H a v i n g a B a l l The Folk-Dance Tradition Continues ONTHECOVER: THE 32ND ANNUAL ENGLISH-SCOTTISH BALL IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FOLK-DANCE SEASON AT SWARTHMORE. FOR MORE ON THIS CONTINUING TRADITION, SEE PAGE 14. PHOTOGRAPH BY ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS.

CONTENTS: ACARPETOFDAFFODILSSPREADSACROSSMAGILLWALKINEARLY SPRING. PHOTOGRAPH BY ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS. F e a t u r e s Stepping and S h i f t i n g 1 4 Folk dance at Swarthmore finds a new home. Departments By Elizabeth Redden ’05 L e t t e r s 3 Alumni input Frank Aydelotte: Architect of C o l l e c t i o n 4 P r o f i l e s Distinction 20 News on campus A look at Swarthmore’s At Home With defining president Alumni Digest 40 Her Herbs 44 By Dan West Gatherings and future events For Gertrude Bowers Burdsall ’28, her garden is the most peaceful place. Class Notes 42 By Elizabeth Redden ’05 I Do Solemnly Latest correspondence S w e a r 2 6 Christopher Van Hollen Jr. ’83— D e a t h s 4 9 C o u r t r o o m one of two Democrats to unseat Heartfelt condolences Theatrics 62 a House Republican in Rick Appel ’62 teaches November’s election—has In My Life 52 the art of persuasion. his work cut out for him. Accidental Discovery of Joy By Angela Doody By Jason Zengerle ’96 By Herbert Locksley ’43 Books & Arts 66 A P a s s i o n E s s e n t i a l Creative works f o r P l a y 7 0 Swarthmore 28 Aaron Weissblum ’86 makes The lives of six young Our Back Pages 80 a living from inventing games. Swarthmoreans tell the tale Come Together By Carol Brévart-Demm of a great college. By Jeffrey Lott By Rick Bader

L e a r n i n g f o r L i f e 3 4 Innovative student-staff partnerships exchange knowledge, experience, and friendship. By Andrea Hammer 2 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN PARLORTALK e tsgigt eago year. good a be to going it’s me, ilb eertdb itra itr ob ulse ae hsya.Adanwbo of book new a And year. this later published be called essays to Arboretum history Scott pictorial the a of by celebrated anniversary be 75th will The Press. Delaware prepa- of in University is the ’69 at Stapleton ration Darwin of and biography Donna scholarly by A (1953–1969) published. Smith be Courtney to President soon are Swarthmoreans to interest of books more offered Three www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/mar03/aydelotte.) is at bibliography article West’s brief Dan (A education. with American on impact powerful and history rich century. 20th the of half first the Council to Alumni dates activist today’s also And 80) alumni. p. Together,” and (“Come contin- students that of tradition lives long the 1940s—a enrich the to in ues roots its has 14) p. Shifting,” and (“Stepping today. is Swarthmore it how powerhouse at academic look the fascinating became (“Frank a result is The 20) it. p. write Distinction,” he of that Architect Aydelotte: suggested I moment, a wasting not president”; ing the that suggested called lore College of book Richard little read to my was to hired get being to after map completed Walton’s a I consult task to first had very I the fact, But College—in interview. the first of nothing knew I ago, years 13 con- approach to how about more learn are also challenges. we but temporary past, events the these studying understand By to change. only of not story able the is history College’s the that know They A nedu American impact powerful and history rich testament a college— small this about books surprising There hr r upiignme fbosaotti ml olg— etmn oits to testament college—a small this about books of number surprising a are There Swarthmore at dancing Folk issue. this in history of bit only the not is article Dan’s job this for applied I When buff. history Swarthmore a as office the around known I’m uitayhn fe shrs. fcus,Satmr lmiko better. know alumni Swarthmore course, Of is heresy.” era is their after before quaint—anything “Anything institutions: their about at saying change a view there’s alumni, alumni university how and college with work who people mong nomlHsoyo wrhoeCollege Swarthmore of History Informal h enn fSwarthmore of Meaning The are Bulletin a bro number uls natceaottemnh al Satmr’ defin- “Swarthmore’s calls he man the about article an publish oits to cation. wrhoeRemembered Swarthmore on si t al dtra tgs o itr uf like buffs history For stages. editorial early its in is f Satmr olg,18)adalovely a and 1986) College, (Swarthmore ah fPeietFakAdlte Dan Aydelotte. Frank President of raphy biog- a 1970), Press, University (Wesleyan shard’s Blan- Frances read both we summer, Last College. the of character the shaped have decisions and people key leaders, today’s to founders Quaker its from how, and history Swarthmore’s about conversations many had have we 1999, in College the at arrived he Since past. the for passion history. College of aspects various on articles feature regular done have we and Pages,” “Back department, nostalgia and history aei the in Imade changes editorial first the of One since. ever history College into delving been iePeietDnWs hrsmy shares West Dan President Vice rn yeot fSwarthmore of Aydelotte Frank Satmr olg,16) I’ve 1964). College, (Swarthmore Bulletin a oadaregular a add to was JfryLott —Jeffrey rne nU.S.A. in College Printed Swarthmore ©2003 PA Swarthmore Avenue, 19081-1390. College 500 address to No. Send changes Permit Postmaster: and offices. PA 0530-620. mailing Swarthmore at additional Periodicals paid Avenue, 19081-1390. postage College PA by 500 June Sep- Swarthmore and College, August, March, C, in Swarthmore volume December, published is tember, is this 4, which number of 0888-2126), The e-mail: Or 328-8435. [email protected]. (610) Phone: 19081-1390 PA Avenue Swarthmore College 500 College Office Swarthmore Records Alumni to: address along new label with address Send Address of Changes www.swarthmore.edu Web Wide World 328-8297 [email protected] (610) Registrar: 328-8568 [email protected] (610) Publications: 328-8402 (610) [email protected] Relations: Alumni 328-8300 [email protected] (610) Admissions: 328-8000 (610) www.swarthmore.edu Operator: College College Swarthmore Contacting aay rio ilsi ’49 Gillespie Orbison Maralyn Emerita: Editor Intern: Merrill-Rossi Janice Assistant: Administrative LLC Perspectives Gaadt Director: Art Publishing: Desktop Writer: Staff Editor: Assistant Editor: Notes Class Editor: Managing Editor: wrhoeCleeBulletin College Swarthmore Swarthmore efe Lott Jeffrey lzbt edn’05 Redden Elizabeth N I T E L L U B E G E L L O C wrhoeCleeBulletin, College Swarthmore uan eotGaadt, DeMott Suzanne ls Giardinelli Alisa neaDoody Angela nraHammer Andrea ao Brévart-Demm Carol urePenner Audree (ISSN S R E T T E L UNFAIR REFUGEES I must take issue with your titles for the I appreciated very much the article on mid- two very critical letters about Teach for century faculty émigrés (“Émigré: The Col- America (“Letters,” December Bulletin). lege as a Place of Refuge,” December Bul- The original article (“Teaching for letin). Change,” a profile of Kevin Huffman ’92, By the late 1940s, as World War II September Bulletin) pointed out changes in began to recede in day-to-day life, the the program about which Patrick Runkle Swarthmore campus was home to not only ’98 was very derisive. The title of Runkle’s these faculty members but also to several letter (“Foul Stench”) was unfair, in my students who were refugees. opinion. A second letter from Nathan We fled the Nazi onslaught on Europe Myers ’99 was more balanced. But there as youngsters. By 1950, we were more or again, you emphasized “hypocrisy.” less Americanized, but there still was (I I confess I’m prejudiced because a speak only for myself) a sense of being granddaughter has been in Teach for Amer- outsiders and uprooted—albeit enormous- ica for four years, and a grandson is in his ly fortunate, saved by fate, miracles, and second year. pure random events or the prescience, wis- CAROLYN KEYES CADWALLADER ’36 dom, and capability of parents who Newtown Square, Pa. brought us out of the Holocaust. Each of us had a story, but we were only vaguely ROLLUPOURSLEEVES aware of how the others survived. After reading the letters “Foul Stench” and these districts are “beyond help” and “not THOMAS REINER ’52 “Hypocrisy” about Teach for America interested in change.” The fact that he New York (TFA), I feel compelled to set the record would actually refer to his former school straight on a few key points. district as “beyond help” cuts against NOTTHEWHOLESTORY Endemic to much of the criticism that everything I believe about public educa- The December Bulletin article about the TFA has received over the years is a dis- tion. Many of us who taught in dirty trail- participation of Marcia Grant ‘60 in the turbing tendency to rely on unproven theo- ers in low-income neighborhoods left the development and launch of a women’s col- ry and isolated anecdotes. These two letters corps with diametrically opposite perspec- lege in Saudi Arabia (“Liberal Arts in a fall into this trap. The facts are pretty clear tives, having seen firsthand that our stu- Conservative Land”) was absolutely amaz- that most of TFA’s corps members are suc- dents could exceed grade-level expectations ing for what it left out. cessful. In a recent independent survey of and outperform their more affluent peers. Saudi Arabia is a nation with, shall we the school principals of TFA corps mem- Nathan Myers’ letter furthers the say, a somewhat spotty human rights bers, nearly 80 percent of principals rated strong tradition in public education debate record. The country is ruled by a corrupt them as more effective than other begin- of framing issues in black and white: monarchy; human rights there are largely ning teachers with whom they had worked. Either you get a Swarthmore-quality certi- nonexistent. Although, as Marcia Grant And in a study by Stanford University’s fication program, or you get thrown to the points out, it is simplistic to think that Center for Research in Educational Out- wolves; either you give low-income families women are oppressed simply because of comes, the students of TFA corps members experienced and highly trained teachers or Islam, they are unquestionably oppressed. in Houston recorded gains as great or ill-prepared novices. I see the same tautolo- This is a nation that once held the West greater than students of non–TFA col- gies constructed in nearly every other edu- hostage with an oil embargo and has put a leagues in every grade level and subject cation reform debate—school choice, char- great deal of money and effort into trying area. ter schools, high-stakes testing, and multi- to destroy Israel. To quote the Human About 87 percent of TFA corps mem- cultural curricula. Rights Watch World Report 2001: bers complete their two-year commitments I suppose at the end of the day, we have in their original placement schools. Patrick two choices. We can, as Runkle’s letter sug- Freedom of expression and associa- Runkle conveniently failed to note that he gests, look at the centuries of poverty and tion were nonexistent rights, politi- was one of the few TFA participants who racism that have created the current cal parties and independent local quit the program without honoring their inequities, throw up our hands in despair, media were not permitted, and even commitments. Runkle’s bizarre willingness and declare that the schools serving our peaceful antigovernment activities to make sweeping (and damning) general- poorest citizens are beyond repair. Or we remained virtually unthinkable. izations about the community in which he can roll up our sleeves and work tirelessly Infringements on privacy, institu- was placed runs counter to TFA’s most to address the inequities head-on. tionalized gender discrimination, basic philosophies. After spending one year KEVIN HUFFMAN ’92 harsh restrictions on the exercise of in teaching, he apparently was able to Vice President and General Counsel religious freedom, and the use of determine (1) that “education will get you Teach for America capital and corporal punishment nowhere” in rural Louisiana and (2) that New York Please turn to page 78 M A R C H 2 0 0 3

3 MATT LANDREMAN (RIGHT)CREDITS BLACK ALUMNI EVENT SWARTHMORE—ANDHISTHREE TO BE HELD IN JUNE YEARSOFRESEARCHWITH BLACK ALUMNI WEEKEND, held ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF for many years on campus in PHYSICSMICHAELBROWN—FOR March, is scheduled this year in HIS RHODES SCHOLARSHIP. conjunction with the College’s Alumni Weekend on June 6 to 8. Foundation and by the U.S. A special program for black Department of Energy. alumni will begin on Thursday Landreman’s research has led evening, June 5, and run to co-authorship of two articles through Friday. in the journals The Physics of In a February letter to black COLLECTION Plasma and The Astrophysical alumni announcing the change, Journal, and he has been recog- Vincent Jones ’98, chair of the nized by the American Physical event, wrote that, with the event Society. in June, “those of us who have Disarmingly modest, Landre- reunions won’t have to choose man credits Swarthmore, at between the March and June least partially, for the scholar- weekends…. [It will] allow us to ship. “Where else would under- connect with members of the graduates have the opportunity Swarthmore community and other to work so closely with someone black alums at events planned like Mike Brown or write review just for us.” These will include an articles?” he asks. African dance workshop, a recep- As a participant in the tion with President Alfred H. Upward Bound Program for Bloom, a Caribbean dinner, and three semesters, Landreman has the opportunity to choose among taught physics to students from the three Friday evening pro-

L a n d r e m a n ’ 0 3 JIM GRAHAM Chester High School. He is a grams open to all alumni. member of the Swarthmore One of those programs will be R e c e i v e s R h o d e s cross-country team. And he “A Politically Incorrect Forum,” S c h o l a r s h i p founded “Food for Thought,” a featuring six prominent black bread-baking business, where, alumni in a panel discussion SWARTHMORE SENIOR MATT as a solution for the world’s once a week, students make moderated by Associate Professor LANDREMAN HAS A RADIANT environmental problems. bread by hand in their dormito- of History Allison Dorsey. SMILE—and a lot to be smiling Brown and Landreman have ries, sell it to fellow students, Attendance at the separate about these days. One of 32 been working with the Swarth- and donate the proceeds to March weekend had been declin- Americans chosen from 981 more Spheromak, a machine Philadelphia charities. ing in recent years, said Astrid applicants for the prestigious built by Brown six years ago, During his time in Europe, Devaney, associate director of Rhodes Scholarship, the physics which can reproduce processes Landreman plans to travel, espe- alumni relations, adding that major will head to Oxford next that occur on the Sun’s surface. cially to visit his former host housing will be offered in College fall for two to three years of fully Landreman’s research has been family in Hungary, where he dormitories—something that was paid study there. Since being concerned particularly with spent fall semester 2001 in a not possible during the semester. selected, he says, “I keep think- magnetic reconnection, a pro- Study Abroad Program for Lisa Lee ’81, director of alum- ing of Dean Bob Gross’ [’62] cess in which magnetic energy is mathematicians. “I’m looking ni relations, welcomed the statement to us as freshmen: converted into heat and high- forward to relaxing a bit,” he change: “Many affinity groups ‘You are not an admissions mis- energy particles that cause the says. hold gatherings or receptions take.’” solar atmosphere to be 1,000 In Oxford, he will study during Alumni Weekend, and they For three years, Landreman, times hotter than the Sun’s sur- mathematics, which he says has really enjoy the opportunity to who hails from St. Paul, Minn., face. Because of its impact on a broader definition there than interact with alums of all ages. researched alongside Associate solar physics and its potential here. “In Oxford, there’s no We welcome the decision to Professor of Physics Michael for helping provide a clean, safe fusion program,” he says, “but I schedule the Black Alumni Brown, a plasma physics spe- energy source in the future, will study aspects of physics Reunion in June and hope that it cialist. Landreman’s interest lies Brown’s research has been fund- that are related to it.” results in terrific attendance.” in fusion power, which he sees ed by the National Science —Carol Brévart-Demm —Jeffrey Lott SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 4 SWARTHMORE JOINS BRIEF IN MICHIGAN CASES ground as one of various factors to be competitively considered, without quotas.” SWARTHMORE HAS JOINED SEVERAL OTHER SELECTIVE Maurice Eldridge ’61, vice president for College and community PRIVATE COLLEGES and universities in filing an amicus brief in relations and executive assistant to President Alfred H. Bloom, said a key affirmative action case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. that Bloom was first contacted by President Thomas Gerety of The brief argues that affirmative action in the admissions process Amherst College. is essential not only to the educational programs of the institu- “We were pleased to be able to help craft this important argu- tions but to their broader mission to benefit society. ment,” said Eldridge. “Swarthmore is strongly committed to pro- The case stems from suits brought against the University of viding opportunity for minority students and to sustaining a Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School. The white broadly inclusive and diverse educational community, and al- plaintiffs claim that they were unfairly denied admission because though as a private college we might seem to be less affected by the of policies designed to increase the number of minority students at Michigan case, we are deeply worried as an institution about the the schools. They are asking the court to overturn its historic 1978 trends we see and the chilling effect an adverse decision would Bakke decision allowing the consideration of race in university have across institutions nationally. This brief reflects of our com- admissions. mitment to diversity, not only here at Swarthmore but in the larger The brief, submitted in February, concludes its arguments, “The society.” Fourteenth Amendment, Title VI, and 42 U.S.C. 1981 leave colleges In addition to Amherst and Swarthmore, the brief was joined and universities free to select those students who, in their judg- by Bates, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Colby, Connecticut, ment and as Bakke contemplated, will, individually and collectively, Davidson, Holyoke, Oberlin, Pomona, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, take fullest advantage of what the college has to offer, contribute Trinity, Vassar, Washington and Lee, Wellesley, and Williams col- most to the educational process, and use what they have learned leges and Colgate, Wesleyan, and Tufts universities. The Supreme for the benefit of the larger society. In making these judgments, Court is expected to rule in the cases by the end of its current term. colleges and universities may take into account race or ethnic back- —Jeffrey Lott

COMMITTEE STUDIES Young, continues the work of the Staff Com- simply revisiting it to see whether we can do LIVING WAGE OPTIONS pensation Review Committee (CRC), which better than $9,” says committee co-chair made several recommendations in fall 2001, Barry Schwartz, Dorwin P. Cartwright Profes- THE NEWEST FORUM FOR DISCUSSIONS on including a $9 an hour “Swarthmore mini- sor of Social Theory and Social Action. “Our compensation of Swarthmore’s lowest-paid mum wage.” The previous hiring minimum at mandate is to come up with a set of practi- staff members is a committee of staff, the College was $6.66 an hour; the federal cal recommendations with regard to the faculty, and students, which began meeting minimum wage is now $5.35. wages of lowest-paid staff—estimating in November. Now in the process of gather- The CRC’s recommendations received the costs, identifying possible unintended nega- ing data, the committee will examine four endorsement of top administrators and the tive consequences, and suggesting ways to key areas: the costs of potential wage Finance Committee of the Board of Managers, prevent them.” increases, alternatives to wage increases, but members of the student-driven Living Meanwhile, the CRC is continuing its government entitlement programs, and Wage and Democracy Campaign found fault work on staff compensation issues. Its latest wage compression issues. with some of them. Among their counterpro- project is a review of the College’s job-grad- The committee, co-chaired by Associate posals was a minimum wage of $13 an hour. ing system. Vice President of Human Resources Melanie “The CRC’s work is a backdrop, and we're —Alisa Giardinelli

NEW DIRECTOR FOR was director of career services. employers. Students get help CAREER SERVICES She previously worked for 10 researching career opportunities, years as a career services officer preparing resumes, finding IN FEBRUARY, NANCY BURKETT at the College of William and internships, and interviewing became Swarthmore’s new direc- Mary. Dean of the College Bob with potential employers. The tor of career services. Former Gross ’62 praised Burkett’s “obvi- office also provides advice about Director Tom Francis announced ous enthusiasm and interperson- graduate and professional school last year that he wanted to al skills and her understanding applications. Many of these reduce his responsibilities and of the role that Career Services services are also available to become associate director of the can play in a liberal arts Swarthmore alumni, who can office that he has headed since college.” learn more at http://www.- 1985. The Career Services Office swarthmore.edu/Admin/- Burkett comes to Swarthmore provides information and coun- career_services/. JIM GRAHAM from Wagner College, where she seling to students, alumni, and —Jeffrey Lott NANCYBURKETT M A R C H 2 0 0 3 5 sample of stars of similar ages, we can get an idea of how fre- quently stars form planetary sys- tems and exactly when in a star’s life cycle planets are formed.” He cautions that it is not yet known whether there are planets orbit- ing any of these stars. The evidence for the stars’ youth comes from observations made in August 2002 with the National Science Foundation’s 4- meter telescope at Cerro Tololo COLLECTION Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Spectra of the stars show ERIC JENSEN the presence of a large amount are,” says astronomy major Rabi RABI WHITAKER ’03 WAITS FOR of the element lithium. As a star ASTRONOMERS HAVE A DIFFER- Whitaker, who has been working NIGHTFALL AT CERR0 TOLOLO ages, nuclear reactions gradually ENT IDEA about the age of with Assistant Professor of OBSERVATORY IN CHILE. destroy the lithium atoms that things. For instance, a group of Astronomy Eric Jensen as part of knowledge about the stars could were part of its initial chemical “young” stars recently discovered her senior thesis. “If you think open the door to new under- makeup. Thus, the more lithium by a Swarthmore research team of our Sun as middle-aged, these standing of planet formation. present in a star, the less time is 30 million years old. As is the stars are like babies that are “Their ages are just right for the star has had to destroy it, case with many astronomical dis- only a few weeks old.” The stars them to be forming planets right hence the younger the star. coveries, they did not discover are also relatively close to now, and their proximity makes Jensen expects still more new stars per se but rather Earth—just 100 to 200 light- them easier to observe,” Jensen young stars to be found in the learned something new about years away. says. “These stars are perfect near future. The Swarthmore stars whose existence had been Jensen and Whitaker an- candidates for follow-up observa- team has more observations of known. nounced the findings in January tions to help us understand promising candidates scheduled “What’s new here is our real- at the American Astronomical planet formation. By observing for April. ization of how young these stars Society’s annual meeting. New these stars as part of a larger —Tom Krattenmaker

Bed-and-Breakfast in the Ville

WHO COULD RESIST THE APPEAL of a couple of nights spent in H.W. Longfellow’s house? In the near future, campus visitors will have the option of staying in, among other places, at least an architectural replica of Longfellow’s Cambridge, Mass., mansion— right in the heart of Swarthmore. On Jan. 13, when Swarthmore Borough Council unanimously passed the long-awaited ordinance permitting the establishment of bed-and-breakfasts (B&Bs) in Swarthmore, Joanne Cline, owner of the soon-to-be “Longfellow B&B,” was the first to apply

for an application. More applications have arrived since then. CAROL BREVART-DEMM The ordinance, which restricts the establishment of B&Bs to two per block and a maximum of four rooms per house, has been JOANNECLINEPLANSTOOPENAB&BINSWARTHMOREDURING under discussion for several years. THESPRINGTHATISAREPLICAOFH.W.LONGFELLOW’SMANSION “There’s been a real need [for guest accommodation] for a long INCAMBRIDGE,MASS. time in Swarthmore,” said Cline, who has been hosting interna- tional students in her home for the past 20 years. With three dou- In the meantime, conversations with the borough are continu- ble bedrooms to let, she is looking forward to making life easier for ing about the possibility of an inn and restaurant being developed College visitors by providing comfortable lodgings and home- on College land. cooked breakfasts. She anticipates being ready to receive guests by —Carol Brévart-Demm springtime and is already answering inquiries. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 6 Farewell to Two Good Friends

WILLIAM ELMORE became the standard reference work of prac- tical electronics for a generation of physics THE COLLEGE MOURNS the death of Mor- graduate students in the 1950s. In 1957,he ris L. Clothier Professor Emeritus of Physics returned to Los Alamos to work with the William Cronk Elmore on Jan. 23 at age 93. controlled fusion group and was a delegate After earning a B.S. in engineering to the second Atoms for Peace Conference physics from Lehigh University in 1932 and in Geneva. a Ph.D. from Yale three years later, Elmore In 1965, Elmore received a Distinguished began his career as a physics instructor at COURTESY OF THE ELMORE FAMILY Service Citation from the American Associa- MIT. In 1938, he joined Swarthmore’s tion of Physics Teachers and was elected a physics faculty, retiring in 1974. He served BILLANDBARBARAELMORE’SCONTRIBUTIONS fellow of the American Physical Society. as department chair from 1948 to 1968. TO SWARTHMORE COLLEGE WERE A TEAM EFFORT. Also an accomplished musician, Elmore Elmore is fondly remembered by his MARKHEALDSAIDTHEANNUALHONORSDINNER played accordion at square dances in Los students for his integration of imaginative PARTIES AT THEIR HOME WERE “LEGENDARY.” Alamos and was the founding pianist of the laboratory work with theoretical content. Swarthmore faculty dance band The Moon- His former colleague, also Morris L. Cloth- on the College campus and was recruited to shiners. ier Professor Emeritus of Physics, Mark work for two years on the Manhattan Proj- He was predeceased by his wife of 66 Heald says: “Bill was the principal mentor ect at Los Alamos, playing a major role in years, Barbara, on Jan. 1. Known for her life- in my professional life. For faculty of my developing electronic circuits to handle the long love of art, she joined Swarthmore’s generation, he was an inspiration.” Elmore fast-pulse signals needed in the develop- fledgling arts and crafts department in 1954 and Heald co-wrote the 1969 textbook ment of the atomic bomb. In 1949, he was and taught jewelry, enameling, and pottery. Physics of Waves, which is still in print. co-author with Matt Sands of Electronics: Her efforts led to the establishment of the During World War II, Elmore conducted Experimental Techniques as part of the studio arts program on campus. research at the Bartol Research Laboratory National Nuclear Energy Series. The book —Carol Brévart-Demm and Alisa Giardinelli

BARBARA PEARSON service to the College. LANGE GODFREY Two years after Lange’s death in 1979, she married Warren Godfrey. After retire- THE COLLEGE COMMUNITY WAS DEEPLY ment, she maintained strong links to SADDENED by news of the death of Dean Swarthmore, serving as reunion activity Emerita of Women Barbara Pearson Lange chair, admissions interviewer, on-campus Godfrey ’31 on Feb. 4 at age 92. event speaker, and class co-secretary, a posi- Godfrey, the daughter of Edna and Paul tion she held for almost six years until her Pearson, was born in the Benjamin West death. House in 1910. Her father was professor of In 2001, aided by daughter Julie, she public speaking and founder of the Swarth- published a compilation of her father’s let- more Chautauqua. After attending the Col- ters, photos, lecture notes, and plays titled lege with a White Open Scholarship for two COURTESY OF JULIE LANGE HALL Man of Chautauqua and His Caravans of years, she transferred to the Yale School of BARBARAPEARSONLANGEGODFREY Culture: The Life of Paul M. Pearson. Drama. In 1932, she married Gordon Lange. Her connection to the College is further WAS BORN ON THE SWARTHMORE CAMPUS AND They had three children: Julie, Josie, and strengthened by family ties. Godfrey’s Jonathan. DEVOTEDHERLIFETOTHECOLLEGE. daughter Julie Lange Hall and son-in-law Returning to Swarthmore, Godfrey Because of Godfrey’s positive relation- Parker Hall are both members of the Class served as director of dramatics for 17 years. ship with students, she was appointed dean of ’55. Her late brothers, Drew and Leon Thomas Blackburn, Centennial Professor of women by President Courtney Smith, Pearson, were members of the classes of ’19 Emeritus of English Literature, said: “Bar- serving from 1962 to 1969. During that and ’20, respectively. bara was a vital part of the creative and time, she continued to direct faculty stage In a 1999 Bulletin article, Editor Jeffrey artistic life of the College, when those activ- productions. From 1968 to 1970, she served Lott wrote: “She observed Swarthmore Col- ities were not yet permitted to the full as director of career planning and place- lege from its Quaker roots to the threshold standing of the curriculum. She could get ment. of the new century. For most of that time, it amateur actors to do things they never In 1960, Godfrey received the John W. has never been far from her thoughts.” dreamed they could do.” Nason Award for her distinctive and lasting —Carol Brévart-Demm and Alisa Giardinelli M A R C H 2 0 0 3 7 8 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN COLLECTION e R na on etradi- the is e cology and anity connection often is “c “ mean to Hebre Hebre in Earth. s lace environmentalism. and betw ship W ys sa buse,” a a nd xploit e to possess w something ation—not ener- g next the to n o pass and w something tance , i nheri our is creation that through Testament, New the in w ords Jesus’ to toward tional Earth’ the ua “ human biblica the of ing EU DRIVE?” JESUS NISV“ ANTI-SUV biblical re o f professor associate lace, wors Earth that charge S NENTS OPPO OME “ r o ontrol” n s ligion, Another r One “Fr er he t about book a is ays, word w estory the om ta apathy stian Chri Wa a i s ho w allace, h environment, the understood. ai f basis dominion” v o e d w, n t radi- behind eason ar stew environment. s y there ays expert s i who llace, stianity Chri een hip. translates WHAT e c idea the betw aga p n o f smacks it snf reason re p serv must e owners misunderstand- ons of goodness the “ for rprotecting or CAMPAIGN u Mark But dship”—not sti- Chri een cpeof nciple pri l r e i f WOULD dominion” sample is fG of edis- the or over FTHE OF hip” omes work t elation- the enesis i n e sit as Wa Wa e h t l- l- g n nrG honor humans t hat meaning arth, E the of f argues atincarn ion biblica re c ation. p rotecting and ing ccepted a widely it. “s separa tional ss “Jesus W flowers, of ty beau- he t a nd b irds f o speaks Mount, t he on mon “ the In Jesus. by ments mental we ura toward oving l equally teaches ation,” macy nologies.” tech- sustainable and atpri e cetn r accepting are movements stian Chri that igns s by aged environmental doesn’ anity h environment. the u f our today, ing “it’ il f sible ky u W But rl r partly be o t going s Wa Wa deve to ought e e world. l d, Go g lobal to ood cre- of beauty the with hn w evething ry or ore m s till finds llace lc s llace conception eEarth—a t he from te potf support l es he s tate- in protection osa hows be o t today people JIM GRAHAM ker rattenma K —Tom the believes allace W as ” ietro h oihClua nttt in Institute Cultural Polish the of Potoroczyn, director Pawel by Manhattan in in November presented and was Culture It Heritage. of National Ministry Polish honor the highest by the given is award The States Poland. United and the between dance in and exchanges theater cultural promoting Culture work Polish his in for Merit of was Order Theater, the of awarded Department the of chair and A CULTURE POLISH IN MERIT OF ORDER AWARDED KUHARSKI siie i n esticides p from sosblt f esponsibility y.“ ays. To d “ LNKHRK,ASCAEPROFESSOR ASSOCIATE KUHARSKI, LLEN wak t encour- s i he ays e that me, inti- of kind aenotes. allace sis,”cri hra p allace r a theor hsintimac This o appro lop renviron- or r by od our o t up e sti- Chri “If fG of some ing.”warm Jesus ” ra or m o e’ of y h nat- the das od es he means re Ser- h t espon- ever- d Go or fac- ses ays, - y n i ” o i n n rm,i atclrtewr fplay- Gombrowicz. of Witold work wright the particular in theater drama, Polish and of aspects various on authority Poland. in dance and theater program in abroad study College’s to the Theatre establish Dance Silesian the and Luminski Jacek choreographer Polish acclaimed tionally culture. of minister Waldemar Poland’s of Dabrowski, behalf on City, York New uasii loawdl published widely a also is Kuharski interna- with closely worked has Kuharski lblwarming.” global to food our in pesticides from today, facing we’re everything for responsible partly be to going it’s crisis, environmental our to up wake doesn’t Christianity “If Agl Doody —Angela

NASA PHOTO Communicating the Crum

When you(After dance Joy Harjo’s in “One Cedar the Tree”) woods TRAMPING THROUGH THE CRUM WOODS the midst of suburbia. on a warm September day, 11 students pause “The Crum is the one refuge from subur- When you dance in the woods while their guide, conservation ecologist ban sprawl around here,” says Bolton. your feet touch dirt and former Assistant Professor of Biology “There’s something healing and soothing on every third whistle of the wind Roger Latham, points out a colony of woolly about the woods.” aphids feasting on beech sap. The students The course thus began with a series of With whom do you waltz? laugh in wonder at the little creatures, hun- field walks, both with Latham and Rhoda the gallant tree lily dreds of whom are waving what Myra Val- Maurer, plant records supervisor of the or the staid hemlock? lianos ’05 would later term “those fluffy Scott Arboretum. Students then moved on butts of theirs” into the wind. After Latham to writing their own nonfiction essays and Twirl, explains the symbiotic relationship between poetry, while simultaneously reading and the leaves mimic your steps. The ground the aphids and the beech tree, the students critically responding to a variety of nature spinning, following your lead throw the insects one last glance and move writing from Shakespeare to Terry Tempest and the creek on. Clutching their field journals, members Williams. As a culminating project, students sashays into a fluid flourish. of Associate Professor of English Literature completed a class anthology Taproot: Com- Elizabeth Bolton’s Writing Nature class con- municating the Crum. Stop. Wait. Pose, tinue their trek through the Crum. Sonal Shah ’05 says she thought the For a grass-breath. Writing Nature is an unusual English class was tied together by the shared goal of course that combines field walks and eco- “communicating the Crum. There was a Then, with a flick-of-a-wrist, logical observation with creative writing and sense of camaraderie among the students a toss-of-a-head, literary analysis to provide students with the and Professor Bolton that was cemented by your toes tap a green rhythm tools to express their biological and emo- our early morning walks.” and you spin among boughs. tional connections with the Crum. Bolton Bolton hopes future offerings of the says she designed the class (taught most course will tie together better the increased Fingers furl upward recently in fall 2002) for two practical rea- ecological focus with the actual writing tracing the sky. sons—the need for more humanities cours- process. Still, she thinks that the intensive Jump, turn, and bend to the whistling wind, es within the environmental studies concen- engagement with the Crum provided stu- You feel a part of the grand pas de deux tration and the oversubscription of more dents with a shared creative perspective. “If But turn, traditional creative-writing workshops with- everybody’s working and writing on the look over your shoulder, in the English Department. But she also Crum, that tends to unite the class in terms the trees do not move wanted to help students better appreciate of having a common project.” only you do. the Crum as a valuable parcel of nature in —Elizabeth Redden ’05 —Evelyn Khoo ’05

FOUR JOIN BOARD ture development and manage- Hengen is a partner in the Rothenberg is a co-founder OF MANAGERS ment company Plebys Interna- law firm of Holland & Knight. and co-director of the Pig Iron tional LLC and president and Kemp is the founder and presi- Theatre Company. CEO of Plebys-supported dent of Home Decoration Collec- —Carol Brévart-Demm THE COLLEGE WELCOMES WaterHealth International Inc. tors, a mail-order catalog. FOUR NEW MEMBERS to the Board of Managers. Elected at the December meeting, Tralance Addy ’69 and Nancy Hengen ’73 will serve as Alumni Managers, Gil Kemp ’72 will serve as a Term Manager, and Dan Rothenberg ’95 is a Young Alumni Manager. Addy is the founder, president, and CEO of ven- JEFF HURWITZ TRALANCEADDY NANCYHENGEN GILKEMP DANROTHENBERG M A R C H 2 0 0 3 9 ERIC WAGNER IS A DEDICATED SOCCER COACH AND FAN, but his vision extends well beyond the field. So when he heard news reports of the worsening famine in Ethiopia, he tried to find a way to apply his sport to the cause. The result: Wagner and his Garnet soccer squad held a clinic for local school children on Super Bowl Sunday. The event attracted 60 kids, raised nearly $900 for relief efforts, and—perhaps most impor- tant—generated awareness of the little-known famine on campus and in the surrounding communities. “Athletics are what I do, but if I can make an impact on the wider community through sports—bring my two passions together—that’s what really excites me,” Wagner says. The brother of two Swarthmore alumnae (Lise ’85 and Karin ’90), COLLECTION Wagner became soccer coach at the College last year after a successful five-year run at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he amassed a school-record 49 victories. Wagner knew it would be a challenge to revive a Swarthmore soccer program that had been enduring some lean years. But he leapt at the chance. “I think it’s a fantastic opportunity,” says Wagner, a 1988 Con- necticut College graduate who was a four-year letter winner as a mid- fielder and defender. “There is very strong administrative backing for the program here at Swarthmore. We have good facilities. When S o c c e r a n d NEWSOCCERCOACH ERIC WAGNER HASRESPONDED TO CHALLENGES BOTH ON ANDOFF THEFIELD.

S e r v i c e JIM GRAHAM

HOOPS: WOMEN STRONG, MEN IMPROVE; Men’sbasketball (9–16, 5–8 CC) At 9–16 overall and 5–8 in the CC, the Garnet posted its best record since the 1996–1997 season. SWIMMERS THIRD IN CONFERENCE The Garnet Tide was in the CC playoff hunt until the final game of Women’sbasketball (19–6, 12–3 the season, falling one game short of a postseason berth. Senior Centennial Conference [CC]) Katie guard David Pearce, named All-CC honorable mention, became the Robinson was named CC Player of 14th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark and the Year. Robinson became the first closed out his career as the Garnet Tide’s eighth leading scorer with woman to earn Player of the Year 1,107 points. Pearce also ranks fifth on the career steals list with 94, honors in back-to-back seasons. The is eighth on the career three-point list with 89, and ranks 11th on junior guard led the conference in the career assists list with 177.Pearce also excelled in the classroom scoring (18.2 points per game), steals and was selected to the Verizon Academic All-America District II (4.39 per game [pg]), and free-throw Team. Junior point guard Jacob Letendre finished third in the CC in percentage (87.5) and was seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.75) and was fifth in assists (84); his 37 steals

field-goal percentage (47), 15th in JOHN FERKO placed him in sixth place. Letendre assists (2.48 pg), and 17th in also moved up the Tide career ladder rebounding (6.1 pg). ROBINSON:CENTENNIAL and is now in second place in assists The co-captain also became the PLAYER OF THE YEAR (262) and steals (121). Sophomore fifth woman in school history to forward Matt Gustafson led the team eclipse the 1,000-point mark and set the school and CC record for in scoring, averaging 15.6 points per career steals. Robinson is also on the Garnet’s career top-10 list in game and finished eighth in the CC assists, rebounds, and field-goal percentage. scoring race. Sophomore Blair Haxel Senior guard Ali Furman closed out her career as the school’s top had a breakthrough season, posting three-point scorer and became just the second woman in the CC to seven double doubles. The 6-foot 9- reach the 200 mark. The co-captain finished ninth on the career- inch center averaged 12.5 points per scoring list and fourth on the all-time assist list. Led by the top- JOHN FERKO game, 9 rebounds, and 1.73 blocks ranked defense in the conference, which allowed 52.1 points per PEARCE:BESTMEN’SRECORD per game. Haxel finished fourth in game, the Garnet reached the CC play-offs for the fourth consecu- SINCE 1996–1997 the CC in rebounding and third in tive season. blocked shots. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 10 you’re recruiting people, you’re ultimately selling the school. Well, COLLEGE CLAIMS involved in many social change Swarthmore is one of the easiest sells in the country because of VICTORY IN efforts, and sometimes it is dif- its reputation. Now the challenge is selling high school kids on a ficult to measure results,” she soccer program that’s been in the doldrums for a few years.” LOCKHEED MARTIN says. “Having such a concrete It didn’t take long for the Swarthmore campus to find out SHAREOWNER ACTION victory gives me a lot of confi- about Wagner’s penchant for putting soccer in the service of the dence and reinforces my hope community. Realizing the opportunity afforded by a home game DEFENSE CONTRACTOR that all this work is worth the on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Wagner organ- LOCKHEED MARTIN decided in effort.” ized a commemoration focusing on local “first responders.” Local November to prohibit work- The resolution—the first in police, fire, and rescue squads were honored before the game with place discrimination based on the country solely initiated by a a large crowd of students, staff members, and administrators in sexual orientation. This deci- college or university since the attendance. The student a cappella group Sixteen Feet sang the sion demonstrates the influ- anti-apartheid movement in National Anthem, and Ed Kline, chief of the Swarthmore Fire and ence that colleges and universi- the 1980s—is the work of the Protective Association, kicked in the ceremonial first ball. ties can exert to bring about College’s Committee for Social- The Swarthmore squad showed improvement during Wagner’s social and ethical change in ly Responsible Investing. The first year as coach despite finishing with a 5–14–1 record. One of society, says Swarthmore’s Vice committee, chaired by Harvard the Garnet’s top offensive producers was Anteneh Tesfaye, a sen- President for Finance and University Business School ior from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Wagner immediately thought of Treasurer Suzanne Welsh. professor emeritus and Board Tesfaye when he heard about the famine there, which to this point The announcement, which of Managers member Samuel has attracted little attention despite promising to surpass the was made to company employ- Hayes III ’57,comprises stu- 1980s famine that became a global cause celebre. He enlisted Tes- ees in an e-mail and reported in dents, College administrators, faye as a co-organizer and got to work on the clinic. The Washington Post, came days and members of the Investment “For me, soccer has always been more than a game or a com- after Lockheed petitive contest,” Wagner says. “It’s something to bring people Martin received together.” notice from —Tom Krattenmaker Swarthmore that the College intended to Men’sswimming (7–3, 5–1 CC) The Garnet finished in third place refile a shareowner resolution, Committee of the Board. The at the CC Championships. Senior Mike Dudley led the way, earn- urging the company to bar dis- committee prepared the resolu- ing Outstanding Performer of the Meet honors. Dudley won the crimination on the basis of sex- tion in consultation with the 200 breaststroke (2:07.35), the 100 breaststroke (58:44), and the ual orientation in its equal Equality Project, a nonprofit 200 individual medley (IM) in 1:55.59, setting school records in all employment opportunity policy. organization in New York three events as well as a CC and meet record in the 100 breast- “Among colleges and univer- devoted to securing equality in stroke. John Lillvis ’03 won the 400 IM at the CC championships sities with significant endow- the workplace for lesbian, gay, in 4:12.65. Earlier in the season, Lillvis set a Ware Pool record in ments, our status as sharehold- bisexual, and transgendered the 400 IM (4:20.33). David Whitehead ’03 won the 100 butterfly ers is an opportunity to influ- employees. in 52.13. Dudley and Whitehead teamed with Eric Shang ’04 and ence society,” says Welsh. “I Since the College first intro- Mike Auerbach ’05 to win a silver medal in the 400 medley relay hope the College’s action helps duced its resolution, Lockheed (3:35.07). Dudley, Whitehead, Auerbach, and Jeff Schneider ’05 lead the way for similar efforts had faced increased pressure to captured the bronze medal in the 200 medley relay (1:38.19). The in the future.” change its policy from its 800 freestyle relay team of Auerbach, Shang, Lillvis, and White- Swarthmore first presented employees in GLOBAL (Gay, head also claimed a bronze medal, touching the wall in 7:12.66. its resolution at the company’s Lesbian, or Bisexual at Lock- annual shareholders meeting in heed Martin). In August, the Women’sswimming (6–4, 4–3 CC) The quest for a three-peat San Diego on April 25, 2002. company also received a zero came to an end as the two-time defending CC Champions placed Although the resolution was rating from the Human Rights third this year. Leah Davis ’04,Katie Stauffer ’05, Patricia Funk ’06, rejected by most shareholders, Campaign, a Washington, and Davita Burkhead-Weiner ’03 won the 200 freestyle relay in it exceeded the minimum per- D.C.–based gay rights advocacy 1:39.77.The relay team of Tara Trout ’04,Funk, Melanie Johncilla centage of votes required for group. ’05, and Burkhead-Weiner captured a silver medal in a NCAA B-cut the College to resubmit it. Buoyed by their success, time of 7:56.57.Burkhead-Weiner and Davis won silver and Morgan Simon ’04,an hon- Simon plans to work with the bronze, respectively, in the 50 freestyle and later teamed with John- ors economics major who committee on building alliances cilla and Funk to earn a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle relay helped spearhead the College’s with other schools and finding (3:39.84). Burkhead-Weiner also earned a bronze medal in the 100 action, read the news of Lock- another resolution to file. freestyle (54.71). heed’s decision via e-mail with —Alisa Giardinelli —Mark Duzenski tears and laughter. “I have been M A R C H 2 0 0 3 11 12 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN COLLECTION N iiybttoewohl ifrn da n oiia eif,which beliefs, political and ideas different eth- held and who expan- race those very just but a not nicity had included I it that diversity—that them of told definition I sive end, the In people. young tive means. that what know the we was think I all all, we After say. and guy,” to “diversity had they left-leaning what a in than interested other liberal—was be not dean could the affairs—who why multicultural wondering of surprised, col- visibly liberal were a They on campus. conservatives lege young as experience their know I about to that more wanted them and told conversation I their them. overhearing join help might couldn’t I if asked and affairs cultural convictions. political their of marginalized—even silenced—because felt they were education, they excellent knew an and receiving community Swarthmore the of liked part they being Although Republicans. as themselves once identified perspective they their hearing in faculty interested ate, some not they even members—were As students—and campus. other on how Republican about a talked be they to like was dis- it were what who cussing me behind students I three students, overhearing of help cross-section couldn’t a with lunch enjoying While deans. FEBRUARY a eyeggn ovrainwt hs mr,conserva- smart, these with conversation engaging very a had I multi- for dean associate new the as them to myself introduced I TLN FE RIIGO APSLAST CAMPUS ON ARRIVING AFTER LONG OT e d u l c n i yDarr By , liutrlaffairs multicultural for dean associate Smaw, yl diversity ett hrlsDnn alwt eea other several with Hall Dining Sharples to went I s e o D ? e m antta ogaota olg apsswr a esdiverse now. less are far they were than campuses it college that that me ago remind long students that wasn’t Swarthmore of groups other with tions n ywa ooizsaid. turnout Horowitz the what by by delighted and were friends conservative My staff. members, listened and faculty I students, this, hundred all several To with Nazis.” along the respectfully, lines than front “worse the were on Intifada children the country.” their of this put in who live Palestinians to that blessed said is He you of one do-gooders, “every and that activists declaring peace and Democrats against to railed left. thanks “hate-America” He talk, the I derided way He professors.” the totalitarian talk your someone see to chance get only to the going you’re is “this saying, particular, and in general education in higher liberals attacked He Meetinghouse. Friends the disagree. who some uncomfort- for how be matter might no it ideas, able of sorts all engage regular to the opportunity have to community campus Swarth- the within their traditions—for more’s much support very would important—and I it’s them think told I I proposal. say, to of has much usually with Horowitz disagree what I Although commentator Swarthmore. conservative to bring Horowitz to David plan their of opinion my asked them. included diversity of skeptical idea remained liberal’s they black that this tell that could I all but of agreed, experience They educational students. the to dimension important an add M AILADEHI RUSBTALSRSO DIFFERENCES—INCLUDING OF SORTS ALL BUT GROUPS ETHNIC AND RACIAL ARLSA ( SMAW DARRYL NEATO IHCMU REPUBLICANS CAMPUS WITH INTERACTION Y neryDcme,Hrwt pk oa vrlwn rw in crowd overflowing an to spoke Horowitz December, early In club Republican the of members some semester, fall the in Early EVESCMU IEST SECMASN O ONLY NOT ENCOMPASSING AS DIVERSITY CAMPUS VIEWS HE OIIA OSRAIE N RTRIYMEMBERS. FRATERNITY AND CONSERVATIVES POLITICAL CENTER ET IHCMU EULCN VRLUNCH. OVER REPUBLICANS CAMPUS WITH MEETS ) n conversa- and

JIM GRAHAM As the civil rights and women’s movements of the 1960s and have emerged on campuses: acts of prejudice, bigotry, discrimina- ’70s pricked the conscience of America, the landscape of predomi- tion, sexual and racial harassment, and insensitive language have nantly white college campuses began to change. Colleges and uni- been directed at this new population of students. In the classroom, versities saw the importance of having a diverse learning communi- residence halls, and social lives of students, such acts have served ty and started to recruit minorities actively. Many single-sex col- to foster feelings of alienation and separation—even at Swarth- leges became coeducational. These initiatives focused largely on more. Last fall, a white student attended a Halloween party in providing access, and it was easy for some to think that once cer- blackface—a thoughtless act that was deeply hurtful to many of his tain numbers were reached, the diversity goal had been achieved. fellow students. This occurred within days of several other acts that Yet with the passage of time, diversity came to represent much were offensive to several groups on campus. It took weeks of more. A 1997 report by the Association of American Colleges & intense work by all of the students involved—including the offend- Universities describes diversity on college campuses as encompass- er, who was truly sorry—to turn this “incident” into a learning ing “complex differences within the campus community and also in experience. the individuals who compose that community. It includes such important and intersecting dimensions of human identity as race, THE CHALLENGE TODAY IS TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES for stu- ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, class, dents to come together and discuss such complex issues, to learn age, and ability. These dimensions do not determine or predict any from each other how true diversity works. Although Swarthmore is one person’s values, orientation, choices, or responses. But they are a leader in the effort to move beyond numbers and focus on creat- by definition closely related to patterns of societal experience, ing a campus that authentically embraces and celebrates diversity, it socialization, and affiliation. They influence ways of understanding is not an easy task. The greatest challenge is to help students find and interpreting the world.” common ground amid the range of people and ideas they

Although Swarthmore is a leader in the effort to move beyond numbers and focus on creating a campus that authentically embraces and celebrates diversity, it is not an easy task.

Because diversity is about all of the ways we are different, it also encounter on campus. Moreover, because campuses literally renew can and should include political ideology and a host of other attrib- themselves each year when new students arrive, an additional chal- utes that have not always been ascribed to the term. Efforts to cre- lenge is to create programs that transform, adapt, and change with ate a truly diverse community—whether on a campus, in a corpora- the diversity found in each class. tion, or on a city block—can only succeed when institutions affirm Therefore, according to Myrtis Powell in The Multicultural Cam- the inclusion of all members of community, not just the so-called pus: Strategies for Transforming Higher Education (Altamira, 1998), minorities. student affairs professionals such as myself must “act as both cata- A small college such as Swarthmore presents both opportunities lysts and facilitators, as helpers and prodders; [we] must both influ- and challenges in this regard. The College has, in large measure, ence and help shape the multicultural campus.” At the same time, achieved the numbers. Though African American and Hispanic the work of diversity is not solely that of the deans and administra- matriculation remains below what we might wish, one-third of stu- tion. Although we are on the front lines of setting the tone as to dents are persons of color. Thanks to generous financial aid and how students from diverse backgrounds can live and learn together, need-blind admission, tremendous socioeconomic diversity exists. success requires the engagement and commitment of everyone on There are musicians and scientists and athletes and activists and campus: faculty, students, administrators, and staff. liberals and, yes, conservatives. The College is a microcosm of the This is an exciting time to be at Swarthmore. The College recog- world into which its students will graduate. nizes that “stage two” is needed to create an inclusive, multicultural But what happens when you educate all these different students living/learning community and is firmly committed to the difficult on the same residential campus? How do they “get along?” What work necessary. Although our campus community will always be a happens when they collide as a result of differing cultural assump- work in progress, I believe that it will one day model for our stu- tions, values, and norms? Or when they express different political dents the inherent strengths of a pluralistic society. No road map and ideological belief systems? How do they engage in the difficult is available to accomplish this goal—either at a college or in conversations that require them to cross boundaries of ideology America—and many obstacles are ahead. But this work is essential and cultural safety and security? How does all this diversity con- for the world into which our students will graduate. T tribute to the educational experience of students both inside and outside of the classroom? Seeking answers to these and other ques- Darryl Smaw, associate dean for multicultural affairs, was previously tions is now seen as the next step in achieving a diverse living/ associate dean for program development at the Harvard Graduate School learning community. of Education. Among his duties at Swarthmore is to serve as adviser to With the achievement of diversity in numbers, new challenges the Phi Si fraternity. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 13 THE 32ND ANNUAL ENGLISH-SCOTTISH BALL, olk dancing is anything but a spectator protest: “I can’t dance. Really, I’m not very HELD THIS YEAR ON FEB. 8 IN THE ALL-CAMPUS sport. As a newcomer to the Scottish good.” SPACE OF CLOTHIER HALL, IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF dance class, I sit hunched in a corner. “Can you walk?” he asks. F THECOLLEGE’SFOLK-DANCESEASON. Watching the more experienced dancers, I try Good point.I follow him to the floor and to look inconspicuous. Dancing—I will be join a line of about 20 dancers. I look the first to say—has never really been my around nervously, receiving a thumbs-up sign overall motion, the pattern I must follow to forte. from one and a reassuring smile from anoth- execute my part. I can hardly help not to, as The music to one dance ends. It’s light er. I grab my partner’s hand, imitating his my fellow dancers eagerly direct me at every and jumpy—a sort of doo-doo-doo that goes light hopping motion, which switches from step. They’re so helpful, so open; they know, on for several bars. On the stage, live musi- the ball of one foot to the toe of the other as I will soon learn, that the dance works cians play—piano, guitars, even bagpipes. and back again. I kind of get it. My move- only if everyone does it together. I lift my The music is uplifting and absorbing, and I ment isn’t perfect, but no one expects it to heel, kick my opposite toe out, and give it am perfectly content to just listen and be. Everyone learns the step, pivots around my best shot. A smile spreads across my watch. each other, and walks through the rotations face—I’m not half as bad as I thought. No such luck. Looking for a new partner, a few times. The music begins again; “six “Remember we were all new once. You’re a young man comes over, holds out a hand, bars,” the teacher calls. doing great,” I hear. My partner gently smiles, and asks if I’d care to dance. It’s Scottish dancing is harder—and easier— nudges me to the correct corner after my last delightfully archaic—a gesture from a time than it looks. The precise steps elude me; “pas de basque.” when “courtship” still meant something.I that,I know, will take time.Still, I get the I can’t help but trust him. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 14 Stepping

FOLKDANCEATSWARTHMOREENDURESINANEWHOME.and Shifting By Elizabeth Redden ’05 Photographs by Eleftherios Kostans

very important community in the Swarthmore lexicon for years. I kipping and step- think it’s wonderful, and as long as we were able to accommodate it, ping their way we did. But in the 10 years since the opening of the LPAC, the into College history, entire performance-based Dance Program—both curricular and co- members of Swarth- curricular—has expanded.” more’s Folk Dance Club Swarthmore’s Dance Program, first granted academic status in Shave gathered to enjoy the late 1970s, has grown significantly under the leadership of just such dances for Friedler. Since she arrived at the College in 1985, the program has more than 50 years. Sec- provided instruction in a wide variety of dance techniques, currently ond only to The Phoenix including African, Balinese, ballet, contact improvisation, flamenco, as the most venerable Kathak, modern, tap, and yoga. The program also offers composi- extracurricular activity tion courses, repertory classes, and instructions in the study of on campus, folk dance dance history and theory—all taught in the LPAC studios. “The can be traced back to the program looks at dance forms from all over the world, linking prac- 1940s, when Irene Moll, tice and theory,” explains Friedler. an instructor in the Between 300 and 350 students now enroll in dance classes each Physical Education De- semester and, as Friedler points out, performance dance initiatives partment, started a folk are not limited to the formal technique classes but also include stu- dance class. The activi- ty—and what some might call a folk-dancing The expansion of the curricular subculture—has thrived at Swarthmore ever since. Yet this year, for the first time in its history, the Folk Dance Club Dance Program has presented has found itself in a perilous position. The growth of the curricular Dance Program has put a premium on time in the College’s dance new challenges for studios. With the expansion of the academic Dance Program, folk dance—an extracurricular social activity—has had to move to the traditional folk dancers. Swarthmore Community Club, located just off-campus not far from the Pittenger, Palmer, and Roberts residence halls. dent-run choreography projects. Current student-run performance “I think we’ve all been frustrated by the constant struggle to dance organizations include Dance Forum, Rhythm ’N’ Motion, find time and space in the dance studios over the past few years,” and Terpsichore—and all of these courses, performance projects, says Hollis Easter ’03, co-president of the club and a four-year and groups require time in the two studios. dancer. “This year, the Dance Program told us they didn’t have room Folk dance—a social dance form—is not included within the for us at all, and I think it’s fair to say we were disappointed by that realm of performance dance. “We’ve made an effort to build an decision.” inclusive—not exclusive—program,” says Friedler. “But the fact “The studios [in the Lang Performing Arts Center or LPAC] were remains that we are interested in dance as a performance art. We constructed for the use of the academic Dance Program. These applaud and support and are delighted that people wish to folk spaces are our laboratories,” explains Sharon Friedler, Stephen Lang dance. I folk dance myself. But it’s a different thing than what we’re Professor of Performing Arts and director of the Dance Program involved in as a department.” within the Department of Music and Dance. “Folk dance has been a Timothy Williams ’64, professor emeritus of biology and a for- M A R C H 2 0 0 3 15 mer Swarthmore folk dancer, acknowledges that the campus studios are already used to capacity. He thinks the real problem is not a clash of interests between academic and nonacademic dancing but instead that the campus lacks an adequate amount of suitable dance space. “The best solution would be to make some space available for non–dance-program activity,” Williams says. Such an area, he explains, could be used for folk, swing, and ballroom dances as well as for aerobics classes. Because the all-campus space already avail- able in Clothier Hall is frequently scheduled for parties, dances, and large events, it is an unreliable venue for a regular weekly or twice- weekly class. “It seems a shame that a program so vital to Swarthmore can’t have a space on campus with a wooden floor,” says Terry Harvey, who teaches club classes in Scottish country dance. “I don’t see folk dance stopping, but I’m worried about having moved off campus. It’s a big psychological change to no longer be in College space. I would rather have the College embrace folk dance and find a loca- tion for it.”

espite its move, the folk dance club is functioning as always, Dwith 20 to 30 students enrolling in the classes each semester. Other members of the community—faculty and staff, alumni, and Swarthmore residents—are also welcome. Though a wide variety of forms (including Balkan, international, Morris, highland, rapper, and English long sword) have been taught at Swarthmore in the past, the club currently focuses mainly on English and Scottish country dancing. All-campus contra dances are also held a couple of times a year, and workshops in a variety of other dance styles are typically offered a few times a year. The club’s biggest event, the annual English-Scottish Ball, is held in Clothier Hall around Valentine’s Day each year. Geoffrey Selling WEEKLY FOLK-DANCE CLASSES ARE NOW HELD AT THE SWARTHMORE COMMU- ’71, founder of the event, said the English-Scottish Ball is a student- NITY CENTER. THE SPACE IS NOT IDEAL, BUT ENTHUSIASM FOR THE EXTRA- run dance that generally attracts between 30 and 40 alumni from across the country each year (see sidebar). CURRICULARACTIVITYREMAINSHIGH.STUDENTSPRACTICE“LEFTSAND Eileen Thorsos ’03, folk dance co-president with Easter and RIGHTS”(TOPLEFT); SIKANDRA CHRISTIAN ’06 CROSSES HANDS WITH HER another four-year dancer, remembers what brought her to the club PARTNER (TOPRIGHT);ANDINSTRUCTORTERRYHARVEYTWIRLSELIZABETH in the first place. Although she had studied ballet and tap in ele- MCDONALD ’05 (RIGHT) AT A TUESDAY NIGHT CLASS IN JANUARY. mentary school, Thorsos had simply refused to dance for a long time after that. “I hardly ever exercised,” she says. “I was more comfort- able reading or doing some other intellectual thing. Dancing when I The dancing itself is about patterns of skipping and stepping was around other people was even more risky.” Yet, in fall of her and shifting and waltzing and circling. It’s about bowing at the freshman year, she decided to attend an all-campus contra dance. In beginning and end of each dance, synchronizing the body to the contra, a New England style of folk dance, partners join hands with music, and joining together to create the intricate patterns that a long group of couples and, listening to the instructions of the become the dance. “It’s kind of like that whole Jane Austen remake caller, execute a series of patterns. Like all folk dancing, it’s an inher- movie. The live music really adds to that. You could just see Mr. ently social dance, accessible to beginners and advanced students Knightly changing positions,” says Aviva Aron-Dine ’05, a first-year alike. folk dancer. “I loved it,” says Thorsos. “In part, I think I was hug-deprived. I was used to getting hugs from my mother every day; then, I came to olk dancing at Swarthmore is a melting pot of the old-fashioned college, and there were all these people I couldn’t touch.” From that Fand the modern. Students generally dress down for classes— point on, she was hooked. She started doing not only English and jeans or sweatpants, though some women wear skirts—and only Scottish country dancing but also Argentine tango, swing, and fla- don formal wear for the English-Scottish Ball. Still, as the dancers menco—all during her first semester at Swarthmore. “There’s this line up, with uneven numbers of men and women often requiring happy, warm, relaxed, sweaty feeling you get after dancing,” Thorsos temporary shifts in traditional gender roles, thoughts about what says, “like an endorphin high.” everyone is wearing fall away. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 16 “There’s this happy, warm, relaxed, sweaty feeling you get after dancing— like an endorphin high.”

The dancers bow and grab hands, arms held firmly and fixedly, eye contact maintained. Then they skip, or shift, or “step change,” or “strathspey,” or “pas de basque” in Scottish class. On English nights, they start a stately lilting walk. As Jenny Beer, Swarthmore’s English country dance instructor, explains, English folk dance has “minimal footwork—if you can walk, you can dance.” In both dances, though, once the music begins, the patterns made are what matters. From overhead, the dance should look like an intricate secret, an intangible entity impossible to separate into individual components. Yet for those M A R C H 2 0 0 3 17 who smile and bow and curtsy at its conclusion, it’s a secret to which every one of them is privy. From overhead, In fact, it is the dance’s accessibility that students, faculty, and alumni alike praise repeatedly. “Folk dance covers territory that is the dance also covered by the sports teams or the performance dance classes. But very little about it is competitive, and the emphasis is not on should look like performance,” explains Sibelan Forrester, associate professor of Russian and folk dance faculty liaison. “Particularly for someone an intricate secret— who’s kind of shy or doesn’t have a lot of physical confidence com- ing out of high school, folk dance can be a great way to participate an intangible entity in physical activity.” “For me, there’s a joy in movement in folk dancing that I haven’t impossible to found in some of the other dance movements I’ve tried,” says East- er ’03. Like Thorsos, Easter also “had this great fear of dancing all separate through high school. I didn’t want to go folk dancing because I was sure I wouldn’t be good at it. But my friends dragged me there, I into individual protested mightily, and here I am now.” Also a bagpiper on the Canadian Circuit in Ontario, Easter says components. the live music available at every Swarthmore folk dance class “has gotten me into some of the music I now play.” Yet, it is mostly the social aspect of the dance that brings him back week after week—the guarantee that he will see his friends and have a good time. The dance community, Easter stresses, is accessible and open, based on ideals of trust and cooperation that give the dance mean- ing. “The dance doesn’t go if everyone does- n’t work as a team. And that can bring the wonderful sense of being part of something larger.”

he class is winding down. I’m more tired Tthan expected; this last dance seems so much harder than the first. I wipe my hand across my forehead and am surprised to find it just a bit damp. But as I line up to face my partner—a different one this time—I remember that they’re all counting on me. “Be careful of the pole,” someone says. Columns are arrayed on the sides of the dance floor at the Community Club—a sur- mountable obstacle, I think. “If we were in the LPAC...,” I hear. It’s almost funny, a political statement in an apolitical setting. The music swells. I rise on my toes, ACCORDINGTOONELONGTIMEMUSICIAN,THISYEAR’SENGLISH-SCOTTISH almost automatically now, and reach for my BALL(ABOVE)DREWTHELARGESTSTUDENTTURNOUTINMANYYEARS.IN partner’s hand.My arms are more fixed than ALL, MORE THAN 125 ALUMNI, STUDENTS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS earlier, though certainly far from perfect.I DANCED.JOANNAREINER,ANINSTRUCTOR,TIEDONHERSLIPPERSFORTHE take a deep breath; look into his eyes; and EVENING(TOPRIGHT) WHILE DON CHEETHAM ’73 VISITED WITH DAUGHTER step off, circling around him in a skipping LAURAINTHECHILD-CAREAREA(BOTTOMRIGHT). CHEETHAM MET LAURA’S step. This step—and my partner’s—is where the dance begins again. T MOTHER, MELISSA SHANER ’93, AT A SWARTHMORE FOLK DANCE.

Elizabeth Redden ’05 is a McCabe Scholar from Lewes, Del. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 18 NOTJUSTAN more for many of us,” Cecily Sell- ACTIVITYBUTA ing adds. “Our main contact WAYOFLIFE [with] the College is through dancing.”

erhaps more than any other Some folk-dance alumni Pcampus activity, folk dance select their locale, their friends, has a remarkable history of keep- even their spouses through or as ing its members in close contact a result of their folk-dancing with one another long after connections. Andrew Peterson Commencement. Years after leav- ’93 met his wife, then a Univer- ing the College, many alumni sity of Delaware student, at a still count folk dancing as a Scottish dance class in 1989. “I major factor in their lives. remember being bowled over by “There are a whole lot of her then, and I still am now,” he activities at Swarthmore that says. The couple return to the people get involved in—politi- College once or twice each year cal, community service, and for dances, always enjoying the tutoring. Inevitably, each activi- company of old friends they’ve ty touches certain lives. I think kept close. “The friendships I it’s extraordinary that a program made with dancers in the area like this can keep people togeth- have proven some of the most er so many years later. Dancing enduring of my life,” Peterson becomes a permanent part of says. people’s lives,” says Geoffrey Fran Poodry ’92 chose to stay Selling ’71. in the Philadelphia region after An elementary school science graduating just so she could teacher, Selling is also a certi- maintain contact with the close fied Scottish country dance friends she has made through instructor, an active member of dancing. Yet, even for some of the Delaware Valley branch of those far away, folk-dance roots the Royal Scottish Country Dance prove hard to forget. Kira “J.C.” Society, and husband of Cecily Goetschius ’00, a graduate stu- Roberts Selling ’77—one of many dent at the University of Hawaii, folk-dance romance stories. now dances regularly with the Dancing, he says, has kept him Honolulu branch of the Royal in close contact with the Col- Scottish Country Dance Society. lege. “I’m 53. and my daughters She expects never to stop. are in college [including Sarah “I know that Scottish dance Kate Selling ’03], but I’ve still will always be a part of my life, known dancers in every Swarth- and, as many will tell you, it’s more class.” not just an activity, but a way of “Folk dancing has been a life,” she says. really important part of Swarth- —E.R. M A R C H 2 0 0 3

19 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 20 Frank Aydelotte Architect of Distinction

!

ALOOKATSWARTHMORE’SDEFININGPRESIDENT

By Dan West Illustrations by Nancy Harrison

arry Truman once said that the only thing new in ne explanation for his impact is the length of his tenure of the world is the history you don’t know. How did Oalmost 20 years. Changing a college takes time; it’s like turn- Swarthmore College become the outstanding exam- ing a great ship onto another course. It happens slowly. A president ple of small, private liberal arts colleges in the coun- must have a vision and the skills to lead effectively, but this process try? How did it become so distinctive? Why is it so also takes time. Most defining presidents were in office a good while. admiredH by many in higher education? Still, Aydelotte did not by any means inherit a blank page. He In my experience, every college or university of true distinction came to a school where many had labored mightily and accom- has, somewhere in its past, a defining president. Harvard had plished much. College presidents are often prone to ignore or even Charles Eliot. Columbia had Nicholas Butler. Chicago had Robert denigrate the work of their predecessors, but Aydelotte did not com- Hutchins. It is clear to me that for Swarthmore College, that presi- mit this error. Astute as a historian and modest about accepting dent is Frank Aydelotte, who served from 1921 to 1940. credit for himself, he readily acknowledged the work of his Quaker Aydelotte was a fascinating man of unusual substance, exempla- predecessors. He succeeded Joseph Swain, formerly president of ry character, complex personality, and amazing energy. Although he Indiana University and one of Aydelotte’s mentors. was not a Quaker when he Swain had come to Swarth- came to the presidency, his more in 1902 after success in influence rivals that of the Aydelotte transformed Indiana on the condition that Quaker founders. His ideas the Board of Managers would continue to resonate. His pro- Swarthmore from an raise enough money to increase grams and emphases have the College’s endowment from remained intact for 60 years acceptable Quaker college of $400,000 to $1 million. He con- through the administrations of solidated presidential (as distin- six successors. local reputation to guished from Board) authority Although he never wrote an and led the College away from autobiography, there are many a truly outstanding institution the “guarded education” concept good sources of information of the 19th century. He built a about Aydelotte and his presi- of national renown. library with the help of a grant dency. Two books stand out. from Andrew Carnegie and per- The first, An Adventure in Edu- suaded the governor of Pennsyl- cation: Swarthmore College Under Frank Aydelotte, is a collection of vania, William Sproul, to build and endow the College’s observato- unsigned essays written by “the faculty.” It was published the year ry. Swain was more than a fund-raiser; according to Robert Brooks’ after he left office—an unabashed tribute to an admired leader. The 1927 book, Reading for Honors at Swarthmore, he left a fertile field definitive biography is Frances Blanshard’s Frank Aydelotte of that “Swarthmore presented to Aydelotte.” Standards had ad- Swarthmore for which the author, a former dean of women and wife vanced, students were working in small groups, the faculty was of Professor of Philosophy Brand Blanshard, had access to Ayde- experimenting with new teaching methods. Indeed, when Aydelotte lotte’s papers and conducted many personal interviews. From these arrived in 1921, he inherited a strong foundation on which to build and other sources (a complete list of sources is on the Bulletin Web his distinctive college. site: www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/mar03.html), I’ve drawn several Aydelotte’s biography is also illuminating. Reared in small-town conclusions about President Aydelotte. Indiana, he borrowed the money from his father for his education M A R C H 2 0 0 3 21 at Indiana University. He majored in English, joined Sigma Nu fra- signature and remains the centerpiece of Swarthmore’s curriculum. ternity, earned a varsity letter in football, and graduated Phi Beta To critics who argued that honors was the “Oxfordization” of Kappa in 1911. Swarthmore, Aydelotte pointed out that students met in small It is an insight into his character that Aydelotte developed with groups with two faculty members, not a single tutor. Some com- certain handicaps. He had large and protruding ears, which Blan- plained it was undemocratic. He countered that it was a stimulant chard says, “perhaps prevented his becoming vain." As a child, he to the entire college—faculty and students alike—and that all facul- stammered but, while still young, he managed to control it. Also as a ty members taught in both honors and in course. Some said it was child he injured his arm, and it was later discovered to have set too expensive, so he raised more money to finance it, obtaining a badly. It was rebroken and reset but never healed properly. He large grant from the Rockefeller-funded General Education Board, undertook years of exercising his elbow, determined not to give up whose president, his friend Alexander Flexner, called the Honors until he could play sports like other boys. Perhaps his passion for Program “frankly an endeavor to spot and to develop excellence.” sports was the result. As an adult, he was forced to shake hands For 17 years, the following statement about American education, with his left. It was a discomfort he chose to ignore. written by Aydelotte, was printed in the College’s catalog: His selection to the Swarthmore presidency occurred within 10 years of his graduation from Indiana. First, he became a professor in [America is] educating more students to a fair average than English in a teacher’s college in California, Pa., then taught English any country in the world, but we are wastefully allowing the and coached football (successful- capacity of the average to ly in both endeavors) at Vin- prevent us from bringing cennes University and Louisville He said, “In a very real sense the best up to the stan- Male High School in Kentucky. dards they could reach. He was one of the first Rhodes of the word, the faculty Our most important task Scholars, studying at Brasenose at the present is to check College, Oxford. Returning from is the College.” During his the waste. The method of England, he was a faculty mem- doing it seems clear: to give ber at Indiana and later at the tenure, he increased salaries to those students who are Massachusetts Institute of really interested in the Technology. by 200 percent. intellectual life harder and more independent work nce at Swarthmore, Ayde- than could profitably be Olotte was successful in all of the ways by means of which we given to those whose devotion to matters of the intellect is usually measure a president. Enrollment grew from 510 to 678, the less keen, to demand of the former, in the course of their faculty increased from 41 to 83, and annual financial aid rose from four years’ work, a standard of attainment for the A.B. $16,000 and 96 recipients to $75,000 and 281 recipients. The degree distinctly higher than we require of them at present. endowment grew from $2.8 million to $7.7 million. Expenditures per student increased from $934 to $1,341. During his tenure, several To accomplish this goal, Aydelotte needed faculty members who buildings were completed, including Bond and the lodges, several could do two kinds of teaching (honors and course) as well as faculty homes, the Biddle Memorial wing of the library, the Clothier research. Blanshard says that when he found and hired them, he Memorial, the Lamb-Miller Field House, the Martin Building and coddled them. Animal Laboratory, and Worth Hall. A campaign launched in 1929 Some may think that strong support of faculty is a recent devel- for $2 million raised more than $4 million, much of it after the opment at Swarthmore, but it began with Swain, and it became the stock-market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. norm with Aydelotte. Having an Honors Program meant greater Of greater importance, however, were Aydelotte’s ideas. His edu- intensity and effort for faculty as well as students. As an experienced cational philosophy and ability to implement it allowed Swarthmore teacher, Aydelotte knew well the toll on strength and resources of to grow from an acceptable Quaker college of local reputation to a such intensity and the subsequent need for replenishment. He set a truly outstanding institution of national renown. goal for doubling both the time and money usually allowed for Believing that education is an active, not a passive, process and leaves of absence and sabbaticals. The endowment campaign of that the best and only true education is self-education, he proposed 1929–1930 had this mission, eventually making it possible for facul- the Honors Program. At a meeting of the local chapter of the Ameri- ty members to have one semester of leave every three to four years at can Association of University Professors (AAUP), he outlined his half-salary or one full year in every seven at full pay. He established a idea: a more challenging set of seminars for chosen students in their faculty travel expense fund to help them attend meetings of learned last two years. These students would receive no term grades or societies. He initiated the tenure system at Swarthmore in 1924. He exams but instead would be tested by external examiners at the end built a group of faculty homes, designed by a faculty member, Alfred of the senior year. For these advanced students, he abolished the lec- Brooks. He once said, “In a very real sense of the word, the faculty is ture method of teaching. Moreover, the seminars would serve, in the College.” During his tenure, he increased faculty salaries by 200 Aydelotte’s phrase, “to educate the faculty.” The program grew from percent. The faculty responded in kind. In 1933, the worst year of the 11 students in 1923 to 146 students in 1939. It became the College Depression, the faculty presented the Board and administration SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 22 with a voluntary salary cut, the proceeds of which were to be used liberal Quakers (the Hicksites), and Aydelotte was drawn to—and for scholarships for needy students. drew on—their values of individual freedom and collective improve- ment. Swarthmore had been nondenominational since 1909, but warthmore’s small size is another legacy from its defining presi- the all-Quaker Board of Managers impressed him, and he believed Sdent. As a Rhodes Scholar, he was much impressed with the that the College was out of the ordinary—more solidly founded on English style of small colleges within a large university at Oxford. character. He may well have subscribed to the sentiment of John Corbin, who His style of leadership and his understanding of governance also said at the close of the 19th century, “The function of the college is set the tone. He thought of himself as a facilitator. He was a presi- of greater importance to the nation than that of the university, and dent who adhered to the faculty viewpoint and who often said, “The the function of the secondary school is more vital than that of administration exists to save the faculty’s time.” His management either.” style was to talk issues through, shape plans communally, and form Aydelotte stood for the small college. In the face of repeated consensus slowly. He had many one-on-one conversations. To facili- attempts on the part of universities to lure him away, he stuck to tate this, he located his office on the ground floor of Parrish Hall, Swarthmore. He was keen to limit its size. His annual reports to the close to the dining room (now the Admissions Office). He liked Board of Managers in the early 1920s called attention to raising what he perceived to be the flexibility of the Quakers. He loved their academic standards by limiting enrollment. But this policy was phrase, “Proceed as the way opens.” His idea of holding meetings more than a strategy to raise standards. It was an integral part of his was to simulate a Quaker meeting by discussing every significant philosophy of education. He wrote, “Any student who is good problem from every viewpoint and by involving everyone concerned. enough to be admitted to the college can hope for a place uniquely He saw the Board, the faculty, and the administration acting as one his own … he is an actor in it, not a spectator; and the difference is unit. great.” According to Frances Blanshard, “The only increases he A consequence was what Frances Blanshard calls “the unobtru- hoped to see at Swarthmore were in the number of teachers, the size sive character of his administration.” He would usually begin the of their salaries, and the volumes in the library.” introduction of a new idea by asking for advice from his interlocu- He also embraced Quaker values. The College was founded by tor. Later, he would offer his adviser a list of possibilities—the most M A R C H 2 0 0 3 23 controversial of them last—and insist that no conclusion be It was never easy, however. One serious challenge to the Honors reached at that moment. His style of leadership caused faculty Program came at the meeting of the Board of Managers in Decem- members to think of Swarthmore as a “remarkably unified college.” ber 1927.Had it not been for the strong support of three older An example was the implementation of the Honors Program— Quaker women—Lucy Biddle Lewis, Emma Bancroft, and Caroline at once Aydelotte’s greatest legacy and one of his most controversial Hallowell Worth—we might not have an Honors Program today. initiatives. After describing his idea in a talk to the AAUP during They were part of an ad hoc Board committee to “investigate the his first year in office, he urged discussion of it. He then appointed new program.” They staunchly supported it and carried the day. a committee to study it. Two faculty members, Robert Brooks in Honors and other ideas endured and prospered. political science and Jesse Holmes in philosophy, became so enthu- siastic that they couldn’t wait and experimented with the new peda- rank Aydelotte’s legacy includes other facets: an emphasis on gogy in fall 1922, with 11 students. So successful were these first Fresearch, a social life that is more egalitarian than at most col- two seminars that more were formed the following year, and the leges, the insistence on a strong library, and the introduction of program grew. There was never a formal vote of the faculty or the scholarships with which to attract talented students. Board. Honors at Swarthmore just evolved. Then, as now, debate occurred about the type of student who SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 24 should be admitted. In 1925, after the General Education Board do with the development of ruggedness, courage, determination, made a five-year grant of $240,000 to solidify the Honors Program and better human understanding.” Tomlinson deplored what he and help the College recruit outstanding students for it, not every- called a lack of communication between the administration and the one at the College was exuberant. A letter to the editor of The alumni. President of the Board Charles Jenkins defended Aydelotte Phoenix deplored the effect this grant would have on the College’s and proposed a joint committee of Board members and Alumni admission policy: Council members to “canvass the situation.”

Eliminating most of the red-blooded men and women … ydelotte’s ideas took root and flourished. They were carefully substituting that vile species designated as “Greasy Anourished by generations of administrators, Board members, Grinds” for the robust, virile type that has made Swarth- faculty members, and students. Indeed, one scholar, Burton Clark, more glorious in the past … Let other colleges, founded points to several important reasons why his programs and policies with specialized intellectual aims project them in this endured at Swarthmore while such did not occur at other once- enlarged Honors plan, but there is no excuse for sacrificing distinctive colleges: the force and validity of the ideas, the way they Swarthmore’s established pre-eminence in the field of pro- were introduced and implemented, the initial and continuing sup- ducing well-rounded men and women for the sake of port of faculty, the length of his tenure, and outside financial sup- attempting an alien and port all played a role. undesirable success in cul- So did the persons who suc- tivating mental geniuses. ceeded him. Both John Nason and Courtney Smith were Aydelotte’s role in defining His Honors Program became intellectual protégés of Ayde- Swarthmore’s approach to lotte. Like Aydelotte, both had college athletics is the final the College signature served as secretary of the illustration of how he shaped Rhodes Scholar Program in the College so permanently. and remains the centerpiece of the United States. Both had When he arrived at the Col- been developed as faculty lege in 1920, the Alumni Swarthmore’s curriculum. members, and both had Association essentially owned become small-college liberal and ran the Athletics Pro- arts advocates. gram. Alumni scheduled the I visited President John games, hired the coaches, collected the gate receipts, and recruited Nason on a couple of occasions before his death in 2001. During men to play football, providing scholarships and subsidies. This one visit, he told me (too modestly) that his greatest contributions approach and Aydelotte’s educational philosophy were headed for to Swarthmore in his 11 years as president had been, on the one inevitable conflict. He believed that the chief source of corruption hand, to calm the place down after years of controversy under in American sports was the spectators, intent on victory at any Aydelotte and, on the other, to prevent the reversal of any of Ayde- price. lotte’s policies and programs. It is significant that in the 60 years He was an advocate of the Oxford University attitude toward since Aydelotte left Swarthmore’s helm to head the Institute for sports. In an essay for the Oxford Stamp, he deplored spectator sports Advanced Study at Princeton, Board members, presidents, and fac- as opposed to participation in sports. At Oxford, almost everyone ulty members have all protected, preserved, and advocated those played a sport, but few watched others play. formative ideas and programs that help make Swarthmore what it In a Collection speech at Swarthmore, he said that his ambition is today. for the school was for every student to play a game and for many to Frances Blanshard called Aydelotte a “thoroughgoing intellectu- play well enough to represent the school on a team. But he had al” who made Swarthmore “the endeavor of his life” and left it accepted the presidency on the condition that financial subsidies to arguably the most admired small college in the country. The poli- athletes be eliminated. In 1932, Aydelotte finally assumed direct cies that were instituted while he was president, the priorities that responsibility for the Athletics Program, financing it entirely with were established, the values that were set, the ways we teach and College funds and giving faculty standing to physical education learn and recruit and play sports and govern ourselves, the way we staff and coaches. Athletics became a college program, part of a stu- treat and support each other—indeed, the way we think about our- dent’s educational experience—clearly second in importance, along selves as an institution—are largely to be traced back to this with everything else, to the academic endeavor. remarkable man whose central idea was to develop leaders for our Controversy continued for several years. President of the Alum- society and our world. T ni Association William Tomlinson ’17 led the opposition. At a meet- ing of the Board of Managers in February 1935, he presented his Dan West is vice president for alumni, development, and public relations. views in a speech he called “Men Wanted.” He stated that he and He holds doctorates in theology (Vanderbilt University, 1969) and educa- others feared that Swarthmore’s admissions policy was not consid- tional administration (Harvard University, 1984). During his 34-year ering the “broader qualities of manhood,” that “the purely academ- career in higher education, he has served at five small liberal arts colleges. ic functions … are crowding out those vital activities that have to He was president of two of these. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 25 I D o S o l e m n l y S w e a r

CHRISTOPHER VAN HOLLEN JR. ’83—ONE OF TWO DEMOCRATS TO UNSEAT A REPUBLICAN INTHEHOUSEINNOVEMBER’SELECTION—HASHISWORKCUTOUTFORHIM.

By Jason Zengerle ’96

ovember’s midterm elections were disastrous for Demo- affairs and public policy. Van Hollen initially majored in history, crats. But even the darkest days have their bright spots— then switched to physics, and eventually settled on philosophy, writ- Nand one of those for Democrats was Christopher Van ing his senior thesis on Wittgenstein. “I’m sure if I looked at the Hollen, who was one of only two Democratic challengers to defeat a paper today, I wouldn’t understand a word I wrote,” he jokes. Away House Republican incumbent. Now that Van Hollen is in office, rep- from the classroom, Van Hollen pursued his political interests more resenting Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, he’s experiencing directly: He was a member of the Swarthmore Anti-Apartheid Com- the midterm election’s fallout firsthand—as he tries to figure out mittee, which advocated that the College divest from companies how, as a freshman member of the minority, he can make headway doing business in South Africa; and he was active in an organization on the issues on which he campaigned. called the Nuclear Weapons Education Project, an education group “What’s supposed to be one of the greatest democratic institu- interested in arms control efforts such as the Strategic Arms Limita- tions is actually very undemocratic in the sense that the majority can tion Treaty. Then Swarthmore Physics Professor and now New Jer- use the rules to prohibit the minority from offering up alternatives,” sey Congressman Rush Holt was involved in the group. Van Hollen explained one January afternoon in his House office. After his junior year, Van Hollen decided to take some time off “I’m not talking about losing the vote. I’m talking about the oppor- from school, and, along with several classmates, he went to tunity to have an up-or-down vote on your alternative proposal. Guatemala. “We drove all the way from Washington, D.C.,” he They can bring a bill to the floor under a rule that says only Republi- recalls, “in a beat-up old Toyota with old floorboards; every time we can amendments are in order.” So, although Van Hollen may have went over a puddle, our feet would get wet.” After a few months in run for office with visions of repealing parts of President Bush’s $1.4 Guatemala, Van Hollen rounded out his own personal study-abroad trillion tax cut and passing stricter gun control laws, he now realizes program by traveling around South Asia before returning to Swarth- that much of his job will consist of simply trying to fend off Repub- more in fall 1982 for his senior year. lican proposals. After graduation, Van Hollen enrolled in the two-year master’s in One of his first orders of business, he says, will be dealing with Public Policy Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government President Bush’s call for $670 million more in tax cuts. “It’s only (where he met his wife, Katherine, with whom he has three chil- putting additional money in the pockets of people who need it the dren). From Cambridge, he went to Washington to work on Capitol least, and it’s not going to help the economy,” Van Hollen com- Hill for Maryland Senator Charles Mathias. He handled arms con- plained. “The rhetoric of helping working people is almost trol and foreign policy issues for Mathias; when the senator—a lib- Orwellian.” eral Republican—retired from politics in 1986, Van Hollen joined Van Hollen’s rhetoric might be sharp, but he thinks it’s necessary. the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Indeed, Van Hollen blames the Democrats’ midterm debacle, in He began attending law school at night at Georgetown Universi- part, on the party’s reluctance to stand up to President Bush. “I ty. In 1990—with the ink barely dry on his law degree—Van Hollen think a lot of Democrats got cowed by the Bush administration on a made the move from political staffer to actual politician, running for whole range of issues and tried to be, in some cases, Republican and winning a seat in Maryland’s House of Delegates, where he rep- lite,” he says. “When you say, ‘I agree with the Bush administration resented the Washington suburb of Montgomery County. on a lot of things,’ and then the president comes to your district and Four years later, he won a seat in the Maryland Senate. In An- says, ‘Well, that’s great, but I’m supporting the other guy because he napolis, Van Hollen built a reputation as a liberal but pragmatic agrees with me more,’ your message isn’t going to get across.” politician, proving effective at building coalitions on issues like Still, Van Hollen says he will look for common ground where he school funding, gun control, and protecting the Chesapeake Bay. To can find it. “The opportunities to build coalitions are going to be many in the Maryland Capitol, it was clear Van Hollen was marked issue dependent,” he says. “Gun control is probably an issue for for bigger things; after a second term in the State Senate, he set his now on which it’s going to be very tough to put together a coalition. sights on the U.S. House. But there may be other issues, like working on child abuse and neg- lect—that’s something I worked on in the state legislature and that espite his impressive legislative record in Annapolis, Van [House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay has worked on, too. Maybe we DHollen entered the 2002 congressional campaign a decided can make some progress on that. Working on mental health issues underdog. His first challenge came in the Democratic primary, or disabilities issues—at least in the state legislature—we were where he faced one of his Maryland General Assembly colleagues, always able to build bipartisan coalitions.” Mark Shriver, son of Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver. The son of a Foreign Service officer, 44-year-old Van Hollen “There’s no doubt that everyone in the Washington political spent much of his childhood abroad, so that by the time he arrived establishment—the Democrats on the Hill, the political consult- at Swarthmore in 1977,he already had a healthy interest in foreign ants, all the insiders—saw [me] as the underdog,” says Van Hollen. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 26 F Morella. Constance formidable Congresswoman more Republican even eight-term an the against opponent, off squaring was business of order victory narrow primary. a September’s score in to Shriver that over legislative on of capitalized years and 12 Annapolis from in there work known in well most, was counted He it district. where his the slouch of no son was favorite he the establishment, been political have not 11. RIGHT may Hollen Van HIS NICHOLAS, Although TO SON DISTRICT. AND 8TH 12, ANNA, MARYLAND’S OF DAUGHTER ( ARE HOLLEN REPRESENTATIVE VAN AS IN CHRISTOPHER SWORN CONGRESSMAN JANUARY, IN yteNtoa eulcnCnrsinlCmite.Btshe But Committee). for Congressional paid Republican was National mailing the the by that mind (never one stated us,” mailing represents campaign she party, political a represent doesn’t Morella the for was Congress leadership.” that each fact Republican cast the Morella on Representative lot vote a first focused the we explains. so Hollen opposite; Van the pen,” it’s got veto Bush, bad his “Under really was anything there Congress, if net; the safety of a out always was there office, Clinton in President was between “When contest parties. a Republican as and race Democratic the the portray sel- to but opportunity on an head missed Morella dom attacking from refrained mostly Hollen Van him. with Hillary campaign Senator to York Clinton New then and like Gephardt names Richard big Leader out Minority sending and Hollen, Van fund-raising behind with weight him its helping put Party was national she the that and sensed vulnerable, Democrats burden. a party become her had voters, affiliation left-leaning predominately to her endeared record u a olnws’ bet eto i arl eas i next his because laurels his on rest to able wasn’t Hollen Van But oel,mawie buctdo h at usin “Connie question: party the on obfuscated meanwhile, Morella, bizarre—campaign. sometimes heated—and a was result The a tl oua nadsrc hr e eeal iea voting liberal generally her where district a in Morella popular Although still help. was some had he Hollen, Van for ortunately CENTER WAS ) ao egrei nascaeeio of editor associate an is Zengerle Jason nta o fpol nwwoIa oigi ee om akis task are.” my others So the here. all in who coming know am to I get who quickly know to people that of to lot advantages a are that “There says. in Hollen Van it,” up about picked read they they sets, whenever TV or their race, on this turned saw they they whenever and here, or were California, they Hawaii, Florida, represent they whether Congress, “Every of freshman. it member typical that a fact not he’s the backyard, Congress’s and in profile occurred high race’s his discov- to he’s thanks since that, Hollen ered Van for important particularly that’s task a card. debit congressional a with lunch buy a to from how tutorial about a staffer of getting midst and the pictures, in hanging was boxes, in congressman unpacking him the visited January, I early When in freshman. office college his a of life the from different just it on, went campaign Swarthmore.” the from As was everyone like seemed terrific.... was area contin- the Swarthmore in “The politics,”gent Hollen: in Van buy Says ’55. cannot Sieverts you Frank enthusiasm says of kind the had who and other in ways. campaign Hollen’s Sev- Van later. helped months alumni few Washington-area a eral fund-raiser Hollen Van Stevens another Kathy hosted and ’89 ’90 Parker from Pokomy people Michelle get the classes.” helped all 1940s “I ’44. to the Stoner out reach Lois would recalls knew,” we we that prelim- people agreed a all had we “We fund-raiser. and a meeting, organize inary help to them asked and alum- Smith ni Swarthmore Lee Washington-area and other ’65 15 Greg contacted campaign, ’66 the Ingram in Early campaign. large his disproportionately in a role played they Hollen, Van for voting those vote. per- the 52 won of Hollen cent Van day, election On enough. obfuscate couldn’t hn hr a h ako utn ae oaltenwfaces— new the all to names putting of task the was there Then, that been hasn’t freshman House a as life Hollen’s Van fact, In him to dedicated were who volunteers of corps a established “He of portion small a only up made alumni Swarthmore Although h e Republic. 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© 2003 THE WASHINGTON POST . PHOTO BY BILL OʼLEARY. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION. 27 M A R C H 2 0 0 3 E s s e n t i a l S w a r t h m o r e

THELIVESOFSIXSWARTHMOREANS TELLTHETALEOFAGREATCOLLEGE. 6 By Rick Bader

One of the best ways to get at the essence that spring from Swarthmore. On the of Swarthmore is to look at its people. The following pages, you will meet six young ways that they learn, the work that they students and alumni whose actions in do, and the lives that they lead offer the world reveal the educational common insight into the habits of mind and values ground that all Swarthmoreans share. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 28 DAVID WOOLWAY Eternal Student For as long as he can remember, Jacob Krich ’00 enough without causing it to melt. Unfortunately, he notes, “it didn’t happen.” has wanted to know more about the way things— So, with time running out on his summer of thesis research, he all kinds of things—work. So he’s spending a switched to a side project that looked at the phase transition that occurs as the temperature of a liquid is lowered to the point just lifetime finding out. before it becomes a liquid crystal. He studied tiny pockets of liquid- crystal–like substances that appeared at temperatures too hot for an hen Jacob Krich set out some eight years ago to write the actual liquid crystal and set out to make the very difficult measure- essay for his Swarthmore application, he wrote about ment of the pitch of these “pretransitional fluctuations.” The suc- Wwhat he thought would be the ideal college experience. cess of this project allowed Krich to test a widely used theory. The He wrote that he would like to sit down with a college course cata- theory, Krich found, was wrong; his work to reach this conclusion log and work his way through it from beginning to end, from earned him the American Physical Society’s Apker Award, given anthropology to zoology, stopping only when he had studied annually for the best undergraduate physics thesis. absolutely everything the college had to offer. He wrote that in his “Jacob is the best model for a modern scholar I can think of,” perfect world, he would be a student all his life. says his friend and thesis adviser Swarthmore Professor of Physics When Krich finally sat down with the Swarthmore catalog and Peter Collings. “He enjoys the life of the mind without being overly learned that curriculum realities would require some narrowing, he professorial. He has this impressive intellect, but it’s not an intimi- set to work paring his list of possible majors to a manageable 20 or dating intellect. He won’t push people away—he’ll draw them in. so; then, during his freshman and sophomore years, he explored as That’s where I think he’s special.” many of those as he possibly could. When it finally came time to Those qualities helped him win a Rhodes Scholarship. Now in decide on a major, physics seemed the logical choice. Why? Because, his third year at Oxford, he’s beginning to feel like he might achieve he says, “When you ask a physicist why, he doesn’t refer you to that goal of being an eternal student after all. After the Rhodes, he’s another discipline.” looking at five or six years in a doctoral program and then a few To do physics justice would mean doing it as closely as possible years at least as a postdoc. Then, a career in an academic environ- to the way physicists do it, and this meant participating in the ment is almost certainly in order. But whether that career will be at Honors Program, a long-standing Swarthmore tradition that a major research university, where Professor Collings says Jacob encourages learning at the highest possible level. The program, would “make a real difference in our understanding of nature,” or at which was revamped in the mid-1990s, has three signature charac- a place more like Swarthmore, where undergraduates would benefit teristics. One, honors candidates take part in intense seminars enormously from his intellect and personality, remains to be seen. designed to foster both collaboration and a high degree of inde- Krich himself is putting off that decision for now. But a clue to pendent thinking. Two, students are required to do a thesis. And his eventual direction might be found in a story he likes to tell three, the award of honors is conferred not by the College itself about a hiking trip he took a few years ago in Costa Rica with his but by a panel of expert external examiners. What made the biggest father and sister. They were standing at the top of a mountain on a difference for Krich was the thesis. “The thesis terrified me,” he clear day under a sky that was a sharp and brilliant blue, and that says. “It’s the closest model of what practicing scientists do, and got Krich thinking about physics. “I remembered,” he recalls, “that it terrified me. But I wanted to lock myself into something that the light from the blue sky is partially polarized, which you can see made me do it. It was possibly the most rewarding thing I did at particularly well when you have a clear sky. I had polarized sunglass- Swarthmore.” es, which meant that if you looked at the sky and rotated them, the Krich’s work focused on substances called liquid crystals, which light would grow darker and lighter. I showed this to my sister, and are molecules that exist in a state somewhere between a liquid and a I got the response that every teacher always dreams of [hearing]. solid and that are being used in everything from high-tech optical She said, ‘That’s so cool!’” displays to laser devices. The liquid crystals he was interested in move around while still approximating the shape of a helix. A full RHODESSCHOLARJACOBKRICH(LEFT)“ISTHEBESTMODELFORAMODERN rotation through that helix is called the pitch. In some cases, as the SCHOLAR THAT I CAN THINK OF,” SAYS HIS MENTOR PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS temperature increases, the helix completely unwraps and inverts, wrapping itself the opposite direction. Krich’s hypothesis was that PETER COLLINGS. “HE WON’T PUSH PEOPLE AWAY—HE’LL DRAW THEM IN. any liquid crystal could be made to invert if it could be heated THAT’S WHERE I THINK HE’S SPECIAL.” M A R C H 2 0 0 3 29 Precocious Leadership A liberal arts education has prepared Jeremy Peterson ’99 for high-level positions at a remarkably young age.

t was spring 2001, and Jeremy Peterson, newly appointed at the astonishing age of 24 as director of the New York City IParks Department’s Operations and Management Planning (OMP) Division, was having a problem with the excess grass grow- ing between sidewalk cobblestones in Battery Park. Because Jeremy was having a problem with this, and the problem had been duly noted in a report OMP had prepared, it was also a problem for Manhattan Borough Commissioner Adrian Benepe. Peterson believed it was Benepe’s responsibility to keep the spaces between the cobblestones grass free. Commissioner Benepe, many years older and with many more years of experience than Director DAVID REESE Peterson, was doing his best to discredit the report and its author “SWARTHMORE IMBUES STUDENTS WITH A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY, A at a meeting of all the New York Borough commissioners. “I was the chief bad guy,” Peterson recalls. “It was my job to kick SENSE THAT YOU HAVE SOME PURPOSE IN THE WORLD,” SAYS JEREMY peoples’ butts. Commissioner Benepe pulled out the report in front PETERSON. AT 24, HE DIRECTED OPERATIONS AND PLANNING FOR THE NEW of all the top commissioners and said, ‘Look at this picture of grass YORK CITY PARKS DEPARTMENT. between the stones. It’s not OMP’s job to deal with these small aes- thetic concerns.’ He had a valid point. But I also had a valid purpose in the world. You have this education, and these talents, point—these were the rules, and it was an offense.” and this knowledge, and you have this responsibility to use it all in So Peterson stuck to his guns. When Commissioner Benepe was a productive manner.” promoted to commissioner of the entire City Parks Department not One day after graduating, he moved to New York to start his job too long afterward, the OMP’s chief bad guy feared he might soon with OMP. He was at Parks a year and a half before being named become a former chief bad guy. Much to his surprise, and relief, director, a job that was every bit as much about human behavior as what Peterson got instead of the axe was respect; in his first speech it was about protecting natural environments. He is proudest of to Parks staff, the new commissioner said keeping park ratings up putting in place a system to improve the performance of workers in was his top priority, and he singled out Peterson for his tenacity the agency’s skilled trade shops—blacksmiths, plumbers, carpen- and toughness. ters, and other heavy-trade workers—people with high pay and Precocious leadership under pressure is nothing new to highly unionized jobs who had compiled a 1,000-order backlog of Peterson. His father is a biologist who studied wolves and moose work orders. The biggest challenge, Peterson says, was creating an on Michigan’s Isle Royale, where family vacations consisted of col- incentive for change. “The government is better at sticks than car- lecting random body parts of decaying animals. Once, when the rots, and even the sticks aren’t that good. I mean, you can’t fire leader of a volunteer team assembled to support his father’s these people. But they took pride in their jobs. So we used the tool research got sick, Jeremy, who was all of 15 at the time, was recruit- of competition.” Monthly performance goals were set for each ed to head the expedition, guiding a group of adults off trail shop, and no shop wanted to face the embarrassment of being the through thickets as dense as suburban garden hedges in search of only one to fall short of its goal. In six months, the backlog was decaying moose. “My parents were very nervous,” he remembers. gone. “They didn’t know if these people would come out alive or dead.” For now, Peterson has left New York for Argentina, a country All survived, and he led four more trips before his freshman year at struggling through economic crisis and political upheaval, where Swarthmore. he’s learning Spanish and working for the Buenos Aires Herald while At Swarthmore, Jeremy integrated interests in the natural world waiting to hear if he’s been accepted to law school. He’s chronicling and human behavior into a major in bioanthropology, an interdis- his experiences on a Web site, http://unglued.org, which he ciplinary field that explores the evolutionary roots of human behav- describes as a sort of modern-day travelogue. On one page, he ior. It was an education, he says, that did a good job of imparting ruminates on a friend’s account of how people at the University of practical knowledge and instilling an ethic of purposefulness. “The Buenos Aires cheered when the second plane crashed into the hard skills I gained in science classes were incredibly useful. They World Trade Center. On another is a story about local protest enabled me to digest problems, break them down, and look for marchers angry about increased utility costs. And on yet another is solutions. When I entered the workforce, I was better prepared an account of Peterson’s own frustrating experience with an unco- than others and able to advance rapidly. And Swarthmore imbues operative washing machine. You can bet he saw to it that the laun- students with a sense of responsibility, a sense that you have some dry eventually got done. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 30 Change Agent man orientation committee and became co-president of the South The service ethic is what drew Smitha Arekapudi ’99 Asian student organization, Deshi. She worked at the William Penn Housing Community in Chester, Pa., with the Chester-Swarthmore to Swarthmore, and it remains the dominant force Community Coalition, helping to set up a women’s wellness center. shaping her life and career. She did a summer internship writing policy papers for the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group in Chicago. Sometimes, these activities were directly linked to her academic ne of the first qualities that struck Smitha Arekapudi studies. Her work in Chester, for example, was part of a political about Swarthmore when she was a high school student in science course she was taking called Public Service, Community OChicago thumbing through the College’s catalog several Organizing, and Social Change. Other times, the connections were years ago was language that connected Swarthmore to its Quaker less explicit. “Sometimes, it’s hard to connect a community project heritage. It was not so much the “Quakerness” itself that attracted to the academic experience,” she says. “It can be a fundamentally her as the principles underlying it, values of simple living, generous different experience. But your courses prepare you to be an educat- giving, and a commitment to a search for truth. “I felt,” she says, ed problem solver, whether in academics or in the real world. Some “that they were promoting the idea of seeking intellectual clarity.” people say Swarthmore is about intellectual study supported by And “there’s a general sense that you’re being prepared to be some- extracurricular programs. Maybe during certain experiences for me one who will be an active part of society,” she adds. it was the other way around.” Being an active part of society was nothing new to Arekapudi. Most Lang Scholars apply to do a special Lang Project, which is She attended high school at the University of Chicago Laboratory designed to meet a significant community need and is eligible for a Schools, where she was an outstanding student and president of grant of up to $10,000. For her project, Arekapudi helped launch the school’s chapter of Amnesty International. Her activities in and an organization called the Illinois Public Health Advocate, which out of the classroom made her an ideal candidate for admission sought to educate and mobilize people in Illinois who were inter- into Swarthmore’s Lang Scholars Program. The program, created ested in public health issues. One of her first efforts was to organ- through a gift from Eugene Lang ’38, offers financial and other ize a round table on public health in DuPage County, Ill. “We kinds of support to students who are committed to social justice opened the dialogue and got an overwhelming response,” and have potential to become leaders in civic society. Arekapudi says. “Some came to talk about noise pollution at Arekapudi’s civic engagements as a Swarthmore student, both O’Hare Airport, which was a huge concern. Others asked about the on and off campus, were many. She worked in Philadelphia for the meaning of public health and specific issues like contaminated Pro Choice Task Force, which helped escort women seeking services food, contaminated swimming pools, and health care access. at Planned Parenthood past an occasionally intimidating gauntlet Others just came and said, ‘What can I do?’” The program’s success of antiabortion protestors. She served on the Swarthmore fresh- drew national attention, and others modeled on it have since been developed in several states.

ʼ 97 Arekapudi’s next stop after graduating from Swarthmore with honors in economics was the Harvard School of Public Health, where today she’s pursuing a doctorate. Her chief interests are can- cer prevention epidemiology and the effects of tobacco. After she

MEGHAN KRIEGEL earns her doctorate, she plans to go to medical school. After that, she hopes to work in women’s health and preventive medicine, striking the right balance between teaching, research, and practice. At every step along the way of her evolving life and career, Arekapudi says, she’s grateful for the influence of her Swarthmore experiences. “The Lang Program encouraged us to be leaders in social and public service. Swarthmore gives you an academic foun- dation, but, importantly, you learn how to use that information to promote change and make a material difference in your community. You learn to think critically, observe well, speak articulately, and write persuasively, and also you learn to be an active citizen. There’s a sense that you’re being prepared to be someone who will be need- ed to take on an active and important role in the world. It’s the Swarthmore philosophy I’ve carried around this whole time.”

SMITHA AREKAPUDI IS EARNING A DOCTORATE AT THE HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLICHEALTH,CONCENTRATINGONCANCERPREVENTIONANDTHEEFFECTS OF TOBACCO. AFTER THAT, SHE PLANS TO ATTEND MEDICAL SCHOOL. AT SWARTHMORE, SHE SAYS, “YOU LEARN TO BE AN ACTIVE CITIZEN.” M A R C H 2 0 0 3 31 Mixing It Up tured, he sensed that the perspective on athletics was beginning to It’s the variety of experience that has made change. “This is an intellectual community,” he says, “and we’re here first and foremost to get an education. But after the restructur- Swarthmore work for junior Matthew Goldstein, ing, the remaining Athletics Programs are receiving more resources who has excelled in the classroom and on the and attention, which in turn is raising the quality of those pro- grams. As a result, the Swarthmore community is paying more baseball diamond. attention, and the athletes are feeling better about what they’re doing.” sk Matthew Goldstein to list some of the highlights of his With the change in focus came stepped-up recruiting efforts; Swarthmore years, and two come quickly to mind. One was now, up to 30 prospects a year are visiting to look at Swarthmore Awinning the College’s Dunn Trophy—awarded to the soph- and at its baseball program. The team members took matters into omore who contributes most to the Athletics Program—last spring. their own hands as well, holding meetings to decide among them- The second was a trip he took to Baltimore in fall 2002 as a College selves where baseball fell on their priority lists. All this has been representative to the national conference of the American Society enormously rewarding, Goldstein says. “It’s a tremendous experi- of Human Genetics. These two events put some fitting bookends ence—we’re excited about contributing to the development of the on college experience and signify the importance of Swarthmore to baseball program.” him. The turnaround is gradually playing itself out in the team’s per- Goldstein, a three-sport athlete in each of his four years at formance. They improved from a dismal .200 season in Goldstein’s Crystal Springs Upland School in the San Francisco Bay Area, freshman year to .384 in the Centennial Conference last year, with looked at Amherst and several Ivy League colleges, but he chose a young team loaded with sophomores and juniors. This spring, Swarthmore because he thought it gave him the best opportunity to Goldstein thinks they have a realistic shot at a .500 record. “When explore his various intellectual interests fully and participate in I compare freshman year to where we are now,” he says, “the differ- intercollegiate athletics. “Athletics are an important part of my life,” ence is significant. There’s recognition that athletics are an impor- he says, “but not the most important.” What made Swarthmore so tant part of many students’ lives—and they can pursue the same attractive is that it has the proper balance. high level of achievement in athletics as in academics.” As a freshman, he played soccer and later went out for baseball, As an honors biology major with a history minor, Goldstein has when a friend suggested he try out. As a southpaw pitcher with a experienced considerable success on the academic turf as well, and curve, a change-up, and a wicked fastball that tails away from right- that too has been fulfilling. “I’ve really come into my own in terms handed batters, he was a welcome addition to a team that was of finding my intellectual and academic passion,” he says. “I don’t struggling. Part of that struggle, he says looking back, could be think I truly appreciated how much I love learning until I came attributed to an Athletics Program that was spread too thin. here. I’ve developed a keen interest in genetics, particularly in the During his sophomore year, however, as Swarthmore’s area of neurological diseases such as autism. This past summer, Intercollegiate Athletics Program was in the midst of being restruc- after taking a genetics seminar, I was fortunate to work with an autistic child as part of Cure Autism Now in the Bay Area. The Baltimore conference gave me the opportunity to hear about the cutting-edge research on autism.” He noted that al-though much is

JIM GRAHAM known about autism, there is great opportunity as the knowledge and understanding about the disease is in its infancy. As for what happens after Swarthmore, Goldstein has his sights set on medical school and, after that, possible work in public health policy, research, or international health in developing countries. Goals such as these, he notes, are very Swarthmorean: “There’s an energy about Swarthmore. There’s something unique and different about how people approach their lives. There’s a sense of pur- pose—a sense that people have the ability to effect change and have an impact on society.” Of course, if a pro scout showed enough interest, he wouldn’t be opposed to putting off saving the world for a few years, at least while his arm feels good.

“ATHLETICS ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF MY LIFE,” SAYS MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN, “BUT NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT. WHAT MADE SWARTHMORE SO ATTRACTIVE IS THAT IT HAS THE PROPER BALANCE—AN EXCELLENT LIBERAL ARTS PROGRAM COUPLED WITH A SOLID DIVISION III ATHLETICS PROGRAM THAT DOESN’T OVEREMPHASIZE SPORTS.” SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 32 Small World What do a young man from Kenya and a young woman from rural Nevada have in common? Swarthmore—and a desire to understand better the complexity of the world in which they live.

ost girls going to high school in Fernley, Nev., a small MICHAEL MATSIL town about 30 miles east of Reno on I-80, give little Mthought to leaving the state after graduating. But Heather Weyrick ’01 wasn’t like most girls. And some of the literature she got from one very distant college piqued her interest. “They described themselves as different and quirky,” Heather recalls of her first encounter with a certain liberal arts school southwest of Philadelphia. “Among the people I grew up with, I really was weird and quirky. But when I got to Swarthmore, the scale on which they defined weird and quirky was much different from my own scale at that time.” Swarthmore was an altogether foreign environment to her, even if not quite as foreign as a place like, say, Africa might have been. Melkizedeck Okudo ’03, on the other hand, knew Africa. The young Kenyan had spent the first 18 years of his life in Nairobi JIM GRAHAM before coming to the United States to attend the United World HEATHER WEYRICK (TOP)ANDMELKIZEDECKOKUDOTYPIFYSWARTHMORE’S College, whose two-year program of intense academics, wilderness GROWING INTERNATIONAL FOCUS. HE CAME FROM KENYA TO SWARTHMORE TO experiences, and community service attracts students from all over the world to its New Mexico campus. It was there that he first STUDYECONOMICSANDPOLITICALSCIENCE,ANDSHETRAVELEDTOPOLAND heard about Swarthmore. “I felt it was the kind of place where I TO STUDY THE ROLE OF THEATER IN CREATING A NATIONAL IDENTITY. wanted to be,” he says. “Academic rigor was the No. 1 thing, they gave financial support to international students, and I could be the ways presentation and performance become part of our public involved in community service.” lives. During a semester in Poland on a Swarthmore exchange pro- Okudo came to Swarthmore to be part of the Lang Scholar gram, she learned how theater has helped shape its national identi- Program, which supports students who show exceptional promise ty, especially when the country was under communist rule, and in community service. To date, Okudo has been involved with two ways theater, much of it forced underground, helped the nation service-related projects. The summer after his freshman year, he hang onto a Polish identity that stood in opposition to the “offi- worked in Kenya for a nongovernmental organization called Eco- cial” government identity. With the fall of communism, she says, News Africa, which monitors and reports on the impact of global theater took on an important role in rebuilding a nation. “The task policy making on the economies of nations in sub-Saharan Africa. of theater was to create an image of what it means to be Polish.” Last spring, for his Lang project, he organized a partnership In today’s world, what it means to be educated increasingly between a Chester, Pa., nonprofit and a group of Swarthmore stu- involves developing an understanding of other cultures and dents to promote computer education in Chester’s low-income, the ways they shape our lives. For this reason, international mostly black communities. The classes occurred during the sum- experiences are an increasingly important part of a Swarthmore mer, while Okudo was in New York doing an internship with education. Goldman Sachs. He returned to his work in Chester last fall, and Weyrick is now back in Poland on a Fulbright Fellowship, study- another set of computer classes is about to begin. ing the role of Poland’s Jews and the Holocaust in shaping the Okudo enjoys the intellectual give-and-take of international national culture. Okudo is looking ahead after graduating to a job conversations at Swarthmore—whether they center on Islamic fun- in New York with Goldman Sachs, where he expects to gain invest- damentalism or the recent elections in Kenya—and appreciates the ment banking experience that will take him closer to his goal of interest of other students “to step out and find out about me.” working in sub-Saharan Africa to promote capital investment in For Okudo, Swarthmore is an international experience. He, in worthy projects. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, the two turn—along with the 86 other international students on cam- are in complete agreement about the value of their international pus—is something of an international experience for others he experiences. “It’s important to just go somewhere else and get meets. For Heather Weyrick, Swarthmore was the gateway to a another perspective on the world,” says Weyrick. “I felt it legit- broader world. imized me as a person. As a double major in theater and sociology/anthropology and a “I have,” Okudo adds, “a much better understanding of the way self-described child of pop culture, Weyrick became interested in the world works.” T M A R C H 2 0 0 3 33 Amid the 11:15 a.m. campus exhibit (and many of the swirling motion in e photos for this story). Kohlberg’s Coffee Bar, students L a r n i n g “I always ask permission to greet each other above the din. take photos,” says Pierce, who Friends plan to meet for lunch finds video more challenging. after their next class, shifting in f o r i f e “Students are easier to interview opposite directions with their L [on video] because they don’t cups of fuel. A few stragglers, INNOVATIVESTUDENT-STAFFPARTNERSHIPS label things. You see people’s draping their feet over the reactions.” plump lounge chairs, miracu- EXCHANGEKNOWLEDGE,EXPERIENCE, Through “trial and error,” lously catch catnaps. ANDFRIENDSHIP. Davenport says they are experi- Perched on a high stool, menting with the video camera. biology major Katie Davenport By Andrea Hammer “But mostly, we just have fun.” ’05 cushions her chin against Photographs by Sharon Pierce* Coordinating schedules, they her hands on the table. She’s meet two times a week. “We’re waiting for Sharon Pierce, an filming and interviewing people Environmental Services (ES) employee and decided to join L4L. “I became more aware we meet on campus,” she adds. “We’re try- her Learning for Life (L4L) partner. Pierce, of how privileged we [students] are and how ing especially to film other L4L partnerships who is also a L4L Steering Committee mem- some employees are working really hard all and see what they’re doing.” ber with 15 years of College service, woke up of the time,” she says. Pierce—who describes herself as shy— at 2:30 a.m. to start her 4 a.m. shift in Pierce and Davenport, who are learning has learned to approach people and simply Parrish. Like many other ES workers, she together how to use a video camera from the ask, “What’s on your mind today?” She says takes additional cleaning jobs off campus. Education Department, both have colds. that students and others on campus wel- “Everyone’s always talking about all the But they brighten in each other’s presence. come the opportunity to talk about family or work they have to do,” Pierce says. But L4L “Katie is so open and easy to joke with to dance in front of the camera. Pierce takes “lifts you up and makes your work easier by that you’ve got to love her,” Pierce says. turns doing interviews with Davenport, giving you knowledge.” “She’s a sweetheart and makes my day!” “who wanted to share and didn’t want to Davenport, who played rugby before an Davenport, in turn, says she values “talking take control.” injury, learned about staff members carrying to someone with experience [who has] the Before arriving in Kohlberg, Pierce fin- two jobs when a Public Safety driver helped same wacky humor.” ishes an interview with L4L partners Karly her get around campus. “She mentioned “But I would never interfere with her Ford ’03 and ES worker Angela Freeman, having two jobs and not going to bed until 3 classes,” Pierce says, smiling at her friend, who make electronic greeting cards to prac- a.m.,” Davenport recalls. “So I said, ‘I who is considering a future in genetics. Last tice typing and word processing. “Angela should be driving you.’” semester, Carly Hammond ’02 worked with says that Karly lifts up her day and makes Shortly after that experience, Davenport Pierce on photography skills, resulting in a her a better person,” Pierce reports. LIZ DOZIER

Left: Sharon Pierce and grandson Nacier at Longwood Gardens during the L4L Summer Experience. Center: Assistant Professor of Education Diane Anderson recently learned that L4L is the focus of a June plenary session at the Friends Association for Higher Education National Conference at Swarthmore and Pendle Hill. Right: Friends Historical Library Curator Christopher Densmore (center) during a *Unless noted otherwise summer workshop. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 34 Freeman, who has worked at Swarth- education interests, including GED and dri- instructor because he wouldn’t do the work more for a decade, wants to become a social ver’slicense preparation, computer and chess for him. “He just monitored the work, and I worker. “We found a program at Widener skills, and choreography and sign language. designed the Web site myself,” he says. University and worked on the application “Most of the staff [members] involved Similarly, Tran believes that L4L offers the together,” says Ford. “Angie went to an are from ES, but, increasingly, Dining “opportunity to build a strong friendship open house and is now all set to start work Services staff are joining the program,” says with someone you otherwise would not on her degree in January by taking night L4L co-coordinator Brigid Brett-Esborn ’04. meet during your time at Swarthmore. Two classes.” “We have a longtime participant from facili- given people can learn all sorts of lessons Pierce approaches her next “victim” in ties and a request from [a member of] the from one another and, from there, build a Kohlberg. “Do you have anything on your Scott Arboretum staff,” adds co-coordinator strong, long-lasting friendship.” mind that you want to share?” she asks, as Jessica Lee ’03. According to Pat James, associate direc- Davenport begins to film. Maintenance employee John Haubrich tor for training and student programs at the Then, the batteries die suddenly. became partners with Lester Tran ’03—after Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsi- “We’ve had a lot of technical problems,” says Davenport, search- ing for an electric outlet. Sitting “I envision L4L as one of the new Lang Center for down on the floor, she reads the user manual and recalls that “once Civic and Social Responsibility’s core programs, and we forgot the tape.” Pierce and Davenport exchange it certainly is a model that is of great interest to a private look and burst into laugh- other colleges and universities,” says Pat James. ter again. “I take a lot from the College and wanted to give something fun to several frustrating attempts on his own—to bility, L4L’s “most important accomplish- Sharon,” Davenport says. “It’s good to have learn Web design. Through L4L, he finally ment is building community among stu- community.” created the Web site he had long imagined dents and staff,” she says. “One of the about his family, including a photo gallery favorite parts of my job is to be part of Conceptualized in 1998 by a transfer (http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/jhaubri1). launching a successful program and seeing student, staff, and an education professor, “Family is everything to me,” he says. students and other staff assume leadership the campus-based L4L Program was launched In exchange, Haubrich shared “lessons as gracefully as the student and staff coordi- in spring 1999. Initially pairing only a hand- about life: family, children, work, happiness, nators of L4L have done.” ful of participants, the program now match- and relationships,” says Tran. After attend- es approximately 100 students and staff ing graduate school, Tran will “translate L4L Giving L4L its initial impetus, members, who generally meet two hours a experience to practice in the education field.” pioneering student co-coordinators Susie week. Together, they explore continuing Haubrich stresses that Tran was a good Ansell ’02 and Elizabeth Derickson ’01 COURTESY OF JESSICA LEE

Left: LFL Steering Committee Member Liz Dozier hugs pio- neering L4L student co-coordinator Susie Ansell. Right: Don Bankston, Brigid Brett-Esborn, Jessica Lee, Jaimie Layton, and Liz Dozier (left to right) relax before their 2002 SCALE conference presentation at the University of North

Carolina–Chapel Hill. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 35 applied for—and received—a Eugene M. comforted and loved.” education—we’re all human,” says Ansell. Lang [’38] Opportunity Grant. L4L is also Jessica Lee stresses that Ansell and “We all crave love and affection and new supported by a Literacy Action Network Derickson “are responsible for its success experiences. We all love to learn new things Grant through Student Coalition for Action today.” She adds that Assistant Professor of and to make new friends. We all share com- in Literacy Education (SCALE; see later Education Diane Anderson “is the rock of mitments to personal relationships—to description about L4L members represent- this program.” family and friends. We all feel sad and lonely ing Swarthmore at these conferences) and a Growing out of Anderson’s course at times, and we all love to share joy with Swarthmore Foundation Grant. Literacies and Social Identities, L4L recon- others! We all deserve respect from others. “Getting the program off the ground was ceptualizes the traditional teacher-student We all feel pride in the work we do, whether definitely a struggle,” says Ansell, now a model. Anderson thinks that “one-on-one that work [is] a 10-page history paper or research associate at Education Week. “L4L informal learning, community change, and waxing the floors in Beardsley.” needed a strong commitment from both stu- mutual and reciprocal participation” charac- She adds: “All employed adults are pro- dents and staff members because the pro- terize L4L. “Many service staff members are fessionals. We must value and respect the gram was based on a bond of trust. Neither among the ‘working poor,’ with two jobs, work they do. A person’s sense of self- partner could let the other down by missing and some have been historically disadvan- respect and self-pride directly stems from too many meetings or slacking off.” But after many made full commitments to L4L, the challenge became “dealing with “L4L enables a mutual, shared joy of learning more logistical issues such as attempting to and discovery,”Anderson says. “Staff, too, are appropriately pair over 100 eager partici- pants who all had extreme variety in sched- living a ‘life of the mind’—a lifestyle that our ules and educational interests,” she adds. “Although there were always a few partner- society tends to claim for its scholars.” ships that faltered each semester, we had overwhelming success with pairing students taged educationally through race, socioeco- their job and how well they do it. People and staff members—mainly because both nomics, and class,” she says (see sidebar). know their jobs, they know their experi- parties were so excited and enthusiastic The College supports L4L by allowing ences, and we must draw on that knowledge about joining the program!” staff up to three paid hours of work time to if we want to improve the system…. Whether According to Ansell, L4L fills needs in meet with student partners each week. you are 5 or 50 years old, you do not deserve both partners’ lives. Swarthmore “academics Based on mutual respect for the knowledge to be talked down to. The first person to talk can be so trying, a student’s schedule can be each person has to offer—regardless of job to when you want to improve the system is so exhausting … and to have someone at the status and income—L4L draws partners someone already in the system.” end of the day to give you a big hug and pull together as peers with common interests. Derickson, who is serving in the Peace you off into a corner of the library to just Learning is an equal exchange. Corps in Cape Verde, off West Africa, was talk, to catch up on each other’s lives and “Regardless of age, ethnic background, visiting in State College, Pa., during a recent families—nothing ever made me feel so past experience, place of origin, religion, and holiday. “I became so involved in the L4L Program because I had such a wonderfully positive experience with my learning part- ner, Don Bankston,” she says. “I wanted to ensure that other students and staff mem- DON BANKSTON bers had the opportunity to have similar experiences.”

Left: Current L4L student co-coordinators Jessica Lee and Brigid Brett-Esborn matched 100 staff and stu- dents as L4L partners in the fall. Center: Kenny Whye joined Bonnie Peterson during the L4L Summer Experience trip to Chester. Right: Hamzi Wali and Pat James celebrate the accomplishments of L4L (all left to right). SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 36 Now focusing on preschool development one in L4L has input.” Professor of Studio over the program. “However, this is easier in the Office of Social Welfare and teaching Art Randall Exon offered a class before the said than done. Many of the staff members computer classes at the region’s youth center group visited an art museum, and Professor work multiple jobs and have families, all of in her Peace Corps work, Derickson adds: of Studio Art Brian Meunier taught photog- which make most of the organizational “As I struggle keeping 12 students engaged raphy before they experimented with single- duties inconvenient or impossible,” Lee and on track at one time in my computer use cameras. says. “I personally felt that as long as I was classes, I miss the ideal nature of my one- Since his L4L experience, Bankston and acting upon the suggestions and decisions on-one learning partnership with Don. others from L4L “enjoy talking with stu- of the Steering Committee, I was adequately Sometimes I feel trapped by the mandated dents. Now there is community between involving the staff members.” curriculum of my computer course, and I staff and students,” he says. The current committee includes Lee, wish I could follow the learner-motivated “I’ve seen attitudes change, and confi- Brett-Esborn, Dozier, Pierce, and Bankston. model of L4L.” dence has grown.” “I tried to connect with the Dining Derickson and Bankston—still in Services and grounds staff, but their sched- touch—created the L4L Web site During the past two summers, the ules were incompatible with the ES staff’s (http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin.learn- L4L Summer Experience has offered group- schedules. Also, it was impossible for them ingforlife/), which Bankston updates as oriented workshops and excursions. In to participate in the extended trips [because their Web guru. An L4L Steering Committee 2002, Lee organized the eight-week syl- of] their work times,” Lee says. “I hope that member who now has his own computer labus, including sessions on nutrition, gar- we will eventually be able to say that L4L consulting business and janitorial service, dening, physical fitness, and genealogical involves all of the Swarthmore College Bankston works on campus as an ES super- research.Group tours to Longwood Gardens, community.” visor from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. Chester’s historical sites, and the African In her own L4L team with Heather “L4L helped me learn computer lan- American Museum in Philadelphia, with Fleharty ’03 and ES staff member Doeshes guage,” says Bankston, who was “heart- lunch in Chinatown, were also conducted. Brinson, “the most wonderful part was the broken” when Derickson left campus. “I In her end-of-the-summer report to the relationship that developed among all three learned so much with Liz; we did a lot of the Lang Open Competition Grant Committee, of us,” Lee says. “We became so close that L4L footwork together.” Lee wrote: “This summer experience … has we could talk about family and personal According to Bankston, Liz did the L4L had great impact on me personally, academ- matters and have come to rely on each other groundwork—“knocking on doors”—and ically, and professionally.... I have been for help outside of the academic/tutor-tutee “Susie got things into action,” he says. given great perspectives to take into my sen- realm. The most challenging part of the Information Technology Services and the ior year and a more realistic perspective partnership is knowing that the [hierarchi- Art Department also gave their “time and with which to live my life.” cal] system may never change: The prevail- resources.” Lee also reported the need for increased ing attitudes, which include disrespect of In addition, Bankston describes “friend- advertising, staff member involvement, and and indifference toward staff members on ly professors who helped L4L get going” faculty participation. “In summary, the [L4L] campus, are difficult to change. Even when during the summer program, when “every- Summer Experience requires improved Doeshes gets her GED or gets another job, infrastructural support and organization,” she wrote. Ansell had advised Lee to delegate duties for greater staff involvement and control DIANE ANDERSON

Left: Liz Dozier is grateful to Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professor of English Chuck James, Diane Anderson, and others in L4L “for a great partnership.”Center: Professor of Studio Art Brian Meunier taught a photography work- shop during the L4L Summer Experience. Right: Al Miser and Liz Derickson attended the 2000 SCALE conference. M A R C H 2 0 0 3

37 she will be replaced by someone else.” phrases and some cultural phenomena. It Conference. “It was my first plane ride,” he In the November L4L newsletter, was even more pleasant to be able to just recalls. “Professor Diane Anderson sat next Brinson says: “This will be my last year talk to him, to see how his studies were to me, helping to calm my nerves.” working with Jessica and Heather, as they going. At the time, Hamza was involved in Describing his friend, Miser says Anderson are both seniors this year. I am going to the Living Wage Campaign, and we would “is like an angel from heaven—such a won- miss them so much. At the College, through chat about how that was progressing, and derful, caring person. She treats people like this program, they have learned a lot from what Hamza thought about different issues every person is on one level, the human me…. I can go to them when things are concerning that.” level. I’ve also met her family.” Describing her experience at the SCALE Conference in 2000, Anderson wrote: “It “I know my role as a student and in the world. was very powerful to have students and staff members who have been involved in L4L I’m here for myself, but it’s important to know and researching L4L as collaborators and that I’m here for our community,”Ray says. presenters. Liz Derickson, Liz Dozier, Al Miser, and Hamza Wali were wonderful public speakers. They articulated both the going on in my life, and they will help me Wali, who received his paralegal degree at personal and the community effects of the with the right decision and the best results.” Delaware County Community College last program. They represented Swarthmore in Hamza Wali, another ES employee who spring, says: “Without a doubt, the L4L the best possible way, and I am so proud to worked with Meggie Miao ’03 to learn Program has indeed influenced my thinking have been among them.” Chinese, “was very impressed with the idea and outlook toward making a difference in Miser, who continues to learn about of a one-on-one learning system,” he says. other people’s improvement as well as my computers with Michael Loeb ’03, adds that “It was like having your own private tutor own…. My biggest challenge is to remain “The conference was very educational and on whatever subject matter an individual focused on the social and economic issues informative. Swarthmore College really desires to learn. L4L is a very unique learn- that affect the underprivileged in our society. stood out. Other schools want a program ing program that allows students and staff The source of satisfaction is to make a dif- like L4L.” the opportunity to become learning part- ference and to encourage others to learn for The November L4L newsletter describes ners, to break the social boundary, and to life and exercise a voice for economic and the “Year-Round Service Learning” presen- establish friendship.” social change while employed here.” tation that Lee, Brett-Esborn, Dozier, Miao, an art major and Asian studies Wali credits Ansell, his first L4L partner, Bankston, and Jamie Layton of Dining minor pursuing work as a photo journalist, “a great deal for influencing, motivating, Services gave at the 2002 SCALE Confer- says: “I was really lucky to work with and empowering me to achieve personal ence in Chapel Hill, N.C. “L4Lers have Hamza, who was not only a longtime active growth and development. That inspired me attended this conference for the past three L4L participant but also an inspiring person to take a leadership role…. I was also select- years, and every year, L4L is told that there who has made a lot of achievements…. ed, along with two other staff members, two is no other program like ours in the nation!” Hamza not only has mastered all kinds of students, and Diane Anderson to participate As conceived in Ansell’s original grant computer skills, he was enrolled in a school in a workshop for the SCALE Conference at application, one L4L goal is to have other nearby while working, trying to get a para- the University of North Carolina in October colleges replicate the program. legal degree!” 2000.” She adds: “It was very pleasant to be able Al Miser, an ES supervisor who greets “Welcome to WSRN, 91.5 FM, to spend a set amount of time with him people in Parrish Hall with an ever-present Swarthmore’s fiercely independent radio each week, teaching the basic greeting smile, also attended the 2000 SCALE station,” says Lillian Ray ’05, a math major DON BANKSTON THERESA BROWN

Left: Associate Professor of History Allison Dorsey (center) ran a workshop focusing on African American history. Right: Shelly Mattison (left) and Sharon Pierce enjoy a lighthearted moment in Chinatown after visiting the

SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETINAfrican American Museum in Philadelphia during the L4L Summer Experience. 38 aspiring to teach high school students. “I Learning for Life: Research and Findings hope Kenny will join me soon, bringing his Assistant Professor of Education Diane Anderson has completed research with L4L participants mix of smooth jazz and soul.” about their program. Anderson’s article “Students and Service Staff: Learning and Research- Kenny Whye, an ES employee, is her L4L ing Together on a College Campus” elaborates on these findings in the Michigan Journal of partner. Their radio show is popular with Community Service Learning (spring 2003); for details, see http://www.umich.edu/~mjcsl/. Whye’s friends, like Liz Dozier—Ray’s other L4L partner—who listens while cleaning • Large group settings can be frustrating and even hurtful to L4L staff, no matter how well Hicks. intended. Staff discussed earlier classroom-based experiences and how humiliated they could “It’s my comfort,” Dozier says later, feel. L4L staff prefer one-on-one and informal learning partnerships. pointing to her headphones. • L4L staff has been traditionally distanced from the students and peripheral to the College’s Back in Parrish, before Ray’s show main purpose. Yet, especially among long-term employees, staff has maintained a deep com- begins, she props herself on the back of a mitment to the institution and its students; they carry time and institutional memory. chair in the barren lounge outside the stu- • Staff is now more likely to be present in places that were previously frequented primarily by dio—stopping to catch her breath after students and faculty, such as in McCabe Library, at public-area computers, and in recreational climbing four flights. “That’s the hard part,” facilities. L4L has increased awareness about staff’s difficulty in negotiating and using these she says. resources; many do not have access to computers or e-mail. But “it’s especially rewarding to help a staff member be heard all over campus and • L4L partners stand together as learners and teachers, students and workers, elders and youth, get to feel a little more like part of the com- male and female, person of color—and whatever else categorizes and separates people. munity. My favorite part of L4L is getting to know local community members who live phones around her neck. She hops up on a forte is “giving students love. We tell each here, have roots here, have been here for computer room stool—just down the hall other stories about our families.” years, and who interact with students on a from the engineering lounge, with stacks of A member of the L4L Steering Commit- much more personal level than professors journals such as Network Computing and tee, Dozier wanted to learn more about com- do,” Ray says. Modern Steel Construction. Cranes working puters, so she could explore her family’s “It makes me feel like Swarthmore is a on the new science center, emerging within genealogy. “My mother died when I was 3 much less isolated, idealized place—like it’s immediate view from the large windows, years old, and I did research to find some of in a real community [similar to] the ones we drone as students collaborate in a nearby her relatives,” she says. A link to her “Five all grew up in,” says Ray, who is from lab. Generations Page” (http://www.geo- Charlottesville, Va. “Plus, it’s a good chance “I could retire at any time,” says 67-year- cities.com/lizdozier1/fivegenerations.html) to make new friends, learn new skills, and old Dozier, who has worked at the College is now on the L4L Web site. learn a lot about being good teachers and for 18 years. But I like being around the stu- “I think it is really important for stu- students, who need to be brave and willing dents and absorbing the information.” dents to have a community here that we feel to put themselves on the line. They have to Algebra was her “favorite subject” in like a responsible part of,” Ray says. “I also be willing to speak up and ask questions.” high school, which Dozier didn’t complete think that having an adult learning partner After a few minutes, Ray says, “We better when she married in 1951. Since then, how- can teach both partners so much about go into the studio.” Ray finds a CD left ever, she has completed a GED. teaching and learning.” playing by the preceding phantom DJ and Ray says that Dozier is “incredibly good With her eyes gleaming, Dozier says that selects three more to fill her hour. at math” and hopes to have more time to L4L “helps me feel part of the campus. We’re work on additional algebra or computer all flourishing in this program.” T Meanwhile, after her cleaning shift projects together. In ends in Hicks, Dozier slips her head- return, Dozier thinks her

LIZ DOZIER DON BANKSTON

Left: Another 2002 L4L Summer Experience workshop involved a trip to Chester, Pa. Right: Andrew Bunting, curator of the Scott Arboretum, facilitated a group dis-

cussion during a visit to Longwood Gardens. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 39 C o n n e c t i o n s RECENT EVENTS mation, or contact Boston Connection restaurant. The monthly location changes Paris: The revitalized Chair Stephanie Hirsch at shirsch@- depending on the group’s palate preferences. Paris Connection recently sprynet.com or (617) 498-3947. All suggestions are welcomed! Call or e-mail hosted Associate Profes- Bruce Gould (see earlier) or Jim Moskowitz sor of Political Science Metro DC/Baltimore: The following ’88 at (610) 604-0669 or [email protected] Cynthia Halpern, who Connection event is planned: com for the upcoming monthly meeting, or discussed current world Annual Trip to Hillwood Museum and check the alumni Web site at www.swarth- events with Swarth- Gardens. Scott Arboretum Director more.edu. Also, sign up for the Philadelphia more alumni. This Claire Sawyers will join a docent-led listserv to be notified by e-mail of upcoming Connection conduct- tour of Hillwood Museum and Gar- events. ed a successful wine- dens, one of America’s premier tasting event in the win- estate museums, on March 22 at Los Angeles: Daniel ter. If you are interested in noon. Hillwood’s founder was Mar- Underhill Professor of

ALUMNIDIGESTreceiving information regarding jorie Merriweather Post, heir of the Post Music James Freeman

Paris Connection events, contact cereal empire and one of America’s first will speak to the Los ʼ 67 the Alumni Relations Office at businesswomen. Encircled by wood- Angeles Connection at [email protected], and lands in the heart of Washington, D.C., The Sage Hill School your name will be passed along the 25-acre estate boasts pleasure gar- on May 10 beginning to Paris Connection Chair dens and important azalea and at 1 p.m. Watch your Catherine Seeley orchid collections. The mail for additional STEVEN GOLDBLATT Lowney ’82. cost is $10. Contact information, or con- JIMFREEMAN Sampriti Ganguli ’95 tact the Alumni Rela- Philadelphia: The at (202) 545-0835 tions Office at [email protected]. Philadelphia Con- or e-mail at sam- nection held an pritig@hot- Twin Cities: A recent planning meeting of event—geared mail.com. We have the Twin Cities Connection yielded several

toward young © PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART very limited space, great events for 2003. Those who attended alumni (young at THEPHILADELPHIACONNECTIONWILLTOURTHE so reserve early! the meeting were Christy DeLaCruz ’96, heart were in PHILADELPHIAMUSEUMOFART’S DEGASANDTHE Annika Lister Stroope ’97,Paula Beck ’90, attendance Philadelphia: The Elizabeth Starling ’92, Lia Theologides ’89, DANCE EXHIBIT ON MAY 2. too!)—at Buffalo following two Paul Crowell ’86, Emily Wallenfels White Billiards in Philadelphia. Pool sharks and events are planned for this area: ’43, and Martha Easton ’89. Events planned novices alike enjoyed this fun, social Art Museum. Join the Philadelphia Con- for 2003 include an ongoing monthly salon evening. This Connection wants to continue nection for Degas and the Dance at the Phila- discussion group, a production of The hosting events of interest to recent gradu- delphia Art Museum at 6:30 p.m. on May 2. Coconuts at the Actors’ Theatre, and a trip ates. If you are interested in participating, Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, major to the Saint Paul Saints game. Watch your contact the Alumni Relations Office at historians of the dance and of Edgar Degas, mail for more information, dates, and times. [email protected]. have brought to this subject a new perspec- If you are interested in participating on the tive of remarkably fresh insight. Through planning committee for this Connection or UPCOMING some 150 works in all media, the show will have an event to suggest, contact Lia The- EVENTS explore Degas’ investigation over some 40 ologides at [email protected]. Boston: Barry years of the dance world that was central to Schwartz, Dorwin P. the culture of Paris in his day. The cost is $17 Cartwright Professor for senior citizens and $20 for others. Pay- LONDON CALLING of Social Theory and ʼ 67 ment must be received in advance; contact The London Connection is also re-ener- Social Action, will visit Philadelphia Connection Chair Bruce Gould gized and looking to plan events for spring the Boston Connec- ’54 at (215) 575-9320 or brucegould54@- 2003. If you are interested in participating tion on May 9 to pres- hotmail.com to register and receive payment in event planning, can suggest an event, or ent a lecture titled STEVEN GOLDBLATT information. just want to attend, contact Margarethe “Too Many Choices: BARRY SCHWARTZ Swarthmore Connection Dinner Group. “Abby” Honeywell ’85 at abby.honeywell@- Who Suffers and This group meets on the first Thursday of btinternet.com. or the Alumni Office at Why.” Watch your mail for additional infor- every month at 6 p.m. at a Philadelphia-area [email protected]. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 40 SPRING EVENTS Alumni Council Update n an effort to provide a range of The report contains findings Family Weekend Iservices to alumni, students, and suggestions that the task April 11–13 and the College, the Alumni Coun- group hopes will be useful to the cil adopted an ambitious work plan Board. The task group also hopes Black Alumni Reunion ʼ 67 June 5 and 6 for the 2002–2003 academic year. that its report will be helpful in The plan includes initiatives priori- efforts to bring about reconcilia- Alumni Weekend tized by the Executive Committee tion with those still feeling dis- June 6–8 of Council for the current year. For tanced from the College. those interested in learning more STEVEN GOLDBLATT As part of the agreement to Alumni College Abroad about these initiatives, the plan is RICH TRUITT ’66 make the report available to the May 10–20 posted on the Alumni Council Web greater College community, the page www.swarthmore.edu/alumni/alum- full Report on Consensual Decision Making by ni_council.html. Also posted there is the the Swarthmore College Board of Managers VOTE FOR ALUMNI COUNCIL Alumni Council Newsletter, which summarizes was posted in early March on the Alumni The Alumni Council ballots will be mailed the proceedings and outcomes from the fall Council Web page. in late April. Please take a moment to meeting held on Oct. 25 to 27. Those without Web access who wish to review the ballot and vote for your repre- One of the special initiatives of council receive a copy of any or all of the documents sentative to the Alumni Council. This year, this year is to foster reconciliation between referenced in this column may contact the for the first time, you can vote on-line at the College and those feeling distanced from Alumni Relations Office at (610) 328-8402, http://alumniballot.com. The Web site will it after the December 2000 decision to requesting the Annual Work Plan of Alumni become available after ballots are mailed. restructure the Athletics Program. Council, the Alumni Council Newsletter for fall One major element of this initiative has 2002, and/or the Report From the Task Group WWW.SWAT been the study and development of a report on Consensual Decision Making. The Alumni Relations Office has recently on the use of consensual decision making by Thank you for your interest in the activi- redesigned the alumni pages of the College Swarthmore’s Board of Managers. The task ties of the council and for your support to Web site. See the new look at http://www.- group, appointed by Council and chaired by Swarthmore College. swarthmore.edu/alumni. E-mail the Alumni Jed Rakoff ’64, conducted its work over a —Rich Truitt ’66 Relations Office staff at alumni@swarth- nine-month period and presented its report President, Alumni Association more.edu with your comments. to the Board at its meeting in late February.

Attention Entrepreneurs—or Potential Ones arc Reinganum, vice president and director of Three panel discussions will be part of the program. The Mquantitative research and portfolio strategist for first panel will address the biotechnology industry and equities of OppenheimerFunds Inc., will be the keynote will highlight panelists C. Vibeke Strand ’71, a biopharma- speaker at the 2003 Lax Conference on Entrepreneur- ceutical consultant for Loftis/Strand Consulting; Joseph ship on Sunday, April 6. Reinganum, the spouse of Ali- Turner ’73, chief financial officer of Myogen Inc.; and son Fox ’80, is renowned as the founding father of Emily Levy ’80, principal/management consultant for stock market anomalies. His research in the field of Synergy Partners. small cap stocks (with Rolf Banz) proved conclusively The second panel discussion topic will address the future that it is not a “random walk down Wall Street.” Since of technology. Panelists include William Squadron ’77,chief 1995, Reinganum has held the Mary Jo Vaughn Chair in MARCREINGANUM executive officer of Sportvision Systems LLC; Iqbal Quadir Financial Investments at Southern Methodist University ’81, founder of GrameenPhone and lecturer at Harvard and is currently on leave. University’s Kennedy School of Government; Maggie Habib Gorse Beginning at noon, the Lax Conference allows alumni and cur- ’73, director/consultant at Gorse Analysts; and Douglas Winneg rent students to learn about business from alumni panelists and ’89, president of Software Secure Inc. others who have been successful entrepreneurs. Panel discussions The third panel is on ethics in business. Panelists include Linda and a networking reception provide an opportunity for formal and Ambrus Broenniman ’77,director of HFS Capital; Samuel Hayes III informal discussion. The conference, now in its fourth year, is ’57,Jacob Schiff Professor Emeritus of Harvard Business School; funded by an endowment created by a bequest from the late and Alan Tawil-Kummerman ’74, CEO of Foto Wire SA. Jonathan Lax ’71. It is co-sponsored by the Swarthmore Business For additional information or to sign up for the conference, call Society, the Career Services Office, and the Alumni Relations the Lax Conference Response Line (voice mail) at (610) 690-6887, Office. or visit the conference Web site at http://www.swarthmore.edu/lax. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 41 42 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN CLASSNOTES th e e me w s an in ar g g of h t

mo e r intellect world. the in garden beautiful most the in live to happen just you while world the in minds brilliant most the with years four spend to get You too. it eating and cake means Swarthmore nbloom. in are crocuses the when solvable more seem problems world’s wrhoei es o the for feast a is Swarthmore and h ess l the All senses. the RkiAzg’86 Abzug —Rikki aigyour having

STEVEN GOLDBLATT ʼ67 44 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE G t A hyr oe hyr oe”seexplains. she gone,” they’re gone, they’re when but grow, to lovely are “Flowers herbs. of uses varied and complexity, diversity, the by engrossed becoming the while all experts, herb local to talking and says. just she start,” was the I from and fascinated area, the for garden of unusu- type very al a was “It garden. herb hillside a creating began Garden the Botanical called now Berkshire is what of owners the when intrigued became she recalled, Burdsall herbs.” garden. discovered pretty I then, very But a was it and it, at hard very worked “I says. Burdsall flowers,” grew flowers. the planted Gertrude and etables, veg- the raised Ellwood gardening: of their love cultivate to couple young the for place perfect the was farmland, rolling on set home, Barrington,Mass.The Great in home summer family Ellwood’s been had what into moved they afterward, she Soon what knows. of much her taught who er” garden- “good a as described she ’27, whom Burdsall Richard Ellwood married Burdsall now. years 80 than more for gardener serious a Burdsall, says easy,” that all have not it’s you Well, beans. then and ground the in seeds put says. she herbs,” in is that interest knowl- and the edge by amazed be to cease though never as you feel just “I peace. at most feels she that garden” herb “small, country her informal as describes she what con- of the fines within standing is she when much. is so It love to grown has she flowers and vegetables, herbs, the tending day, every things.” growing started I that’swhen And up. came they surprise, my much to and, them planted I “But time,” recalls. the she at conscious soil very wasn’t I but soil, good particularly in not I them, so planted beans, some have to happened “I thing. some- plant to desire the by suddenly overwhelmed was she said Burdsall 8, about of h ea edn ok bu herbs about books reading began She As same. the be never would life Her did—you you what of sort just was “It Swarthmore, from graduating After just you think things grow who “People garden her in found be still can Burdsall a h rwn an is i.A girl a As hit. first pains growing the day the clearly remembers Burdsall ertrude O F G R o H R E R T D U e m B E W O R E i W B S R U h t S D HE IN nteworld.” the place in wonderful most the it’s think and just sky, I the and hills the and outside the to open It’s wonderful. this been in it’s years and house, 20 had I’ve But 75?’ at a house building ‘You’re me, to said friends my instructor. English retired a Richard, son her by run bed-and-breakfast a now shared, Ellwood once and she home larger the from far not stands house The architect. an Ben- jamin, son her by designed house smaller a into moved Burdsall 1964, in death band’s hus- her after years Seventeen began. where she from far strayed not has she more, nine to great-grandmother a and nine children, to grandmother a children, three moth- of The er herbs. her with is she when than it.” see I as them, growing in interest the with comparison no just There’s garden. flower a in flowers offer than to more much so have just “Herbs T R L A TH Iws7 hnw ul h os,and house, the built we when 75 was “I home at more never is Burdsall Today, B E IM ’ L T E ER HE KS 8 2 e H SE HI H , RE YS DA MO R E UN TE H r ND TAI A G IN NS T G D R OF H O N E WE ER r e ST HE ER S I RB M N H T GA AS s b RD SA M E EN CH C , US upie htmk tajyt eaiea 96. at alive be to joy a it make that surprises unexpected those for watching and day, waiting every garden her to return to tinues con- Burdsall borage, and basil for planted Massachusetts March. a of middle the in chives early frozen of discovery June her the after notes, for wrote she years!” 80 for than it more at been has one when even prises, sur- of full always is “Gardening children. grand- and gardens her on commentary lar the for Notes ’28Class the writes secretary, class as and, mates breakfast. bed-and- family the at swims daily enjoying and cooking, for passion her indulging plants, her tending days, of these most time spends her she where farm her on is It room. plant house’s the to adjacent directly stands now plants, of varieties 50 than S O OO ET ohvn rddtebasseonce she beans the traded having So class- old her with touch in stays She more to home garden, herb beloved Her TS KI P T G , NG ER A , A E TR ND UD E C SW B E U F IM UR MI P L Bulletin, DS NG lzbt edn’05 Redden Elizabeth — AL . S L A L PE nldn regu- including E C ND M S . OS O T F

COURTESY OF GERTRUDE BOWERS BURDSALL O n e F i n e D a y

THEACCIDENTAL INMYLIFE DISCOVERYOFJOY

By Herbert Boyajian Locksley ’43

oping to clear the torpor of my mind and spirit, I was walking in Crum HWoods one sunny spring afternoon. I had remembered a medical claim that walking improves your health and longevity. But closer to home, I did not find the hur- ried pace of other walkers’ jostling on nar- row sidewalks conducive to peace of mind and thought. Unexpected events turned my walk into For the first time, it an existential bonanza. Entering the woods, I seemed to step into another world—like occurred to me that birds Alice through the looking glass—or like Adam in an Eden without any cares. Adam and mammals might must have listened to the whisper of leaves, the rippling brook, the chatter and arias of exercise their birds. He must have enjoyed the bright red plumage and full-throated song of the male individualindividual skills skills not not cardinal or the gently fluttering hues and polka dots of butterflies. Didn’t Adam have justjust for for survival—but survival—but to climb over large tree roots and rocks in Eden—hills that required tricky maneuvers forfor sheer sheer joy. joy. of balance and coordination that challenged his mind and body? Didn’t he find caterpil- lars, insects, wildflowers, patches of daf- fodils, berry bushes and mosses, scurrying squirrels, and chipmunks? God had said it was “good.” Adam called

it “Paradise.” CLAIRE SAWYERS I heard a bird, perched on a small bush several paces away, singing with abandon. I sat motionless on a vocal cords. Unlike any orchestral wind instrument, birds can pro- boulder, listening with fascination. Who was the bird singing to? No duce two simultaneous notes, something that string musicians call a others were in sight—no near or distant replies. Oblivious to its “double stop.” My singing friend changed intervals, phrases, and surroundings, with no expectant looking around or attentive cock- emphasis apparently at whim; the mood of its song also varied from ing of its head, the bird sang broken dyads and triads, repeating tentative and inquiring to declarative and sometimes imperative. these in quick succession. I tested my weakly developed solfège in a Interspersed was staccato chattering—a “recitative”—and low- soft whistle; I could find the intervals but not the glorious timbre pitched, soft, mechanical chirps, which I thought were either warn- and fullness of its notes. ing sounds or reassurances for little chicks. But it was too early for Then, I remembered that birds have a double larynx—two sets of chicks. No danger seemed to warrant a warning; no other living SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 52 thing was paying ways—bark, chirp, cheep, screech, hawk, grunt, and whistle. They attention to the swim, dive, fly, soar, dig, race, chase, wrestle, climb trees, play hide- song but me. This and-seek; build nests, dens, burrows, and even abodes complete winged minstrel was with dam and moat. Humans can do everything they do with greater running through its versatility, although sometimes not quite as well, and often requir- repertoire, exercising ing special equipment. its voice, developing For the first time, it occurred to me that birds and mammals virtuosity, compos- might exercise their individual skills not just for survival—but for ing songs, singing sheer joy. paeans for sheer per- Humpback whales, too, might sing their low-pitched mournful sonal joy—without songs not just to communicate with others at great distance but a care, feeling good simply to please themselves. All of us, seeking the simple joy of to be alive; reveling using muscles, developing coordination, exercising skills, or invent- in singing as much ing new songs, new ideas, new anythings. But mostly being “up and COURTESY OF HERBERT LOCKSLEY as it might in soar- doing—unchained, unworried, unharried, free to choose, exuberant, “BEGINNINGMYWALKHADREQUIREDANACTOF ing. As I walked on, at one with nature and oneself. WILL,” SAYS LOCKSLEY. “I HAD FELT PHYSICALLY the lovely musical I had never identified joy in quite this way before. It seemed a TIRED AND MENTALLY DULL.” ALL THAT WAS theme of calm and new thought, a good recipe! ABOUTTOCHANGE. thanksgiving after the storm from eginning my walk had required an act of will. I had felt physical- Beethoven’s Pastoral Bly tired and mentally dull. After nearly an hour of walking, Symphony ran through my mind, and I barely caught myself from climbing, sliding, and tripping along narrow paths, I was now walk- audibly saying “thank you” to this joyous little friend. ing faster, feeling invigorated and mentally rejuvenated. Now it was time to return home. In the distance, I heard the soft ollowing gravity about 50 feet down a slope through branches, pure tones of a flute. Nearer to the source, I saw a young man with Frock outcroppings, and small rain gullies, I arrived at the mead- long blond hair and full beard sitting on the stone wall beside the ow and a path beside Crum Creek. As I neared a moderate-sized stage of the College’s amphitheater. I rested for a few minutes out of pool about 2 feet deep, I heard frantic thrashing and splashing. In sight and enjoyed a solo flute concert. But it was his succession of the middle of the pool was a large dog—probably a golden retriever. moods that intrigued me. At any given moment, the theme he select- It seemed to be struggling—paddling with its hind legs and flagel- ed might be flighty and tripping, slow and melancholy, lilting and lating its tail. Rising up in the water, it also thrashed with its romantic—and occasionally loud and strident. Like the ancient forepaws. psalmists, the shepherd in Tristan and Isolde, and the Neanderthal No owner was in sight. inventor of the first willow whistle with side holes—he was giving Then, to my surprise, the dog turned and swam ashore; bounded expression to some corner of the human heart. Away from the hub- up onto the bank about 20 feet from me; and, with a series of bub of college life, he seemed as at peace as a lone young man can tremendous shakings, cast off sheets of water. It had a fawn-colored be. I walked up to the young musician, said a few friendly and head, friendly eyes, a well-formed body, droopy ears, and a dripping appreciative words, and went on with a happy little hum under my matted coat. It sniffed the ground and air and then looked straight breath, like Pooh. at me. I wanted to make friends. So without moving, I alternately Soon, I passed back through the looking glass and was startled called, whispered, yipped, whistled, and commanded—all tactics by revving engines, perforated mufflers, and thumping car stereos. I that worked with my own two dogs—but to no avail. Instead, it hurried back home, back to my Eve. rolled in the soft muddy bank, rubbed its back with undulating con- A pastor, or perhaps a philosopher, once said: “Since the fall of tortions; got up; and chased its tail in a tight circle. It looked at me Adam and Eve and the banishment from Eden, mankind has had to again for an instant, then raced back into the pool. suffer and work. But we are even now building our own Eden.” But I I watched for about 5 minutes as the dog repeated this ritual sev- thought to myself: Man can build a better mousetrap, automobile, or eral times. It was not hunting, fishing, chasing, or playing with computer. We can build tall steel and glass office buildings; resort another dog. It was not obeying its master. It seemed to be swim- hotels; garish gambling casinos; and, yes, magnificent cathedrals. ming and rolling in the mud for sheer personal joy! But build another Eden? As I walked away from the creek, I saw two students passing by, God did not destroy Eden or even lock the gate. The primeval holding hands and laughing. We struck up a conversation. I asked forest is still there (at least for a while longer) and so is primeval about the dog’s master, home, and unusual behavior. They reported joy! How fortunate we are to have an Eden so accessible to this tree that the dog came to that pool in the creek almost every after- of knowledge. noon—from which I inferred that they did too—each in pursuit of And, by the way, the doctors are right: My health is already the joys of nature. With a friendly wave, we went our separate ways. better! T I mused that birds, mammals, and humans do many similar things. Birds and mammals sing and vocalize in their own peculiar Herbert Locksley is a retired neurosurgeon who lives in Wallingford, Pa. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 53 62 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE J o C iu i pupils. his cri- tique and instruct help to directors and actors professional in brings even He fashion. hon- est compelling, a in “stories” their tell and props; of use the and movement, breathing, on focus audience; an to relate voices; their use to how lawyers teach seminars one-day His Inc. Run Trial business, sulting con- three-year-old own his in and classes, education continuing agencies, ernment gov- schools, law in country the throughout storyteller.” a lawyer become a and being from away get to got class. “You’ve seminar recent a tells he story,” a says. Appel to, listen diffi- to more cult is lawyer nervous a and talk fast, and too excited get to tend also They props. their with prepared not they’re the and jury, is audience real their that forget They attorney. opposing the battling or the client for good looking about much too worry says. he happen,” doesn’t a that during Now, trial. act to how on tips valuable gain and watch also could They administratively. help to job attorney’s sec- experienced the less was ond, it and trial, a to attorneys two watching. by learn to courtrooms into newer attorneys their send to likely less firms practice makes law of economics the and now, of court out settled are cases more addition, level. In that to get don’t courses trial-skills law that is maintains, he problem, The mance.” “perfor- courtroom in training adequate receiving weren’t attorneys inexperienced Courtroom. the in Theater Skills called course a teaching by law the and theater for passion his combined has resident Pa., Cheltenham, the jury, a and before judge “act” their on up brush to need Appel. Rick attorney trial seasoned says court, in Mason Perry like perform automatically will they n ftetcnqe pe re ocon- to tries Appel techniques the of One students of hundreds taught has Appel tell to is jury a influence to way best “The attorneys trial inexperienced result, a As least at sent firms law ago, years “Twenty many that noticed Appel years, recent In who lawyers fellow help to effort an In h ioso a coldentmean doesn’t school law of rigors the through it make attorneys because ust I R K C r u P A E P r t ’ L 2 6 o o E T C A T m E H T S E H CO FO TH RI utbcueyuwn olwsho, Appel school,” law to went you because just naturally. happen movements and dialogue letting gestures, facial as such trade,” the thought. next their start beforethey breathe and sentence each of the end at stop to students attorney.” his encourages other Appel the to floor the lose don’t to they want because fast talk to tend also They words.’ ‘busy call I a answer—things witness’s repeat they or the conversation, in their fill of to gaps ‘uh’ or ‘like’ as such words use attorneys of “Lots presentation. courtroom a from distract can that mannerisms” “verbal says. he it,’” understand to you want I and something, a about have opinion ‘I strong rather but here,’ lawyer a like sound emotions. true their without betraying honesty of position a from of speaking importance the is students his to vey e h CK ATT R TE EA UR R A Pbi paigdentcm naturally come doesn’t speaking “Public of “tricks acting various teaches also He the on focuses also course the of Part to got ‘I’ve think, to them want don’t “I TR AP A R O T OO OR PE M. H L ND NE t a P F YS AS TH CA L E CO R E LL MB AW i r ED U S IN BY TH ED S A CR TE EA HI s c TI EA O I PAS S S R NG . N KI SI LL C A ON I S OU FO T N RS R HE E ln, esaid. he along,” come experiences whatever maximizing to gateways open and confidence and comfort school. theater or college a at course year- long or semester a duplicate to meant not and exams. interviews oral job in persuasion of art the and speaking public with deal will students seminar help The 23. to 22 March on more Swarth- at persuasion and on speaking workshop public a offer to scheduled also is He skills. communication and persuasion of art the on focuses which Advocacy, of Elements The called workshop a teaches also Appel Club. Choral Abington local the in he sing But does theater. the with involved be to the time have doesn’t he said Appel courses, skills courtroom and practice law his drama. Between and music in involved are both and w hlrn ol,1,adBnai,16, Benjamin, and 18, Molly, children, two litigation. and civil practice private to moved then and er defend- public a as Philadelphia to returned eventually He ’60s. the in Georgia in int orcase.” your to tion atten- the enhance or diminish either court] can [in happen things way the “And says. let novdi h ii ihsmovement rights civil the in involved clients represent helped he 1964, summer ing dur- City, York New in lawyer entertainment an be to intended originally he Although 1966. in Law of School University’s Tem- ple from graduate to on went who Appel, said directing,” and acting of disciplines the with continue to wanted that Swarthmore tradition). Swarthmore annual called musical student original the write helped he when Swarthmore, at days his since however, Rubenstone. & Goldberg Lamm, Groen, of office Pa., Jenkintown, the in liability product and malpractice, medical injury, personal serious on currently focuses He years. 30 last the for lawyer pe n i ie in oly have Dooley, Diana wife, his and Appel at discovered I that me of part a had “I existed, has theater the for passion His trial a as worked has 62-year-old The Bt[h ore a iesm ee of level some give can course] [the “But are courses one-day his that noted He course, skills theater his to addition In h abr Show Hamburg The Agl Doody —Angela te an (then The Good Hippie

MARK VONNEGUT ’69 KNEW BOTH THE IDEALISM AND INSANITY OF THE ’60 S .

Mark Vonnegut, The Eden Express: A of his mantra, “turn on, tune in, drop out,” Memoir of Insanity, Seven Stories Press, LSD and other psychedelics were the gate- 2002. Orginally published by Praeger, ways to a new consciousness—a way of 1975 short-circuiting the Western rationality that was so troubling to our generation. The here’s a saying about the 1960s: If you trouble was, Vonnegut said in an October Tremember them, you weren’t really there. interview, “we didn’t know that drugs were Mark Vonnegut was definitely there—and bad for us. I really do think that was a key he remembers. piece of information we were missing.” The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity is Another guru, psychologist R.D. Laing, about Vonnegut’s descent into madness may have done more damage. When Von- while living in a commune in British negut fell ill at the commune, his fellow Columbia. First published in 1975 and reis- Eden seekers viewed his psychosis through BOOKS&ARTSsued in November, it chronicles his Laing’s then-popular idea that insanity is a post–Swarthmore odyssey and illness— sane response to an insane society. Though then diagnosed as schizophrenia but likely Mark was going crazy, his friends (including understood today as bipolar disorder. several classmates and friends from Swarth- It’s also a cogent contemporary account more who also lived at the commune) at of the mind-set of the 1960s—one of the first saw his behavior—and even his mis-

best books I’ve read about the restless ideal- COURTESY OF MARK VONNEGUT ery—as normal behavior in the crazy world ism and hard work of “being a good hip- of 1971. Mark had been the commune’s pie.” The Eden Express doesn’t analyze or visionary, and it seemed that his mind was romanticize the hippie experience—it just merely intensifying its natural self. Only pours it onto the page with all the passion, after he became incoherent, stopped eating, anguish, and dichotomies that characterized and threatened suicide did his comrades the time. “I think most of seek medical treatment for him in Vancou- “I think most of us were fed to the teeth ver. He eventually suffered three severe psy- with the brand of rationalism that had us were fed to chotic “crack-ups,” as he calls them, and was made up so much of our education,” Von- hospitalized twice. negut wrote. “Western rationality had made the teeth with The book’s description of Vonnegut’s a dreadful mess of this lovely planet, but it psychosis—the voices in his head, delu- was more that this form of rationality had the brand of sions, and despair he feels when he thinks taken up the lion’s share of our minds with- he will not recover—is vivid and immediate. out giving us much in return…. We wanted rationalism that had At one point, he decides that his thoughts to free some of our rational brain space to are responsible for an earthquake in Califor- make room for other ways of being.” made up so much nia that has killed his girlfriend. He also The Eden Express depicts hippie life and imagines that his father has killed himself. its mental aberrations without a shred of of our education.” The third break, which came unexpected- defensiveness. A new afterword to the 2002 ly as he seemed to be recovering, was the edition (the foreword is by the author’s worst. famous father Kurt) offers this retrospective Vonnegut writes: “I was running out of explication: excuses. My father hadn’t committed sui- “We were not the spaced-out, flaky, self- “IT WASN’T THAT HARD TO LIVE WITHOUT cide. Virginia was OK. My mother was OK. absorbed, wimpy, whiney flower children Spring was on schedule…. I had followed all ELECTRICITYANDOTHERCONVENIENCESON depicted in movies and TV shows…. It’s true doctor’s orders faithfully, and here I was that we were too young, too inexperienced, NEXT TO NO MONEY,” WRITES VONNEGUT (ABOVE, back in that fucking little [isolation] room and, in the end, too vulnerable to bad advice AT THE COMMUNE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1970). again.” from middle-aged sociopathic gurus. Things “ILOVEDWORKINGSUNUPTOSUNDOWN He adds: “My suicide attempts became eventually went bad, but before they went BUILDINGAHOUSE,CUTTINGFIREWOOD,AND more frequent, more pathetic, more sincere. bad, hippies did a lot of good. Brave, hon- MAKINGAGARDEN.ANDIDIDN’THAVETO Before, I had danced with death, loved est, and true, they paid a price.” death, hated death, teased death, been WORRYTHATMYEFFORTSWERESOMEHOW One such guru was Harvard professor teased by death.” and acid-head Timothy Leary. For followers SUBSIDIZING DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.” Against the odds, he recovered. Slowly, SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 66 with the help of a doctor who prescribed Jonathan Franzen ’81, How to Be Alone, Far- antipsychotic medication and vitamin thera- rar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. This collec- py, he regained his mind. He went back tion of 14 essays includes the author’s con- East, wrote this book, went to Harvard troversial 1996 investigation of the fate of Medical School, and became a pediatrician. the American novel as well as other personal He also learned from his disease. narratives and reportage. The Eden Express closes with a letter to a Marjorie Garber ’66, Quotation Marks, friend who is suffering from schizophrenia. Routledge, 2003. These essays explore the “Simply realizing that the problem is bio- power of language and miscommunications. chemical can be enormously helpful,” he Garber is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of wrote to her. “No one’s to blame. Psycholog- English and director of the Humanities Cen- ical heroics are not required to improve ter at Harvard, where she chairs the Depart- things…. As poetic as schizophrenia is, I ment of Visual and Environmental Studies and know of very few cases in which poetry was directs the Carpenter Center of Visual Arts. of much help.” Mark Vonnegut was one of the lucky Stephen Henighan ’84, Lost Province: Adven- ones; he got better. Yet he still believes that tures in a Moldovan Family, Prospect Books, his crack-ups remain a presence in his life. 2002. The author of four books, Henighan “I know that I was very sick and got explores the struggle of an outsider in our well—well enough to participate in life,” he “global village.” His controversial When said. “I’ve had other things that have been Words Deny the World (The Porcupine's extremely challenging. I had one more psy- Quill, 2002) was nominated for the Cana- JUDITH FETTERLEY, CO-AUTHOR OF WRITINGOUTOF chotic episode. I’ve had horrible trouble da’sGovernor General’sLiterary Awards. PLACE, ISDISTINGUISHEDTEACHINGPROFESSOR with insomnia. So sometimes, when things Anne Sheldon ’67, Hero-Surfing, Washing- OF ENGLISH AND WOMEN’S STUDIES AT SUNY–ALBANY. get rough, I still feel, ‘Oh shit. This can take ton Writers’ Publishing House, 2002. The me out somehow.’ A lot of mental illness is Jack Spafford ’44, An Interesting Life: An winner of the 2001 Washington Writers’ Pub- Autobiography, self-published, 2003. The au- how many times you get your wheels in the lishing House poetry competition, Sheldon rut and spin. After a certain number of thor describes his life experiences, including creates a sequence of Lancastrian poems and schooling, World War II, jobs, and travels. times, it gets very hard to get the wheels out delivers sonnets based on Icelandic sagas. of the rut.” Carol and David White ’65, Catskill Day Mental illness drove Mark Vonnegut off Hikes for All Seasons, Adirondack Mountain the road on the way to his Eden. Nearly Club, 2002. Describing 60 mountain hikes, three decades after the book was written, it the authors include practical advice, round- traces not only Mark’s path from 1969 to trip distances, difficulty ratings, summit ele- 1972, but also the early turns of a generation vations, and page maps. still in spin—still wondering whether the roads we chose have brought us to where Richard Wolfson ’69, Simply Einstein, W.W. we truly wanted to go. Norton, 2002. The author presents key —Jeffrey Lott ideas framing comtemporary physics—from the possibility of time travel to the fate of the universe. Wolfson explains the concepts of Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell’selec- OTHER BOOKS tromagnetism, highlighting contradictions Christopher Castellani ’94, A Kiss From leading to the 19th-century physics crisis. Maddalena, Algonquin Books, 2003. In this first novel, the author imagines a story about young love and war in 1943. Castel- EXHIBIT lani, whose parents are Italian immigrants, Alexandra Grant ’94 organized unDRAWN won the SUNY Stony Brook Short Fiction at the Brewery Project in Los Angeles during Prize and the Ella T. Grasso Literary Award. November and December. The exhibit in- cluded the works of 11 young, emerging Judith Fetterley ’60 and Marjorie Pryse, artists who use drawing as a concept on Writing Out of Place, University of Illinois which they base their work in other media. Press, 2003. The authors focus on regional Grant’s own work is part of a series called STEPHENHENIGHAN,AUTHOROF LOSTPROVINCE, writers, offering a countertraditional view- “drawings without paper,” wire sculptures point of human development and consider- TEACHES SPANISH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND that dance across the gallery walls in the ing feminist theory and American literature. CULTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, ONTARIO. form of shadows. M A R C H 2 0 0 3 67 70 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE tsntteedo h ol. ftecompa- the If world.” the of end the well, not do it’s doesn’t it and company a a sell to you game if that “is says, he business,” this in thing good “The undaunted. remained Weissblum country, this in to distributed games be the for enough long exist not did division American the Although Schmid. 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COURTESY OF AARON WEISSBLUM 78 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN CLASSNOTES nepwrn oe through women empowering on working Fulbright, a on also is Physics. cal Theoreti- for Institute Perimeter the at physics gravity quantum studying Canada, in bright Farley Columbia. at work social in master’s a for studying and City York New and with place a share together. They magazine a made also They Philly. in teachers Martin (Skonieczny) S. Jason piano. the play to learning also is He Greek. studying and Eisenstat assistant. jeweler’s a as bing.” grub- “money as to refers whathe or bonds and stocks in ing work- and district museum the Rights. 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Carlos, San ETER D ARLING ’84 otne rmpg 3 page from continued nyoepr facmlxpic- ture. complex a of part one only are they Arabia, Saudi in tion educa- higher change to helping are College Effat like colleges women’s private although So, together. train and learn dents stu- dental and medical female and Male coeducation: rule against its to exception an has bia Ara- Saudi that learn to prised material. the teach to qualified or available is professor female no when students female taught only has he his But see students. to able be to not certing discon- quite it’s that reports and way that classes taught has father My TV. closed-circuit via students female teach ly occasional- professors male Yes, campus. men’s the to adjacent campus separate a on located section, women’s University’s Aziz Abdul King at classes the of all almost teach lecturers and teachers.” their with directly interact could women where environment college a “imagined Effat Queen that and televisions,” closed-circuit on male) (also professors the watch they where students, male the from rooms separate in taught “are University Aziz Abdul King public the at dents stu- female that statement the was glaring most The story. in the errors factual few a note to cation. edu- higher in choices of range new women—a particularly Saudis— giving country, the for milestone a mark colleges vate pri- new Arabia’s Saudi Bulletin). December Land,” vative o-adsmgtb sur- be might Non-Saudis professors female fact, In however, disappointed, was I E ahntn D.C. Washington, MAN Q UOTAH ’95 COMPETINGCLAIMS #0000000 so on. In his December letter to the editor, Jeremi- ALUMNI, PARENT, OR FRIEND NAME On close inspection, one may note that ah Gelles ’63 compared Israeli settlement STREET ADDRESS each color has something to offer as well as [in the West Bank] with American settle- CITY, STATE, ZIP some shortcomings. Even purple has some- ment in the West or German settlement in (COUNTRY) thing to offer: magical thinking, which (if Eastern Europe. understood properly) can be both instruc- The first comparison is a compliment to WHAT’S THAT NUMBER tive and a joy (if you don't believe me, meet the Israeli settlers. The European conquest ABOVEMYADDRESS? some small children). Green, whose positive of North America gave the United States the The 7- or 9-digit number at the upper values may be self-evident to many at power to save the world from tyranny sever- right corner of your Swarthmore mailing Swarthmore, has the distinct disadvantage al times during the last century. The world label is your unique identification within of tending to reject Western civilization, is deeply indebted to American settlers for Swarthmore’s database. It is not your which, despite its many ghastly failings, has their role in giving us the strength to do Social Security number. It is used given us the concepts of human rights, civil great good. • to help College staff search the data- liberties, and several other blessings that The second comparison is inexact: The base more accurately and quickly to help minimize the number of green people Germans, who had settled for most of a mil- update your information or process burned at the stake or tossed in jail in the lennium in Eastern Europe, were expelled your gift to Swarthmore U.S. and other constitutional democracies. en masse because they preferred to join in • to allow you to access some of the A shared problem all of these colors have is on German territorial expansion and Ger- College’s on-line services, such as the that they cannot appreciate their own limi- man genocide rather than recognize the Swarthmore On-Line Community tations very well, nor can they appreciate competing moral and legal claims that the For more information on these services, the values of the other colors. They tend newly born nations of Eastern Europe pos- go to www.swarthmore.edu/alumni/- instead to get locked into battles for domi- sessed to the same land. If a comparison olc.html. nance. with Israel is appropriate, the situation of There is hope, though, the solution of the Germans is more akin to that of the which I wrote: At a second tier of colors Palestinians. Indeed, if the Palestinians are (yellow and turquoise), people can see how ever expelled, it will be because the Palestin- integration of both old and new, a tran- human values and worldviews are integrat- ian appetite for genocide and their refusal scend-and-include process. For human ed and have particular strengths and limita- even to recognize Israel’s legal and moral beings, this involves differentiation and tions. The tendency to dismiss contemptu- claims to its pre-1967 boundaries make any integration of worldviews and values, which ously the worldviews of others as worthless, sort of coexistence impossible. The Israelis can be color coded for convenience. subhuman, or demonic evaporates in favor will then join the Czechs and the Poles as Skipping the beige level and starting at of an ability to see a far more inclusive one of the peoples who realize that justice, the purple level, there is precious little dif- vision that can honor and use creatively the not mercy, is essential to survival. ferentiation, much magical thinking, and a contributions of all levels (while accounting DAVID RANDALL ’93 certain proneness to human sacrifice and wisely for the dangers inhering in the differ- Brooklyn, N.Y. cannibalism. At the red level, the disadvan- ent levels). Second-tier thinking vastly tages of overdoing the herd mentality are improves the capacity to distinguish baby BAGELS AT MIDNIGHT seen, and heroic values of individual from bathwater. And we, my friends, can In the December issue of the Swarthmore courage and generosity emerge, along with a engage in it! Just think what a radical reduc- College Bulletin, I noticed a pattern of con- certain amount of outlawry. At the blue tion in mutual contempt might mean to us all! flict to which I believe there is a solution. In level, the disadvantages of outlawry are In closing, I cannot resist a plug for a the solution I propose, I must confess my seen, and the emphasis is on order and tra- technique that appears to enhance second- enormous indebtedness to the work of Ken dition (which is where most adults in most tier capacities enormously: meditation. In Wilber, Clare Graves, Don Beck, and Chris- present-day societies operate). At the one study, the practice of meditation topher Cowan. Different letter writers com- orange level, the disadvantages of excessive appeared to boost the proportion of second- plained of a tendency within our communi- reliance on tradition are seen, and values of tier thinkers from 1 percent at pretest to 38 ty to preach inclusiveness while actually individualism, rationality, constitutional percent at post-test, a rather astonishing consigning to the outer darkness those mis- democracy, free markets, and scientific result. guided souls with the temerity to advocate enterprise emerge. At the green level, the Peace, love, and bagels at midnight, other viewpoints, such as libertarianism, disadvantages of overreliance on science DAVID KERRIGAN '79 conservatism, and Republicanism. and individualism are seen, and values of Falls Church, Va. Wilber, Graves, et al. (whose thoughts I inclusivity, multiculturalism, pluralism, egal- shall now brutally condense and simplify) itarianism, environmentalism, and sensitiv- WEWELCOMEYOURLETTERS suggest that individuals and societies devel- ity become prominent, often (unfortunate- Address letters to Editor, Swarthmore op roughly similarly to biological organisms ly) accompanied by a rejection of science College Bulletin, 500 College Avenue, by differentiation of new capacities and and individualism,Western civilization,and Swarthmore PA 19081; or e-mail them to M A R C H 2 0 0 3 79 tion which all graduates and former students of the college C o m e share in common…. The second purpose is to serve the col- lege in whatever ways are possible. By financial support, by the contribution of suggestions and advice, by the recruit- T o g e t h e r ment of students, by public expression of enthusiasm, and by the quality of their individual lives and services, alumni con- SWARTHMORE’SALUMNICOUNCIL tribute to the strength and progress of their alma mater. OFFERSSERVICEANDADVICE. Nason saw the functional role of the council as advisory on the By Jeffrey Lott determination of policy, collaborative in the support of students and alumni in their careers and in the recruitment of new students for the College, and fiduciary in the alumni’s “special interest not BACKPAGESn April, Swarthmore alumni will participate in an annual dem- only in the maintenance of private higher education but of Swarth- ocratic ritual—the election of new members to the Alumni more College in particular.” ICouncil. Fourteen alumni chosen from seven geographic According to Rich Truitt ’66, current president of the Alumni regions will join more than 50 other members in an organization Association, today’s council is not too far off that mark. Council that is often poorly understood. remains both an advisory and a service organization—and, What exactly is the Swarthmore College Alumni Council? Quite although responsibility for fund-raising now lies with the adminis- simply, it is the governing body of the Alumni Association, of tration, class agents, and the Board of Managers, it sponsors and which all graduates and former students are members. The council promotes the Alumni Council Scholarship, established in 2000. was created in 1937 during a reorganization of the association, which itself dates to 1882. Since its creation, the council has under- he current structure of the council was developed in the 1990s taken numerous projects and performed many different functions, Tunder the leadership of presidents Alan Symonette ’76, Jack often struggling to define its role at the College but still finding rel- Riggs ’64, and Elenor Reid ’67.Riggs says that “different people evance today. come on the council with different expectations, and although The council had its origins in the desire to bring alumni and the some members saw themselves as ‘ambassadors,’ others wanted to College closer together. In the 1930s, Swarthmore’s relations with play a more active role in the affairs of the College.” its alumni were strained by changes at the College under President The council is currently organized in three “working groups”— Frank Aydelotte (see page 20). The institution of the Honors Pro- alumni support, student support, and College advisory and sup- gram and Aydelotte’s determination to bring the intercollegiate port. As their names imply, each working group has taken on a set Athletics Program under the control of the College caused many of projects that focuses on the needs of the constituent. The alumni alumni to question the direction of their alma mater. Efforts were group supports made on both sides to close the gap. communications, For its part, the Alumni Association, under President William alumni career serv- Tomlinson ’17,began publication of The Garnet Letter, the precursor ices, awards, and “If we didn’t to this magazine, in 1935. During the next two years, a Joint Com- Connections mittee on College-Alumni Relations worked out a plan to reorgan- organizations in 13 have an Alumni ize the association with an elected Alumni Council as its central cities. The student governing body. One of its first initiatives was to urge the College support group to hire a professional alumni secretary. Carl Dellmuth ’31 began concentrates on Council, we’d have this work in 1938, and his office was the foundation of Swarth- connecting stu- more’s current alumni relations, public relations, and development dents with alumni, to invent one.” programs. career networking, Another initiative was to obtain alumni representation on the and the highly suc- Board, which then—unlike today’s Board—had many nonalumni cessful Externship Program. The College advisory group assists the (largely leaders of the Society of Friends) among its members. The Admissions and Development offices in finding alumni volunteers Board agreed, and the council recommended Thomas McCabe ’15, and has provided input and alumni representatives for several cam- who became the first Alumni Manager—and later the first non- pus committees. (Detailed descriptions of these and other initia- Quaker to be its chairman. tives may be found at the council Web site http://www.swarth- In an examination of the role of the association in 1948, Presi- more.edu/alumni/alumni_council.html.) dent John Nason described it as follows: Since the Board of Managers’ December 2000 decision to elim- inate football and wrestling from the Athletics Program, members It is assumed that an Alumni Association exists to serve two of the council have made a concerted effort to involve alumni more purposes. The first is to promote and facilitate those gather- closely as a sounding board in the decision-making processes of ings of alumni, which bring together old friends, renew old the College. This is “complicated,” says Riggs, who now serves as a acquaintances, and revive the sentiments of loyalty and affec- Term Manager. “Because of the depth of Board members’ involve- SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 80 regularly with the executive com- mittee of the council and members, and the executive committee of the Board of Managers has also begun to meet annually with council mem- bers to exchange ideas. Some would like to go much fur- ther in involving alumni in the gov- ernance of the College. Marshall Schmidt ’47,president of the Alum- ni Association from 1971 to 1973 and now a member of Mind the Light, acknowledges that the Board of Managers has “always been self- selected” but thinks that “alumni participation in the Board should be free and open. I would like to see at least one third of the Board elect- ed directly by alumni.”

ʼ 67 The Alumni Council is active in proposing names for Board nomi- nation. There are currently eight persons designated as Alumni Managers serving four-year terms STEVEN GOLDBLATT on the Board—about a quarter of ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT RICH TRUITT PRESIDES AT THE 2002 its members. In addition, there are ALUMNI COLLECTION. ONE IMPORTANT ACTIVITY OF THE ALUMNI COUNCIL IS three Young Alumni Managers who have graduated within the past TO SPONSOR TWO AWARDS EACH YEAR—THE SHANE AWARD FOR ALUMNI 10 years, selected by the Board’s Nominating Committee. The presi- dent of the Alumni Association also serves as an ex-officio member SERVICETOTHECOLLEGEANDTHEARABELLACARTERAWARDFORALUMNI of the Board, and many former association presidents have gone on SERVICEINTHEIRHOMECOMMUNITIES. to become Term Managers. ment—and the fact that currently all Managers are alumni—it’s he council is most visible to students and alumni through its easy for them to understand the rationale for certain decisions. But Tservice functions. Its successful Externship Program, initiated the Alumni Council can and does provide an important perspective in the early 1970s and revived in the 1990s, placed 150 students in on how others might see the Board’s actions.” externships during this year’s winter break. The program is sup- In fall 2001, the council arranged for meetings between mem- ported by the Alumni Relations and Career Services offices at the bers of the Board and administration and representatives of Mind College. But recruitment of sponsors, hosts, and placement of stu- the Light, an alumni and parents group critical of both the outcome dents is handled by an active group of volunteers headed by Cyn- and process of the athletics decision. One result of those meetings thia Norris Graae ’62 and Nanine Meiklejohn ’68. Another recent was an ad hoc committee to study the history and uses of consen- initiative was to contact alumni and parents living abroad, asking sus decision making at the College. That committee reported to the them to provide support for the increasing number of Swarthmore Board of Managers at its meeting in February (see “Update,” p. 41). students who study outside the United States each semester. Governance issues and the role of alumni in affecting College The council has also sponsored career-networking dinners, policy will continue to be debated. “The controversy over athletics bringing alumni in various fields to campus and introducing them gave the council greater visibility and there for more opportunity to to students interested in those professions. In 2002, more than 80 be of service to the alumni and the College,” says Truitt. students attended these dinners. Alan Symonette, a professional arbitrator and the first African Elenor Reid thinks that this relationship between the council American to head the Alumni Association (the first woman, the late and the College is “a wonderful model for the undergraduates—to Ruth Wilcox Mahler ’49 was elected in 1975), sees the council as see all these alumni who come back to campus and want to be of “more active these days, more involved as a resource for the admin- service.” istration and the Board.” He points out that Alumni Managers now Former Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Maralyn meet regularly with the executive committee of the council and that Orbison Gillespie ’49, who observed and shepherded the Alumni the nominating committees of both the council and Board have Council for more than 30 years, sums up: “If we didn’t have an “refined the process” of selecting Alumni Managers, giving a Alumni Council, we’d have to invent one. It’s a sounding board, stronger voice to the council. President Alfred H. Bloom has met especially in times of controversy or crisis.” T M A R C H 2 0 0 3 P i c t u r e Y o u r s e l f H e r e It’s a warm, sunny day on Parrish Beach. A gentle breeze is blowing across the campus, which is never more beautiful than in spring. The Adirondack chairs beckon. You are deep in conversation with an old friend.

What could be better?

A l u m n i W e e k e n d

J u n e 6 – 8 ʼ 63 PAINTING BY BARBARA SEYMOUR