I was disturbed by the quotation from Alberto Mora’s [’74] honorary degree talk (“Collection,” July Bulletin: “No one educated here could fail to recognize that a person’s right to be free from cruel treatment is a fundamental human right….”). Mora adopts an “all-of-us-here” mentality, whereby he assures his audience that no one who attended Swarthmore [...]

The loss of World War II would have been a disaster with dire consequences for hundreds of years. The increase of greenhouse gases could bring about the loss of thousands of square miles of land to the rising oceans, the displacement of hundreds of millions of people, and mass starvation.
During World War II, the American [...]

Seeking refuge from the cruelties of the world, I turned to my most recent copy of the Swarthmore College Bulletin [July 2008] only to read about the decision to kill the Crum deer using sharpshooters and then salve the College’s collective Quaker conscience by giving the meat to the poor, adding exposure to wasting disease [...]

To the sophomores (no doubt, given their sophomoric nature) on the Crum Woods Stewardship Committee (CWSC) who suggested thinning out the woods’ resident deer herd with wolves, I say, you’ve had your fun. The CWSC exists to deal with important matters, not for idle entertainment nor to provide fodder for a Facebook page. As an [...]

Your article about the new Phoenix mascot (“Swarthmore Hatches a Big Red Bird,” July Bulletin) made me nostalgic for the now defunct Swarthmore Marching Society of my college days. Ah, now there was a source of spirit, hilarity, and pride! It may not have been the only such college organization to put “spin” on the [...]

Your coverage of Swarthmore’s adoption of the Phoenix as a mascot was enjoyable to read, but you missed one important fact.
Kyle White ’08, mentioned briefly in the article as an emcee of the competition to pick a person to wear the costume, was the driving force behind the mascot from the very beginning. As president [...]

As a recent graduate of Swarthmore, I was deeply concerned by the attitude displayed in the April 2008 Bulletin article “Our Own Shade of Green.” The article begins by introducing three indicators used by major national organizations to measure commitment to environmental stewardship in American universities. It notes for each of these indicators that Swarthmore [...]

Congratulations on a very aesthetic cover on the April Bulletin. I liked the clouds, the softness, the warmth, and slight yellowish-green tinge, and of course, the tree imagery. It is clearly symbolic, as the note on p. 2 explains. I liked it so much that I left the issue lying on my kitchen table for [...]

I want to commend Swarthmore and the staff of the Bulletin for making your magazine more environmentally friendly. Relatively simple steps such as reducing page count and increasing page width can amount to a big difference in the long-term environmental impact of the publication. Reflecting on the small changes we can all make in our [...]

According to “Our Own Shade of Green,” Swarthmore is, incredibly, approaching the global environmental crisis in its head, instead of figuring out how to get students to walk the sustainable walk, not just do the sustainable talk.
A fine example of how a college can do this is found at Berea College in Kentucky, where students [...]