Ed Senn '79
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- Heather RiggsHeather: All right. So, if I could have you say your name, your class year and your current place of residence, then we start.
- Ed SennEd: My name is Ed Senn and I’m the class of 1979, and I live in Washington, DC.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Great. So, is there something specific you came in wanting to talk about?Ed: I wanted to make sure that everyone understands the value of friendships that were made at Grinnell, both with the other students and with the faculty, and that so much of the education of Grinnell, at least for me, took place, in large part, outside of the classroom. Whether it was working at the Forum desk as a Forum desk attendant or even washing dishes, or developing the relationships or friendships with the professors where you would see them socially, it was such a important component of what we would have termed as the Grinnell experience.
- Ed SennEd: And so, we would have dinner with Professor Mendoza from the Biology department, with Scott McMurry, Mary Brant, or we would have cocktails with Dick Cervene, who was an Art professor here. He’s the one that taught us how to make martini and to drink it out of a crystal glass. There was so much spirit or camaraderie that was... made it such a special place. It’s still a special place, and I know that, or my hope is that the students today, that each generation has its own experience here which causes them to value life and friendships.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Great. What made you decide to come to Grinnell?Ed: I think every one has its own story. I was going to be - I’m the youngest of five so some would say I can get away with murder. I was going to go to the University of Virginia or William and Mary because they were both in-state schools, ‘cause I had lived in northern Virginia. I went to a New Year’s – and I applied to both of them – and I went to a New Year’s Eve party and there were people there, at the party, my senior year in high school, who, one was going to Grinnell and one was going to Simpson, one was going someplace else and they all said that it was a good idea to get out of state for college and to get out of the South or the East or to get out of the region and it would give you a better perspective.
- Ed Senn & Heather RiggsEd: So I had heard about Grinnell, and when you’re a senior you get all this information from colleges so I just threw it in a box and I would ramble through the box and I got the Grinnell flier, I filled it out and sent it in and then, almost immediately I had professors that were calling me.Heather: Wow.
- Ed SennEd: And I had professors that called and students that called and I think even Coach Obermiller called, and my first reaction was, “Oh, well, they really need the money,” and then I did the research on Grinnell and I was like, going, “No, they really don’t need the money and it’s a really good school.” So I applied and they offered me a financial aid package to make it the same price to go in-state in Virginia or to come to Grinnell. So, in that time I said, “Well, I should go visit.” I went. It was in April. I guess they let you know like April 1st or whatever that you’re admitted, so I had the package and I came out here by myself and in those days the way you traveled essentially was, my sister dropped me off at the airport in Washington, DC. You flew to Chicago, changed and flew to Des Moines. You got in a cab at the airport and it took you to downtown Des Moines to the bus station and you took the bus from Des Moines to Grinnell. The bus would let you off on like 6th and Main, or whatever it was, where there was a gas station and you walked from there to Grinnell House, which is where you would stay.
- Ed Senn & Heather RiggsEd: But there was none of this, “We will pick you up at the airport,” or any of that sort of that, y'know, any of that van type thing. They put you up in Grinnell House and there was a, my tour guide was, I think, Paul Matecky, who was the, either a freshman or a sophomore, and it was Alternative Lifestyles Weekend.Heather: Oh.Ed: And so I’m like going, “Hmm, that’s interesting.” And they showed Boys in the Band, which is a dark, gay movie, and they had all these seminars on gay, lesbian issues and everything.
- Ed Senn & Heather RiggsEd: Well, I thought, y’know, this was a sign. It was sort of like, “Oh this is really good,” ‘cause I knew that I was gay but it was in the 70s and it was sort of like, well, you’re really, y’know, you really didn’t come out in high school and I thought, “Oh my gosh this place is incredible. It has co-ed dorms,” y’know, “it’s got a, the drinking age is 18. They have a pub on campus and it’s Alternative Lifestyles Weekend,” I thought, “Oh, this is perfect.” So I took it as a sign and.. that- I knew that I was supposed to be here.Heather: Great.Ed: And so I said “yes” immediately.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Yeah. Was there a professor, student or staff member who had a strong influence on your time here?Ed: Yes, yes, and yes. I mean, everyone- I don’t know where I would be today if I had not been here at Grinnell. I think my whole life would’ve been so different, and it’s hard to pinpoint one person or individual, but I mean my best friends that I hold dear are my people from Grinnell. And, that we still do things together. My- I still keep in touch with the, Mrs. Erickson who was my boss at the Forum desk. I, most of my professors, the professors that are still alive, some of ‘em I keep in touch with. So, everyone was...
- Ed SennEd: The thing about it is that, part of it is, they always looked out for you. There was someone that was looking out for you, so you couldn’t go too far off the path before a professor would say, OK, what’s the deal here? That, for me, was good. That’s why I didn’t want a big school. I wanted someone that would keep an eye on me.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Yeah. What are your best or strongest memories of Grinnell?Ed: Everything from going to Dick Cervene’s apartment and having a martini, to listening- going to a lecture on the sex life of an ovoviborous cockroach, to our all-campus parties where we would dye our hair red with red food coloring and, y’know. Or, being here when it snows. The first snow in November was always fun.Heather: Yeah, yeah.Ed: And the smell, when you came here in August, of the alfalfa or the oats or whatever it is was such a welcoming fragrance.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: What memories or images do you have of the town of Grinnell?Ed: The town was not a major force with us because everything was so contained here, and primarily, a lot of it, I think, had to do with the drinking age being 18 so that you could have a pub on campus and you didn’t have to go downtown, basically for anything. You would... you might go for the Longhorn for hash browns on Sunday, which is a restaurant that was right downtown.
- Ed Senn & Heather RiggsEd: But, during our era there was so much entertainment on campus that you really didn’t want to leave. ‘Cause see, we were the generation where, well, we had Bruce Springsteen; we had Gil Scott Heron; we had The Police; we had Koko Taylor; we had Joan Armatrading, y’know We would always have these groups that were just about to be big.Heather: Wow.Ed: Yeah, it was-Heather: That's great.Ed: The woman that should be interviewed for the project is Georgia Dental, and she was the woman who was the booking person for all of the acts or music or whatever it was that was going on.Heather: Wow.Ed: Yeah, she has an incredible story.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: What were, what makes your class distinct from the classes that came before you and the classes after?Ed: It’s just the chemistry of the people that are there. I think that it doesn’t make us distinctive, but since we’ve graduated and come back for reunions you’ve – we, or you, we developed new friendships with people that you really didn’t even know in college. You knew the face, I think you always knew the face of everybody, but when we come back to reunions, it’s like a whole new, its a whole new, built-in set of new friends to meet.
- Heather RiggsHeather: Yeah. During your time at Grinnell, did you see any transitions that the College went through?
- Ed SennEd: Of course we had a different president and a different administration. The battles would be on divesting the stock that was in South Africa, or eating non-union grapes in the cafeteria. Seeing any changes, y’know we would always, I think we always had the instinctive reaction that the classes behind us were more conservative than we were and I think, whether it’s true or not, I think that that’s sort of like, oh, well, the good old days are behind us and the really cool people were older and the new classmates coming in probably want to bring back cheerleaders and we’d be like, “No! We don’t have cheerleaders here! If you wanted cheerleaders, you should’ve gone to Coe.” So I, y’know. I’m not certain I subscribe to the classes afterward are more conservative. After meeting the people last night from the class of ’86, I'd say, "No, they weren’t too conservative last night."
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: How has the College changed since you were a student here?Ed: Mostly physically. The new buildings... The buildings that we had at our time were wonderful. The buildings that you have here now are wonderful, plus more. We had sinks in our rooms.Heather: Wow.Ed: Which was nice.Heather: Yeah.Ed: You could brush your teeth there.
- Ed SennEd: We didn’t have any of this secure- you didn’t have a card to get into any buildings. It was much more open. And the police would never come on campus. That was sort of an understood rule. And as a student you would never – if you had a problem with another student, you would never, you would never call anyone outside of the College to try to fix it. You would try to fix it yourself. You would go to your RA or someone like that. You tried to resolve any types of conflicts or problems.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Yeah. What impact did self-governance have on daily student life?Ed: We tried to look out for each other, and if you were going off on a wrong path, you would generally have a friend or someone that would pull you back into the, "Here's the right path." Really don’t wanna, y’know, you really don’t wanna do something that’s gonna jeopardize your future.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: What was campus social life and student life like?Ed: Focused around the Forum, and so the Forum was the meeting place, was the living room. It was very comfortable because you would always meet people there before or after a class. It was our gathering place. And our dining, we had two dining halls, y’know Quad or Cowles, so you didn’t have this all-campus dining experience, you had separate... I mean, the Quad looked like you were going to eat in a British boarding school and Cowles was like eating at the summer camp ground, y'know?
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: What were your favorite places on campus?Ed: The Forum Beach. The chairs were comfortable, it was sunny; that was my favorite place.Heather: Is there something that was meaningful to you but is no longer available on campus? Buildings, programs, activities?Ed: The Pub, and the professors that aren’t here. We had some great professors and I think you have great professors now. I’ve been to a few lectures, and so it’s nice to sort of see the same love from students with the professors that we had in our time.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Yeah. How would you compare students of today with your classmates?Ed: Same church, different pew, I think. I don’t know. Bright, hard-working, like to have a good time, care about fill-in-the-blank, environment, politics, human rights, socially aware and active and vocal, y’know. If you wanted to get a rise out of anybody, you’d write the letter to the S&B. In it you would say, “Abolish tenure,” then you would start a fight on what, “We need tenure!” “No, you don’t!” y'know, it's like- "Okay then." Oh, and the graffiti that we had in the Burling Library is better than what you guys have.Heather: Really.Ed: Oh, yeah. Our graffiti was much better, though I have seen Bob’s Underground graffiti. That’s not bad.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Yeah, it's pretty good. If you were writing a history of Grinnell College what would you include from your time here?Ed: I’d include a picture of the crosses that were put out for Kent State. I don’t know if they do that anymore.Heather: No.Ed: I think the Kent State anniversary is like May 4, or 3, or something like that, and every year we would put crosses out for the students that were killed. I think that, would have a picture of that. I would have a picture of a 2 AM bakery run, and I would have a picture of the president riding around in a golf cart with a beer keg in the back.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Which president was that?Ed: A. Dick Turner. A. Richard Turner. See, we would have Skip Day, do you guys have a Skip Day?Heather: Not still, but I’ve heard about it.Ed: So we would have a Skip Day in the spring which was usually one of the first, nice spring days and everybody would skip class and the president would ride around in a golf cart with a keg of beer in the back and we’d blow bubbles and draw chalk prints on the sidewalks.
- Heather Riggs & Ed SennHeather: Yeah, so I don’t have any more questions, do you have anything else you'd like to add?Ed: No, I just wanted to, I think that what you’re doing is a great idea. I hope more people will do it and it’s nice to capture the stories and the memories. It’s a very special place.Heather: Yeah.
Alumni oral history interview with Ed Senn '79. Recorded June 5, 2011.