Our Own Shade of Green swarthmore swarthmore college bulletin | april 2008 campus view ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS Swarthmore’s trees, like its people, are rooted here, but their branches reach far and wide. parlor talk swarthmore college bulletin editor Jeffrey Lott associate editor Carol Brévart-Demm class notes editor Susan Cousins Breen ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS At a conference last spring, environmental activist and author Bill McKibben, currently scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, addressed more than 300 college and university editors. His message was simple: Colleges and universities can and do play a leading role in understanding climate change. But they should also become models for the actions that arise from this new knowledge. And, McKibben said, editors of college and university magazines can play a vital role by reporting on environmental initiatives at their institutions. Listening to McKibben, I did a few calculations on a napkin. Last year, a typical issue of the Swarthmore College Bulletin required about 13,000 pounds of paper—a little over 50,000 pounds a year. Using primitive math, I estimated conservatively that the magazines represented at the conference—mostly with greater circulation than the Bulletin—must use about 10 million pounds of paper annually. During the discussion following McKibben’s talk, I challenged my colleagues, and myself, to consider how our magazines could not only report on environmental issues but also how we could become more responsible ourselves. This issue of the Bulletin is Swarthmore’s response to the challenge. On this page is the logo of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This international organization, created in the wake of the 1993 Rio de Janeiro climate summit, is having a growing impact on ecologically and socially responsible forest management worldwide. There is now a “chain of custody” for sustainably grown trees that ultimately become paper for this magazine. They are followed from FSC-certified forests through certified paper mills and ultimately to our FSC-certified printer, The Lane Press in Burlington, Vt. Like most paper, the Bulletin’s new stock is made from mixed sources—a combination of virgin and recycled pulp. Because of the FSC—and institutions like Swarthmore that are demanding sustainably produced paper—demand for such paper is increasing. One result of this demand is that FSC-certified paper is slightly more expen- I challenged my colleagues, and myself, to consider how our magazines could not only report on environmental issues but also how we could become more responsible ourselves. This issue of the Bulletin is Swarthmore’s response to the challenge. sive. Yet as Swarthmore’s flagship publication, this is a cost we are willing to bear. We believe that Swarthmore College must model both social and environmental responsibility; in the future, you will see the FSC logo on many more Swarthmore publications. At the Bulletin, we have taken two important steps to afford this change within our budget. We have reduced the magazine’s page count from 80 to 72—using about 10 percent less paper; and we have increased the width of our pages to nine inches, reducing trim waste at the printer and giving us just a little more space on each page. Our art director, Suzanne Gaadt, has taken this opportunity to completely redesign the magazine, with fresh fonts and a new look to many sections. We hope you like the new, more sustainable Swarthmore College Bulletin. In this issue, you will learn more about steps the College is taking to be an environmentally responsible institution; about the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program; and about how some of your fellow Swarthmoreans are dedicating their lives and careers to creating a better environment for all of us. Enjoy the magazine, and when you are finished with it, please recycle. —Jeffrey Lott art director Suzanne DeMott Gaadt, Gaadt Perspectives llc staff photographer Eleftherios Kostans desktop publishing Audree Penner administrative assistant Janice Merrill-Rossi editor emerita Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 contacting swarthmore college college operator (610) 328-8000 www.swarthmore.edu admissions (610) 328-8300 admissions@swarthmore.edu alumni relations (610) 328-8402 alumni@swarthmore.edu publications (610) 328-8568 bulletin@swarthmore.edu registrar (610) 328-8297 registrar@swarthmore.edu world wide web www.swarthmore.edu changes of address Send address label along with new address to: Alumni Records Office Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue Swarthmore PA 19081-1390 Phone: (610) 328-8435 Or e-mail: alumnirecords@swarthmore.edu. The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN 0888-2126), of which this is volume CV, number 4, is published in August, October, January, April, and July by Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 190811390. Periodicals postage paid at Swarthmore PA and additional mailing offices. Permit No. 0530-620. Postmaster: Send address changes to Swarthmore College Bulletin, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1390. ©2008 Swarthmore College. Printed in U.S.A. ON THE COVER The growth of environmentalism on campus is symbolized by a sapling that rises from the sculpted stump of one of the College’s oldest trees—the Bender Oak. The sculpture is by Marty Long (see p.7). The cover illustration is a photomontage by Andrew Pinkham, whose work also appears on pages 18–33. 2 swarthmore college bulletin in this issue features april 2008 24 18 18: OUR OWN SHADE OF GREEN As sustainability becomes a global concern, Swarthmore forges its own path. By Carol Brévart-Demm 24: THOUGHT – ENERGY – ACTION Swarthmore’s Environmental Studies Program finds its interdisciplinary groove. By Jeffrey Lott 28: BRANCHING OUT Alumni of all ages are reaching for a healthy planet. By Susan Cousins Breen, Carol Brévart-Demm, Jeffrey Lott, Audree Penner, and Elizabeth Redden ’05 34: A SENSE OF PLACE 28 34 april 2008 Five gardening principles described in a new book by the director of the Scott Arboretum are seen on Swarthmore’s campus. By Claire Sawyers 3 in this issue departments 64: IN MY LIFE Readers share their thoughts and opinions A Brief But Delightful Career With the Royal Ballet By Stephen Burns ’71 7: COLLECTION 72: Q + A 5: LETTERS 39 A campus walkabout 16: FACULTY EXPERT The Marvels of Things Created: New Work by Professor of Studio Art Brian Meunier By Andrea Packard ’85 Jeff Jabco: When Should You Garden? By Jeffrey Lott 64 39: CONNECTIONS Swarthmoreans get together in every place imaginable—even hunting dinosaur tracks. 41: CLASS NOTES Alumni updates 45: IN MEMORIAM Remembering departed classmates and friends 56: BOOKS + ARTS Swarthmore College Bulletin on the Web: This issue and more than 10 years of archives are at www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin. On the Swarthmore Web site, you will also find: Adventures of a boat ranger: Dan Hammer ’07 reports from Tonga and New Zealand, where he is spending a Watson Fellowship year learning ancient yet changing customs —and setting the occasional world record. www.swarthmore.edu/x16802.xml Recently launched: The College’s newest Web sites include those for Public Safety (www.swarthmore.edu/publicsafety/) and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility (www.swarthmore.edu/langcenter/). Second Skin: A documentary on gaming culture written and produced by Victor Piñeiro ’00 premiered at last month's SXSW Film Festival. www.swarthmore.edu/x17292.xml TV News: Watch a recent television news report about some of the environmental initiatives currently underway on campus. www.swarthmore.edu/x16873.xml 4 72 contributors Since retiring in 2001, Professor Emeritus of Russian Th om ps on B radl ey (“Books + Arts,” p. 56) has been teaching creative writing at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, where his inmate students produce memoirs, short stories, poetry, and the occasional novel. He also teaches for Swarthmore Lifelong Learning, including this spring’s course on Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov. SAM DAHLKE on the web GEORGE WIDMAN 16 Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman By Cathy Wilkerson ’66 Reviewed by Thompson Bradley A ndre a Pack ard ’ 8 5 (“The Marvels of Things Created,” p. 14) has directed the College’s List Gallery since 1995. An English literature major and art history minor, she realized by senior year that she forgets to eat when drawing. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later received an M.F.A. from American University. She is currently preparing for a 2008–2009 exhibition at the Philadelphia International Airport. Photographer and illustrator A ndre w Pi nk ham (cover and pages 18-33) has been creatively inspired since he took his first film class at Chester County (Pa.) Art Association at age 11. A graduate of the Antonelli Institute of Art and Photography, he has been a professional photographer for more than 20 years. He draws on influences from painters and the old photo masters and an interest in surrealism, form, and space. swarthmore college bulletin letters THE B STUDENT 2. Swarthmore no longer enrolls B students, like I was, but “Ivy Leaguers.” I benefited greatly from my education, and I believe deeply in small liberal arts colleges. Swarthmore gave me about $120,000 (2007 dollars) in financial aid grants, and I want to help the next generation have the same opportunities I had. However, something is wrong if my donation just convinces an A student from a family earning $100,000 a year to pick Swarthmore over Yale to avoid loans. I took $20,000 (also 2007 dollars) in loans for college. This was not then—and is not now—an unreasonable share of the cost of four years of college, no matter what the student’s background or future plans. Given how Swarthmore currently uses donations, should I still “pay back” these grants? The answer came from Jim Bock ’90, dean of admissions and financial aid, who woke me from my dogmatic slumber and helped me realize that tradition is not enough; Swarthmore also has to “earn” my donations. My family’s history with the College aside, Swarthmore is no longer the most deserving college to which I could give, by any objective measure of goals, ability, and need. Swarthmore can—and should—only enroll less than 400 students a year, so growing large enough for B students is not the answer. America needs more colleges like Swarthmore was—for students like I was. Hence, I plan to “pay forward“ the grants to a college with greater need. I am looking for a small liberal arts college, with a strong academic focus, a limited but well-managed endowment, and B students that is not yet able to offer full financial aid to all admitted students. In short, I am looking for a slightly poorer version of the Swarthmore College I attended. There are many worthy candidates. Alfred Lee ’84 Seattle In an off-hand comment, the Yale Alumni Magazine recently noted that Swarthmore’s new loan-free financial aid plan (see p. 6) was the latest round of “price competition” for students among Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other elite schools. This points out how Swarthmore has changed since I attended: 1. Swarthmore is now very wealthy Dean Jim Bock replies: Don’t sell Swarthmore or yourself short. Swarthmore was quite selective in the spring of 1980—the year that you enrolled—when approximately 30 percent of nonenrolled admitted students chose Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Then as now, we look at the person behind the numbers and take a holistic approach to the admissions THE EPITOME OF HIP In 1961, as a high-school exchange student in Western Michigan who had grown up in Germany, I knew zilch about Swarthmore. Then I ran into Janice, the epitome of hip in a part of the country still living in the Fifties. Her report on Swarthmore was: leftish politics, bad football, high-powered academics. I got in (no doubt on my regional quota) and alas, Janice went to Oberlin. But even today, how many foreigners have a girlfriend in the United States who can tout Swarthmore? As Dean of Admissions Jim Bock ’90 points out (“Bye the Numbers,” Dec. 2007 Bulletin), the much-maligned U.S. News and World Report rankings offer a nice entry point into the confusing world of some 3,000 American institutions of higher learning. What’s more, the ranking isn’t that arbitrary, nor does it reduce the score to a single number. You can learn a lot very quickly from all those columns that represent objective data. Then you start digging. Nonetheless, I am peeved at U.S. News for having ranked Swarthmore third over the last several years. Why do they insist on blurring the obvious—that Swarthmore is No. 1? Josef Joffe ’65 Hamburg, Germany april 2008 process. As we have always done, we still take students both above and below our academic profile. Since 1981, Swarthmore has steadily reduced the amount of loan included in our aid awards for low-income students. Beginning your freshman year, the loan component of our aid awards has been either $0 or $1,000 per year for low-income students. Princeton, on the other hand, started its noloan program about 20 years after we began our effort. We made the move then because it was the right thing to do—just as our new policy is the right thing to do now. With it, Swarthmore will continue to provide the best education possible—at the most affordable price—for students from all income levels. INCREASE ENDOWMENT SPENDING I stopped giving to the College Annual Fund several years ago when I first became aware that the College’s endowment was approaching $1 billion. I therefore read with interest Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Suzanne Welch’s discussion of endowment spending rates in the December 2007 issue of the Bulletin (“With a $1.4 Billion Endowment, Why Not Spend More Freely?”). The endowment, which Welch aptly describes as “that burgeoning pot of money,” now represents approximately $1 million per student—not that the article ever mentions the actual size of the endowment, or its actual rate of return. By sticking to the “model” rather than the actualities, in my view, Welch’s comments obscure a fundamental question: When is enough enough? I would have appreciated a more straightforward, meaningful discussion of this question from the chief financial officer. Seeking more information, I went romping unescorted through the financial reports on the College’s Web site. According to my calculations, the endowment averaged a 15.33 percent inflation-adjusted return from 2001 to 2007. (This figure includes a loss in 2001–2002.) From 1976 to 2006, a 30-year period, the return was nine percent (2005–2006 Financial Report, Chart 4). It’s not clear to me whether these returns include gifts to the endowment as well as investment booty, but it is clear is that historical returns have been well above 5.75 percent, the model rate the College uses to calculate spending rates. Swarthmore has clearly benefited from 5 letters talented management of its endowment. Furthermore, few would argue with the need to preserve sufficient principal to ensure longterm financial stability. Given the stellar returns of recent decades, one might nevertheless argue that a 4.25 percent spend rate is unduly conservative. In fact, the College has consistently failed to spend even at that level. While inflation-adjusted returns between 2001 and 2007 were averaging 15.33 percent, the financial reports show the College’s average endowment spend rate as 4.03 percent. Although Welch downplays the significance of “a few tenths of a point each year,” the difference between 4.03 percent of a billion dollars and 4.25 percent of that amount is 2.2 million dollars a year. Where I come from, that’s more than pocket change. One does not have to look far to find uses for that money. For example, while the endowment was fattening, the percentage of students receiving scholarships between 2000 and 2006 remained exactly the same (2006–2007 Financial Report, Chart 1). I also note that “budgetary issues” delayed for two years student efforts to have campus snack bars use compostible dishes and cups, (Dec. 2007 Bulletin, p.11) and that the new science building received LEED certification at the lowest of four possible levels, instead of at the highest. (See “The Greening of Swarthmore” on the College’s Web site.) This is not just a Swarthmore issue. According to a recent New York Times on-line article, Harvard and Yale have both recently bowed to public and Congressional pressure and agreed to increase distributions from their respective endowments. I applaud the fact that Swarthmore College, like many others around the country, has recently announced its intention to use endowment funds to eliminate the loan component of financial aid. But I also note that the amount involved is relatively small compared to returns and in many years would still keep the spend rate under the paltry 4.25 percent minimum. For sure, budgets are prospective and returns retrospective, but I think the College can afford to aim higher. Perhaps, for example, half of any return in excess of 6.75 percent (or any reasonable number) could be reserved for special projects that combine educational value for students with the fur6 therance of social justice or environmental goals consistent with the College’s values. The College’s recent multiyear fund-raising effort suggested that “The Meaning of Swarthmore” includes giving back. As a matter of institutional integrity, the College should be handling its endowment in a manner that reflects the values it espouses. Those in positions of comfort and privilege need to share space on the bottom line with the obligations that accrue from being citizens and stewards of one planet. Hard to say where I acquired that point of view. I’d like to think it’s where I went to college. Kathy MacLeod Hooke ’68 Portland, Maine and again when the Saudi government proposed to lash a woman who had been gangraped for the crime of walking with a man who was not her husband. The attitudes expressed in Sudan and Saudi Arabia conflict fundamentally with some of our most cherished values. When Professor Ghannam suggests that American revulsion at incidents of this sort is mere “culture talk” that masks imperialistic economic and political motives, she seems to be promoting her own political agenda at the expense of the truth. The Bulletin’s celebration of this kind of teaching suggests that Swarthmore has made a similar choice. Jennifer Hayes Howland ’78 Tulsa, Okla. Vice President Suzanne Welsh replies: Swarthmore is committed to providing equitably for present as well as future generations through the allocation of resources, endowment spending practices, and the maintenance of facilities and technology. To preserve capital for what we project to be the “infinite” life of the institution, the College’s financial managers take a very long-term view of its endowment. Market cycles tend to be very long. (The bull market that ended in 2000–2001 lasted 20 years; the bear market before that was about 14 years.) Some argue that we may potentially be in for a long period of substandard returns, and, if so, our longer-term perspective and spending-rate discipline will prove essential, putting Swarthmore in a better position to weather economic vicissitudes while continuing to provide the faculty, facilities, and financial aid that distinguish it in higher education. Editor’s Note: The diverse opinions expressed in the Bulletin are those of individual authors or subjects of articles. They do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or of the College administration. CULTURE TALK Associate Professor of Anthropology Farha Ghannam asserts that “those who argue that there is a clash of civilizations [between Islam and the West] choose to use ‘culture talk’ to legitimize certain projects, conflicts, and specific agendas. It’s easy to challenge the legitimacy of a war if the goal is to control oil or pacify a population….” (“Q+A,” Dec. 2007 Bulletin) Americans were appalled when angry mobs of Sudanese called for the death of a British school teacher who allowed a child in her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed, ECHOLS: A POWERFUL PRESENCE Thank you for the tribute to Linda Echols in recognition of her departure from her job as director of the Worth Health Center last fall. (“Collection,” Dec. 2007 Bulletin) Linda was a powerful presence on campus for many of us—going well beyond the role of caregiver and administrator. During my time at Swarthmore, she inspired me to act on my passion for health issues as an activist, volunteer, and student. After I graduated, Linda became a friend and mentor, encouraging my decision to pursue a graduate degree in public health. Linda brought energy, compassion, and wisdom to her work at Swarthmore. She also was famous—infamous, even—for speaking her mind, and she certainly inspired me to do the same. She will be greatly missed. Richard Vezina ’99 Brooklyn, N.Y. FOR THE RECORD The 1898 Mark Twain play Is He Dead? that Shelley Fisher Fishkin ’71 discovered in 2002, was not, as a December 2007 Bulletin “Books + Arts” capsule stated, a “one-man play.” And it was published by the University of California Press—not Harvard University Press. We regret these editorial errors. swarthmore college bulletin collection JEFFREY LOTT “Art and Nature Thus Allied” The campus community was a little saddened last summer to see the magnificent old Bender oak next to the Faulkner Tennis Courts reduced to a mere—yet mighty—stump. Estimated to be about 350 years old and a probable remnant of the original hardwood forest that covered the area in colonial times, the venerable tree was declared unsafe and felled. In late December, with the skillful manipulation of his 11 chainsaws, Marty Long, a local artist, ice sculptor, and wood carver, effected a metamorphosis of the jagged stump, delighting passers-by as they witnessed the gradual emergence of a graceful oak leaf, curling gently as if lifted on a breeze. Stripped of bark, with its many grainy hues exposed, the sculpture shines softly in amber, cream, and gold when touched by the sunlight; glows brighter and richer when moistened by the rain; and glistens like a chimera through the mist of a light snowfall—as art and nature become one. —Carol Brévart-Demm april 2008 LOAN-FREE AID PLAN DRAWS PRAISE The Board of Managers’ decision in December to replace all loans with scholarships in the College’s financial aid awards, effective in the 2008–2009 academic year, has drawn praise from students and alumni. President Alfred H. Bloom’s office reported receiving hundreds of letters and e-mails applauding the decision. But the plan also presents a financial challenge for the College, which will fund the increased cost of need-based scholarship aid from a combination of endowment income and increased gifts to the Annual Fund. “For many students, the new policy will mean being able to choose Swarthmore and to engage fully their educational experience here free of debt,” Bloom says. “Moreover, an educational community marked by greater equality and opportunity empowers our students to become leaders in shaping a more just and generous world.” According to Jim Bock ’90, dean of admissions and financial aid, the new policy represents a further step in a long history of providing generous financial aid. Since 1981, the College has sought to protect its lowestincome students from the burden of debt by limiting their loans to a maximum of $1,000 a year. During the past two years, students in this group were offered loan-free financial aid Continued on next page 7 collection This year, a junior is receiving an aid award of $31,800. Her aid from the College likely includes a campus job opportunity of $1,710 (7 or 8 hours of work a week), a suggested loan of $4,500, and the remainder, $25,590, in scholarship grants. If she were to need the same $31,800 in the 2008–2009 academic year, her aid award would include the $1,710 campus job opportunity and $30,090 in scholarship. Her $4,500 loan component would be replaced with additional scholarship funds. The new policy does not change the nature of Swarthmore’s need-based financial aid; the College will continue to offer aid awards only in response to families’ demonstrated financial needs. Although Swarthmore’s aid awards will be loan-free, students swarthmore scholarship [loans] campus jobs other grants family contribution summer earnings The College has decided that it will no longer require students who qualify for financial aid or their families to take out student loans as part of their awards. Loans will be replaced with additional scholarship awards. may still use the federal Stafford Loan and parents may still use the federal PLUS Loan for all the other reasons they did in the past. It was announced in February that Swarthmore’s total student charges (tuition, room, board, and activity fee) will rise to ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS A Scandal for School A Scandal in Bohemia—A Chamber Opera in Two Acts, is the fourth opus created by longtime collaborators Nathalie Anderson, professor of English literature and librettist, and 8 ISTOCKPHOTO.COM awards. The recent decision extends loanfree aid awards to all students—domestic and international—with demonstrated need. The decision will be applied to all enrolled students’ aid packages beginning in September. The following illustration of the benefit of the loan-free policy for a typical student was posted on the College Web site: Tom Whitman ’82, associate professor of music and composer (above). The plot of the opera is based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story “A $47,800 in 2008–2009, a 4.6 percent increase from the current academic year. Fifty percent of students receive scholarship aid from the College. More than one third of Swarthmore’s annual spending from its endowment—amounting to nearly $20 million—is used to support its commitment to financial aid. Implementing the new loanfree award policy will cost the College approximately $1.7 million additionally each year. Efforts to generate this additional income are already under way, says Stephen Bayer, vice president for alumni and development. Fund-raising goals include $18 million in new endowment for financial aid and an increase in Annual Giving of $2 million per year. Widespread student approval of the loan-free policy led to offers by members of the Student Council to solicit contributions from the student body in support of the plan. At the February Board meeting, Manager Gil Kemp ’75 announced that he would match student contributions at a rate of 10 to one. —Jeffrey Lott Scandal in Bohemia,” in which the detective is outwitted by a resourceful woman. Act I of the opera debuted on March 2, performed mainly by students, including baritone Henry Clapp ’09 and conductor Mark Loria ’08. The student cast was complemented by professional vocalists Markus Beam, Laura Heimes, and Julian Rodescu, who also teaches voice at the College. “I’m particularly excited about the way this performance combines my professional lives as composer and teacher,” Whitman says. Whitman also wrote a chamber-music spin-off of the opera titled Holmes Suite for strings and piano, which was performed at Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum on Feb. 24, he says, by “an unusually talented group of high school students from the Settlement Music School.” The Settlement School commissioned the piece in honor of its centennial. Anderson and Whitman have also collaborated on two other operas, The Black Swan (1998) and Sukey in the Dark (2001), as well as a choral piece. —Carol Brévart-Demm swarthmore college bulletin WHO WON THE LATEST WAR? GEORGE WIDMAN Dominic Tierney, an assistant professor of political science at the College, and coauthor Dominic Johnson, a Princeton University Fellow, were honored last fall with the International Studies Association’s Best Book Award for Failing to Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics (Harvard University Press, 2006), in which the authors discuss the reasons why popular judgments about success or failure in war frequently have little to do with the actual results. Tierney says that U.S. public opinion is particularly critical in cases of U.S. intervention in civil wars—such as humanitarian operations in Haiti, Bosnia, and Somalia— suggesting that Americans judge the success of nation-building against their own standards of democracy rather than evaluating the progress made in the country involved. In a 2006 New York Times op-ed, he wrote: “A situation is judged a failure for falling short of U.S. democratic standards, even if the country involved never had a democratic system and was incredibly unstable and poverty-ridden to begin with.” Tierney is also the author of FDR and the Spanish Civil War: Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle That Divided America (Duke University Press, 2007). —Carol Brévart-Demm A Great Team Player Last November, the Philadelphia Multicultural Affairs Congress and the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations chose Assistant Dean and Director of the Intercultural Center (IC) Rafael Zapata (above) as one of the Delaware Valley’s most influential Latinos. One of a group of 51 leaders from a range of fields including politics, education, economics, and social services, Zapata was selected from 25 nominees in the category “10 under [age] 40.” Zapata, who has been with the College since 2002, is responsible for counseling students on academic as well as personal issues. As IC director, he works with, among others, students of color and queer students on issues of culture, leadership, development, and social justice education. He has facilitated collaboration with the College and Taller Puertoriqueño, a Philadelphia organization for culture and the arts, on whose board he currently serves as chair. Since 2000, he has served as a reader and trainer for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program and the Hispanic Cultural Fund. From 2004 to 2007, he was a peer reviewer for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which disburses more than $2 million a year to local arts and cultural organizations. In a December Phoenix article, Assistant Dean and Director of the Black Cultural Center Timothy Sams said, “[Rafael is] awesome. He’s an excellent collaborator and is very well conapril 2008 9 collection Swarthmore’s Class of 2012 will be the most selective yet. According to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jim Bock ’90, as of early February, 6,225 high school seniors applied to the College, reflecting an overall increase of 17 percent over last year. Numbers for fall early decision were up by 10 percent, for winter early decision by 17 percent, and for regular decision by 17 percent, although Bock expects the final numbers to be slightly lower after all applications have been processed and the incomplete ones eliminated. He is particularly pleased that 993 applicants are international students, a 25 percent increase over last year, and that applications by first-generation students have risen by 26 percent. According to a January 2008 New York Times article, numbers of college applications are breaking records all around the country due to factors including the demographic upswing in students of college age, aggressive recruiting, and the increasing popularity of applying on-line, which encourages students to submit more applications than they might have in the past. Bock agrees that demographics, ease of applying on-line, and increased outreach by the College admissions staff are partly responsible for the bumper crop of applications. However, he adds, the discontinuation of the early admission programs at Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia is also having an impact on application numbers. “We’re seeing many students who would otherwise have applied early to those places but who are now still in the pipeline and are submitting 10 to 12 applications each to other schools. So it’s not just more applicants. It’s more applications per student.” —Carol Brévart-Demm REVAMPED NEWS WEB SITE The College’s Communications Office has launched a redesigned “News” section of Swarthmore’s Web site. The new, information-rich page features video clips; podcasts of faculty lectures and selected music performances; and blogs by students, faculty, and alumni. The site continues to highlight faculty experts, recent College news headlines, links to student media, and summaries of Swarthmore’s appearances in local and national media. 10 News and features from the Swarthmore College Bulletin will be prominently featured. RSS feeds of each of these sections will also be provided so that readers can “subscribe” and receive notification when those areas are updated with new stories. “We are working closely with our colleagues, especially those in media services and alumni relations, to create an interactive site that showcases—largely through video and podcasts—the energy and variety of life on campus,” says Director of Communications Nancy Nicely. “Whether it is a taiko drumming lesson or a lecture on planet formation, in a classroom or on a stage, we want to show in as many ways as possible how life at Swarthmore supports and enriches the life of the mind.” To sample the site, go to www.swarthmore.edu/news. —Alisa Giardinelli ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS Record Applications—Again! NEW VP FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS Stephen Bayer, who first joined the College in 2001 as associate director for planned giving, has been named vice president for development and alumni relations. Bayer received a B.A. cum laude from Tufts University and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law. After law school, he served with the law firm of Mesirov, Gelman, Jaffee, Cramer and Jamison; CMS Companies, an international personal investment-banking firm; and as co-founder and president of Net Recovery LLC, a full service benefits recovery company. In addition to his work in planned giving, Bayer has served as director of capital gifts, director of principal gifts and, in 2006, director of development. Upon the retirement of Dan West on Jan. 2, he became acting vice president. “Stephen will offer inspired and empowering leadership to our dynamic development and alumni relations teams,” said President Alfred H. Bloom, who announced the appointment in February following a national search. “His care for individuals and for this institution, his magnetic persuasive talent, and his imaginative vision will give authentic and powerful voice to the core values of this community and bring everincreasing numbers of alumni, parents, and friends closer to the College in affection, esteem, and support.” swarthmore college bulletin PRUDENTE HONORED COUR TESY OF FR IENDS HISTO RICAL LIBRA RY Legendary coach Ernie Prudente was inducted into the Philadelphia-Area Small College Basketball Hall of Fame at a luncheon in his honor in December. Prudente’s basketball teams won 103 games at Haverford College from 1957 to 1969 and 81 games at Swarthmore between 1969 and 1981. He holds the record for the most basketball wins at Haverford and is the second most winning coach at Swarthmore. He is also overall the most successful baseball coach in Swarthmore history, with 216 wins over 25 seasons. Prudente played varsity football, basketball, and baseball at Haverford Township High School before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He entered Friends’ Central Prep in 1946–1947 and played the same sports there. Prudente went on to the University of Pennsylvania, where he played four years of varsity football and basketball. In 1969, Prudente jumped from Haverford to Swarthmore, bringing the Garnet squad its first winning season since 1950– 1951. He coached basketball until 1981, defeating the Fords in his first seven tries. Rebecca Brubaker ’06 and Andrew Sniderman ’07 were both recipients of a Rhodes Scholarship, the oldest international-study award available to American students. (Read more about Sniderman in “Green Bonds for a Green Future” on p. 33.) Brubaker is the fourth Swarthmore woman to receive the scholarship. A McCabe Scholar while at the College, she will spend two years at Oxford University working on a master’s degree in migration studies. She will live on campus because “I don’t want to miss out on the age-old traditions that come with the Oxford experience and are centered in dorm life.” She is interested in revising and developing immigration policies and integration protocols in both the United States and Europe. “To have the best understanding of the issues, I want to look at [immigration policies] in various contexts,” she says. “The European context particularly fascinates me because of the speed and diversity of immigration [to European countries] and the fact that it is occurring at the same time that the European Union is struggling to create a shared European identity with freedom of movement and labor. Oxford’s intellectual environment as well as its geographic and political location will help propel me towards this goal.” As an undergraduate, Brubaker’s focus was identity, conflict, and nationalism with a special interest in refugee and immigration issues. april 2008 the characteristics exemplified by Coach Prudente: sportsmanship, love of the sport, and respect for their teammates. Coach Ernie Prudente (back row, right) and the 1973–1974 men’s basketball team She won the Rudkin Political Science Award for her senior honors thesis on conflict resolution in Cyprus. Following graduation, she spent a year in Cyprus on a Fulbright Award, working on conflict resolution efforts between displaced Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. This experience fueled her interest in identity issues on the borderlands of Europe. “I became fascinated by questions such as, what makes a place or a people European,” she says. Brubaker is in Turkey on an Insight Fellowship, working with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to examine trust building, resource allocation, and integration initiatives between migrant/refugee groups and their host societies in Tanzania, Turkey, and The Hague. The three other Swarthmore women who have been named Rhodes Scholars are Jane Stromseth ’78, economics; Melissa Ward Burch ’81, biology; and Janice Hudgings ’91, engineering/mathematics. Twenty-eight Swarthmore alumni have received the honor. A complete historical list of Swarthmore Rhodes Scholarship ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS Two More Rhodes Scholars Prudente ran the College’s intramural program from 1981 until his retirement. He was named professor of physical education in 1992, teaching tennis, volleyball, badminton, archery, squash, basketball, and touch football. Swarthmore presents the Ernie Prudente Sportsmanship Award annually to the male and female athletes who have demonstrated 11 E R O S T U J THE SPIR N A H T IT OF FU Before Margaret Cho performed her stand-up act to a packed house at the Pearson-Hall Theater in February, she took time to meet with students in two of Assistant Professor of English Literature Bakirathi Mani’s courses, Nation and Migration and Asian American Literature. Cho began by describing her various roles as comedian, author, activist, and director: “I do so many things because I don’t limit myself,” she said, adding that, as an Asian American, it was especially difficult to become an established comedian because she had no role models from whom to seek inspiration. She discussed her writing process—from thought to act—explaining how, while blogging for major on-line news outlets such as the Huffington Post, CNN.com, and her own Web site, she had reflected on what it meant to be queer, female, and Asian in these Internet spaces: “Most of the voices being heard are straight, white men, so people always seek me out because then they can think ‘Well, if we get her, we don’t have to hire any more Asians, women, or gays!’” she laughed. Cho spoke of her struggle as a minority in the political arena as well. After coming out as queer, she became more involved in political activism, recalling the “sting of noninclusion” she felt when she was disinvited— as being too controversial a figure—from the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Undaunted, she raised her voice still louder. “If you’re a minority, or a woman, or a person of color, or gay, you can feel as if your voice doesn’t matter. But we have to empower our political voices,” she said. According to Cho, racism against Asian Americans is more subtle than racism against other minorities. “It’s about noninclusion rather than racist slurs and hate crimes, which do happen, too.” Cho is also still trying to figure out how to deal with racism in queer communities. Along with her identity as an Asian American, she said, she has struggled with her identity as a woman, conquering a devastating eating disorder after watching a burlesque perform- 12 N ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS M collection ance that included women of all body types and sizes. “You could tell they were so happy and comfortable with their bodies,” she said. “I was crying when I saw it, it really cured me.” Later, performing burlesque on her show The Sensuous Woman, she said: “We are so conditioned to a certain look that models have, and people think that’s the only kind of body that can be beautiful and sexual, and that’s not true—everybody has that ability.” Finally, Cho discussed her act: “I give myself permission to be a little darker or raunchy or graphic, because it’s in the spirit of fun,” she said, but she stressed the importance of her intentions: “It’s about what’s in you, what’s in your heart. I want people to feel good about themselves when they leave.” —Adapted from a Feb. 27, 2008 Daily Gazette article by Urooj Khan ’10 swarthmore college bulletin “Engaged” Seniors Dominic Lowell and Anne Kolker are the best of friends. While spending a summer together as interns in Washington, D.C., in fact, they announced their engagement on Facebook. At the end of February 2007, they threw a mammoth engagement party on campus, with ring, bouquet, garter, and starry eyes. Funded by the Student Activities Committee, the party was a huge success. “We like to throw and go to parties and have fun and cooperate on things, and we’d like to think that we were the first to stage a party with an engagement theme,” Lowell says. “The love is real, even though the engagement is not,” Kolker adds. Lowell and Kolker’s makebelieve betrothal metamorphosed in the fall into a different form of engagement, when they were elected senior class president and vice president, respectively. “Traditionally, students run for class office positions as individuals,” Kolker says, “but we knew that if we were going to do this, we had to do it together.” They campaigned on a “Lowelland-Kolker-for-Prez-and-Veep” ticket, even creating a campaign Best friends Dominic Lowell (left) and Anne Kolker are president and vice president respectively of the Class of 2008. But as the Pennsylvania Democratic primary approaches, they find themselves at (friendly) odds over Clinton vs. Obama. T-shirt. “We wore them around campus for three days straight. They must have been pretty smelly, but everyone understood that we were campaigning,” Lowell says. Since September, Lowell and Kolker have also been active in the presidential campaign. But the apparently inseparable friends, who frequently complete each other’s sentences, are facing a challenge. Kolker is the state coordinator of Pennsylvania Students for Obama. Lowell is an ardent supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton and a member of Swarthmore Students for Hillary. “For the first time, Dom and I are not fully on the same side of something, although, technically, we are, because we both support Democratic candidates,” Kolker says. “I don’t know what our lives Who’s the turkey? We are. If you follow the 2008 Swarthmore College calendar, you might just go to grandmother’s house a week early. As always, Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in NoISTOCKPHOTO.COM vember—not the third, as shown on the College calen- april 2008 dar. So, make a note to go over the river and through the woods on Nov. 27. would be like if one of us were a Republican,” she adds, laughing. As friends who say they have always cooperated fully on everything, they are now dealing with the teeter-totter of their respective moments of elation or dejection, depending on the results of the primaries. Lowell is excitedly anticipating the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, during which he will volunteer at the Clinton headquarters. “Now that it’s on our turf, although we’ll strongly support our own candidates, we can sort of support both,” he says. After graduation, Kolker and Lowell intend to work in Washington, D.C. Kolker hopes to “stay with Senator Obama in some capacity, either in the campaign or on Capitol Hill”; and Lowell would like to work for a nonprofit civil rights law firm. Needless to say, they are looking for an apartment together. —Carol Brévart-Demm 13 GEORGJEAN PHOTOS collection Women’s swimming (6-5, 4-3 CC): At the 2008 Centennial Conference (CC) Swimming Championships, Swarthmore women won 25 medals and broke five College records, earning second place. Anne Miller ’10 and Jennie Lewis ’08 qualified for the Division III NCAA Championship meet, tying for gold in the 100-butterfly final in CC-, meet- and College-record time (57.72). Miller, All-America in 2007, also qualified for the 200-butterfly event at nationals, repeating as the CC champion with a meetrecord time (2.05.57), and collecting six medals, including a bronze in the 500freestyle race in 5.09.96 (another Collegerecord time). At the national meet, Miller and Lewis both earned All-America honors. Miller posted the best finish ever by a Swarthmore swimmer, with a College- and CC-record time of 2.02.44 in the 200 butterfly, earning a silver medal. In the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly, Lewis swam 57.36, breaking the 14 record that she and Lewis had set at the CC meet. In the consolation final, Miller and Lewis placed 10th and 13th respectively. Junior Allie Jordan also shone at the CC championship, posting four medals (three silver, one bronze) while setting two College records in the 50- and 100-yard backstroke. Men’s swimming (6-4, 5-1 CC): The Swarthmore men swam to a second-place finish at the CC Swimming Championship meet, collecting 24 medals while setting two College records. Doug Gilchrist-Scott ’09 laid claim to the title of Fastest Swimmer in the CC, winning gold in the 50-freestyle race with a College-record time (21.53). Gilchrist-Scott earned six medals at the championship meet, including bronze in the 100-freestyle race— the junior also set a second College record in the 100-free preliminaries (47.53). Freshman Sterling Satterfield made a splash in his championship debut, amassing five medals including silver in the 200-yard breaststroke and bronze in the 100-yard breaststroke. Junior Stephen Shymon showed his prowess in the distance freestyle events, claiming the silver medal in the 500-yard and 1,650-yard races. Indoor track (women—11th at CC ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS Garnet Swimmers– Wet, Wild, and Making History Senior Jennie Lewis (top left) shared gold and a spot at the NCAA Championship meet with sophomore Anne Miller in the 100 butterfly. Both earned All-America honors at nationals. First-year Kathryn Stockbower (above), fighting for space under the basket with Haverford's Brittany Lattisaw, led the women's team in 13 different statistical categories. Senior Ian McCormick (top right) was named AllCentennial first team after one of the best seasons by a player in Swarthmore history. swarthmore college bulletin AURORA IMAGING ond all-time for Garnet men’s basketball. McCormick was also named to ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District II second team and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic Performer of the Year. Fellow seniors Matt Kurman and Steve Wolf also achieved career milestones—Kurman became the 17th player to accumulate 1,000 points, and Wolf is the 13th Garnet male to amass 500 rebounds. Championships; men—9th at CC Championships): The Garnet women won three medals at the 2008 CC Indoor Trackand-Field Championships. Junior Cait Mullarkey (800 meters) and sophomore Nyika Corbett (3,000 meters) picked up individual silver medals and then combined with Lauren DeLuca ’10 and Bess Ritter ’09 to take second place in the distance medley relay. Connor Darby ’09 won the 800-meter event at the Jack Pyrah Invitational hosted by Villanova University in December. Men’s basketball (6-19, 2-16 CC): Senior center Ian McCormick was named to the AllCC first team after one of the best seasons by a player in Swarthmore history. He became april 2008 the first men’s player in Centennial history to average more than 20 points per game (20.6 per game) and grab more than 10 rebounds per game (10.2 per game) in the same season. McCormick ranked second in the CC in points per game and rebounds, finishing third in blocks per game (2.8) and fourth in three-point field-goal percentage (42.4 percent). McCormick also had the best career by a Swarthmore post player, setting a new College record for blocks in a season (193) and breaking the career records for rebounds (797) and blocks (193). He is the first male player in Swarthmore history—and only the third in CC history—to score 1,500 points and 700 rebounds in a career. His single-season point totals and total rebounds rank sec- Women’s basketball (8-16, 5-13 CC): The Garnet women had two of the top post players in the CC this season—senior Karen Berk and freshman Kathryn Stockbower. Berk was selected All-Conference for the third straight year, joining Garnet women Heather Kile Lord ’02 and Katie Robinson ’04. Berk, honorable mention in 2007–2008, is the first Garnet women’s basketball player to amass 1,400 points, 800 rebounds, and 100 blocks. She is also the first athlete in CC history to be named All-Conference for both basketball and volleyball (honorable mention in 2007). Stockbower was named first-team AllCentennial, just the third player in CC history to earn the honor after their first college season. She led the conference in rebounds (14 per game), free throws made (112), and double-doubles (21), ranking second in points (17.6 per game) and third in blocks (1.46 per game). Her rebounding average this season ranked fourth in all of Division III, and her scoring average was in the top 50. She grabbed 257 rebounds in 18 CC games, breaking the conference record for total rebounds. Senior guard Laura Popovics completed her Swarthmore career second all-time with 116 three-pointers, including two in an overtime win over Haverford on Senior Day. Badminton (5-2): Sophomore Kim Kramer did not lose a singles match throughout the regular season, winning the Mid-Atlantic Juniors title on Feb. 9. Kramer combined with freshman Maithili Parikh to also capture the doubles’ title at the Mid-Atlantic Juniors, hosted by Bryn Mawr. The Garnet badminton program also had the honor of hosting the 2008 Badminton National Championships on March 21–23. —Kyle Leach 15 faculty expert NEW WORK BY PROFESSOR OF STUDIO ART BRIAN MEUNIER BRIAN MEUNIER By Andrea Packard ’85 16 A turning point for Meunier was the 2002 List Gallery exhibition that brought together a selection of works by the late Robert Turner ’36. Meunier visited the exhibition several times a week during the month it was on ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS The Marvels of Things Created Brian Meunier’s new clay sculptures continue his career-long interest in hybrid forms that elicit a sense of wonder in the mysteries of both nature and human creation. The new work, which was exhibited at the List Gallery in January and February, includes a Galápagos tortoise, an antelope, a baby vulture, a swimming baby elephant, two wasps fighting, a tyrannosaurus leg, and a Kouros-like figure of a deep-sea diver. Meunier calls this ongoing series Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing after the title of a cosmography treatise by the 13th-century Persian physician Abu Yahya zakariz’ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini. “The title says it all for me,” Meunier says. “I am drawn to objects that activate my sense of wonder. In the beginning, middle, and end of the work, I require an intuitive and transcendent experience—for myself and, I hope, for the viewer.” Many of Meunier’s current works combine animal and plant forms with structures that appear crafted or manufactured. In one sculpture, for example, a chameleon perches upon a branchlike form that grows directly from an archaic vessel bound with hemp and studded with bolts. Those familiar with Meunier’s more abstract and enigmatic forms in wood will recognize his ongoing use of evocative contrasts, expressive surfaces, and surreal whimsy. Yet, as he explores the expressive and descriptive possibilities of clay—and of more recognizable subject matter—Meunier continues to offer enigmas rather than answers. He invites us to share in his puzzlement, wonder, and reverie. view. “Each time I returned, the vessels demanded more quiet from me,” Meunier states. “Turner was in the moment when he made them, and they require the viewer to be in the moment.” Meunier also took note of his passion for clay while teaching his foundation level courses and his Life Modeling course in sculpture. At the same time that he was increasingly drawn to the work of Turner, Peter Volko, and the Canadian artist Jean Pierre LaRoque, he found increasing pleasure in demonstrating clay modeling to his students. After years of meticulously planning complex wooden sculptures, he reveled in the responsiveness and relative spontaneity of clay. His current sculptures still require meticulous research, preparation, and revision. Meunier begins by creating enormous and elaborate charcoal drawings. He then builds an armature, constructs the clay forms, fires them in sections, reassembles the works, and finishes them with experimentally developed surface details and patinas. There’s evidence of Meunier’s extensive research on almost every inch of his studio walls, which are covered with hundreds of postcards, photos, and other images he has collected. “On every sabbatical, for almost 30 years, I’ve packed them up and taken them with me,” he states, pointing to the 20foot–long entry wall. “This wall represents swarthmore college bulletin my evolving consciousness and cosmology.” Audubon bird illustrations hang edge-toedge with Roman statuary and Greek amphorae. Mayan artifacts mingle with Victorian illustrations of absurd inventions, such as naively impractical pictures of flying machines or mechanical flight suits intended for sea rescues. Unusual images of animals, such as an underwater view of a swimming elephant, stand out next to cultural artifacts, such as an African vessel designed to capture illnesses. A veteran of numerous sabbaticals abroad, including repeated stays in Oaxaca, Mexico, and numerous trips all over the world, including to Greece, Vietnam, and Japan, Meunier remained on campus last spring to distill the ideas and inspirations he has gathered so far. Working in a basement area of Papazian Hall, he has found the quiet sustained focus needed to develop an entirely new body of work. Rejuvenated by his leave and energized by creative momentum, Meunier is bringing the lessons of his own artistic journey back to the classroom—enjoying his classes while envisioning more works in clay. ! As Meunier explores the expressive and descriptive possibilities of clay—and of more recognizable subject matter— he continues to offer enigmas rather than answers. april 2008 ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS Andrea Packard is director of the List Gallery. 17 Our own shade of green AS SUSTAINABILITY BECOMES A GLOBAL CONCERN, SWARTHMORE FORGES ITS OWN PATH. By Carol Brévart-Demm Illustrations by Andrew Pinkham 18 Getting a large number of college and university presidents to agree on much of anything can be a challenge, but last fall, 406 higher education leaders signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. It pledged their institutions to set timetables to achieve a broad range of environmental goals. Swarthmore was not among the signatories. In December, the Sierra Club published a top-10 list of colleges and universities that “get it” in terms of their environmental policies and actions. The list was headed by a small liberal arts college and— if you count the eight schools that received honorable mention— included five other liberal arts schools. Swarthmore was not among them. And when the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, issued its 2008 College Sustainability Report Card, Swarthmore was in the middle of the class with a B-. What’s going on here? It can hardly be argued that “anywhere else it would have been an A,” because this isn’t anywhere else—it’s Swarthmore. Professor of Engineering E. Carr Everbach, who has been a faculty leader in campus environmental circles since the early 1990s, isn’t overly concerned about these external measures. He believes that Swarthmore is merely approaching campus environmental issues in the way that it does everything else—thoughtfully, analytically, collectively, and, carefully. “Our direction is good for us,” he says of the progress being made toward a “green” campus. “It fits our mission, is socially responsible, and ethically intelligent. The kinds of innovations we do best are a little different. “We should not advertise ourselves as—or commit ourselves to— doing something just for show. So signing up for something we can satisfy just by buying carbon credits on the market is not a good way of doing things. We should play to our strengths.” Those strengths, says Everbach, include the College’s interdisciplinary nature, with frequent faculty interaction and research across departmental borders. “There are a lot of things that we can do in environmental science innovations that relate to our ability to cross boundaries and create courses and programs and ideas on campus greening that are designed uniquely for us.” An expansive Environmental Studies curriculum includes courses not only from the sciences but also from engineering, humanities, and the social sciences (see p. 24). The student body is one of the College’s most vital assets. In fact, most of the sustainability action on the College campus has been initiated from the bottom up, either from students or a few faculty members, Everbach says. “I came in the door with no environmental background other than a general personal interest. I had no credentials—I do acoustics and ultrasound and other biomedical stuff—but I got sucked in by the students, who basically invited me as a new professor to participate with them in this whole discussion.” In 1995, he led students in constructing a straw-bale house as an Environmental Studies Capstone Seminar project. The student environmental group Earthlust, in particular, has been producing advocates for environmental responsibility since the late 1980s and has had a voice in most environmental decisions on campus. “Students have come and gone, but there have been very few organizations that have lasted as long as Earthlust. They’ve been a constant force for policy,” Everbach says. Noteworthy Earthlust initiatives include the campus recycling program, started in the early 1990s; the environmental studies program; and, more recently, the College’s purchase of wind-generated electricity as a renewable energy source. Since 2001, the College has gradually increased its commitment from 2.5 percent to 40 percent 19 wind power. Earthlust was honored with the 2007 Green Power: Turn It On Award from Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future for their action. (For more on Earthlust, see p. 23.) For the most part, current students agree with Everbach that the College is headed in the right direction with respect to sustainability issues. Earthlust member Michael Roswell ’11 says: “It is hard to teach sound practices without embodying them. Learning happens all the time, mostly through experience. It is by integrating facilities and curriculum and stressing the environmental impacts and the opportunities for improvement collegewide, that Swarthmore will nurture conscientious global citizens.” Roswell is one of three students on the College’s new Sustainability Planning Committee (SPC), which includes seven other members drawn from faculty and staff. Co-chaired by Everbach and Director of Maintenance Ralph Thayer, the committee aims to compile a list of long-term strategic sustainability initiatives. They will begin by devis- Wind power now supplies 40 percent of the College’s electric energy. ing a set of working principles, followed by a list of goals to be achieved within a certain time frame. “The time frames should have some structure to them but not necessarily be a fixed schedule with specific dates. That wouldn’t fly in the Swarthmore culture,” Everbach says. According to Associate Vice President for Facilities and Services C. Stuart Hain, the SPC will serve as a task force of the leadership division of the multi-faceted Planning Steering Committee that was formed following the successful Meaning of Swarthmore capital campaign to define the College’s direction over the next two decades. “The committee members will inform the planning process, providing a realistic perspective—understanding the importance of advancing on the one hand, but being careful about moving too fast,” Hain says. Although the committee is just starting up, student member Kelsey Bridget Hatzell ’09 envisions working toward lasting changes: “The greatest challenges our group will face are those associated with changing a mindset. My hope is that we make a lasting impact, whether within the educational spectrum (such as including more environmental education requirements in order to create a more knowledgeable student body) or in the role of promoting physical changes to our campus.” The committee will likely make use of a document compiled by Earthlust members, which is actually an adaptation of the College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Cited in a Sept. 27 20 Phoenix article, Earthlust member Elizabeth Crampton ’09 said: “We will use the presidents’ commitment as a base to ultimately come up with a tailored-to-Swarthmore agreement that would get us to carbon neutrality by 2025.” Such a structured agreement would ensure the continuation of current plans even after their student instigators graduate from Swarthmore. Continued pressure from a group like Earthlust, with its strong drive to action seems especially valuable at Swarthmore, where agreement on issues rarely happens in a hurry. “We have this Quaker history and sensibility about our social mission, but the model of reaching consensus is time-consuming,” Everbach says. He goes on to describe a slow, evolutionary process where everyone has a say, everyone has an opportunity to object, object to the objections, until stake holders are either convinced or they resign. “Although it’s an inefficient process, you do end up with a much better ‘esprit de corps,’” he says. Still, Crampton warns against indifference and failure to act: “Inaction on a student or institutional level is the bane of student activism. And it’s no real excuse, because no action is too small as long as you do it, especially if you didn’t before. Doing something, even something small, is better than doing nothing. And who knows how far the ripples will spread?” she says. Balancing the importance of its enterprising and resourceful students with a Quaker tradition of deliberate, thoughtful consensus, Swarthmore seeks its own shade of green. The College is “doing something”—sometimes something big—and people in leadership positions across the campus have been enthusiastic about introducing innovative ideas and processes for sustainability. Like Everbach, Ralph Thayer, a College staff member since 1989, believes that the College should avoid “wallpapering” green. “That’s a popular trend right now,” he says. “Although it makes your operation look as if it’s doing wonderful things, it’s really only window-dressing. We’d like to avoid that here.” Thayer’s role in the College sustainability program revolves principally around energy management and reduction. Initiatives in his area include: • Wind power, resulting from an eight-year-long Earthlust campaign, now supplies 40 percent of the College’s electric energy. • Energy-efficient heating and cooling systems have been installed in buildings. Facilities staff monitor usage schedules, so that energy use can be controlled according to need. • Last year, for the first time, at Earthlust’s urging, energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs were issued to all incoming freshmen as alternatives to standard bulbs. Timed motion-sensitive light switches are an ongoing project. Most incandescent fixtures and old fluorescent fixtures with magnetic ballasts will gradually be replaced with alternative forms of lighting—either fluorescent, compact fluorescent, or LED (light-emitting diodes). • New construction is equipped with low-flow water fixtures, and new equipment is evaluated for efficiency before purchase. Sharples Dining Hall experienced a major reduction in water and detergent use with its new dish machine, as did the athletic center with the replacement of its old washing machines. • A new offshoot of Earthlust is a group of “green dorm” advisers, on hand to advise residents on consistent green behaviors. • The campus is maintained as a largely pedestrian zone. Parking lots are located at the edge of campus, and student parking permits are limited to 110 to 115 a year. • Student transportation is amply provided by shuttle vans, public buses, and rail; and the College recently agreed to join the PhillyCarShare™ network of low-cost car sharing as an alternative to car ownership. For further ideas to be implemented in the future, visit the “Energy” section of the Greening of Swarthmore Web site at www.swarthmore.edu/x10966.xml. Grounds maintenance began to change with the arrival of Director of Grounds and Coordinator of Horticulture Jeff Jabco on campus in 1990. According to Everbach: “Back then, guys in space suits were spraying chemicals all over the campus. Parrish Beach looked like a putting green, with not a weed in sight.” Jabco, described by Everbach as “probably the strongest sustainability advocate in the administration,” changed that by implementing integrated pest management (IPM) procedures. “All of a sudden,” Everbach says, “there were ladybugs everywhere, flying around the classrooms, getting in the window screens, where there never had been any before.” (Happily, there still are today.) Other environmental innovations in the area of College buildings and grounds include: • A recycling program, started in the early 1990s by Earthlust and later directed by Jabco, when institutional recycling became mandatory. Currently, 15 categories of materials, including items left in dorm rooms and in trash containers and papers items are recycled. In 2007, Jabco says, collected recyclable matter amounted to 32.75 tons of comingled glass, aluminium, plastic, and bimetallic containers; 61 tons of mixed paper; 155 tons of yard and leaf waste; 24 tons of carpeting and clothing/textiles; more than 98 tons of construction/renovation waste (*asphalt, concrete,wood,etc.); more than 41 tons of furniture and furnishings; more than seven tons of consumer electronics. • Recycling of construction waste: When practical, old concrete is chopped up for reuse in new concrete mixes. Leftover drywall is ground into a powder of gypsum—containing calcium carbonate—and spread as a soil amendment outside new buildings. • A 2007 Trash to Treasure sale of items resulting from an end-ofyear dorm cleanout. The sale not only raised more than $12,000 for charity but also kept the items out of the trash stream. • Growing and displaying the best plants in the Delaware Valley, in keeping with the mission of the Scott Arboretum. In addition to IPM, goals include the removal of insect- or disease-prone plants that, due to their dependence on chemicals to ensure an acceptable appearance, could not be recommended to homeowners; use of local compost, produced by the College, instead of peat, to avoid exploitation of peat bogs that results in damage to the ecosystem; turf management using turf renovation practices such as aeration, compost application, or switching from total reliance on one grass species to turf-type tall fescue grasses—rather than herbicides or pesticides, which are used only as a last resort; stewardship of the Crum Woods, including ongoing discussions concerning deer overpopulation. • A new science center that, as a result of Earthlust’s early advocacy during the design process, earned certification as an example of Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design (LEED). • Two new “green” student residence halls: Alice Paul Hall and David Kemp Hall (the latter to open in fall 2008). Local “green” contractors W. H. Cumby 21 and Sons, known for their use of “green” initiatives and headquartered in a LEED-certified building, were hired to construct both residences. • Five thousand square feet of green roof, now in place on Alice Paul Hall and a storage building next to Papazian Hall, help control campus rainwater run-off. A further green roof will be created on David Kemp Hall, and one is planned for the Lang Performing Arts Center when its current roof is replaced. As the first green roof on a college residence hall in North America, Alice Paul’s roof has become a popular tour destination for architects, engineers, contractors, and potential green roof buyers. The high demand to see the roof has led to the Scott Arboretum’s scheduling “roof tours” into its calendar from March through November. In 2006, Jabco spent 10 days studying green-roof technology in Germany, where it has been used for quite a while. German consultants assisted in the College’s roof planning. • Storm water run-off is controlled campuswide: There are porous asphalt walkways; infiltration beds; visible water-channeling features, including waterfalls and fountains, feed rainwater into giant underground cisterns in front of Martin Hall and the science building that provide irrigation water; and a biostream that manages rainwater flow below McCabe Library as well as creating a site for lush and colorful plant growth. For more information on current sustainability practices and ideas for the future in buildings and grounds, visit www.swarthmore.edu/sustainability. Director of Dining Services and SPC member Linda McDougall has been instrumental in implementing environmentally responsible practices in her area. A former employee of Morrison’s Food Services, McDougall was hired in 1991, when the College decided to operate its own dining services, allowing it to purchase without restrictions. In the past few years, McDougall says, the following changes have been implemented: • Some fruit and vegetables are now purchased from nearby orchards, and, more recently, some meat and dairy products are being obtained from local farms. The College also buys local tofu, grown and manufactured in Allentown, Pa. • Sprouts are being home-grown in the Dining Hall kitchen. A local farmer has been assisting McDougall and her staff in setting up a rotation system to eventually enable several kinds of sprouts to be grown simultaneously. “Once it’s up and running,“ McDougall says, “several types of sprouts will be raised in pans in a spot where customers can see them. They’ll grow in cycles, so we’ll always have fresh batches—and because the water is recycled in a controlled space— unlike out in the fields—we don’t have to worry about bacteria or e.coli.” • Fry oil used in the kitchens is being reused as fuel. Previously, the College paid to have the oil removed to an unknown destination for 22 dumping, whereas a new service provides free containers and pick-up as well as conversion to a variety of clean energy uses, including heating systems for homeless shelters. • Unused food from the Dining Hall is donated to Chester Ministries. • The Dining Services composting program currently disposes of vegetable waste from the kitchen. • Biodegradable food containers, made from sugar cane and corn, are used in Essie Mae’s Snack Bar and the two coffee bars. • Students plan to plant a small organic garden on campus to replace one started last summer on Yale Avenue but abandoned due to lack of on-site water. • During December, Dining Hall staff worked with members of a new student environmental group, The Good Food Project, to host a “food scrape-off ” at dinner to heighten campus awareness of how much food is wasted. Students assisted diners in scraping their leftovers into bins designated for compostable and noncompostable waste. They were delighted to note that the daily weight of discarded food decreased as the project went forward. Seeking funding for a means to transport the waste from the dining areas to a compost pile behind Clothier Field bleachers, Marshal Morales ’08 drafted a proposal followed by a request letter from Jean In 2007, almost 420 tons of recyclable matter were collected on campus. Dahlquist ’11 to the Lang Foundation for a Swarthmore Foundation Grant. Their efforts resulted in two composting bins and a new electrically powered golf cart. Summarizing the College’s behavior with respect to sustainability so far, Crampton praises the dedication of College community members for their work on campus greening so far but sees a need for much more: “Although we’ve done a few good things, they’ve been at the initiative of a few people, organizations, or departments. We have no real plan or commitment for long-term sustainability and no guarantee that green initiatives will continue to happen.” Crampton’s classmate and fellow Earthlust and SPC member Nicholas Buttino ’09 envisages following two parallel paths to confront upcoming challenges: “Improving environmental studies in all departments is a priority. This, however, will be hypocritical without some physical embodiment,” he says. “We need to incorporate greening of our [campus] structures, buy 100 percent wind power, and replace our vehicle fleets with smaller ones.” He adds that one of the committee’s tasks will be to research and ensure the cost efficiency of improvement. Operating expenses are certainly an issue that preoccupies Ralph Thayer and other members of the administration, as the campus infrastructure continues to expand. Each time a new WITH ARMS building goes up or an existing one is renovated, the costs for AROUND THE PLANET— energy increase. The College’s steam boiler plant is currently A HISTORY OF EARTHLUST fired by natural gas and No. 6 fuel oil—a “residual fuel oil that By Carol Brévart-Demm and Isobel Rubin is cost efficient on a dollar per btu basis but is a difficult oil In the late 1980s, Dana which included weekly runs in to work with and relatively high in NOx emissions,” Lyon ’82, environmentally cona truck loaned by the Physical Thayer says. One of the items to be considered will be scious composer and folksinger, Plant to a “primitive recycling stathe possibility of alternate fuels that would reduce was still building his career when he tion set up by the Borough of emissions. returned to campus to give a concert. Swarthmore,” Hecht says. Thinking ahead to 2010—when state caps on During his visit, he invited students to “Sometimes,” he continues, “when energy rates enforced in 1996 by the PA Public participate in a dining-hall table discussion we had too much stuff, we had to bring it Utility Commission to protect consumers will about initiating an environmental club on to Springfield. Someone called the cops on expire, obligating users to pay market prices campus. us one time when we were having a little too for electricity in 2011—Thayer says, “There “A bunch [of students] who didn’t know much fun throwing glass bottles into the will be an impact. In the meantime, we’re each other that well sat at the table and bins.” Although the College’s Facilities Departfixing our schedules, looking at re-lamptalked,” Cleveland Justis ’91 remembers. Earth- ment eventually took over the program when ing, and doing everything we can to bring lust was born from that meeting, with Justis and legislation made recycling obligatory, “We were about electricity-use reduction.” two fellow freshmen, Richard Hecht, and Rethe pioneers,” says Hecht. He also worries about the College’s becca Carsel, as its co-founders. The club’s disTwo decades later, Earthlust remains a tireless transportation pool and agrees with tinctive name was suggested late one night in the advocate for environmental responsibility. Since Buttino that the current vehicle fleet at former Tarble Social Center by Carsel, as the the early days, when its members lobbied sucsome point should be replaced or supfounders looked at an Opus the Penguin cartoon cessfully for an Environmental Studies Program plemented by electric or alternatetitled “Penguin Lust” showing Opus embracing and first began their campaign to persuade the fuel–driven vehicles. “The Maintenance the earth. “It was sort of random, the way we did College to switch to wind power as a renewable Department has purchased one electrieverything,” Justis says. energy source, Earthlust members have spoken cally-driven vehicle that has the power Earthlust activities back then, Justis says, were out strongly in favor of green campus buildings to move tools and personnel, but it designed to make environmental issues seem and initiated the procedure to obtain LEED certificomes at a cost,” he says. “bright and exciting, not gloom and doom.” Accation for the new science center. They have repIt will be the task of the SPC to deal cording to Hecht, they organized gourmet vege- resentatives on the Committee for Stewardship with issues such as these, but whether a tarian cuisine meals made by students, disof the Crum. More recently, to encourage and committee alone will suffice remains to be tributed free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, organassist members of the student community in seen. ized appearances by musical groups, and had leading more sustainable lifestyles, they have Although Jabco speculates that Swarthpublic readings of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. initiated storm-the-dorm and green-dorm admore’s small size might limit the College’s “We resurrected Earth Day two years be- viser events. They participate in the Phillyability to create an individual leadership posifore mainstream environmental groups CarShare Program and organize visits to tion to centralize its sustainability efforts, both pushed strongly for it in 1990,” Hecht campus by well-known environmentalists. he and Everbach agree that such a position would says. “We also tried to fight the Blue Last December, they staged a Polar Bear add structure and organization to the program. Route and persuade President [David] Plunge into Crum Creek as part of the “We need someone at the top of the administrative Fraser to set up conservation International Day of Climate Action. chain who can effectively communicate with both the easements protecting the Crum Justis says: “It was really imporfaculty and the physical plant—and who has the ear of in perpetuity. He told us to take a tant to us back then. People the president and upper administration,” Everbach says. hike.” came, and they got excited. For now, however, Hain believes that the SPC is the best The group’s most lasting It’s cool that something we solution for the College and that the committee will respond to initiative was a campus started 20 years ago still the need and provide coordination and structure to a campuswide recycling program, exists today.” sustainability program. “I think that’s the way it has to work here. We take this really seriously, and we will get there—and when we do, we’ll do it right,” he says. ! 23 t h o u g ht - e n e SWARTHMORE’S ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM FINDS ITS INTERDISCIPLINARY GROOVE. By Jeffrey Lott Illustrations by Andrew Pinkham It’s no accident that the current coordinator of Swarthmore’s Environmental Studies (ES) Program is a philosopher, not an environmental scientist. Hans Oberdiek, the Henry C. and Charlotte Turner Professor of Philosophy, thinks that makes perfect sense— and so do his colleagues in biology, economics, engineering, English literature, history, religion, and political science who make up the rest of the program’s coordinating committee. Studying the natural world and the environment “couldn’t be approached any other way,” Oberdiek says. Take global climate change, for instance. By contributing ideas from logic and value theory, philosophers can help scientists and policy makers frame their questions and evaluate their reasoning. “Philosophers of science are looking at the arguments to see whether the conclusions that are being drawn are based on sound reasoning,” Oberdiek says. A more fundamental philosophical question is how humans relate to the natural world. Oberdiek says contemporary philosophers have two significant ways of approaching it. The first sees the natural environment (which presumably runs from the smallest microbe to the edge of the universe) as “instrumental.” That is, its primary value—and possibly its very reason for existence—is to support human life. By this line of reasoning, threats to the environment threaten human life instrumentally. Water and air pollution are threats to health. The destruction of rain forests threatens the atmosphere. The extinction of another species could presage the extinction of our own. The instrumental approach places humanity at the top of the values pyramid. The second approach is that the natural world has intrinsic value—a moral worth of its own that is independent of the value of humans. This, Oberdiek says, implies “a different set of human responsibilities to other species and the natural world.” These questions are at the heart of his courses on environmental ethics—one of more than 30 courses in science, technology, social science, and the humanities that make up the ES minor.* Oberdiek’s realm is moral and ethical, but every Swarthmore faculty member interviewed for this article thinks that the complexity of environmental issues and their potential impact on all aspects of life on the planet requires those who will wrestle with them—as scientists, engineers, policymakers, business leaders, even philosophers— to engage in complex, multidisciplinary thought about them. Arthur McGarity, the Henry C. and J. Arthur Turner Professor of Engineering, says that Swarthmore’s ES program “has brought together a very special mix of disciplines. It’s a real model of how programs like this should work. “But it’s not a discipline in itself,” he says. “I know people who would debate me on this—and there are schools that have [environmental studies] departments—but the environment is the perfect subject for an interdisciplinary approach. And Swarthmore turns out to be the right kind of place to do this.” The presence of an engineering program at Swarthmore, unusual among liberal arts colleges, further enhances the College’s ability to teach students a variety of approaches to solving problems. This spring, McGarity is teaching Introduction to Environmental Protection, a course primarily for nonengineers that, according to the catalog description, covers “fundamentals of analysis for environmental problems in the areas of water pollution, air pollution, solid and hazardous wastes, water and energy supply, and 24 * The term “minor” is now applied to interdisciplinary programs such as Black Studies, Public Policy, or Women’s Studies that, until recently, were called “concentrations.” Both honors and course students may minor in most such programs—or in a traditional discipline—by completing at least five courses in that area, three of which must be outside the student’s major. Environmental Studies minors must take at least one course in environmental science/technology and one in social science/humanities. And, like many interdisciplinary programs, Environmental Studies requires a sixth or “capstone” course, usually a seminar, during the senior year. swarthmore college bulletin e rg y - a ct io n resource depletion, with an emphasis on technological solutions.” “Engineers take a problemfocused, toolbox approach,” McGarity explains, “so it’s natural for us to turn to disciplines that have other tools that might help us understand and solve a problem.” Students in McGarity’s course will get to test what they learn in the classroom during a community-based experience that will involve them in urban water quality management, with a focus on the Crum Creek watershed—the subject of new research by McGarity himself. The project also involves engineering majors from two other courses. McGarity is counting on the nonengineers to contribute approaches and ideas from their own disciplines. took the capstone course, and although that number is down this spring, most faculty members interviewed are confident that ES has become a viable, permanent part of the curriculum. The program even has a study-abroad component in Poland, developed over the years by McGarity. Four Swarthmore students are currently studying at the Jagellonian University and the Technical University Krakow, and there have been faculty exchanges among the institutions. Students may also choose another environmental program at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, developed in collaboration with the Macalester-Swarthmore-Pomona consortium. Across campus, Rachel Merz, professor of biology and Walter Kemp Professor in the Natural Sciences, says she has retooled some of her courses to include more environmental issues. A marine biologist who specializes in invertebrate zoology, Merz says that ES courses in the sciences have a different dynamic than classes that consist entirely of science majors. “Some of the nonscientists are really struck by the seriousness and complexity of the oceans’ problems. I am always pleased to see students put their preconceptions into a place where they can be challenged,” Merz says. Students coming from the humanities “sometimes struggle with giving up their notions about the way certain organisms experience the world—such as the assumption about whether snails, or even whales, have emotions. The best conversations about these things seem to happen outside the classroom, including on our field trips.” Merz says she has also introduced more environmental issues into classes that are taken largely by biology majors. In the team-taught When you look at environmental ‘goods’ (clean air, safe water) and ‘bads’ Environmental Studies was added to (negative externalities), the curriculum in 1992 in response to student requests and the emergence of a critical mass of faculty members whose various interests touched on environmental matters. Oberdiek, McGarity, ecologist Jacob Weiner, religion professor Don Swearer, and engineering professor Fred Orthlieb were the members of the first ES committee, with McGarity and Weiner serving as co-coordinators. Student interest in the program “comes and goes,” McGarity says, “but now it’s become more steady.” In spring 2007, nine students april 2008 are they equitably distributed across the population? course Organismal and Population Biology, the second of two introductory courses in the department, she says she and her faculty colleagues “have consciously injected topics that are likely to kick off these discussions.” About half of the students who take these two courses do not intend to become biology majors—and this is often their only exposure to biology at Swarthmore. She cites the problem of ballast water—the tons of seawater taken 25 on by unloaded ships in one port then released in another port halfway around the world. “It’s full of living organisms that jump from one ecosystem to another,” Merz explains. “And it’s something that most students have never thought about before. What are the environmental consequences of that? We’re mixing the oceans like we had a big eggbeater.” Expressing opinions on issues can be tricky for a scientist, she says. “We are so busy being impartial—letting the data speak for itself— and not having a particular point of view. I think that’s a mistake. I’m happy to allow a larger role for human consequence than at least some of us have been trained in. I never become an advocate in the classroom without some trepidation—and students must always be invited to come to their own conclusions—but sometimes I am compelled to do so.” The complicate environmental decision-making at all levels of government. Increasingly, she notes, environmental policy is being made at the regional and local level. “This is in contrast to top-down regulatory regimes, which is how we have often approached environmental legislation,” she says. “This approach is often counterintuitive to a generation that has grown up believing that solutions require more regulation from a central authority. We ask them whether there are some environmental problems that might better be solved collaboratively, regionally or locally—that respond better to different levels of government.” In recent years, the ES capstone seminar has provided just such an opportunity for students to look at local problems and to work collaboratively toward solutions. In 2006, Nackenoff focused her capstone course on environmental justice, using Delaware County, Pa., where Swarthmore is truth is, all of Delaware County’s waste—about 500,000 tons a year— located, as a living is burned in a giant “waste-to-energy” incinerator in the heart of Chester, Pa. laboratory. Breaking down the Carol Nackenoff, the Richter Professor of Political Science, county into 462 “block groups” as determined by the 2000 United teaches Environmental Policy every other year. Because many ES stu- States Census, students created a set of maps that correlated social dents come from the natural sciences and engineering, her class is data such as income, race, unemployment, and education with envi“filled with a broad range of students—usually no more than about a ronmental hazards such as industrial sites, pollution sources, hazfifth of them from political science,” Nackenoff says. “We have bioloardous waste sites, and waste treatment facilities. Their 50-page gists, engineers, chemistry majors, kids from economics. It’s great. report, Mapping Environmental Justice in Delaware County, asks as They bring examples and perspectives from all over, and their experi- many questions as it answers. One important question is, “Where ences become our case studies. does Delaware County’s waste go?” “One student had grown up in a town with serious water pollu“While trash collection day may be the last you see of your banana tion problems. Another had seen firsthand the difficulty of balancing peels,” the students write, “that doesn’t mean they disappear.” The environmental concerns and development in the Third World. Yet truth is, all of Delaware County’s waste—about 500,000 tons a year— another had been involved with communities facing severe deer is burned in a giant “waste-to-energy” incinerator in the heart of overpopulation in the Hudson River Valley. They know that environChester, Pa. (The same facility incinerates another million tons of mentalism isn’t just an upper–middle-class preoccupation but somewaste hauled in from outside the county; it also produces about 75 times a matter of life and death for peasants, farmers, and workers.” megawatts of electrical power, most of which is consumed locally.) I asked Nackenoff to define “environmental justice.” Turn to the race, income, and education maps, and you see that the “There is an emerging body of thought on this topic,” she says, incinerator is not located in one of the whiter, wealthier, better-edu“but the most common [definition] is distributive. When you look at cated parts of the county. environmental ‘goods’ (clean air, safe water) and ‘bads’ (negative In another section, students identify and map the top 15 polluters externalities), are they equitably distributed across the population? in the county in terms of total pounds of pollutants released annualOr can some people escape environmental hazards by virtue of social ly. Still another maps the locations of known hazardous waste sites, class or economic mobility? including two Superfund sites. “Another question to ask is to what extent are people able to parAlthough the students carefully point out the difference between ticipate in a meaningful way in making decisions that affect their correlation and causation, they invite readers to draw their own conenvironment and health? Who shares in these processes? And what if clusions about environmental injustice by including 12 transparencommunities are willing to embrace hazardous activities because they cies of their maps at the end of the report. It’s easy to overlay these need jobs? Do we dismiss their decisions because ‘it’s not good for maps and see for yourself what the students discovered in their them’?” she says. research. “What do you see? What patterns emerge? What different Nackenoff also guides students through the political thickets that stories can you tell?” the report asks. 26 swarthmore college bulletin Their conclusion is thoughtful and cautiously positive: “While the co-op is currently open only on Saturdays, but a steady supply of maps show what the situation is, they do not show why it is that way. high quality, fairly priced produce might allow it to extend its hours There are many different sources of environmental injustice, and and grow its membership. determining the part each plays in creating the problem is often chalThe students ask questions as Johnson tells them about the cooplenging.” They assert that “this predicament is deeply entrenched, and erative movement and her hopes for her hometown of Chester: there are many political and social forces perpetuating inequalities “What we’re doing is trying to create access to healthy, affordable and environmental degradation. We believe that despite this, change food for poor people. My view is not just from the co-op—it’s how to is possible. Injustice in Delaware County need not persist.” make urban communities viable by tapping into the human capital.” In recent years, most ES capstone courses have included a collaboThe students will contribute what they do best at this point in rative study project aimed at environmental action. In 2007, Profestheir education: asking questions and conducting research on behalf sor of Religion Mark Wallace’s students studied institutional sustainof the co-op. Hu, an honors biology major who became an ES minor ability at the College and issued a report challenging Swarthmore to late in her Swarthmore career after studying environmental economdo more. ics at the University of New South Wales during a semester in AusThis spring, a three-member ES capstone seminar, also taught by tralia, probes with questions about the economics of farming and the Wallace, is studying the concept of “permaculture,” an ethically based food distribution network. Quinton, a mathematics major, offers agricultural and design movement. Australian Bill Mollison first immediate help with the co-op’s computer system and Web site. Shaw promulgated the idea of permaculture (derived from “permanent wonders whether the College’s student group The Good Food Projagriculture”) in the 1970s, describing it as “conscious design and ect, which tried gardening on a small scale last summer, might be a maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the possible source of information and support. You can see the ideas diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harforming and the networks beginning to hum. monious integration of landscapes and people providing their food, Wallace vows to bring the students to visit the co-op at the earliest energy, shelter, and other material and nonmaterial needs in a susopportunity. “We need an infusion of youth and ideas,” Johnson says. tainable way.” “People in Chester want change, but they need to develop skill sets to In addition to studying permaculture and its implications for the build a sustainable system. Come on inside, and be a part of the environment, Wallace’s three students will also work on a local probmovement for change.” lem together: the inability of Chester, Pa., residents to buy fresh, After Johnson leaves, I challenge Wallace and his students, “How is healthy food within their city. “Chester as an urban environment is polluted and victimized. Improving the quality of life there According to Chester native Tina Johnson, who met with senwill require investment, and the co-op is a good way to start.” iors Yusha Hu, Andrew Quinton, and Roger Shaw on a Friday night in early February, there has not this an environmental issue? Isn’t the co-op more of a social action been a supermarket in Chester for 17 years. Efforts to attract a super- project?” The professor defers to his students, and Hu speaks up. She market chain to the city have foundered on politics and land-use seems to have understood the message of the 2006 capstone report: issues, Johnson tells the students. Residents must rely on convenience “Chester as an urban environment is polluted and victimized. stores and bodegas—few of which stock fresh produce, meats, and Improving the quality of life there will require investment, and the grains—or drive to supermarkets in other communities. co-op is a good way to start.” A year ago, Johnson and other Chester residents took a new Shaw, also a biology major, agrees, but he connects the dots anothapproach to this problem by starting the Chester Co-op, a food coop- er way: “A food co-op is a way toward a local economy. That’s another erative modeled on the Park Slope Co-op in Brooklyn, N.Y.—one of part of a sustainable world.” the country’s oldest and most successful independent cooperative Hu nods and says: “Yes. And the co-op can promote environmengroceries. Their goal is to offer Chester residents fresh food that is, tal values in a community that has few opportunities to learn them. where possible, organic and locally grown—plus a stake in the sucSaving a rain forest in Brazil is important, but we are here. There’s cess of a home-grown business that requires a modest membership just three of us and our professor. We can’t do everything; we can’t fee and monthly volunteer work from every member. save the city. But we can do something productive by investing our As steering committee president and principal buyer for the cotime, energy, and thought.” op, Johnson is frustrated by the commercial food distribution system “Swarthmore produces a lot of thought,” Quinton adds, smiling. ! and is looking for help finding alternative sources. The 170-member april 2008 27 branching 28 swarthmore college bulletin Alumni of all ages are reaching for a healthy planet. By Susan Cousins Breen, Carol Brévart-Demm, Jeffrey Lott, Audree Penner, and Elizabeth Redden ’05 Illustrations by Andrew Pinkham FOCUSED ON SUSTAINABILITY Architect Phil Hawes ’56 is convinced that “the technology we need to achieve sustainability is already available” and believes that “an ecologically sustainable community design is easy from a technological standpoint.” He has little faith, however, that the United States will have the will to implement any consistent use of sustainable design principles any time soon. “It will probably take a major disaster to force citizens to take the appropriate steps,” he says. Hawes’ interest in sustainable environmental design began in the mid-1950s when he spent a year at Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s school of architecture, which alternated seasonally between Arizona and Wisconsin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation describes the program “as a kind of sketch pad—or laboratory, where ideas emerged, were given form, tested, and refined.” Hawes’ career has remained focused on sustainability—“building something that can last for, let’s say, 1,000 years without destroying the environment,” Hawes says. His most fulfilling exploration took place during eight years as architect of record for Biosphere 2—a 3.15-acre, glass-enclosed ecological support system and research facility—near Oracle, Ariz., he says. As owner of Ecological Systems Design, a firm for sustainable town and regional planning and architectural design, Hawes has worked on facilities in a variety of environments worldwide, including a cattle station and ecological grasslands research station in the Australian outback; a conference center in Aix-en-Provence, France; a hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal; a naturestudy camp in the Himalayan Mountains; and, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund, the Royal Manas Park Visitors Center in Bhutan. He also directed EcoDesign Experience in Oracle, in conjunction with the San Francisco Institute of Architecture, and was architect-of-record and contractor for an adobe home complex in Santa Fe, N.M. Hawes hopes to soon begin construction of an ecologically and economically sustainable village community—a lifelong plan—on the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas. —S.C.B. t u o april 2008 THE INFINITE CHARACTER OF WALKABLE URBANISM “In walkable urban places, more is better,” he argues, pointing to successful developments such as Reston Town Center in “We may be moving toward a Virginia; Belvirtual, knowledge-based econo- mar, the “new my, but we still have to sit and downtown” of sleep somewhere,” writes Lakewood, Christopher Leinberger ’72 in his Colo.; and new book The Option of Urban- revitalized ism: Investing in a New American inner-urban Dream. That “somewhere” has neighborhoods been the source of Leinberger’s such as Washcareer in progressive real estate ington, D.C.’s development and, more recently, West End. Their mixed funchis work as a consultant, author, tions—offices, retail businesses, and professor. entertainment, restaurants, resiThe book has a simple thedential, and civic spaces—prosis—that the “somewhere” that vide what Leinberger describes as people are increasingly wanting “infinite character.” to occupy is changing. Leinberger After considering policies that calls this new place “walkable encourage such development urban,” which is neither tradi(good public transportation is tional “downtown urban” nor among the most important) and “drivable sub-urban”—the some potential unintended consprawling “somewhere” that sequences (such as providing developed after World War II. enough affordable housing), Evidence is growing that the Leinberger closes The Option of sub-urban automobile culture is Urbanism by speculating— no longer sustainable. But that’s almost wishing—that “there may only part of the equation that is come to be a moral imperative to leading to the development of build walkable urban places” walkable urbanism. “More is because it could contribute sigless,” writes Leinberger. As we nificantly to reductions in greenbuilt more drivable sub-urban houses gases, dependence on fordevelopments, we got more traf- eign oil, and pressure to gobble fic congestion, pollution, and the up land on the fringes of metroinevitable decline of open space politan areas. —and less quality of life. —J.L. 29 NOT YOUR USUAL BUSINESSMAN Despite a conventional beginning to his career, Christopher Laszlo ’80 has become a corporate executive with a difference. After completing graduate school at Columbia and the University of Paris, he accepted a job with a Wall Street bank, followed by five years at Deloitte & Touche as a management consultant, and then 10 years as an executive at LaFarge SA, the cement and construction materials company. As he rose up the corporate ladder, Laszlo recalled an exhortation from his father to try to leave the world a better place than he found it. Seizing the opportunity to merge two apparently incompatible life directions, he set about forging a union between the concepts of social responsibility and corporate success. Laszlo is a co-founder and partner of Sustainable Value Partners LLC, in Great Falls, Va., a company that has trained thousands of Fortune 500 companies in sustainability for business advantage, enabling its clients to create value for shareholders and stakeholders. He is also a visiting professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio, and at CEDEP, the European center for executive development at the international business school INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France. Laszlo is the author of two books: The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value Through Social and Environmental Performance (Island Press, 2005) and Sustainable Value: How the World’s Leading Companies Are Doing Well by Doing Good (Greenleaf Publishing, 2008). “Leading companies that succeed in meeting the sustainable value challenge are turning environmental and social problems into new business opportunities. They are contributing positively to society in ways that create a unique and inimitable source of competitive advantage,” he concludes. —C.B.D. BROWNFIELDS TO GREEN Long before Charnelle Hicks ’88 was a Swarthmore student and “keeping it green” had become a global initiative, she was in touch with community and environmental issues. Although her interest in urban planning developed during a College externship, Hicks’ affinity for the environment is rooted in the 1970s when, as a little girl, she wanted to be a flower child—“One of those nice people I saw on TV who loved the environment, flowers, and being outside.” Community issues captured Hicks’ attention when she attended schools in an inner city, a rural area, and a more affluent suburb and witnessed the disparity between communities that have and those that don’t. Today, Hicks is CEO and president of CHPlanning Ltd., a green, Philadelphiabased firm, specializing in responsible land use and redevelopment planning, that she founded in 1999. “The most important thing [in forming an environmentally friendly company] is making a decision in the first place to be green,” Hicks says in the January 2008 issue of Black Enterprise. She recalls early conflicts 30 between potential contracts and her desired values. “If a client wasn’t interested in revitalizing existing communities, our firm walked away from the project,” she says. “Now, we are known for our work in environmentally related areas.” For the Pittsburgh native who lives with her family on a working farm in Schwenksville, Pa., the most gratifying aspect of heading a green company has been working with communities such as the City of Philadelphia and the Borough of Chester to “transform areas that have become underutilized, vacant, or polluted, also known as ‘brownfields,’ into productive land for housing, retail establishments, industrial sites, or parks and open space—‘greenfields.’ I guess we were ahead of the trend.” The company has grown by more than 200 percent in the last two years. In 2006, CHPlanning was named one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the region by the Philadelphia 100. Hicks’ reward is knowing that her company has played an integral role in enhancing communities, business corridors, and environments. “It’s a business—but business must work with and succeed with a conscience,” she says. “I believe that we have achieved that.” —S.C.B. SOLAR POWER Talk about energy independence. “I think of solar power as representing the democratization of the electric grid,” says David Hochschild ’93. His own annual electric bill nets out to zero thanks to a rooftop solar energy system on his San Francisco house, which feeds energy to the grid during the day and draws needed electricity at night. “There’s something very exciting about that—being able to produce on an annual basis the amount of energy that you use.” swarthmore college bulletin AN ECO-FRIENDLY DUO WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT INSPIRES For Earthlust co-founder Cleveland Justis ’91, a student passion has become a way of life. As director of programs and strategic initiatives for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy since last May, Justis says: “Every day, I work with people who are there to make the world a better place.” After leaving Swarthmore and completing a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences at the University of California–Berkeley, Justis became an instructor and coordinator at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming, taking student groups on leadership expeditions in both North and South America. From 1998 to 2007, he was education and outreach director and then executive director at the Headlands Institute, a nationally renowned environmental education center in California. Much of Justis’ Conservancy work involves planning, strategizing, and fund-raising as well as negotiation among government, business, and nonprofit agencies. He believes that inspiration is the key to successful partnerships. “People are more likely to act if they’re inspired, so I’ve tried to create systems, structures, and ideas for people to be inspired by the environment and be moved to improve it,” he says. Currently, he is overseeing the creation and launch of the Institute at the Golden Gate, the country’s newest environmental leadership center at the Golden Gate National Parks, Sausalito. “It’s a $100 million project to transform a former military base into a part of the world’s largest urban national park. My work has helped bring in federal, private, and philanthropic funding to clean up and transform the site.” Justis, who completed an M.B.A. at UC–Davis in 2005, now teaches a graduate course on social entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor there. Among other business affiliations, he is also a board member of Net Impact, a group of more than 10,000 M.B.A.s and business leaders committed to using the power of business to improve the world. —C.B.D. But don’t mistake Hochschild’s excitement for innocence. He’s an experienced hand in this emerging industry—one on the brink, he says, of “going mainstream.” A graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Hochschild first got involved with promoting solar energy in 2001 when he helped develop a successful $100 million bond initiative to fund solar panels on San Francisco buildings. He’s since been involved from the advocacy side—he and Adam Browning ’92 founded the nonprofit organization Vote Solar april 2008 You may hold onto your old jeans until you can fit into them again, or you can recycle them to help insulate your home. Denim insulation is just one product sold by Refuge Sustainable Building Center (www.refugebuilding.com) in Bozeman, Mont. Co-owners Dave Schaub ’93 and Steve Bruner ’92 opened Refuge in July 2004 with a focus on supplying building materials that respect the natural world and human health. Schaub, a former public school teacher, says, “Many conventional materials contain carcinogens like formaldehyde. We sell products that are beneficial to the environment.” Eco-friendly building materials cost five to 15 percent more than conventional products. However, “the data shows that more American consumers are willing to pay that premium,” he says. Before joining forces with Schaub, Bruner was director of an outdoor adventure program. After earning an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia, he wrote strategic business plans for national parks in Alaska, Madagascar, and Yellowstone in Wyoming. “I’ve heard sustainability (www.votesolar.org), after the San Francisco campaign—and from that of industry. He’s now vice president of external relations for Solaria, a Silicon Valley start-up. Hochschild has been involved with the cause on the local, state, and federal levels. He helped promote the $3.3 billion California Solar Initiative, which provides grants for homeowners looking to go solar. He’s now advocating for a federal solar tax credit. Cost—a California homeowner looking to install a solar energy system can expect to pay $10,000 to $20,000—is one of the main barri- defined as meeting the needs of the world’s current population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs,” says Bruner. “That makes sense to me.” Refuge currently has a $110,000 inventory. In just four years, the company’s sales have risen from $42,000 in 2004 to $550,000 last year. They expect 2008 sales to reach $630,000. “We are financially viable and making a modest profit,” Bruner says. Among the more popular products in their 4,000-square-foot showroom and warehouse are nontoxic latex paints; PaperStone, a countertop material of up to 100 percent postconsumer recycled paper that is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified; and the water-conserving dual-flush toilet with two buttons—one for liquid waste using .8 gallon of water, the other for solid waste using 1.6 gallons. “I don’t doubt that our products will be mainstream in the not too distant future,” Schaub says. “We see no shortage of growth.” —A.P. ers to solar expansion. And although he’s now working in the solar industry, he was also appointed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to serve on the city’s Public Utilities Commission. “There’s a growing sense that the whole industry is going to change and costs are going to come down,” Hochschild says. “Every time the demand for solar power doubles, the price goes down about 20 percent. You have the upward cost of fossil fuels, the downward cost of solar.” —E.R. 31 ALL IN GREEN As sustainability manager for the 10-campus University of California (UC) system, Matthew St. Clair ’97 oversees implementation of policies focusing on energy, green building, climate change, transportation, operations and maintenance, waste reduction/recycling, and purchasing. Last fall, Sierra Magazine included the UC system on its top-10 list of green schools. “One of the reasons that human society is in the predicament it’s in is that we’ve looked at things in isolation and ignored the connections. Many universities have great green building programs or great recycling systems or strong climate policies,” St. Clair says. “I’ve tried to make sure we’re doing the best practice level in all those areas.” St. Clair, who has a master’s in environmental policy, came to his current position four years ago after successfully negotiating with the UC Board of Regents and Office of the President to get the university’s Sustainability Policy passed while a graduate student at UC–Berkeley. His green lifestyle includes foregoing a car; controlling the use of utilities; and purchasing local organic foods. He also started a weekly drop-off of local organic produce for occupants of his office building. “People love it,” he says. “I have found that you can get people to change more successfully through example than by lecturing them.” He and his university colleagues have helped UC develop numerous programs, including establishing green building standards for all $8 billion worth of construction projects; and a proposed $500 million energy efficiency program, which will scale up an existing partnership with the California State University to which utility companies have already provided $50 million. “We want each campus to serve as a living laboratory,” St. Clair says. “When their students graduate, we want them to remember what it was like on campus and work in their own communities and businesses to bring about a more sustainable planet and economy.” —A.P. WHEN MARINE LIFE IS THREATENED HERE COMES THE SUN Imagine cutting the cable that connects your home to the electricity grid. Would you freeze in the dark? Not in a new 800–square-foot dwelling powered entirely by the sun. Your energy-efficient house is attractive and easy to live in. Electric heating and cooling units powered by batteries that are recharged by photovoltaic cells maintain a constant, comfortable temperature. The batteries also power super-efficient appliances needed for cooking, cleaning, and laundry, and they even charge your electric vehicle. Such a house is the goal of the Solar Decathlon, a biannual contest sponsored by the Department of Energy on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Twenty college and university teams from around the world compete to design and build homes for the event. Last year, the Cornell University team was co-led by David Bosworth ’98, a graduate student in Cornell’s Master’s in Architecture Program. Bosworth, an engineering major at Swarthmore, was one of five leaders of a 120-member design and engineering team that built Cornell’s entry. Its 60 110-watt photovoltaic panels are arrayed on a separate tilted screen above the roof, taking weight off the roof itself and allowing the use of structural panels with an insulation value of R-40 for the exterior walls. Movable interior walls define flexible living spaces—a feature made possible by putting most air ducts, wiring, and piping beneath removable floor panels, as is often done in computer data centers. With his engineering background and previous work experience as a cabinetmaker and carpenter, Bosworth says he was “keyed up to translate” among the many disciplines involved in the huge collaborative project. “Green design—the way we’ll have to build houses in the future—will require breaking down barriers between architects and engineers and all the specialists who will be needed for such a project.” Find more information on the Cornell project at http://cusd.cornell.edu/ and on the Solar Decathalon at www.solardecathlon.org. —J.L. to rebound from large-scale mortality than fast-reproducing species such as shrimp.” Second, she says, marine habitats struggle As Aja Peters-Mason ’04 maps human ocean to survive pollution, including agricultural activities and underwater species distribution run-off, and dumping of trash and hazardous at the nonprofit Marine Conservation Biology waste. They also are subjected to destructive Institute, she identifies a twofold threat to ocean practices such as bottom-trawl fishing marine life. and oil and gas exploitation. “First, we take too much out of the ocean. “The biggest emerging threat is ocean In 2006, about one-fifth of our U.S. fisheries acidification. The ocean acts as our global cliwere classified as over-fished or experiencing mate regulator by sequestering carbon dioxover-fishing,” Peters-Mason says. “The greatide from the atmosphere. Since the pre-indusest threat is to species like sharks, marine trial period, increased use of fossil fuels and mammals, and highly migratory fishes such as changes in land use have resulted in much tuna and swordfish, whose populations are higher amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxlong-lived and slow growing. They take longer 32 ide being absorbed by ocean water,” she says. “If carbon emissions continue at their current rate, ocean acidity may increase as much as 150 percent by 2100.” Peters-Mason, a biology major at Swarthmore who obtained a master’s in environmental management as well as Certification in Geospatial Analysis from Duke University’s Nicholas School, criticizes the U.S. governmental system as too slow and fragmented to respond to environmental problems: “I have to continually justify what I’m doing. If I were working at a for-profit organization trying to maximize profits for my company, I wouldn’t have to explain or justify my work. The ocean swarthmore college bulletin FROM GROUND AND SKY In Nicaragua, half the rainforest has disappeared since 1950. Esther Zeledon ’04 wants to know why. Deforestation has happened as the country’s agricultural frontier has shifted eastward, explains Zeledon, a native of Nicaragua and fourth-year Ph.D. student in environmental science, policy, and management at the University of California–Berkeley. “But is it just that this large-scale agriculture is pushing through?” Zeledon asks. “What’s pushing it through?” Zeledon’s doctoral research is truly interdisciplinary. In addition to analyzing satellite images to discern patterns in deforestation, Zeledon has interviewed about 270 people in the northern state of Jinotega to glean their perspectives on why so much has been lost. She’s now building a statistical model to synthesize the social science and satellite data and determine the main factors behind deforestation in decades past—and hopefully project future trends. “I’m building up,” she says, “to answer the questions of what happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what will happen in the future?” Zeledon hasn’t reached any conclusions yet. But among the factors she’s been studying are the transition from a hot coffee export market to a beef-hungry, fast-food–fueled one (“What the United States demands is what they grow.”); the Contra War; drug transport; and the increasing value of lumber, as wood grows ever more scarce. And since she says conservation can’t happen without an understanding of the people who use the land, Zeledon also interviewed Nicaraguans about their attitudes toward the loss of tree life. She observed that in Jinotega, once covered by cloud forest, concerns about the environment have increased dramatically in the last few years as deforestation’s effects became more evident. “Before, the land used to be called the land of the mist,” Zeledon says. “Now it’s pretty dry.” —E.R. “GREEN BONDS” FOR A GREEN FUTURE is governed by more than 100 statutes administered by nearly 20 federal agencies, which makes timely, cohesive ocean management impossible,” she says. Nevertheless, Peters-Mason notes signs of progress on the conservation front, including the increasing numbers of people who acknowledge global warming to be real. “Still, I don’t think we’ll really start to change the way we treat the environment until our way of life is threatened or until the economics of making the environmental choices makes them more feasible than other options,” she says. —C.B.D. april 2008 Andrew Sniderman ’07 says he’s a “recent convert to environmentalism,” becoming aware of climate change while working to stop genocide in Darfur as co-founder of the Genocide Intervention Network. “The conflict in Darfur is arguably being fueled by changes in weather patterns and resultant decline in arable land,” he says. Sniderman, who grew up in Montreal, is currently participating in a 10-month program as an Action Canada Fellow, one of about 20 “emerging leaders” selected annually to build leadership for Canada’s future. The fellowship includes a $20,000 grant. Sniderman was assigned to a project team of five fellows, including a doctoral student, a fair trade clothing distributor, a medical student, and a green entrepreneur. At their first meeting, they were drawn to the entrepreneur’s vision of developing Canada’s sustainable energy potential. As they sought a course of action, Sniderman suggested “Green Bonds,” a government-backed bond that Canadians could buy to invest in renewable energy projects. He wants Green Bonds to act as “a concrete vehicle connecting Canadians with an abstract vision of a green future.” The proposal is currently under consideration in the upper reaches of the Canadian Finance Department. “We’ve had several members of Parliament and other government insiders endorse the proposal, so hopefully Green Bonds are on the road to implementation,” Sniderman says. “Still, before the government officially releases Green Bonds, it will need to conduct a thorough risk assessment given that backing the bonds entails a liability.” Sniderman says his idea originated from Clint Eastwood’s film Flags of Our Fathers. “I drew inspiration from the public campaigns for war bonds during World War II. Our goal now is to spark a compelling nation-building project around Green Bonds. Climate change is the new Axis, if you will,” he says. When his fellowship ends, Sniderman will head to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. For more information on green bonds, visit www.greenbonds.ca. —C.B.D. 33 aSense of place FIVE GARDENING PRINCIPLES When you think about the long traditions of French, Italian, English, Chinese, or Japanese gardens, certain images, architectural characteristics, and garden objects quickly come to mind. The United States hasn’t been at the art of garden-making very long, so perhaps it’s understandable that we come up short when we try to identify the essence of the American garden. The American gardening culture is still evolving; we’re still defining its ethic and aesthetic. I’ve heard gardening described as “the slowest of the performing arts.” Because it takes decades for a single garden to mature, it follows that centuries are needed to develop a garden culture. European immigrants who founded the United States brought their cultures—including their concepts of shaping lands and gardens—with them. In 1741, Henry Middleton laid out what is said to be the oldest landscaped garden in America— Middleton Place, near what is today Charleston, S.C. Its symmetrical “butterfly lakes,” the result of Herculean earth-moving efforts, are still a marvel. In the late 1700s, George Washington developed the grounds DESCRIBED IN A NEW BOOK BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE SCOTT ARBORETUM ARE SEEN ON SWARTHMORE’S CAMPUS Text and Photographs by Claire Sawyers The stage window wall of the Lang Concert Hall ensures that members of the audience are visually captivated by views into the Crum Woods while also being entertained by musical performances. 34 4 swarthmore college bulletin and gardens of Mount Vernon over a period of 45 years, and Thomas Jefferson devoted more than 40 years to developing Monticello. Both became celebrated models for Americans to emulate in developing home grounds—and both borrowed heavily from English Renaissance formal garden design combined with the romantic and picturesque landscape ideals promulgated by Humphry Repton in England. This pattern of borrowing persisted. A century later, affluent Americans traveled abroad and returned with ideas and inspiration. Pierre duPont, who built Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., was influenced by visits to at least 20 Italian villas and 50 French châteaux. John Phipps created lavish English-style grounds at his New York estate, now known as Old Westbury Gardens. In North Carolina, George Vanderbilt was the master of a 19th-century French-style château, the Biltmore Estate, and its lavish gardens. Florida industrialist James Deering hired 1,000 workers to build his Italian Renaissance-style villa, Vizcaya, between 1912 and 1916. Deering’s gardens feature an imported 16th-century Italian baroque foun- tain, Roman altars, and statues of mythological gods and goddesses. Edith Wharton wrote in Italian Villas and Their Gardens, published in 1904, about this wave of influence: “The cult of the Italian garden has spread from England to America, and there is a general feeling that, by placing a marble bench here and a sundial there, Italian ‘effects’ may be achieved. The results, even where money and thought have been expended, are not altogether satisfactory; and some critics have thence inferred that the Italian garden is, so to speak, untranslatable, that it cannot be adequately adapted in another landscape and another age….” Wharton goes on to suggest that “if [Italian gardens] are to be a real inspiration, they must be copied, not in the letter but in the spirit…. A piece of ground laid out on the principles of the old garden craft will be, not indeed an Italian garden in the literal sense, but what is far better, a garden well adapted to its surroundings as were the models which inspired it.” Since all of the aforementioned private estates are now public gardens, I could argue that they are still shaping Americans’ con- cepts of the ideal garden. Visit modern American public gardens that were created from scratch instead of converted from turnof-the-century estates, and they too reflect this. Countless examples prove that we’ve done very well at copying from other cultures, but we can do better. We can learn from the great gardens of the world and extract their lessons rather than mimic their look. Although a lot of gardeners talk about how deep a perennial border should be or when to prune clematis, I’d rather discuss ideas that shape the garden. The following five principles, illustrated here by reference to a place that most readers of this magazine hold in common—and to which they have an emotional attachment—may help you create a garden that truly belongs to you, to your home, and to the region in which you (and your garden) live. Like the campus of Swarthmore College, which is a type of landscape uniquely developed in the United States, such surroundings should feed your soul and give you a deep sense of satisfaction from your environment. They should give you a sense of place. Countless examples prove that we’ve done very well at copying from other cultures, but we can do better. DIANE MATTIS Claire Sawyers has been director of the Scott Arboretum since 1990. She received a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture from Purdue University and a master’s in horticulture from Purdue and the University of Delaware. Her book, The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating a Sense of Place was published in 2007 by Timber Press. It is available at the College Bookstore by phoning (610) 328-7756 or on-line at http://bookstore.swarthmore.edu. april 2008 35 1. Capture the Sense of Place To garden with a sense of place means to discover and preserve what is special about your site, its genius loci. This means working with what you’ve been given, not struggling against it. In most instances, honoring a sense of place means learning about the natural or cultural history of your area. The old adage for writers is “write what you know.” The gardening version of that is “work with that you’ve been given,” and is another take on how to successfully cultivate a sense of place. Many protest this notion, arguing that they don’t have a shred of nature left to nurture or any character on the site to appreciate—in fact, they’re “starting with nothing.” In the mid-1990s at Swarthmore, as the new academic building that would become Kohlberg Hall was being planned, it was decided that the U-shaped building should have a garden courtyard on the site where a small stone annex building stood behind Parrish Hall. Faced with creating something out of “nothing,” designers Mary Miss and Rodney Robinson drew inspiration from the nondescript building. The original footprint of the demolished building is completely outlined in the new garden, which was named for Isabel Bennett Cosby ’28. Stone from the building was salvaged and reused— both flush with the smooth flagstone terrace and, at times, jumping up to form knee-high sitting walls. In other sections, it’s a full-sized wall with window wells enlarged to serve as sitting nooks. Inside the footprint outline are planting beds, walkways, and a large living room of lawn, along with freestanding pillars reminiscent of columns and beams in the former building that now support vines in the garden. The concept, design, and materials used in the creation of the courtyard all arose from what was on the site—what the designers had been given to work with. 2. Derive Beauty from Function To make our gardens and man-made landscapes practical—so they support our pattern of living and working—many things need to be associated with them. On Swarthmore’s campus, there are roads, paths, building entrances, service areas, and utility lines to consider. The home gardener must contend with a driveway and a place to park cars, a mailbox, a place for firewood, a place for the kids to play or the dog to exercise, an area for garbage cans, a place to cook or eat outside, and other necessities. Whether on a campus or at home, these elements are often treated as if they are outside the garden itself, not an integral part of it, when in fact they offer opportunities to provide not only functionality but beauty. If we appreciate them as opportunities, we will develop more satisfying gardens and landscapes with integrity. This, then, is the second principle: Derive beauty from function. This can mean treating mundane things like storm water management as garden opportunities. On a steep slope east of McCabe Library, runoff was eroding the ground and pooling at the bottom of the hill. But a proposed storm drain and large underground pipe were avoided in favor of an abstraction of a natural stream. Storm water now flows for about 50 yards through an open channel lined with landscape fabric covered with river rock before tying back into an underground storm-water pipe system. Water is thus allowed to percolate into the ground as it passes through this channel. 1 The Cosby Courtyard of Kohlberg Hall is an example of “working with what you have been given” to create a sense of place. A small building on the site was demolished and gave rise to this garden design as well as the stone used in the garden structure. 36 swarthmore college bulletin Planting its banks with native or naturalized plants that favor wet ground has imbued this “bio-stream” with garden-like qualities. 3. Use Humble Materials Gardens should give us a sense of comfort, pleasure, and gratification. They shouldn’t overwhelm or intimidate or cause anxiety. They should have more in common with the family room than with the formal living room, fostering pleasure and intimacy. For a landscape to be as inviting as a family room, it needs to convey a mood of modesty and casualness, a feeling that you are welcome to explore, discover, relax, or experience the space through social activity. Using materials familiar and tied to the land helps accomplish this mood, whether they’re indigenous, natural, or recycled materials. So the third principle is: Use modest or humble materials in making your garden if you want to nourish your spirit. Although stone unshaped by humans has the most direct tie to nature, quarried stone is also made from the forces of nature. The use of local stone on many of Swarthmore’s structures not only unifies the campus, it makes the buildings appear to have risen from the site itself. One way to create a powerful sense of modesty and humility is to make something for the garden from discards or recycled materials. Trees that must be removed for one reason can often find new lives as something else. At the College, we recently engaged a wood carver to give a “second life” to the stump of a beloved old tree, the Bender Oak near the Faulkner Tennis Courts. (See p. 7) In 2003, Swarthmore removed a grove of metasequoias for a building project. These unusual conifers were milled into shingles in anticipation of their new use as siding for a new arboretum education center and greenhouse, for which construction begins this year. It was a way of honoring a grove of special trees while at the same time creating a useful and attractive building material. By following the “humble materials” principle, aesthetics don’t have to be compromised to meet such ecological goals or standards. Aesthetics are, in fact, frequently enhanced with a sense of appropriateness stemming from such an approach. 2 4. Marry the Inside to the Outside There are documented therapeutic effects and health benefits from having a view of the outside. Patients heal faster in hospital rooms with windows that look out onto plants, gardens, or natural landscapes. Domestic crime and violence rates are lower in low-income housing communities that have even a minimal amount of landscaping. Knowing that, it isn’t much of a leap to assume that the more we can observe nature and have plants or gardens in our daily lives, the happier and healthier we’ll be. And the more we connect our houses, schools, and offices to the outside, the more we’ll be able to do that. The fourth principle, then, is to marry your house to your garden—to blur the lines between the built and the natural, between the architecture and the landscape. Bring the outside in and take the inside out. At Swarthmore, the flagstone used in the Cosby Courtyard forms the floor of the hallways and common areas that look out into the garden. To those sitting in the Kohlberg Commons and looking out through its expansive windows, the stone appears to be continuous, uniting the two spaces visually. Derive beauty from function—this can mean treating mundane things like storm water management as garden opportunities The creative handling of storm water by the Scott Arboretum led to the development of a “bio-stream” near McCabe Library. april 2008 37 In fact, Swarthmore College has long embraced this principle. Commencement— the most sacred ceremony of the institution—is held in an outdoor room. And the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Lang Concert Hall and the Cornell Science and Engineering Library bring magnificent views of the Crum Woods into those spaces. Newer Swarthmore buildings such as the science center and two new residence halls at the foot of campus also employ both architectural and horticultural techniques to marry the inside to the outside. 5. Involve the Visitor Museum curators have developed sophisticated interactive exhibits during the last two decades to engage museum visitors in all kinds of ways and through all types of activities. No longer do museums seem like warehouses stuffed with artifacts identified only with basic labels. Audio devices allow us to hear directly from curators as if we were taking a private tour. Mini-theaters provide movies that supplement our understanding and appreciation of the exhibits. And “please touch” signs are now almost as common as “don’t touch” signs. If you want to affect people—to relax, recharge, enrich, delight, and educate—your garden should engage them. Like the audience invited to clap along at a concert, garden visitors need to participate physically and mentally if they are going to be moved by its “music.” The mere act of stepping through the garden can be made into an adventure. A well-designed path pulls us 3 At some point, the stone walls and cedar shingles of Cunningham House, which now serves as the headquarters of the Scott Arboretum, were painted over (bottom). Removing the paint and replacing the wood shingles not only restored some of the original character of the building, but also connected the edifice with the garden. 38 An Alexander Calder stabile/mobile in front of Martin Hall provides a focal point for the large space and involves the visitor with its constant play of planes, light, and color. through the space; it determines our views and the order in which parts of the garden are revealed—creating a sense of journey. In the American Southwest, homes often consist of separate structures for different functions, forcing the resident to experience the outdoors while going from room to room. A residential college is this sort of experience writ large. At Swarthmore, campus residents and visitors are involved in the arboretum every day and every place they go—and not just visually. In the John Nason Garden between Trotter and Hicks halls, some plantings are deliberately allowed to spill onto pathways. They rustle in the wind or as they are touched by passers-by, involving several senses. Entrances to Crum Woods’ trails create a sense of mystery and curiosity. “What’s down there?” the visitor wonders. You can’t help but be pulled into spaces where you will be rewarded in surprising ways. In larger spaces, playful public art can also involve the visitor. People constantly climb, sit in, and take pictures of Jake Beckman’s [’04] giant Adirondack chair on Parrish lawn—so that it has become a new icon for the College. ! 5 swarthmore college bulletin connections DIG IT! ALUMNI COLLEGE ABROAD Swarthmore’s Alumni College Abroad program continues to grow. In March, alumni joined Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology Scott Gilbert on a sold-out trip aboard the M.V. Santa Cruz through the Galápagos Islands. Two additional trips open to Swarthmore alumni, parents, and friends are planned in 2008. A FAMILY DINOSAUR ADVENTURE JUNE 28–JULY 4 Join fellow Swarthmoreans for our 2008 summer family adventure to western Colorado. Explore the red-rock country while learning about a subject that children never tire of — the dinosaur! Our program is based in the Grand Valley of the Colorado River, a region teeming with fossils and an incredible variety of natural wonders from fanciful rock formations to lush alpine forests. Your faculty leader is Rachel Merz, april 2008 professor of biology and Walter Kemp Professor in the Natural Sciences. Families with children ages 7 and up will dig side-by-side with scientists in an active, productive quarry where bones from eight species of dinosaurs have been found. Travelers will explore the science of paleontology from prospecting to laboratory preparation of fossils at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum. The program also includes rafting on the spectacular Colorado River, hiking in awe-inspiring Colorado National Monument, and traveling to 9,000 feet to prospect for plant and animal fossils in Douglas Pass. TUSCANY, ITALY OCT. 11–19 Tuscany is a region where the past and present are intertwined amid a setting of unparalleled grace. Idyllic hamlets such as Montalcino and San Gimignano, encircled by rem- nants of their ancient Etruscan walls, have stood proud for centuries. The artistic legacy of the greatest masters of the Italian Renaissance, including Michelangelo and Botticelli, remains intact throughout the streets, duomos, and palazzos of Florence. Alumni and friends will discover Tuscany’s way of life, intriguing history, stunning beauty and artistic heritage with Robert DuPlessis, Isaac H. Clothier Professor of History and International Relations. This exclusive program includes seven nights accommodation in the heart of Siena, expert-led excursions, enriching lectures by Professor DuPlessis, authentic Tuscan meals, a wine tasting, and other insights into everyday life in Tuscany. For more information on these trips, call (800) 789-9738, e-mail alumni_travel@swarthmore.edu, or visit the Alumni College Abroad Web site at www.swarthmore.edu/alumni_travel.xml. 39 connections UPCOMING EVENTS APRIL 3 Atlanta Faculty Talk: “Paradise Poisoned? The Spiral of Suicide in Sri Lanka” with William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology Jeanne Marecek 5–7 On Campus Spring Alumni Council Meeting 11–13 On Campus Family Weekend 13 Chicago Faculty Talk: “Planets Near and Far: Understanding Our Own Solar System Better by Studying Others” with Associate Professor of Astronomy Eric Jensen. 17 Seattle Faculty Talk: “An Anthropologist’s View of Aging and Retirement—Research Meets Personal Experience” with Centennial Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Provost Emerita Jennie Keith. The 2008 Jonathan R. Lax ’71 Conference on Entrepreneurship was held on Sunday, March 30. This year, for the first time, the conference had a central theme, the business of sustainability. Keynote speaker Chris Laszlo ’80, a co-founder and partner of Sustainable Value Partners and author of The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value through Social and Environmental Performance and Sustainable Value: How the World’s Leading Companies Are Doing Well by Doing Good, discussed sustainability-driven business leadership and emerging sustainability practices based on case studies at DuPont, Wal-Mart, and other global industry leaders. (More on Lazlo, p. 30) Other featured speakers were: Jenny Hourihan Bailin ’80, former managing director, Banc of America Securities Sohail Bengali ’79, managing director, Stone & Youngberg Drew Clark ’87 (moderator), director of telecommunications and media project, Center for Public Integrity Peter Hamilton ’97, senior analyst, Plebys International David Hochschild ’93, vice president of external relations, Solaria Gerry Lax ’74, senior designer and project manager, Advanced Solar Products Robert McKinstry ’75, vice president and general counsel, Carbon Trap Technologies Ruth Perry ’78, director of product stewardship and health, Rohm & Haas Chris Plum ’75, president, Carbon Trap Technologies Marty Spanninger ’76 (moderator), former senior supervising producer of Now on PBS David Vinjamuri ’86, founder and president of ThirdWay Brand Trainers. The College thanks the family of the late Jonathan Lax ’71 for its continued support of this conference, which brings together alumni and students interested in entrepreneurship and/or business. MAY 1 Minneapolis Faculty Talk: “Presidential Primary Candidates’ Health Care Proposals: An Evaluation” with Professor of Economics Ellen Magenheim. 5 Portland Faculty Talk: “Problems of Freedom” with Professor of Philosophy Richard Schuldenfrei. 21 Durham Faculty Talk: Associate Professor of English Literature Nora Johnson. JUNE 1 On Campus Class of 2008 Commencement 6–8 On Campus Alumni Weekend: Reunions for classes ending in “3” and “8” 40 “Dancing with the Bugs” On Nov. 14, more than 50 alumni gathered at the Down Town Association in Manhattan to hear Professor of Biology Amy Cheng Vollmer lecture on “Dancing with the Bugs: Delicate Choreography for Humans and their Microbial Partners.” Many of Vollmer’s former students were in attendance. She also presented this lecture in Washington, D.C., on March 2 and in San Francisco on March 10. (From left to right): Elizabeth Campbell ’92, Elizabeth Glater ’97, Claudia Munoz ’99, Adisetyantari Suprapto ’96, Amy Cheng Vollmer, Clarissa Nobile ’01, Jorge Aguilar ’05, and Jones Nauseef ’06 RYO AKASAKA ’09 LAX CONFERENCE STRESSES SUSTAINABILITY where have you been with your swarthmore gear? We want to know where you have been showing off your Swarthmore gear. As you travel the world for business or pleasure, snap a photo of yourself in your stylish Swarthmore duds, and it may land here in a future issue of the Bulletin. Send digital photos to alumni@swarthmore.edu. Please note who is in the picture and where it was taken. EXTERNS EXPOSED TO WORLD OF WORK During the week of Jan. 13, 170 Swarthmore students took advantage of the College’s Extern Program, putting their winter break to good use by spending five days at the workplace of Swarthmore alumni sponsors. The experience gives students the opportunity to gain practical exposure to potential career fields. In return, the program connects alumni with the College through close interaction with current students. As part of this Extern week, the College hosted receptions for the students and their sponsors in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. More than 200 students and alumni attended. The Extern Program continues to seek additional sponsors and housing hosts. If you would like to obtain additional information or to volunteer, please e-mail extern@swarthmore.edu. swarthmore college bulletin swarthmore: city by city BOSTON CHICAGO On Jan. 12, the Boston Connection viewed Riding the Wave.com at the Playwrights’ Theatre, performed by Jonathan Mirin ’94, co-artistic director of the Piti Theatre Company. Set in the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, the play is about a young actor who obtains a stock tip about a tech company named Wave Systems that causes his life to turn upside down. On Feb. 10, Swarthmore alumni, parents, and friends visited the Oriental Institute on the campus of the University of Chicago. The museum of the Oriental Institute is a world-renowned showcase for the history, art, and archaeology of the ancient Near East. Alumni gathered for brunch before the visit and later enjoyed the movie Nile: River of the Gods. DENVER The College’s newest book group has formed in Portland, Maine. Organizer Eleanor Witte Wright ’57 reports that a small but enthusiastic group will be starting its literary adventures with Willa Cather’s My Antonia. A second group may be formed in the Brunswick area; if you are interested in participating, please contact the Alumni Office. On Feb. 1, Denver alumni gathered at the home of Janet Dunn Mackenzie ’50 for a dessert reception and conversation. Special guest Michael Dukakis ’55, the Democratic nominee for president in 1988, shared his “Reflections on the State of American Politics” as a topic for discussion. PORTLAND, MAINE Sociable Sociologists The American Sociological Association’s Annual Meeting took place in New York City in August 2007. Swarthmore alumni working and studying in sociology came together for their annual dinner at the Carnegie Deli. They were joined by Joy Charlton, professor of sociology and director of the Eugene M. Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, and Robin Wagner-Pacifici, the Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Sociology, who were in town for the meeting. (Right standing, back to front): Perry Chang ’85, Michael Schudson ’69, Rachel Kahn Best ’04, Laurie Matheson ’84, Rachel Sullivan ’99, Richard Vezina ’99, Isaac Reed ’00, and Joy Charlton. (Right seated, back to front): Caroline Hodges Persell ’62, Wendy Cadge ’97, Michaela De Soucey ’00, Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Caitlin Benhaim-Killian ’95, LiErin Probasco ’04, and Sophia Krzys Acord ’03. (Left, back to front) : Lowell Livezey ’66 (deceased Dec. 9, 2007), Andy Perrin ’93, Rikki Abzug ’86, Seth Ovadia ’93, and John Krinsky ’91 april 2008 41 books + arts Icarus in the ’60s: A Movement Memoir One might ask whether the last word on the 1960s and 1970s hasn’t been said. Clearly not, because Cathy Wilkerson ’66 presents a truly fresh, critical insight into that tumultuous time. This is an invaluable work—especially for the generation of the last 35 years. Flying Close to the Sun opens with the explosion that demolished Wilkerson’s father’s Greenwich Village townhouse on Mar. 6, 1970, killing three members of the Weather Underground, and closes with portraits of the victims. In between, Wilkerson weaves together three intersecting strands: an overview of national and international events, a history of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the radical Weathermen, and a remarkably insightful account of her political experience. This last is a rare gift among the all too frequent self-serving or detached works on the time. Wilkerson stresses how formative the Civil Rights Movement was for SDS and other political activists—a crucial part of the story that has not been sufficiently recognized. During her first two years at Swarthmore, Wilkerson’s experiences on the picket lines in Cambridge, Md., and, later, at the Franklin Elementary School in Chester, Pa., set her on the path she would take for the next 27 years—and after. Her arrest and detention in state prison for the school picketing convinced her to work in Chester, barely five miles from the campus, with other members 56 ASSOCIATED PRESS Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman by Cathy Wilkerson ’66 (Seven Stories Press, 2007) of the Swarthmore Political Action Committee (SPAC) to organize a block association with the local residents, many of whom had been part of the Franklin School protest. Yet, it was events far from the United States that would change everything. After the meretricious Gulf of Tonkin resolution in August 1964 and the Marine landing at Danang in March 1965, the previously cloaked American war against Vietnamese national liberation became an open war and effectively shifted almost all attention from the still unfinished civil rights struggle. After graduation in 1966, Wilkerson made a brief but ultimately frustrating detour to work in Washington as an aide for the liberal Wisconsin Congressman Robert Kastenmeier. She quit to join SDS that fall. Her first assignment was as editor of New Left Notes at the SDS headquarters in Chicago. In 1967, Wilkerson moved to Washington to lead SDS organizing on the nearby campuses. The SDS had announced its formation with the 1962 Port Huron Statement, emphasizing the core problems of inequality, poverty, and race and committing itself to the recreation and development of participatory democracy in America. It was a brave, hopeful statement—but woefully lacking in historical grounding and dismissive of all earlier political struggles. Wilkerson underscores how that rejection of past historical experience would return to haunt SDS. Almost from the beginning, the SDS had straddled two conflicting impulses: direct action and confrontation or education and democratic organizing across class and race. Wilkerson shows how frustration at the lack of progress in ending the Vietnam War—despite the huge demonstrations—weakened the organization’s commitment to participatory democracy and organizing and made violence, militant confrontation, and a Leninist model attractive. It was just a few short steps to bomb making and the Greenwich Village explosion and the need to go underground. Wilkerson is generous in her evaluation of her comrades in SDS and Weatherman. She never seeks to settle scores; in fact, she is most unsparing of herself. She is, nonetheless, deeply critical of the collective failure in SDS and Weatherman—and her own as well—to think historically or to consider the consequences of their confrontational tactics. She locates the causes of this failure in growing arrogance, intolerance of dissent and internal debate, and the seductiveness of violence and secrecy. The consequences would be political isolation and marginalization. One important correction is in order. Wilkerson uses the term “Fifth Column” incorrectly. She writes that Weatherman “had begun to define (itself) as a ‘fifth column,’” mistakenly identifying it as having been made up of people working in Madrid for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Actually, Spanish Nationalist General Emilio Mola coined the term in 1937 to designate those fascist sympathizers who worked secretly to undermine the Republican government in anticipation of his four-column attack on the capital. Even now, no good leftist would want to be associated with that “column.” Flying Close to the Sun is a finely written work of remarkswarthmore college bulletin able honesty and dramatic flair. Wilkerson forces us to rethink the 1960s and 1970s and to see the emergent women’s movement in a new light. Her long list of the victims of police murder and assassination in those years is deeply affecting and melancholy. As our country now works to halt George Bush’s mindless war in Iraq—sold, like the Vietnam War, through lies and fear—it also struggles to recapture democracy. This book provides an excellent way to learn from the author’s experience and the history of that earlier movement to chart a new course. —Thompson Bradley Professor Emeritus of Russian author examines how the discoveries of missionaries and merchants affected the content and configuration of world maps. Gerard Helferich ’76, High Cotton: Four Seasons in the Mississippi Delta, Counterpoint, 2007. Mixing biography, history, and reminiscence, the author depicts Mississippi Delta farming life. Larissa Heinrich ’91, The Afterlife of Images; Translating the Pathological Body Between China and the West, Duke University Press, 2008. The author explores the creation and circulation of Western medical discourses linking ideas about disease to Chinese identity—both in and outside China. Eric Stockdale and Randy Holland ’69, Middle Temple Lawyers and The American Revolution, Thomson West, 2007. This account of American-born lawyers who studied at the Middle Temple Inn of Court before the Revolutionary War includes forewords by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts Jr. and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Phillips of Worth Matravers. Other Books Emily Abel ’64, Tuberculosis and the Politics of Exclusion: A History of Public Health and Migration to Los Angeles, Rutgers University Press, 2007. Abel shows how the association of the disease with “tramps” during the 1880s and 1890s and Dust Bowl refugees during the 1930s led to exclusionary measures against both groups. Also by Emily Abel, Suffering in the Land of Sunshine: A Los Angeles Illness Narrative, Rutgers University Press, 2006. Letters by Charles Dwight Willard, an LA civic leader at the turn of the 20th century, illustrate the experience of sickness through Willard’s encounter with tuberculosis. april 2008 David Bressoud ’71, A Radical Approach of Lebesgue’s Theory of Integration, Cambridge University Press, 2008. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate mathematics students, this introduction to measure theory and Lebesgue integration is rooted in and motivated by the historical questions that led to its development. Lynn Aarti Chandhok ’85, The View From Zero Bridge, Anhinga Press, 2007. This winner of the 2006 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry offers poems inspired by the two worlds of Kashmir and Brooklyn that tell truths about loss and gain. Evelyn Edson ’62, The World 1300–1492: The Persistence of Tradition and Transformation, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. Using maps of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Amanda Konradi ’84, Taking the Stand: Rape Survivors and the Prosecution of Rapists, Praeger Publishers, 2007. Following the experiences of 47 rape survivors through the judicial process from reporting to sentencing , this book illustrates the importance of recognizing the differences in individual victims and their experiences to ensure them as successful a path as possible through the prosecutorial process. Anne Enke ’87, Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism, Duke University Press, 2007.Focusing on women’s activism in Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis– St. Paul in the 1960s and 1970s, Enke describes how women across race and class created a groundswell of feminist activism by directly intervening in the urban landscape. Judith Hughes ’62, Guilt and Its Vicissitudes: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Morality, Routledge, 2008. The author describes how psychoanalyst Melanie Klein and generations of her followers pursued and deepened Freud’s project of explaining man’s moral sense as a wholly natural phenomenon, arguing that Klein and her followers ultimately provided a more consistent and comprehensive psychological account of moral development. Laura Lein ’69 and Deanna Schexnayder with Karen Nanges Douglas and Daniel Schroeder, Life After Welfare: Reform and the Persistence of Poverty, University of Texas Press, 2007. This work, which follows 179 families after leaving welfare, is set against a backdrop of multiple types of data and econometric modeling. 57 books + arts John Ridland ’53, A Brahms Card Ballad: Poems Selected for Hungarians, Dowitcher Press, 2007. The title poem of this selection, which appeared first in Hungarian translation, was inspired by an anecdote about a boy who began a collection of calling cards of cultural and historical figures, such as Brahms. Peter Linebaugh ’64, The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All, University of California Press, 2008. This history of the Magna Carta illustrates how ancient protections—such as the rights of habeas corpus, trial by jury, due process of law, and the prohibition of torture—are repeatedly abridged when greed, lust for power, and ambition sieze hold of a state. Andrea Rugh ’57, The Political Culture of Leadership in the United Arab Emirates, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Examining leadership in the United Arab Emirates during 200 years of transformation from an egalitarian society of small independent emirates to a union of states governed by a few ruling families, this book shows how leaders’ political behaviors are shaped by cultural expectations of how Jean Matter Mandler ’51, The Foundations of Mind: Origins of Conceptual Thought, Oxford University Press, 2006. Drawing on extensive research, the author explores preverbal conceptualization and shows how this ability forms the basis for thought and language. Lloyd Novick, Cynthia Morrow ’87, and Glen Mays, Public Health Administration: Principles for Population-Based Management, Second Edition, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2008. With contributions from top leaders in areas ranging from workforce to community-based prevention to emergency preparedness, this second edition offers detailed, comprehensive coverage of current, relevant issues for new as well as seasoned public health administrators. 58 engage with Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, the author argues that Lacanian theory has the potential to begin rectifying the deeply flawed way that ethnic and racialized subjects have been conceptualized in North America since the mid-20th century. Joe McGinniss Jr. ’94, The Delivery Man, Black Cat, 2008. This debut novel is an exhilarating, frightening, and unflinching portrait of today’s lost generation—a love story set against the surreal excess of Las Vegas, where broken lives come to seek new beginnings, casinos feed the lust of tourists and residents alike, and local kids grow up fast and burn out early. Fast and thrilling, this book is not for the squeamish reader. Ruth Bernard Yeazell ’67, Art of the Everyday: Dutch Painting and the Realist Novel, Princeton University Press, 2008. Arriving at the same time as the opening of the exhibit The Age of Rembrandt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, this literary study plumbs the realist novels of writers such as Honoré de Balzac, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and Marcel Proust, uncovering their relationships with Dutch painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. people should relate to one another and discusses the significant, albeit largely “invisible” role of women in the politics of tribal societies. Robert McCoy ’42, Planting the Good Seed: Letters From a Quaker Relief Worker, Wilmington College Peace Resource Center, 2007. Detailed letters describe the author’s experience as a young Quaker relief worker in post– World War II Europe. His writing bears witness to the devastating destruction to both country and psyche and the healing touch of the Quaker relief effort. Jon Van Til ’61, Breaching Derry’s Walls: The Quest for a Lasting Peace in Northern Ireland, University Press of America, 2008. This book is the first to examine the island-based society of Ireland from the point of view of its northwest quadrant, focusing in particular on Derry, a city with a reputation as a center for culture. Antonio Viego ’89, Dead Subjects: Toward a Politics of Loss in Latino Studies, Duke University Press, 2007. In this call for scholars in race and ethnic studies to Darius Rejali ’81, Torture and Democracy, Princeton University Press, 2007. Mapping a long, unbroken but largely forgotten history of torture in modern democracies, the author offers the most comprehensive study of “democratic” torture methods available, gathering everything from medical and scientific literature to historical and social scientific studies of torture. swarthmore college bulletin in my life A Brief but Illustrious Career with the Royal Ballet By Stephen Burns ’71 Stephen Burns is a management consultant based in Philadelphia and Paris. He takes ballet classes, appears in ballet performances, and—as time permits—consults. 64 I suppose it’s time, after all these years, to reveal the truth. Classmates: I was a closet balletomane during our years together! While you were playing Frisbee on Parrish lawn, I was secretly practicing pliés in the basement of Pearson. Feel free to laugh now, so you can look me in the eye without smirking at our next reunion. Having said that … Some years ago, I was at London’s Covent Garden watching a performance of Swan Lake. The venue was superb, the orchestral accompaniment top-notch, and the dancing about as good as it gets. After the performance, I casually wandered back to the stage door to pay my compliments to Roberta Marquez, the young Brazilian who danced the lead role of Odette/Odile. I introduced myself to her and kissed her hand in the gracious manner that years of practice on other ballerinas of world-class stature had refined. In return, she shyly whispered, “I am sure we will meet again soon.” Little did she know how accurate her prophecy would be. Looking back, all that was lacking that night was Madge the gypsy popping out of the shadows as I walked down Piccadilly back to my hotel, grabbing my palm, and foretelling, “Before long, you will be on stage with Roberta, close enough to trip her up as she does her 32 fouettés in Act 3!” Fast forward to last summer. An announcement appeared on a local Philadelphia Internet site, asking for volunteers to appear with London’s Royal Ballet in the capacity of supernumeraries. It would have completely escaped my attention, had my ballet instructor not directed the class’s attention to it. In fact, because I don’t watch TV, read the Philadelphia newspapers, nor listen to the radio except for a few minutes of National Public Radio in the morning, I was completely unaware that the Royal Ballet was going to be here at all. There was some consternation among the women students, who outnumber men by about five to one in my class, because surprisingly more men than women were needed for the Royal Ballet’s local performances. The day of judgment came on a Monday. The schedule was to be as follows: Monday, selection followed by rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet; Tuesday, rehearsal and performance of Romeo and Juliet; Wednesday, rehearsal for Swan Lake, second performance of Romeo and Juliet; Thursday, rehearsal and performance of Swan Lake; and Friday, final performance of Swan Lake. I showed up early at Philadelphia’s Mann Center for the Performing Arts, a peculiar choice of venue as it was midsummer and this outdoor facility was not air conditioned. The first thing that struck me was the absence of people. Had I gotten the day wrong? I eventually spotted one of the girls from class, who, I suspect, had spent the night in a sleeping bag outside the theater, as getting a role meant the world to her. Eventually, a couple dozen local dancers showed up, as did two officious looking people with clipboards from the Royal Ballet. From the expression on their faces, one could tell something was dreadfully wrong. But what? Had they read that Philadelphians had recently been voted the ugliest people in the country? I walked over to them and asked if there was a problem. There bloody hell was a problem, they said. There weren’t enough of us Philadelphians! The company had just finished touring in such cultural capitals as Tijuana, Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas, and hundreds of people showed up, roared the fellow. Has an atom bomb decimated the population? he asked. Well sir, we’ll just have to make do with whom we have, I suggested. He glared at me icily, as if to say did I really expect him to hand me a role? By the way, I added, was Roberta Marquez in town? She and I have been friends for a few years now, don’t you know. His mood softened as if he had been hit over the head with a cricket bat. Did I really know Roberta? Of course; is she here now with the company? Yes, but she’s not scheduled to perform. He fumbled in his pocket for a computer print-out, put on his reading glasses, and gave me her hotel room number. Give her a call, I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear from someone local. And, um, what roles were you interested in? We both suddenly became aware that our exchange was being followed with keen interest by everyone else, not the least by the ballet mistress. After an awkward pause, the two of them got into all-business mode and sized up the problem. For the four performances, more than 100 supernumerary roles would have to swarthmore college bulletin ing. But shortly after Act 2 ended, the commanding voice of the Royal Ballet’s formidable director, Monica Mason O.B.E., came over the loudspeaker system. Because of her injury, Monica announced, Tamara would not appear in Act 3 but would return for Act 4. As Tamara’s substitute needed time to suit up, the intermission would be a bit extended. Disaster nearly struck at the very end of Act 3, following Juliet’s suicide. PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEPHEN BURNS I got my feet caught in my robe and started to fall forward.... Clockwise from top left: Stephen Burns (right) with his ballet class partner in costume as townspeople in Romeo and Juliet. Backstage with ballet star Roberta Marquez, surrounded by props. As a court gent in Swan Lake, Act 3. be filled. Doing the math, that meant everybody would perform every night, perhaps in more than one role, allowing for expected absences. That was for the women. The men would have two or possibly three roles nightly. We were asked to line up in size order, and the administrator noted our names along with height, weight, shoe size, and age. I lied about the latter. I have been 40 ever since I turned 45, which was so many years ago now. Some vigorous discussion ensued between our two English visitors, accompanied by a considerable flourish of paperwork, and roles were then announced. I was cast as follows: Romeo and Juliet: townsperson and ballroom guest (Acts 1 and 2), monk (Act 3); Swan Lake: drink bearer (Act 1); court gent (Act 3). Swan Lake, Act 3! How I longed to be on stage as Odile unleashes her 32 fouettés—as she reveals herself to be none other than the daughter of the evil magician Rothbart; as Prince Siegfried collapses in grief upon learning he has sworn love to an imposter! But Roberta wouldn’t be dancing. My elation gave way to a slight twinge of sadness; Madge’s imaginary prediction would not be fulfilled. april 2008 The early rehearsals of Romeo and Juliet were fairly grueling. I had to learn the difference between looking like a potted plant and hamming it up, a subtle distinction indeed. Disaster nearly struck at the very end of Act 3, following Juliet’s suicide. The group of monks process slowly across the stage in pitch darkness, each bearing the faintest candle to guide his way, but I couldn’t see a thing. I got my feet caught in my robe and started to fall forward, horrifyingly certain I was going to land flat on my face. But instinct, born of years of training in aikido, suddenly took over. I lowered my center of gravity, regained my equilibrium, untangled my feet, and continued marching. To the audience, all that would have been visible was a sudden dipping and raising of one of the candle lights. The next evening’s Romeo and Juliet went much more smoothly. In Swan Lake, I actually did a little bit of dancing. The “waitstaff ” danced among themselves, while the nobility danced with each other as the Queen departed Prince Siegfried’s birthday celebration towards the end of Act 1. Tamara Rojo, that evening’s Odette/Odile, had an injured ankle, but as a tribute to her fortitude insisted on perform- That was a classic English understatement. In fact, Tamara’s replacement in Act 3 had merely been hanging out at the theater simply to watch the performance, with no plans of dancing whatsoever. Tamara’s replacement, Ms. Mason then announced, was to be none other than principal dancer Roberta Marquez. It all seems like a distant dream now. Roberta danced phenomenally under the circumstances. She may have come up one shy of the 32 fouettés, but who’s counting? I wanted to applaud madly once she finished. The audience, to their credit, made up for my enforced restraint. I had to leave during the next intermission, but I did call Roberta up the following day to tell her how wonderfully she had performed. I would have loved to see her again (we had caught up with each other all too briefly during a company class earlier in the week), but neither my schedule nor hers allowed it. Friday evening’s Swan Lake—the final performance of the tour—came and went all too quickly. It being the last night, I threw in an unscripted chaîné as I made my way across the ballroom floor. What the heck, was I going to get docked a day’s pay? I telephoned Roberta on Saturday morning as she was packing her bags for the return flight to London. I don’t recall much from our conversation, but I am quite certain that before we hung up, Roberta said, “I am sure we will meet again soon”. ! 65 q+a By Jeffrey Lott On St. Valentine’s Day, what flower says “love?” Galanthus. Oh ... snowdrops—snowdrops in February. 72 Are you a tree-hugging, liberal do-gooder? No. I don’t see myself that way. I’m interested in nature and the environment, but I don’t consider myself a radical yogurt-eating, granola-toting tree hugger. You work for both the College and the Scott Arboretum. Are there any tensions between these two organizations? The two don’t always have the exact same goals. It used to be that the College would plan a facilities project and the arboretum would have to react to it, but it’s gotten better. Now, Claire and I are involved in facilities planning from the beginning, so we can say, “That’s our oldest red oak. Can’t we move those utility lines over there?” Professor Carr Everbach says that you are “probably the strongest sustainability advocate in the administration.” Why do you think he said that? I got started by coincidence, but now it’s part of me. Because I’d been at Penn State, they asked Swarthmore to do field research on reducing the use of pesticides in the early 1990s. That got me started. And because the grounds crews here have always been in charge of trash pickup, I was immediately drawn into the campus recycling movement. After that, it was the green roofs. You give frequent tours of Alice Paul’s green roof and the inverted roof at the science center. Do you ever get tired of these?* No—it’s important for a college to have these examples. We’re an educational institution. Architects, roofers, landscapers, engineers, and end-users all want to know how much they cost, whether they leak, what the benefits are, etc. I can name eight different projects built after people saw our green roof. As a gardening expert, what’s the most common question you get? “When should I mulch?” Or questions about lawn care. People get ridiculously agitated about their lawns. * Green roof tours are offered monthly from April to October. For more information, call the Scott Arboretum at (610) 328-8025 or e-mail scott@swarthmore.edu. swarthmore college bulletin ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS When should you garden? “Whenever you have the time,” says Jeff Jabco. As director of grounds and coordinator of horticulture, he tends a 360-acre garden called Swarthmore College. Growing up in central Pennsylvania, Jabco loved to draw and thought he might become an artist. But at age 14, he started working at a “mom-and-pop landscape nursery” in Bellefonte, Pa., where he learned how to asexually propagate plants in the propagating house. “I ate it up,” he says. At nearby Penn State, he majored in horticulture—the word comes from the Latin hortus (garden) and encompasses the art and science of growing flowers, fruit, and vegetables. Jabco specialized in breeding pot plants such as Pelargonium, Calceolaria, and Saintpaulia. (To most of us, that’s geraniums, pocketbook flowers, and African violets. At Swarthmore, you cannot escape the genera of growing things.) He did traditional breeding, mutation breeding, and self-directed research—taking most of his electives in landscape architecture. At North Carolina State, where he earned a master’s in horticulture and plant pathology, Jabco worked on breeding small fruits—like grapes—for disease resistance. At both schools, Jabco found that he enjoyed teaching. He spent one summer as a cooperative extension agent in rural Pennsylvania and, after finishing grad school, he became a regional extension agent based in Delaware County, Pa., where one of his pet projects was an urban gardening program in Chester, Pa., not far from Swarthmore. “I got to know people from the Scott Arboretum and, in 1990, [then director] Judy Zuk asked me if I would be interested in this position at the College,” Jabco says. He and current Arboretum Director Claire Sawyers were hired within months of one another. “I thought being at Swarthmore would give me an opportunity to work more directly with plants,” Jabco says. And, it turns out, a whole lot more. We spoke on Feb. 14. The most annoying? I’m always amazed at how little people actually know about the plants that are all around them. Someone once asked me when to feed his “jupiter? “ Your what? “Jupiter.” It took me a while to figure out he meant “juniper.” Oh, and “feed!” You can fertilize a plant but you cannot feed it. Plants make their own food from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. You can feed your pet or your kids, but you can’t feed a plant. May I ask you about the Ajuga reptans that’s taken over part of my lawn? Your garden center will recommend an her- bicide, but we’re exploring alternatives to lawns—sedges (Cyperaceae) and other grasslike plants that need mowing just once a year. They’re a monoculture, not a meadow, but on most suburban properties there are areas where they would be just fine. If you could make one thing happen on campus, what would it be? A building with the best combination of a green roof and solar panels—a functioning building that’s also a laboratory designed for education and research. We did some of that with the science center, but we could take it farther. ! Jeff Jabco, director of grounds for the College and coordinator of horticulture for the Scott Arboretum, with a winter-blooming Hamamelis mollis. Fly Home to Swarthmore This June Classmates Open Houses Reunion i Alumni Weekend 2007: June 6–8 Classes ending in a “3” or “8” and the Class of 2006 are celebrating reunions, but everyone is invited! Make plans now to return to Swarthmore and attend Alumni Weekend 2008. You may register and find up-to-date information on-line at alumniweekend.swarthmore.edu. Questions? E-mail the Alumni Office at alumni@swarthmore.edu, or call (610) 328-8402. Lectures Requiem Friends Parade Collection Campus Tours