Mercy

Justice andMercyA J U R O R ’ S S T O R Y

Features14 : 101 Ways to Be aSwarthmoreanA to-do list from the Class of 2005By Elizabeth Redden ’0520 : Seek Justice,Love MercyFinding guilt or innocence in a heartbreakinghomicide case was more thanan intellectual exercise.By Elizabeth Probasco Kutchai ’6624 : Cultural OmnivoreRead Schuchardt ’93, a “mediaecologist,” launched metaphilm.com.By Andrea Hammer26 : Jung LoveThe Myers-Briggs PersonalityIndicator—invented in Swarthmoreby an alumna—is either a useful test ora parlor game.By Paul Wachter ’97Departments3 : LettersReaders’ reactions4 : CollectionScience center dedicated30 : ConnectionsAlumni Council Scholarship32 : Class NotesClassmates’ stories37 : DeathsFriends remembered56 : In My LifeArt spills into life.By Phillip Stern ’8460 : Books + ArtsWilliam Cohen ’85 and Ryan Johnsonedit the collection of essays Filth: Dirt,Disgust, and Modern Life.72 : Q + AHeather Dumigan, computer Help Deskhoncho, is the calmest person on campus.By Jeffrey LottProfiles46 : Undiscovered Voices“Anonymous was a woman,”says soprano and voice teacherMary Dunlevy Sindoni ’55.By Carol Brévart-Demm54 : Making MarketsSaferArthur Gabinet ’79 of the Securitiesand Exchange Commission followsthe money.By Todd Mason67 : This Old InnEthan Devine ’99 restores a Nantucketlandmark to its former glory.By Patricia MaloneyOn the cover: One man was dead, and Elizabeth Probasco Kutchai ’66 had to help decide thefate of another. Story on page 20. Photograph by Jen Fariello.Opposite: Sculptor Jake Beckman ’05, who created (among other works) the giant Adirondackchair on Parrish lawn, left this parting note for his classmates “pinned” to the side of ParrishHall (right) on the day of their Commencement. Photograph by Eleftherios Kostans.

parlor talkThe idea of making more than one of something has always appealed tome, so, at an early age, I became fascinated by printing. As a child, Isold subscriptions—I think at $1 a year—to a weekly neighborhood“newspaper” that I produced on a toy press. Each rubber letter had to be setwith tweezers. I'm not sure how many issues I actually produced, but anextant copy hangs in my Swarthmore office. It measures 31/ 2 by 7 inches andhas two one-sentence stories—one news and one sports—for a total of 25words.I was 16 the first time I set foot inside an actual print shop, and (this willdate me) the smell of ink and hot metal lingers in my mind to this day. Theshop was on the second floor of an old building in East Liberty, a busy commercialsection of Pittsburgh—a city where molten metal wasn't uncommonat the time. One of the seniors and I, a sophomore, had gone to the press tolook at proofs of our high school newspaper, a six-page tabloid that was typeseton a clattering Linotype machine and printed on a massive flatbed letterpress.It was a mysterious, thrilling place. I was hooked.When I later became editor of the paper, I invented reasons to make extratrips to the printer, partly because it allowed my friend (who had a car) andme to leave school early but also because I loved the oily machinery andchain-smoking men who spoke theEven in thedigital age,the languageof printinghas its roots inmolten metal.2 : swarthmore college bulletinspecial language of the trade—“picas,”“kerning,” “leading,” “galleys,” “slugs,”and “fonts.” How different it is today,when these pages are composed on aMacintosh computer and transmittedto the printer over the Internet. Yetmany of the terms are still used.In fact, you may notice that this issueof the Bulletin has a new font—a termthat is now widely known through personalcomputers. Our art director,Suzanne DeMott Gaadt, has chosen onenamed “Foundry” to set our headlinesand has given our pages a fresh look. Ilove that both “font” and “foundry” areboth derived from the Latin fundere, “to pour.” Even in the digital age, the languageof printing has its roots in molten metal—and therein lies another ofthe threads of my life.As a studio art major at Middlebury College, I gravitated to intaglio printmaking,spending hours with ink up to my elbows, hand printing my etchingsand engravings in editions of 12. And, because my best friend was editor ofthe literary magazine, I also tried my hand at doing the layout—and got tovisit the magazine’s printer in nearby Burlington, Vt. Thirty-five years later,the same company, Lane Press, prints the Bulletin, and I still make occasionaltrips to Burlington. The best part remains visiting the roaring pressroom,where rolls of paper stream through offset presses a half-block long, emergingas neat stacks of signatures and the smell of ink and the heat of the dryingovens touches something deep in me. Our press run for this issue of the Bulletinis 24,000—more than one indeed.—Jeffrey LottSwarthmoreC O L L E G E B U L L E T I NEditor: Jeffrey LottManaging Editor: Andrea HammerClass Notes Editor: Carol Brévart-DemmStaff Writer: Alisa GiardinelliStaff Photographer: Eleftherios KostansDesktop Publishing: Audree PennerArt Director: Suzanne DeMott Gaadt,Gaadt Perspectives LLCAdministrative Assistant:Janice Merrill-RossiIntern: Elizabeth Redden ’05Editor Emerita:Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49Contacting Swarthmore CollegeCollege Operator: (610) 328-8000www.swarthmore.eduAdmissions: (610) 328-8300admissions@swarthmore.eduAlumni Relations: (610) 328-8402alumni@swarthmore.eduPublications: (610) 328-8568bulletin@swarthmore.eduRegistrar: (610) 328-8297registrar@swarthmore.eduWorld Wide Webwww.swarthmore.eduChanges of AddressSend address label alongwith new address to:Alumni Records OfficeSwarthmore College500 College AvenueSwarthmore PA 19081-1390Phone: (610) 328-8435. Or e-mail:alumnirecords@swarthmore.edu.The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN0888-2126), of which this is volume CII,number 5, is published in August, September,December, March, and June bySwarthmore College, 500 College Avenue,Swarthmore PA 19081-1390. Periodicalspostage paid at Swarthmore PA andadditional mailing offices. Permit No.0530-620. Postmaster: Send addresschanges to Swarthmore College Bulletin,500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA19081-1390.© 2005 Swarthmore CollegePrinted in U.S.A.

lettersETHERIDGE RINGS TRUEI’m so glad Clinton Etheridge ’69 chose toshare his tale with us in “The Crucible ofCharacter” (March Bulletin). It was good,at long last, to have a clear picture of whathappened on campus in 1969. And, givenwhat I know now (with 35 years of hindsightand also a greater insight into whatforces move—or don’t move—the College)Etheridge’s interpretation rings very true.The memoir cleared up several veryimportant things for me. I knew andadmired President Courtney Smith, and Ihad always thought that the sit-in was theproximate cause of his death—as did manyof my peers. We blamed the sit-in becausewe did not know about the postmortemexamination disclosed in the recent biographyof Smith by Darwin ’69 and DonnaStapleton. It now seems fairly evident thatSmith’s heart was a walking time bombthat might just as easily have explodedfrom the excitement of beating Haverfordin overtime.Perhaps more important, many alumnibelieved what we heard or read in thenewspapers in 1969—that the whole incidentwas fomented and led by outside agitatorswho had infiltrated the campus. Insome ways, this was more distressing thanwhat the truth appears to be because it ledus to believe that, if only Swarthmore hadbeen left alone to work out its own problems,the whole situation would have beenresolved without a crisis.How much better it is to know thedetails of what really happened and to seeexactly how the situation evolved—totallywithin the confines of the College communityand in an understandable fashion,given the times and personalities involved.ROBERT FREEDMAN ’58New YorkSWARTHMORE TRANSFORMEDAs one of the three African American malesin the Class of 1972, I was transportedback to my freshman year by reading “TheCrucible of Character.” I had been involvedin other protests before coming to Swarthmore,but this was the first time I foundmyself involved in a rational, well conceived,and historically significant action.Too often, we romanticize about thepast and our role in it, but ClintonEtheridge did none of that. As I read hisaccount, I remembered my feelings uponseeing the [Admissions Office] reportplaced in the library and realizing how easyit was to identify myself in that report. Irecall the takeover and lockup of the reardoors to the Admissions Office. I rememberbeing told that one of the campus fraternitieswas planning to drag us out—andhow unafraid I was because we were a familycommitted to a cause.I also recall how we felt at the news ofPresident Smith’s death. We wondered if itwas true, or was it a trick to get us to leavethe office? And when we verified it, Iremember that there was no question inour minds that it was time to leave. I alsoremember fondly how, once we left, theblack community took us in, fed us, andprotected us. There were difficult days followingthe death of Smith, but becauseleaders like Clinton and others in SASSmaintained the strength of their convictions,Swarthmore was forever transformed.MICHAEL HUCLES ’72Virginia Beach, Va.A THRILLERThanks for a very impressive explanationfor a controversial action. It changed myrecollection of these events—at least asthey are recalled by one of the major participants.Etheridge’s writing was like athriller that I could not put down.TONY JOSEPH ’58Sarasota, Fla.HONEST AND LOVINGThanks for “The Crucible of Character.” Iwas a freshman that year and had left thecampus to comfort a friend who had hadan abortion in Japan (!), so I was gone theweek that President Smith died.The article—and Etheridge’s clarity,wisdom, and heart—gave me a picture thatI could never have gained otherwise. Havinghad breast cancer and two other serioushealth challenges recently, I am gratefulfor his willingness to dig up a painfulpast, in part, so we can all redeem it by gettinghonest and loving before we die.I assume that Etheridge has beenthrough a lot of harassment for his role atSwarthmore, but I, for one, deeply appreciatewhat he did.MAGGIE KNOWLES ’72SeattleIMAGINATIVE ACTION, 1943We read with interest Clinton Etheridge’saccount of the crisis in 1969 involving theSwarthmore African-American StudentSociety (SASS). Perhaps more recent alumniwould be interested in knowing aboutthe first successful attempt to bring blackstudents to the College.In 1942–1943, Sam Hays was part of acommittee of students organized to considerhow to persuade the College to beginadmitting black students. The administrationtold them that the Board of Managersthought the college was not ready for sucha move. So the students decided to talkseparately with each member of the Board.The answer from each individual wasessentially the same: “I would gladly supportsuch a move, but I think there aremembers on the Board who would object.”Having received such positive responsesfrom each Board member, the studentgroup went to a full meeting of the Boardof Managers and presented their findings.This move led to the admission of a blackstudent, Walter White Jr., the next academicyear. He was well accepted as a student,but his skin was so light that he easilycould have passed as white. By 1944, thefreshman class included Betty Hunter ’48, astudent whose black heritage was moreobvious. She, too, was well accepted. Therest is history. Change comes slowly, but, inthis case, with the imaginative action of agroup of concerned students.SAMUEL HAYS ’48BARBARA DARROW HAYS ’48SeattleFor additional letters, please turn to page 70.june 2005 : 3

collectionSoaringPHOTOGRAPHS BY ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS4 : swarthmore college bulletin

collectionFarewell to This Wise, Good ManGILMORE STOTT DIES AT AGE 91.The Swarthmore community is deeply saddenedby the death of Associate ProvostEmeritus and Special Assistant to the PresidentGilmore “Gil” Stott on May 4. Hewas 91 years old on May 2 and had been abeloved member of the College staff for 55years.“Gil embodied the intellectual andhumane values of this community and,over more than five decades as teacher,dean, administrator, and beloved friendand mentor, sustained and nurtured thecontinuity of those values. His wisdom,kindness, and warmth will be greatlymissed,” President Alfred H. Bloom said.After World War II, while a doctoralcandidate at Princeton University, Stottwas an assistant to Frank Aydelotte, a formerSwarthmore president and then directorof Princeton’s Institute for AdvancedStudy and American Secretary to theRhodes Trustees. Stott, who had attendedBalliol College at Oxford University as aRhodes Scholar in 1938, remained anadministrator to the American RhodesScholarship Program until 1975.After obtaining a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1950, Stott came toSwarthmore as assistant dean of men. For the next 50 years, heserved the College in numerous capacities—director of financialaid, registrar, dean of advising and counseling, and associateprovost. He chaired the College’s Upward Bound Program, assistinglow-income high school students in preparing for college.For almost 30 years, Stott taught a course on ethics that scoresof students cite as a major influence on their lives. He was knownas an astute teacher with high academic standards, whoselengthy, single-spaced, typed critiques of students’ papers werelegendary. But he was also a caring and kindly mentor, who “hada great gift for saying the right thing at the right time,” says DavidWright ’69, a musician who, in a period ofself-doubt, had found comfort in Stott’swords. “He was the warm heart of the College,”Wright adds. “He loved life, poetry,and music, and he instilled that not only inhis family but also in us students. We werelike his extended family. His influence radiatedthroughout the campus.”Stott was a key figure during the College’scrisis of 1969—the death of thenPresident Courtney Smith during the occupationof the Admissions Office by studentsdemanding that the College admit6 : swarthmore college bulletinSwarthmore mourns the loss of teacher,counselor, administrator, and friendGilmore Stott, who died on May 4.WRITE YOUR OWN TRIBUTEThe College has set up a Web site foralumni and friends to contribute theirown remembrances of Stott. Read otherpeople’s tributes, and add your own athttp://rememberinggilstott.blogspot.-com/. Readers without Internet accessmay send their memorials by mail tothe Bulletin editor. A selection of Stotttributes will be published in the Septemberissue.BENNETT LORBER ʼ64more black students. Stott’s involvement innegotiations, including meeting with studentsthe night before the sit-in began,helped Swarthmore avoid the violence thatcharacterized similar student-led occupationsat campuses around the country atthat time. As special assistant to the president,he was at Smith’s side when he died.Although Stott officially retired 20 yearsago, he remained a constant presence inthe Dean’s Office in Parrish Hall. Up until2 years ago, as chair of the Committee forFellowships and Prizes, he continued toadvise students, including Rhodes ScholarsJacob Krich ’01 and Matthew Landreman ’03.Members of the College orchestra sincetheir arrival on campus, Stott and his wife,the late Mary Roelofs Stott ’40, encouragednot only their own children to join but alsocountless Swarthmore students along theway. They welcomed generations of theminto their home. In a letter to the editor(September 1998 Bulletin), Bennett Lorber’64 wrote: “Two weeks into my first year atSwarthmore, I found a note in my mailbox,inviting me to ‘stop by the house for a coolglass of cider after chemistry lab.’ The Stott home was my fantasyof college life come true: dark, wood-paneled rooms, the fragranceof bread baking, musical instruments everywhere, pillows made ofold carpets, happy children, invigorating conversation, and somuch laughter. I was invited to stay for dinner, and there began afriendship that I treasure to this day.”Stott’s influence extended beyond the campus. In 1968, duringhis work with the Rhodes Scholarship Program, he hosted in hishome Rhodes Scholar and then future President William Clinton,who wrote, in a letter to the editor (September 1998 Bulletin),“Thus began 30 years of correspondence with this wise, goodman—a relationship that has enriched my life and been a constantsource of encouragement.”Stott’s legacy is large. “To me, Gil representedSwarthmore at its most meaningfulbest,” Eugene Lang ’38 said. “The environmentof Swarthmore and the purpose ofany gathering was truly elevated by hispresence.”And Lorber spoke for generations ofSwarthmoreans, when he said: “I am a betterperson, thanks to his friendship. As ahuman being, he was a model of the bestwe can aspire to.”—Carol Brévart-Demm and Alisa Giardinelli

Professorial PromotionsFour faculty members were recentlypromoted from assistant to associateprofessors with continuous tenure inthe following departments: GarikaiCampbell ’90, Mathematics and Statistics;Thomas Dee ’90, Economics;Cheryl Grood, Mathematics and Statistics;and Tia Newhall, Computer Science.Promotion from associate to fullprofessorship was awarded to KarenBorbee, Physical Education and Athletics;Philip Jefferson, Economics; andRobert Paley, Chemistry and Biochemistry.Hail FellowsIn his report to the Board of Managersin May, President Alfred H. Bloom saidthat “2005 has been an exceptionalyear in student and alumni competitionfor prestigious external fellowships.”Among the awards mentioned by Bloomwere a Goldwater Scholarship (VernonChaplin ’07); a Luce Scholarship(Charles Mayer ’98); a Mitchell Scholarship(Liza Anderson ’05—see MarchBulletin); three Watson Fellowships(see page 9); three Truman Scholarships(Matthew Fiedler ’06, James Madden’06, and Jayanti Owens ’06); and aRhodes Scholarship (Tafadzwa Muguwe’05—see March Bulletin).Fees Top $40,000Student charges for a year at Swarthmorehave crossed the $40,000 barrier.In February, the Board of Managersapproved a budget for fiscal 2005–2006 that calls for total charges of$41,280 for tuition, room, board, and astudent activities fee. About half ofSwarthmore students receives needbasedassistance in the form of scholarships,loans, and work opportunities.The average award in 2004–2005 was$26,878.According to Vice President forFinance and Treasurer Suzanne Welsh,“Swarthmore’s student charges are inthe middle of our comparison group.”But, Welsh said, “the quality of ourprogram as measured in spending perstudent is higher than our peersbecause of support from the College’sendowment,” which provides thelargest portion of Swarthmore’sbudget—about 48 percent in theyear ahead.Photos That ThinkThey’re PaintingsJustin Belmont ’05, an honors art historymajor, has founded and manages a successfulon-line art gallery that specializes inlimited-edition prints of digital photographs—mountedon stretched canvas likepaintings. Under the trademark “PhotosThat Think They’re Paintings,” the worksin Belmont’s gallery are created using thegiclée technique, allowing digital photographsto be “painted” onto artist’s canvas.“Up to now, giclée has been essentiallyconfined to fine-art reproduction. Ithought it would be great to use the mediumin the creation of original artwork,”Belmont says.Belmont’s Web site, www.artocity.com,exhibits both his own work and that of aninternational selection of award-winningphotographers from all over the world,including Iranian Babak Habibi,Barcelona-based Damian Bartoncello, andLarry Schall Named Presidentof Oglethorpe UniversityCollege Vice PresidentLawrence Schall'75 has been namedthe new president ofOglethorpe Universityin Atlanta. Schallleaves Swarthmoreafter 15 years of serviceas associate vicepresident for facilitiesand services and,Larry Schallmore recently, as vice president for administration.Praising Schall’s appointment, PresidentAlfred H. Bloom said: "Larry oversawthe physical transformation of the College,addressing decades of deferred maintenance;coordinating the design and constructionof Kohlberg Hall, the Mullan TennisCenter, and the science center; renovatingTrotter and Parrish halls; renewing ourutility systems; laying our technologicalinfrastructure; and making the campusbroadly accessible to the physically disabled.He shaped an environment andservices that make possible the joy andJIM GRAHAMBelmont creates pictures such as TheRed Hat using the giclée technique,allowing digital photographs to be“painted” onto artist’s canvas.New Yorker Alan Little. Paintings are soldto both private and corporate clients, whocan choose canvas sizes from 15 by 10 to40 by 60 inches, with prices ranging from$49 to $675.In March, an exhibit of some of theseworks took place at the Kitao Gallery oncampus. The profit from sales at the showwas donated to the student-run GenocideIntervention Fund.—Carol Brévart-Demmquality of teaching, learning, and living onthis campus and built a terrific team thatwill sustain that accomplishment.”Schall, who received both a J.D. andEd.D. from the University of Pennsylvania,is a former civil rights lawyer. In additionto his duties at Swarthmore, Schall hasserved as co-director of the Executive DoctorateProgram in Higher Education Managementat the University of Pennsylvania.Oglethorpe, chartered in 1835, is a selectiveco-educational college of approximately1,100 undergraduates.—Jeffrey LottLaunce Flemister DiesLauncelot Flemister Jr., professor emeritusof zoology, died on Feb. 17 in St. Augustine,Fla. He taught comparative physiology atthe College from 1947 to 1979. Flemisterwas born in 1913 in Atlanta and educatedat Duke University, where he received aPh.D. in 1941. He was a fellow of the AmericanAcademy for the Advancement of Scienceand a member of the American PhysiologicalSociety and the American Societyof Zoologists. He is survived by his wifeMildred Beckham Flemister. His first wife,Sarah, died in 1990.june 2005 : 7

collectionSwarthmore and theWorldWhile in Beirut this spring, Saed Atshanattended numerous protests, some ofwhich garnered crowds of a millionpeople. He took this photo in front ofthe national parliament building.Dispatch from the Middle EastCOURTESY OF SAED ATSHAN ʼ06Editor’s Note: Saed Atshan, a double majorin political science and Middle Eastern Studies,is a junior from Ramallah, Palestine,where he attended Quaker schools. Withsupport from the Lang Center for Civic andSocial Responsibility last summer, heaccepted an internship from the AmericanCivil Liberties Union (ACLU) to work withthe Immigrant’s Rights Project in California.That decision ultimately led to his servingas an interpreter for investigators into torturecases at Abu Ghraib, an experience heoffered to share with the Bulletin. He wroteto us this spring from Lebanon, where hewas studying at the American University ofBeirut. Atshan has subsequently been chosenas a Lang Opportunity Scholar and willintern at Human Rights Watch in Washington,D.C., this summer.I will never forget seeing some of the AbuGhraib prison photographs when they firstappeared in the international press. Likemost people across the globe, I wasshocked and horrified and tried to rationalizehow humans can treat other humansso inhumanely. I also remember feelinghelpless and powerless. So many of us hadassumed that the days of Saddam Husseinand torture were over, yet we now had toconfront the ironic reality that the painand agony of the Iraqi people was notgoing to end anytime soon.When Cecillia Wang, an ACLU attorneythat I worked very closely with, asked me toassist with the Abu Ghraib case, I did noteven hesitate to agree. As a Palestinian, it isdifficult to be optimistic when it comes tothe current state of the world and thedirection that the Middle East is headed in,but the ACLU internship really providedme with a door of hope. It made me soexcited to feel like I could actually helpmake a difference by giving a voice to—andpursuing justice for—those who areoppressed.When we initially began to contact thetorture victims, I did not know what toexpect. At first, all I heard was the voices ofstrangers, but I soon discovered that theywere voices filled with trauma and pain.When we interviewed the victims, we hadto relay our sympathy and frame our questionswith the utmost sensitivity. Recallingthe torture they endured was painful forthem, especially when they narratedepisodes of sexual humiliation. When Iinterpreted, it was not acceptable to translateverbatim. I often had to offer condolencesat times or words and sounds ofcomfort. Most of the plaintiffs wereextremely skeptical of who we were andwhat we were doing, but they eventuallysensed that we empathized with them. Asa Palestinian, I have also experienced lifeunder military occupation and have familymembers who suffered in Israeli prisons. Ibelieve this helped me connect well withthe Iraqis.Abdel-Rahman, the main plaintiff,would never answer the phone, but his wifeor daughter always would. They looked forwardto our calls and often complainedabout the sweltering summer heat in Iraqand the lack of water and electricity. WhenI met them in person, I got to know thembetter. Abdel-Rahman even told me that Ihad become a member of the family. I wasreally touched. Later that fall, we receivednews that Abdel-Rahman was shot andkilled in front of his home in Baghdad. Noone knows who was responsible for hisdeath.I am still in touch with his some of theclients, particularly with the youngest one,who is afraid of revealing his name. He was19 last summer, only 1 year younger thanme, and I connected with him the most.Meeting him made me so grateful, especiallyas a Palestinian, for my life’s directionwhen juxtaposed to his.I grew extremely close to the clients,and it broke my heart when time came todepart. Hearing their stories in person andhaving to look them in the eyes, made cryingvery difficult to resist at times.The ACLU, in partnership withHuman Rights First, filed the case onMarch 1 on behalf of both Iraqis andAfghanis tortured in U.S. custody. Thereare four named plaintiffs from each country.Trials are currently taking place, andall we can do is hope that justice will ultimatelyprevail.—Saed Atshan ’068 : swarthmore college bulletin

A 15-year-old girl (center), living alone ina tent and sleeping on sand witha couple of blankets, told Nyombayire(right) that she had been rapedand had watched her parentsbeing murdered.Shocked Into Action“The most shocking thing was the sight of the tents, stretching asfar as you could see, set up in the middle of nowhere,” saysStephanie Nyombayire ’08 of her visit to the Chad-Sudan borderearlier this year as a correspondent for mtvU, MTV’s campus televisionnetwork. A Rwandan native, Nyombayire traveled to Chad withtwo other students, from Georgetown and Boston universities, tofilm a documentary and report on the crisis in Sudan.The five camps they visited sheltered anywhere from 16,000 to100,000 refugees each. Nyombayire says that many of the refugeestold similar stories—of being chased by militia or planes droppingbombs. One 15-year-old girl she met at a food distribution centerwas living alone in a tent, sleeping on sand with a couple of blankets.“You couldn’t imagine how a 15-year-old could live like that,”Nyombayire says. “She wept as she talked of watching her parentsbeing murdered and then having to walk alone and without food for40 days to safety.”Nyombayire thinks of the mtvU team’s role as that of messenger,bringing the people’s stories to the attention of the media and thegovernment. During the 1994 Rwanda genocide, Nyombayire wasliving in Congo but returned when she was 8 to find that both hermaternal grandparents, her mother’s brother, and other familymembers and friends had perished. Nyombayire serves as the outreachdirector of the College’s student-led Genocide InterventionFund.—Carol Brévart-DemmMTVU PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION FROM MTVU, © 2005 MTV NETWORKSArtists AbroadOf the 50 Thomas J. Watson Fellowships awarded nationwidethis year, three were garnered by Swarthmore seniors RebeccaMonarrez, Emiliano Rodriguez, and Derrick Wansom. They willreceive funding for a year of independent study and travel abroad.Monarrez, an art major and English literature minor, will studylandscape painting in Mexico, Spain, and France. She plans toresearch the Mexican painter Diego Rivera, tracking his developmentfrom an artist whose formal artistic training was based inEuropean traditions to one whose works have become iconic ofMexican nationality. “I want to examine the way that space/placeis created in landscape paintings and how the colonial relationshipbetween Europe and Mexico affected the depiction of land.I’ll be able to devote an entire year to painting and traveling. Asan emerging artist, that is an exceptional opportunity,” she says.Honors political science major and philosophy minorRodriguez, also an accomplished cellist, plans to study nationalistmusic in Spain, Argentina, and Brazil. He says: “I know very littleabout the styles and composers in these countries, so I’m justaiming to soak up as much music as I can in four months. Ilooked for countries that had formal classical music traditionsthat were influenced by folk music.”Wansom, an honors Chinese language and literature majorand honors biology minor, will also follow a musical path, exploringhip-hop cultures in Japan, China, and Korea. He is excitedabout devoting a whole year to the music, dance, art, and lifestyleof hip-hop, an important part of his life since elementary school.“Not only will I be living and learning hip-hop,” he says, “but I’llbe doing it in the entirely different context of East Asia. I want tosee how each culture adapts, internalizes, and redefines hip-hop,meet the innovators of new styles, and meet people who share mypassion.”—Carol Brévart-DemmGraduating seniors Emiliano Rodriguez, Rebecca Monarrez,and Derrick Wansom (left to right) will pursue their artisticinterests abroad next year as Watson Fellows.ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANSjune 2005 : 9

collectionJIM GRAHAMA Legacy of ChangeWhen Charles “Chuck” James was appointed associate professorof English literature in 1973, Swarthmore had just two otherAfrican American faculty members on campus—ProfessorsKathryn Morgan, now Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professor Emeritaof History, and Jerome Wood, both in the History Department.Arriving just a few years after the black admissions crisis of 1969,James remembers the sense of urgency among the African Americanstudents, faculty, and staff to establish a greater identity oncampus. He was the first African American faculty member toreceive tenure at Swarthmore, first to serve as chair of a departmentand the Division of the Humanities, and first to be electedto many College committees.In 1983, James became professor of English literature and, in1997, was appointed to the Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professorshipin the Humanities. He retires this spring, to be followed inDecember by his wife of 45 years, Jane James, academic computingcoordinator in Information Technology Services.Since his arrival at Swarthmore, James has worked tirelessly toexpand the African American presence on campus. Currently, theCollege employs 11 African American faculty members, all ofwhom are tenured. Thanks, in large part, to James, “today, theBlack Studies Program has more concentrators than some departmentshere,” Professor of English Literature and DepartmentChair Peter Schmidt says.James has taught courses on African American and BlackAfrican literature and writing, satire and irony, autobiography,and realism as well as the seminars Modern Black Fiction, whichexamines Caribbean and African literatures, and The Harlem Renaissance.Recipient of numerous awards and prolific author of articlesand books on African American literature, including the criticalanthology From the Roots: Short Stories by Black Americans, Jameswas honored April 14 with a lecture by Daphne Lamothe, professorof Afro-American studies at Smith College.“Chuck is known for his kindness to students and his quietleadership,” Schmidt says. “He broadened and diversified the literaturecurriculum, grew black studies, and was the single mostimportant leader for the Mellon [now Mellon Mays] MinorityUndergraduate Fellowship Program—it is quite a legacy.”—Carol Brévart-DemmMusic ManMusic librarian George Huber, retiring this year, works in anoffice whose walls and 300 square feet of floor space are filledwith his collections of kaleidoscopes, original paintings, framedpieces of his own handmade, patterned paper, books, and stacksof CDs. The 14-foot square window looks out into the Crum—one of the loveliest views on campus.When Huber first came to Swarthmore in 1964 as an assistantin the circulation department of the main library, books werehoused in three-story, freestanding stacks, anchored to a concretebase. The floors consisted of semi-opaque glass, square blocksthat extended to the edge of the stacks but didn’t quite touchthem. “There was a space,” he says, “between where the floorstopped and the stacks began. Occasionally, books would fallthrough from one floor to the other, and the dim shadow of feetcrossing on the floor above could be perceived, along with thesound of shoes walking on glass. Notes could be passed throughthe cracks, from one student to another.”That was 41 years ago. In 1974, Huber was appointed librarianof the Daniel Underhill Music Library in Lang Music Building,which had opened in 1973. The library houses more than 20,000volumes on music and dance, and music faculty members trustHuber to buy what they want. “They hardly make suggestions anymore because they know I’ve already bought it,” he says.He is also devoted to helping the students. “That’s the sad partabout leaving,” he says. Students often need assistance using thecatalog in a music library because there are so many editions ofthe same piece. “We have 83 Haydn quartets, with more than oneedition of a lot of them—then there are all the different recordings—andthey’re all quartets. Music is the only subject that hasthis problem.”Huber praises the tricollege cooperation with Haverford andBryn Mawr colleges, greatly facilitated by a shared database.“We’re trying to make, in theory, a kind of university library bycombining the [holdings of the three] and not duplicating whateach has.”As a theater, music, and book lover, Huber is not worriedabout filling his retirement years with activities. “I’m thinking,OK, I’ve been here 40 years. I might as well go and give somebodyelse a chance.”—Carol Brévart-DemmCAROL BREVART-DEMM10 : swarthmore college bulletin

Women’s tennis (12–6, 10–0) Swarthmoreranked No. 25 in Division III andwon its third Centennial Conference (CC)Championship in five seasons. Swarthmorecompleted the conference TripleCrown as Sonya Reynolds ’07 won her firstCC singles’ championship, and the tandemof Elli Suzuki ’06 and Sara Sargent ’07won the CC doubles’ title. The womenqualified for the NCAA Tournament for thethird consecutive year but fell 9–0 in thefirst round to third-ranked Washington &Lee in Lexington, Va.Men’s tennis (8–11) The Garnet ranked14th in Division III and advanced to theNCAA Tournament for the 29th time in 30years. Swarthmore was selected to host thefirst two rounds of the Atlantic SouthRegional, and the Garnet advanced intothe second round by outlasting WashingtonCollege 4–3. In round two, the team fellto the No. 16 ranked Mary Washington,4–1. Freshman Jon Lo picked up the loneSwarthmore point at fourth singles.Baseball (5–23, 3–15) Jared Leiderman’05 was named to the first team All-Conferencesquad for leading the Garnet pitchingstaff. The workhorse right-hander threw aconference-leading 80.1 innings with 84strikeouts, for a career total of 225 K’s, thefifth highest in conference history and secondbest in Swarthmore history. OutfielderScott Young ’06 led the team with 28 hitsand a .286 batting average. Second-basemanPatrick Christmas ’08 (.261 average)provided quality play in the infield.Golf (sixth at CC Championship) Swarthmore’sgolf team claimed victories at theWilmington Invitational and the Rutgers-Camden Invitational, stringing togetherfive wins in eight matches in the month ofApril. The Garnet ranked fourth in the CCin stroke average (325.29). Eric Zwick ’07finished sixth at the conference championshipshosted at par-71 Heritage Hills inYork, Pa., carding a 3-day total of 233(82–75–76). The Garnet shot 323 on thefinal day to finish sixth overall with a 969.Mike Cullinan ’06 shot a 242 total to place14th overall, and Matt Draper ’05 shot 80in his final collegiate round, posting a totalof 249.Men’s lacrosse (6–8, 2–6) Tri-captainsTim Chryssikos ’05, an attackman, andCharlie Sussman ’05, a defenseman, werespringsportsZach Rodd ’06 keeps his head down asBrian Park ’06 serves during a doublesmatch against Washington College inthe first round of the Atlantic SouthRegionals, held at Swarthmore in May.selected to the All-Conference squad.Chryssikos, a second-team selection, ledthe Garnet with 26 goals and 26 assists,ranking third in the CC in assists andfourth in scoring with 3.71 points per game.Senior midfielder and tri-captain TomCoughlin finished second on the team thisseason with 30 points, scoring 16 goals togo along with 14 assists.ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANSWomen’s lacrosse (9–8, 2–7) Cara Tigue’06, the team’s top defender, earned secondteamAll-Conference honors for the secondconsecutive year, and Lindsay Roth ’07directed the offensive attack, scoring ateam-leading 35 goals and 6 assists for 41points. Roth ranked ninth in the CC ingoals per game (2.25). Senior attackerEleanor Forbes had her best college seasonin 2005, finishing second on the team with24 goals and 31 points.Softball (10–26, 4–12) CenterfielderMary Mintel ’05 proved vital to the Garnetoffense once again, leading the team inbatting (.324), slugging (.529), hits (33),runs (16), home runs (4), and RBIs (15).Catcher Christina Procacci ’06 broke theCC record for walks (35), posting a team—and conference—leading .518 on-base percentage.Freshman shortstop Katie Goldwas fourth in the CC with 12 stolen bases.Pitcher Marianne Klingaman ’07 led theteam with five wins (including a pair of1–0 complete game shutouts), and posteda 2.45 earned-run average. The team accumulateddouble-digit wins in consecutiveseasons for the first time since 1992.Men’s track and field (ninth at CC Championship)At the conference meet, Swarthmore’s4x800 relay team of Paul Thibodeau’06, Duncan Gromko ’07, Keefe Keeley ’06,and Vernon Chaplin ’07 finished in 7:58.84to win the bronze medal. Chaplin also wona bronze in the 1,500-meter run, running atime of 4:01.54 to pace the Garnet to aninth-place finish. Garrett Ash ’05 ranfourth in the 10,000 with a time of32:29.82, and Matt Singleton ’07 finishedfifth in the pole vault, clearing 12’6”.Women’s track and field (10th at CCChampionship) The 4x800 relay won goldfor the second straight year at the CC meetas the quartet of Debbie Farrelly ’06, SarahHobbs ’06, Kavita Hardy ’08, and ElizabethGardner ’05 ran the relay in a time of9:36.21. Samantha Graffeo ’07 won the silvermedal in the shot put with a toss of 35’11 1 /2” pacing the Garnet to a 10th-place finish.Rebecca Burrow ’08 set a school recordin the pole vault by clearing 9’ 1 /4” to placefourth and Jessica Zagory ’05 set a personalbest in the high jump, leaping 5’ 1 /2” to finishin fourth place.—Kyle Leachjune 2005 : 11

parrishInside Parrish HallA T I M E O FR E N E W A LA N DC H A L L E N G EBOB KRISTAs construction workers, painters, andtechnicians swarmed throughout ParrishHall in May, a 1-year effort to claim a $1million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundationwas nearing its halfway mark. Dan West,vice president for alumni, development, and publicrelations, announced in June that the funddrive for renovation of the historic building hadraised nearly $1.8 million on its way to $4 millionneeded by Dec. 31 to obtain the Kresge match.More than 50 volunteers are asking their fellowalumni for help with the challenge (see box).Volunteers were saddened by the May 4 death ofGilmore Stott, honorary chairman of the effort(see page 6). But Jack Riggs ’64, committee cochair,said “meeting this challenge and completingthe Parrish project were important to Gil. Heworked for more than 50 years in this building,and it held a lot of memories for him—as it doesfor all of us.”The College is bringing the building up tomodern standards for safety, accessibility, andcommunications. New exit stairwells and elevatorsare being installed. A new College post office andstudent lounge will open in September in the formerAdmissions Office. (Admissions will move to the secondfloor.) Also on the building’s ground floor will bestudent services such as the Dean’s, Financial Aid,and Career Services offices. Halls are gettingimproved lighting and bulletin boards, and ParrishParlors will be refurbished and returned to traditionaluses as a place for studying and informal meetings.In recognition of its aesthetic and symbolic value, fewchanges will be made to the building’s exterior. AndParrish will continue as a desirable residence hall,accommodating 112 students on the third and fourthfloors.The $18.4 million project also includes remodelingSproul Observatory as an alumni center andendowing the future maintenance of both Parrish andthe College’s new Alice Paul ’05 Residence Hall. Allfunds raised to claim the Kresge match—and thechallenge itself—will be counted as part of TheMeaning of Swarthmore, the College’s 7-year, $230million comprehensive campaign.Still the “Hub of the Swarthmore Universe”PARRISH HALL IN THE MID-1950S WAS—as itstill is today—the hub of the Swarthmoreuniverse. In addition to women's residencehalls and administration offices, it housedthe bookstore, the post office, the women'sinfirmary and laundry, some classrooms,and—hidden away at the very top—WSRNRadio.Dominating the second floor was Commons,a smoky hangout for serious bridgeplayers. And dominating the space beneathit on the first floor—filling what laterbecame admissions and will soon be thepost office and lounge—was the dininghall.Except for Clothier Memorial Hall duringmandatory weekly Collection, no othercampus facility was as effective as the dininghall at bringing students together. Fewcars were allowed on campus, a snack barin Somerville (where McCabe Library nowstands) was a sometime thing, BaltimorePike was still semirural, and the Ville didn'tcater to hungry collegians.Access to the steam tables required liningup in the first-floor hall until doorkeepersCatherine or Mildred gave the OK.Peter Schickele plays the piano in ParrishParlor (ca. 1955). A new piano willbe placed in the renovated Parlors.1955 HALCYONPeople in the queue would chat, read,study—anything to ease the boredom.When they got lucky, the Schickele brothers—Peter'57 and David '58—came to therescue with entertainment so lively thatsome students gave up their places near thedoor to hear the whole performance.With Peter at the old upright in the eastparlor, both did the vocals. Especially memorablewere their Homer & Jethro takeoffson Shakespeare, as Louis Armstrong mighthave sung them: “To beeeee or not tobeeeee-[rasp/growl] Tha's the question!”and “O, I wish I were a glove on that fairhand” as a breezy fox-trot.The Schickeles got supercreative withthe heavy fire hose hanging nearby, coaxingnot-so-dulcet tones from its long brassnozzle. Years later, after Peter had becomethe world's leading authority on P.D.Q.Bach, one had to wonder if that humblefire hose helped inspire the immortal Concertofor Horn and Hardart.—Barbara Haddad Ryan ’5912 : swarthmore college bulletin

Parrish Challenge CommitteeThe Parrish Challenge Committee is an alumnicommittee formed to oversee fund-raisingfor Parrish Hall. Representation is broadbased, ranging from the Class of 1944 to theClass of 2001 and including every geographicregion of the United States. It is the singlelargest volunteer fund-raising effort undertakenfor The Meaning of Swarthmore.The roof of Parrish Hall was temporarily open while construction workersremoved the west-center stairwell to make room for new exit stairs and anelevator. This view shows four stories of the historic structure, which wascompleted in 1869 and rebuilt entirely after an 1881 fire. The current renovationswill be completed in the fall.JIM GRAHAMHonorary ChairGilmore Stott (1914–2005)Co-ChairsBarbara Jahnel Dingfield ’66Asahi Maziwa Pompey ’94John Riggs ’64J. Lawrence Shane ’56CommitteeRichard Barasch ’75Joann Bodurtha ’74Mary Callahan ’77John Colaianni ’93Mark Dingfield ’01William Dominick II ’55Gordon Follett Jr. ’56Morgan Frankel ’76Donald Fujihira ’69Martha Salzmann Gay ’79John Gillmor ’59Cynthia Graae ’62Neil Grabois ’57Julie Lange Hall ’55Samuel Hayes III ’57Anne Batman Holder ’89Maximilian Johnson ’96Herbert Kaiser ’49Joy Sundgaard Kaiser ’51Giles Kemp ’72Louis Kislik ’52Lillian Kraemer ’61Michael Kuh ’94Frederick Kyle ’54Kendall Landis ’48Christopher Leinberger ’72Tanisha Little ’97G. Stephen Lloyd ’57Shannon O’Neill Louden ’85T. Michael Mather ’65Jay Ochroch ’54Anna Orgera ’83Yongsoo Park ’94Winnifred Poland Pierce ’45William Baxter Sailer ’82Andrew Sallay ’94Stephen Schwartz ’84Margretta Reed Seashore ’61David Singleton ’68Eleanor Maloney Smergel ’73William Stott ’75Terry Armstrong Thompson ’57Ann Pike Ulrey ’44Pamela Taylor Wetzels ’52David Wright ’69Lesley Wright ’79Jeffery Zinn ’92june 2005 : 13

101Ways to Be aSwarthmoreanConsider this a “purity test” (see No. 99).A T O - D O L I S T F R O M T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 0 5Just how “tainted” have you been by yourBy Elizabeth Redden ’05Swarthmore experience? Subtract from 101Illustrations by Jenny Campbellas you go down the list, checking off eachitem that you did, that you think you mighthave done, that rings some familiar bell in your mind, that maybe your roommate didduring freshman orientation. Wait, did she—or was it you?This list, collected by surveying members of the Class of 2005, is about what they did,should have done, or wished they had done before they graduated. Admittedly, the list ison the contemporary side. Swarthmore is quirky, and its quirks change as classes come andgo, but some things don’t change. We hope you’ll find comfort in the items that soundfamiliar to you—and that you’ll smile at the ones that don’t.1 Start classes each semesteron a national holiday:Labor Day in the fall,Martin Luther King Jr. Dayin the spring.2 Play misery poker: “I’ll seeyour two seminar papersand raise you one labreport and a danceperformance.”3 Watch The Graduate.4 Make s’mores at a bonfirein Crum Meadow.5 Sneak into the facultylounge. (The code is theyear of Swarthmore’sfounding, just so youknow.)6 Make friends with theshuttle driver on the wayto Bryn Mawr.7 Use the word “heteronormative”during alunchtime conversation.8 Get locked into a libraryovernight.9 Have drinks with a professor,and get him to spillall the hot departmentgossip.10 Make out on the whisperingbench outside thepresident’s house.11 Walk through Crum Woodsafter the first snow.12 Hit “the beach.”13 Wander South Street on aFriday night.14 Wait in line 10 minutes forthe pasta bar everyWednesday and Sundaynight for 4 years.15 Try “pasta wrestling” atPub Night, Swarthmore’sThursday-night answer toone of Ireland’s greatinstitutions. (Try to forgetthis when you line up onSunday to repeat No. 14.)16 Run the McCabe Mile—18laps around the McCabeLibrary basement to win aroll of Scott toilet paper.14 : swarthmore college bulletin

life that meshes with your dreams—are fundamental to theconversations about ethical intelligence and social responsibilitythat characterize a Swarthmore education. How do we all fit intosociety as productive and happy individuals in our public andprivate lives? How do we, as Thoreau writes, “live the life you haveimagined?”And, besides, the whole Benjamin/Mrs. Robinson affair is soawkward. It’s hard not to laugh.12 Hit “the beach.”It’s the best we’ve got. There’s no ocean, no sand, no good-lookinglifeguards—but who needs all that when you have homegrownSwarthmore beach bums lying out in their bathing suits on Parrishlawn?The beach comes alive on the first warm days of spring. TheAdirondack chairs reappear—including the giant one created by3 Watch The Graduate.“I want to say one word to you. Just one word,” Mr. McGuireearnestly tells Benjamin Braddock. “Plastics.”Seniors scream wildly. For them, the much-mocked fate hitshome like never before: Maybe I won’t find a job in anything elsenext year. Maybe I’ll end up doing the antithesis of everything I everdreamed. What good is a liberal arts education anyway?The freshmen look around and wonder just what they gotthemselves into.Each year, on the eve of fall semester, students from all fourclasses jam the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema to bond overthe movie that defines young angst. Students learn to scream at allthe right times—at “plastics,” whenever the word “future” ismentioned, and when Benjamin says, “Mrs. Robinson, you’re tryingto seduce me, aren’t you?”At other times they’re quiet, reflective. The questions raised byThe Graduate—how to find meaningful work and love, how to live a17 Lie in the grass, and listento the “Worthstock” concertthe weekend after classesend each spring.18 Yell, “safety school!” at aHaverford-Swarthmorebasketball game.19 Share a “dirty sundae”(brownie and ice cream)with a friend at thestudent-run Paces Café.20 Be clueless about what youwant to do after yougraduate—except in anabstract, “save the world”kind of way.21 Snuggle with friends at anoutdoor movie night onParrish Beach.22 Assemble a costume atGoodwill, and hit the MaryLyon Halloween party.23 Read Foucault.24 Sail—or sink—yourhomemade boat at theCrum Regatta.25 Try to get 8 hours of sleepone night a week.26 Dance in Terpsichore, adance recital in whichstudents choreographpieces for other students.No experience required.27 Be silent at Meeting forWorship at the SwarthmoreFriends Meetinghouse.28 Do the “Swarthmore swivel”to make sure the personyou’re about to talk aboutisn’t right behind you.29 Eat a phoenix whilereading The Phoenix.30 Tell someone you go toSwarthmore. Be asked, “Oh?Where is that?”31 Learn that it’s OK to get anA- (or a B+ or a B).32 Eat soul food, and listen tospoken word at the BlackCultural Center’s SoulShack.33 Get to know a professorwell.june 2005 : 15

expanded last fall across the Swarthmore curriculum—with only 10to 12 other students. And you can cap off your education in juniorand senior years with honors seminars as small or even smaller.You can create your own personal class with an independentstudy or directed reading with a professor. You’ll be invited todinner at your professor’s house at the end of your honors seminar,and you’ll meet her family. You might even baby-sit the kids or walkthe dog, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. You’ll have longconversations about whether you should go to graduate school andwhy your paper is good and why it actually was important to do lastweek’s secondary reading. You’ll discuss something scarily akin to“the meaning of life” with one of your professors at some point,someday, somehow.If you do Swarthmore right, you’ll graduate with at least onegood professor friend, more if you’re lucky.Jake Beckman ’05—and groups of friends sit around, while otherslie out in the sun by themselves. People invariably bring reading.Sometimes they do it; many times they don’t.On Friday afternoons, music blares from Parrish windows.There’s a Frisbee in the air, sometimes even a softball. Studentsjump from group to group, bang on drums, and turn their faces tothe sun. They lie back in the grass with their significant others, theirbest friends, their books tucked safely into their bags, as untouchedas their sunscreen, and the vibe of Swarthmore is never morebeautiful.33 Get to know a professor well.It’s almost an admissions office cliché: What distinguishes a liberalarts education at a small college is the opportunity to form closeprofessor/student relationships. But what does that really mean?It means a lot of things, actually. You can do research with aprofessor, even as an underclassman. During your first semester oncampus you can take freshman seminars—which were dramatically42 Drop everything at 4:30,and go to practice.Swarthmore isn’t as renowned for its athletes as for its studentathletes, but the distinction is not one to gloss over. Swarthmoreathletic teams are a mixed bag, a strong team here, a rebuilding onethere. Regardless of whether they’re on a team that goes to nationalsor one that struggles to break .500 in the Centennial Conference,student athletes are committed to their sports. It is a volunteer job, aculture, and a passion.Twenty-two percent of students participated in varsity sports in2003–2004. They devoted 20-plus hours each week to practices,games, and locker-room bonding. They are Division III athletes in aconference nicknamed “Egghead”—competitors include Haverford,Bryn Mawr, and Johns Hopkins—and they struggle to balanceacademic demands with sports and a desire to be involved in adozen other extracurriculars. They play for love of the sport, forpreseason bonding, for the competition, for Saturday-night“preparties” and after-practice dinners with their teammates. Theyplay because they have always been student athletes and relish theopportunity that Swarthmore offers them to remain as such.Yet Swarthmore’s teams are disproportionately populated withunderclassmen. Priorities shift, and competing opportunitiesabound. So, in the interest of balanced reporting, see No. 43.34 Shamelessly score condomsfrom Worth Health Centerfor 20 cents apiece.35 Have an instant messageconversation with yourroommate while he sitsright next to you.36 Leave a party early to dohomework.37 Read Edward Said’sOrientalism.38 Eat sushi at the sciencecenter coffee bar.39 Randomly run into otherSwarthmoreans in exoticlocales around the world.40 Interview a candidate for ateaching position at theCollege.41 Run through the introductorycourse circuit:Education 014, Economics001, Biology 002, Psychology001, Chemistry010.42 Drop everything at 4:30,and go to practice.43 Quit your varsity sport.44 Read, write, or dream about“deconstruction.”45 Fall onto the ice—or slapthe puck into the net—at aMotherpuckers game.46 Attend a strange new playin the Frear EnsembleTheatre, a “black-box”experimental studio.47 Freak out about your highhousing lottery number.48 Have breakfast in the MaryLyon breakfast room.49 Be “sexiled” when yourroommate (plus one) locksyou out.50 Let out a “primalscream”—along witheveryone else on campus—at midnight on the firstday of finals.51 Kiss one of your friends.Joke for the rest of theyear about how incestuousyour group of friends is.16 : swarthmore college bulletin

kill some werewolves, orcs, or dactyl guards (all of whom are killedand kill according to different and very specific rules), you’lleventually obtain enough money to purchase a pterodactyl huntinglicense. Then—and only then—can you go after the pterodactyl. Ifyou beat him (and avoid his lethal “spit,” otherwise known as watergunspray), you’ll get a gift certificate for pizza. It’s clearly the perfectfeast to end a pterodactyl hunter’s night.According to campus lore, the Folk Dance Club came up with theidea in 1982. In 1984, the Swarthmore Warders of ImaginativeLiterature adopted the pterodactyl hunt as their own. It can hardlybe called a cult event, though, as about 200 students haveparticipated in recent hunts. The student body talks aboutpterodactyls, if only in passing, one weekend every October.It’s a fleeting fantasy world. It’s a great place to be.62 Wield foam bats for thepterodactyl hunt.The whole point is to push the pterodactyls back into extinction.First, though, you have to kill a lot of other monsters. Bear with meon this. You duel the monsters with foam bats (but don’t hit themon the head—that’s illegal). The monsters are elaborately costumed.The combatants run around the lawn below Sharples wearing trashbags. A human-sized cat roams the field for no obvious reason. It’s alittle like an elementary school gym class held in the dark, with lessfancy pinnies.Say you slay a monster. (Sometimes it kills you, but then you justgo to Hunt Central and sneak back into the game a few minuteslater, so that’s not a direction to explore.) So, say you slay a monster.It gives you some (fake) money as a reward, and you and yourteammates go on to kill more monsters. If you resist the temptationto waste your reward on fake fish to throw around and successfully52 Ask for an extension on apaper.53 Ask for an extension on theextension.54 Climb onto the roof of atleast one building (Parrish,Mary Lyon, Willets, Kohlberg,Ware Pool, Martin,etc.).55 Get “screwed” at the ScrewYour Roommate blind-datedance.56 Be a gaping bystander asthe men’s and women’srugby teams run nakedthrough Parrish during theDash for Cash.57 Play rugby for at least oneseason. Run in the Dash.58 Borrow a Sharples tray, andsled down the hill from thebell tower.59 Make friends with peoplewho are even more weirdthan you.60 Be in a class discussionthat runs more than 4(or 5 or 6) hours.61 Go to the gender-bendingSager dance in clothes yourparents wouldn’t like.62 Wield foam bats for thepterodactyl hunt.63 Go Cygnet shopping—checking out the cute firstyearsin the facebook.64 Take an honors seminarwhether you’re in honorsor not.65 Periodically repeat Dean ofthe College Bob Gross’ [’62]freshman orientationmantra: “No matter whatyou say or do to me, I’mstill a worthwhile person.”66 Spend a miserable nightsipping chicken broth inWorth Health Center.67 Sing all the words toMadonna’s “Like a Prayer”at a party.68 Study abroad junior springor fall.69 Buy 14 candy bars and fivechais on the last day offinals to use up your mealjune 2005 : 17

88 Stay in Sharples fromlunch through dinner.Sharples Dining Hall, McCabe Library, parties at Paces Café inClothier Memorial Hall—these are the social hot spots on campus(yes, the library, too). But Sharples takes top prize. This ski lodge ofa dining hall, on being airlifted in 1964 from Aspen to the Alps,dropped smack into the heart of Swarthmore’s social scene and hasstayed there ever since.What’s surprising to visitors is that Sharples actually servesgood food. So why do students complain so much about it? Tryeating there every day, for 14 or 17 or 20 meals a week. The menurotates on a 4-week cycle, and it doesn’t take long to memorize it:Falafel bar is followed by Greek bar is followed by Asian bar.But there’s no question: Miss too many meals in a row atSharples, and you soon feel out of step with the greaterSwarthmore dynamic. It’s where you can walk in alone and findfriends sitting around at 12:25 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and78 Take an amazing class.There are classes you just have to take. Practical Wisdom with BarrySchwartz and Ken Sharpe, Introduction to Philosophy withRichard Schuldenfrei, Social Psychology with Andrew Ward, UrbanEducation with Eva Travers, Modern Comparative Literature withPhilip Weinstein, Marine Biology with Rachel Merz, InternationalPolitics with James Kurth, and Developmental Biology with ScottGilbert. Then, there are the classes you struggle through and learnmore than you thought possible: Organic Chemistry with PaulRablen and Robert Paley (and Chaos, Paley’s dog); Mechanics withFaruq Siddiqui, and Intermediate Microeconomics with LarryWestphal. These are the academic experiences you came toSwarthmore for. These are the discussions, the papers, the pages,that stay with you.points—or get friends tobuy you chais after you runthrough your points duringthe fourth week of thesemester.70 Get an internship thatmakes your humanitiesmajor more marketableafter graduation.71 Go to first and lastCollection in the amphitheater.Appreciate closure.72 Ruin your health with a 4a.m. “blue-ribbon special”at Tom Jones—$2.79 fortwo eggs, two pancakes,two pieces of toast, twostrips of bacon, twosausage patties, coffee,and juice.73 Take a course in adepartment you neverthought you could excel in.74 Write a paper about a bookyou didn’t actually read.75 Chase a Ping-Pong ballacross a frat-house floorduring a Beirut match.76 Use the word “hegemony.”All the time.77 Chalk the sidewalks aroundcampus with sociallyresponsible propaganda.78 Take an amazing class.79 Have a picnic in the DeanBond Rose Garden. Wonder,“Who was Dean Bond?”80 Bring your paper to astudent writing associate(WA) to get “WA’d.”81 Play your favorite music,and gossip into themicrophone on your ownWSRN show.82 Go to a lecture on “TheElement of Surprise inEgyptian Art”—justbecause you can.83 Pull an all-nighter to finish(start?) tomorrow’s paper,due at 10 a.m. Skip your10:30 a.m. class to sleep.84 Go to Jamboree, a 3-houra cappella concert held18 : swarthmore college bulletin

Fridays, 12:40 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 6 p.m. any dayof the week. It’s where you pick up a tray decorated by a student whospent the whole afternoon in Sharples, and where you also spendfar too much time. It’s where you run into your crush, your exgirlfriend,and the girl you wish you never had kissed—all in thesame meal.Sharples is the place you most want to get away from when youleave Swarthmore. And it’s the place that most brings you back.96 Live and love the SACparty scene.Who would have thought that the formal-sounding StudentActivities Committee (SAC) would be the gateway to throwing greatparties? And that some of the best parties are thrown by suchgroups as the Society of Women Engineers; the Swarthmore QueerUnion; the Hispanic Organization for Latin American Awareness;Students of Caribbean Ancestry; the Swarthmore African StudentsAssociation; The International Club; the Sexual Health Counselors;Swarthmore Asian Organization; the Frisbee, swim, and rugbyteams; and, yes, the school’s two fraternities—Delta Upsilon andPhi Psi?“Gotta go, Mom. I’m headed out to the engineers’ party.” It’s astatement to warm any mother’s heart. Nothing to worry aboutthere.It sounds more innocent than it is. The SAC parties are allcampusevents where the food, decorations, and refreshments arepaid for by the activities fee that’s tacked onto everyone’s tuition bill.Interest in the party scene typically wanes in junior and senioryears, but for freshmen and sophomores, a Saturday night SACparty at Paces, Olde Club, or a frat is something to build yourweekend around. Friends start by dancing in big groups that arequickly fractured as others crowd in and people pair off, dancingclosely to Madonna, hip-hop, or techno, holding their red plasticcups in hand. People squeeze by, sometimes get sloshed upon, insearch of someone to dance with—and maybe more. There’s a senseof magic in your first few SAC parties: Because of Swarthmore’spolicy of funding the parties so long as they are open and free to allstudents, anyone could be there. It is a unique system that puts allstudents on a par with one another for the night—any student withvalid tricollege identification can show up, regardless of popularity,income, or class year. It’s anybody’s game for the night. TElizabeth Redden, who says she can check off 71 items on this list, is aMcCabe Scholar and English literature major who graduated with highhonors on May 29. She thanks the following classmates who contributedideas for this article: Begum Adalet, Jorge Aguilar, Tanya Aydelott,Carmen Barron, Sam Bell, Justin Belmont, Sarah Bryan, An Bui, LauraCarballo, Jeremy Cristol, Chelsea Ferrell, Jody Fisher, David Gentry,Adam Gerber, James Golden, Randy Goldstein, Chelain Goodman, MartyGriffith, Cat Hilde-brand, Bojun Hu, Jawaad Hussain, Adriana Hyams,Lola Irele, Qian Li, Joanne Lipson, David Mann, Jessie Martin, KatieMcAlister, Elizabeth McDonald, Joy Mills, Eugene Palatulan, JuliaPompetti, Joe Raciti, Lillian Ray, Katherine Reid, Emiliano Rodriguez,Gabe Rogers, Alex Sastre, Katie Schlesinger, Lauren Sippel, JaredThompson, and Jacob Wallace.each semester, becauseyou have a friend in eachof the eight groupsperforming.85 Point out the “inherentcontradictions” in anauthor’s argument.86 Learn the pizza man’s lifestory.87 Take a “walk of shame”after spending the night ina dorm far across campus.88 Stay in Sharples from lunchthrough dinner.89 Shower postpractice with12 of your closest friends.90 Reevaluate your basicassumptions about theworld.91 Call Public Safety to letyou into your room afteryour roommate locks youout during your shower.92 Take a dance class foracademic credit: African,Kathak, tap, yoga, ballet,modern, or flamenco.93 Sing by yourself in the belltower. Don’t you soundgreat?94 Read Plato.95 Pet the dogs that peoplewalk around campus. Cooat the babies.96 Live and love the SAC partyscene.97 Hunt for eels in the CrumCreek at night.98 Be awakened by the buzzersignaling closing time inMcCabe Library.99 Find out how sexually“pure” you are on a scaleof 1 to 100 (100 meaningyou’re saintly, 1 meaningthat you should be in jail)at a “purity test” studybreak.100 Watch the sun set over theamphitheater.101 Do something good for theworld.june 2005 : 19

s e e kj u s t i c e,l o v em e r c yT W O S E T S O FP A R E N T S S A T I N T H EF R O N T R O W S O F T H EC O U R T R O O M . O N EH A D L O S T T H E I RO N LY S O N . I W A S I NS H O C K W H E N I W A SA S K E D T O S I T D O W NW I T H 1 2 O T H E RP E O P L E A N D S T A R TL I S T E N I N G T O T H EC A S E .By Elizabeth ProbascoKutchai ’66Jury duty, again. This was the second time I’d been calledin the last four years, the fourth time I’d been called in the 30 yearsI’ve lived in Charlottesville, Va. This time I wasn’t worried, though.For one thing, I’m retired, and I had nothing pressing on myschedule in November 2004. For another, there was my track record:On all previous occasions, I had not been needed or had not beenchosen to serve.It’s easy to avoid serving on a jury. If you happen to be selected asa possible juror, you will be asked a bunch of questions. All you haveto do is give some indication that you might have some attitudetoward something they are asking about, and—poof—they politelyexcuse you. Each time that has happened to me, though, I’ve feltvaguely disappointed. Do I really come across as opinionated andbiased the minute I open my mouth? I’d like to serve on a jury, to domy civic duty, to participate in our great system of justice. But itwould probably never happen.This time, they asked a lot of questions. It clearly was a really bigcase. The nice thing about being a Quaker in a situation like this isthat Quakers are required to be truthful at all times. So no matterhow much I might have wanted to serve or to be relieved of theburden of serving, I answered every question truthfully. Yes, I read allthe local newspapers. Yes, I remember reading about an incident inwhich a local volunteer firefighter was stabbed to death by aUniversity of Virginia student late one night about a year earlier.Well, that should do it. Rejected again, for sure.I was in total shock when, around 3 p.m., I was asked to sit downwith 12 other people and start listening to the case. One of us,Liz Kutchai never thought shewould be chosen as a juror in ahomicide case. “The case wasjust heartbreaking,” she says.“It was one of the hardestthings I have ever done.”20 : swarthmore college bulletin

JEN FARIELLOjune 2005 : 21

known only to the judge, was the alternate. For the next 6 days, the13 of us—nine men and four women—sat with our backs to thejudge, in chairs that faced the spectators in the courtroom, andlistened intently to the commonwealth’s attorney, the defenseattorney, their assistants, and a long parade of witnesses. Outside ofthe courtroom, we were not allowed to talk about the case to eachother or to anyone else. Everyone obeyed.It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Even insecond-year calculus class, I could let my mind wander from time totime. In court, you can’t let your attention waver for even a fewseconds, or you’ll miss something. And you aren’t allowed to askquestions, which was torture for someone who went to Swarthmore.Mercifully, they let us take notes, although we were not allowed tokeep them or use them to influence other jurors. After hours ofintense concentration, I would go home exhausted and then sleeponly fitfully.The case was just heartbreaking. Two groups of young men spilledout onto the street as the bars closed. Everyone was drunk as askunk. Epithets were exchanged; name calling escalated into aphysical confrontation; oneyoung man pulled out a knife,and, in seconds, anotheryoung man lay bleeding todeath on the sidewalk. Twosets of parents sat in the frontrows of the courtroom, eachsurrounded by family andfriends. One set of parentshad lost their only son. Theirgrief seemed to fill the room.I couldn’t let myself reactemotionally to any of this. Ihad to listen to every word from every witness and lawyer, take whatnotes I could, and try to remember all that I heard. I tried to dealwith it as an intellectual problem. There would be time later, afterthe trial, to try to process it all at the emotional and spiritual levels.During our many breaks in the jury room, as the lawyerswrangled with each other and the judge about what we would beallowed to hear, we got to know each other—superficially, as weweren’t allowed to talk about the gut-wrenching things we werehearing in court. At 60, I was the second-oldest juror. Several of thejurors were young men—or at least they seemed young to me. Somehad advanced degrees, several were teachers, some were mothers.One man drove a forklift for a local paving company. A soft-spokenblack man sat in a corner and crocheted an afghan. We didcrossword puzzles. We went out to lunch together.In the courtroom, we saw the adversarial nature of our legalsystem at its very worst. The prosecution painted a picture of avicious, violent act—18 stab wounds, many of them in the victim’sback—followed by flight and an attempt to cover up the crime. Thiswas a clear-cut case of second-degree murder. The defendant’sfamily had hired a portly, bearded attorney from northern Virginia, aman best known for successfully defending Lorena Bobbitt, thewoman who cut off her husband’s penis. He pulled out all the stopsin this case. The victim was a nice guy when he was sober, but22 : swarthmore college bulletineveryone knew he was a mean drunk. When the terrified defendant,cornered, pulled out his knife, the victim grabbed it and, in theensuing struggle, stabbed himself 18 times—a scenario reenacted inthe courtroom by two professional aikido instructors.Each side put dozens of people on the witness stand. Thecommonwealth’s medical examiner testified in detail about thelength, width, and depth of each stab wound. Police officersdescribed the chaotic crime scene in the first hours after thestabbing. Drops of blood around the perimeter of an asphaltparking lot (how could they see them in the darkness?) led to theapartment where the defendant and his friend were hiding. Twoeyewitnesses who stayed at the crime scene and cooperated with thepolice—one a friend of the deceased, the other a friend of thedefendant—were subjected to grueling cross-examination designedto undermine their credibility: “You just testified that you had a beerat that bar, but a year ago, you said it was a couple of beers.”When it came time for the defense to put people on the stand, noexpense was spared. Knowing how much good lawyers charge, Icouldn’t help trying to add up the cost to the defendant’s parents.They even flew in a man from Skagway, Alaska, to testify that thevictim, who had worked forthe man in summer 2004,There was the legal definition ofmalice, and then there was ourown everyday definition. Couldsomeone falling-down drunkhave malice?had gotten drunk and brokenthe windows of his employer’scar.During the 5 days that ittook to try the case, I had togaze out on the packedcourtroom. Right in frontwere the grieving parents ofthe 22-year-old volunteerfirefighter who had died of astab wound that pierced his heart. How could they sit there andlisten to these graphic descriptions? The parents of the 21-year-olduniversity student could at least see their child sitting a few feetaway from them. He’d been incarcerated for a year already, but theycould visit him and talk to him on the phone, and they could lookforward to future Thanksgivings and Christmases together.So many things I heard during the trial stunned me. Theyshouldn’t have. I’ve lived next to the University of Virginia for 30years. But knowing about binge drinking in the abstract isn’t thesame as hearing about it in detail. The firefighter and his friendshad visited five bars that evening. The student and his friends hadstarted out “shotgunning” beers at his apartment, then had gone onto two different bars where they had had rounds of “beer andshots”; the shots were something called Jaegermeister. When Iasked, in the jury room, “What is Jaegermeister?” all the young menon the jury could tell me. Even my 24-year-old daughter knew about“shotgunning” and Jaegermeister.A young woman who lived across the street from the crime scenewas put on the witness stand. She and her girlfriends were sittingon the front porch when the young men were staggering up 14thStreet calling each other names and getting into an altercation. Thissort of behavior is so normal for a Friday night/Saturday morningwhen the bars on The Corner empty out that they didn’t even look up.

It was only when the victim was lying on the sidewalk bleeding andtwo young men were yelling for help that they paid any attention.One evening, well into the trial, my husband asked me how Iwould feel if it turned out that I was the alternate juror. Myimmediate answer: “Relieved.” I had complete confidence in theother 12 jurors. I sensed that every single one of them wascommitted to seeking justice.It was a surprise to me, when we finally were allowed to go intothe jury room and begin deliberations, how differently each of usreacted to the case. Some of us were horrified by the 18 stabwounds. I couldn’t imagine any situation that would call for pullingout a knife. Others on the jury could easily see themselves in thedefendant’s shoes: If a very large, very drunk, belligerent-soundingguy is coming toward me, I’ll pull out my knife—and it might take18 stabs to subdue the guy. No one believed the aikido ballet. It wasclear after just a few minutes that, although we had all heard thesame testimony with open, unprejudiced minds, we saw the eventsthrough very different filters.We had been given 16 pages of legal instructions. We could findthe defendant guilty of second-degree murder or of voluntarymanslaughter. The difference between the two was malice, and wehad a page explaining what malice was legally. We could find thedefendant had acted in self-defense and was therefore not guilty,and we had two pages of legalese about that. For 51 /2 hours westruggled to make the case, as each of us saw it, conform to theselegal instructions. We read each page over and over again,parsing every sentence. There was the legal definition ofmalice, and then there was our own everyday definition.Could someone falling-down drunk have malice?And then, once we had eliminated malice, we turnedto self-defense. The law was very complicated. Wecouldn’t decide which of two pages we should bereading. One said, if you think the defendant had nopart in starting the altercation and furthermore youbelieve A and B and C (each was a long string ofwords), then you must find him not guilty. Theother page said, if you think the defendant hadeven a small part in starting the altercationand furthermore you believe A and B and Cand D and E (adding two more long stringsof words, all of which I have mercifullyforgotten), then you must find him notguilty. We spent a long time trying todecide which page to use (when, exactly,did the altercation start—with the namecalling or the knife?) until someone had the brightidea to look closely at A and B and C. We had to believe allthree of them in either case, and we didn’t.At 9:30 p.m., we sent word that we were ready. We waited in thejury room until the more than 100 spectators came back into courtand filled the benches. Then we filed in. Our foreman, the quietafghan maker, announced our verdict: voluntary manslaughter.I fell into bed that night like a zombie, but I had to be back incourt the next morning because, in Virginia, the jury also decidesthe sentence. This was a surprise to all of us. Now, it was the defenseattorney’s turn to put a long string of character witnesses on thestand, including two Catholic priests. Then, we retreated to the juryroom with what amounted to one instruction: Pick a number from 1to 10.Once again, we were all over the map. Those of us who had beenhorrified at the violence of the attack were inclined to go with 10years, and those who had wanted to believe in self-defense wereinclined to go with 1 or 2. And the Catholic priests had had apowerful effect on a couple of jurors. We had such a difficult timepicking a number of years that we finally resorted to a sort ofbrainstorming session, asking ourselves, “What are the reasons forincarceration?” and putting every reason we could think of up on awhiteboard. Justice made the list; vengeance did not. Few of us werehappy with the number we finally agreed on: 3 years.Our jury had been sharply divided, yet we came together in theway Quakers do—with mutual respect and a deep commitment tofind common ground.The newspapers, which I read after it was all over, were brutal:This was a gross miscarriage of justice. A young firefighter’s life hadbeen taken by a privileged kid from out of state, and the rich kidgets 3 years? Even my husband was appalled. A reporter from TheHook newspaper in Charlottesville called me. She omitted from herarticle the things I said about everyone on the jury being committedto seeking justice, but she did quote me as saying that I wasprofoundly sad.I sank into grief. I could barely function. I replayed everymoment of the trial in my head, trying to process it. I couldn’tget some details out of my head, like the medicalexaminer’s response to a question about theblood seeping from the victim’sheart: “It wouldn’t seep; itwould gentlypour.” Itseemed Iwas awake mostof the night.What helped? My husband, whosaid to me, as I wept, “None of those peoplelistened to every single word the way you and theother jurors did.” And the Bible, which I seldom read but had toPlease turn to page 71.june 2005 : 23

C u l t u r a lOmnivoreR E A D S C H U C H A R D T ' 9 3 , A “ M E D I A E C O L O G I S T, ”L A U N C H E D M E T A P H I L M . C O M .By Andrea HammerRaising their children outside theUnited States for at least part of theirchildhood has been a long- helddream of Read Schuchardt and his wife,Rachel Guy ’94. In August, the Schuchardts—andtheir six kids—will move toLugano, Switzerland, where he will becomeassistant professor of internationalcommunications at Franklin College.Both Rachel and Read were raisedoverseas. She grew up in Singapore, Malaysia,and the Philippines. He was raised onthe Caribbean island of St. Martin—without a television, telephone, dailynewspaper, or weekly magazine.“The sum total of my electronic mediadiet was my mother's record collection, aweekly viewing of Have Gun Will Travel atthe hot dog stand on Paradise Peak, and theoccasional movie at the drive-in theater,” herecalls of outings with his mother, AnnMercer Klein '61, and stepfather, Jeffrey.“I was so ‘unmediated' that each moviefor me stood out as a sort of horrifyingthree-dimensional reality. I rememberwatching Sinbad fighting some monster andhiding under the seat of the van as themonster came closer to the camera—I hadno idea he wasn't actually going to come offthe screen and eat me. And I rememberweeping endlessly after watching one of theAirport disaster movies in which a rescuerplummets to his death. That it was ‘just amovie' offered no consolation to my 7-yearoldself,” Schuchardt says.Star Wars was perhaps his first taste of a“liberal education.” This film sparked a loveof science fiction, plastic model building,comparative religion, and culturalstorytelling.“I'm fairly convinced that science fictionis the purest contemporary form of religiousallegory, and that interest continues today,”he adds.After Swarthmore, where he was anEnglish literature major, Schuchardtpursued a master's degree in media ecologyat New York University (NYU), which hecompleted in 1996. “I decided on mediaecology to understand the history andimpact and psychic effects of mass media onindividuals and cultures,” he says. MarshallMcLuhan, a mass communication pop iconconsidered the father of the electronic age,coined the phrase “media ecology”; the lateNeil Postman, Schuchardt's doctoral adviseruntil his death in October 2003, foundedand chaired NYU's graduate program of thesame name.“I didn’t know what I wanted to do withmy life, but I knew I had to study under thisman,” says Schuchardt, who now teachesfilm, media criticism, and theory himself.“The irony of this development in my lifeis that at the end of my time at Swarthmore,I actually wrote my last Phoenix articleclaiming that ‘the one thing Swarthmoretaught me was that I would never go back toschool again.’ Now, I'm a statistic not onlyof the Quaker matchbox but also of theridiculously high percentage of Swattieswho go on to get a Ph.D.,” says Schuchardt,whose first child was born in 1994.“Back then, I thought I was the kind ofguy who wanted to marry at 30; have twokids starting at 35; and live a nice,comfortable middle-class life. And then Imet Rachel. I knew she wouldn't waitaround, so I jumped. She jumped. That wasmore than 12 years and six children ago,”Schuchardt says.“As many from that time recall, RachelCOURTESY OF READ SCHUCHARDTnot only finished college, she graduated PhiBeta Kappa and walked in the graduationceremony with 6-month-old Constance inher arms. Constance is now 11 and playingviolin as a seasoned 7-year veteran andteaching herself Greek.”Schuchardt says he didn't make adecision to marry and have children; rather,he simply did what he couldn't imagine notdoing. To this day, his family is the centralforce in all of his pursuits.“Having kids meant considering theireducation, their time at home with parents,and how much time I could be with them asa father. That drove both the decision tohome school, the decision to become aprofessor, and the decision to have so manykids. That has also meant, by default, thatwe've lived in relative poverty ever since,supporting our growing family on my onesalary in the most expensive region of thecountry,” says Schuchardt, who has beenliving with his family in Jersey City, N.J.,while he taught, until the end of June, atMarymount Manhattan College in NewYork City.Schuchardt, wife Rachel, and their sixchildren at The Gates (above) and asphoto models (right) in a magazine ad.24 : swarthmore college bulletin

“If time is thecurrency of love,then we’re a veryrich family,”Schuchardt says.“But if time is the currency of love, thenwe're a very rich family indeed, and that issomething my own children have that mostof their friends do not have—andsomething I hope they will value as theycome of age.”After 10 years, Schuchardt has completedhis dissertation, which examines theevolution of corporate iconography from thestructure and hierarchy of the medievalCatholic symbol system. Underneath thathistory, Schuchardt believes, lies the story ofhow the values of economic life have cometo supersede those of spiritual life. Hisfather, John Schuchardt '61, is a formerlawyer and antinuclear activist who inspiredhim to write a fairly “snotty” letter toGeorge Bush Sr. during the first Gulf War in1990–1991 while he was a sophomore atSwarthmore.“I received a hand-written response fromBush who did, in fact, acknowledge that thewar was about oil, among other things, andthat's probably when I lost my politicalnaïveté,” Schuchardt says. “Ever since then,I've listened more carefully to thesubstructure of cultural debates and issuesof the moment and have, thanks to myfather, a fairly good critical eye for seeing‘through' various media deceptions. A lot ofit had to do with both my parents’ sharedvalue of never owning a television,something I still don't have in my ownhousehold.”With a research focus on media, culture,and religion, Schuchardt has six books atvarious stages of completion. Metaphilm:Seers of the Silver Screen and TheDisappearance of Women: Technology,Pornography, and the Obsolescence of Genderare forthcoming. In addition, he publisheswidely in the scholarly and popular press.Schuchardt, a contributing editor at TheNew Pantagruel, is also the publisher ofMetaphilm.com, a Web site dedicated tointerpreting rather than simply reviewingfilms. The site grew out of his essay on TheMatrix, which he posted on Cleave.com—his other Web site focusing on “the levelsof manipulation and deception requiredfor advertising to do its job well.”Schuchardt worked as an advertising,marketing, and public relationscopywriter while attending graduateschool at night.From April to November 1999,Cleave.com was the No. 1 returnfor a Google search on “What isThe Matrix?” So, realizing that amarket existed, he and agraduate school colleaguelaunched Metaphilm.com inJuly 2001. “Cinema is for us thehighest medium of electronic culture, themedium to which and from which all othermedia derive their inspiration…. I thinkcinema is the new cathedral of electronicculture,” Schuchardt says.“We intentionally started out with theeditorial policy of assuming the reader'seducation—never speaking to them inlanguage that felt alienating,” he adds. In2003, he received The Spiritus Award forMetaphilm at the City of Angels FilmFestival in Los Angeles.“In truth, I bit off more than I couldchew as a very young man and have beenracing to catch up with myself ever since.The real drive for ‘doing so much' is simplylove and desperation. I have a huge family tosupport, and I'm very eager that we shouldnot be put into debtor's prison. To behonest, what I've done has been at a snail'space and only very painfully,” he says. “Somuch of the time, I feel like I'm hardlydoing enough to justify my existence. WhatI do accomplish is teach four classes eachsemester, participate in collegewidecommittee work, and keep up withconference presentations and publicationsfor the scholarly and popular press.”Schuchardt's national lectures haveincluded ones at Swarthmore titled “1999as the Year of God and Film,” “DeconstructingThe Matrix Trilogy” in 2003, and “Godand Gandalf: Religious Symbolism in theLord of the Rings" this spring.“I was incredibly impressed all the timesI've come to campus to give a talk sincegraduating. Perhaps it's just age, but myimpression the last time was that thecampusreally was agenuinely liberal arts campusthat contained a real spectrum ofviewpoints and opinions,” says Schuchardt,whose Phoenix training cut his teeth on“real” writing.“Unlike academic work as a student, inwhich you are writing for an audience ofone, The Phoenix was terrifying because itmeant that you had to be willing to take ona whole campus worth of rebuttals, whichmy pieces—other than the straight news orhumor pieces—evoked at the time,” he says.“Back then, I was eager for the argument—and perhaps a little too eager to bash myopponents. Subsequent to that experience,I've mellowed a little in that I'm no longeras intentionally combative in writing, but Istill don't shrink from a good healthydebate.”In retrospect, Schuchardt thinks that theopposition he experienced at the Collegewas profoundly meaningful in his growth.“I think Swarthmore fulfilled its missionby making me into something of a culturalomnivore, which I think they then describedas instilling a sense of ‘serious curiosity' instudents. I'm now, unfortunately, fascinatedby almost anything, which also drives mymultitasking and incompletion of so manyprojects,” he says.“But, more important, Swarthmore alsoshowed me, by example, how to go fromreaction to reflection and how to actuallybegin listening. I'm still working on that,and it's a humbling process.” Tjune 2005 : 25

J u n gloveT H E M Y E R S - B R I G G S P E R S O N A L I T Y I N D I C A T O R —I N V E N T E D I N S W A R T H M O R E B Y A N A L U M N A —I S E I T H E R A U S E F U L T E S T O R A P A R L O R G A M E .26 : swarthmore college bulletinit was early 1942, several weeks after theJapanese attack on Pearl Harbor, whenSwarthmore resident Isabel Briggs Myers’19 saw an article in Reader’s Digest. “Fittingthe Worker to the Job” described theHumm-Wadsworth Temperament Scale as“a device to place the worker in the properniche, keep him happy, and increase production.”Myers realized that such a test couldbe indispensable to the war effort.“My mother thought it could help matchwomen—who traditionally had been homemakers—withthe industry jobs left by themen fighting overseas,” recalled PeterMyers, Isabel’s son.Isabel volunteered at a local bank thatused the Humm test, but, after analyzingthe employees’ answers, she determined it“not useful.” She decided to develop herown scale and, with an unflappable singlemindednessduring the next three decades,that’s what she did. The result—the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)—is one ofthe most popular personality tests in theworld.Each year, about three million Americanstake the MBTI. Eighty-nine companies ofthe Fortune 100 use it to hire and trainemployees. The indicator has been translatedinto 16 languages. And it has spawnedcountless imitators—try a quick Internetsearch—that promise, with a few easy questions,to reveal what kind of person you are.Yet for all its popularity, Isabel’s creationgenerally is ridiculed by academic psychologists,who deride both the theory andmethodology of the indicator, which isbased on Carl Jung’s notions of psychologicaltypes.By Paul Wachter ’97“I know it’s popular, but it’s not at allconsidered relevant in psychology,” saidJack Block, professor emeritus of psychologyat the University of California–Berkeley.“It’s a great scam cooked up by one old ladyand her daughter.”ISABEL MYERS WAS BORN ON OCT. 18, 1897, toLyman Briggs and Katharine Cook Briggs.Isabel grew up in Washington, D.C., whereher father worked as a physicist and hermother oversaw her education. It was a familyof academic overachievers. Lyman andKatharine had finished first and second intheir class at Michigan Agricultural College(which later became Michigan State).Isabel was just as intelligent, a diligentreader who learned Latin, German, andFrench at an early age. Katharine kept ameticulous diary chronicling her daughter’sdevelopment, excerpts of which were publishedin The Ladies Home Journal. The magazinealso accepted “A Little Girl’s Letter”from young Isabel; she was a publishedauthor at 15.Isabel arrived at Swarthmore College in1915, a time when it was one of the country’sfew coeducational institutions. From herParrish Hall room, she wrote to her motheralmost daily. During her first year, at aschool dance, Isabel met her future husband,Clarence Gates Myers ’17, an aspiringlawyer. But when Isabel later introducedhim to her family, her mother was perplexed.Katharine liked “Chief,” as Clarence wasknown to friends—but he was logical,whereas her daughter was imaginative.Their personalities didn’t seem to match.

Come,” which employed the theory of psychologicaltype. It won first prize, became abest-seller, and was translated into five languages.After several less successfulattempts at playwriting and a brief stint as alocal real-estate developer, Isabel devoted allher energies to her children. However, the1942 Reader’s Digest article prompted herreturn to the study of type.DON BONSEY/GETTY IMAGESTHE STUDY OF PERSONALITY HAS OCCUPIEDMANKIND throughout the ages. The ancientpractice of astrology sought to explain differencesamong people by looking to thestars. Socrates proposed a state ruledaccording to the innate abilities of its citizens,whom he divided into classes namedafter metals. The physician Galen thoughtTo Carl Jung’s pairs of personality opposites—introverted-extroverted, sensing-intuiting, and thinking-feeling—Myers added a fourth: judging-perceiving.Intrigued, Katharine determined to learn allshe could about personality. Meanwhile, thecouple married, and after Isabel graduated(with typical academic distinction) andChief finished a stint in the Army AirCorps, they settled in Swarthmore, wherethey would live out their lives and raise twochildren, Peter and Ann.In 1923, Katharine came upon the firstEnglish translation of Carl Jung’s PsychologicalTypes. “This is it!” she told herdaughter. Jung identified several categorieswith which to describe someone’s personality.There were thinking types, like himself(and Lyman and Chief), and feeling types(Katharine and Isabel). People could be furthercategorized into introverts and extroverts,sensation types and intuitives. Jung’swork so profoundly struck Katharine thatshe burned her own years of research.Isabel shared her mother’s enthusiasm.Answering a 1928 New McClure’s magazineadvertisement for a mystery-writing competition,she submitted “Murder Yet tothe key to understanding human beings wasthe “humors,” or fluids, that ran throughour bodies. Personality, or character, is theengine of literature. “That brought him toconsider his character. What sort of characterwas it?” pondered Moses Herzog, thelate Saul Bellow’s finest creation. “As people,we want to know more about ourselvesand others,” said Professor Block.For Isabel Myers, Jung’s categories providedthe key. To the introverted-extroverted,sensing-intuiting, and thinking-feelingjune 2005 : 27

pairs of opposites, she added a fourth: judging-perceiving.Thus, a person was assigneda four-part type; Isabel herself was introverted-intuitive-feeling-perceiving,or an INFP(“intuitive” was labeled N).Isabel, who had no formal training inpsychology, tested everyone she could. Shewrote out forced-choice questions on indexcards, which Peter and Ann took to SwarthmoreHigh School and tried out on theirclassmates. Some of these first questionssurvive on the current indicator, such as“Does the idea of making a list of what youshould do over the weekend appeal to you orleave you cold?” and “Do you let your headrule your heart or your heart rule yourhead?”In 1956, Isabel’s Indicator—a 20-minutetest of forced choices—caught the eye ofHenry Chauncey, head of the EducationalTesting Service (ETS), publisher of theScholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). In 1962,ETS published the indicator, but it wasintended to be used in only researchendeavors and was overshadowed by the farmore popular college-entrance test. Thirteenyears later, ETS dropped the indicator.But this did not deter Isabel, who wasdevoted almost obsessively to her creation.“My mother was single focused, not a socialperson,” Peter Myers said. “Growing up, ifwe had a problem or needed to talk, she’ddrop what she was doing, but as soon as shehad attended to us, she was back at the indicator,sitting in the corner of the livingroom with her typewriter and Monroe calculator.”The indicator had received some attentionfrom college counselors and industrialpsychologists in Japan. In 1968, MaryMcCauley, a psychology professor at theUniversity of Florida, discovered that theindicator resonated with her students andcontacted Isabel. Four years later, the twowomen founded the Center of Applicationsof Psychological Type in Florida. In 1975, anew firm, Consulting Psychologists Press,agreed to distribute the test, and sales tookoff. In 1979, the Association for PsychologicalType, a membership society that nowspans the globe, was founded. By the time ofIsabel’s death in May 1980, the indicatorwas selling one million copies each year.(For a fuller, if scrupulously uncritical,account of the making of the MBTI, seeFrance Wright Saunders’ biography,A political science major, Isabel Briggsmarried Clarence Myers during her junioryear. As a researcher and author, shewrote two mystery books, Murder Yet toCome and Give Me Death, and Gifts Differing,a summation of her psychologicalresearch. In 2001, she received posthumouslyan honorary degree fromHartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. BriggsMyers lived on Dickinson Avenue inSwarthmore and died in 1980, at age 82.Katharine and Isabel.)LAST YEAR, 24 YEARS AFTER MBTI’S SALESPEAKED, there appeared, to much criticalacclaim, a book called The Cult of Personality,a devastating critique of personality tests.Its author, former Psychology Today editorAnnie Murphy Paul, attacks the scientificlegitimacy of such tests; bemoans theirextensive use in corporations and courtrooms;and, most fundamentally, questionswhether the reductions they employ hindermore than help our understanding of personality.Paul’s indictment begins with phrenology,a personality test based on interpretingbumps on the skull whose 19th-centuryadvocates included Walt Whitman, andends with the “Big Five”—a test popularwith a significant contingent of academicpsychologists that reduces people’s personalityto five factors: neuroticism, extroversion,openness to experience, agreeableness,and conscientiousness.Though the story of the MBTI occupiesbut one chapter of Paul’s book, it’s the indicator’sdefenders—the “type community”—CENTER FOR APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPEwho have mounted the most vigorous counterattack,posting ripostes on the Internetand penning angry letters to magazines thatfavorably reviewed the book.“By far, the most e-mail I got was fromthe MBTI faithful, both professionals andregular folks who have an emotional investmentin the test and what it told them,”Paul said.Paul’s indictment draws on the criticismsby mainstream academic psychology, whichnever has had much good to say about theMBTI. Jung’s typologies are no longer invogue; moreover, MBTI critics say, the indicatoris based on a misunderstanding of hiswork.“Even Jung realized that life is a processof development, that people and their personalitieschange,” said Kenneth Gergen,Swarthmore’s Gil and Frank Mustin Professorof Psychology. “The MBTI doesn’t recognizethis type of development.” Nor, he said,does it consider that someone can be anintrovert in one particular setting and anextrovert in another.Curiously, studies have shown that whentest takers retook the indicator, between 39to 76 percent were labeled a different type.And there is an inherent problem with allself-reported tests. Although the MBTI literatureinsists that there are “no right orwrong answers,” when the indicator is usedto make hiring decisions or even as a corporatetraining tool, test takers inevitably aretempted to answer according to what theyperceive as their employers’ preferences.“The MBTI’s whole notion of traits isarbitrary,” said Dan McAdams, a professorof psychology at Northwestern University.“What if you were trying to measure height?A test like the MBTI would say that if you’reabove 5 feet 9 inches, you’re tall. If you’rebelow, you’re short. Now, in measuringheight, no one would settle for this.“If you look at all the respected academicpsychology journals, you’ll hardly ever see areference to the MBTI—and if you do, it’sdismissive,” McAdams continued. “It’s justnot a credible test.”MBTI PROPONENTS SAY CRITICS ARE CONFUS-ING the indicator’s use with its misuse. “Mymother was always ambivalent about theindicator’s use in business,” Peter Myerssaid—a position difficult to square with theglossy Center for Applications of Psycholog-28 : swarthmore college bulletin

ical Type (CAPT) brochures that boast ofthe indicator’s use by such well-known companiesas AT&T, ExxonMobil, and Sears.“She cautioned against using it for hiringor any sort of selection,” said Myers,who along with his former wife, KatharineDowning Myers, was entrusted with thecopyright of the MBTI and its stewardshipafter Isabel died. (Although divorced, Peterand Katherine Myers still coordinate closelyon MBTI-related projects. In 1999, theyfounded the Myers & Briggs Foundation, anon-profit devoted to increasing/expandingthe indicator’s popularity.)It’s not as if extroverts never act as introverts,or “feeling” people aren’t “thinking”when they’re balancing their checkbooks,left-handed and right-handed. There are nodegrees, and even if you can use your lessdominanthand, it’s not as comfortable.That’s how type should be understood.”Rejection by academics has always been asore point for MBTI proponents. ForIsabel’s family and friends, this dismissalstruck a personal chord in 1979, one yearbefore her death. Isabel’s friends lobbiedSwarthmore College to give her an honorarydegree at that year’s Commencement.Although it was her husband more thanIsabel who kept close ties with their almamater—taking the children to Quaker meeting,music programs, and movies at ClothierMemorial Hall—Isabel’s friends thought thegesture would mean a lot to her.IN THE YEAR SINCE The Cult of Personality WASPUBLISHED, Annie Paul has not backed awayfrom her charge that personality tests, ingeneral, are pernicious. But she no longerconsiders the MBTI “so worrying.” Unlikeother tests, such as the discreditedRorschach, used first with the mentally illbut then to overpathologize healthy people,the MBTI is “relatively harmless,” Paul said.No doubt, Isabel Briggs Myers and her creation’sadmirers would be underwhelmed bythis assessment, which falls well short offaint praise. But in branding the MBTI “relativelyharmless,” Paul echoed the thinkingof Jung, whose theories inspired the indicator.“This type of classification is nothingbut a childish parlor game,” Jung wrote,bemoaning the focus on his typological terminologywithout reference to his nuancedand heavily qualified thinking behind it.Parlor game or not, the MBTI continuesto prosper. Part of the indicator’s appeal isthat the characteristics it identifies arepainted in the best-possible light. People aredescribed as “enthusiastic,” “perceptive,”“independent” or “personable,” to namejust a few of the characteristics listed in aEighty-nine companies of the Fortune 100 use the Myers-Briggstest to hire and train employees, yet for all its popularity,it generally is ridiculed by academic psychologists.MBTI proponents say. “Each of us uses alleight of the types to some degree,” said RandallRuppart, president of New Leaf Consulting,a New York–based firm that administersthe MBTI for corporate clients. Ruppart,whose doctoral dissertation at NewYork University focused on the indicatorand the Roman Catholic Church (one of theearly employers of the test), said thatalthough the MBTI shouldn’t be used in hiringsituations, it can be helpful to understandinggroup dynamics in the workplace.“In business, you find a lot of extroverts,and you’ll often find introverts trying toplay that role, and it drains them,” he said.“Where the MBTI can help is to show peoplewhat their natural personality is. Youmight tell an introverted team leader that heor she should carve out some personal timeduring the day, to do some paperwork aloneor go for a walk.”Still, MBTI proponents insist that oncean extroverted-intuitive-thinking-judging(ENTJ) type, always an ENTJ. “A good analogyis being right-handed or left-handed,”Katharine Myers said. “This is an innatepredisposition. If I’m left-handed, I could beforced to do things with my right hand, butit wouldn’t be natural.” Peter Myersemployed the same analogy: “It’s like beingBut Isabel never received her honorarium.Her children said they suspect the PsychologyDepartment scuttled the nomination,not wanting to give the College’s blessingto the indicator. From interviews withpsychology professors teaching at the time,it is unclear where there is any merit to theMyers’ suspicions. (One professor confirmedtheir theory, whereas two othersdenied any departmental involvement.)Either way, the Myers felt snubbed. “It was asore point with our family and friends,”Peter Myers said, although he quickly addedthat his mother was not affected. “Swarthmorehad always been a refuge for my parents,an outstanding example of progressiveeducation. And so much of what went intothe indicator was what she had learned atSwarthmore.”CAPT brochure. Psychologists refer to thisas the “Barnum effect,” named for P.T. Barnum’saphorism that a circus should include“a little something for everybody.” But in itssunny prescriptions, its encouragement to“view differences constructively,” the indicatorprovides countless people with a way tomake sense of their lives. In this sense, asPaul points out, the indicator “is not somuch diagnostic as therapeutic.” IsabelMyers identified the “aha” reaction that testtakers experience when they recognize thecharacteristics of their personality lain bareby the indicator. Indeed, its proponentsoften speak of the test in deeply personalterms.“I was a good student, played sports, andhad friends, but I always felt a bit out ofplace in this extroverted community,”Katharine Myers said of her high schooldays, when she was first exposed to Isabel’stheories. The feelings she took away fromthe test, echoed by countless others, maynot be scientifically valid. But they are noless real. “After I discovered I was introverted,an INFP, I finally felt that my life wasOK,” Myers said. “I realized I could go outin the world and be comfortable with who Iam.”june 2005 : 29

connectionsSWARTHMORE EVENTSChicago: Marilee Roberg '73 arranged for aSwarthmore group to attend a performanceof P.G. Wodehouse's Pigs Have Wings atCity Lit Theater Company in May. Thegroup met for dinner before the show.London: In May, Connection Chair AbbyHoneywell '85 arranged for a tour of theNational Library of the United Kingdomled by Matthew Shaw SP. William R.Kenan Jr. Professor of Political ScienceKenneth Sharpe is planning to visit in January2006—watch your mail for information.Metro DC/Baltimore: Connection ChairJacqueline Easley '96 launched the firstSwarthmore Film Series this winter. Anintroductory lecture was delivered by PatriciaWhite, associate professor of EnglishLiterature and chair of film and mediastudies. The theme of the series is“Voyeurism: Returning the Gaze.” If youare interested in joining the film group,which meets monthly at various locations,contact Jacqueline atjacqeasley@yahoo.com.Philadelphia: Connection Chair JimMoskowitz '88 writes: “The PhiladelphiaConnection attended a taping of twoepisodes of Justice Talking, the NPR programdevoted to issues of law, government,and society. The programs concernedthe FDA's drug-approval processand Social Security reform. Each featuredtwo panelists with diverging viewpointsand moderator Margot Adler,who led their discussion and tooknumerous questions from the studioaudience, including most of the Swarthmorealumni present. Between the tapings,we had dinner and discussed theissues further. The event was a greatcombination of expert knowledge, intelligentdebate, and camaraderie. We'lldefinitely do this again next year.” Onceaired, Justice Talking programs are availablefor on-line listening at http://justicetalking.org.Lifelong LearningFall 2005 CoursesLifelong Learning at Swarthmore offerssmall, seminar-style classes taught by senioror emeriti members of the Swarthmorefaculty—no grades, no credit, just learningfor learning’s sake. For more information orto register, visit swarthmore.edu/alumni/-life_learning.html.O N C A M P U SLaw and Economics, Mark Kuperberg, professorof economics, Wednesdays, Sept. 14to Nov. 9, 7 to 9 p.m.N E W Y O R K C I T Y( 11 Penn Plaza, 31st Street and7th Avenue, 5th floor)Vergil and Ovid: Heroic Epic and ItsAntithesis, Gil Rose, Susan Lippincott ProfessorEmeritus of Modern and ClassicalLanguages, Thursdays, Sept. 15 to Nov. 10,7 to 9 p.m.Power and Moral Leadership in IslamicHistory, Stephen Bensch, professor of history,Wednesdays, Sept. 14 to Nov. 9,6:45 to 9 p.m.Meet Joseph Lample ’07, Alumni Council ScholarJoseph Lample ’07 (right), recipient ofthe 2004–2005 Alumni Council Scholarship,endowed by contributions frommembers of the council, and DavidWright ’69 (left), co-chair of the BostonSwarthmore ConnectionPATRICIA MALONEY“I certainly have an affinity for languages,”writes Joseph Lample '07, the latest recipientof the Alumni Council Scholarship.He's taking Spanish and Arabic this yearand spending “a considerable amount of mytime” in the Department of Sociology andAnthropology.While living in Israel (“a central location,”he says) for 8 years, he visited Ghana,Kenya, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama,Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, and India,among others. Recently, he spent a month inUganda filming a documentary about anadult literacy project.Lample is the second student supportedwith funds donated by present and pastmembers of the Alumni Council, an electedbody that provides services and fosters communicationsbetween the college and itsalumni. The scholarship was established in2001 as a way for the Council to collectivelyparticipate in the College's current capital–fund-raising campaign.Lample, who was selected as the AlumniCouncil Scholar for the 2004–2005 academicyears, plans to do his thesis work inSouth America “on cultural change and theways in which indigenous communitiesimplement and deal with it.”After Swarthmore, he plans on gainingwork experience before going on to pursuegraduate studies in international development.Catherine Danh '04 was the scholarship'sfirst recipient, receiving it during herjunior and senior years. Swarthmore'sFinancial Aid Office selects the recipientand awards the roughly $5,000 annualscholarship as part of the student's needbasedregular financial aid package.Fund-raising for the scholarship kickedoff with a one-to-one matching challenge toraise $50,000. The program met that goaland kept going; as of April, it had raisedmore than $103,000 in gifts and pledgesfrom 100 Council members in addition tothe match.—David Wright '6930 : swarthmore college bulletin

At Alumni Weekend Collection, Alumni Council President Anna Orgera ’83 (right)passed the gavel to the new president, Seth Brenzel ’94. For the past two years,Orgera led the Council with skill and a healthy dose of humor. Highlights of her2-year term included a tremendous increase in the size of the Extern Program, manynew on-line capabilities for alumni, and the completion of initial funding for theendowed Alumni Council Scholarship. Brenzel has taken over leadership of thecouncil, and we welcome him in his new role. For more photos of Alumni Weekend,visit the Alumni Office Web site at www.swarthmore.edu/alumni. Look for additionalreunion coverage in the September Bulletin.Would you like to nominate someone toreceive an honorary degree from Swarthmore?The College would like to have yourrecommendations for alumni or otherindividuals who might join the 2005award recipients author Jonathan Franzen’81, poet and educator Daniel Hoffman,and physician Anne Schuchat ’80.The Honorary Degree Committee usesthese criteria in choosing recipients:• Distinction, leadership, or originalityin significant human endeavor• Someone in the ascent or at thepeak of distinction, with a preference tothe less honored over those who havereceived multiple degrees• Ability, as a Commencement speaker,to serve as a role model for graduatingseniors• Preference (but not a requirement)—Lisa Lee ’81, director of alumni relationsHonorary Degree Nominations Soughtfor individuals who have an existing affiliationwith or some connection toSwarthmoreIn addition, the committee seeks tobalance choices over the years from avariety of categories such as careers,gender, academic discipline, race, ethnicity,and public service.If you know a worthy candidate,please submit background information,including your own reasons for choosingthis individual, by Oct. 1, to the HonoraryDegree Committee, Vice President’sOffice, Swarthmore College, 500 CollegeAvenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1390; ore-mail Vice President Maurice Eldridge ’61at meldrid1@swarthmore.-edu.All nominations are confidential;please do not inform the nominee. Thecommittee will forward its recommendationsto the faculty in mid-November.ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANSSAVE THE DATEReflections onEducation andSocial ChangeOn Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the Department ofEducational Studies will host a conferencecalled “Reflections on Education and SocialChange.” Participants in this event, whichis sponsored by the Cooper Foundation,will reflect on philosophical issues and currentthemes in education, with a focus onthe role of education in contributing tosocial justice. The program will provideopportunities for alums, students, faculty,and local educators to share experiences,become re-energized and focused in theirwork, and to generate ideas and networksfor future projects.The keynote speaker will be Linda Darling-Hammond,the Charles E. DucommunProfessor of Education at Stanford University,where she is faculty sponsor for theStanford Teacher Education Program andprincipal investigator for the SchoolRedesign Network and the Stanford EducationalLeadership Institute. Her research,teaching, and policy work focus on issues ofschool restructuring, teacher education,and educational equity.Darling-Hammond is author or editor of11 books, including The Right to Learn: ABlueprint for Creating Schools that Work,which was awarded the Outstanding BookAward from the American EducationalResearch Association in 1998, and morethan 200 journal articles, book chapters,and monographs on issues of policy andpractice.This conference is dedicated to Eva Travers,who will be retiring at the end of the2005–2006 academic year. During hermore than 30 years at Swarthmore, Eva hasdeveloped and maintained a rigorous andrespected educational program. As a teacherand mentor, she has also touched the livesof many alumni. Please join us to recognizeher work and care. For additional informationor to register, please visit http://www.-swarthmore.edu/alumni/edsite/, or call(610) 328-8404.—Patricia Maloney,assistant director of alumni relationsjune 2005 : 31

class notesIAN BRADSHAWTrees and Opinions“At Swarthmore, I was surrounded by trees andopinions, increasing my respect for both. Thesetrees, wearing their own name tags, had witnessedmany debates in the shade of theirboughs, and their discreet silence softened thoseexchanges of opinions. In the dining hall and indormitories, where the debates were not moderatedby trees—or teachers—the exchanges weremore heated, and I was challenged from manydirections. The result was my realization thatthe world was more complex than I had thoughtand that one's views benefit by being checkedagainst those of others."—Iqbal Quadir '8132 : swarthmore college bulletin

profile46 : swarthmore college bulletinUndiscovered Voices“ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN,” SAYS SOPRANO AND VOICE TEACHER MARA DUNLEVY SINDONI ’55.Sindoni discovered, compiled, andperformed “A Living Memorial: Songs byComposers the Nazis Silenced,” representingcomposers who perished in theHolocaust and whose music was censoredbut who may have emigrated and survivedWorld War II.Mara Sindoni spends her life not onlyraising her own voice in song but alsoensuring that others do, too. As a voiceteacher at the Performing Arts School ofWorcester, Mass., she gives private lessonsto all who desire to sing—teenagers, seniorsapproaching retirement and fearing boredom,women in their 30s and 40s who hadalways wanted to sing but never had theopportunity as well as professionals andthose headed for a career.Sindoni’s students sing all types ofmusic—show tunes, art songs, church solos,folk, and opera. She includes Spanish andLatino songs and light opera works, zarzuelas,which she believes offer a feasible alternativeto Italian opera, especially for studentsfrom the large Latino population inWorcester. “Just as Italian has long, openvowels, so does Spanish, so these peoplehave a head start; they can understand thetexts, and they already tend toward a morebel canto–type vocal production,” she says.Student recitals with this mix of musicare used as a teaching tool for both studentsand audiences. She is, she says, “a very goodpopularizer—I’ve had people come to a programof opera scenes, who’ve said they onlylike rock ’n’ roll, claiming, ‘I thought I wasgonna hate this—I only came because Lisamade me—but I like it. When’s the next concert?’”Despite being a lifelong music lover andsinger, Sindoni’s own singing career did notbegin until she was in her 30s. After graduatingfrom Swarthmore, she worked for awhile as an advertising copywriter, then pursueda master’s in musicology at BostonUniversity, where an interest in researchinghistorical music manuscripts developed.After some surgery and the birth of a child,“All of a sudden, I had three times thevoice,” she says.Because of the age requirements, Sindoniwas able to audition for the MetropolitanOpera only once, receiving an honorablemention. A master’s in voice from the NewEngland Conservatory of Music followed.When marriage and maternal duties obligedher to stay in Boston, while performing theworks of contemporary composers, shebegan to research the lives of female musicianswho, for reasons of gender, had beenunable to pursue their musical careers ascomposers or had been forbidden to havetheir work published or performed. “Scoutingaround” in libraries in Boston; NewYork; and Washington, D.C.; as well as incollege libraries, she unearthed compositionsby women from the past. “I’d read abiography of Alma Mahler, and I went andCOURTESY OF MARA SINDONIfound the music in the Library of Congress.Nobody in the United States had ever performedit—that’s how I got started.” Shelater recorded a CD titled Lieder of AlmaMahler and Juli Nunlist.Three years of research in the huge,uncataloged sheet music collection at theAmerican Antiquarian Society in Worcesterresulted in a lecture-recital, “A Quilt ofSongs for Parlor, Music Hall, and Church byAmerican Women (1790–1890).” It includedsentimental songs, military and Civil Warsongs, songs carrying the message of temperanceor abolition, hymns, and bel cantoarias.Women wrote in all the genres,” she says.“They did exactly what the men did, nothingdifferent. It’s appalling. Felix Mendelsohnpublished Fanny Mendelsohn’s songs underhis name. Some of Clara Schumann’s pieceswere published under Robert’s name. Somewomen published under pseudonyms,others using the first initial of their firstnames—and Anonymous was a woman.”Presenting lecture-recitals, which shecalls “Women Composers of Past and Present,”of works by undiscovered female composersfrom medieval times through the20th century, Sindoni made both the publicand the music world more aware of theirexistence. “It was like planting a seed,” shesays.Sindoni is especially proud of her mostrecent lecture-recital, “A Living Memorial:Songs by Composers the Nazis Silenced,”representing two groups of composers:those who died in the Holocaust, includingsome from Terezin, who were exploitedbefore being murdered; and those of“Entartete Musik,” whose music was censoredand who may or may not have emigratedand survived World War II. Itincludes U.S. premieres of works by Svenkand Schulhoff (in Czech), Krasa and Krenek(in German), Ullmann (Yiddish), and Klein(Hebrew). Sindoni sings in 13 languages.“It’s very healthy to sing. It lowers yourblood pressure, aids breathing, and helpsyou emotionally,” Sindoni says. “For me, it’sa spiritual necessity, and I have to learn newmusic every day. I feed on it.”—Carol Brévart-Demm

profileArthur “Ari” Gabinet, 47,wasn’t the obvious choice in2003 to revitalize the Philadelphiaoffice of the Securities andExchange Commission (SEC).He had no management or governmentexperience.What his new bosses likedabout the weekend rock climberand motorcycle racer, whom aformer colleague at the law firmDechert LLP had recommended,was his extraordinary energylevel.Two years after taking the job,Gabinet—whose name rhymeswith cabernet—is thriving as theagency’s district administrator,and so is the Philadelphia office.“He is responsible for bringingsome excellent, excellentcases,” said Stephen Cutler,director of enforcement andGabinet’s boss in Washington,D.C. Guided by the office’s 68examiners—an unusually largecomplement thanks to the size ofthe area’s investment industry—Gabinet’s 30 enforcement lawyershave followed the money, searchingout hidden payments inmany corners of the securitiesindustry. The markets are rife with whatis known euphemistically as “revenuesharing.”Being a risk taker, whether on a rock faceor in a conference room, “is mostly aboutcontrol—or the illusion of control,” saidGabinet, who was a litigator at Dechert. Triallawyers tend to believe that their skills alonemean victory or loss.Eliot Spitzer’s bombshell cases spurredthe SEC to become more activist, saidRichard Levan, a Philadelphia securitieslawyer formerly with the SEC. Spitzer, NewYork’s crusading U.S. Attorney, laid open themutual-fund scandal in September 2003,eight months after Gabinet joined the SEC.Gabinet met his first challenge, whichwas simply to keep pace. In November 2003,Spitzer and Gabinet filed simultaneous lawsuitsagainst fund pioneers Gary Pilgrim and54 : swarthmore college bulletinMaking Markets SaferARTHUR GABINET ’79 FOLLOWS THE MONEY.“I want to leave the markets safer than when I found them,” AriGabinet said. As district administrator of the Philadelphia officeof the Securities and Exchange Commission, he also wants hisoffice to be recognized as a top performer within the SEC.Harold Baxter, alleging that they had grantedspecial trading access to insiders in waysthat harmed ordinary investors.Pilgrim and Baxter settled last year for$80 million each, the largest payment byindividuals in a fund case to date.Gabinet and his examiners also took theinitiative on abuses outside Spitzer’s probe.In an examination of Morgan Stanley DWInc.’s office in Cherry Hill, N.J., in early2003, they discovered that extra commissionswere being paid to brokers who steeredclients to a list of favored mutual funds.Although not illegal, directed brokerage, asthe practice is called, enabled fund advisersto shift their marketing costs to investors inthe form of trade-execution fees.The SEC banned directed brokerage in2004, but Gabinet had seen a way to challengethe practice a year earlier: enforce theMICHAEL BRYANT/THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSEC’s basic mission of ensuringthat investors have all the informationthey need.Gabinet is winning respectfrom his peers. “He is not afraidof taking a course of action justbecause it hasn’t been donebefore,” said Harold Degenhardt,who heads the SEC’soffice in Fort Worth, Texas. “Hedoesn’t suffer the bureaucrats.”Gabinet grew up in ShakerHeights, Ohio, where his father,a Polish immigrant, was a taxlaw specialist and professor oflaw at Case Western ReserveUniversity. After Swarthmore,where he majored in philosophy,Gabinet attended the Universityof Pennsylvania LawSchool.Members of the Class of 1979remember him as lead singer forthe Dead Bears and a veteran oflate-night bridge games anddorm debates.Many say he was also eagerto help. Andrew Schultz, ’79 alawyer in Albuquerque, N.M.,recalled that Gabinet swept himup in dorm life in his first weekon campus, just as he was aboutto decide that Swarthmore was too much fora boy from New Mexico.Gabinet’s future wife, Christina Paxson’82, stopped him on campus once to ask himfor help on a paper. “He sat down andtaught me how to write,” said Paxson, nowan economics professor at Princeton. “He isa great teacher.”Paxson said she accepts his rock climbing,even though, in a fall in 1988, he brokeseven ribs and suffered a collapsed lung. Shedoesn’t like the motorcycles, which he rideson “club days” on area tracks such as PoconoRaceway rather than in formal races.“What am I going to do?” she asked. Herhusband can’t change, she said, adding thathe has never been happier on the job.—©Todd Mason, The Philadelphia Inquirer(March 14, 2005); reprinted with permission

in my lifeArt spills intolifeA B U S Y A R T I S T F I N D S D Y N A M I C E Q U I L I B R I U M .By Phillip Stern '84How does one survive as an artist? It'snot a question of using art to putbread on the table. Like mostartists, I'm not exactly doing my art for aliving, but if I can come home from my dayjob, feed the kids, do the chores, and stillfeel excited about what I'm doing in thestudio when and if I get in there at 9 or 10at night, I think I'm in pretty good shape. Iguess the real question in my mind is: howto continue through the thick and thin ofpractical life to be passionate about art,making it ever more personal—honing inon what you and only you were meant to do.In college and the ensuing years, I hadvast stretches of time to do art, or so Ithought. I came to Swarthmore in 1979,thinking I would be a physics major—anidea I dropped like a ton of bricks,confronted with the problems on thefreshman physics midterm exam. I left theCollege twice with the idea of “just being”an artist and never coming back.Seeing me at the dining-room table attax time this year amid neat piles of receipts,my wife, Tamar Chansky '84, reminded mewistfully about how I used to waltz into ourliterature class unfashionably late every daywith half a cup of coffee in hand and findmy way into the discussion. I had been busywith other things—like wrestling smallboulders out of Crum Creek and steelgirders out of junkyards for sculptures,taking long walks in the middle of thenight, carving a totem pole for a rite ofI realize that mywillingness toexplore and defineart broadly—towork wherever myskills were needed—helped foster myartistic vitality.Stern’s Just Enough (cement, copper, andArizona dirt, 2005); Phil, Tamar, Meredith,and Raia. For Stern, it’s not always clearwhat’s alive and what’s not.PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHILLIP STERNspring, or staging an officially unsanctionedart “happening” in the heat tunnels. As anart major with a studio concentration(second one in the history of the College), itwasn't any academic requirement that keptme working in the studio late Saturdaynights.I was a freewheeling, profoundlyimpractical guy, at least through the end ofgraduate school in 1993. But soon after that,something changed, and I decided there wasno reason why I could not use my skills asan artist to make at least part of a living. Sooff I went to work as a freelance sculptor. Imade cast furniture prototypes (i.e., tablepedestals with angels and grapevines),cartoon figures for toy trade-show exhibits,scale models like an 8-foot sneaker and acutaway of a human heart large enough toclimb in, and a giant joker for an AtlanticCity casino game marquee.At the same time, I taught myselfcomputer graphics software for advertisingjobs, knowing that I would need some othersource of income in the down time betweensculpting projects. I soon learned that Icould operate well out in the real world—cold calling, networking, and followingleads wherever they might have taken me—from factories in urban industrial areas tocorporate headquarters in the suburbs.I realize now that my willingness toexplore and define art broadly—to workwherever my skills were needed—helpedfoster my artistic vitality. This meant having56 : swarthmore college bulletin

to push my own creations to the side of thestudio to make room for commercial artcontracts, but they brought me fresh energyin the form of new images, aesthetic styles,and materials. With a variety of demands,from cartooning, to realistic rendering, andtechnical replication, these projectstransformed the way I think about sculpturefrom a fascination with antiquity to acommentary on the strangeness of modernlife.In any endeavor where the limits areunclear, you have to get in over your headbefore you realize you've gone too far. Forme, it was a commission by Sight andSound Entertainment Center, an evangelicaltheater in Lancaster County, to carve acrucified Christ. Essentially a mannequin,the figure was needed to double for theactor at the climactic moment in theirpassion play. The technical directorexplained to me that although the figurewould be painted and fitted with a wig toresemble the actor, it wouldn't hurt if Imade the face look a bit Jewish—not to beblunt, but it could even look like me. BecauseI couldn't fathom trying to interpolate myidentity into Jesus', I just focused all myconcentration on making a believable pieceof stagecraft.After 4 weeks—studying medievalcrucifixes at the Philadelphia Museum ofArt, brushing up on anatomy, carving foamand coating it with resin clay—I loaded thecompleted carving into my red ToyotaCorolla, feet in the trunk and arms wedgedbetween the two doorjambs, and drove outto the country. Gliding past windmills andsilos on a beautiful spring day, I felt bothexhilarated and profoundly uncomfortable.The project had allowed me to connect withan ancient artistic tradition, but I sensedthat the figure was lacking in warmth—aninfraction of the artist's code upon whichthe Muse would surely frown. In short, itwasn't me.I don't know if this experience had adampening effect, or if the bursting of theeconomic bubble caused art budgets toshrivel, but toward 2000, I started runningout of sculpting projects. Instead, I workedprimarily as a graphic artist at corporationslike Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and AngeloLighting, where I felt really out of place,much as I tried to fit in with people whomow their lawns the same way every time.Then, in September 2000, I got a job atSwarthmore, drawn back by a sense thatsomething here was particularly meant forme to do. I was thrilled that, after two years,the job morphed into an in-house graphicdesigner position.One memory of my student days atSwarthmore really stands out as acornerstone. I had just finished assemblinga found-metal sculpture, using equipmentin the engineering department machineshop. Composed of steel ribbons, a rim, andan auto spring, looking like some strangeprehistoric bird, the piece (titled PhoenixThe evolution of Stern’s work is evident in(left to right) The Sower (plaster, copper, andacrylic/tempera) 2003; Joker (shown inprogress) 1999; Angel (foam, prototype forvacuum-formed plastic replicas) 1997;Crucifixion (foam and epoxy clay), 1997;and Eurydice (concrete), 1991.partly in response to the mini–culture warit sparked in the school paper of the samename) straddled the entire welding table.An engineering professor wandered in tothe room and stood silently for a fewminutes, regarding the work. Then, hesmiled and said in a kindly way, “We'll makean engineer out of you yet!”As I strive to make all the parts of my lifework together, maybe that prediction hascome true. With our two kids, my job at theCollege, helping Tamar manage her busypsychology practice, an old house with alarge yard that begs to be worked on, andmy sculpture, nothing but an engineer'ssense of dynamic equilibrium could keep mylife in one piece.In addition, my understanding of art haschanged and altered my life. It is no longersomething that I must escape to do. Itinundates everything: Many a room of ourhouse is a study in color or curvature;Meredith, who is 12, loves to draw, write,and sing; I illustrate Tamar's psychologybooks; Raia, 3 years old, explores languageto shape her blossoming thoughts; at work,it's the continuous interplay of medium andmessage that keeps me inventive.What's really interesting is that the moreI put on my plate, the more art spills overinto everyday life. This, in turn, makes thesculptures seem more alive, so that when Igo back to the studio, I get the funny feelingthat they are making themselves withoutme. Tjune 2005 : 57

ooks + artsSewage andSocial OrderWilliam Cohen ’85 and Ryan Johnson (eds.), Filth: Dirt, Disgust, andModern Life, University of Minnesota Press, 2005After reading a collection of essays on filth and modernity,which William Cohen '85 and Ryan Johnson edited, I couldn'thelp but think that this was some good shit. Literally aswell as figuratively.For anyone who thinks about it for a moment, cleanliness, sanitation,filth, and various bodily functions have a history. Accordingto the famous Monty Python and the Holy Grail joke, you could spot aking in medieval society because he's the only one who hasn't gotshit all over him.The history of filth is something that most of us think of instrictly Whiggish terms: that the past was smelly, unsanitary, anddirty and that we have, in successive stages, overcome that legacywith modern plumbing, personal cleanliness, and the like.Cohen and Johnson's collection takes advantage of a wave ofscholarly studies of hygiene, sanitation, odor, and dirt but extendsthat scholarship in a variety of ways. The emerging scholarly consensuson these subjects doesn't exactly contradict the everydayunderstanding of a dirty past and a clean present, but it reveals howcomplex and multisided that progression has been. Modern formsof cleanliness and sanitation did not simply emerge naturally as aside effect of scientific and social progress. The shift involved intricate,intense, and sometimes strikingly coercive social and politicalprojects, which just as strikingly dropped from public memory aftertheir successful completion. Sanitary committees or boards wereremarkably powerful political entities in 19th- and early 20th-centurymodern societies, extending their influence into many surprisingand unexpected domains but especially in the evolution of urbanlife.More important, early modern or medieval European societieshad their own ideas about dirt, filth, hygiene, and bodily secretions.In this respect, Cohen and Johnson's collection is heavily influencedby key works like Alain Corbin's The Foul and the Fragrant, a historyof odor in early modern France that argues that strong, pungent,and organic smells were actively appreciated and admired before thecoming of modern hygienic sensibilities.The authors in the collection do not just restrict themselves to ahistorical presentation of the subject matter: Many of the essays alsotouch on anthropological, psychoanalytic, literary, philosophical,and political approaches to filth, pollution, dirt, and sanitation.Most of the essays focus on the Victorian era and the cities of Londonand Paris, but other topics are covered, such as imperial hygienein India and the curious imagination of a German intellectual whoembarked on a project of scatological inquiry and thought in 1938,in rather obvious tension with the Nazi obsession with purity.Some might wonder why any of this matters or look at theanthology as more confirmation of the disconnection of academicsfrom sensible public discourse. Terentius' famous quote is apt: “I amWilliam Cohen, one of the editors of Filth, is associate professorof English at the University of Maryland and the author ofSex Scandal: The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction. One essayin Filth is by David Pike ’85, who examines “Sewage Treatments:Vertical Space and Waste in 19th-Century Paris and London.”This illustration from Pike’s essay is an example of whathe calls “the iconography of filth: degraded but free.”human, and nothing human is foreign to me.” How can we fail to beinterested in filth, dirt, disgust, bodily secretions and odors, andsanitation? They are as much a part of our everyday lives as eating,breathing, or sleeping; as much a part of the functioning of moderncommunities as skyscrapers, houses, or landscaping. You can'tunderstand Victorian societies, the development of modernity, ormodern literature and culture without knowing something aboutfilth and hygiene, dirt, and cleanliness.A few of the essays overplay their hand in some respect, sometimesthrough florid deployments of critical theory, sometimes byplacing excessive explanatory weight on their topics. Occasionally,the tone grows so overly serious and ostentatious that it loses a generalsense of proportionality. For example, although David Barnesand David Pike offer in two essays empirically and theoretically richdescriptions of sewage, odor, and social order in 19th-century Londonand Paris, Benjamin Lazier's “Abject Academy” teeters perilouslyon humorlessness (even when it plainly intends to be witty) in itsdescription of the deliberately humorous scatological imagination ofJosef Feinhals, a German intellectual, sliding toward an overinflationof the importance or centrality of abjection or filth that occasionallypops up in other essays in the volume.That notwithstanding, this interesting, frequently engaging collectionof articles is recommended for anyone who subscribes to Terentius'credo.—Timothy Burke, professor of historyFROM LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR (1861–1862); REPRINTED NEW YORK, DOVER, 196860 : swarthmore college bulletin

BooksSteven Swartz ’78, gListen, Bar/NoneRecords, 2004. The second album bySongs From A Random House, an“avant-folk” band, has received accoladesfrom The New Yorker, The BostonGlobe, and Billboard.Jean-Jacques Fouché; David Sices and JamesAtkinson ’56 (trans.); Jay Winter (intro.),Massacre at Oradour France, 1944: Coming toGrips With Terror, Northern Illinois UniversityPress, 2005. Exploring a massacre inWorld War II France, this book shows theimpact of memory on processing the past.Linda Rosenstock, Mark Cullen, Carl Brodkin’79, Carrie Redlich, Textbook of ClinicalOccupational and Environmental Medicine,2nd ed., 2004. International experts offerin-depth guidance on clinical problems aswell as the legal and regulatory issuesimpacting the practice of occupational andenvironmental medicine today.Wendy Cadge ’97, Heartwood: The First Generationof Theravada Buddhism in America,University of Chicago Press 2005. Cadge,assistant professor of sociology at BowdoinCollege, examines “how Buddhism arrivedin the United States and is ... adapting" toits new context.Deborah Cumming ’63; Gabriel Cumming’00 (epilogue), Recovering From Mortality:Essays From a Cancer Limbo Time, NovelloFestival Press, 2005. The author, who diedin 2003, started to write these essays whenshe began improving from treatment andended them as the cancer progressed; sonGabriel writes, “The essays offer us a way ofseeing and telling stories, characterized byattentiveness, irreverence, and honesty.”Peter Filene ’60, The Joy of Teaching: A PracticalGuide for New College Instructors, Universityof North Carolina Press, 2005.Gathering concepts and techniques fromoutstanding college professors, the authorprovides guidance for new instructors developingand teaching their first college courses.Ramsay Ravenel, Ilmi Granoff ’99, CarrieMagee (eds.), Illegal Logging in the Tropics:Strategies for Cutting Crime, Haworth Press,2004. This book takes an interdisciplinaryapproach to analyzing forest crime, providinga theoretical foundation for understandingthe problem.Victor Navasky ’54, A Matter of Opinion,Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. The publisherof The Nation explores how weencourage and protect public discourse andwhat function magazines serve in helpingcitizens to think for themselves.Susan Okie ’72, Fed Up! Winning the WarAgainst Childhood Obesity, Joseph HenryPress, 2005. The author, a family physicianand award-winning medical journalist, presentsthe dangers of childhood obesity, ahealth threat that may shorten life expectancy.William Rosenblum ’57, Genes, Judaism, andWestern Ethics: Ethical Genius or God’s Voice,Xlibris, 2003. This book describes the originof Western ethics in the teachings of theHebrew Scriptures, voiced by biblical figuresclaiming to receive messages from God.Film & VideoMarshall Curry ’92, Street Fight, 2005. Thisdocumentary, with its New York premiere atthe Tribeca film festival on April 29 to May1, focuses on the Newark, N.J., 2002 mayoralelection, in which Cory Booker challengedthe longtime incumbent SharpeJames.Richard Wolfson ’69, Physics in Your Life,The Teaching Company, 2004. This 36-lecture video course introduces principles ofphysics through their application to everydaylife, with interplay between “how thingswork” and the underlying physics principles.TheaterPig Iron Theater Company ArtisticDirectors Dito van Reigersberg ’94,Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel ’94, and DanRothenberg ’95 (left to right) acceptedan OBIE Award—Off-Broadway’s highesthonor—for the production of HellMeets Henry Halfway in May.Simon Harding ’99, Kate Hurster ’03,Adrienne Mackey ’04, and others appearedin A Midsummer Night’s Dream by WilliamShakespeare at Mum Puppettheatre inApril. James Murphy, manager of operationsin the College’s Lang Performing Arts Center(LPAC) handled the lighting, and SusanSmythe, former LPAC managing director,worked on the costumes.Jamie Stiehm’s [’82] play, King George theSecond, puts the George Bush father-sonpresidencies into a tragic Shakespeareanframework with characters such as PrinceJeb, Lord Cheney, and Lady Condoleezza.After staged readings last summer and fallin New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia,the play, directed by Gavin Witt, had a selloutreading at Washington, D.C.’s, WarehouseTheater in February.Meghan Hayes ’93, Go and Give theGuard a Break, Cranky Heartburn Music,2004. This collaborative effort includessongs titled “I’m Not Leaving,” “VoiceLike Mine,” “Simple,” and “The BrighterThey Come.”JULIE SHAPIRO ʼ92june 2005 : 61

profile66 : swarthmore college bulletinThis Old InnETHAN DEVINE ’99 RESTORES A NANTUCKET LANDMARK TO ITS FORMER GLORYEthan and Alexis Devine check out the view from theVeranda House’s skylight. To learn more about the historicNantucket guest house, visit www.theverandahouse.com.One of the many lessons thatEthan Devine learned atSwarthmore was the fine art of“multitasking.” He works duringthe week at New York City–basedIndus Capital Partners LLC, ahedge fund investing in AsianStocks, and then travels to NantucketIsland every weekend,where he trades making money formaking hospital corners on thebeds of his hotel, The VerandaHouse.Devine’s family has owned andoperated the Veranda House since1945. His grandparents boughtthe house, renamed it OverlookHotel, and restored it to its 1800sglory. It had a distinctive Victorianstyle with the traditional Nantucketgray-shingle and white- trimexterior. When Devine and hiswife, Alexis, inherited the 24-roomguesthouse in 2002, they knewthe place needed some costly modernizationto keep up with thechanging tastes of island visitors.“I inherited the building butno money for restoration. I had toconvince the Nantucket Bank thatthey should lend a lot of money toa 25 year old with no experience inrunning a hotel,” Devine says. “Icould have sold the property, but Icould not bear to do that after ithad been in the family for so long.I felt I had to give it a go,” he says.From January through May2003, Devine and Alexis beganrenovations so they could openthe house under its original namein time for the summer season. Devine tookthree months off from his job at Indus towork on the hotel. Alexis then managed theproject full time to completion. Island craftspeopleand laborers, used to wealthy clientswith deep pockets, were too expensive tohire on a limited budget. So, Devine, a Spanishmajor at Swarthmore, hired a team ofSpanish and Portuguese–speaking laborersfrom “off island.”Devine had no problems with the NantucketHistoric District Commission, whichis fiercely protective of the integrity of propertieson the island. His grandmother hadkept images of the house—including glassplatephotos and line drawings—from the1800s, which clearly indicated that theywere restoring the property’s original look.“The house was still very Victorian instyle when we got it, and, with the help offreelance designers, we were able to updatethe look by doing things like removing theSTAN GROSSFELDcarpet to expose hardwood wideplankpine flooring that probablycame over to the island on whalingships,” Devine says. “The firstsummer was great—we tripledbusiness—but it was a lot of hardwork, more than I had imagined.”The Veranda House not onlyserves as a wonderful respite forvacationers, it is also a classroom.Alexis created what is called theVeranda House Exchange, anexchange student program withstudents from De La Salle Universityin the Philippines. Each season,five students come to work atthe hotel.“My wife runs the program; sheinterviews the applicants and overseestheir work. We both reallyenjoy doing this, and our guestslove the students,” Devine says.“Enrollment at the school in thePhilippines has quadrupledbecause students know thatthrough this program they willhave the chance to come to theUnited States and interact withinternational guests and learn a lotabout running a hotel.”The Devines have no plans tobecome full-time hoteliers any timesoon. Devine’s work with Indusrequires him to travel abroad forseveral months each year. Both heand Alexis would like to go back toschool in the future. The Devineshired a general manager to run thehotel this season, but they will stillbe involved in its operation andwill be on-site most weekends. Thehotel is currently undergoing a second stageof renovation to upgrade the bathrooms andmechanical systems, which should be completedwhen the hotel opens in May.Devine said his life at the College wasequally busy. “My years at Swarthmore werethe defining years of my life. The experienceallowed me to do a lot of the things I wasinterested in at the same time,” Devine said.Clearly, he learned his lessons well.—Patricia Maloney

lettersContinued from page 3REMEMBERING SAM SHEPHERD“The Crucible of Character”meant a lot tome because it mentioned my father, the lateSam Shepherd ’68, who was the first presidentof SASS. I think my father should berecognized along with Clinton Etheridge asone of the central figures in Swarthmorehistory.I was 12 when my father died. I am nowlooking into creating an oral history abouthim and the challenges that he and otherAfrican American men faced while attendingpredominately white universities suchas Swarthmore and later Princeton. Iwould welcome any letters or reminiscencesabout my father and his years atSwarthmore.KIRA SHEPHERDPhiladelphiakshepherd@asc.upenn.eduCLOSING THE CIRCLE“The Crucible of Character” is a remarkablecontribution to College history—accurate,humane, passionate, intelligent, competent,and often inspiring. Indeed, it ismuch like Clinton Etheridge himself. Atthe time, even in the roils of conflict, hecarried a sense of dignity that compelledone to engage with him.Etheridge’s analysis of the role of Deanof Admissions Fred Hargadon is moredirect than I recall having seen elsewherebut goes a long way to understand howthings got to the Christmas impasse. Hisportrait of President Courtney Smith illustratesthe tension between control andcoping that I continue to believe had ledSmith to announce his resignation fromwhat he knew was becoming an ever-hotterseat. His recognition that the “MerryChristmas” letter struck a tone that unsettledmany potential allies—and would have(I believe) rung sour in an ear like MartinLuther King’s—is a welcome move towardreconsideration.There are still issues to be explored,such as the reasons behind SASS’s elevationof young men to leadership roles atthat time. Sam Shepherd ’68 was a fine fellowbut could not have struck the dignifiedpublic image that Clinton achieved. DonMizell ’71 was certainly able, but among the“seven sisters” were several young womenwho could have served SASS’s means and70 : swarthmore college bulletinends more effectively had one been grantedthe vice chair. But the black movementof the time was almost always dominatedby men.I wonder if Hargadon would be willingto offer a similarly open and reflective setof observations regarding the issues as hesaw them at the time. Such a piece, ifoffered not in defense but in further searchfor truth, might continue the process theBulletin has taken of closing an importantcircle in Swarthmore’s past.JON VAN TIL ’61SwarthmoreEditor’s note: Van Til was assistant professorof sociology from 1966 to 1972.OUTSIDE THE BUBBLEThe March Bulletin item in “Collection”announcing seven new alumni members ofthe Board of Managers stopped me cold.When I read their impressive resumes, Ifound a CEO of a financial corporation, amarketing manager for a giant technologycompany, a CEO of a hedge fund, a seniorvice president of a financial consultingfirm, an investment banker, an associate atanother investment-banking house, and afinancial-services expert.I respect what these alumni haveaccomplished and do not doubt that eachof them is capable of making a valuablecontribution to the governance of the College—aswell as to its bottom line. Butwhere is the vibrant diversity that I foundelsewhere in that issue of the magazineand that fills the pages of every otherissue? Where are the scientists, writers,artists, musicians, educators, providers ofhuman and community services, defendersof social justice, innovators, visionaries,and helping hands—the alumni who aremaking their mark outside the bubble ofhigh finance? This is the Board of Managersof Swarthmore College, not of anindustrial corporation. Does the narrownessof the range of these appointmentsrepresent the new meaning of Swarthmore?ROGER YOUMAN ’53Wayne, Pa.Editor’s note: Among the College’s currentManagers are a television producer, a physician,the CEO of a mail-order business, a formerU.S. Attorney, two retired college presidents,a journalism professor, a federal judge,a theater director, two heads of secondaryschools, and a former mayor of Pasadena,Calif. Maurice Eldridge ’61, vice president forCollege and community relations and executiveassistant to the president, welcomes nominations.WHITE HOUSE—OR BANANA HOUSE?Professor of Political Science KennethSharpe is dismayed by the “unaccountable,dangerous, and unchecked” foreign policyof the current administration (“Q + A,”March Bulletin). Perhaps he prefers themore “prudent” policy of the past that hasleft people to the tender mercies of SaddamHussein and his like in the Middle East.We are free in America because wefought against tyranny from without andwithin. If we can help others to be free—either through our direct efforts or by givingthem the courage to fight—then that isan accomplishment to be commended.Some may damn these efforts as reckless,but they have led, at least in part, tothe greatest birth of democratic governmentsand popular pressure for the samein many years.Who is the serious man here, the one inthe White House or the one in the BananaHouse?JOEL GALES ’77Alexandria, Va.ULTIMATE AUTHORITYThe recent 1937 Class Notes mentionedpublication of F.A. Hayek’s The Road toSerfdom. Hayek’s political philosophy wasdivided, with one side emphasizing centralplanning and direction and the otheremphasizing individual ordered freedomunder the law. The events of 1944 recountedin the note were clarified for me inWhittaker Chambers’ Witness, first published50-odd years ago. Chambers, ayouthful communist and mature Quaker,put the divide in starker terms, with eitherman as the ultimate authority—or God.THOMAS SPENCER ’37St. Augustine, Fla.FOR THE RECORDFormer Maine Senator George Mitchell,for whom the Mitchell Scholarship isnamed (“Collection,” March Bulletin) isalive and well, serving as chairman of theDisney Corp.

seek justice, love mercycontinued from page 23memorize bits of as a child: “What doth the Lord require ofthee, but to seek justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humblywith thy God?” Seeking justice. Loving mercy. Being humble.We knew, all of us, that nothing we did in the jury roomcould bring back the son of those grieving parents.One sleepless night, it occurred to me that if I could tella reporter that I was profoundly sad, I could and should tellthose grieving parents that I was grieving, too. I sat downand wrote to them. Not being sure whether this wasallowed, I sent the letter to the commonwealth’s attorney,asking him to use his judgment. A month later, I ran intohim on the street, and he told me he had sent my letter. A monthafter that, I ran into the victim’s father, who thanked me for writing.This was the beginning of my healing.Now, 6 months after the trial, I think a lot about healing.Our adversarial system ofjustice does a good job ofdetermining guilt but doesnothing to promote healing.Because of the vigorousprosecution, which paintedthe defendant as a vicioussociopath, and the even morevigorous defense, which leftthe defendant feelingunjustly convicted, the 5-day trial left the community outraged andthe two families feeling worse than before. Can anything be done?In 2003, I helped gather data on our courts for theLeague of Women Voters of Virginia, which wasconducting a study of restorativejustice. Most of themembers ofour local league, whoare well-informed folks, had no ideawhat “restorative justice” meant. In brief, our courtsystem is focused on finding out who is guilty and punishing thatperson. Restorative justiceOur adversarial system of justicedoes a good job of determiningguilt but does nothing topromote healing.focuses on the damage to thevictims and to the communityand seeks to repair and heal. Icame to understand howrestorative justice worked incases of robbery andvandalism, but how can itwork when someone loses hislife?I thought of my brief letter to the parents of the victim: “Pleaseknow that I am grieving.” It had helped. I can’t speak for my fellowjurors, but I am convinced that they are caring people and that theywere grieving, too. Could there be a way for us to communicate ourfeelings not only to the victim’s family but also to the widercommunity?For true healing to occur, the defendant needs to atone for hisbehavior. I’m sure he is convinced that he acted in self-defense.Without giving up that belief, he can accept the fact that if he hadnot pulled out his knife, the victim would not have bled to death onthe sidewalk. Which is not to say that the victim would still be alive.Both young men were very drunk and were heading back to theirvehicles to drive home.At the formal sentencing, the judge said, with despair in hisvoice, “When will this binge drinking stop?” But I focused on theonly positive I could find in this tragedy: Incarceration may givethe defendant the chance to gain control of his drinking and hisanger. Indeed, it may just save his life.I find myself praying daily that the victim’s parents willeventually find some peace. I’m also praying that thedefendant will come to accept responsibility and will reachout to the victim’s family and say, “I’m sorry.” TA chemistry major at Swarthmore, Liz Kutchai hung up her labcoat in 1999 after 30 years of teaching Boyle's law to highschool students.june 2005 : 71

Q + AHelp, I Need SomeN O T J U S T A N Y B O D Y — H E A T H E R D U M I G A N O F S W A R T H M O R E ’ S H E L P D E S KBy Jeffrey LottSad to say, but Heather Dumigan didn'tknow much about computersuntil her brother, David Coates '88,died in an accident in August 1989. Sheended up with his almost-new MacintoshSE30—the first Mac with an internal harddrive.“I didn't know anything about computers,”she says, “so I got a couple of booksand started playing around with it.”Now, she is one of of four full-time professionalsat the College who—along withdozens of student “techsters”—respondeach year to more than 10,000 cries forcomputer help from Swarthmore students,faculty, and staff.Callers to the Help Desk in InformationTechnology Services are often frustrated,sometimes angry, and always in a hurry tofix their problem and get back to work.“People get upset when their computersdon't work,” Dumigan says. “We never takeany of it personally.”Dumigan is the calmest person on campus.Her soft voice—it’s sweet but neversaccharine—soothes as she asks questionsand suggests solutions. (Rebooting is themost common, although savvy users havetried that before dialing H-E-L-P). If Heathercan't help you on the phone, you'll hear themagic words: “We'll send someone over totake a look.” By then, your blood pressureshould be back to normal. Take a few minutesto read your paper mail while friendlytechsters walk over from Beardsley. Yousure appreciate their being 'round.How many computers are there at Swarthmore?The College maintains about 1,350, but it'shard to estimate how many others areowned by individuals. If you count all thestudent-owned computers—98 percenthave one of their own and a good numberhave more than one—and all the department-ownedlaptops etc., there are probablymore than 3,000 machines on campus.It’s crazy.Ten years ago, this was mostly a Macintoshcampus. What happened?The faculty is still about 75 percent Mac,but when we introduced new administrativesoftware in the mid-1990s, most of theadministrative side of the College had toswitch to PCs. Most students also bringWindows machines. That's what they haveat home because that's what most of theirparents use at work. It's too bad becausePCs have a lot more problems, especiallywith viruses and spyware.If you had to confiscate all the Macs on campus,whose cold, dead hands would you have topry the last one out of?John Boccio in physics.What would life be like without computers?Probably easier. The pace would be less hectic.And because there would be no HelpDesk, I'd probably be home painting.Painting?I'm into an early American folk art calledtheorem painting. It's a technique that usesstencils and oil paints on cotton velvet. I dostill lifes, mostly fruit and flowers.What's the most frequent Help Desk call?People asking to have their passwords reset.For security reasons, we require all passwordsto change every 90 days. And if youchange your e-mail password on Friday, youmight not remember the new one by Monday.I've done it myself.Why not just write it down?That's a really, really bad thing. We'vewalked into offices and seen passwordslying around—or on Post-it notes stuck tothe monitor. Really bad.Any other regular problems?Laptops with beverages spilled into them.We see one or two a week. When that happens,the worst thing you can do is turn thecomputer on. Once you hear the sizzle, it'sall over. Coffee and computers don't mix—I know, I fried one of mine the same way.How do you deal with people who are angrywhen their computers don't work?Someone once said to me, “Everything Ineeded to know to work at the Help Desk, Ilearned waiting on tables.” It's all aboutcustomer service. You understand that theyare just trying to get a job done, and thecomputer is not behaving the way theywant. I just speak calmly. If you get upsetback at them, that just escalates matters.Keeping a happy tone really disarms people.Are there any faculty members who still don'tuse a computer?There's just one I know of, although weweren't aware of him until about 2 yearsago. Someone called to say he was havingtrouble e-mailing this professor. I wasshocked—I had no idea—but he never callsthe Help Desk, so why would I?72 : swarthmore college bulletin

ody !If stranded on a desert island, Help Deskhoncho Heather Dumigan would want totake her 17-inch Mac Powerbook G4—as longas there was wireless Internet access.PHOTOGRAPH BY JIM GRAHAM

2006Swarthmore Alumni College AbroadFaculty director: Steven Hopkins, associate professor of religionA country of profound natural beauty, Vietnam is richwith tradition. We will explore the religion, art, andhistory of a country that is rapidly opening up to the outsideworld. The underground village of Cu Chi, the fourthcenturyChampa site of My Son, the Thien Mu pagoda, andthe Old Quarter of Hanoi are only some of the sites we willvisit. Professor Hopkins’ talks on Buddhism and the religioushistory of Vietnam—including discussions ofreadings on Buddhist doctrine and practice, meditation,temples, indigenous spirit cults, and the veneration ofancestors—will be supplemented with local expertsspeaking on the art, culture, politics, and history of thisenchanting country.THEWONDERSOFVIETNAMJanuary 10–25,2006PETER TURNLEY/CORBISFaculty director: Constance Hungerford, provost andMari S. Michener Professor of Art HistoryCEZANNE AND VAN GOGH:PAINTERS OF LIGHTIN PROVENCESIEMER & HAND TRAVELJune 17–25, 2006In the year of Cézanne’s centennial, visit the sun-filled landscapesof Provence that he celebrated in his art as well as Arles,the city where Van Gogh lived from February 1888 to May 1889,discovering there subjects for some of his most famous paintings.We will explore the special Cézanne Centennial exhibit atthe Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence, where 120 works are beingassembled. After touring the Aix region and visiting Arles, ourfinal stop is Avignon, where we will see the elegant architectureof the city’s 3-mile–long ramparts and its many prestigious17th- and 18th-century mansions. Professor Hungerford, a veteranof several Alumni Colleges Abroad, will share her passion forthe art of 19th-century France.