Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 1991-05-01

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COLLEGE BULLETIN • MAY 1991

2
Reinventing M odernism
“I don’t believe in the mainstream, ” says Robert Storr 72. A t
the Museum o f Modem Art, the self-described cultural radical
challenges our assumptions about art and Western culture.
B y J effrey Lott

6
W onderful Spaces
It’s the crown jew el o f The Campaign fo r Swarthmore: The
new Eugene M. and Theresa Lang Performing Arts Center has
opened fo r business— and pleasure. Here’s a look inside.
B y K ate D owning

10
Parrish Walls
Editor:
Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49
Managing Editor:
Jeffrey Lott
Assistant Managing Editor:
Kate Downing
Copy and Class Notes Editor:
Rebecca Aim
Assistant Copy Editor:
Ann D. Geer
Designer: Bob Wood
Cover: Dedication ceremonies for
the Eugene M. and Theresa Lang
Performing Arts Center included a
performance of The Day Room, a
play by Dan DeLillo featuring
Thomas Lincoln ’93 as Budge/Arno
Klein. Photo by Deng Jeng Lee.
The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN
0888-2126), o f which this is volume
L X X X VIII, number 5, is published in
September, November, December, Febru­
ary, May, and August by Swarthmore
College, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1397.
Second class postage paid at Swarthmore,
PA, and additional mailing offices. Post­
master: Send address changes to Swarth­
more College Bulletin, 500 College
Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1397.

This winter saw a passionate student debate over diversity, race,
and strained relationships at Swarthmore. The dialogue was
mostly unspoken— it happened on Parrish walls.
B y J oseph A. M ason

and

P eter J. S chmidt

16
Boppers, Bazookas, and Babs the Sex Sphere
Tumble a hypercube through cyberspace. Give your brain-tapes to
robots on the moon. Travel back through time. Ask: What is the
secret o f life? Welcome to the weird world o f Rudy Rucker ’67.
By R ebecca A lm

DEPARTMENTS
20
26
28
33
52

The College
Letters
Class Notes
Deaths
Recent Books by Alumni

Special Insert:
A Directory for Traveling Swarthmoreans

REIN VEN TIN G

MODERNISM
Robert Storr 7 2 calls him self a cultural
radical— and he's bringing his controversial
views to the M useum o f M odern A rt
by Jeffrey L ott
odern art is like a globule of
mercury in your palm. Shiny
and remarkably dense, it seems
to quiver with life, to cohere to
itself. Its movements are delightfully slippery
and unpredictable, yet if you squeeze it,
watch out. It splits into dozens of equally
shiny, equally dense little droplets—and
putting them back together isn’t easy. They
have a surface tension of their own, and,
once separated, they resist coherence be­
cause of the very qualities that make mer­
cury so intriguing to begin with.
At New York’s Museum of Modern Art,
Robert Storr ’72 doesn’t worry too much
about putting the droplets back together. He
loves the quicksilver caprice of contempo­

rary art just hs it is. And, as one of four
curators in the museum’s Department of
Painting and Sculpture, he is at the center of
a reassessment of the meaning and scope of
modernism that challenges our comfortable
definitions of art and Western culture.
In the annual Lee Frank Lecture on
campus in late January, Storr asked more
than 200 listeners to set aside the notion that
modernism is merely the history of Western
culture. “Modernism is an evolving phe­
nomenon that defines a social epoch and a
range of aesthetic possibilities, not a geo­
graphical region,” he said. “If the over­
whelming preponderance of ‘modern art’
has been out of the West, that does not mean
that it will necessarily continue to be out of
the West.” i
The debate in the art journals, where
Storr’s voice has been heard as a critic for the
past decade, and in the museum establish­
ment, which he joined only last September,
is part of a broad reexamination of the
canons of culture that is sweeping academia
and the arts. The movement toward a new
cultural diversity is finding its way into
everything from history classrooms and po­
litical discourse to symphony performances
and art galleries, forcing a redefinition of the
sources of Western culture.
In his lecture, in his writings, and in a
recent Bulletin interview, Storr has called
for “shedding a lot of intellectual baggage”
Black artist David Hammons’ 11-foot
sculpture Hifalutin’ (far left) was the
first major work purchased by the Museum o f
Modern A rt on the recommendation o f new
curator Robert Storr ’72 (left). Ilya
Kabakov, whose colorful constructions fill
entire galleries, is, like Hammons, only now
receiving recognition after decades o f work.
A t right is a portion o f a recent Kabakov
installation entitled, He Lost His Mind,
Undressed, Ran Away Naked

HAM M O N S: COURTESY JAC K TILTO N GALLERY
STORR: DAW OUD B E Y /M U S E U M OF M ODERN ART
KABAKOV: D. JAM E S D E E /R O N A LD FELD M AN FINE ARTS

Right: Elizabeth Murray makes
shaped paintings in a
biomorphic manner reminiscent
o f surrealism. Big, organic
works like Tangled, nearly
7 fe et tall, are finally earning
this midcareer artist wide notice,
including a recent New York
Times Magazine cover story.
Below: Philip Guston’s 1969
painting The Studio shows an
“American culture at war with
itself ” according to Storr.
“The Klanlike artist is not
a refined person looking at
an alien world, but rather a
rough personality still unknown
to himself. ” Storr’s first book
was a study o f Guston’s work.

4

in order to overcome “the exclusionary
situation that now prevails” in the visual
arts. He argues that the predominance of
“School of Paris” art in our museums has
resulted from a too-narrow view of culture:
“For most of the time we have been studying
art history in this country, we have been
discussing only that which we can see in the
axis between Paris and New York.”
The attempt by Storr and others to rein­
terpret Western visual culture calls into
question long-held assumptions about the
history and nature of modem art. Traditional
scholarship dates the birth of modern art
from the emergence of Impressionism in
mid-19th-century France and follows it in
linear fashion, “ism” by “ism,” right down
to the present day. Each of the “isms” is seen
as a natural outcome of that which came
before. According to this tradition, art has a
linear evolution not unlike the capitalist
ideal of the inexorable march of material
progress.
The linear-development premise, Storr
argues, is false. “In terms of the actual flow
of ideas and the evolution of aesthetic
objects, there is constant doubling back,
picking up of loose threads, renewal of
lapsed ideas—completely transforming what
was thought to be the logical conclusion of
the previous period.” And while certain
categories are a necessary part of any discus­
sion, they are, in the end, “nothing but sets.
The sets are open, and it is the task of the
artist to keep them open.”
Storr’s thinking about art is essentially
dialectical rather than linear. He examines
“sets of terms that are in active tension with
each other. They don’t produce thesis-antithesis-synthesis but rather thesis-antithesisnew thesis and so on.”
Using this dialectic as a guide, Storr urges
us to go beyond the “isms” to the art itself.
“I look at the artists and ask, are the
definitions that I’m using ones that I’m
imposing on them, or are they a product of
the art-making? The tendency in criticism
and art history is to think that what the
artists do is an almost involuntary response
to their talent and circumstances, when in
fact what most artists do is highly voluntary.
Artists are not necessarily predestined by
history to do what they do.”
By focusing on the art and artists rather
than on a set of preordained categories, Storr
wants to clear away many of the intellectual
barriers that have narrowed the definition of
modernism. “I’m much more interested in
work that pops open categories and defies
ideological constraint. You don’t begin with
your conclusion and then argue. You begin
with the argument and find out what the
conclusion is at the end.”
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

His empirical approach often clashes with
established notions of the cultural main­
stream. “I don’t believe in the mainstream,”
he says. Storr looks outside the established
canon for other artists and influences that
merit attention and force a broadening of
the idea of culture. Thus, his strong interest
in Latin American artists is not limited to
the Mexican triumvirate of Diego Rivera,
David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Orozco,
all of whose work is fairly well known and
established. He points in addition to Frida
Kahlo, wife of Rivera and a haunting artist
in her own right, as an example of someone
who until recently has been left out of the
canon, calling her “the minor figure who
may turn out to be the best of them all.”
In his lecture Storr acknowledged a debt
to what he called “the methodology of
feminism,” arguing that “the answer is not
to create a countercanon, but to question the
source of the canon in the first place.” Thus,
the historical dearth of women artists is not
due to lack of talent, but to lack of oppor­
tunity. Rigid patronage systems and restric­
tions on education and artistic training for
women made it virtually impossible for
them to pursue their art.
Storr feels that the same limited oppor­
tunities have most often kept non-Western
art and artists out of the modernist canon,
even though established European and
American artists have long drawn heavily
from other cultures for ideas and spiritual
energy.
In America, says Storr, “culture has been
mixed from the beginning. What is remark­
able is not the fact that it has been mixed,
but how easily people forget that it has been !
mixed. African Americans have not just !
contributed to jazz, but to theater, literature, |
dance, and the visual arts.”
He rejects the idea that art is the “history ;
of geniuses—that there is a genius that |
makes culture, and that there are a string of ■
geniuses that make the canon.” Looking at !
culture as a matter of simply finding out i
“who got on first first” is a “misrepresenta- =
tion of what actually happens,” he says.
Please turn to page 56

Once denied established recognition,
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
is now considered one o f the best painters o f
her generation. In this self-portrait, done
in the style o f a retablo, or altar painting,
she calls into question her own femininity.
The painting takes a macabre revenge fo r the
infidelities o f her husband, Diego Rivera.
The Spanish text reads: “Listen, if I did
love you, it was because o f your hair. Now
that you are hairless, I no longer love you. ”
MAY 1991

Leon Golub’s paintings, such as Mercenaries I (above), deal with political
violence from an insider’s point o f view. They implicate us without telling us
what to think. “You’re forced to wonder, are these guys ours?”says Storr.

Some of the "isms”
of Modernism
Impressionism
Postimpressionism
Cubism
Fauvism
Futurism
Constructivism
Suprematism
Neoplasticism
Dadaism
Expressionism
Surrealism
Social realism
Abstract expressionism
Formalism
Minimalism
Conceptualism
Superrealism
Neo-expressionism
Deconstructivism
Postmodernism

Wonderful
Swarthmore’s new performing arts center
opens for business—and pleasure
The Eugene M. and Theresa Lang Performing
Arts Center has been called the crown jewel
in The Campaign for Swarthmore, a sobri­
quet that no one who has explored its many
exciting spaces will refute. Housing two
theatres, dance studios, an art gallery, class­
rooms, offices, and workshops for design,
set-building, and costumes, the center went
“on line” at the beginning of the spring
semester in January. We share some of the
sights with you on these pages and invite you
to campus for a complete tour.

_ij
DENG JENG LEE

Left: A light-filled stairway leads from the lobby of the Frear Ensemble
Theatre and the administrative offices to the upper lobby.
Above: Julie Lange Hall ’55 speaks at the dedication of the Lang
Performing Arts Center on March 1. Taking part were (left to right)
Barbara Pearson Lange Godfrey ’31, J. Parker Hall III ’55, Eugene M.
Lang ’38, Theresa Lang, Neil Austrian ’61, and President David Fraser.
Opposite: The 70,000-square-foot Pearson-Hall Theatre, designed by
George Izenour, Yale professor emeritus of acoustical engineering. The
building itself was designed by Dagit-Saylor Architects of Philadelphia.
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

Wonderful Spaces
Below: Members of the Class of 1938 and a friend gather around
the plaque that honors the class’s donation of the main lobby. They
are, from left, Theresa Lang, Peter Kaspar, Eugene Lang, Marjorie
VanDeusen Edwards, Carolyn Hogeland Herring, and, seated,
Barbara Wetzel Kaspar.
Right: Sharon Friedler, associate professor of dance and director of
the Dance Program, oversees a rehearsal with Charlotte Rotterdam
’91 and Brian Kloppenberg ’93 in the spacious new Dance Lab,
used as studio and informal performance space. Adjacent to it is the
smaller Pat Boyer Studio, named in honor of Swarthmore’s first
director of dance.

DENG JENG LEE

J. M ARTIN NATVIG

DENG JENG LEE

Above: John McCauley ’91 prepares for the
Pearson-Hall Theatre’s inaugural performance
in one of the new dressing rooms.
Right: Guests enjoy the opening exhibition
of Benjamin West drawings in the List Art
Gallery located off the building’s main entrance.

J. M ARTIN NATVIG

Members of the Drama Board presented Dan DeLillo’s play The Day
Room as part of the dedication of the Lang Performing Arts Center.
Actors included (left to right) Tom Borchert ’91, Micheline Murphy
’93, Thomas Lincoln ’93 (in bed), and Sonya Hals ’94. Because of the
new facilities in the Performing Arts Center, the Theatre Studies
Program is being adjusted to offer expanded production and design
courses. A new theatre history sequence will also be added.

TOM CRANE

The Pearson-Hall Theatre is three performing spaces in one: a large
auditorium (above) and—when the concrete partition is in place—
a drama theatre and a cinema (inset) that seat 369 and 284,
respectively. The auditorium is equipped with movable seats,

orchestra pit turntables, and hydraulic lifts that provide the flexibility
for both thrust stage and traditional proscenium performances. One
of the largest tension wire grids ever built hangs above the stage and
orchestra and allows flexibility in lighting design for performances.

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ecent racially sensitive experiences at
Swarthmore College are not isolated
from the experiences of many other colleges
and universities. Within the past two years,
racial slurs, anonymous notes directed to
students of color, and confrontations be­
tween black students and security personnel
have occurred on most local campuses.
The primary difference between the inci­
dents on other campuses and the Parrish
walls dialogues—including the slashing of
the Malcolm X portrait—is that the activity
at Swarthmore has been symbolic. There
have been no attacks directed toward indi­
vidual students.
To understand the events of the past few
months at Swarthmore, we must go back to
the Diversity Retreat that was conducted in
January 1990. Aware of levels of racial
tension on campuses nationally, Swarth­
more attempted to do preventive work in
this area. Approximately 120 students at­
tended a four-day session conducted by a
number of professional human-relations
facilitators. I would argue that the original
workshop was so well-attended because
something was already amiss and needed
attention.
One outcome of this retreat was the
formation of a coalition of students who
began work to create an intercultural center
at Swarthmore. A second outcome was a
series of Diversity Workshops conducted on
residence halls in April 1990.

R

Editor’s Note
Since mid-November, an extraordinary con­
versation has been taking place in the halls
of Parrish. It’s been a mostly silent exchange,
conducted on paper and canvas. An almost
daily posting of thoughtful (and occasionally
not-so-thoughtful) communications—hand­
written notes, typewritten essays, posters,
paintings, newspaper clippings—has ap­
peared at the physical heart of the College,
the walls outside the Admissions Office near
Parrish Parlors.
The topics of this largely anonymous
dialogue have varied, but much of it has
centered on issues of diversity, race, oppor­
tunity, and strained relationships at Swarth­
more. (There was also a broad, but essen­
tially separate, wall debate about the Persian
Gulf war.) Some of the words have been
angry, some conciliatory. There have been
humor, sadness, outrage, love, and, pervad­
ing all, a deep sense of unease about the state

Despite its ideals,
Swarthmore is not
exempt from the pain
and ugliness of racism.
In September additional Diversity Work­
shops were conducted for all first-year stu­
dents. These sessions proved to be quite
difficult for the trained student facilitators,
especially when issues of affirmative action
and reverse discrimination were discussed.
In November written comments began to
appear next to pictures and a mirror on the
walls of the central hall in Parrish. The
postings began with questions like: “Why is
Nefertiti the only person of color on these
walls?”; “How come there ain’t no brothers
and sisters on these walls?”; “Is this mirror
the only way you are represented on these
walls?”; and (next to a portrait of former
College president John Nason) “Who is this
white man?” The ensuing dialogue centered
around issues of inclusion and exclusion at
the College. In general, the debate was
deemed healthy in the sense that these were
feelings and thoughts that were not shared
in other forums within the institution but
that were deeply felt and needed space for
expression.
Then a disturbing item appeared in the
December 14 Phoenix. An anonymous letter

contained the following: “The issue is en­
tirely ridiculous. When will you minorities
(blacks) stop feeling sorry for yourselves and
shut up? You’ve raped us of enough already.
You want to inflict your culture on our
society, want to integrate thoroughly and
completely, expect us to accept everything
that is yours, simply because you’ve been
discriminated against for centuries. What
about us, Caucasians who could not go to
certain schools or attend summer programs
because such places offered only minority
scholarships? Where is our culture? Do you
expect us to throw it out the window?”
Coming just before finals and before
students were to leave for the holidays, this
letter set one of the tones for the following
semester’s Parrish walls dialogues. And it
led to the first expressions of hurt and fear
that I was aware of among black students.
The first few weeks after students returned
in mid-January were dominated by discus­
sion of the war in the Persian Gulf. For a
time, most of the Parrish walls dialogues
centered on the war. (And perhaps the
broadest context in which to place all of
these discussions is that of the conflict in the
Persian Gulf. Student debates and issues
seemed to have been more intense and
exaggerated within the overwhelming envi­
ronment of tension and concern generated
by the war.)
Sometime during the first week of the
semester, a portrait of Malcolm X appeared

of our community.
Some of the things posted on the Parrish
walls have led to tension and polarization at
the College, and on the weekend of February
23, the debate suddenly changed. A painting
of Malcolm X that had hung on the wall
since mid-January, sparking much of the
exchange of views, was removed and slashed
in an act of vandalism that many likened to
a symbolic lynching. The perpetrators of
this act have not been identified, but the
slashing led President David Fraser to call
for “turning down the anger.”
What follows on these pages is an attempt
to put the Parrish walls debate into perspec­
tive for our readers. We have excerpted a
history of the dialogue delivered by Joseph
A. Mason, assistant dean and director of the
Black Cultural Center, to the Student Life
Committee of the Board of Managers on
March 1. Professor Peter Schmidt’s remarks,
under the heading “Fighting Words—Late-

Night Thoughts on the Parrish Graffiti,”
were delivered at an open meeting in late
January. Schmidt, an associate professor of
English literature, spoke again—this time in
the form of a telephone monologue called
“Rationalization Hotline”—at a tumultuous
collection held on February 26. More than
70 African American, Asian American, and
Hispanic American students walked out of
the meeting, protesting that the months of
debate had submerged their individuality in
an atmosphere of labeling and name-calling.
During spring break, the walls were
cleared by the Dean’s Office, not as an
attempt to silence the debate but “to create
space for further dialogue and to preserve
the current dialogue for history.” All of the
materials on the wall were copied for the
College archives; a few excerpts are found
on these pages. The deans’ action was taken
with the understanding that the debate
should (and probably will) continue.

on the wall. There was no comment for
more than a week. Later, a painting of Bob
Marley [the late Jamaican American reggae
singer] was hung nearby. Still, there was no
comment for a few days, and when the
comments did come, another issue became
the focus of student concern.
On February 13 the Resident Assistants
selection committee decided to extend the
deadline for RA applications when it was
found that very few minority students had
applied. The committee came to the consen­
sus that the social needs of the College
community were paramount to the need of
individuals to maintain the original applica­
tion deadline. A student backlash to this
decision was anticipated, and it came, in­
cluding some very caustic language from
one writer who signed himself (or perhaps
herself) “a rational white.” Quickly, “mi­
norities” and “the blacks” became more
central to the discussion.
It was in the midst of these discussions
that the Malcolm X portrait was removed
from the wall, taken to a fourth-floor student
art gallery, slashed across the lower face and
throat, and left there with a small piece of
rope, cigarette butts, and other trash sugges­
tive of a mock lynching. The deans re­
sponded with a memo expressing outrage at
the act, and the damaged portrait was re­
turned to the wall by students who had been
participating in a war art project in the
gallery. This act escalated fears on campus
and changed the tone of the debate.
Student Council was concerned enough
to organize a collection for the College com­
munity with hope of discussing the tensions
resulting from the Malcolm X slashing. At
the collection on February 26, more than 50
African American students, faculty, and

administrators rose to their feet after listening
to an introductory talk by Associate Profes­
sor Peter Schmidt. The following statement
was delivered by Christina Bolden ’92,
president of Swarthmore African American
Students Society: “We who stand before
you are outraged by the underlying causes
that led to the desecration of the Malcolm
X portrait. We have chosen not to participate
further because we refuse to accept the bur­
den of explanation or education.”
Each person standing then spoke his or
her name individually. After all names were
spoken, those standing walked out together.
Some members of the community felt that
too much of the dialogue on the Parrish
walls had been conducted anonymously, so
the African American community placed
names and faces before the college com­
munity to avoid the abstractness of “the
blacks.”
After members of the black community
left, an Asian student made a similar state­
ment, and about 20 Asian students walked
out, followed by a statement by a Hispanic
student, after which several Hispanic stu­
dents also left the collection. The walkout
was an extremely stressful and painful expe­
rience for students of color who made that
decision, but for many it was the first clear
declaration of their voices at the College.
White students were left to discuss among
themselves the meaning of the walkout and
the confusion and anger that it caused.
Many tears have been shed around this
action.
Racially divisive attitudes are a reality in
our society, and Swarthmore—despite its
ideals—is not exempt from such pain and
ugliness. The struggle for diversity in our
community has presented us with particular
political, ethical, moral, and social lessons.
We have learned that racial insensitivity can
destroy whatever sense of community we
might wish to share. The challenge ahead is
to use our intelligence and academic prowess
to deal with these attitudes in constructive
rather than destructive ways.

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The Struggle For Diversity, continued

FIGHTING WORDS...
Late-Night Thoughts on the Parrish Graffiti
By Peter J. Schmidt, Associate Professor o f English Literature
blank space, suddenly filled with
voices . . .
Do graffiti appear when there is
no other acceptable public way to say what
needs to be said? Apparently, the topics
raised by the graffiti on the Parrish walls
were not being adequately discussed in
classes, dorm spaces, dining halls, College
collections, or in the writing done for
courses. And the graffiti appeared in the
most public space of all, not bathroom walls
or desktops. Graffiti at the College’s center
suggest that this may be the single most
important event that happened at Swarthmore this year.
The Parrish walls writing belongs to an
intriguing tradition: Democracy Wall in
China, later parodied in the “democracy
wall” of student comments about the food
service in the Sharpies Dining Hall. It’s
interesting that as a form such a wall of
comments is so adaptable that it can be just
right for a comparatively trivial forum in
Sharpies and also just right for discussing
issues involving race, power, and responsi­
bility. In fact, the best name for this sort of
thing may be a very Quakerly one, a “col­
lection”—for that is what these graffiti walls
are: They are an open space collecting
discussion and debate, with no end in sight.
A blank space, a space suddenly filled
with voices. . .
Who laughed when they saw those first
questions, with relief and admiration, with
a sense that now it’s out in the open? Who
had the opposite reaction—sudden anxiety,
self-consciousness, anger?
How many reading the wall (or this
article) assumed that the first group was
composed mostly of black students, the
second group of white students? In my
conversations about the wall with black and
white students, in fact, I found no correlation
between race and responses: Some students
of color were clearly in favor of what
happened; others were worried about what
they would now have to deal with. White
students’ reactions, I found, were similarly
unpredictable, depending more on individ­
ual personalities than on race.
How many faculty and staff members
went to see the wall? How many were so
14

involved in their jobs and their home life
that they didn’t go see the comments? How
many didn’t learn about it until they read
about it in The Phoenix} How many dis­
missed the wall comments as sophomoric,
not worth a second thought, or worse? How
many even now don’t know what hap­
pened?
Business as usual, interrupted . . .
Think of the connotations of the phrase
“the writing on the wall.” Think also of the
Biblical source of this phrase, in Daniel.
There, you remember, the writing appears
to be “nonsense.” It had to be interpreted.
To what degree were we all playing Daniels
during the time the wall was active? To what
degree were we all “weighed in the balance
and found wanting,” as Daniel said? Are
there analogies between raising the issue of
race and being put in a lion’s den?
Business as usual, interrupted . . .
The original Parrish comments were
partly inspired by the scene in Spike Lee’s
film Do the Right Thing in which the black
youth named Buggin’ Out asks Sal, the
white pizza shop owner, why there aren’t
any pictures of blacks on the wall. (Of
course he doesn’t quite put it that way, but
you know what I mean.) Sal, who is Italian
American, has only pictures of Italian Ameri­
cans—Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, etc.
Sal, of course, replies that it’s his wall
because it’s his pizza parlor, and that if
Buggin’ Out ever gets a place of his own, he
can put pictures of whomever he wants up
on his walls. (One of Sal’s many implications
here is that Buggin’ Out will never get a
place of his own because he’s too busy
causing trouble rather than working.)
But does Buggin’ Out really “do the right
thing” when he confronts Sal? The genius of
Spike Lee’s film is not to allow us to come
up with easy answers to questions like this;
many things in his movie, from Buggin’
Out’s name to the fact that he is eating Sal’s
pizza when he shouts his question, suggest
that the movie’s perspective on these events
may hardly be the same as Buggin’ Out’s.
And does Sal do the right thing when he
turns Buggin’ Out’s question into a question
of pride, property, and power—i.e., it’s my
space and I can do what I want with it?

That’s a typically American answer, of
course: I own the property so I can do what­
ever I like with it; you get property and then
you can express yourself too. We laugh, but
to what degree are the portraits of Swarthmore’s founders and past presidents in Par­
rish about just the things Sal says his portraits
are about: pride, property, and power? To
what degree, however, do the portraits (or
the people they represent) symbolize some­
thing different, the creation of a public space
(such as a college) where a conversation can
occur in spite of the claims that power and
property make upon us? Or is such a dis­
tinction illusory?
Just some questions, a handful of ques­
tions . . .
Why did the student comments so quickly
focus not on the issue of representing race
but on the question of the “anonymity” of
several of the original writers? One student
replied to a comment questioning the valid­
ity of anonymous comments by suggesting
that “there is agency in anonymity.” That’s
true. The absence of a name meant that the
questioner couldn’t be identified and singled
out, and it was interesting that some students
immediately assumed that this implied a
threat to “community.” Other students—
even more revealingly—immediately as­
sumed that this “threatening” voice must be

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

from a black student. Others asserted that if
the comment was from a black student, it
must therefore be “well-intentioned.” Still
others assumed that the issue would-be
resolved only if we “knew” who wrote the
comment.
Do we really assume we know each
other’s intentions more easily when we can
determine the name or the race of a person?
What unites all these very different readings
of what happened is the following assump­
tion: If we knew the race and, better yet, the
name of the writer, we would automatically
understand how to interpret what he or she
says. «Is this really what we are teaching and
learning at this place? I find this the most
disturbing thing of all about the wall’s
comments: that anonymity is necessarily a
threat, while what is publicly known about
you is assumed to be unthreatening.
Couldn’t the reverse bejust as true, or even
more true—that the conclusions people au­
tomatically draw from your public appear­
ance, name, etc., may be a threat to the
community, while your protected private
space could be a healthy antidote?
Just some questions, a handful of ques­
tions . . .
What about the founders’ and presidents’
paintings themselves? Why didn’t I see any
comments about the fact that, unlike most
of the other paintings hung in the building,
some of these paintings were “anonymous,”
without identifying signs? Particularly that
portrait in the center hall, across from the
Admissions Office. Why wasn’t that por­
trait’s anonymity threatening, if the students’
comments were taken to be? Is the portrait
unlabeled because its label was removed by
someone a while ago or (as I think most
likely) because when the portrait was hung
the man’s name went without saying—
“everybody” knew who he was?
Why is it so difficult to understand that
what goes without saying can be threatening
enough so that someone else who wasn’t
part of that consensus—who represents to­
day’s Swarthmore rather than the Swarthmore of the past—has to ask a question
about it? Note that many students here
assumed that his anonymity not only wasn’t
threatening but didn’t even need to be
discussed: He was on the wall; he was part
of the “tradition.” The questioners, however,
were not, and their anonymity was taken by
some to be threatening. All anonymity is not
created equal, apparently.
Time out. I did a few minutes of detective
work—i.e., calling Bob Barr and sleuthing
in McCabe—and found out a little about
who that man is. His name is John Nason,
and he was the president of Swarthmore
after Frank Aydelotte and before Courtney
MAY 1991

Smith—from 1940 until 1953. He taught in
the Philosophy Department and published
several works now stored in McCabe, in­
cluding The Nature and Content o f a Liberal
Education, Education fo r Living, and Leib­
nitz and the LogicalArgumentfor Individual
Substances. After leaving Swarthmore, he
worked for the Foreign Policy Association
in New York. He later became the president
of Carleton College and now lives in retire­
ment in Chester County, Pa. Think of how
hard it must have been for the portrait to
keep a straight face, staring straight ahead,
while people were talking about it right in
front of it. Think of the self-control it took
to remain silent. . . .

It was lonely for Mr. Nason up on that
wall, no one to talk to, just a blank wall to
stare at. All that changed recently. Someone
put a portrait of another person up on the
opposite wall, to give Mr. Nason someone
to talk to. This man’s name goes without
saying too. His first name is Malcolm; his
last name was mysteriously crossed out. You
might say that Malcolm is also a philoso­
pher, good company for Mr. Nason. In fact,
you could say that he too was very interested
in “logical arguments for individual sub­
stances.” No doubt Mr. X and Mr. Nason
have a lot to talk about.
Are there people here at Swarthmore
Please turn to page 27

Hello, Rationalization Hotline...
You need ’em, we give ’em! To hear a
rationalization right away, press 1. To
have a rationalization repeated, press 2.
To hear a new one, press 3.
This is the Rationalization Hotline.
Go ahead, please.. .. You responded to
writing on Parrish walls by circling
some of the words and inflaming the
authors? That’s OK, they asked for it,
they shouldn’t have been so stupid in
their choice of w ords___You’re
welcome!
Rationalization Hotline . . . Well, that’s
OK—you don’t have to get involved.
You’re damn right it’s interfering with
your education. Back to the Great
Books___
Hello, Rational White Hotline . ..
Someone stole the portrait of Malcolm
X, ripped its throat, and dumped ashes
and a rope on top of it? . . . Whew!
The ways of some whitefolks sure are
strange! . . . OK. The first thing to do is
question whether that was a symbolic
lynching or not. You can spend endless
time arguing about whether we have
enough proof about what the vandal’s
“intention” was—after all, maybe there
just happened to be ashes and a piece
of rope in the garbage can. It was a
coincidence.
Also, it must have been an outsider
who did this, right? A Swarthmore
student wouldn’t do such a thing! . ..
This is the first act of outright racism
you’ve ever really seen, right? This sort
of thing doesn’t happen where you
come from. And you’ve never been
involved in anything like this when you

interact with people of color or talk
about them when they’re not present,
right? Keep what happened to the
painting as separate as you can from
the everyday. Stress that it is new and
extreme___
Since you’re still anxious, I’ll give
you another rationalization free of
charge. It’s airtight: Violence begets
violence. Malcolm X advocated vio­
lence, and it was a violent act for the
student to put an unauthorized painting
of him on the walls. So it’s no accident
Malcolm X was assassinated and the
painting was defaced—they both asked
for it. The person who put up the
painting wanted this to happen___
Rationalization Hotline . . . There are
three students of color on your hall, out
of 25 students? And what happened?
You made derogatory puns out of some
of the students’ first names. That’s no
big deal, is it? Oh, it was only the stu­
dents of color who got the nicknames?
Well, they didn’t mind, did they? . ..
You didn’t ask them how they felt
about it, you just did it? What else did
you do? Crossed out one student’s
name on her door and in the hall’s
phone directory and wrote in your
mocking nickname___Is this a true
story? It is—Swarthmore, 1990-91.
Well, this is a hard one. I’m not sure
what to tell you. After all, what you
did is kind of a defacement too. But
here’s a rationalization that works
every time: “Can’t they take a
joke?” . . . You’re welcome!
Associate Professor Peter Schmidt
February 26, 1991
15

J. M ARTIN NATVIG

Rudy Rucker ’67 on the
trestle over Crum Creek.
Conrad Bunger, Sw arthmore student and pro­
tagonist of Rucker’s
novel The Secret of Life,
proves to himself that he
has special powers when
he flies from an oncom­
ing train on the trestle.

Boppers, T
Bazookas,
& Babs
the
Sex
Sphere
by Rebecca A im
Illustrations by D avid Povilaitis

16

he year is 2020. The baby boom­
ers are senior citizens, and the state
of Florida has become a giant old
folks’ home. On the moon robots
live and work, having evolved past being
obedient machines and into intelligent
“boppers.” They’ve revolted against the
tyranny of humans, but now humans and
boppers together face a new threat—the big
boppers, with their insatiable appetite for
software (brain-tapes of human and bopper
thought patterns). Cobb Anderson, creator
of the boppers, leaves Florida for the moon
to seek immortality, which has been prom­
ised him by his robot double. Some of the
boppers want Cobb’s software—but what
will happen to his software and his hardware
(body) once they are separated?
This is the future as imagined by Rudy
Rucker ’67, mathematician, teacher, com­
puter scientist, and writer, in his 1982 novel
Software. The book won science fiction’s
Philip K. Dick Award and helped start a
new science-fiction subgenre: cyberpunk.
Software was followed in 1988 by a sequel,
Wetware, in which the boppers find a way
to combine their software with human DNA
(wetware). This time, the status quo is
menaced by Manchile, a combination of
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

man and robot who is planted in a woman’s
womb, gestates in nine days, and ages about
a year every day. His mission is to impreg­
nate as many women as possible while
preaching the gospel that there “ain’t no
difference between people and boppers NO
MORE!!”
Behind its high technology, wild specula­
tion, and raucous adventure, cyberpunk is
about a very big question: What does it
mean to be a human being in a world where
machines are approaching the capabilities of
humans? “Cyberpunk deals a lot with com­
puters that are almost like humans and
humans that are almost like computers,”
Rucker explains. “It’s people reacting to the
impact of computers invading their lives and
becoming much more lifelike. Cyberpunk
explores all sorts of extrapolations and
pushes things. I just push humans and robots
together and try to blur the boundaries.”
That’s the “cyber” part of cyberpunk; the
“punk” part is a liberal sprinkling of “lots of
sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll,” adds Rucker as
an afterthought.
In Software the boppers seem like peo­
ple—they talk, act, and deal with each other
like humans do, arguing, forming relation­
ships, and trying to protect their “hardware.”
And the people become like boppers: human
Cobb Anderson becomes “immortal” by
having his software put into a bopper body.
Before the transformation he wonders
whether the new creature will really be him,
but after living in his new body, he con­
cludes, “A person is just hardware plus
software plus existence. Me existing in flesh
is the same as me existing on chips.”
Rucker attacks such big scientific and
philosophical ideas through funny, racy,
and sometimes stomach-churning adven­
tures involving things like robots named for
Edgar Allan Poe characters, drugs that turn
people into pools of liquid with eyeballs
floating on top, murder, sex, and cannibal­
ism. There are the “pink tanks,” where
human organs are grown, and there’s the son
of Manchile, Bubba, who roasts and eats a
man, “nibbling a whole leg right down to
the bone, both thigh and drumstick.” Cobb
Anderson, when he’s been turned into a
bopper, has to access his robot body’s library
of functions by singing, “Be-Bop-A-Lu-La,
she’s mah baybee___” And though his
bopper body is not susceptible to alcohol, he
can emulate the feeling of drunkenness by
breathing through his left nostril once for
each step of drunkenness he wants to expe­
rience. Sex is another possible subroutine.
There’s also a lot of science in Rucker’s
science fiction. The idea of robot evolution,
for instance, is something he explores from
a scientific perspective in his nonfiction
MAY 1991

Science-fiction writer
and mathematician
Rudy Rucker ’67 asks
the Big Questions:
What is time?
What is space?
And what is
the secret o f life?

book Infinity and the Mind, published the
same year as Software. Though we can’t
write the program for a machine that can
think as we do (or better than we do), it may
someday be possible to set in motion an
evolutionary process, based on Darwin’s
principles, that could lead to such a robot.
Thus, the bizarre worlds of Software and
Wetware are “plausible,” according to
Rucker.
Rucker’s background is in mathematics.
He earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in math
from Rutgers University, where his disserta­
tion dealt with logic and set theory. He now
teaches half time at San Jose State Univer­
sity in the Department of Mathematics and
Computer Science. In addition, he works for
a computer software company called Auto­
desk, located in Sausalito, California. His
title there is “mathenaut,” from a book of
short stories he edited called Mathenauts:
Tales o f Mathematical Wonder.
His current project at Autodesk is pro­
gramming for cyberspace, also known as
virtual reality—a way of “entering” a com­
puter world and interacting with what is on
the screen. The first application will be for
architects, who could use the software to

help design, for example, a factory. “The
idea is to take the file that has all the
blueprints and load that into the machine,
put on special goggles we call ‘eye phones,’
and walk around inside the computer-gener­
ated factory. Say you don’t like where that
door is—you just reach out with your ‘data
glove’ and grab it and move it.”
Rucker has published 16 books, half of
them novels. Not all the novels could be
classified as cyberpunk; some of the novels
are more fantastic, like Master o f Space and
Time, which explores time travel and alter­
nate universes. In addition to the novels,
Rucker has written two collections of short
stories, a Kerouac-like fictionalized autobi­
ography, a volume of poetry, and four
books for the general reader on complex
mathematical and scientific concepts like
infinity and the fourth dimension. A movie
of Software is in the very early stages of
development, and Rucker is beginning to
think about a sequel to Software and Wetware, to be called Limpware.
His most recent novel, The Hollow Earth,
set in the 1830s, is about a journey to the
inside of an Earth that is hollow as a tennis
ball. The book stars Edgar Allan Poe and
Rucker’s dog, Arf. That novel is perhaps his
most ambitious project to date: “I was trying
to write the great American science fiction
novel,” he explains.
In all his work, Rucker asks the big
questions—not just about the nature of
humanity but also about the nature of space
and time, for instance. In his nonfiction
book The Fourth Dimension, Rucker intro­
duces the problem of the nature of space
with tremendous enthusiasm: “What entity,
short of God, could be nobler or worthier of
man’s attention than the cosmos itself?
Forget about interest rates, forget about war
and murder, let’s talk about space.”
Rucker’s way of writing about space
opens up the world of physics and math to
a nonscientific reader, who can enter
Rucker’s scientific world through many dif­
ferent points of reference. In The Fourth
Dimension, scientific and mathematical
names like Albert Einstein, Kurt Godel,
Georg Cantor, and Charles Hinton mix with
Salvador Dali, Immanuel Kant, E.T., and
the Rolling Stones. Drawings meant to
approximate hyperspheres and hypercubes
(four-dimensional geometrical figures) ap­
pear next to whimsical cartoons. A skillful
use of analogies helps the reader understand
what the fourth dimension—“a direction
perpendicular to all the directions we can
point to”—must be like.
A four-dimensional sphere, or hyper­
sphere, is the central figure in The Sex
Sphere, probably Rucker’s most radical
17

Rucker uses an analogy in The
Fourth Dimension to explain what a
hypersphere m ight look like to us.
A sphere passing through a tw odimensional plane would look like a
point, then a series of circles in­
creasing in size, then a series of cir­
cles decreasing in size, and finally a
point again (right). Likewise, a
hypersphere m ight appear in three
dimensions like a balloon: first a tiny
dot, then a sphere increasing in size,
then a sphere decreasing in size,
then a dot, then nothing (below).

A two-dimensional attem pt to
represent a hypercube. If you stare
at it long enough looking for the
cubes in it, "the thing fairly seethes
with activity, doing its best to get
hyper," w rites Rucker.

Above: Th e fourth dimension is
"a direction perpendicular to all the
directions we can point to.”
Below: A lucky man comes upon a
hyperspace tunnel, shaped like a
sphere. If he dives into it, he’ll be in
another universe.

18

novel. Babs the hypersphere gets trapped in
three-dimensional space and tries to free
herself. She discovers that she can get men
to do whatever she wants by offering them
unique sexual adventures. “I was trying to
do something very outrageous,” Rucker
says, perhaps understating the case. “The
publisher was a little uncomfortable with it.
I mean, it had sex—and detailed instructions
on how to build an atomic bomb.” In the
end, Babs turns out to be a figure in Hilbert
space, space of an infinite number of dimen­
sions. Rucker speculates on what Hilbert
space is like by letting his protagonist, Alwin
Bitter, enter Babs’ Hilbert space through her
giant vagina.
Rucker himself has tried to experience the
higher dimensions, though through more
conventional channels. One of his first proj­
ects when he began working on cyberspace
was using a computer to simulate a hyper­
cube that was tumbling in three-dimensional
space. Watching it tumble was extremely
disorienting, Rucker says. “That night I had
nightmares. When you tumble a hypercube,
it kind of rotates through itself, and in my
dream the house was doing that.” The
fourth dimension isn’t an easy place to be:
“At first you think it’s going to destroy your
mind, but then you just hang on and you get
used to it.”
Rucker’s books also delve into the nature
of time, another higher dimension. In The
Fourth Dimension, Rucker explains that we
could think of time as one element of a
“spacetime block universe” in which the
passage of time is an illusion, since this

instant has always existed and all instants
are equally real and extant in the universe.
This kind of universe follows from Einstein’s
special theory of relativity, which implies
that there is no absolute way of defining a
single moment in time.
So if all time exists in the block universe,
isn’t it theoretically possible to move through
time? Einstein’s relativity theory leads to the
conclusion that we can’t travel faster than
the speed of light—or travel through time.
“Sometimes people will say, why can’t we
go faster than the speed of light?” Rucker
says. “The reason is that it appears that once
you do that you could travel to your own
past, and then you could create a situation
that seems inconsistent with logic—where
something is both true and false.” To illus­
trate such a situation, in The Fourth Dimen­
sion Rucker presents time-travel para­
doxes—like the one in which Professor
Zone travels back in time and ends up
shooting his younger self with a bazooka.
(See opposite page.)
Such paradoxes defy logic—so if we
believe that logic is king, Rucker explains,
then we have to accept that time travel is not
possible. But it’s possible that logic isn’t
king, and then perhaps the universe could
accommodate an “impossibility” like a yesand-no situation.
Perhaps behind Rucker’s search for the
natures of humanity, space, and time lies
another quest—for “the secret of life.” He
published a book of that name in 1985, an
account of a boy growing up in Louisville,
Kentucky, and attending Swarthmore in the
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

’60s. As the novel begins, its protagonist,
Conrad Bunger, realizes that he’s going to
die someday, and that knowledge propels
his search for the secret of life.
While at Swarthmore, Conrad discovers
many things about himself—including that
he’s an alien sent to Earth by his race to
discover the secret of life. He finds he’s been
given five powers that he can use only when
his life is in danger. His power of flying saves
him from an oncoming train on the trestle
over Crum Creek. His power of stopping
time saves him from a bullet shot at him as
he prepares to speak at a collection at
Clothier Hall. In the end, he gets a glimmer­
ing of the secret but decides to stay on Earth
to continue the search rather than return to
his original home.
The Secret o f Life has more than a few
autobiographical elements. Like Conrad,
Rucker grew up in Louisville, went to
Swarthmore in the ’60s, and met his wife
(Sylvia Bogsch Rucker ’65) there. (The
Ruckers’ connection to Swarthmore con­
tinues with their first child, Georgia,, who
will soon graduate with the Class of ’91.)
Conrad’s friends in the novel are modeled
on Rucker’s college friends. (You know who
you are.) And Conrad’s search for the secret
of life is to some extent modeled on his own
youthful search, Rucker admits.
The transformation of life into fiction is
central to Rucker’s writing. “If I was going
to categorize myself,” he explains, “I
wouldn’t use the word cyberpunk; I’d use a
word I made up: transreal. A real big
influence on my life was Jack Kerouac. I
always liked the way he would write about

his life thinly fictionalized. I write about my
life, but I go beyond thinly fictionalizing it;
I turn it into science fiction.”
Does Conrad find the secret of life?
Here’s what he comes up with near the end
of the novel, as he prepares to talk at the
Swarthmore collection: “It’s not a Secret at
all, is the main thing, and it’s not anything
occult or unusual. It’s everywhere all the
time, like an ether-wind blowing through
our minds and bodies, it’s God, it’s simple
existence, can’t you see it?. .. All is One,, A ll
is One, ALL IS ONE.” Or as Rucker puts
it, echoing Conrad: “I believe that the uni­
verse is one big thing and that it’s possible
to feel yourself to be part of it. The secret of
life is simply that you’re alive, you’re here,
and you’re having love and relationships.”
The idea of the universe as “one big
thing” draws together so much of Rucker’s
work. Humans and boppers are essentially
the same. Space is not divided into three
dimensions but is a single whole in infinite
dimensions. Time is not linear, with only
one moment existing at a time; rather, all of
time exists as a whole. The real world
merges with a computer world in cyber­
space, and real life merges with fiction in
transrealism. All is One.
Or take part of Rucker’s conclusion from
The Fourth Dimension, where he answers
the biggest question of them all: “What is
reality? Take all your perceptions and all
mine, take everyone’s thoughts and all the
visions. In an infinite-dimensional space
there is room to fit them all together; each
is a piece of the infinite-dimensional One,
and this One is reality.”

"Let’s kill tim e,”
writes Rucker.
"Let’s reach
through time
and grab hold
of eternity.”

All is One?

MAY 1991

A Tim e Paradox
At age 36, Professor Zone suffers a tempo­
rary psychosis. During his period of mad­
ness, he murders his beloved wife, Zenobia. He is found not guilty by reason of
insanity, but, stricken with remorse, he de­
cides to devote all his energies to undoing
his wrong. He hopes somehow to go back
and change the past. On his 50th birthday,
Zone finally completes his work: the con­
struction of a working time machine. He
gets in the machine, travels back some 14
years, and goes to look in the window of
the house where he and his dear wife used
to live. There is his poor Zenobia, and
there is that mad killer, Zone-36. Zone-50
had hoped to arrive early enough to talk
some sense into Zone-36, but the crucial
moment is already at hand! Zone-36 is
stalking Zenobia, a heavy pipe wrench
raised high overhead! Without stopping to
think, Zone-50 aims his bazooka and
shoots mad Zone-36 through the heart.
The Paradox: If Zone-36 dies, then there
can be no Zone-50 to come back and kill
Zone-36. If Zone-36 does not die, then
there will be a Zone-50 to come back and
kill Zone-36. Does Zone-36 die? Yes and
no.
From the book The Fourth Dimension by
Rudy Rucker, illustrations by David
Povilaitis, published by Houghton Mifflin
Company, Boston. Copyright 1984 by
Rudy Rucker. Reprinted by permission.

19

COLLEGE
President-elect
Alfred Bloom speaks
to College community

J. M ARTIN NATVIG

“Today was an extraordinary
day in a sequence of very
exciting learning experiences
about the College extending
over the last few months,
experiences that have led me
to know that this is the college
I want to come back to and
that being its president is the
kind of challenge I want to
accept.”
Thus Alfred H. Bloom,
executive vice president for
academic affairs and dean of
the faculty at Pitzer College—
and former associate professor
of psychology and linguistics
and associate provost at
Swarthmore—expressed his
feelings to the press on March
4, the day the Board of Man­
agers named him the 13th
president of Swarthmore.
Minutes later Neil Austrian
’61, chairman of the Board,
introduced the new president
to the College community in
Lang Concert Hall. After
expressing his pleasure at the
Board’s acceptance of the
recommendation of Bloom by
the Presidential Search Com­
mittee, chaired by Samuel L.
Hayes III ’57, Austrian called
upon Bloom for brief remarks.
His remarks, in part, follow:
“I grew up intellectually

and professionally at Swarth­
more. It was in those mo­
ments when students and I hit
upon new intellectual connec­
tions, when our relationship
grew to that of intellectual
companions, that I became
sure of my vocation as an
educator.
“It was during my years at
Swarthmore, as I explored
how the Chinese and Japa­
nese choose to frame moral
issues, that my research grew
from an academic commit­
ment into an intrinsic part of
who I am. The study of other
cultures was not only fascinat­
ing, sensitizing, and a wonder­
ful excuse for a great meal,
but it had become as well a
powerful vehicle for giving
strength and legitimacy to per­
sonal values that I had felt
deeply but that had been deemphasized or even mar­
ginalized by my own cultural
world.
“And it has been as a result
of reflecting on my Swarth­
more experience from the per­
spective afforded by the past
five years that I have come to
understand how vital it is for
a college to expect and enable
its students to become active,
productive participants in the
life of the mind. How vital it
is for a college to expect and
enable its students to come to
value the life of the mind not
only for the pleasure it brings
and for the contributions it
can make to knowledge, but
also for the impact it can have
on the ways in which societies
define their priorities and
responsibilities. What I came
to understand was, in other
words, that those things that
are most significant to under­
graduate education are the
very things that Swarthmore
does so well.
“I hope that in the next few
years all of us—faculty, stu­

Peggi and A l Bloom share a moment before A l’s introduction to the
College community as Swarthmore’s 13th president.

dents, staff, Managers, and
alumni—whose energies com­
bine to create this extraordi­
nary institution will come to
feel a heightened sense of
ownership in it, that we will
act to strengthen those curric­
ular and community structures
that support the distinctive
qualities of our educational
program, and that we will
convey to the broader world a
vision of undergraduate edu­
cation that places the thrill,
creativity, and impact of the
life of the mind at its core.
“Finally, we must also act
to ensure that Swarthmore
remains a national leader by
responding to the challenges
of a pluralistic and interna­
tionalist world. Without jeop­
ardizing its commitment to
communicating the Western
tradition, Swarthmore must
lead the nation in preparing
students to embrace, prosper
in, and contribute to a world
that gives place and respect to
the identities and experiences
of people who have long been
expected to defer or assimilate
to that tradition.”
Bloom planned to spend
two days on campus in late
April, meeting small groups of
students, faculty members,
and staff. He is scheduled to
assume his new responsibili­
ties on September 1.

Caring for campus
trees is a major
task— and expense
Some of the old favorites are
going. The Everett Hunt syca­
more at the corner of Sharpies
Dining Hall, a silent witness
to the founding of Swarth­
more 127 years ago, suc­
cumbed in January to old age,
as did the Brumbaugh oak in
the circle east of Parrish. A
swamp white oak near the top
of Magill Walk was removed,
the victim of a large branch
that fell from its neighbor
facing it across the walk.
All in all, some 23 old or
deceased trees were taken out
in January and February as
part of an ongoing tree-main­
tenance program. Jeff Jabco,
director of grounds and assis­
tant director of horticulture for
the Scott Arboretum, says that
the College spends some
$40,000 annually for the
maintenance of trees, an ex­
penditure that the founding
fathers and subsequent stew­
ards of Swarthmore would
doubtless have heartily ap­
proved. George Fox talked of
gardens; Lucretia Mott, one of
the founders of the College,
planted a red oak on opening
day in 1869; and on subse­
quent Founders Days, several
illustrious guests of the Col­
lege continued planting trees.
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

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Govs. M.G. Brumbaugh and
William C. Sproul (Class of
1891) of Pennsylvania and
Gov. S.M. Halston of Indiana
all planted oaks in the circle
east of Parrish. Another
Founders Day tree in the
Dean Bond Rose Garden is a
scarlet oak planted by Presi­
dent Woodrow Wilson in
1913. Jane Addams carried on
the tradition on Founders Day
1932, when she planted a pin
oak below Sproul Observa­
tory. Only the Wilson, Hal­
ston, and Addams oaks
remain.
Another source of çew
trees on campus used to be
senior classes, for it was a tra­
dition that these classes give a
tree to their alma mater. The
beautiful Class of 1880 red
oak still stands behind Cun­
ningham House, now the
Scott Arboretum offices.
Maintenance of this pre­
cious heritage of trees is on­
going and expensive. A crew
of six men worked eight days
pruning the oaks on Magill
Walk and taking out the one
injured tree. Dead and dying
limbs and branches were
removed and the outside
branches thinned to conform
more with the canopy over
the walk itself, which has

C

been lightened from time to
time. In addition to this
“detail” pruning, the crew
worked another 12 days safety
pruning the area between
Clothier and Wharton and
down the hill past the frater­
nity houses to Sharpies and
the pinetum.
The campus is divided into
six areas for tree maintenance,
and each area is pruned once
every six years. In addition,
the Scott Outdoor Audito­
rium, scheduled annually for
detail pruning before com­
mencement, needed added
attention this winter, when a
sassafras, approximately 19
inches in diameter, crashed
into the amphitheater as a
result of a severe January ice
storm.
The tree-maintenance
program also includes an
integrated pest-management
strategy, making use of horti­
cultural oils, nontoxic insecti­
cidal soaps, and the injection
of elms with a chemical fungi­
cide every two to three years.
Still, all but one of the elms
along the walk in front of Par­
rish have succumbed to Dutch
elm disease, and the survivor
may not last long because of
the contagious nature of the
disease. Other campus elms

are in a similar precarious
state.
Outside contractors are
engaged for these major main­
tenance projects, while the
College’s grounds crew takes
care of the smaller trees—col­
lections of crab apples, mag­
nolias, dogwoods, and haw­
thorns. It takes a six-man
crew five weeks a year to
keep up with this pruning
work.
In spite of the thoughtful
care given to the preservation
of the notable tree collections
on campus, there is more to
do than there are funds to do
it all. Last summer a tree con­
sultant recommended cabling
many of the venerable Magill
Walk oaks, and Jabco would
like to see the key trees at the
top of the hill near Parrish be
rigged for lightning protection.
An integral part of the
overall program for trees is the
replacement strategy, and
Claire Sawyers, director of the
Scott Arboretum, notes that
some $7,000 to $10,000,
generated from the Arboretum
endowment, is spent annually
to replace trees and shrubs.
These funds are supplemented
with gifts from other arboreta
and nurseries and from alumni
and friends of the College,

frequently as memorials.
The widow of James Mor­
ton Mcllvain, Class of 1890,
endowed a fund for arboreal
purposes in memory of her
husband. In the fall of 1990,
family and friends of Edward
M. Passmore ’30 gave a grove
of silver bell trees in the circle
west of Parrish in his memory.
The Kathryn Bassett ’35 shagbark hickory was dedicated to
her by family and friends in
1986 and stands between
Parrish and Clothier.
Sawyers says that a small
tree costs approximately $150
but notes that this figure does
not include any planting and
maintenance costs. She hopes
that future gifts of memorial
trees, always welcome, can
include appropriate funds for
maintenance.

Swarthmore sets
application record
At a time when many colleges
and universities are reporting
drops in applications for
admission, Swarthmore has
received 3,578 applications
for the 1991-92 entering class,
the most ever. Robert A. Barr,
Jr., ’56, dean of admissions,
attributes the rise in applica­
tions to many possible factors,
including recent good national

J. M ARTIN NATVIG

MAY 1991

21

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publicity, a strong recruiting
effort, and Swarthmore’s
need-blind admissions policy,
which allows all qualified stu­
dents to be admitted regard­
less of financial need and
strives to meet all demon­
strated need.
“Rising tuition is a major
concern for everyone,” Barr
commented, “but people are
willing to pay for what they
consider good quality, and we
hope we’ve done a good job
of explaining the excellence of
a Swarthmore education.”
Student charges will increase
7 percent to $22,160 for the
1991-92 school year, accord­
ing to the budget the Board of
Managers approved in March.

Fraser to direct
Aga Khan’s social
welfare programs
President David Fraser, who
will step down from the presi­
dency at the end of August,
has announced that on Sep­
tember 1 he will become head
of the Social Welfare Depart­
ment of the Secretariat of
Karim Aga Khan, the 49th
Imam of the Shia Imami
Ismaili Moslems.
The Secretariat runs the
Aga Khan’s various develop­
ment programs conducted in
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh,
Syria, Kenya, and Tanzania.
It is headquartered at Aiglemont, the estate of the Aga
Khan near Chantilly, 30 miles
outside Paris. One of the
world’s richest men, the Aga
Khan (the title means “great
leader”) succeeded his grand­
father as spiritual leader of
some 15 million Ismailis in
1957 and since that time has
expanded the programs of
social and economic develop­
ment begun early in this
century by his grandfather.
Fraser anticipates a great
deal of travel in his new job as
he directs some five hospitals,
300 educational institutions,
and 200 health centers. Much
22

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of the Aga Khan’s develop­
ment work is done in con­
junction with other develop­
ment agencies, such as the
Ford and Rockefeller Founda­
tions. Said Fraser: “I will be
involved in the general issue
of development, because the
Aga Khan sees his responsibil­
ity as serving all peoples in
underdeveloped countries the
world over.
“It’s important,” continued
Fraser, “to create a health
system that works in the
developing world, from out­
reach into homes and primary
health clinics to simple hospi­
tals and medical centers where
health workers can receive
high-quality training.”
Fraser anticipates that iden­
tifying health problems and
designing the intervention will

require the use of the skills
and techniques he acquired as
an epidemiologist as well as
draw on the experience gained
in the Swarthmore presidency.
He sees his new position as
“the most logical career pro­
gression I can imagine: health
and education, in a Third
World setting.”
The Frasers plan to live in
Paris, where Fraser’s wife,
Barbara, wants to continue
her work as an attorney spe­
cializing in finance.

Four named to
Board of Managers
The Board of Managers at its
December meeting elected
four new members to serve
four-year terms—including
two who are filling the newly

G

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created Young Alumni
Manager post.
Those named as Young
Alumni Managers are Barbara
Klock ’86, a research assistant
in virology at The Rockefeller
University, and Alex Curtis
’89, who is enrolled in a
Ph.D. program in art history
at Princeton University.
Named as Alumni Manag­
ers were Victor Navasky ’54,
editor-in-chief of The Nation,
and Diana Judd Stevens ’63,
a youth programs specialist
and coordinator of the
STRIVE Elementary Pro­
gram/ Green Circle for the
Delaware Region, National
Conference of Christians and
Jews.
The creation of the Young
Alumni Manager post was
formalized at the Board’s

Celebration. . . Black alumni gathered on campus March 22-24 to celebrate the twin 20th anniversaries o f
the Swarthmore College Gospel Choir and the Black Cultural Center in Robinson House. Black Alum ni
Weekend drew 120 people— alumni and their fam ilies— to activities that included a luncheon, banquet,
historical readings, a meeting o f the Black Alum ni Association, and a concert Sunday (directed by Freeman
Palmer 79), which featured past members o f the Gospel Choir pictured here.
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

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Barbara K lock ’86

A lex Curtis ’89

October meeting with the pas­
sage of a resolution for the fol­
lowing change in the bylaws:
“One Young Alumni Man­
ager, nominated by the Nomi­
nating Committee, with the
advice of the Dean of the Col­
lege, shall normally be elected
each year from alumni gra­
duating within the previous
seven-year period. Young
Alumni Managers may not
serve as Managers for two
years after the expiration of
their four-year term.”

minor but potentially danger­
ous damage to the windowsill.
Shah told The Phoenix that
the banners were merely
meant “to show support for
the troops and for George
Bush for accomplishing the
goals they set out to accom­
plish,” but other students
found them offensive. At a
vigil for the war’s dead held
just below the bed-sheet
banners, Jason Corder ’91
called the signs “a celebration
of death.”
Such has been the war
debate at the College. At a

Campus opinion split
on Persian Gulf war
The Persian Gulf war had
ended, but the discord it
spawned on campus evidently
had not. Three days after the
February 27 cease-fire, an
incident illustrated Swarthmore’s divisions over the war.
After the cessation of the
fighting, Matt Kennel ’91 and
Neel Shah ’91 hung banners
from their Parrish Hall dormi­
tory windows that read, “By
Land, By Sea, By Air, Bye
Bye Iraq” and “ 101st Air­
borne—Death From Above—
Good Job.” Two. days later an
unknown person set fire to
one of the banners, causing
MAY 1991

L

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two-hour open meeting on
January 21, students and fac­
ulty expressed a wide range of
opinions on the morality and
potential consequences of the
war, but many of the more
than 500 who attended were
there mostly to listen. Part of
the Parrish walls debate (see
page 10) centered around a
large poster that declared,
“Swarthmore Students Sup­
port Our Troops.” One stu­
dent added the word “Some”
to the beginning of the
sentence.
Later, a group calling itself
Swarthmore Students Against
the War (SSAW) organized a
candlelight vigil and march
into the Village streets. A
large Swarthmore contingent
attended the January 26 anti­
war rally in Washington, D.C.
This demonstration, probably
the high-water mark of na­
tional anti-war protests, was
also the height of student par­
ticipation in the movement at
Swarthmore.
As the war drew toward its
unexpectedly swift conclusion,
the debate muted. Andy Per­
rin ’93, a leader of SSAW,
summed up Swarthmore’s
reaction: “There was more of
an anti-war movement at
Swarthmore than in the rest
of the country, but ultimately
most people were pretty
ambiguous about it.”

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1

College shares in
grant to hire
minority faculty
Swarthmore and four other
colleges—Grinnell, Vassar,
Davidson, and Occidental
—have jointly received a
$175,000 grant from the
Philip Morris Companies Inc.
to hire minority faculty.
The five belong to the
26-member Consortium for a
Strong Minority Presence at
Liberal Arts Colleges, which
awards fellowships for teach­
ing and research designed to
encourage minorities to enter
the field of college teaching.
Swarthmore has played a
pivotal role in organizing the
consortium, contributing staff
support and management
during its first three years.
The fellowships are
awarded through the Minority
Scholar-in-Residence Pro­
gram, which encourages Afri­
can American, Native Ameri­
can, and Hispanic American
scholars to teach at liberal arts
colleges.

Three students win
Truman Scholarships
Three juniors—Mary Ander­
son, Marc John, and Nien-he
Hsieh—have been awarded
prestigious Harry S. Truman
Scholarships. The three are
the most Trumans ever re­
ceived by Swarthmore stu­
dents in one year. Swarthmore
also, along with Arizona
State, Duke, and Harvard
universities, received more
Trumans than any other col­
lege or university in the
United States this year.
The scholarship provides
money for the students to
complete their senior year at
Swarthmore and to pursue
This January 23 anti-war march
was the most visible student
protest against the Persian
G ulf war. Campus opinion, like
that o f the nation, was divided.

23

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graduate degrees. The nomi­
nees are chosen on the basis
of public and community
service rendered, commitment
to careers in government or
the public sector, leadership
potential, and intellectual and
academic merit.
Anderson, a political sci­
ence major, plans to pursue
degrees in law and public
policy after graduation from
the College; Jolin, also a
political science major, plans
to work toward a Ph.D. in
international relations; and
Hsieh, an economics major,
plans to pursue a Ph.D. in
economic policy.

Workshop trains
mediators to smooth
campus disputes
• Two freshmen dispute about
loud music and TV, rowdy
parties, and cluttered common
space. One claims the other
stole her gold necklace.
• Roommates are at odds
about unwanted evening
visitors, a messy room, and
resulting inability to study.
• A male and a female student
argue about who answers the
phone on their dormitory hall
and about the use of a shared
washing machine and dryer.
There are claims of shrunken
blue jeans and missing clothes.
Each of these three highly
charged situations was acted
out by two angry disputants
and a neutral mediator in the
course of a two-and-a-halfday workshop in mediation
training on campus during
midwinter break. The actors/
participants were 25 Swarthmore students, three faculty
members, and 15 staff mem­
bers. The trainers were three
experienced mediators in the
Friends Conflict Resolution
Programs in Philadelphia.
Role-playing was a key
ingredient (“The teaching rule
is: Do it, review it, do it!”),
and everyone had the chance
to play the difficult role of
mediator, using new skills
24

A t a midwinter workshop, 43 students, faculty members, and sta ff
learned how to resolve conflicts through mediation.

acquired as the workshop
progressed. Disputants also
became more sophisticated in
making the mediator’s job
more difficult.
Just what is mediation and
how does it differ from arbi­
tration and litigation? With
mediation, disputing parties
come together in a neutral set­
ting to work through problems
and reach agreement. Two or
more trained volunteer media­
tors facilitate this meeting.
They encourage angry people
to speak with each other, and
they guide parties toward
making their own solutions.
Mediation differs from arbi­
tration and litigation in that
the impartial person has no
decision-making power. Medi­
ation usually focuses on future
rather than past behavior.
Excerpts from notes taken
during the sessions highlight
some distinguishing features of
mediation:
• A mediator must be a facili­
tator, not an advice-giver.
• Think about the language
you use as a mediator. Make
sure it is “neutral.”
• Identify issues as shared
problems.
• Emphasize practical and
behavioral issues that can be
changed instead of talking

about intangible aspects.
• A mediator’s survival skill:
When in doubt, summarize.
When disputants are heated
and you don’t know where
you are going, you can break
in and say, “Let’s just sit back
a minute and summarize.”
• Keep the two parties talking
and eventually get them to
come up with their own
solutions.
• Good opener for a mediator:
“Describe the situation that
brought you here.”
At the end of the work­
shop, all 43 participants
“passed” and were given
certificates attesting that they
“completed the Friends Con­
flict Resolution Programs’
24-hour basic training pro­
gram in conflict mediation
skills.” Of these 43, 29 (two
faculty, four staff, and 23 stu­
dents) have expressed interest
in serving as mediators on
campus. One of the trainees,
Darius Tandon ’94, who had
had previous mediation expe­
rience, said he would volun­
teer to mediate on campus
because “I know mediation
works.”
Impetus for a campus medi­
ation program came from a
1990 report by the Student
Judiciary Review Committee

E

that warned that the “inflexi­
bly adversarial” nature of the
College’s current judicial pro­
cesses was not appropriate for
all types of problems. “We
recognized that some disputes
need to be settled without
being in an adversarial set­
ting,” explained Dean Janet
Dickerson.
Brian Zikmund ’91, a mem­
ber of the planning commit­
tee, pointed out that media­
tion, unlike other methods of
resolution, can preserve the
relationship between parties
involved because it is nonjudgmental.
A committee of faculty,
staff, and students just finished
working out the details for a
mediation program that
would be available to help
deal with disputes on campus.
Coordinators Deborah Gauck
’90 (Dean’s Office) and Elaine
Metherall (Career Planning
and Placement) said mediators
are ready to accept referrals
from the Dean’s Office and
dormitory Resident Assistants.

Winter sports recap:
Men’s basketball
wins MAC Southeast
Men’s Basketball (17-10):
Exciting only begins to de­
scribe the 1990-91 men’s bas­
ketball season at Swarthmore.
After a one-point loss to host
Washington and Lee in the
opening game of a January
tournament dropped them to
4-7 for the year, the Garnet
reeled off eight consecutive
victories en route to a 16-9
regular season, reversing their
mark of just a year earlier.
Swarthmore won the
Middle Atlantic Conference
Southeast Section Champion­
ship with an 8-2 record that
was capped off by a 98-62
defeat of Haverford. During
the game both Mike Green­
stone ’91 and Scott Gibbons
’92 eclipsed the 1,000-point
plateau in career scoring for
the Garnet.
As Swarthmore moved on
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

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S TE V EN .G O LD BLATT

to postseason play for the first
time in more than 40 years,
the team received word of
conference award recipients.
Coach Lee Wimberly gar­
nered Coach of the Year lau­
rels, Greenstone was named
to the all-section team, and
both Matt Kennel ’91 and
Gibbons were honorable men­
tion choices. Robert Ruffin ’92
once again led the entire
MAC Southern Division in
rebounding.
In the MAC playoffs,
Swarthmore defeated Dickin­
son College 76-72 in the first
round but lost an emotional
hard-fought contest to rival
Johns Hopkins, 80-82 in
overtime. Both games were
played at the Garnet’s home
court by virtue of Swarthmore’s first-place finish. The
Cinderella Garnet were not
extended an at-large invitation
to the NCAA III tournament
despite playing a strong sched­
ule, which included Division I
Yale and regional No. 1 seeds
Franklin and Marshall and
SUNY-Stony Brook, and de­
spite having defeated tourna­
ment-bound Dickinson and
Johns Hopkins.
Women’s Basketball
(1-24): The women saw a sea­
son of learning and rebuilding
rewarded by a last-game vic­
tory over Bryn Mawr. Cata­
rina Paulson ’91 said it best:
“We started out as a young
and inexperienced team,
worked our way through frus­

MAY 1991

trating losses, and learned
something new every game.
The Bryn Mawr game repre­
sents what we were working
for—to prove to ourselves that
we were a good team.”
A youthful team gives hope
for a bright future for the
Lady Garnet; Swarthmore
graduates just two team
members this year.
Wrestling (6-13): Although
the undermanned Garnet
grapplers fell short of a win­
ning season this year, high­
lights included hosting a group
of Canadian wrestlers during
winter break and annihilating
Haverford 41-6. In the season­
ending MAC tournament, the
team placed 10th overall (out
of 18 teams). Dennis Jorgen­
sen ’92 placed second in the
177-pound division, losing
only to an NCAA Division III
All-American wrestler, while
teammates Joe Lange ’93
(167) and Tim Peichel ’91
(150) took sixth in their re­
spective divisions. Jorgensen
and Kevin Wilson ’92 (190)
were named to the NCAA
Division III Scholar AllAmerica wrestling team.
Badminton (12-0): After a
perfect regular season,
Swarthmore swept the singles
titles at the Northeast regional
championships, hosted by the
College. Karen Hales ’91 won
her second consecutive wom­
en’s regional title, while Jeff
Switzer ’94 captured the
men’s championship. Joining

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Hales and Switzer on the AllNortheast Collegiate team was
Elizabeth Grossman ’92, who
advanced to the semifinals in
the women’s division.
Men’s Swimming (6-7):
The Garnet, after a solid cam­
paign during the regular sea­
son, steamed into the MAC
championships, held at Ware
pool, with winning on their
minds. They took four indi­
vidual championships and
smashed 10 College records
on their way to a third-place
finish out of 14 teams.
Keyvan Amir-Arjomand
’91 won the 100 and 200
breaststroke in College-record
times; the former was also a
pool record. His split time on
the 100 breaststroke also
broke the school record for
the 50. Adam Browning ’92
won the 100 and 200 butter­
fly, the former for the third
consecutive year. Browning’s
split time in the 100 also set a
College record for the 50
butterfly.
Both the 200 medley (Eric
McCrath ’93, Browning, Dave
Helgerson ’94, Amir-Arjomand)
and 800 freestyle (Tim
Childers ’91, Helgerson, Dan
Keleher ’93, Browning) relay
teams set College records.
McCrath took second and
fourth in the 100 and 200
breaststroke, and brothers
Dan and Peter Keleher ’93
finished second and fourth
respectively in the 200 butter­
fly. Dan Tannenbaum ’91

Johns Hopkins guard Andy
Enfield turns past Swarthmore’s
Matt Kennel ’91 in the 82-80 loss
that knocked the Garnet out o f
this year’s M AC tournament.
Lee Wimberly (above) was named
conference Coach o f the Year.

G

E

placed second and fourth in
the 400 and 200 individual
medleys. Childers swam to a
third-place finish in both the
500 and 1,650 freestyle,
eclipsing a 16-year-old Col­
lege record, formerly held by
Bob McKinstry ’75, in the
latter.
Garnet swimmers at the
conference championships
swam an incredible 32 life­
time-best times. Five men
—both Kelehers, AmirAijomand, McCrath, and
Childers—were selected for
the all-MAC team.
Women’s Swimming (5-8):
After a competitive season,
the Garnet women took to the
water in the MAC champion­
ships with a vengeance. The
team established a remarkable
28 lifetime-best times during
the meet. “This was an incred­
ible meet for both the men
and the women,” said coach
Sue Davis.
Britta Fink ’93 helped
Swarthmore overcome the
loss of two national qualifiers
from last year’s team with her
College, pool, and MAC
record-breaking (and nationalqualifying) time of 2:29.77 in
the 200 breaststroke. She be­
comes the first woman in
Swarthmore history to hold a
MAC swimming record. Fink
also placed second in the 100
breaststroke and fourth in the
400 individual medley. Kate
Moran ’94 also contributed a
College record en route to a
third-place finish in the 100
backstroke. Moran and Dina
Moretti ’91 took fourth place
in the 200 backstroke and
1,650 freestyle respectively.
Finally, the team set a new
College record in the 200
medley relay (Christy Halstead
’91, Fink, Moran, Moretti).
Hood Trophy Update: The
men’s basketball and wrestling
teams swept Haverford in
winter sports events to give
Swarthmore College a 5-4
edge in Hood Trophy points.
h^rJeffZinn ’92
25

C H A N G IN G FA M IL Y R O L E S
A N D T H E C O L L E G E ’S
R E S P O N S IB IL IT IE S
To the Editor:
I enjoyed the article in the February 1991
Bulletin by Arlie Russell Hochschild ’62,
“The Woman with the Flying Hair.” I found
particularly interesting her observations con­
cerning the continuing non- and underin­
volvement of men in our society in support­
ing the daily domestic life of the family, in­
cluding child care. I am proud to see fellow
Swarthmoreans making contributions to the
continuing dialogue on these issues.
It is thus that I find it peculiar and ironic
that when the College last year adopted its
very first maternity policy for its own staff,
it did not include provision for leaves of
absence for either new parents of adopted
children or fathers of newborns. If, as Hochs­
child suggests, “we need to restructure the
workplace in order to adapt it to the changed
work force” and “for laggard companies the
issue is to get these policies [such as paternity
leave] on the books,” then I would urge that
Swarthmore clean its own house first.
Until the College does so, the appearance
of articles such as Hochschild’s in the Bul­
letin is, shall we say, merely acadehiic.
MATTHEW WALL ’87
Swarthmore
To the Editor:
I enjoyed reading your summary of the
speech given by Arlie Russell Hochschild
last spring at the College. The issues sur­
rounding women in the workplace/women
in the family have always been important
for working women, and it is gratifying that
they are gaining the attention they deserve.
I was disturbed, though, when I thought
back to the speech itself. Ms. Hochschild
spoke about the need for private institutions
to adapt to the changed work force. She also
made it a point during the speech—and then
even more so in the question-and-answer
afterward—to offer constructive criticism of
Swarthmore’s meager resources for twocareer families. The material about private
26

institutions is in the summary; the criticism
of Swarthmore is not.
By expunging these words, I feel that you
have misrepresented the flavor of her visit to
Swarthmore. Even more disturbing, the Bul­
letin has missed a chance to inform its
readers of a problem that persists within the
Swarthmore community. We call ourselves
“liberal,” sometimes even “progressive,” but
our track record on day care, paternity
leave, even maternity leave is far from either.
First, a three-month maternity leave for
staff and faculty was finally passed last
summer, after extensive work by various
committees. The policy, however, only al­
lows for time off in the period directly
surrounding the birth of a child. The mater­
nity-leave plan reads: “Leave can begin as
early as one month before the anticipated
date of delivery and as late as the date of
delivery.” A professor with a child due in
April must either disrupt her semester or
make a personal appeal to the powers that
be (usually the department chair or the
provost) for time off. In addition, no leave
provision was made for adoptive mothers.
Second, establishing a paternity-leave pol­
icy occurs only in a Swarthmore feminist’s
wildest dreams. It appears only there for a
reason: In a discussion with a College ad­
ministrator (at the Hochschild reception, no
less), I was informed that “women make
choices” when they have children and must
be prepared to either stay home with the
child or put him/her in day care. As far as
this institution is concerned, childrearing is
still the woman’s burden to bear alone.
Third, day care is similarly low on the
“things to do” list at the College. At present,
despite a $300,000 allocation in the budget
for day-care services, there is not even a
referral system available. And, with a tight
College budget, many are afraid that day
care will be among the first things to go. To
prevent this from happening, the Women’s
Concerns Committee is currently working
to revise and re-propose day-care plans
stalled in the late 1980s.
Clearly, given its record on these issues,
as well as on other issues like hiring women
to senior positions (take a walk down ad­
ministrators’ alley and notice who controls
the financial/administrative aspects of the
College), the lack of a diverse field of
finalists in the presidential search, and ex­
tremely slow curricular revision, this school
will soon be an anachronism in the highereducation marketplace. Whether Swarth­
more chooses to correct problems will deter­
mine its ability to attract top-notch women
to its faculty and student body.
HEATHER HILL ’92
Swarthmore

To the Editor:
“The Woman with the Flying Hair” in­
trigued me because I am currently research­
ing and writing a book on the “post-suffrag­
ette” generation of my mother (A.B. Bryn
Mawr College, 1922; M.A. and Ph.D., Uni­
versity of Chicago, 1929). She “had it all,”
or tried to, and I regard describing her life
as one way of helping today’s young women
understand why it doesn’t work “just like
that,” even in the best of all possible worlds.
I find it amusing—if a little sad—to find
my own generation still labeled “prerevolu­
tionary.” I recall smoking in Commons
while I talked with a classmate about our
options. Both of us had had “career” moth­
ers, and we thought we might prefer to raise
our kids ourselves. To do so, we gave up
some things, mostly economic, and gained
others, like being our own bosses and having
time for ourselves. But we did not blame our
fathers, husbands, and sons for our choices.
That’s not equality, that’s sexism, or perhaps
just a replay of the ancient Amazons.
MARYAL STONE DALE ’52
Chicago

To the Editor:
Having recently returned to the work­
place after the birth of my second child, I
read with great interest Arlie Russell Hochs­
child’s article, “The Woman With the Flying
Hair.” I recognized my family throughout.
While I agreed with Ms. Hochschild’s
reasons for labeling women’s entry into paid
work an “incomplete and stalled revolu­
tion,” I would like to add a crucial, addi­
tional solution. Women who have made it
to positions of influence and power can use
their status to unstall the revolution for those
who follow. Ms. Hochschild views the
“mainstreamed, corporationized” part of
the women’s movement negatively, claiming
it only “assimilates women to a male-dom­
inant understanding of life and work.” But
these female executives and managers can
push for flextime, job sharing, paid parental
leave, and on-site child care. They can effect
change from within.
I am a social worker employed as director
of recreation in a large suburban nursing
home. My supervisor is the assistant execu­
tive director, and she convinced the execu­
tive director to try a job share in a depart­
ment head position. A colleague (also a new
mom of a second child) carries 13 hours and
I carry 27 in a creative split of job respon­
sibilities. My supervisor is attuned to the
conflicting demands of workplace and home
because she is a fellow “woman with flying
hair.” If my son is in a nursery-school play
or my infant daughter gets an ear infection,
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

she trusts me to put in the necessary hours
at another time. She will get a great deal
more than 40 hours from my colleague and
me—she will get loyalty and energy. And
maybe, behind our “confident, active, ‘lib­
erated’ ” smiles, there will b e . . . confidence
and liberation!
As I finish this letter, my “second shift”
of dishes, bottle preparation, and Cheerios
sweep-up awaits me. My 2-year-old son’s
play kitchen, however, is totally neat: plastic
hot dogs and fried eggs put away, no dishes
in his sink! Noah loves to cook and clean
and often does this while “talking” on his
phone'(even though he is male, he can do
two things at once). So, if we can’t unstall
our own revolution, maybe we can at least
raise our children to do so in their time.
PAULA MACK DRILL ’81
West Caldwell, N.J.

E L L IS IS L A N D ’S LEG A C Y
To the Editor:
You’ve done it again! The February 'Bul­
letin is super. I especially loved the Ellis
Island story. I have a son-in-law whose four
grandparents came through Ellis Island from
Russia—Bob Clark. (The Clark name was
evidently given to two of them—as often
happened when their Russian names were
difficult.) My last immigrant ancestor came
to America from England in 1753, so Bob
and I represent two lines of Americans. I tell
him he is nearer the stuff of which the
U.S.A. is made—the determination to make
a better life.
I’m sorry I’m too old to pay a visit to Ellis
Island. *1 don’t go much of anywhere any­
more—a visit to Crumwald is an adventure!
ELEANOR STABLER CLARKE T8
Kennett Square, Pa.

A P O L O G IE S T O C A P T A IN J E N
To the Editor:
This year we were particularly proud of
our daughter Jennifer’s efforts as sole senior
member and captain of the Swarthmore
volleyball team, and we have especially
appreciated sports news in the Bulletin. In
your February 1991 recap of the fall sports
season, you rightfully noted what an uphill
battle the volleyball team had this year, but
you incorrectly identified the team captain
as Jen Pizzolo instead of our very own Jen
Grasso.
Would it be possible to make some sort
of correction in your next edition?
RAYMOND A. GRASSO, JR.
Vernon, Conn.
Editor’s note: Consider it done. The Bulletin
regrets the error.
MAY 1991

Fighting w o rd s. . .
Continued from page 15

who are afraid of this conversation?
Some further thoughts. ..
All the debates among students on com­
puter bulletin boards and elsewhere about
PC-ness (political correctness) are another
diversion from the real issues, just like the
debate about anonymity was. As several
students have said very well, charging some­
one with being PC is often used as a shield,
a way of avoiding taking their motives and
their arguments seriously. Being PC can be
used in the opposite way, of course, as a selfrighteous conformity, going along with a
crowd as a way of avoiding questioning
yourself.
I don’t want to get into this now, though.
I want to go back to some of the original
questions that were asked—those questions
that were so outrageously not politically
correct. They sure interrupted business as
usual, didn’t they?
“Who is this white man?” someone wrote
next to Mr. Nason’s portrait, and “How
come there ain’t no brothers and sisters on
these walls?” Why were these words taken
by some to be fighting words, threatening
words?
Now I’m really getting into the lion’s
den___
At first glance, the answer is obvious. It
was because of one adjective, “white,” that
referred to Caucasians, and two nouns,
“brothers” and “sisters,” that were taken to
refer to African Americans. Again, note the
assumptions that were immediately made
and then never questioned. Asking “Who is
this man?” might be taken as threatening,
but asking “Who is this white man?” was
definitely taken to be threatening, at least by
some, because it mentioned the man’s race.
But why should it be threatening to
identify a person’s race? This was a rather

odd response, when you think about it. The
mainstream media acts as if it is “natural”
always to mention an African American
person’s race: the first black mayor, a black
mugger, etc. In the media the markings of
racial difference are rarely if ever used to
designate whites; ‘white’ or ‘Caucasian’ tends
to be used only when racial conflict is
involved or racial stratification is being
measured by social scientists. Race is fre­
quently marked when people of color are
described, regardless of whether it is a
positive or negative portrait of them. (This
is true except in special circumstances, such
as when George Bush used Willie Horton’s
mug shot but did not mention his race. This
was coded rather than overt racism, designed
to function in a racist way but to be impreg­
nable to charges of racism.)
Such an inconsistent system of frequently
naming or marking the race and ethnicity of
people of color—and rarely indicating it for
whites—is set up as being natural, so that
white becomes the norm that doesn’t need
to be mentioned, while black (or other
color) becomes the identity that is named
and marked as ‘other.’ Asking “Who is this
white man?” reverses this situation, suddenly
drawing attention to our contradictory sys­
tems of naming and the values that they
represent. These contradictions are really
what that adjective “white” was about, and
why for some it was anathema: It broke
taboos about when it is “proper” or “im­
proper” to mention race.
A few students idealistically objected to
all this: Is it really necessary to mention
color? asked one. Why can’t we just be
individuals and stop referring to race? But in
a culture that is hypersensitive about race
and has a long history of using race in a
racist way, if you want to change how the
terms of race are used, you first have to
make people see how they are used in ways
so “normal” that they aren’t even noticed.
You can’t just ignore race and racist dis­
course, either open or hidden; you have to
draw attention to it, to “call it out.” And
that’s what the first questions did by inten­
tionally violating the culture’s standards for
how white folks are named.
A blank space, a space suddenly filled
with voices . ..
No one will have the last word unless the
conversation is broken off. That, ultimately,
is what diversity really means. It’s more than
student and professor population numbers,
more than portraits on walls, more than
changes in the curriculum, or even setting up
a multicultural center, important as they are.
It’s the conversation itself.
Is it time to shift from writing on the wall
to talking with each other?
27

Recent Books by Alumni
We welcome review copies o f
books by alumni. The books
are donated to the Swarthmoreana section o f McCabe
Library after they have been
noted fo r this column.
Michael C. Alexander ’68,
Trials in the Late Roman
Republic, 149 BC to 50 BC,
University of Toronto Press,
1990. Nearly 400 trials and
possible trials, both criminal
and civil, from the last century
of the Roman Republic are
tabulated in this book for
scholars working in Roman
political history, legal history,
and rhetoric.
Christine (Parker) Ammer
’52 with Nathan T. Sidley,
M.D., Getting Help: A Con­
sumer’s Guide to Therapy,
Paragon House, 1991. De­
scribing both traditional
psychotherapies and newer
ones, such as sex therapy and
divorce mediation, this guide
is designed to show who
needs help, what kinds of help
are available, how to find the
right kind, and how to tell if it
is effective.
Ronald G. Bodkin ’57,
Lawrence R. Klein, and
Kanta Marwah, A History o f
Macroeconometric ModelBuilding, Edward Elgar Pub­
lishing Company, 1991.
Focusing on the construction
of mathematico-statistical
models of entire economies,
this book presents a history of
microeconometric modeling
since the 1930s.
John Cairns, Jr., ’47 and
Todd V. Crawford (eds.),
Integrated Environmental
Management, Lewis Publish­
ers, 1991. An outgrowth of the
Integrated Environmental
Management Conference held
in 1989, this handbook dem­
onstrates that an integrated
ecosystems approach is the

52

right way to manage environ­
mental complexity.

such as normalization, the
dominance of humanism, and
the status of theory.

Robert Payson Creed ’48,
Reconstructing the Rhythm o f
Beowulf, University of Mis­
souri Press, 1990. In the most
thorough study of the prosody
of Beowulf ewer undertaken,
the author questions assump­
tions that every editor and
metrist has ever made about
the poem. This book is con­
sidered a landmark for the
study not only of Old English
poetry but also of early Scan­
dinavian poetry and other
traditional oral poetries.

Ron Goor ’62, Nancy Goor,
and Katherine Boyd, The
Choose to Lose Diet, Hough­
ton Mifflin Company, 1990.
Focusing on all the fats in
food that make us fat, this
book provides a simple
method to help determine
your own fat budget, exten­
sive tables of total and fat
calories of common foods,
two weeks of meal plans, and
recipes.

Philip A. Crowl ’36, The
Intelligent Traveller’s Guide to
Historic Ireland, Contempo­
rary Books, 1990. Beginning
with a chronology of Irish his­
tory from the Ice Age through
World War II, this travel
guide presents not only a his­
torical account of the country
but also a comprehensive
directory of gardens, abbeys,
castles, cathedrals, towers,
sculptures, galleries, and more.

Linda Gordon ’61 (ed.),
Women, the State, and Wel­
fare, The University of Wis­
consin Press, 1990. As an
introduction to the effects of
welfare programs on women
in the United States and to the
influence gender relations
have on the structure of wel­
fare programs, this collection
of essays is intended for gen­
eral readers as well as special­
ists in sociology, history,
political science, social work,
and women’s studies.

Steven A. Epstein ’74, Wage
Labor & Guilds in Medieval
Europe, University of North
Carolina Press, 1991. In this
study of medieval society and
economy, the author explores
the growth and development
of wage labor in Western
Europe from the late Roman
Empire through the 14th
century.
J. Peter Euben ’61, The
Tragedy o f Political Theory:
The Road Not Taken, Prince­
ton University Press, 1990. In
this book the author argues
that Greek tragedy was the
context for classical political
theory and that such theory
read in terms of tragedy pro­
vides a ground for contempo­
rary theorizing alert to the
concerns of postmodernism,

Richard M. Harley ’72,
Breakthroughs on Hunger: A
Journalist’s Encounter With
Global Change, Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1990. In his
travels the author has found a
quiet revolution of positive
change in the developing
worldS-the fruit of decades of
experimentation and trial and
error—one that could have
enormous implications for the
world’s ability to feed itself.
Where Two or Three Gath­
ered: The Power o f Biblical
Community— Then and Now,
Abingdon Audiocassettes,
1989. A combination of book
and audiotapes, this groupstudy package explores break­
throughs in the early Christian
churches and opens new
possibilities for invigorating
church life today.

Beth Kidder ’57, The M ilkFree Kitchen: Living Well
Without Dairy Products,
Henry Holt and Company,
1991. From appetizers and
soups, to main dishes with
meats, fish, or poultry, to
breads, pancakes, desserts, and
candies, the author shows
how to prepare meals and
snacks without using any
milk, butter, cream, or cheese.
Stephen B. Maurer ’67 and
Anthony Ralston, Discrete
Algorithmic Mathematics,
Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company, 1991. This text­
book, intended for a year’s
course in discrete mathe­
matics, presents both a central
objectS-algorithms—and two
central methods—the induc­
tive and recursive paradigms.
Terrence J. Miller, Robert
McMinn ’57, and John
Iafolla, American Dream
Cars, 1946-1972, Edmund
Publications Corporation,
1991. In addition to providing
the reader with values for
more than 95 percent of the
collectible American cars built
between 1946 and 1972, this
book is intended to help both
beginners and experienced
collectors.
Margaret K. (Klein) Nelson
’66, Negotiated Care: The
Experience o f Family Day
Care Providers, Temple Uni­
versity Press, 1990. This book,
presented from the perspective
of the caregiver, explains the
negotiation between child day
care providers and parents in
establishing a setting that
simultaneously involves
money, trust, and caring.
Bruce Robertson ’76, Reck­
oning With Winslow Homer:
His Late Paintings and Their
Influence, Indiana University
Press, 1990. Focusing on the
late marine paintings of a man
generally considered at the
end of his life the most impor­
tant artist that the United
States had yet produced, this
catalog was produced in con-

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

I

1

i

MODERNISM
Continued from page 5

COURTESY TH E AR TIS T A N D M ETR O PICTU RES

“Geniuses are convenient to have around
because they obviate having to change any­
thing. . . .
“In fact, all of the geniuses we have
around—including the so-called ‘solitary
geniuses’ such as Albert Pinkham Ryder
and Vincent van Gogh—had access to the
system.” For example, we now know that it
is not true that Pablo Picasso was such a
child prodigy that he caused his artist father
to put down his own brushes in awe.
Picasso, says Storr, “worked like a dog” to
develop his talent, with his father coaching
and pushing all the way.
“One of the ways of ‘normalizing’ radical
change is to say that some special person did

it and that they did it for reasons of myste­
rious, transcendant creativity. And therefore
we never examine too closely what it is that
they did and why they did it.” Again the
example is the revolutionary work done by
Picasso, whom Storr wryly calls “the favorite
genius of modern art.”
“The minute people get into a serious
discussion of what Picasso really did, all of
the conflicts that make him so interesting
come to the fore. He was full of conflicted
attitudes toward women, toward politics,
toward the materiality of art, etc. And when
you call him a genius and march people
through the museum with little earphones,
telling them when this was painted and who
his mistress was at the time, assuring them
all the while that this is truly great, people
don’t think about what they are actually
seeing. And then they don’t ask what is
going on today that responds to those same
contlicts.
The much-vexed notion of
“Quality” is another obstacle to
opening up the canon, says
Storr. The term is used as a
trump card by what he calls
“the cultural Right.” If a work
does not fit the established
canon, these critics argue that it
lacks Quality. Storr counters
that art should be judged by its
qualities rather than by a single
and absolute standard of Qual­
ity, and that these qualities need
to be examined in specific
terms. He characterizes critic
Clement Greenberg and other
members of the neoconserva­
tive movement as “former cul­
tural radicals fighting the last
battle on behalf of the last piece
of culture that they paid close
attention to. They are, in some
form, the God-that-failed crew,
embittered valedictorians of
their own particular era.”
Is Storr himself a “cultural
radical”? His answer is an em­
phatic “yes,” insofar as “to be a
radical means to constantly
question one’s working assump­
tions and those of the culture at
large.”
Laurie Simmons’photographs o f
miniature scenes present arche­
types o f domesticity inherited from
the “father-knows-best” era.
These icons from a mundane
world become artistic statements
that force us to examine that
world and to see how it operates.

56

"I don’t believe in
the mainstream,” says
Storr. His empirical
approach often clashes
with established ideas
about modernism.
And how will he keep himself that way,
stay fresh and continue to pay attention?
“Part of it is just compulsive,” he explains,
and part is “a decent sense of fear. When
you criticize people who stopped paying
attention, you have to be pretty sure that
you’re not indulging in the same privileges
that they didi And besides—ultimately
there’s a lot of interesting stuff to think
about. . . .
“There’s an inherent decline-of-the-West
mood that overtakes people involved in
cultural activities: ‘It was always better then,
it’s worse now, we are the saving remnant,’
etc., etc. I think that this is essentially false.
Our culture may be in a decadent time, but
there are always things in it of enormous
interest—and in fact decadent times are
often the best times for art. If something is
falling apart, it is also subject to surprising
and invigorating rearrangement.”
Why does he think the new pluralism
makes people so uncomfortable? “Because
they are going to hear some things they don’t
want to hear, the most important of which
is that they are not the center of the world
anymore. There may be no center of the
world anymore, but the assumption that a
certain kind of mainstream culture exists,
and that a mainstream way of life exists, has
been solace to people who are otherwise
besieged by realities that are beyond them.
“For example, the ideal nuclear family is
a fiction, but people find solace in reaffirm­
ing it over and over. The degree to which it
is a fiction has become the subject of art­
making, and that drives people nuts. It
means that museums, which they go to for
solace, actually make them feel more in­
tensely their discomfort.”
At the same time, Storr denies that plu­
ralism has a political agenda. “It’s radical
without necessarily being partisan in the
sense of having a particular political point to
make. The idea is not so much to rub salt
in the wounds. Rather, one is acting more
like doubting Thomas sticking his finger in
the wound to verify for himself that it is
there.”
At the Modern, the museum that more
than any other has defined and institutionalSWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN

ized modernism—and one which has been
accused of ignoring trends in contemporary
art in favor of recycling the icons of the
past—Storr’s approach represents a real
change. He admits a certain discomfort
about his new position: “Suddenly I find
myself, having thrown stones at every avail­
able glass house, inhabiting a glass house
and asking only for the privilege to move
things around inside it.”
He is interested in seeing how open a
curator can remain in an institution like the
Modern. “Some people believe that it’s
impossible for big institutions—particularly
ones with Established traditions—to be re­
sponsive to contemporary art. I don’t see
any inherent reason that this is true, although
the evidence tells us that in general it is true.
So the challenge is to see how flexible one
could make this aspect of the Museum’s
activities. . . .
«
“The basic responsibility of contemporary
art museums is to show the most active,
challenging work of their time. Museums
are not partisan institutions; they are not
there to preach to the public. But they are
there to show the public unflinchingly what
is being done by the best artists. And if the
best artists are making work about the worst
aspects of the society we live in, then it is
incumbent upon us to show it.”

Contemporary art goes well beyond painting and sculpture. Bruce Nauman’s neon
installation at the University o f California, Virtues and Vices (which also
flashes virtues such as faith, hope, and charity), examines our 20th-century
alienation and anxiety. Is this, in fact, the subject o f all modern art?

A cu ra to r’s curious path to th e M odern
In the heady atmosphere of the New
York art scene, where critics joust in
the Village Voice and dominate the
pages of national art journals, Robert
Storr’s ideas are original and provoca­
tive. It has been written of him that
“Storr’s theory of no theory—his com­
prehensive empiricism—sets him apart
from the other critics.”
His rise at age 41 to a position of in­
fluence at the Museum of Modern Art
has come from an unorthodox direc­
tion, for Storr is a painter, not a trained
art historian.
A French major at Swarthmore (at a
time when you could not major in art),
he credits the late Professor Hedley
Rhys with being his “lifeline” while in
college. “One of the things Hedley
taught me,” says Storr, “was that cul­
ture is a source of pleasure, and that
pleasure is never a simple matter.”
Storr dedicated his recent campus lec­
ture to the memory of Professor Rhys.
After graduation he worked in book­
stores (“where I got most of my educa­
tion”), haunted museums, and attended

art classes part time before returning to
his native Chicago to study painting at
the Art Institute. After receiving his
Master of Fine Arts degree there in
1978, he lived in Holland and in Bos­
ton before venturing in 1981 to New
York, where he supported himself
doing construction and art handling
while he continued to paint.
His break into the world of criticism
was unexpected. During his first sum­
mer in New York, Storr read a column
in the Voice about Philip Guston, a
painter he greatly admired. He wrote a
long letter to Peter Schjeldahl, the
writer of the column, saying that while
his piece was “marvelous in its obser­
vations, it was completely wrong in its
conclusions.” Schjeldahl wrote back
saying that although Storr’s observa­
tions were very interesting, he was
completely wrong, and a lively corre­
spondence ensued. “Finally,” recalls
Storr, “Peter wrote a letter that said
basically, ‘Who are you? Where did
you come from? You should be doing
this for a living. Let’s have a beer.’ ”

Schjeldahl sent sections of the corre­
spondence to the editor of A rt in
America, and in 1981 Storr was invited
to write show and book reviews. By
1983 he was publishing feature-length
articles in the magazine, where he re­
mains a contributing editor. As his visi­
bility increased, he began to be invited
to lecture and teach, to write show
catalogs, and ultimately to organize and
curate shows. Storr has written mono­
graphs on Philip Guston and (with Lisa
Lyons) on Chuck Close. A new book
on the sculptor Louise Bourgeois is
about to be published.
At the Museum of Modern Art,
Storr will work primarily on contem­
porary exhibitions and acquisitions. He
is organizing a fall 1991 show called
DISLOCATIONS, which “makes you
question where you are—i.e., the gal­
lery—or where you have just been—
i.e., the world that you just stepped out
of.” He is also curating a show of work
from the 1980s at the Institute of Con­
temporary Art in Philadelphia, set to
open in October.
—JL

Looking for an end-of-summer trip that combines
outdoor activities, sight-seeing, and relaxation?
How about joining Swarthmore College alumni,
parents, and friends for a long weekend of sailing
off the coast of Maine? We have reserved space on
the 80-foot windjammer Mercantile, which sails
out of Camden, Maine, for the weekend of August
16-18. Enjoy the salt air and rugged beauty of
Penobscot Bay as we follow the wind for three
^ p
days of relaxing sailing.
We board after 4 p.m. on Thursday, August 15,
to get acquainted and learn our way around the
decks. Following a night on board in the harbor,
we “put on sail” and “weigh anchor” at 10:00 a.m.
Besides enjoying the scenery, waterfowl, and other
C l A / A D T U H / i n D r wildlife (including the occasional
d W H I l I m V l U V I C . whale), passengers are encouraged to
assist the crew and learn about sailing the cruise
schooner. Evenings often find the Mercantile
moored a short rowboat ride from one of the little
villages on the islands of Penobscot Bay, where we
can do some after-dinner exploring. Lunches are
served on deck, dinner below deck or on shore (see
below), and nights are spent moored near one of
the many islands. Sunday, after brunch on deck,
we return to the Camden dock around noon.
The M ercantile is one of the original ships of the
Maine Windjammer Cruise fleet. Built in 1916 to
carry cargo, she was converted to a passenger ship
in 1942 and was totally restored in 1989 to include
modern conveniences like a hot-water shower and
a large comfortable main cabin. The only physical
requirements are that you be able to climb the
ladders from below deck. For safety reasons, all
passengers must be over 16 years of age.
Reservations must be made by June 10. We have
15 of the Mercantile’s 29 spaces reserved, but if
there is sufficient interest, we may be able to
accommodate more Swarthmoreans. This is the
only major announcement of the voyage, so send
in your reservation and deposit right away.

S A IL
TH E
COAST

M A IN E
W IT H
★

Cost for Thursday night through Sunday noon is
$360 per person. All accommodations are doubles,
so those traveling alone will be matched up with
roommates of the same sex. Meals from Friday
breakfast through Sunday brunch are included,
and, if the weather cooperates, Saturday dinner
will be an old-fashioned lobster bake on one of the
islands. Space is limited, and although Capt. Ray
Williamson has agreed to hold our reservation
until June 10, we cannot guarantee any space after
that.
Please send your deposit of $200 (U.S.) to the
Alumni Office, Swarthmore College, 500 College
Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1397, by June
10. Deposit is 50 percent refundable until June 24.
The balance is due by July 1. If you have ques­
tions, please call the Alumni Office at (215) 3288404. We hope to see you on board.

AUGUST

Swarthmore College shall not be liable in any wayfor any
damage, injury, or loss o flife orproperty incurred by anyperson
in connection with this program beyondfundsfor cancellations
stated herein.

16-18
1991

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I

N am e_______________________________Class
Guest(s)

Address

Phone (D ay)_______________ (Evening)______________
Please enclose a deposit of $200 (in U.S. funds) per person.
Make check payable to Swarthmore College. Mail to the
Alumni Relations Office, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore,
PA 19081-1397. We must receive your reservation by June 10.

I________________________________ 1