H a v i n g a B a l l The Folk-Dance Tradition Continues ON THE COVER: 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: A CARPET OF DAFFODILS SPREADS ACROSS MAGILL WALK IN EARLY 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 mong people who work with college and university alumni, there’s a saying about how alumni view change at their institutions: “Anything before their era is Aquaint—anything after is heresy.” Of course, Swarthmore alumni know better. Swarthmore They know that the College’s history is the story of change. By studying the past, we are COLLEGEBULLETIN able not only to understand these events but also learn more about how to approach con- temporary challenges. Editor: Jeffrey Lott I’m known around the office as a Swarthmore history buff. When I applied for this job Managing Editor: Andrea Hammer 13 years ago, I knew nothing of the College—in fact, I had to consult a map to get to my Class Notes Editor: Carol Brévart-Demm first interview. But the very first task I completed after being hired was to read Richard Assistant Editor: Angela Doody Walton’s Informal History of Swarthmore College (Swarthmore College, 1986) and a lovely Staff Writer: Alisa Giardinelli little book of College lore called Swarthmore Remembered (Swarthmore College, 1964). I’ve Desktop Publishing: Audree Penner been delving into College history ever Art Director: Suzanne DeMott Gaadt, Gaadt Perspectives LLC since. One of the first editorial changes I PARLORTALKThere are a Administrative Assistant: made in the Bulletin was to add a regular Janice Merrill-Rossi surprising number of history and nostalgia department, “Back Intern: Elizabeth Redden ’05 Pages,” and we have done regular feature Editor Emerita: books about this articles on various aspects of College history. Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 Vice President Dan West shares my Contacting Swarthmore College passion for the past. Since he arrived at small college— College Operator: (610) 328-8000 the College in 1999, we have had many www.swarthmore.edu a testament to its conversations about Swarthmore’s history Admissions: (610) 328-8300 and how, from its Quaker founders to [email protected] Alumni Relations: (610) 328-8402 rich history and today’s leaders, key people and decisions [email protected] have shaped the character of the College. Publications: (610) 328-8568 powerful impact on Last summer, we both read Frances Blan- [email protected] shard’s Frank Aydelotte of Swarthmore Registrar: (610) 328-8297 [email protected] American education. (Wesleyan University Press, 1970), a biog- World Wide Web raphy of President Frank Aydelotte. Dan www.swarthmore.edu suggested that the Bulletin publish an article about the man he calls “Swarthmore’s defin- ing president”; not wasting a moment, I suggested that he write it. The result (“Frank Changes of Address Send address label along Aydelotte: Architect of Distinction,” p. 20) is a fascinating look at how Swarthmore with new address to: became the academic powerhouse it is today. Alumni Records Office Dan’s article is not the only bit of history in this issue. Folk dancing at Swarthmore Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue (“Stepping and Shifting,” p. 14) has its roots in the 1940s—a long tradition that contin- Swarthmore PA 19081-1390 ues to enrich the lives of students and alumni. And today’s activist Alumni Council Phone: (610) 328-8435. Or e-mail: (“Come Together,” p. 80) also dates to the first half of the 20th century. [email protected]. There are a surprising number of books about this small college—a testament to its The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN rich history and powerful impact on American education. (A brief bibliography is offered 0888-2126), of which this is volume C, number 4, is published in August, Sep- with Dan West’s article at www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/mar03/aydelotte.) Three more tember, December, March, and June by books of interest to Swarthmoreans are soon to be published. A scholarly biography of Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1390. Periodicals President Courtney Smith (1953–1969) by Donna and Darwin Stapleton ’69 is in prepa- postage paid at Swarthmore PA and additional mailing offices. Permit No. ration at the University of Delaware Press. The 75th anniversary of the Scott Arboretum 0530-620. Postmaster: Send address will be celebrated by a pictorial history to be published later this year. And a new book of changes to Swarthmore College Bulletin, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA essays called The Meaning of Swarthmore is in its early editorial stages. For history buffs like 19081-1390. me, it’s going to be a good year. ©2003 Swarthmore College SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN —Jeffrey Lott Printed in U.S.A. 2 LETTERS 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 ROLL UP OUR SLEEVES 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 NOT THE WHOLE STORY 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.