In response to the anti-queer vandalism and mailings of the past week, Grinnell College has seen a flurry of activity as students organized and participated in a host of marches, rallies and open forums. Still, some members of campus had questions about the response by the other half of Grinnell's community--the town.

While the incidents have largely consumed campus life for two weeks, they are much less visible in town. Still, despite the low profile of the incidents in town, community leaders expressed solidarity with students and discussed the possibility of furthered cooperation between the town and the school.

At last Thursday's rally in response to the vandalism, Assistant Dean and Director of International Student Services and a member of the Grinnell Human Rights Commission Janet Alexander, read an official statement from the commission condemning the vandalism and stating support for Grinnell students. "We wanted to make sure that the students knew that the commission felt that what happened was unacceptable and in fact illegal," Alexander said.

Alexander said that when the commission drafted and approved the statement, it did not anticipate such a strong reaction from the college. "I was amazed really at the response of students when I read that statement," Alexander said. "We were hoping that it would be well received, and we wanted to let them know that we were on board, but I was struck by how much it seemed to mean to the students that the city was in support."

Despite the activity of the Human Rights Commission, other members of the town are less informed. Grinnell Mayor Gordon Canfield said that he had not heard about the vandalism or mailings.

While Canfield could not yet say what the town's response might be, he condemned the activities and expressed support for the community. "I don't understand it for one thing and I don't like it and I would hope that citizens of Grinnell are far above things like that," Canfield said. "I want to make sure that everyone has a good life here in Grinnell. We just don't need that here in Grinnell."

One reason residents of the town may not be aware of the incidents is they have yet to be covered by the Grinnell Herald-Register, the town's only official newspaper.

Herald-Register Editor Larry Pinder acknowledged that the paper had yet to report on the incidents and also said that forthcoming coverage would likely be brief. "We'll have probably a small story to report to people that this happened on the campus," Pinder said. "We're just going to let people know about it. We're not in a position to get that kind of coverage."

While little of the town seems to be aware of the incidents, Pinder was confident that the incident would gain publicity throughout the Grinnell area. "I think our readers will hear about it, and I'd be willing to bet that people listening to the radio stations will hear about it as well," he said.

Alexander said lack of information and evidence about student experiences and potential abuses is one problem complicating the commission's protection of rights in town.

She said she encourages students to more actively inform the city of problems in town and to even file formal complaints with the commission.

Last fall the commission submitted a proposal to the Grinnell City Council to change its ordinances defining what classes are especially protected against discrimination.

By law, every community in Iowa with more than 30,000 residents is required to have a human rights commission. Though well below the population threshold, Grinnell's government voluntarily instituted its own commission which, according to Alexander, made the town the smallest community in Iowa to have one.

Alexander said that the purpose of the commission is to help set a standard of protection for people in the community. "Our role is to process complaints that come before us but also to do education in the community and to serve as a moral force in the community," Alexander said. "[We] say this is how we think the community should interact with each other."

Don Schild, who has been a member of the commission for 35 years, also said he would like to see more involvement from students. "We've at various times tried to engage with students," Schild said.

"What typically happens is when there's an incident, there's a lot of interest [in establishing a connection] and once these incidents have waned and the problem is no longer facing everyone, that interest fades."

"We've at times been kind of frustrated that we couldn't establish a dialogue," Schild said. "But it's understandable because students are really busy."

But while the official response from the town has been limited, the town is not completely unaware of the incidents, said Amy Kalkbrenner, interim director of community enhancement.

"I haven't heard of any movement to a coordinated community response," she said. "But people have been sympathetic and their response has been somewhere in between dismay and outrage."

Kalkbrenner said that there might be some benefit in holding a forum or some other event connecting the town and campus but that doing so might be difficult. "My office is one half-time person so I'm not really sure I'm equipped to put together a really coordinated community response," Kalkbrenner said.

"But there might be a place for that--I've certainly seen the college coming together around this issue."



--additional reporting by Darcy Ward