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Our Own Shade of Green
swarthmore
swarthmore college
bulletin | april 2008
campus view
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
Swarthmore’s trees,
like its people, are
rooted here, but
their branches reach
far and wide.
parlor talk
swarthmore
college bulletin
editor
Jeffrey Lott
associate editor
Carol Brévart-Demm
class notes editor
Susan Cousins Breen
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
At a conference last spring, environmental activist and author Bill McKibben,
currently scholar-in-residence at Middlebury
College, addressed more than 300 college
and university editors. His message was simple: Colleges and universities can and do play
a leading role in understanding climate
change. But they should also become models
for the actions that arise from this new
knowledge. And, McKibben said, editors of
college and university magazines can play a
vital role by reporting on environmental initiatives at their institutions.
Listening to McKibben, I did a few calculations on a napkin. Last year, a typical issue
of the Swarthmore College Bulletin required
about 13,000 pounds of paper—a little over
50,000 pounds a year. Using primitive math,
I estimated conservatively that the magazines
represented at the conference—mostly with
greater circulation than the Bulletin—must
use about 10 million pounds of paper annually. During the discussion following McKibben’s talk, I challenged my colleagues, and
myself, to consider how our magazines could
not only report on environmental issues but
also how we could become more responsible
ourselves. This issue of the Bulletin is
Swarthmore’s response to the challenge.
On this page is the logo of the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC). This international organization, created in the wake of
the 1993 Rio de Janeiro climate summit, is
having a growing impact on ecologically and
socially responsible forest management
worldwide. There is now a “chain of custody”
for sustainably grown trees that ultimately
become paper for this magazine. They are
followed from FSC-certified forests through
certified paper mills and ultimately to our
FSC-certified printer, The Lane Press in
Burlington, Vt. Like most paper, the Bulletin’s
new stock is made from mixed sources—a
combination of virgin and recycled pulp.
Because of the FSC—and institutions like
Swarthmore that are demanding sustainably
produced paper—demand for such paper is
increasing. One result of this demand is that
FSC-certified paper is slightly more expen-
I challenged my colleagues, and myself, to consider
how our magazines could not only report on environmental issues but also how we could become
more responsible ourselves. This issue of the Bulletin is Swarthmore’s response to the challenge.
sive. Yet as Swarthmore’s flagship publication, this is a cost we are willing to bear. We
believe that Swarthmore College must model
both social and environmental responsibility;
in the future, you will see the FSC logo on
many more Swarthmore publications.
At the Bulletin, we have taken two important steps to afford this change within our
budget. We have reduced the magazine’s page
count from 80 to 72—using about 10 percent
less paper; and we have increased the width
of our pages to nine inches, reducing trim
waste at the printer and giving us just a little
more space on each page. Our art director,
Suzanne Gaadt, has taken this opportunity to
completely redesign the magazine, with fresh
fonts and a new look to many sections.
We hope you like the new, more sustainable Swarthmore College Bulletin. In this
issue, you will learn more about steps the
College is taking to be an environmentally
responsible institution; about the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program; and
about how some of your fellow Swarthmoreans
are dedicating their lives and careers to creating a better environment for all of us.
Enjoy the magazine, and when you are
finished with it, please recycle.
—Jeffrey Lott
art director
Suzanne DeMott Gaadt, Gaadt Perspectives llc
staff photographer
Eleftherios Kostans
desktop publishing
Audree Penner
administrative assistant
Janice Merrill-Rossi
editor emerita
Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49
contacting swarthmore college
college operator
(610) 328-8000 www.swarthmore.edu
admissions
(610) 328-8300 admissions@swarthmore.edu
alumni relations
(610) 328-8402 alumni@swarthmore.edu
publications
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registrar
(610) 328-8297 registrar@swarthmore.edu
world wide web
www.swarthmore.edu
changes of address
Send address label along with new address to:
Alumni Records Office
Swarthmore College
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore PA 19081-1390
Phone: (610) 328-8435
Or e-mail: alumnirecords@swarthmore.edu.
The Swarthmore College Bulletin
(ISSN 0888-2126), of which this is volume CV,
number 4, is published in August, October, January, April, and July by Swarthmore College,
500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 190811390. Periodicals postage paid at Swarthmore
PA and additional mailing offices. Permit No.
0530-620. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Swarthmore College Bulletin, 500 College
Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1390.
©2008 Swarthmore College. Printed in U.S.A.
ON THE COVER
The growth of environmentalism on campus is symbolized by a sapling that rises from the sculpted stump
of one of the College’s oldest trees—the Bender Oak. The sculpture is by Marty Long (see p.7). The cover
illustration is a photomontage by Andrew Pinkham, whose work also appears on pages 18–33.
2
swarthmore college bulletin
in this issue
features
april 2008
24
18
18: OUR OWN SHADE OF GREEN
As sustainability becomes a global
concern, Swarthmore forges
its own path.
By Carol Brévart-Demm
24: THOUGHT – ENERGY – ACTION
Swarthmore’s Environmental Studies
Program finds its interdisciplinary
groove.
By Jeffrey Lott
28: BRANCHING OUT
Alumni of all ages are reaching
for a healthy planet.
By Susan Cousins Breen,
Carol Brévart-Demm, Jeffrey Lott,
Audree Penner, and Elizabeth Redden ’05
34: A SENSE OF PLACE
28
34
april 2008
Five gardening principles described
in a new book by the director of the
Scott Arboretum are seen on Swarthmore’s
campus.
By Claire Sawyers
3
in this issue
departments
64: IN MY LIFE
Readers share their thoughts and opinions
A Brief But Delightful Career
With the Royal Ballet
By Stephen Burns ’71
7: COLLECTION
72: Q + A
5: LETTERS
39
A campus walkabout
16: FACULTY EXPERT
The Marvels of Things Created: New Work
by Professor of Studio Art Brian Meunier
By Andrea Packard ’85
Jeff Jabco: When Should You Garden?
By Jeffrey Lott
64
39: CONNECTIONS
Swarthmoreans get together in every place
imaginable—even hunting dinosaur tracks.
41: CLASS NOTES
Alumni updates
45: IN MEMORIAM
Remembering departed classmates and
friends
56: BOOKS + ARTS
Swarthmore College Bulletin on the Web: This issue and more
than 10 years of archives are at www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin.
On the Swarthmore Web site, you will also find:
Adventures of a boat ranger: Dan Hammer ’07
reports from Tonga and New Zealand, where he
is spending a Watson Fellowship year learning
ancient yet changing customs —and setting the
occasional world record.
www.swarthmore.edu/x16802.xml
Recently launched: The College’s newest Web
sites include those for Public Safety
(www.swarthmore.edu/publicsafety/) and
the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility (www.swarthmore.edu/langcenter/).
Second Skin: A documentary on gaming culture written and produced by Victor Piñeiro ’00 premiered at last
month's SXSW Film Festival. www.swarthmore.edu/x17292.xml
TV News: Watch a recent television news report about some of the
environmental initiatives currently underway on campus.
www.swarthmore.edu/x16873.xml
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72
contributors
Since retiring in 2001,
Professor Emeritus of
Russian Th om ps on
B radl ey (“Books + Arts,”
p. 56) has been teaching
creative writing at the
Philadelphia Industrial
Correctional Center, where
his inmate students produce memoirs, short stories, poetry, and the
occasional novel. He also
teaches for Swarthmore
Lifelong Learning, including this spring’s course on
Anna Karenina and The
Brothers Karamazov.
SAM DAHLKE
on the web
GEORGE WIDMAN
16
Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times
as a Weatherman
By Cathy Wilkerson ’66
Reviewed by Thompson Bradley
A ndre a Pack ard ’ 8 5 (“The
Marvels of Things Created,”
p. 14) has directed the
College’s List Gallery since
1995. An English literature
major and art history
minor, she realized by senior year that she forgets to
eat when drawing. She
studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts and later received an
M.F.A. from American University. She is currently
preparing for a 2008–2009
exhibition at the Philadelphia International Airport.
Photographer and illustrator A ndre w Pi nk ham
(cover and pages 18-33)
has been creatively inspired since he took his
first film class at Chester
County (Pa.) Art Association at age 11. A graduate
of the Antonelli Institute
of Art and Photography, he
has been a professional
photographer for more
than 20 years. He draws on
influences from painters
and the old photo masters
and an interest in surrealism, form, and space.
swarthmore college bulletin
letters
THE B STUDENT
2. Swarthmore no longer enrolls B students, like I was, but “Ivy Leaguers.”
I benefited greatly from my education,
and I believe deeply in small liberal arts colleges. Swarthmore gave me about $120,000
(2007 dollars) in financial aid grants, and I
want to help the next generation have the
same opportunities I had.
However, something is wrong if my donation just convinces an A student from a family earning $100,000 a year to pick Swarthmore over Yale to avoid loans.
I took $20,000 (also 2007 dollars) in loans
for college. This was not then—and is not
now—an unreasonable share of the cost of
four years of college, no matter what the student’s background or future plans. Given
how Swarthmore currently uses donations,
should I still “pay back” these grants?
The answer came from Jim Bock ’90, dean
of admissions and financial aid, who woke
me from my dogmatic slumber and helped
me realize that tradition is not enough;
Swarthmore also has to “earn” my donations.
My family’s history with the College aside,
Swarthmore is no longer the most deserving
college to which I could give, by any objective
measure of goals, ability, and need.
Swarthmore can—and should—only
enroll less than 400 students a year, so growing large enough for B students is not the
answer. America needs more colleges like
Swarthmore was—for students like I was.
Hence, I plan to “pay forward“ the grants to a
college with greater need.
I am looking for a small liberal arts college, with a strong academic focus, a limited
but well-managed endowment, and B students that is not yet able to offer full financial
aid to all admitted students. In short, I am
looking for a slightly poorer version of the
Swarthmore College I attended.
There are many worthy candidates.
Alfred Lee ’84
Seattle
In an off-hand comment, the Yale Alumni
Magazine recently noted that Swarthmore’s
new loan-free financial aid plan (see p. 6)
was the latest round of “price competition”
for students among Harvard, Yale, Princeton,
and other elite schools.
This points out how Swarthmore has
changed since I attended:
1. Swarthmore is now very wealthy
Dean Jim Bock replies: Don’t sell Swarthmore
or yourself short. Swarthmore was quite
selective in the spring of 1980—the year that
you enrolled—when approximately 30 percent of nonenrolled admitted students chose
Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Then as now, we
look at the person behind the numbers and
take a holistic approach to the admissions
THE EPITOME OF HIP
In 1961, as a high-school exchange student in
Western Michigan who had grown up in
Germany, I knew zilch about Swarthmore.
Then I ran into Janice, the epitome of hip in
a part of the country still living in the Fifties.
Her report on Swarthmore was: leftish politics, bad football, high-powered academics. I
got in (no doubt on my regional quota) and
alas, Janice went to Oberlin. But even today,
how many foreigners have a girlfriend in the
United States who can tout Swarthmore?
As Dean of Admissions Jim Bock ’90
points out (“Bye the Numbers,” Dec. 2007
Bulletin), the much-maligned U.S. News and
World Report rankings offer a nice entry
point into the confusing world of some 3,000
American institutions of higher learning.
What’s more, the ranking isn’t that arbitrary,
nor does it reduce the score to a single number. You can learn a lot very quickly from all
those columns that represent objective data.
Then you start digging.
Nonetheless, I am peeved at U.S. News for
having ranked Swarthmore third over the last
several years. Why do they insist on blurring
the obvious—that Swarthmore is No. 1?
Josef Joffe ’65
Hamburg, Germany
april 2008
process. As we have always done, we still take
students both above and below our academic
profile. Since 1981, Swarthmore has steadily
reduced the amount of loan included in our
aid awards for low-income students. Beginning your freshman year, the loan component of our aid awards has been either $0 or
$1,000 per year for low-income students.
Princeton, on the other hand, started its noloan program about 20 years after we began
our effort. We made the move then because it
was the right thing to do—just as our new
policy is the right thing to do now. With it,
Swarthmore will continue to provide the best
education possible—at the most affordable
price—for students from all income levels.
INCREASE ENDOWMENT SPENDING
I stopped giving to the College Annual Fund
several years ago when I first became aware
that the College’s endowment was approaching $1 billion. I therefore read with interest
Vice President for Finance and Treasurer
Suzanne Welch’s discussion of endowment
spending rates in the December 2007 issue of
the Bulletin (“With a $1.4 Billion Endowment, Why Not Spend More Freely?”).
The endowment, which Welch aptly
describes as “that burgeoning pot of money,”
now represents approximately $1 million per
student—not that the article ever mentions
the actual size of the endowment, or its actual rate of return. By sticking to the “model”
rather than the actualities, in my view,
Welch’s comments obscure a fundamental
question: When is enough enough?
I would have appreciated a more straightforward, meaningful discussion of this question from the chief financial officer. Seeking
more information, I went romping unescorted through the financial reports on the College’s Web site. According to my calculations,
the endowment averaged a 15.33 percent
inflation-adjusted return from 2001 to 2007.
(This figure includes a loss in 2001–2002.)
From 1976 to 2006, a 30-year period, the
return was nine percent (2005–2006 Financial Report, Chart 4). It’s not clear to me
whether these returns include gifts to the
endowment as well as investment booty, but
it is clear is that historical returns have been
well above 5.75 percent, the model rate the
College uses to calculate spending rates.
Swarthmore has clearly benefited from
5
letters
talented management of its endowment. Furthermore, few would argue with the need to
preserve sufficient principal to ensure longterm financial stability. Given the stellar
returns of recent decades, one might nevertheless argue that a 4.25 percent spend rate is
unduly conservative. In fact, the College has
consistently failed to spend even at that level.
While inflation-adjusted returns between
2001 and 2007 were averaging 15.33 percent,
the financial reports show the College’s average endowment spend rate as 4.03 percent.
Although Welch downplays the significance of “a few tenths of a point each year,”
the difference between 4.03 percent of a billion dollars and 4.25 percent of that amount
is 2.2 million dollars a year. Where I come
from, that’s more than pocket change.
One does not have to look far to find uses
for that money. For example, while the
endowment was fattening, the percentage of
students receiving scholarships between 2000
and 2006 remained exactly the same
(2006–2007 Financial Report, Chart 1). I also
note that “budgetary issues” delayed for two
years student efforts to have campus snack
bars use compostible dishes and cups, (Dec.
2007 Bulletin, p.11) and that the new science
building received LEED certification at the
lowest of four possible levels, instead of at
the highest. (See “The Greening of Swarthmore” on the College’s Web site.)
This is not just a Swarthmore issue.
According to a recent New York Times on-line
article, Harvard and Yale have both recently
bowed to public and Congressional pressure
and agreed to increase distributions from
their respective endowments.
I applaud the fact that Swarthmore College, like many others around the country,
has recently announced its intention to use
endowment funds to eliminate the loan component of financial aid. But I also note that
the amount involved is relatively small compared to returns and in many years would
still keep the spend rate under the paltry 4.25
percent minimum.
For sure, budgets are prospective and
returns retrospective, but I think the College
can afford to aim higher. Perhaps, for example, half of any return in excess of 6.75 percent (or any reasonable number) could be
reserved for special projects that combine
educational value for students with the fur6
therance of social justice or environmental
goals consistent with the College’s values.
The College’s recent multiyear fund-raising effort suggested that “The Meaning of
Swarthmore” includes giving back. As a matter of institutional integrity, the College
should be handling its endowment in a manner that reflects the values it espouses.
Those in positions of comfort and privilege need to share space on the bottom line
with the obligations that accrue from being
citizens and stewards of one planet.
Hard to say where I acquired that point
of view. I’d like to think it’s where I went to
college.
Kathy MacLeod Hooke ’68
Portland, Maine
and again when the Saudi government proposed to lash a woman who had been gangraped for the crime of walking with a man
who was not her husband. The attitudes
expressed in Sudan and Saudi Arabia conflict
fundamentally with some of our most cherished values. When Professor Ghannam suggests that American revulsion at incidents of
this sort is mere “culture talk” that masks
imperialistic economic and political motives,
she seems to be promoting her own political
agenda at the expense of the truth. The Bulletin’s celebration of this kind of teaching
suggests that Swarthmore has made a similar
choice.
Jennifer Hayes Howland ’78
Tulsa, Okla.
Vice President Suzanne Welsh replies: Swarthmore is committed to providing equitably for
present as well as future generations through
the allocation of resources, endowment
spending practices, and the maintenance of
facilities and technology. To preserve capital
for what we project to be the “infinite” life of
the institution, the College’s financial managers take a very long-term view of its
endowment. Market cycles tend to be very
long. (The bull market that ended in
2000–2001 lasted 20 years; the bear market
before that was about 14 years.) Some argue
that we may potentially be in for a long period of substandard returns, and, if so, our
longer-term perspective and spending-rate
discipline will prove essential, putting
Swarthmore in a better position to weather
economic vicissitudes while continuing to
provide the faculty, facilities, and financial
aid that distinguish it in higher education.
Editor’s Note: The diverse opinions expressed
in the Bulletin are those of individual authors
or subjects of articles. They do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or of the
College administration.
CULTURE TALK
Associate Professor of Anthropology Farha
Ghannam asserts that “those who argue that
there is a clash of civilizations [between
Islam and the West] choose to use ‘culture
talk’ to legitimize certain projects, conflicts,
and specific agendas. It’s easy to challenge the
legitimacy of a war if the goal is to control oil
or pacify a population….” (“Q+A,” Dec. 2007
Bulletin)
Americans were appalled when angry
mobs of Sudanese called for the death of a
British school teacher who allowed a child in
her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed,
ECHOLS: A POWERFUL PRESENCE
Thank you for the tribute to Linda Echols in
recognition of her departure from her job as
director of the Worth Health Center last fall.
(“Collection,” Dec. 2007 Bulletin)
Linda was a powerful presence on campus
for many of us—going well beyond the role
of caregiver and administrator. During my
time at Swarthmore, she inspired me to act
on my passion for health issues as an activist,
volunteer, and student. After I graduated,
Linda became a friend and mentor, encouraging my decision to pursue a graduate
degree in public health.
Linda brought energy, compassion, and
wisdom to her work at Swarthmore. She also
was famous—infamous, even—for speaking
her mind, and she certainly inspired me to
do the same. She will be greatly missed.
Richard Vezina ’99
Brooklyn, N.Y.
FOR THE RECORD
The 1898 Mark Twain play Is He Dead? that
Shelley Fisher Fishkin ’71 discovered in 2002,
was not, as a December 2007 Bulletin “Books
+ Arts” capsule stated, a “one-man play.” And
it was published by the University of California Press—not Harvard University Press. We
regret these editorial errors.
swarthmore college bulletin
collection
JEFFREY LOTT
“Art and Nature Thus Allied”
The campus community was a little saddened last summer
to see the magnificent old Bender oak next to the Faulkner
Tennis Courts reduced to a mere—yet mighty—stump.
Estimated to be about 350 years old and a probable remnant of the original hardwood forest that covered the area
in colonial times, the venerable tree was declared unsafe
and felled.
In late December, with the skillful manipulation of his
11 chainsaws, Marty Long, a local artist, ice sculptor, and
wood carver, effected a metamorphosis of the jagged
stump, delighting passers-by as they witnessed the gradual
emergence of a graceful oak leaf, curling gently as if lifted
on a breeze.
Stripped of bark, with its many grainy hues exposed, the
sculpture shines softly in amber, cream, and gold when
touched by the sunlight; glows brighter and richer when
moistened by the rain; and glistens like a chimera through
the mist of a light snowfall—as art and nature become one.
—Carol Brévart-Demm
april 2008
LOAN-FREE AID PLAN
DRAWS PRAISE
The Board of Managers’ decision in
December to replace all loans with
scholarships in the College’s financial
aid awards, effective in the
2008–2009 academic year, has drawn
praise from students and alumni.
President Alfred H. Bloom’s office
reported receiving hundreds of letters and e-mails applauding the decision. But the plan also presents a
financial challenge for the College,
which will fund the increased cost of
need-based scholarship aid from a
combination of endowment income
and increased gifts to the Annual
Fund.
“For many students, the new policy will mean being able to choose
Swarthmore and to engage fully their
educational experience here free of
debt,” Bloom says. “Moreover, an
educational community marked by
greater equality and opportunity
empowers our students to become
leaders in shaping a more just and
generous world.”
According to Jim Bock ’90, dean
of admissions and financial aid, the
new policy represents a further step
in a long history of providing generous financial aid. Since 1981, the College has sought to protect its lowestincome students from the burden of
debt by limiting their loans to a maximum of $1,000 a year. During the
past two years, students in this group
were offered loan-free financial aid
Continued on next page
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This year, a junior is receiving an aid award
of $31,800. Her aid from the College likely
includes a campus job opportunity of $1,710
(7 or 8 hours of work a week), a suggested
loan of $4,500, and the remainder, $25,590,
in scholarship grants. If she were to need the
same $31,800 in the 2008–2009 academic
year, her aid award would include the $1,710
campus job opportunity and $30,090 in
scholarship. Her $4,500 loan component
would be replaced with additional scholarship funds.
The new policy does not change the
nature of Swarthmore’s need-based financial
aid; the College will continue to offer aid
awards only in response to families’ demonstrated financial needs. Although Swarthmore’s aid awards will be loan-free, students
swarthmore
scholarship
[loans]
campus
jobs
other
grants
family
contribution
summer
earnings
The College has decided that it will no longer require students who qualify for financial aid or their
families to take out student loans as part of their
awards. Loans will be replaced with additional
scholarship awards.
may still use the federal Stafford Loan and
parents may still use the federal PLUS Loan
for all the other reasons they did in the past.
It was announced in February that
Swarthmore’s total student charges (tuition,
room, board, and activity fee) will rise to
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
A Scandal
for School
A Scandal in Bohemia—A Chamber Opera in
Two Acts, is the fourth opus created by longtime collaborators Nathalie Anderson, professor of English literature and librettist, and
8
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
awards. The recent decision extends loanfree aid awards to all students—domestic
and international—with demonstrated need.
The decision will be applied to all enrolled
students’ aid packages beginning in September. The following illustration of the benefit
of the loan-free policy for a typical student
was posted on the College Web site:
Tom Whitman ’82, associate professor of
music and composer (above).
The plot of the opera is based on Arthur
Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story “A
$47,800 in 2008–2009, a 4.6 percent increase
from the current academic year.
Fifty percent of students receive scholarship aid from the College. More than one
third of Swarthmore’s annual spending from
its endowment—amounting to nearly $20
million—is used to support its commitment
to financial aid. Implementing the new loanfree award policy will cost the College
approximately $1.7 million additionally each
year.
Efforts to generate this additional income
are already under way, says Stephen Bayer,
vice president for alumni and development.
Fund-raising goals include $18 million in
new endowment for financial aid and an
increase in Annual Giving of $2 million per
year. Widespread student approval of the
loan-free policy led to offers by members of
the Student Council to solicit contributions
from the student body in support of the
plan. At the February Board meeting, Manager Gil Kemp ’75 announced that he would
match student contributions at a rate of 10
to one.
—Jeffrey Lott
Scandal in Bohemia,” in which the detective
is outwitted by a resourceful woman.
Act I of the opera debuted on March 2,
performed mainly by students, including
baritone Henry Clapp ’09 and conductor
Mark Loria ’08. The student cast was complemented by professional vocalists Markus
Beam, Laura Heimes, and Julian Rodescu,
who also teaches voice at the College.
“I’m particularly excited about the way
this performance combines my professional
lives as composer and teacher,” Whitman
says. Whitman also wrote a chamber-music
spin-off of the opera titled Holmes Suite for
strings and piano, which was performed at
Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum on Feb. 24, he says, by “an unusually talented group of high school students from the
Settlement Music School.” The Settlement
School commissioned the piece in honor of
its centennial.
Anderson and Whitman have also collaborated on two other operas, The Black Swan
(1998) and Sukey in the Dark (2001), as well
as a choral piece.
—Carol Brévart-Demm
swarthmore college bulletin
WHO WON THE LATEST WAR?
GEORGE WIDMAN
Dominic Tierney, an assistant professor of
political science at the College, and coauthor Dominic Johnson, a Princeton University Fellow, were honored last fall with the
International Studies Association’s Best Book
Award for Failing to Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics (Harvard University Press, 2006), in which the
authors discuss the reasons why popular
judgments about success or failure in war
frequently have little to do with the actual
results.
Tierney says that U.S. public opinion is
particularly critical in cases of U.S. intervention in civil wars—such as humanitarian
operations in Haiti, Bosnia, and Somalia—
suggesting that Americans judge the success
of nation-building against their own standards of democracy rather than evaluating
the progress made in the country involved.
In a 2006 New York Times op-ed, he wrote:
“A situation is judged a failure for falling
short of U.S. democratic standards, even if
the country involved never had a democratic
system and was incredibly unstable and
poverty-ridden to begin with.”
Tierney is also the author of FDR and the
Spanish Civil War: Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle That Divided America
(Duke University Press, 2007).
—Carol Brévart-Demm
A Great Team Player
Last November, the Philadelphia Multicultural Affairs Congress and the Council of Spanish
Speaking Organizations chose Assistant Dean and Director of the Intercultural Center (IC)
Rafael Zapata (above) as one of the Delaware Valley’s most influential Latinos. One of a group
of 51 leaders from a range of fields including politics, education, economics, and social services, Zapata was selected from 25 nominees in the category “10 under [age] 40.”
Zapata, who has been with the College since 2002, is responsible for counseling students
on academic as well as personal issues. As IC director, he works with, among others, students
of color and queer students on issues of culture, leadership, development, and social justice
education. He has facilitated collaboration with the College and Taller Puertoriqueño, a
Philadelphia organization for culture and the arts, on whose board he currently serves as
chair. Since 2000, he has served as a reader and trainer for the Gates Millennium Scholars
Program and the Hispanic Cultural Fund. From 2004 to 2007, he was a peer reviewer for the
Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which disburses more than $2 million a year to local arts and
cultural organizations.
In a December Phoenix article, Assistant Dean and Director of the Black Cultural Center
Timothy Sams said, “[Rafael is] awesome. He’s an excellent collaborator and is very well conapril 2008
9
collection
Swarthmore’s Class of 2012 will be the most selective yet. According to Dean of Admissions
and Financial Aid Jim Bock ’90, as of early February, 6,225 high school seniors applied to
the College, reflecting an overall increase of 17 percent over last year.
Numbers for fall early decision were up by 10 percent, for winter early decision by 17
percent, and for regular decision by 17 percent, although Bock expects the final numbers to
be slightly lower after all applications have been processed and the incomplete ones eliminated. He is particularly pleased that 993 applicants are international students, a 25 percent
increase over last year, and that applications by first-generation students have risen by 26
percent.
According to a January 2008 New York Times article, numbers of college applications are
breaking records all around the country due to factors including the demographic upswing
in students of college age, aggressive recruiting, and the increasing popularity of applying
on-line, which encourages students to submit more applications than they might have in
the past.
Bock agrees that demographics, ease of applying on-line, and increased outreach by the
College admissions staff are partly responsible for the bumper crop of applications. However, he adds, the discontinuation of the early admission programs at Harvard, Princeton, and
the University of Virginia is also having an impact on application numbers. “We’re seeing
many students who would otherwise have applied early to those places but who are now still
in the pipeline and are submitting 10 to 12 applications each to other schools. So it’s not just
more applicants. It’s more applications per student.”
—Carol Brévart-Demm
REVAMPED
NEWS WEB SITE
The College’s Communications Office has
launched a redesigned “News” section of
Swarthmore’s Web site. The new, information-rich page features video clips; podcasts
of faculty lectures and selected music performances; and blogs by students, faculty,
and alumni. The site continues to highlight
faculty experts, recent College news headlines, links to student media, and summaries
of Swarthmore’s appearances in local and
national media.
10
News and features from the Swarthmore College Bulletin will be prominently featured. RSS feeds of each of these
sections will also be provided so that
readers can “subscribe” and receive notification when those areas are updated
with new stories.
“We are working closely with our
colleagues, especially those in media
services and alumni relations, to create
an interactive site that showcases—largely
through video and podcasts—the energy and
variety of life on campus,” says Director of
Communications Nancy Nicely. “Whether it
is a taiko drumming lesson or a lecture on
planet formation, in a classroom or on a
stage, we want to show in as many ways as
possible how life at Swarthmore supports
and enriches the life of the mind.”
To sample the site, go to
www.swarthmore.edu/news.
—Alisa Giardinelli
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
Record Applications—Again!
NEW VP FOR DEVELOPMENT
AND ALUMNI RELATIONS
Stephen Bayer, who first joined the College
in 2001 as associate director for planned giving, has been named vice president for
development and alumni relations.
Bayer received a B.A. cum laude from
Tufts University and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law. After law school, he
served with the law firm of Mesirov, Gelman, Jaffee, Cramer and Jamison; CMS
Companies, an international personal
investment-banking firm; and as co-founder
and president of Net Recovery LLC, a full
service benefits recovery company.
In addition to his work in planned giving,
Bayer has served as director of capital gifts,
director of principal gifts and, in 2006,
director of development. Upon the retirement of Dan West on Jan. 2, he became acting vice president.
“Stephen will offer inspired and empowering leadership to our dynamic development and alumni relations teams,” said President Alfred H. Bloom, who announced the
appointment in February following a
national search. “His care for individuals
and for this institution, his magnetic persuasive talent, and his imaginative vision will
give authentic and powerful voice to the core
values of this community and bring everincreasing numbers of alumni, parents, and
friends closer to the College in affection,
esteem, and support.”
swarthmore college bulletin
PRUDENTE HONORED
COUR
TESY
OF FR
IENDS
HISTO
RICAL
LIBRA
RY
Legendary coach Ernie Prudente was inducted into the Philadelphia-Area Small College
Basketball Hall of Fame at a luncheon in his
honor in December. Prudente’s basketball
teams won 103 games at Haverford College
from 1957 to 1969 and 81 games at Swarthmore between 1969 and 1981. He holds the
record for the most basketball wins at Haverford and is the second most winning coach at
Swarthmore. He is also overall the most successful baseball coach in Swarthmore history,
with 216 wins over 25 seasons.
Prudente played varsity football, basketball, and baseball at Haverford Township
High School before serving in the U.S. Navy
during World War II. He entered Friends’
Central Prep in 1946–1947 and played the
same sports there. Prudente went on to the
University of Pennsylvania, where he played
four years of varsity football and basketball.
In 1969, Prudente jumped from Haverford to Swarthmore, bringing the Garnet
squad its first winning season since 1950–
1951. He coached basketball until 1981,
defeating the Fords in his first seven tries.
Rebecca Brubaker ’06 and Andrew Sniderman ’07 were both recipients of a Rhodes Scholarship, the oldest international-study award
available to American students. (Read more about Sniderman in
“Green Bonds for a Green Future” on p. 33.)
Brubaker is the fourth Swarthmore woman to receive the scholarship. A McCabe Scholar while at the College, she will spend two years
at Oxford University working on a master’s degree in migration studies. She will live on campus because “I don’t want to miss out on the
age-old traditions that come with the Oxford experience and are centered in dorm life.” She is interested in revising and developing immigration policies and integration protocols in both the United States
and Europe.
“To have the best understanding of the issues, I want to look at
[immigration policies] in various contexts,” she says. “The European
context particularly fascinates me because of the speed and diversity
of immigration [to European countries] and the fact that it is occurring at the same time that the European Union is struggling to create
a shared European identity with freedom of movement and labor.
Oxford’s intellectual environment as well as its geographic and political location will help propel me towards this goal.”
As an undergraduate, Brubaker’s focus was identity, conflict, and
nationalism with a special interest in refugee and immigration issues.
april 2008
the characteristics exemplified by Coach
Prudente: sportsmanship, love of the sport,
and respect for their teammates.
Coach Ernie Prudente (back row, right) and the
1973–1974 men’s basketball team
She won the Rudkin Political Science
Award for her senior honors thesis on
conflict resolution in Cyprus. Following graduation, she spent a year in
Cyprus on a Fulbright Award, working on conflict resolution efforts
between displaced Greek and Turkish
Cypriot communities. This experience fueled her interest in identity
issues on the borderlands of Europe.
“I became fascinated by questions
such as, what makes a place or a people European,” she says.
Brubaker is in Turkey on an Insight Fellowship, working with the
United Nations High Commission on Refugees to examine trust
building, resource allocation, and integration initiatives between
migrant/refugee groups and their host societies in Tanzania, Turkey,
and The Hague.
The three other Swarthmore women who have been named
Rhodes Scholars are Jane Stromseth ’78, economics; Melissa Ward
Burch ’81, biology; and Janice Hudgings ’91, engineering/mathematics. Twenty-eight Swarthmore alumni have received the
honor.
A complete historical list of Swarthmore Rhodes Scholarship
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
Two More Rhodes Scholars
Prudente
ran the College’s intramural
program from 1981 until his retirement. He
was named professor of physical education
in 1992, teaching tennis, volleyball, badminton, archery, squash, basketball, and
touch football.
Swarthmore presents the Ernie Prudente
Sportsmanship Award annually to the male
and female athletes who have demonstrated
11
E
R
O
S
T
U
J
THE SPIR
N
A
H
T
IT OF FU
Before Margaret Cho performed her
stand-up act to a packed house
at the Pearson-Hall Theater in February, she took time to meet with students in two of Assistant Professor of English Literature Bakirathi Mani’s courses,
Nation and Migration and Asian American
Literature. Cho began by describing her various roles as comedian, author, activist, and
director: “I do so many things because I
don’t limit myself,” she said, adding that, as
an Asian American, it was especially difficult
to become an established comedian because
she had no role models from whom to seek
inspiration.
She discussed her writing process—from
thought to act—explaining how, while blogging for major on-line news outlets such as
the Huffington Post, CNN.com, and her own
Web site, she had reflected on what it meant
to be queer, female, and Asian in these Internet spaces: “Most of the voices being heard
are straight, white men, so people always seek
me out because then they can think ‘Well, if
we get her, we don’t have to hire any more
Asians, women, or gays!’” she laughed.
Cho spoke of her struggle as a minority in
the political arena as well. After coming out
as queer, she became more involved in political activism, recalling the “sting of noninclusion” she felt when she was disinvited—
as being too controversial a figure—from the
2004 Democratic National Convention.
Undaunted, she raised her voice still louder. “If you’re a minority, or a woman, or a
person of color, or gay, you can feel as if your
voice doesn’t matter. But we have to empower our political voices,” she said.
According to Cho, racism against Asian
Americans is more subtle than racism
against other minorities. “It’s about noninclusion rather than racist slurs and hate
crimes, which do happen, too.” Cho is also
still trying to figure out how to deal with
racism in queer communities. Along with
her identity as an Asian American, she said,
she has struggled with her identity as a
woman, conquering a devastating eating disorder after watching a burlesque perform-
12
N
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
M
collection
ance that included women of all body types
and sizes. “You could tell they were so happy
and comfortable with their bodies,” she said.
“I was crying when I saw it, it really cured
me.”
Later, performing burlesque on her show
The Sensuous Woman, she said: “We are so
conditioned to a certain look that models
have, and people think that’s the only kind of
body that can be beautiful and sexual, and
that’s not true—everybody has that ability.”
Finally, Cho discussed her act: “I give myself
permission to be a little darker or raunchy or
graphic, because it’s in the spirit of fun,” she
said, but she stressed the importance of her
intentions: “It’s about what’s in you, what’s in
your heart. I want people to feel good about
themselves when they leave.”
—Adapted from a Feb. 27, 2008
Daily Gazette article by Urooj Khan ’10
swarthmore college bulletin
“Engaged”
Seniors Dominic Lowell and
Anne Kolker are the best of
friends. While spending a summer together as interns in Washington, D.C., in fact, they announced their engagement on
Facebook. At the end of February 2007, they threw a mammoth
engagement party on campus,
with ring, bouquet, garter, and
starry eyes. Funded by the Student Activities Committee, the
party was a huge success. “We
like to throw and go to parties
and have fun and cooperate on
things, and we’d like to think
that we were the first to stage a
party with an engagement
theme,” Lowell says. “The love is
real, even though the engagement is not,” Kolker adds.
Lowell and Kolker’s makebelieve betrothal metamorphosed in the fall into a different
form of engagement, when they
were elected senior class president and vice president, respectively. “Traditionally, students
run for class office positions as
individuals,” Kolker says, “but we
knew that if we were going to do
this, we had to do it together.”
They campaigned on a “Lowelland-Kolker-for-Prez-and-Veep”
ticket, even creating a campaign
Best friends Dominic Lowell (left) and Anne Kolker are president and vice president respectively of the Class of 2008. But
as the Pennsylvania Democratic primary approaches, they find themselves at (friendly) odds over Clinton vs. Obama.
T-shirt. “We wore them around
campus for three days straight.
They must have been pretty
smelly, but everyone understood
that we were campaigning,” Lowell says.
Since September, Lowell and
Kolker have also been active in
the presidential campaign. But
the apparently inseparable
friends, who frequently complete
each other’s sentences, are facing
a challenge. Kolker is the state
coordinator of Pennsylvania Students for Obama. Lowell is an
ardent supporter of Sen. Hillary
Clinton and a member of
Swarthmore Students for Hillary.
“For the first time, Dom and I
are not fully on the same side of
something, although, technically,
we are, because we both support
Democratic candidates,” Kolker
says. “I don’t know what our lives
Who’s the turkey? We are.
If you follow the 2008 Swarthmore College calendar,
you might just go to grandmother’s house a week early.
As always, Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in NoISTOCKPHOTO.COM
vember—not the third, as shown on the College calen-
april 2008
dar. So, make a note to go over the river and through
the woods on Nov. 27.
would be like if one of us were a
Republican,” she adds, laughing.
As friends who say they have
always cooperated fully on everything, they are now dealing with
the teeter-totter of their respective moments of elation or dejection, depending on the results of
the primaries. Lowell is excitedly
anticipating the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, during which
he will volunteer at the Clinton
headquarters. “Now that it’s on
our turf, although we’ll strongly
support our own candidates, we
can sort of support both,” he
says.
After graduation, Kolker and
Lowell intend to work in Washington, D.C. Kolker hopes to
“stay with Senator Obama in
some capacity, either in the campaign or on Capitol Hill”; and
Lowell would like to work for a
nonprofit civil rights law firm.
Needless to say, they are looking
for an apartment together.
—Carol Brévart-Demm
13
GEORGJEAN PHOTOS
collection
Women’s swimming (6-5, 4-3 CC): At the
2008 Centennial Conference (CC) Swimming Championships, Swarthmore women
won 25 medals and broke five College
records, earning second place. Anne Miller
’10 and Jennie Lewis ’08 qualified for the
Division III NCAA Championship meet,
tying for gold in the 100-butterfly final in
CC-, meet- and College-record time (57.72).
Miller, All-America in 2007, also qualified for
the 200-butterfly event at nationals,
repeating as the CC champion with a meetrecord time (2.05.57), and collecting six
medals, including a bronze in the 500freestyle race in 5.09.96 (another Collegerecord time).
At the national meet, Miller and Lewis
both earned All-America honors. Miller
posted the best finish ever by a Swarthmore
swimmer, with a College- and CC-record
time of 2.02.44 in the 200 butterfly, earning a
silver medal. In the preliminaries of the 100
butterfly, Lewis swam 57.36, breaking the
14
record that she and Lewis had set at the CC
meet. In the consolation final, Miller and
Lewis placed 10th and 13th respectively.
Junior Allie Jordan also shone at the CC
championship, posting four medals (three
silver, one bronze) while setting two College
records in the 50- and 100-yard backstroke.
Men’s swimming (6-4, 5-1 CC): The Swarthmore men swam to a second-place finish at
the CC Swimming Championship meet, collecting 24 medals while setting two College
records. Doug Gilchrist-Scott ’09 laid claim
to the title of Fastest Swimmer in the CC,
winning gold in the 50-freestyle race with a
College-record time (21.53). Gilchrist-Scott
earned six medals at the championship meet,
including bronze in the 100-freestyle race—
the junior also set a second College record in
the 100-free preliminaries (47.53).
Freshman Sterling Satterfield made a
splash in his championship debut, amassing
five medals including silver in the 200-yard
breaststroke and bronze in the 100-yard
breaststroke. Junior Stephen Shymon showed
his prowess in the distance freestyle events,
claiming the silver medal in the 500-yard and
1,650-yard races.
Indoor track (women—11th at CC
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
Garnet Swimmers–
Wet, Wild, and
Making History
Senior Jennie Lewis (top left) shared gold and a
spot at the NCAA Championship meet with sophomore Anne Miller in the 100 butterfly. Both earned
All-America honors at nationals. First-year Kathryn
Stockbower (above), fighting for space under the
basket with Haverford's Brittany Lattisaw, led the
women's team in 13 different statistical categories.
Senior Ian McCormick (top right) was named AllCentennial first team after one of the best seasons
by a player in Swarthmore history.
swarthmore college bulletin
AURORA IMAGING
ond all-time for Garnet men’s basketball.
McCormick was also named to ESPN the
Magazine Academic All-District II second
team and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic
Performer of the Year. Fellow seniors Matt
Kurman and Steve Wolf also achieved career
milestones—Kurman became the 17th player
to accumulate 1,000 points, and Wolf is the
13th Garnet male to amass 500 rebounds.
Championships; men—9th at CC
Championships): The Garnet women won
three medals at the 2008 CC Indoor Trackand-Field Championships. Junior Cait
Mullarkey (800 meters) and sophomore
Nyika Corbett (3,000 meters) picked up individual silver medals and then combined with
Lauren DeLuca ’10 and Bess Ritter ’09 to take
second place in the distance medley relay.
Connor Darby ’09 won the 800-meter event
at the Jack Pyrah Invitational hosted by Villanova University in December.
Men’s basketball (6-19, 2-16 CC): Senior
center Ian McCormick was named to the AllCC first team after one of the best seasons by
a player in Swarthmore history. He became
april 2008
the first men’s player in Centennial history to
average more than 20 points per game (20.6
per game) and grab more than 10 rebounds
per game (10.2 per game) in the same season. McCormick ranked second in the CC in
points per game and rebounds, finishing
third in blocks per game (2.8) and fourth in
three-point field-goal percentage (42.4 percent). McCormick also had the best career by
a Swarthmore post player, setting a new College record for blocks in a season (193) and
breaking the career records for rebounds
(797) and blocks (193). He is the first male
player in Swarthmore history—and only the
third in CC history—to score 1,500 points
and 700 rebounds in a career. His single-season point totals and total rebounds rank sec-
Women’s basketball (8-16, 5-13 CC): The
Garnet women had two of the top post players in the CC this season—senior Karen Berk
and freshman Kathryn Stockbower. Berk was
selected All-Conference for the third straight
year, joining Garnet women Heather Kile
Lord ’02 and Katie Robinson ’04. Berk, honorable mention in 2007–2008, is the first
Garnet women’s basketball player to amass
1,400 points, 800 rebounds, and 100 blocks.
She is also the first athlete in CC history to
be named All-Conference for both basketball
and volleyball (honorable mention in 2007).
Stockbower was named first-team AllCentennial, just the third player in CC history to earn the honor after their first college
season. She led the conference in rebounds
(14 per game), free throws made (112), and
double-doubles (21), ranking second in
points (17.6 per game) and third in blocks
(1.46 per game). Her rebounding average
this season ranked fourth in all of Division
III, and her scoring average was in the top 50.
She grabbed 257 rebounds in 18 CC games,
breaking the conference record for total
rebounds.
Senior guard Laura Popovics completed
her Swarthmore career second all-time with
116 three-pointers, including two in an overtime win over Haverford on Senior Day.
Badminton (5-2): Sophomore Kim Kramer
did not lose a singles match throughout the
regular season, winning the Mid-Atlantic
Juniors title on Feb. 9. Kramer combined
with freshman Maithili Parikh to also capture the doubles’ title at the Mid-Atlantic
Juniors, hosted by Bryn Mawr. The Garnet
badminton program also had the honor of
hosting the 2008 Badminton National
Championships on March 21–23.
—Kyle Leach
15
faculty expert
NEW WORK BY PROFESSOR
OF STUDIO ART BRIAN MEUNIER
BRIAN MEUNIER
By Andrea Packard ’85
16
A turning point for Meunier was the 2002
List Gallery exhibition that brought together
a selection of works by the late Robert Turner ’36. Meunier visited the exhibition several
times a week during the month it was on
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
The Marvels
of Things
Created
Brian Meunier’s new clay sculptures
continue his career-long interest in hybrid
forms that elicit a sense of wonder in the
mysteries of both nature and human creation. The new work, which was exhibited at
the List Gallery in January and February, includes a Galápagos tortoise,
an antelope, a baby vulture, a swimming baby elephant, two wasps fighting, a tyrannosaurus leg, and a
Kouros-like figure of a deep-sea
diver.
Meunier calls this ongoing series
Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing after
the title of a cosmography treatise by
the 13th-century Persian physician
Abu Yahya zakariz’ibn Muhammad
al-Qazwini. “The title says it all for
me,” Meunier says. “I am drawn to
objects that activate my sense of
wonder. In the beginning, middle, and end of
the work, I require an intuitive and transcendent experience—for
myself and, I hope, for the
viewer.”
Many of Meunier’s current works combine animal and plant forms with
structures that appear
crafted or manufactured.
In one sculpture, for
example, a chameleon
perches upon a branchlike form that grows
directly from an archaic
vessel bound with hemp
and studded with bolts.
Those familiar with Meunier’s more abstract and
enigmatic forms in wood
will recognize his ongoing
use of evocative contrasts,
expressive surfaces, and
surreal whimsy. Yet, as he
explores the expressive
and descriptive possibilities of clay—and of more
recognizable subject matter—Meunier continues to
offer enigmas rather than
answers. He invites us to
share in his puzzlement,
wonder, and reverie.
view. “Each time I returned, the vessels
demanded more quiet from me,” Meunier
states. “Turner was in the moment when he
made them, and they require the viewer to be
in the moment.”
Meunier also took note of his passion for
clay while teaching his foundation level
courses and his Life Modeling course in
sculpture. At the same time that he was
increasingly drawn to the work of Turner,
Peter Volko, and the Canadian artist Jean
Pierre LaRoque, he found increasing pleasure
in demonstrating clay modeling to his students. After years of meticulously planning
complex wooden sculptures, he reveled in
the responsiveness and relative spontaneity
of clay.
His current sculptures still require meticulous research, preparation, and revision.
Meunier begins by creating enormous and
elaborate charcoal drawings. He then builds
an armature, constructs the clay forms, fires
them in sections, reassembles the works, and
finishes them with experimentally developed
surface details and patinas.
There’s evidence of Meunier’s extensive
research on almost every inch of his studio
walls, which are covered with hundreds of
postcards, photos, and other images he has
collected. “On every sabbatical, for almost 30
years, I’ve packed them up and taken them
with me,” he states, pointing to the 20foot–long entry wall. “This wall represents
swarthmore college bulletin
my evolving consciousness and cosmology.”
Audubon bird illustrations hang edge-toedge with Roman statuary and Greek
amphorae. Mayan artifacts mingle with Victorian illustrations of absurd inventions,
such as naively impractical pictures of flying
machines or mechanical flight suits intended
for sea rescues. Unusual images of animals,
such as an underwater view of a swimming
elephant, stand out next to cultural artifacts,
such as an African vessel designed to capture
illnesses.
A veteran of numerous sabbaticals
abroad, including repeated stays in Oaxaca,
Mexico, and numerous trips all over the
world, including to Greece, Vietnam, and
Japan, Meunier remained on campus last
spring to distill the ideas and inspirations he
has gathered so far. Working in a basement
area of Papazian Hall, he has found the quiet
sustained focus needed to develop an entirely
new body of work.
Rejuvenated by his leave and energized by
creative momentum, Meunier is bringing the
lessons of his own artistic journey back to
the classroom—enjoying his classes while
envisioning more works in clay. !
As Meunier explores the expressive and descriptive
possibilities of clay—and of more recognizable subject matter—
he continues to offer enigmas rather than answers.
april 2008
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
Andrea Packard is director of the List Gallery.
17
Our
own shade
of
green
AS SUSTAINABILITY BECOMES A
GLOBAL CONCERN, SWARTHMORE
FORGES ITS OWN PATH.
By Carol Brévart-Demm
Illustrations by Andrew Pinkham
18
Getting a large number of college and university presidents to
agree on much of anything can be a challenge, but last fall, 406 higher
education leaders signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. It pledged their institutions to set
timetables to achieve a broad range of environmental goals. Swarthmore was not among the signatories.
In December, the Sierra Club published a top-10 list of colleges
and universities that “get it” in terms of their environmental policies
and actions. The list was headed by a small liberal arts college and—
if you count the eight schools that received honorable mention—
included five other liberal arts schools. Swarthmore was not among
them.
And when the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a project of the
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, issued its 2008 College Sustainability Report Card, Swarthmore was in the middle of the class with
a B-.
What’s going on here? It can hardly be argued that “anywhere else
it would have been an A,” because this isn’t anywhere else—it’s
Swarthmore.
Professor of Engineering E. Carr Everbach, who has been a faculty leader in campus environmental circles since the early 1990s,
isn’t overly concerned about these external measures. He believes that
Swarthmore is merely approaching campus environmental issues in
the way that it does everything else—thoughtfully, analytically, collectively, and, carefully.
“Our direction is good for us,” he says of the progress being made
toward a “green” campus. “It fits our mission, is socially responsible,
and ethically intelligent. The kinds of innovations we do best are a
little different.
“We should not advertise ourselves as—or commit ourselves to—
doing something just for show. So signing up for something we can
satisfy just by buying carbon credits on the market is not a good way
of doing things. We should play to our strengths.”
Those strengths, says Everbach, include the College’s interdisciplinary nature, with frequent faculty interaction and research across departmental borders. “There are a lot of things that we can do in
environmental science innovations that relate to our ability to cross
boundaries and create courses and programs and ideas on campus
greening that are designed uniquely for us.” An expansive Environmental Studies curriculum includes courses not only from the sciences but also from engineering, humanities, and the social sciences
(see p. 24).
The student body is one of the College’s most vital assets. In fact,
most of the sustainability action on the College campus has been initiated from the bottom up, either from students or a few faculty
members, Everbach says. “I came in the door with no environmental
background other than a general personal interest. I had no credentials—I do acoustics and ultrasound and other biomedical stuff—but
I got sucked in by the students, who basically invited me as a new
professor to participate with them in this whole discussion.” In 1995,
he led students in constructing a straw-bale house as an Environmental Studies Capstone Seminar project.
The student environmental group Earthlust, in particular, has
been producing advocates for environmental responsibility since the
late 1980s and has had a voice in most environmental decisions on
campus. “Students have come and gone, but there have been very few
organizations that have lasted as long as Earthlust. They’ve been a
constant force for policy,” Everbach says.
Noteworthy Earthlust initiatives include the campus recycling
program, started in the early 1990s; the environmental studies program; and, more recently, the College’s purchase of wind-generated
electricity as a renewable energy source. Since 2001, the College has
gradually increased its commitment from 2.5 percent to 40 percent
19
wind power. Earthlust was honored with the 2007 Green Power: Turn
It On Award from Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future for their action.
(For more on Earthlust, see p. 23.)
For the most part, current students agree with Everbach that the
College is headed in the right direction with respect to sustainability
issues. Earthlust member Michael Roswell ’11 says: “It is hard to teach
sound practices without embodying them. Learning happens all the
time, mostly through experience. It is by integrating facilities and
curriculum and stressing the environmental impacts and the opportunities for improvement collegewide, that Swarthmore will nurture
conscientious global citizens.”
Roswell is one of three students on the College’s new Sustainability Planning Committee (SPC), which includes seven other members
drawn from faculty and staff. Co-chaired by Everbach and Director of
Maintenance Ralph Thayer, the committee aims to compile a list of
long-term strategic sustainability initiatives. They will begin by devis-
Wind power now supplies 40 percent of
the College’s electric energy.
ing a set of working principles, followed by a list of goals to be
achieved within a certain time frame. “The time frames should have
some structure to them but not necessarily be a fixed schedule with
specific dates. That wouldn’t fly in the Swarthmore culture,” Everbach
says.
According to Associate Vice President for Facilities and Services
C. Stuart Hain, the SPC will serve as a task force of the leadership
division of the multi-faceted Planning Steering Committee that was
formed following the successful Meaning of Swarthmore capital campaign to define the College’s direction over the next two decades.
“The committee members will inform the planning process, providing a realistic perspective—understanding the importance of advancing on the one hand, but being careful about moving too fast,”
Hain says.
Although the committee is just starting up, student member
Kelsey Bridget Hatzell ’09 envisions working toward lasting changes:
“The greatest challenges our group will face are those associated with
changing a mindset. My hope is that we make a lasting impact,
whether within the educational spectrum (such as including more
environmental education requirements in order to create a more
knowledgeable student body) or in the role of promoting physical
changes to our campus.”
The committee will likely make use of a document compiled by
Earthlust members, which is actually an adaptation of the College
and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Cited in a Sept. 27
20
Phoenix article, Earthlust member Elizabeth Crampton ’09 said: “We
will use the presidents’ commitment as a base to ultimately come up
with a tailored-to-Swarthmore agreement that would get us to carbon neutrality by 2025.” Such a structured agreement would ensure
the continuation of current plans even after their student instigators
graduate from Swarthmore.
Continued pressure from a group like Earthlust, with its strong
drive to action seems especially valuable at Swarthmore, where agreement on issues rarely happens in a hurry. “We have this Quaker history and sensibility about our social mission, but the model of
reaching consensus is time-consuming,” Everbach says. He goes on to
describe a slow, evolutionary process where everyone has a say, everyone has an opportunity to object, object to the objections, until stake
holders are either convinced or they resign. “Although it’s an inefficient process, you do end up with a much better ‘esprit de corps,’” he
says.
Still, Crampton warns against indifference and failure to act: “Inaction on a student or institutional level is the bane of student activism. And it’s no real excuse, because no action is too small as long
as you do it, especially if you didn’t before. Doing something, even
something small, is better than doing nothing. And who knows how
far the ripples will spread?” she says.
Balancing the importance of its enterprising and resourceful
students with a Quaker tradition of deliberate, thoughtful consensus,
Swarthmore seeks its own shade of green. The College is “doing
something”—sometimes something big—and people in leadership
positions across the campus have been enthusiastic about introducing innovative ideas and processes for sustainability.
Like Everbach, Ralph Thayer, a College staff member since 1989,
believes that the College should avoid “wallpapering” green. “That’s a
popular trend right now,” he says. “Although it makes your operation
look as if it’s doing wonderful things, it’s really only window-dressing. We’d like to avoid that here.”
Thayer’s role in the College sustainability program revolves principally around energy management and reduction.
Initiatives in his area include:
• Wind power, resulting from an eight-year-long Earthlust campaign, now supplies 40 percent of the College’s electric energy.
• Energy-efficient heating and cooling systems have been installed
in buildings. Facilities staff monitor usage schedules, so that energy
use can be controlled according to need.
• Last year, for the first time, at Earthlust’s urging, energy-efficient
compact fluorescent light bulbs were issued to all incoming freshmen
as alternatives to standard bulbs. Timed motion-sensitive light
switches are an ongoing project. Most incandescent fixtures and old
fluorescent fixtures with magnetic ballasts will gradually be replaced
with alternative forms of lighting—either fluorescent, compact fluorescent, or LED (light-emitting diodes).
• New construction is equipped with low-flow water fixtures, and
new equipment is evaluated for efficiency before purchase. Sharples
Dining Hall experienced a major reduction in water and detergent
use with its new dish machine, as did the athletic center with the replacement of its old washing machines.
• A new offshoot of Earthlust is a group of “green dorm” advisers,
on hand to advise residents on consistent green behaviors.
• The campus is maintained as a largely pedestrian zone. Parking
lots are located at the edge of campus, and student parking permits
are limited to 110 to 115 a year.
• Student transportation is amply provided by shuttle vans, public
buses, and rail; and the College recently agreed to join the PhillyCarShare™ network of low-cost car sharing as an alternative to car
ownership.
For further ideas to be implemented in the future, visit the “Energy” section of the Greening of Swarthmore Web site at
www.swarthmore.edu/x10966.xml.
Grounds maintenance began to change with the arrival of Director of Grounds and Coordinator of Horticulture Jeff Jabco on
campus in 1990. According to Everbach: “Back then, guys in space
suits were spraying chemicals all over the campus. Parrish Beach
looked like a putting green, with not a weed in sight.” Jabco, described by Everbach as “probably the strongest sustainability advocate
in the administration,” changed that by implementing integrated pest
management (IPM) procedures.
“All of a sudden,” Everbach says, “there were ladybugs everywhere,
flying around the classrooms, getting in the window screens, where
there never had been any before.” (Happily, there still are today.)
Other environmental innovations in the area of College buildings
and grounds include:
• A recycling program, started in the early 1990s by Earthlust and
later directed by Jabco, when institutional recycling became mandatory. Currently, 15 categories of materials, including items left in
dorm rooms and in trash containers and papers items are recycled. In
2007, Jabco says, collected recyclable matter amounted to
32.75 tons of comingled glass, aluminium, plastic, and
bimetallic containers; 61 tons of mixed paper; 155 tons of
yard and leaf waste; 24 tons of carpeting and clothing/textiles; more than 98 tons of construction/renovation
waste (*asphalt, concrete,wood,etc.); more than
41 tons of furniture and furnishings; more than
seven tons of consumer electronics.
• Recycling of construction waste: When
practical, old concrete is chopped up for reuse
in new concrete mixes. Leftover drywall is
ground into a powder of gypsum—containing
calcium carbonate—and spread as a soil
amendment outside new buildings.
• A 2007 Trash to Treasure sale of items resulting from an end-ofyear dorm cleanout. The sale not only raised more than $12,000 for
charity but also kept the items out of the trash stream.
• Growing and displaying the best plants in the Delaware Valley, in
keeping with the mission of the Scott Arboretum. In addition to IPM,
goals include the removal of insect- or disease-prone plants that, due
to their dependence on chemicals to ensure an acceptable appearance, could not be recommended to homeowners; use of local compost, produced by the College, instead of peat, to avoid exploitation
of peat bogs that results in damage to the ecosystem; turf management using turf renovation practices such as aeration, compost
application, or switching from total reliance on one grass species
to turf-type tall fescue grasses—rather than herbicides or pesticides, which are used only as a last resort; stewardship of the
Crum Woods, including ongoing discussions concerning
deer overpopulation.
• A new science center that, as a result of Earthlust’s
early advocacy during the design
process, earned certification as an
example of Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design
(LEED).
• Two new “green” student residence halls:
Alice Paul Hall and
David Kemp Hall
(the latter to open in
fall 2008). Local
“green” contractors W. H.
Cumby
21
and Sons, known for their use of “green” initiatives and headquartered in a LEED-certified building, were hired to construct both
residences.
• Five thousand square feet of green roof, now in place on Alice Paul
Hall and a storage building next to Papazian Hall, help control campus rainwater run-off. A further green roof will be created on David
Kemp Hall, and one is planned for the Lang Performing Arts Center
when its current roof is replaced.
As the first green roof on a college residence hall in North America, Alice Paul’s roof has become a popular tour destination for architects, engineers, contractors, and potential green roof buyers. The
high demand to see the roof has led to the Scott Arboretum’s scheduling “roof tours” into its calendar from March through November.
In 2006, Jabco spent 10 days studying green-roof technology in Germany, where it has been used for quite a while. German consultants
assisted in the College’s roof planning.
• Storm water run-off is controlled campuswide: There are porous
asphalt walkways; infiltration beds; visible water-channeling features,
including waterfalls and fountains, feed rainwater into giant underground cisterns in front of Martin Hall and the science building that
provide irrigation water; and a biostream that manages rainwater
flow below McCabe Library as well as creating a site for lush and
colorful plant growth.
For more information on current sustainability practices and
ideas for the future in buildings and grounds, visit
www.swarthmore.edu/sustainability.
Director of Dining Services and SPC member Linda McDougall
has been instrumental in implementing environmentally responsible practices in her area. A former employee of Morrison’s Food
Services, McDougall was hired in 1991, when the College decided
to operate its own dining services, allowing it to purchase without
restrictions.
In the past few years, McDougall says, the following changes have
been implemented:
• Some fruit and vegetables are now purchased from nearby orchards, and, more recently, some meat and dairy products are being
obtained from local farms. The College also buys local tofu, grown
and manufactured in Allentown, Pa.
• Sprouts are being home-grown in the Dining Hall kitchen. A local
farmer has been assisting McDougall and her staff in setting up a rotation system to eventually enable several kinds of sprouts to be
grown simultaneously. “Once it’s up and running,“ McDougall says,
“several types of sprouts will be raised in pans in a spot where customers can see them. They’ll grow in cycles, so we’ll always have fresh
batches—and because the water is recycled in a controlled space—
unlike out in the fields—we don’t have to worry about bacteria or
e.coli.”
• Fry oil used in the kitchens is being reused as fuel. Previously, the
College paid to have the oil removed to an unknown destination for
22
dumping, whereas a new service provides free containers and pick-up
as well as conversion to a variety of clean energy uses, including heating systems for homeless shelters.
• Unused food from the Dining Hall is donated to Chester
Ministries.
• The Dining Services composting program currently disposes of
vegetable waste from the kitchen.
• Biodegradable food containers, made from sugar cane and corn,
are used in Essie Mae’s Snack Bar and the two coffee bars.
• Students plan to plant a small organic garden on campus to replace one started last summer on Yale Avenue but abandoned due to
lack of on-site water.
• During December, Dining Hall staff worked with members of a
new student environmental group, The Good Food Project, to host a
“food scrape-off ” at dinner to heighten campus awareness of how
much food is wasted. Students assisted diners in scraping their leftovers into bins designated for compostable and noncompostable
waste. They were delighted to note that the daily weight of discarded
food decreased as the project went forward.
Seeking funding for a means to transport the waste from the dining areas to a compost pile behind Clothier Field bleachers, Marshal
Morales ’08 drafted a proposal followed by a request letter from Jean
In 2007, almost 420 tons of recyclable
matter were collected on campus.
Dahlquist ’11 to the Lang Foundation for a Swarthmore Foundation
Grant. Their efforts resulted in two composting bins and a new electrically powered golf cart.
Summarizing the College’s behavior with respect to sustainability
so far, Crampton praises the dedication of College community members for their work on campus greening so far but sees a need for
much more: “Although we’ve done a few good things, they’ve been at
the initiative of a few people, organizations, or departments. We have
no real plan or commitment for long-term sustainability and no
guarantee that green initiatives will continue to happen.”
Crampton’s classmate and fellow Earthlust and SPC member
Nicholas Buttino ’09 envisages following two parallel paths to confront upcoming challenges: “Improving environmental studies in all
departments is a priority. This, however, will be hypocritical without
some physical embodiment,” he says. “We need to incorporate greening of our [campus] structures, buy 100 percent wind power, and replace our vehicle fleets with smaller ones.” He adds that one of the
committee’s tasks will be to research and ensure the cost efficiency of
improvement.
Operating expenses are certainly an issue that preoccupies Ralph
Thayer and other members of the administration, as the campus infrastructure continues to expand. Each time a new
WITH ARMS
building goes up or an existing one is renovated, the costs for
AROUND THE PLANET—
energy increase. The College’s steam boiler plant is currently
A HISTORY OF EARTHLUST
fired by natural gas and No. 6 fuel oil—a “residual fuel oil that
By Carol Brévart-Demm and Isobel Rubin
is cost efficient on a dollar per btu basis but is a difficult oil
In the late 1980s, Dana
which included weekly runs in
to work with and relatively high in NOx emissions,”
Lyon ’82, environmentally cona truck loaned by the Physical
Thayer says. One of the items to be considered will be
scious composer and folksinger,
Plant to a “primitive recycling stathe possibility of alternate fuels that would reduce
was still building his career when he
tion set up by the Borough of
emissions.
returned to campus to give a concert.
Swarthmore,” Hecht says.
Thinking ahead to 2010—when state caps on
During his visit, he invited students to
“Sometimes,” he continues, “when
energy rates enforced in 1996 by the PA Public
participate in a dining-hall table discussion we had too much stuff, we had to bring it
Utility Commission to protect consumers will
about initiating an environmental club on
to Springfield. Someone called the cops on
expire, obligating users to pay market prices
campus.
us one time when we were having a little too
for electricity in 2011—Thayer says, “There
“A bunch [of students] who didn’t know
much fun throwing glass bottles into the
will be an impact. In the meantime, we’re
each other that well sat at the table and
bins.” Although the College’s Facilities Departfixing our schedules, looking at re-lamptalked,” Cleveland Justis ’91 remembers. Earth- ment eventually took over the program when
ing, and doing everything we can to bring
lust was born from that meeting, with Justis and legislation made recycling obligatory, “We were
about electricity-use reduction.”
two fellow freshmen, Richard Hecht, and Rethe pioneers,” says Hecht.
He also worries about the College’s
becca Carsel, as its co-founders. The club’s disTwo decades later, Earthlust remains a tireless
transportation pool and agrees with
tinctive name was suggested late one night in the advocate for environmental responsibility. Since
Buttino that the current vehicle fleet at
former Tarble Social Center by Carsel, as the
the early days, when its members lobbied sucsome point should be replaced or supfounders looked at an Opus the Penguin cartoon
cessfully for an Environmental Studies Program
plemented by electric or alternatetitled “Penguin Lust” showing Opus embracing
and first began their campaign to persuade the
fuel–driven vehicles. “The Maintenance
the earth. “It was sort of random, the way we did
College to switch to wind power as a renewable
Department has purchased one electrieverything,” Justis says.
energy source, Earthlust members have spoken
cally-driven vehicle that has the power
Earthlust activities back then, Justis says, were
out strongly in favor of green campus buildings
to move tools and personnel, but it
designed to make environmental issues seem
and initiated the procedure to obtain LEED certificomes at a cost,” he says.
“bright and exciting, not gloom and doom.” Accation for the new science center. They have repIt will be the task of the SPC to deal
cording to Hecht, they organized gourmet vege- resentatives on the Committee for Stewardship
with issues such as these, but whether a
tarian cuisine meals made by students, disof the Crum. More recently, to encourage and
committee alone will suffice remains to be
tributed free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, organassist members of the student community in
seen.
ized appearances by musical groups, and had
leading more sustainable lifestyles, they have
Although Jabco speculates that Swarthpublic readings of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax.
initiated storm-the-dorm and green-dorm admore’s small size might limit the College’s
“We resurrected Earth Day two years be- viser events. They participate in the Phillyability to create an individual leadership posifore mainstream environmental groups
CarShare Program and organize visits to
tion to centralize its sustainability efforts, both
pushed strongly for it in 1990,” Hecht
campus by well-known environmentalists.
he and Everbach agree that such a position would
says. “We also tried to fight the Blue
Last December, they staged a Polar Bear
add structure and organization to the program.
Route and persuade President [David]
Plunge into Crum Creek as part of the
“We need someone at the top of the administrative
Fraser to set up conservation
International Day of Climate Action.
chain who can effectively communicate with both the
easements protecting the Crum
Justis says: “It was really imporfaculty and the physical plant—and who has the ear of
in perpetuity. He told us to take a tant to us back then. People
the president and upper administration,” Everbach says.
hike.”
came, and they got excited.
For now, however, Hain believes that the SPC is the best
The group’s most lasting It’s cool that something we
solution for the College and that the committee will respond to
initiative was a campus
started 20 years ago still
the need and provide coordination and structure to a campuswide
recycling program,
exists today.”
sustainability program. “I think that’s the way it has to work here. We
take this really seriously, and we will get there—and when we do,
we’ll do it right,” he says. !
23
t h o u g ht - e n e
SWARTHMORE’S ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM
FINDS ITS INTERDISCIPLINARY GROOVE.
By Jeffrey Lott
Illustrations by Andrew Pinkham
It’s no accident that the current coordinator of Swarthmore’s
Environmental Studies (ES) Program is a philosopher, not an environmental scientist. Hans Oberdiek, the Henry C. and Charlotte
Turner Professor of Philosophy, thinks that makes perfect sense—
and so do his colleagues in biology, economics, engineering, English literature, history, religion, and political science who make up
the rest of the program’s coordinating committee.
Studying the natural world and the environment “couldn’t be
approached any other way,” Oberdiek says.
Take global climate change, for instance. By contributing ideas
from logic and value theory, philosophers can help scientists and
policy makers frame their questions and evaluate their reasoning. “Philosophers of science are looking at the arguments to see
whether the conclusions that are being drawn are based on
sound reasoning,” Oberdiek says.
A more fundamental philosophical question is how humans
relate to the natural world. Oberdiek says contemporary
philosophers have two significant ways of approaching it. The
first sees the natural environment (which presumably runs from
the smallest microbe to the edge of the universe) as “instrumental.” That is, its primary value—and possibly its very reason for
existence—is to support human life. By this line of reasoning,
threats to the environment threaten human life instrumentally.
Water and air pollution are threats to health. The destruction of
rain forests threatens the atmosphere. The extinction of another
species could presage the extinction of our own. The instrumental approach places humanity at the top of the values pyramid.
The second approach is that the natural world has intrinsic
value—a moral worth of its own that is independent of the value
of humans. This, Oberdiek says, implies “a different set of human
responsibilities to other species and the natural world.” These questions are at the heart of his courses on environmental ethics—one
of more than 30 courses in science, technology, social science, and
the humanities that make up the ES minor.*
Oberdiek’s realm is moral and ethical, but every Swarthmore faculty member interviewed for this article thinks that the complexity of
environmental issues and their potential impact on all aspects of life
on the planet requires those who will wrestle with them—as scientists, engineers, policymakers, business leaders, even philosophers—
to engage in complex, multidisciplinary thought about them.
Arthur McGarity, the Henry C. and J.
Arthur Turner Professor of Engineering, says that Swarthmore’s ES program “has brought together a very
special mix of disciplines. It’s a
real model of how programs
like this should work.
“But it’s not a discipline
in itself,” he says. “I know
people who would debate
me on this—and there are
schools that have [environmental studies]
departments—but the
environment is the perfect subject for an interdisciplinary approach.
And Swarthmore turns
out to be the right kind of
place to do this.”
The presence of an engineering program at Swarthmore, unusual among liberal
arts colleges, further enhances the
College’s ability to teach students a
variety of approaches to solving problems. This spring, McGarity is teaching
Introduction to Environmental Protection, a
course primarily for nonengineers that, according to
the catalog description, covers “fundamentals of analysis
for environmental problems in the areas of water pollution, air pollution, solid and hazardous wastes, water and energy supply, and
24
* The term “minor” is now applied to interdisciplinary programs such as Black
Studies, Public Policy, or Women’s Studies that, until recently, were called “concentrations.” Both honors and course students may minor in most such programs—or in a traditional discipline—by completing at least five courses in that
area, three of which must be outside the student’s major. Environmental Studies
minors must take at least one course in environmental science/technology and
one in social science/humanities. And, like many interdisciplinary programs,
Environmental Studies requires a sixth or “capstone” course, usually a seminar,
during the senior year.
swarthmore college bulletin
e rg y - a ct io n
resource depletion, with an emphasis
on technological solutions.”
“Engineers take a problemfocused, toolbox approach,”
McGarity explains, “so it’s
natural for us to turn to
disciplines that have other
tools that might help
us understand and solve
a problem.”
Students in McGarity’s course will get to
test what they learn in
the classroom during a
community-based
experience that will
involve them in urban
water quality management, with a focus on
the Crum Creek watershed—the subject of new
research by McGarity himself. The project also involves
engineering majors from two
other courses. McGarity is counting on the nonengineers to contribute
approaches and ideas from their own
disciplines.
took the capstone course, and although that number is down this
spring, most faculty members interviewed are confident that ES has
become a viable, permanent part of the curriculum. The program
even has a study-abroad component in Poland, developed over the
years by McGarity. Four Swarthmore students are currently studying
at the Jagellonian University and the Technical University Krakow,
and there have been faculty exchanges among the institutions. Students may also choose another environmental program at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, developed in collaboration with
the Macalester-Swarthmore-Pomona consortium.
Across campus, Rachel Merz, professor of biology and Walter
Kemp Professor in the Natural Sciences, says she has retooled some of
her courses to include more environmental issues. A marine biologist
who specializes in invertebrate zoology, Merz says that ES courses in
the sciences have a different dynamic than classes that consist entirely
of science majors.
“Some of the nonscientists are really struck by the seriousness and
complexity of the oceans’ problems. I am always pleased to see students put their preconceptions into a place where they can be challenged,” Merz says.
Students coming from the humanities “sometimes struggle with
giving up their notions about the way certain organisms experience
the world—such as the assumption about whether snails, or even
whales, have emotions. The best conversations about these things
seem to happen outside the classroom, including on our field trips.”
Merz says she has also introduced more environmental issues into
classes that are taken largely by biology majors. In the team-taught
When you look at environmental ‘goods’ (clean air, safe water) and ‘bads’
Environmental Studies was added to
(negative externalities),
the curriculum in 1992 in response to
student requests and the emergence of a critical mass of faculty
members whose various interests touched on environmental matters.
Oberdiek, McGarity, ecologist Jacob Weiner, religion professor Don
Swearer, and engineering professor Fred Orthlieb were the members
of the first ES committee, with McGarity and Weiner serving as
co-coordinators.
Student interest in the program “comes and goes,” McGarity says,
“but now it’s become more steady.” In spring 2007, nine students
april 2008
are they equitably distributed across the population?
course Organismal and Population Biology, the second of two introductory courses in the department, she says she and her faculty colleagues “have consciously injected topics that are likely to kick off
these discussions.” About half of the students who take these two
courses do not intend to become biology majors—and this is often
their only exposure to biology at Swarthmore.
She cites the problem of ballast water—the tons of seawater taken
25
on by unloaded ships in one port then released in another port
halfway around the world. “It’s full of living organisms that jump
from one ecosystem to another,” Merz explains. “And it’s something
that most students have never thought about before. What are the
environmental consequences of that? We’re mixing the oceans like
we had a big eggbeater.”
Expressing opinions on issues can be tricky for a scientist, she says.
“We are so busy being impartial—letting the data speak for itself—
and not having a particular point of view. I think that’s a mistake. I’m
happy to allow a larger role for human consequence than at least
some of us have been trained in. I never become an advocate in the
classroom without some trepidation—and students must always be
invited to come to their own conclusions—but sometimes I am
compelled to do so.”
The
complicate environmental decision-making at all levels of government. Increasingly, she notes, environmental policy is being made at
the regional and local level. “This is in contrast to top-down regulatory regimes, which is how we have often approached environmental
legislation,” she says. “This approach is often counterintuitive to a
generation that has grown up believing that solutions require more
regulation from a central authority. We ask them whether there are
some environmental problems that might better be solved collaboratively, regionally or locally—that respond better to different levels of
government.”
In recent years, the ES capstone seminar has provided just such
an opportunity for students to look at local problems and to work
collaboratively toward solutions. In 2006, Nackenoff focused her capstone course on environmental justice, using Delaware County, Pa.,
where Swarthmore is
truth is, all of Delaware County’s waste—about 500,000 tons a year—
located, as a living
is burned in a giant “waste-to-energy” incinerator in the heart of Chester, Pa. laboratory.
Breaking down the
Carol Nackenoff, the Richter Professor of Political Science,
county into 462 “block groups” as determined by the 2000 United
teaches Environmental Policy every other year. Because many ES stu- States Census, students created a set of maps that correlated social
dents come from the natural sciences and engineering, her class is
data such as income, race, unemployment, and education with envi“filled with a broad range of students—usually no more than about a ronmental hazards such as industrial sites, pollution sources, hazfifth of them from political science,” Nackenoff says. “We have bioloardous waste sites, and waste treatment facilities. Their 50-page
gists, engineers, chemistry majors, kids from economics. It’s great.
report, Mapping Environmental Justice in Delaware County, asks as
They bring examples and perspectives from all over, and their experi- many questions as it answers. One important question is, “Where
ences become our case studies.
does Delaware County’s waste go?”
“One student had grown up in a town with serious water pollu“While trash collection day may be the last you see of your banana
tion problems. Another had seen firsthand the difficulty of balancing
peels,” the students write, “that doesn’t mean they disappear.” The
environmental concerns and development in the Third World. Yet
truth is, all of Delaware County’s waste—about 500,000 tons a year—
another had been involved with communities facing severe deer
is burned in a giant “waste-to-energy” incinerator in the heart of
overpopulation in the Hudson River Valley. They know that environChester, Pa. (The same facility incinerates another million tons of
mentalism isn’t just an upper–middle-class preoccupation but somewaste hauled in from outside the county; it also produces about 75
times a matter of life and death for peasants, farmers, and workers.”
megawatts of electrical power, most of which is consumed locally.)
I asked Nackenoff to define “environmental justice.”
Turn to the race, income, and education maps, and you see that the
“There is an emerging body of thought on this topic,” she says,
incinerator is not located in one of the whiter, wealthier, better-edu“but the most common [definition] is distributive. When you look at cated parts of the county.
environmental ‘goods’ (clean air, safe water) and ‘bads’ (negative
In another section, students identify and map the top 15 polluters
externalities), are they equitably distributed across the population?
in the county in terms of total pounds of pollutants released annualOr can some people escape environmental hazards by virtue of social ly. Still another maps the locations of known hazardous waste sites,
class or economic mobility?
including two Superfund sites.
“Another question to ask is to what extent are people able to parAlthough the students carefully point out the difference between
ticipate in a meaningful way in making decisions that affect their
correlation and causation, they invite readers to draw their own conenvironment and health? Who shares in these processes? And what if
clusions about environmental injustice by including 12 transparencommunities are willing to embrace hazardous activities because they cies of their maps at the end of the report. It’s easy to overlay these
need jobs? Do we dismiss their decisions because ‘it’s not good for
maps and see for yourself what the students discovered in their
them’?” she says.
research. “What do you see? What patterns emerge? What different
Nackenoff also guides students through the political thickets that
stories can you tell?” the report asks.
26
swarthmore college bulletin
Their conclusion is thoughtful and cautiously positive: “While the
co-op is currently open only on Saturdays, but a steady supply of
maps show what the situation is, they do not show why it is that way.
high quality, fairly priced produce might allow it to extend its hours
There are many different sources of environmental injustice, and
and grow its membership.
determining the part each plays in creating the problem is often chalThe students ask questions as Johnson tells them about the cooplenging.” They assert that “this predicament is deeply entrenched, and erative movement and her hopes for her hometown of Chester:
there are many political and social forces perpetuating inequalities
“What we’re doing is trying to create access to healthy, affordable
and environmental degradation. We believe that despite this, change
food for poor people. My view is not just from the co-op—it’s how to
is possible. Injustice in Delaware County need not persist.”
make urban communities viable by tapping into the human capital.”
In recent years, most ES capstone courses have included a collaboThe students will contribute what they do best at this point in
rative study project aimed at environmental action. In 2007, Profestheir education: asking questions and conducting research on behalf
sor of Religion Mark Wallace’s students studied institutional sustainof the co-op. Hu, an honors biology major who became an ES minor
ability at the College and issued a report challenging Swarthmore to
late in her Swarthmore career after studying environmental economdo more.
ics at the University of New South Wales during a semester in AusThis spring, a three-member ES capstone seminar, also taught by
tralia, probes with questions about the economics of farming and the
Wallace, is studying the concept of “permaculture,” an ethically based food distribution network. Quinton, a mathematics major, offers
agricultural and design movement. Australian Bill Mollison first
immediate help with the co-op’s computer system and Web site. Shaw
promulgated the idea of permaculture (derived from “permanent
wonders whether the College’s student group The Good Food Projagriculture”) in the 1970s, describing it as “conscious design and
ect, which tried gardening on a small scale last summer, might be a
maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the
possible source of information and support. You can see the ideas
diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harforming and the networks beginning to hum.
monious integration of landscapes and people providing their food,
Wallace vows to bring the students to visit the co-op at the earliest
energy, shelter, and other material and nonmaterial needs in a susopportunity. “We need an infusion of youth and ideas,” Johnson says.
tainable way.”
“People in Chester want change, but they need to develop skill sets to
In addition to studying permaculture and its implications for the
build a sustainable system. Come on inside, and be a part of the
environment, Wallace’s three students will also work on a local probmovement for change.”
lem together: the inability of Chester, Pa., residents to buy fresh,
After Johnson leaves, I challenge Wallace and his students, “How is
healthy food within their city.
“Chester as an urban environment is polluted and victimized. Improving the quality of life there
According to Chester native
Tina Johnson, who met with senwill require investment, and the co-op is a good way to start.”
iors Yusha Hu, Andrew Quinton,
and Roger Shaw on a Friday night in early February, there has not
this an environmental issue? Isn’t the co-op more of a social action
been a supermarket in Chester for 17 years. Efforts to attract a super- project?” The professor defers to his students, and Hu speaks up. She
market chain to the city have foundered on politics and land-use
seems to have understood the message of the 2006 capstone report:
issues, Johnson tells the students. Residents must rely on convenience “Chester as an urban environment is polluted and victimized.
stores and bodegas—few of which stock fresh produce, meats, and
Improving the quality of life there will require investment, and the
grains—or drive to supermarkets in other communities.
co-op is a good way to start.”
A year ago, Johnson and other Chester residents took a new
Shaw, also a biology major, agrees, but he connects the dots anothapproach to this problem by starting the Chester Co-op, a food coop- er way: “A food co-op is a way toward a local economy. That’s another
erative modeled on the Park Slope Co-op in Brooklyn, N.Y.—one of
part of a sustainable world.”
the country’s oldest and most successful independent cooperative
Hu nods and says: “Yes. And the co-op can promote environmengroceries. Their goal is to offer Chester residents fresh food that is,
tal values in a community that has few opportunities to learn them.
where possible, organic and locally grown—plus a stake in the sucSaving a rain forest in Brazil is important, but we are here. There’s
cess of a home-grown business that requires a modest membership
just three of us and our professor. We can’t do everything; we can’t
fee and monthly volunteer work from every member.
save the city. But we can do something productive by investing our
As steering committee president and principal buyer for the cotime, energy, and thought.”
op, Johnson is frustrated by the commercial food distribution system
“Swarthmore produces a lot of thought,” Quinton adds, smiling. !
and is looking for help finding alternative sources. The 170-member
april 2008
27
branching
28
swarthmore college bulletin
Alumni of all ages are reaching for a healthy planet.
By Susan Cousins Breen, Carol Brévart-Demm, Jeffrey Lott, Audree Penner, and Elizabeth Redden ’05
Illustrations by Andrew Pinkham
FOCUSED ON SUSTAINABILITY
Architect Phil Hawes ’56 is convinced that “the
technology we need to achieve sustainability is
already available” and believes that “an ecologically sustainable community design is easy from a
technological standpoint.” He has little faith, however, that the United States will have the will to
implement any consistent use of sustainable
design principles any time soon.
“It will probably take a major disaster to force citizens to take the
appropriate steps,” he says.
Hawes’ interest in sustainable environmental design began in the
mid-1950s when he spent a year at Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s
school of architecture, which alternated seasonally between Arizona
and Wisconsin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation describes the
program “as a kind of sketch pad—or laboratory, where ideas
emerged, were given form, tested, and refined.”
Hawes’ career has remained focused on sustainability—“building
something that can last for, let’s say, 1,000 years without destroying
the environment,” Hawes says. His most fulfilling exploration took
place during eight years as architect of record for Biosphere 2—a
3.15-acre, glass-enclosed ecological support system and research
facility—near Oracle, Ariz., he says.
As owner of Ecological Systems Design, a firm for sustainable
town and regional planning and architectural design, Hawes has
worked on facilities in a variety of
environments worldwide, including a cattle station and ecological
grasslands research station in the
Australian outback; a conference
center in Aix-en-Provence, France; a
hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal; a naturestudy camp in the Himalayan Mountains;
and, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund, the Royal
Manas Park Visitors Center in Bhutan. He also directed EcoDesign Experience in Oracle, in conjunction with the San Francisco
Institute of Architecture, and was architect-of-record and contractor
for an adobe home complex in Santa Fe, N.M.
Hawes hopes to soon begin construction of an ecologically and
economically sustainable village community—a lifelong plan—on
the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas.
—S.C.B.
t
u
o
april 2008
THE INFINITE
CHARACTER
OF WALKABLE
URBANISM
“In walkable urban places,
more is better,” he argues, pointing to successful developments
such as Reston Town Center in
“We may be moving toward a
Virginia; Belvirtual, knowledge-based econo- mar, the “new
my, but we still have to sit and
downtown” of
sleep somewhere,” writes
Lakewood,
Christopher Leinberger ’72 in his Colo.; and
new book The Option of Urban- revitalized
ism: Investing in a New American inner-urban
Dream. That “somewhere” has
neighborhoods
been the source of Leinberger’s
such as Washcareer in progressive real estate
ington, D.C.’s
development and, more recently, West End. Their mixed funchis work as a consultant, author, tions—offices, retail businesses,
and professor.
entertainment, restaurants, resiThe book has a simple thedential, and civic spaces—prosis—that the “somewhere” that
vide what Leinberger describes as
people are increasingly wanting
“infinite character.”
to occupy is changing. Leinberger
After considering policies that
calls this new place “walkable
encourage such development
urban,” which is neither tradi(good public transportation is
tional “downtown urban” nor
among the most important) and
“drivable sub-urban”—the
some potential unintended consprawling “somewhere” that
sequences (such as providing
developed after World War II.
enough affordable housing),
Evidence is growing that the
Leinberger closes The Option of
sub-urban automobile culture is Urbanism by speculating—
no longer sustainable. But that’s almost wishing—that “there may
only part of the equation that is
come to be a moral imperative to
leading to the development of
build walkable urban places”
walkable urbanism. “More is
because it could contribute sigless,” writes Leinberger. As we
nificantly to reductions in greenbuilt more drivable sub-urban
houses gases, dependence on fordevelopments, we got more traf- eign oil, and pressure to gobble
fic congestion, pollution, and the up land on the fringes of metroinevitable decline of open space
politan areas.
—and less quality of life.
—J.L.
29
NOT YOUR USUAL BUSINESSMAN
Despite a conventional beginning to his career, Christopher Laszlo ’80 has become a corporate executive with a difference. After completing graduate school at Columbia and the University of Paris, he accepted a job with a Wall Street
bank, followed by five years at Deloitte & Touche as a management consultant, and then 10 years as an executive at
LaFarge SA, the cement and construction materials company.
As he rose up the corporate ladder, Laszlo recalled an exhortation from his father to try to leave the world a better
place than he found it. Seizing the opportunity to merge two apparently incompatible life directions, he set about forging a union between the concepts of social responsibility and corporate success.
Laszlo is a co-founder and partner of Sustainable Value Partners LLC, in Great Falls, Va., a company that has trained
thousands of Fortune 500 companies in sustainability for business advantage, enabling its clients to create value for shareholders and stakeholders. He is also a visiting professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio, and at
CEDEP, the European center for executive development at the international business school INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France.
Laszlo is the author of two books: The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value Through Social and Environmental Performance
(Island Press, 2005) and Sustainable Value: How the World’s Leading Companies Are Doing Well by Doing Good (Greenleaf Publishing, 2008).
“Leading companies that succeed in meeting the sustainable value challenge are turning environmental and social problems into new business opportunities. They are contributing positively to society in ways that create a unique and inimitable source of competitive advantage,”
he concludes.
—C.B.D.
BROWNFIELDS TO GREEN
Long before Charnelle Hicks ’88 was a
Swarthmore student and “keeping it green”
had become a global initiative, she was in touch
with community and
environmental issues.
Although her interest
in urban planning developed during a College
externship, Hicks’ affinity
for the environment is
rooted in the 1970s when, as a little girl, she
wanted to be a flower child—“One of those
nice people I saw on TV who loved the environment, flowers, and being outside.”
Community issues captured Hicks’ attention when she attended schools in an inner
city, a rural area, and a more affluent suburb
and witnessed the disparity between communities that have and those that don’t.
Today, Hicks is CEO and president of
CHPlanning Ltd., a green, Philadelphiabased firm, specializing in responsible land
use and redevelopment planning, that she
founded in 1999.
“The most important thing [in forming
an environmentally friendly company] is
making a decision in the first place to be
green,” Hicks says in the January 2008 issue
of Black Enterprise. She recalls early conflicts
30
between potential contracts and her desired
values. “If a client wasn’t interested in revitalizing existing communities, our firm
walked away from the project,” she says.
“Now, we are known for our work in environmentally related areas.”
For the Pittsburgh native who lives with
her family on a working farm in Schwenksville, Pa., the most gratifying aspect of heading a green company has been working with
communities such as the City of Philadelphia and the Borough of Chester to “transform areas that have become underutilized,
vacant, or polluted, also known as ‘brownfields,’ into productive land for housing,
retail establishments, industrial sites, or
parks and open space—‘greenfields.’ I guess
we were ahead of the trend.”
The company has grown by more than
200 percent in the last two years. In 2006,
CHPlanning was named one of the fastest
growing privately held companies in the
region by the Philadelphia 100.
Hicks’ reward is knowing that her company has played an integral role in enhancing communities, business corridors, and
environments. “It’s a business—but business
must work with and succeed with a conscience,” she says. “I believe that we have
achieved that.”
—S.C.B.
SOLAR POWER
Talk about energy independence.
“I think of solar power as representing
the democratization of the electric grid,”
says David Hochschild ’93. His own annual
electric bill nets out to zero thanks to a
rooftop solar energy system on his San
Francisco house, which feeds energy to the
grid during the day and draws needed electricity at night. “There’s something very
exciting about that—being able to produce
on an annual basis the amount of energy
that you use.”
swarthmore college bulletin
AN ECO-FRIENDLY
DUO
WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT INSPIRES
For Earthlust co-founder Cleveland Justis ’91, a student passion has
become a way of life. As director of programs and strategic initiatives
for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy since last May, Justis
says: “Every day, I work with people who are there to make the world
a better place.”
After leaving Swarthmore and completing a bachelor’s degree in
environmental sciences at the University of California–Berkeley, Justis
became an instructor and coordinator at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming, taking student groups on leadership expeditions in both North and South America. From 1998 to 2007, he was
education and outreach director and then executive director at the
Headlands Institute, a nationally renowned environmental education
center in California.
Much of Justis’ Conservancy work involves planning, strategizing,
and fund-raising as well as negotiation among government, business,
and nonprofit agencies. He believes that inspiration is the key to successful partnerships. “People are more likely to act if they’re inspired,
so I’ve tried to create systems, structures, and ideas for people to be
inspired by the environment and be moved to improve it,” he says.
Currently, he is overseeing the creation and launch of the Institute at
the Golden Gate, the country’s newest environmental leadership center at the Golden Gate National Parks, Sausalito.
“It’s a $100 million project to transform a former military base
into a part of the world’s largest urban national park. My work has
helped bring in federal, private, and philanthropic funding to clean
up and transform the site.”
Justis, who completed an M.B.A. at UC–Davis in 2005, now teaches a graduate course on social entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor there. Among other business affiliations, he is also a board member of Net Impact, a group of more than 10,000 M.B.A.s and business
leaders committed to using the power of business to improve the
world.
—C.B.D.
But don’t mistake Hochschild’s excitement
for innocence. He’s an experienced hand in
this emerging industry—one on the brink, he
says, of “going mainstream.”
A graduate of Harvard University’s
Kennedy School of Government, Hochschild
first got involved with promoting solar energy
in 2001 when he helped develop a successful
$100 million bond initiative to fund solar
panels on San Francisco buildings. He’s since
been involved from the advocacy side—he
and Adam Browning ’92 founded the nonprofit organization Vote Solar
april 2008
You may hold onto your old jeans
until you can fit into them again, or
you can recycle them to help insulate your home.
Denim insulation is just one
product sold by Refuge Sustainable
Building Center
(www.refugebuilding.com) in
Bozeman, Mont.
Co-owners Dave Schaub ’93 and
Steve Bruner ’92 opened Refuge in
July 2004 with a focus on supplying
building materials that respect the
natural world and human health.
Schaub, a former public school
teacher, says, “Many conventional
materials contain carcinogens like
formaldehyde. We sell products
that are beneficial to the environment.”
Eco-friendly building materials
cost five to 15 percent more than
conventional products. However,
“the data shows that more American consumers are willing to pay
that premium,” he says.
Before joining forces with
Schaub, Bruner was director of an
outdoor adventure program. After
earning an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia, he wrote strategic business plans for national
parks in Alaska, Madagascar, and
Yellowstone in Wyoming.
“I’ve heard sustainability
(www.votesolar.org), after the San Francisco
campaign—and from that of industry. He’s
now vice president of external relations for
Solaria, a Silicon Valley start-up.
Hochschild has been involved with the
cause on the local, state, and federal levels. He
helped promote the $3.3 billion California
Solar Initiative, which provides grants for
homeowners looking to go solar. He’s now
advocating for a federal solar tax credit.
Cost—a California homeowner looking to
install a solar energy system can expect to pay
$10,000 to $20,000—is one of the main barri-
defined as meeting the needs of the
world’s current population without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs,”
says Bruner. “That makes sense to
me.”
Refuge currently has a $110,000
inventory. In just four years, the
company’s sales have risen from
$42,000 in 2004 to $550,000 last
year. They expect 2008 sales to
reach
$630,000.
“We are
financially
viable and
making a
modest profit,” Bruner
says.
Among
the more popular products in their
4,000-square-foot showroom and
warehouse are nontoxic latex
paints; PaperStone, a countertop
material of up to 100 percent postconsumer recycled paper that is
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
certified; and the water-conserving
dual-flush toilet with two buttons—one for liquid waste using .8
gallon of water, the other for solid
waste using 1.6 gallons.
“I don’t doubt that our products
will be mainstream in the not too
distant future,” Schaub says. “We
see no shortage of growth.”
—A.P.
ers to solar expansion. And although he’s now
working in the solar industry, he was also
appointed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin
Newsom to serve on the city’s Public Utilities
Commission.
“There’s a growing sense that the whole
industry is going to change and costs are
going to come down,” Hochschild says.
“Every time the demand for solar power doubles, the price goes down about 20 percent.
You have the upward cost of fossil fuels, the
downward cost of solar.”
—E.R.
31
ALL IN GREEN
As sustainability manager for the
10-campus University of California (UC) system, Matthew St.
Clair ’97 oversees implementation of policies focusing on energy, green building, climate
change, transportation, operations and maintenance, waste
reduction/recycling, and purchasing. Last fall, Sierra Magazine
included the UC system on its
top-10 list of green schools.
“One of the reasons that
human society is in the predicament it’s in is that we’ve looked
at things in isolation and ignored
the connections. Many universities have great green building
programs or great recycling systems or strong climate policies,”
St. Clair says. “I’ve tried to make
sure we’re doing the best practice
level in all those areas.”
St. Clair, who has a master’s in
environmental policy, came to his
current position four years ago
after successfully negotiating
with the UC Board of Regents
and Office of the President to get
the university’s Sustainability
Policy passed while a graduate
student at UC–Berkeley. His
green lifestyle includes foregoing
a car; controlling the use of
utilities; and
purchasing
local organic
foods. He also
started a weekly drop-off of local
organic produce for occupants of
his office building. “People love
it,” he says. “I have found that
you can get people to change
more successfully through example than by lecturing them.”
He and his university colleagues have helped UC develop
numerous programs, including
establishing green building standards for all $8 billion worth of
construction projects; and a proposed $500 million energy efficiency program, which will scale
up an existing partnership with
the California State University to
which utility companies have
already provided $50 million.
“We want each campus to
serve as a living laboratory,” St.
Clair says. “When their students
graduate, we want them to
remember what it was like on
campus and work in their own
communities and businesses to
bring about a more sustainable
planet and economy.”
—A.P.
WHEN MARINE LIFE IS
THREATENED
HERE COMES THE SUN
Imagine cutting the cable that connects your
home to the electricity grid. Would you freeze in
the dark? Not in a new 800–square-foot dwelling
powered entirely by the sun. Your energy-efficient house is attractive
and easy to live in. Electric heating and cooling units powered by
batteries that are recharged by photovoltaic cells maintain a constant, comfortable temperature. The batteries also power super-efficient appliances needed for cooking, cleaning, and laundry, and they
even charge your electric vehicle.
Such a house is the goal of the Solar Decathlon, a biannual contest sponsored by the Department of Energy on the National Mall in
Washington, D.C. Twenty college and university teams from around
the world compete to design and build homes for the event. Last
year, the Cornell University team was co-led by David Bosworth ’98,
a graduate student in Cornell’s Master’s in Architecture Program.
Bosworth, an engineering major at Swarthmore, was one of five
leaders of a 120-member design and engineering team that built
Cornell’s entry. Its 60 110-watt photovoltaic panels are arrayed on a
separate tilted screen above the roof, taking weight off the roof itself
and allowing the use of structural panels with an insulation value of
R-40 for the exterior walls. Movable interior walls define flexible living spaces—a feature made possible by putting most air ducts,
wiring, and piping beneath removable floor panels, as is often done
in computer data centers.
With his engineering background and previous work experience
as a cabinetmaker and carpenter, Bosworth says he was “keyed up to
translate” among the many disciplines involved in the huge collaborative project. “Green design—the way we’ll have to build houses in
the future—will require breaking down barriers between architects
and engineers and all the specialists who will be needed for such a
project.”
Find more information on the Cornell project at
http://cusd.cornell.edu/ and on the Solar Decathalon at
www.solardecathlon.org.
—J.L.
to rebound from large-scale mortality than
fast-reproducing species such as shrimp.”
Second, she says, marine habitats struggle
As Aja Peters-Mason ’04 maps human ocean
to
survive
pollution, including agricultural
activities and underwater species distribution
run-off,
and
dumping of trash and hazardous
at the nonprofit Marine Conservation Biology
waste.
They
also
are subjected to destructive
Institute, she identifies a twofold threat to
ocean
practices
such
as bottom-trawl fishing
marine life.
and
oil
and
gas
exploitation.
“First, we take too much out of the ocean.
“The biggest emerging threat is ocean
In 2006, about one-fifth of our U.S. fisheries
acidification.
The ocean acts as our global cliwere classified as over-fished or experiencing
mate
regulator
by sequestering carbon dioxover-fishing,” Peters-Mason says. “The greatide
from
the
atmosphere.
Since the pre-indusest threat is to species like sharks, marine
trial
period,
increased
use
of fossil fuels and
mammals, and highly migratory fishes such as
changes
in
land
use
have
resulted
in much
tuna and swordfish, whose populations are
higher
amounts
of
atmospheric
carbon
dioxlong-lived and slow growing. They take longer
32
ide being absorbed by ocean water,” she says.
“If carbon emissions continue at their current
rate, ocean acidity may increase as much as
150 percent by 2100.”
Peters-Mason, a biology major at Swarthmore who obtained a master’s in environmental management as well as Certification
in Geospatial Analysis from Duke University’s
Nicholas School, criticizes the U.S. governmental system as too slow and fragmented to
respond to environmental problems: “I have
to continually justify what I’m doing. If I were
working at a for-profit organization trying to
maximize profits for my company, I wouldn’t
have to explain or justify my work. The ocean
swarthmore college bulletin
FROM GROUND AND SKY
In Nicaragua, half the rainforest has disappeared since 1950. Esther Zeledon ’04 wants to know why.
Deforestation has happened as the country’s agricultural frontier has shifted eastward, explains Zeledon, a native of
Nicaragua and fourth-year Ph.D. student in environmental science, policy, and management at the University of California–Berkeley. “But is it just that this large-scale agriculture is pushing through?” Zeledon asks. “What’s pushing it through?”
Zeledon’s doctoral research is truly interdisciplinary. In addition to analyzing satellite images to discern patterns in
deforestation, Zeledon has interviewed about 270 people in the northern state of Jinotega to glean their perspectives on
why so much has been lost. She’s now building a statistical model to synthesize the social science and satellite data and
determine the main factors behind deforestation in decades past—and hopefully project future trends. “I’m building up,”
she says, “to answer the questions of what happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what will happen in the future?”
Zeledon hasn’t reached any conclusions yet. But among the factors she’s been studying are the transition from a hot coffee export market to
a beef-hungry, fast-food–fueled one (“What the United States demands is what they grow.”); the Contra War; drug transport; and the increasing value of lumber, as wood grows ever more scarce.
And since she says conservation can’t happen without an understanding of the people who use the land, Zeledon also interviewed Nicaraguans about their attitudes toward the loss of tree life. She observed that in Jinotega, once covered by
cloud forest, concerns about the environment have increased dramatically in the last few years as deforestation’s
effects became more evident. “Before, the land used to be called the land of the mist,” Zeledon says. “Now it’s
pretty dry.”
—E.R.
“GREEN BONDS” FOR
A GREEN FUTURE
is governed by more than 100 statutes
administered by nearly 20 federal agencies,
which makes timely, cohesive ocean management impossible,” she says.
Nevertheless, Peters-Mason notes signs of
progress on the conservation front, including
the increasing numbers of people who
acknowledge global warming to be real.
“Still, I don’t think we’ll really start to change
the way we treat the environment until our
way of life is threatened or until the economics of making the environmental choices
makes them more feasible than other
options,” she says.
—C.B.D.
april 2008
Andrew Sniderman ’07 says he’s a
“recent convert to environmentalism,”
becoming aware of climate change
while working to stop genocide in
Darfur as co-founder of the Genocide
Intervention Network.
“The conflict in Darfur is arguably
being fueled by changes in weather
patterns and resultant decline in
arable land,” he says.
Sniderman, who grew up in Montreal, is currently participating in a
10-month program as an Action
Canada Fellow, one of about 20
“emerging leaders” selected annually
to build leadership for Canada’s
future. The fellowship includes a
$20,000 grant.
Sniderman was assigned to a project team of five fellows, including a
doctoral student, a fair trade clothing
distributor, a medical student, and a
green entrepreneur. At their first
meeting, they were drawn to the
entrepreneur’s vision of developing
Canada’s sustainable energy potential.
As they sought a course of action, Sniderman suggested “Green Bonds,” a
government-backed bond that Canadians could buy to invest in renewable
energy projects. He wants Green
Bonds to act as “a concrete vehicle
connecting Canadians with an
abstract vision of a green future.”
The proposal is currently under
consideration in the upper reaches of
the Canadian Finance Department.
“We’ve had several
members of Parliament and other government insiders
endorse the proposal,
so hopefully Green
Bonds are on the
road to implementation,” Sniderman says. “Still, before
the government officially releases
Green Bonds, it will need to conduct a
thorough risk assessment given that
backing the bonds entails a liability.”
Sniderman says his idea originated
from Clint Eastwood’s film Flags of
Our Fathers. “I drew inspiration from
the public campaigns for war bonds
during World War II. Our goal now is
to spark a compelling nation-building
project around Green Bonds. Climate
change is the new Axis, if you will,” he
says.
When his fellowship ends, Sniderman will head to Oxford as a Rhodes
Scholar.
For more information on green
bonds, visit www.greenbonds.ca.
—C.B.D.
33
aSense of
place
FIVE GARDENING PRINCIPLES
When you think about the long traditions
of French, Italian, English, Chinese, or Japanese gardens, certain images, architectural
characteristics, and garden objects quickly
come to mind. The United States hasn’t been
at the art of garden-making very long, so
perhaps it’s understandable that we come up
short when we try to identify the essence of
the American garden. The American gardening culture is still evolving; we’re still defining its ethic and aesthetic.
I’ve heard gardening described as “the
slowest of the performing arts.” Because it
takes decades for a single garden to mature, it
follows that centuries are needed to develop
a garden culture. European immigrants who
founded the United States brought their cultures—including their concepts of shaping
lands and gardens—with them. In 1741,
Henry Middleton laid out what is said to be
the oldest landscaped garden in America—
Middleton Place, near what is today
Charleston, S.C. Its symmetrical “butterfly
lakes,” the result of Herculean earth-moving
efforts, are still a marvel. In the late 1700s,
George Washington developed the grounds
DESCRIBED IN A NEW BOOK BY
THE DIRECTOR OF THE SCOTT
ARBORETUM ARE SEEN ON
SWARTHMORE’S CAMPUS
Text and Photographs by Claire Sawyers
The stage window wall of the Lang Concert Hall
ensures that members of the audience are visually
captivated by views into the Crum Woods while
also being entertained by musical performances.
34
4
swarthmore college bulletin
and gardens of Mount Vernon over a period
of 45 years, and Thomas Jefferson devoted
more than 40 years to developing Monticello.
Both became celebrated models for Americans to emulate in developing home
grounds—and both borrowed heavily from
English Renaissance formal garden design
combined with the romantic and picturesque
landscape ideals promulgated by Humphry
Repton in England.
This pattern of borrowing persisted. A
century later, affluent Americans traveled
abroad and returned with ideas and inspiration. Pierre duPont, who built Longwood
Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., was influenced by visits to at least 20 Italian villas and
50 French châteaux. John Phipps created lavish English-style grounds at his New York
estate, now known as Old Westbury Gardens.
In North Carolina, George Vanderbilt was
the master of a 19th-century French-style
château, the Biltmore Estate, and its lavish
gardens. Florida industrialist James Deering
hired 1,000 workers to build his Italian Renaissance-style villa, Vizcaya, between 1912
and 1916. Deering’s gardens feature an
imported 16th-century Italian baroque foun-
tain, Roman altars, and statues of mythological gods and goddesses.
Edith Wharton wrote in Italian Villas and
Their Gardens, published in 1904, about this
wave of influence: “The cult of the Italian
garden has spread from England to America,
and there is a general feeling that, by placing
a marble bench here and a sundial there, Italian ‘effects’ may be achieved.
The results, even where money and
thought have been expended, are not altogether satisfactory; and some critics have
thence inferred that the Italian garden is, so
to speak, untranslatable, that it cannot be
adequately adapted in another landscape and
another age….” Wharton goes on to suggest
that “if [Italian gardens] are to be a real
inspiration, they must be copied, not in the
letter but in the spirit…. A piece of ground
laid out on the principles of the old garden
craft will be, not indeed an Italian garden in
the literal sense, but what is far better, a garden well adapted to its surroundings as were
the models which inspired it.”
Since all of the aforementioned private
estates are now public gardens, I could argue
that they are still shaping Americans’ con-
cepts of the ideal garden. Visit modern
American public gardens that were created
from scratch instead of converted from turnof-the-century estates, and they too reflect
this. Countless examples prove that we’ve
done very well at copying from other cultures, but we can do better. We can learn
from the great gardens of the world and
extract their lessons rather than mimic their
look.
Although a lot of gardeners talk about
how deep a perennial border should be or
when to prune clematis, I’d rather discuss
ideas that shape the garden. The following
five principles, illustrated here by reference
to a place that most readers of this magazine
hold in common—and to which they have
an emotional attachment—may help you
create a garden that truly belongs to you, to
your home, and to the region in which you
(and your garden) live.
Like the campus of Swarthmore College,
which is a type of landscape uniquely developed in the United States, such surroundings
should feed your soul and give you a deep
sense of satisfaction from your environment.
They should give you a sense of place.
Countless examples prove that we’ve done
very well at copying from other cultures, but
we can do better.
DIANE MATTIS
Claire Sawyers has been director of the Scott
Arboretum since 1990. She received a bachelor’s
degree in ornamental horticulture from Purdue
University and a master’s in horticulture from
Purdue and the University of Delaware. Her
book, The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for
Cultivating a Sense of Place was published in 2007
by Timber Press. It is available at the College
Bookstore by phoning (610) 328-7756 or on-line
at http://bookstore.swarthmore.edu.
april 2008
35
1. Capture the Sense of Place
To garden with a sense of place means
to discover and preserve what is special
about your site, its genius loci. This means
working with what you’ve been given, not
struggling against it. In most instances, honoring a sense of place means learning about
the natural or cultural history of your area.
The old adage for writers is “write what
you know.” The gardening version of that is
“work with that you’ve been given,” and is
another take on how to successfully cultivate
a sense of place. Many protest this notion,
arguing that they don’t have a shred of
nature left to nurture or any character on the
site to appreciate—in fact, they’re “starting
with nothing.”
In the mid-1990s at Swarthmore, as the
new academic building that would become
Kohlberg Hall was being planned, it was
decided that the U-shaped building should
have a garden courtyard on the site where a
small stone annex building stood behind
Parrish Hall. Faced with creating something
out of “nothing,” designers Mary Miss and
Rodney Robinson drew inspiration from the
nondescript building. The original footprint
of the demolished building is completely
outlined in the new garden, which was
named for Isabel Bennett Cosby ’28. Stone
from the building was salvaged and reused—
both flush with the smooth flagstone terrace
and, at times, jumping up to form knee-high
sitting walls. In other sections, it’s a full-sized
wall with window wells enlarged to serve as
sitting nooks. Inside the footprint outline are
planting beds, walkways, and a large living
room of lawn, along with freestanding pillars
reminiscent of columns and beams in the
former building that now support vines in
the garden. The concept, design, and materials used in the creation of the courtyard all
arose from what was on the site—what the
designers had been given to work with.
2. Derive Beauty from Function
To make our gardens and man-made landscapes practical—so they support our pattern of living and working—many things
need to be associated with them. On Swarthmore’s campus, there are roads, paths, building entrances, service areas, and utility lines
to consider. The home gardener must contend with a driveway and a place to park
cars, a mailbox, a place for firewood, a place
for the kids to play or the dog to exercise, an
area for garbage cans, a place to cook or eat
outside, and other necessities.
Whether on a campus or at home, these
elements are often treated as if they are outside the garden itself, not an integral part of
it, when in fact they offer opportunities to
provide not only functionality but beauty. If
we appreciate them as opportunities, we will
develop more satisfying gardens and landscapes with integrity. This, then, is the second principle: Derive beauty from function.
This can mean treating mundane things
like storm water management as garden
opportunities. On a steep slope east of
McCabe Library, runoff was eroding the
ground and pooling at the bottom of the hill.
But a proposed storm drain and large underground pipe were avoided in favor of an
abstraction of a natural stream. Storm water
now flows for about 50 yards through an
open channel lined with landscape fabric
covered with river rock before tying back
into an underground storm-water pipe system. Water is thus allowed to percolate into
the ground as it passes through this channel.
1
The Cosby Courtyard of Kohlberg Hall is an example
of “working with what you have been given” to
create a sense of place. A small building on the site
was demolished and gave rise to this garden design
as well as the stone used in the garden structure.
36
swarthmore college bulletin
Planting its banks with native or naturalized
plants that favor wet ground has imbued this
“bio-stream” with garden-like qualities.
3. Use Humble Materials
Gardens should give us a sense of comfort, pleasure, and gratification. They
shouldn’t overwhelm or intimidate or cause
anxiety. They should have more in common
with the family room than with the formal
living room, fostering pleasure and intimacy.
For a landscape to be as inviting as a family
room, it needs to convey a mood of modesty
and casualness, a feeling that you are welcome to explore, discover, relax, or experience the space through social activity. Using
materials familiar and tied to the land helps
accomplish this mood, whether they’re
indigenous, natural, or recycled materials. So
the third principle is: Use modest or humble
materials in making your garden if you want
to nourish your spirit.
Although stone unshaped by humans has
the most direct tie to nature, quarried stone
is also made from the forces of nature. The
use of local stone on many of Swarthmore’s
structures not only unifies the campus, it
makes the buildings appear to have risen
from the site itself.
One way to create a powerful sense of
modesty and humility is to make something
for the garden from discards or recycled
materials. Trees that must be removed for
one reason can often find new lives as something else. At the College, we recently
engaged a wood carver to give a “second life”
to the stump of a beloved old tree, the Bender Oak near the Faulkner Tennis Courts.
(See p. 7)
In 2003, Swarthmore removed a grove of
metasequoias for a building project. These
unusual conifers were milled into shingles in
anticipation of their new use as siding for a
new arboretum education center and greenhouse, for which construction begins this
year. It was a way of honoring a grove of special trees while at the same time creating a
useful and attractive building material. By
following the “humble materials” principle,
aesthetics don’t have to be compromised to
meet such ecological goals or standards. Aesthetics are, in fact, frequently enhanced with
a sense of appropriateness stemming from
such an approach.
2
4. Marry the Inside to the Outside
There are documented therapeutic
effects and health benefits from having a
view of the outside. Patients heal faster in
hospital rooms with windows that look out
onto plants, gardens, or natural landscapes.
Domestic crime and violence rates are lower
in low-income housing communities that
have even a minimal amount of landscaping.
Knowing that, it isn’t much of a leap to
assume that the more we can observe nature
and have plants or gardens in our daily lives,
the happier and healthier we’ll be. And the
more we connect our houses, schools, and
offices to the outside, the more we’ll be able
to do that. The fourth principle, then, is to
marry your house to your garden—to blur
the lines between the built and the natural,
between the architecture and the landscape.
Bring the outside in and take the inside out.
At Swarthmore, the flagstone used in the
Cosby Courtyard forms the floor of the hallways and common areas that look out into
the garden. To those sitting in the Kohlberg
Commons and looking out through its
expansive windows, the stone appears to be
continuous, uniting the two spaces visually.
Derive beauty from function—this can mean
treating mundane things like storm water
management as garden opportunities
The creative handling of storm water by the Scott
Arboretum led to the development of a “bio-stream”
near McCabe Library.
april 2008
37
In fact, Swarthmore College has long
embraced this principle. Commencement—
the most sacred ceremony of the institution—is held in an outdoor room. And the
floor-to-ceiling windows of the Lang Concert Hall and the Cornell Science and Engineering Library bring magnificent views of
the Crum Woods into those spaces. Newer
Swarthmore buildings such as the science
center and two new residence halls at the
foot of campus also employ both architectural and horticultural techniques to marry
the inside to the outside.
5. Involve the Visitor
Museum curators have developed
sophisticated interactive exhibits during the
last two decades to engage museum visitors
in all kinds of ways and through all types of
activities. No longer do museums seem like
warehouses stuffed with artifacts identified
only with basic labels. Audio devices allow us
to hear directly from curators as if we were
taking a private tour. Mini-theaters provide
movies that supplement our understanding
and appreciation of the exhibits. And “please
touch” signs are now almost as common as
“don’t touch” signs.
If you want to affect people—to relax, recharge, enrich,
delight, and educate—your
garden should engage them.
Like the audience invited to
clap along at a concert, garden
visitors need to participate
physically and mentally if they
are going to be moved by its
“music.” The mere act of stepping through the garden can be
made into an adventure. A
well-designed path pulls us
3
At some point, the stone walls and cedar shingles
of Cunningham House, which now serves as the
headquarters of the Scott Arboretum, were
painted over (bottom). Removing the paint and
replacing the wood shingles not only restored
some of the original character of the building, but
also connected the edifice with the garden.
38
An Alexander Calder stabile/mobile in
front of Martin Hall provides a focal point
for the large space and involves the visitor
with its constant play of planes, light, and
color.
through the space; it determines our views
and the order in which parts of the garden
are revealed—creating a sense of journey.
In the American Southwest, homes often
consist of separate structures for different
functions, forcing the resident to experience
the outdoors while going from room to
room. A residential college is this sort of
experience writ large. At Swarthmore, campus residents and visitors are involved in the
arboretum every day and every place they
go—and not just visually.
In the John Nason Garden between Trotter and Hicks halls, some plantings are deliberately allowed to spill onto pathways. They
rustle in the wind or as they are touched by
passers-by, involving several senses. Entrances to Crum Woods’ trails create a sense
of mystery and curiosity. “What’s down
there?” the visitor wonders. You can’t help
but be pulled into spaces where you will be
rewarded in surprising ways. In larger spaces,
playful public art can also involve the visitor.
People constantly climb, sit in, and take pictures of Jake Beckman’s [’04] giant Adirondack chair on Parrish lawn—so that it has
become a new icon for the College. !
5
swarthmore college bulletin
connections
DIG IT!
ALUMNI COLLEGE ABROAD
Swarthmore’s Alumni College Abroad
program continues to grow. In March, alumni joined Howard A. Schneiderman Professor
of Biology Scott Gilbert on a sold-out trip
aboard the M.V. Santa Cruz through the
Galápagos Islands. Two additional trips open
to Swarthmore alumni, parents, and friends
are planned in 2008.
A FAMILY DINOSAUR ADVENTURE
JUNE 28–JULY 4
Join fellow Swarthmoreans for our 2008
summer family adventure to western Colorado. Explore the red-rock country while
learning about a subject that children never
tire of — the dinosaur! Our program is
based in the Grand Valley of the Colorado
River, a region teeming with fossils and an
incredible variety of natural wonders from
fanciful rock formations to lush alpine
forests. Your faculty leader is Rachel Merz,
april 2008
professor of biology and Walter Kemp Professor in the Natural Sciences.
Families with children ages 7 and up will
dig side-by-side with scientists in an active,
productive quarry where bones from eight
species of dinosaurs have been found. Travelers will explore the science of paleontology
from prospecting to laboratory preparation
of fossils at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum. The program also includes rafting on
the spectacular Colorado River, hiking in
awe-inspiring Colorado National Monument, and traveling to 9,000 feet to prospect
for plant and animal fossils in Douglas Pass.
TUSCANY, ITALY
OCT. 11–19
Tuscany is a region where the past and present are intertwined amid a setting of unparalleled grace. Idyllic hamlets such as Montalcino and San Gimignano, encircled by rem-
nants of their ancient Etruscan walls, have
stood proud for centuries. The artistic legacy
of the greatest masters of the Italian Renaissance, including Michelangelo and Botticelli,
remains intact throughout the streets, duomos, and palazzos of Florence. Alumni and
friends will discover Tuscany’s way of life,
intriguing history, stunning beauty and artistic heritage with Robert DuPlessis, Isaac H.
Clothier Professor of History and International Relations. This exclusive program
includes seven nights accommodation in the
heart of Siena, expert-led excursions, enriching lectures by Professor DuPlessis, authentic
Tuscan meals, a wine tasting, and other
insights into everyday life in Tuscany.
For more information on these trips, call (800)
789-9738, e-mail alumni_travel@swarthmore.edu,
or visit the Alumni College Abroad Web site at
www.swarthmore.edu/alumni_travel.xml.
39
connections
UPCOMING
EVENTS
APRIL
3 Atlanta
Faculty Talk: “Paradise Poisoned?
The Spiral of Suicide in Sri
Lanka” with William R. Kenan Jr.
Professor of Psychology Jeanne
Marecek
5–7 On Campus
Spring Alumni Council Meeting
11–13 On Campus
Family Weekend
13 Chicago
Faculty Talk: “Planets Near and
Far: Understanding Our Own
Solar System Better by Studying
Others” with Associate Professor
of Astronomy Eric Jensen.
17 Seattle
Faculty Talk: “An Anthropologist’s View of Aging and Retirement—Research Meets Personal
Experience” with Centennial Professor Emerita of Anthropology
and Provost Emerita Jennie
Keith.
The 2008 Jonathan R. Lax ’71
Conference on Entrepreneurship
was held on Sunday, March 30.
This year, for the first time, the
conference had a central theme,
the business of sustainability.
Keynote speaker Chris Laszlo
’80, a co-founder and partner of
Sustainable Value Partners and
author of The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting
Value through Social and Environmental Performance and Sustainable Value: How the World’s
Leading Companies Are Doing
Well by Doing Good, discussed
sustainability-driven business
leadership and emerging sustainability practices based on case
studies at DuPont, Wal-Mart,
and other global industry leaders. (More on Lazlo, p. 30)
Other featured speakers were:
Jenny Hourihan Bailin ’80, former managing director, Banc of
America Securities
Sohail Bengali ’79, managing
director, Stone & Youngberg
Drew Clark ’87 (moderator),
director of telecommunications
and media project, Center for
Public Integrity
Peter Hamilton ’97, senior analyst, Plebys International
David Hochschild ’93, vice president of external relations, Solaria
Gerry Lax ’74, senior designer
and project manager, Advanced
Solar Products
Robert McKinstry ’75, vice president and general counsel, Carbon Trap Technologies
Ruth Perry ’78, director of product stewardship and health,
Rohm & Haas
Chris Plum ’75, president, Carbon Trap Technologies
Marty Spanninger ’76 (moderator), former senior supervising
producer of Now on PBS
David Vinjamuri ’86, founder
and president of ThirdWay
Brand Trainers.
The College thanks the family
of the late Jonathan Lax ’71 for
its continued support of this
conference, which brings together alumni and students interested in entrepreneurship and/or
business.
MAY
1 Minneapolis
Faculty Talk: “Presidential Primary Candidates’ Health Care
Proposals: An Evaluation” with
Professor of Economics Ellen
Magenheim.
5 Portland
Faculty Talk: “Problems of Freedom” with Professor of Philosophy Richard Schuldenfrei.
21 Durham
Faculty Talk: Associate Professor
of English Literature Nora
Johnson.
JUNE
1 On Campus
Class of 2008 Commencement
6–8 On Campus
Alumni Weekend: Reunions for
classes ending in “3” and “8”
40
“Dancing with the Bugs” On Nov. 14, more than 50 alumni gathered at the
Down Town Association in Manhattan to hear Professor of Biology Amy Cheng
Vollmer lecture on “Dancing with the Bugs: Delicate Choreography for Humans
and their Microbial Partners.” Many of Vollmer’s former students were in attendance. She also presented this lecture in Washington, D.C., on March 2 and in
San Francisco on March 10. (From left to right): Elizabeth Campbell ’92, Elizabeth Glater ’97, Claudia Munoz ’99, Adisetyantari Suprapto ’96, Amy Cheng
Vollmer, Clarissa Nobile ’01, Jorge Aguilar ’05, and Jones Nauseef ’06
RYO AKASAKA ’09
LAX CONFERENCE STRESSES SUSTAINABILITY
where have you
been with your
swarthmore gear?
We want to know where you have
been showing off your Swarthmore
gear. As you travel the world for business or pleasure, snap a photo of
yourself in your stylish Swarthmore
duds, and it may land here in a future
issue of the Bulletin. Send digital
photos to alumni@swarthmore.edu.
Please note who is in the picture and
where it was taken.
EXTERNS EXPOSED TO
WORLD OF WORK
During the week of Jan. 13,
170 Swarthmore students took
advantage of the College’s Extern
Program, putting their winter
break to good use by spending
five days at the workplace of
Swarthmore alumni sponsors.
The experience gives students
the opportunity to gain practical
exposure to potential career
fields. In return, the program
connects alumni with the College through close interaction
with current students.
As part of this Extern week,
the College hosted receptions for
the students and their sponsors
in Boston, New York City,
Philadelphia, and Washington,
D.C. More than 200 students and
alumni attended. The Extern
Program continues to seek additional sponsors and housing
hosts. If you would like to obtain
additional information or to volunteer, please e-mail
extern@swarthmore.edu.
swarthmore college bulletin
swarthmore: city by city
BOSTON
CHICAGO
On Jan. 12, the Boston Connection viewed Riding the Wave.com
at the Playwrights’ Theatre, performed by Jonathan Mirin ’94,
co-artistic director of the Piti
Theatre Company. Set in the
dot-com bubble of the late
1990s, the play is about a young
actor who obtains a stock tip
about a tech company named
Wave Systems that causes his life
to turn upside down.
On Feb. 10, Swarthmore alumni,
parents, and friends visited the
Oriental Institute on the campus
of the University of Chicago. The
museum of the Oriental Institute
is a world-renowned showcase
for the history, art, and archaeology of the ancient Near East.
Alumni gathered for brunch
before the visit and later enjoyed
the movie Nile: River of the Gods.
DENVER
The College’s newest book group
has formed in Portland, Maine.
Organizer Eleanor Witte Wright
’57 reports that a small but
enthusiastic group will be starting its literary adventures with
Willa Cather’s My Antonia. A
second group may be formed in
the Brunswick area; if you are
interested in participating, please
contact the Alumni Office.
On Feb. 1, Denver alumni gathered at the home of Janet Dunn
Mackenzie ’50 for a dessert
reception and conversation. Special guest Michael Dukakis ’55,
the Democratic nominee for
president in 1988, shared his
“Reflections on the State of
American Politics” as a topic for
discussion.
PORTLAND, MAINE
Sociable Sociologists The American Sociological Association’s Annual Meeting took place in New York City in August 2007. Swarthmore alumni working and
studying in sociology came together for their annual dinner at the Carnegie
Deli. They were joined by Joy Charlton, professor of sociology and director of
the Eugene M. Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, and Robin Wagner-Pacifici, the Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Sociology, who were in town
for the meeting. (Right standing, back to front): Perry Chang ’85, Michael Schudson ’69, Rachel Kahn Best ’04, Laurie Matheson ’84, Rachel Sullivan ’99, Richard
Vezina ’99, Isaac Reed ’00, and Joy Charlton. (Right seated, back to front): Caroline Hodges Persell ’62, Wendy Cadge ’97, Michaela De Soucey ’00, Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Caitlin Benhaim-Killian ’95, LiErin Probasco ’04, and Sophia Krzys
Acord ’03. (Left, back to front) : Lowell Livezey ’66 (deceased Dec. 9, 2007),
Andy Perrin ’93, Rikki Abzug ’86, Seth Ovadia ’93, and John Krinsky ’91
april 2008
41
books + arts
Icarus in the ’60s: A Movement Memoir
One might ask whether the
last word on the 1960s and
1970s hasn’t been said. Clearly
not, because Cathy Wilkerson ’66
presents a truly fresh, critical
insight into that tumultuous
time. This is an invaluable
work—especially for the generation of the last 35 years.
Flying Close to the Sun opens
with the explosion that demolished Wilkerson’s father’s Greenwich Village townhouse on Mar.
6, 1970, killing three members of
the Weather Underground, and
closes with portraits of the victims. In between, Wilkerson
weaves together three intersecting strands: an overview of
national and international
events, a history of the Students
for a Democratic Society (SDS)
and the radical Weathermen, and
a remarkably insightful account
of her political experience. This
last is a rare gift among the all
too frequent self-serving or
detached works on the time.
Wilkerson stresses how formative the Civil Rights Movement
was for SDS and other political
activists—a crucial part of the
story that has not been sufficiently recognized. During her
first two years at Swarthmore,
Wilkerson’s experiences on the
picket lines in Cambridge, Md.,
and, later, at the Franklin Elementary School in Chester, Pa.,
set her on the path she would
take for the next 27 years—and
after. Her arrest and detention in
state prison for the school picketing convinced her to work in
Chester, barely five miles from
the campus, with other members
56
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Flying Close to the Sun: My Life
and Times as a Weatherman by
Cathy Wilkerson ’66 (Seven
Stories Press, 2007)
of the Swarthmore Political
Action Committee (SPAC) to
organize a block association with
the local residents, many of
whom had been part of the
Franklin School protest.
Yet, it was events far from the
United States that would change
everything. After the meretricious Gulf of Tonkin resolution
in August 1964 and the Marine
landing at Danang in March
1965, the previously cloaked
American war against Vietnamese national liberation
became an open war and effectively shifted almost all attention
from the still unfinished civil
rights struggle.
After graduation in 1966,
Wilkerson made a brief but ultimately frustrating detour to
work in Washington as an aide
for the liberal Wisconsin Congressman Robert Kastenmeier.
She quit to join SDS that fall.
Her first assignment was as editor of New Left Notes at the SDS
headquarters in Chicago. In
1967, Wilkerson moved to Washington to lead SDS organizing on
the nearby campuses.
The SDS had announced its
formation with the 1962 Port
Huron Statement, emphasizing
the core problems of inequality,
poverty, and race and committing itself to the recreation and
development of participatory
democracy in America. It was a
brave, hopeful statement—but
woefully lacking in historical
grounding and dismissive of all
earlier political struggles. Wilkerson underscores how that rejection of past historical experience
would return to haunt SDS.
Almost from the beginning,
the SDS had straddled two conflicting impulses: direct action
and confrontation or education
and democratic organizing
across class and race. Wilkerson
shows how frustration at the lack
of progress in ending the Vietnam War—despite the huge
demonstrations—weakened the
organization’s commitment to
participatory democracy and
organizing and made violence,
militant confrontation, and a
Leninist model attractive. It was
just a few short steps to bomb
making and the Greenwich Village explosion and the need to
go underground.
Wilkerson is generous in
her evaluation of her comrades
in SDS and Weatherman. She
never seeks to settle scores; in
fact, she is most unsparing of
herself. She is, nonetheless,
deeply critical of the collective
failure in SDS and Weatherman—and her own as well—to
think historically or to consider
the consequences of their confrontational tactics. She locates
the causes of this failure in growing arrogance, intolerance of dissent and internal debate, and the
seductiveness of violence and
secrecy. The consequences would
be political isolation and marginalization.
One important correction is
in order. Wilkerson uses the term
“Fifth Column” incorrectly. She
writes that Weatherman “had
begun to define (itself) as a ‘fifth
column,’” mistakenly identifying
it as having been made up of
people working in Madrid for
the Republican side during the
Spanish Civil War. Actually,
Spanish Nationalist General
Emilio Mola coined the term in
1937 to designate those fascist
sympathizers who worked
secretly to undermine the
Republican government in anticipation of his four-column
attack on the capital. Even now,
no good leftist would want to be
associated with that “column.”
Flying Close to the Sun is a
finely written work of remarkswarthmore college bulletin
able honesty and dramatic flair.
Wilkerson forces us to rethink
the 1960s and 1970s and to see
the emergent women’s movement in a new light. Her long list
of the victims of police murder
and assassination in those years
is deeply affecting and melancholy. As our country now works
to halt George Bush’s mindless
war in Iraq—sold, like the Vietnam War, through lies and
fear—it also struggles to recapture democracy. This book provides an excellent way to learn
from the author’s experience and
the history of that earlier movement to chart a new course.
—Thompson Bradley
Professor Emeritus of Russian
author examines how the discoveries of missionaries and merchants affected the content and
configuration of world maps.
Gerard Helferich ’76, High Cotton: Four Seasons in the Mississippi Delta, Counterpoint, 2007.
Mixing biography, history, and
reminiscence, the author depicts
Mississippi Delta farming life.
Larissa Heinrich ’91, The Afterlife
of Images; Translating the Pathological Body Between China and
the West, Duke University Press,
2008. The author explores the creation and circulation of Western
medical discourses linking ideas
about disease to Chinese identity—both in and outside China.
Eric Stockdale and Randy Holland ’69, Middle Temple Lawyers
and The American Revolution,
Thomson West, 2007. This
account of American-born
lawyers who studied at the Middle Temple Inn of Court before
the Revolutionary War includes
forewords by U.S. Supreme
Court Justice John Roberts Jr.
and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Phillips of Worth
Matravers.
Other Books
Emily Abel ’64, Tuberculosis and
the Politics of Exclusion: A History
of Public Health and Migration to
Los Angeles, Rutgers University
Press, 2007. Abel shows how the
association of the disease with
“tramps” during the 1880s and
1890s and Dust Bowl refugees
during the 1930s led to exclusionary measures against both groups.
Also by Emily Abel, Suffering
in the Land of Sunshine: A Los Angeles Illness Narrative, Rutgers
University Press, 2006. Letters by
Charles Dwight Willard, an LA
civic leader at the turn of the 20th
century, illustrate the experience
of sickness through Willard’s encounter with tuberculosis.
april 2008
David Bressoud ’71, A Radical
Approach of Lebesgue’s Theory of
Integration, Cambridge University Press, 2008. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate mathematics students, this
introduction to measure theory
and Lebesgue integration is rooted in and motivated by the historical questions that led to its
development.
Lynn Aarti Chandhok ’85, The
View From Zero Bridge, Anhinga
Press, 2007. This winner of the
2006 Philip Levine Prize for
Poetry offers poems inspired by
the two worlds of Kashmir and
Brooklyn that tell truths about
loss and gain.
Evelyn Edson ’62, The World
1300–1492: The Persistence of
Tradition and Transformation,
The Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2007. Using maps of the
14th and 15th centuries, the
Amanda Konradi ’84, Taking the
Stand: Rape Survivors and the
Prosecution of Rapists, Praeger
Publishers, 2007. Following the
experiences of 47 rape survivors
through the judicial process from
reporting to sentencing , this book
illustrates the importance of recognizing the differences in individual
victims and their experiences to
ensure them as successful a path
as possible through the prosecutorial process.
Anne Enke ’87, Finding the
Movement: Sexuality, Contested
Space, and Feminist Activism,
Duke University Press, 2007.Focusing on women’s activism in Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis–
St. Paul in the 1960s and 1970s,
Enke describes how women
across race and class created a
groundswell of feminist activism
by directly intervening in the
urban landscape.
Judith Hughes ’62, Guilt and Its
Vicissitudes: Psychoanalytic
Reflections on Morality, Routledge, 2008. The author describes
how psychoanalyst Melanie
Klein and generations of her followers pursued and deepened
Freud’s project of explaining
man’s moral sense as a wholly
natural phenomenon, arguing
that Klein and her followers ultimately provided a more consistent and comprehensive psychological account of moral
development.
Laura Lein ’69 and Deanna
Schexnayder with Karen Nanges
Douglas and Daniel Schroeder,
Life After Welfare: Reform and the
Persistence of Poverty, University
of Texas Press, 2007. This work,
which follows 179 families after
leaving welfare, is set against a
backdrop of multiple types of
data and econometric modeling.
57
books + arts
John Ridland ’53, A Brahms
Card Ballad: Poems Selected for
Hungarians, Dowitcher Press,
2007. The title poem of this
selection, which appeared first in
Hungarian translation, was
inspired by an anecdote about a
boy who began a collection of
calling cards of cultural and historical figures, such as Brahms.
Peter Linebaugh ’64, The Magna
Carta Manifesto: Liberties and
Commons for All, University of
California Press, 2008. This history
of the Magna Carta illustrates how
ancient protections—such as the
rights of habeas corpus, trial by
jury, due process of law, and the
prohibition of torture—are repeatedly abridged when greed, lust for
power, and ambition sieze hold of
a state.
Andrea Rugh ’57, The Political
Culture of Leadership in the United Arab Emirates, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2007. Examining
leadership in the United Arab
Emirates during 200 years of
transformation from an egalitarian society of small independent
emirates to a union of states governed by a few ruling families,
this book shows how leaders’
political behaviors are shaped by
cultural expectations of how
Jean Matter Mandler ’51, The
Foundations of Mind: Origins of
Conceptual Thought, Oxford
University Press, 2006. Drawing
on extensive research, the author
explores preverbal conceptualization and shows how this ability forms the basis for thought
and language.
Lloyd Novick, Cynthia Morrow
’87, and Glen Mays, Public
Health Administration: Principles
for Population-Based Management, Second Edition, Jones and
Bartlett Publishers, 2008. With
contributions from top leaders
in areas ranging from workforce
to community-based prevention
to emergency preparedness, this
second edition offers detailed,
comprehensive coverage of current, relevant issues for new as
well as seasoned public health
administrators.
58
engage with Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, the author argues
that Lacanian theory has the
potential to begin rectifying the
deeply flawed way that ethnic
and racialized subjects have been
conceptualized in North America since the mid-20th century.
Joe McGinniss Jr. ’94, The Delivery Man, Black Cat, 2008. This
debut novel is an exhilarating,
frightening, and unflinching portrait of today’s lost generation—a
love story set against the surreal
excess of Las Vegas, where broken
lives come to seek new beginnings,
casinos feed the lust of tourists and
residents alike, and local kids grow
up fast and burn out early. Fast and
thrilling, this book is not for the
squeamish reader.
Ruth Bernard Yeazell ’67, Art of
the Everyday: Dutch Painting and
the Realist Novel, Princeton University Press, 2008. Arriving at
the same time as the opening of
the exhibit The Age of Rembrandt
at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York City, this literary study plumbs the realist novels of writers such as Honoré de
Balzac, George Eliot, Thomas
Hardy, and Marcel Proust,
uncovering their relationships
with Dutch painters of the 18th
and 19th centuries.
people should relate to one
another and discusses the significant, albeit largely “invisible”
role of women in the politics of
tribal societies.
Robert McCoy ’42, Planting the
Good Seed: Letters From a Quaker
Relief Worker, Wilmington College Peace Resource Center,
2007. Detailed letters describe the
author’s experience as a young
Quaker relief worker in post–
World War II Europe. His writing
bears witness to the devastating
destruction to both country and
psyche and the healing touch of
the Quaker relief effort.
Jon Van Til ’61, Breaching Derry’s Walls: The Quest for a Lasting
Peace in Northern Ireland, University Press of America, 2008.
This book is the first to examine
the island-based society of Ireland from the point of view of
its northwest quadrant, focusing
in particular on Derry, a city
with a reputation as a center for
culture.
Antonio Viego ’89, Dead Subjects: Toward a Politics of Loss in
Latino Studies, Duke University
Press, 2007. In this call for scholars in race and ethnic studies to
Darius Rejali ’81, Torture and
Democracy, Princeton University
Press, 2007. Mapping a long, unbroken but largely forgotten history of torture in modern democracies, the author offers the most
comprehensive study of “democratic” torture methods available,
gathering everything from medical
and scientific literature to historical
and social scientific studies of
torture.
swarthmore college bulletin
in my life
A Brief but
Illustrious
Career
with the
Royal Ballet
By Stephen Burns ’71
Stephen Burns is a management consultant
based in Philadelphia and Paris. He takes
ballet classes, appears in ballet performances,
and—as time permits—consults.
64
I suppose it’s time, after all these years,
to reveal the truth.
Classmates: I was a closet balletomane
during our years together! While you were
playing Frisbee on Parrish lawn, I was secretly practicing pliés in the basement of Pearson. Feel free to laugh now, so you can look
me in the eye without smirking at our next
reunion. Having said that …
Some years ago, I was at London’s Covent
Garden watching a performance of Swan
Lake. The venue was superb, the orchestral
accompaniment top-notch, and the dancing
about as good as it gets. After the performance, I casually wandered back to the stage
door to pay my compliments to Roberta
Marquez, the young Brazilian who danced
the lead role of Odette/Odile. I introduced
myself to her and kissed her hand in the gracious manner that years of practice on other
ballerinas of world-class stature had refined.
In return, she shyly whispered, “I am sure we
will meet again soon.” Little did she know
how accurate her prophecy would be.
Looking back, all that was lacking that
night was Madge the gypsy popping out of
the shadows as I walked down Piccadilly
back to my hotel, grabbing my palm, and
foretelling, “Before long, you will be on stage
with Roberta, close enough to trip her up as
she does her 32 fouettés in Act 3!”
Fast forward to last summer. An announcement appeared on a local Philadelphia Internet site, asking for volunteers to appear with
London’s Royal Ballet in the capacity of
supernumeraries. It would have completely
escaped my attention, had my ballet instructor not directed the class’s attention to it. In
fact, because I don’t watch TV, read the
Philadelphia newspapers, nor listen to the
radio except for a few minutes of National
Public Radio in the morning, I was completely unaware that the Royal Ballet was
going to be here at all.
There was some consternation among the
women students, who outnumber men by
about five to one in my class, because surprisingly more men than women were needed for the Royal Ballet’s local performances.
The day of judgment came on a Monday.
The schedule was to be as follows: Monday,
selection followed by rehearsal for Romeo
and Juliet; Tuesday, rehearsal and performance of Romeo and Juliet; Wednesday,
rehearsal for Swan Lake, second performance
of Romeo and Juliet; Thursday, rehearsal and
performance of Swan Lake; and Friday, final
performance of Swan Lake.
I showed up early at Philadelphia’s Mann
Center for the Performing Arts, a peculiar
choice of venue as it was midsummer and
this outdoor facility was not air conditioned.
The first thing that struck me was the
absence of people. Had I gotten the day
wrong? I eventually spotted one of the girls
from class, who, I suspect, had spent the
night in a sleeping bag outside the theater, as
getting a role meant the world to her.
Eventually, a couple dozen local dancers
showed up, as did two officious looking people with clipboards from the Royal Ballet.
From the expression on their faces, one could
tell something was dreadfully wrong. But
what? Had they read that Philadelphians had
recently been voted the ugliest people in the
country?
I walked over to them and asked if there
was a problem. There bloody hell was a problem, they said. There weren’t enough of us
Philadelphians! The company had just finished touring in such cultural capitals as
Tijuana, Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas,
and hundreds of people showed up, roared the
fellow. Has an atom bomb decimated the
population? he asked. Well sir, we’ll just have
to make do with whom we have, I suggested.
He glared at me icily, as if to say did I really
expect him to hand me a role? By the way, I
added, was Roberta Marquez in town? She
and I have been friends for a few years now,
don’t you know.
His mood softened as if he had been hit
over the head with a cricket bat. Did I really
know Roberta? Of course; is she here now
with the company? Yes, but she’s not scheduled to perform. He fumbled in his pocket
for a computer print-out, put on his reading
glasses, and gave me her hotel room number.
Give her a call, I’m sure she’ll be happy to
hear from someone local. And, um, what
roles were you interested in? We both suddenly became aware that our exchange was
being followed with keen interest by everyone else, not the least by the ballet mistress.
After an awkward pause, the two of them
got into all-business mode and sized up the
problem. For the four performances, more
than 100 supernumerary roles would have to
swarthmore college bulletin
ing. But shortly after Act 2 ended, the commanding voice of the Royal Ballet’s formidable director, Monica Mason O.B.E., came
over the loudspeaker system.
Because of her injury, Monica announced,
Tamara would not appear in Act 3 but would
return for Act 4. As Tamara’s substitute needed time to suit up, the intermission would be
a bit extended.
Disaster nearly struck at the very end
of Act 3, following Juliet’s suicide.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEPHEN BURNS
I got my feet caught in my robe and
started to fall forward....
Clockwise from top left: Stephen Burns
(right) with his ballet class partner in
costume as townspeople in Romeo and
Juliet. Backstage with ballet star
Roberta Marquez, surrounded by props.
As a court gent in Swan Lake, Act 3.
be filled. Doing the math, that meant everybody would perform every night, perhaps
in more than one role, allowing for expected
absences. That was for the women. The
men would have two or possibly three roles
nightly.
We were asked to line up in size order, and
the administrator noted our names along
with height, weight, shoe size, and age. I lied
about the latter. I have been 40 ever since I
turned 45, which was so many years ago now.
Some vigorous discussion ensued between
our two English visitors, accompanied by a
considerable flourish of paperwork, and
roles were then announced.
I was cast as follows: Romeo and Juliet:
townsperson and ballroom guest (Acts 1 and
2), monk (Act 3); Swan Lake: drink bearer
(Act 1); court gent (Act 3).
Swan Lake, Act 3! How I longed to be on
stage as Odile unleashes her 32 fouettés—as
she reveals herself to be none other than the
daughter of the evil magician Rothbart; as
Prince Siegfried collapses in grief upon
learning he has sworn love to an imposter!
But Roberta wouldn’t be dancing. My elation
gave way to a slight twinge of sadness;
Madge’s imaginary prediction would not be
fulfilled.
april 2008
The early rehearsals of Romeo and Juliet
were fairly grueling. I had to learn the difference between looking like a potted plant
and hamming it up, a subtle distinction
indeed.
Disaster nearly struck at the very end of
Act 3, following Juliet’s suicide. The group of
monks process slowly across the stage in
pitch darkness, each bearing the faintest candle to guide his way, but I couldn’t see a
thing. I got my feet caught in my robe and
started to fall forward, horrifyingly certain I
was going to land flat on my face.
But instinct, born of years of training in
aikido, suddenly took over. I lowered my center of gravity, regained my equilibrium,
untangled my feet, and continued marching.
To the audience, all that would have been visible was a sudden dipping and raising of one
of the candle lights. The next evening’s
Romeo and Juliet went much more smoothly.
In Swan Lake, I actually did a little bit of
dancing. The “waitstaff ” danced among
themselves, while the nobility danced with
each other as the Queen departed Prince
Siegfried’s birthday celebration towards the
end of Act 1. Tamara Rojo, that evening’s
Odette/Odile, had an injured ankle, but as a
tribute to her fortitude insisted on perform-
That was a classic English understatement. In fact, Tamara’s replacement in Act 3
had merely been hanging out at the theater
simply to watch the performance, with no
plans of dancing whatsoever.
Tamara’s replacement, Ms. Mason then
announced, was to be none other than principal dancer Roberta Marquez.
It all seems like a distant dream now.
Roberta danced phenomenally under the circumstances. She may have come up one shy
of the 32 fouettés, but who’s counting? I
wanted to applaud madly once she finished.
The audience, to their credit, made up for my
enforced restraint.
I had to leave during the next intermission, but I did call Roberta up the following
day to tell her how wonderfully she had performed. I would have loved to see her again
(we had caught up with each other all too
briefly during a company class earlier in the
week), but neither my schedule nor hers
allowed it.
Friday evening’s Swan Lake—the final
performance of the tour—came and went all
too quickly. It being the last night, I threw in
an unscripted chaîné as I made my way
across the ballroom floor. What the heck, was
I going to get docked a day’s pay?
I telephoned Roberta on Saturday morning as she was packing her bags for the
return flight to London. I don’t recall much
from our conversation, but I am quite certain
that before we hung up, Roberta said, “I am
sure we will meet again soon”. !
65
q+a
By Jeffrey Lott
On St. Valentine’s Day, what flower says “love?”
Galanthus. Oh ... snowdrops—snowdrops in
February.
72
Are you a tree-hugging, liberal do-gooder?
No. I don’t see myself that way. I’m interested
in nature and the environment, but I don’t
consider myself a radical yogurt-eating, granola-toting tree hugger.
You work for both the College and the Scott
Arboretum. Are there any tensions between
these two organizations?
The two don’t always have the exact same
goals. It used to be that the College would
plan a facilities project and the arboretum
would have to react to it, but it’s gotten better. Now, Claire and I are involved in facilities
planning from the beginning, so we can say,
“That’s our oldest red oak. Can’t we move
those utility lines over there?”
Professor Carr Everbach says that you are
“probably the strongest sustainability advocate
in the administration.” Why do you think he
said that?
I got started by coincidence, but now it’s part
of me. Because I’d been at Penn State, they
asked Swarthmore to do field research on
reducing the use of pesticides in the early
1990s. That got me started. And because the
grounds crews here have always been in
charge of trash pickup, I was immediately
drawn into the campus recycling movement.
After that, it was the green roofs.
You give frequent tours of Alice Paul’s green
roof and the inverted roof at the science center.
Do you ever get tired of these?*
No—it’s important for a college to have these
examples. We’re an educational institution.
Architects, roofers, landscapers, engineers,
and end-users all want to know how much
they cost, whether they leak, what the benefits are, etc. I can name eight different projects built after people saw our green roof.
As a gardening expert, what’s the most common question you get?
“When should I mulch?” Or questions about
lawn care. People get ridiculously agitated
about their lawns.
* Green roof tours are offered monthly from
April to October. For more information, call
the Scott Arboretum at (610) 328-8025 or
e-mail scott@swarthmore.edu.
swarthmore college bulletin
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
When
should you
garden?
“Whenever you have the time,” says Jeff
Jabco. As director of grounds and coordinator of horticulture, he tends a 360-acre garden called Swarthmore College.
Growing up in central Pennsylvania, Jabco
loved to draw and thought he might become
an artist. But at age 14, he started working at
a “mom-and-pop landscape nursery” in
Bellefonte, Pa., where he learned how to
asexually propagate plants in the propagating
house. “I ate it up,” he says.
At nearby Penn State, he majored in horticulture—the word comes from the Latin
hortus (garden) and encompasses the art and
science of growing flowers, fruit, and vegetables. Jabco specialized in breeding pot plants
such as Pelargonium, Calceolaria, and Saintpaulia. (To most of us, that’s geraniums,
pocketbook flowers, and African violets. At
Swarthmore, you cannot escape the genera of
growing things.) He did traditional breeding,
mutation breeding, and self-directed
research—taking most of his electives in
landscape architecture. At North Carolina
State, where he earned a master’s in horticulture and plant pathology, Jabco worked on
breeding small fruits—like grapes—for disease resistance.
At both schools, Jabco found that he
enjoyed teaching. He spent one summer as a
cooperative extension agent in rural Pennsylvania and, after finishing grad school, he
became a regional extension agent based in
Delaware County, Pa., where one of his pet
projects was an urban gardening program in
Chester, Pa., not far from Swarthmore.
“I got to know people from the Scott
Arboretum and, in 1990, [then director] Judy
Zuk asked me if I would be interested in this
position at the College,” Jabco says. He and
current Arboretum Director Claire Sawyers
were hired within months of one another.
“I thought being at Swarthmore would
give me an opportunity to work more directly with plants,” Jabco says. And, it turns out, a
whole lot more.
We spoke on Feb. 14.
The most annoying?
I’m always amazed at how little people
actually know about the plants that are all
around them. Someone once asked me when
to feed his “jupiter? “ Your what? “Jupiter.” It
took me a while to figure out he meant
“juniper.” Oh, and “feed!” You can fertilize a
plant but you cannot feed it. Plants make
their own food from carbon dioxide, water,
and sunlight. You can feed your pet or your
kids, but you can’t feed a plant.
May I ask you about the Ajuga reptans that’s
taken over part of my lawn?
Your garden center will recommend an her-
bicide, but we’re exploring alternatives to
lawns—sedges (Cyperaceae) and other grasslike plants that need mowing just once a
year. They’re a monoculture, not a meadow,
but on most suburban properties there are
areas where they would be just fine.
If you could make one thing happen on campus, what would it be?
A building with the best combination of a
green roof and solar panels—a functioning
building that’s also a laboratory designed for
education and research. We did some of that
with the science center, but we could take it
farther. !
Jeff Jabco, director of grounds for the College and
coordinator of horticulture for the Scott Arboretum,
with a winter-blooming Hamamelis mollis.
Fly Home to Swarthmore This June
Classmates Open Houses
Reunion
i
Alumni Weekend 2007: June 6–8
Classes ending in a “3” or “8” and the Class of 2006
are celebrating reunions, but everyone is invited!
Make plans now to return to Swarthmore and
attend Alumni Weekend 2008.
You may register and find up-to-date information on-line at alumniweekend.swarthmore.edu.
Questions? E-mail the Alumni Office at alumni@swarthmore.edu, or call (610) 328-8402.
Lectures Requiem Friends
Parade Collection Campus Tours
Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 2008-03-01
The Swarthmore College Bulletin is the official alumni magazine of the college. It evolved from the Garnet Letter, a newsletter published by the Alumni Association beginning in 1935. After World War II, college staff assumed responsibility for the periodical, and in 1952 it was renamed the Swarthmore College Bulletin. (The renaming apparently had more to do with postal regulations than an editorial decision. Since 1902, the College had been calling all of its mailed periodicals the Swarthmore College Bulletin, with each volume spanning an academic year and typically including a course catalog issue and an annual report issue, with a varying number of other special issues.)
The first editor of the Swarthmore College Bulletin alumni issue was Kathryn “Kay” Bassett ’35. After a few years, Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 was appointed editor and held the position for 36 years, during which she reshaped the mission of the magazine from focusing narrowly on Swarthmore College to reporting broadly on the college's impact on the world at large. Gillespie currently appears on the masthead as Editor Emerita.
Today, the quarterly Swarthmore College Bulletin is an award-winning alumni magazine sent to all alumni, parents, faculty, staff, friends of the College, and members of the senior class. This searchable collection spans every issue from 1935 to the present.
Swarthmore College
2008-03-01
51 pages
reformatted digital
The class notes section of The Bulletin has been extracted in this collection to protect the privacy of alumni. To view the complete version of The Bulletin, contact Friends Historical Library.