The Garnet Letter
Tubhshed in the interests o f
S W A R T H M O R E C O L L E G E a n d her A L U M N I

fi
^Volume

SWARTHMORE, PA., SEPTEM BER, 1935

üffumber

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE TODAY
A descriptive statement prepared by the Faculty Members of the Joint Committee on College-Alumni Relationships

Education is as broad as life
itself, and even formal educa­
tion rightly includes many
types. A college is never made;
it is always in the making.
The Board of Managers and
the Faculty of Swarthmore
have from the 1860’s been
continually engaged in deter­
mining what kind of insti­
tution Swarthmore College should be. Among the
important considerations have been the educational
desires entertained for their children by members of
the Religious Society of Friends which founded the
College, and by graduates and ex-students. Board
and faculty members have also had a concern that
Swarthmore should undertake appropriate tasks in
promoting education generally. The following state­
ment is a brief and informal attem pt to describe the
Swarthmore College of today. It hardly needs to be
said that the educational policies adopted by the
preserit administration with the approval of the
Board are heartily and independently supported by
the Faculty.
A college assumes many responsibilities besides the
claims of learning. This is particularly true of a small,
residential, co-educational college. Among these
responsibilities must be included adequate oppor­
tunities for the development of friendship, bodily
vigor, sportsmanship, social life and manners, a sense
of beauty, lively intellectual curiosity, and an apti­
tude for a suitable vocation. A college should make
intellectual work more than a process of accumulat­
ing dry facts; it can do this by enlisting in the service
of scholarship, in addition to reasoning power and
memory, all the human faculties of imagination
and emotion, and a generous interest in the public
welfare. In many colleges these broad aims have been
jeopardized since the war in various ways—by too
rapid growth in numbers, by technical and vocational
training, by overspeciaiization, by purposeless piling
up of unrelated credits, by misplaced emphasis upon

the machinery of education, by commercialization
of athletics, by departures from simplicity in social
life, by poor teaching, and by an economic depres­
sion which has menaced all institutions. Swarth­
more s attem pts to solve its own various problems
have been conspicuously approved by outstanding
and impartial educational authorities.
Swarthmore from the beginning has been a college
of liberal arts. Liberal education is partly a m atter
of curriculum and partly a m atter of approach.
( Continued on next page)

TO FORMER STUDENTS

o f Swarthmore
W il l ia m W . T o m l in s o n

President of the Alumni Association
I am sure there are many Alumni and former
students^ who will be vitally 'interested in the
more intimate picture of Swarthmore today that
is presented in this “Garnet Letter.”
As Alumni we have been conscious of changes
that have taken place during recent years in
educational policies and student activities at
Swarthmore. Some of us have not altogether
understood these changes nor have we appreci­
ated their significance in the light of present-day
conditions.
This “Letter” marks an effort to bring the Col­
lege and her Alumni into a closer relationship
through a better understanding of the aims, ob­
jectives and activities of Swarthmore today.
During recent months a joint committee made
up of representatives of the Board of Managers,
the Faculty and the Alumni Association has been
meeting at regular intervals for discussion of
College-Alumni relationships.
The Faculty members of this committee have
prepared the statement entitled “ Swarthmore

The Garnet Letter

2

College Today” which is published herewith. The
statement does not undertake to do more than
describe broad policies and aims but it does present
in a very interesting manner the program of the
administration of the college and it has received the
informal approval of both the President of the Col­
lege and the President of the Board of Managers.
In this “Letter” are also published reports pre­
pared by Dr. Palmer on “Athletics at Swarthmore”
and “ Student Life and Activities” by Nora Booth,
assistant to the Dean of Women. These reports were
originally submitted at the June meeting of the
Alumni Association. It was the wish of that meeting
th at they be placed in the hands of all former Swarthmoreans as a means of further acquainting Alumni
with present day Swarthmore student life and ac­
tivities.
The publication of this “Garnet L etter” I regard
as an important step in the development of a closer
College-Alumni relationship. I hope other issues
may be published in the future in which matters of
universal Alumni interest may be discussed. Articles
or expressions from Alumni and former students
would be especially wholesome and interesting in a
publication of this nature.
We have before us not only the aim of a more inti­
mate mutual understanding between the college and
her alumni but we also hope to develop a more closely
knit alumni organization which can play a greater
part in the future success of Swarthmore.

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE TODAY
( Continued from first fage)

Philosophy, for example, is generally included in
liberal training and excluded from agricultural train­
ing. Economics, on the other hand, is now found
both in colleges of liberal arts and in schools of
business administration; the difference is in the
approach. Engineering has its own independent justi­
fication for being offered at Swarthmore, but it finds
justification in this respect also—that engineering
and liberal arts are becoming more closely related,
at Swarthmore and elsewhere. Perhaps a liberal
education may be summarized as a preparation for
living in general.
In emphasizing such preparation, Swarthmore
aims to fit men and women for leadership in many
vocations. A large proportion of our graduates
properly find their way into business careers. Much
th at is specifically useful in business is available at
a college of liberal arts—in courses and in extra­
curricular activities. But the major contribution
which such a college makes to those entering busi­
ness is offered to those who are capable of executive
positions instead of mere routine. To them a welldirected liberal training means development of those

two most precious qualities of leadership—initiative
and perspective. The business world constantly
affords evidence that, in selecting men for leadership,
it prefers men of comprehensive education, lively
imagination, and sound judgment, on the basis of
which, with least waste, business itself can provide
for detailed technical training. Indeed, added evi­
dence is afforded by undergraduate schools of busi­
ness administration themselves; they have reversed
the previous trend and are now including liberal arts
in their programs.
Apart from the content of its curriculum, every
educational institution is confronted by the neces­
sity for decisions regarding standards. General
educational standards tend to rise. The external
circumstances of life become more demanding, and
education must improve if only to maintain its
relative position. Nor has education stopped there;
it has tried to advance its relative position. So the
standards of any college necessarily rise if it keeps
pace with life and the educational system in general.
But a college may also from time to time decide that
it should make a special contribution to the raising
of standards. Such efforts at Swarthmore represent
an extension of the constant habit of earlier years.
Although Swarthmore’s standards, taken in con­
junction with the restricted size of the college,
exclude many applicants, the college has remained
full to overflowing through the depression without
lowering standards. These standards are not merely
highbrow; they call for well-rounded men and women
who possess, in addition to high intelligence fine
human qualities. I t is believed that there are
potential students, especially boys, for whom Swarth­
more would be the proper college, now failing even
to apply because of a misconception of admission
requirements and student life at Swarthmore, who
would be not only admitted, but welcomed. During
the years in which most American colleges were
expanding rapidly, some measures were necessary to
keep Swarthmore within its limits. A rule common
to many colleges was adopted, limiting applicants
accepted without College Board examinations to
the upper quarter of the secondary school class.
Several years of experience with this rule have con­
vinced the Faculty th at the variety of standards in
secondary schools makes the uniform application of
this rule undesirable. Although class standing in
secondary school is usually important evidence of
ability to do college work, our admissions officers
have recently been formally given greater freedom
of judgment in their selection.
I t is easy enough to find athletic boys, or bookish
boys; to find and recognize the combination of quali­
ties which results in force of character and leader­
ship is difficult. The freshman class for next year,

The Garnet Letter
however, seems to be of excellent quality, and the
number of men will crowd the housing facilities of
the College. Now, as always, our great concern is
with quality rather than with number. The Faculty
definitely desires qualities of character, personality,
and physical vigor, along with intellectual attain­
ments.
Just as Swarthmore is anxious to admit applicants
who have well-balanced personalities, so is it anxious
to provide opportunity for its students to develop as
such persons during their college years. To th at end
the college is interested in extra-curricular activities,
both athletic and non-athletic, in social life, in char­
acter; it must provide for them directly, and it must
safeguard them as it formulates and applies academic
policy. Professors at Swarthmore are more than
task masters; they lead rather than drive their
classes; and we think we are accurate in suggesting
that the interest which Swarthmore students mani­
fest in their work is due only in small part to task­
mastering, which we seek to avoid. I t is due rather
to the fact that the Faculty has taken a leaf out of
the book of extra-curricular activities; academic work
has come to excite some of the genuine interest and
spontaneous enthusiasm and sustained application
which extra-curricular activities have always pro­
voked. There is much evidence, moreover, that the
depression has sent students to college seriously
intent on making the most of opportunities.
The best protection against overwork is the relax­
ation which comes from spontaneous activity. The
form of student activities, if they are really spon­
taneous, will often change rapidly within a student
generation; evidence of the decline of one form of
activity should be carefully balanced by evidence of
the rise of a new form. College pranks are probably
suffering a decline because the scope of freedom has
been greatly increased—both at home before college,
and at college itself. But activities in general are
growing; more students are spending more time in
athletics, dramatics, debating, music and social con­
tacts, although the organization of these interests
has in many cases undergone marked change. The
administration and the faculty encourage activities
by freeing them from the restrictions of the curric­
ulum, by participating in them, by adding special
members to the staff, and by urging students to
exercise initiative. But much of student life during
any college generation depends on student prefer­
ences; many of the changes since pre-war days have
occurred simply because students want different
things. Athletics afford an interesting example. On
the urging of men students, the number of inter­
collegiate sports has been increased, and the per­
centage of men engaged in one or more sports is
phenomenally high. Our teams continue to compete

3

strenuously, with the desire to win; but this other
desire, to have many sports, necessarily tends to
produce fewer victories than might otherwise be
possible. The basic factors in this connection would
seem to be that the men’s half of our student body
numbers only three hundred, and that we do not
subsidize athletes.
Teaching method is closely associated with stand­
ards. Swarthmore’s experiments in method consti­
tute a general program for the student body as a
whole. The program has grown out of such beliefs
as these: Students should meet a teacher in small
groups or individually, and with considerable infor­
mality. Hours spent by students in class or on
rigidly prescribed reading should be reduced, and
hours spent in guided freedom on recommended
reading, thinking, and writing should be increased.
A good share of a student’s work should be concen­
trated on a broad field of related studies, and stress
should be laid not on detailed memorization but on
comprehensive knowledge and judgment. Many
other colleges are conducting experiments based on
similar beliefs.
Of the new methods the so-called “honors” work
serves as a good illustration. I t is not confined to a
few geniuses. Evidence of its appeal to the students
in increasing numbers is found in the fact th at for
the last several years half of the junior and senior
classes have been working by th at method, and con­
siderably over half of next year’s junior class have
applied and been accepted. In most instances the
eligible student prefers the honors method to the
course method; but in many instances such a student,
or his teachers, or both, will decide that the course
method is preferable. Honors work does not attem pt
to confine students’ interest to the mere learning of
facts; it is directed toward developing enthusiastic,
penetrating, independent, and comprehensive minds
—for employment in many different vocations.
Swarthmore, finally, encourages free discussion.
In th at it is applying one of the cherished traditions
of America and Quakerism, and one which very
much needs applying in these days. Men differ in
describing present conditions; they differ in apprais­
ing them; they differ in proposals for change. A
truly liberal college should in no way coerce its stud­
ents into accepting any opinion; but it should make
its students and teachers free to discuss any pointof-view, and its faculty members and outside speakers
should represent many shades of thought.
This, as we see it, is Swarthmore College today in
broad outline. The Board, Administration, and
Faculty welcome alumni cooperation in suggesting
specific improvements, in disseminating informa­
tion about the college, and in relating student life to
future careers.

4

The Garnet Letter

A thletics at Swarthm ore
A R e p o r t o f t h e A l u m n i A t h l e t ic C o m m it t e e t o t h e A l u m n i A s s o c ia t io n J u n e

1, 1935

B y Samuel C. P almer, ’95
Graduate Manager of Athletics

H E question of the success of Swarthmore’s
athletic teams has seemed to be a m atter of
grave concern to many of the alumni and friends
of the College. W ith this in mind I will endeavor to
place before you the actual conditions of physical
education and athletics at the College, and to invite
your careful and thoughtful consideration of the
facts. In face of a widespread tendency among col­
leges today to place athletic sport, and especially
football, in a position of preeminence, and in some
cases to usurp to a great extent the real function of
the college, it seems to me it would be well to measure
these values and to determine where the real interests
of the college lie.
Swarthmore has embarked on what I believe to
be a wise and conservative athletic policy which
should secure your whole-hearted and enthusiastic
support. It should also tend to eliminate criticism
arising apparently from the failure of our teams to
win all their games. We in charge of the athletics
have as much interest in the performance and ap­
pearance of our teams as the alumni, and we do all
we can to assure their success. We are glad when
they do well and show that they have profited by
their instruction, and we are disappointed when their
teamwork is ragged and their technique poor, as
sometimes must happen.
The old-time “ athletic teams at any cost” are gone.
We would not want them back even if we could get
them. The demands today on the student are so
exacting that he has no time to devote all his hours
outside the classroom to athletic development. It
is no more reasonable to suppose that he should do
so than it is that you should employ in your business
a man who is preeminently a good ball player. It
would seem ridiculous to you for us to insist that you
have a good football team among your workmen
when you are chiefly concerned in the manufacture
of leather, cotton, paper or what not.
We are always glad when we can combine real
athletic ability and high scholastic ambition in our
students. We believe in this type of man, for he will
have large interests, be alert and active and produce
results.
We believe the primary function of the department
of physical education is to develop the student physi­
cally so that he will stand up under the strain of this
complex modern method of living, to instruct how to
care for his body and how to perform creditably in
those athletic activities in which he finds personal

T

pleasure. The Freshmen and Sophomores are re­
quired to report for physical exercise. There is a
wide range of sports from which to select. The
Seniors and Juniors have no such requirement.
The number of men enrolled in College this year
was 292, of which number 209 were coached for Var­
sity teams, 42 others took part in intramurals, and 41
took no part in any athletic activity other than the re­
quired courses. Twenty-five of these have had coach­
ing in some sport in other years, 9 were physically unfit
and 4 were special students. If the success of ath­
letics in college consists entirely in winning games
from old rivals, even here we have not fallen so low
as to merit much criticism. We, with our 292 men
students, engaged in 90 athletic contests of an inter­
collegiate nature, of which 8 were with clubs, alumni,
or were group contests. Of the 82 purely intercol­
legiate dual contests we won 36, tied 2 and lost 44.
By comparison this year’s teams on the average did
better than last year. Golf, tennis, swimming, track
and baseball have better records; the swimming team
broke every existing college record; soccer, foot­
ball and lacrosse held their position; only basketball
fell below the record of last year. Cross country as
a beginning sport was not expected to win against
U. of P. and F. & M. when the meets were arranged.
Against our old rivals, Swarthmore did not do so
poorly. We met Lehigh in 7 dual meets and won 5.
Against Lafayette, we won 3 out of 5 contests. We
met U. of P. 4 times and won 2. Against the New
England group of colleges (Amherst, Union, Hamil­
ton and Wesleyan and Springfield) we broke even
with 5 victories and 5 losses. Our contests with
Haverford resulted in 1 tie, 1 victory, and 4 losses,
two of which were in golf. We placed behind them
in the Amherst triangular track meet but out-scored
them in the M. A. S. C. A. A. where we took third
place among 18 competing colleges with 22^ points.
This is probably sufficient to give you the information
you wish. If such a record is the work of a lot of
cripples and decrepit men I somehow fail to perceive
it. Through a long period of years our record has
been a little better than a 50-50 break and the re­
sults of this year have been but a trifle below that
average. Notable and well-earned victories have
been won against greatly superior numbers and I
feel that our athletes today, when everything is care­
fully considered, deserve praise for their courage
and achievement, rather than criticism for their fail­
ure to accomplish the impossible.

The Garnet Letter
0
0
0
12
7
6
0

F ootball
Dickinson
St. Johns
F. & M.
Hopkins
Amherst
Hampden Sydney
Susquehanna

6
12
22
0
6
7
20

0
3
1
3
1
0
1
1
0

Soccer
Lafayette
F. & M.
U. of P.
Lehigh
Cornell
Stevens
Alumni
Haverford
Princeton

1
0
2
0
2
0
1
1
2

38
22
20
40
*30
51

S w im m in g
Villanova
Lafayette
Osteopathy
Lehigh
T urngemeinde
West Chester

28
53
38
35
44
14

T wo third places in Eastern Coll.
Swimming Ass’n — 4 points

5

1934-35 Scores
38
17
23
51
30
21
57
17
38
38
11
37
30
35
23
5
8
9
5
9
3
5
7
6
8

B a sk etball
Pharmacy
U. of Pa.
Stevens
Osteopathy
Amherst
Wesleyan
Moravian
Washington
Hamilton
Albright
St. Johns
P. M. C.
Haverford
Lehigh
Dickinson
T e n n is
U. of Pa.
Muhlenberg
Lafayette
Rutgers
Dickinson
Army
Lehigh
Union
Hamilton
Haverford

27
56
26
24
38
25
12
40
35
45
37
36
34
58
57
4
1
0
4
0
6
4
2
3
1

*9
*2
19
19
4
4
7
4
5
1
9

L a cro sse
Phila. L. C.
Mt. Wash. Club
C. C. N. Y.
Lehigh
St. Johns
Rutgers
Stevens
Union
Springfield
Army
U. of Pa.

10
15
13
3
19
10
9
1
13
6
4

21
6
0
2
0
4
4
1
10
4
3

B aseball
St. Johns
U. of Pa.
Army
Dickinson
Ursinus
Union
Hamilton
Gettysburg
Stevens
Haverford
Muhlenberg

10
14
15
11
13
11
20
22
7
9
12

7
2%
5
9
7
3
0
1%
5
5

40
39

G olf
Osteopathy
Haverford
Delaware
West Chester
Lafayette
Army
Navy
Haverford
Lehigh
St. Joseph

2
6%
1
0
2
6
9
7%
4
1

C r o ss C o u n t r y
U. of Pa.
15
F. & M.
16

T rack
47 Lehigh
77
*35% Amherst 76
Haverford 42%
Penn Relay
4th—1st race
2nd—2nd race
64% Drexel
61%
65 Lafayette
61
*3rd MASCAA 22% pts.
83 Hopkins
43

Swarthmore’s score given first. "'Combination meets or club matches.
87 Inter. Coll, meets — 36 Won, 3 Tied, 48 Lost. 5 were with Clubs
or Group Matches.

Student Life and Activities
A R e p o r t G iv e n B e f o r e t h e A l u m n i A s s o c ia t io n J u n e

1, 1935

B y N ora B ooth, ’32
Assistant to the Dean of Women

OR the benefit of those Alumni who do not re­
turn to College often and who have little con­
nection with College activities, I have prepared
this brief survey of the changes and developments
that have been made in the student life in the last
few years.
If I attempted to enumerate and explain all the
innovations that have been made this report would
become too long. For that reason I will mention only
three which are of chief importance and which are
indicative of the thinking and the activity of the
student body: (1) the Social Committee, which has
complete charge of the social life of the College; (2)
the Committee of One Hundred, which co-operates
with the Deans in interesting prospective students;
and (3) the Creative Interest Groups, which provide
opportunity for expression and training in fields not
included in the curriculum.
f The Social Committee, organized in the winter
of 1934, is an amalgamation of the Dance and Stu­
dent Affairs Committees which existed prior to that

F

time. I t is composed of ten men and ten women,
with two chairmen, one man and one woman. It
works as a Central Committee to plan for all kinds
of activities and to supervise the routine work. But
an attem pt is made to include as many students as
possible in the workings of the social life of the
College by appointing sub-committees to carry out
the actual work involved in ‘putting over’ a social
event.
The Committee has three main purposes: (1) to
afford an opportunity for every student in College
to participate at some time in the social life of the
student body by providing more informal events and
by varying the type of activity to cover the varied
interests of so many individuals; (2) to establish
closer and more informal Faculty-Student relation­
ships; and (3) to develop a stronger tie between the
students and the Alumni.
The methods of promoting these ends are many
and varied. Probably the most effective and the one
that contributes to all three at once is the after-

6

The Garnet Letter

dinner coffee hour in the new Collection Hall each
Tuesday night. The room which formerly was the
Assembly room on the second floor of Parrish has
been entirely redecorated for use as the Central
Social Room of the College. Painted a light colour,
with bright, flowered curtains at the windows, and
furnished with a big fire-place, book-cases, piano,
radio, and bridge and ping-pong tables, it has now
become the hub of the College. On Tuesday eve­
nings, no coffee is served in the dining-room, but is
served from one central table upstairs in Collection
Hall, from six-fifteen to seven-thirty. Most of the
student body migrates there from dinner and spends
a very pleasant, informal hour dancing, playing
bridge or ping-pong or ju st talking.
Although mixed tables are no longer part of the
routine, there are many mixed tables on Tuesday
evenings; and there are generally three or four
tables to which members of the Faculty or Adminis­
tration or Alumni are invited. Other members of
these three groups have formed a habit of dropping
in sometime during the course of the evening; and
President and Mrs. Aydelotte have missed approxi­
mately two evenings in the last year. The students
also urge the members of the Board of Managers to
attend as often as possible after their meetings. So
there is always a group of people around the coffee
table; and the evening affords an excellent oppor­
tunity for all those interested in the College—stu­
dents, faculty, and alumni—to get together on a
common and informal meeting ground.
The redecorated women’s Fraternity Lodges have
been used extensively in the program of the Social
Committee. Four of them are Class Lodges and are
for the use of the women only. But the other two
are known as the ‘Activities Lodges’ and may be used
at any time by both men and women. Bridge tourna­
ments and informal evenings of eating, singing, play­
ing games, and playing bridge are foremost in the
list of ‘activities.’ Besides these events the Com­
mittee plans dances—some novelty, some ju st col­
lege dances; scavenger hunts, treasure hunts, picnics,
women’s table parties (by halls) every Monday night,
men’s table parties every Friday night, class dances,
evenings of movies in Collection Hall, and anything
else of which the ingenious mind of that body of
students known as the Social Committee can think.
They have developed a very full and very wellrounded social program which has added much to
the College life.
*
#
*
II.—The Committee of One Hundred is as yet
very undeveloped and unorganized. But the members
of this committee are confident that it can play an
important role in the College. I t was organized in

the fall of 1934 and is composed of a central executive
committee of six, three men and three women, and
a committee at large of approximately one hundred
students. The purposes of the organization are two:
(1) to interest prospective students of Swarthmore;
and (2) to develop a closer contact with the Alumni.
Before the Christmas vacation of this College year
(1934-35) the executive committee in collaboration
with the Administration chose one hundred members
of the student body to act as representatives of the
College in their home towns and high schools. 1 heir
mission was to go home and see their friends or
students in the schools from which they graduated
and interest them in coming to Swarthmore. They
were given letters of introduction, as representatives
of Swarthmore, signed by President Aydelotte, and
also names and addresses of Swarthmore Alumni if
there happened to be any in th at particular vicinity.
M any of them talked to the principals of their
schools or talked in the school assemblies; others
spoke at Swarthmore Alumni Meetings or enter­
tained prospective students in their own homes, or
called on Alumni, hoping to get suggestions for
meeting students who might be interested in knowing
about Swarthmore. This latter method met with
varying results.
Right here I would like to make a plea on the part
of the student body. Meet them half way. You may
not agree with them; they may not agree with you.
But a friendly, open discussion may clarify both
points of view. And they may be able to give you
some information of which you are unaware. They
can give you direct news of college activities and of
student opinion. And the give and take of informa­
tion and viewpoint can do more to strengthen the
bond between graduates and under-graduates, and
more to help the College than any amount of
criticism. They are very anxious to work through
you and your larger contacts to strengthen the
position of Swarthmore; and they are looking to you
for co-operation and assistance. The chairman of
the committee has big plans for better organization
and greater efforts next year. I t is a group which
can become an integral part of the workings of the
College, and be an active asset to Swarthmore’s
standing; and it is a student effort. For all these
reasons, we, as Alumni, should do everything in our
power to help rather than hinder.
*
*
*
H I.—The Creative Interest Groups have been
assuming gradually in the last few years more
importance in the extra-curricular life of the students;
and have been strengthened greatly by the addition
of two members to the Faculty, Beatrice Beach, and
Daniel Owen Stephens. They are organized on a

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The Garnet Letter
purely voluntary basis; and a large proportion of the
student body takes an active interest. Each group
meets approximately once a week, and is supervised
by a member of the Faculty. There are five groups:
(1) the Little Theatre Club under the direction of
Miss Beatrice Beach; (2) the Sketch Club supervised
by Owen Stephens; (3) the Chorus and Orchestra
directed by Dr. Swann; (4) the Manuscript Group
under the guidance of Mr. Spiller and Mr. Scudder;
and (5) the Arts and Crafts Group watched over by
‘Uncle George’ Bourdelais. The purposes of these
groups, if they can be said to have any definite ones,
are to afford opportunity to the students for free
expression in artistic fields if they happen to have
any such likings or talents, and to provide expert
guidance in order that those talents may be developed
and not lost in the hurry of college life. The eagerness
with which the under-graduates have taken advan­
tage of these opportunities proves that they have a
well-defined place in education and that they fill a
need which the student feels.
The Little Theatre Club is the most highly organ­
ized of the groups. Under the able direction of ‘Bea’
Beach, ’31, who was graduated in 1934 from the Yale
Drama School, the scope of the Club has been broad­
ened to include training in all phases of theatrical
production: stage design, and construction, costume
design and production, lighting, make-up, direction,
sound effects, and publicity, as well as acting. A very
large proportion of the student body indicated a
desire at the beginning of the year to take an active
part in the work of the Little Theatre; and everyone
has been given an opportunity to help in some way
with one or all of the productions. The program for
the year was carefully planned to include three dif­
ferent kinds of plays, each requiring a different tech­
nique to produce, and thus giving a wide range of
experience. The first play was “ Secret Service,” a
revival; the second, “ M ary Tudor,” a period play;
and the third, “Playboy of the Western World,” a
modern production in dialect. Also there was a bill
of one acts and a bill of original plays written by
students. Many of the Alumni were present to see
“Playboy of the Western World,” and know what
a carefully planned and technically perfect piece of
work it was. And it was indicative of the type of
production always given by the Little Theatre Club.
The Sketch Club is a new organization this year.
It is not as organized a group as the Little Theatre
Club by the very nature of its field; but it has been
well attended by both students and faculty. Under
the supervision of Owen Stephens, an artist from
Rose Valley, the group meets once a week in a room
in Bond. The members are allowed to use any
medium they wish, water-colour, charcoal, pastelles,
or anything else; they spend two or three hours

7

sketching either from still life or from a student
model, or from their own imaginations. When the
weather permits, expeditions to chosen spots of
beauty are arranged and they try their hand at
landscape painting. Many of the members of the
group have improved greatly in their efforts; and
another year will probably see the development of
this interest to a major position in the list of College
activities.
The Arts and Crafts Group has a much smaller
enrollment, this year composed chiefly of faculty
members and their wives. ‘Uncle George’ directs
their efforts in Beardsley Hall, and allows them
full use of whatever apparatus, belonging to the
engineering department, they find necessary. They
attem pt all kinds of metal and wood-work, making
their own designs and then carrying them to com­
pletion.
The Manuscript Group is a practise writing organi­
zation which includes writing in prose, poetry, and
drama. A large percentage of the student body takes
an active interest in one or all of these divisions.
The various groups meet approximately once a week
in the Lodges or at the homes of professors. They
bring their manuscripts, read them, and are then
given criticism by the member of the Faculty present
and by the other members of the group. Occasionally
an eminent critic or writer is asked to attend and
give constructive suggestions and criticism.
The Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of
Dr. Swann, meet regularly once a week. There are
approximately eighty voices in the Chorus and thirty
pieces in the Orchestra; and the membership of this
group is, again, composed of both students and Fac­
ulty. The best recommendation for this group is the
concert which they gave in the winter of 1935, at
which time they produced an excellent rendition of
H aydn’s Mass. The work on this program has cov­
ered a period of two years; and the result was so
finished th at a series of recordings has been made by
the Victor Recording Company. If any Alumni
wish to add materially to their albums they can do
no better than to purchase a set of these records,
eleven in all; and thereby they will insure for them­
selves not only a great deal of pleasure but also
evidence of what the Creative Interest Groups are
doing in the life of the College.
John Erskine, in his Phi Beta Kappa address a t
Swarthmore in June, said th at education should pro­
vide opportunity for performance, direct application
of theory. The Creative Interest Groups are doing
ju st that. And they are also sharpening the per­
ception and developing the appreciation of the
students in ways not provided for in the curriculum
but essential to a well-rounded cultural education.

8

The Garnet Letter

These are only three of the many changes and de­
velopments that have been instituted in the student
life of the College in the last few years. But they are
indicative of the thought and interest of the under­
graduates. When we were in College we considered
ourselves well-meaning and fairly nice people; and
we hoped that others thought the same of us. But
I am quite sure that we did not have the breadth of
vision nor the active awareness of factors beyond
our own small world which the present generation of
Swarthmore students manifests. They are conscious
of the pleasure and happiness of others besides them­
selves, as evinced by their efforts in the social life of
the College; they have an appreciation for the in­
trinsic values to be obtained in the realm of art,
literature, and music, as shown in the Creative

Interest Groups; and they have a comprehensive
conception of a College as a body made up of three
parts, Alumni, Students, and Faculty, which, work­
ing co-ordinately and co-operatively, can produce an
Alma M ater of which each and every graduate may
be proud. Many of us would do well to broaden our
vision to their scope. They are depending on us, as
Alumni, for assistance and constructive suggestion.
They are only too glad to extend the greatest hospitality which they know how to give; and are anxious
for the Alumni to return often to College and enter,
even if only for a few hours or minutes, into their
activities so as to establish relations between the
students and the graduates. Offering so much, the
least we can do is to aid and abet them in their
endeavors.

T h e J o in t C om m ittee on
C ollege-Alum ni Relationships

Swarthmore College
A lu m n i Association

For the Board of Managers

President— W il l ia m W . T o m l in s o n , T 7
Vice-Presidents— A l ic e S. P e r k in s , ’04

H enry C. T u r n er
E dw ard M . B assett
R o b e r t E . L am b

For the Alumni
R a y m o n d K. D e n w o r t h , ’l l
F r a n k H. G r i f f i n , TO
W . W a l t e r T im m is , T7

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C h a r l e s J . D a r l in g t o n , T 5
L e o n H . C o l l in s , ’21

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Secretary-Treasurer—

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A bby M a ry H a ll R o b e r t s , ’90

Directors
A m o s J . P e a s l e e , ’07
E s t h e r E . B a l d w in , ’09
E l e a n o r St a b l e r C l a r k e , T 8
L il a K . W il l e t s , ’93
H a l l id a y R . J a c k s o n , ’04
A . P r e s c o t t W i l l i s , ’23

For the Faculty
E verett L. H unt
C l a ir W il c o x
P a t r ic k M . M a l in

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Football and Soccer Schedules— Fall igys \
FOOTBALL
Oct. 12 W a s h in g t o n ............. ............at Swarthmore
a
19 D i c k i n s o n . ............... ............at Swarthmore
a
26 J o h n s H o p k in s . . . ............ at Swarthmore
Nov. 2 H a m il t o n ................
((
9 A m h e r s t .....................
<<
16 H a m p d e n -S y d n e y . . . . at Hampden-Sydney
23 S u s q u e h a n n a .......... ............ at Swarthmore
O c t o b e r H o m e G a m e s b e g in a t 2:30 p. m .
N o v e m b e r H o m e G a m e s B e g in a t 2:15 p. m .

F oot B all C o a c h ............. George R. Pfann, Cornell
F oot B all C a p t a in ..............James McCormack ’36
F oot B all M a n a g e r .............Franklin Gutchess ’36

SOCCER
Oct. 11
19
26
Nov. 2
9
16
22

3-

F r a n k l in & M a r s h a l l . .. .at Swarthmore
4P r in c e t o n .....................................at Princeton
5U n iv . of P e n n s y l v a n ia .................at Penn.
L a f a y e t t e ........................................................... atSwart
6.
L e h ig h ............................................ at Bethlehem
C o r n e l l ................................................................atSwart
am
H a v e r f o r d .......................... . .at Swarthmore

S o cc er C o a c h .........................................Robert Dunn

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the

S o cc er C a p t a i n ................................ Carl Oehman ’36
S o cc er M a n a g e r . ........................... John Seybold ’36 r .

S a m u e l C . P a l m e r ’95 — Graduate Manager of Athletics jprc