BY BREE BANG-JENSEN

In print | Published September 9, 2004

Swarthmore students now have yet another reason to put off that reading. Over the summer, Special Projects Director Alice Balbierer purchased four 56-inch television sets for dorm lounges.

“[Associate Dean for Student Life] Myrt Westphal called me and said that students would really like large TVs in the bigger dorms, so larger groups of students could gather to watch events like the Super Bowl and the presidential debates,” Balbierer said.

Olivia Toro ‘05, a Mary Lyon RA who served on the housing committee last year, said the housing committee did not discuss buying the televisions. However, she expects that they will have a positive effect on student life. "ML plans to have movie nights every weekend. We think it’ll be a big draw" and encourage community bonding.

The new TVs are located in Mephistos lounge, Mertz, the New Dorm and Mary Lyon. During orientation, the Mephistos TV was used to screen “Casablanca.”

“So far, people aren’t really watching any more TV than usual,” Mary Lyon RA Jawaad Hussain ’05 said. “But people definitely appreciate having the 56-inch screen.”

The TVs in Willets and the New Dorm have not been hooked up to cable yet.

“Willets should have it very shortly,” Balbierer said. “Comcast may need to design a different kind of cable circuit for the New Dorm.”

Each of the new TVs cost $1,435 and came with a stand. The money for the TVs came from the special projects budget.

“Very rarely do I have anything left over,” Balbierer said. “The [special projects budget] money goes to furniture and renovations, but there was no big renovation project last year, so I could buy the TVs. I just bought less furniture and recycled furniture from the Science Center.”

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