Volume 133, Issue 13

Community

Sports

Features

Grinnellians join in Des Moines Women's March.

"Just trying to get swole, my dude."

What did students do over winter break?

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page 7

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Scarlet & Black Volume 135, Issue 13

thesandb.com

January 27, 2016 • Grinnell, Iowa

Photos contributed by (from left to right from top left corner): Megan Tcheng '19 in Chicago Eva Lilienfeld '17 in San Francisco Andrew Zdechlik '19 in Denver Hannah Stadler '17 in Minneapolis Andrew Zdechlik '19 in Denver

Women's marches across the nation

>> See Women's March pages 8 and 9

“In New York, it actually was pretty intersectional. … It was definitely more white than I would have liked to see being that New York is a very diverse city. But as far as the signage … there were a lot of trans people there with signs, there were signs about environmental justice and racial equality as well. But definitely not as much as I would have liked to have seen. It was not as intersectional as it could have been.”

"I went to the D.C. Women's March with my mom. … They emphasized a lot of women of color, queer women, disabled women, Muslim women. … It's so much more than just white feminism and there were a lot of signs about white privilege and white fragility, and I thought that was a really cool take ... to see this new wave of feminism that's inclusive of so many other identities as well as being a woman."

"I decided to join the Chicago Women's March last minute. I had just flown into the city the night before and had plans to drive to Grinnell the following day, but, despite the chaos, the march felt like an impossible event to miss. It was empowering to stand next to such a proud, diverse, and opinionated crowd of women. The Women's March made history last weekend and I'm so thankful that I got to play a part in it."

Fintan Mason '17, in New York City

Ceci Bergman '19, in Washington D.C.

Megan Tcheng '19, in Chicago

White Privilege Conference offers awareness to students

By Zane Silk silkzane@grinnell.edu Grinnell’s Office of Intercultural Affairs (OIA) is taking applications for a trip with 13 spots to the 18th annual White Privilege Conference

(WPC) this April in Kansas City, MO. The WPC bills itself as a forum for examining concepts of privilege and oppression with a focus on race, as well as providing a training ground for working towards a more equitable society. Spearheaded by Katy Zart,

CONTRIBUTED

Participants at the annual White Privilege Conference discuss issues of race, gender, sexuality, disability and class.

Friday Camille A. Brown lectures on "Artists as Activists" Bucksbaum 152, 4:15 p.m.

Saturday "BLACK GIRL: Linguisic Play" by Camille A. Brown & Dancers Roberts Theater, 7:30 p.m.

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Program Advisor for the OIA, the College will be sending a group of students to the conference for the first time.

White privilege is defined as “a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people’s conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country,” according to the Mount Holyoke College website.

Because of the notion that many white people, as well as people who identify with other powerful groups, are unaware of their privilege, Zart hopes that the WPC can be a step towards confronting white privilege at Grinnell.

“I identify as white and I’m working in a role that [focuses on]

diversity and inclusion and social justice, and so I was interested in taking students to the White Privilege Conference. … Where I got my masters, they took students every year,” Zart said.

Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. initially founded the conference because he felt that other diversity and social justicefocused conferences were lacking indepth and advanced understandings of how different forms of oppression work.

“I think one of the most important things about white privilege is it’s a big part of how our nation got started,” Moore said. “I think we have, now in our nation, tried to create a more inclusive and diverse place. But I think why it’s so challenging is that … we’re trying to change a structure that we don’t understand.”

According to Zart, the conference

is valuable because it helps students become aware of their identities, which she believes is necessary before being able to make important social change. “[The conference is] not only about race. They address topics of gender, sexuality, disability and class.

All of those issues. And they do that through providing solutions to change and work towards a more equitable world,” Zart said. “[Students] come back with different knowledge and skills that they can apply in their daily lives and in their spheres of influence and in the world.”

Maure Smith-Benanti, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Intercultural Affairs, added that she “believe[s] that once people have more knowledge they’re often sparked to do more or to bring it back >> See WPC page 2

Tuesday Donate your blood at the regular Grinnell-hosted blood drive JRC 101, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Wednesday Former student-extern speak about their career experiences.

Dining Pavilion, 6 p.m.

Thursday

Food Table examines Grinnell College and Sustainability JRC 224A, 12 p.m.

Arts 4 | Features 5 | Advertisements 6 |Sports 7 | Community 8 | Opinions 9

News

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Edited by bohlkeli@grinnell.edu & braneckm@grinnell.edu

Class of 2020 sees all-time low acceptance rate

ELLEN SCHOENMAKER

Only 18 percent of applicants to Grinnell were accepted in 2020, yet Admissions fell short of its enrollment goal.

By Julia Echikson echikson@grinnell.edu The class of 2020 experienced an all-time low acceptance rate, with only 18 percent of applicants being offered admission to the College.

Despite this new accomplishment, the College did not meet its goal of having 440 students in the incoming class. Of admitted students, fewer chose to attend Grinnell College than in previous years.

Joe Bagnoli, the Vice President

WPC works to create social change

for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions, acknowledges that the acceptance rate “should have been higher. … If we [the admission committee] would have admitted enough students to hit our target of 440 entering students, our admission rate would have been higher.”

Bagnoli blames incorrect enrollment projections for the shortage of students. “Our projections suggested that a higher share of students we admitted would have accepted our offer of admission,” he

said.

Bagnoli also attributes the lack of commitment from students to a changing applicant pool. Last year’s pool was the most qualified the school had ever had. “For the first time in our history, the regular decision high test average for the SAT exceeded 1400,” Bagnoli explains.

Because prospective students were so accomplished, they likely had offers of admission from other, more selective, schools than Grinnell College.

“We weren’t anticipating that we were reaching a point where a smaller share of those students admitted would not accept our offers,” Bagnoli said.

To assemble a reasonably sized class, Grinnell College dipped into its international student wait list for the first time, which resulted in the class of 2020 having an unusually large population of international students.

For this year’s incoming class of 2021, the admissions committee plans to admit fewer international students to compensate for last year’s high percentage. The committee plans to accept a number of international students to create an overall student body comprised of 20 percent international students, a number high enough to attract attention from the Washington Post.

Grinnell has admitted more students from the early decision applicant pool for the class of 2021 than they did last year. Because early decision acceptances are binding, all students admitted will have to matriculate to the College, allowing the admissions committee to have a large chunk of its incoming class set before considering the regular decision applications.

Bagnoli insists that the shift towards admitting more early decision applicants has not affected the quality of the students admitted.

Erika Lee speaks about immigrant rights and racist history in honor of MLK Day

Continued from Front Page

XIAO XUAN YANG

Professor Erika Lee, Director of the Immigrant History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, came to Grinnell this past Wednesday to talk about the history of immigrant rights.

By Nora Coghlan coghlann17@grinnell.edu Several executive orders regarding U.S. immigration policy have been signed by President Donald Trump since he took office last Friday. The orders allow for the building of Trump’s infamous wall along the border to Mexico, adding lock-ups for detaining immigrants without documentation, increasing funding for more border agents and stripping federal funding to sanctuary cities.

Amidst this turmoil, several Grinnellians gathered in JRC 101 on Wednesday night in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to hear Professor Erika Lee discuss the history of immigrant rights in America in a talk called "Immigrant Rights and African American Freedom Struggles." Lee, who serves as Director of the Immigration History Research Center and the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History

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to a community that they care about, so hopefully sending students will allow for that.”

In her short time at Grinnell, Zart has noticed that white students are often underrepresented in conversations about social justice.

“I’m at a lot of our Intercultural Affairs events that are on topics of social justice and diversity and inclusion, and a lot of the time we see the same students showing up to those events, and oftentimes those are not students who are white,” Zart said.

Zart hopes the conference will help ensure that more white students became aware of issues like privilege, though she stresses that the conference is intended for students of all races.

“At the conference, even though we name it the White Privilege Conference and we definitely look at white supremacy and white privilege, we also make sure that this a space that everybody is invited to understand that we all have privilege and we all have work to do,” Moore said.

While the deadline for applying was initially Friday, Jan. 27, only 8 applications had been received two days before the deadline, and so the decision was made to push it back to Feb. 3. Zart had hoped that more students would have applied by now and believes one factor to blame is the name of the conference.

“I think [with] the name ‘White Privilege Conference,’ people are like, ‘What in the world is that?’

When I had first told some staff that I was attending, they were like, ‘Oh, really?’ So I think it’s important to make people aware that it’s not a white supremacist conference,” Zart said.

The OIA has received assistance in organizing the trip from Disability Resources, Residence Life and Toby Baratta ’17, the Student Government Association’s Disability and Outreach Coordinator. As for funding, some will come from Zart’s professional development funds, but this will not cover the cost of the entire trip.

Therefore Baratta will be applying for funding from the Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership, but that cannot be submitted until the names of the students attending are finalized.

Nonetheless, Zart is confident that the trip will go ahead.

Zart believes that especially in today’s political climate, the conference provides a venue to channel the new commitment towards tackling injustice that many Grinnell students have been feeling.

“Because of the current President’s hateful rhetoric, I think people now more than ever have that fire to improve the world, and they have that fire to create social change where they can,” Zart said.

“If you look at the qualifications of the people who applied in early decision, there were more of them that we could go out to with offers of admission than last year,” he said.

Bagnoli believes the increase of early decision applicants is because of the declining acceptance rate, making Grinnell College appear more selective and pushing students to apply early to maximize their chances of getting in.

Yet, the number of applications submitted this year is down 20 percent — 5,800 applications— since last year. Bagnoli speculates that the decrease could be attributed to Iowa voting for Donald Trump for president, making the College and its surrounding area appear less attractive to prospective students.

However, Bagnoli said that he is not worried. Again, because of the College’s newfound selectivity, the students who are not qualified are deterred from applying, and thus make up a smaller portion of the applicant pool.

“Even though our applications are down across the board from last year to this year, they are down disproportionately among students with weaker credentials for admissions,” Bagnoli said.

“The applications are stable among students with strong credentials for admission.”

at the University of Minnesota, began by addressing Trump’s recent executive orders.

“Today was a big day,” she said.

“Our new president signed two executive orders in relation to immigration … This is our new reality and it is much uglier and much more difficult than those of us who study immigration could even imagine, even knowing that these were central platforms.”

Lee went on to outline the history of immigrant rights in the U.S. While she focused primarily on the history of Asian Americans, Lee also connected immigrant rights to African American freedom struggles.

“Telling this history is so important, because we tend to think of these histories, African American history, Asian American history, as two distinct subjects with different histories, but it is very clear when we look at the historical record that the fates of these two groups have often been inextricably connected to each

other,” she said.

“America’s treatment of certain immigrant groups has often risen and fallen along with the destinies of African Americans,” explained Lee. “This is because xenophobia, fear of the foreigners, fear of strangers and exclusion of non-citizens in the U.S. has mirrored the ongoing stigmatization and subordination of other minorities, including African Americans, the working poor, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, women, religious minorities and lesbian, gay and transgender individuals.”

As Lee outlined the history of Asian American registries, internment camps and lynchings, she urged the audience to understand the necessity of intersectionality in activism, especially during a time when America’s violent history threatens to repeat itself.

“One attack on one group often was related to attacks on many,” Lee said. “Today, anti-Mexican and an-

ti-Muslim xenophobia has expanded along with the mass incarceration of black people, resistance to Black Lives Matter movements and a rollback of voting rights protections that have disproportionately affected minority voters.”

Many students were impressed with Lee and felt that talks such as hers are especially valuable in their ability to get Grinnellians talking.

“I think that a lot of people at Grinnell probably know about what is going on, but aren’t necessarily talking about it,” said Lily Ge ’17.

“I’m guilty of this too. I’ll read a breaking news alert or something about the executive acts [Lee] was talking about and I’ll process it and internalize it myself and maybe chat about it with a friend, but I’m not necessarily having a campus … discussion, open discussion about it.

With talks like these … I think it’s inciting conversation and discussion that we may not be getting otherwise.”

Other students felt that though the talk was valuable, it failed to fully address the multiplicity and complexity of immigration laws in the U.S. “It seems kind of jarring to see the lack of inclusion of a lot of the complexities that were very symptomatic of early 20th century relations,” said Jesus Villalobos ’17.

“There’s a lot of complicated aspects that I don’t think we’re necessarily touched upon and I was spoiled by one of my professors here, because we did get into that complexity.”

Lee wrapped up her visit to campus by partaking in a question and answer session with students, urging them to interrogate intersectionality and history as we move forward as a nation.

“These politics [of intersectionality] have a long history, for injustice has never been one dimensional but multidimensional,” she said.

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Grinnellians partake in direct New ARH Building action on Inauguration Day under construction

By Reed Essex essexree@grinnell.edu

CONTRIBUTED

At the Inauguration Day rally in Chicago, activists gathered at McCormick Place to voice their opinions about President Trump, about both his extreme rhetoric and policies so far.

By Mayo Sueta suetamay@grinnell.edu Along with ushering Donald Trump into his presidency, Inauguration Day saw a large number of protesters take to the streets to reject the rhetoric and policies of the new president.

Trump has gained both support and opposition from the American people with the extremity of his views. Many people are unhappy with the direction that the president is taking with his new position of power. They have organized several protests across the nation to ensure their voices are heard.

Several Grinnellians were among those who refused to stay silent.

Sean Haggerty '19 took part in a rally that started at McCormick Place in Chicago. People of diverse backgrounds came together at this large-scale protest where the numbers grew to the point where people were “taking over the streets of downtown and shutting down intersections,” he said.

When asked about how effective he thought direct action could be, Haggerty said that he felt it was “an essential tactic.”

“I think it can really transform the way people feel about and think about political issues,” Haggerty said.

“It allows me and people to connect to something bigger than them and … feel like part of that collective.”

Nate Williams '20 was present at the protests in Boston. He described his experience at one of the rallies as being “one of the most healing and supportive and active events that I’ve been to.”

However, both Haggerty and Williams expressed concerns over the lack of clear demands in some protests.

“It could have been more effective,” Haggerty said about the direct action that he was involved in.

“There weren’t any clear demands being made by protesters.”

Williams similarly stated that the second protest that he went to didn’t have a list of demands and was more about “mobilizing people in that

CONTRIBUTED

Chicagoans come together to protest Trump.

moment.”

“When there are marches that also don’t have that demand aspect and concrete change aspect, some things can sort of get lost,” said Williams.

"I think [direct action] can really transform the way people feel about and think about political issues. …

It allows me and people to connect to something bigger than them and … feel like part of that collective" Sean Haggerty '19 How to craft effective direct action to promote change is still up for debate.

Professor Barbara Trish, Political Science, says that lacking concrete demands is not necessarily bad.

People can go to protests without concrete demands and still gain something through knowing that there are people who share their views.

“I urge people not to discount the sense that you’re not alone,” Trish said.

She also stressed that the most important thing about direct action, and any movement, was to make sure that people stayed “invested and interested.”

“I think that’s the real key.

Whether or not there are concrete demands or whether it’s just a sign of opposition — that it can’t be just a one shot deal,” Trish said.

Williams agreed, saying that the protests have “an effect of giving people the tools later on to be able to do more local, small-scale direct action.”

The grassy area that used to allow for easy passage from Noyce to the ARH has been replaced with a cordoned off construction site.

The new Humanities and Social Sciences Complex (HSSC) is a project that the administration has been planning for the last five years.

Kate Walker, Treasurer of the College, who is chairing the Building Projects committee, says that construction is currently in the beginning stages. “The construction of the new chunk of the HSSC will actually be going through January of 2019, so we may very well be able to use it in spring semester [of 2019].”

The HSSC building will be open to house faculty offices around the time that the renovations in the ARH and Carnegie will be made, so the Committee believes that the total construction of the project, not just the new building, will be done sometime in the spring or summer of 2020.

“We should be able to use the whole building in fall of 2020,” Walker said.

The schedules made for building completion are tentative, and things will change, but as of now the HSSC is on target for completion by 2019. “There will inevitably be some surprises, particularly when we start working with the historic buildings,” Walker said.

"There will inevitably be some surprises, particularly when we start working with the historic buildings."

Kate Walker Treasurer of the College The plans show that the interior space of the new project to resemble the styles of both the ARH and the JRC. It will be filled with many new offices, lecture halls, classrooms and student lounges.

According to Walker, in the

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production of this new building, the administration is focused on providing a greater level of accessibility. “Throughout this whole building we have a really high commitment to accessibility … all the restrooms have a group men’s bathroom, a group women’s, and a gender neutral.” Walker said. “We’ve widened the halls so that there’s radius for wheelchairs, several of the classrooms will have induction looping for hearingimpaired individuals [and] we located elevators in close proximity to stairways so that people who use them don’t feel like a second class citizen.”

"Throughout this whole building we have a really high commitment to accessibility."

Kate Walker Treasurer of the College The historic nature of the building is something that the administration has had to account for while planning the project.

Walker said that they have done laser scans and other tests to determine the structure and integrity of the building. “Historic buildings tend to have ‘fun’ things going on behind the walls, so there's almost always something that’s going to come up,” she said.

Walker said that the construction company and the Committee have arranged to make a “safe site” that will still allow for the College to have access to the Central Campus Stage for Commencement in May. “It’s very close, we’ll probably have some kind of fancy banner [covering the construction] but they were able to move the space so that we can use the commencement site,” she said.

Most students currently on campus will get little opportunity to use the new building, due to the duration of the project, but Walker has a suggestion for all those students who will leave before its completion: “Come back for reunion!”

MAYU SAKAE

Construction on the new HSSC, which used to be between Noyce and the JRC, is projected to be finished in its entirety in the fall of 2020.

Comprehensive fee raised 3.91 percent for next year

Tuition hikes 2010-2018 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018

By Zane Silk silkzane@grinnell.edu On Jan. 12, Grinnell College announced a 3.91 percent increase in the comprehensive fee, which includes tuition, fees, room and board, bringing the total cost to 63,114 dollars for the upcoming 2017-18 academic year. The increase came nine months after Warren Buffett, a former trustee of the College, strongly criticized that despite a major growth in the endowment, Grinnell’s tuition has consistently risen. The rate of growth of the comprehensive fee is down slightly from the previous year, in which there was an increase of 4.01 percent.

The Board of Trustees approved the increase in December. According to Kate Walker, Vice President for

$36,948 $39,250 $40,628 $43,720 $45,217 $46,574 $48,322 $50,264 Finance and Treasurer, the College arrived at the comprehensive fee by looking at three different factors.

“First and foremost we look at our mission and how we can deliver programs that are mission-related.

That’s really important. Then we also look at what’s going in the marketplace, just in terms of thing like what are our peer institutions doing, what kind of pushback are we getting in the economy … And then the third is financial sustainability.”

This year, the tuition hike was driven by increases in faculty compensation. Walker explained that the College has been engaged in a multi-year process of significantly increasing faculty pay to attract and retain high quality professors. In addition, the rising cost of maintaining dorms was another cause of the price

increase.

The College decided to increase the comprehensive fee despite Buffett’s comments last April, when he said, “I was the trustee of a college that saw the endowment go from 8 million dollars to over a billion, and I didn’t see the tuition come down and I didn’t see the number of students go up,” at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s annual meeting, as reported in Bloomberg.

Buffett was correct on the first two counts — tuition has consistently gone up, and the endowment was valued at 1.79 billion dollars in 2015.

However, enrollment is currently at around 1,700, which is roughly 60 percent higher than it was in 1968, the year Buffett joined the Board of Trustees.

According to Walker, President Raynard Kington reached out to Buffett following his comments, and this led to a meeting in Omaha, which the College’s former president George Drake also attended.

“Kington and Drake … shared compelling evidence with Buffett demonstrating that Grinnell is not stockpiling its endowment, but is in fact using it to support its students,” Walker wrote in an email to The S&B. “[They] provided data showing … [that] scholarships funded through the College's endowment have also increased. Student debt has remained consistently very low, with total student debt for last year's graduates

averaging under 20,000 dollars …

Last, but not least, Drake and Kington explained that we are responsibly managing the endowment to preserve our ability to meet the financial needs of qualified students for generations to come.”

According to Walker, Buffett welcomed the response to his comments in the Bloomberg article.

“Buffett thanked Kington and Drake for setting him straight … He went on to applaud our commitment to financial accessibility and acknowledged the endowment's essential role in meeting that commitment,” Walker wrote.

"First and foremost we look at our mission and how we can deliver programs that are mission-related."

Kate Walker Vice President for Finance Among students and their families, especially those on financial aid, each year’s tuition increase often leads to worries that attending the College may become unaffordable for them. However, according to Brad Lindberg, Director of Financial Aid, the College remains committed to ensuring that a Grinnell education is affordable for everyone.

“Students who qualify for need based financial assistance will receive financial aid from Grinnell to assist them with covering the

cost increase,” Lindberg wrote in an email to the S&B. “The financial aid offered to need-based applicants will be adjusted depending upon each family’s unique financial situation.”

Lindberg is cognizant that, while nationally median wages are now rising at around 2 percent annually, some students have families whose incomes are stagnant or dropping.

“My best advice to families who are experiencing circumstances that limit their ability to afford Grinnell, such as a decrease in income, is to reach out to our office,” Lindberg wrote. “We will work with each family to ensure we have the information necessary to produce an appropriate aid package.”

Although many students see the increase as substantial, Walker stresses that Grinnell continues to perform well among the 16 schools against which it compares itself to, all other private liberal arts colleges.

Among these ‘peer institutions,’ as they are known, Grinnell’s comprehensive fee is lower than all but two.

Walker noted that it is important to consider what students actually pay when evaluating the comprehensive fee.

“Very few students pay Grinnell's ‘sticker price’ — less than 15 percent of the student body. When that is taken into consideration, the average net tuition per student is less than 20,000 dollars per year.”

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ANACHA Art Collective fosters art as activism on campus

Arts

Edited by coghlann17@grinnell.edu

Camille A. Brown & Dancers to perform on campus

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Camille A. Brown and Dancers will perform in Roberts Theatre tomrrow at 7:30 p.m.

Lily Bohlke bohlkeli@grinnell.edu

CONTRIBUTED

Hanky Song was inspired by the work of Ana Mendieta and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's art, and decided to name her collective after the two artists.

Keli Vitaioli vitaioli@grinnell.edu In the current political climate, art offers a powerful and productive form of resistance. It can also create a space for open discussion and a strong community of support. Hanky Song ’17 uses these principles to motivate her new artist collective, ANACHA. The ANACHA Collective is named in memory of two feminist artists and inspirations for Song, Ana Mendieta and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. “They are both really talented, non-Western women artists who were really amazing, and they who were both murdered in acts of violence against women. So it is in their memory.”

The collective is a part of Song’s larger senior thesis, titled “Feminism and Visual Culture,” through which Song explores the “utilization of art as a political practice and the ways critical theory can be materialized as creative praxis.” Stemming from Song’s own need for a collaborative film space, the collective aims to fill a void that other Grinnellians with film aspirations are experiencing. One student, Charlotte Liu ’20 expressed a desire to Song for a way to continue examining critical, creative praxis through film and art work, and this in part inspired Song to form the collective.

“Especially with film, there’s no peer community,” Song said. “There’s no space where we can give each other feedback and talk about these theories, so I really wanted to create that space where we could give each other that feedback and give each other that community. Somewhere that you can bring your work, but it’s not just you making something and it ends there — we can talk about it and how it fits into the theories we’re thinking about and the ideas behind the work.”

A combination of reading, discussion and creation, the collective will allow its members to have a space for fully developing from theory and manifesting art pieces as a form of expression.

Song will assign readings to the collective, and the members will be given one or two weeks to read before coming together for discussion meetings.

There will be five of these sessions this semester, after which members will go off and create their own response to the discussion and readings which will later be shared with the group or potentially the Grinnell public.

In the syllabus for the collective, Song expressed the need for the open discussion of ideas without the acceptance of any forms of violence -- such as racism, ableism, transphobia or colonialism. However, Song wants the collective to allow dissection of ideologies without the silencing of members.

“I feel like name calling, like calling someone a racist, that shuts down that discussion,” Song said. “So I really want to encourage through this space not shutting down discourse but also being aware that it is a safe space to do so.”

The readings will be focus primarily on feminist theory, but also dive into critical race theory, pedagogy and post-structuralism. Song emphasizes the impact of our environment and exposures on the way people think.

In her own work with an independent major in media and cultural praxis, Song challenges the influence of hegemonic knowledge and use as a form of political resistance, which is particularly relevant in wake of the recent election.

"There always needs to be resistance, and I think art is an amazing space to do so. I personally have a lot of investment in art as political practice. For me, making art is a way of taking up space. I think it's important to always challenge yourself, whether that's your art or your writing or your academic stuff, to just think about why we think the way that we do, and I think art has that potential."

Hanky Song '17 “There always needs to be resistance, and I think art is an amazing space to do so,” Song said. “I personally have a lot of investment in art as a political practice. For me, making art is a way of taking up space … I think it’s important to always challenge yourself, whether that’s your art or your writing or your academic stuff, to just think about why we think the way that we do, and I think art has that potential.”

Song hopes the discussions will keep members working even after they create art. Through collaboration the ideas can be carried on and transformed between other Grinnellians.

“One of the bigger reasons I’m so invested in this collective is because I think collaboration is a really great way to produce things and have that space where you feel comfortable. I feel like if you’re just making art by yourself and not presenting it to other people, you’re just talking to yourself and it doesn’t go anywhere.”

The collective is open to anyone interested. There is an informational meeting this Saturday at 3 p.m. in Bucksbaum 242.

Camille A. Brown, who is bringing her dance company to Grinnell this weekend, thinks about dance as more than an art form.

“Dance is a language and social dance is an expression that emerges from a community,” said Brown in a TED talk on the history of social dance. “A social dance isn’t choreographed by any one person and it can’t be traced to any one moment. … Social dances bubble up, change and spread like wildfire.”

Brown’s “BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play” is a performance about the nuances of being a Black woman in America. On Saturday, Jan. 28, Camille A. Brown & Dancers will perform in Bucksbaum, in part to start conversations about the value of positive senses of identity.

According to Rachel Bly, Director of Conference Operations and Events, this performance will be unique and relatable to many Grinnellians.

Outside of the theater, Camille A. Brown & Dancers plans to put up chalkboards before and after the show for attendees to share their thoughts and start a dialogue.

“There’s a lot of writing and ideas, sharing stuff that way as part of the show. They wear sneakers or tennis shoes, instead of dance shoes.

It’s a real, current, the type of dance is very relatable to students and to what’s going on in the world right now,” said

Bly. Brown’s dances are composed of steps that many people are able to do, choreographed in a way that draws in and engages the audience so that even if they could perform the steps themselves, they would rather watch, according to Professor Celeste Miller, Theater and Dance.

“I think that’s a challenge in putting something on stage that we all do. If we all know how to do the dance, why should I watch somebody else do it? It’s more fun to do it myself,” said Miller. “[That is] the richness and brilliance of her as a choreographer.”

"Our goal is to bring things to campus that no one else is bringing " Rachel Bly, Director of Conference Operations and Events According to Bly, one of the reasons the Public Events Committee was drawn to Camille A. Brown & Dancers was that few performances like this one are brought to Grinnell’s campus.

“Our goal is to bring things to campus that no one else is bringing and that will stretch our students, faculty and community. [It’s] to stretch their thinking,” Bly said.

In addition to the dance performance, Brown herself will give a lecture today at 4:15 p.m. in Bucksbaum 152 called “Artists as Activists,” and the company is holding

a social dance workshop tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the Bucksbaum dance studio.

“The question is framing it as how can we use the arts as activism. How can the arts be a platform for creative expression, protest and healing?”

Miller said.

The current political climate, according to Bly, also plays a role in what she hopes students get out of Brown’s performance this weekend.

“We’re thinking about what’s going on in the world that we want reflected on campus and how can we inform those, how can we create more thoughtful conversations and how can we give the tools to have those conversations,” Bly said.

Miller is excited for this weekend, not only for the “absolutely beautiful visual,” but also because of the importance and relatability of Brown’s message about social dance. She emphasized that dance is a crucial part to a liberal arts education, for “everybody,” and identity is a part of that conversation. “[BLACK GIRL: Linguistic play] has this undercurrent of wanting to place the African American experience, specifically the Black girl experience, within a context that makes a statement about identity and content and how we activate ourselves, motivate ourselves and the intersection of arts and activism.”

BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, will be performed Saturday night, Jan. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Roberts Theatre.

Operation Sunshine and Crossing the Line open in Faulconer Andrea Baumgartel baumgart@grinnell.edu This Friday, two new art exhibitions will officially open in Faulconer Gallery: “Operation Sunshine” by Joan Linder ’92, as well as a selection entitled “Crossing the Line,” of over 50 recent acquisitions to the College’s Art Collection. While one is the work of a single artist and the other is a compilation spanning multiple artists, years and visions, both exhibits are rooted in activism.

“Operation Sunshine” is Linder’s vigilant process of historically uncovering, as well as responding to, the largely buried and forgotten toxic waste sites near Niagara Falls. The Fall’s industrial surroundings included Love Canal, a 36-square-block and formerly residential neighborhood, which was the dumping ground for over 20,000 tons of toxic waste by the then-Hooker Chemical Company (now, ironically, Occidental Petroleum Corporation). The man-made chemical landfill resulted in adverse health and environmental repercussions. Now, the area contains nothing but empty fields behind a chain-link fence.

“They’re so ordinary, nobody really pays attention anymore,” said Faulconer Gallery Director Lesley Wright. “Linder rediscovered these historical documents . . . she saw firsthand the history of people throwing

nuclear waste into the Niagara River and performing experiments on people with radiation [in the 1950’s].”

The result of Linder’s meditative examination of the recollected archives was literal re-creation: hand-drawings of around a hundred feet of the very chain-link fence that separates the safe zone from chemical burial grounds; hand-copies of the documents themselves—from printed-out web pages and newspaper clippings to chemical database files— that include every original cornerscribble, highlight, typo, page-crease and other minute details that make the documents real again.

“The act of drawing is an act of paying attention,” Wright said. “By forcing herself to draw every detail, she is paying attention with the hopes that others will.”

Linder employs very few colors, but the ones that are present are cramped, askew yet magnetic. They contribute to a muted realism that is tangible in her brilliant accordionstyle folding of the immense fence.

The collection is composed of penand-ink drawings, some as large as 8 square feet. One piece, which depicts the Love Canal vegetation in Linder’s backyard, shows an infantile meadow of entangled pastels slowly concealing the gravel—suggesting and acknowledging that while life may continue on, history may be buried.

“Crossing the Line” is an exhibit in conjunction with “Rethinking Global Cultures,” a yearlong project sponsored by the Center for the Humanities. The new acquisitions to the Grinnell College Art Collection echo the College’s long tradition of social justice and social activism.

Pieces include a buffalo-hidebound book of poems honoring and imagining the unwritten words of Sacajawea, political posters, still-flat world maps from the fifteenth century, photographs inside Guantanamo Bay and much, much more.

“Crossing a line in its definition is from going from one place to another,” said Daniel Strong, Associate Director of Faulconer Gallery and Curator of Exhibitions. “But other forms of crossing a line are less benevolent, such as cultural conquests, migrations due to hardship . . . examples that are very much relevant in today’s political climate.”

The pieces are not meant to stand as art alone, but instead to let voices and opinions—that have been traditionally oppressed or ignored—to be heard.

The gallery’s collection allows for each message to be communicated in a uniquely sensory way.

“We wanted as many points of view as possible,” Strong said.

The two new exhibits open today at 11 a.m. Admission is always free and open to the public.

KOSU KEYU

Both exhibitions in Faulconer this semester are social justice oriented.

Features

Edited by kielyphi@grinnell.edu

5

What did Grinnellians do during the winter break?

Over the five weeks of winter break, Grinnellians celebrated, worked and relaxed at home and around the world. The S&B’s Keli Vitaioli asked students in and around the Grill to share their stories from winter break.

Visit to Florida

The Sopranos

Family in Ecuador

“I visited my grandparents in Florida and hung out with some friends back home for a while. I hung out with Phoebe [Schreckinger ‘19], and we went to a house show that my sister (Ella Williams ’19) played and met some cool dogs and looked at internet memes.” — Nate Williams ‘20

“I worked at this Mexican restaurant and watched a lot of TV — I started The Sopranos. I also went to New York City and stayed with my good friend Sophia Stern [‘19] and had a lot of fun in the city.” — Maddie Birchfield ‘19

“I went to Ecuador to visit my family, I was born in Ecuador, but I got to meet a lot of family members I hadn’t met before. We rode horses, which we do when we go there — it was fun.” — Carmen Ribadeneira ‘20

Traveling the coast “My winter break was pretty dope. Went to D.C., got to drink a lot. Went to New York, did some stupid things there. Had a good time.” — Matt Hammond ‘17

Grinnell across the globe

Travel on a budget “I was broke as shit and was just like, let me figure out what I can do. I did get a ticket to New York when I got my refund money from Grinnell … spent some time with my friend at Columbia. Then I went to D.C. to meet up with some Grinnellians, and then to Philly for Christmas. Then back to New York and then Chicago, so I was pretty much just broke backpacking — it was awesome.” — Dru Greenwood ‘18

"I celebrated the holidays with my family, and then afterwards I actually took a vacation. So I went to Thailand and then I visited my friend who is also a Grinnellian in India, and it was wonderful.”

— Nicolette Musachio ‘19

ALL PHOTOS BY GARRETT WANG

Good Living in Iconic Tower

By Philip Kiely kielyphi@grinnell.edu Gates Hall houses a plaque honoring a 19th century Grinnell College president; gothic-architectural elements and, in the tower, Aidan Healey ’17, Stewart Bass ’18, Whitney Teagle ’18, Sophie Wynde ’19 and Emily Burgess ’19. The five cross-country and track runners live in a five-person suite unlike any other residence on campus.

In addition to the opportunity to live in the tower featured in nearly every piece of Grinnell marketing material, the group draw contains several rooms and amenities including an extra set of furniture and a phone booth.

“You can fit eleven or twelve people in the phone booth at one time with the door closed,” Wynde said.

“They were all cross-country runners who were all relatively small people,” Burgess added.

The phone booth contains a functional landline phone.

“I broke my phone at the end of last semester and needed to call my family… so I think that I ended up sending an email to my mom saying ‘call this number at this time,’” Burgess said.

The phone is a remnant of the formerly school wide phone network.

“Before my first year every single room on campus had a phone that you could call from any other on-campus phone. My first year they took most of the phones out; but some of them on campus stayed,” Bass said.

In addition to the phone, the floor is unique as it is one of the two five-person draws available to students.

“I think what makes it special is that it’s a five-person draw, and there are only two five-person draws on campus. You can enter a group draw before normal room draw… you apply for a certain group draw on campus, like a quad or an apartment, you can rank them…There are a bunch of four-person draws and a bunch of triples, but there are only two five-person draws, one being Gates tower and the other an apartment,” Bass said.

Get to know your SEPC: studio art

By Zane Silk silkzane@grinnell.edu

HELENA GRUENSTEIDL

Aidan Healey '17, Stewart Bass '18, Sophie Wynde '19 and Emily Burgess '19 pose in the phone booth. Not pictured: Whitney Teagle '18.

Overall, the five friends are quite happy with their floor.

“It’s a lot quieter up here than a lot of other dorm floors. We’ll occasionally get some noise from below us, but that is usually on a Friday or Saturday night,” Burgess said.

“It’s nice to know everyone here; we don’t really have problems with people on the floor. Sometimes … in a normal dorm you get someone who makes a lot of noise late at night … or ride their bicycle in the hallway, that happened my first year,” Healey said.

The five runners found that the space has advantages and disadvantages for after practice.

“Because it’s such a large space, we can have team events here too, especially because it is so centralized,” Burgess said.

However, over winter break, it was less convenient.

“After morning practice you have to walk all the way up here to get your food, then if you need to

prepare it you have to walk all the way back down to the first floor to the kitchen to make it, then once you’ve done that you have to bring everything all the way back upstairs.”

Healey estimated a one-way trip at seventy stairs.

“Another great thing about being in the most noticeably tall building on campus, the first time it snowed…I looked out over Mac Field and everything was white … it was beautiful and serene,” Bass said.

Ultimately, what makes any residence special are the personal touches.

“I think that what makes this place special is just the quirks that we’ve kind of put around, we all mess around on each other's whiteboards, we sometimes get weird decorations that we hang up and just wait for someone to notice. There are a couple things written on the tiles in the bathroom from years past,” Bass said.

The new art SEPC hopes to foster a strong artistic community at Grinnell, stretching beyond the art majors to all students interested in art. Before fall 2016 the art and art history SEPC split into two groups, so the Studio Art Department’s SEPC has been able to focus its attention on student-made art. With that in mind it is planning two shows of student artwork this semester.

The art SEPC consists of Hazel Batrezchavez ’17, Joshua Anthony ’17, Lydia James ’19, Serena Hocharoen ’17, Taffe Tang ’17, Olivia Caro ’17, Tim Dooley ’17 and Min Ji Kim ’19.

The SEPC liaisons between art majors and the Art Department, performs faculty reviews and interviews potential hires, among other duties.

Beyond its core role, the SEPC is actively creating artistic opportunities for art and non-art majors alike. “[The SEPC has] been focusing a lot on trying to bridge the gap between the art community and the greater Grinnell community,” said Batrezchavez.

A core element of that initiative is Home Improvement, a series of pop-up shows the SEPC launched last fall, starting with a show at Art House, followed by a second at Food House.

“There were a lot of people who turned out. [The shows] were open to everyone, not just people who were studio art majors,” Ba-

trezchavez said, “So I think we got a lot of submissions from people who had taken art classes before and had art.”

“Or hadn’t even taken an art class at Grinnell,” added Hocharoen.

"[The SEPC has] been focusing a lot on trying to bridge the gap between the art community and the greater Grinnell community.”

–Hazel Batrezchavez '17 While they plan to put on a third Home Improvement show this semester, a major focus for the SEPC will be putting on the annual Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX) in Faulconer Gallery near the end of the term. BAX is open to third and fourth-year students with significant involvement in art at Grinnell and will have a master of ceremonies to grant cash prizes. The SEPC will plan the event, pick the master of ceremonies, select the artwork and promote BAX to the campus community.

Beyond the two shows, the SEPC hopes to host study breaks, and also create a common area for art majors.

“It’s really hard because there’s no space to do it. We had a corner in our classroom in Bucksbaum last semester, but we don’t know where that’s going to go now because we don’t have that classroom. It’s a work in progress,” said Hocharoen.

LIAM LI

The art SEPC discusses an upcoming event.

6

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Sports

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7

Swimmers discuss successful Grinnell Invitational as Spring season moves forward

By Mithilia Iyer iyermith@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell Swimming and Diving team hosted the biannual Grinnell Invitational on Jan. 20 and 21. The men’s team took home the championship last year and emerged victorious once again, with the Women’s team also coming in a close second to Nebraska Wesleyan University. Eight events records were either broken or tied on the men’s side alone at this competitive meet.

“A lot of teams come to this meet after they’ve been resting up for a bit.

It’s a very popular meet,” said Ian Dixon-Anderson ’17. Dixon-Anderson was the runner up in the 400-yard individual medley and the 1650-yard freestyle events at the Invitational.

“It’s fun, it’s fast because a lot of teams have come off training and having a large invitational like this creates an environment where people want to go fast. Seeing one record go down makes people want to swim better."

"A lot of individuals had great swims and brilliant performances and dives last weekend” Beth Tsuha, '17 As the Midwest Conference Final approaches in February, this momentum is exactly what is needed for the team to defend their title from last year.

“We’re trying to use this as a stepping stone, and take time as Confer-

CONTRIBUTED

Beth Tsuha, '17, won the Midwest Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week for the fourth time.

ence comes up to create a mental race for ourselves, so that we can perform better when we’re rested. I hope to go out as a senior and see people do their personal bests and even make national cuts,” Dixon-Anderson said.

The Women’s team had a highly successful meet as well, and finished as runner ups. Ana Karin Kozjek, ’17, Anna Billy, ’20, Maria Venneri ’18 and Beth Tsuha ’17 won the 800-yard freestyle relay, a performance that helped move Grinnell into second place in the team standings on the very first day.

Tsuha, a graduating senior and an outstanding performer this meet also won the 100-yard breaststroke and placed second in the 200 breast stroke and 400 medley relay. Overall, the women’s team won and placed well in several events, ultimately securing a 400-point margin between them and third place Coe College.

“Winning first place itself isn’t a great representation of how we did as a team, because a lot of individuals had great swims and brilliant performances and dives last weekend,” said Tsuha.

This series of good performances comes off the back of the Pioneers’ return from Naples, Florida, where they have an annual training trip over winter break. The daily practices and rigorous exercises were put to good use, and Tsuha added “we also each had two individual practices after we returned and worked on technical aspects of our swimming.”

Preparation for the Midwest Conference is well underway, and the

CONTRIBUTED

Joshua Tibatemwa, '19, swims in last week's Grinnell Invitational. promising results of the women’s team at the Invitational certainly bodes well for the future. Training at this point for both the teams involves tapering off from intensive practices and resting up in order to perform in the best way possible. The teams have also hosted team meetings to define goals and determine

“It’s fun, it’s fast because a lot of teams have come off training and having a large invitational like this creates an environment where people want to go fast. Seeing one record go down makes people want to swim better” Ian Dixon-Anderson, '17

the best way to accomplish them.

“The team is in a really great spot at the moment, and I am excited to see what our members can do next. Personally, I hope to make this my best season yet, and I would love to see us win the Conference as a Women’s team,” Tsuha said.

Both the Men’s and Women’s team swept honors this week, as Tsuha won the Midwest Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week for the fourth time. Will Lindell, ’19, won Invitational the 200 yard breaststroke and was named Midwest Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week for Men. Grinnell’s swim team will race against Macalester College tomorrow, Jan. 28.

Motivation when it's snowing: Grinnellians hit the Bear

By Louise Carhart carhartl17@grinnell.edu As school swung back into session this past Monday, after what could have been a never ending winter break, the gym at the Bear Athletic and Recreation Center saw a tide of returning students looking to reap the benefits of a healthy 2017. While some student-athletes returned early to their competitive seasons, the average student was faced with a snowy trudge across Mac Field and the complexity of lateral pull down machines.

Here, your peers offer reasoning and advice for picking up a regular winter workout routine.

Getting to the Bear is difficult on a normal day, but add in below-freezing wind chill and any combination of sleet and snow and that task quickly becomes an ordeal. For some students, relying on structured time for exercise is important.

“I do (work out), mostly during school … when there’s structure,” said Anushka Joshi, ’18, who also plays for the Grinnell Women’s Tennis Team. Joshi finds that vacation time often does not provide the necessary push to exercise, so getting into a

routine is beneficial.

Some take advantage of physical education classes that set a meeting time and count on a pass/fail basis.

“I think it’s important to take time to be a human being and not just a student while at Grinnell,” Halley Freger, ’17 “I force myself to work out by taking a [physical education] class during a free time,” said Oonagh Jordan, ’17. “I’m currently in conditioning where basically they give you a workout plan made for you, so I have to go to the gym in order not to fail.”

These classes range from high intensity interval training (HIIT) to pickleball. All count for one or half of one credit and have no enrollment costs, but introduce students to the athletics staff and allow non student athletes to take advantage of the expertise and knowledge they offer.

There are no base line physical requirements and are open to all who wish to participate.

Often, the motivation for exercising comes from a quest for balance

between academics, extracurricular activities and personal time. Many students expressed a desire to improve their mental health through physical activity, as the resources for this specialized care are often not readily available. Exercise offers some a break from the regular school day and allows them time to focus on themselves and not a deadline.

“I think about the consequences if I didn’t show up, which would be increased stress,” said Corey Simmonds, ’17. “I’m here because I feel like I have to be. It just helps me deal with the rest of the work and the stress of being here.”

This sentiment was echoed by many students who felt that this time was invaluable to managing their personal stress and focusing on their overall health. As the Student’s Health and Counseling Services (SHACS) continues to work on providing comprehensive mental health care, students have taken it upon themselves to ensure they are providing themselves with the necessary self-care.

“I think it’s important to take time to be a human being and not just a student while at Grinnell,” wrote Halley Freger, ’17, in an email to the

XIOAXUAN YANG

The Bear Recreation and Athletics Center offers a warm haven for those trying to live a healthy lifestyle in below-freezing temperatures.

S&B. “For me, I realized that working out is a nice break and helps me feel good. I’ve also created a schedule with friends so that we can work out together and that’s great motivation.

Also, I want to get swole! I want to be powerful and able to defend myself.

But really my ultimate goal is to be strong/confident enough to store and retrieve my carry-on luggage on airplanes without random men immediately coming to help me.”

The desire to be physically

healthy is a strong draw for many as they brace themselves for the continuation of the infamous Iowa winter. As we move into the grayer part of the year, the bright lights, exercise shorts and shiny weight machines of the Bear have a lot to offer for those looking to escape. None of this is better articulated, however, by Sam Burt, ’17.

“Just trying to get swole, my dude,” Burt said during a pause in his workout. “You’re exercising inside when you’re here.”

Basketball heads into final half of season

By Mira Braneck braneckm@grinnell.edu Men's Basketball The men’s basketball team started the 2016-2017 season strong, going 4-0 in conference and 6-0 at home. Winter break brought a streak of away games, in which the team won only one of their five games. However, after a big p o n at-home win against RiCollege on Jan. 21, the team is feeling good.

“We’re back on track now,” said Jacob Ekstrand ’18, a forward on the team. “That game was a lot of motivation — motivation, and also kind of a startour engines.”

The team stayed on campus for most of the break, spending up to f o u r

CONTRIBUTED

Vinny Curta, '19, is the top Men's scorer.

hours at the gym each day. Most of the players went early to practice shooting, then stayed late

“A big thing about how we play is energy. If we bring energy to any game, we can win. But we can also lose to any team, if we just look over our opponent. So it’s kind of dangerous” Jacob Ekstrand, '18

to lift or take more shots.

“I guess it’s kind of like what it feels like to be a professional athlete, because you’re just here with the teams, living in the dorms,

just playing games ... so it’s kind of a fun way spend a month on campus by ourselves,” said Nick Curta ’17, another forward.

“It definitely made us come closer as a team,” said Vinny Curta ’19, who is currently the top-scorer on the team despite typically playing as a guard. “Everything kind of goes through me, so if I’m not producing then it’s probably not going to turn out great for us.”

“Which he has been lately,” Nick Curta interjected, pointing out that

his teammate and brother had scored 35 points against Ripon College and 28 against Monmouth College, a game that ended in a tough loss.

“A big thing about how we play is energy,” Ekstrand said. “If we bring energy to any game, we can win. But we can also lose to any team, if we just look over our opponent. So it’s kind of dangerous.”

“We’re just excited Saturday to play at home, finally, in front of a home crowd,” Nick Curta said.

Men’s basketball will be playing at home against Lawrence University, a team that they have previously beat, tomorrow at 3 p.m. They are currently 10-6, going undefeated at home.

“She’s such a tough lady.

Two weeks after pregnancy she was walking around the gym” Alex Neckopulos, '17, on Coach Harrold Women's Basketball Women’s basketball suffered three consecutive losses at the start of their winter break trip.

But they finished strong, winning their next three games before losing at home on Jan. 21 in a crushing 61-35 loss to Ripon College.

“This past Saturday, the wheels

just fell off,” said Sophia Gatton ’17.

“We ended up beating ourselves a bit, just with the turnovers and defensive breakdowns. A lot of it was mental. Our focus wasn’t really there.”

The team is using the tough end to their winter break to come back even stronger for the rest of the season.

“Ending the winter break on an unfortunately low note is giving us the energy and momentum to just [say] ‘ok, we’re not in as good as a position as we thought, we still need to work hard, we’re not safe if we still want to make it to the tournament’,” said Alex Neckopulos, ’17.

Before their road trip, the team was on campus practicing every day. “We have two hour practices, but then we have a lot more time to just get shots up by ourselves and really have basketball be our main priority,” Neckopulos said.

Head Coach Dana Harrold was not initially present for practice as she had just had a baby. The team started out practicing with only the assistant coach. “It was a little bit of an adjustment,” Neckopulos said.

But Harrold was back very quickly, returning to practice only two weeks after giving birth. “She’s such a tough lady,” Neckopulos said. “Two weeks after pregnancy she was walking around the gym.”

The team is excited for the rest of the season. “Even though we had a

“We’re just excited Saturday to play at home, finally, in front of a home crowd” Nick Curta, '17 good winter break, we’re coming off it even stronger,” Neckopulos said.

“It’s really go-time” The team’s record is currently 8-8. They will play against Lawrence University t o - morrow, Jan. 28 at home at 1 p.m.

CONTRIBUTED

Sophia Gatton, '17, takes a shot in a recent game.

Community

8

Edited by vitaioli@grinnell.edu

Grinnellians protest at Des Moines Women's March

By Megan Tcheng tchengme@grinnell.edu Activists from across the state of Iowa flocked to the State Capitol in Des Moines this past Saturday, Jan. 21, to fall in stride with millions of activists worldwide.

Mothers, children, grandparents, husbands, friends and strangers alike filled the streets of the city. Many participants wielded homemade posters and banners, while others donned cat ears and hand-knitted pink hats – a trademark of the march made popular

by The Pussyhat Project, a Los Angeles-based internet campaign.

“So many young people and new people came out and, as a point of new unity, we [chose not to] talk about how we were different. We talked about what we were all sharing in terms of the experience. .”

Cara Brensnahan '19

Totaling over 26,000 people, the Des Moines Women’s March participants vastly exceeded the crowd estimates predicted by the March chapter’s captains, which just a week before estimated that the number would be closer to 6,000 attendees. Such unanticipated support was echoed by the 600-plus sister-marches held in cities across the world, including the Women’s March on Washington, which brought over 500,000

protestors to the center of Washington DC’s National Mall.

Grinnell students, faculty and staff joined the crowd of Iowa residents at the Women’s March, while countless other students participated in sister-marches in their respective hometowns. Cara Bresnahan ’19 made the hour-long trip from her dorm to the front steps of the Iowa State Capitol Building with a group of friends and fellow classmates.

“There was something about standing with over ten thousand other women that was empowering and made me feel like we could actually cause change. … The march, to me, became more about the strength of women coming together to support each other rather than about Trump,” Bresnahan wrote in an email to The S&B. While attendees championed a range of different causes, from LGBTQ rights to criticisms of the country’s new president, the prevailing sentiment of the Des Moines Women’s March centered around the event’s theme of unity in support of women’s rights. The coordinators of the event, represented by the Women’s March Iowa Chapter, chose not to identify the march as a protest and instead advocated for an intersectional platform.

“We stood together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health and our families – recognizing that our vibrant and diverse

communities are the strength of our country,” explained the Des Moines Women’s March Chapter on their Facebook page.

Rallied by the march’s message of unity, participants wove through the block-long route surrounding the capital and joined their voices in a series of songs, chants and cheers. The march’s attendees, which spanned a wide range of age, gender, race and religious identities, worked to find common ground and rally in the strength of their numbers. Professor Kesho Scott, American Studies, reflected on her experience as a speaker at the Des Moines march.

“So many young people and new people came out and, as a point of new unity, we [chose not to] talk about how we were different. We talked about what we were all sharing in terms of the experience. People brought their families and their partners. It was multigenerational,” Scott said.

“The march, to me, became more about the strength of women coming together to support each other rather than about Trump.”

Cara Brensnahan '19 Both before and after the march, a steady stream of musicians and local speakers took the stage in order to rally support from the event’s crowd of attendees. Scott, a locally recognized activist, joined the lineup of speak-

ers. In her resounding message, Scott stressed the importance of stepping up to the plate and recognizing American’s extensive history of activism.

Iowa Senator proposes pro-machine gun legislation

“It is a rally to put yourself into history and a commitment that you will do the work that unity and equality [require].”

Professor Katya Gibel Mevorach “The bottom line… for me was that marches on Washington are an American institution and a right and a privilege. That was the most important message – that this isn’t just a rally to respond to something. It is a rally to put yourself into history and a commitment that you will do the work that unity and equality [require].”

Scott said.

Now, after the resounding impact of the Women’s March, participants in Des Moines and across the world must face the question of “what’s next?” For both students at Grinnell and beyond, Professor Katya Gibel Mevorach, Anthropology, expressed hope that the march could be a first step towards further activism.

“Now comes the hard work of working at the grassroots… Cumulatively there needs to be a change and a collaboration, [because] collectively, we can make an impact. Be informed about the actions you can take…Call your senators… Organize…That’s what gets things to change” said Gibel Mevorach.

CONTRIBUTED

By Michael Cummings cummings@grinnell.edu While the events of the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency have the attention of most Grinnell students honed in on Washington, this past November’s elections are having a dramatic impact on public policy at the local level as well.

With Republicans now controlling all levels of Iowa government, Republican state Senators have wasted no time in introducing a new wave of conservative legislation. One such bill would legalize three types of weapons: short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and machine guns.

The bill was introduced by Senator Jason Schultz of Schleswig, who introduced it out of a desire to make Iowa law no less strict than Federal law, which already permits possession of those weapons.

“One such bill would legalize three types of weapons: short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and machine guns.”

CONTRIBUTED

Students and professors gathered with thousands of other protesters and their voices were but a few of the cacophony uniting against the Trump administration.

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XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

Showtimes: 3D: 3:50 p.m., 9:10 p.m.

Standards: 6:45pm Daredevil Xander Cage is back and more mediocre than ever. He must battle a government conspiracy with the power of his motorcycling.

HIDDEN FIGURES Showtimes:3:40 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m.

The incredible smart, strong, and radiant black women behind the coding that took us to the moon, emotionally and literally, are featured in a film that screams #blackgirlmagic.

Machine guns are guns which are designed to automatically fire bullets in rapid succession. A typical machine gun can fire up to 1,800 bullets in one minute.

The bill has been criticized by various Democratic lawmakers as dangerous, unnecessary and far exceeding the Founding Fathers’ understanding of firearms when the Second Amendment was written.

While Democrats in the state Senate have questioned why anyone would need to own a machine gun, Schultz has maintained that such items would likely not be purchased for actual use of the weapon, but rather as a collector’s item.

Opponents of the bill may take some solace in the fact that the price range for such guns range in the tens of thousands of dollars, thus limiting the ability of most Iowans to purchase one.

The gun bill is just one of many bills introduced by Republican state senators since retaking the chamber earlier this month. All 29 Republican senators co-sponsored a bill to cut state funding to Planned Parenthood. The vote would need 26 votes to pass the 50-seat Senate, meaning its co-sponsors alone are enough to wave it through.

Republican Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale, a Des Moines suburb, has been especially prolific in introducing legislation this session. Since the session began he has introduced legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, end the statewide retirement plan for public employees, eliminate tenure at public universities and community colleges, require valid IDs to vote and eliminate the state Department of Education as well as Iowa Public Television.

Senator Tim Kapucian, a Republican whose district includes Grinnell, was unavailable to be reached for comment on how he might vote on these pieces of legislation.

Students wishing to learn more about these bills or the current legislative session in Iowa may find the text of the bills and other information at www.legis.iowa.gov.

LA LA LAND Showtimes: 4 p.m., 7 p.m., 9:40 p.m.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone pretend to be musicians in a grand Old-Hollywood-style allusion. John Legend plays piano and also the villan.

Opinions

Edited by mettleca@grinnell.edu

9

No film program? That’s a problem!

Over winter break, sixteen students traveled to Los Angeles to explore the entertainment industry through the Center for Careers, Life and Services (CLS). Most of us who signed up for this experience are passionate about film and media, with a desire to contribute to this influential medium in some substantive way. In fact, forty-seven students applied to go, suggesting the wide interest at the college in this creative industry. We left the trip motivated and excited, but soon realized that even though the College had given us this opportunity to make important connections in Hollywood, none of us had been provided any practical knowledge or skills to work as filmmakers because the College does not provide courses in film or video production. One alumnus even advised us to transfer or drop out of Grinnell if we were serious about film production. Unlike most of our peer institutions, and despite student interest, the College does not have a film major or concentration.

Pre-professional excursions provide invaluable opportunities for building connections, but these opportunities are virtually meaningless without the tangible skills a film and media curriculum provides. Digital media skills are a vital asset for students whether they are entering the workforce or pursuing higher education so they are equipped with the media literacy to communicate and participate in the digital age.

Not only are we unprepared for the media-saturated “real world” after Grinnell, students who are serious about film studies and production as valid and meaningful academic disciplines feel disrespected by this institution. We pay ever-rising tuition, yet never

see benefits that reflect our need and desire to be trained in our chosen field, such as film production classes taught by qualified professionals. To meet the academic and professional needs of students, Grinnell must commit to developing a film and media studies major on par with peer institutions. This means hiring trained scholars and artists with PhDs and/or MFAs in film and media theory and production to offer a range of courses necessary for media and social literacy, as well as educating students in the specifics of a well-established academic discipline. Carleton College’s Cinema and Media Arts Department, for instance, includes a new building dedicated to media production and pedagogy, with eight highly qualified faculty members. President Steve Poskanzer of Carleton College said, “The best liberal arts education in the next generation will involve a high level of visual literacy and an understanding of the role that creativity plays in all intellectual fields and across all disciplines.” After this trip, we wonder if Grinnell College shares this perspective about the future of the liberal arts. On one hand, it has upgraded its own website with video imagery to promote the college, but on the other, it provides not a single course to enable its own students to create this very content.

The potential of film studies as an interdisciplinary path within the humanities has proven successful since it was introduced nearly a decade ago. The Expanding Knowledge Initiative (EKI), implemented to develop new areas of inquiry, led to the hire of Professor Terri Geller. Students in EKI have annually presented their papers at national conferences and been published in academic

journals, which fills the administration's call for more public student scholarship. Additionally, film students have gone on to edit an international academic film journal, pursue doctoral degrees at prestigious universities and win Watson fellowships and the Baumann Prize. These successes should be recognized at the College with structural support in the form of an official major and the expansion of faculty it requires, beginning with a qualified film and video artist to lead production courses, and possibly faculty in global cinema to reflect the college’s increasing commitment to global studies.

While students committed to studying film have the option of pursuing independent majors, there are not enough courses, and the few provided are often in foreign language departments, conducted in that language.

Moreover, independent majors often get cut from classes that may have relevance to their studies because of official major preferences or lack of prerequisites. Without the structural support of a department, independent majors lack the community offered by the structure of a major, a peer or alumni network that is integral for success, but also, in the case of film production, an essential need for the collaborative work required of film and video production. Thus, many students are actively transferring to peer institutions with strong media studies departments. In sum, the College will continue to lose a percentage of its best students by ignoring the real demand for a substantial film and media studies program.

As a liberal arts college devoted to equipping students with intellectual knowledge and training to build successful careers and

We don't need bubble ambassadors, we need politics

On December 23, 2016, the Washington Post's Grade Point blog published an article penned by our very own President Raynard Kington entitled, "College president: Schools can’t be blue islands in red states," essentially a proposition for how academics should cope with and consider the nearby conservative presence in the Trump years.

Unfortunately, there is a distinct discrepancy between legitimate politics and liberal proverbs.

President Kington's article is a mild reiteration of the post-election beltway narrative that America was simply too bigoted to elect another Democrat, an intriguing conclusion considering about 6 months ago the center-left media class had disavowed Donald Trump as too bigoted to win. In the fallout of Nov 8, the befuddled Democrats declared, "Of course Trump won! He appealed to the hate of the flyover states! There was simply nothing we could do! America's voters were just too backwards to work for progress!" If only there was something the left could have done to dissuade the rural American from hammering in those Trump yard signs.

The fact of the matter is that, demographically speaking, the rural white male, the supposed intrinsically prejudicial boogeyman of the centrist imagination, is not why the worst candidate of the modern era was elected. The organizational inefficiency, unpopular corporatism and flawed campaign messaging of the Democratic elite decimated their historically loyal voting blocs. Attending to their adverse platform, however, is cognitively difficult for the left ruling class and its allied collegiate intelligentsia. What else could be offered?

Something more ostensibly intellectual?

Kington's article stresses, "…we have recognized the necessity of helping our students understand different global perspectives, we must do more to educate our students about understanding the different worlds and divides within our domestic world." This striving for local awareness, making business connections with the town and ushering students towards more actively engaging with the proximate community, is posited as a tacit solution to assuaging stark ideological differences between the unwashed masses of the rural folk and the noble, keen and scholastically dutiful collegian.

While encouraging students to volunteer at after school programs and shop locally is of course a neighborly campaign, it is naïve to assume that this can lead to profound political change. Is John Smith, anthropology major from Oak Park, Illinois, supposed to walk down to the Elks Lodge and converse with the nearest MAGAite he sees? Will the influence of individ-

ual students' logic, rhetoric, and "discourse" convince a population misinformed by encompassing American hegemony that their politics are rooted in white supremacy? No. Broadening the college's involvement with Grinnell life will surely reinforce positive associations between the two areas, but this is not how political organization is fostered and this is not how bigotry is quelled.

Individually disseminating an abstract conception of "knowledge" into adjacent rural locales is an innocuous, if not dangerous, form of political activism.

"The rural white male, the supposed intrinsically prejudicial boogeyman of the centrist imagination, is not why the worst candidate of the modern era was elected."

Iowa is an interesting case. The state went blue for Obama in 2008 and 2012. There are a lot of explanations as to why the state turned to Trump, but as someone who grew up in the heart of rural central Iowa, I personally think it always comes back to resources.

Trumpism can be defeated through class solidarity. Class solidarity is achieved through addressing material needs and building a coalition based upon that. This endeavor is not initiated by the vague notion of what Kington describes as an effort "to bridge the separation," an outwardly cordial, but ultimately platitudinous vision.

If the American intellectual seeks to overcome the purportedly rigid demarcation between the American reactionary and the liberal left, instead of focusing on the distractions of fake news, third partyists, and liberal bubbles, they should avidly advocate for and support candidates that eschew corporatism and stale neoliberal pragmatism. It is not sensational to claim that a party platform that supports universal education, healthcare and social opportunity would rally a nationwide progressive base and surely defray any fear of hard right populism. Or, we could shop at McNally's. But if we collectively commit to that activity, we should accept what it is, a pleasantry and not politics.

-Jenkin Benson '17

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

Teresa Fleming Eva Lilienfeld Mira Branek Lily Bolhke Philip Kiely Candace Mettle Nora Coghlan Keli Vitaioli Candace Mettle Michael Cummings Jon Sundby Sara Ruiz Steve Yang Jenny Dong Andrea Baumgartel Zane Silk @AltNatParkSer

prepare us for postgraduate study, we need a film and media program supported by the college—if not out of interest for the students, then to remain at the forefront of liberal arts colleges. Most of our peer institutions offer a film and media studies major with at least one film and video production faculty member to prepare students to not only to produce film and video, but also to acquire employment in businesses that have increasing demand for media content--like Grinnell itself. At this moment in history, we believe it is more essential than ever to have citizens literate in media studies. When a man can become president simply by being a television personality and social media bully, the ability to understand, engage, produce, and contextualize this very media is crucial.

The LA Trek was the first time we engaged with our peers who share interests in film theory and production. We witnessed the importance of building a strong community, and now we call on you, faculty, staff, alumni and students to sign our petition and support us in creating a film program at Grinnell. https://www.change.org/p/create-a-filmand-media-studies-program-at-grinnell Nora Coghlan ‘17 Melissa Fandos ‘17 Teresa Fleming ‘17 Halley Freger ‘17 Joseph Knopke ‘19 Michelle Risacher ‘17 Hanky Song ‘17 Editors Note: Teresa Fleming and Nora Coghlan are on the staff of The S&B.

Staff Editorial: The Women's March Last week’s Women’s Marches exceeded expectations. Despite exclusive origins, millions of women gathered across the country and began a nationwide conversation about the necessity of intersectionality. Organizers had only expected approximately 200,000 people to attend the march in D.C. Instead, over 500,000 showed up, an amount so staggering that attendees found it hard to even walk three feet in front of them, much less to the White House as planned. Marches around the world also had many more protesters than expected, making the Women’s March one of the largest global protests in history. Now, it is up to the millions of people who joined to remember the lessons learned from the march’s imperfections and enact them in future discourse and demonstrations within their own communities.

Initially, the march was created in reaction to Hillary Clinton’s surprising loss of the presidency. Due to an election season riddled with overt sexism from a candidate with a history of sexual assault, many women personally felt Clinton’s loss. Yet the conversation of the Women’s March soon centered on cis-gendered, female, white bodies. One of the most constant criticisms of Clinton’s campaign organization was its focus on “white feminism.”

Loosely defined, white feminism is a colloquial expression to label feminist movements that adhere to white supremacy and use superficial tactics to protect womanhood. The organizers carried this weakness of Clinton’s campaign into the Women’s March.

"The marches’ controversy opened dialogues about the importance of intersectionality to the movement against oppression."

In the beginning, no women of color, people with disabilities or representatives of other marginalized groups were represented as key organizers for the march. The official platform lacked any references to Black Lives Matter, DACA and the Dakota Access Pipeline, a few of the most polarizing and recent issues of the election season. Yet, the march derived its original name, the Million Woman March, from a historic march for black civil liberties — the 1995 Million Man March. After hearing these concerns, the initial organizers recruited wom-

en from marginalized groups to lead and modify the platform. In doing so, they displayed a crucial way to resist the Trump administration: acknowledging and working to eradicate exclusion within large-scale activist movements.

Not every individual who voiced support for the march agreed with the organizers’ changes. As expected from white feminists, some believed that race and socioeconomic status are secondary to being a woman. Those who did want to accept intersectionality used their people of color partners as props of political awareness, which further alienated non-white participants. It seemed as though the march was crumbling. In some ways, it did. Women at marches reportedly chastised others who wanted to recognize Black Lives Matter. The focus on sex over gender failed to recognize how femininity goes beyond organs. The fact that the march was the largest gathering of people with disabilities was treated as little more than a talking point.

Nonetheless, the marches’ controversy opened dialogues about the importance of intersectionality to the movement against oppression. For many, the Women’s March was their first involvement in politics and activism. As a result, some participants were ignorant of their offensive approaches to fighting oppression. Involvement in such a wide protest can provide the learning tools to understand the importance of intersectionality.

Subsequently, the Women’s March stressed the vitality of mobilizing within local communities. In this way, it allowed for protesters to show how their march is not solely a demonstration against Trump — it is a movement to protect at-risk groups. From tiny villages in Alaska to metropolises in the Southeast, large groups of people peacefully took to the streets and stated their plans for future actions. As the Tea Party has shown us, immediate action from the ground up must be a priority. Trump swayed voters by speaking directly to personal issues that hit home for many voters. This time around, sister marches across the world used the same tactic (albeit not by using “alternative facts”) to encourage people to show up and demonstrate.

What we can do now is stay on the path that the Women’s March paved, starting from our local communities. We must be vigilant when we see actions that do not include marginalized groups. We must educate on the importance of intersectionality to strengthen a nation, and be sure to demonstrate support for any at-risk group. To ensure that a demagogue does not appear again, our nation must be united in its goal for the respect and protection of all peoples.

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 in 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, Jenny Dong, 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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Back Page Volume 133, Issue 13

thesandb.com

"The best thing since the front page!"

Photo of the Week

Got a backpage-worthy photo? Submit it to [mettleca] and earn $5 for contributing a winner!

Features editor Philip Kiely loves cats.

Arbitrary Analysis Social Calendar

Snow Angels

Snowmen

Sledding

Snedge

Staff Shoutout

This week, Mira Berkson '20 and Mira Branek '19 polled students asking: Alternative Facts or Bigly Truths

Friday

4:15 p.m. Artists as Activists w Camille A. Browne @ Lawson Lecture Hall 8:00 p.m. QuestBridgexWeekend Bingo @ JRC 101

JRC

Saturday​

11:00 a.m. Social Dance Workshop @ Batts Dance Studio 12:00 p.m. Godspell Auditions @ Lawson Lecture Hall 2:00 p.m. Women's and Men's Basketball vs. Lawrenceat Darby Gymnasium 7:30 p.m. Camille A. Browne and Dancers Performance

Like what you see?

Shoutout to Facilities Management! After a long semester of cleaning up our crap (figuratively and literally) we hope they have a restful holiday season

In the JRC Alternative facts: 20 Bigly truths: 30 32 alternative facts, 18 bigly truths

ARH

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

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check us out:

@thesandb /thescarletandblack thesandb.com @newspapr

Rants & Raves: Ravioli, Ravioli, Give me the Formuloli

Students speak about what’s on their minds in 100 words or fewer, and you’re invited! If you have a rant or a rave, email it to [mettleca]

Finding a Friend in the Pub Office

Keli Ravioli changed my life. Together, we passed many a long night, braving the depths of the windowless Pubs room. Keli, if not for you, I might have gone completely Special shout out to the other half of my mad. Your sharp wit caused me vague fear pb&copy editing hot sammy — Mirror to at first, but as time passed and we comisermy soul Braneck. These long nights/morn- ated over hours of sleep lost to copy, I found ings would've been unbearable without you a comrade in the pursuit of publishing. Stay to commiserate over lost sleep on the JRC villigant in your hunt for typos, my friend. steps like down-on-our-luck John Hughes stars. See you in my dreams.

Keli Vitiaoli '19

Mira Braneck '19

Cool Construction

Last Issue

Shoutout to all the workers that I saw out constructing our new humanities and social science center in the frigid January cold.

I admired their cool poise while I hurried from warm building to warm building.

Someone should bring them hot chocolate - they surely deserve it.

I was so excited to be back here until it started to snow-- AGAIN. Also, that construction going on is an eyesore and makes it harder to go to your 8:00 AM when you're late.

Jon Sundby '17

Candace Mettle '19