Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 1951-02-01

The Garnet Letter

t

WATCHWORDS FOR 1951

I

SEE “THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY ”
By President Nason

February 1951
Volume XV

Number 2

Public Relations Committee Appointed

The Garnet Letter
Volume 1 5

No. 2
FEBRUARY 1951

Published three times yearly by the Alum ni
Office of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore,
Pa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Through a Glass D a r k l y ...............................

1

Alumni Hear Deans on Admissions . . . .

2

Campus N o t e s ...................................

3

Some Swarthmoreans in W ashington . . 4

Announcement was made in November of the appointment of a new com­
mittee on public relations, composed of members of the Board of Managers,
alumni body and faculty. The new committee has held three meetings.
Representatives from the Board of Managers are Boyd T. Barnard ’ 17,
president of the Jackson-Cross Company, Philadelphia realtors, and William H.
Ward ’ 15, a vice-president of the duPont Corporation.
Alumni members are Richard C. Bond ’ 31, executive vice-president of the
John Wanamaker department store, and Robert H. Wilson ’ 31, trust officer of
the Girard Trust Company. George J. Becker, associate professor of English
literature, and J. Roland Pennock ’ 27, professor of political science, are the
faculty delegates.

THE SWARTHMORE CLUB O F PHILADELPHIA

A Dutchman and a S c h o la r .......................

5

News of the A l u m n i ......................................

6

Alum ni Children Lead T e a m s ..................

9

63rd ANNUAL BANQUET

...........................................

9

College Dining Hall — Saturday, March 3, 6:30 p. m. — $3.50

Tray and Basket

Alumni F u n d ................................. Back Cover
EDITORIAL BOARD

A N N O U N CES ITS

Speaker
SIR O L IV E R FRANKS
British Ambassador to the United States

Robert H . W ilson ’ 31

Chairman
Robert J. Cadigan ’ 34
Isabel Logan Lyon ’42
Morris M . Lee, Jr. ’ 29
Frederick C. Selby ’44

His T opic: “ B R IT ISH FO R E IG N P O L IC Y ”
After Dinner: Basketball with Haverford
at the Lamb-Miller Field House.
Please make reservations through the Alumni Offices before Feb. 28.

Joseph B. Shane ’ 25

NEW BALTIMORE GROUP
Taking as their model the now
famous Swarthmore Economics Dis­
cussion Group, alumni of the Balti­
more area have begun a series of
monthly meetings to hear and ques­
tion speakers on economic problems.
Professor Clair W ilcox, head of the
college Department of Economics,
spoke at the initial meeting Feb. 8,
held at the Meeting House of the
Baltimore Friends School.

TWO DATES YOU’LL
WANT TO REMEMBER

Somerville D ay: April 7
Alumni Day: June 9
Full programs have been
planned and will be an­
nounced soon. Come and
bring your friends for a
spring visit to the campus.

Editorial Board Meets
O n December 28, the Alumni Editorial Board recently appointed by Jack B.
Thompson, president of the Alumni Association, met for the first time at the
offices of the chairman, Robert H. Wilson ’ 31. This new board is designed as an
advisory group for the two Alumni Office publications, the G arnet L etter and
Swarthmore R eports .

Meeting with the members, listed under the Table o f Contents on this page,
were Kathryn Bassett ’ 35 of the Alumni Office and John Brooks ’48, college
director o f publicity. It was unanimously decided that one of the problems dis­
cussed there should be brought before the whole alumni body for discussion.
This problem is connected with a fact you noted as soon as you felt the
weight, or lack thereof, of this issue of the G arnet L etter : Class Notes have
been omitted this time, as they were in the February issue of last year. Budgetary
considerations dictated the repeated omission, but no permanent policy with
regard to the inclusion or omission of Class Notes in future years has been formed.
It is on the question of permanent policy that the Editorial Board and the
editors o f the G arnet L etter wish to solicit alumni opinion. The questions are
these: H ow widely are Class Notes read? H ow often? By whom? D o alumni
who read Class Notes read those of a great many classes, or only those of their
own class? D o alumni feel they should be published once, twice or three times
yearly?
Armed with the answers to these questions, the editors can formulate a policy
consistent with the wishes of the alumni. The Alumni Office therefore requests
that readers send in any and all suggestions concerning Class Notes -— and, of
course, suggestions about other aspects o f your alumni publications are always
welcome, too.

The Garnet Letter

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
by President Jo h n W. N ason
This is supposed to be an account
of the shape of things to come. That is
what the editorial committee proposed
in December, and I agreed on the as­
sumption that the outlines of the near
future would have taken shape by the
end of January when this is being
written. It proved to be a forlorn as­
sumption.
All the colleges know that the next
two or three years will be tough, but
we don’t know how tough. The Con­
gress of the United States has still to
pass a new draft law, and until it acts,
we shall remain uncertain as to our
enrollment next year and incapable
of definite planning.
Let’s begin with a few facts about
the present situation. W e began the
current academic year with an enroll­
ment of 516 men and 395 women,
making a total of 911. W e shall start
the second semester with approxi­
mately 885. A few students will finish
their four years this month. Others
will drop out by preference or request.
Some new students, mostly transfers
from other institutions, will take their
places. The enrollment this year has
held up well, and we do not antici­
pate any considerable redaction before
June.

No Enlistment Rush

decision must be made roughly be­
tween March 1st and May 1st, and
acceptance by any branch will con­
tinue to depend upon meeting certain
physical and mental standards and
upon the availability of places. Secre­
tary Marshall’s order does not guar­
antee a college man the choice of
service, but it has removed much of
the pressure to leave college to volun­
teer. Unless conditions change in some
unexpected fashion, there should not
be much reduction in the college’s
enrollment this year.
Next year is a very different matter.
What kind of a draft law will Con­
gress enact? Most people think that
the proposed bill for universal military
training and service now before Con­
gress will be approved in its main
outlines. In all probability the draft
age will be lowered to 18, though the
average age of induction of this
youngest group may well be 18
as
suggested in recent testimony by repre­
sentatives of the Department of De­
fense. Will eighteen-year-olds be
allowed to complete the semester or
the academic year in which they re­
ceive their draft call? This may make
considerable difference to the number
who decide to enter college next sum­
mer or fall.

Congress Undecided
Will the draft of 18-year-olds allow

more juniors and seniors to remain in
college to complete their undergrad­
uate training? Will Congress retain
the provision in the proposed bill to
send 75,000 draftees to college after
four months of basic training? Will it
increase the number? What criteria
will be used in selecting the men for
college assignment? What financial
provisions will be made? Will any
provision be written into the bill— if it
is not there now— for deferment of
students in engineering, pre-medical
courses, and the other sciences? The
answer to ail these questions will de­
termine the number of men available
to the colleges next year, and those
answers are apparently not yet fash­
ioned in the minds of the Congress­
men and Senators who will have to
vote the new draft law.
As a result, planning for next year
is a speculative business. The most
favorable guess is that we shall lose
one-third of our men. A quite possible
guess is that we shall have our male
enrollment cut in half. The pessimists,
who may turn out to be right, suggest
a larger figure.
The first consequence of the pros­
pective loss of enrollment was to
postpone all plans for the construction
this year of the new women’s dormi­
tory. For the next two years we may
Continued on page 8

This is the result of two factors.
One of the regulations of Selective
Service provides that students who re­
ceive their draft notices during the
course of the current academic year
may, if they are in good standing, have
their induction postponed until June.
So far, so good. Nearly everyone is
familiar, however, with the newspaper
stories early in January about the
number of ^college meij who were
leaving college to enlist. There was
quite an epidemic which Swarthmore
fortunately escaped. Fewer than a
dozen men left college to enlist.
On January 22 Secretary Marshall
issued a statement to the effect that
college men receiving their draft no­
tice might still exercise a choice as to
the branch of service they wished to
enter. T o be sure, there are still con­
ditions attached to this option. The

February 1951

1

DEANS DISCUSS ADMISSIONS
On Tuesday, January 16, the
Swarthmore Club of Philadelphia had
for its guest speakers the Deans of
the College, who had been invited to
outline the procedure used to screen
candidates for admission and to an­
swer questions on admissions prob­
lems. Deans Everett Hunt and Susan
Cobbs, Associate Deans John Moore
and Barbara Colbron and Assistant
Dean Gilmore Stott were introduced
by Richard Slocum ’ 22, general man­
ager of the Philadelphia Evening
Bulletin.
Dean Hunt discussed the general
question of standards at Swarthmore.
The admissions practices and stand­
ards in general conform to those of
the better colleges belonging to the
College Board. These standards and
practices are well known and are
established by continuing discussion
at Board meetings with heads of
-secondary schools.

Pressure Used
“ The discussion is often highly con­
troversial at these meetings,” Hunt
said. “ Schoolmasters very often de­
nounce the colleges, in particular for
their practices of discrimination in
favor of alumni children and against
racial groups. Admission to private
colleges has inevitably become a mat­
ter of public policy; alumni will need
to consider the many pressures
brought to bear upon all admissions
committees.”
As to the standards of the College,
these need to be consistent with the
work which able students do to pre­
pare for graduate and professional
schools. The success of Swarthmore
graduates in these schools adds value
to the diploma of every Swarthmorean.
Swarthmore, however, does not seek
pre-professional students only. There
is a large place for the “ well-rounded”
boys who do not expect to become
specialists. These gregarious, sportloving boys do not gravitate naturally
to the small colleges. Such applicants
with real ability are scarcer than
those with professional aims, and spe­
cial efforts are required if they are
to be attracted to a small institution
with a national reputation for high
standards.”

Stott Presents Statistics
Some statistics on the present fresh­

2

man class were offered by Gilmore
Stott: there are 126 men students in
the class, of whom slightly over onehalf come from public schools; 70 per
cent come from the Middle Atlantic
Area, about ten per cent each from
the Middle West and New England,
the rest from the South, the Pacific
Coast and foreign countries; 20 sects
are represented, the Episcopalians
having the largest group, followed by
the Jewish and Presbyterian faiths,
with the Society of Friends sixth; 75
per cent are Protestant; nearly ten
per cent are children of alumni; 72
per cent stood in the first quartile of
their high school class, 18 per cent in
the second,, six members in the third
and one in the fourth.
O f the 126 men students, 101 had
scores over average on the verbal sec­
tion of the entrance examinations; 110
were over average on the mathemat­
ical section; nearly half had earned
varsity letters in high school, 13
having been captains or co-captains
of teams; 16 were class presidents, five
presidents of student councils; eight
edited their school papers, ten were
members of the National H onor So­
ciety.

Procedure Shown
Miss Cobbs gave the details of the
admissions procedure, starting with
the first inquiry about the college.
Roughly 5,000 catalogues are sent out
annually to students who state that
they are interested in applying for
admission. O f these, about 1,200 ac­
tually applied last year, and the fresh­
man class was ultimately about 230.
T o each candidate for admission
there is sent a card to be filled in with
essential information. In the fall of
his senior year, the stpdent receives
booklets giving full information about
the college and a questionnaire in­
quiring about high school background,
reading, special interests, and general
activities in school and in summer
vacations. A record blank is also sent
to the office of the high school. Col­
lege Boards are usually taken in the
spring of the senior year, and results
are available shortly thereafter.
An attempt is made to interview
every candidate for admission. For
those who are at a great distance from
the college, trips are made by repre­

sentatives from the Office of the
Deans to various sections of the coun­
try. Recommendations of the student
from outside sources are always wel­
come, but are required only in the
case of scholarship applicants.

Two Groups Preferred
When the Admissions Committees
meet, the first group of applicants
considered is that of children of
Friends and alumni. In accordance
with the published policy of the col­
lege preference is given in the compe­
tition for admission to those of this
group who meet the requirements.
Last year o f the 39 .children of alumni
considered, 35 were accepted and 22
matriculated in September.
Other candidates are classified in
three groups, the classification being
determined by school record and rec­
ommendations, College Board scores,
school activities and personal qualifi­
cation. From these groups the com­
mittees make as careful a selection as
possible. It is no easy task.
“ The decision on the Open Schol­
arships was particularly difficult,” said
Miss Cobbs. “ But we felt rewarded
in our decision when we discovered
this fall that our three Open Scholars
were the last three in the running for
the secretary-treasurer’s office in the
Women’s Student Government Asso­
ciation.”

Deans Answer Queries
During the question and answer
period, alumni inquired about such
special problems as dealing with pres­
sure groups and the timing of notifi­
cations of admission. Dean Hunt
assured the alumni that Swarthmore
was not cowed by threats of “ boycotts”
from secondary schools trying to push
“ favorite sons,” and Dean M oore ex­
plained that the college was bound by
an agreement with several other insti­
tutions not to require answers from
accepted candidates before a certain
date in the spring each year, but that
some students were notified of their
acceptability to the college in advance
of that date.
Dean Stott closed with an appeal
to alumni for information and recom­
mendation of candidates, and Mr.
Slocum expressed the gratitude, of the
club for a clear and honest exposition
of college policy.

The Garnet Letter

CAMPUS NOTES
TV COLLEGE
Swarthmore, is one of 19 colleges
and universities in the Philadelphia
area taking part in a “ university of
the air” being held over W F IL -T V
during the first six months of this year.
Described by Radio Daily as “ the
most ambitious program yet devised
for utilizing television for educational
purposes,” the series covers a broad
range of subjects, from home eco­
nomics to the liberal arts.
Swarthmore is cooperating with
Bryn Mawr and Haverford to produce
a series of 11 programs from March
22 to May 31. On successive Thurs­
days from 11a. m. to 12 noon, mem­
bers of the faculties of the three
schools will deliver lectures especially
designed for television audiences.
Members of the Swarthmore faculty
participating are: Robert Walker and
Hedley Rhys, fine arts; Robert Enders,
Launce Flemister and Jae Littrell,
zoology; Alfred Swan, music; William
Reaser, engineering; Paul Beik, his­
tory; Edward Cox, chemistry; Harold
March, modern languages; and John
Nason, who will appear with pres­
idents White of Haverford and
McBride of Bryn Mawr in the con­
cluding broadcast.
Professor Enders is serving on the
inter-college committee guiding the
entire six-month series.

RIVLIN REPRESENTS
Lewis Rivlin ’ 50 of New York City
recently received an unusual distinc­
tion for a college student when he
testified before the Preparedness Sub­
committee of the Senate Armed
Services Committee as a representa­
tive of Americans for Democratic
Action. In his statement to the sub­
committee, Rivlin endorsed the 18year-old draft and the extension of
the term of service from 21 to 27
months.
Lew’ s appearance at Washington
came on January 22, in the midst of
the heated debate over the draft of
18-year-olds. Former chairman of the
college chapter of Students for Dem o­
cratic Action, a branch of A.D.A., he
was invited to Washington by the
national office of the latter organiza­
tion.
A political science major in honors,
Lew has also been active in student

government and chairman of the
Intercollegiate Conference on Gov­
ernment.

POTT LEAVES WITH HONORS
When Roger Pott of Summit, N. J.,
left school in January to -join the
U. S. Air Force, Swarthmore lost an
All-American soccer goalie and a co­
captain of the basketball team. Both
honors came to Roger shortly before
his departure.
The basketball team of 1949-50 de­
clined to elect a captain for the cur­
rent season last spring, leaving coach

the story of his project in the Near
East. He reports, “ I have over 50
students in the College of Arts and
Sciences and meet them in lecture
every day except Friday, the Moslem
weekly holiday. I am also professor of
zoology in the Royal College of Medi­
cine and have about a hundred stu­
dents there.”
Language is a problem in Weber’s
work, for “ although the instruction in
the science courses is in English, every­
thing else is in Arabic.” Securing ade­
quate textbooks represents a major
problem, too. In the matter of equip­
ment, Weber is more fortunate, but
only on account of his own prudence
in taking with him from the U. S.
extensive scientific apparatus.
This is Weber’s second recent as­
signment in public service, for last
June he went into Alaska for his third
summer of studying insect life on the
Arctic slope. That project was spon­
sored by the Office of Naval Research.
Dr. and Mrs. Weber, with their
three children, plan to remain in Iraq
until next summer. Both are natives
of North Dakota and taught at the
University of North Dakota before
coming to Swarthmore.

OPEN HOUSE HELD

Roger Pott
Howard Sipler to name game captains
for 1950-51. In December, however,
the present squad decided to honOT
Pott and Joe Carroll of K nightsto^fcOy
I*d-., with co-captaincies of basketball.
Roger’s nomination to All-America
in Soccer was announced in January.
This distinction came after two sea­
sons of stellar play at the Garnet net,
marked by many sensational “ saves.”

WEBER IN IRAQ
The Department of Zoology at the
University of Iraq in Baghdad is
entirely Swarthmore-manned. The
staff of one is Dr. Neal A. Weber,
for the last four years a member of
the faculty. Dr. Weber is on leave of
absence this year, having been as­
signed by the State Department to
establish a zoology department at the
new University.
Recent letters from Dr. Weber tell

On February 10 was held the col­
lege’s Annual Open House for pro­
spective men students. The program
for students included campus tours,
a swimming meet and basketball
game, and a dinner at which they
were addressed by faculty members.
unusual feature was added to
the normal program this year, when
Dean Hunt led a conference on col­
lege admissions policy to which repre­
sentatives of secondary schools were
invited. The lively discussion at this
meeting clarified many issues for all
attending. Vice-president Joseph B.
Shane served as chairman of the din­
ner for students and of the meeting
on admissions.
Finally, a colloquium on “ The
Importance of Science and Engineer­
ing in the Present World Crisis” was
presented, all visiting educators being
invited. William Ward 15, a vicepresident of the duPont Corporation,
and Maynard M. Boring, an executive
of the General Electric Company, address'3-'1' this meeting.

3
February 1951

SOME

SWARTHMOREANSIN WASHINGTO

■ B ll

WÎââMMÈ^ëÉ
WILLIAM A. CLARKE ’ 1 7, of
the real estate credit office of
the Federal Reserve Board.

JOSEPH D. CALHOUN ’29, advisor
to the general counsel of the
Economic Stabilization Agency.

ALAN VALENTINE '21, former chief of economic
stabilization (seated), with Francis P. Whitehair,
general counsel of the E. S. A.

DREW PEARSON ’ 19, W ashing­
ton’s most active and contro­
versial columnist.

CLARK KERR ’32, a member of
the W age Stabilization Board.

THOMAS B. McCABE ’ 15 (right), chairman of the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, with Mrs. McCabe
and Will Clayton, formerly of the State Department.

4

KENNETH HECHLER '35, a spé­
cial assistant on the White
House staff.

FRANCES REINHOLD FUSSELL
’32, of Mr. Truman’s executive
office.

The Garnet Letter

A DUTCHMAN AND A SCHOLAR
Only a few steps from the narrow
bridge that carries Yale avenue traffic
over the Crum in Swarthmore, there
stands a small, two-story house that
has been the property of the college
since 1887. Because of its proximity
to the little Crum Creek version of
Grand Coulee, the house has for years
borne the name, “ The Damsite.” Its
early history is obscure, but certain
it is that since before the beginning
of the last century a long succession
of owners and tenants has enjoyed its
quaint and secluded charm.
Whatever the history of the house,
today its interior and its grounds ex­
press the personality of a man. The
man is an artist, and the walls within
are decorated with landscapes. The
man’s descent is Pennsylvania Dutch,
and mirrored in the copperware on
the wall and woven into the rugs and
a thousand details of the house’s being
is the simple grace of the Dutch way
of life.
Professionally, the man is English
professor and author, and the book­
shelves are weighted with the very
best of the world’s reading. The man,
of course, is Fredric Klees, to whom
the apellation “ Fritz” has clung so
closely at Swarthmore as to make him
almost indistinguishable by his right
name.

New Book Hailed
In the wider world, however, his
name is associated with a recent and
popular publication, The Pennsyl-'
vania Dutch. This book, published
late last year by Macmillan, filled a
definite gap in the picture of Amer­
ican culture and is finding more de­
lighted readers every day. Writing in
the New
York
Herald-Tribune,
Struthers Burt says of Klees’ work, “ It
is the clearest, fullest, best organized
book on the Pennsylvania Dutch I
have ever come across . . . I have a
few quarrels with Professor Klees. I
am reluctant to believe that the Penn­
sylvania Dutch won the War of the
Revolution practically unaided, al­
though they were some of Washing­
ton’s doughtiest troops . . . But these
are. minor matters. I like enthusiasm.”
The Man in the House, the Man
behind the Book, came to Swarthmore
by a tortuous path. He was born in
Reading, Pa., the tenth child of a
wagon-maker. All was well in the

February 1951

early years, but the elder Klees, ap­
parently choosing to regard the
automobile as a passing fad, clung
tenaciously to the manufacture of
low-horsepower vehicles. Business was
not exactly booming as the century
came of age, and college was out of
the question when “ Fritz” graduated
from high school in Souderton, Pa.
Klees was just 15 at the time, hav­
ing been pushed considerably ahead
of his age group in a change of
schools. Pushed into the world thus
untimely, Fritz indulged an earlyblooming passion for gardening and
became associated with a landscape
architect in Philadelphia.

Comes to City
This employment proved notable
chiefly because it brought him into
the city and contact with the cultural
world. He attended every symphony
he could and spent hours in the
museums. The latter activity devel­
oped his taste for art and revealed a
creative urge, and he enrolled in the
School of Industrial Art connected
with the Art Museum.
Art classes soon gave Klees a prac­
ticed hand, one that was sure enough
to produce the illustrations for his
own book years later and to create
innumerable other paintings done for
the sheer pleasure of doing them. But
Klees was dissatisfied with his progress
and became more and more certain

that in the fine arts he had, as he puts
it, “ something less than an astonishing
talent.”
“ Furthermore,” the author-profes­
sor declares, “ it became increasingly
apparent that my liberal education
had been sadly neglected.”
He chose to attend Bowdoin Col­
lege, although until he actually
arrived on the campus, he had no
idea how the name of the col­
lege was pronounced. Asked where he
was going while riding on the north­
bound train, *he had to spell out
B-o-w-d-o-i-n.
Nor was it the name alone that
was strange at Bowdoin. Philadel­
phian Fritz found himself introduced
at the staunchly New England school
as “ Mr. Klees, from the West.” Bow­
doin, however, gave him a sound,
well-balanced education.

Studies at Exeter
After graduation in 1925, driven
mostly by what he now calls “ illusions
derived from the romantic poets,”
Fritz went abroad for a year of study
at Exeter College, Oxford. This year,
he reports, dispelled the illusions, but
left him in love with the real beauties
of England and respectful toward the
Oxford educational system.
He came to Swarthmore in 1926,
fresh from Exeter, as a replacement
for an English instructor who was on
Continued on page 8

FREDRIC KLEES’ personality is reflected in his casual but artistic sur­
roundings. The big fireplace is a center of attraction at the “ Damsite.”

5

NE WS
SWARTHMORE SWITCH
When Marie Sellers ’ 10 retired
from her position as director of the
consumer service department at Gen­
eral Foods Corporation, Swarthmore
maintained its representation in the
organisation at par, for Miss Sellers
was succeeded by Ellen-Ann Dunham
’ 32, who has been assisting her for
several years. Both women have had
distinguished careers- with General
Foods.
Marie Sellers joined the G. F. staff
in 1926, having previously edited the
home-making sections of Country
Gentleman and Pictorial Review.
During W orld War I, she assisted the
Department of Agriculture’s cam­
paign for food conservation by house­
wives. Before entering the home
economics field, she taught both
athletics and public speaking.

OF

THE

ALUMNI

reporters who cover every event and
speech at the United Nations sessions.
A daily digest of these materials is
forwarded to key officials in Wash­
ington.
Porter’s relaxed manner and clear
desk at the U. S. Mission in New
York give little hint of the tremendous
pressure under which he and his asso­
ciates are working. One secret to this
is a super-efficient office system, in­
cluding a card index o f all statements
and ideas recorded in the notes of the
U.N. reporters. Each item is trans­
ferred to single cards, usually involv­
ing about 30 cross-filings.
A nephew of Frank Lloyd Wright,
Porter has engaged in a variety of
activities since college days. He re­
ceived a master’s degree from the
University of Chicago in 1937 and
later served as a community action
specialist for the National Housing
Administration. He also did promo­
tional work for the veterans’ housing
program and intelligence work with
the Signal Corps and the Army Secur­
ity Agency.
Porter’s wife is the former Mary
Herrick ’ 38. The couple have lived
at White Plains since 1947 and have
four children.

developing graduate study at the
southern institution, he directed its
first Ph.D. candidate. In 1949 he was
awarded the Herty Medal for “ out­
standing contribution to the field of
chemistry in the Southeast.” His new
appointment took effect last fall.

BARBARA BOOKS FOR BOATS
Barbara Nelson ’49 is fulfilling a
lifelong ambition as she presides over
the booking of passengers on freighters
bound from New York to the Con­
tinent, Colombia and India. At 22,
Barbara is thought to be the youngest
New York manager of a steamship

SCIENTISTS RECEIVE
APPOINTMENTS

Marie Sellers ’10
Ellen-Ann Dunham joined the con­
sumer kitchens staff at General Foods
shortly after finishing her college
work, begun at Swarthmore, at Cor­
nell University. Later, she served as a
product representative, and in 1944
was named assistant director of the
consumer service department.

PORTER IN KEY U.N. POST
The man upon whom the federal
government relies for information on
U N proceedings is Franklin Porter
’ 33 of White Plains, N. Y. In his
capacity as chief of the division of
reporting and documentation for the
United States Mission to the United
Nations, Porter heads a group of eight

6

Dr. Howard J. Curtis M .A. ’ 29
and Dr. Osborne R. Quayle T9 re­
cently made news in the scientific
world with distinguished appoint­
ments. Dr. Curtis has been made
chairman of the biology department
at Brookhaven (N. Y .) National
Laboratory and Dr. Quayle is the new
chairman of the chemistry department
at Emory University in Georgia.
Howard Curtis is former chairman
of the physiology department at V an­
derbilt University. A consultant to
the Atomic Energy Commission, he
worked on the Manhattan Project
and at the Clinton Laboratories (now
Oak Ridge) during the war. His con­
nection with atomic research has been
in the field of the biological effects of
radiation, but he has used data ac­
quired in such studies in more general
work on the central nervous system of
mammals.
Dr. Quayle has been at Emory
University since 1924 and a full pro­
fessor since 1931. A pioneer in

Barbara Nelson ’49
company’s passenger department. She
heads the travel division of the United
States Navigation Company.
“ I have been interested in shipping
as long as I can remember,” says
Barbara in a New York HeraldTribune interview
(October 22,
1950). Her work involves the place­
ment of passengers on ships that can
take anywhere from four to twelve.

ALUMNI REPRESENT COLLEGE
Many times during the academic
year, the college, is called upon to
furnish representatives at inaugura­
tions and other ceremonies at sister
institutions. It is impossible for Pres­
ident Nason or other officials to attend
all these events in person, and often
alumni are invited to represent the
college. Their response has been gen­
erous, and the college is grateful for
their help.
Recent college representatives have
been:

The Garnet Letter

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Elliott M. Barnard ’ 14. Diamond
Jubilee at Park College; Parkville, M o.
Ralph I. Dunlap, Jr. ’40. Inaugura­
tion at American International Col­
lege, Springfield, Mass.
William K. Hoyt ’ 12. Inauguration at
the Consolidated University of North
Carolina.
Lester S. Knapp ’ 25. Inauguration at
the University of Buffalo.
T. Rowe Price, Jr. ’ 19. Inauguration
at St. John’s College, Annapolis, Md.
Walter F. Rittman ’08. Inauguration
at the Carnegie Institute of Tech­
nology, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Ruth Hull Swartz ’ 26. Inauguration
at the Pennsylvania State College.
Gladys Haldeman Tasman ’22. Inau­
guration at Atlantic Christian College,
Wilson, N. C.
Richard M. Trainer ’43. Inauguration
at Texas A. & M. College, College
Station, Texas.
Virginia Melick Turner ’ 27. Fiftieth
Anniversary and Installation at Hackley School, Tarrytown, N. Y.

MILLION DOLLAR MEN
Three Swarthmoreans are current
members of that Olympus for life in­
surance underwriters, the Million
Dollar Round Table. Composed of
agents who have sold a million dollars’
worth or more of life insurance in a
twelve-month period and are thereby

qualified for membership. The Round
Table included in its life membership
for 1950 Roy D. Simon ’ 31 and
Theodore Widing ’ 28. William F. Lee
’ 33 is member for 1951.
Ted Widing was 1950 chairman of
the . organization. A rftember of the
college’s Board of Managers, he has
been in the life insurance business
since graduation and has been asso­
ciated with the Provident Mutual L ife.
Insurance Company of Philadelphia
since 1933. Bill Lee, a resident of
Swarthmore, has been three times a
member of the Round Table and is
employed by the Penn Mutual Life
Insurance Company of Philadelphia.
Roy Simon is also a Penn Mutual
agent, connected with the company’s
Chicago office.

SWARTHMOREANA
J. Roland Pennock ’ 27, chairman
of the Department of Political Science
at the college, is the author of Liberal
Democracy ■ its Merits and Prospects
(New York: Rinehart & Co., 1950),
a re-examination of democratic tenets
and their alternatives. After setting
the limits of his investigaton by a
series of definitions, Professor Pennock
makes an appraisal of social and po­
litical democracy and an analysis of
the.effect of current events upon the
democratic ideal and practice. The

concluding section of the book, en­
titled “ Practicability and Prospects,”
discusses the efficiency of popular
government, the problem of unity and
the outlook for the democracies.
Other additions to the ever more
impressive list, of publications by
Swarthmore alumni:
Lewis F. Coffin, Jr. ’ 39, “ The Flow
and Fracture of a Brittle Metal,”
Journal of Applied Mechanics. (Sep­
tember, 1950).
Wesley Gadd ’ 20, Intangibles of Sav­
ings and Loan Management. Cincin­
nati, 1950.
Ruth Helm ’ 32, The Bear on the
Balcony. New York, 1950.
Edwin B. Pettet ’ 37, “ Theatre in the
Liberal Arts Curriculum,” Central
States Speech Journal. (Fall, 1950).
Ruth Verlenden Poley ’ l l and Irwin
Poley, Friendly Anecdotes. New York,
1950. A study of Quaker humor,
based on the Pendle Hill pamphlet,
“ Quaker Anecdotes.”
Joseph Sickler ’ 20, Tea Burning
Town. New York, 1950. The “ town”
is Greenwich, N. J. Other books by
Mr. Sickler, previously missed by the
Garnet Letter, are: Old Houses of
Salem (1934), History of Salem
(1937), and Rex et Regina vs.
Lutherland, 1691 (1948).
Mary Nunez Ten Eick ’ 16, Florida
Plant Checklist.

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53 OF THE 91 CHILDREN OF SWARTHMORE ALUMNI NOW ENROLLED AT THE
FRONT ROW: Marguerite Handy, Ann Oliver, Robert Fetter, Philip Swayne,
Carol Brunner, Katherine Worth, Katherine Stainton, Nancy Ritschard,
Alice Hay. SECOND ROW: Harriet Gallagher, Jane Gallagher, Elizabeth
Soyars, Dagmar Strandberg, Alice Stehle, Suzanne Reymond, Frances
Lemke. THIRD ROW: Elizabeth Suckow, Shirley Bliss, Avery Harrington,
Bonnie Brown, Barbara Smith, Mary Jane Winde, Suzanne Slaugh, Dorothy
Young. FOURTH ROW: Beatrice Crooksfon, Jeannetta White, Mary White,

February 1951

Robert W alkling, Isaac Battin, William Brosius, John Simons, David
Morgan, Robert Keighton. FIFTH ROW: David Hunt, Sylvia Hand, Lois
Smith, Bruce Seaman, Burton Levering. SIXTH ROW: Morey Wetherald,
Arthur Lewis, Orville Wright, George Place, Carter Smith, Laurie Seaman,
Presley Brown, Robert Howell,. William Brown, Morton Miller. SEVENTH
ROW: Robert Myers, Linton Thorn, Robert Asplundh, Alan Lloyd, Evans
Burn.

7

KLEES

( continued)

a year’ s leave of absence. On his first
teaching assignment he took over a
course originally scheduled to be
taught by President Frank Aydelotte—a fledgling instructor’s*nightmare. But
the nervousness which resulted from
that soon wore away, and he enjoyed
the class quite as much as he has
enjoyed teaching ever since.
The instructor whom he had re­
placed returned to the staff in 19271928, and Fritz moved to Brown
University, but the next year she
retired and he returned to Swarthmore, this time to stay. He was glad
to be back again: “ I liked the free­
dom of Swarthmore, and the simplic­
ity of the Quaker tradition attracted
me very much.”

year of work to pay educational ex­
penses gave Klees a more objective

Commences Author

A favorite Klees mannerism is a perch on a
desk or windowsill while lecturing. Here he
expounds Chaucer in characteristic pose.

Contact with the Quaker culture
at Swarthmore, combined with the
broadening influence of four years in
New England, a year abroad, and a

vironment in which he had been bred
view of the Pennsylvania Dutch en­
during his early years. He says that

NASON

( continued)

have vacant rooms in our present
buildings!

No V-12 Planned
The question most'frequently asked,
both on and off the campus, is, what
are the prospects of another military
unit such as the Navy V-12 during
W orld War II? I wish I knew the
answer. The Navy has no plans for
another V-12. There is the R O T C .
Most of the Army and Navy R O T C
units were established at the end of
the last war. Their enrollments may
be expanded, but apparently the num­
ber of units is not to be significantly
increased. The Air Force still plans to
establish some new R O T C units. A l­
most every college in the country with­
out a unit has a bid in for one of
these!
The next most frequent question is
that of acceleration. Several colleges
have already announced their inten­
tion of running a summer session. For
many reasons stemming from our own
experience during W orld War II, I
should prefer not to accelerate, but
we may find it desirable to do so—
either because enough men want to
speed up their education or because
the competitive situation forces it on
us.

8

I have so far written almost entirely
qbout the military aspects of the situa­
tion. What of other contributions
which the college could and should
make in the period of protracted
crisis through which we are going?
The most obvious answer is that
liberal education; is all the more im­
portant in times when the values and
institutions of Western civilization are
being seriously challenged and threat­
ened. “ What is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul?” In an all-out war every
man and every institution must expect
to put aside normal activity. In a
period of tension which may last a
decade or longer it is essential to
maintain the basic institutions and
patterns and values of a free society.

The Longer View
The times, however, seem to de­
mand something more than a con­
tinuation of education. They point
toward the need of intensifying and
deepening the moral and religious in­
sights on which our society rests. This
is a particular responsibility of a
Quaker college. What more construc­
tive contribution to the inner security
of its students and to the peaceful
solution of the world’s conflicts can
Swarthmore make? A joint board-

and which he had taken for granted
it was only by getting away from his
home that he was able to write of it.
Work on the book during the war
years, with their Herculean teaching
loads, was sporadic and unsatisfactory.
Encouraged by Robert Cadigan ’34,
then a member of the Holiday maga­
zine staff, Fritz published there an
article containing some of his findings
and ideas. But it took four drafts to
put the book itself into a shape which
satisfied its author, and a span of
nearly ten years elapsed between con­
ception and completion.
His 23 years on the Swarthmore
faculty have been productive of much
more than a book. Today the Chaucer
and Drama courses are regarded by
the Department of English Literature
as “ his,” and countless Swarthmoreans
have profited by Klees’ analysis of
the early English poet and his sure
sense of dramatic values, enhanced as
much by a concern and fascination for
the living stage as by a familiarity
with the literature.

faculty-student committee has been
appointed to explore this concern. It
is too early to predict what may come
out of their deliberations.
Under the best o f circumstances the
next two years will be. abnormal and
difficult. It may well be necessary to
accept extra women to compensate in
part for the loss of men. This will
upset the ratio of men and women
which Swarthmore has always tried to
maintain. It may create difficulties in
housing. It is almost certain that there
will be a reduction in enrollment.
H ow does the college hold its faculty
together under such circumstances?
An increase in the amount of outside
sponsored research will help to keep
the scientists actively employed. These
arrangements are less easy to work
out in other fields.
Unless the present tension turns
into W orld War III, the major impact
on the college will not last for more
than three years. It may be, while it
lasts, much worse than anything that
happened during the last war. Swarthmore may need more help during this
period. But it should be followed by
better days as the drafted men return
and as the increased birth rate of the
1940’s shows up in the number of ap­
plicants for college beginning around

The Garnet Letter

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ALUMNI

CHILDREN

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TEAMS

mm

JL:

THE AVERY HARRINGTONS in front of Wharton
Hall. Avery, Jr., leads the cross-country squad
next fall.

LESTER AND BOB ASPLUNDH. Two generations
of outstanding Swarthmore athletes. Bob is
captain of football for 1951.

STEVE CLARK, soccer captain, gets parental
advice between the halves. Proud parents are
Cornelia Coy '23 and Allen Gray Clark '22.

Every coach at Swarthmore College
has had many an occasion for grati­
tude toward that ill-defined but
vigorous college-family spirit that
brings the same names back repeatedly
to grace the rosters of Garnet athletic
squads. This year that spirit came into
especial prominence as children of
Swarthmore alumni “ swept” the cap­
taincies of the fall sports teams for
1951.
In a recent Garnet Letter (October,

1949), football coach Lew Elverson
commented that year after year, the
nucleus of his squad was a handful of
children and brothers of ex-Swarthmoreans. This year the captain-elect
of Swarthmore football is Bob Asplundh, son of the great punter and
all-around star of the early ’twenties,
Les Asplundh. Bob’s stellar play at
center last fall was a strong confirma­
tion of Elverson’s statement— and, of
course, a source of real pride for

Asplundh Senior.
Heading the ’51 soccer team will be
Steve Clark of Media, Pa., son of
Allen Gray and Cornelia Coy Clark,
both Swarthmore graduates. Steve
will be entering upon his fourth season
of outstanding play for Bob Dunn’s
teams. Avery Harrington, Jr., son of
a member of the class of 1922, is
captain-elect of cross-country, round­
ing out the trio of sons of alumni
distinguished by their teammates.

The Swarthmore Club of Baltimore Offers to All Alumni
^A ttra ctive mirati a n d 'ÌAJaóte id a ôlet S e t
Tray can be hung and used as a picture as well as for serving. Size 12" x 18', it
is made of strong gauge steel and fully protected against liquor, water, etc.
Waste basket is also metal; it is footed and approximately 13" x 10".
Both tray and basket have a picture of Parrish Hall in color over a rich black
background.
Individually boxed.

$4.00 each postpaid.

$8.00 a set postpaid.
ORDER BLANK

Please send postpaid (state quantity of each) :
...................... trays

............. ........ wastebaskets

...................... sets of trays and wastebaskets

I am enclosing $............................................. in payment of the above.
□ Check
□ Money Order
Signed............................................................................................................
Address................ ,..................................................................... -...................
Checks should be made payable to the Swarthmore
Club of Baltimore and mailed with this order to Mrs.
Richard Post, 308 Broxton Road, Baltimore 12, Md.

February 1951

City..................................................Zone N o............State.........................

9

WERE ON OUR WAY
Swarthmore has 8,934 living alumni.
1,358 have contributed to the 1950-51 Alumni Fund—
177 more than at the same time last year.
The goal for the Fund this year is $90,000.
Alumni have given $34,934.62 as of January 31 —
$5,167.99 more than at the same time last year.

WE CAN T STOP NOW