The College vows to not penalize applicants with a history of protesting This past Monday, Grinnell College released a statement stating that applicants’ participation in protests would not impact decisions in the admissions office. Part of the statement read, “We would never penalize a prospective student for peaceful public protest. Indeed, we reward students in the application process who have used their voices to address important social problems.” Although students on campus and alumni from the class of 1968 petitioned the Grinnell College to release a statement of this nature, Joe Bagnoli, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission, said that the release was not in direct response to these calls to action, and that he wrote the draft on Friday, Feb. 23. Rather, Bagnoli tried to use this statement to directly address the concerns that applicants and parents across the country may have about how their engagement in peaceful protests could affect the chances of their admission to Grinnell College. While the release of this statement was not in direct response to actions from students and alumni, Bagnoli still stressed his support for Grinnell College community members that were concerned and active about this issue. “I think we were reassured by the interest and concern that everyone in our community [expressed]. I was glad that our concern about this for prospective students was shared by our student community, by our alumni. I think it would be fair to say we were in this together. We were all interested in communicating this message to prospective students,” he said. Many other institutions, including Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have released such statements following the tragic school shooting in Parkland, FL. Unlike the statement by Grinnell College, however, theirs specifically reference peaceful protests in response to gun violence. According to Bagnoli, the word choice was meant to be more general and all-encompassing of involvement in all types of peaceful protests. “Because conditions can vary dramatically from event to event, I wanted to make it clear that on the face of it, simply deciding to protest in defense of or as an objection to a particular social issue would not, in and of itself, dissuade us from offering someone admission,” Bagnoli said. By this logic, he concluded that the statement would be more representative of the College’s values if it did not directly mention one type of protest but was broad enough to speak to a range of issues. “I didn’t want to make it about one particular issue, because there are so many worthy causes to defend,” Bagnoli said. “It was a concern for those who were not necessarily asking, but who were wondering. Even though the number of people inquiring about it was relatively small, we were concerned about those who might have questions and not ask.” Bagnoli argues that a value of Grinnell College is social engagement and activism, and this is something that Bagnoli felt was important to make explicitly clear to prospective students. “We felt it was important to clarify our position on this. Our first reaction might have been, ‘of course we aren’t going to penalize you on this, this is who we are as an institution,’ but we can’t presume that everyone would understand what our position would be, so we felt it was important to make it more explicit,” Bagnoli reiterated. CBS showcase to call for action from the student body By Zoe Fruchter [email protected] Concerned Black Students (CBS) will host their annual Black History Month Showcase, tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. Although the date is March 2, CBS events coordinator Autumn McMillan ’20 has termed the date “February 31” as a nod to the leap year and to celebrating a full Black History Month. The Showcase will feature singing, acting and dancing as well as other performances by members of the CBS community. Dixon Romeo ’16 founded the Showcase in 2015. According to McMillan, Romeo intended the event “to showcase the abilities of the Black community … and the myriad of ways that Blackness can present itself.” However, “Over the years [the Showcase has] developed into more of a talent show celebrating Blackness, … incorporating different elements, whether it be using [the Showcase] as a platform to push a certain message or using it as a platform for us getting together and being free without having to be censored.” McMillan explained that the CBS organizing committee aims to focus the showcase around a specific theme. CBS’s theme for Black History Month as a whole is “Celebrating Blackness: United in our sameness, strengthened by our difference.” The theme for the Showcase is more specific: FUBU, an acronym meaning “For us, by us,” referring to art created by Black people for Black people. “This year there’s been a big change as [CBS President] Simonne Carlton ’18 wanted [the Showcase] to have a complete storyline giving it a theme, giving it intentionality, giving it purpose, so that it’s not just ‘Oh look what we can do,’ but it’s actually sending a message from the Black community,” McMillan said. McMillan hopes that CBS can reach a wider audience of Grinnell students through the event, as she feels many of the struggles faced by Black students at Grinnell go unnoticed by the majority of the student body. “The goal of the showcase is to have a larger turnout for this year in hopes that we can reach more ears and [attract] a more diverse audience so that we can push the agenda of CBS which is that we want our spaces and we want to have control of those spaces and we want to be in the room with the administration when they are making decisions [about those spaces],” McMillan said. “The issues that are facing the CBS community are so insular. No one really knows about them unless they’re a part of the community. It’s unfortunate that none of our peers know about the struggles we’re facing on campus.” Concerned Black Students met in the Grille in 2017 to discuss issues that affect the Black community, which in turn affect the student body as a whole. Contributed. In addition to more substantive struggles, McMillan noted that organizing the event proved to be challenging due to the busy schedules of the members of the planning committee. While the Student Government Association is funding the event in full, committee members faced “deadlines, applications, papers [which] created a lot of obstacles for us with the nuts and bolts,” McMillan said. “But at the end of the day I’ve been involved with theater for almost all my life and I know that if there’s a show to be had, the show will get done.” McMillan’s theater background will come into play at the Showcase, as she organized her own performance featuring a mixture of step dance and spoken word performance. McMillan is excited about the combination of history, innovation and collaboration that the performance represents. “I’m starting a step team here and I was the captain of my step team in high school so [step is] near and dear to my heart. This year we are borrowing a step from one of the member’s old squads and layering spoken word on top of that. So it’s going to be a performance art piece.” McMillan noted other exciting acts such as a standup performance by Tyler Williams ’19 and Michael Lee ’18. She added that she was extremely excited for an act by Errol Blackstone ’20, which will be a performance of the song “Sandcastles” from Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album. “I’m so ready for it,” McMillan said. First of the class of 2022 admitted By Kelly Page [email protected] As spring rolls around, Grinnell’s admissions office has begun to assemble the class of 2022. 184 early decision students have already paid their deposits and confirmed their place in the incoming class, and 427 students have been admitted through the College’s early notification program and are preparing to visit campus on Sunday, March 4. The nature of admissions at Grinnell has changed in the past few years. The College has attracted a larger applicant pool this year than it did just a few years ago, possibly because of admissions efforts to increase the school’s visibility online, the strategic recruitment of prospective students, improved campus visits, a more streamlined the admission process and an emphasis on the school’s individually-advised curriculum. “In 2011 we had fewer than 3,000 applications for admission and we exceeded 7,000 this year, so we just have more people applying for admission, and those who are applying are especially well-qualified,” said Joe Bagnoli, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission. In the 2010-2011 school year, 2,969 students applied to the college, with an admissions rate of 43.20 percent. In 2013-2014, 3,979 students applied with an acceptance rate of 35.1 percent. For 2015-2016, 6,414 students applied with an acceptance rate of 25 percent, and for 2016-2017, 5,850 students applied with an acceptance rate of 29 percent. This past year, 7,345 students applied for spots in the class of 2022, further demonstrating the upward trend in admissions since 2011. The acceptance rate of the school has risen in the past two years, from 20 percent in 2016 to 29 percent last year. Bagnoli attributes this to competition from other prestigious schools. When students that Grinnell admits through regular decision commit to other colleges, it forces Grinnell to admit more students to take their places.