President Kington paid a visit to SGA Joint Board this week, addressing questions and comments from senators and students.

Kington spent a large amount of time discussing his commitment to the humanities, after Senator Clint Williamson ’13 expressed concern that Grinnell was focusing its attention and resources on the sciences.

“I don’t think there’s a single thing I’ve done in my year here that was in any way disadvantageous to the humanities,” Kington said to applause. “We need to deal with the world as it is, and in many ways, I believe that this fact drives some of our perceptions: it’s easier to raise money for the sciences, especially with grants.”
Indirectly, this money actually benefits the humanities, because without outside support for the Noyce Science Center, the College would not have the funds needed to consider renovations to ARH, Kington said. In February, further review of those plans will be made.

“This whole line of thinking is just not productive,” Kington concluded. “If people in the humanities have ideas, then propose something. Share your ideas. I have an open door policy.”

Natalie Pace ’12 asked the president to address his position on Grinnell’s alcohol policies, in light of changes to school travel rules and student health concerns.

“I haven’t given consideration to changing any on campus policy explicitly,” Kington explained. “It was brought to my attention that decisions had to be made on travel because of inconsistencies in the policy, which raised lots of issues. It was not based on issues on campus.”

The president believes that the College has shown positive trends, given the differing alcohol experiences of students coming out of high school, saying, “We haven’t had a student die, and I hope that we don’t.”

After Kington’s departure, the Joint Board looked over proposed changes to Grinnell’s daily schedule. Modifications would require the movement of convocation to Friday afternoon to accommodate new class times and a more equal distribution of sections.