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BY 
A
NNA
G
ILBERT
 
 AND
M
 ARCUS
Z
EITZ
At the Trustee open forum last night,the four ten-minute presentations by stu-dent groups, followed by questions, broughttogether two, usually distant, groups. The event, which is often scheduledduring the Trustees’ tri-yearly visits to cam-pus, took place in the Forum South Loungeand was hosted by SGA President NeoMorake ‘09. Afterwards, presenters andstudents-at-large stayed for more in-depthconversations with Trustees. The four groups that gave presenta-tions were the San Ramón Alliance, A JustGrinnell, the No Limits Project (NLP) andStudents for Responsible Investing. The groups’ messages overlapped with afocus on two specific core values promotedby Grinnell College—social responsibility and a diverse community. Last night’s pre-sentations highlighted both successes andsetbacks in fulfilling these core values in a variety of contexts, including campus life,service trips and investment ethics. While no definite decisions can be madeat this open forum, these student-Trusteediscussions give Trustees a sampling of stu-dents’ perspectives on current College poli-cies and potential changes.
 The San Ramón Alliance:
Consisting of Marissa Gilman ’09,Grace Philipp ’12, Aniko Drlik-Muehleck ’11, Mary Jane Giesey ’12, Emma Peterson’10, and Katherine Gregersen ’09, The SanRamón Alliance presented on their self-or-ganized alternative break trip to Nicaragua. The group, basing their presentation on thestudy abroad programs and internships of group members and alumni, spoke of ex-periences in the community of San Ramónand the nearby region.Alliance members worked with El Cen-tro Promocional Cristiano por la Paz y laVida (CPCPV), an organization which wasfounded in the 1980s to support victims of  violence in the Contra wars.Recently, another student group, SocialEntrepreneurs of Grinnell (SEG), whichspecializes in microloans to developingcommunities, formed a partnership withCPCPV.Philipp, the primary correspondent be-tween the two groups, spoke of the suc-cesses of CPCPV. “CPCPV is an extremely professional organization,” Philipp said.“They’ve been working with various formsof microfinancing and microloans for thepast seven years.”In addition to, building the community through partnerships with SEG and theCPCPV, members of the San Ramón alli-ance spoke to how their experiences in Ni-caragua allowed them to put their Grinnelleducation into practice.“I had taken environmental econom-ics with Mark Montgomery and I felt thatevery single day I was thinking about thatclass when I was down there,” Gilman said.“Having that experience really broughtto life my education at Grinnell, and soI wanted other people to have that same‘aha’ moment through experiencing thingsthat we going
Biniaz, see p. 4
Grinnell College Grinnell, IAApril 24, 2009 Volume 125, Issue 23
The Scarlet and Black 
First College Newspaper West of the Mississippi
BY 
B
RIAN
S
HERWIN
According to a Grinnell Police Depart-ment media release, on April 21, officers fromthe Grinnell Police Department arrested aGrinnell College student for Theft in the FirstDegree. Two search warrants were issued, andofficers found stolen electronics in the stu-dent’s dormitory room. The arrest is the result of an investigationrelating to the disappearance of 13 College-owned computers and other electronics equip-ment worth approximately $20,000.On April 20, Grinnell College Safety and
Trustees, see p. 5
Holocaust survivor talk many people
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 You already knew it, butnation validates Grin-nell’s claim to being cool.........................p. 2 Track and field risesto the occasion as The Dick slides intoGrinnell...............p. 14 Jaysen Wright’s ’09 play marks culmination of MAP and awesometalent......................p. 8It’s bigger, it’s bet-ter, it’s an insertedpreview of the S&BMagazine...........Inside
‘Schindler’s List’ alum speaks on campus
Computer thief arrested after eBay probe
Student suspected of stealing over $20,000 dollars worth of equipment from College
Security reported an item’s appearance on theonline auction website eBay to the GrinnellCollege Police Department. Grinnell CollegeSecurity Officer Patrick Ritter had been scan-ning the website for the stolen equipment.Grinnell College Police Department Chief  Jody Matherly then inquired information fromthe eBay website.“At that point, we contacted eBay security and worked with them to find out who hadposted the item and got that information,” saidChief Matherly in a phone interview with theS&B. “And, it led us back to the College cam-pus, and so we executed search warrants and we were able to recover several stolen items.”After Grinnell Police Department OfficersStuart Fricke and Joe Meyer retrieved the sto-len items from the student’s room, it was foundthat some of the equipment had already beensold on eBay. The arrested student is currently housedin Poweshiek County Jail, in Montezuma.Accused of Class C Felony Theft in the FirstDegree, the student may face up to ten yearsin prison and a fine from at least $1,000 to amaximum of $10,000.
On Tuesday, April 21, Holocaust survivor and Grinnell College alumna Celina Biniaz spoke to a group of students, faculty, staff and community mem-bers in JRC 101 about her experiences and memories of the Holocaust. This event was sponsored by the Center for the Humanities and Grinnell College  Jewish student organization Chalutzim as a part of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Biniaz shared her story of growing up in Poland, being placed in a concentration camp, and consequent placement in Oskar Schindler’s factory, whose humanitarian efforts were documented in Steven Spielberg’s“Schindler’s List.” After the war, Biniaz moved to Des Moines, and eventually she attended and graduated from Grinnell College in 1952. Aside fromwith Spielberg, this is the first time she has publicly spoken about her experiences in the Holocaust.
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Trustee openforum recap
 
April 24, 2009 
EWS 
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edited by J. Francis Buse and Brian Sherwinsherwinb@grinnell.edu; busejohn@grinnell.edu
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Grinnell Mock Trial competes at nationals
“It was a rewarding experienceto see us compete at nation-als—a level where Harvard didn’t make it to this season.” 
Julia Reese ‘10
Friday 
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 Baseball Diamond,12 p.m.
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 Softball Diamond,1 p.m.
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Bucks-baum Sebring-Lew-is Hall, 2 p.m.
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 Bucksbaum RobertsTheatre, 2 p.m.
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HerrickChapel, 4 p.m.
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 CDO 104, 1127 ParkStreet, 4:15 p.m.
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NoyceAhrens Atrium, 1stFloor, 11 a.m.
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 Herrick Chapel, 11a.m.
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 Forum South Lounge,2 p.m.
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BucksbaumSebring-Lewis Hall,7:30 p.m.
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 Bucksbaum RobertsTheatre, 8 p.m.
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MainHall Quad DiningHall, 10 p.m.
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GJV Prasad:ARH 102, 4:15 p.m.
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 Davis ElementarySchool, 818 HamiltonAvenue, 5:30 p.m.
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 JRC 225, 4:15 p.m.
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FTP B
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Bon-fire Pit, 8 p.m.
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 Harris Center Con-cert Hall, 10 p.m.
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Movie Times on Page 6
Apr. 24-Apr. 30
Monday Thursday Saturday Sunday Tuesday Wednesda
 
 The Online Image
Have you ever Googled yourself? What pictures of you are on sites like Facebook and Myspace? What does your blog say? What does your Twitter feed say? It iseasier and easier to find information about people online. Even if you have theprivacy filters on high, employers can see images of you just by entering your nameand the word “Grinnell” into a Google image search. While we’d like to think thatemployers don’t care about the pictures your friends posted on Facebook, in an in-creasingly competitive world and a very tough job market, they look for any possible way to distinguish between candidates. Take a few minutes to clean up your onlineimage and give yourself a better chance at success.
BY 
J
 AI
G
 ARG
Grinnell College received a $500,000 four-year grantfrom the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation this year to helpinitiate the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program(MMUF) at the College. The Mellon Foundation created the MMUF in 1988 to“help remedy the serious shortage of faculty of color in highereducation,” according to the Mellon Foundation website“I think Grinnell was chosen in part because of their work towards diversity and achievement,” said English and faculty coordinator for MMUF Shanna Benjamin. “And becauseGrinnell is such an outstanding liberal arts college.” The program is named for Benjamin Mays—an AfricanAmerican man who was a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.,and later became president of Morehouse College in Atlanta.It offers the opportunity for up to any five students in the sec-ond-year class to conduct independent research with a faculty member for two years.“We identify students in the second semester of their sec-ond year, they are the kind of individuals that know where they  want to go and have a clear sense what they want to do,” Ben- jamin said. “What we do is help them realize those goals.”Additionally, the fellows will have many options to attendseminars, regional conferences, and summer research oppor-tunities. According to Benjamin, after Grinnell, the fellowscould receive extra grants for research, loan repayment, andother valuable resources.“Once you are a Mellon you are always a Mellon,” Benja-min said. “Once you leave Grinnell, you will be part of a na-tionwide network of scholars and you will have support in theprocess of achieving a Ph.D.”Students will be chosen based on a competitive applicationprocess that includes a cover page, two essays, and two lettersof recommendation including one from a prospective mentorby the end of the month.
Money from Mays
BY 
B
 ASSIL
A
LCHEIKH
 This past weekend, Grinnell’s Mock Trial team surprisedcolleges across the country by advancing and participatingat the national mock trial competition, beating Brown Uni- versity and tying the University of Virginia on way to anoverall 1-6-1 record. Only 48 out of over 600 college teamsin the country made it to the national level, where studentstried a defamation case in journalism. “We had been work-ing on this case all year,” said Julia Reese’10 “It was a rewarding experience to seeus compete at nationals—a level whereHarvard didn’t make it to this season.” While Grinnell’s Mock Trial teamhas been competing for 14 years, this year was the team’s highest placementin a national tournament. “The teamis definitely an underdog,” Reese said.“You don’t expect schools without alaw school to perform this well, but wechanged that this year.” Team members said the high level of competition did notfaze them during the trials. “We were poised and confident,”Sam Wice ’09 said. “We weren’t pressured, because we neverexpected to get this far— hence why we’re an underdog.” The team’s success stemed primarily from an intense lev-el of practicing, as members devoted large amounts of timeand effort to repeating the same case throughout the year.“We ran this mock trial scenario 36 times at different com-petitions,” Reese said. “At times, we would practice three tofour hours in the morning and in the evening.” The mem-bers even cut their winter break short to practice on campusa week prior to the start of the second semester.Fellow team member Adam Lange ’11 said that anotherreason for thier victory is a new style of practicing. “As theschool year progressed, we started relying on group practic-es a lot less and instead, doing more one-on-one practices, where we can fine-tune what needs work,” Lange said. “FiveIowa schools made it so we were not surprised who we saw at the competition, and we definitely knew what to expect.”According to Reese, the team’s unique strength is theability to look at any case differently from most other teams.“We don’t look like lawyers,” Reese said, “but when it comesto the trial, our trump card is the intel-ligence, preparation and insight into legalmatters and arguments that other teamsmiss.”Someone vital to the team’s prepara-tion and practice is local attorney BradMcCall. “He has helped us with not only theory, but how to deliver your ideas dur-ing a trial,” Lange added. “If you calcu-lated how much time Brad puts into usand his hourly rates, it adds up to a hugedonation.” This year, the Mock Trial team has been working on adefamation case, regarding a politician who allegedly lost anelection due to libel from a reporter in a tabloid magazine. The mock magazine reported that the politician committedfirst degree murder, which was later found false by forensicscientists. The politician then took the case to court. Prior tothe competition, the team then decided whether it will takethe prosecution or defense side. The team is somewhat optimistic about next season. “Wedefinitely have the tools and resources to succeed— it alldepends on who we recruit,” Reese added. “We are now defi-nitely prepared for these competitions—however, our short-coming is the strength of other teams.”
Underdog team performs at competive national stage, credits lack of law school
 
April 24, 2009 
EWS 
edited by J. Francis Buse and Brian Sherwinsherwinb@grinnell.edu; busejohn@grinnell.edu
3
Results in for coolest town, Grinnell ranks third
Grinnell students Take Back the Night
BY 
M
 ANDO
M
ONTANO
 
 AND
D
EVIN
R
OSS
 This week, the Feminist Action Coalition(FAC) hosted Take Back the Night Week asan effort to raise awareness and create a spacefor conversations about sexual violence andabuse. Take Back the Night, an internationally organized event, stems from the second wavefeminist movement of the 1970s that aimedto raise awareness regarding sexual assaultand intimate partner violence.“The historical past is really the best partabout [Take Back the Night],” said EmmaLawler ’09, an organizer of the consent work-shop event. “It’s been happening for years and years. Our take on it is that it can be new, butit also hearkens back to the history of how many women have been having issues.” The week began with a showing of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” and wasfollowed by The Clothesline Project, a dis-cussion concerning intimate partner violence,a student demonstration throughout campus,a consent workshop, and will end with Walk A Mile in Her Shoes in Marshalltown, onSunday. The series of events is not only meant toraise awareness of sexual violence, but alsoserve as a space where survivors of sexualabuse and assault can talk about their experi-ences.“[Take Back the Night] is about reclaim-ing the night as a space where women canfeel safe about walking home at night alone,and not be afraid of rape or sexual assault,”said Jessica Southard ’10, a member of FAC.One of the longest-standing traditions in Take Back the Night is the Clothesline Proj-ect, which can currently be seen in the Spen-cer Grill. The project consists of student-made t-shirts that bear messages regardingsexual violence and abuse, which are thenhung on display in the Grill.“The Clothesline Project is somethingthat Grinnell has been doing for a while,”said Zoe Schein ’12, a participant in theevent. “Personally, I think it’s really effective. This raises awareness, and then people hope-fully try and do something about it. I think that it is a really important part of it, thoughit isn’t the only event.”Another event held during the week wasthe consent workshop, led by Lawler. Duringthe workshop, participants learned how topractice asking for and giving verbal consent,as well as how to make it “sexy,” Lawler said.“The consent workshop was maybe oneof the most important things we can do interms of solutions,” Lawler said. “I think theconsent workshop is one thing you can do toreally actively change the rape culture . . . ac-tively trying to put consent as a part of thatscript can have a huge effect on the numberof sexual rape and assaults.”According to Lawler, the event is im-portant to the entire campus, regardless of  whether they have experienced sexual assaultor not.“Even if people don’t know someone who’s been affected, they probably have afriend who hasn’t told them,” said Lawler.Lawler said she hopes that Take Back the Night will make a permanent impact onthe campus, not just this year, but in years tocome.“I hope that every year it gets bigger andbigger and that it becomes a conversationthat we have on campus—that it’s somethingthat we talk about,” Lawler said.
T-shirts decorated by students with messages pertaining to Take Back the Night Week hang above the Spencer Grill.
B
EN
B
REWER
Students march, line the Grill with support as part of campaign against sexual violence during week of activities
BY 
S
 ARAH
B
LACK
 While Grinnell may not be the hippestor hottest place to live, in the minds of In-ternet voters, it is at least one of the coolest.Grinnell placed third with over 9,000 votes in Budget Travel Magazine’s yearly Coolest Small Towns contest. The results,drawn from internet votes for 22 reader-nominated towns with fewer than 10,000residents, were announced on CBS’s Early Show last Wednesday. The first two spots were won in a land-slide by Owego, New York and Rockland,Maine, each receiving over 22,000 votes.Grinnell was the highest-ranked Mid- western town, followed by the Midwest wine capital of Vevay, Indiana, which gar-nered almost 8,000 votes. The results canbe viewed at Budget Travel’s website, Bud-getTravel.com.“I think it’s cool,” said SGA Presi-dent Neo Morake ’10. “There are parts of Grinnell that people don’t get to see. Alto-gether it’s a good town. I’m glad I put [thecontest] on my Plan, that it got people to vote.”Sierra Strassberg ’10, who grew up inGrinnell, said the results would pique theattention of students and townspeoplealike. “I think it’s something a lot of peopleare going to be happy about it. There area lot of people like the Chamber of Com-merce who work really hard,” Strassbergsaid. “I’m actually impressed with it.”Some Grinnell College students, likeMairead O’Grady ’10, think that the “cool-est” part of Grinnell is the abundance of small businesses. O’Grady cited the Come-back Cafe as a uniquely Grinnellian asset.“I go to Comeback Café three or four timesa week and always order the number 11,”O’Grady said. “The Comeback Café is my favorite part of Grinnell.”Nick Johnson, a Grinnell resident wholeft to attend Kenyon last semester, ex-pressed little surprise over the results. “Ifeel like New York and Maine usually getprops for being cooler than Iowa. I wouldn’texpect to be the coolest.”“Sure, it’s cool,” Johnson added. “But Ithink [Grinnell] would seem more inter-esting if I was passing through or visitinginstead of living there.”Emily Iwuc ’08 lived in town for ninemonths after graduation and moved toMinneapolis this February. In a previousinterview regarding the competition, Iwucsaid, “I suppose I was mistaken about Grin-nell’s standing relative to other towns.”“Rockland, that’s a pretty cool town,”Iwuc said. “There are worse places to loseto.”
Grinnell’s coolness validated
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