This year's off-campus study application process has brought both students and Off-Campus Study staff surprise and frustration after 52 students applied for only 35 spots in the Grinnell-in-London program. This means that, for the first time since the 1980s, students will be rejected.us to meet with students, faculty and administrators.

Every three to four years, the trustees consider whether to increase the percentage of the endowment the college spends per year. Currently, the college spends four percent of the endowment's value per year, a decrease of .5 percent from 2005 levels. Three years later, the trustees have begun to consider future endowment spending.

SGA Student Environmental Committee (SEC) has entered Grinnell College in the National Campus Energy Challenge (NCEC) for the month of February, a contest among colleges, universities and high schools from across the country to see which school can most reduce their energy usage in a month.

After well over a year of plannimg, Lyle's, the Grinnell's campus pub, will have an "experimental opening" this Saturday night before its grand opening on Feb. 23.

Grinnell will host a Rosenfield symposium over three days next week on school reform and the concept of accountability, centered around an analysis of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation.

Brief summaries of this semester's proposed student initiatives.

The new museum, slated to open in Grinnell in 2009, will aim to educate people about the history of transportation, as well as invigorate Grinnell's economy by enticing new visitors to the town.

The Center for Prairie Studies (CPS) is presenting a new series of talks this semester which will focus on the link between agriculture and the city and avenues to strengthen and expand this connection.

A half-mile of swimming. 13 miles of biking. And a three-mile run. Sound like fun? 15 Grinnell students certainly think so.

And with one final resurrection of Purple Jesus, football season is over. Yes, I know that could have been said after the Super Bowl, but even though the Pro Bowl is the worst all-star game in all of sports, and God knows I won't watch it, it's still football dammit. Now we'll have to wait months for another game.

After less than a year of searching, Grinnell has hired Max Hawsey to be the new head football coach. The vacancy was created when former head football coach of 20 years Greg Wallace took over as athletic director.

Last weekend, the Grinnell track team drove to Buena Vista University in Storm Lake to participate in the second meet of the new season, the Dennis Young Indoor Classic. Michael Hargadine '09 won first place in pole vault and Allison Louthan '08 took first in the 3000-meter run, but both athletes say that their victories were just practice for the spring track season.

While the weather outside may indeed be frightful, in the fireplace lounge, the fire has not been so delightful. In fact, it has not really been there at all--until now.

Looking to satisfy a Mexican food craving, a few friends and I took a drive to La Cabana, the chorizo and salsa oasis west of Grinnell. As we walked in, I knew it would be all I had hoped for and more. ...

Movies in which the Walt Disney Corporation mocks itself are few and far between. But the venerated film company may recently have acquired a sense of humor in Enchanted.

Everything about Across the Universe comes off as prefabricated and forced. Even the names of the characters--from our heroes Jude and Lucy to supporting players like JoJo and Sadie--are secondhand.

A haunting encounter with boot camp during the Vietnam War paired with an unoriginal but frightening look at the war itself, Full Metal Jacket will support all the typical ambivalence about the war in 'Nam and take them even further.

All the way from East Los Angeles, Chicano art is now on display in the Burling Gallery. The Stamp of Self-Help Graphics, a collection of 50 graphic prints, aims to expand the viewer's awareness of Chicano culture.

ARTRA: you've heard the name and spent a few seconds wondering what it is that they do. Well, be confused no longer!

This weekend the short course "A Short Survey of Traditional Chinese Theatre: History and Performance Techniques" culminates with students participating with professional actors in "An Evening of Chinese Opera."

Another cloud had just died. It just never made sense to me. I always thought clouds were incapable of dying. In witnessing the death of a cloud, everything scientific is immediately contradicted.

I am no stranger to the concept of creepiness. A few weeks ago in the dining hall, I started playing a game called "Awkward or Not Awkward?," where I walked around, observed people running into each other, and decided whether the interaction looked painfully uncomfortable.

Ben and Kirby discuss how bathrooms can take you to new realms near and far.

A hangover, vague fears about mono and a catchy little mug proclaiming, ".08, No limits." All are mementos from a great night spent with graduating seniors at the Elks Club last Saturday, an event otherwise known as 100 Days.

The S&B thinks Grinnell should be bolder with its money in bringing about change, but wish that change wouldn't come to our favorite bar.

Students criticize our editorial from last week, urge a turn to socially-responsible investing.

"Junior woman seeks secretary of intimacy who comes close (at the very least) to being as funny as she is. ..."