athletes, many Grinnellians dedicate a huge part of their college experience to the sport that they love. However, most are unaware of the opportunities available to pursue their love of sports further, especially as coaches.

“I did not initially plan on becoming a coach, although I always enjoyed teaching swim lessons and volunteering to coach,” wrote assistant swim and dive coach Callie Eyman Casey '14 in an email to The S&B. “I had plans to attend medical school, but after a few setbacks and some self-reflection, I decided to return to Grinnell to help coach swimming and diving.”

“I did not initially plan on becoming a coach, although I always enjoyed teaching swim lessons and volunteering to coach."

Coach Callie Eyman Casey '14 Although many students may give up on their dreams of becoming professional athletes after college, this does not mean that they cannot pursue a career in sports.

“When I graduated from undergraduate, I planned to complete my masters and work in the social work field,” wrote head tennis coach Paige Madara in an email to The S&B. “However, I loved coaching tennis and working with athletes and wanted to keep that a part of my life, so I volunteered as an assistant coach during my master’s program and

about a week into that position decided to change directions and pursue collegiate coaching as a career.”

As participation in college sports continues to rise, especially in women’s sports, the employment of coaches is expected to grow faster than average: by 15 percent, which will create 36,200 new jobs by 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to Madara, students who are passionate about their sports should consider a future career in coaching.

“Talk to coaches from your own sport and different sports to further your learning. Even though coaches from outside your sport may not understand the Xs and Os of your sport, they understand the relationships and team dynamics that help make an effective coach.”

Although a degree in sports coaching is not necessary to pursue a career in this field, students should be aware of the types of qualifications needed to make it as a coach.

“Each sport is different; tennis provides professional certifications at various levels,” wrote Madara.

“I am a certified lifeguard, EMT, and lifeguard instructor. All those certifications helped me to become the assistant swimming and diving coach,” Casey wrote.

Working at Grinnell has allowed Madara to become “surrounded by student-athletes with numerous different backgrounds, experiences, interests, and passions,” she wrote.

“To come together as a team and share common goals has been so rewarding.”

Casey, who graduated from Grinnell as a chemistry and GWSS

major, described the swim and dive team as “an incredible program.”

She wrote, “The part I love most about coaching is really getting to know the athletes. I am far enough out from graduation that I did not swim with any current team members, so coming back last year it was an entirely new group of athletes for me to get to know.”

“I love working with student-athletes and seeing them develop on the court and as people and when they have 'light-bulb' moments when everything starts to come together.”

Coach Paige Madara Working as a coach can be a demanding job, but the rewards can be extremely fruitful.

“I love working with student-athletes and seeing them develop on the court and as people and when they have “light-bulb” moments when everything starts to come together,” wrote Madara. “It is pretty awesome to be able to have an impact on someone’s life through the avenue of a sport I love.”

For students considering a career as a coach, Casey wrote, “I think the biggest piece of advice to give anyone who is considering going into coaching is to have fun. Coaching is so much more enjoyable when you can relate to your athletes and have fun with them!”

For those interested in learning more about a career in coaching, contact the CLS at career@grinnell. edu.

Community

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Edited by taylorse@grinnell.edu

Students explore work options off-campus

By Jackson Schulte schultej@grinnell.edu In the wake of labor disputes between Grinnell College and the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW), students who choose to work off-campus have been left out of the student labor narrative. In catching up with a few students who have chosen to work off-campus, The S&B found reasons ranging from better pay to a better sense of community with Grinnell at large as some anecdotal reasons students might venture downtown in search of work.

At Prairie Canary, student workers Erik Henderson '19 and Rowan Kemmerly '21 can be found serving food and drinks several nights per week. Both Henderson and Kemmerly cite their desire to get to know the Grinnell community as the major motivating factor in their decision to find work offcampus.

“One of the biggest [motivators] is just being able to see Grinnell more as a community, that includes the professors and students, but also families and couples and other people that are just residents,” Kemmerly said. “It’s cool to get a comprehensive view [of] Grinnell.

Also, my professors are often in there, my English major advisor is in there all time. You get to talk to people outside of class, which is really helpful and you foster connections.”

“It’s a good chance to get to know this community,” Henderson added. “A lot of people don’t want to get into the Grinnell community, they feel like it’s isolated and people aren’t friendly to students, but people should do it.”

Henderson and Kemmerly also touched on the fact that working at Prairie Canary requires a different

ANDREW TUCKER

Erik Henderson '19 (left) and Rowan Kemmerly '21 (right) both work off-campus at Prairie Canary, where they both enjoy a greater connection to the Grinnell community at large and better wages than they would recieve at an on-campus job. kind of mindset than when doing schoolwork or working a campus job.

I probably make two to three times as much ... through tips than I could working an on-campus job.

Rowan Kemmerly '21 “My on-campus job[s] — I feel like in those I focus more on my professional side and academic side by making sure that I have the skills to be able to talk to people

and be able to continue a career in the academic field,” Henderson said. “I feel like my off campus job gives me the ability to have a social side. Whenever I’m there I can see people, chat with people, rather than being academic and professional.”

Kemmerly added that the work is consuming in a way that academic work is not. “I also like the job itself, as far as how consuming it is, because when I'm there I don't think of anything else. I'm not at the school and you have to think about what you’re doing at the moment, which is refreshing.”

Anna Ahrens '21, who works at McNally’s, had practical reasons for beginning her student work offcampus. “I was going to be here for a summer and I had an unpaid internship and I had to make some money. I think there are not a ton of campus jobs to get over the summer.

Plus, I had also worked at a grocery store in Madison, so I knew the business.”

All three students cited the fact that they enjoy the higher wages they are getting off-campus.

“Prairie Canary was a place that I knew I would always be able to

make money,” said Henderson.

“I knew that tips were a better way to make more money in a shorter amount of time,” Kemmerly said. “I probably make two to three times as much ... through tips than I could working an on-campus job.”

“Once I had that job, it paid more than a campus job and I enjoyed working there,” said Ahrens.

With a greater sense of connection to the Grinnell community at a higher wage, off-campus work might be more valuable than ever, particularly due to recent labor disputes on campus.

Grinnell emerges Workforce recruitment and from government development top list of City priorities shutdown Continued from Front Page

By Zoe Fruchter fruchter@grinnell.edu

While communities across the United States suffered from the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the city of Grinnell emerged largely unscathed from this historic period of time.

The standoff, which developed as a result of a dispute along party lines concerning funding for President Donald Trump's border wall, lasted for 35 days. Over that period, 800,000 federal employees were either furloughed or forced to work without pay, and government programs, such as food benefits provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and TSA airport security run by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) were either severely limited or completely terminated.

We are fortunate that in Grinnell we have avenues to help those people. It's not the total anser, but it's not like we have to reinvent the wheel all of a sudden if the federal government shuts down.

Mayor Dan Agnew On Jan. 25, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill to open the government until Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans will continue to negotiate border safety funding.

“In a general way, [the shutdown] did not impact the city government of Grinnell,” said mayor Dan Agnew, who instead emphasized the shutdown’s nationwide impact on the thousands of government workers who went without pay for a month.

However, the cessation of government programs did affect some Grinnell residents. Agnew received what he described as “a few” phone calls from individuals in the Grinnell community who rely on federal funds for rental assistance, SNAP benefits or utilities subsidies.

Although the rhetoric in Washington and in the national news media focused on the political implications of the shutdown, most citizen outreach to the city

government focused on basic needs for food and shelter. While Agnew heard some politically charged comments from callers, he said that his constituents mainly needed someone to listen to their concerns and direct them towards relevant resources in Grinnell.

“We are fortunate that in Grinnell we have avenues to help those people. It’s not the total answer, but it’s not like we have to reinvent the wheel all of a sudden if the federal government shuts down,” Agnew said.

The mayor credited nongovernmental organizations like Mid-Iowa Community Action (MICA) for their work to assist those struggling financially or in terms of food security throughout the shutdown.

He also pointed to monetary support made available to community members by the Campbell Fund. John Campbell, a Civil War veteran and landowner who died in 1933, bequeathed his estate to the “worthy poor of Grinnell.” The fund prioritizes medical needs, but can be used to pay for utilities, grocery vouchers, and more. Funding requests are reviewed once a week and must be approved by the City Council.

As for more rural parts of Poweshiek County, the shutdown limited USDA funding for agricultural projections, mandatory audits and rural development loans and grants, among other agricultural programs.

However, Bill Menner, the executive director of the Iowa Rural Development Council, asserted that the shutdown did not limit the impact of rural development programs in Iowa. These programs consist of loans and grants that specifically support rural communities throughout the country.

In an email to The S&B, Menner wrote that “while a 35-day shutdown may have slowed the process [of granting rural development loans], it didn't end it.”

In the upcoming weeks, a second shutdown looms if Congress cannot pass more permanent legislation to fund the government. Agnew stated that there have been no plans made on the city-governance level to prepare the City for another potential shutdown.

Providing housing for workers has been an ongoing issue in Grinnell, according to Grinnell mayor Dan Agnew, and the city has recently supported the creation of a new affordable housing development for “smaller homes, smaller lots, with the idea of getting people into a newer home that is not going to take a lot of initial upkeep, but be able to get into it at an affordable rate,” said Agnew.

In addition, a 2017 report from the Center for American Progress identified Poweshiek County as a childcare desert. To address childcare needs, the Chamber of Commerce surveyed Grinnell and surrounding areas in mid-2018 to better understand the issue. Since then, the Chamber has conducted informational meetings and assembled a steering committee to take further action.

According to Agnew, the above issues handicap Grinnell’s ability to attract new workers and its ability to encourage those workers to live in the City. But Agnew said that city government does not directly involve itself in addressing these problems, instead relying on groups like Poweshiek Iowa Development and the Chamber of Commerce to “[work] together and with the city … to create ways to help people.”

We would hope buisness and industry would look at their employees and want them to make a good, afforable wage.

Mayor Dan Agnew Agnew said he hopes that these projects will ultimately encourage those who work in Grinnell to live in Grinnell as well, rather than commute from city to city.

“They come in from Montezuma, Brooklyn, Malcolm, Newton, Marshalltown … We have a lot of people who commute into Grinnell who don’t live in Grinnell. If we had more affordable housing — if we had better childcare — maybe those people would live here,” Agnew said.

“If they work in this area we would love to have them live in Grinnell.”

Workforce Development Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who won reelection in 2018, has

put workforce development front and center in her 2019 legislative priorities. In her Condition of the State she touted Future Ready Iowa, an initiative developed by Reynolds’ predecessor and continued under her tenure that intends to provide education or training beyond high school to 70 percent of Iowa’s workforce by 2025.

Low unemployment and slow population growth in Iowa have made it difficult for employers to find qualified workers, and both the Governor and the Iowa Chamber Alliance — a collection of Iowa’s largest Chambers of Commerce — have supported workforce development policies like Future Ready Iowa that train workers, as well as policies that encourage migration into Iowa.

Workforce development is also an issue in Grinnell, where Agnew identified a “shortage” in manual labor jobs like mechanics and electricians.

“Every time you build a house you’ve got to wire it, you’ve got to put a furnace in it, an air conditioner in it. Every time you buy a house, after so many years you’re going to have to replace some of those things … So we need some young people trained in those fields too.”

That training, he said, could be fulfilled in on-the-job training alongside experienced professionals, or in trade schools or community colleges like Iowa Valley Community College in Grinnell, which, Agnew said, the community is “extremely fortunate to have,” reinforcing the importance of training beyond high school.

Poverty According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Grinnell is $44,525, about $12,000 less than the median household income for the state of Iowa as a whole.

Data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States indicates that while the percent of Iowans in poverty overall has declined since 2015, that number has risen from 10.4 percent in 2015 in Poweshiek County to 11.5 percent in 2017.

In addition, a 2018 report released by United Way with a more liberal measure than that used by federal poverty level reported that about one in four Poweshiek County

residents do not earn enough to afford a basic living.

That report, using a methodology entitled ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), constructed a basic budget based on every county’s cost of living, using aggregated data from various government sources. A single adult living in Poweshiek County must make $19,572 annually, or $9.79 an hour, to be above the ALICE threshold; a single parent with an infant child must make $31,656, or $15.83 an hour. Nearly 40 percent of Iowans live below the ALICE threshold, according to the report.

In Grinnell, that number reaches 43 percent.

I see Grinnell as still being sort of a catylst in this part of Poweshiek County and even in part of Jasper County.

Mayor Dan Agnew Agnew acknowledged the seriousness of poverty in Grinnell and Poweshiek County. “The concern is definitely there,” he said.

“It does concern us that many of our employees have to work two jobs … [and] we would still like to see [Grinnellians’ poverty] change to something much, much less.”

He argued, however, that it is not the City’s place to create policies to combat low wages.

“I would say that’s not part of our job. We would hope business and industry would look at their employees and want them to make a good, affordable wage.”

Looking Forward When discussing Grinnell’s future, Agnew was optimistic, predicting that ten years from now, Grinnell will continue to grow in employment and population.

Agnew said he believes projects like upgrading streets downtown, revitalizing Central Park, and repurposing the Veterans Memorial can only serve to draw more citizens into the Grinnell community. He also said that addressing future challenges will be a matter of “collaboration” between city government, businesses, organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and Poweshiek Iowa Development, and private citizens.

“I see Grinnell as still being sort of a catalyst in this part of Poweshiek County and even in part of Jasper County,” Agnew said.

Opinions

Edited by irwinkat@grinnell.edu

Letter to the editor: Opposing Brownells and supporting the Union is hypocritical

I am a white, heterosexual man from a high socioeconomic status background who grew up in rural Iowa. More specifically, I grew up in Grinnell, Iowa. While attending Grinnell College, one important task I’m frequently asked to accomplish is acknowledging my privilege. This is due in large part, I believe, to the fact that Grinnell College prides itself on social justice. Social justice requires understanding not only problems, but also the underlying inequities that cause the problems.

An underlying issue can come up in multiple, otherwise unrelated events. One underlying issue is elitism at the College. Two examples of this are visible in student complaints towards the administration’s stances on unionization and the Redmond-Brownell family donations.

Fewer than 30 percent of adults in Iowa have a bachelor’s degree or higher. That is, because most students at Grinnell College will receive a bachelor’s degree, we are in the top third of the state in at least one important measure of social status. So, when thinking about how we interact with the community, we cannot neglect the privilege we have as college students.

Now then, growing up in Grinnell, one of my clearest recurring memories of the educational system is how socioeconomic class affects both how students are treated and how they act. There are a number of wealthy families in Grinnell, many of whom have direct connections

er, their business is based in selling parts and accessories to firearms, which many students and alumni find problematic.

Ignoring where the money goes for a moment, there are two key points to note. First, Brownells employs many local workers. Second, some members of the Grinnell community are sustenance hunters, people who rely on hunting to feed their families. I hope that it isn’t hard to see how protesting Brownells as a company, and gun companies as a concept could and almost should be taken as saying that the way that these people feed their families is wrong. I also hope it isn’t difficult to see how that could be alienating to a potential student.

to the faculty of the College. There are also a large number of students, more than 35 percent, who qualify for free and reduced lunches.

I vividly remember hearing students in the second category speak about how they could never belong at Grinnell College. The statements tended to focus on how they felt difficulty connecting with peers from higher socioeconomic families.

Since students from Grinnell, Iowa who tend to attend Grinnell College also tend to come from higher socioeconomic classes, Grinnell College seems to many in the Grinnell educational system to be enrolled mainly by students from high socioeconomic status families. If they had difficulty relating to students who attended the same schools, lived in the same general area, and did many of the same activities, how could they relate to people who shared none of these. Of course, we all know that there are a large number of students at Grinnell College who are not from high socioeconomic class backgrounds. But, there exists a problem in making young, potential first-generation college students in the area see this.

Here enters the Redmond-Brownell family.

For those new to the area, the Redmond-Brownell family is a local family that owns a business. The business is profitable and they use the money they make to improve quality of life in the city of Grinnell and the surrounding area. Howev-

I vividly remember hearing students in the second category speak about how they could never belong at Grinnell College. The statements tended to focus on how they felt difficulty connecting with peers from higher socioeconomic families.

If we don’t ignore where the money goes, however, we see that the money donated does not benefit their family or business interests. Instead, it was used to create the Ignite Program, which offered college students the chance to teach a one day class to local young students, which,

to me, is one of the best examples of social justice at Grinnell College.

The Ignite Program is a free, oneday workshop which includes food for the students. It takes students in Grinnell and surrounding communities, many of whom could never see themselves at Grinnell College, and shows them that Grinnell College is a place they could belong. Many of the students I knew who felt that they could never belong at Grinnell had never been in an academic building, because they already knew that they didn’t belong, so saw no point in confirming that fact.

By protesting the Redmond-Brownells’ funding of the Ignite Program, the College community was implicitly agreeing with these students. Removing that program would do nothing except make it harder for students in the local community to feel that they could belong at Grinnell College.

Moving on to the union, I’ll start with my own personal biases.

To me, a union should protect exploited or easily exploitable groups.

Unions that do not should not exist, as they weaken the idea of unions, and make it harder to immediately sympathize with them. As I mentioned above, by definition, being at Grinnell College is a sign of privilege, especially in Grinnell, Iowa.

Regardless of the other identities Grinnell College students have, in their identity as a student at the College, they come from a place of privilege. By striving for a union,

9

College students are weakening the system of a union.

For instance, one of the claims of the union was that students at Grinnell are underpaid. Right now, the wage in the Dining Hall is $9.78 for the workers, and $10.24 for student leaders. For reference, minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25. If you’re a student whose parents work minimum wage jobs, think of how alienating hearing complaints that $10 an hour isn’t enough to support a single student can be. More importantly, Iowa is an “at will” state, where employees can be terminated “at will” by an employer. While expressing intent to join or create a union should be one of the protected groups, suing for wrongful termination costs more than families can afford. For that reason, being able to push for a union, knowing that a job is secure while doing so, is in and of itself a sign of incredible privilege in Grinnell, Iowa.

So in conclusion, just as I, should be aware the privilege different identities I have bring, so too should the whole student body all reflect on how being a member of the Grinnell College student community grants us privilege, especially in conjunction with the city of Grinnell, Iowa.

— Jonathan Rebelsky '20 To see the sources used in this opinions piece, please see the online edition of The S&B at thesanb.com.

The Union Decision For this week's Students Speak, Grinnellians were asked what they thought about Grinnell College's recent decisions and actions regarding the union. The S&B wants to feature student voices to get a perspective that differs from what is often covered. Sarah Licht '22 interviewed five students to see what their thoughts are.

In my opinion, I thought it was kind of shocking that the school was not constructive with the student union and hearing their demands and what they wanted. I think they just polarized things by rejecting everything and creating this animosity between the union and the school, and, that to me, was a little shocking. — Finn Dworkin '22

I guess it’s contradictory to what the school stands for. You know, they stand for social justice, and even if they don’t agree with the union, we should still have the right to have it.

— Chiri Mutwol '22

It’s kinda weird that there’s this Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.

Like, on one side, the College talks about itself as a vehicle for social activism and social awareness, but, on the other side, they are the oppressor. — Frank Li '22

The Scarlet & Black Staff Editors-in-Chief News Editors Features Editor Sports Editor Arts Editor Community Editor Opinions Editor Copy Editors Photo Editor Graphics Editor Business Manager Honorary Editor

Maxwell Fenton Candace Mettle Jackson Schulte Keli Vitaioli Julia Anderson Tommy O'Donnell Zoe Fruchter Seth Taylor Kate Irwin Eva Hill Ben Mikek Andrew Tucker Ryuta Kure Anneliese Stattelman Connie Coleman

I’m really disappointed, and I would expect so much more from an administration that advertises itself as and tries to tell other people that there’s a long-held commitment to social justice. — Sara Castro '21

I think that the school definitely should have been more clear about what their position was instead of just sending a newsletter. Maybe they could’ve had some sort of meeting with school administration that’s run by students because I heard that certain organizations were trying to meet up with school administration, but they either pushed it back or they never followed up on it in time. — Luz Alfaro '22

SPARC Policy The Scarlet & Black is published on Fridays by students of Grinnell College and is printed by Times Republican of Marshalltown.

The newspaper is funded in part by the Student Publications and Radio Committee (SPARC) and also relies on advertising revenue to cover operating costs. All publications funded by SPARC are copyright of SPARC and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without specific written consent from SPARC. Contributions The Scarlet & Black welcomes story ideas from students, faculty and other members of the town and college community. If there is any story that should be covered, please email newspapr@grinnell.edu or visit thesandb.com Send letters to the editor via email at newspapr@grinnell.edu or mail them to Box 5886. The author’s name must be included, but letters can be published anonymously on certain occasions. Letters will be printed at the discretion of the editor. The opinions expressed in this section do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff. The S&B reserves the right to edit any and all submissions.

Advertising Advertising inquiries should be directed to the business manager, Anneliese Stattelman, who can be reached at sandbads@grinnell.edu or by mail at 1115 8th Avenue Grinnell College Box 5886, Grinnell, IA 50112.

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Friday 6:15 p.m. Shabbat Table @ JRC 209 7:30 p.m. Neo-Futurists@ Bucksbaum 191 10 p.m. 10 Days of Kindness: Live Music @ Manhattan Lounge Saturday 1 p.m. Swim and Dive vs. University of Nebraska @ BRAC Pool 9:30 p.m. Lala Lala and Sen Morimoto @ Main Hall Lounge

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The S&B Crossword

By Ned Watson '22 Down

1 On point, for short 2 The underground part of a tree 3 Donut-shaped objects 13 14 15 4 Technical rAeq. 5 A pen-pal from the Himalayas?

16 17 6 Move slimily 7 Avoided eluded 18 19 8 Role-play in costume, for short 20 21 22 9 Free, to Hans 10 A traditional whiskey barrel 23 24 25 26 11 Take a __ 12 Cupid 27 28 13 Internet transmission tech. after dial-up 29 30 21 Stay in bed later than normal 22 Levy on unimproved land 31 32 23 Southwestern rope plant 33 34 35 36 37 24 Pee 25 Parking attendant 38 39 40 41 26 Traditional Norwegian flatbread, found in the Midwest.

42 43 44 27 To distend, as an injury 45 46 28 Egyptian singer Halim Hafez 29 Specifics, slangily 30 Citizen Kane actress Moorehead 41 CIO opener 31 "Oh _!" (slangy exclamation) 23 Like a Chevy Suburban Across Across 1 A Wilma-goat gruff? 8 Capture or ensnare 13 Japanese ritual disembowelment 43 Canadian lifeguard assoc.

33 One17degree opt. for librarians 26 The Mormon Church, for 1 Crafts companion (arch.) 15 Bauhaus director Ludwig Mies van der (blank) 16 Genevan’s cocoa craving?

44 Saw a psychologist beViking war god short 5 A Christmas song without Estatuary (sp.) 18 Military hats associated with poilus and Foreign Legionnaires 19 34 Deadly cause they acted more child36 Yes, in Paris 28 Churchill-Inonu conferSanta? prefix 21 Cargo carried by a commercial vehicle 23 Oregon public research universities ish than their co-workers?

42 Made ence site 10 African lake and country abbrev. 26 A ‘primal’ cut of meat, or a tease well crafted? 27 Stands by 29 Where Mu, of linen 54some T. rex, e.g.

44 The jargon of hipsters Dubai, e.g.

14of Confine, withwas “up”headed in 32 the Son Heaven Chinese mythology 30 Like Portuguese jellyfish and 55 They/them gender neutral 45 feet or seconds, e.g.

35 "Where all the women 15 Like some bears and some many European men 31 Drinks a small amount 33 Olympian abbrev.

34 What pitchalternative 46 A point are strong, all the men are coordinate systems interrupting MLBers can be charged with 38 Overseas three-letter agency 39 Highlander’s where branching occurs 56 To coil, as hair A test good-looking, allstone the 44 Iconic 16 Goals 42 Shaped roughly, sappy longing? especially and with ‘Kiss Me Kate’ tune47about 58 Enthusiastic 48 Depend (on)A children are above average" 17 The uneaten part of some hate 45 The Babadook actress Davis 46 Like a knee after falling on concrete Down 1 Stock 59 On guard 49 A novice, in Britspeak 37 Saw a psychologist fruits shares initialism 2 Bird of prey 3 Southeastern Great Lake 4 Horrified breath 5 Affirmative 60 A violent public distur50 Hollywood networking org. because they frequently 18 The color of the sky to a gentleman 6 Directs at a point, as with a weapon 7 International research institute bance 51 Customary American land unit develop phobias?

19 Minesota Vikings fight abbrev. 9 With ‘fifteen,’ a weapon 10 To let loose after cutting 11 Hoity-toity affectation 61 To distribute, as justice 52 Wreck 38 Carpentry smoothing song chant 12 Romantic’s gluttonous smouldering? 14 Like eastern Italy or western Croatia; relating 62 the First king of Crete 53 A fast pace machines19 President south of Saw a psychologist to the 20 largest peninsula in the Adriatic border 20 (var.)

Odontophile’s 63 Some trees in the Lord of 54ManStop up 39 A polygraph, e.g. because they couldn't stop masochist desire? 21 Full English breakfast 22 Usenet slang for ‘email me later’ 24 the Rings 57 40 A very small island laughing? powered taxis, var. 25 Normal, habitual, within the ordinary 26 Politicology abbrev. People 28 below a captain, for short 1

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Narrow countryside rd 32 Abstract abbrev. 34 A bulletin board adhesive, var. 35 One of what a princess can’t sleep on 36 Walk lamely 37 Leg joint 40 Occupational Health and Safety abbrev. 41 Last part of something 43 Monty Python knights’ word of power

Rants & Raves: Vote!

SGA only saw ~700 people vote for Execs last year. We get paid with your money to spend your money, represent you to your administration, and better your time at Grinnell. Don't let other decide where you money should be spent and where your power should be focused. Vote!

-Disappointed democrat

Students speak about what’s on their minds in 80 words or fewer, and you’re invited! If you have a rant or a rave, email it to [irwinkat]

Just a Car

I can understand1 some of students' concerns about the new Campus Safety cars, but they are just cars...

-Tired of sensitive people

Close the Door

If off-campus people are kind enough to let you party in their homes, please don’t leave the doors open when coming and going. Our heating bill was unbelievable last month.

-Tired of standing by my door at parties