For this week’s Students Speak, Grinnellians were asked what they thought about Grinnell College’s recent decisions and actions regarding the union. The S&B wants to feature student voices to get a perspective that differs from what is often covered. Sarah Licht ’22 interviewed five students to see what their thoughts are.

I’m really disappointed, and I would expect so much more from an administration that advertises itself as and tries to tell other people that there’s a long-held commitment to social justice. — Sara Castro ’21

I guess it’s contradictory to what the school stands for. You know, they stand for social justice, and even if they don’t agree with the union, we should still have the right to have it. — Chiri Mutwol ’22

It’s kinda weird that there’s this Jekyll and Hyde thing going on. Like, on one side, the College talks about itself as a vehicle for social activism and social awareness, but, on the other side, they are the oppressor. — Frank Li ’22

I think that the school definitely should have been more clear about what their position was instead of just sending a newsletter. Maybe they could’ve had some sort of meeting with school administration that’s run by students because I heard that certain organizations were trying to meet up with school administration, but they either pushed it back or they never followed up on it in time. — Luz Alfaro ’22

In my opinion, I thought it was kind of shocking that the school was not constructive with the student union and hearing their demands and what they wanted. I think they just polarized things by rejecting everything and creating this animosity between the union and the school, and, that to me, was a little shocking. — Finn Dworkin ’22