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Teacher, conductor, performer, James Freeman moves easily between the academic world and the g litte r of the Boston Pops. SENIORS SHOOT SUPERSPY SPOOF Resurrecting a tradi­ Darko Tresnjak ’88 (Count Darcula), Janet Erlick ’88 tion that has been in hiatus for the past few years, (Ms. Glasnost), Thad Wengert *91 (Thug), Jeff Peterson members of the senior class created a James Bond ’91 (Pathetic Prey), and Michael Breakey '88 (James spoof on video this spring. The plot of From Customs Bond). Middle row: Raul Cuza ’91 (cameraman), W ith Lo v e revolves around the College food service Jeremy Eisenberg '88 (director), Evan Wittenberg ’91 poisoning the Board of Managers so the Russians can (Felix Leiter). Reclining is Michele McDonald '89 (Miss take control of Swarthmore to return it to its Kremlin- Moneypenny). Whether or not this epic does boffo on-the-Crum days. Cast and crew include (back row) box-office biz remains to be seen. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN I MAY 1988 2 . u Making A Case For Culture Mary Schmidt Campbell ’69 hopes visitors to New York City will be “assaulted” by the arts. W—ülH By Linda Barrett Osborne ’71 j 5 Movie Moguls Two Swarthmore seniors light the marquee, pop the com, and Æ | | | | f l restore the romance o f the silver screen in nearby Media. By Lauren Woodward ’88 7 Inside The Boston Pops The elegance and charm o f the Pops Esplanade Orchestra’s summer performances reflect the spirit of its members. By James Freeman 10 The Lost Children Recalling the harrowing struggle of Alfred Swan to save 850 starving children in the dark days o f the Russian Revolution. m l By J ane Ballard Swan ’47 16 Friendships That Never Stop Beginning Are the friendships formed in the intense undergraduate years at Swarthmore exceptional, even extraordinary? s By Lydia Razran Hooke ’64 Editor: | 2 3 Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 Managing Editor: Intramural Sports Roger Williains Why students benefit from the body and mind rigors o f the Assistant Managing Editor: intramural sports program.. Kate Downing By Phil Weiser ’90 Copy Editor: Ann D. Geer Class Notes Editor: Nancy Curran i 2 4 Designer: Bob Wood Gomer Davies and the Tunnel of Light Cover: Photo by Steven Goldblatt ’67. A t the end of a thirty-six-year career, Gomer Davies reflects on p i sports, education, the good life, and politics. The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN 0888-2126), o f which this is volume DEPARTMENTS LXXXV, number 5, is published in Sep­ tember, October, January, February, May, 27 The College and July by Swarthmore College, Swarth­ 32 Class Notes more, PA 19081. Second class postage paid at Swarthmore, PA, and additional 35 Deaths _!■■■■ »L V / 1 mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address 57 Letters to the Editor changes to Swarthmore College Bulletin, Swarthmore, PA 19081. Making the Case On the eve of announced bud­ get cuts for New York, Mary Schmidt Campbell ’69, the city’s new commissioner of cul­ tural affairs, is on the phone with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center, with the New York Botanical Gardens, the Bronx Zoo, and Carnegie Hall—with most of the major organizations that stand for culture, not only in New York but throughout the country. “I called every one of the thirty-two institutions to which we give basic operating sup­ port,” she explains. “I think people deserve to know as quickly as possible, and in a very personal way, the impact on them. I have a very deep respect and love for these insti­ tutions. As organizations of in­ dividuals and resources in New York, they are just extraordi­ nary. Since I’ve been appointed commissioner, I’ve been con­ tinually surprised and delighted by the cultural diversity, by the sheer excellence of so many groups, large and small. I’m taking on the battle for them, but I don’t mind at all.” She pauses, then laughs and leans forward. “I must tell you, I actually enjoy this. I do. I have Mary Schmidt Campbell ’69 on campus for her first meeting o f the Board o f Managers. some very definite ideas about the value of culture in the city, not only in tan’s Children’s Museum, meet with officials to cut the library, cut parks maintenance, or the educational arena, but also for neighbor­ of the Women’s Interart Center, give a cut cultural affairs. But my feeling is that art hood development—the idea of using the speech to the American Crafts Council, and is an essential service. Cultural life gives growth of institutions as a focal point in stop in at Chinatown’s New York History people the tools to manage their lives by ex­ economically fragile communities. In prepa­ Project. She administers an annual $133 panding their vision and stimulating ideas. ration for the executive budget, I’ll get to million budget, which includes grants to 400 “But I can’t say things like ‘Art is good for make my case to the mayor. My work is cut New York City arts groups for free and the soul,” ’ she continues. “You find very out for me between now and April 15.” subsidized exhibitions, concerts, and perfor­ quickly that rhapsodic and anecdotal argu­ Sworn in as commissioner on Oct. 1, mances, as well as support for the thirty-two ments get nowhere with the Office of Man­ three weeks before her 40th birthday, Camp­ main institutions. agement and Budget. My challenge is to bell has already assumed a demanding She is an articulate advocate on behalf of convert those arguments into quantitative schedule that has her networking with cul­ all these groups for continued funding of the and statistical terms that are every bit as tural organizations, community groups, and arts and sciences. “One of the things we compelling as the sort of spiritual language government agencies throughout the city. In always lobby against is the idea that culture we all like to use. I have to say, ‘Look, these a typical week she might visit Staten Island’s and art are the frills,” observes Campbell. fourth graders are able to quote from The Snug Harbor Arts Complex, tour Manhat­ “In a time of fiscal constraint, it’s tempting Tempest.’ I have to be able to say how many By Linda Barrett Osborne 71 The new commissioner of not only of the Studio Museum, but of about yourself there,” says Campbell. cultural institutions like the Dance Theatre The Campbells traveled throughout east cultural affairs enjoys the of Harlem, Harlem School of the Arts, Boys’ and west Africa and even into Rhodesia battles and is amassing Choir, and Jazz-mobile. (now Zimbabwe), where they observed an “I think these kinds of organizations were apartheid system in action. Garikai was a remarkable number a legacy of the civil rights movement,” she born in Zambia. of victories says. “Arthur Mitchell was on his way to “Because he was firstborn and a male— Brazil when he heard of King’s death; the it was a privileged position there—his birth story is he got off the plane and came back tied us into the community in a way we of them there are and what it does for their and started Dance Theatre of Harlem. The would not otherwise have been,” she feels. reading levels and skills.” Studio Museum first opened its doors a few Yet after two years, “I felt like I was an But tackling New York City’s labyrinthine months after King’s assassination. There’s no African American, and not an African, very bureaucracy as a champion of culture seems question but that that kind of urgency and definitely. And I felt very much a proprietary the logical next step for the woman recog­ assertiveness of cultural identity was one of sense toward the United States: a real sense nized throughout the art world for trans­ the results of the civil rights movement. And of entitlement that it was mine as much as forming the Studio Museum in Harlem from I think, frankly, a lot of us who were activists it was anybody else’s, and that I had some a modest community arts project housed needed a place to put our energies.” very definite talents, and that that was where over a liquor store and fried chicken outlet Her own commitment to the civil rights I should be pursuing them. So what I dis­ to the only black fine arts museum accre­ movement, as well as to education and covered were not the things I set out to dited by the American Association of Mu­ community development, began during her discover, but they were wonderful nonethe­ seums. time at Swarthmore. As a black student in less.” Campbell had finished an M.A. in art the late ’60s, Campbell felt “a real tension” Her tenure at the Studio Museum was history and a Ph.D. in the humanities at about being at the College. “I was engaged marked also by discoveries about her role in Syracuse University and served as art editor by the whole intellectual experience,” she the art world, and there she developed a for the Syracuse New Times and as curator reflects, “but I had this feeling that something persistent, pragmatic, energetic approach to for the Everson Museum, when the Studio was happening back in the inner city, and I dealing with the realities of survival for a Museum’s board hired her to build a fine was missing it, and I wanted to be there.” cultural institution. She describes it as “my arts museum.

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