Tag: Grinnell College

Grinnell College administrators made headlines last year by attempting to invalidate efforts to expand the country’s only independent union of undergraduate student workers. According to President Raynard Kington, the answer is no, because “we are not now and never have been a political institution.” But as alumni of Grinnell, we write to say that institutions of higher education are not so easily disentangled from politics, and to claim otherwise is not only false but also dangerous. Paradoxically, the claim of being above politics is itself an old form of political rhetoric. In an article in Inside Higher Ed, Kington writes, “We exist for the preservation, transmission and creation of knowledge, and with this mission comes an obligation to provide room to freely explore ideas -- even and perhaps especially unpopular ones … When we begin to take positions on matters unrelated to our mission and make decisions based on a political litmus test, we hurt the very core of our mission.” From that perspective, Grinnell administrators are portrayed as heroic figures nobly rejecting the petty squabbling of politics, risking unpopularity in service of the free exploration of ideas. How political can you get? Indeed, it is impossible to separate politics from higher education administrative decision making. The college recognizes and rewards social justice leaders through its Grinnell Prize, sponsors a student-led Social Justice Action Group, collaborates in a prison education program and supports the Grinnell Caucus Project, which encourages voting and political participation. Our focus has been solely on how the change could affect the college specifically -- not other institutions.” In light of the implications of this dispute for labor rights, what this statement means is that only Grinnell College students matter, and the rest of the world is on its own. The college, then, has taken a political position of isolationism, announcing proudly that is indifferent to the rights of workers across the country. As leaders of an institution with a strong focus on social justice and social commitment, Grinnell’s administration is failing to live out the college’s mission in its response to student unionization efforts, as well as spreading the false and dangerous claim that it can separate politics from power.

President Donald Trump is doing well with his base — rural and evangelical voters and white men without college degrees. However, the inaugural Grinnell College National Poll conducted over the Labor Day weekend found that after 19 months in office, Trump would face a challenging road to re-election in 2020. The poll of landline and cellphone users was conducted by Selzer & Co. and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. “Two years is a long time in politics, and a lot will depend on his Democratic opponent, but a substantial majority of likely voters are either seeking new leadership or ready to consider it in 2020.” Poll director J. Ann Selzer called Trump’s support among women “on the gloomy side.” Only 29 percent of women overall say they would definitely vote to re-elect Trump. The good news for Trump is that he’s doing better among likely voters than other respondents by 4 percentage points — 43 percent to 39. But 50 percent of both groups disapprove of his job performance. The president might take comfort in having a favorability rating higher than Congress. Among likely voters, the poll found, 45 percent view him favorably while 51 percent view him unfavorably. More than two-fifths — 42 percent — of those polled said their view of Trump now is more favorable than when he was elected. That included 26 percent who said their view was a lot more favorable.