In the spring of 1986, a Grinnell alumnus gave a talk in support of Regan’s controversial Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly known as “Star Wars.” After dutifully reporting the contents of the talk, the S&B ended the paper with a satirical page describing how the college was launching its own “star wars” initiative.  The context for this spoof (that may be lost on those of us  who were not on campus in 1986), was the awarding of the large Sloan Foundation grant (relating to technology), the creation of the new Technology Studies program, and in turn, its creation of a new study program in Washington, D.C., which would become known as Grinnell-in-Washington (a program that ran until the 2010s). Fear not: the political science department was not abolished, the observatory was not turned into a missel silo, and Bob Cadmus never wielded a shotgun on campus.

Link to full-sized pdf:    Grinnell in Star Wars