Menander, the Greek dramatist, once said, “The character of a man is known from his conversations.”
It is also the case, I think, that the character of a college is often reflected in its conversations. So, let me describe, briefly, the conversations we are having in our strategic planning process and then share with you my [...]
Picture a group of visiting scholars on campus attending a conference on the future of the liberal arts. Or alumni gathering in a comfortable inn and restaurant space on campus, meeting with faculty and students to discuss the College’s vision and commitment to sustainability issues. Imagine faculty, students, and staff mingling with Borough residents at [...]
At Swarthmore, Eugene Lang ’38 is legendary. His gifts have created three buildings—the Lang Music Building, the Eugene and Theresa Lang Performing Arts Center, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility—as well as the Theresa Lang Garden of Fragrance, student financial aid funds, endowed professorships and staff support, and the 30-year-old Lang Opportunity [...]
When Sudharshan Seneviratne, a professor of archaeology at the University of Peradineya, Sri Lanka, (listen: Seneviratne’s lecture) first visited Swarthmore in 1990 to give a talk, he found the area around Parrish Hall thronging with students, faculty, and staff members protesting against the Gulf War. Although his talk had to be postponed until later that [...]
“My favorite bar is Caribbean bar,” says Ashley Oudenne ’11. “Before coming to Swarthmore, I had never had plantains or yucca fries, so trying them for the first time freshman year was exciting. Now, I always make time to go to Sharples for Caribbean bar.”
Oudenne has company. In a not-so-scientific study of food “bars” at [...]
The idea to create what we know today as Swarthmore College was first raised at a meeting in Baltimore in October 1860, and, by spring 1861—coinciding with the beginning of Civil War hostilities at Fort Sumter—committees of Friends from Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York had been organized to solicit subscriptions (on forms such as the [...]
It was quite a night for Phineas the Phoenix when he got to pal around with two college presidents at the same time: While Swarthmore’s Rebecca Chopp (right) and her longtime friend Bryn Mawr’s Jane McAuliffe served as honorary coaches at the Garnet’s annual WBCA Pink Zone game to promote breast cancer awareness, ace cheerleader [...]
Practice Room 426 in the Lang Music Building is the new home to a beautiful old Steinway grand piano, a gift to the College from Anthony Marks ’81. According to Bernadette Dunning, the administrative coordinator in the Music Department, student pianists vie to play the lovely old instrument and enjoy its rich tone. No less [...]
Artist Andrea Packard ’84 describes her images as being not so much about static places as they are states that are ephemeral, dynamic, and subject to change. (listen: Packard discusses her life as an artist)
In a solo exhibit in March at the College’s List Gallery—which Packard has directed since 1995—visitors were treated to a sampling [...]
Before marching across the campus on Feb. 1 to demonstrate solidarity for the Egyptian people’s nonviolent revolt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubaruk, a group of about 60 students—plus several members of the faculty and staff—gathered in Parrish Hall’s Shane Lounge to watch a few minutes of news on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network that broadcasts [...]
